Okay! i think i'm just wide awake now from the excessive caffeine in the evening out with a friend. i shall post some okay photos from my Germany trip before i get sleepy/lazy/bored.
There were many halls in the exhibition area. i think there were at least 12 halls in all and the first 3 days were pretty much spent on running from one hall to the other for various meetings. It's the warm-up and orientation period.
Outdoors, between the 2 rows of halls, nice dirt ramps were built for demos. Big stuffs, good weather, smooth riders.
Every evening after the show, we would go out as a group for dinner. The first evening, we went to JP's favourite Italian restaurant at Friedrichshafen. The guys there even know him!!! It was by the waters and the Zeppelin museum and we dined al-fresco. The risotto was really not bad... although i only tasted someone else's. Everyone had beer (of course). i was determined to try all the beers i could on the course of this trip.
Germany (or rather Munich and Friedrichshafen) is a dog-friendly place. There were furry fellas trotting beside their owners in the exhibition halls. They would sit quietly under the table during mealtimes. And owners could park their poochies safely outside the supermarket while they went about their shopping. This fella here was so cute and friendly. Sat there obediently and was slightly excited when i went over to give it a pat on the head.
On another night, we headed to Lindau for dinner. It's a little island (and i don't know what's good there other than shops and food). i like the uneven ground and the quaint buildings and all the flowers blooming brightly out of people's balconies.
i am overwhelmed by 1400+ photos taken over less than a week, so i'm giving the bike photos a miss for now, except for a couple of interesting ones.
Now, the family of 8 can sit comfortably on this tandem - just mount 4 child-racks and voila!
The Zeppelin (a.k.a blimp) never fails to fascinate me. i love to see it coasting along in the sky. It gives me some sort of feeling of freedom. :) And it's so big! i love big things! And check out the blue, blue sky and fluffy little clouds...
Schwalbe had a bicycle tube dispensing machine. They should install those on the trails......
This xc bike has the Dura Ace Di2 electronic shifting mechanism on it! Check out the following pix.
Electronic shifters (from the TT bike barend shifters) mounted onto the bar with a special clamp.
2x10 setup essential for the Di2 system.
Di2 rear d!
(i don't want to think about falling on the drive-side...)
The owner's tag.
At the Magura booth... i know i'm a sucker for such colours.
A supplier had arranged a nice dinner for us. i think the food's Italian mixed something (fusion). i had beer once again but the beer experiences have been less fulfilling than the sausage experiences.
Kitty-kat outside our hotel! Winter country animals are really slightly bigger and more fluffy than the ones living under the tropical heat.
The hotel provided breakfast every morning and my favourite bread is the one on the right with many different types of seeds on it. The texture varies with every chew and it's not too hard.
And the delicious bread had to be accompanied by it's buddies - cream cheese w/ herbs, and honey! i'm not quite a fan of honey but this stuffs really tastes quite pleasant.
Bigger and more jumps as the show went into the final day.
We drove the rental car back to Munich which was around 200km from where the show was. The hotel that night was quite far from the city so we decided to eat at the restaurant nearby. After settling down in a cosy corner, i realised we were in for Greek food. Yayyyy!!! i love eating new foods. i found out we were in somewhere called Erding... and that's the motherland of Erdinger beer! And so of course we had to order that. But the Greeks seem to start their meals with some hard liquor... The 3 guys got the zambuca-tasting shots while i got the Melon Liquer which was mild and sweet.
i think they gave me the Melon one because i looked like a little girl? But anyway i took the melon liquer, helped someone with the zambuca, and also had my Erdinger.
Melon Liquer to start off with.
The star-anise-tasting shot.
And the cold frothy pint!
Octopus side dish (tossed in vinegar, cold).
Greek salad!!! i like the feta cheese...
Grilled beef with zazika (yoghurt) on the side.
Someone else ordered lamb on skewer (i'm not sure if it's a mixed platter). The grilled lamb was one of the most delicious meats i've eaten in my whole life. It came with... zaziki once more. Every dish on the menu seemed to have this strange zaziki thing in it. It was strange only because initially we didn't know what zaziki was.
i stole some salmon from someone else. It was delicious. i love the potatoes. There was so much flavour in those carbos. (Note: The salmon also came with zaziki.)
Zaziki is everyone's best friend!
A beer glass is extremely functional as a tripod during dinners.
:D
On the Sunday that we were to leave for home sweet home, we went to roam around Munich's city centre Marienplatz. All the shops (other than F&B outlets) were closed. Europeans sure enjoy their lives. Asians would definitely open shop, 24-7, 365 days a year, or maybe even 366 days if possible.
i couldn't resist the gelato. When i stopped to buy, the rest who claimed that it was cold and unsuitable for ice-cream chipped in their orders. -.-'' Yum...
Marienplatz.
Non-edited photo straight out of my camera using the vignette function.
Argentinian lunch! That would be our final meal in Germany before leaving for the airport.
The sirloin steak was goooood! i finished the baked potato too, skin and all.
The waiter asked me how old i was when i ordered my beer. He doesn't quite believe i'm 26. And i think he's about my age...
Last few photos of the trip.
Audi-themed foyer outside the Munich Airport. Great marketing, eye-catching cars and displays. Aren't they outright targeting BMW whose home is Munich?
The sun was setting and it got chilly very quickly. The cafe sitting area outside had (very thoughtfully) provided some blankets for customers to snuggle in.
i'm not a fan of sausages but i must admit, once you have eaten German sausages, you believe in Deutsche sausages - no more strange-tasting hotdogs from the markt!!!!
Dinner for me was half a rock melon which costed only 99c and an apple.
Lots of finger-food.
i think the guys must have been missing Asian food quite a bit. First thing during the transit at BKK, they went straight for wanton noodle soup and tom yum soup. JP kept asking us to order wa dan hor (Malaysian hor fun) and roti prata on the plane. -.-'''''''
Mango with glutinous rice and coconut milk!!! Absolutely mind-blowing.
And oh, did i mention that we didn't have any personal TV screens for our flights both ways? To give you an idea, the flight from SIN-BKK was 2 hours and BKK-MUC was 11 hours. i have never seen so many passengers standing around in the plane just sipping water or looking out of the window. Gosh... No more Thai airways for long-haul flights the next time round!!!!!!!
