So after a brief hiatus (i was enjoying my travel too much 
), here is the next instalment. I was writing this partly on a train from St Moritz to Zurich (beautiful Swiss Alps, tunnels and bridges are beyond compare), partly from Zurich to Frankfurt and from Frankfurt to Berlin – its hard to travel and blog! once you are behind in your writing, you have to keep up really fast before new cities present you with new excitements and stories. and guess what, i’m one week behind! Berlin and Prague would have to wait.
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I’ve nearly done it all – from nearly not having a place to sleep in Amsterdam, smoking my first joint, to the James Bond’s 007 bungy jump, water rafting, paragliding, and skydiving 12000 feet from a helicopter.
Copenhagen
I took the 10:21 X2000 from Stockholm to Copenhagen. 5 hours later, i was in Copenhagen and it was wet, wet and wet.
After dropping my bags at Martin’s place (my 3rd couchsurfing’s host), i went straight to the national library. It was a huge library by the river side, combining an old and new sections. Marvellous. Here are some pic of the beauty:
At night, Martin took me to a local pub by bike (i haven’t sat at the back of a bike since i was 9!), we met his friends and finished the night rather sober.
The next day i went to the city:
Local library
A church
By the river side
and to the Royal Palace. You cant really take pictures inside the palace (you even have to cover your shoes with a plastic cover to avoid damaging the expensive wooden floors), but when i saw the Queen’s Reading Room, i couldn’t help but take out my D90. Goose bumps!!!!!!!!
A bit later in the arvo, Martin texted me – football party at his place. I couldn’t refuse!
One of Martin’s friend’s girlfriend is arriving from Austria, so we decided to send a battalion of half-drunk on a train to the airport to pick her up. I must say that i was nervous at first, bringing plastic guns (temporarily displaced from a kindergarten) and enough beer supplies on a train ‘defending’ the first carriage from ‘infiltrators’ and then ‘invading’ the airport.
I was so sure that security guards will spot us and prevent us doing silly things, but to my surprise, not a single police or guard was present. There was an old man who came (whom i thought was an undercover policeman), and i thought to myself, this is it! Only to find him uttering ‘You guys are cool’ and started doing a dance with us!! Hahaha
We then went to the infamous Christiania (the hippie town!). Martin took us to his bar – a really cool bar. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures inside (out of respect to the squatters).
For more pictures in Copenhagen, click here
Amsterdam
The next day, i had to bid farewell and continue my journey to Amsterdam. It was an overnight sleeper train on a City Night Line. I was in the same cabin as a British psychologist who was coming back from a conference. The sleeping cabin was smaller than what i expected but i was glad it was clean and rather impressed by the small washer attached to our cabin.
Amsterdam oh Amsterdam – one of the most happening cities. You could see that people are happy to be there.
First thing first, the Openbare Bibliotheek. It was a modern building with many cool zones to chill out, such as places to watch DVDs or listening to musics.
After i hit my must-visit destination, i then went on a city tour.
Oh and in the centre of the town, Dam, there was a beach soccer tournament.
I also saw a protest by the LGBT community near the homo monument,
Then i went back to the train station, where i met Rudd (my 4th CS host).
The next day, Rudd took me to watch Team Oranje played. We were bar hopping and was lucky enough to find this nice bar with HD screen (it was an old theatre and get converted to a place for people to play gigs and concerts).
even Obama was ecstatic
After the game, we went to the World Press Photography Exhibition, but on the way we stumbled into a small local library
The exhibition was held in this old church in the middle of the red light district,
Rudd and I
Rudd admiring the Obama’s Inauguration pictures:
Dinner and pool were our next activities and i’m proud to still hold the unbeaten winning record in my travel thus far (against Frank – the Polish in Beijing, Tuyet – the British in Mongolia, and now Rudd – the Dutch in Amsterdam).
Next day was Den Haag where i wanted to visit the Parliament library in the Parliament complex .Unfortunately, it was closed to the Public, even the Parliament – it was a busy time after the closest election in history. The government was trying to build a coalition and it has been a week with no definitive outcome.
I managed to go on a tour of the Hall where the Queen delivers her annual speech.
and then i went to see the International Court of Justice – again i have no booking so couldn’t enter the place:
My disappointment was soon erased when i managed to make my way to the National Library – Koninklijke Bibliotheek. Another beauty!
After library visit, i headed back to Amsterdam. Rudd and I cooked that night and after that, he took me on a bike tour:
The next day, i thank Rudd for his hospitality and make my way to the central station to deposit my luggage. I’m meant to meet up with my second host later in the arvo (after previous contacts though emails and sms). I decided to have a hair cut because i can see a lot of white hairs growing on the sides, and after my haircut, i went to a local coffee shop to get stoned. It was a funny experience, because i didn’t get a happy or sad kick, but instead i felt a little bit dizzy. I could feel that it was quite hard to keep my eye lids opened wide, but most of the times i was just dizzy.
i was curious that my host hasn’t replied to the sms i sent earlier but given that another football game was about to start I decided to go to a local bar to watch it. When it was finished around 6pm, i browsed internet on my BB (free wifi, wooo hoo), and this was when i discovered through an email, that my host has bailed out of me at the last minute. His excuse, he couldn’t really kick out the other surfers who have been staying at his place. I was stunned because he didn’t even have the courtesy to call or text me. Email would be the last thing thing that you used when you need to relay urgent message.
So here i was, at 6pm and the prospect of no place to sleep for the night. I decided to go to the red light district where a lot of hostels are located – its also close to central station so less moving required. My priority was to find a place to sleep for the night and lucky i found a space at St Christopher. pheww…. what an experience. I kept wondering what happened if i never checked my email in the bar – i knew i would have tried to contact him again, but it would be rather quite late in the night. anyway…..
After settling down around 9pm, another American dude (i forgot his name) asked me if i wanted to go to another coffee shop – and there i was again. We decided to buy a happy kick – but yet again, i was just feeling dizzy. Oh well….
On my last full day in Amsterdam, i went to Rotterdam. I hired a bike to tour the city.
My first stop was to the Rotterdam Library
And i cycled by the river bank and through the bridge
Also went to the Tower:
and i had indonesian food for lunch:
I then returned to Amsterdam to have italian dinner with Rudd and his mate.
When i went back to the hostel, i touched my first ipad! Another backpacker was carrying ipad from the US and he let me played with it. I was surprised that it was rather heavy. I haven’t been sold on buying it the first time, and this now kinda confirms it. – maybe iphone 4 is a better bet (a cross to the dark side?)
For more pictures in Amsterdam, click here
For more pictures in Den Haag, click here
For more pictures in Rotterdam, click here
Paris
11.16 Thalyn Express took me from Amsterdam to Paris’ Gare du Nord.
After depositing my backpack at the station, i went to hit my destinations. First on the list was Bibliotheque National de France – Francois Mitterand!
It’s another modern library with many buildings. I had to pay 3 euros to enter and wasn’t really happy about that – isn’t libraries supposed to be free?
I was hunting for the main reading room, but realised i couldn’t imagine it will be located in this library. there must another one.
After this, i went to Sorbonne where i wanted to visit the libraries in the University of Paris. Unfortunately, unless you have prior appointments, you wouldn’t be able to (ugh!!!!).
It happened with another library located close to the Pantheon
My disappointment was quickly taken over by excitement when i found the infamous Shakespeare & Co bookstore… ohhhhhh… georgeousssss…. my knees were weak and ive got goose bumps all over when i saw the shelvings and the smells of the books……
It also happened to be the literary festival – Festival and Co, and i attended briefly one of the book readings:
Strolling along the river banks of Paris, in front of the Notre Dame, you see a lot of summer activities, such as:
Fishing, if you were alone
or if you were with another person, Kissing
The Notre Dame is a beautiful church
I then went back to the train station to pick up my backpack and head my way to the Witold’s place (my 4th CS experience), when i saw a group of Algerian football fans dashing through the metro gates. Algeria was playing England that night.
Witold and i had Italian dinner that night while watching the disappointing performance of England – in fact, the game was terrible with balls passed without clear purpose.
The next day is the Louvre – pics said it all:
After surviving nearly the whole day at the Louvre, i strolled along the beautiful Paris parks making my way to Arc de Triomp
Taking a break, i watched Australia drew against Ghana….
Then i made my way to the Eiffel and climbed to the very top!
and yes, i saw a guy proposing to his gf:
Sacre Cour is beautiful and thats where Witold and I had our brunch the following morning.
Then i ventured to the Erotic Museum – WARNING !!!, pictures below might offend some people!
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The obligatory Moulin Rouge,
And then i head to the George Centre Pompidue,
Rothko, oh Rothko!!!!!!
others that caught my eyes include
Also visited the most visited cemeteries on the planet to see
James Morrison,
Oscar Wilde – check out all the lipstick marks and graffiti….
After the cemeteries visit, i thought i should climb up the Notre Dame to feel a bit closer to the heaven:
and the Pantheon, where French revolution heroes and important people like Marie Currie and Louise Braille were buried.
Funny things happened to me while i was trying to get Long Champ bags from Gallery Lafayette for Jelita and Joey. While i was lining up for service, i heard someone called my name. And when i turned around, i saw Elizabeth (we studied in uni together) whom i haven’t seen since 2005 – she moved to Singapore for the job. We chatted briefly and promised to catch up a bit later – but unfortunately this didn’t really eventuate, because stupid me, i texted her on her old spore number than the one she gave me – and i didn’t realise this until too late. oh well, end of year, i will try to catch up in Spore.
I went to Saint Chapelle to see the beautiful stained glasses.
In the arvo, i met Erik Ilkehan and transferred to his chateau closed to Sacre Cour.
The next day is dedicated to Versailles Palace – originally i was about to give it a miss, but Erik insisted that i couldn’t leave Paris without visiting – and he was right. The pics again speak for itself:
From the palace, i went back to Paris to locate the other site of national library with a beautiful reading room. While i wasn’t allowed to enter, i managed to take a couple of shots from the outside – very very very very beautiful!:
Julie and I met up for brunch the next day near the Opera. She was on summer holiday back to France and heading to London and New York.
After catching up with her, i made my way to Museum D’orsay – unfortunately i couldn’t take any pictures inside,
and on the way back, i was caught in a big protest and strike – you wouldn’t be in France if you didn’t see the strike! They were protesting about the govt attempt to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, even though the EU has raised it to 65.
Erik and I had curry for dinner that nite and we were scrambling to find a pub that plays Australia vs Serbia – you know what the outcome was 
My only hope at this time was England.
For more pictures in Paris, click here
Basel
After a week in a beautiful Paris, i made my way to Switzerland – Basel was my first stop and it was a 2.5 hour train ride away.
I went to visit Bank of International Settlement (only from the outside, couldn’t really enter the building)
Following that, i visited the university library:
and walk around the old town where i stumbled across this beautiful old bookshop:
I also went to the bridge across the Rhine where a lot of people are soaking in the warm summer:
Corinne (my 6th CS host) met me at the train station. She took me to her cozy place and after cooling down for a bit, we went to a local Thai restaurant to have dinner with Nicole, her sister:
It was nice food but slow service, really really slow. Probably because we were on a mission – there was a Switzerland vs Honduras game at 8.30pm.
Lucky we made it in time to see the game, even though the beers were flat and the final outcome, oh well, you know it.
We met Corrine’s friends – Sophie and Alex for the game, and when it finished, we headed to the Rhine with our beers – beautiful night and view from the Rhine:
For more pictures in Basel, click here
Bellinzona
The next day, it was less than 24 hours before i had to make my way to the train station again, to head to Bellinzona – a small beautiful city closed to Italy. I’m basing myself at a youth hostel so i can do the 007 Bungy Jump the following day. One thing that i realised is the clash between the jump time (i.e. 3pm) and the England vs Germany game (at 4pm). So i had to forfeit the game to complete my mission.
In the following morning, i made my way to Locarno (the town closest to the dam), toured the city for a bit,
before heading to Verzasca dam by bus
it was a huge dam!
and man, i was pumped!
and here is the video of my jump:
With adrenaline still high, i head back to town to see the last few minutes of the game, only to be disappointed with the total annihilation of the English team by the Germans. I couldn’t bear to watch it especially the surrender they displayed in the dying minutes – they could have at least fought back, the effort would at least make the fans feel a bit better. But no, they raised their white flags very early. it was very very disappointing.
For more pictures in Bellinzona, click here
For more pictures in Locarno, click here
Interlaken
The next day, i got up very early to catch a 6am train to Interlaken Ost – the city you should be in for all the adrenalin adventures. Interlaken to Switzerland is like Queenstown to New Zealand. After dropping my luggage at Villa’s Backpacker i went straight to my first adventure:
Water Rafting! fun fun fun
After 3 hours of being completely wet, i went straight to my second – Paragliding. Absolutely amazing! The scariest moment for me was when i saw the cliff and we had to run off it! But once you were airborne it was like having an afternoon tea (times 10,000 for the views).
My third adventure was in the following morning, where i travelled to a heliport in Lauternburn. I was to do skydiving from a helicopter – 12,000 feet with 40s of freefall. I couldn’t describe the feeling – it was exhilarating. An interesting note on this little excursion – we saw few skydivers getting ready for the Transformer 3 stunts with their costumes at the heliport.
Here is the video:
I went to Jungfrauch – Top of Europe in the afternoon. Very beautiful place.
Did a 2 hour hike
Saw a beaver
and took the train to the very top
I was tired when i got back to the hostel. Japan was ousted in a penalty shoot out and Spain kicked out Portugal. Oh, and it was laundry day too. Took me two hours to be in the queue. Absolute nightmare!
For more pictures in Interlaken, click here
Glacier Express to St Moritz
My alarm didn’t buzz the next morning and i was rushing like a madmen to catch a 7am morning train to Zermatt. It was the first time i nearly missed a train in my entire travel. And it was an important train because in Zermatt i had to board the Glacier Express (mine was the last train for the day). Lucky i was on it.
Glacier Express is famously dubbed the slowest express train but boasting beautiful sceneries. And it was worth every single minute (although in some sections – i succumbed to my eyes wanting to get some rest).
The train journey ends 7 hours later in St Moritz where i stayed overnight at another backpacker hostel. I didn’t manage to go around in this town because the place where i stayed was quite far from the city centre. But i did have a great dinner at a local restaurant. A table next to me was a Swiss family who speak Italian and wanting to know about my travel – very nice and friendly.
For more pictures in Glacier Express, click here
Zurich
The following morning, i took another morning train to Zurich. Like in previous cities, libraries were the top spots:
Pestalozzi Bibliothek
Zentralbibliothek
Kunthaus Bibliothek
saw a number of people jumping off the bridge
and met Paul Peyrot (a friend from Berkeley) whom i haven’t seen in 8 years! He’s married now and expecting his first child. We met up a famous cafe – Sprungli, which by the way, has the finest selection of extremely nice chocolates, cakes and desserts.
Paul then took me to his law practice:
where he printed a direction to a really nice modern library – i made my way there from his office, only to find that its closed for renovation for the week! (grrrr).
I went back to the main train station where Manuel (my 7th CS host) picked me up.
The next day i travelled to St Gallen to see the famous Abbey Monastery and the library. It was about 1 hour train ride away from Zurich Airport.
The main church at the Monastery
When i found out that no camera was allowed in the library – i knew that i have to figure something out. Lucky enough my pass was valid for the day, so i told them that im taking a lunch break, i headed to a camera shop and bought myself a point-to-shoot camera which i can hide in the pocket. But obviously with any new camera, the battery isn’t charged. So i asked the shop attendant to charge it, while i wondered around the small city for the next 2.5 hours. I kept circling and ending up at the same place despite many turns i took.
But the shots were worth it:
and St Galen is quite an artsy town –
After a full day in St Gallen, i went back to Zurich where i caught the first half of the Netherlands vs Brazil game. It was 1-0 for Brazil at half time. I quickly made my way to Zurich Airport (where i was supposed to be picked up later by Manuel), to see the second half and it was a fantastic atmosphere at the airport – The Oranje beat the Brazilian (and has officially been my selected team since Australia and England lost).
We went back to have a home cooked italian pasta, with wine and an orange chocolate cake from Sprungli and i was stuffed.
Its time to say goodbye the next day, we had a coffee at Starbucks and soon enough i was on my way to see Big Guy in Frankfurt.
For more pictures in Zurich, click here
For more pictures in St Gallen, click here
Frankfurt
I was on ICE train for an approximately 4 hours. Florian Fischer (aka Big Guy) met me at the platform. He lost so much weight. He was my roomie while we were studying in Berkeley and has since visited me twice both in Melbourne (him alone) and in Sydney (with Daniela). He now works in BCG.
He took me around town (it was a hot day and everybody was out in force ready for the game in two hours).
and to a local market to buy supplies for the barbie
When we reached their place, the game just started and the street was deserted. 90 minutes later, Argentina was humiliated and Germany advanced to the next round.
Meet No 1 (Froodol?), Florian and Daniela’s master! Flo and I took him for an afternoon stroll after the game,
and we had our dinner soon after that:
The next morning, we had our breaky (with coffee served in a Berkeley mug – nice)
and following breakfast, Flo ran while i cycled to Daniela’s vet clinic. She opened her first clinic in September last year and been very busy ever since.
Then we went to the stable, where i met their second pet, Arthur – a white stallion from Portugal:
I rode Arthur
and so did Big Guy
We then went outside to take Arthur and Floodol in an open space
And Big Guy, Floodol and I headed back home while Daniela brought Arthur back to the stable.
Once we reached home, Big Guy took me for another exciting activity, a first for me – flying on a light aircraft. I was over the moon:
The local airport
The plane – Katana
Plane check
The cockpit
Preflight check
Ready for takeoff
and off we went
Airborne
We circled the area 3 times (ok 4 actually – we couldn’t land the last round because Big Guy couldn’t bring the plane down – apparently a common problem during summer with hot air rising). It was a fantastic experience. Now i want to be a pilot too!
Following the full day adventures, Big Guy and Daniela took me to a nice restaurant for dinner. There i tried Frankfurt’s infamous apple cider. Despite repeated warnings on the effect it might have on my bowels and taste buds, i actually quite like it. The dinner and company were amazing – we talked about everything under the sun!
The next morning was the time to say goodbye – always the hardest. I bid farewell to Daniela at home while Big Guy was on a local train where he stopped one station before me.
Thanks Big Guy and Daniela – i have had an absolute ball, felt really at home and it was great to see you again! Appreciate especially the small details you put into making my stay extremely comfortable – especially the new shower and bathroom
And following this, i will be in Berlin and Prague where i will spend 4 days each.
For more pictures in Frankfurt, click here
Till the next update, take care.
p/s if you were wondering, yes Obama has gone MIA. I lost him in Zurich. if you found him, please write.