A Lazy Traveler in Europe: Germany

Continuing my post about my recent travel, let me talk about the first European country i was in: Germany. It was winter when i got there but it was surprisingly, okay. Not too cold. Our plane landed at Frankfurt airport, it was also my exit airport, going back to Singapore.

a creek near the place where i stay, of course through the eyes of an Instagram filter. 

I only got to visit a few places in this country but the one that i found really enjoyable was Cologne and Munich. Too bad i didn't get a chance to visit Berlin but hopefully i'd get another chance.




Actually, me and a colleague visited Cologne and Munich on the same day. The previous one being barely two hours from Frankfurt by train, it was such a smooth travel. To save on travel fares, we took a pair German Rail Pass. It's cheaper than getting the solo rail pass, but you have to travel together as it's a single ticket. This is also the same ticket we used when we traveled to Switzerland via ICE.


As an added benefit, you don't even need to reserve train tickets, just hope in any German train, and take any unreserved seat. During our stay, there were plenty of unreserved seats available, it was no trouble at all. You can find info about the rail pass here. And yes, you can buy it even when you're already in Germany, particularly in Frankfurt main train station.

The moment we stepped out of Cologne train station, we were treated to this this plaza with a very dark colored, grayish side of the Cathedral. Walk just a few meters in front and you'll see the impressive facade and several hundreds of locals and tourists as well!

The Cathedral just really wouldn't fit in the frame of my phone's camera! haha.

From there we checked out the nearby shopping district and checked out the Christmas market. This is a sort of tradition here in Germany to have a sort of bazaar, filled with shops of Christmas decors, food and drinks on the street. The market has the Christmas theme all over it and it was fun just to squeeze yourself among the crowd.

already looks nice during the day but the market truly shines at night!

Cologne is famous for it's Cathedral and additionally, according to a few local colleagues, a chocolate factory. So, i had to try their sweets and ended up buying 3 small bags of chocolate truffles. They were so good i finished one whole bag. hahaha. The rest i shared at work.

a shop at the Christmas market sells these really cute ceramic houses (some light's up). 

After that, we're on an ICE train towards Munich!

There were so much to see in this beautiful city but we only had a few hours. So, we headed directly to Marienplatz, easily accessible via train. The place a church with a viewing tower, shops, a plaza and of course a (huge) Christmas market all within close proximity with each other.



Then we headed off to the expansive Hofgarten (Court Garden) just a few stops from Marienplatz. Before reaching it, we were treated to Odeonplatz. Feldherrnhalle (Field Marshall's hall is on this square facing a long stretch of road (where Theathine Church is located). At this time of the year they had a Christmas Tree market, with several trees lined up waiting to decorate somebody's home!

Just me fooling around.. and yes, those are real pine trees behind me! 

Just a few steps from there is the entrance to the Court Garden. The actual court was closed since it was a Sunday.





The garden was quite large and really looking beautiful on bright wintery day! Yes, it was a bit of a walk but was relaxing at the same time just taking in the quite scene and the cool breeze.




I really loved Munich even when i've only seen a small part of it but since the day was already closing, we needed to head back to Frankfurt.



Frankfurt was my entry and exit point to Europe. So after traveling to Lucerne, Cologne, Munich, Paris, Rome and Athens, i spent my last day on this side of the planet at the financial centre of Germany!



Of course, i checked out the shopping area near the main station. Although, i didn't buy anything, i did enjoy the stroll. Also, got a chance to set some quite time to pray at the nearby church, it was Sunday after all.




I then headed towards the airport which was conveniently 15 minutes away from the city via train. Just had a tad bit of a trouble since my luggage was just too tiny from all the things i got. Lufthansa only allows 1 check-in luggage. Thankfully, it just needed some nudging (and my all my weight) to tidy up.

Then it was time to fly!