Euro Autumn Trip 2015 Part 1 : RARECATION 13

Namaste. First of all, I really don't know how to start this entry because we went to a lot of places, but there was no definite destination. Entri ini akan berkisar mengenai perjalanan kami yang sejauh lebih kurang 2000km dan drama-drama yang tidak berkesudahan. And sometimes I don't even know where did we stop along the journey. So, let's see how this entry goes, and definitely there will be more pictures than story. Hehe. Anyway, apologise because I only have my camera phone and sometimes I used my sportcam, therefore the pictures are not so very the vogey the vass. Oh, and excuse my entry that's gonna mix English and Bahasa Malaysia.

Few months back, I planned to travel to Europe(Frankfurt-Munich-Prague-Budapest-Vienna-Zurich-Geneva) with Arifah. But then we got to know that there will be a trip by Saiful Nang Academy of Professional (SNAP) and we decided to join them as the route is almost the same. We paid MYR 5300 (SAR 4456) to the company. We booked flight from Lufthansa Airlines for SAR 2356/person. Both of us started the journey on the 8th October, joined the trip on the 10th October and continue our own journey again on the 20th October.

8/10/2015 

We flew from Riyadh to Frankfurt at 0230 hours (was delayed for more than 1 hour, and we missed our connecting flight to Munich) and we reached Frankfurt Airport at 0750 hours. With new connecting flight, we took off at 0930hours and we arrived in Munich, Germany at 1030 hours. We checked in to our hostel (Gspusi Bar) and the we walked to Marienplatz which is located about 15 minutes away from our hostel. I think most of Munich's attraction is located here; Neue rathaus (New Town Hall), St. Peterskirche (St Peter's church), Asamskirche and you have to walk few metres to go to the Munich Residence and Munich National Theatre.

This is Neue Rathaus (New Town Hall) which was build in 1867 and it has neo-gothic architectural style. Cantik kan?

This picture was taken from St. Peterskirche tower. We climbed 306 staircases to get to the top and to get this image. Entrance fee to the lookout tower is €2. It was so tiring but it worth every single effort :). There is Frauenkirche with 2 towers (left) and the famous Neue Rathaus in the middle.

9/10/2015 

Today we went to Dachau Concentration Camp which housed political prisoner (initially), but then it became prison for Jewish people, homosexuals, Jehovah's witnesses, German communist, gypsies and social democrats. This place is kinda gloomy and spooky, and it gave me the chills as I just read a book about concentration camp for Jewish. This place was full of brutal treatment, torture and the prisoners were treated without humanity and dignity at all. Many of them died here.

The memorial of Dachau concentration Camp

This is where the inmates sleep, too many people cramped in a small dorm

It looks like the star of David

Belanja satu. Hehe

Later in the evening, we went to the most beautiful park I've ever been to;  Englischer Garten Munchen or English Garden. Alhamdulillah, I had the opportunity to witness His creation, and during autumn. It is so breathtaking!

This is just so WOW, seriously.

This park is soooo huge!

MOTORHOME EURO TRIP

10/10/2015

Today, we went to the airport to meet with the trip members and crews for the first time. There were 18 members and 4 crews. The crews were Saiful Nang, Dinie (our motor home driver), Harun and Syibli. Each of them drove a motor home and we communicated with each other using walkie talkie and I think it is very practical using the walkie talkie if we are moving in a group with few vehicles. We straight away went for groceries shopping as we gonna cook in our motor home. That would be our bed, kitchen, room and transport for the next 10 days :). Our first camp site is at Bannwaldsee in Schwangau.

What else can you say when you wake up to this in the morning?

It was so cold at this hour

11/10/2015 

Our destination today is to Neushwanstein and Hohenschwangau castle. We hiked up the hill to take photo of the Neuschwanstein castle. Honestly, I was more amused with the nature surrounding the castle area, rather than the castle itself because this is my first time to travel during autumn.

I can't believe view like this really exist.

But when I'm in the picture, suddenly it doesn't look amazing anymore. Hewhew. Sedih betul.

Track to the Neuschwanstein castle

A random shot from my phone

Pheww.. finally.

Then we drove off to Rhein, Switzerland at 1400 hours. We stopped at the roadside as the route itself was very scenic. We reached our camp site later at night.

This is at the backyard of a house. We pulled over to take photos. The owner of the house told us that this is just like lalang behind our house and they are used to stabilise and strengthen the soil.

I feel Hindustani. Do you? hehe

12/10/2015 

We left the campsite and arrived Rheinfall at 1100hours. This was my second visit to this lovely place after 2013. The trip captain, Syibli taught me about rule of thirds (he taught us about manual setting of camera as well but I'm just too dumb about photography so, yeah haha).

I don't remember paying anything upon entrance, but this time we gotta pay €5 to get in

Subhanallah, this is sooo majestic

Then we headed to Weggis just to take photo because the camp site in Weggis is not operating until winter.

Berhenti tepi jalan je pun cantik

Kemudian kami berhenti lagi di sebuah padang rumput yang penuh dengan lalang yang lebih kurang sama ketinggian dengan saya. *Drama started* Kami bergambar hingga lewat petang, ketika matahari hampir terbenam dan kami sepatutnya bergerak ke camp site seterusnya. But then Dinie realised that our motor home key was nowhere to be found. Dangggg. Kami segera mencari kunci motor home itu dalam keadaan gelap, dengan bantuan lampu camera dan handphone masing-masing. It's impossible to find the key in such a large area like that, in the dark. Since we can't drive the motor home, we have to do wild camping there, with no power supply, no new water supply and our chemy/septic tank was already full. But miraculously, early morning next day, we managed to find the key again, in the middle of the grass field. Alhamdulillah. Kudos to the crews! Pheww.

It looks impossible to find the key here. This was during happy time, before we realised we lost the key.

When the grass is greener on the other side.

The morning right after we found the key

13/10/2015 

We quickly left the area, without shower etc to continue our journey to Italy. Another drama happened again when we stopped at the highway stopping area. Sebelum kami bergerak meninggalkan hentian, tiada siapa perasan ada ahli yang belum menaiki kenderaan. We drove off without doing head count. Selepas memandu agak jauh dan sudah beberapa kali berhenti untuk mengambil gambar di tepi jalan, tiba-tiba sebuah kereta polis mengarahkan kami berhenti dan bertanya jika kami ada tertinggal ahli kumpulan kami di hentian and the boss confidently said NO. But then only we realised that someone was missing. So we send our smaller van to picked that poor fella (Didit) before continue our journey again. That was one of the most ridiculously funny things happened during our trip.

We saw a very clear river by the roadside near a small village so we decided to stop and had our lunch there. We went down from the roadside and poofffff...

Nothing beats the beauty of God's creation. I took this photo from the bridge, non-edited and I was really amazed by this view.

Oops sorry for blocking the view hehe

Menu paling best untuk view macam ni ialah maggi kari taruk telur. fuh.

Finally we reached our campsite in Maggiano at night, unfortunately there was no water heater so we just had quick shower in our motor home. Seriously, I won't recommend this camp site to anyone.

14/10/2015

This morning we woke up and we were given options by Saiful Nang; to go to Milan or to go up the mountain as the weather looks good that day. So 1 team decided to go to Milan and the rest of us agreed to drive up the mountain. I was so excited as we can see the peak of the mountain was covered with snow. So we drove up the mountain and the route is worse than Bukit Putus route but it was all worth it because the view was so beautiful. We reached Maloja and the temperature was about 5°C.

Our morning view during breakfast, our camp site is by Lake Garda.

Business is not running during this time so basically, this small town is empty

Sorry but I love this pic. haha

With the boss, Saiful Nang

Kemudian kami meneruskan perjalanan ke St Morritz. I personally think this place has the most interesting view compared to other places in our journey because there is snow covering the whole area, but with alpine trees during autumn. Can't imagine the colours?

Snow during autumn, isn't it amazing?

Lake on my right side, snowy hill on my left.

There is a child in each and everyone of us. Embrace it!

Right before we quickly got off this place

The road not taken.

Jalan menuju ke tempat ini tersangatlah sempit, dengan gaung di sebelah kiri dan tanah, batu dan pokok-pokok di sebelah kanan kenderaan kami. Oleh kerana jalan terlalu sempit, kami dimarahi pengguna jalan tersebut yang berselisih dengan motor home kami yang sebesar gajah ini. Saiful Nang kata, alang-alang dah kena marah, kita masuk terus je tempat ini. Oh, memang seronok kalau dapat ketua kelas macam ni. Hehe. Kebetulan, salji turun semasa kami sedang main salji. Baru nak berseronok, boss menyuruh kami meninggalkan tempat ini segera. Rupa-rupanya motor home kami tidak menggunakan winter tyre dan ini akan membahayakan keselamatan kami. Danggg. We managed to drive out of the place safely, alhamdulillah, and we stop by the road side to have our lunch there. Later, we continue our journey to our next stop; campsite Amici Di Lazise

Don't afraid to be alone, it's a way to get to know yourself better.

15/10/2015 

Today, we went to town for the first time. To Verona we go! I would like to personally thank Saiful Nang for including Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's house) in our journey because I was dying to go to this place when I was in Italy in March 2015 but we had to cancel the trip to Verona. Before this trip, I emailed Saiful Nang, saying that maybe we should go to Casa di Giulietta and he agreed. So, tadaaaa...

Arch

This is Casa di Giulietta, and that's the famous Juliet's balcony. Remember that scene in Romeo and Juliet?

Inside the casa

Oh my god, I'm standing at the balcony.

Casa di Giulietta belongs to Dal Capello/ Cappelletti family in 1905. Due to the similarity of their names (Juliet Capulet) they declared the house to be the family residence of the Capuleti family. Actually, Romeo and Juliet never exist, this is a play by Shakespeare, who has never even been to Verona himself.We headed to our next camp site in Venice in the evening.

Didn't mean to be pervert, but people say touching Juliet's breast from the statue is for a good charm. That Saiful Nang (behind), Tasha, and me. Front: Emir, Syibli and abang Radzi

16/10/2105 

Today, we were going to Venice. We parked our motor homes in Abano station and we took a train ride to Venezia St Lucia (€4.75 for 1 way).Once we reached Venice, we took a water taxi ride to Piazza St Marco. This was my second visit here, and this time I experienced acqua alta where there was slightly flooding in Venice. It is common to have flood in Venice at this time of the year, so I suggest people to avoid Venice during this time. Nevertheless, it is always fun to be in Venice, and to get lost in it :)

One of the canal in Venice

Random shot from the gondola

Getting lost in Venice

Gondola ride. It's €80 per gondola and maximum 8 people. We kawtim with that Chinese couple from Malaysia (I thought they are Korean or from China, and they are so friendly). That's Mun, Pah, Sab, me and the couple.

I wish I have the talent to draw/sketch, so that I can sketch while having coffee and looks cool doing that. haha

17/10/2015

We left our campsite at 1200 hours, heading to Slovenia. To be honest, Slovenia has never been in my bucket list but I was about to see, what can this place offer me. We are going to Bovec, about 130km away from the capital, Ljubljana. Sepanjang perjalanan ke Bovec, kami menikmati pemandangan semula jadi yang rasanya tidak akan dapat di mana-mana. Okay tipu, ada beberapa tempat lain kat Europe yang cantiknya seperti di sini.

Euphoric

The clear blue water leaves me speechless

I don't see human here, I only saw sheeps, goats, cows, horses and dogs.

Our so called campsite, but actually we did wild camping here. This place is beautiful!

Sunrise, next morning.

18/10/2105

This was our second day without shower and I didn't even bother to brush my teeth. Jimat air katakan. Today we went to Slap (waterfall) Virje. I wish I could take my shower there but the water was so chill. Huhu. This place is so astonishing.

Slap Virje

On our way down to the waterfall

An old building by a roadside where we had to empty our grey water here. Hukhuk

And now, we were gonna start our journey to Austria (via Italy route). We stopped at Obertauern, a tourist destination during winter. Since it is not winter yet, everything; hotels, shops, restaurants were still closed during this time. So basically, the whole place was ours. Haha.

Tshirt, jeans and slippers, and I'm okay. Haha

It's so empty that you can duduk bersila and have coffee here.

Pianist by profession, traveller by choice

Kami begitu gembira baring-baring atas salji. Lepas bangun baru perasan banyak tahi lembu di sini.

Ketika mahu meninggalkan tempat ini, sekali lagi berlaku drama apabila van yang dinaiki Mun, Hafiz dan Sab terkunci dari dalam. Bermacam-macam cara mereka lakukan, termasuk menggunakan dawai penyangkut baju dan akhirnya kami berjaya menyelesaikan drama yang entah ke berapa dalam trip ini. Kami menuju ke destinasi seterusnya, Hallstat tetapi agak malang kerana campsite di sini juga tutup.  Sekali lagi, hari kami diakhiri dengan tidak mandi. Kami wild camping lagi di tepi jalan raya tanpa bekalan air baru, power supply dan chemy tank yang penuh. Haha. Kau ingat semuanya indah-indah belaka ye?

19/10/2015

This morning after we woke up, a guy (Thai living in Frankfurt) told us to leave the site immediately because the place is not a camp site and we have to leave before the police comes, or else, we will be fined €1000. We quickly set up our motor home and left the area as soon as possible. We headed to my dream place, Hallstat. It was raining, but we continue taking pictures because the place was so scenery. 

Looks like a calender photo

Alhamdulillah, managed to be here.

We then drove to our next campsite which is located next to Attersee Lake, the largest lake in Austria. This time we were all so excited macam tertelan ecstacy when we saw this place. The place was so freaking, unbelievably beautiful. Sabar jap nak upload gambar.

I was so excited that I quickly took off my shoes and socks and went inside the water. It was fine initially, but slowly I felt numbness and prickly pain on my legs. So, do not do this.

Sitting here, singing 90's malay song.

Reflection. On our way to the campsite

Behind: Abg Radzi. Left:Arifah, Kak Ros, Hafiz, me, Januar, Anz, Syibli, Emir, Saiful Nang, Abg Zul and Sab

In the evening, we left our campsite to visit Salzburg which is 1 hour away drive from the campsite. It's a very peaceful and quiet town, and I can say that this place is quite muslim-friendly. Kami makan di Sabah's kebap sebelum saya, Pah, Mun, Emir, Sab dan Syibli ke station Salzburg Hbf untuk membeli tiket keretapi saya dan Pah ke Budapest. Tiket berharga €88/person. Malam itu kami makan malam bersama di restoran Indian Palace untuk farewell kerana akan mengakhiri trip Rarecation kami keesokan harinya.

Sabah's kebab

Farewell dinner, Indian Palace.

After dinner, we went back to our campsite, all drained out and sleepy. And as usual we had dramas but we couldn't care less. We let the pros settled the problem. And that night, we slept in cold and we were shivering all night because our motor home heater was not functioning. Danggg.

20/10/2015

Today is the day for Arifah and I to bid farewell to the rest of the group because we were gonna continue our journey to Budapest. We didn't say proper goodbye because we had to leave the place early as journey to the station took 1 hour. Hari ini baru hati rasa sedih, sebab dah duduk dan bersama-sama kawan-kawan yang dikenali sejak 10 hari sebelum ni, apa lagi nak meninggalkan kawan-kawan yang share motor home dengan kami; Sab, Mun dan kak Zac.

Selfie with the boss. Belakang: abg Radzi.

Sedih pula masa ni mereka babai2 kami dalam van. SN, Mun and Dinie.

We departed to Budapest Keleti from Salzburg Hbf by OBB Railjet at 0908hours and the journey took about 6 hours. We arrived at 1450 hours.

The train is so spacious and there were not so many passengers. The cabin crew came every station to offer food and drinks. Hebatkan?

I will continue writing about my journey to Budapest, Hungary and Czech Republic in my next entry. I hope this entry will encourage more people to travel and to appreciate God's creation. The nature is so beautiful, go out and see the world. Touch the grass, inhale the fresh, clean air, taste the water and the snow, look at the sky. Do it, do it all!

Dan akhir sekali, saya ingin mengucapkan jutaan terima kasih dan salam ukhwah, terutama sekali untuk rakan-rakan yang baru saya kenali dalam trip ini, Pah (ni bukan rakan baru), Munirah, Sabariah, Kak Zac, Abang Rashid dan Kak Mona, Abang Radzi, Abang Zul, Emir, Apiz, Kak Sya, Tasha, Kak Kay, Anz, Kak Ros, Januar, Didit dan crew yang tersangat bertanggungjawab dan berkaliber, Syibli (terima kasih banyak-banyak), Saiful Nang, Dinie (tahniah atas kelahiran anak perempuan sulung) dan Harun. Allah sahaja yang dapat membalas jasa kalian sebab dapat bawa kami melihat alam ciptaanNya. So, till then. Ciao!