Eastern Europe

I remember how angry I was when my mum announced that she was going to take me with her to Denmark and Austria for work. It was not because I don't want to go but because I thought I can't go as I was going to sit for my PMR examination that year. The dates were during the mid-semester holiday which was when my teachers were going to load my with lots of works. But I can't really say no anymore so then in 2004 I packed my bags yet again for Eastern Europe.

My father and brother bid the two of us a good journey because they won't be following us to this one either. It was only my mother and me with two of her colleagues. Our plane landed in Vienna for transit before taking another plane to continue our journey to Copenhagen. When we were in Vienna for that short while I can see knee-deep snow and I can't wait to go out there four days from then. But instead, we took a train from Copenhagen to ODENSE. The train, similar to that of the Eurostar, went under water since Odense is another island altogether separate from the main island. When we arrived I thought we had arrive at a ghost town because it was so quiet and there seem to be no activity at all. So we decided to just rest in before the representative from the company my mum was visiting picked us up to dinner. When he did he explained that in Odense the people really take the term 'day off' seriously on Sundays (which was the day we arrived).

The next day he came to pick the four of us to the factory my mother was supposed to visit. Honestly I was bored to death. After we were done he took us to lunch and after lunch he took us to the Lutheran Church nearby. Ooh, I simply love my first church experience! I love it for two reasons: I love historical architecture and I love religion. I think I was the most excited person as I read every single brass plate describing the history of the church and its people. I walked out really flushed from the experience.

On our last day in Odense that guy (I don't really remember his name) took us to visit the Anderson House. Hans Christian Anderson was the person who wrote fairytales such as The Little Mermaid and he is also the most famous person from Denmark. Coincidentally we visited Denmark on the anniversary of Anderson's hundredth birthday. In the afternoon my mother and I took a walk around town to shop a bit as it was not far from the hotel. And I remember when I came back from that walk I told my mother that Denmark will be on top of my list of my favorite place. The people were so nice and helpful to tourists like us. I told my mum I might just come back to Odense again in the future :p That night we were supposed to have a big dinner but we weren't able to make because...guess why, I was sick.

In the morning however I was feeling okay again and the four of us took the train back to COPENHAGEN. We met another guide there that showed us around the capital while waiting for our flight for Vienna. Copenhagen is a city rich with history and you can imagine the kind of excitement I was feeling as I sat on the edge of the seat of the bus.

Unfortunately we couldn't spend a night there and instead arrived in VIENNA late that night. Remember the heavy snow earlier in the week? It was nowhere in sight when I arrived :( Our guide there was an old chap that looked like he was made out of wax! While in the car he told us of the history of Vienna and not leaving out the famous Adolph Hitler that was rejected there. My hotel this time was next to a Gothic Church and I was looking at it all the time as the bell rang (I just love this kind of thing!) The next morning it was only my mum and I so the two of us braved ourselves to take the bus to Schonbrunn Palace. It is a very famous palace where Mozart used to play and there was even the bed Napoleon Bonaparte used to sleep on. The garden was not any less beautiful. After my mum was done accompanying me to these historical sites it was my time to accompany her as she shopped. I didn't shop a lot because not much attracts me besides the history there.

In the evening we made our way to the airport and took Dubai Air back to KL. It was the start of me not taking Malaysian Airlines and it continued as I took Singapore Airlines the next year to New Zealand!