London - Day 4

Kyoto garden -> Harrods -> V & A museum -> British museum = 20 km

Sheperd's Bush to Baker Street cost £2.30

Caught early easybus. Busy traffics and lots of diversions.

Delay at the airport and I missed my bus in Düsseldorf.

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London - Day 3

Destination Greenwich

Direction: Sheperd's Bush to Bank using Central Station line. Then take DLR towards Lewisham and stop at Cutty Sark over Canary Wharf.

First things first: buy an Oyster card and put £10 deposit. Check before going in and after going out. The charge should be £1.80 one way. If charged more, find counter and claim back the overcharge.


On the way back, take the boat until Westminster Stop. Cost £6.30 incl. 30% discount. Then take Bus 148 towards White City.


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London - Day 2

Cycling Day.

I woke up like at 8 o'clock after a good sleep on the air mattress. I took a bowl of cereal and drank a cup of coffee. Exactly at 9 o'clock, me and Jérémy started a cycling tour in London until like 18 o'clock. I managed to sightsee almost the whole London within 1 day. Normally, it would take like 2 days, he pointed out. But, since I didn't have an issue cycling a lot, I gained more time to explore the city. It was absolutely amazing.

The route:
Sheperd's Bush - Kensington Garden - Royal Albert Hall - Hyde Park - Harrods - Buckingham Palace - Downing Street - Big Ben - London Eye - Tate Modern - St. Paul Cathedral - Millennium Bridge - Tower Bridge - Gorky - Covent Garden - Freemasons - China Town - Leicester Square Gardens - Trafalgar Square - Trocadero - Picadilly Circus


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London - Day 1

It's quite a strange day today. The sun came up and down mad. I went out too early to catch the train and the bus. I guess, I didn't trust the timetable enough, since you can never do that in Indonesia.

After arriving at the Düsseldorf international airport, first things first. So, I checked in my baggage. It was only like 9 kg. Totally under the max weights (20 kg). Then, I went for Mc Donald's. I tried the classic beef. It's simply a wrap made of tortilla. I went for the small menu. I wanted to choose the side dishes. But who the hell will know that you can't choose based on this menu. So, I learned something out of ordering there. It's been while since i ate there.

Amazingly the flIght was very punctual. It took like 1 1/2 hours. The service from Air Berlin was excellent. Snacks and beverages were free if charge for non alcoholic ones.

The Stansted airport is relatively small and neat. Surprisingly the officers there were really friendly. I got the chance to try out the biometrical passport control which failed, since the bloody machine couldn't recognize my face. But still, I didn't need to stand in line ;)

Claiming the baggage isn't straightforward. You need to take the skytrain to go to the terminal. It was fast and auto pilot.

The first thing I wanted to do after re-claiming my bagagge (as an English gentleman would call it) was to buy the Oyster card. I bumped into a French girl. My visit was getting more and more of the French flavor. She was asking me, first in English, if she could tag along with me since she wasn't familiar at all in London. I recognized her French accent. So, I asked her automatically if she spoke French. She was so happy that I spoke French. So, I helped her find her way as I still got a lot of time before my bus arrived.

Afterwards I went straight to the bay where my bus was supposed to halt. It came in time and left on time. I must say I was totally amazed the punctuality. I thought it were only German thing.

So, now I'm on my way to central London as I'm writing this. It's 20:45

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I ♡ Berlin

Wed, 6.6.2007
One year after my graduation day and I'm coming back to Berlin on vacation. It's hard to believe that I don't study anymore, but it's for real.
Ticket ordered 1 hours before leaving for Berlin. Thank goodness there is online-ticketing. Grabbed my backpack and left straight to the train station.
Train was desasterously full. I was lucky to find a seat in the cabin for children.
I watched 3 episodes of Ugly Betty. Totally hilarious! Knowing others sat on the aisles or stood.
The trip lasted appr. 4 hours. It was not so bad due to Ugly Betty.
Arrived at the Berlin Main Station. Picked up by some friends. Went straight to Pizza Hut.
Blabla here ... blabla there.

Thu, 7.6.2007
The first thing I wanted to clear was the reporting at the embassy. After a couple hours of waiting, everything was cleared.
Went for lunch at Alexanderplatz. Delicious spring rolls and soup.
Continued to the university and accompanied a friend to a doctor.
Time for dinner and went to the most talk about restaurant. The food was ordinary.
Ended in some kind of fight, which also ended a friendship.

Fr, 8.6.2007
Had a chit chat before went to lunch at my favorite Japanese restaurant at noon. Came therefore too late.
I ate sushis and talked with my co-student, before I met my girlfriend at a small café.
Drinking café, my girlfriend discussed a little bit about the fight on the other day. Everything solved.
Got bored and went visiting the other friends. We went to the electronic market at a shopping centre.
At the end went to the supermarket, buying ingredients since I wanted to cook for them.
It was getting late and I went back home.

Sa, 9.6.2007
Woke up a bit late. Chatted on the internet for a while, before we went to buy shoes. I wanted to buy another pair of shoes for work. Mission accomplished. I bought another pair of my favorite shoes. Rushed to a supermarket to buy ingredients, because my friend wanted to cook glass noodles and make gado2.
After eating, I went to a friend's house and stayed over the night.

Su, 10.6.2007
Still at the friend's house and watched King of Queens. I cooked the Bolognese sauce à la Alex and ate together.
In the afternoon I went to the other friend's house. We went for a walk in the wood until we reached the lake. It was relaxing and comforting.
Went home and talked with my friend till shortly after midnight.

Mo, 11.6.2007
Woke up and took a bath. Started chatting, reading emails, etc. Didn't feel like going out. I cancelled an appointment. Still got another appointment. I met my co-student again at the Japanese restaurant. This time no sushis, just normal Japanese food.
Before that I went to the supermarket and bought some ingredients for tomorrow. I wanted to cook for some people as well.

Tue, 12.6.2007
The first important thing I did was going to the bloody firm which manages my last apartment. They still have the money, we (I and my contract partner) deposited as security. After 6 months, we haven't got the money back. So, the lady promised to take care everything until the end of this week. She didn't want to give me any confirmation on a piece of paper as a guarantee. Let's see!
Before I met Ol, I went to my former firm Skandia. I met old colleagues and they were as excited as I was. Unfortunately my former boss was not at the office yet. So, I didn't meet her at all.
Later on I went to meet Ol at Friederichstr. We went to the Jap restaurant again eating sushis. Then we walked to the Brandenburger Gate to Potsdamer Platz. First, we wanted to eat some ice cream. But, instead we went to Saturn. We didn't buy anything. After a long walk, we finally went back on the same route to drink coffee at Starbucks. Afterwards, we went home separately.
As I arrived home, the guest was already there. So, I started to cook. It was modified bolognese sauce. Still, they liked it. I was glad.

Wed, 13.6.2007
Nothing special today. Since Ol didn't come yesterday, I took some sauce to Ol's place. I stayed there until the evening. On the way, I bought flowers for Ol's mom. Too bad, she was not at home.

Thu, 14.6.2007
I must say I was lucky, since the weather changed after a week. It rained. The days in Berlin was amazing and I was extremely happy to be there and to see old friends again. And I managed to do everything I wanted to do.
Next month Ol will come to Hagen and I can't wait for it.