Relaxing Trip to Europe (27 September to 6 October 2015)
Both Jianhui and I were feeling bored from work and so we decided to plan an impromptu trip to Europe. In fact, we were still booking our accommodation during our holiday. Steady right? I'm so glad that it was a great holiday and I've really enjoyed myself a lot. I felt refreshed (for maybe a couple of days?) and really appreciate that Jianhui planned this trip for us. He also sponsored quite a bit for the trip! Thanks hubby!
27 September to 28 September 2015
After a 18.45km run at Straits Times run and a wedding lunch on Sunday with some last minute packing, we took a cab to the airport and we were going for holidays! It was totally a crazy and busy Sunday.
We wanted to eat Popeyes for dinner but realized that it was closed. So, we had a quick dinner at McD's before we boarded the plane.
A SOP photo before we board the plane. It's about time to buy new clothes as I seem to wear the same top for every trip. haha.
I slept a bit on the plane and about Singapore time 4am, we touched down Doha. It was going to be a long wait as we had to wait for 7 hours before our next flight. Basically, both of us feel and look like zombies. As we were feeling really cold, we bought hot chocolate from the foodcourt. We also tried to catch some sleep while waiting. Then, it's finally time for board at Doha time 7.35am (Doha is 5 hours behind Singapore time).
After about 5 hours flight, we finally touched down Athens! This time, we decided not to waste money spending on cab, and so we were going to drive in Greece! Thanks to my versatile husband who can drive internationally with any cars! We booked our car from Thrifty but we got the car from Hertz as the counter for Thrifty was closed. Hmm..
Our ride which looks cute and new! Hehe.
We were driving to Nafplio! It was about 2 hours+ drive from Athens Airport. Along the way, we were hungry and so, we stopped by at Goody's. Luckily, we only ordered one set of sandwiches as the portion is huge! Nevertheless, we enjoyed our "lunch" (It's supposed to be dinner time in Singapore).
Along the way, there were quite a lot of toll counter. Think we spent about EUR10 just to drive from Athens to Nafplio?
After such a satisfying lunch, we continued our journey and soon, we reached Nafplio! We parked our car at the free public parking lot and then took our backpack to find our accommodation. It didn't take us too long to find Amymone Guesthouse. It's a boutique guesthouse and we got such a nice and cosy room. By the way, it was kinda difficult to lock the door. It took us a while to get used to locking the door.
We rested a while as we were really tired. Basically, we didn't really rest since Sunday 3am since we woke up early for run. We had a stroll around the place before we went back our room to have a good night sleep. Think we slept about 12 hours till the next morning.
View of Palamidi Castle from below
29 September 2015
There was complimentary breakfast and so early in the morning (since we couldn't really sleep anymore), we headed down for breakfast. Breakfast was really good and satisfying. They prepared a wide spread of breakfast and we just got to take it from the counter. We even had tea and fresh orange juice. I would say EUR130 for 2 nights stay with complimentary breakfast is value for money.
After breakfast, we walked around the town. Jianhui drove uphill to Palamidi Castle. This castle was built between 1711 and 1715. Since we were already there, we decided to explore the castle. We paid EUR4 per pax to go in. It was really early and so there weren't many people. It was really good and it made taking photos so much easier without people! It was all about climbing and more climbing to explore this castle!
Photo taken by another early bird tourist!
From the highest point in Nafplio?
Other than exploring the castle, there were many interesting plantation in this castle too. By the time we finished exploring the castle, there were a lot of tourists coming in. This is the time we decided to leave.
We went back room to rest for a while before we came out again for lunch. It was nice and relaxing to walk on the streets of Nafplio. We decided to eat at this little cafe, Mitato and the Gyro Pita was really good! And it only cost us EUR6.80 (inclusive of coffee)!
Our favourite Gyro Pita from Greece
We also had a super chocolate-ish waffles with ice-cream for dessert before we drove to Ancient Myceane. It was about 45minutes drive.
When we reached there, the weather didn't look good. It looked as if it was going to rain. We went ahead to buy the entrance ticket which cost EUR8. It was more expensive as this place had been classified as UNESCO heritage.
The Lion Gate
Just when everybody was descending, Jianhui and I (with another ang moh) were ascending quickly up to the top. I was telling Jianhui, it was probably the "fastest ascent" by any tourist. Haha.
We took some photos on the top before making our way down. We also went to the museums where there were many artifacts.
After exploring the whole place, we drove back to Nafplio. We decided to relax and so we went to Aktaion for drinks. We drank Mythos while relaxing and looking at the sea. Anyway, it was also raining and we couldn't go anywhere.
In the evening, thanks to my brilliant idea, we were going to climb up the steps to Palamidi Castle. It was believed to have 999 steps but my guess was it didn't seem to have so many steps after all. Nevertheless, I was really shag to climb up. So, I would recommend people to drive up to Palamidi Castle instead of going up by steps. Haha.
We had dinner at Gratella. They served us a big basket of bread and the bread was really nice. After eating the bread, we were actually kinda full. Haha. We had pizza and chicken chop which was not too bad. Damage for dinner was bad as total bill came up to EUR33.30. Oh well, at least, the ambience was good and I love the bread!
After dinner, we went back to our room to sleep. Bascially, we had been sleeping as early as 8pm+. I believe we were still suffering from jet lag.
30 September 2015
We couldn't really sleep and so we woke up early today. In fact, we had been waking up every 2 hours. Jet lag? Maybe.
After a heavy and happy breakfast, we checked out from the guesthouse. We paid EUR130 by cash then it's time for road trip again! We were going to Corinth Canal. However, our google map brought us to the lower end of Corinth Canal. :) We made quite a lot of wrong turns into the expressway before we finally found the Corinth Canal!
There were many tourists around taking photos. In fact, people can do bungee jump here! But, looking at this, I doubt I would want to do bungee jump here. Haha.
After toilet break, we made our drive back to Athens Airport! When we reached the airport, we returned the car to Hertz before we checked in to Sofitel Airport Hotel. We were early at 1pm+ but luckily, they allowed us to check in. So happy to be able to check in to the room. It was then i realized I left My Melody water bottle in the car! Jianhui and I went back to Hertz and found my bottle! Hehe.
Then, we walked to take the train to go to Syntagma. It cost EUR14 to take the train from airport to Syntagma. It was about half an hour journey and when we reached Syntagma, everything looked so familiar! Happy to be back here again after 2.5years later. We decided to have a quick lunch at McD's before going to Parthenon.
We know where is Acropolis Hills but we were not too sure which was the quickest way to walk up to Parthenon. Luckily, some passersby directed us to the correct way. Yeah! This time round, we could finally enter as it was closed when we were here due to public holiday. This is the most popular tourist attraction so it costs EUR12 for the entrance fee.
Acropolis - The place where they would hold concerts
I'm finally here!
Parthenon is a former temple on Acropolis. The construction started in 447 BC. Can you imagine how long ago was that? As you can see from the picture, they were working on the repairing works. Let's hope this pretty Parthenon can still stand here strong and magestic many many years later for our next generation to admire this beauty in Athens.
We shopped around the city then it suddenly came to our mind that we could buy nuts as we recalled that the nuts here were nice. Jianhui had really good memory and he was really good that he could remember the location of the nuts shop.
However, the nuts shop seemed to change owner. Nevertheless, we were happy to buy some nuts. I really regretted not buying more nuts for my friends.
Then, we went back to Central Hotel - the place we stayed the other time we came to Athens. It has a beautiful view of Parthenon. We ordered Mythos and you can see how happy Jianhui is! We also ordered pizza for dinner. Pizza was ok only but what matters is the beautiful view and company! This is simply our favourite hangout place in Athens.
Man with his beer = A happy man!
Thanks the helpful waiter for helping us to take such a nice photo!
Then, we took train back to our Airport Hotel. The thing about taking train in Greece, it's totally about integrity. You bought the ticket and you are supposed to validate your ticket yourself. There is no barricade or what like Singapore's MRT platform so people basically can enter the train station as and when you want.
It was really nice for us to relax in the room. The good thing about staying in airport hotel was, we could just walk over to the airport to take plane tomorrow. Haha.
1 October 2015
Early in the morning, we check out from the hotel at 6.30am. We had McD's breakfast before we boarded our Aegean plane to fly to Munich! It was a short 2.45hr flight and we had a light meal on board.
Once we collected our luggage, we went to the train control station to validate our train ticket. Then, we went to the platform to wait for the train. It was freezing cold to wait for the train. Once the train came, we were so happy that we could finally have some warmth inside the train. So, we took the train from airport to Ostbahnhof then change another train to Berg Am Laim.
We walked quite a distance before we finally reached our Hotel Ibis. It's a new hotel and so the room is very new and clean! We like the room but it was quite expensive, about SGD300+ for a night! I thought Ibis Hotel is supposed to be budget hotel?
After checking in, we rested a while before we made our way out. We were going to Allianz Arena - Bayern Munich's homeground! From the map, we know that we know we got to take train to Frottmaning. However, we didn't know how to buy the train ticket. We tried to ask people but they weren't sure so we just anyhow figured it out ourselves. hehe.
We are here!
The stadium - It looks like tennis ball right?
The place for fans!
Spy spotted here!
After this, we went to take train to go Oktoberfest. We dropped by Marien-platz (their shopping place) to take a look before we continued our train journey to Hauptbahnhof to walk to Oktoberfest. Along the way, we saw Paulaner restaurant too! Many people were dressed to the occasion too!
We followed the crowd and we finally came to Oktoberfest! It was definitely an eye opener for me! I didn't expect it to be such a grand funfair! There were rides, food and BEER!
We bought sausage and steak sandwiches. The steak was really good though the sausage was just too salty. And the bread was so hard that we didn't finish it too.
Brotzeit
Rides
He's a happy guy!
It was really crowded everywhere. We decided that we shall enjoy our beer at Paulaner restaurant instead. So, we walked back to that restaurant. We ordered meatballs which were also very salty. Beer was really good and it only costs EUR4.50. Good and cheap.
Then, it's time to take train back to our hotel to rest!
All in all, it was really a great and fun day in Munich!
2 October 2015
Rise and shine! We had breakfast at a bakery shop near our hotel. Then, we took train to Marien-platz for a walk.
After walking a while, then we took train back to our hotel to check out. We took the 11.47am OBB train to make our way to Munich. Sadly, there weren't any seats. We could only find seats at the cafe. So, we ordered beer again. Luckily, we were going to change train and we finally got comfortable seats to go Zell Am See. Beautiful scenery along the way. =p
After about 3 hours plus train ride, we finally reached Zell Am See. It was a beautiful and relaxing town. We sat by the lake and ate the croissants we bought from Munich. It was a small town and we could find our Hotel Gruner Brum easily as it was situated right in the middle of the town.
We took a walk around the town and took photos. =p It was a small town that we finished walking the place within an hour. haha.
It's a beautiful town right?
We went to Villa Crazy Daisy for dinner. Food was not bad and most importantly, I finally got to eat my fried chicken wings! I have been craving chicken wings since Sunday! haha. It was a satisfying dinner.
Happy girl with her fried chicken wings!
Before we slept, Jianhui wanted to have coffee and so we went down for coffee. It's quite nice to relax and drink coffee at night...
3 October 2015
Happy Birthday to me!
It was definitely my longest birthday ever as I have been receiving birthday wishes since Singapore time 12 midnight. It was also my first birthday overseas. =p Really blessed and happy to receive greetings and wishes from my family and friends.
We had breakfast provided by Hotel Gruner Brum. Breakfast was not bad. In fact, we were happy to have free breakfast. Haha.
Then, we took the 9.15am train to Salzburg for sight seeing and to collect our race pack!
Along the way, we chanced upon the Makartsteg Bridge where lovers would secure padlocks as gesture of everlasting love. This is a beautiful place to take photos. =p
Makartsteg Bridge
Then we headed to Getreidegasse, the shopping streets. This is also the place where we collected our race pack.
Then we decided to hike up to Festung Hohensalzburg - a fortress on top of a hill. According to an article in newspaper, it was believed to be the largest and the most fully preserved citadel in Central Europe. I guess it should be one of the highest point in Salzburg so from here you can look at the whole Salzburg.
We decided to have my birthday lunch at this place. We ordered the Austrian Schnitzel of pork and Spaghetti coupled with ice cream. It's quite nice to eat ice cream at such cold cold country. The pork was ok but the rice tasted weird. European rice maybe different from Chinese rice?
By now, we were feeling tired and so we decided to take train back to Zell Am See. And he bought me a rose too!
A pretty rose from him for my birthday! He insisted to buy me this rose as he wants to buy me flowers on my birthday every year. So sweet of my hubby! :)
Everything about Mozart in Salzburg
We took the 3.08pm train back to Zell Am See. We were so tired that we were falling asleep in the train. Oh ya, when we boarded the train, we did see a lot of police escorting some people out of the station orderly. I guess it's a good decision not to stay at Salzburg as it seems to be less peaceful and relaxing compared to Zell Am See.
For my birthday dinner, we went back to Crazy Villa Daisy for dinner. This must be our favourite restaurant in Zell Am See. And we love the coke here though it costs ridiculously expensive. Haha.
After dinner, we also ordered the expensive EUR4 chocolate waffle. Freaking expensive but it feels shiok to eat it in cold weather. Haha.
We had a early sleep as we got to rest well for our run the next morning.
4 October 2015
We woke up early to eat our croissants as breakfast. It was about 10 degrees or even lower in the morning. I was only dressed in a long sleeves top with nike short sleeves shirt and 2XU pants. Feeling super cold. Jianhui was only dressed in short sleeves top with arm socks and 3/4 pants. Seriously, doesn't he feel cold? Haha.
We were so cold that we were hiding inside the lift while waiting for the 7.15am train. Today weather doesn't look that good as it was drizzling and the sun seems to be on leave.
Luckily, when we reached the starting point, the rain stopped. I would say it was a good weather for run. When the race started, many runners were really fast and many over took me. I tried my best to run as fast as I could. I managed to complete 7km in 42 minutes which I would think this is a good timing for me. Jianhui continued 2nd loop while I cheered for all the other runners. For this race, it is called Jerdermannlauf which I think it means Every Man Running. Quite a good name as I also believe running is something that everybody can do it. Be it 2km, 5km, 10km, 21km or 42km, everybody can do it. And for this race, there are 3 loops. So, if you don't feel well, you can just do one loop which is 7km.
Another overseas run in Salzburg together!
We got some time left so I got to buy some magnets before we rushed to take the train at 12.12pm. We also bought our favourite croissants from the bakery at Salzburg train station.
When we were back in out hotel, the receptionist was really nice to let us shower in their shower room! So we washed up and then we were ready to take the 2.45pm train. Basically, it is all about taking trains today. Haha. So, we would be heading back to Munich!
Unlike the trains in Switzerland, we noticed that the trains in Austria do not leave on time. It could be due to police check I guess. For the train to Munich, it came about 15 minutes later and at each stop, the train would stop for very long. Nevertheless, we were happy that we could make it back to Munich by train as my boss had to take super expensive cab from Vienna to Munich few weeks ago.
We finally reached Munich Airpot around 7pm. We were really hungry as we only ate croissant and biscuits for lunch. So we went to eat McD's. That was also the time in which we checked Livescore and got a shock of our life that Man Utd lost 3-0 to Arsenal. =(
After dinner, we checked in to Hilton Airport Hotel. This is our most expensive accommodation for the whole trip and yet they don't provide us any water in the room! Hmm... In the end, we had no choice but to go downstairs to buy water. The beer (
EUR1).
This is only EUR9.49!
It had been a long day of taking trains for us and we were dead tired. This stay also signified the end of our holidays as reality set in that we would be flying back home tomorrow morning.
5 October 2015
We were going to fly back to Singapore today! We were relaxing in the room until about 9am then we checked out from the room. When we reached the check in counter, we were horrified that there was a long queue! Some couple was moving house and a group of musicians were checking in bags and bags of bulky items. We were basically racing against time and there was nothing we could do but to wait.
After finally getting our boarding passes, we were told to deposit our bags at bulky item counter. And once again, we got to wait as there were many people depositing bulky items too. By the time we were done, we were really running late and yet we got to queue at the customs. The queue was horribly long too! By the time we were done, we were only left with 20 minutes to flight time. We nearly couldn't make it for the flight!
We were trying to adjust back to Singapore time so we didn't sleep much on our flight back to Doha. I watched the cartoon Wreck it Raphl which was really good! When we touched down Doha, we drank coffee at Burger King before proceeding to the date to board our next flight back home.
I didn't really sleep much on plane though I was lucky to get 2 seats. It feels comfortable not to have any stranger sitting beside me though. Haha.
Finally, we touched down Singapore at local time 9am on 6 October 2015. It was a good holiday but I'm happy to be back. This is still home where I belong. My dad was really sweet to come and fetch us home! After staying in countries without haze for 8 days, I feel I can live slightly longer haha.
All in all, it was really a good holiday. A deserving holiday for Jianhui and me. Thanks Jianhui for being such a good travelling partner who always takes such good care of me! Many many more happy trips together!
We will always travel together.
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Angeline winks
at |10:25 PM|
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