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Paris, France

Sisterly love at the western end of Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe.

I can't believe it actually took me almost 2 months to finish my entries from my trip to Europe. :/ In case you missed it, I'm currently in Sydney, Australia as of writing this post for a study holiday. Moving on, this entry will be about our last stop in Europe which is Paris, France.

The trip from Belgium to Paris took forever as expected. Don't judge me but as a travel blogger, I'm not a fan of looooong road trips. If money wasn't an option I'd fly to my next destination. Time is gold guys!


We arrived like way past our dinner time. For our last hotel accommodation, we're staying at Mercure Paris La Défense Grande Arche.

 
The hotel feels a little old but at least our room was spacious and has free wifi.


#BathroomMirrorSelfie

 
Bathroom looks old too but clean and had nice lighting.


The next day, it was May 1, my 20th (LOL) birthday. We had one day to go around Paris and our first stop is the Arc de Triomphe.

Paris city center was so beautiful I can't believe I was actually in Paris at that time. Sadly, May 1 is a holiday meaning all shops are closed so plans of shopping along Champs-Élysées didn't push through.


Of course we went to Paris' most iconic structure, the Eiffel Tower.

I think I may be the only person who's not that impressed by the tower. Probably because I've seen Tokyo Tower first (which kinda looks like a replica of this one) or I didn't like the view from this side. Hehe. Anyway, it's Paris so who am I to complain?!


Notre Dame Cathedral

We were given time to roam around the area of Notre Dame but didn't go that far since weather was bad at that time. We just grabbed a cup of cappucinos from a nearby cafe to keep us warm. It was bloody cold that day that I had to borrow my sister's blazer since I didn't pack any winter clothes with me. Spring weather kasi dapat! Hehe.

 
Rakso Travel and Tours failed to coordinate with their European counterpart when we were supposed to visit the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche Museum in Stuttgart on a Monday and it was closed. It was replaced with a one-hour river cruise along the Parisian river Seine. This wasn't part of the original itinerary but I'm glad we did it. ;)


Our last stop was to go on top of the Eiffel Tower which again I didn't appreciate that much because weather was soooo bad, it was raining and it was cold and wet at the top. Heck, I didn't even last for 10 minutes and decided to go down. I just wish it was sunny though, it had a nice 360-degree view of the city.


Our day tour ended in a Chinese restaurant somewhere in Chinatown where we had Asian buffet dinner. LOL. It was like celebrating my birthday for free since I didn't have to treat everyone in our tour group. Looks like the gang enjoyed "my treat". Hehehe.


The next day, my sister and I decided to skip the last part of our tour (which was a visit to the Palace of Versailles) and just go on an outlet shopping spree at Val d' Europe and La Vallée Village before flying that night back to Manila. In all fairness most items were cheap, specially the bags from Longchamp where the cheapest Le Pliage probably cost ₱2,000.

Paris is beautiful but sadly we arrived at the wrong time. At least I have a reason to go back, best time probably is around June noh? What do you think? ;)

Amsterdam

The Rijksmuseum is a Netherlands national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam.

The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum which is our first stop for the day tour. :)



Before heading towards Van Gogh museum we had a few minutes to enjoy this square across the Rijksmuseum.


It was once of those moments where once again I wore my favorite shorts despite the chilly weather. Haha. I needed a lot of space in my luggage so bringing a coat wasn't an option.


Say hello to our guide Alexandar Markov with Amsterdammer guide Richard Van Buhren.


Our first stop is Van Gogh Museum which has the world's largest collection of Van Gogh paintings. Photos weren't allowed but it was awesome finally seeing some of his famous paintings in real life.


For lunch we went to Dam square which is pretty much the central of Amsterdam where there were lots of restaurants and shops.


Our tour also included a visit to the Madame Tussauds museum which was a little boring for me since I've been to other museums way back.

 
Amsterdam has got to be one of the most beautiful places I've visited during our European tour. And our tour mates agree! :) Here we are waiting for our boat to go on a canal cruise with Rederij Kooij boat tours.

 
Round trip boat tours costs €10.50 per adult and €6.50 for children aged 4-12 years of age.


Unlike Venice, boat tours in Amsterdam are much more pleasing in terms of smell. Wait, there weren't any smell at all! It goes to show how clean their canals are. The one in this photo is a private tour if I'm not mistaken. May champagne pa o! Hehe. #clazz

 
Amsterdam's canals were a soothing sight to my eyes. Everywhere I look parating may view!


The architecture of houses were so chic and simple. Some homes were once for the wealthy but nowadays many canal houses are now open as museums, offices and hotels. In 2010, Amsterdam’s picturesque canal district was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.


We even spotted houseboats as we go along the canals. There were a way to deal with the Amsterdam housing shortage, however, nowadays these houseboats in high demand. Some houseboats are available entirely as an apartment, other offer B&B.

 
 
Architecture along the canal is mixed with a little bit of old and new.


Amsterdam is a bicycle city so it wasn't a surprise to see this structure which happens to be a parking building for bicycles. According to our guide, there are more bicycles than residents in The Netherlands and in cities like Amsterdam. I'm not sure how many bikes are in Amsterdam alone but I do know there're a lot out there. This building alone stores around 5,000 bicycles. I mean how on earth will you ever find yours if you parked it here?! Haha.

If given a chance to come back to Europe then it would definitely be Amsterdam. I love it here! ♥♥♥

Heidelberg and Cologne, Germany

One part of the Hiedelberg Castle

Our second to the last stop is one of Germany's romantic places to get married, Hiedelberg. Nestled in the hill 300 feet above the city of Heidelberg stands the breathtaking Heidelberg Castle.

The castle is a combination of several buildings surrounding an inner courtyard, put together with a haphazard look. Each building highlights a different period of German architecture.


To be honest our minds weren't functioning or even paying attention to our tour guide. We liked the place though.


Plus it had an awesome panoramic view of the city. ;)


In a separate part of the castle there's a cafeteria/bar that houses the world's largest wine barrel. The Hiedelberg Tun stands 7 meters high, is 8 1/2 meters wide and holds 220,000 liters (58,124 gallons) of wine.


Speaking of wine, meet Tito Joy and Tito Danny. They're my drinking buddies during the tour where they made me try different kinds of wine. Hehe. Cheers to you both!

 
The last stop in Germany is the city of Cologne famous for having the largest Gothic style church in Northern Europe, the Cologne Cathedral.


According to our local guide, the cathedral covers almost 8,000 square metres of floor space and can hold more than 20,000 people.


The cathedral also has these tall stained-glass windows that are really one of a kind!

 
After the cathedral we were given a few minutes to walk around and check out the stores. We didn't buy anything (reserving all our pocket money for Paris) but according to our group mates the prices were cheap plus the additional tax free discount for tourists was a whopping 16%! I love Germany!

Day 7 of Rakso Travel's Priceless Europe Tour


Apologies for the shameless mirror selfie. :p That's me inside our comfort room (yes,  at Leonardo Hotel Heidelberg-Walldorf. We're halfway done with the tour and my whole body is feeling the exhaustion from all the walking, sitting (inside the bus) and waking up early to move to our next destination.

Day 7 has got to be the busiest day of our tour which covers a visit to Rhine Falls (Switzerland), Titisee, Stuttgart and Heidelberg in Germany. We left Hotel Swiss Star around 8:30AM and arrived an hour later at the Rhine.


The Rhine Falls (Rheinfall in German) is the largest plain waterfall in Europe.

The 150m wide and 23m high (I expected something higher though) waterfall is located near the village of Neuhausen in Northern Switzerland. Entrance is free by the way so you can just come here and enjoy the view of the falls. If you have time and you're feeling a little adventurous then you may rent a canoe to get to the falls. Parang ang struggle pumunta don with the strong current no? Hehe.


An hour and a half later we finally arrived in Titisee, Germany.

Titisee-Neustadt is one of the famous regions in Germany with the view of lake Titisee and parts of the Black Forest. Titisee is famous for their cuckoo clocks and obviously the black forest cake. The cake is named not directly after the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) mountain range in southwestern Germany but rather from the specialty liquor of that region, known as Schwarzwälder Kirsch(wasser) and distilled from tart cherries. This is the ingredient, with its distinctive cherry pit flavor and alcoholic content, that gives the cake its flavor. ;)


I missed the cuckoo clock demonstration but was able to check out souvenir shops selling them. A German cuckoo clock costs around €250-300.


2 hours later we arrived in Stuttgart, Germany. This is the Königsbau-Passagen shopping mall, a Classicist building built in the mid 19th century.


We came here to visit the Mercedez-Benz and Porsche museums. Sadly they were closed that day.. and no one from both tour agencies in PH and Europe even bothered checking the schedule. :( Imagine mo yun? Traffic was so bad tapos pagdating close pala yung musem every monday? Tsk.


We ended up visiting the showroom instead. Lol.

What a waste of our previous time. Take Note: All museums in Stuttgart are closed every Monday! Instead of checking out Porsche, the group decided to just go back to our bus and proceed to our hotel in Heidelberg.


2.5 hours later we finally arrived at Leonardo Hotel Heidelberg-Walldorf.


This is by far the biggest hotel room we've stayed at during our tour. This room could accommodate 4 pax plus more if you'll get an extra bed. The overnight rate for Leonardo Hotel costs around €75 per night with breakfast.


This is also probably the oldest because it looks old and smells old too. Hehe.


Going back, the bathroom is clean and spacious too.

Despite looking like an old hotel, it was the best when it comes to serving food. We were so tired from the road trip and getting a steak for dinner was truly unexpected. Sorry if I forgot to take photos, I was too pissed by the fact that we wasted our time in Stuttgart and not in the mood to take photos of our beautiful dinner. LOL. Bumawi naman ako for breakfast. ;)

 

Nothing beats having bacon and eggs for breakfast. May bonus pang ham, roast beef and smoked salmon. Yummmm! ;)

 
Of course they also have a salad and cereal bar. :)


Let me tell you a secret. My friends from work love drinking hot tea (para kaming mga Titas of Manila) so every time we have breakfast I'd steal tea bags from the hotel and gave it to my friends as pasalubong. Hehehe.
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