Ochen Priyatna

Part 3 of my Europe trip involved travelling to the Berlin which was a landmark city in modern history having been through both world wars and Cold War. The picture above depicts whatever was remaining of the Berlin Wall separating East and West Germany. History aside, another association that comes to mind when Germany is mentioned would be their biergartens, amazing beer and beer food. Without further ado, let's dive straight into the next 3 words depicting my Europe trip (7 months back)!

7. Transportation
As time was a constraint during this trip, we flew between the countries mostly and intermittently we took the train, buses or trams to get around the city. Since we visited Europe during the Xmas New Year period, London's public transport was down for Christmas and we found ourselves cycling around London using the Londonbikes that were available for loan and multiple locations.


The bikes are free for the first 15 mins and 1 pound for the next 30 minutes. Naturally, being the AZN we are, we found a way to hack the system to pay the least - ride for 15min to the nearest bike kiosk, switch bikes, and continue hahahaha. Meaning from our place near UOL to the Big Ben, we had to alight and switch bike at a station in between. So glad that Obike came back to Singapore so we may experience bike sharing as well but the weather makes it a pain to ride around boo







8. Outdoor markets - great place to grab gluwhein







9. Dining in

In the previous posts where we mention Michelin starred restaurants and showcased all the pasta we ate throughout the trip, there may be a misconception that we are extremely affluent and able to afford anything under the sun. Truth is, I'm just starting out in my first job and jj is still schooling = broke af actually. Hence, to hedge against our pricier experiences in restaurants, we dined in substantially or bought in meals from the local market/supermart and dined in our airbnbs/hotels.

Couldn't find a picture but almost all our breakfasts were settled in minimarts or convenience stores in various locations. In London, we dropped by Saintsbury and Waitrose for breakfast sandwiches or teatime snacks. Amsterdam had this local mart - Albert Heijn - where we bought our snacks and juices (to pump up our vitamins & hey it's cheap). Germany & Munich was dominated by Aldi (cheapcheapcheap) and mostly local open marts whereas Paris was Carrefour.