Koln

Heidelberg

Heidelberg is one of the UNESCO cities that is popular with one of the oldest universities in Europe, Heidelberg University. The main attractions are obviously concentrated on the Old Bridge and Heidelberg Castle. Heidelberg was peaceful when we came. The new town, where our hotel is located, was alive and full with people, regardless their ages. When we walked in the old town, we could see many students as the university was running as usual.

Hotel: Ibis Hotel Hauptbanhof, Heidelberg

Local transport: Bus (Day ticket  for 5 person = 16 Euro)

Organic apple

We started our exploration by going into shops along the street, looking for souvenirs to be brought back to the UK. We made a stop at 4711 perfume shop selling an evergreen perfume, suitable for evergreen people. LOL. Apparently, from the shopkeeper's stories, Eau de Cologne or natural vapouriser is originated from Koln, a city we went in the evening. Mak Cik (Kak Sureena's mom) bought the original fragrance that she always wanted and longed for all this while after such brand was no longer available in Malaysia.

There was a lady, stood up by the street, giving a sample of her shop's product. I tasted a bit and it was super delicious. I asked her what was it that I tried and she said it was wild garlic spread. I stepped into the shop and tried something else until my stomach full. Oh My Goodness. All products are organic. Even the apple crisps are tasted fresh and sweet. I wished to buy every single item in the shop for my family to have a taste. But, since we did not have much spaces left in the luggage, I only bought a jar of wild garlic spread and  600g apple crisps for 14 Euro.

The cathedral

This big cathedral? I know nothing about it though t is listed as one of the major attraction in Heidelberg aldstadt. There are a lot of souvenirs sold outside the building, and almost all of them are a lot more expensive. While walking through the street, I tried so hard to finish the big apple. I was even warned by the souvenir seller not to touch the scarf with a hand handling the apple. LOL

Luxembourg

Before aku start berceloteh about Luxembourg, aku nak tanya korang "have you ever heard about Luxembourg?" Honestly, masa aku kat sekolah menengah dulu, aku pon tak pernah dengar pasal negara ni. But, bila dah terjebak dengan hobi melancong di benua Eropah ni, indirectly I learn about new places. Kalau dah namanya travel agent tak bertauliah, I spent the day touring the small town with camera only. Untuk tahu sejarah penempatan dan local current news memang haram la. Two days before coming to this city, my new friend called Shan ada cerita pasal Luxembourg royal family. She said, the royal family has several handsome princes and one or two (not sure) princess. Yes, bila tengok postcard gambar royal family tu, memang semua kacak dan cantik belaka. Lagi handosome dari Prince William. Persoalannya, single lagi kah mereka itu? Ada seorang yang baru kahwin recently. Others masih bujang and maybe available for anyone to masuk jarum. LOL

Istana Negara

Spring break. Day 2: Zaanse Schan

Belgium (Brussels.Ghent.Brugge)

Of rasa sejuk and beku. When tangan dah asyik kene sorok, I guess the number of random photos obviously berkurangan. Namun, excitement seperti budak tadika masuk playground tu tetap ada dalam kesejukan tu. Misi mencari 'budak kencing' gagal. Venice in Belgium i.e. Ghent memang sangat cantik. Of makan truffles 90cent sebiji di Brugge.

Atomium

The first place we visited was Atomium. Nak cari Atomium ni pon satu hal mula-mula. Sesat-sesat masuk terowong, tak tahu nak masuk jalan, and berpusing cari parking. We thought of paying for the parking, konon nak elak saman. Tup-tup auto payment machine pulak rosak. Alhamdulillah, rezeki kitorang la dapat parking free betul-betul depan Atomium, kan...?

Bulat-bulat Atomium. For Belgians, this is their Eiffel Tower. But, what exactly the Atomium is? Dalam setiap bola bulat itu, ada science museum which sesuai untuk kanak-kanak sekolah rendah yang melakukan lawatan sambil belajar. *Teringat lawatan sambil belajar ke Pusat Sains Negara masa darjah 6 dulu*. And from the top, we can see the view of the whole city. Tapi, since entrance fee yang agak mahal, and masing-masing tak terasa untuk menimba ilmu sains ketika musim cuti, we did not go up. What did we do was melompat sambil bergambar kat depan Atomium. Konon nak ambil gambar tadah Atomium, tapi malas nak jalan jauh lagi, and malas nak bawa keluar kamera dalam cuaca sejuk ketika itu. As you can see from the pictures, keadaan cuaca agak kelam. Memang sangat sejuk pon.

Mini Europe overview

Instead of Atomium, I decided to go into Mini Europe. Yang lain terpaksa redha je dengan sifat keanak-anakan aku. Aku memang dah lama aim nak pergi such park selepas rasa best visit Miniaturk in Istanbul musim winter  2 tahun lepas. The entrance fee is 15 Euro kalau tak silap aku. And you can finish touring the whole Europe within two hours maximum. Dah namanya Mini Europe, memang replika bangunan di Europe sahajalah yang dipamerkan.

Amsterdam's Miniature

Ni adalah contoh miniature yang ada di Bruepark. Setiap satu miniature aku ambil gambar. Kecuali those in London. Muak dah tengok Bigben and Parliament House yang real. So, tak kan la yang replica pon nak pose maut jugak kan...

180 degree panorama view of Brussel

We had not got so much time to stay in Brussel due to parking period. Ni pon, nasib baik sempat buat scenic view at the popular plaza. Orang kata, if you are coming to Brussel, you should at least attempt to find the Mannekan Pis. Who or what is that? Jawapannya senang. Budak kencing. The statue is small and quite difficult to find in limited time. From what I hear, Belgium was once saved from a war because of this boy who peed onto the enemy's weapons. Katanya lah....

Ghent

Ghent boleh juga dikenali sebagai mini Venice. There are a lot of canals in Ghent, just as pretty as the picture below. Since we only dropped by for a few minutes, we did not have the chance to actually ride a gondola to tour the city. Apparently, as can be seen from these two pictures, Ghent is one of the biggest cities in Belgium that is popular with its attraction. I don't know if you can see the top of a castle or not from the picture below. The castle is open to public for historical visit. But, I think St Donats Castle is much more amazing from that tiny castle.

Ghent 'mini Venice'

Selamat datang ke Brugge. Brugge memang terkenal dengan coklat. If you want to have a taste on real Belgian chocolate, you should come to Brugge. But, honestly, you could even get it in Malaysia. Tapi, rasa truffle fresh tu lain sikit la. Having tried two brands of chocolate truffles, I could say Godiva is the best. We only bought two pieces of dark chocolate truffle and each piece costs 90 cent. Just imagine how expensive it would be in kg. So, I didn't buy a lot for that brand. However, I couldn't remember the brand name of  chocolate I bought for 7.50 Euro.

Brugge

This is a fountain yang aku pon tak tahu sebab musabab it erected. Tapi, seperti biasa, aku tetap jakun dan mengambil gambar di kawasan tersebut. You see the girl above? Aku pon lebih kurang macam tu la, just lagi sopan. Hehe.

Brugge

We arrived in Brugge pon dah lewat petang. Kedai pon dah tutup. So, tak sempat la nak beli souvenirs from Brugge. Apa yang penting? Gambar buat kenangan. Kalau dah cop muka kat tempat tu pon jadi la buat tanda dah pernah sampai, kan... The above building should be a castle where the prince lives. However, due to our extra beauty, we gave an aura that no prince could take. The sun shone so bright that the prince could not see outside through his room's window. Sebab tu lah tak nampak kitorang. If not, memang confirm dah ajak dinner. LOL

Godiva chocolate 'boutique' in Brugge

Spring break. Upon arrival: Amsterdam Schipol

Amsterdam. One big reason to visit this city is for seeing tulips at Keukenhof garden. Unfortunately, due to very cold weather, this year's winter period dragged longer. When I first arrived at Amsterdam Schipol (schipol means airport in dutch language) on 3rd April 2013, I could only see nothing but gloomy scenery as the trees were not yet liven up yet.The airport has good connection to various places via several transport modes. You can easily board trains or buses to arrive at your respective destination, provided that you ask the information desk officer for guidance. I was absolutely clueless on learning the route map provided on the board. 

Luckily we had a frequent shuttle bus to fetch us inbound and outbound from the Ibis Budget Amsterdam Schipol to the airport. The bus comes every 20 minutes and you can check the timetable at the notice board. I repeat, LOOK AT THE TIMETABLE THERE. Once you're aware of the times, you will definitely make the driver bus' life easier. Why do I stress this matter out? Because the driver bus was so emotional and could not be bothered to talk nicely and smile when people asked him. I learned the lesson; though it was not me who got scolded by him. 

I amsterdam monumental plaque erected outside the airport attracted my attention. Since we still had some spare time left before the shuttle bus came, we trashed the boredom of waiting by taking photos at the alphabets. What annoyed me a bit was wherever and whenever we wanted to take pictures at one place, there would be more people coming after that. It is not that we own the place that we don't allow people to be nearer, but every time before arriving to a spot, no one will ever come. And once we were there, the place will be filled with people no matter what reason they had. It was more like being a catalyst to places we go.

My friend and I was so hungry upon our arrival at the hotel. If we were in Newcastle, we could just order any food online. However, staying in Amsterdam with off-roaming phone and language barrier as all menu were written in Dutch was a little bit harder. We had to keep re-translate the order to know the details. The order came quite late as the shop closed 40 minutes before we placed an order. We even seek help from live chat person called Jennifer who first greeted us in Dutch. I think no one in the hotel has ever ordered a meal from a delivery team, and we did. We even waited for the dispatched item in pyjamas.