Winter in Denmark

Decided to write this entry after much thought. Coz I've not been visiting new places in the past 2 weekends... but the scenery & weather has changed drastically in Copenhagen. Yup! imagine my surprise when last Sun, i woke up, open the blinds and realised that the scenery outside was white! yeah.... just a short span of about 8hrs, it snowed... and covered everywhere in white. it was a pretty sight to me. Coz i went home around 12 the night before after visiting my colleague. we went to Copenhagen to check out the christmas decorations and also the christmas markets.

white snow everywhere outside my apartment

I must say, copenhagen looked different with all the festive lights. We wanted to go into Tivoli. Coz i checked that Tivoli has a great christmas market... and the deco inside is really wonderful and mesmerizing. but we did not enter.... coz there was a huge queue. by the way, its not cheap to enter Tivoli... every adult has to pay 100 DKK just to enter. If u want to take the rides, u got to pay somemore.

CPH city hall... looks a little scary in the red lightings

Tivoli with the lights

Anyway, Francesca and her son and me just strolled down Støget. and we saw christmas lightings, markets etc. and lots of people doing christmas shopping. 

The start of Støget with the christmas deco

hundreds of candles being lighted up for a cancer awareness event

a christmas market in CPH

And yesterday, I visited Malmö for the 2nd time. I must say, this time i visited Malmö, the town definitely look much nicer. coz there was no fog! and the sun came out... but it was still cold. but the town really looked nice. I went to Malmö with my 3 other friends. Its been sometime since we went out together... it was nice to meet up and go out together and catch up. =D

Malmö

people with their dogs. and some of the dogs are really very unique dogs.

that's me on the bridge leading to the town center of Malmö. My friend captured this while i was going to take a picture of the scenery

that's 4 of us on the bridge

these friends of mine, unlike my Italian friend, do not bring lunch when we go out. So, we ate at a restaurant that was serving pizza. i must say the pizza was good... really good.... italian pizza. =D
After lunch was walking around and checking out the shops on the different things they were selling. most shops were selling christmasy things.... and clothes. some were cheap but most are expensive. I saw numerous nice things... but these days when i want to buy something i will always think properly if i seriously need them. if not i would just place the items back onto the shelves. hmmm.... even clothes... hahaha.... i will always think if i really need them otherwise i wouldn't buy. these days, the only places that i will purchase and have to visit on a weekly basis is the supermarkets! hahaha.... coz i need the supplies to cook my dinner + lunch. =P

group photo in the town square

ice sculpture

the shopping streets decked out with christmas deco

but I must say that Malmö is nice. at the town square, they even have lights strung into the design of reindeer and bears, penguins and igloos. really nice. my friends and i had quite a great time in Malmö. 

me & the huge lighted reindeer

more lightings behind me

Malmö at night

And today? i was holed up in my apartment... i did not get out. coz it was snowing pretty heavily the whole day.... and the winds were really strong. so i cooked korean tofu stew for dinner to keep myself warm. it was my 1st try with korean stew. and it turned out pretty good. i'll be having the same thing for lunch tomorrow!

yup! that's it for the time being. guess the next time i'll be writing will most probably be sometime end of this month or in jan. =D
Merry X'mas everyone & a Happy New Year! =D

2nd day in Netherlands - Delft & back to København

was busy studying for my Danish Language Module 1 test that took place today. Finally all the 'hard' work paid off! I passed! So i can register to take module 2. Yeah because I was studying for the test, i did not write the 2nd day's happenings in Netherlands.

Anyway, here it is......

I was not able to sleep well in Gerri's place. maybe because my air mattress was next to the entrance. And it was really cold that night even though the temperature in Gerri's room was about 21 degrees. Its just that the cold from the floor seep into the mattress, and in the middle of the night, it felt as if i was sleeping on a block of ice! yeah it was that bad. So i put on my thick jacket, put the blanket beneath me and over me and went back to sleep.

We woke up in the morning and the winds were howling madly outside. hmmm... today is a super super windy day. Anyway Gerri cooked Dutch pancakes (we felt that they were crepe rather than pancakes) for breakfast. After eating and doing our morning prayers, we were ready to explore the old town of Delft. As I mentioned earlier, today is a super windy day. And really it was windy. the winds were so strong that they can blow u away. I mean I've read such phrases in children's books in the past and never gave it much thought. But seriously this is true here in Delft! The winds are not chillingly cold like in Copenhagen but they are extremely strong!

Taken outside Gerri's apartment. The building in the far back is the Delft University building

Bike parking area in Delft train station

Parked bikes

The town center of Delft is rather nice. ermmm... but it look pretty similar to the streets in Amsterdam. even the town square looks a little similar to the Dam square in Amsterdam... only thing is the buildings' names are different, but architectual is the same.

one of the many canals in Delft

Quiet streets in Delft.... coz its Sunday. Apparently Netherlands is similar to Denmark. Shops are not opened on Sundays in towns.

And Delft is interesting, I mean there were 2 churches. 1 is called the new church and the other the old church! hahaha.... the new church's name is 'Nieuwe Kerk' and the old church's name is 'Oude Kerk'. According to Gerri, the New Church was built because the people noticed the tower of the Old church slanting. And the people of Delft were worried, So they built a new one. But in this day, the old church is still standing, with the tower tilted. And both churches looked old to me.... can't really tell which is new or old.

Town square of Delft

Stadhuis (city hall building) by the way, this building is still being used by the people as office. ermm... sort of like the town office. 

'Nieuwe Kerk'

Dutch achitectual

'Oude Kerk'

coats of insignia on an old building

Delft is more well known for the university. Not sure if you know, but Delft University is the top university in Netherlands. So basically lots of students studying in Delft University staying in this town. And there is a special item that is sold in shops, is an invention of Delft Univeristy! ermmm... its an umbrella! hahaha.... not something majestic. Apparently, this umbrella is an aerodynamic umbrella! So what so special about this umbrella? its longer in the front. This is to shield the user from the strong winds. Coz its often 1 meet strong winds in Delft. And the umbrella is not cheap.... really expensive. 1 brolly cost 49€. shocking!

The famous and expensive aerodynamic umbrella

We also walked a little further.... coz Gerri wanted to show us the one and only windmill in Delft. But this windmill is 'botak'! hahaha.... as in the windmill did not have any sails. Most probably the sail had been destroyed... could be due to the super strong winds there. 

The windmill with no wind sills

After walking around the town, we headed back to Gerri's place for Keito to get her luggage. Then we took the train to the airport. At Leiden, we bade farewell to Gerri. I told her that most probably i'll see her in s'pore next christmas when i go back for a short visit and to extend my passport. 

Leaving Delft

In the train heading to Schipol airport

Bading farewell to Gerri at Leiden station

Farewell Netherlands! Till we meet again! =D

The time passed so quickly.... and soon at Kaastrup (København airport) i had to bade farewell to Keito. Coz Keito will be taking the Regional Train to Sweden, whilst i took the metro to Nørreport and from there take the bus to my place. Yeah my eventful weekend just passed by like this... and tomorrow is back to work & danish lessons!