Warsaw: a city of beauty and sad history (2)

In the first part (here), I cover the accommodation part. While in the second part now, I will cover the places that I visited during my short time in Warsaw.

Tourist Information Center

Tourist Information Center

Before I’m taking you to any of the tourist attractions, first let me bring you to the tourist information center. This huge building is located just behind the Palace of Culture and Science (Polish: Pałac Kultury i Nauki) or in front of Warszawa Centralna Station (Polish: Dworzec Warszawa Centralna). I was amused by the architecture of the building and seems really huge from the outside. We can get information about how to go around the city, the tourism spots, free city maps, and free Wi-Fi connection.

The opening hours are as follow:
May – September: Mon – Sun, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
October – April: Mon – Sun, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Polish: Grób Nieznanego Żołnierza)

Garden inside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a monument built in the central of Warsaw. It is located at Warsaw’s Piłsudski Square. This monument is dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives to Poland. In the main gate, where the tomb is located at, is constantly lit by an eternal flame and assisted by a guard post by the Representative Battalion of the Polish Army. If you happen to be here before noon, don’t miss the changing of the guard ceremony that usually takes place daily at 12.00 noon.

The rest of the area are garden where you can sit around and during summer there are so many people from young to old going there to enjoy the sun, as well as couple to have their pre-wedding photo shot.

The Fryderyk Chopin Museum

Fryderyk Chopin Museum

One of the memorabilia

From the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, you can continue walking to the Fryderyk Chopin Museum. This small yet lovely museum housed in Ostrogski Palace (Pałac Ostrogskich), strikingly situated on the Vistula escarpment. The museum exhibits the world’s richest and most varied collection of memorabilia related to both Chopin as an individual and his work. The collection includes manuscripts and printed copies of Chopin’s works, his correspondence, autographs, notes, works of art, personal items belonging to the composer and his piano.

The electronic ticket

This newly renovated museum is a multimedia exhibitions. By paying for the ticket, you will receive an electronic card of which you can use to activate the commentary and information in several languages, and listen to Chopin’s music.

No matter if you are a tourist, a musicologist, or even a child, I think almost everyone will find something in this museum to amuse them. This museum is awesomely designed so that everyone can create their own sightseeing route and itinerary in accordance to their personal interests. The entire exhibition consists of 15 rooms.

The museum opens from Tuesday to Sunday (11 a.m. – 8 p.m.) with the admission fee of 22 złs for regular visitor. I traveled with my student card so that I can get the reduced ticket price for 13 złs. It says that the admission is free on every Tuesday. I was so lucky that at the time I visited the museum, there was a musical performance for kids at the garden just right behind the museum. Everyone can join the musical performance of two flautists and a pianist.

Royal Castle in Warsaw

Royal Palace in Warsaw

The Royal Castle in Warsaw (Polish: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie) is a castle residency and was the official residence of the Polish monarchs. It is located in the Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. In its long history, the Royal Castle was repeatedly devastated and plundered by Swedish, Brandenburgian, German, and Russian armies.

The interior consists of many different rooms, such as: The Jagiellonian Rooms, The Houses of Parliament, The Royal Apartment, The Lanckoroński Collection, and The Copper-Roof Palace. Unfortunately, at the time I went there, I couldn’t find the way to get into the Copper-Roof Palace.

The most interesting part for me is to see Rembrandt’s paintings which are “Girl in the Picture Frame” and “Scholar at the Desk”. The Girl in the Picture Frame painting is exhibited along with its x-ray photograph. The x-ray photograph of Girl in the Picture Frame revealed a different female figure under the one that was finally shown. This x-ray photograph somehow appears to be a bit spooky to me. Hahahaha..

Left: x-ray photograph, Right: final painting as we see

The regular admission fee for the castle tour costs 22 złs. However, when I went there, the royal palace was opened for free for public.

They have different opening hours for winter and summer that you can check online here.

Jewish Cemetery

Jewish Cemetery

The Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. It is located on Warsaw’s Okopowa street. The cemetery was established in 1806 and occupies 33 hectares of land. The cemetery contains over 200,000 marked graves as well as mass graves victims of the Warsaw Ghetto. The cemetery has become a dense forest in the post-war period.

I couldn’t spend much time here in this cemetery as it feels soooo spooky. Hahahaha… Maybe if you are brave enough, you can not miss to visit this place 🙂

Warsaw Rising Museum (Polish: Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego)

The museum is located in former trams power station. It was open for public on the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of fighting in the city. It is a tribute to those who fought and died for a free Poland and its capital. The exhibition shows the struggle of everyday life before and during the Warsaw Uprising and the horror of occupation — which was a complex international situation — to the post-war communist terror. Images and sounds present the days prior to the outbreak of the Uprising, its subsequent phases, as well as the insurgents’ exit and their subsequent fate. It exhibits nearly 1,500 photographs and films.

If you are interested with Warsaw’s uprising history and how their struggle through the war, this is a must visit museum! You will get the ambiance and emotion through the photographs, audios, and videos played here.

That’s all about the places I visited in Warsaw, and I hope you enjoy it. See you in the next trip 🙂

Warsaw: a city of beauty and sad history (1)

There is no way to understand this Nation, which has had such a wonderful and at the same time terribly difficult past, without Christ. There is no way to understand this City, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, which in 1944 took up an uneven fight with the invader, a fight in which it was abandoned by the allied powers, in which it fell under the same ruins in front of the Holy Cross Church on Krakowskie Przedmiescie St. – from the speech made by John Paul II in Zwyciestwa Square (now Jozef Pilsudki Sq.) on June 2, 1979

There are no words that could describe my journey to Warsaw better than what was stated by John Paul II, as quoted above.

In this first part, I will share about the hostel, mode of transportations I used, and their awesome foods. Later on the second part, I will share more about the places I visited.

Random steps to Warsaw

Unlike the experience I had when I went to France of which I have heard what people says about this country beforehand so that I have had certain expectation when visited Paris in April 2014, this time I had no expectation at all when I so randomly decided to go to Warsaw this summer. The journey started from July 5, 2014 to July, 8 2014.

All journeys should start from a piece of commitment called ‘ticket’. I booked return ticket with Ryan Air for around 57 euros. After having the ticket, I started looking for an accommodation. Since I was travelling alone, I prefered to stay in backpacker hostel so it would be more likely for me to meet someone new to travel with. I instantly chose Oki Doki Hostel as a place to stay in Warsaw. I stayed in 6 beds dorm and it costed me 150 złs for 4 days and 3 nights stay (1 euro equal to around 4.1 złs).

Oki Doki Hostel

This place is comfortable since the bedroom is so clean, with wi-fi, laundry, and kitchen facilities. The bathroom and toilet were also clean. You can use the refrigerator and kitchen utensils provided by them in the kitchen area. I have no problem at all during my stay in Oki Doki hostel. The location of the hostel is exactly in the center of Warsaw. It’s very close to Warsaw Central Station (Warszawa Centralna). The hostel is easily reached since there are many options of trams, buses, and trains going to this direction.

The only thing you have to anticipate when staying in this hostel in Summer is: a mosquito repellent! Since the weather is hot, then you have to open the window in order to be able to sleep and let the air to circulate. As the consequence, you will not only invite the air to come in, but also the mosquitos 😀 If you forget to bring mosquito repellent, no need to worry since there is one Carrefour Express pretty close to the hostel that sales a mosquito repellent for 6 złs.

You can also ask for Warsaw city map and explanations about bus/tram number from the receptionists.

Mode of Transportations

Warsaw is a city that has very convenient public transportations. From Modlin Airport, I took a direct shuttle bus to Warsaw Center (right in front of Palace of Culture and Science, polish: Pałac Kultury i Nauki) for 33 zł. The bus is very comfortable and is also equipped with wi-fi. The payment can be made using credit card (visa or mastercard) or debit card. Modlin bus schedule can be obtained here.

For local transport, we can easily use the trams/buses. The schedule of the bus and tram are very frequent and they operated until quite late at night (around 11.30 p.m.). You can buy the ticket in almost every tram or bus station. There are some options that you can use: single trip ticket (4.40 złs), 24 hour ticket (15.00 złs), weekend ticket (applied from Friday night (after 7 p.m.) – Monday morning (before 8 a.m.) ) for 24.00 złs. Good news is for you who is a student of < 26 years old. If you travel with your international student card, you are allowed to get 50% bus & tram ticket reductions! Yeeey…!!

More complete information about their public transportation system can be found on their website here.

You can also look for the bus/tram line number along with their schedules from Jakdojade site. They have different site for different city in Poland. I found it to be so easy to use and very helpful.

What to eat?

I have nothing to complain about Polish foods. They are all very yummy and (as compared to Western Europe) cheap 😀 Hihihi… I really can’t do travelling without tasting local foods. Found local recommendation through yelp.com was the best decision for me.

Polish red sausage with sour cabbage

Zapiecek

I spent two dinners in Zapiecek. They sale mostly traditional Polish foods and are famous for their Polish dumplings. For the first dinner, I tried their Polish red sausage with sour cabbage and Polish beer (Tyskie). The sausage served with bread as well.

For the second dinner, I went to their restaurant that is located in the old town with a friend I met in Oki Doki Hostel. Her name is Amy. She is a traveler from New Zealand. This time, we went for their dumpling. She ordered spinach dumpling with butter sauce and I ordered Russian dumpling with sour cream. I have to say this time that I prefer their spinach dumpling than the Russian one. For after meal, we ordered dumpling with strawberry and blueberry, served with vanilla sauce. This a nice choice to be had as an after meal.

This time, I ordered susz compote (Polish: Kompot) for the drink. Compotes are drinks prepared of fruits (usually fresh, though sometimes can be also dried). Sugar is added and sometimes cloves are used as a spice. The most popular fruits used in Poland are: apples, morello cherries, currants, cherries, strawberries, pears, and a rhubarb. It’s served better in cold. For compote that uses dried fruits are called ‘susz’. In contrast with raw fruit compotes, susz has a brown color muddy look, and a very peculiar taste. I still find the taste and smell is nice.

Bułkę Przez Bibułkę

Juliusz C. sandwich

For the first breakfast, we went to this small restaurant located in Ul. Puławska 24. This restaurant is famous for their sandwich that is served with special dip sauce. I ordered their infamous capuccino (8 złs) and Juliusz C. sandwich (14.90 złs). The sandwich is filled with chicken fillet, fresh veggies, and bacon. My friend, Amy had the Muesli served with the yoghurt (10 złs) and a fresh juice. Eventually, these meals became our brunch due to their portions and it was indeed fulfilling.

Batida

Beef Ragout

For our second brunch, we chose to have it in Batida. It was located exactly around the Plac Konstytucji (Marszałkowska 53). From the design of their restaurant, we thought that it was a fancy restaurant that would give overpriced food. The place is so comfortable, cozy, and not too noisy. I ordered their lunch package for 19.90 złs that includes onion sup and a beef ragout. The service was very good although not many waiters are able to speak english fluently.

Since got into this restaurant I was tempted to taste their pâtisserie too, unfortunately since they served the food in a big enough portion (for me), I had to hold my appetite for a moment.

But I was so surprised when we had finished our meal, the waiter served us a small portion of strawberry pie. And it was a finger lickin good strawberry pie *nom*.

Batida’s Strawberry Pie

In the afternoon, after I came back from walking around the city, I impulsively decided to go back to this restaurant only to taste one of their so tempting pâtisseries. I randomly went for Sernik (Polish cheesecake). Sernik is like a very popular cake that you will find in almost every part of Poland. And just like before, this was one thing that I did not regret to have had.

Polish cheesecake: sernik

That’s a wrap for this part, I will cover about places that I went in Warsaw on the second part.

See yaaa… 🙂

Why do we love Namur?

Breathtaking view of Namur from the Citadel in summer

This time, the trip takes us to Namur. Namur is one of the French speaking part of Belgium (Wallonia). Situated in the southern part of Belgium, this beautiful city stands at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse rivers. From Hasselt (the city where I currently live at), the trip will take around 2 hours using the train. The train will first take you to Liege then continue to this capital of both province of Namur and Wallonia (since 1986).

With the history of over than 100,000 years ago, Namur was developed into a prosperous merchant town in the late Middle Ages. With such a long history from the ancient times, medieval, to modern times, Namur has become a small lovely city with a combination of both historical and modern places.

We can explore this small city in a day by foot. The number of pedestrian streets make it in fact rather difficult to penetrate by car. Unfortunately, we arrived in Namur by 4 in the afternoon, and just like the other cities in Belgium, most of the stores and attractions are closed by 6 pm.

Citadel & Medieval Castle 

Located not too far from Namur Station (15 minutes by foot), this place dominating the hill at the confluence of the Meuse and the Sambre. This huge stone fortress has a history going back over 2,000 years. Site of a Celtic oppidum, it later became a Roman fort, then the Castle of the Counts of Namur. The extensive citadel around the castle was built by Menno van Coehoorn and improved by Vauban in the 17th century. The Guy Delforge Perfumery is located on top of the citadel [1]. From this place, we can enjoy the view of Namur that perfectly blends with the two rivers.

Halle al’Chair

Halle al’Chair

On the way to Citadel from Namur central station, we will find Halle al’Chair exactly before the bridge that crosses over the Sambre. Constructed between 1588 and 1590, the Halle al’Chair served as Namur’s meat and fish market until 1806. It is currently used as the Archeological Museum that is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm with the ticket price of only 3€. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the chance to get into this building this time.

Secondhand Bookstore

The view and the amazing history of Namur are not the only reason why we love this small city. On our way to look around the city, we accidentally found this awesome secondhand bookstore in the heart of Namur.

Oxfam Solidarité Bookshop

There are a wide range of books sold in this bookstore. Starting from old Agatha Christie’s, arts, musics, even the latest Harry Potter’s books are available here. In this lovely bookstore, you will not only find awesome old books, but also old vinyl record, VHS cassettes, CD, DVDs, and VCDs. One additional point to this bookstore is that they sell books and piece of art that are sold to support the Oxfam organization. Isn’t it awesome? All you need is just a feeling of love towards these awesome stuffs to find the books or things you desire. Most of the books are in French though they have small sections for English, Dutch, and German too.

Oxfam Solidarité Bookshop: Arts section

Namur’s Market

In the centrum, right in front of the Places d’Armes and Belfry, we found the local market that sales ranges of products from craft, jewelry, organic foods, etc. We bought 6 jars of jam for 10€. At the end, don’t forget to sip a glass of Namur’s white beer.

Cheers!

See you on the next trip! 🙂

 

 

References:
[1] http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/namur.shtml
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namur,_Belgium

 

A thousand malls country, Singapore

Singapore’s Night View

This is not my first time to be in Singapore. And just like my first experience, I still don’t like Singapore that much. Especially as Singapore now feels more highly dense populated than before. So this time, me and my boyfriend only do culinary hunting from one place to another. Below are some restaurants that you might find to be good especially for Indonesian taste 🙂

1. Toa Payoh MRT – Food Court

In Toa Payoh MRT station, you will find a very long queue during lunch time for people to order rojak. Only one stall in Toa Payoh MRT station that sells rojak. It is located near the escalator. You can order for medium or large portion. Though the taste is quite different with the rujak that we have known in Indonesia, this kind of rojak is worth to try for the sake of science 😀

2. Tiong Bahru Pau – Toa Payoh MRT Station

This is still located within Toa Payoh MRT Station complex. I haven’t tried for its pork pau, but so far I am addicted to its small chicken pau and har gao. There are two sizes you can choose for the paus, small one or the large one. For the small one, the price is S$0.9 and the large one is S$1.9. My boyfriend prefer the large one but I prefer the small one as the chicken has been chopped into smaller pieces. Both the chicken pau and har gao have thin skins that make it tastes really good.

3. Minang House – Lucky Plaza
304 Orchard Road Lucky Plaza #02-04

Hahaha.. Do you believe that I go to Singapore to enjoy masakan Padang? It is my boyfriend’s full responsibility to take the blame :p Yes, it’s because he is craving for masakan Padang (Padang cuisine) after quite some time he hasn’t been back home yet. He is a die hard masakan Padang eater so he has highly demand to Padang restaurant. After googling and found very creepy result such as: authentic malaysian masakan Padang — hold on, there is something not right here.. ya yaaa.. whaaat?! malaysian masakan Padang?! Where do you think Padang is located in?! — we finally read review about this Padang restaurant that Indonesian said this restaurant serves authentic taste.

Aaand, yes!!! It really is.. The taste is very authentic with varied menus and they also serve Indonesian traditional drink like es cendol.

4. Egg tart – Tong Heng Confectionary, Chinatown
285 South Bridge Road, China Town

Egg Tart @ Tong Heng Confectionary

As one of the oldest confectioneries in Singapore, Tong Heng confectionary is famous for its traditional chinese pastries. I only give a try to its signature egg tart. Unlike other egg tart that conventionally round in shape, Tong Heng’s egg tart is made in a unique diamond shape. You can try an egg tart for only S$ 1.5 and you can choose whether you wanna have it there or take it away. I highly recommend you to go to this place and have a try 🙂 You will easily fall in love with its crispy crust and smooth egg fills the middle of the egg tart.

5. Le Cuisson
Blk 40 Holland Drive

Surprise yourself with a hawker french restaurant, Le Cuisson that is located at Holland Drive. Though the price is quite expensive for standard hawker foods (you will spend >S$ 14 for the main courses), but it really worths the price! Hafiz’ friend, Tasia recommended us this place. She said that the chef was used to work in a fancy French restaurant located in Marina Bay Sands. But he then quitted and started to build his own restaurant.

We tried two menus, I tried Cassoulet with Sausage Trio (lamb, pork, and beef) for S$ 14

Cassoulet with Sausage Trio

And my boyfriend tried the Angus 150day grain for S$ 18

The Angus 150day Grain

And we both just remain silence while having this main courses and keep feeding ourselves.. Yummy!!! If there is one reason for us going back to Singapore, it must be because of Le Cuisson… :9 If you are interested and want to find out more, you can go to their Facebook page: Le Cuisson

There you are. Hope you become salivate :p See you in our next trip.

Sawarna Beach: the lost small paradise in Banten

If you probably have ever wondered where I took the photo I use as the header of my blog, I will tell you more about the place here. Yes, it is our beautiful small paradise, Sawarna Beach.

Sunset at Sawarna Beach

With a distance of 170 km towards the south of Jakarta, Sawarna beach is located in Sawarna Village, Bayah District, Lebak, Banten. Sawarna itself is a coastal village that has varied interesting tourism spots. Lately, people have become more aware about this place as many local travel agents have offered trip to Sawarna. It becomes more complete with spectacular waves for surfing enthusiasts. Therefore, it is not a surprise that the beaches are becoming a new heaven for Australian, Japan, and Korean surfers.

Sawarna village will not only offer you with its beautiful beaches, but also a wide range of interesting attractions to visit such as rivers, forests, rock cliffs, caves, and agro-tourism. Similar to the southern coastal region of Java, this place fuses with the mythical story of Nyai Roro Kidul.

Before I tell you further about this place, please prepare yourself to be impressed with the vast stretches of rice fields, beautiful panoramic view of the village, lined palm and oak trees with blowing fresh air that you can enjoy all day long… It is just a perfect place to hide away from the hustle and bustle of big cities.

Goa Laylay (Laylay Cave)

Goa Laylay, Sawarna

Goa Laylay (Laylay Cave) also known as Goa Kelelawar (Bat Cave). It is a cave where hundreds bats are living in and you will find clear water that flows in the cave. Goa Laylay formed from the cracks of limestone due to tectonic activities. The length of the cave is estimated can be up to 1,000 meters. The water dissolves the limestone before it sediments and in the end creates varied cave ornaments. The base of this cave is a muddy underground river with the thickness between 10-15 cm.

Sawarna BeachSawarna beach is the main attractions that is located within ± one kilometer from the suspension bridge near the entrance of Sawarna Village. We can only reach this beach using motorbike or by foot. It is mainly because of the small suspension bridge that only has one meter width. Sawarna beach is a white sand beach, typical of most beaches in Java island.

Tanjung Layar

Two Standing Corals, Tanjung Layar

Tanjung Layar can be reached by walking for ten minutes from Sawarna Beach. Tanjung Layar is a beach that is fortified by two large coral (approximately to five meters in height), make a screen like shape with rows of reef that extends in front of the beach. Due to this condition, Tanjung Layar becomes a kind of quiet lagoon with no wave and making it becomes a favorite tourism spot for swimming and dipping.

Not to forget, because of its location that is just right in the west, Tanjung Layar is an ideal place to enjoy sunset with the silhouette of two standing big corals as the background 😉

Karang Taraje

Karang Taraje, Sawarna

Karang Taraje is actually a stretch of beach with coral reef along the Pari Sepang / Cikoromong Laguna Beach. The beach is full of rock that forms into ladder like shape. It is named as Karang Taraje because at some point, we have to climb a Taraje (means ladder in Sundanese) that is made of of wood to be at the top of the reef.

In some spots, we should take several layers of corals where on the left side you will see high coral cliffs and on the right side you will find a vast seas with huge waves that hit the reefs. In Karang Taraje, we can also see some corals that form the basin of the pool between corals. The basin is filled with water and fish, no wonder many locals are happy to make Karang Taraje as their fishing spot.

How to get there?

Due to the location between beaches and caves is rather tricky and relatively far away, and also the sign of tourist sites is not sufficient, I would advise visitors to hire local guide or travel agent who can help you to provide lodgings. According to local people, you can pay IDR 100,000 per day per group (can also depend on the negotiation).

And the sun goes down, Sawarna

Up to now, Sawarna has no hotel facility. Travelers who want to stay can choose some homestay accomodation managed by the residents. Do not worry as their homestays are relatively good conditions and good services.

They generally will give you a package that includes 3x meals for visitors. There are only a few small shops that sell drinks and instant noodles on the beach. However, feel no worry, as the traditional foods are not disappointing. Rates are subject to vary between IDR 75,000 to IDR 200,000 per person per day (depending on the ability to bid and the facilities provided).

If you want to be worry free from doing bid, you can join the local travel agent who usually will offer full services from transportation, local guide, lodging, and bicycle rent. One of the local travel agent you can contact is Jelajah Hemat that you can find the information here.

Enjoy your trip 🙂

Amazing Australia #6 – Sydney

Here we come to my final part trip to Australia, Sydney! This is where the story began and where it should end 😦

We took morning flight from Hobart to Melbourne and continued the flight to Sydney. Same with our previous trip, we just looked for the information as soon as we arrived in Sydney: how to get the hell out of the airport?! While waiting for our baggage to come out, we searched on the internet and we found that you can of course take taxi from the airport, but there is also public bus number 400 (Burwood to Bondi Junction) and 410 (Rockdale to Bondi Junction). Bondi Junction is an area consist of commercial and bus & trail interchange.

During our trip in Sydney, we stayed in Noah’s Bondi Beach. It’s a backpacker hotel that is located just in front of the famous Bondi Beach and another advantage is that you can reach this hotel easily by using public transportation. You just need to walk one or two minutes to the bus waiting. The room is quite neat although they just provide blanket, tap water and refrigerator in the room and share bathrooms for female and male.

Eat, eat, and eat!!!

Unlike our previous trip before in Canberra, Melbourne, and Hobart, we didn’t spend so much time to visit places in Sydney. Main reason is that I have to take TOEFL iBT on January, 12th. Hahaha 🙂 *please do not say that I am a geek only because of this reason >,<*

Mojo’s Tapas Bar

So after laying down and took a short nap, we tried to find where should we go for dinner around Bondi Beach. Then we randomly decided to have our dinner in Mojo’s Tapas Bar (you can find the review here).

We again randomly chose 3 meals to have those I have forgotten all the names! But it’s just worth every penny! Though the portions are small, but these are those kind of foods that will make you become quite while having it. It’s super nice!!! :9 Yummyyy… not to mention the pretty and super welcome staffs there… It will just make the place, perfecto!

The second day, we went to Lilliputien to have breakfast. From the review in Urbanspoon, we found that it was quite good. We ordered pancake and a small size apple cake. Buuut… it tastes soooo bad for us. We couldn’t finished our meals… 😥 If you know me and my boyfriend, we both could never leave foods without it is being finished. If I couldn’t finish it, he will help, and so do I. But this time, we just left it there without finish it. Hahaha.. So, for the first time after 6 stories, here I am going to tell you not to go to this place! Ever!!

To pay off the breakfast we had, we took 2 meals from 2 restaurants for our lunch and dinner… hahaha… First we bought eggplant pizza from Gelbison Pizzeria Ristorante. And this time, we were not disappointed anymore. It tastes good. Hahaha.. After finished up our pizza, we took a walk along Bondi Beach and going to our second places: Beach Burrito Company!! We took away the meal and enjoyed it by sitting on a bench on the beach…Good meal. Good afternoon view. Good companion… Perfect way to close your day.

It’s TOEFL and IMAX time 🙂 🙂 🙂

By morning, we had left our hotel to go to another part of  Sydney. My TOEFL test was taken place on TAFE building and our Google Map (for the first time) cheated on us! It showed us the wrong way and made us to take a walk for 20 minutes to the correct building. Hahaha… After reached the place and registered myself, we took breakfast (and lunch for me) at Mad Mex. My boyfriend has drugged me to love Mexican foods as well. The process to order the meals is quite interesting for me. You will walk on the short aisle to choose how you want your burritos to be served. Choose the topping, choose the sauce, yummy and playful! Hahaha 🙂

Giant Rubber Duck @ Darling Harbour

After finished and burned my brain for couple of hours, my boyfriend picked me up and he told me what were the things he did during my test. We took a walk to China town, tried to enjoy our not so good Oporto (fast food restaurant). And then continued walking to Darling Harbour and we found this huge rubber duck!!! It was sitting nicely on the harbour.

We went inside to book our ticket first. We were going to watch The Hobbit at IMAX theater that has the largest IMAX screen in the world (at 117.2 feet wide and 96.5 feet high). But anyway, my boyfriend found interesting facts about The Seven IMAX Wonders of the World! The complete information you can find on the available link above, but the spoiler is:

The Golden Snail – Jakarta, Indonesia
Possibly the most gorgeous, organic IMAX theater in the world, the Golden Snail theater (also known as the Keong Emas IMAX) in East Jakarta, Indonesia is meant to resemble the golden apple snail, a national symbol of Indonesia. It was the largest screen in the world from 1985 to 1991, and the 930-seat theater (quite possibly the largest-capacity IMAX theater in the world) is now mostly used for tourist films on the natural beauty of Indonesia. Interestingly, the Golden Snail Theater has never shown a film about the golden apple snail.

Nice!!!!

After watching the movie, we went directly to our hotel. Becausee… We want to enjoy our Mojo’s for the last time! Hahaha… so saaad… So that we chose another 3 different meals (also different from what we ate before) and still we came to the conclusion: YOU SHOULD REALLY GO TO THIS HEAVEN ON EARTH!!!

Nice way to close your last night in Sydney…

Hope to see you again soon, Sydney… Not to enjoy the city, but to see my love one and have another story to tell 🙂

Thanks for reading it! Will see you with another story to tell 🙂