Germany and more!

After returning from Malaysia at the end of September, I embarked on a whirlwind of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Luxembourg, and Lichtenstein, after travelling through Paris, Bruges to Berlin with a friend.

The leg of travel was mainly through Germany and looked like this:

Berlin → Cologne → Bonn → Frankfurt → Luxembourg (Luxembourg) → Heidelberg → Baden-Baden → Stuttgart → Nuremberg → Munich → Neuschwanstein Castle → Lichtenstein → Salzburg → Vienna → Bratislava → Budapest → Ljubljana

Around mid-November, I left Ljubljana for Venice, which is a kind of separation of the trip’s legs I had in my head.  Venice on, through December, I’ll post next.

1 Berlin

On my way for a coffee, I crossed over these bricks inlayed to the street. On my way back, with my coffee, I realized this is the Berlin Wall markers.

2 Cologne

The beer culture in Cologne (Köln) was very cool. I have been a fan of Kolsch beer, so I had to try it in the beer halls here.  Drinking beer is different than the rest of Germany, except maybe Bonn. You have little 25cl glasses and they keep bringing them until you put your coaster on your glass. The beers are marked off with a pencil on your coaster. At the end of drinking, they count up the marks for your bill.

3 Bonn

I found this sticker in the main square. Keep in mind, this is just after Germany opened it’s borders to Syrian refugees in August 2015.

While in Bonn, I stayed at the excellent BaseCamp Bonn Hostel. I would definitely recommend this place. This is a video I shot from inside the hostel.

4 Frankfurt

Sadly, no epic shots of Frankfurt.  It was very overcast and rainy while I was there. I still managed to do a boat tour on the river, drink a little too much “young wine” at Kleinmarkthalle and had one of the best meals of my trip: a roast pork rib and sauerkraut with apple wine in Saxon House.

While, it may not look like much, it was slow roasted WITH crispy crackling on top.  10/10 would eat again.

5 Luxembourg

I found this sticker in Luxembourg city.  After seeing the other sticker in Bonn a few days earlier, I found this very humourous.

Note the yellow houses on the left and right…

…are the same yellow houses in the middle of this photo.

6 Heidelberg

7 Baden-Baden

I loved Baden-Baden.  I am a fan of hot springs, so when I heard this was the place for it, I had to make a stop. It was 100% worth the trip. I really enjoyed my time here and would return, in-spite of it’s touristy prices.

The spa here is absolutely amazing.  Wandering along the Oos on a warm day is epic. It’s no wonder why it’s been a Spa town going back to Roman times.

8 Stuttgart

9 Nuremberg

10 Munich

The Munich Residenz surprised me. I wasn’t sure what to see in Munich, aside from beer halls. I kind of happened across it and took a shot. The “museum mouse” in me was tickled to wander the halls.

11 Neuschwanstein Castle

Of course I stopped at Neuschwanstein Castle. I stayed in Füssen but there isn’t much to write home about.

12 Lichtenstein

From Füssen, I travelled to Feldkirch, Austria.  From Feldkirch, it was public transit into Lichtenstein. Approaching the bus, I asked the driver standing beside “Sprachen Sie Englisch?” He said, “Nein. Parli italiano?” I smiled and said, “No. Parlez-vous français?” He smiled larger than I, and through a mix of French and Italian we figured out I was on the right bus.

About 15 mins into the ride we crossed the border to Lichtenstein.  Border guards got on the bus and walked down looking at everyone.  They looked at me and looked at my backpack on the floor beside me.  Whatever he said in German, I assumed was “Passport, please.” I was right. He looked nodded and handed it back. Nobody else was checked. ?

Man alive! It rained in Lichtenstein.  When leaving, I had booked a train at Buchs station.  It was a 30 minute walk from the hostel. What I learned the day of, is that Buchs is in Switzerland.  I didn’t have wireless data, so I couldn’t use Google maps to navigate to the train station.

I checked out and asked the attendant “Which way to the border?” He pointed and said “That way.” I thanked him and walked to Switzerland.

13 Austria

I don’t have many shots of Vienna and Salzburg. When I got to Salzburg, I was very tired and burnt out from the road and the schedule I had set for myself.  Austria was beer halls, sleeping, booking travel and more naps.

I did, however, snag this picture of the Austrian alps.

14 Bratislava

15 Budapest

Such a lovely city. I would like to spend more time there. Especially in the Hungarian butcher shops and Ruin bars.

16 Ljubljana

My train ride to Ljubljana, in hindsight, was funny in that I didn’t realize it was an 8 hour trip with no dining car.  Around hour 6 I was getting kinda thirsty!

From Ljubljana I took a bus to Venice, which as I mentioned at the start, is where I’ll stop this post.