As the hour hand struck twelve, we were hoping to see cute little men dancing and drum beating to the music. Instead, there were seven Counts spinning, not dancing, around the Emperor. No music, only rings from the church bell. To soothe our disappointment, our tourist guide reminded us that we should keep in mind it was built hundreds of years ago, a time which the church was quite a great achievement. 
Before luch, we stopped at the square in front of Church Frauenkirche (Our Lady's Church). It is particularly well known for the West facade, where at noon every day a figure of Emperor Karl IV parades with his seven Counts. The little gold figure in the middle is Emperor Karl IV, the one we stood under the sun for ten minutes waiting for.
There were a lot of fruit stands as we got closer to the square. Although Taiwan is the fruit kingdom, we still wanted to see if the fruit would taste different. It must be the the same, and I bet it was because of our location that somehow made the grapes seem sweeter.
Nurmberg. Lots of great coffee shops along the sides of the streets. It would make the trip perfect if we could just slow down and order a cup of coffee and relax with the locals (or mainly the other tourists.) But you know how it was like to travel with the tourist group, always hurrying to one scenic spot to another. Anyway, we were not even at the scenic spot yet, still the local streets views were already stunning. Colorful buildings, flagged pavement and delicate-designed shop signs were so attracting to me, a country mouse in the city.
We spotted a line of taxi right after we stepped outside the train station in Nurmberg. Benz! As the matter of fact, it was quite impossible to find a taxi that was not Benz.
View from ICE. I love the red roofs and the forest. It looks exactly like the view in movies or fairy tales.
After landing at Frankfurt, we took the fastest train in Germany, Inter City Express (ICE), to Nurmberg and began our fascinating trip in Europe. Like our tourist guide said, the train trip was so smooth and cosy that we didn't feel the train was that fast at all. Not that I like to compare things in Taiwan with those abroad, but ICE did seem pretty high class with those wooden interior decoration and glass doors.
The first stop of our ten days trip to Czech and Austria was the airport (of course.) Our flight was eleven pm, so we slowly took our time to pack and make sure we got everything. Since it had been quite a long time since I last took a plane, the thirteen-hour flight was exciting. Besides taking a little nap, I finished watching almost every movie on the plane ( they have these little television on every seat now.) Those photos I took from inside the plane came out much better than I expected.
We found this "Crime Testing Rock" on our way down Sunlinksee. I know it sounds ridiculous, but the sign said a guiltless man can stand on the rock with one leg and eyes closed for ten seconds without trembling. We all gave it a try, trying to prove ourselves innocent, but none of us could last more than three seconds. Oh well, everyone do commit crimes more or less, right?
The second day after our big college entrance exam, the whole class, including our home room teacher, went to Shito as our last trip together. Fresh air, singing birds, acres of trees, everything you ask for to relax is here. We spent most of our the first day walking and climbing for hours until we were exhausted, then we stopped to take pictures and waited for our teacher to catch his breath. I spotted this old trunk in the middle of the mountain. Though it was not old enough to make it on the brochure, still it was beautiful that it kept me a little left behind from the main crowd and had to trot to catch up afterward.
Another photo from my graduation ceremony. I guessed we had been acting like teachers' pets for so long that graduation is always the best time to ask teachers to do whatever we want them to do, like making "the prettiest teacher in school" to make a face, or having a serious teacher to sing a popular song for us. I know that having teaching for years, not many students will remain in one teacher's mind. Surprisingly, those students that do are often those that caused much trouble, not those who didn't ( like me).
Finally, my first photo for at least six months. This was my high school graduation ceremony on June 10, with my classmates and our home teacher on the left. The ceremony wasn't as great as I expected, for it was raining and the show was pretty boring, but after all it was the people that matter.
Well, it has definitely been a long time since I posted my last photo. Why? Because I'd been preparing for the college entrance test on January 22and23, and now I can only sit and wait for the result coming out on next Wednesday.
My art teacher held an art exhibition on Oct 29 to Nov 10 exhibiting his students' art work, and he also made an album of the paintings for every student. The one above and below were my pastel art I chosed for the exhibition. Noticed how they put "Mathematic Superior Intelligence Class" (p.s. I don't really know how to translate it) after the school I study in? Honestly, I was a little bit uncomfortable about it because I hated it when people saw it and expected me to be a math genius that I'm actually not. Well, I guess I'll just keep my art teacher feel proud of having a student studying mathematic before I graduate.
I guess any pet enthusiast just won't get enough of their pets' "cute" photos. Even you know those honey bee or superman customs won't keep your pets any warmer, you just can't help persuading yourself that they will and in fact make your pets happier. We didn't buy any exquisite clothes for our pets, but we still found ways to make them look good in front of the camera. Don't you just want to hug them?
I rented "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at Blockbuster yesterday and I loved it! I'd read the book in elementary school and what impressed me most were the elevator with thousands of buttons that could go any direction and the fact that Charlie's two grandparents slept on the same bed. I loved everything in the factory, including the chocolate river and the squirrels. Keep in mind that you should never be serious when watching this film, especially if you're not a very imaginative person, or you'll end up like my mom, saying "He should give them resignation finance." when Mr. Wonka fired all of his workers after his secret recipe of chocolate was stolen.
A catty Liv Tyler helps her little calf, 10-month-old Milo, get a leg up outside their Greenwich Village home in New York city on Halloween.
