Best People - the French.. whoever said they were the most horrible people on earth probably didn't bother to learn the language - or is not from New Zealand.. the Germans and Italians aren't far off..
Best Underground - The London Underground. Frequent and quite comprehensive actually; Paris Metro is pretty good too - when they're not on strike..
Most Entertaining Underground - Vienna U-Bahn for their amusing announcement of the next station, e.g. (doorbell) Volkstheater une steigen der linean U eine U fier A B zweiundsechzig ma baden
Best Cuisine - Italy. There's a first plate and a second plate.. and Italian food always taste the best in Italy ; Czechs and Spaniards aren't far off either..
Best Culinary Surprise - Czech food. It's a dream for the poor metrosexual carnivorous man - lots of meat and potatoes with a Pilsner, and still only just 10 euros (shame on u France and Italy)
Worst Cuisine - Great Britain. It's so crap that most people eat Asian, Italian or anything but British.
Best Fast Food - Germany and Austria. Kebabs, wienerschnitzel and rostbratwurst!
Best Beer - Hofbrau's dark and slightly "caramel" beer. Pilsner Urquell deserves some mention too
Best Non-Beer Alcohol (yes that's correct) - Martini
Best Hostel - Any Wombats one, with the Lounge probably the best out of all of them; Mambo Tango Backpackers in Barcelona is not far off..
Best Social Experience - Munich. It's true: Munich is Disneyland for adults.. Halloween night in Venice was pretty crazy too..
Best Royal Palace or Castle - Hofburg in Vienna.. it's huge and grand, fit for an emperor; Neuchwanstein must be mentioned for the ludicrous opulence..
Best Big City - Paris.. is there a more beautiful city in the world.. Prague and Vienna are not far off..
Best Lesser City - Heidelberg.. the best university town in Europe.. and then there's the castle..
Salzburg and Liverpool are not far off..
Most Beautiful Non Religious Building - Basel's Rathaus.. the red-brick building is just splendid.. Paris' Opera and Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II..
Most Beautiful Religious Building - St Vitus' Cathedral in Prague.. St Paul's Cathedral in London and St Stephen's Church in Budapest aren't far off
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Top 30 Photos from Europe
For the sake of MyFlickr, I've picked 30 of my favourite photos from Europe and put comments below them as to why I've picked them. This is one of 30. Check it out on facebook in the MyFlickr square!
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Review of Europe
coming soon! need some time to collate and put my thoughts..
but my Germany photos are finally up so check them out at facebook or flickr!
but my Germany photos are finally up so check them out at facebook or flickr!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Deutschland 5 - Cologne (Köln)
i don't know what sort of city to put Cologne with, i.e. great city like London, Paris, Prague, Vienna, etc. or lesser city like Heidelberg, Liverpool, Salzburg, Nice.. my definition of a great city is that of a city which has at least a million people or is of utmost importance to the country, i.e. financially which is why Frankfurt and Milan i consider great cities coz without them Germany and Italy would be broke even if Frankfurt doesn't quite have a population of a million people..
Cologne does have a million people and it is fairly important as a transport hub between Belgium, France, the Netherlands with the rest of Germany and Central Europe and does have a big city feel with its long and wide shopping streets - i don't think even Munich's main pedestrian way from Karlsplatz to Marienplatz had as many people as this even if it is a bit wider than Cologne's Schindlerstrasse and Hof. it was Venice all over again especially on Saturday afternoon with literally the whole city out there doing their shopping in the trendy S Oliver and Karlstadt shops. there was always someone trying to walk into u or a pram getitng in the way or u were getting in the way of someone.. its Hauptbahnhof main train station is of a fairly decent size too if not quite as big as Frankfurt's or Berlin's (i didn't go there but heard the station has two decks for trains!)
but if it were to be considered a great city, there's no question that Cologne still has its own unique feel that you usually only find in small towns or Frankfurt especially in the traditional pubs.. I still don't know why kölsch is served in fifths, it must surely be a tradition or something to do with the drink that I don't know about.. and then there's the atmosphere.. have to admit have been a bit too many Irish/Anglo/Australian pubs in Europe simply coz most of the people there speak the same language and show Sky Sport and also for the atmosphere which is prob why there are a bit too many of them almost like McDonalds or Benetton shops.. think a Kölner pub would do alright as long as you can understand what the locals are singing.. i didn't but the music was still pretty fun and made for a truly local experience which I was glad to have rather than just another Irish bar with Guinness and Magners there if u want it..
so it's my last night in continental Europe..i fly from Dortmund to Luton tomorrow night and then from Heathrow the following morning to Singapore.. dont think will reminisce just yet.. but will have a good German meal tonight just to cap off a wonderful time in Europe!
Cologne does have a million people and it is fairly important as a transport hub between Belgium, France, the Netherlands with the rest of Germany and Central Europe and does have a big city feel with its long and wide shopping streets - i don't think even Munich's main pedestrian way from Karlsplatz to Marienplatz had as many people as this even if it is a bit wider than Cologne's Schindlerstrasse and Hof. it was Venice all over again especially on Saturday afternoon with literally the whole city out there doing their shopping in the trendy S Oliver and Karlstadt shops. there was always someone trying to walk into u or a pram getitng in the way or u were getting in the way of someone.. its Hauptbahnhof main train station is of a fairly decent size too if not quite as big as Frankfurt's or Berlin's (i didn't go there but heard the station has two decks for trains!)
but if it were to be considered a great city, there's no question that Cologne still has its own unique feel that you usually only find in small towns or Frankfurt especially in the traditional pubs.. I still don't know why kölsch is served in fifths, it must surely be a tradition or something to do with the drink that I don't know about.. and then there's the atmosphere.. have to admit have been a bit too many Irish/Anglo/Australian pubs in Europe simply coz most of the people there speak the same language and show Sky Sport and also for the atmosphere which is prob why there are a bit too many of them almost like McDonalds or Benetton shops.. think a Kölner pub would do alright as long as you can understand what the locals are singing.. i didn't but the music was still pretty fun and made for a truly local experience which I was glad to have rather than just another Irish bar with Guinness and Magners there if u want it..
so it's my last night in continental Europe..i fly from Dortmund to Luton tomorrow night and then from Heathrow the following morning to Singapore.. dont think will reminisce just yet.. but will have a good German meal tonight just to cap off a wonderful time in Europe!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Deutschland 4 - Frankfurt, Rhine Valley, Cologne, Aachen and touching Belgium and Holland!
guess what? i'm crook in the tummy.. again! that's probably why i am on the computer at the moment.. don't think it was a continuation from Heidelberg coz i definitely recovered from that.. i have set a few theories for this latest tummy drama - Aachen's infamously sulphuric water, eating a kilo of Aachen gingerbread, kolsch from last night (nah but was feeling alright this morning bar some burping), the surprisingly and horrifyingly dirty RegionaleBahn train between Cologne and Düren, a stomach bug or just my body telling me it's sick of travelling and it's nearly time to go home..
shame really.. had such a great day in Aachen which must surely be the most inernational city in the world.. i don't think there is another city on earth where you are a border town to three different countries, or at least one as famous as Aachen aka Aix en Chappelle aka Aaken in French or Dutch.. of course with the Schnegen agreement between most EU nations, you can just drive into the Netherlands to do Sunday shopping as if you were driving from Dunedin to Mosgiel and that is reality in Aachen where tons of Germans just drive down 10 minutes to the village of Vaals and suddenly shops don't have to be closed on a Sunday like they have to be in Germany and there's a packed supermarket on the first left after the Vaals sign.. even the 25,33,35 buses stop at Vaals bus station like its another stop.. Vaals must be the most unique suburb of any city, in that it may be the only suburb in the world to not belong to the same country as the main city!
haven't even mentioned Belgium yet too! prob coz there isnt quite a place right next to Aachen ala Vaals.. but walk to this place called Dreilanderpunt from Vaals like i did and once u enjoy the satisfaction of being actually in three countries at once, you can walk down this quiet country road for less than 1 minute and youŕe actually in Belgium.. the roadsigns are in French since this is the French speaking Wallonia region.. the glories of being in Europe..
i think i will probably end up remembering Aachen for being that border city where u could be in three countries at once just a bit more than for its wonderful Dom - it is gorgeous inside, with its lavishly gold altar, Charlemange shrine and the devil's thumb-wolf story - gingerbread (think it's called patten or something like that), and quirky statues - it is a wicked little city actually with quite a huge history, being involved in the Charlemange Middle Ages era.. but almost all European cities have a Dom or Munster in the middle.. u can be in Holland, Belgium and Germany in one second in Aachen.. a bit different from going and staing in Amsterdam or Brussels but still worth it just to say you've been there and seen a place where it's not unusual for a Belgian, Dutch and German car to be parked nose to tail on the street!
tomorrow i will spend a bit more time in Cologne so will mention more a bit later and hopefully my tummy will be fine.. although can say have seen the Dom and it's massive although a bit of a beefcake compared to the elegant Dom in Aachen.. inside is awesome and being in a mass with the heavenly voices of the cathedral choir - Europeans still have the best voices in the world as long as they aint smoking - and the organ playing can be quite an experience too.. in fact it is the ultimate European experience.. too often people just walk inside a cathedral and wow at the stained glass and golden altar but a cathderal is always first and foremost a place of worship and to see it being used for what it was made for is always the panacea.. and i'm glad i attended a mass in the Cologne Dom.. something quite amazing.. tomorrow will prob end up looking through the treasury and with a bit of luck the spire.
before i forget should mention that Frankfurt turned out to be quite a lovely surprise.. and the apple wine is a wonderful drink, nothing like cider.. once u see the purpose of a city, the more u can enjoy it.. and took the train through the Rhine Valley.. sensational.. more later!
shame really.. had such a great day in Aachen which must surely be the most inernational city in the world.. i don't think there is another city on earth where you are a border town to three different countries, or at least one as famous as Aachen aka Aix en Chappelle aka Aaken in French or Dutch.. of course with the Schnegen agreement between most EU nations, you can just drive into the Netherlands to do Sunday shopping as if you were driving from Dunedin to Mosgiel and that is reality in Aachen where tons of Germans just drive down 10 minutes to the village of Vaals and suddenly shops don't have to be closed on a Sunday like they have to be in Germany and there's a packed supermarket on the first left after the Vaals sign.. even the 25,33,35 buses stop at Vaals bus station like its another stop.. Vaals must be the most unique suburb of any city, in that it may be the only suburb in the world to not belong to the same country as the main city!
haven't even mentioned Belgium yet too! prob coz there isnt quite a place right next to Aachen ala Vaals.. but walk to this place called Dreilanderpunt from Vaals like i did and once u enjoy the satisfaction of being actually in three countries at once, you can walk down this quiet country road for less than 1 minute and youŕe actually in Belgium.. the roadsigns are in French since this is the French speaking Wallonia region.. the glories of being in Europe..
i think i will probably end up remembering Aachen for being that border city where u could be in three countries at once just a bit more than for its wonderful Dom - it is gorgeous inside, with its lavishly gold altar, Charlemange shrine and the devil's thumb-wolf story - gingerbread (think it's called patten or something like that), and quirky statues - it is a wicked little city actually with quite a huge history, being involved in the Charlemange Middle Ages era.. but almost all European cities have a Dom or Munster in the middle.. u can be in Holland, Belgium and Germany in one second in Aachen.. a bit different from going and staing in Amsterdam or Brussels but still worth it just to say you've been there and seen a place where it's not unusual for a Belgian, Dutch and German car to be parked nose to tail on the street!
tomorrow i will spend a bit more time in Cologne so will mention more a bit later and hopefully my tummy will be fine.. although can say have seen the Dom and it's massive although a bit of a beefcake compared to the elegant Dom in Aachen.. inside is awesome and being in a mass with the heavenly voices of the cathedral choir - Europeans still have the best voices in the world as long as they aint smoking - and the organ playing can be quite an experience too.. in fact it is the ultimate European experience.. too often people just walk inside a cathedral and wow at the stained glass and golden altar but a cathderal is always first and foremost a place of worship and to see it being used for what it was made for is always the panacea.. and i'm glad i attended a mass in the Cologne Dom.. something quite amazing.. tomorrow will prob end up looking through the treasury and with a bit of luck the spire.
before i forget should mention that Frankfurt turned out to be quite a lovely surprise.. and the apple wine is a wonderful drink, nothing like cider.. once u see the purpose of a city, the more u can enjoy it.. and took the train through the Rhine Valley.. sensational.. more later!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Deutscheland 3 - Heidelberg and Frankfurt ´Mainhattan
í´m feeling a bit crook tonight in the tummy but i don´t know why.. have been feeling crook there since this morning.. went to the Talbot Anglo bar in Heidelberg to watch the English self-destruct against Croatia at Wembley to cost English fans a trip to beautiful Vienna and Geneva next summer.. had 2 Rathaus.. got back was alright.. my consumption that night was nothing like Munich and was p normal.. so how come i woke up with a rather queazy tummy with a bit of nausea.. might have been the falafel i got last night.. don´t know.. as it is, my tummy has kinda put a bit of a bum on things atm.. had to go vegan for lunch just to do a bit of a tummy clean-up but was later hungry and went to a cafe in Frankfurt and just had a cake and coffee.. after this, will prob just hang around at the hostel and just chill.. could be 2 months of travelling gradually taking its toll..
anyway was sad to see the back of Heidelberg, although i did manage to get 2 hours in before my train left at mid-day for Frankfurt, only an hour north on the efficient Deutsche Bahn.. shame the Christmas market wasn´t quite open even though this local I met told me that it was due to open today (Thursday).. would be surprising though coz it is still quite early and most Christmas markets i think open on Advent, i.e. December 1 like the Nurnberg one. nevertheless, the weather was a bit better than Wednesday and i decided to go up to the wonderful castle and retake my pictures of Heidelberg at the top.. the joys of digital photography where u can just delete a picture if u doon´t think it´s good enough.. what would us fussy people like me do without it - i have been rather fussy with my pictures when i can, but it´s just i want to remember a place when the weather is alright not when it was pissing down with rain..
i could easily live in Heidelberg.. maybe even go to university there coz the town is p much the university, which is the oldest in Germany and i think is quite famous for its medical school across town.. just like Dunedin.. even got to relive my university days when i went to the university cafeteria and grabbed a p cheap and filling lunch.. Heidelberg is possibly the best university town i´ve seen in Europe and i just wonder what Cambridge and Oxford are like..
Heidelberg is prob going to be the oldest German city i´ll see on this tour bar maybe Freiburg.. Frankfurt is p much all new bar the area in front of the Romberg and so is Stuttgart.. i think Cologne also suffered v badly in the war so i reckon most of the buildings will be quite new and Munich despite the efforts of the locals, has only three buildings which survived World War II, with the rest being rebuilt according to what they looked originally.. and it does have what could be Germany´s oldest bars.. went into one coz mum told me Hitler carved his name on one of the wooden tables they´ve got there.. turns out it´s actually a sign of Adolf Hitler Platz with a postcard on it that the place is known for.. and even if Hitler did sign his name on the tables it would be p hard as people have carved their names on the table since the 1700s.. the place literally reeks of history when u see Pamela Mexico´77, etc.
after wonderful Heidelberg, i´m now in Frankfurt which is actually better than the impression that I got from Lonely Planet.. having said that, I´ve only seen the city for about 5 hours now and still got another night here.. Frankfurt is what Milan should have been.. it may not be well known for its old buildings bar the Romberg and the Dom but Frankfurt makes up for it with some amazing skyscrapers.. in fact always associate Frankfurt with the massive Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank buildings rather than the Romberg as it is known by everyone as Germany´s and the European Union´s financial heart.. even if there is not much to see, there´s shopping to do i guess..
anyway gonna go chill and recover a bit.. must try and get some apple wine which is what Frankfurt is famous for.. staying in a official youth hostel which as they go may have great facilities but the social life isn´t quite up there with Wombats if u are an individual traveller.. having said that Frankfurt´s hostel is right near town unlike Heidelberg´s which is ´miles´ away in the hospital area.. in fact overlooking the river with the Alt Sachsenhausen and its famous apple cider taverns behind it..
anyway was sad to see the back of Heidelberg, although i did manage to get 2 hours in before my train left at mid-day for Frankfurt, only an hour north on the efficient Deutsche Bahn.. shame the Christmas market wasn´t quite open even though this local I met told me that it was due to open today (Thursday).. would be surprising though coz it is still quite early and most Christmas markets i think open on Advent, i.e. December 1 like the Nurnberg one. nevertheless, the weather was a bit better than Wednesday and i decided to go up to the wonderful castle and retake my pictures of Heidelberg at the top.. the joys of digital photography where u can just delete a picture if u doon´t think it´s good enough.. what would us fussy people like me do without it - i have been rather fussy with my pictures when i can, but it´s just i want to remember a place when the weather is alright not when it was pissing down with rain..
i could easily live in Heidelberg.. maybe even go to university there coz the town is p much the university, which is the oldest in Germany and i think is quite famous for its medical school across town.. just like Dunedin.. even got to relive my university days when i went to the university cafeteria and grabbed a p cheap and filling lunch.. Heidelberg is possibly the best university town i´ve seen in Europe and i just wonder what Cambridge and Oxford are like..
Heidelberg is prob going to be the oldest German city i´ll see on this tour bar maybe Freiburg.. Frankfurt is p much all new bar the area in front of the Romberg and so is Stuttgart.. i think Cologne also suffered v badly in the war so i reckon most of the buildings will be quite new and Munich despite the efforts of the locals, has only three buildings which survived World War II, with the rest being rebuilt according to what they looked originally.. and it does have what could be Germany´s oldest bars.. went into one coz mum told me Hitler carved his name on one of the wooden tables they´ve got there.. turns out it´s actually a sign of Adolf Hitler Platz with a postcard on it that the place is known for.. and even if Hitler did sign his name on the tables it would be p hard as people have carved their names on the table since the 1700s.. the place literally reeks of history when u see Pamela Mexico´77, etc.
after wonderful Heidelberg, i´m now in Frankfurt which is actually better than the impression that I got from Lonely Planet.. having said that, I´ve only seen the city for about 5 hours now and still got another night here.. Frankfurt is what Milan should have been.. it may not be well known for its old buildings bar the Romberg and the Dom but Frankfurt makes up for it with some amazing skyscrapers.. in fact always associate Frankfurt with the massive Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank buildings rather than the Romberg as it is known by everyone as Germany´s and the European Union´s financial heart.. even if there is not much to see, there´s shopping to do i guess..
anyway gonna go chill and recover a bit.. must try and get some apple wine which is what Frankfurt is famous for.. staying in a official youth hostel which as they go may have great facilities but the social life isn´t quite up there with Wombats if u are an individual traveller.. having said that Frankfurt´s hostel is right near town unlike Heidelberg´s which is ´miles´ away in the hospital area.. in fact overlooking the river with the Alt Sachsenhausen and its famous apple cider taverns behind it..
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