Frankfurt, Mainz and the Rhine valley

We have spent the last weekend in Germany, visiting our friends in Mainz...
As I had a business trip to Frankfurt last week, Zoli decided to pick me up on Friday from Frankfurt:

From EUROPE - GERMANY - Frankfurt, Mainz & the Rhine Valley

After a short stroll in Frankfurt city, along the banks of the Main,

From EUROPE - GERMANY - Frankfurt, Mainz & the Rhine Valley

we visited our friends in Mainz and spent together the weekend by walking around in the city,

From EUROPE - GERMANY - Frankfurt, Mainz & the Rhine Valley

visiting the Gutenberg Museum and taking a boat trip along the Rhine valley (despite of the cool, rainy weather, we still enjoyed it):

From EUROPE - GERMANY - Frankfurt, Mainz & the Rhine Valley

You can see some more photos of Frankfurt, Mainz and the Rhine valley here .

A smooth ride through Berlin

After relaxing at the tropical islands we took a day to ride through Berlin.

We had a great day riding our bikes:

• UNDER the Brandenburg gate

• BY the Reichstag

• THROUGH the new administrative neighborhood

• ALONG the Unter der Linden avenue

• AROUND the Siegesaule

• BELOW the Crown of the Sony Center on Potsdamer platz

• STOPPING for a silent moment at the Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

• ACROSS the old East-West border (a.k.a Checkpoint Charlie)

• and PARKING THEM to visit the Sandsation sand castle championship

All pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/EUROPEGERMANYBerlin

Tropical Islands

This year's birthday present for Emese has been a trip to Tropical Islands.

What she did not know until we arrived there is that Tropical Islands is an indoor resort 60 Km south of Berlin, built in giant (108m high, could fit the Statue of Liberty STANDING) hangar.
From a distance she remarked "it's not even that big". Funny!
Well yes, if you call a building housing:
- a Bali lagoon with waterfalls

- a 350m beach

with Maldives style pontoon houses

- two campgrounds (where we also spent the night)

- a tropical rain forest with a more than a km long trail

- a hot air balloon (which we rode of course)

-an Angkor ruin city style spa

-an indoor aqua park

- and numerous thai-house restaurants and bars

"not that big" than I agree that it is indeed "not THAT big".
OK, I'll keep looking for a building to impress her. Even though I will have a difficult task, since (according to Wikipedia) this is the largest building by volume (without supporting columns) in the world (well illustrated by the size of the people on this picture)

All-in-all we have spent two wonderful days there, attending an evening show as well. In the meantime we enjoyed the pleasant constant 100% guaranteed warm weather and the beaches, pool, spas and numerous bars.
All pics:http://picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/EUROPEGERMANYTropicalIslands

Stuttgart and the Mercedes Museum

On our way back from Flocke, we made a stop in Stuttgart, where we took a pleasant walk in the city center.



Then we visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum, which was almost like a voyage of discovery through the automotive history, from the invention of automobile to the latest visions for the future (see entire Album here).

Oktoberfest

During a business trip to Munchen, I had a chance to have a quick glance to what the famous Oktoberfest is all about: a lot of beer, food, baierish people traditionally dressed eating and drinking in huge tents each the size of a medium sized sportlshall.

2007 - Oktoberfest - Munchen, Germany

Mainau, die Blumeninsel

Mainau, an island we haven't even heard about a little time ago provided us with a great surprise. We can honestly say it is the most beautiful botanical (and not just) garden we've ever seen. As the name suggests, it is full of flowers. And when I say full, I means thousands of types of roses and giant dwarfs made of flowers. Along these one can see great water cascades and fountains, a palm house and last but not least a Butterfly house, something we haven't seen before and really impressed us.

OK, I guess this is already too much text about Mainau, better take a look at our pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/gulliver.gyenge/Mainau_Blumeninsel

Neuschwanstein Castle

So Easter is here and we head back home to spend some quality time with our family and friends, but not without making a small detour to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany. I have to admit: the postcards and photos on the web didn't lie, it is really place like no other. The castle of Neuschwanstein is situated in the perfect surroundings: on one side you have the high mountain peaks covered by snow on the other side the Bavarian plateau braking spring and in between a few waterfalls and a lake nearby.

















During the day we had a great time we visited both castles (the less famous but also quite nice Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein) and took a horse-driven carriage ride too, down from the castle to Alf, our car whom we had to say goodbye since this was our last trip with him (see last pictures).

The rest of the trip home was filled by traffic jams, accidents (not ours thanks G) and long long drives.

More pics : //picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/EUROPEGERMANYNeuschwanstein

Rheinfall-Schaffhausen-Konstanz

After two weekends spent by skiing at Flumserberg (the ski resort with the nicest view we have ever seen), on Saturday we took a trip – together with our friends from Prague - to the Waterfalls on the river Rhein, Schaffhausen and Konstanz ... it’s been really nice enjoying the view and the sunny weather together and ending the day with a typical Swiss fondue.

Some more pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/gulliver.gyenge/RheinfallSchaffhausen