[FOTOS] Heidepark 2013 ― Roller Coasters / Achterbahnen

I can now say I've been to a real amusement park in Germany! We purposely chose to visit Heidepark on a rainy day (last Sat), knowing full well the lineups would be short. Lo and behold, they were! And though we were rained upon like madd, it was so worth it. Furthermore, we managed to get our hands on 2 for 1 tickets (valid before May 31, 2013), how s.ck is that?! My photos are sh.t due to the weather, but they'll suffice. Look closely at the photo above and see if you can spot a Drop Zone sort of ride.



It's kinda crazy because almost every single ride I saw reminded me of (or looked exactly the same as) the rides at Canada's Wonderland. I couldn't help but compare the two! Guess it's because I worked at Canada's Wonderland and I know it like the back of my hand. Take the ride above, for example. Is it not an exact replica of Top Gun?! And the ride below reminded me of the Log Ride at Centre Island.



...the ride above looked exactly like Dragon Fire... and the ride below was super similar to Minebuster.



Now, this was the only roller coaster that didn't remind me of anything I've previously seen or been on! The picture doesn't do justice to how FUN this ride was. Before plummeting you down into the mouth of this crazy-looking monstrous ship of some sort, they stop you for a few seconds at the top of the hill. F.cking s.ck bosssssss! One of the best "hill feelings" everrrr. Hands down, the closest feeling I could get to simulating that bungee-jumping weightlessness feeling. Who doesn't crave that ish? #LIFE

Oatmeal Pancakes with Bacon & Maple Syrup

Much love to Auntie San for giving us this bigarse jar of maple syrup for #pasalubong! It especially comes in handy when we make pancakes. :) The stack on the left were made from whole wheat flour, while the stack on the right were made from regular white flour. Though what is popular/traditional in Canada is definitely not the case here. Tell a German you had pancakes with bacon & maple syrup for breakfast and you'll get a #screwface right back at 'cha! They just ain't sweet & salty fans I guess.

Maultaschen ― WTF IS IT??!

It looks like ravioli, it tasted like ravioli, but o'er here, they don't call it ravioli! The Germans call 'em Maultaschen, which translates to mouth and bags, lol. Though they're larger than traditional ravioli, they have the same sort of fillings. I ordered this dish at a restaurant called Stevertal. The menu described it as follows: Hausgemachte Maultaschen mit Lachs gefüllt in Basilikum-Sauce und Salatteller which basically means they were filled with salmon in a basil sauce and served with a salad. The entire meal was exquisite, but why was half a tomato chosen to be used as a dead-centre garnish?! *Smh

[FOTOS] Klippenwanderung im Okertal ― Wandern im Harz

The highest mountains in Northern Germany are called the Harz. It only takes about an hour to get to the Harz from BS. And since the last time we'd been there was about a year ago (see blog post here), last weekend, we found ourselves exploring the Harz yet again. This time, we embarked on a 3.5-4 hour hike called Klippenwanderung im Okertal, which just means "Cliff-Hike in the Oker Valley." The hike ended up taking closer to 8 hours to complete, though this was mainly due to getting lost for an hour and often stopping to take pictures. Trotzdem waren die Sehenswürdigkeiten wunderbar!



Well, DE, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how beautiful this hike was! Dare I say it's comparable to the many mind-blowing hikes I went on in Australia?! Anyway, to provide further details to the fotos... it seemed like everywhere along the trail we followed were logs on logs on logs all spray-painted with neon-coloured symbols and numbers which I instantly fell in love with. I also felt compelled to take a pic of Ahornplatz because it literally translates to "Maple Square/Place" and ain't that so Canadian?!

Another kool sight was Mausefalle, which translates to "Mouse Trap" in English. It's not hard to see why. The natural placement of the rocks at Mausefalle looked like a sort of mouse trap, what with that huge rock being held up by much smaller one. And that's me holding up a really heavy piece of wood likely fresh-cut from a 50-something-year-old tree. If it were realistic at all, I would've loved to take it home and use it as a cutting board. All I'd need to do is polish it down really well, no? ;)

Houses in Toronto vs. Houses in Kitchener

While visiting friends in Toronto/the GTA last month, I randomly took pics of the houses in their 'hoods. (Hallo Erika/Mike and Anh/Alex!) Ain't it interesting to see the stark differences? The houses on the left are located in Toronto's Junction 'hood (Keele St. & Dundas St. West) and the houses on the right are located in Kitchener (Weber St. West & Queen St. South). "Big city" vs. "small town" feel...?

Toronto 2013

It took forever and a day, but here it finally is. There were just so many pictures to sift through! While sifting, I realized most of the pics I took were of food (go figure). How could I not take advantage of having every type of food in the world at my fingertips?! #noexaggeration I made the bf try all your typical Canadian stuff like nanaimo bars, poutine, peameal bacon sandwiches as well as butter tarts. None of them really blew him away. Dry. Not surprisingly, however, his fave food turned out to be roti!