The next day we took the Feldberg Climb, following signs along the trail and the small map provided. The climb started out really easy, with wide gravel paths clearly marked out and pretty slight gradients. In no time, we reached the summit. So we decided to head towards the hut for a longer route, only to miss a right turn. The routes by now are no longer clear, but are filled with snow with footprints on them, causing us to continue to walk downhill, among the vegetation and slopes covered with inches of snow. As it got steeper and closer to the cliffs, we began to wonder if we were on the right track, until we confirmed our suspicion with two trekkers. We had to backtrack and attempt the steep ascent up to the highest point again, this time through a short cut, from a turn we previously missed. We then had our favourite trail mix on our way down the mountain, before returning to our hostel to get our bags and get going to Mannheim to meet Zhirui.

That night we rushed all the way to Brussels and then Antwerp to get to Natalie’s place. It was amazing how we first met her in Kiruna! To think we could meet an SMU senior all the way up in the Arctic!


Four. Brussels. Antwerp. Belgium has a pretty interesting culture – there are the Flemish (Dutch) and Walloon (French) speaking areas. This has resulted in some social divide and perhaps political and social tension among the two main linguistic groups. I mean the French would probably think that their language is the more superior. At the same time, the Dutch-speaking Belgian were never really considered Dutch people, so then again, they have a pretty unique identity that probably is worth spending time resolving. In Brussels, it’s bilingual, so both languages are featured.

Ok, I never realized that the capital of Europe is in Brussels. The headquarters for NATO and EU are located in Brussels, which explains for the very international mix we see in Brussels.

Like all other European cities we visited, there is an old town in Brussels. Grand Place was described as the most beautiful place by Victor Hugo. When I saw the picture from the postcards, I was like wow. In fact the place is beautiful in real life too, except for the flocks of tourists which could be quite a turn-off. Souvenirs, chocolate and waffle shops were everywhere.

Five. Antwerp. Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world, meaning that in terms of value and volume, Antwerp is where most cut and polished diamonds are being traded, making it a pretty prosperous city.

Our first stop was the diamond museum which provided pretty good information about how diamonds came about, mined, extracted, cut, polished and traded. Very good follow-up to the movie, Blood Diamonds.

Next was brunch at Le Pain Quotidien where we tried sinfully good Feta-Spinach quiche, Salmon quiche, Merveileux (which is essentially sugar and cream, but the sugar was so crunchy, yet melts in your mouth, and the cream so smooth), eclairs and apple tart.

Seven. Amsterdam. When I first saw the map of Amsterdam, I was amazed by how the whole city could be surrounded by water! There were canals everywhere! A short chat with an elderly local on the bus revealed that they no longer need the canals to drain the water from the low-lying Amsterdam, and there were plans to fill the canals a few years ago, only to receive strong protests from the locals, which I think is not that bad a thing, as it really differentiates Amsterdam from other cities.

Heard so much about the crazy Van Gogh who drew the famous Sunflowers and a few other famous paintings. This crazy guy was known to cut a piece of his earlobe. The exhibit was expensive at 10eur but at least was well-organised, depicting his life, from influence during his time, beginnings of his painting career, developments as he moved from one place to another, and how his mental condition affected him later on.

We were told we could not miss the canal tours. It was not as engaging as it was pre-recorded narration of the highlights. We were cooped up in a boat with a transparent roof, which hindered our phototaking process. It was interesting to know that many of the houses by the canals used to be warehouses and thus have hooks to lift cargo from the canals.

One of the warehouses was the famous Anne Frank Huis. Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, but she hid in the little house by Prinzengracht during the Second World War, in his dad’s office in Amsterdam. Very powerful, very informative. Gave a face to the Jewish people who hid and lived in fear during the period.