Pieces of Me: Germany

Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts

Nov 8, 2011

Fairytale Castles Around the World

Bran castle, Translyvania Romania (the famous Dracula castle)

Peles castle, Sinaia Romania

What makes castle so intriguing to most people?

Perhaps, it is always associated with prince and princess living happily ever after in fairytales.

Perhaps, it is the grandeur.

Or perhaps, it is the symbol for most ancient cities.

Of all the castle I have visited before, Neuschwanstein remains my favourite and the most fairytale like castle. No wonder even Disney 'borrowed' the idea of their theme parks castle from this one.

Some of the famous castles from the places I visited so far..

Hmm.. I shall write another one of palaces next time.


Linlithgow castle, Scotland (birthplace of Queen of Mary Scots)

Edinburgh castle, Scotland

Alnwick castle, England (one of the famous Hogwarts filming location)

Kronborg castle, Denmark (the setting for Hamlet)

Frederiksberg castle, Copenhagen Denmark


Segovia alcazar, Spain (one of the Disney's castle inspiration)

Cordoba alcazar, Spain

Seville alcazar, Spain

Palais of Pena, Portugal (not exactly a castle)

Prague castle, Prague

Neuschwanstein castle, Germany (the famous castle of them all)


Wawel castle, Krakow Poland

Feb 26, 2011

A Fairytale Land

Neuschwanstein from Marienbruke bridge

And where is this place? It's located nearby Fussen at a small town called Hohenschwangau whereby the world famous Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle is inspired. There are two castles, one which King Ludwig II grown up in and another castle where he spend quite a fortune to built on based on his favourite opera singer, Wagner called the Neuschwanstein. We are not allowed to take any photos inside the castle and hence just pictures on the exterior. The whole place looks more like a fairytale out from the Disney's animated world where princes and princesses meet and live happily after.

To reach the castle, one could take a local train from Munich and stopped by a town called Fussen. From there, take bus no 73 or 78 (if unsure, just follow the tourist crowd) to the castles. Visiting of the castles start from Hohenschwangau and then Neuschwanstein which also called the Swan Castle or Mother of all castle. Personally, I think the name fits the castle very well with very fairytale like location. You can take either the horse carriage up the Swan Castle or a bus or a hike up. Since the horse carriage was quite expensive, we hike up. The fare to go in both castles was 17 euros back then (I went there in 2008, so the current fare might change).

the pretty lake

Hohenschwangau

view of Hohenschwangau from far

Marienbruke bridge

We walked from Hohenschwangau to Neuschwanstein and pass by the most beautiful lake ever. To sum it up, it's the most beautiful castle I ever seen before and although I had seen many castles subsequently, Neuschwanstein is and always will be the prettiest and fits the name of Mother of all castles!!

we were greeted by Neuschwanstein once we stepped out from the bus

looks familiar? it's the Sleeping beauty castle in Disneyland

Photos of the interior of the castle were taken from internet as phototaking is prohibited inside.

singer's hall

dining hall

dressing room

throne hall

May 11, 2010

My top 25 travel destinations around the world

My version of top 25 destinations around the world would be such:

1. Rome, Italy
It's my first European city I ever visited and like people always say..first love is the deepest
I love the fact that Coliseum is smacked right at the middle of the city and true her name 'The Eternal City', Rome does make one feels like you are in the middle of some middle age /roman war. Plus..drinking water aplenty everywhere..chilling to the bone during the hot Italian summer

2. Edinburgh, Scotland
I love Scotland as a whole plus where can you find men in skirts :)
The place where I spend my entire year. I can walk and walk and still find the whole walking experience enjoyable..It's the place where one can find castles, lakes, mountains (the famous Arthur seat), four season in a day, old and new town separated by a railway station plus it's the gateway to the Scottish highlands..plainly speaking, I just love Edinburgh !!

3. Machu Picchu, Peru
My inital plan is to actually go to Mexico before flying back to Malaysia but since the H1N1, change the whole plan and end up in Peru. No regrets. The first sight of Machu Picchu can blew anyone away.. words cant even describe what the feelings. Plus it's always been a dream for me to see her upclose after seeing some documentary on tv. Peru is a country full of culture, desserts, Andes mountain, alpaca meat, guinea pig meat (it taste like roast pig though), colourful people...

4. Lake Titicaca, Peru
I got a winning picture from here.. simply love the idea of man made floating islands

5. Oia, Greece
The most famous town in Santorini and probably around the world for her amazing sunsets. The white washed little houses against the blue sky backdrop is simply too romantic to write in words. Would definately come back here for honeymoon (if I ever get married that is)

6. Petra, Jordan
The rose red city, Indiana Jones filming location plus Transformer filming location. I am overwhelmed by this place. Can just sit and stare and stare

7. New York, US
Broadway, Statue of Liberty, amazing night views, the busiest city in the world. Even a song was name after this city

8. Hong Kong
Food food food. I love Hong Kong for the delicious Dim Sum, Wan Tan Mee, Tau Foo Fa, Curry fishball, basically any Canto food is good here. Plus tonnes of shopping.

9. Istanbul, Turkey
Masjid Biru aka the Blue Mosque, blend of eastern and western culture plus delicious Turkish Delight and Turkish apple tea (speaking of that I still have that packet of tea inside my fridge)
Kebabs you cant get in other places and liberal Muslim country..what can I say more

10. Abu Simbel, Egypt
One of the magnificient and in my opinion a better than the overrated Pyramids of Giza. In Cairo, the pyramids is in the middle of taman perumahan but to get to Abu Simbel, one needs to wake up in the wee hours of morning and drive with the military convoy for 4 hours to get there..plus it's one of the better remains of the great Ramses and his wife Nefertari. Abu Simbel was shifted to the current place here when the Aswan dam was built. Remarkably, the whole place was restructured perfectly.

11. Fussen, Germany
Real life Disney's castle..it's a dream come true

12. Barcelona, Spain
Gaudi works, Sagrada Familia.. one cant hate Barca

13. Florence, Italy
I love this place for the fact that it's laidback, Triumph of Skies is filmed here, and it's full of Renaissance.. has one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, Ponte Vecchio. Who can ignore the delicious Italian pasta and the chilling gelato

14. Transylvania, Romania
The famous Dracula city. Vampires legend orginate from here. One of the mysterious and in my opinion the best, coolest Eastern Europe city. Where can you find singing and dancing in the bus and communicating using hand gestures practically all the time..

15. Venice, Italy
La Serenissma..the city of water. It's a totally different city here, basically floating on the sea. canals everywhere and dont even bother to read the map, there are too many small roads which is not even in the map.. Lost yourself among the tiny and winding roads and you bound to find some treasures along the way. A word of advice though, Venice can get pretty smelly during the peak summer months

Ok..I admit I kind of give up after writting at 15..just darn lazy to continue to 25...if plus with my previous top ten lists of places to go..I got myself this top 25 destinations..muahahaha

Apr 10, 2010

Night Views

New York city (credits to WKY)-no tripod usage

Taking a night shot is not an easy task when you dont have the luxury of carrying your tripod around. In fact with a tripod, the shot makes such a great difference. Under the circumstances without a proper tripod, I have to rely on tong sampah. Most of the shots are taken by my bro using his old Canon camera and the rest were with my EOS. My fav :New York city and Coliseum