Euro Trip

June 2016
A 9-day adventure by Euro Trip 2016 Read more
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  • Day 1

    ... in Berlin

    June 5, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Arrived at the airport at around quarter to 8 in the evening, local time. It took a while to claim our baggage, but once we did we took a taxi straight to the hotel. Richard had been waiting for us for a couple of hours, having travelled all day from Slovakia.

    We checked into the hotel, settled down, unpacked and went out to eat at an Italian restaurant. We had some pizza, Richard and Ilhan had some beer, and now we're just going to watch a movie and go to sleep. It's been a long day of travelling, and tomorrow is going to be busy too!
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  • Day 2

    Potsdamer Platz in Berlin

    June 6, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Omar and I woke up at around 7:30 with a good 6 hours of sleep, then promptly went up to Richard and Babur to interrupt their period of hibernation. As the day drew closer to our lunch reservation at the Reichstag we left our rooms at around 10 to get a local sim at a nearby mall and to shop for souvenirs. We explored the city nearby, followed through and past iconic landmarks such as the Holocaust Memorial and the Brandenburg Gate. At 12 we went to the Reichstag for asparagus with a side of asparagus.

    After lunch we did walked around and did some sightseeing until it was time to met Dr Valk. Richard and I ate some currywurst from the streets and Babur maintained his state of consciousness with RedBull. At 4:05 we met Dr Valk and spent most of the day learning about the history behind the Berlin architecture. In the evening we did some grocery shopping and ate some authentic German KFC and Kebab. We spent the night watching a movie and planning out our next day. We survived another day.

    --Ilhan ;)
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  • Day 3

    Potsdam

    June 7, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Guten Tag! We woke up later than expected today - but worry not, for we have managed to see all that we wished to see. First we ventured into the Berlin dome, a huge and beautiful church. We marveled at the altar and the organ inside and hiked up the dome to view the city from above and take some sick panoramas. Afterwards, I (Richard) took us to the DDR (East Germany) Museum. The interactive museum was very interesting and gave us an insight into the lives of the people in the communist part of Germany.

    After eating lunch we took the city train to Potsdam. The journey was more complicated than we thought since a part of the train tracks was under construction but we made it to Potsdam with about 1 hour and 30 mins of travel time. We spent the rest of the day in Potsdam, where we visited the twin palaces, another palace, and the Chinese tower. Then we walked to yet another palace, where the Potsdam conference was held which ended the Second World War. After resting in the gardens of the palace, we had excellent burgers for dinner in Potsdam and then headed back to Berlin where we were reminded that asparagus is on sale.

    We arrived at the hotel at around 10pm and are now going to finish watching a movie and pack our bags for the journey to Leipzig tomorrow.

    --Richard :P
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  • Day 4

    Leipzig

    June 8, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    So (yesterday) we woke up on time, at around 8AM. We rummaged around the hotel rooms, sorted out some last-minute packing and left our bags in the lobby so we could set out to buy some souvenirs and took a picture at Checkpoint Charlie with the guards.

    We got a little confused on the way to Berlin’s main station, and almost missed our train to Leipzig - thankfully we made it with 2 minutes to spare, passing multiple asparagus salesmen as we heaved our luggage across Berlin. We arrived in the wrong cabin, so we trundled through cabins with our large suitcases to find the pre-allocated seats, sitting in them for just over an hour before exiting the train and battering everyone in our path towards the exit.

    At Leipzig’s station, we met Frank, who took us to his house so we could drop off our baggage. Once we had taken in the house in all it’s glory, he took us to the city centre and proceeded to show us around. We went to the coffee museum and walked around as he explained the history behind some of the beautiful Churches and buildings we passed. After lunch at Vapiano, we travelled to a cabin that rented rowboats, two of which we rented for a little over an hour, rowing up and down the main river in Leipzig. Frank and I were in one boat and the guys were in another - it was easy to see who was better at rowing (local advantage). Midway, we decided to use the paddles to spray each other continuously in what was an epic war on water. Omar was caught in the crossfire, getting the most drenched despite his best efforts to remain dry. In a soggy, wet mess we all packed back into Frank’s car and went “home”. Frank had bought a whole bunch of chicken, fish, lamb and even some bratwurst (woohoo Richard) to Barbecue that evening, and so we began preparing the vegetables - zucchinis and eggplants - for the evening. Everything went smoothly, with the plates laid, meat barbecued and - of course - great company. Frank was a great host, putting up with all of four us in his house. The night went well, and we slept at around midnight in preparation for a long day’s travel on the 9th. His garden, as usual, was outstanding.

    —Babur :o
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  • Day 5

    Amsterdam

    June 9, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We ate breakfast in Leipzig. We took a train to Berlin, had lunch in Berlin, and then we took a train ride - that lasted too long in my opinion - but at least it was filled with beautiful scenery, such as farmlands, wind turbines and a variety of animals like cows, sheep, horses and dutch people.
    At last we ended up in Amsterdam, checked into the hotel and met a friendly receptionist. We got into our large, beautiful rooms. We then 'hit the streets' and ended up in the Food Halle, which was filled with a variety of international cuisines in little stalls. We then decided to walk along the street, took a nice stroll through the park next to the hotel. We sat down on the bench and admired the view and weather, eager to find out what the city has in store for us as we headed back to our room for a well deserved good nights' rest.

    --Omar :D

    PS: We don't have an asparagus story to tell you unfortunately.
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  • Day 6

    Amsterdam

    June 10, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We spend our first day in Amsterdam exploring the city. We began at the Rijksmuseum where we learnt about Dutch history and art. Babur and I spent a good deal reading through the exhibits but Omar and Richard seemed a little bit more interested at the weapons on display. We got some asparagus-deficient lunch nearby and did a bit of souvenir shopping. Then we visited the Van Gogh museum, learnt about his life and shopped in the gift store. Omar was feeling a little ill (caught the flu) so we dropped him at the hotel to rest while Babur, Richard and I went to the centre of the city to grab some pizza for dinner. Overall a great day in the city.

    --Ilhan ;)
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  • Day 7

    Amsterdam

    June 11, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Hello! Yesterday was an eventful day. We woke up early to rent bikes from the hotel. Renting bikes was an excellent idea, since you get a much better feel of the city if you ride through it on a bike rather than taking the tram. We rode to the Portuguese synagogue which was unfortunately closed so we only took pictures of the outside. Then we walked to a nearby market where we spent a long time shopping for souvenirs. After eating lunch we walked back through the streets in search of more souvenirs. The streets are vibrant, with small blocks of apartments and stored made of red bricks lining the streets. We cycled back to the hotel to drop of all the clothing and other souvenirs that we bought. We decided to spend the last few hours at the hotel, where we ate dinner and began with packing our bags for a train ride that did not take place.

    --Richard :P
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  • Day 8

    Amsterdam

    June 12, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Today was the day we had no plan for. We were supposed to leave for the train station, to catch a train to Brussels to London. Yet we were in Amsterdam for another day. So, instead we desperately booked alternative arrangements to get to London the next day.

    So we woke up calmly, then phased into a farce, and lazed around until 2pm in the room once we figured out those alternative arrangements. So on to another problem; we needed foreign monies. Off to Amsterdam 'Dam' - the central square - to change some of our euros into pounds. We were running out of things we wanted to do, so I suggested the Bloemenmarkt - where they sell Amsterdam's famous tulips. Alas, the shops were closing as we arrived, and it was a bit of a disappointment. After this, we decided to head to 'Vondelpark' - Amsterdam's equivalent of Hyde Park or Central Park. It was quite tranquil, we picked a spot in the grass amongst other sparse groups of youths, and lay down under the clouds.

    After chilling in the park, we trudged a whole 200 metres to Hard Rock Café, where we had dinner. Ilhan bought a souvenir shirt, to add to his collection of 2, and then we tried to figure out a way to the Red Light District. The first time around, following my directions, we went to the wrong place, and were a little confused because nothing was happening anywhere. Second time around, we got to the District, and walked around for half an hour. I'll leave it to everyone to give their own unique descriptions of the District. We struggled to get back home because I ran out of mobile internet, and battery, so had to rely on the kindness of a man at the tram station to guide us back home. Fun stuff ;)

    --Babur :o
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  • Day 9

    West Drayton

    June 13, 2016 in England ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Today was a series of unfortunate events as we had a taste of when things don't go our way, a bitter taste. We spent half the morning deciding what we shall do on our final day in Amsterdam, since we already finished our checklist. We had decided to go for a canal tour since thats what most tourists do. Once we reached our destination we couldn't find any canal tours, we also realised that none of us wanted to do the tour. We then decided to go for a second chance to see the Portuguese synagogue. We walked past Anne Franks house on the way, but we turned it down to go see the synagogue. By the way, it was closed. We didn't know this until we got there.

    However we didn't give up. We wanted to have a great send off in Amsterdam so we optimistically boarded the tram to hit the city centre. To our luck the tram lost power and we had to get off at a random station. That is when we gave up and just returned to the hotel and lazed around the hotel until it was time to the head to the airport.

    We have also been delayed by 40 mins in the aeroplane.

    We arrived at the beautiful apartment in London and eagerly waited a well deserved pizza.

    Happy Birthday Richard

    --Omar :D
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