FROM FRANKFURT TO MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES.

Well tonight at around 10PM my Air Lufthansa flight LH788 will take off from Frankfurt International Airport enroute for Manila.

Well, goodbye Europe... it has been a real adventure. It has been just over three months but I have seen so much. I am sure I will be back.

PRAGUE, THE CZECH REPUBLIC.

I arrived well in Prague this morning. It is an amazing city and I cant wait to do the walking tour tommorow. Apart from my brush up (for the second time in my whole trip) with the "Passport Control" officers this morning early after leaving my hostel, everything has been good.

GO....THE MEN IN THE RED AND THE WHITE...YOU BEUTY.

GO THE SWAAAAAANIES...

FRANKFURT INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW.

My feet is killing me...that's how big this exhibition is!

I am waitng till 11PM for my night train to Prague or "Praha". I should be in the Czech Republic's capital by 8am tommorow morning.

5 more days is all I have left here in Europe, three will be spent in Prague and then I will catch a train back here in Frankfurt to catch my 9:55PM plane to Manila, The Philippines. I am not looking forward to the almost 15 hour flight!

Last night I travelled on the train from Hamburg to here in Frankfurt, I arrived here at midnight and had to find a hostel or hotel as I did not book one earlier. Luckily the first hostel I contacted had spare beds. By 1am in the morning I was comfortably in bed...it was a long day.

HAMBURG, GERMANY.

Back here in Germany. I think Germany is really the center of Europe. I arrived in the port of Rostock at 6pm last night and then caught a train to Hamburg which took around 2 and a half hours. I will be spending the day here before catching a train tonight to Frankfurt. Depending on how things go I will then be catching a night train to Dresden and then to Prague. I only have tow travel days on my ticket so I have to plan my trips well.

HANKO TO ROSTOCK; GERMANY.

After two nights and a few days here in Finland I will be making my way back to Germany. I will be catching a ferry from Hanko (an hour west of Helsinki) to Rostock, Germany. My boat leaves at 10pm tonight and will arrive in Rostcock at 6pm tommorow afternoon. From Rostock I will need to somehow make my way to Frankfurt and I think it will be via Hamburg where I might need to stay for a night. I am hoping to to go to the largest and most comprehendsive motor show in the world being the Frankfurt Motor Show.

HELSINKI, FINLAND.

At 4:45 on Saturday afternoon my Viking Line Ferry departed Stockholm enroute to Helsinki, Finland. The ferry is capable of carrying 2000 passengers and boast a restaurant, club, sauna and tax free shops. The weather has been very good in my last two days in Stockholm and I was able to enjoy the city very much. I visited Skansen, which is a park with re-enactment of Sweddish homes and farms throughout history. On my last day I was able to enjoy the old city after dropping off my backpack at the Viking Line port in the morning.

The sleeping cabin inside the ferry was a four bedder and it had a toilet and shower. I arrived this morning in Helsinki at 10am local time which is one hour forward from Sweden and which totals two hours forward from England.

The weather here is not as bad as I expected, it is overcast and a little windy but it feels good and I feel comfortable walking around. The cool weather is nice and is a big change from the the hot sunny days I experienced in Italy.

I am here at the Hortus Botanicus Universitatis Helsingiensis which is basically a botanical garden with greenhouse/ glasshouse where they keep plants from all over the world. It is quite warm and humid inside and especially in the part where they keep tropical giant pond lillies.

I am just going to take it easy here in Helsinki for the next couple of days. I am hopping to catch a ferry all the way back to Germany and into Frankfurt after Hlesinki. I am hopping to attend the Frankfurt Motor Show. I am quickly running out of time and I still want to visit Prague.

On the Viking Line Ferry to Helsinki.


Passing time in my cabin.


Admiring Helsinki´s famous church.


Trying some of Helsinki's local dish at a market by the harbour.

The giant tropical lilies in a glass house at the University of Helsinki´s horticultural garden.


Admiring the view on top of the Olympic Tower at the 1952 Helsinki Games Olympic Stadium.


One of Helsinki´s famous monument- the Sibelius Monument.


Spending the afternoon at a nearby lake.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN.

After catching a night train at 11PM last night, I arrived in Stockholm today at 7AM. Once again the weather is a little colder as I make my way up but it is nothing I have not experieced before. It is funny since in the warmer places all I wore was shorts short sleeve shirts and my open walking sandals while all my long pants and jumpers are stored away in the bottom of my backpack. Now however all my short pants are stored away.

I am staying at the City Backpackers, a hostel which is just a short walk from the station. They have free internet and they even have a sauna! I dont know if I will use the sauna but if it gets real cold maybe I will.

Anyone interested in a game of chess?


Some of the reconstructed houses in Skansen.


The rose garden in Skansen.




The street mall at dusk.


The view from my Viking Line Ferry enroute to Helsinki.

COPENHAGEN.

I arrived here in Copenhagen this morning (Sunday) at 9am. I caught another night train from Berlin. I almost missed my train because I was waiting for three hours at the wrong station! I had to catch another train to get to the right station and I just made it to my night train with just a minute to spare! The train trip again was pretty good and I had a good night sleep. The whole train actually boarded a ferry which took us across to Malmo in Sweden so we did not have to get off the train. From Malmo it was another 35 minutes on another train to Copenhagen.

The weather here is not as cold as I expected, althought it is defintiely colder than in Germany.

I am hoping to spend a few nights over here before making my decission to wether to go up to Helsinki or make my way down to Prague and possibly Poland.

The famous sculpture dedicated to Hans Christian Anderson´s "The Little Mermaid".







Kronborg castle North of Copehagen in Helsingor. A beutiful and heavily fortified renaissance castle.


Peter Jensen, a Dane I met on my way to Helsingor. He decided to come with me and he drove us there.


The harbour near Lousiana-Museum of Modern Art.


The Queen of Denmark´s Palace.


I thought travelling for a year was long enough but Pushkar Shan here from Nepal is planning to do it for 11 years. He started in 1998 and will finnish in 2009. His reason?... for world peace. Check out his website at www.pushkarshah.com.



The statue of the man himself... Hans Christian Anderson. Also note the bicycles...it is a form of transport here... us Australians can definitely learn from the Europeans!


One of the fire breathing dragons guarding the City Hall Building, also Tivoli in the background which is a famous botanic/ amusement park here in Copenhagen. After going to about 10 amusement parks in Orlando I couldn´t possibly go to another one so I dont know what it is like inside.


And this is me contemplating at sunset with the Little Mermaid- dont believe Disney, the story of the little mermaid is really sad and tragic!


H. C. Andersen´s little mermaid

Far out at sea the water´s as blue as the petals of the loveliest cornflower, and as clear as the purest glass; but it´s very deep, deeper than any anchor can reach. Many church steeples would have to be piled up one above the other to reach from the bottom of the sea to the surface. Right down there live the sea people.

This is how the Danish poet, H. C. Andersen begins the tale of the youngest daughter of the Sea King.

She fell in love with a Prince
At the age of 15, the little Mermaid for the first time swims to the surface of the sea, where she fell in love with the Prince she saved from drowning.


Read the stroy here: http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html

BERLIN.

Berlin is a very livable city. It is around 8 times the size of Paris but it is full of green parklands. The public transportation system can take you efficiently to anywhere around the city. With the majority of the city destroyed in WW2 and the fall of East Berlin in 1989, the city buzzes with construction work, new buildings are being built while old ones are covered up and being restored, new tram lines being laid here and there and I read somewhere it is only second to Beijing in terms of construction activity.

Berlin is an ever changing city which has gone is going through more changes than any other city in Europe. It is emerging as the capital of Europe. A visit to Europe would not be complete without visiting Berlin.


The Brandenburg Gate.


The German Reichtag (Parliament). This is the view from the top of the glass dome. The architectrue is brilliant... the architect wanted the people to look down on the politians and allow the politians themselves to be able to look up and see the people that they represent, to remind them that they work for the people and are below them.


Alot of clear construction glass has also been used to represent the requirement for transparency in government, to show that the government must always be liable to the people.


Two Panasonic models from the "Internationale Funkausstellung"- An international consumer electronics convention held every 2 years in Berlin.


The Sony Building at Potsdam Plaza.


The new Jewish Memorial.

The Television Tower.

OFF TO BERLIN.

It is 10:15PM and I am waiting for my 11:30 night train to Berlin. My backpack is in the Jaegers Hostel Storage room, I left it there since 10AM this morning when I checked out. The hostel is only 5 minutes walk to the station.

I have just been walking around the city and taking some night time photos. I had a slice of Pizza Hut pizza and a Pepsi for dinner.

Tommorow I should be in Berlin by 7:30AM. After checking in to my hostel I will be going to the Berlin Convention Center for an Consumer Electronics show which occurs every two years.

Munich is an amazing city. Its named after the monks that first occupied it and thus there are churches everywhere. I will post some pictures of the inside of St Peters church- it is amazing.

MUNICH.

I arrived here in Munich on Saturday morning after travelling all night on a "Night Train" which was an intresting experience. Basically the night train consist of cabins with a narrow walkway on one side of the train. Each cabin have 6 fold down beds, three on top of one another on each side. There is a door to each cabin which can be locked at night. Every one got a white disposable pillow case and a matching white disposable blanket. I slept on the top bunk. There was two British girls and an Italian mother and son pair. When I found my cabin there was an Indian family of 4 who mistakenly occupied our cabin and I thought to myself "somebody must be joking". So we were glad when they left.

Anyway I have been absorbing the German way of life here in Munich. Do you know that almost all the shops accept for the caffes and restaurants are close here in Sundays? That´s including the supermarkets as well. I dont know if that is a good thing or a bad thing but I guess its good that it forces people to have time out rather than working all the time.

Yesterday I went to the Olympic Stadium and the BMW Museum as well as enjoy the fair that they had on the streets near the University.

Tommorow I will be going to Berlin.

The famous Glockenspiel...


...and by night.



Fairytale Castle- Neuschwanstein, built by King Ludwig. This castle was Walt Disneys inspiration for his Sleeping Beuty Castle in Disney World's Magic Kindoms. Also it was the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Castle!










The 1972 Munich Games Stadium. I think it will also be used as a venue for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.



The Famous "Four Cylinders" BMW building in the background.