Thursday, 27 May 2010: LED - CGN
Time Flies When You’re Having Fun
Well, all good things come to an end and our Russian trip came to an end today. A light drizzle greeted us this morning and we left the apartment after 8 am, walked to Gostiny Dvor metro station and rode the metro to Moskovskaya station. From the station, we took bus #13 to the airport for our German Wings noon flight to Cologne-Bonn. And thank God we got through immigration without being questioned about not ing our visas. The flight was rather uneventful except when we were about to descend, we felt the plane climbed up again. ‘Back to St Petersburg,’ remarked the lady next to Lin and we shared a puzzled smile. The pilot then explained that they sighted another plane about to descend to the same runway and they pulled up again to avoid a collision. Wow, talk about German efficiency. It’s nice to have the pilot explained everything to us and assured us all was well again.
From the plane, we boarded the airport shuttle but Fifi had to switch to another shuttle bus along with the few other passengers who were continuing on with their connecting flights (she was flying back to London Stansted by the same airline at 1425) so we said our goodbyes then. Lin and I bought some food at a supermarket at the airport (good food at last! And in a language we could understand!) before walking to the connecting train station for our 1444 train to Düsseldorf. We had already bought the ticket online and purposely chose this time. We had to change trains at Cologne however but being Germany, there are lifts everywhere for the convenience of travellers. No one came to check our tickets though.
We arrived at Düsseldorf after half-past three and after collecting maps at the Tourist Information Office, walked to our hotel. After checking in, I went out alone to check what the city has to offer. It’s a charming compact city and so I managed to cover quite a bit of ground. And the shops!!! I never knew Düsseldorf has very good stores – from high street stores to luxury goods boutiques. I can happily settle there. Oh and I sighted some Porsches and Ferraris too – all in the short few hours I was out and about.
Met up with Lin after 8.30 pm and we had dinner at a Turkish restaurant. I had lahmacun or the Turkish version of pizza. Lovely but not as delicious as the one I had at Lake Como. A short stroll after dinner ensued before we headed back to the hotel.
To be continued
~~~~~~~~
The World Cup 2010 kicks off today!!! Contrary to the last World Cup, I will not be rooting for England (I don’t have any problems with Capello, just with some players in the squad). I will be watching out for the SIGN i.e., Spain (they’ve really improved since the last World Cup), Italy (if only for the hawt-looking players), Germany (they have always been consistent) and the Netherlands. Of course I would try to watch and catch up with as many teams as I can (I definitely don’t want to root for only one country), well except for Argentina and France (I have issues with Maradona and Raymond Domenech Dominatrix).
Who will you be watching out for?
Time Flies When You’re Having Fun
Well, all good things come to an end and our Russian trip came to an end today. A light drizzle greeted us this morning and we left the apartment after 8 am, walked to Gostiny Dvor metro station and rode the metro to Moskovskaya station. From the station, we took bus #13 to the airport for our German Wings noon flight to Cologne-Bonn. And thank God we got through immigration without being questioned about not ing our visas. The flight was rather uneventful except when we were about to descend, we felt the plane climbed up again. ‘Back to St Petersburg,’ remarked the lady next to Lin and we shared a puzzled smile. The pilot then explained that they sighted another plane about to descend to the same runway and they pulled up again to avoid a collision. Wow, talk about German efficiency. It’s nice to have the pilot explained everything to us and assured us all was well again.
From the plane, we boarded the airport shuttle but Fifi had to switch to another shuttle bus along with the few other passengers who were continuing on with their connecting flights (she was flying back to London Stansted by the same airline at 1425) so we said our goodbyes then. Lin and I bought some food at a supermarket at the airport (good food at last! And in a language we could understand!) before walking to the connecting train station for our 1444 train to Düsseldorf. We had already bought the ticket online and purposely chose this time. We had to change trains at Cologne however but being Germany, there are lifts everywhere for the convenience of travellers. No one came to check our tickets though.
We arrived at Düsseldorf after half-past three and after collecting maps at the Tourist Information Office, walked to our hotel. After checking in, I went out alone to check what the city has to offer. It’s a charming compact city and so I managed to cover quite a bit of ground. And the shops!!! I never knew Düsseldorf has very good stores – from high street stores to luxury goods boutiques. I can happily settle there. Oh and I sighted some Porsches and Ferraris too – all in the short few hours I was out and about.
Met up with Lin after 8.30 pm and we had dinner at a Turkish restaurant. I had lahmacun or the Turkish version of pizza. Lovely but not as delicious as the one I had at Lake Como. A short stroll after dinner ensued before we headed back to the hotel.
To be continued
~~~~~~~~
The World Cup 2010 kicks off today!!! Contrary to the last World Cup, I will not be rooting for England (I don’t have any problems with Capello, just with some players in the squad). I will be watching out for the SIGN i.e., Spain (they’ve really improved since the last World Cup), Italy (if only for the hawt-looking players), Germany (they have always been consistent) and the Netherlands. Of course I would try to watch and catch up with as many teams as I can (I definitely don’t want to root for only one country), well except for Argentina and France (I have issues with Maradona and Raymond Domenech Dominatrix).Who will you be watching out for?
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