Netherland- Amsterdam & Haarlem

Our visit to Amsterdam coincide with the Dutch playing Bulgaria in the euro 2008 qualifying  campaign.  Rooms were in high demand, most were charging exorbitantly prices.  In the end, we found accomodation in Haarlem which was 30 min train ride from Amsterdam. It is so much more peaceful and things are cheaper too, Amsterdam is too busy and noisy for our liking.

Our trip to Haarlem concide with their annual boat festival which liven up the town, with lots of house boats docking at river and everyone enjoying themselves.

We visited the Anne Frank museum, Vondelpark and red light district.  Wanted to visit the Van Gogh museum, but unfortunately it was close.  As we had already book for a budget flight to Istanbul 2 days later, we didn't see much though of Amsterdam though.  

Belgium- Bruges

In Belgium, we only visited Bruges, as we were almost approaching the 90 days that we are allowed to stay within the Schengen countries. Bruges is a lovely town, with canals running through it.  Thats why its called the 'Venice of the North'.

With its network of quite canals and cobbled street Bruges is a photographer's delight. We visited the Choc Muesum and went for the beer tour at the De Haa Beer Brewery which makes the famous Brugge Zot beer.  Both tours weren't really impressive though.

We rented bikes and cycled out of the town into the countryside.  It was a fantastic experience; the lovely scenery and the cooling weather...

Germany-Rhine River

The Rhine river is one of the most important waterway in Germany, and has a particularly high density of medieval castles along the valley.  The best way way to see them is to take a cruise along the river. If you have used the Rail pass, the cruise comes free. We stayed at medieval town of Bacharach, which had remained unchanged over the years!  There was a hostel located up the hill which is actually a castle. We initally wanted to stay there but too bad it was full. We were pretty disappointed.

It was here that we also met our Germans friends (Horst & Bill) who showed us tremendous hospitality, by bringing us out for dinner in a Russian restaurant.

Germany - Berlin

We were here to see the famous Berlin Wall, but not much of it was left though!  To better understand the history of the Nazi and the wall, we signed up with the "Original Berlin Walk".  Its highly recommended, our guide fantastically narrated the scene to us in the 4 hours walk.  It cost 12 euros, and its worth every single cents. 

We caught a Bundesliga match at the Olympic Stadium, venue for the world cup 2006.  Hertha Berlin was playing Wolfsburg fc.  The match tickets also includes free train transportation 3 hours pior and after the match.

Germany - Hamburg

Being a football fan. I had always wanted to catch a top european side in action.  And knowing that our next stop was to Berlin, I did some research on the internet, and managed to get tickets to games in Hamburg and Berlin.  Therefore we detour to Hamburg before heading to Berlin.  Hamburg SV were playing an UEFA cup qualifying game against Hungary Honved.  The atmosphere was fantastic, everyone was having so much fun.  

Germany- Romantic Road (Rothenburg)

Rothenburg is a village along the Romantic road to Frankfurt. It is a small quiet medival town that comes alive during the christmas period.  There is the famous Kathe Wolfahrt christmas village, that peoples flock to, to get their christmas ornaments and gifts.  Its like a fairy land when you enter the shop!  This is also the place where most tourists get the famous cuckoo clock, I got myself a german eagle beer stein.

Germany - Munich

We visited Dachau Concentration Camp, the first concentration camp build by Adolf Hitler where he banish the Jews , homosexual and other undesirable people. Nothing much was left, hence some might want to consider getting a guide if you are really interested to know more about the place. However there is a short documentary that shows the terrible and inhumane conditions those prisoners had to live in, during their stay there.  Hitler's rein during the war was really terrifying!

Germany -Fussen

From Austria, we easily cross over to Germany with just a 2 hour train trip to Munich. We were suppose to stay in Munich but an impromp tudecision to take another 2 hour trip to Fussen was made. It was a decision that brought no regrets. The scenery on the train there was filled with green meadows, mountains and lakes.

As no accommodations were pre-booked, we head to the TI straight away, as they provide this service for free here.

We spent our time picnicking by the lake and visiting the famous Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castle.

Neuschwanstein Castle belongs to the Mad King Ludwig and the latter belongs to his father. His castle was known as the fairytale castle as it was built by a painter not by a architect. And you might find that it resemble the Disney Castle. The castle was never completed hence only 14 rooms were done. When you are there take time to check out the views from the castle and his room as it took 4 1/2yr to complete.

Salzburg

Salzburg- Famous for Mozart's Birth Place and the place where The Sound of Music Movie was filmed. Although, Mozart spend his first 25 years here he was buried in Vennia. It was here that we attended our very first concert in Europe, held in the church by a Dome-organist, it cost us only 3 euros.  We also had some great beer at a beer garden in a monastery.

Vienna

Because of the Schengen Visa treaty, which only allow us to stay in EU for a maximum of 90 days, we had to leave Italy sooner than what we wanted. Guess we made a mistake of spending too much time in France. We arrive at Vienna in the late afternoon, didn't prebook any accommodation prior to coming. And we wasted so much time looking for one. In the end we bumped into Happy Hostel. They were fully booked, but the kind owner showed us a room, that was in the process of being renovated. It was pretty dirty, cobwebs were everywhere, but he told us we can have it 10Euro for a night. This is the cheapest room that we paid for in our Europe trip! We tidied up the room, and in the end we stayed for 3 nights. To the owner, if you are reading this blog, I would like to say a big thank you to you for being so generous.

We saw the Hofburge and Schonbrum Palace but we only choose to visit the Schonbrum Palace because in Europe, this is the only one that rivals Versailles and since we missed that we really wanted to see this. To beat the long queues, we woke up really early and were the first few during opening. Several types of tickets were available but the best value were the "Imperial Tour" ticket (9.50 euros) that covers 22 out of 40 rooms. It was really enjoyable, not to be missed if you were there. Remember to look out for the famous "Sissy" - Empress Elisabeth

Too bad, we missed the chance to catch an Opera there held at the World Famous Opera House, they don't perform during the Summer.

Venice

In this trip, we fulfilled alot of things that we wanted to accomplished, and one of it is visiting Venice.  We heard and saw so many great things about this place.  But after being there, I personally felt that it was too overrated.  Everything were so expensive there.  We only stayed for 2 days, as most of our daily budget were used to pay for the accommodation, and food.  We did however visited Murano for the glass blowing, and Lido for the beach, but was shocked that you have to pay to use it.  Sometime too much tourism really inflate the standard of living of one place.