Cologne, Munich & a ticket to travel back to the German past

I believe that life is a journey which will be enriched by small adventures exploring the world full of color and diversity. This series of my blog posts are observation, stories and learning that I have encountered through each adventure, with the desire for recording impressions, experiences and memories. This time, it’s about my trip to Cologne and Munich, Germany.

Thinking of traveling to Germany with many city options, I ended up with the decision to spend my 4 days in two cities : Cologne (Cöln) and Munich (München). This became the most time-consuming trip in terms of transportation from one place to another as one is in the North and the other is in the South of Germany. But it’s totally worth that travel length because of the wonderful joy earned throughout the venture with wonderful experiences of traveling back to the cities’ past.

Cologne: it’s not only about … the Dom

Talking to a friend before my departure to Cologne, I had been advised that the city is pretty, small and ‘just about the Dom’ (the iconic Landmark Gothic Cathedral). But to me, it’s not just about the Dom. The Dom is, indeed, a masterpiece and a pride of Cologne with the super high twin towers. But this German Catholic city is also well-known for owning about 30 churches among which 12 are romanesque.

Besides, Hohenzollern Bridge crossing the Rhein river is an icon of this pretty city. Thousands of love locks are fixed on the railings throughout the 409-meter-long-bridge as promise of eternal love. The number of padlocks here is much more than those on Pont Neuf in Paris that I have seen. That’s why this bridge is also known as Love Lock Bridge and becomes a charm of Cologne. Walk through the bridge, I captured both 2 amazing iconic sites of Cologne: the Dom and the bridge, which has different beauty under different shades of light. Plus, wandering through old small streets of Cologne is a great idea, especially in the early morning when they are not yet crowded to feel the true ambience of the old city.

Part of travel purpose is to get to know the destination’s history. And I did have a beautiful experience of going back to Cologne of the early 20th century at TimeRide VR Cöln. The 45-minute session of immersing in the city’s history via 3 ways: Kaiserpanorama – comparing Cologne’s photos of iconic corners in the past and the present; Cinema – seeing the city’s development from the start since Roman era through a short film; and Virtual Reality – touring through Cologne before the both World Wars  in an electric tram and feeling the past with all senses. This is a great application of VR in tourism to bring new authentic experiences to guests. Really love this idea. Just one minus point: the presentation of the city’s change after the Kaiserpanorama was conducted in German only, which really made it hard for foreign tourists to fully grasp the idea and earn the complete experience.

Munich: history through palaces of simple exterior yet extremely gorgeous interior

Heading to Munich, I was really eager to explore German past from another point of view – through splendid palaces of this city: Nymphenburg Palace and Munich Residence. And… they did not disappoint me. An interesting thing to recognize is that those palaces look really simple, firm outside (which is totally different from those in France and Italy with many sophisticated details from the outside), but extremely gorgeous interiorly with every single detail paid attention to.

Nymphenburg Palace – Swan Lake

Known as a summer palace, Nymphenburg palace has a wonderful swan lake at the entrance after a short walk through a beautiful small road with green trees on both sides. The palace is well-known for its fountain system with iron pumps operating them for more than 200 years and its amazingly huge park.

Nymphenburg Palace – Main Hall

As said before, getting inside the palace, I was wowed by its ultimate luxury and high level of detail to each object. Every single detail is taken care, showing the luxe and wealth of old Bavarian. Beside display of royal furniture, the palace also features a number of beautiful painting collections. Among those, I was impressed by the portrait collection of German beauties featuring various beautiful women no matter what social class they were in. They are all displayed in the room Gallery of Beauties in the palace.

 

Munich Residence is a really huge palace with a lot of stories to be unfold. Be prepared to stand and move slowly in no less than 4 hours to get through this palace.

Munich Residence exterior

Munich Residence – Antiquarium

Like Nymphenburg Palace, I was definitely impressed by the level of detail in both decoration and art inside the residence. Audioguide is provided for free here to walk you through all the rooms and tell you behind stories. It’s interesting to know that many of the luxury furniture and tapestries were ordered and made by Parisienne artists.

View from Saint Peter’s Church Chapel

Apart from palaces, visiting Munich’s churches is also amazing. And gorgeous Saint Peter’s Church in the very center of the city is a must-see. It’s also a cool experience of walking  more than 300 narrow stairs of the church’s chapel to get up high and enjoy 360-degree view of the city. It is is worth work-out to have such an amazing city bird eye view. The ticket costs only 2 euros per person.

 

 

 

Last but not least, beer in Munich is super cool! enjoyed German beer atmosphere at Hofbrauhaus Brewery where waitresses wear German traditional dress and live music is on with couples drinking and dancing. Don’t miss it out!

Freezing yet Amazing Amsterdam!

I believe that life is a journey which will be enriched by small adventures exploring the world full of color and diversity. This series of my blog posts are observation, stories and learning that I have encountered through each adventure, with the desire of recording impressions, experiences and memories. This article is about my trip to Amsterdam, the last destination in my Winter vacation.

I arrived Amsterdam on the last days of February 2018 when Europe experienced a super cold weather and the lovely city of Amsterdam was not an exception. -10 degree Celsius was how the weather those day, making the charming canals frozen. Nonetheless, the biting cold weather can not slow me down in discovering this place’s beauty and culture. Luckily, despite the coldness, the sun still shined, giving me perfect light and clear sky for city wandering and photo taking 🙂

The cannot-be-missed CANALS

Known as the symbol of Amsterdam, the system of canals has a rich history from original built as defense moats to local transport of merchandise and now has become a tourism attraction. Walking alongside the canals gave me view to historical houses, museums and sometimes peaceful scene of swimming ducks. Another way of experiencing the canals is on the water! An-hour cruise on the canal gave me another view point to the streets and houses along with audio guide told stories of main points that the boat passed by. It’s so funny that whenever the guide talked about something on the left, everybody on the boat turned to the left and the same people moved to the right. Personally, I was not much impressed by this cruising tour because the whole story was presented not very interesting and lack of interaction with guests.

Flower Floating Market

 

Down the Singel Canal is the colorful Flower floating market. It is called floating market because part of it is on the canal. People sell a lot of stuffs here: flower seeds, fresh flowers and a lot of Dutch souvenirs. On the opposite side of the market are cheese shops, coffeeshops, bakeries selling Stroopwafel – a typical and delicious Dutch waffle. Getting frozen under the biting cold weather, those souvenir shops became perfect place to heat me up for a while, ready for the next walk.

Pigeon Dam Square

Just 5 minutes walking from the Centraal Station is the historical Dam Square existing from 13th century. There’s a collection of attractions here: Royal Palace, the Nieuwe Kerk church and the former Post Office (now is Magna Plaza Shopping center). This square is full of pigeon walking and flying around. Sitting here for a while, playing with pigeons and enjoying the sunshine is very beautiful experience.

Rijks MUSEUM

Rijks Museum facade

Rijks Museum Research Library

Amsterdam is also known as the city of museums with quite a few rare names, like Museum of Bags, Body Worlds or Red Light Secrets. For art-lovers, Rijks Museum is a must-see. Rijks features a permanent collection of paintings, sculptures, archaeological artefacts, clothing, prints, etc. vividly showcasing 800 years of Dutch history. The building itself is a piece of architecture artwork with beautiful stained-glass windows and huge wall-pictures at the Great Hall. Besides famous master pieces like The Night Watch or Threatened Swan, Rijks embraces a very beautiful, tranquil and ancient Research Library inside. It’s just so amazing when stepping into the library, you might feel like living in a totally different world to the displaying rooms outside.

I really love the way this museum is well-structure helping visitors follow the whole 800-year history through the arts with comfort. That good structure is also reflected in the informative and intelligently designed guide book which gave me a clear outline of going where to see what, as well as highlights of the museum and the Rijks apps which navigated me in the museum and showed me the way to my wanted place and also provided some free audio guide for a certain number of artwork. I was also impressed by the way they help visitors enjoy and understand famous pieces of artwork by giving a detailed introduction sheet with clear art and technique analytic of famous and highlighted art work. That way of organization, to me, helps a lot in art education and preservation, helping tourists and youngsters from different cultures understand and appreciate those historical works.

Enjoying local FOOD is a thing we can never miss when traveling anywhere especially to Amsterdam. I tried a lot of food here and much LOVE them!

Banketbakkerij Lanskroon

‘Very Dutch Breakfast’

I had a really great breakfast with Turnover cake & Ham croissant and a cup of black coffee at the famous Bakery named Banketbakkerij Lanskroon at no. 385 Singel street. The triangle turnover cake was very crunchy and yummy and told to be a ‘very Dutch breakfast’ by a local elder woman I met at the bakery. Nodding her head, she showed her thumb up for my choice. It’s also interesting to realise that the croissant in Amsterdam is bigger and much curvier than that in Paris. :D. I’m wondering whether the cow’s horns in Netherland is bigger and curvier than those in France, reflecting in the different size of croissants – just kidding! 🙂

Fries dipped in sauces for Snack

Fries-lovers can not miss out this street homemade fries by Vleminckx Sausmeesters at no.31, Voetboogstraat street. It’s interesting to know that French Fries even named with ‘French’ included is not originated from France but from Belgium. And Vleminckx Sausmeesters positioning itself as Belgium fries maker has become so popular in Amsterdam. Normally, Dutch people eat fries with mayonnaise. At this fries store, they offer 25 different types of sauce from regular ones to Belgian ones. I tried Peanut and Tartar sauces, which were sooo yummmy!

Dutch Croquettes for Snack or Lunch

Croquette is a deep fried, breaded roll of meat ragout with soft texture inside. Dutch people usually  eat croquette with mustard. I had croquettes of veal and shrimp for lunch along with 2 slides of whole wheat bread at Cafe Luxembourg, no. 24, Spui street. Those croquettes look small but a bit creamy and a bit fatty, so two are enough for lunch.

Pancake for Snack or Lunch as well

Pancake is a little bit similar to Crêpe in France. In Amsterdam it is not wrapped into triangle shape, but displayed openly like a pizza. There’re many different toppings to put on the cake, among which I tried one with cheese and one with Dutch sausages. The restaurant was De Vier Pilaren, no. 11, Stadhouderskade street, which is near Rijks Museum. After finishing pancakes, you should try a plate of poffertjes (smaller pancake) with chocolate sauce on top!

Sandwich  for a nutritious lunch

Enjoying different types of sandwich with a cup of coffee and having a beautiful view to the canal or seeing people biking on the street, why not? I did have that experience for lunch at a small et cozy lunch café – Singel 404 Cafe (no.404 Singel street). You can choose your favourite type of sandwich ranging from white, brown, bagel or panini.

Dutch Beer

Try out Dutch beer of a pure Dutch brand – Brouwerij ‘t IJ Brewery (no. 7, Funenkade street)! They offer a set of 5 different tastes in small size for trial; then we decided what to go for big glasses. Beer and sausages here are perfect. Also, if you want, you can register for a beer tour at this brewery house which presents steps of brewing beers and of course several types of beer for tasting to end the tour. Brouwerij ‘t IJ is great place thanks to its beautiful windmill that you can take photo outside.

Last but not least, one thing that made me really enjoy this city is the local people. No matter who they are, how old they are what they are doing – walking, biking, selling, serving, they look so fresh and happy, bringing me a cheerful atmosphere. And indeed, they are so friendly, polite and helpful. Altogether, I did have a great time and learn a lot from the culture and history of this city throughout the 3 days there despite of the freezing weather. Under any condition, any places have its own unique beauty for us to enjoy and earn our own experiences.

Alsace Discovery

I believe that life is a journey which will be enriched by small adventures exploring the world full of color and diversity. This series of my blog posts are observations, stories and learnings that I have encountered through each adventure, with the desire for recording impressions, experience and memories. This time, it’s about Alsace through my lens…

My 3 last days of 2017 were perfectly and peacefully spent in Strasbourg and Colmar as part of my Christmas retreat after finishing the first semester in Paris. These two lovely cities located in the Alsace region to the North East of France and on the Rhine River plain brought me so much unforgettable memories and experiences that I have to record my impression and feelings immediately.

Alsace is the smallest yet a cultural and historical rich region of France. That’s the prestigious heritage this region has from its border with Germany and Switzerland, and that it was alternated between German and French control over the centuries leading to the reflect of a mix of those cultures. Its capital, Strasbourg, is centered on the Ill River’s Grand Île island, bordered by canals and home to the Gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame with the Astronomical clock. This European-well-known Cathedral impressed me by its towering height which offers the full view to Alsace plain, its delicate sculptured marvel and its ancient color thanks to its age of over 500 years. The church is placed among ancient houses with the signature half-timbered architecture of the Alsace region. I arrived Strasbourg after Christmas, so most of Noel markets here (which make Strasbourg become Capital of Christmas) were close. Fortunately, there’s one market surrounding the Cathedral area still opened then, giving me the chance to somehow enjoy the atmosphere of Strasbourg’s Noel.

As said, unique ancient houses with half-timbered architecture influenced by German style is a heritage of Alsace region and can be found as collection along riversides in Petite France quarter in Strasbourg & Petite Venise quarter in Colmar. Half-timbered house is formed by timber carcass making a solid bone structure and then walls are filled in the spaces between wooden frame. Walls are made of mortar consisting of mud and straw. Roofs are designed to be steeply sloping and made of brown clay tile which is somehow common to Northern Vietnam traditional house’s roof. Each house with facade facing the street has its own color and slightly different in decorating but still integrates harmoniously with the whole village. I had a feeling of living in fairy-tale stories when entering these vividly and colorfully decorated villages.

Petite France

Petite Venise

Petite France, another angle

Alsacien Museum

For understanding in details how Alsacien houses are decorated and arranged traditionally and how people there used to live, it is highly recommended to go through the lively exhibition of clothing and household artifacts in the Alsacien Museum (Musée Alsacien) in Strasbourg. During Christmas time, the museum also featured how local people used to decorate their house to celebrate Christmas, which makes it more lively and interactive to visitors.

 

Wonderful Noel market in Colmar is annually opened quite long, until early January, so I could enjoy the whole things there during my trip.  Noel market in Colmar has been voted to be in top 5 European Christmas Markets twice. It was set up both outdoor and indoor with various booths selling lots of stuffs like gifts, ceramic, souvenirs, decorations, etc., along with areas of games for kids, cakes and cuisine. Hot wine is a must-try drink in any Christmas market, especially when it was super cold in late December. And with a glass of hot wine in hands, we can be entirely warmed up for the whole market visiting. Another must-try stuff here is candied grapefruit which tastes not too sweet and a bit sour and is perfect to have with a cup of hot tea. Besides Christmas market, the whole town of Colmar is beautifully decorated to light up the mood of magical Christmas here.

It’s also amazing to see the small sister of Statue of Liberty right after entering Colmar, hometown of her father, sculptor Auguste Batholdi. This 12-meter high statue was made of resin  sculpted to commemorate the 100th death anniversary of the sculptor Auguste Batholdi, the most prestigious artist of Colmar and acknowledge the work of art which is worldwide famous.

Yummy Tarte Flambée is one of the most well-known speciality of the Alsace region and definitely a should-not-miss when traveling here. Tarte Flambée is composed of bread dough rolled out super thin in rectangle or circle shape with thinly sliced onion, lardoons, jambon and white cheese on top. Nowadays, people can customize it with salmon or beef, chicken toppings. There’s also sweet version of tart flambée.

There are 3 big cities in Alsace region namely Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse, the last of which I have not visited yet. I will absolutely return to this beautiful and friendly region in summer to be able to see the same scenes under sunshine and blue sky, visit Mulhouse, the Alsace forest and complete my discovery of this cultural-rich region.

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Transportation either by TGV or by bus to Strasbourg from any cities of France is very convenient. The former is super time-saving with total amount of traveling time just 2.5 hours and at value-to-money cost, just around 70 euro/ way. Early reservation or owning TGV max card (for under 26-year-old travelers) or Card weekend (for above 26-year-old travelers) can benefit from much discount. The latter way of transportation takes much more time, from 6 to 8  hours seating in coach from Paris, but is definitely offered on more affordable price, suitable for students.