Tour Of Europe

Im finally back from Europe after a month 'short' trip specifically in Germany, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and London. It's a nice feeling to be able to step into Europe for the first time. A little too lazy to post anything during the trip and as of now still having trouble sleeping, as I keep waking up at around 5am no matter how late I slept.

Germany

Flew into Hamburg and was picked up by Andreas. We met when he was in KL for a business trip and he was running at Bukit Aman a long time ago. We kept in touch through email since and offered me to stay over at his place in Reinbek. Reinbek is basically a small town in Germany. His house is so quiet that you can only hear the buzz in your ears. The only noise you'll hear will the neighbours going out. And you have a huge forest reserves just his house where we did some of our runs together. You can just smell the fresh air when you run in this forest as it's quite a distance from the city of Hamburg.

Some mushrooms picking we did just nearby his house and sample of our daily breakfast/lunch. Had three straight nights of mushroom meals leading up to Berlin marathon. On the right is a typical German meal. Brötchen, butter, cheese (lots of cheese!), wurst, salmon.......

Andreas was kind enough to show me around North Germany as he has taken leave and will be running the Berlin Marathon as well. He probably has done it more than 8 times but hasn't run it since 4-6 years back. 

Mien Yee joined me after Berlin Marathon and we started the journey to other parts of Germany, Amsterdam, Scotland before ending our trip in London.

Cities/Towns of Germany I've been:


1. Lübeck - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Holstentor

2. Bergedorf

3. Reinbek 

Schloss Reinbek





4. Berlin

Brandenburger Tor - near the finishing of Berlin Marathon









Schloss Charlottenburg

5. Barsbüttel- this is where Andreas running club is based.

6. Lüneburg

 Town hall

7. Travemünde - Baltic Sea

Beach chairs - no business during autumn



8. Mölln - home of the legendary clown, Till Eulenspiegel.

 

9. Hamburg 

Rathaus

Reeperbahn - Hamburg's famous red light district



10. Rothenburg ob der Tauber

11. München (Munich)

12. Füssen (Neuschwanstein Castle)

Schloss Neuschwanstein - inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle




13. Stuttgart

14. Heidelberg

15. Frankfurt

Things to note in Germany:

• In most places, menu will be in German although some restaurant do provide menu in English. So learn up some German language before you go, makes life easier.
• Best not to travel too many cities as the journey with trains can be quite hectic. Germany is not a small country.
• Trains are very punctual, even the bus. Only once or twice where we experience a delay. So make sure you arrange enough time to  catch the connecting trains.
• Eat plenty of wurst (sausages), pork, cheese, bread (black bread, brötchen)...

Amsterdam

It was a long journey that took us from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. We took the overnight train and reached Amsterdam early in the morning. Checked into our backpacker and started walking around the city. In the afternoon, had a chance to run around the Vondelpark.

 Vondelpark

Everyone cycles in Amsterdam

 One of the many cannels in Amsterdam





Things to note:

• If you are flying off from Schipol, make sure you allow enough time to get through the custom. It's a long, long, long queue! (Not sure we were the "lucky" ones that day)
• We find the price of meals in Amsterdam's restaurants slightly more expensive than those in Germany
• Most people in Amsterdam do speak English
• Visit Red Light District

Edinburgh - Fort Augustus (Loch Ness)

Took a flight from Amsterdam Schipol Airport to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a really beautiful city showcasing both the New and Old Town.

Royal Mile, Edinburgh

Scottish Highland

 Loch Ness




Things to note:

• Scottish people are quite friendly. Take lots of photos - Edinburgh, the Scottish Highlands, the Lochs.
• Spend more days traveling to the Highlands and also other parts of Scotland as we think it has more to offer. We only had the chance to do a day tour to Fort Augustus (Loch Ness)

London - Stonehenge - City of Bath

Took an overnight coach from Edinburgh to London Victoria Station. It was a tiring coach trip as I was not able to sleep much in the bus. We met up with Mien Yee's sister, Mien Yaw and her partner. Mien Yaw took us to the Greenwich, where the name Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time rings the bell.

 

That evening, I went for a run with Alden and he actually took me to a Tour of London. Basically, London sightseeing in a night. It was hard to take night shots but it turn out ok.

Buckingham Palace

With Alden and Big Ben in the background

Big Ben

Tower Bridge - not London Bridge

London Marathon is so big that it has its own store & the Countdown

Mussel Pots Dinner at Belgo - Belgian Restaurant (That's 1kg of mussels!)

 

Stonehenge

City of Bath - World Heritage Site

Roman Baths - Bath


We spend the second night at my unimates' house, ShiYing and Meng Siew. Haven't met them since their wedding couple years back. We took the tube down to city centre on the final day of our trip to meet up Shi Ying and Alden for dinner before heading to Heathrow Airport. It was a long flight back from London - Dubai - Kuala Lumpur plus 1 hour KLIA coach ride to KL Sentral. 

I think I am still suffering from jet lag as I kept waking up quite early in the morning even if I slept late. Plus the hot and hazy weather back in KL, fell sick for quite a few days. Will definitely visit Europe again. Hey, I didn't get to visit Liverpool this time ok? Besides, there are so much to see in Europe, you can't possibly cover it in a month. Even in Germany itself.