So it is bye-bye Munich and hello Prague or Praha in local language.
Was also excited as it is my first cross country euro train ride! Only taken inter city trains in England and flights from Paris to Madrid. So it was a different experience. Excitement and a little nerve wrecking when all the train announcements and signages were in German and Czech! Other than that, it was a comfortable 5 hours plus ride, with comfy seats (guess it helps that it was not crowded so we had a cabin meant for 6 to ourselves) and nice view of the country side from munich to prague along the way. You can see the change in architectural designs of the 2 countries too.
The only negative thing is we will not have a chop on my passport to indicate my visit to Prague as they just conduct a simple check the passport on train but does not stamp it or there is no immigration checks at the station. Come to think of it, it's quite scary as you can just run across europe without any checks. Hmmm...
The hotel K+K hotel Fenix was easier to find this time and it was located at right smack at the main square and near the metro station. The only funny thing was it is also like a mini red light district! There are cabarets (according to guide books, the polite way to say strip clubs) just next to and opposite my hotel. So have to be careful not to come back too late! Otherwise, the hotel was way better than munich's regent hotel. More business hotel styled, more high tech, and more international tv programmes! No more just CNN as the only English channel, at least there is HBO!
Took a quick walk around the area as it was almost 5pm when we got settled down. We went to the mini Christmas market to soak in the atmosphere and bought our dinner from the street vendors. What else but more sausages! We had 2 different sausages, the Bavarian and the Czech. Also tried a cinnamon sugar coated dessert that my friend recommended me to try. It was nice. Will buy it again alternate days! Hahaha. Think I will put on weight for sure this trip!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
football fever on day 4
quite some time back, it was somehow decided that if i ever travel to a city that has a major football club, i will go visit the stadium.
so since i am in munich, how can i miss the chance to visit the biggest club in germany even though i am not a bayern munich fan.
the thing of seeing the stadium on pictures or television is always not such a big deal especially for a team you do not have much feelings about. but once you are there physically, you will just get impressed and get star-struck! hahaha!
learnt a lot more about the alliance area stadium, home to both Bayern Munich and FC 1860. something i find amazing that 2 teams of the city to share their home grounds which i never thought it will work (all the protest we have against doing so for Liverpool & Everton)
after spending more than half a day at the north of munich, we went back to the city to marienplatz again for a day view of the christmas market and went to a toy museum. walking around, we realised that H&M is really big in munich. there are like at least 4 or 5 H&M within 1 street!!!
since it is our last night in munich, we decided to have a real bavarian dinner and went in search of this local restaurant that is famous for their bavarian cuisine according the locals - Augustiner Sellar which is near our hotel. the place was bursting with non-stop crowd. the food was good except a little salty (yes... even for my standard since i have high tolerance for salt!). i had traditional pork knuckle with potato dumplings, while my sis took a mix plate that has everything from sausage, suckling pig, duck, pork knuckle with sauerkraut. we shared a beef consomme with liver dumpling. clear soup was great, but the liver dumpling was not to my liking. of course we couldnt leave munich - city for oktoberfest, without drinking beer. so we had our beer with our dinner to conclude our short little trip to munich...
time to sleep as i have an earlier train to prague...
so since i am in munich, how can i miss the chance to visit the biggest club in germany even though i am not a bayern munich fan.
the thing of seeing the stadium on pictures or television is always not such a big deal especially for a team you do not have much feelings about. but once you are there physically, you will just get impressed and get star-struck! hahaha!
learnt a lot more about the alliance area stadium, home to both Bayern Munich and FC 1860. something i find amazing that 2 teams of the city to share their home grounds which i never thought it will work (all the protest we have against doing so for Liverpool & Everton)
after spending more than half a day at the north of munich, we went back to the city to marienplatz again for a day view of the christmas market and went to a toy museum. walking around, we realised that H&M is really big in munich. there are like at least 4 or 5 H&M within 1 street!!!
since it is our last night in munich, we decided to have a real bavarian dinner and went in search of this local restaurant that is famous for their bavarian cuisine according the locals - Augustiner Sellar which is near our hotel. the place was bursting with non-stop crowd. the food was good except a little salty (yes... even for my standard since i have high tolerance for salt!). i had traditional pork knuckle with potato dumplings, while my sis took a mix plate that has everything from sausage, suckling pig, duck, pork knuckle with sauerkraut. we shared a beef consomme with liver dumpling. clear soup was great, but the liver dumpling was not to my liking. of course we couldnt leave munich - city for oktoberfest, without drinking beer. so we had our beer with our dinner to conclude our short little trip to munich...
time to sleep as i have an earlier train to prague...
being totally tourist in day 3
decided to get on those hop on/off tourist bus as it will bring us directly to some of the places that we are visiting.
so up the grayline blue bus and off we went for the grand circle which included the city center, which gave me some knowledge of some of the buildings or areas i walked past for the last 2 days. but my first hop off stop was BMW Welt and Museum. the unfortunate thing was we didnt know that the museum was closed for on monday! sigh, so we went to the gift shop, which i was supposed to help a friend get something. that too was not available. double sigh.
next stop was the olympic park built during the 1972 Munich summer olympic. the park was huge, but nothing much to see or excite us until we found the 27 seconds ride up to the olympic tower which is the highest point of munich you can get at 180+ metres. due to aesthetic view of the city, it is actually not allow to build anything above 100m. that explains the lack of high rise buildings for a major city in europe.
we went for the next stop to visit the english gardens. well, it is the biggest park area in munich, but the area that we went to (to note that it was a tourist stop on the map), it was really simply a not so well maintained park.
so when we got back to the city, we took the S-bahn (subway) to MarienPlatz, which is the main shopping district like our Orchard road and also the location for the Christmas market. it was crowded when we got there. seems like everyone got of work by 4pm as there were so many people on a weekday! we walked the whole stretch of the christmas markets, which were basically stalls repeating the christmas goodies sold. just to soak in the great atmosphere.
then we took the longest time to find hard rock cafe (yes, i still collect the pins from them) and decided to eat dinner there. don't think we are going to be tourists that are not used to the local food, coz we both decided to take the local options for dinner!
it was a long day and was really tired...
so up the grayline blue bus and off we went for the grand circle which included the city center, which gave me some knowledge of some of the buildings or areas i walked past for the last 2 days. but my first hop off stop was BMW Welt and Museum. the unfortunate thing was we didnt know that the museum was closed for on monday! sigh, so we went to the gift shop, which i was supposed to help a friend get something. that too was not available. double sigh.
next stop was the olympic park built during the 1972 Munich summer olympic. the park was huge, but nothing much to see or excite us until we found the 27 seconds ride up to the olympic tower which is the highest point of munich you can get at 180+ metres. due to aesthetic view of the city, it is actually not allow to build anything above 100m. that explains the lack of high rise buildings for a major city in europe.
we went for the next stop to visit the english gardens. well, it is the biggest park area in munich, but the area that we went to (to note that it was a tourist stop on the map), it was really simply a not so well maintained park.
so when we got back to the city, we took the S-bahn (subway) to MarienPlatz, which is the main shopping district like our Orchard road and also the location for the Christmas market. it was crowded when we got there. seems like everyone got of work by 4pm as there were so many people on a weekday! we walked the whole stretch of the christmas markets, which were basically stalls repeating the christmas goodies sold. just to soak in the great atmosphere.
then we took the longest time to find hard rock cafe (yes, i still collect the pins from them) and decided to eat dinner there. don't think we are going to be tourists that are not used to the local food, coz we both decided to take the local options for dinner!
it was a long day and was really tired...
Monday, November 28, 2011
Day 2 is all about the castles
being a big disney fan, i had a goal to visit all 5 disneylands. but it was only recently like a year or so ago that i realised that the iconic sleeping beauty castle of disneyland was inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle in Munich. So since i am in Munich, how can i not go visit?
booked the day tour before departing Singapore, so i guess i was all ready!
a little "do you know" nugget - the man behind the magnificent castles is King Ludwig II is known to build castles as his hobby! how cool is that?
so we started the tour with Linderhof Castle, which was a small castle that is more of his villa. it was hidden in the valley and you really only see it when you walked right towards it! the interior was definitely more reflective as a castle with its glamour and craftmanship.
then we had a quick stop at a village called oberammergau where we did some quick shopping for souvenirs and they were known for the mural painted houses, with the famous ones of fairytales painted houses like little red riding hood and hansel & gretel.
the last stop was the highlight of Neuschwanstein Castle. the first challenge was you need to either hike up 40mins through the slope or the take a bus or horse carriage. we decided on taking the bus up, which was a great decision as the bus stopped at the marienbrucke (Mary's bridge) which is a suspension bridge with a brilliant view of the castle. then we walked downwards to the castle. the guided tour also took us up 166 steps up and down before we took a long 40mins walk down to the meeting point again. glad that the view was worth it!
by the time we got back into the city, we were tired and most shops or restaurants were closed as it was a sunday. so we grabbed some roast crispy pork buns back to the hotel for dinner...
now, its time to rest for another great outing tmr....
booked the day tour before departing Singapore, so i guess i was all ready!
a little "do you know" nugget - the man behind the magnificent castles is King Ludwig II is known to build castles as his hobby! how cool is that?
so we started the tour with Linderhof Castle, which was a small castle that is more of his villa. it was hidden in the valley and you really only see it when you walked right towards it! the interior was definitely more reflective as a castle with its glamour and craftmanship.
then we had a quick stop at a village called oberammergau where we did some quick shopping for souvenirs and they were known for the mural painted houses, with the famous ones of fairytales painted houses like little red riding hood and hansel & gretel.
the last stop was the highlight of Neuschwanstein Castle. the first challenge was you need to either hike up 40mins through the slope or the take a bus or horse carriage. we decided on taking the bus up, which was a great decision as the bus stopped at the marienbrucke (Mary's bridge) which is a suspension bridge with a brilliant view of the castle. then we walked downwards to the castle. the guided tour also took us up 166 steps up and down before we took a long 40mins walk down to the meeting point again. glad that the view was worth it!
by the time we got back into the city, we were tired and most shops or restaurants were closed as it was a sunday. so we grabbed some roast crispy pork buns back to the hotel for dinner...
now, its time to rest for another great outing tmr....
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Guten Tag
means hello in german!
yes... first blog in munich, germany... internet access in my hotel room is very unstable. well, its complimentary, so cannot complain much.
its 12:35am now. spend the morning taking a walk in the city centre as we could check in to our hotel at 2pm. when we got in, we unpacked a little, was tired after the 12 hours flight and waiting that we took a nap through the evening! that's how i spent the first night at munich! hahahaha!. might as well, since we need to be up early for our day tour to the castles of Neuschwanstein and Linderhof.
anyway, weather has been great... touched down to 0 degrees cool air! but doesn't feel that cold as london last year. maybe coz it is not snowing. love the view of the fallen autumn leaves around... took this picture at the park, see the contrast of the colours of the green grass patch covered by different coloured fallen leaves... beautiful...
till the next posting... auf wiedersehen (goodbye)
yes... first blog in munich, germany... internet access in my hotel room is very unstable. well, its complimentary, so cannot complain much.
its 12:35am now. spend the morning taking a walk in the city centre as we could check in to our hotel at 2pm. when we got in, we unpacked a little, was tired after the 12 hours flight and waiting that we took a nap through the evening! that's how i spent the first night at munich! hahahaha!. might as well, since we need to be up early for our day tour to the castles of Neuschwanstein and Linderhof.
anyway, weather has been great... touched down to 0 degrees cool air! but doesn't feel that cold as london last year. maybe coz it is not snowing. love the view of the fallen autumn leaves around... took this picture at the park, see the contrast of the colours of the green grass patch covered by different coloured fallen leaves... beautiful...
till the next posting... auf wiedersehen (goodbye)
Friday, November 25, 2011
The start...
Blogging live at the SATS premier lounge is the start of my stylish travel of the year!
As previously blogged, was given some perks with HSBC Elite travel. So my trip started with a free limo pick-up to the airport! Woohoo! No need to call for cab, and it's free!
Now, it was also great that I get to use the lounge as my flight got delayed by 30mins... First experience for sis. But the snacks were not as good as SQ's lounge. Well, can't be choosy right?
Ok... Going to enjoy my free coke n kachang! Until the next posting...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
As previously blogged, was given some perks with HSBC Elite travel. So my trip started with a free limo pick-up to the airport! Woohoo! No need to call for cab, and it's free!
Now, it was also great that I get to use the lounge as my flight got delayed by 30mins... First experience for sis. But the snacks were not as good as SQ's lounge. Well, can't be choosy right?
Ok... Going to enjoy my free coke n kachang! Until the next posting...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:T3 Departure Dr,Singapore,Singapore
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
counting down... 3 more days
3 more days....
the cough is getting slightly better... just the occasional dryness in the throat... hopefully i can sleep in peace without any cough tonight and then i can go europe healthy!
another coincidental thing happened. received 2 calls of job opportunites today. 1 from a headhunter, another from the company direct. both were referrals from 2 of my ex-bosses. so let's see where this will lead to.... :)
the cough is getting slightly better... just the occasional dryness in the throat... hopefully i can sleep in peace without any cough tonight and then i can go europe healthy!
another coincidental thing happened. received 2 calls of job opportunites today. 1 from a headhunter, another from the company direct. both were referrals from 2 of my ex-bosses. so let's see where this will lead to.... :)
Sunday, November 20, 2011
counting down...5
yup... its counting down to the trip of the year!
5 more days...
i will be on the plane to munich
i will be heading to the cold
i will be officially getting those irritating DOA for almost 3 weeks!
woohoo...
5 more days...
i will be on the plane to munich
i will be heading to the cold
i will be officially getting those irritating DOA for almost 3 weeks!
woohoo...
Monday, November 14, 2011
First step to travel in style
Countdown: 11 days to trip
My attempt to travel in style for this holiday starts with making use of my privileges from whatever memberships I have.
First, making use of my kris flyer points to upgrade my return flight to business class! Woohoo! Not enough to use for both trips since I am gifting my points to my sis too, but better than none right?
Just booked my free limo service to airport with HSBC's elite travelers programme. Also get to use the Kris flyer lounge upon check-in :)
Happiness level: 4/5
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
My attempt to travel in style for this holiday starts with making use of my privileges from whatever memberships I have.
First, making use of my kris flyer points to upgrade my return flight to business class! Woohoo! Not enough to use for both trips since I am gifting my points to my sis too, but better than none right?
Just booked my free limo service to airport with HSBC's elite travelers programme. Also get to use the Kris flyer lounge upon check-in :)
Happiness level: 4/5
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
planning is so tiring
the thought of holidaying is always fun... the actual planning... can be fun but really draining to the mind!
so with 17 days before my long awaited holiday of the year, i finally got phase 1 of the planning done!
so with 17 days before my long awaited holiday of the year, i finally got phase 1 of the planning done!
- air tickets checked
- train tickets for prague, vienna and frankfurt, received and in order. so excited as it will be my first Eurorail experience including an overnight ride from vienna to frankfurt!
- hotels for 4 cities all done! 3 different booking websites, 3 pre-paid, hopefully all good locations and rooms!!!
with the basics settled, must find time to do more research about where to visit, what to do, which restaurants to go etc. this trip will mark the most cities i travel in a single trip. previous record was 3 cities, 2 countries. this time it will be 4 cities, 3 countries. and english is not the main language in any of them! LOL!
will update with more prelude as and when....
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Testing blogging with my iPad
Someone commented that I haven't been updating my blog for a long time.
Many reasons:
- there is nothing much happening in my life which I am dragging...
- the convenience of social media postings (facebook) from blackberry and iPad that made it easier then logging on to my blog
So I decided to get the app to blog with my iPad. Well testing it now so that I might blog especially with an upcoming trip!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Many reasons:
- there is nothing much happening in my life which I am dragging...
- the convenience of social media postings (facebook) from blackberry and iPad that made it easier then logging on to my blog
So I decided to get the app to blog with my iPad. Well testing it now so that I might blog especially with an upcoming trip!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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