This Cool Metal Chair in Keukenhof

I believed many of you have an idea what and where Keukenhof is located. Since gardening is one of my hobby and I love plants and flowers, it has been my dream of visiting the so-called biggest garden in the world and it is Keukenhof. It is also known as the "Garden of Europe". I and my friends had a fun trip in this paradise. We had a walk in some parts of  Keukenhof and found this cool metal chair located near a kiosk selling tulip bulbs.  You will not feel like a royal family when sitting on it and if you  would like to feel like one, you can click  here for royal teak lounge chair.  For sure, you will find one according to your  taste and budget.

We almost had a half-day of  sightseeing in Keukenhof but it is still not enough to see everything. Considering the breaks and picture taking (of course this is always including everytime a visit a place), half-day is just not enough to see and experience the whole garden.

Can you imagine a garden park with an area of 32 hectares? I would love to visit  Keukenhof again in the future. Any body wants to come with me? lolz!

The Beautiful Town of Budva, Montenegro

 It is a month now since my  trip to the Balkan Peninsula or Southeast Europe. One of the places we visited was Budva.  It is a coastal in Montenegro and considered to be its centre of tourism.  It is the central part of Montenegrin coast, called "Budvanska Rivijera". It has developed around a small peninsula, on which the old town is situated.

Budva is famous for  its for its diverse nightlife, sandy beaches,  and examples of Mediterranean architecture.

According to our tour guide, Budva is a historical city and is 3,500 years old. No wonder it is considered as  one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic sea coast. There is also a legend  that Jelena, our tour guide explained to us. Here it is;

A legend recounts that Budva was founded by Cadmus the Phoenician, a hero exiled out of Thebes, Greece, finding a shelter in this place for him and his wife, Harmonia. Two other civilizations also left innumerable traces: the Greek and the Roman (then named Butua). Upon the fall of the Roman empire and its division into east and west, the defensive barrier which separated the two powers happened to run across this area, subsequently making a lasting impact on the history and culture of this town. In the Middle Ages, Budva was reigned by a succession of Doclean kings, as well as Serbian and Zetan aristocrats. 

A statue of a lady near our 4 star hotel Avala in Budva, Montenegro. You can also see the Old City of Budva in  the background.

View of Budva as we were on top of the hill on our way  to Cetinje, another city in Montenegro. Our tour guide gave us the chance to step down the bus to have a good view of the breath-taking  scenery and take some pictures.

I believed I am very lucky to visit this town. I traveled with the group of the the most-traveled people in this planet. We stayed in a beautiful 4-star hotel in Avala, located just near the beach. I could say that trip I had in Southeast Europe last month was all worth it considering the many places and countries I experienced.

Travel and Food always Go Together

I hope most of you agree that travel and food always go together. Raise your hand if you don't! If you have to ask me, I always love to taste local delicacies or specialties of a certain place everytime I travel. I love to cook and love dining as well. This simply means that I love to taste foods of any kinds.

delicious  dishes  served  during our  recent cruise.

 There is only one problem that I am currently facing. I already gained more pounds from my travels. I thought of losing excess kilos because I always walk when doing the sightseeing of a place but I am wrong. I want to try to lose my excess pounds by doing more exercise and by not eating too much. I also would like to buy the best jade yoga mat because I want to do yoga sessions the coming days.


During my recent trip, I cannot avoid to try international dishes served at  the ship's restaurants. Scandinavian foods, Italian, Asian and other European delicacies were served  everyday during that cruise trip. I am missing the food from that trip.

Souvenir Shopping in Copenhagen

I can't believed that I was able to travel to 6 countries last month. According to my calendar, I already traveled 12 countries for the past two months. I just find it amazing and I can't imagine how did I did all of those travels. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to see many places.  I just came home from a recent cruise trip from Scandivania. One of the cities we visited during that trip is Copenhagen.

I did shopped for souvenirs in Denmark's capital city. Not that much because most of travel souvenirs I saw are quite expensive. One of the shops we went to is located near the pier where our ship docked. I just love how they display their products. It might not be the kuat racks at cracksandracks.com but I find it nice and well-arranged.

Nyhavn is a 17th century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark.

If you are planning to visit Copenhagen, be sure to find the cheapest souvenir shops in this city. I am already contented of the souvenirs I bought from postcards to fridge  magnet, shotglass  and shirts. I would love to do more shopping but the time  was just not enough during our visit.

Planning for a Trip to Poland

A friend called me last night and was asking about some trips this summer. I suggested a trip to Andorra and Lourdes, France but she needs to apply for a visa in Andorra. We did not pursue with the booking since it will take time to process a visa for her. At the moment, she is still processing the renewal of her passport in the Philippine embassy in Berlin. I suggested a trip to Poland and I also told her that the hotel we will be staying has an indoor pool. She has a kid traveling with her and I am not quite sure if the little boy needs an ada pool lift when spending time inside the pool. Places to be visited during this trip to Poland are Krakow, Annaberg (Germany), Częstochowa, Wroclaw and Opole.

We will decide with whether to book this  trip when  I come back from my trip in the Balkans. My friend also needs to wait when her new passport  arrives.

To Southeast Europe This Time

Still not done with packing. I am partially done and will have to finish it tonight. I am already charging all my gadgets including my cameras, cellphones and other stuffs I need for my travel to the Balkan part of Europe.

The trip will start tomorrow. This time I am heading to the  Balkans, or the Balkan Peninsula, also referred to as Southeast Europe. We will be visiting 4 countries including Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and  Albania. I would 5 countries because we will have a short stop over in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A map of the Balkans or Southeast Europe powered by Google maps.

We will be visiting a lot of sights in these countries including Maribor, Zagreb, Zadar, Dubrovnik, Budva, Cetinje, Njegusi, Kotor, Krka National Park, Rastoke and many more.

The one you can see in the google map here will be our route to those four countries in the Balkans.

The Balkans 

The term "The Balkans" covers not only those countries which lie within the boundaries of the Balkan Peninsula, but may also include Slovenia and Romania.  Prior to 1991 the whole of Yugoslavia was considered to be part of the Balkans. The term "The Balkans" is sometimes used to describe only the areas in the Balkan peninsula: Moesia, Macedonia, Thrace, Kosovo, Šumadija, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Thessaly, Epirus, Peloponnese and others, but more often it includes the rest of former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia) and Romania, namely the provinces of: Vojvodina, Slavonia, Banat, Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, and others. Italy as a totality, is generally accepted as part of Western Europe and the Apennines. The term "the Balkans" was coined by August Zeune in 1808. wikipedia.

Listening to the Irish Country Music Everyday

Who loves listening to the music of various kinds? I would say  the author of this blog love it. She love to sing and she loves listening to music  of different kinds. When she spent a one week holiday in Ireland, she fell in love with Irish country music. She ended up buying CDs which featured many Irish folk music. When she returned home, she keep on listening to these CDs. She wishes, she an also play music instruments like guitar, violin and piano but she just can't. She also want an alesis sample pad at guitar center if ever she can learn to play a guitar. This is quite interesting learning to play music instruments.

That's all about me and my love to music. I love to sing but I am not really a professional singer. I am only good when singing at home or during gatherings with friends.  Now, I enjoyed listening to the CDs I bought from Ireland and I am playing it everyday. Oh how I  miss Ireland and wish to visit it again in the future!

Visited Three Countries in 5 Days

Hello everyone! Too many  things  in my mind to share but sometimes my busy schedules  both online and offline are just limited! Sometimes facebooking also steals my time..haha! Anyway,  I  am always glad to get  updates from  my family, relatives  and friends worldwide thru facebook. That is fine though!

I am finally back  here! I hope everyone had a  wonderful  celebration  of Easter. I am glad to have a  nice one, spending some time with family and love ones. Even thought  I really miss  home so badly, I am hoping to have a vacation to my home country soon!

So what happened last month?  I can say the month of March was a blast for me. I visited four countries that time including Ireland, Switzerland, Italy and Liechtenstein.

Let me  give you a brief summary of my travels but only to these 3 countries  in 5 days which means I am excluding Ireland and will share a separate post for it.

March 7, 2013, Day 1-   It was a bus trip and the picked-up places was in Regensburg, Germany. From there, we drove to our first stop in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. We had a two hour sightseeing in the capital city of the principality of Liechtenstein.

The Horse Statue in front of Vaduz' City Hall.  You can also see the Castle in Vaduz on top of the hill. © http://myeurotravelandadventures.blogspot.com

March 8, 2013, Day 2-  From our hotel in Baveno, Italy, our next destinations were in Stresa and Lake Orta, visíting  Orta San Giulio. These are small towns in Italy  but  they are also worth to see,  considering its historical significance.

March 9, 2013, Day 3- For me, this is so far  the highlight of  this 5-day trip. We visited Milan, Italy and this was also the reason why I booked this trip, to see and experience  the fashion capital of Italy and maybe of the whole of Europe. That  day trip in Milan was not enough to see everything but I am happy to meet once again my schoolmate whom I did not see for over 20 years.

Piazza Grande in Locarno. It is the heart of the city center and also the major shopping area. 

March 10, 2013, Day 4-   We headed to Switzerland this day and visited Ascona and Locarno, both are located along Lake Maggiore. It is the second largest lake in Italy and largest lake of the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three great prealpine lakes of Italy, it extends for about 70 km between Locarno and Arona.

The beautiful Cathedral  of St. Gallen, Switzerland. © http://myeurotravelandadventures.blogspot.com

March 11, 2013, Day 5- The trip is almost over. On our way back home to Germany, we had a short stop-over in Sankt  Gallen or St. Gall.  It is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century.  It is a nice city  and I am glad to experience it despite the very short 2-hour visit.