SEP Munich, Germany – Nothing – Day 12-15 – 16-19.05.2011

Really have nothing to write for these few days, just plain school days.

Anyway, I knew this will happen sooner or later, so I’ve prepared something for me to write!

My Way To Reduce Expenses: Self-cooking!

Well, frankly speaking the food in Europe is not considered expensive if you don’t think about the exchange rate. The number is just about the same with what we usually see in Singapore or Malaysia. However the ingredients here are considerably cheap without the exchange rate! Besides, since the electricity bill is included in my rental fee, and the utensils are relatively complete (it’s more than enough though) so why not cooking myself?!

So basically I cook myself, so as YC, almost for every meal.

Breakfast

Cheese Sausage with Bull-eyes Egg + Hazelnut Coffee

Toast, Assorted Biscuits with Tomato + Nescafe
(Well this does not seem like cooking anyway)

Biscuits, Baked Mozzarella-topped  Toast with Poached Egg + Nescafe

Baked Baguette topped with Mozzarella + Nescafe

Lunch

Nothing. Normally biscuit or bread. I realised that my meals outside are all lunch, gotta think a way to solve this.

Dinner

Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce and Grated Cheese
(This was a failure, I put too much water to the sauce)

Retry: Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce and Grated Cheese
(And this was a success!)

Variation: Boiled-Broccoli-topped Spaghetti with Sliced-Mushroom-mixed Tomato Sauce
(Another success! But too many mushroom I think)

Wah spaghetti in a row… Well I bought a package of spaghetti and it’s written 2-3 meals on it. However it can be served for 4 of my meals! (Actually no problem for 5 too, even divided into 4 the portion is still quite big). And guess how much is the package of spaghetti? 0.65 euro!

I shall try rice next time!

SEP Munich, Germany – Deutsches Museum – Day 11 – 15.05.2011

It’s International Museum Day today! We heard that “all” museum will be free for entrance today, so why not a trip to museum?

After some route planning (it’s a long story), we have selected one of the most representing museums in Munich: The Deutsches Museum.

Some background info: The full name of Deutsches Museum is German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology, being the largest museum of science and technology in the world, it exhibits about 28000 objects from 50 fields of science and technology, and is attracting approximately 1.5 million visitors annually! (Wikipedia – Deutsches Museum)

I remembered it’s situated in Isartor, so we headed there, but lost our way! Anyway losing ways always open doors for explorations.

An unknown church in Isartor, not opened for visit that day.

The monument of Maximilian II: One of the King of Bavaria.

After walking around for some moment we tried to ask for direction. When we approached two quite promising guys with “Entschuldigung” (“Excuse me” in German), they were stunned and kept saying “Oh we don’t know, we don’t know.” and pointing the map on their hands. Anyway, we managed to find the way to Deutsches Museum but:

It’s International Museum Day!

So a long queue. The museum is on the right side.

Getting closer to it.

But wait why a queue? Do they have to do some traffic control to prevent overcrowded situation? No, all of us were queuing for ticket. (Later I knew that not all but most museums will have free entrance on that day, and unfortunately a ticket is required here.

It’s stated that photography is allowed but no photo shall be uploaded to the internet, so I’ll minimize it here.

We were attracted by a loud bang after entering the museum. Thought it’s some terrorist attacks but it’s actually this:

I don’t know what this device is called, but the bang is from this device. There was a demonstration there about generating electricity. When enough charges are gathered on each sphere and sufficient potential difference is achieved to break the air insulation, the charges will jump from one sphere to another, somewhat like the thunder too.

So this is how T. Edison looked like.

Next Room: Siemens Room

Again there is this unknown thing there…

Next Room: Aircraft Room

One of the exhibited turbines.

Next Room: Train Room

Models of train~

A giant model of track. The real track is located around the Bavarian Alps, South of Germany.

Next Room: Unknown

Cassette tape library. I’ve no idea on how it works though.

Next Room: Old-Days Products

The traditional wooden radios!

Typewriter? No, it’s a mechanical calculator.

Old-days soaps.

Next Don’t Know How Many Rooms

A bicycle photo. In hologram though. XD

Very finely made glass with high transparency.

Then we went through a series of physics lab with a bunch of hand-on experiments for us to play with. We tried here and tried there until we were tired to try anymore…

The ships room.

We were too tired at this point and thus we called it a day. I believe we didn’t even finish exploring half of the museum! Maybe next time, when we suddenly wants to finish it.

SEP Munich, Germany – Frühlingsfest – Day 10 – 14.05.2011

It’s Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival)!

I didn’t intend to take the uncle’s photo but….

This visit is kind of unplanned. SY just somehow either suddenly recalled or accidentally saw this on a tourist magazine (I forgot which one ><) and suggested a visit there before it ends. And of course, why not?!

Well talking about Spring Festival it must be some kind of festival that have bazaars with countless stalls of flowers, perhaps some fresh crops from the farms, maybe dailies too: Some kind of peaceful and relaxing agricultural image.

This year’s Frühlingsfest is held in Theresienwiese, we manage to get there within 30 minutes.

The Frühlingsfest!

Wait what?! This is “Spring” Festival? We were stunned the moment we get out from the subway, and without any mistake this is the Frühlingsfest!

The Frühlingsfest is a festival that is held to celebrate spring and to welcome the summer, and yea the weather is getting warmer lately. This theme-park-style festival is their way to celebrate it! (After I googled a bit, this kind of spring festival is not rare in Europe, and the largest one is in Stuttgart)

After calming down a bit (it’s really out of expectation) I somehow have a thought of “maybe it’s some kind of fun-fair look-alike thing”, but the moment I walked in it has proved me wrong: It’s more than a fun fair.

Top Spin: It spins you 360 degree in a big circle and also your seat! Of course I tried it! And it started to rain half way!

High Energy: I don’t know how to explain…. Spin and spin and spin and spin….

A proof of I did try it!

Go Kart.

Spin and spin and spin again!

Well there are some more but due to my current disappointing internet connection speed (can you believe it’s 64kbps?!) I’ll just select a small portion of them.

Not to forget a beer garden! (Inside the fest)

Oh did I mention about beer garden before? Beer garden is simply a place (usually open place) for people to have their drink of beer with foods. I dare to say that almost all Germans are good in drinking. The number of beer garden in Munich is almost countless, and they are always crowded with people (at least whenever I walked pass a beer garden). There’s a beer garden near my home called the Hirshgarten, which is one of the largest beer garden in Munich, that can accommodate 10000 people for beer drinking at the same time!

My lunch: Prawn rolls(?) with Cheese and Mayonnaise
It’s 3 euro but I swear the amount of prawns in it make it suit the price very well. Along the roll there are 3 types of cheese and mayonnaise filled, such that you can cut it into three portions for three different flavours. But it’s all in one now!

After getting on some rides and after the rain, due to financial constraint we set our way back. On our way back there’s this building:

Paulskirche (The Church of St. Paul)

The Paulskirche is a Catholic church which is situated in Theresienwiese (of course). It is 97 meters high, which is the highest tower in that region. Built in 1906 from 1892 with neo-gothic style, it’s quite a famous place but we didn’t know!

We Were Lucky

Ascending the tower of St. Paul is allowed!

Before that some interior look first.

The front door of the church.

The hall. It’s so grand and gave me a magnificent feeling.

The inner hall.

Looking from inside out.

The organ in the side hall and the Holy Gail.

And we ascend the tower!

Via this staircase!

Viewing the Frühlingsfest from the tower!

The view of part of Munich from the tower.

There are much more but those are left for facebook!

The moment we went home it’s about 9pm already. But the sky is still not yet dark.

At Hauptbanhof (Central Station): Look at the sky!

And it’s Sunday tomorrow!

SEP Munich, Germany – Study Day – Day 9 – 13.05.2011

Well, I don’t have class today.

Anyway since I missed my lectures and tutorials for the first week, I have to catch them up! So no matter what today is dedicated for my lecture notes, and sadly no webcast! ><

A brief overview of my study here:
Basically the system is just the normal university style with lectures and tutorials. However the time slot is 1.5 hour per lecture and 45 minutes per tutorial. Ok it doesn’t sound very great but MOST modules (of mine, but I believe this applies to the overview too) are just one lecture per week! At most one lecture with one tutorial.

This is my school hours throughout an arbitrary week:
Mon: 3 lectures = 3 x 1.5 hours + 2 x 15 minutes transition = 5 hours
Tue: 1 tutorial = 45 minutes
Wed: Nothing
Thu: 1 lecture + 1 tutorial = 1.5 hours+ 45 minutes + 2 hours gap = 4h 15 m
Fri: Nothing

So excluding the relatively not so complex project from one module my weekly school time will be 10 hours! Sounds impossible for 4 modules in NUS right! But it’s the truth!

Perhaps the contents are lesser? Nope, the contents are rich but compact. Thus intensive self-study is needed; Anyway I prefer self-study even when I’m in NUS.

So what I do during those free time? Hmm… I also don’t know, but the confirmed thing is that I’ve spent some quality time on sightseeing. Hmmm, that’s not bad right? What say you?

SEP Munich, Germany – Glyptothek – Day 8 – 12.05.11

Wait a second, Day 8 again?! Yep, I really messed up with the dates, especially after the blogger one-day-down incident. So the Marienplatz should be Day 7, but where’s the ice-cream part then? Ahhhh, I don’t know ><

And as you might guessed, it’s Glyptothek today!

GLYPTOTHEK – Sculptures of the Greeks and Romans

And again as you can guess it’s all about sculptures, it’s A.R.T.! Well Munich is famous with its artistic elements and the abundance of museums, and Glyptothek is one of the most visit-or-regret museum in Munich. Since it’s within walking distance from my school (I dare to say it’s less than 1km) so why not to have a look inside!

Reminder: It’s about ART!

The first sculpture after buying ticket. This brown-coloured sculpture seems to have some Egyptian elements with it. Cross-linking it with the obelisk (The tall black monument with flowers), there should be something interesting to be explored!

Sea-shell sculpture. I wonder why Germans like sea-shell design so much?

A portion of the horizontal “beam” of an ancient building.

The highlight of Glyptothek. There are a lot of students/art lovers sitting along the wall to sketch this.

A kid with a…. duck? Anyway notice the top-left corner, see something? Yup it’s Greek!

A closer look to the characters.

More of them!

A group of soldiers with commander. This can be seen at the “triangle area” above the main door of ancient military buildings.

A don’t know what building at the side of a cliff! Well this is made of wood, so does it still considered sculpture?

Another wooden model. Notice the “triangle area” I mentioned just now?

This hall is a bit mysterious. As you can see there are quite a number of sculptures inside, and it was very quite… Oh ya, and it was about to rain that time.

Shot taken while sitting on the bench. Got a feeling that everyone was looking at me…

Mother Theresa, if I remember correctly. See how detailed the work is!

And along with the ticket the access to another museum nearby is granted. It is the one just opposite Glyptothek:

Staatliche Antikensammlungen! (State Collections of Antiques)

As the name indicates it’s about antiques. Tonnes of antiques from ancient to old to near-modern can be seen inside. Talking about antique it’s about art too! (Too bad I’m an engineering student, but engineers ought to have some senses of aesthetic too!)

The first that caught my eyesight: Sea-shell again!

A vase. Or a urn?

Another vase or urn. But notice the stand, it’s too small to be useful right?

The first idea that came across my mind was 照妖镜 (Demon-revealing Mirror). But it’s really a mirror after all!

This urn (I’d say it’s urn) is way too large. The height is about 130cm or above I guess.

Now this is the interesting one. It’s not too large, just slightly taller than a 1.5L bottle. Seems to be quite plain and sturdy. Wait sturdy?!

This is why I say it’s sturdy! This is the X-ray image of the urn(?) above! It’s sort of pointless to have such a tall urn with no practical volume to fill in anything! Too bad I don’t know German so there’s nothing to explain to me.

And it’s not one but a dozen of it.

I wondered what is this ancient machine when I passed by it. Any idea?

And when I passed by this I sort of getting an idea of what was the machine just now.

The machine is a jewel/gem carver! Notice how fine the art on this amethyst (should be?).

A plate, zodiac plate.

Next Stop: The Building in the middle of Roundabout

This building is right in the middle of a roundabout. I was once thought that it’s a museum, but I was wrong. It sort of like a wall or gate or something I don’t know.

I don’t know what it is even after I looked at this…

And after I wiki about it the Propyläen can be translated into Propylaea in English. As I’ve guessed it’s a gate! It was built as a memorial for the accession to the throne of Otto of Greece, a son of the principal King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Never forget to cite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylaea_(Munich)