Guten Tag!
Think it will be more appropriate to start off my Germany Travel post in German.(and the fact that Germany just won the World Cup 2014!!!!)
After travelling in Norway for about 2 weeks, my family flew back to Singapore while I decided to explore another country on my own. I felt that there wasn't any commitments back at home as I've just graduated and since, I flew all the way there.. Might as well make use of the ticket!
Before my trip, I was contemplating which country to visit so after much research on which country was safe enough to travel alone, I decided on Germany!
Here's my route:
Oslo ✈ Hamburg ✈ Berlin ✈ Munich ✈ Cologne ✈ Paris
In order to get to Hamburg, it was a 1.5 hours flight from Oslo. Booked my domestic flight with Germanwings departing at 7+in the morning. It was kinda one of the worse mornings I had ever? Woke up at 5 in the morning, got myself prepared and was waiting for the bus to the central station where I can take the airport train... IT WAS COLD!! I had no idea if the bus was actually really gonna stop at where I was so I just waited.........and waited....
45 minutes later, the bus came!!! I felt relief because if I missed this bus, I would have been late for my flight.
Thankfully, I was at the airport just on time. Phewwww
Thankfully, I was at the airport just on time. Phewwww
When I travel, I do not really like the idea of staying at a city for only 24 hours or maybe 2-3 days? I prefer to take my own sweet time to explore most of the city (not just the main attractions) so usually I will settle for 4-5 days or even 1 week.
With travels, comes behind a long and huge amount of effort to plan accommodation, train/flight tickets and the itinerary. This is so that there will be less problems or hiccups during your trip. You will not really like it when shit happens overseas. One small issue can ruin your entire mood for the trip.
I booked 4 nights at Generator Hostel Hamburg & I highly recommend it because I enjoyed my stay alot!
(its quite a huge hostel chain in Europe and they're opening up more in major cities, Paris,Prague,etc)
Frequently, I will book a bed in the 6 bed female dorm with an ensuite toilet.
The stay costed me $125SGD in total which obviously if you're gonna book a hotel, you can only pay for a night! Furthermore, my hostel was not the cheapest?
On my 1st day in Hamburg, I took the Sandemans FREE walking tour where they visited the main sites of Hamburg along with the history behind the city. YOU LEARN ALOT FROM THESE WALKING TOURS. I swear by it! The company does pick up at different hostels in the morning and mine was one of them. With the tour, you will get to meet people from different backgrounds and this is where I made 2 new Singaporean friends, 1 Australian and Ilda from Albania!
Yolanda from Aussie and Ilda on my right.
From left: Trinity , Moi , Ilda & Arthur.
We were touring Hamburg together for the rest of the days & I missed those times so much!!!
Hamburg Town Hall (Rathaus)
The Hamburg Town hall is located in the heart of the city and it was our first meeting point of the free tour.
It was restored after the old city hall was destroyed by the great fire. Today, its magnificent architecture is set out to express Hamburg's wealth & independence. Around the square, there were several bars and cafes (including Starbucks) , so you can grab a cup of coffee before starting the walking tour!
Chilehaus
Shaped like a ship prow, Chilhaus is built with 4.8 million bricks
Quite impressive huh?
While we were visiting this landmark, one side of the building was under construction therefore I could not take a proper panoramic view.
Warehouse District
Known as Speicherstadt, this district was a commercial free port to transfer enormous amount of goods without paying customs. There are boat rides operating where you get to see these huge warehouses along the Elbe river.
The warehouse district has a unique mixture of old and traditional warehouse buildings.
Kinda reminds me about New York or London in the last century.
Ian, our quirky tour guide was very eloquent and knowledgeable about the Hanseatic city, the fact that he was Ukrainian.
One of the back alleys of the warehouse district
A cliche sight you'll see all over Europe. The culture of hanging love locks along the bridge doesn't only apply in Paris!
Presently, the warehouses are converted into museums, restaurants and offices and Ian brought us to have lunch at one of these affordable restaurants called Zum Brandantang.
One cannot travel to Germany and not try out German Schnitzel.
Miniatur Wunderland
Indeed, this place deserves to be ranked 1st on Tripadvisor because I was so fascinated with the miniature works. Warning: Spamming hoard of photos ahead
Some parts of the exhibits had a day & night scene so all these little miniatures will light up .
VEGASSSSSSSSSS BABYYYY
The scale and details of the models are outstanding, I kept going around to press the push-buttons to see the miniatures come alive. It is not just the standard miniature set up but everything in this exhibit moves, including planes, ski lifts, transport, you name it they have it!
One of the huge exhibits was the airport .
Frankfurt Airport parking space
Airplane landing and take off.
Winter wonderland
Definitely a MUST-VISIT in Hamburg for people of all ages. Make sure you leave out about 2-3 hours for this place, I left the place only about 3 hours later.
Hamburg Dom
The perfect way to end a day is to visit the Hamburg DOM! Its a night carnival with games, rides and traditional german food fare. I LOVE IT! Always been seeing such carnival in the movies (like the notebook) but to actually visit a big scale carnival like that is so exciting!
ENTRY IS FREE but you've to pay a small fee for the games and rides ranging from 2-6 euros.
Of course, I visited this carnival with my party of 3 and funny enough, the guys did not take any of the rides because they were SCAREEEEEDDDDDDDD.
#Justkidding
We spent so much time eating and trying out food so most of us were very full. Not a good idea to be sitting these rides with a full stomach.
Most stalls were selling heart-shaped customized gingerbread.
Big scale Magic mirror
After strolling around the carnival observing the different rides, Ilda and I settled on trying out 2 rides.
First, we took the ride, Frisbee which cost me like 4 euros?!
Most of the rides were empty because the weather was VERY cold.
Literally, you get flung like a frisbee.. It was a circular shape ride and goes left-right like a viking ship BUT SPINS 360 DEGREES AT THE SAME TIME.
No proper photo of the ride because you cannot trust guys photo-taking skills HAHAHA
Trinity only manage to get this 2 clear shots as he was kinda a distance away.
Screamed our heads off coupled with crazy laughter because I can't believe I actually took the ride?
I've always been a fan of such thrilling rides & have absolutely no problems after the ride, but this ride left me feeling nauseous. You actually have to take a seat and catch a breather before you start walking again.
The 2nd ride we chose to take was this...
Fear level x999!!!
From this picture, it's not possible to tell how high this ride was but it spins 360 degrees and each end has 8 seats individually.... IT SPINS 360 TOO .
Cost 6-8 euros?
I think this video will explain it better.
I did not take this ride but ILDA DID. THUMBS UP FOR HER!!
Yes, I chicken-ed out because I didn't feel too good after the 1st ride and the cold weather did not make things better.
We left the Dom afer spending about 2-3 hours, my legs were aching already but the guys suggested to visit the Reeperbahn (red-light district).
It was Sunday night so most of the bars/clubs were empty, streets were quiet too. No luck this time.
An area where the Beatles played in the 60s before they became really famous.
My friends and I also took a day trip out to Lubeck which I will write about in my next post.
Heading out to the gym to meet Sherena for circuit classes.
Stay tuned!
XX
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