Great Trip & Great Experience

Today I will be leaving Frankfurt Germany. It comes to an end of my travel for one full month and it has been a great and good experience - sometime I could not imagine how I have managed this, especially with the train strike in France. But, everyday you travel you become more adaptable and smarter.

Not just the sights that I have enjoyed, but the food is a certain pull for me to geniessen - what the German says enjoy and something more than that.

Will be travelling to Koblenz for lunch before coming back to Frankfurt in the evening to take my luggage and go to the airport by the MRT.

Great Trip, cheers.

Belgium in a Day - Liege & Spa

The hotel in Koln is very near to the Main train station and I will stay for two nights. Moreover Koln is very near to Belgium. I visited Liege and Spa for the day.

The Dom Blick Hotel with the Kolner Dom in the background
The flat land of Belgium taken on the way to Liege
Going up these 155 steps to the top
Another way up or down, this is only 135 steps.
What is up there!
A view of the city of Liege

Can you see Santa - What is he doing?
At the market square in Liege
At Spa - Windmill and the way up the hill
My lunch - Lasagne with beer @ Spa
At Spa.

Amsterdam & Holland

From Frankfurt I made my way to Amsterdam - thinking of staying overnight there. But unfortunately, it was quite difficult to find a hotel so I decided to book a room at Koln at least.

I visited Alkmaar and Amsterdam for the day

On my way to Amsterdam with the ICE
At Alkmaar - notice the bicycles
The rivers of Holland - here in Alkmaar
The is a cute statue
At Amsterdam - infront of the main railway station
The building and the ferry ride terminal
Another mode of transport - Dam sqaure at the background

The stand up statue at Dam square
The busy street with the Chinese restuarant
The red light district of Amsterdam - the prostitutes are inside the windows.
The river @ Amsterdam
Another view

Frankfurt & short trip to Wurzburg

I took the train from Singen to Frankfurt with one change at Stuttgart. I checked into the nice Carlton Hotel costing 45 euro near the Frankfurt Railway Station. Have a short walk in the town and took my lunch of a great german hotdog.

Before the sun set, I went to Wurzburg and have a tour around the town.

The nice Carlton Hotel in Frankfurt with free wifi internet access.
My Bratwurst Lunch
The old and new of Frankfurt
Christmas markt @ Frankfurt railway station
Arrived in Wurzburg - the strassenbahn
The great church in Wurzburg
Market square in front of Hotel
Schloss Marienberg

The bridge with many figure statues
The statue with the Schloss
From the other side
The night view of the town
My coffee break at Tschibo

Moving out of Striking France to Germany

Getting out of France is the first priority. I checked out of the hotel and managed to reach the East Paris Train Station after half an hour of walk and another half an hour of Metro ride. Quickly reserved my train seat to Basel, which is the Border town of France, Switzerland and German. From there, I took a train to Singen, where I could pick up my luggage.

Had a good dinner at the restuarant of the hotel, wild raggout with spatzle.

Everyone is trying to catch the trains
Arrived at Basel
From Basel to Singen
Hotel room in Singen - this time I got a bigger room at 30 euro with shower in room, but WC is still outside.
The decoration of the window at the restuarant.
Morning walk in Singen, nice view of the mountain.
An interesting painting of a house in Singen.
On the way to Frankfurt - snow again in the black forest.

Relaxing Day 2 in Paris

Day 2 in Paris is a Sunday - but there was no sun after all as compared to Saturday. It was a very relaxing day. I had my hearty breakfast at around 8.15am and I have made a hard-boiled egg myself. My plan was to go to the train station to see whether the train for tomorow would still be running. Not much of news, so I need to be at the station around 10am tomorrow to catch the early afternoon train to Germany, Saarbrucken. Remember we were there the last trip as we travelled back from Paris too - well, we had the chicken noodle soup at Wienerwald Restuarant.

After the station check, I travelled to the Notre Dam the great church of early Paris at around 11pm. Walked around the area to check out what I could take for lunch and at the same time look for a shop that sells calling card. I managed to find one for 7.50 euros and it gives 62 minutes of call to Singapore and I can use it in Germany too.

I had my lunch - a set meal of choice of a starter, main dish and dessert. Then I made my way to the Lourve - the museum of great painting, and hoping to do some shopping at Gallerie Lafayette or Printemp, but both were closed on Sunday. Too bad.

Note : Hotel Savoy - it provides free wifi, so I can take my time to put up these blog.

My breakfast with the egg shell of the egg I cooked. Layered pastries with jam and butter.

At the market near the hotel where they sell Oysters.

At St Michel, streets filled with restuarant displaying their menu for lunch and dinner.

The seafood restuarant.
A picture of me with Notre Dame Church - a walk round before lunch.
Crossing one of the bridges that spanned the River Seine. Notice the initial N - built by Napoleon.
Close up of Notre Dame

Who is this clown statue doing in front of Notre Dame.


The restuarant I took my lunch - still not too crowded yet.

My starter - mussels cooked in white wine, it was quite a big bowl of at least 20 mussels.

The main dishes of home-made beef stew with mushrooms, carrots and potatoes. My dessert is a crepes with sugar.

This is the ferry I took yesterday - the operator is Bateaux Mouches.

Hi Steffi, this is the Arc opposite the Arc de Triomphe (du Etoile) about 4 km apart. Just find out that it is called Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel.
The entrance to the Lourve.

The music art museum.

The roller bladers suddenly roamed through me.

Alas - Lafayette, but it was closed on Sunday.