Europe 2011 - Day 16 - Berlin Day 2

Berlin is a wonderful city. It's very multicultural community and has a deep cultural history.
The day started with getting on a bus ride on the City Sightseeing Tour Buses (they're the big red tour buses). We took the red tour route around the city.

The weather is crazy. There's flash thunderstorms, and then a few minutes later it's clear. Berlin is one of those places where the weather is unpredictable, and there's no possible way you're going to be properly dressed for every situation. One second it's 25 Celsius, warm and sunny, then it's pouring rain in a flash storm and down to about 10C, then back to cloudy at 20C. Do what the locals do, dress light, and then when it rains, just stand to the side, find some cover and wait it out (hopefully in 5-10 minutes it becomes sunny again).

We saw a little bit more of the Berlin Wall today including the well-known Checkpoint Charlie. The Reichstag is a parliamentary building that is still being used today. It's an interesting building considering it primarily consists of older architecture but has modern elements incorporated in when it was reconstructed by the renowned architect, Norman Foster. Foster's re-design includes a modern glass/steel dome that fits on top of the older stone structure and creates a very neat contrast.

 For lunch, stopping at Breitscheidplatz, we enjoyed some of the local German fast street food cuisine, Currywurst. We are a little nauseous at the sight of any more pork knuckles and bratwursts, but this was definitely good to eat as the sausages was delicious and the curry sauce is something unique (and not at all what I thought it was going to taste like).

Alexanderplatz is a high traffic transport hub. There isn't really that much interesting to see though the area is filled with some larger department stores and the Weltzeituhr world clock, and the nearby Fernsehturm Berlin TV Tower.

Ending the bus tour, I stopped off at the Siegessäule (Berlin Victory Column) to take some photographs. It was a long walk back to our hotel going through the Siegesallee boulevard headed back towards the Brandenburg Gate but then cutting through Tiergarten Park back to Potsdamer Platz.

We loved Vapiano so much last night that we went back for dinner tonight. I definitely recommend it. That place is awesome.

Europe 2011 - Day 15 - Berlin Day 1

My family is definitely not travelling like Europeans. We look pretty odd hauling our large suitcases around the city streets, train station, and train platforms. Everyone else around us is travelling with small personal-sized suitcases and moving around quickly while we look ridiculous struggling to move our over-sized (and overweight) luggage.

Right now, I'm on the 1027am Deutsche Bahn train headed for Berlin. I'm sitting across a stern-faced German girl. She looks really pissed off and smashing (typing) her keyboard very quickly and loudly.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof is a breathtaking view and spectacle of glass and steel. The station's interior structure is a marvel of modern engineering and modern architectural styles. Our hotel, the Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz was pretty near the station, though we took a taxi anyway (luckily we found an 8-seater van taxi).

Potsdamer Platz is a beautiful area with modern buildings and parks. We are very near the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) which looks amazing in the day as well as at night. Being the tourists we are, we took a ride from the Brandenburg Gate down Unter der Linden on a 7-person CoBi (Conference Bike). It was a fun experience though I'm not sure how much fun I could get from riding on it again.

Dinner was a unique dining experience. We ate at Vapiano on Potsdamer Platz. There is no waiting service for the most part and you have to line up for the food yourself. The food they cook though is amazing. It's simple Italian food with fresh ingredients and cooked on the spot right in front of you.

Walking through the area, we also happened upon preserved segments of the Berlin Wall (near the Bahnhof Potsdamer Platz) where you can still see the original graffiti and structure of the wall. The area is full of things to see including the Sony Center.

I think I could probably stay in Berlin for a month and do nothing but take photographs of buildings and the architecture, both old and new, in the city.

Europe 2011 - Day 14 - Cologne/Köln

Today was a transition day as we got off the boat. We took a 5 minute (probably less) taxi ride to our hotel, the Marriott in downtown Cologne.
We have a whole day here before our train to Berlin tomorrow morning so we walked around the old town area. As there isn't much to see, we probably hit everything that's really worth seeing in the town.
Our first stop was the DB Hauptbahnhof or the Deutsche Bahn (German Trains) station of Cologne. The station is quite an interesting place as it feels similar to Amsterdam Centraal in the structure, though it's not quite as big. There's a lot of unique food vendors and I got to try one of the Ditsch mini pizzas which were pretty tasty. An art exhibition was taking place in there too with photos from the World Press Photo 2011 exhibition showing the many winning entries in the competition. The photographs are impressive from a technical and aesthetic standpoint but they were also powerful because of the issues they addressed.

Our next stop was the cathedral of Cologne, Cologne Cathedral, or just Dom. The cathedral is the main highlight of the city and it is a very impressive example of gothic architecture. Upon entering the church, we were able to sit through the second half of a mass. Continuing to walk through Old Town and headed toward the river, we passed by some important city spaces such as Roncalli-Platz (besides the Museum Ludwig and Römisch-Germanisches Museum). We stopped upon an old looking building for our lunch. The restaurant we walked into was the Baxenhaus zum Rheingarten for some pork knuckle and a sip of the local beer, Kölsch. I wasn't really blown away with the food but I found out afterwards that the restaurant is one of the oldest of oldest bars open in town as it has been open since 1276.

There wasn't much else to see/recommended in the town other than the Chocolate Museum, so we made our way to Schokoladenmuseum Köln, which was ironically right beside the cruise boat we were on. None of us really wanted to check out the museum, so we just checked out the chocolate store inside and enjoyed some drinks at the Chocolat Grand Cafe. I got to try some eiskaffee (ice coffee) and the eiskakao (iced chocolate), both drinks were delicious as they had ice cream in both drinks to sweeten them and give flavour.

It was a really hot day and we were already tired in the early afternoon. Walking along the river returning to our hotel, we went by the Hohenzollernbrücke and up the steps to the Philharmonie. At the base of the stairs was a street performer which gathered a big crowd. It was a big let down though as the act wasn't impressive at all (compared to other street acts I've seen), though it was a good break in our tour (as we had no idea where else to go).

There's a conference here that I wanted to go to, the Gamescom 2011 games conference. I saw some people staying at my hotel who were coming back with swag from the conference and I was disappointed that I couldn't go (especially considering I'm here already). There's also the other fact that I'm missing the DesignThinking UnConference in Vancouver right now. Doh.

Cologne is weird. I've noticed that there is a small immigrant population of Asians here and it just seems odd seeing Asians fluent in German. I also noticed an immigrant influence in Frankfurt but it was more of the Eastern European origins such as Turkish and Slavic populations (which doesn't seem as weird as the Asian influx in Cologne).

Our Marriott hotel is awesome, this is the only hotel I've been in where they play ambient/techno in the hallway instead of the standard elevator music fare. Needless to say, I was dancing in the hotel hallway outside my room.

Europe 2011 - Day 13 - Koblenz

We have finally entered the Rhine River (and left the Main).

Wowwwwww. This morning was a serious food morning. Breakfast at 9. After breakfast, at around 10:30, there was frühshoppen on the sun deck. That was a tasting of different types of bratwursts/sausages as well as different mustards. Also, toss different types of pretzels in there, and everyone's really full. But shortly after that, 12pm rolled around and it was lunch time. From 9am til 12:45pm, I was eating the whole time. Doh.

We arrived in Koblenz at 1pm. Another small town, but with the interesting characteristic of having a fortress on a mountain, Ehreinbreitstein. We took the usual old town tour and also got an interesting look at the local Bundesgartenschau, or BUGA flower festival. It is a flower festival of different types of floral varieties, some interesting floral "garden" arrangements and of course, water parks for kids.
The area was located at the corner of the river so it was a short walk to the giant statue of Wilhelm I that marks the city's edge to the Rhine River (where it meets the Mosel).

Our tour actually included a trip on the cable car ride to the fortress Ehretbreitstein, though we decided to forego it because the lineup to go on the ride had an expected wait time of one hour. We also weren't sure of how long it was going to take for the queue to come back once up top. I went back to the town with my sis to take a look at a store called Commes to check out designer kitchenware.

I LOVE these stores and it's my dream to design kitchenware products for the companies that supply these stores such as WMF, Auerhahn, Peugeot, Alessi, Menu, Alfi, the list is endless. =D


Tonight's dinner was a little bit sad as it's the last night and trading goodbyes with a lot of the friends we've made on the cruise. We were taking up a lot of room after dinner and probably being too loud as everyone was saying farewells and taking photos. Afterwards, we were also taking a lot of photos in the hallway by our rooms as most of us were dressed nicely and having a little photo session. The executive chef walked by and we had a good laugh and shared some beer with him and took some photos as well.

The cruise has been a good experience. It's a little different than my previous experiences on cruises as this one was a river cruise. The clientele is older than my age group, a lot older actually. =P
However, the smaller limit on the number of guests on the boat and the open seating at meal times is good for meeting new people and being able to connect with more people. This is a stark contrast with the large cruise boat, floating city type experience where it's just hard to talk with anyone because there's so many people as well as having fixed seating and you're always talking to the same dining partners. (Most likely from your own group). So, this trip has definitely been a great experience!

Europe 2011 - Day 12 - Aschaffenburg/Frankfurt

Today was a quick tour around the town of Aschaffenburg. A castle, and lots of small churches. We took an interesting tour through the prominent castle that is symbolic of the town, the Schloss Johannisburg. One of the most interesting displays inside the castle is a cork museum with the largest rendition (in cork) of the Colisseum from Rome.
The castle has the usual things to see as well: furniture, cabinets, paintings, but it also had an interesting collection of china, guns, and cups/glasses.

We had an early departure of 12:30 so we decided to end the morning with pints of the local beer, Schleppe-Sappel. The beer isn't really to my taste, I was more preferential of what our tour guide Silke ordered, a radler, a mixed drink, of half Schleppe-sappel and half citrus.

Our boat had a second arrival port today. We arrived in Frankfurt at around 6:45pm. After dinner, I took a walk around downtown Frankfurt. I'm not really sure where we were walking around, but we walked down Neue Kräme and walked through some really nice plazas. Most of the shops are already closed but I was really happy window shopping. There was a lot of nice design/furniture/lighting shops in the area. I also got to participate in an interesting art installation I walked by. It was called "Limelight", I think. The installation has a pair of spotlights shining light down on a spot in an open area, though the area was very dark already. There were two "artists" filming the spot and the point of the installation was to record/film the people who interacted with the spotlights.

Europe 2011 - Day 11 - Miltenberg

Miltenberg is a small town on the Main, labelled as "Die Perle des Mains" or "the pearl of the Main". We had a walking tour around the old town, though there wasn't much to see except for the main street of Hauptstrasse, the primary shopping lane of the city.
Nearby right outside of town, we visited the Schloss Löewenstein or Lowenstein Castle where we got to take a quick tour around the castle and then have a wine tasting.
On the boat, there was a glassblowing demonstration from Karl Ittig of the Bon Apart Glass Gallery. My dad got a chance to participate in creating a glass ornament and got some free shot of Jägermeister in the process. =D

Tonight's dinner was terrific, but I am absolutely blown away by the dessert. Valrhona Chocolate Soup and Blueberry Sorbet. Well.... YEAH, anything Valrhona is delicious, but I am completely shocked by how good the blueberry sorbet was. (I asked for more =P). I need to learn how to make that sorbet. I will be dreaming of that sorbet for weeks. Sigh.

Europe 2011 - Day 10 - Würzburg

Today was a really short day. There isn't that much to see in Würzburg except for the palace, the Würzburg Residence. The tapestries and murals inside the palace were truly amazing. It's a shame that photography isn't allowed inside the building as the paintings are something to behold. The massiveness of the murals on the ceilings, the stucco work, and the intricate tapestries are incredible and work I haven't seen before in other castles. You can take a look at some images of the rooms online such as the Staircase, the White Hall, and the Imperial Hall.

We walked through the market area/downtown of Würzburg where there are numerous churches with really different types of styles including Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and modern. My sister and I spotted a WMF store in the town and we had to drop by to buy something. =D I love WMF

After our shopping stop, we walked over the Würzburg's Old Main Bridge (Alte Mainbrücke) that was lined with statues of people from German history. It's a little reminiscent of the Charles Bridge in Prague. (The group split, so my dad and sis opted for a wine tasting and they got some local Franconian wine.)

Nothing too much to see in Würzburg though it may also have been that we didn't get enough time. We also opted out of an optional excursion to Schloss Weikersheim. I think we have seen enough castles already. :/

Wowz. Tonight's "Epicurean Adventure" dinner was a little crazy. They served 3 different wines over a 6 course meal of traditional German dishes.

Random Notes

-The German locals apparently have an issue in differentiating whether they are Franconian or Bavarian.
-Our Serbian waiter taught us how to say hvala, or 'thanks' in Serbian

Europe 2011 - Day 9 - Haßfurt/Bamberg

Yummmmm. Breakfast was awesome. I tried the Swiss Bircher Müsli and it was a very new flavour I've never had before. The Franconian sausages and the yogurt they serve daily at the boat's restaurant are amazing.

Our boat was docked at Haßfurt and we had to take a 45 minute drive to get in to Bamberg. We walked around the downtown area starting down Lange ßtrasse, where we passed a statue of Leopold II, into the Green Market where we got to see an interesting statue of Neptune/Poseidon. The tour guide explained how most locals wouldn't know the Neptune reference and would probably only recognize it as the man with the fork. Hahaha.

Bamberg is relatively unscathed from the effects of World War 2 compared to other cities as it was not a primary target for bombing.

The first stop on our city tour was a bridge beside some castle building with a set of bridges? I wasn't really paying much attention to the tour guide and really been tuning out. I think I've been to enough cities where the general history isn't really interesting anymore unless there's some weird backstory.
The funny thing about this building is that there are images painted on the wall, but on one of the paintings of a person, there is a wooden leg that sticks out from the building (where the leg would be in the painting). It looks absolutely demented and funny at the same time.

We visited the site of the first beer garden/cellar(Beer Keller) that created the smoked beer (Rauchbier), the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, which has been open since 1405. Also, our tour guide showed us and recommended a bakery (bäckerei), the Bäckerei Seel. We worked our way up the cobblestone paths up to the imperial cathedral of Bamberg, the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Georg (Dom St. Peter und St. Georg) and to the unfinished palace, the Diözansemuseum Bamberg/ Der Dom zu Bamberg. The palace is unfinished (in the shape of an L) as the duke/prince who was building it ran out of money (it was supposed to be U-shaped). It is now known as the New Residence Bamberg (Neue Residenz Bamberg). Our tour ended in the Rose Garden of the New Residence Bamberg where could have a panoramic view of the city.

Before we went back to the boat, we stopped by the beer house to have a taste of the Rauschbier. It's described as tasting like smoked ham and that for most people, they wouldn't like it after the first two tastes and that they would only start to like it after the third try. This idea was reiterated by the local German lady that my dad was sitting across from (who spoke no English) trying to explain that idea using hand signals and thumbs up/thumbs down. I took a sip and I liked it. I didn't really taste the super smoky taste, it seemed like just a hint of smokiness for me, but rather it tasted like a really dark beer.
We also stopped by the bakery the guide recommended and we couldn't really read any of the signs so we just pointed at random cookies and pastries that we liked. Deeeeeelicious.

Back on board, I enjoyed my lunch with the best fried fish/tartar sauce I ever had. They listed it as breaded fillets of coal fish served with sauce remoulade. Yum. After all the food I've been stuffing myself with, I did a light workout with my sis and mum on the elliptical. Though after that, I went back to the lounge with my sis to partake in high tea and eat some scones. Heehee.

I finally got to experience the essence of river cruising when I finally went to the top deck to take a look at the boat going through the process of transferring between the river locks (to a different height of the river). The second part of the essential river cruising experience is to duck when the boat passes by, or rather goes under, a low bridge. I pretty much had to be down flat on the ground in order to not get hit. =D

I've been impressed with the cooking on the boat so far, but I think tonight was a one off. There was some weird issue with the kitchen (I'm guessing) as no tables were receiving their entrees for what seemed like an unusually long period. After the kitchen finally got the food out, I was less than thrilled with my duck breast.

I am hoping that this will be the exception as I've been thoroughly satisfied (prior to tonight) with all the delicious food (that I know I am probably sounding like a broken record of how delicious everything is ;]).