Europe & UK Tour - UK

I decided to write my first blog about my childhood European dream trip. After many years of saving and right timing, finally I got the opportunity to visit these medieval countries together with my uncle. We took the Contiki tour and spent some free and easy days in London and some places in Europe. The whole trip took about 25 days and had visited 9 countries (UK, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic).

Our first destination was London. After long hours of flight from Kuala Lumpur, finally we reached the London Heathrow Airport late evening on 28 April 2006. With all the adrenaline flowed from our excitement and curiosity, we totally forgotten about the exchaustion during the flight. We made our check-in at Generator London and started our first night exploration to Picadilly circus. This lively place filled with many visitors watching the street shows. It was so much fun to see the majestic old British buildings, red double decker tourist buses and telephone booth which signify UK infrastructure features. Without hesitating, I took a couple of shots with my brand new Canon EOS350D and spent a while before returning to the inn for Zzzzz. The real exploration started on the next morning. We woke up very early in the morning and followed our daily plan.

Piccadilly Circus revisited during the day....

Nicely built sign board at Piccadilly Circus

Big Ben also referred as the clock tower, located at the north eastern end of Palace of Westminster in London.

Could not resist to take the night view of Big Ben and the Parliament....

Change of Horse Guard. There was another one at Buckingham Palace but did not manage to watch that due time constraint.

Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the British monarch

Resting around St James's park after non-stop walking tour in London

Another garden, Kensington Garden. Holly Cow...It was chilling cold on that evening.

Tower Bridge....I always thought this bridge was London Bridge but it wasn't. London bridge located beside it and looked not that spectacular compared to this one.

St Paul Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral dated from 17th century. Though no photo taking is allowed in the cathedral, the interior were fantastic and peaceful.

London View from St Paul Cathedral....

My first castle experience in the Tower of London. There were many towers in the castle such as the White Tower, Bloody Tower, Bell Tower, Tower Green, Fusiliers museum and many more.

A typical British Royal guard with tall bearskin hat and red costume. Wondering whether the hat now are still made of this pelt of black bear fur ....

Westminster Abbey, London's premier church which was build and opened since 1065. Its first coronation was William the Conqueror. many politicians, generals and artists being buried there.

Colourful buildings at Nothing Hill

Salisbury was my only destination outside London. Getting there mainly to fulfil my Seven Wonders coverage, the Stonehenge. It was believed to be a place of worship and ritual. Well, that wraps up my UK tour coverage and had added my 7 Wonders collection to 2 (after Great Wall of China). Below are some brochures that I took back home.

Europe & UK Tour - Netherlands

Amsterdam

My Contiki Tour in Amsterdam began with the river cruise along the canals and was really worth it. The first thing that caught my sight were the bicycles. You can see thousands of bicycles in Amsterdam as they are still currently the favourite transportation. I got to know from the tour leader that bigger door size means the house owner has to pay higher tax. Therefore, some big furniture were moved into the house through the higher floor using crane.

River cruise along the canal....

The house boat along the canal during the river cruise

Bicycle are still a popular transportation in Amsterdam.

Another view during river cruise....

During the nightfall, our tour leader took us to the red light district which is a popular night spot for prostitution. It is a legal activity and we were warned not to take any photographs there as to protect individual privacy. Our night ended with a life show...(u know what I mean).

In the next morning, we had a couple of hours to spend in Amsterdam before continue our journey to the next country. We took the opportunity to try the local food and visited the sex toy shops. Amsterdam is popular with the fast food chain shops such as Febo and we enjoyed the chips topped with mayonnaise. Another recommended local food was the herring fish. We tried this exotic food but not to my liking. Due to currency conversion, we did not buy much souvenirs but I reminded myself to at least buy a decoration refrigerator magnet or key chain as a token of memory.

Though my visit to Amsterdam was short, it had exposed me with lots of memorable experiences and interesting sights. The only thing that fell short on this tour was no itinerary to visit the windmill and the Tulips garden. That was compensated during my Netherlands revisited plan after the tour.

Zaanse Schan

After completing the Contiki tour, I revisited Netherlands by my own. Zaanse Schan was a very relaxed pleasant self arranged trip. Basically almost all I wanted to see in Netherlands can be found in Zaanse Schan. Clog and cheese making can be found in this place. Not to mention too about the colourful windmills along the river bank. One of them was opened for public viewing to understand the operation of the windmill.

Netherlands architecture

Cheese making

Clog making

Clogs readily to be sold as souvenir

One of the windmills in Zaanse Schan

Kinderdijk

One of the most preserved windmills are found in Kinderdijk. I went south purposely to visit this place and had to stay overnight in Rotterdam. It delivered as it promised. I could see many windmills strategically located along the long stretch of riverbank. They looked more natural than the colourful ones found in Zaanse Schan.

The cube houses(total 38) in Rotterdam were designed by architect Piet Blom in 1984

Long stretch of windmills in Kinderdijk

Fatso encounter!

View from one windmill to another....

Keukernhoff

Another great place worth a visit during the spring time is Keukernhoff. It is located about 10km from Haarlem and I heard that the cycling journey to this place was breathtaking. I decided to cycle and the experience was unbelievable. It was a mix feeling with a bit nervousness not to lost my way and at the same time felt the magnificent view at my very own pace.

View of the last portion of red tulips being harvested just a kilometre or two from Keukernhoff

All the tulips were blooming in Keukernhoff garden and there were plenty of Kodak moments to capture these colourful tulips.

Anybody like white tulips?

How about the flaming red ones?

The end of my tour in Netherlands.

Europe & UK Tour - Germany

River Rhine - St Goar

River Rhine and Munich were the two places that I visited in Germany. Our tour did not cover the River Rhine cruise. River Rhine is one of the longest and important river in Europe at 1320km. There were many ancient castles along the River Rhine with some of them had been converted to castle hotel. Too bad that I never got the chance to stay in such kind of castle hotel. Maybe next time. The hotel we stayed was at St Goar, near to a souvenir shop selling cuckoo clock and beer stein.

Picture taken from our tourist bus to River Rhine

One of the castle was converted to hotel along the River Rhine

Beer stein are mug used for drinking beer originated in 14th century

Munich

As for Munich, it is a big city and for football fans, the World Cup 2006 was held there and the final were between France vs Italy. I had been a fan to Roberto Baggio and supported Italy since then. Italy became the eventual winner.

World Cup 2006 : Italy vs France. Italy won at penalty shootout 5-3 after drew 1-1.

Getting ready for World Cup 2006.

I visited a few interesting sights in Munich such as the Fraunkerchie church and Marienplatz clock tower.

Tourists gathered at Marienplatz clock tower. The bells peal at 11am accompanied by a glockenspiel depicting a medieval dance and the wedding of Duke William V and Renata von Lothringen.

Germany is popular for its beers, roasted pork leg and the sausages. The locals were really friendly. We had a pleasant dinner at Hofbrauhaus that served the roasted pork leg, big pretzel and a big mug of beer coupled with live instrumental German band.

Many thumbs up for the dinner. Everything was really good. Some of our group went drunk but somehow managed to catch up with us on the next destination.

Europe & UK Tour - Austria

Austrian Tyrol

My next destination was Austria. Austria reminded me of the 'Sound of the Music' movie which was filmed in Salzburg since 1965.....(not the place I visited). I visited Tyrol located west of Austria and the capital, Innsbruck.

Pictures taken on the way to the hotel and located at the alpine region.

I was amazed by the hand painting on the wall of the house, cozy accommodation environment and the tranquility of the scenery along the neighbourhood with mountainous backdrop. The picture above, was the hotel that I stayed.

This place is a popular spot for white water rafting. We did not try this optional tour but instead took the opportunity to explore the neighbourhood. It is a great place to settle down and we were greeted by some friendly elderly folks.

The bicycle, windows and the cattle hand painting were nicely positioned for my Kodak moment.
Bored of having the similar exterior design? Try planting this tree for uniqueness.

Nearby church. Taken right before dusk.

At night, we had a white shirt party. Most of us wore white shirt to enhance the glowing ultraviolet lighting effect. The night went on with drinking party until late at night.

Innsbruck

In the next morning, we continued our visit to Insbruck. Suddenly, our tour bus stopped and soon after that we saw a guy imitated the Sound of music character and ran happily on the green plains. Who else if not our humorous tour guide that kept us well entertained.

Innsbruck is a city with many medieval building sights and popular for the Swarovski crystal. We visited the well known Golden roof, Innsbruck cathedral, Swarovski crystal shop and climb up Stadtturm (City Tower) to view the whole scenery of Innsbruck.

The Golden Roof is a landmark in Innsbruck. It was decorated with gilded copper tiles and was constructed for Emperor Maximilian I to view the events in the square.

Medieval buildings in the town.

Innsbruck roman cathedral - Domkirche zu St. Jakob

Pictures taken while on the way to Italy....See you Austria and Italy here I come....