Wanted

Lovin' my new booties!

Other shoe-related news: My Nine West pumps are missing! I just can't seem to find them anywhere and I've only worn them once... So, if anyone knows the whereabouts of my shoes:

'If you see something, say something' :P

Chocolatey Christmas

Merry Christmas, hope you had a great one, spent with family and friends! Made some brownies with Wing, from a box bought in New York that I still had... Don't worry, we're still here and it tasted delicious, really nice and fudgy!

Not exactly a brownie shape, but it works...

Say Cheese

Made a strawberry cheesecake with my cousin Vivien (from a box though). Seriously gotta improve my piping skills...

Waiting

Don't you just love pre-sale? I was lucky enough to score tickets for the concert of John Mayer on June 2nd, that sold out within 5 minutes during the regular sale. Now I just have to wait 6 months....

Here are some flashbacks of the epic Melkweg concert in 2006:

"Belief"

"Vultures"

"Stormy Monday"

"Slow Dancing in a Burning Room"

"I Don't Trust Myself (with Loving You)"

"Gravity"

Who the Fuck are Arctic Monkeys?

I love going to concerts and this time I went to the Arctic Monkeys. The Eagles of Death Metal were the support act and I wasn't really wowed by them, their songs kinda sounded the same to me. They did have quite some fans though, I saw a few guys sporting fake handlebar mustaches and sunglasses, trying to look like the frontman. Now on to the Arctic Monkeys, who were amazing. The Arctic Monkeys are often criticized for their lack of stage presence, but I felt that wasn't the case on Wednesday, they were in a pretty good mood. The sound was incredible, especially with Matt pounding away on the drums. A cool part was during 'Secret Door', when two confetti cannons were blasted off (I guess I have a thing for confetti). Although I have to confess that the loud bang made my heart jump a little...

Support act Eagles of Death Metal

Alex Turner & Matt Helders

"When the Sun Goes Down" (the beginning was cut-off, because my camera wouldn't focus properly)



Nick O'Malley

Jamie Cook



Setlist:

Dance Little Liar
Brianstorm
This House Is A Circus
Still Take You Home
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
My Propellor
Sketchead
Crying Lightning
The View From The Afternoon
Cornerstone
If You Were There, Beware
Pretty Visitors
The Jeweller’s Hand
Do Me A Favour
When The Sun Goes Down
Secret Door
-------
Fluorescent Adolescent
505

Ninja

This totally awesome ninja voodoo doll was a gift from Wing. She figured I could use a little help to fight off the stress and frustrations I'm having lately.

Monokuru Boo

How do you like them apples?

It's apple picking season, so we went to a local apple orchard and it was so much fun! Maybe I should bake an apple pie or something, now that I have enough apples for the next few weeks...


Tiny apple

Yes

I MADE IT!! I managed to finish the Dam tot Damloop in 1:45:55 baby! We started at Central Station and then had to run through the IJ-tunnel, onto the highway, which was pretty cool. It was a great experience, especially with all the people standing on the side cheering. One guy even yelled: 'Come on Chinese girl!' and another: 'Go Jill!', pretty funny.

Yan, aunt Cindy & my parents




Yes, I look like crap in this photo, but hey, I just ran 10 Mile...

#1 Dad!

One more Time

Contrary to the 15 km my Nike + iPod sensor registered, I only ran 12 km. I wanted to stop till I got to 16 km, but it got really dark outside. Now I just hope I haven't used all of my energy for Sunday.

Time to Pretend

How on earth am I going to run 10 mile Sunday...

Storm & Stress

Oh dear...

46071

Received my start number for the Dam tot Damloop. I'm totally not ready for it, argh!

Viva la Vida

I went with CK, her brother Chun and friend Stuart to see Coldplay in Munich! They did play in NL, but we thought it would be nice to have a little weekendtrip to Munich. One word to describe the concert: AWESOME!! It was an open air concert and there was a really nice atmosphere with the sun slowly setting. They played all of my favourite songs, brought back a lot of special memories, sigh... Funny part was when Chris forgot the lyrics of 'The Hardest Part':'...and that was the strangest... Fuck! ... And I tried to sing, but couldn't remember anything...' Too funny! I LOVED the butterfly confetti that came down during 'Lovers in Japan'. At the end of the concert, Chun jumped over the gates and collected lots of the confetti for us haha. To make the whole night even better, we got a free CD with songs performed live.

In the nosebleed section...




Playing in the middle of the crowd

"Yellow"

"Fix you"

"Billie Jean"


Thousands of butterflies during 'Lovers in Japan'


Take a bow



Setlist:

Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Yellow
Glass Of Water
Cemeteries Of London
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (Techno version)
Talk (Techno version)
The Hardest Part (Chris piano)
Postcards From Far Away (Piano instrumental)
Viva La Vida
Lost!
Green Eyes
Death Will Never Conquer (Acoustic, sung by Will)
Billie Jean
Viva La Vida (Remix interlude)
------
Politik
Lovers In Japan
Death And All His Friends
------
The Scientist
Life in Technicolor II
The Escapist

München

Here are some snapshots taken in Munich:

Altes Rathaus, which also houses a toy museum in the tower

Neues Rathaus

Nationaltheather

Wittelsbacher fountain


Theatinerkirche

Feldherrnhalle

Nice courtyard behind a San Fransisco Coffee Company

Dianatempel in the Hofgarten

Bayerische Staatskanzle

Tunnel from the Hofgarten to the Englischer Garten


Guys surfing on the Eisbach, a man made-river in the Englischer Garten.



Chinesischer Turm

At the Chinesischer Turm ('Chinese Tower') is the second largest beer garden in Munich and I'm not a big fan of beer, but you haven't been to Munich if you haven't drunk ein maß Bier... They have a beer called Radler, which consists of one part lemonade and one part white beer, which I liked better than the regular white beer.

Drinking ein Weiß Bier

Kleinhesseloher See

Monopteros

'Walking Man' by Jonathan Borofsky


Siegestor

Huuge pizza at L'Osteria

One of the fountains in front of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich


We went to the Olympiapark 'cause we thought the Allianz Arena football stadium would be there (not...). However BMW World and the Olympia Tower were located there and we thought it would be a good idea to go to the top of the tower and get a view of the city. The view wasn't very impressive, Munich doesn't really have high buildings I guess. If you ever plan on going to the Olympia tower, visit it at daylight. Then you might actually see something, even the Alps perhaps. The only mentionable thing we saw, was the Allianz Arena and yep, it was pretty far away. The Allianz Arena, also known as the 'Toilet Bowl', is the stadium of FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München. The stadium is lit up in red when Bayern is playing, blue when TSV is playing and white whenever the national team is playing. After our little site seeing, we met up with Chun's friend Robert. He told us that you can hire a BMW at the BMW Welt for only E 5,- for a WHOLE DAY! Sadly none of us had brought a driver's license...

BMW Welt




View from the Olympiaturm

We waited forever for the stadium to turn from white...

...to red...

...and finally into blue...

Robert took us to Schloss Nymphenburg, which used to be a summer residence of the Bavarian kings. Somehow the gates were still open and Robert led us to the back. It was kinda spooky, because we knew there was a huge park somewhere, but we couldn't see anything in the darkness. Still a very beautiful palace nonetheless...

Tried to capture the gorgeous moon peeking through the clouds

Frauenkirche

Der Teufelstritt, or Devil's Footstep, at the entrance of the Frauenkirche. According to a legend, the builder of the church had made a pact with the devil. The devil would help him built the church for free, if the church wouldn't have any windows. He figured you can't build a church without windows, so he was certain he'd take the builder's soul. However, when the church was finished, the devil stood at the entrance and couldn't spot a single window. He madly stomped his foot and left a footprint. Turned out, the colums of the church blocked the windows from the angle where the devil stood.

Interior of the St. Michael Kirche

Bavarian State library

Inside the library


Munich is a really lovely city with lots of history, there's still so much I wanted to see and visit. Renting a BMW alone is worth the reason to visit Munich again. ;)

Near empty plane on the flight back, which meant I had a whole row to myself!