Day 3 – Heidelberg Castle, Black Forest, Rhinefall

Woke up really early on Day 3. I guess both me and mum were the first few to wake up that day. Haha. Hence, we walked around the hotel while waiting for breakfast.

 

  We walked around car park and took photos in the middle of the empty road. I think it’s around 5 something in the morning but it’s already very bright. Realised they prefer hunch back cars. Hehe.

Breakfast, well, american style again. Not much choices compared to the previous one but not bad.

Maybe the sausages weren’t that nice. Cheese were for my mum. Hehe. After breakfast, we checked out and headed to Hidelberg Castle.

  It’s really huge and …. brown. Haha. Very pretty though. Castle always reminds me of princess and prince and how they live happily ever after :)

 

 

I wonder how they tell the time cause I have no idea wha time it is. Hehe. The bad thing about the “clock” may be that one have to stand outside of the house to tell the time. Imaging that you’re in the toilet doing “big business” and suddenly you want to know what time it is. Troublesome right? Or maybe at night, you would like to know what time it is but you can’t. The “clock” is closed for the day. Haha.

 

The scary looking gate at the entrance. It’s part of the castle defence system as well.

 

The small balcony so that the owner of the castle can view the parade that is happening on the ground from the castle.

 

Part of the castle which has been ruined. The tour guide said the castle cannot be demolished when it was passed from one generation to the next generation as it may be disrespectful towards the ancestor. What they can do is jut renovate the castle. Can add a few here and there but cannot tore down the building and rebuilt.

 

Inside the castle are 3 wine barrel. Small, medium and large. As you can see, the large one is really huge. Enough wine supply for one life time. Haha.

 

This is the wine caretaker and entertainer. He will invest things that will entertain the owner of the castle and take care of the wine as well. Rumour has it that he drinks wine all the time. One day, he drank plain water and died. Haha. Not sure to believe or not though.

 

Then we went to the outer part of the castle to take photographs. I think they are renovating part of the castle so that it will be more pretty. Hehe.

 

View from the castle. It has a river view. So pretty. With mountains as the background as well. Hehe.

 

I wonder how many rooms are inside and how many bathrooms. Hehe. It’s really big that I think it can accommodate 50 people. Can nearly bring the whole kampung. Haha.

 

 

The side view from the castle. It’s the small town area. No high rise building. Naisseee

 

 

After that, we headed to the garden. The arch at the entrance of the garden is a birthday present for the wife. It even has a really big key hole on the side. Maybe the key is made of gold and diamonds. Haha.

 

After that, we boarded the bus again and headed to the black forest.

 

 

They said if you are on top of the forest, you can see the whole forest is black in colour as the trees are very near to each other. We went there for a tour in the cuckoo clock shop and lunch with black forest cake as dessert. Haha.

 

 

I must say that I don’t really like the cake because it’s quiet wet. As if the whole cake was soaked in water previously. Haha. After lunch, we went to the cuckoo clock factor for a tour to see how a cuckoo clock was made.

 

Name of the shop is Drubba and it’s really famous. Their cuckoo clocks are very beautifully made and exported to every part of the world. My house used to have a cuckoo clock last time. I even have some “history” with the clock. An unlucky one, I must say. Hehe.

 

While the others are busy shopping for branded stuff, we went for cherries shopping. Haha. Check out the huge strawberries. Really sweet and juicy, no kidding. Hehe.

After that, we headed to Rheinfall. It is one of the biggest waterfall in Europe.

 

We just admire from far because the currents looked really scary. You can actually take a boat to the rock in the middle of the fall and climb up to the rock but then it’s exactly the same as what we seen from where we were standing. Haha. Managed to take photographs of a rainbow too but it’s hardly visible here. Haihhzzz….

 

A big fat dog sleeping on the group. Baby, you like this dog?? Boyfriend?? Yes?? No?? Okay, I guess no. Haha.

 

After that, we headed back to the hotel.

 

This has the be the most white hotel that I have ever been to. Even though it’s small but the bed is one of the most comfortable during the whole trip. Our toilet don’t have a door as well. So I’m actually shivering during my shower. Kesian. But I love the shower as it is attached on the ceiling. My dream shower for my dream home. Hehe.

 

That’s all for Germany and part of Switzerland. Sorry that it took so long for this post cause I can’t recall the name of the castle. Haha.

 

~BuHBaI~

Europe Day 2 – Manneken Pis and Chocolate!!

Woke up really in the morning. Packed the luggage nicely the night before. Headed to the hotel restaurant for american breakfast. Yummy bacon and apple juice. Hehe. After breakfast, we boarded the bus again and headed to Brussels, Belgium :)

 

 

This is their highway. Very wide. I noticed that they have a lot of long trucks along the road. But according to our tour guide, the drivers in Europe have a book to record down the number of hours that they have driven that day. They cannot drive more than certain amount of hours or they might get into trouble and lose their driving license. That’s a good practise as they won’t have driver that drove long hours on the road which may put their life and other driver’s life in danger.

Okay. Enough about road and drivers. Haha.

First stop was photo session at the Atomium.

Atomium is a monument build for the Brussel’s World Fair. Each spheres are actually exhibit halls and public spaces. How do one travel from one spheres to the other? In the tubes that connect the spheres are escalators that one can take from spheres to the other. It may look like a small monument, but believe me, it’s huge!!! Haha.

After the photo session, we headed to the town area for Chinese lunch.

 

 

Along the way, we passed by rows after rows after building. Their streets are very straight and they have lanes for bicycles as well. Cars are parked at the side of the road.

 

This is the Chinese Restaurant where we had our lunch. I think this restaurant serves the best Chinese food on our whole trip. It may be very small inside but it’s in 2 or 3 storeys. The toilets are usually on the lower ground floor. Hehe.

After lunch, we walked to The Grand Place. It’s actually a square surrounded by guildhalls, City Town’s halls and there’s a statue which brings luck to anybody who touches it.

 

Love the road. It’s very pretty. But could be damaging to cars. Hehe.

 

These are the Guild Halls built by the city’s guilds. They have beautiful statues on the building.

 

Some of them are covered by gold. They must be really rich people eh :p

 

 

This is the Town Hall. Noticed that the left side is shorter than the right side? The proportion is imbalance. Why?

 

This lane needs to be built. Hence the architect needs chop off the left side of his design to make way for this lane. Due to critics from the people which he was unable to stand, he jumped off from the tower one day. Kesian right. Not even his fault. Tsk tsk tsk.

 

This is the statue that will bring good luck to those who touch it. I did not waste the opportunity and touched the statue as well. Hehe.

After that, we walked to Manneken Pis. It’s actually a statue of the little boy peeing. It has been a symbol of Belgium that important people from all over the world that visit Belgium will bring along a pair of their national costume for the Manneken Pis. Initially, the statue will put on the costume for 3 days. After that, it will be put on the statue again during the country’s national day. Like for Malaysia, the statue will be wearing our national costume on 31 August every year. In front of the statue is a board which will inform which country’s costume that the statue is wearing on that particular day. One will be lucky to see the statue in it’s original form.

 

On the day we arrived, it’s actually Georgia’s national day. Hence the statue was wearing the Georgia’s national costume. Cute right?? Hehe.

 

Near the statues, there are 2 shops selling waffles.

Looks very delicious right? Hehe. Their strawberries are huge and really sweet. Me likey.

We shared the one with bananas and strawberries. It’s absolutely yummy. The melted chocolate was not too sweet, just nice.

 

After that, we went chocolate shopping and bought truffles. Highly recommended by me :)

 

After that, we boarded the bus again and went to Germany. We reached the hotel during dinner time.

I forgot the name of the hotel but it’s quite big and comfortable.

 

I think the Grand Place is really beautiful. It’s a really big square with beautiful buildings surrounding it. During spring, the square will be covered by flowers for exhibition. Hope can see it one day. Hehe.

~BuHBaI~