Live: Freiburg - The German University Town

Freiburg is the small town in the south-western extreme of Germany and has a proud tradition of being one of the famous German university towns. More importantly, this town is the entrance to one of the most beautiful forest in Germany - the Black Forest. Not to be mixed up with the cake, the Black Forest is the thick and luscious woodlands of the Baden-Wutternburg region and is the host to many small traditional villages that is well worth a visit. Sadly, this entrance was "closed" by the weather when we were there. We were supposed to get an accommodation in Freiburg, rest of the night and head into the Black Forest on the next day, but the second day's weather proved to be rainy and we weren't up for braving the weather , given that we just did the Alps and the Scottish Highlands. We then decided to just tour the city and call it a day.

Here is some of the highlights:

Check back this space. More updates will follow

Live: Baden-Baden - Sit back, Relax & Enjoy

Caracalla Spa

My next stop was a big question mark. To be truthful, before this trip, I have never heard of Baden-Baden before. All I knew about it when I was reaching there was that there was two huge baths and a really classy casino. Well, it turns out that these two was enough to make my experience an amazing one.

Town Center

After walking around the town center (there isn't much of it), I went on the first the only two highlights - the modern bath house near our hotel. Basically Baden-baden translated into English is literally Bath-bath and has traditionally been a spa-town since roman times. There are two major bath houses in the area, one is the traditional Roman bath house Friedrichsbad and the other a modernistic bath house Caracalla Spa. The traditional one requires full nudity throughout the entire experience whereas the modernistic splits the area into a nude and non-nude one. I chose to go to the modernistic one not for this particular reason but more for the fact that it looks 10x bigger and have a lot more to offer. If I had another day or so, I'll gladly give Friedrichsbad a shot.

The bath house was huge! When I entered and was faced with 5 different pools (2 outdoor and 3 indoor), 3 different sauna and steam bath and many other relaxation and massage facilities, I felt a rush of excitement to try all of them. Its really says a lot about our lifestyle when we get so excited just to relax. Once inside the pool, there was no turning back - minutes turned to hours within a flash and I had the best time of my life. Before I got too carried away, I had to try the upper stories where there are even more saunas available. If the experience downstairs was fantastic, the one upstairs is double the fun and enjoyment. After reading the "instructions", I had the tough choice of choosing the saunas that I want to go. Each of the sauna is a different experience. Yes, you do not just sit there a sweat like a pig, you basically get different types of oils and fragrances around and some of the sauna machine is a sight to behold. After the entire experience, all my travel stress had gone away, I was ready for more action and I lost a whole one kilogram of water weight.

The Kurhaus

Distance to the nearby cities

The next experience can't compare up to the first one. The casino Kurhaus is a little unter-whelming and there's nothing much to rave about it. Its definitely not one of those Vegas-style casino with incredible amount of games and gamers alike but its still worth it to check out how a traditional classy casino looks like. The ceilings are really high, the tables are pretty much spread out, a strict dress code is being enforced (I had to rent an €8 jacket) and there are many high-rollers around. However, if you are there to gamble, there are also tables with really low minimum bets, so its not so damaging to your wallets. So it may not be most over whelming experience, but with its beautiful decor and huge range of minimum bets, this place certainly caters for a huge variety of people - the tourists, the small-time gamblers and the high rollers. Just remember to grab a jacket and bring some cash in for the entrance.

All in all, Baden-baden is one of the best places in Europe to sit back and relax. This form of relaxation (and the cheap price that comes along) is really rare in our busy cities and its one of those things that have to tried at least once in a lifetime. The casino itself it not worth it (unless you want to gamble) if you plan to go into Monte-Carlo. I recommend a 1 day stop over for this little town. A good relaxing bath, a short visit to the casino and a good night sleep is all you need for this little town for an experience of a lifetime.

For more information:
The entry will be up soon

Live: Frankfurt - More than just the bank of the world

Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof

Next up was Frankfurt, the one that broke my "capital of Germany" trend, though technically with its commercial banking prowess, it is considered to the "capital" of european banking and transportation system. Located along the Main River (thus her full name "Frankfurt am Main"), Frankfurt is the seat of the  European Central Bank, the German Federal Bank, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Trade Fair to make it the financial hub of Germany and Europe. On top of that, Frankfurt boost one of the busiest international airport and largest train station. If there is any city that can claim rocket speed recovery after being leveled in WWII,  Frankfurt will be on right on top.

The main highlight of the day definitely was the view we got from the Main Tower (the only tower that allows tourist to go up to its rooftop). It was totally worth the cheap €5 and its a must-do for all who visit Frankfurt. Even if you have only 1 hour there, you got to just rush in there, take the elevator up and enjoy the view. Frankfurt is the only city in Germany that has that many skyscraper and it is certainly not a view that can be enjoyed anywhere else in Europe.

Let me try to orientate you:

Commerz Bank

Euro-Land

Frankfrut Airport in the Background 

Hauptbahnhof from the Top

Twin Towers of Deutsch Bank

Pool Party, Anyone?

State Opera House

Besides the obvious skyscrapers, Frankfurt also offers a little bit of history and churches. All these can be found along the main shopping stretch starting from the Old State Opera House. The walk took us through the eateries that bankers invade during lunch hours, the main shopping areas, the old town Romer, St Paul Church and culminates in the grand St Bartholomew's Church. An interesting incident happened around St Paul Church - I was out hunting (not sure how the church looked like) for St Paul Church when I chanced upon a small little chapel in the middle of a square, went inside thinking it was St Paul Church. We spent nearly half an hour there trying to locate the "to-see" in the church only to give up after a while. It took us a few more yards down to realized that we went into the wrong church! Worse of all, we missed the closing time by a mere five minutes.

The day ended on a high with dinner with Amanda. Its always nice to meet up with familiar faces and to be able an good friend is even better. Like what Amanda said, its really good to hear the Singapore Slang again. Maybe Singlish is quite a good sense of identity after all. So it was a good night with Thai dinner and a 2nd tour around Frankfurt with Amanda. Thank you for recommending airbnb.com to me, I have added it to my sidebar. See you back in Singapore!!!

St Bartholomew

All in all, my one day stop in Frankfurt was more than enough for me to enjoy what Frankfurt had to offer to a tourist. Among all the historical sites, only the St Bartholomew's Church is worth the long walk. However, a two-day stay in Frankfurt is also good for a more relaxed pace and to enjoy experiences like watching the afternoon rush (the streets will literally be filled and emptied out within minutes). I would recommend a full two-day stay in Frankfurt. First day to check out the historical sites and go up the Main Tower for the bird's eye view. The second day to sit back and watch the crowd fill the lunch areas, check out some museums or even catch an opera.

For more information:
The blog entry will be up soon

Live: Hanover - Rest Stop for Germany

View of Hanover from the New Town Hall

By now you should have realized my pattern of travel for Germany and if you haven't, here was how it went.

Munich (Capital of Bavarian) -> Berlin (Capital of modern-day Germany) -> Dresden (Capital of Saxony)

Hauptbahnhof

I hope you see the pattern now. So after the third capital, my fourth was the capital of the Lower Saxony, Hanover. We left the barren Dresden train station at eight in the morning and four hours later, we saw a whole different train station in Hanover. A highlight on its own, the Hanover train station is one of the best in Europe. With an attached shopping arcade, easy access to the platforms and many peripheral facilities to aid travelers, you can't help but feel the Hanover Hauptbahnhof is the gold standard for all train station. Dawn was in awed by one another thing - the availability of good valued asia food. There weren't just one of them, there were at least ten of them for us to choose from. We hit the first one we could find, were satisfied (or rather Dawn was) with the food and decided that we will try it another stall (recommended by wikitravel for its portions) the next day.

When I planned for the German leg of the trip, I inserted Hanover in as a "rest stop". This meant that for this stop, sightseeing is kept to a minimum, try our best to recuperate and prepare for the rest of the journey. More information can be found below on how this "rest stop" works. So after the asian lunch at the Hauptbahnhof, we checked into the fantastic hotel-style Bed'n'Budget and took a short rest. After that, we did what we would usually to back home (check out the additional information to know why) - do some groceries shopping, watch a movie and stay in to watch TV. We only managed to do the first and third item. The watching movie part failed terribly as just before we bought the tickets, Dawn had the sense to ask the language of the movie and the stone-faced box officer told us "its in German". I was so disappointed. So no transformer 3 for me but at least shortly after, I found a huge stash of rittersports and bought the whole lot (25 bars of chocolates), not too bad of a day after all.

The rest day was really effective as we were revitalized and ready to go the next day. However, we still wary of not wanting to tire ourselves out too quickly, we decided to take it easy on the second day. We slept in late, then decided to skip the Hanover garden and go on the "Red Thread Tour" instead. This particular tour is unique because it does not have an actual tour guide. Instead, you buy a book for €3, follow the red thread on the floor from the TI and take a scenic walk around the historic city center of Hanover. So we managed to cover the Hauptbahnhof, State Opera House, New Town Hall, Fat Girls Sculptures, many other churches and the Marktet Hall. On the way we saw a few memorials and monuments, got a great view of the city above the New Town Hall and sat down for coffee and dessert. Overall, the tour gave me an all-encompassing view of the historic side of Hanover and and well-worth every penny of the book and time. I highly recommend buying the €3 Hanover book, it'll truly enhance the whole experience. At least you'll know what you are actually looking at.

Here are some of the highlights:

State Opera House

Arrow-shooting the New Town Hall

The New Town Hall

The City in Ruins after WWII

Fat Bottom Girls

Old Town Hall

Overall Hanover is a nice modern city to visit. Don't expect as much history as you will find in Berlin or Munich or the tall skyscraper in Frankfurt. Hanover itself isn't a place that is overflowing with tourist and most of the facilities are meant not just for tourists but for the masses. Their main stab at the tourism comes in the form of the Red Thread Tour and the Herranhauser, not too impressive if you compare it to some other German states. She is definitely not a city on my must-go list but if you happen to be passing by the Northern side of Germany and have the extra time and cash, its worth a day or two.

For more information about the city:
Blog entry to be up soon

For more information on "rest" days:
Blog entry to be up soon

For more photos:
Hanover Photos

Live: Dresden - Capital of Saxony

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View of the Royal Palace & Katholic Hofkirche

So far, I have been to the capital of the Bavarian states and the capital of modern day Germany, next up is the capital of yet another major kingdom of Germany - the Saxony. Dresden is one of the sites that tourists tend to miss out when going all over Germany and from the looks of things in there, its easy to find the reason why. When I first entered, I could notice that Dresden lacks the glamour the other major cities have. The infrastructure is not as well-designed as other major cities, with no underground trains (for some geographical reasons) and a barren train station. This makes the place one of my favorite location in Germany as it comes as an unspoiled package, not overspilling with tourist yet with enough sights to fill my day.

Elector Augustus the Strong

This city found her prime during the Baroque era, where she was ruled by the elector Augustus the Great. Thus the structures that I found all around are of Baroque style, a good change from the typical romanesque or gothic style that can be found all over Europe. The city is split into two portion - the old and the new town. Due to bad weather on the both days I was there, I could only accomplish going through the old town. Walking through the entire old town will probably take you only 1 to 2 hours. For starters the area is not really very big and on top of that, all the worthy sights are packed in one small corner of the old town. A slow walk in the rain took us through the Theatreplatz, Zwinger, Katholic Hofkirche and the Frauenkirche. These buildings were mostly restored after being leveled by the Allied bombings in WW2, in particular the Frauenkirche which was rebuilt using Dresden's people money and workers, making it the pride and joy of the people of Dresden. Another highlight was the Historic Green Vault, the imperial treasure of Dresden. This is one of the best imperial treasures museum I have been. It is equipped with a interesting audio guide that gives context to most of the exhibits and well preserved.

Cute Eastern Germany Traffic Lights

The most interesting thing about Dresden is that it was under the communist sphere of influence after WW2. She had the unfortunate fate of being located on the east side of Germany and was placed under the Soviet care. Much of the "backwardness" in its looks and facilities can be attributed to the fact that Dresden became stagnated in the post-war era while her neighbors shot far ahead under the Allied care. Thus it is interesting to see how a post-war communist germanic state is doing after reintegrating with the rest of Germany. I would say I was very impressed by how much they have improved over the last 20 years (communism fell between 1989 - 1991). The historical sights were mostly re-built within that spam of time, infrastructure developed over these years and it is now fast catching up with her western neighbors.

The Augustus Bridge linking Old & New Town

All in all, Dresden is a rare gem in Germany that is worth passing by if you are near Berlin (just a short 2 hour train ride from Berlin). The place is not as jam-packed with tourists (but still crowded with them) and still has the basic infrastructure to make touring the place easy. English is spoken by most of the people in the tourism industry and the cost of isn't as high as the other major cities. I would recommend a 3-4 day stay, taking time to explore the old town, the new town and the historic green vault. If you are a ardent museum fan, you can buy the €10 museum tickets that allow you to go to all the museums in the Zwinger. If not, just sitting around with a beer in hand is also a good idea to spend one day in Dresden.

For more information:
My Guide to Europe: Dresden

For more photos:
Photos of Dresden

How to work this blog

Travel Section


Basically, my travel section will be split into a few major components - Flashback, Live, Tips and Commentary. I'll start with Flashback.

.Flashback: As much as I want to keep this blog as "live" as possible, there will be bound to be places where I am not able to update as soon as I like it. Furthermore, I had started this blog in the middle of a trip and for past cities, the memory is a little bit fuzzy.


.Live: This will form the bulk of my travel entries when I am on my travels. I will try my best to jot down anything on the spot and a complete guide is available at the end of the entry.

.Tips & Commentary: The bulk of my non-travelling days. I'll constantly source for interesting and useful travel articles and tips from other travel bloggers and give my own thoughts on the issues. I'll also bring up issues myself regarding travels. Please note that whatever that is inside this section (apart from the quoted articles) is my opinion and not the universal truth. If you disagree with me, it is okay - there are many ways to travel and write a blog, and mine is just one of the many. So take everything with a pinch of salt and if I have mentioned anything that has offended you, just drop me a message and I'll make the necessary changes. We are all here to share and learn, never to offend and insult, so lets be civil about it.

Thats all for the travel section. As for the food section, I'll add another entry after the first food entries. As I have mentioned, this blog is bound to evolve and changes will be made over time, especially when I pick up more blogging skills or change my ways of travels. So improvement will be made constantly. On top of that, I will update this blog at least every other day, unless at times when I mentioned beforehand otherwise or when I have no steady internet connection. So keep checking back, I'll always have something for you. Do email me at marcusfpj@gmail.com if you have any suggestions or discussions for the blogs.

Hope you'll enjoy reading this blog and it will further enhance your travelling experiences.

Live: Berlin - Capital of Germany

After a 10 hours overnight train from Munich, we arrived at Berlin, the capital of Germany. It was my second time in this fabulous city and I was looking forward to visit new sites and to revisit some of my old favorites. Unfortunately, things turned out quite differently as we planned. Dawn and I fell ill on the first night and the weather took a turn for the worse on the second day onwards. With only three full days, many of our plans were shelved, including nights shots for the Bradenburg Gate, Reichstag and trying out of different local food. Still, with the attitude I had for such unfortunate (look at my tips) events, this city turned out to be quite fascinating for both Dawn and I.

As per Munich, we started with a tour with the New Europe Free Walking Tour. The tour was jam-packed with historic facts and figures, stories from the past and experiences from all over the world. From the formation of the Germanic tribes to the first Germany Republic, from the Weimar Republic to Hitler and from Communism to Liberation, the amount of information passed down is too much for an average human to take. But who can blame the tour, it was in Berlin where it all happened, this was the center of all the actions.

Walking down the streets of Berlin truly makes history come alive. We started with the symbol of Berlin - the Brandenburg Gate. Afterwhich, a walk through Eastern Berllin took us through the different eras of the Berlin turbulent past. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews gives us the space to interpret the horrors of the Final Solution carried out by Hitler, the Charlie Checkpoint and the museum allow us to relive the experiences of the struggles of a forceful separation, the ex-Nazi Airforce Center showed us what the new Germania would have been and the Bebelplatz tells us of a story of ignorance and intolerance. There are many more places that will reflect the struggles Berliners and the Germans had went through before Germany reached what she is today. One lesson learn - the peace and prosperity we have today cannot be taken for granted, what was ours today may easily be gone tomorrow.

One highlight of of this city that is off the beaten track is the Berlin Jewish Museum. This museum is different from the other structures dedicated to the Jews. The most important difference lies its in emphasis on not the horror of the holocaust but on the need for everyone to move on. In order to that, understanding of the Jewish race is essential. This museum took me for a Jewish ride of my life and it was worth the five hours that I was inside. The architecture was amazing and thought evoking, the exhibits were interactive and it certainly gave me a fresh perspective of things. A must-visit if you have the time in Berlin.

Overall, a three-day visit (hampered by the weather and illness) is never enough. Instead, plan for a good 5-6 days as it will allow you the freedom of time. Besides the historical Eastern Berlin, there is the modern areas in German around Potsdam Platz and the good Germany History Museum. Usually I wouldn't recommend history museums but this one is special because the events in German history has a direct impact on what we are today, see how the world in the 20th century evolved into the world we know in the 21st century. Other museums on the museum islands are also worth some time. If time allows, a day trip down to Potsdam is good to see the German version of Versailles. Grand palaces are littered around that area and you get to see a rare side of Berlin - the pre-modernist era. Berlin is certainly a place for one to really has to understand and reflect on the past and ponder the would-have-beens. So read up on your history and be there to watch history come to life.

For more information:
http://myguidetoeurope.blogspot.com/2011/07/berlin.html