North Wales trip 20-22 Jun

Aunt Nic was here to visit me from 18 Jun.. so we decided to take 3 days to go to North Wales and Snowdonia for a visit. It was quite a last minute trip, and the train tix were too ex by then, so we rented a car to drive all the way. Thanks to Liping for driving throughout the trip, with some relief driving from Aunt Nic and myself (erm only bout 15min or so for me though!)


At Llandudno




Very strong wind..


The Great Orme Marine Drive






At the Garth Pier at Bangor


Caernarfon Castle - the Prince of Wales castle


View of Caernarfon from the castle








Tour of Llanberis Lake on the Llanberis Lake Railway. We wanted to take the Snowdonia steam train actually, but we accidentally took this train by mistake :( quite disappointed..






Vivian quarry - diving courses are held in the quarry.


Driving in the fog...


Snowdonia's Swallow falls




Welsh coast off Holyhead at Isle of Anglesey.











Although the weather is quite bad (as you can see from the overcast sky), it had been a very relaxing trip at a slow pace.

Berlin trip (13-15 Jul)

Finally, I went to Berlin to watch the Berlin Philharmonic live in concert! It's a very good concert and good trip overall. Thought I learnt quite alot about the Berlin history from this trip. Must say that we had a very good guide (those free travel guides but whom we pay a tip to).

Even though I've been to Berlin before in 1997 with NJCSB, I can't really rem much of it alread. Maybe also coz we didn't really spend alot of time in Berlin back then.


Checkpoint Charlie - one of the borders between East and West Berlin back in those days.


A fragment of Berlin Wall.


Adlon Hotel - the one which MJ dangled his baby from the balcony.


Brandenburg Gate


The Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Designed by architect Peter Eisenman.


Up to your own imagination what these represent.


A longer stretch of the Berlin Wall.


"Mother with her Dead Son" - sculpture sitting in the Neue Wache. This reminded me of Michelangelo's Pieta.. very sad sculpture. depicting how a woman lost her son and grandson in WW1 and WW2.


Berliner Dome - Church of the Kaisers


A lego giraffe


Pork knuckles for dinner!


Inside the Berlin Philharmonic Hall


The highlight of the trip! - Concert by the Berlin Philharmonic!


Night view of the Reichstag


Night view of the Brandenburg Gate


These are new government buildings just across the Reichstag.


Queueing to visit the Reichstag.


Inside the Reichstag building - This is the parliament building for the German government.




The Victory Column in the distance..






The glass dome of the Reichstag


Inside the Pergamon Museum - This is the Pergamon Altar, originally built in the 2nd century BC in the ancient Greek city of Pergamon. Modern day Bergama in Turkey.


Walls covered in lions on grazed bricks leading to the Ishtar Gate.


The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtniskirche memorial church - badly damaged in a bombing raid during the war.




A floating hostel


At the East Side Gallery. This consists of 100++ paintings painted on the east side of the Berlin Wall. This is probably the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing today.




An artist hard at work. They are revamping the gallery.


Leaving my mark on the wall.


An area yet to be revamped.


A chocolate version of the Brandenburg Gate


The Jewish Museum