Hello, everyone! Ramadhan is finally here. Are you guys fasting too? Well, Firu and I are. But that hasn’t stopped us from going on trips and enjoying our holiday out here in someone else’s land. From the title, I supposed you’ve guessed that we’ve ventured over to Berlin just this weekend. Yes, that is correct! However, it didn’t go as smoothly as we’ve originally planned but still ended up to be one heck of a trip. We saw, experienced, ate a lot of things and met people. Want to know how? Here’s how:
Since we were fasting, we had to wake up early in the morning to have our dawn meal — which was before 3 AM — which resulted to us waking kind of late in the day. We managed to catch the 12.15 PM train since, apparently, it was running late. We were supposed to catch the connecting train and had to transit in Bitterfeld. But since the stupid first train was running late, we missed it. We ended up being stranded there for around 1½ hours before the next train came, taking us to Lutherstadt Wittenberg to catch another train — which we had to wait for for ½ hour. Long story short, the less-than-3-hour-trip we were supposed to take turned into 5 hours…
It was starting to dawn on me that we would never get to Berlin when the train arrived there. Oh, Berlin, finally! I myself has also been to Berlin before but had yet to enjoy the city with all its glories. Once we arrived there, we hit the city trains to get to the asian supermarket as soon as possible — since it was our reason to go in the first place. It was huge! I mean, it was at least bigger than any other asian supermarkets in Germany that I have ever stepped into. And it was most well-supplied. After choosing carefully what we wanted to buy — because otherwise I would have bought everything there, we took our leave and decided to explore the city. We started off at the main station since it’s so beautiful! Sorry I didn’t take a decent picture of it. We then just walked with no directions of where to go but somehow found ourselves at the Reichstag — Parliament Building — and the Brandenburg Gate. Firu kept trying to get me to take pictures in front of it even though I vigorously refused.
At the Brandenburg Gate, this guy made my day. We saw a stand with a guy dressed as the police officer of the German Democratic Republic with a bunch of stamps and currencies on the table. Firu was intrigued to get the stamps and we stood there with a bunch of other tourists, trying to see what it was actually all about. This guy was amazing! He offered to stamp five different stamps of approval upon “entering the country” and one of his own creation on two postcards that we got from him. He then would ask us to look him in the eye and ask us questions as if he were really legally observing us. What’s most amazing about him: he could speak practically any language that came his way. He asked everyone where they came from and talked to them in their native languages. INCLUDING INDONESIA! Wow, oh wow, really. And he was highly entertaining too. I laughed so hard at every “inspection” he did.
Visya’s Outfit: Dress// Batik Solo (gift from Firu); Belt// Primark; Cardigan// C&A; Bag// Secondhand; Tights// Hudson; Shoes// Deichmann | Firu’s Outfit: Shirt// C&A; Bag// Aquip (freebie); Watch// Sony Ericsson; Jeans// unbranded; Shoes// Asics
When I found out that Firu was going home back in April, I asked him to bring home many things. One of which was a batik dress. I really didn’t limit him on what kind of batik dress to bring back. He just had to pick it himself and it should be blue. I guess he forgot the last part and bought a green one instead. But I love it! Green is his favourite colour anyway and I feel like this really is something he would pick. And what a unique dress it is! I love the collar part of this dress because It is actually very tacky for Berlin and I managed to collect several stares from passers by. But I still wear this dress ever so proudly. Firu’s shirt we just bought together at C&A a few days before because he lacked things to wear and I wanted to see him in something new — since he hardly ever buys clothes except when I buy him. Too bad we couldn’t take pictures together.
Firu was being such a sweetheart this day. Normally, he would complain if I asked him to take pictures of me for the blog. But, at this particular day, when I haven’t asked him to take outfit pictures of me, he asked why. As if the whole idea of me not asking is absurd. So I started asking him of this whole lot and he barely complained. Okay, he did. But at least he still took pictures of me, even when it was against his better judgment. Aside from that, he was being so kind to let me take actual, facial pictures of him even when it didn’t concern any of the sights in Berlin. And, thus, came these photos of him you see above. Oh, how I love this boy! ♥
The highlight of our weekend was when we decided to break fast in Nusantara Indonesian Restaurant. We have heard of the name for several months now and have yet to actually taste the quality of the food there. It’s very rare to find an indonesian restaurant on this side of the world — despite the amount of Indonesians in the country. So it was such a breath of fresh air to go there. Once we entered the restaurant, it was like stepping into Indonesia once again, even for only several minutes. Most of the customers are Indonesian too so hardly anyone spoke any other language. The price of the cuisine there is also reasonably cheap. Of course, don’t compare it with the price in Indonesia. Since it was Ramadhan, we were offered free Kolak Pisang (Banana Compote). I was so excited as well to spot Teh Botol Sosro, a famous indonesian brand of tea. It’s been more than a year since the last time I drank it.
Firu ordered Nasi Rames (Rames Rice) and Tempe Mendoan (there’s really no translation for this) while I ordered Bakso Urat (Tendon Meatballs) which was served alongside yellow and glass noodles. They were delicious. We also ordered Avocado Juice in the end — since Avocadoes over here are unbelievably pricey. Oh, heaven on earth, indeed. It was truly like going back home for a split second. The interior of the restaurant is very humble. Indeed, how one should portray Indonesia. Afterwards, we decided to try and find the remaining of the Berlin Wall — which we made a bet of and we found after giving up. There we met two other Indonesians who asked us to take their pictures. We chatted a little bit and it turned out they came from the region of Firu’s Mom’s parents. We then rushed to catch the midnight train that would take us straight home. We had our dawn meal on the way and missed the bus when we were back in Halle so we walked all the way home. It was mega tiring. We collapsed right away and slept until almost noon. That was my weekend, everyone.
Hello, everyone! Ramadhan is finally here. Are you guys fasting too? Well, Firu and I are. But that hasn’t stopped us from going on trips and enjoying our holiday out here in someone else’s land. From the title, I supposed you’ve guessed that we’ve ventured over to Berlin just this weekend. Yes, that is correct! However, it didn’t go as smoothly as we’ve originally planned but still ended up to be one heck of a trip. We saw, experienced, ate a lot of things and met people. Want to know how? Here’s how:
Since we were fasting, we had to wake up early in the morning to have our dawn meal — which was before 3 AM — which resulted to us waking kind of late in the day. We managed to catch the 12.15 PM train since, apparently, it was running late. We were supposed to catch the connecting train and had to transit in Bitterfeld. But since the stupid first train was running late, we missed it. We ended up being stranded there for around 1½ hours before the next train came, taking us to Lutherstadt Wittenberg to catch another train — which we had to wait for for ½ hour. Long story short, the less-than-3-hour-trip we were supposed to take turned into 5 hours…
It was starting to dawn on me that we would never get to Berlin when the train arrived there. Oh, Berlin, finally! I myself has also been to Berlin before but had yet to enjoy the city with all its glories. Once we arrived there, we hit the city trains to get to the asian supermarket as soon as possible — since it was our reason to go in the first place. It was huge! I mean, it was at least bigger than any other asian supermarkets in Germany that I have ever stepped into. And it was most well-supplied. After choosing carefully what we wanted to buy — because otherwise I would have bought everything there, we took our leave and decided to explore the city. We started off at the main station since it’s so beautiful! Sorry I didn’t take a decent picture of it. We then just walked with no directions of where to go but somehow found ourselves at the Reichstag — Parliament Building — and the Brandenburg Gate. Firu kept trying to get me to take pictures in front of it even though I vigorously refused.
At the Brandenburg Gate, this guy made my day. We saw a stand with a guy dressed as the police officer of the German Democratic Republic with a bunch of stamps and currencies on the table. Firu was intrigued to get the stamps and we stood there with a bunch of other tourists, trying to see what it was actually all about. This guy was amazing! He offered to stamp five different stamps of approval upon “entering the country” and one of his own creation on two postcards that we got from him. He then would ask us to look him in the eye and ask us questions as if he were really legally observing us. What’s most amazing about him: he could speak practically any language that came his way. He asked everyone where they came from and talked to them in their native languages. INCLUDING INDONESIA! Wow, oh wow, really. And he was highly entertaining too. I laughed so hard at every “inspection” he did.
Visya’s Outfit: Dress// Batik Solo (gift from Firu); Belt// Primark; Cardigan// C&A; Bag// Secondhand; Tights// Hudson; Shoes// Deichmann | Firu’s Outfit: Shirt// C&A; Bag// Aquip (freebie); Watch// Sony Ericsson; Jeans// unbranded; Shoes// Asics
When I found out that Firu was going home back in April, I asked him to bring home many things. One of which was a batik dress. I really didn’t limit him on what kind of batik dress to bring back. He just had to pick it himself and it should be blue. I guess he forgot the last part and bought a green one instead. But I love it! Green is his favourite colour anyway and I feel like this really is something he would pick. And what a unique dress it is! I love the collar part of this dress because It is actually very tacky for Berlin and I managed to collect several stares from passers by. But I still wear this dress ever so proudly. Firu’s shirt we just bought together at C&A a few days before because he lacked things to wear and I wanted to see him in something new — since he hardly ever buys clothes except when I buy him. Too bad we couldn’t take pictures together.
Firu was being such a sweetheart this day. Normally, he would complain if I asked him to take pictures of me for the blog. But, at this particular day, when I haven’t asked him to take outfit pictures of me, he asked why. As if the whole idea of me not asking is absurd. So I started asking him of this whole lot and he barely complained. Okay, he did. But at least he still took pictures of me, even when it was against his better judgment. Aside from that, he was being so kind to let me take actual, facial pictures of him even when it didn’t concern any of the sights in Berlin. And, thus, came these photos of him you see above. Oh, how I love this boy! ♥
The highlight of our weekend was when we decided to break fast in Nusantara Indonesian Restaurant. We have heard of the name for several months now and have yet to actually taste the quality of the food there. It’s very rare to find an indonesian restaurant on this side of the world — despite the amount of Indonesians in the country. So it was such a breath of fresh air to go there. Once we entered the restaurant, it was like stepping into Indonesia once again, even for only several minutes. Most of the customers are Indonesian too so hardly anyone spoke any other language. The price of the cuisine there is also reasonably cheap. Of course, don’t compare it with the price in Indonesia. Since it was Ramadhan, we were offered free Kolak Pisang (Banana Compote). I was so excited as well to spot Teh Botol Sosro, a famous indonesian brand of tea. It’s been more than a year since the last time I drank it.
Firu ordered Nasi Rames (Rames Rice) and Tempe Mendoan (there’s really no translation for this) while I ordered Bakso Urat (Tendon Meatballs) which was served alongside yellow and glass noodles. They were delicious. We also ordered Avocado Juice in the end — since Avocadoes over here are unbelievably pricey. Oh, heaven on earth, indeed. It was truly like going back home for a split second. The interior of the restaurant is very humble. Indeed, how one should portray Indonesia. Afterwards, we decided to try and find the remaining of the Berlin Wall — which we made a bet of and we found after giving up. There we met two other Indonesians who asked us to take their pictures. We chatted a little bit and it turned out they came from the region of Firu’s Mom’s parents. We then rushed to catch the midnight train that would take us straight home. We had our dawn meal on the way and missed the bus when we were back in Halle so we walked all the way home. It was mega tiring. We collapsed right away and slept until almost noon. That was my weekend, everyone.