endroog

Coming up very soon… Italy.

Innsbruck was the host city of Winter Olympics oof 1964 and 1976. We reached there in the evening after visiting Swarovski.

As the name suggest, this is a theater house. That Indian guy is Muhammad…. the only South African in our group. The other 2 ladies in jeans seen here are the Brazillians.

This is where we bought our lunch. The shops at the aldstadt are interesting.

Pork shop. Meat, sausages, ham and bacons.

Schnapps. There’s a shop where they allow schnapps tasting for free. Our tour group swarmed the shop and I dont know if any of them buy anything from the shop. Schnapps is liquor.

Food is expensive here and the most value for money food is italian food. Pizzerias are everywhere. The spaghetti I had here was great… one of the best cabonara I’ve ever had. Italian bierra. I’m not interested in schnapps. Also the al-fresco dining is great as the weather was cool and there’s no car moving around there. Sitting there and just lepak, watching people around is surely a relaxing experience.

Free flow drinking water. They also have it in Florence, Rome and Venice.

The famous Golden Roof in Innsbruck. Whats the significance? The Golden Roof (Goldenes Dachl) is a landmark in Innsbruck, Austria built in 1500. It was decorated with 2657 fire-gilded copper tiles for Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. The reliefs on the balcony show coats of arms, symbols and other figures in his life.

The Golden Roof was built by Archduke Friedrich IV in the early 15th century as the residence of the Tirolean sovereigns. The Golden Roof actually is the three-story balcony on the central plaza at the heart of the Old Town. It was constructed for Emperor Maximilian I to serve as a royal box where he could sit in luxury and enjoy tournaments in the square below. Completed at the dawn of the 16th century, the Golden Roof was built in honor of Maximilian’s second marriage, to Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan. Not wishing to alienate the allies gained by his first marriage, to Maria of Burgundy, he had an image of himself between the two women painted on his balcony.

Ross (slapping his face) and Noemi.

I just love the mountains and the sceneries.

Sill River (Wipptal).

Taken at the bridge.

A chinese restaurant up ahead….. the residential area road is going uphill.

A nice building. Szer is entering a second hand bookshop.

I don’t know if its part of the itinerary, but the visit to Swarovski (while heading to Innsbruck, Austria) was interesting… firstly for the scenery… the Tyrol region…. the Alps, the vast green fields and country side. We all love these postcard-picture/calendar scene and this is it. I would certainly want to spend a few days at these “kampung” (village) but too bad…. I dont think I’ll have such a chance.

The headquarter of the world reknown crystal manufacturer, Swarovski.

The eyecatching fountain…… the exhibition centre inside that “giant head”.

Crystals are everywhere… “Yes to all” is filled with tons of crystals.

One of the displays in the exhibition centre. We have to pay an entrance fee.

The jewelleries they sell here are cheap as compared to elsewhere in the world.

Guten morgen ! The breakfast at the hotel was great….. the best breakfast for the entire trip… where they have free flow of real german sausages….. thick fat thin small short long…. all sizes for your liking. I whack a whole plate full of sausages.

So after that, we checked out and headed straight into the city again. Munich at night was nice…. the buildings were lit up brightly…. weather was just nice.

The bus dropped us here and from there we ventured ourselves. Here I was standing on the bicycle lane risking my life to take this picture.

Ok… now where do we go? I dont know… anywhere… we’re tourist. No we’re traveller. No we’re tourist. Ok, whatever.

Kaiser Ludwig’s statue in the background. And a Mini….. haha. Was wearing the Mannschaft tshirt.

Englischer Garten…. travel guide book said this park is more expensive than Kensington Park or Hyde Park in London.

It was cold and foggy…

Teathiner Kirche

The entrance to the aldstadt… old city…. inner Munich.

Maggi… and their showcase and retail shop.

Munchener Detektive…. private investigator service

St. Peter’s Catholic Church, the oldest church in inner Munich.

I like the idea of putting mannequin at the window

Spielzeugmuseum, (Toy Museum) at Marienplatz

Some of the toys displayed

The Glockenspiel….. everyone was waiting for it to come to life at 11.00am. Munich is world famous for this structure.

The clockwork is actually boring….

Guten tag. Alright….. here’s the long overdue post. We reached Munich in the evening after visiting Dachau. Checked into a nice brand new hotel…. Azimut.

We were supposed to stay in the hotel next to azimut but there was some last-minute glitches and contiki switched the hotel for us. Well, we were glad as the hotel is nicer, cleaner and its new. Maybe it just opened recently.

A bunch of italians occupied the hotel that nite. Bayern Munich vs Fiorentina for Champions League that night.

So, the first stop in town…. Glockenspiel. Everyone was hungry but Richie insist that we see it first. Thats the main attraction in the centre of Munich. This is the best nite shot we’ve got. After that, we headed straight to the best beer garden in the world…. Hofbrauhaus.

From left: Amanda (partially covered), myself, the senior American couple, Gary and Steven. Seen here in the picture on the next table is Niki and Shanell. I love this beer. By the way, give the jolly Steven a vote. He’s a nice guy.

The lady is Maria. Szer took the pictures.

My favourite beer. Now I prefer this to Paulaner.

Together with german sausages…. it was great dinner.

Germans take their beer very seriously. They even have their personal stein locked up at the beer hall so that they can used it when they come here for a drink. Behind these steins was a bunch of fellow tour mates with our tour manager, Richie. He was later kicked out by bouncers immediately after bringing down his underwear let alone his trousers. They were piss drunk.

After dinner, szer and I separated from the rest and we explored the city on our own.

Just some random pictures…

One thing I realised is that europeans like to put statue on the corner edge of buildings.

Passed by a pub and a bunch of local Bayern Munich fans was watching the game. Just as I stood into the crowd to check the score, Munich scored their 3rd goal against Fiorentina. Here I was celebrating with the locals with both my hands up in the air…

The taste of Paulaner there is different from the one we got here in Deutsches Haus and Bavarian Bierhaus, two of the more famous german food joint.

The dream of every football fan is to visit the home ground of their favourite team. It was so kind of Uncle Robert… a hardcore Aston Villa fan… to take us to the home of their archrival. Well, for appreciation of his effort, I’ve agreed that he take us to Villa Park in Birmingham, the home ground of the strongest team in the Midlands to catch a glimpse of their stadium. I’m not going to show the world the picture I took at Villa Park. Haha.

So… from there, we went to Manchester….the United part of it only though.

The legend.

The megastore is HUGE. Well, when you are a club as big as this, your cash cow is merchandise.

Frankly speaking, I dislike the No. 7 in the background poster. He’d better off being in Hollywood.

Fergie’s achievement in his career.

The famous Stretfod End. It was named after the nearby town, Stretfod, that the West Stand is facing.

The name that needs no introduction.

My lovely photographer and I at the south-east corner of the stadium. The pitch look very near and small as opposed to what you see in TV.

The clock is frozen in time.

South Stand is now also known as Munich Tunnel since Feb 2008… to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Munich tragedy….

The International Honours Board. What happened to Johan’s son, Jordi?

Q: Platini or Zidane?
A: Cantona !

The captains.

A friend asked me to get him a jersey exactly the same as this…. with Giggs 11 on the back minus the EPL/Champions League sleeve badge. The jersey £43, “Giggs” £7 and “11″ is also £7. Altogether £57.

Coming out from the tunnel.

I touched the grass. Luckily the tour guide did not see me sitting on the curb for this pose let alone touching the grass. I would’ve been prosecuted by the club.

The United Trinity – Best Law Charlton.

After the tour, we received a certificate. It was a memorable visit. From Manchester, we went off to Liverpool for a night after that.  Thanks to Uncle Robert to drive us all the way to Liverpool to drop us there.

The word “Dachau” would send shiver down the spine of those living during that time of the great conflict.

Being a fan of WWII history, my wish of visiting a concentration camp came true…. thanks to Richie and Antonio, the Contiki tour managers. If not for them, I would’ve had difficulties finding the way to the camp from Munich and with limited time. The study of WWII history would not be complete if you have never visit such an inhumane place. Other bigger and more established camps such as Auschwitz and Mathausen would be more educative to visit but Dachau is the prototype for other concentration camps that followed. This is where it all started.

Ok, for more info, read here.

Tablet at the main entrance dedicated to the liberators of the camp. Go and watch Band of Brothers…

The main entrance of the camp. There’s a small river in front of it.

“Arbeit Macht Frei”, the word that gave millions of people nightmares and false hope. It means work will set you free.

Near the entrance of the museum.

One of the vast exhibits in the museum.

The main courtyard.

This is where rows of prisoner barracks once stood.

The prisoner bunks.

Prisoner sinks.

Prisoner toilet.

“Never again”.