Europe Trip! Denmark! Sweden! :)

A first of many things!

First entry on my first Europe trip! :)

Took a flight to Bangkok on the 25th August'10, 2050hrs. Waited 2hrs for transit. And it was a 11 hours flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. It was 0730 in the morning. The time different is exactly 6hours.

Something very important to know, it is very difficult to get Swedish Korna and Denmark Korne. We went to both the airports' money exchange and we could not get anything, not even SGD$5 worth. So if you are going to Scandinavia countries, do be well prepared.

Took a train for 3 stops to København H Station. And went hunting for money exchange. Point to note: It cost a fee to exchange currency.

The weather was great! Cool wind and sunny day! But according to the locals, it is rainy season. :P

We decided to hang around for the rest of the day before going up to Gothenburg, Sweden. First thing that came to mind was the "Little Mermaid". It is a famous landmark of Copenhagen. Guess what? It is moved to Shanghai! oh my... It is there for the World Expo. All there was a live telecast of the Little Mermaid in Shanghai... :( What a bummer... Everyone there was quite upset... Haha.




28 August'10




Writing with a heavy heart… How can I improve my skills and thought process for playing? Just completed the Grand Prix Gothenburg'10 with a very disappointed score of 3-6.

Some background information: There were a total of 1,001 participants. It was the biggest Grand Prix in Scandinavia till date. The event ground was good. Very big and spacious. The people were generally nice, of course there were a few occasional oddballs. The side events were crazy. There were more than 40 pods of drafts and it costed 150SEK to play. That is close of SGD$25! There were other events, such as, EDH, Legacy, Seal, and all sorts of pick-ups.

The day before I played 2 rounds of grinders which costed 250SEK each. Damm expansive. :( haha.

The conduct of the GP was smooth compared to the others that I had been to. We started a little late, around 1030am and ended around 930pm. Given that it is a 9-rounds swiss, it was ok. I opened Baneslayer Angel and passed. The passing was quite well organized actually. Each player was told to put the cards, sorted by colour and in alphabetical order, into the given deckbox and the passing begins. I got a mixed pool of cards. "Frost Titan" X 1, "Grave Titan" X 1, "Steel Overseer" X 1, "Lighting Bolt" X 2, etc. I played blue/white and splashed black and red. I think it was good. And after discussion with the rest, Chapman agreed he would also played blue/white and splash the lighting bolts. My white pool was with 5 flyers, 1 blinding mage and 1 condemn.

Throughout the day, I died due to fireballs, lighting bolts and titans. And I would say that "Mind Control" and "Crystal Ball" are so sick… Most of the time I would be outdraw by "Crystal Ball". With 3 removals in hand and opponent had none, I lost.

Okok. After with Chapman, I understand that M11 or rather core sets are about having more card advantage. The pros almost always play blue. Preordain, Forsee and Augury Owl are very good cards.



29 August'10

Just done with a 75DKK lasagna dinner at the Nis Ericsson Terminal. I have concluded that Scandinavia is a very expansive place. A good point is that almost everyone speaks english and are very helpful. :)



Just completed a 9 round swiss PTQ. It was 250-strong. In Singapore, we seldom have more than 100-strong. Haha. Anyway, it was bad. The rares I had were, "Temple Bell", "Jinxed Idol", "Wild Evocation", " Reverberate" and luckily, 2 copies of "Royal Assassin". I think my build was ok. And to top it off, O had "Lighting Bolt" X 2, "Chandra's Outrage" X 1, "Assassinate" X 1, "Raise of the Grave" X 1, etc. Nonetheless, whenever I see a Titan or two, dead… Went 5-4. It was ok. I had a lot fun, as I made some friends! People from Holland, USA and Argentina. The lady from Argentina even gave out flyers to ask people to support her music! Haha! I will be a sport and help her promote. :p
www.NATUbella.com.


30 August'10

Tivoli Gardens! That is the reason that we went back to Copenhagen. It is the second oldest amusement park in Europe! :) To top it off, we decided to stay in the largest hostel in Europe, which also happen to be in Copenhagen. Just round the corner of Tivoli Gardens. Our stay was pleasant. and it was my first time sleeping in a mixed dorm!:)




Tivoli Gardens is fairly small. The rides are kind of kiddish. But it is fluffed up very nicely! :) If you are there, make sure you stay till nightfall and check out the light-ups! We did not take any rides as it was damm expansive! But we had a lot of fun though! :)





See all the photos in my flickr account! :)

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