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.

Weekend Trip to Basel and Strasbourg

My hand carry luggage is finally packed. We will be having a weekend trip to two countries, Switzerland and France.  This is the best time of the year to visit Christmas markets in Europe.  One more sleep  and we will be visiting Basel,  Riquewihr and Strasbourg. At the same time we will also have some sightseeing in these places.

This will be my  second visit in Strasbourg, first time in Riquewihr and Basel. I have been to Switzerland  for around three times and this time I will be visiting another city, Basel. I will be going with some friends.  I know for sure, this trip will be interesting and full of fun again.

Buildings along the Ill River that flows in Strasbourg.  My first visit there was in December 2010.

The famous Christmas market  in Strasbourg  is scattered around the city. One is located around  Strasbourg Cathedral.

 Here are some information about  these places:

Strasbourg- the capital city of the Alsace region in France. It is  famous for its beautiful historical centre - the Grande Île - which was the first city centre to be classified entirely as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Riquewihr- A town in Alsace  which is popular for tourists. It is famous for its  historical architecture.

Basel- A city in Switzerland, is the third most populous city in the country. It is known for its medieval town. Basel is also rich in architecture old and new, with a Romanesque Münster (cathedral), a Renaissance Rathaus (town hall), and various examples of high quality contemporary architecture.

I will share more travel experiences when I come back from these places.

My Europe Travel in Zurich, Switzerland

I had finally visited Zurich in Switzerland! But first of all I want to thank God for bringing us safe home from our trip to Zurich and Strasbourg, France. It was another memorable and interesting trip.

To begin with some information about Switzerland;
It is not a member of the European Union but a member of Schengen Agreement.
It is located in western Europe.
Just like Belgium, it is a landlocked country where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.
Its monetary unit is Swiss franc (Sfr) which is divided in 100 rappen. The banknotes are in 10,20,50,100,200 and 1,000 francs. The coins are in 1,2 and 5 frans as well as 5,10,20 and 50 rappen.

I wish to share more about Switzerland next time.

For now, I wanted to share about Zurich.
It is the capital of the canton of Zurich and is the largest city of Switzerland. It is considered to be a leading global city and among the world's largest financial centers. It is also known to be the wealthiest city in Europe. That is probably the reason why I was amazed how expensive to go shopping in this city.

I was shopping for souvenirs during our visit and I was surprised because the prices are double and even triple compared to the other cities I had visited in Europe. The food are also double the price compared to Germany. So far, it is the most expensive city I visited in Europe.

I guess it is getting late now. I will share more about Zurich in my future post. Here are some of the images I took during our visit last December 12, 2010.

taken at the Christmas market in Zurich. It is an indoor Christmas market located in the train station hall. It is also the biggest indoor Christmas market in Europe and I believed in the whole world also.

The two towers of the Grossmünster Cathedral, the iconic landmark of Zurich.

That building right at the end of the bridge is the Fraumünster abbey of Zürich. It was founded in 853 by Louis the German for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zürich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority.

we had an overnight at the Hilton Zurich Airport. It was quite a nice accommodation.