Tuesday 21 May 2013

My very first trip to Germany -day2 Heidelberg- May 2013


Germany Day2

We took a train from Frankfurt to Heidelberg!
 
 

 
 
On my way there, I ate this blue berry cheese tart I bought
from one of the bakeries in the Frankfurt main station.
 
 
I was worried that cakes in Germany could be quite sweet,
but it was not the case at all!!
All the delicious cakes, tarts, ice cream -
everything I had in Germany were all so delicious
and had very delicate flavours
 
This cheese tart was one of them, of course! I loved it!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In Heidelberg, we stayed at Guest House Heidelberg for a night.
 
 
 
 
Our stylish hotel room!!
 
 
 
 
The view from the guest house!
 
 
 
 
 

The weather was not quite good.
It was cloudy and foggy up in the mountains.
It was drizzling in the city.
 
 
 
 
 
After walking and shopping around, this is the cafe we went in to have some lunch.
 
 
 
 
 
We ordered suppen (soup), pizza and pasta
 
Some troubles with the soup and so we didn't get to acutally drink it
but the pizza and pasta were not bad.
 
 
 
 
The first lunch in Germany was not quite German
but surprisingly or not, there were lots of pizza & pasta shops in Heidelberg.
 
 
 
 


After lunch, I was just so happend to find a very pretty shop
selling super duper pretty plates and bowls!!!
I had to buy them!!
And I was extremely happy after making them my own!!!

Heidelberg has so many unique, cute little shops.
Most of them close around 6pm so better shop while you can!






 
Shopping includes something special... like this too
 
 
 
 

Huge white asparagus!!!
I read in a guidebook that they were in season now!
(Later in Fussen, we tried boiled asparagus and asparagus soup.
OMG, they were so so delicious!!!!)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Be right back = ここですぐによ???
 
 
 
 



A package museum.
 
This building was located somewhere slightly hidden so it might be difficult to find it.
Its sign board is facing the main street but you have to walk into this narrow path.
You walk up some stairs and then you will see this building.
 
It's like a little secret museum, a special place for us to visit.
 
 
Here, we can see various packagings for famous brands
and how they have changed time to time.
As I love to learn about brands, logos, package designs etc,
I found this place quite interesting.
 
A man at the entrance told us that this building used to be a church
but they renovated it to make it into a museum.
 
No wonder this place was so peaceful and comfortable.
 
After we bought tickets from the man, and he said "enjoy" to us,
I saw him opening up a book - It looked like a novel. 
He was enjoying his book while we were walking around the museum quitely
and sometimes, excitedly.

 
 
I'm not sure if this is due to the location or was because it was raining,
but when we came in, there were no other visitors in the museum.
I felt so privileged to have the museum all by ourselves
but at the same time, I was little bit worried that this little museum was not having enough visitors.
 
 But the man did not seem to be bothered about it.
He seemd to be enjoying having a few customers who appreciate this little museum.
In fact, it will be no longer peaceful if this place was occupied by too many poeple.




Soon after that, one more visitor came in.
I was happy to see him.
At least I know that there were 3 of us who visited this little museum in that morning.
 
 
 

 
When we were leaving, the man was still reading his book.
But he looked up, smiled and said "Thank you" to us.
 
 



 
After we came out of the museum, the sky was getting clearer.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So we decided to go up the mountain to see a castle!
We took a special train to go up the mountain and...
 
 
 


 
 
Here we are!!!

The view from the mountain.
 
 
 
 
 
The castle
 
 
 
 
 

Green looks greener after the rain!
I could smell the green grass and trees.....
I enjoyed not just the beautiful scenery but also the fresh air...
I haven't smelt or beathed in such fresh beautiful air for a long long time!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Inside of the castle
 
 
 
 

 
 
The castle was partially broken.
If you see it from its front, it looks good but I noticed that behind the wall was all gone.
 
 
 
 
After taking a wrong train and went further up the mountain for nothing,
and also missed our train back for not thinking propperly,
we were quite tired by the time we finally came down to the city.
 

 
We were so tempted to go back to our nice stylish hotel room to rest,
and we almost did.
But thankfully, we realized that it could be a dangerous idea.
 
Once we go back, we would most likely feel lazy
and would not be able to come out of the hotel room again.
 
And then we will have no food for dinner,
and will waste our precious time in Heidelberg sitting or sleeping in the hotel room
till the morning when we actually need to leave this lovely city.
 
Since we only had one day in Heidelberg, we decided to rest in a nice stylish cafe in stead.
And that was a much much better decision!




My mum ordered a cup of coffee.
 
 
 
 
I had potato soup.
 
This was the best potato soup ever!!!
 
Creamy, yet not too thick.
Savoury, but not salty.
I can taste fine potatoes but not starchy.
 
 
 



 
This cafe also had a beautiful garden at the back.
 
But we only noticed it when we were leaving the cafe.
We were so tired that we just sat at the first table we saw in this cafe
and didn't actually go further inside to check out for better tables!!!
Nonethless, I had a very good time and rest in this cafe.
The waitress who served us in this cafe was also very friendly, quick and helpful.
 
 
 
After resting well enough, we went back to do some more shopping including our dinner,
then head back to the hotel sweet hotel. (home sweet home)
 
 
 

 
A cute traffic light found on our way back!
Look at the red boy's posture!
 
 

 
 My dinner was this amazing wrap!
Turkey and some kind of special tomato sauce and lots of veggies!
 
This wrap was really amazing. So tasty that I didn't know what to do!!!!
I actually asked a young man at the shop to recommend me something
and he straight away told me to try this wrap. He said it was his favourite.
 
And YES, now it is my favourite too.
Too bad that I don't get to eat this anymore...
Only if this shop was next to my house or workplace, I will go there everyday!!!
If you have a chance to visit this shop, please try this turkey wrap.
Amazing.
 
 
Throughout my trip, I kept asking people at shops to recommend me their favourite.
Food, drinks, soup etc etc..
And I love the way German people respond to me.
 
They know what's good.
And the best part is that their recommendations never turn you down.
They Always turn out to be so fantastic!!!
 
 
 
 

Saturday 18 May 2013

My very first trip to Gernany -day1 Frankfurt- May 2013

 
I realized that I was still half way through my Taiwan trip posts,
but I must write about my agamzing Germany trip before I forget!
 
 
I told a few people about my Germany trip before I flew there.
"I'm finally going to Germany!! I'm so so excited!"
 
When people saw me being extremely excited about my trip,  they asked me,
 
 "why Germany?"
 
 
Then I answered,
"Well actually, I don't  know why. I just wanna go there!"
 
 
 I'm sure there are lots of other beautiful places in this world.
But somehow I always wanted to visit Germany.
Ever sice I went to England back in highschool time and met a classmate from Germany,
I always wanted to visit there.
 
I've also seen a few facinating ads about Germany on trains when I was still in Japan.
 
 
What is more, both my dad and brother studied German in uni.
My mum was also taking German language classes.
 
 
All these bits of information about Germany made me want to visit Germany.
 
So after I don't know how many years, here I come!
I finally got to visit Germany! with my mum!
 
 
We left Singapore after lunch and by the time we got to Frankfurt was almost 9pm.
We took Singapore airline.
 
I hadn't taken Singapore airline for a long time and now I realized how awesome this airline was.
SQ girls or whatever you call it, flight attendants were polite, friendly and consistantly offering drinks and food. The amount of movies, dramas, games they have...
 
The food was served 3 times during my flight and everything was good!
I had never thought that the airplane food can be this good.
 
Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I enjoyed my trip from the moment I left Singapore.
 
 
 
 
 
We checked in at Frankfurt hostel for the first night.
 
 
 
This retro lift is so cute that the door is not automatic!
I had to open it with my hand.
 
 
Next morning!
 
 
 
Breakfast at the hostel.
 
Fruit juice, a ham, cheese, cucumbers and bread.
 
 
 
 
 
We stayed at this hostel on the last day in Germany too.
 
 
 
 
There is a free pasta party on saturday?!
Too bad that it was not saturday when we got here.
Cold air was coming in from the window and it was very refreshing.
 
 

The emergency exit sign.
Somehow this guy looks taller than the one in Asia?
 



Frankfurt Main Train Station.
It is under renovation and what we see is a picture pasted on the building surface.

 



There are many interesting looking traffic lights in Germany.
For this one, the top is so much bigger than the bottom!
 
 
 
Inside of the main station.
Shops are open early in the morning!
 
 
 
 
The bakery I went twice during my trip in Germany.
 
 
 
So manay delicious looking sandwiches!
Can't make up my mind!
 
 
 
 
 
Post boxes and a stamp machine in Frankfurt
 
 
 
 
 
We were coming back to Frankfurt on the last day
so we quickly moved to a different city.
 
On our way to - Heidelberg!