Hannover (2)

Hannover, Germany - Day 2

Had dinner the night before at Trip Advisor's #3 restaurant in Hannover. To our surprise, it was almost full house when we reached. Fortunately they managed to find us a table in a cozy corner. Love the warm setting. I took the menu 2 (as below w/o dessert) while S had 2 types of suckling pig (last photo). Overall, food was alright.. My fav, weirdly enough, was the big flat mushroom that accompanied the beef. Heh.

Name: Basil

Location: Dragonerstraße 30, 30163 Hannover, Gemany

Expenditure: 80€ with wine

Lunch at Trip Advisor's #1 restaurant. It was wet and gloomy the 3 days we were there, so didn't have a chance to dine outdoors. But you can guess that the selling point of the restaurant is it's view of the Maschsee Lake. This time, we were surprised that we were only 1 of 2 groups of diners there! Maybe it's the weather. I don't know.

Anyway, food was alright also.The calamari starter was tasty but overcooked, tuna sashimi not bad, venison was too sweet and tough, while the plate of 4 fishes was not bad too. Mushroom soup not in the photos but it was just baddd. I'd say the best dish goes to the dessert. 3 types of crème brulée: passion fruit, chocolate, vanilla. Nice.

And so the waiter who had been serving our table the whole time comes over to clear the plates and asked (as always) whether the food was good. I know they always expect the "yeah it's good!" answer, but I refused because I really didn't like the meat. In an attempt to give an honest opinion, I told him that the meat was a little dry. He just stood there, no response or anything... Awkward silence! Then he left the table, yakked something to the chefs, and NEVER returned. Was a little stunned. Left me wondering if the dessert contained "special" ingredients. Haha.

Nonetheless, it's good to note that the prices are very reasonable.

Name: Die Insel

Location: Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Ufer 81, 30519 Hannover, Germany

Expenditure: 75€ with wine

After that, drove to the city centre to do some shopping and more eating. Nothing much in Hannover really. But for us, contented enough to just look look see see. Oh, but I finally found my pork knuckle and sauerkraut! Albeit a bit too salty. On left: Restaurant called "Bayerische Butschait", cheap & good. On right: Ernst-August-Platz where all the main shopping areas are. There's also an interesting kitchen shop called "One Kitchen".

Hannover (1)

Hannover, Germany - Day 1

Traveled to Hannover last weekend for the IAA exhibition (supposed to be a biz trip for S but we converted it to a mini holiday of our own. Heh.) Anyway, the IAA trade fair was supposed to be a showcase of commercial vehicles (not lamborghini ferrari and the likes ah), so we went there thinking:"what can be so interesting about trucks?!"

But when we walked in and toured around the vehicles, we were totally awed. Since then, we see trucks in a very different light. Hopefully you get to see it too through the photos...

The trucks, containers and all were so nicely polished they looked like magnified versions of the Playmobil toys we're so familiar with. For example: http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQdY9HHneBylmPSZZYqE5oKKaeTaaglmvyL3bxym2Utt3y7Fqo&t=1&usg=__G_htkZtzd2e-B54ys8TSl_XbJaw= and http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRv9nrnL6D-Fuw56enJmP1wN2MiAMTC8QWbthVww_QVqtT1zOU&t=1&usg=__2AeRMWbjL_ZaftTTAJzH1qfZTPc= Right?

They even converted some containers into bars/cafes (they're THAT huge). In another hall, they exhibited some really vintage vans and buses.

Lots of activities took place outside the halls, at the exhibition grounds. On left: Held under the expo canopy. VW was trying to demonstrate the truck capabilities (and also the drivers' skillfulness!) People were queuing to experience a drive around the obstacles. On right: Good looking cranes.

In yet another hall (specially for Mercedes) - the prettiest cement mixer we've ever seen! As well as funky "pimp my ride"-looking trucks.

Overall, we left the place feeling amused and enlightened :)

24 hours in Berlin (2)

Part 2 - Near Berlin

Actually, the main purpose of our Berlin trip was to attend S' friends' wedding. So the next day at noon, a coach was sent to pick the guests up from Berlin city to the Castle Hubertushöhe at Storkow. Bus journey took about 1+ hour. The wedding ceremony was held at 3pm, after which a cocktail party followed. Small & intimate gathering of about 60 people. Extremely different from our traditional Chinese banquet! But I love it. Romantic private setting tucked away in some faraway land...  Aww. *dreamy*

Sean anticipating Nadine's arrival..

in the castle garden by Lake Storkow. R-o-m-a-n-t-i-c....

Cocktails and a little dance put up by the newly-weds. Sweet.

After that, we returned to our rooms and rested for a couple of hours before getting up again for dinner. Superb 3-course meal with excellent wine-pairing carefully chosen by Sean. It was then followed by cake-cutting, which we all ate! (Was a little surprised as I've never eaten a wedding cake before.)

And here comes the highlight:

Their very own fireworks display!! Right in the center of the helicopter landing area. How cool is that. Lovesss. The beautiful night ended with some music and dance... :)

24 hours in Berlin (1)

Part 1 - 24 hours in Berlin

What's germany without some sausages and pork knuckle and beer? ;) Murked around at one of the two city centers - Alexanderplatz. Found the TV Tower but didn't go up the observation deck. Apparently the view is nice but the windows are dusty. Hmm...

Bought some made-in-germany stuff like Birkenstock and WMF kitchen accessories. Nice. Walked down a bit more and reached the Radisson Blu Hotel, at which time we decided to take a break & rest our feet. As we entered the hotel, we were surprisingly greeted by this huge...

aquarium, yes! Atop a bar in the middle of the hotel and surrounded by rooms on all 4 sides. Impressive! Ok it's called the AquaDom which is part (or rather the finale) of the 'SEA LIFE Berlin' exhibition. [Info at http://www.sealifeeurope.com/local/index.php?loc=berlin] You gotta queue up at a booth next to the hotel and get tix to enter the AquaDom. Obviously we were too tired..so we just admired it from below while having some wine & cakes :) Really cool to stumble upon something like this - the world's largest cylindrical aquarium.

After the recharge session, we continued our quest down Karl-Liebknecht-StraBe and towards Unter den Linden, a super long road that leads to the Brandenburg Gate. Passed by the Berlin Cathedral and Altes Museum.

Then we got distracted and turned right into a small street market at Hinter dem GieBhaus. From there, we wandered forward and unexpectedly found ourselves on Museum Island! Spoilt for choice. But we decided on the more popular one called 'Pergamon Museum'.

JIT to do a 1h tour before they closed at 6. We really loved how original-sized fragments were pieced together to form reconstructed monumental buildings like the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate of Miletus. The free audio guide was a great help. Highly recommended!

We also had the chance to take a stroll along the main shopping street called Kurfurstendamm in the other city center. Stumbled upon (again) the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. As you can see, the original spire of the old church (damaged in an bombing raid during WWII) was retained.

And that's the end of our Berlin discovery. A pity we couldn't get to see the other recommended attractions like the Brandenburg Gate, Parliament house etc. Nonetheless, think we did pretty well for a day!