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China Travels: The Lights of Nanjing

Nanjing, particularly famous for being the former capitol of China, amazes with its historical sights and its traditional architecture intermingled with the seemingly untouched nature.
Nanjing is a city that has something for everyone.
We were there on a tight schedule. Our only full day would be Saturday, so we wanted to see as much as possible.
In this post you can find out about how to spend a weekend in beautiful Nanjing.

Day 1, Friday, July 10th:

we took the train at around 6pm and until we arrived in our hostel it was already past 9pm. Our hostel was really close to the Metro Stop, so we didn't have to walk a lot after exiting the metro. It was also very central, which we realized when we finally saw these beautiful lit-up buildings. It looked like a fairytale. Convince yourselves:







That day we only strolled around this temple area which is also the main street of Nanjing for shopping and food. We were hungry so we got some Fast Food. We were too tired to wait in a restaurant.
The next day we would wake up early enough to do all the sight seeing we wanted to do.

Day 2, Saturday, July 11th:

We woke up early and got ready for the day. First we planned to go see the city wall since it was quite close to our hostel.
This remaining pieces of the wall were important for the history of Nanjing, especially during the war against Japan since a part of the wall was destroyed during that time.

















On top of the wall we could have nice view over Nanjing and there were some war tools like catapults and canons you could look at.






At the end of this display, there was a stand with bicycle rentals. The others really wanted to bike on the city wall and I had to agree. I was a bit reluctant since it's been about 9 years since the last time I rode a bike. But I thought it would be easier without the traffic. So lending the bikes for 1 1/2 hours was about 80 rmb. I was better than I thought at first, but soon it started to rain so heavily, that I had to take off my glasses and cycle half-blind. In the end, we had a lot of fun and even took a group picture with the guy who rented the bikes.

After that, we headed to the XuanWu Lake. The guy helped us with the way by surprising us with his cart and taking us to the exit of the wall.
The lake was a big surprise. It was really beautiful.










So as you can see there was a park next to the lake and people hung up those red ribbons on the trees. I really wanted to do that as well, but we didn't know where to buy and hang them up. So we just took some photos and left the area again. But it was a really beautiful place.

Next, we finally went to the Scenic Area where the Ming Dynasty Tombs were. That area had the freshest air I have come across in China. After entering, there were many trees we crossed until we arrived at the square with all the directions to the different places.
We then headed for the tombs because they were quite close.






The natural surroundings looked really nice but we weren't able to get into any buildings so that was a bit disappointing. I think this part is not very important to visit if you are in this scenic area.
When we were unsuccesfully trying to find the Sun-Yatsen Mausoleum, which was already closed unfortunately, we came across a lake, called Purple Lake. It was small but the gloomy weather created a mysterious atmosphere that I tried to catch with my camera, as good as possible.

After we realized that we couldn't enter the Mausoleum, we left the scenic area. It was getting dark already so we hurried up. We had to walk all the way to the metro station though which was a bit of a long way. We were already super tired but we finally made it to the temple area.

There we decided to take a relaxing boat ride to end our day in a beautiful way. It wasn't that expensive and you share a boat with many people. The surroundings were amazing. Be sure to take the boat ride when the buildings are still lit up.








We also had a not-so quick dinner at a chinese restaurant where you directly choose your food at the counter and they cook it in front of you. Because it was already quite late (almost 10pm), they didn't have a lot of food left anymore. That's normal in chinese cities which is a bit annoying. In western countries restaurants are still busy at 10pm.

Our trip came to an end, unfortunately. The next day we would head back to Yuyao which had suffered from a Taifun at the weekend.

Final rating:

Sightseeing: 5/5
Food: 3/5
Shopping: ?
Clubbing: ?
Transportation: 5/5
China Culture Food
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BCN Day 2: Parcs and Creations


2. Day, Wednesday, 18th March 2015: Sightseeing Parcs:
That day was a loooong day. We had a good breakfast at the hotel.






The view from our hotel


After breakfast we got on the metro to go to Parc Güell. It was a bit outside of the city centre, at the metro station Vallcarca, but we met Keddy and found it. The weather could have been a bit better but still it was nice and thankfully it didn’t rain.

Half the way we walked to get to Parc Güell


When we arrived in Parc Güell we walked around the charge-free area a bit and climbed up there to have a view over Barcelona. And it was worth it. There was also a guy playing the guitar, so the atmosphere was very peaceful and calming.

The view from Parc Güell
  

Then we continued walking amd came to the main part of the parc. There we found out that we had to pay so we did. It was about 8€ but I think it was okay. We had to wait 30 minutes to get inside, so that not everyon’d go inside at once. In the meantime we took a lot of photos.



 
Gaudi's House


I love that house. Looks like a gingerbread house. And the bird looks like it is loosing its soul o.O

My sister <3

My friend and my sister


This bench was built so that it could provide you with shadow in summer and sun in winter.

The famous mosaik salamander



 After walking for about 2 hours, we got tired and hungry, so we went to Barrio Gracia to find a place to eat. We walked there since it wasn’t too far away. Barrio Gracia is a artsy district with a lot of small boutiques, bars, restaurant and strangely enough, a lot of vegan shops. 


 After walking around a bit we found a Tapas Restaurant.

These were our tapas. I know, it doesn’t look like a lot of food, but it stuffed us quite well. They were all sooooo delicious, I wanna eat all of those again.

Look at that cheese!

If you happen to be in Barcelona, make sure to visit this place at Barrio Gracia. It is cheap and the tapas are so delicious. 

 After eating we got on our way to the metro station. My friend Keddy saw a coffee shop and bought a cup of coffee. Then, a few streets further, we saw a froyo shop and got ourselves a frozen yoghurt :D
 Now we took the metro to go to the Parc de Laberint. I saw this online on trip advisor and fell in love with it: It has a maze guys!!! Whatever you do, you have to go to that parc! It is not far from the station Mundet (As I can remember that’s what the station was called). As we arrived we didn’t even have to walk that much. Soon we found it. It is near the campus. And we were lucky: the entrance is free on wednesdays (and sundays as well I think). But usually it’s 2€ so that’s quite cheap.



  Further ahead from the Romantic parc, we found little water falls. I couldn’t stop taking photos of these <3

 After that, as we walked around the area, we saw some roofs and I was wondering what building that was. So we had a look and found this place below. It was the entrance to the maze.




 
 And finally: THE MAZE!

 Aaahhhh! It was sooo amazing and fun! The gloomy weather fit perfectly to the atmoshpere of the maze. I think it couldn’t have been better <3

 As we wanted to leave we came across these little cuties :’D I noticed that there are a lot of animals, especially bird-type animals. In Parc Güell we saw some beautiful green birds that looked like tropical birds. Here we saw a heron and some ducks :D Well, after the parc we decided to shortly get out at station Catalunya. There is the parallel street to the Ramblas and so the Casa Batllo. We saw it and it really is quite beautiful. Gaudi was a genius, really. 
 
 My friend wanted to show me something. After walking for a while, it turned out to be a bookstore :D what else! It was a book store called Altair and was one especially for travelling. image On this board people could pin their announcements to look for travel partners who want to go to the same place. A cool idea in my opinion. I bought a bookmark here. It was a bit expensive but it was a beautiful one.

After that, we went to our hotel room. In the evening we wanted to go partying. My friend asked us if we want to go to the Sonora Bar first where the Erasmus students usually meet. After that we would go to a club called Razzmatazz. Wednesdays, clubs usually are closed. Only a few are open and Razzmatazz is one of those.
At the hotel, we lay down a bit cause we were so tired. It was also the day when FC Barcelona had a match (against Liverpool I think), so I could watch all the football fans down in the streets in front of our hotel room window. Later when the game started, we could hear everything from the stadium. Well, almost everything. Every time the goal keeper made a long, hard kick to the other end we could hear that, and every time the crowd groaned and cheered we could hear it as well :D no need to pay for a seat ;D
Well, a few hours later we were ready and went to meet our friend at the metro station Marina. At the bar we ate a hamburger but I didn’t like it a lot and couldn’t even finish it. But I drank a lot. Maybe too much. Whenever you go partying in Barcelona, or Spain in general, keep in mind that the drinks are quite strong. At the bar we met some Argentinien friends of Keddy. They were quite funny and nice people :D


My sister and my friend at the student bar Sonora


When we went inside the club, I was already a bit tipsy, but the crowd at the entrance gave me a little shock. The People were going crazy as though there was something for free. The entrance was usually 15€+free drink. If you had a screenshot of the event flyer, you could get inside for 8€+drink of course. Well, the entrance fee was the only thing I spent that night. I had my free drink, Rum-Cola and then my sister couldn’t drink half of her Vodka Bull so she gave it to me.
At the end of the night, I was drunk and feeling sick. But still we had fun and met a lot of nice people. Although I didn’t really like the music at the club (it was a mixture between pop charts and 90s trashy music), I had a good time, no wonder with so much alcohol consumed. However, the club Razzmatazz actually is known for its techno music, and its 7 or so floors, but on Wednesday, only 1 floor is open and the music is rather bad.



Well, at some point in the club, my friend and my sister were gone and I found myself dancing alone and having a lot of fun :’D My sister also told me that she saw a lot of gay couples making out in a corner :’D I think I was just too wasted to notice that.
Well, in the end, when we were feeling tired, we decided to leave at about 5 am. We went outside and there was a huge crowd of young people, mostly Erasmus students. At after 5 am we took the metro to the hotel. At 6 am we arrived and instantly fell asleep.
This was our excellent second day.
How we survived the next day, you will find out in the second part of the post :)
Until then,
Here to make you happy!

What we learned: Never trust a spanish bartender!

Today's rating:

Sightseeing: 5/5
Food: 5/5
Shopping: 3,5/5
Clubbing: 4/5
Transportation: 5/5
Barcelona Barrio Gracia Clubbing
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