Day 10: Woke up late and went down for a breakfast prepared by the hotel owner himself.It was nice and warming.After that,checked out the hotel and went to walk around the city again,as to pass time (The coach bus would only come at 3.40pm,which was a bit waste of time).We went to the chapel and had a short tour there,did a little shopping around.After that,we went to the royal garden at the back of the town.Spent more time there and later went to have an early lunch.It was yummy.Then we returned to the hotel to wait for our cab to bring us to the bus stop.The cab came and brought us to the bus stop,where we waited for 15 mins for the coach bus to come (It was late). Finally the coach bus came,the ride was super boring!!Cos there was another couple with us,then we didn't even stop at any of the towns anymore along the road.Basically it's just only passing by,and they just wanted to go back to Frankfurt as early as possible.Anyway just slept on the coach bus,finally we reached Frankfurt at around 7pm plus. Then we had to find the hostel I booked.It was just opposite the main train station.The room was quite big but the toilet was super small (i mean,really small).There is no space for a person to stand inside.And the floor was carpeted with those cheap carpet,not nice to stand on,somehow it make your feet itch.Anyway,after check-in,we went down the streets to look for dinner.The streets gave you a feeling that it's not safe and 'messy'.There are a lots of 'XXX' shops around,just 1 or 2 shops away,you can already see 1.Lol,we just went back to a coffeeshop near the hostel and had a half-chicken for our dinner.It was oily and salty,not very nice.After that,we just went back to the hostel and slept early,as we needed to get early to catch train the next morning.With this,our 3 days Munich to Frankfurt tour ended.
Hotel stayed: Frankfurt Hostel
Day 9 (Cont'd): After Augsburg town,we were brought to Donauworth town (can't remember what we encountered there).Anyway,we headed to Nordlingen town,where we had our lunch there as i was very hungry by then.We had a half-chicken meal there,which we finished the chicken in 5 minutes.The chicken is ok,just tat it was abit oily.Then we tabao our fries and left the town.Then we went to Dinkelsbuhl town,which we didn't get to tour around the town.We just passed by the town,then we headed to the last stop of the day,Rothenburg Town.
We reached Rothenburg around 3 plus,then a taxi came and picked us up.We were brought to our hotel in the town.It was a 3 floor high cottage house and we stayed on the top floor.The owner is a very good host,very helpful too,he started recommended us some good restaurants around the town.
We went up to our room,as it was on the 3rd floor and we need to carry our luggage up the stairs.Then we rested inside 1st before going to tour around the town.All the houses are cottages and there was a big square at the center.And there was a big cottage house with a clock which will ring every hour and the side windows will open with 2 figurines doing some movements.
Later we went for a city tour which started at 8pm.The sun was only starting to set.Lol,the city guide dressed up as a night watcher of the town.He introduced as himself as the Night Watcher of the town and his duty was to keep the town safe in the night by patrolling the town.He mentioned that there were 5 or 6 of them previously,now he is the only one left.And as he needed to earn a living,he took up the job as showing people around the town and getting fees/tips to keep alive.The guide is so funny.Everyone was rushing to have a picture with him together.There was 1 part which he showed us a green house which was the house of the riches of olden days.Now it was occupied by the descendants of the house.Outside the house,there were 4 ropes which were the doorbells of each houses.Because the tourists kept pulling the bells,the house owners got normal door bells as normal houses.He said that the people in olden days would threw their animals' waste out of the windows every morning.Hohoho,the way he described was soo funny.He even introduced us a restaurant which the name initials can be used to spell out 'HELL',so he told us that to tell people to go to 'Hell' (which means that place).Hahaha....Anyway we decided to pay the city guide instead of using our vouchers.
After the tour,we returned to our hotel to sleep and with this,ended our day.Hotel stayed: Hotel Spitzweg
Day 8: Arrived in Munich train station at around 7 plus,had our breakfast there and walked around the station.Tried to find the meeting place for our next tour,is a 3 days from Munich to Frankfurt package tour.We waited in the train station until it was time to go to the meeting place.Finally we boarded the coach,there are alot of people going together.Chinese,japanese,korea and even united states,first stop: Linderhof Castle.We reached the castle and it was raining again.We had to walk 10 to 15 mins through the garden before we can reach the castle entrance.The castle does not allow visitors to take photos,we only took those outside the castle.Much of the designs are much similar to those in Paris.The king's bedroom window is facing outside where there is a very big fountain and musicians would play music for the king.
After the castle tour,we went to a town nearby called Oberammergau.This town is famous for its play,and the houses are painting with drawings of Christianity.We had 1 hour of free time to walk around the town.Bought a few stuffs from there too,then we waited for the tour guide to regroup.After that,we headed to Neuschwanstein Castle.It was a 2 hours ride up there,we had our lunch at a hotel called Hotel Muller.As there was a lot of people inside the hotel and we couldnt get a table,we took 2 free chairs and sat a table near the window.As when we were having our meal,we saw the tour guide and driver were taking out our luggage,so i asked my friend to go down and check.
It was the hotel we were supposed to check in (The guide didn't even know and we were not even informed anything on the arrangement).Luckily,we didn't go back to Munich with the tour group as the guide thought we were going back to Munich Airport after the tour.And we got all our documents for the next 2 days.After lunch,we went up to Neuschwanstein Castle.It was a long way up to the castle,need to walk up the mountain to the castle entrance.There are buses and horse carriages to bring people up to the castle.On our way up,we saw an old man collapsed on the road and the tour guide or group members were doing CPR on him.When we got to the top,we heard the ambulance arrived.Then we went to tour around the castle,unable to take photos again as it is not allowed.Inside the castle,there were a lot of great paintings which displayed heroes of fairy stories which were the favorites of King Ludwig II.After the castle tour,we went back to the hotel to rest for a while before going for dinner.The hotel room was fantastic,there is an old cupboard to keep stuffs and there was a big carpet.Best of all,there was a balcony which can go out and see the mountains.And Neuschwanstein Castle was on the left side of the view and there was 2 big mountains right in front of the hotel.Pity,we didn't go up to see Hohenschwangau Castle,which was at the opposite side.It was a castle with a swan on top.
Later,we went down to the hotel restaurant and had dinner.We were given a glass of champagne as a welcome drink and we had bread as starter.Then came our main course,it was nice for the pork.Hohohoho....After dinner,we went back to hotel to sleep.
Day 9:Woke up and had our breakfast provided by the hotel.It was buffet breakfast and there were a lot of different kinds of bread and cereals.They even have soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs.Got a nice view of the castle while having breakfast before leaving the place.It was a very enchanted experience there.
After that,we headed down to take a coach down along the Romantic Road.It was a wavy road which stretched very very long.There are a lot of towns along the way,which we ended the ride with a stay in Rothenburg town.First we were brought to a chapel which was having service.Then we were brought to a bigger church,followed by Augsburg which we were joined by 2 English people who wanted to get to Rothenburg train station.
In Augsburg,went to the city hall.We went inside to have a look,it was big and the room was filled with people as there was a musical concert which going to start in the golden hall and it was free admission.Too bad,we only had half an hour there,if not,we could have stayed there and enjoyed the concert.
Towns visited:
1. Augsburg
2. Donauworth
3. Nordlingen
4. Dinkelsbuhl
Day 3: Woke up at 6 plus and made our way down to CitiRama Agency for our castles trip. We waited for our coach and traveled down to Loire Valley. The tour guide is a young guy.It took like 4 hours just to reach there and it was raining again. And i was wearing already 3 layers of clothing.First we went to Chenonceau castle.
Chenonceau Castle - is also called "Le château de Chenonceau"or Women's Castle because it is famous for its women. King Henri II built it for his favorite Diane de Poitiers but his widow eventually took hold of the estate after the King died in a tournament.
After that,we went to Cheverny Castle.It is currently owned by a big businessman (descendants of the royals) and he let out the place for people to visit.There are photos of the owner and family inside the castle too. Château de Cheverny - currently is a private property and its collection are from the 17th century. King Henri Hurault built the first château in 1634. Upon finding out his wife is having an affair with a page,he killed the page and let his wife to have 2 death options: Sallow poison or Get Plunged by his sword. So his wife chose the less bloody way (which is poison).Then the king torn down the château and built the present one for his 2nd wife.And there are like more than 20 plus hunting dogs being reared there.The owner and family sometimes go back to the castle for holidays and go hunting with the hunting dogs.
After this, we made our way to another château,which is the biggest of all and it is famous for its double staircases built inside the castle. Château de Chambord - built by King Francois I in collaboration with Leonardo da Vinci.It is a grandiose creation,famous for its inventor's design. It had 440 rooms and a unique roof terrace.
After this,we went back to Paris city where we had Japanese food for dinner.Then we walked to the attractions again so that we can see the buildings being lighted up with lights. And i bought a thicker jacket from a shop which i wore for my rest of my trip. Lol,after that,we went back to our hotel to rest.
Went for a Europe trip from 8th May 2010 to 23rd May 2010. I went to Paris -> Zurich -> Munich -> Frankfurt -> Amsterdam -> London and back to Paris again.
Day 1: Fly to Paris in the night on an A380-300 plane with Singapore Airlines. Took 11 hours flight.
Day 2: Reached Paris Airport (Charles de Gaulle Airport)in early morning. Took the metro train straight to the Notre-Dame de Paris church, had a tour inside. It was very beautiful and the windows are decorated with colorful glasses.Because we still had our luggage along,so we took turns to go in the church to view.When it was my turn outside,i saw a guy selling Eiffel Tower key chains quarreling with the secuity guard of the church.There are alot of those guys selling the Eiffel Tower key chains,10 for 1 Euro wo...lol.
And then we made our way to the Louvre Museum but we didnt went in. We just took photos there and had our 1st sandwich there.It was nice to eat,just that mustard was put inside!!
After that, we decided to check in to the hotel to put out luggage first.So we made our way to Bry sur Marne station,and found our way to the apartment hotel. There is an oven and a gas stove in the room. So we had bought breads,hotdogs,hams and drumsticks to put in the oven for breakfast.
One thing good in Paris is the breads.Always have a great fragrance and it is not hard (like stone).Lol.
Another thing noticed in Europe was there are graffiti everywhere, on the walls.The metro in Paris are also quite old and most of the windows are vandalized.
Anyway, we made our way down to back to main city again and went to Eiffel Tower. Bought a 3.50 Euro ice-cream and sat there to enjoy. After that we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down along the streets for shopping. As most of the shops are not opened,there is not much to shop around.We bought hams,hotdogs and chicken wings to cook for dinner when we passed a small mini-shop(which is so hard to find a shop open on this day) and went back to the hotel.
Places visited:1. Notre-Dame de Paris
2. Louvre Museum (Pass-By)
3. Sainte Chapelle (Pass-By)
4. Eiffel Tower
5. Arc de Triomphe
6. Statue of Joan of Arc (saw on Day 3)
7. The Panthéon (Went on Day 4)
Hotel Stayed:City Residence Marne La Valleé
Day 10: Woke up late and went down for a breakfast prepared by the hotel owner himself.It was nice and warming.After that,checked out the hotel and went to walk around the city again,as to pass time (The coach bus would only come at 3.40pm,which was a bit waste of time).We went to the chapel and had a short tour there,did a little shopping around.After that,we went to the royal garden at the back of the town.Spent more time there and later went to have an early lunch.It was yummy.Then we returned to the hotel to wait for our cab to bring us to the bus stop.The cab came and brought us to the bus stop,where we waited for 15 mins for the coach bus to come (It was late). Finally the coach bus came,the ride was super boring!!Cos there was another couple with us,then we didn't even stop at any of the towns anymore along the road.Basically it's just only passing by,and they just wanted to go back to Frankfurt as early as possible.Anyway just slept on the coach bus,finally we reached Frankfurt at around 7pm plus. Then we had to find the hostel I booked.It was just opposite the main train station.The room was quite big but the toilet was super small (i mean,really small).There is no space for a person to stand inside.And the floor was carpeted with those cheap carpet,not nice to stand on,somehow it make your feet itch.Anyway,after check-in,we went down the streets to look for dinner.The streets gave you a feeling that it's not safe and 'messy'.There are a lots of 'XXX' shops around,just 1 or 2 shops away,you can already see 1.Lol,we just went back to a coffeeshop near the hostel and had a half-chicken for our dinner.It was oily and salty,not very nice.After that,we just went back to the hostel and slept early,as we needed to get early to catch train the next morning.With this,our 3 days Munich to Frankfurt tour ended. 
