Europe Part I. (Eastern)

Day 0

Doha to Frankfurt. (plane)

I got up to request a cup of warm water from the air stewardess and happen to see an Islamic lady requesting to do a prayer at the back of the plane. The air stewardess gave a surprised look and made way, walking towards her colleague and mention that the lady requested to do a prayer. The other stewardess shown face of.. I would say... Disgust and doubtful about the passenger's action. And when I approach them, they immediately turned into their usual professional smile. 

Why is a Middle East airline seems so intolerant of such practices? 

What's wrong with practicing one's religion? 

On a lighthearted note, I was fortunate enough to witness a complete sunrise from the window I was sitting by on my way to Frankfurt. :)

Day 1. 

Frankfurt; Germany. 

Romerberg, town square

Brought my mum around the central area with my last minute research just the day before our departure. It was my first encounter in a European country, and I was fascinated by the 18th, 19th centuries kind of buildings all around us- couldn't keep my camera shutter off. And also, all those pretty cafes I always see in movies are super real, very common along the streets and very lovely ambiance  indeed. Flowers are cheap here, I saw a really petty bouquet of flowers and it only costs 7.50 euro, for it could have easily cost 35 in Singapore. Gelato are also abundant here, they are everywhere and most importantly they are very cheap going at 1 euro per scoop. Seen a few churches in the day, and I'm sure I will be seeing many more in the next two weeks.

Goethehause; Goethe Museum

Nothing much astonishing, but still there we many tourists in the area. The weather here varies drastically between shady and non-shady area, feels like I had to put on a sweater whenever I walked into the shade. It's a small city, or at least the central area, with one street of shoppings and one street of museums and churches along the Maiken river, pretty much sums up Frankfurt am main. Oh and one more thing the sun sets at 9.30pm here,  although Frankfurt is on the same latitude with shenyang, I don't quite remember the sun sets so late when I was young. It was a long day but a satisfying one as I swallowed the largest kebab I have seen all my life. Oh and also it was pleasant knowing that the is no checking of tickets for train rides, things work based on act of honesty here. Will Singaporeans' values be ever able to support such a system? I have no confidence in giving a positive answer given our nature.  

Day 2. 

Heidelberg; Germany. 

Heidelberg Schloss; Castle

Woke up with no itinerary in mind for we have walked almost all tourist attractions the day before, shopping malls were all closed on Sunday, and we have missed the unique Saturday flea market the day before ): Eventually we decided to take an hour train ride to the city adjacent to where we stay- Heidelberg. Train ticket costed us 86,60€ for round trip for two.



The scenery was in fact better than Frankfurt, supported by the beautiful backdrop of the castle from 13th century and mountains of greenery. We spent almost a day walking along the historic town and right now I'm typing these during the ride back to Frankfurt, the train is surprisingly empty with just us in the cabin, so I sincerely hope we are on the right train for we have got a tour to Join tomorrow morning that will cover a few countries in Eastern Europe. ( Ps.it turns out that it was the right train but it took an hour longer than our trip in the morning)

I'm in love with all the well decorated cafes along the shophouses in Europe in general, cozy table sets with flowers mostly, beautiful and fresh. :) The food here weren't as expensive as I thought it might be. Ranging from 5-15€ for a decent meal, for my mum and I were told ample times that the food here are very expensive here. In fact, we brought along 15 packets of instant noodles to counter the 'expensive' meals here, but it seems that we might have to carry them back to Singapore eventually.

Today was my first ever self-planned day trip i would say, apart from the 4 days in Krabi earlier this year, which didn't feel as difficult as we signed up for three separate day-tours back then. From purchasing of train tickets to finding the right places, I was praying hard to not make any mistake and get us to nowhere eventually. It was lucky that most of the things here has english translation and the people speak some english, more or less. Imagine if I were to travel in a complete foreign country will be something else, but it's definitely worth trying someday. 

Day 3, 

Prague, Czech Republic.

Started our first day of touring Eastern Europe with a group of 40 over others. Reached Prague from Frankfurt in about 3 hours time. The very first thing I've learnt here is that there are barely any public toilets Foc in Europe, most places charge 0.30-0.70€ respectively, at most resting stations along the highway, there will be gantry machine that gives back a 0.50€ coupon upon entering the toilet, which can be used as cash voucher in the store / cafe. What a genius way of inducing people to spend money by giving a cash voucher incentive. :')

A city with a uniquely preserved historical centre, I first heard of the place by the song 布拉格的广场 by Jolin Tsai, and I imagine the place to have a big fountain in the middle of the parade square, surrounded by Bohemian buildings. It did not turn out to be a disappointment, very close to my guess except there was no fountain but a statue of whom I have forgotten. There are many buskers around, and every of them worth stopping by to appreciate their music or performances.

Berries; 22€... (Never buy though)

Astronomical Clock

Church of our lady before Tyn, (Baroque altarpiece style)

Old town square 

kebab Sandwich; 3.50€

Day 4,

Prague, Czech Republic to Bratislava, Slovakia.

St Vitus Cathedral (Gothic architecture style)

Took a short ride and went up to the Prague Castle in the morning, yet another castle with churches. :') the day was cold going with a highest of 13 Celsius and some drizzling throughout. The interior of the church was full of stained glass- windows, bright and very beautiful, standing out amongst the dim light inside. Took a walk down to Charles bridge which led us back to the Old and New town areas. 

Took a 7 hours long ride from 2-9pm today as there was a jam due to traffic accident on the highway, ended up in Bratislava and had our first proper dinner since the start of our trip. :) The ribs were tender and moist, sliding off the bone with ease. Except that I couldn't guess what sides they served, weird tasting pickled vegetables that I have unseen of. 

Pork ribs, 10.99€

Day 5,

Bratislava, Slovakia to Budapest, Hungary.



Greeted by Lavender fields, windmills and cottages, we are on our way to Budapest today. Pretty excited now as the place was highly recommended by Binglian, as well as the tour guide who claim that Budapest will the city with the most beautiful scenery of the trip.

Parliament building ( Gothic revival architecture style)

Buda castle

Guide and new friend made from Hongkong

Matthias Church (Gothic architecture style)

Had some Hungarian Folk dinner & dance session (50€) at night which sadly, the food wasn't too  my liking, duck confit was too salty for me. Got invited/pushed onto the tiny stage for a two minute short interactive performance and marks the 'interaction' between tourists and locals in Hungary. 

Day 6,

Budapest, Hungary to Vienna, Austria

Schönbrunn Palace, (Rococo architecture style)

Paid a visit to the former imperial summer residence and visited the 41 rooms inside the palace. Did not manage to snap any photo as photography was prohibited inside the palace, it was hard to imagine how grand and complex the rooms could be back in the 17th century. Truly amusing rooms with most ceilings and walls decorated with white-lacquered surfaces with ornamentation covered with gold leaf. Reminds me a little of the wallpaper in my room, and also our dining sets at home.  

 Golden concert hall, Vienna

Schnitzel, 11.90€ 

Day 7,

Salzburg, Austria to Munich, Germany.

The hotel we stayed in tonight is my favorite so far, sort of like a weekend vacation lodge in the countryside, residing right beside a functional train track. There is no Wifi or lift in this four storey high lodge, except for birds chirpings and occasionally, some cars drove pass the main road. Nothing much in the area except for a decent supermarket, where we bought some pizza and beer back, the hotel room has a small kitchen area consisting of some utensils, microwave and tap. Which is sufficient for a simple dinner. And there is also a really small Tv with a screen about the size of my laptop in the room. J I love this hotel of all, for the tranquility it provides. Maybe I should spend more nights like this, reflecting on the day trip instead of holding tightly onto my phone.

Sun sets around 9.30pm most of the days in Europe, making the days seem exceptionally long here. I get tired easily everyday despite spending almost 1/3 of the day on coach. A breakdown of today is 8am-12pm travel from Vienna to Salzburg, the hometown of music prodigy – Leopold Mozart. Went up to Mozarthause (10Euro) for a short visit of his birthplace. Didn’t have time subsequently to go up to the castle nearby where the movie Sound of Music was filmed. Stayed in the area till about 4 and spent another 3 hours on coach to travel to the hotel I’m residing in.

Honestly speaking I’m getting a little, or maybe very sick of travelling everyday from country to country, getting off coaches for either toilet breaks or photo takings. Seeing churches, castles, palaces, museums, hero squares everywhere. Maybe it’s because my inability to relate myself to the place, my lack of background knowledge of the places I visited, made me lose interest and became numb to the supposedly fascinating sites. It was through the trip that made me realize how interconnected history and tourism are, that it was through understanding of the origin of a place that made it different and memorable. It was also through the trip that made me reconfirm how tiring travelling is. This is making me not really looking forward to our second tour the following week to Western Europe. But again, some new element tomorrow: it’s time for winter! Heading up to the -2 Celsius Mt Tiltus :)

Day 8,

Munich to Liechtenstein to Berne; lucerne, Switzerland

Bypassed a small country that I have unheard of today while we were on the way to Switzerland - Liechtenstein. Not a name that I will remember anytime soon. Today is by far the best, and only day of seeing natural sceneries.

Bus view of Switzerland 

Cable car up to Mt Tiltis

Mt Tiltis & my little ice-man, 3020m

Luzern, Swan lake 

As I'm trying to complete this post, I have already started the second tour around Western Europe, and to be honest I'm already getting a little travel fatigue, and numb visually from seeing churches, castles and statues. Although I did in fact learnt a few different architecture styles in Europe - Baroque, Gothic, Rococo, Bohemian. Which reminds me of the City planning modules I took last semester, how buldings could be so drastically different across places. For instance,being a financial center, Frankfurt is seen to have many high rise buildings, contesting with the older European architecture styles. Travelling around has made me realized once again the importance of culture and history of a place, the interconnection between the two. But right now all I want is in fact to go back home, travelling is no easy task, it is in fact the most tiring thing ever. ): Especially when this travelling extends for too long one gets sick of going around places, especially when one can't go with one's own pace but with the hectic and packed tour package. 

Maybe blogging on the go isn't a good idea after all, I'm too tired to think after travelling places the entire day. I will do a better job for the second part of the trip.