Interested in affordable trips to Germany? Check out some of these travel tips/packages!

Königssee Full-Day Tour from Munich

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Hallo from Germany! The distance from Germany to Singapore is painful — 6.354 miles; far is almost an understatement. Flying there was helluva tiring. Long flights (14 hours + 2 hour transit) are not my thing. I was so fidgety during the flight and time seemed to pass so slowly on air. During the first flight, I spent the night watching movies and only taking a 3-hour nap throughout the entire flight duration. The night lasted almost forever, it was the longest night due to the time differences. As I flew further away from Singapore, the time got earlier. So as I landed in Doha for the transfer flight, it was 5 hours earlier and as I got closer to Frankfurt (Germany), it was 1 hour earlier than Doha (6 hours before Singapore altogether). Boy oh boy.

1 September 2014 - Flying off

Chicken and potatoes with pasta salad for supper, on my first flight.

Omelette and sausages for breakfast, on my next flight.

The longer I stayed on the plane, the more grumpy I was because I kept thinking to myself, "when will I finally land in Frankfurt? How long more before I can get off the plane?"

2 September 2014 (Day 1) - Getting to Heidelberg & the student apartment

Oh how grateful I was when I touched down in Frankfurt. Through all the frustration, there was no such thing as 'jetlag' for me. Yayers.

Had to get a trolley to handle all my baggages but was having difficulty pulling a trolley out. Thankfully, a friendly and helpful German guy assisted us by informing us that we had to insert coins to 'rent' the trolley. We were too busy with all the luggages to notice the machine for rental and was making quite a scene tugging on the trolleys HAHA oh gosh.

I had to take the ICE train to Manheim then transfer to Heidelberg. It was a 50 minutes train ride but a smooth, fast and relaxing ride. However the most difficult experience was having to carry and manoeuvre my 2 luggages around, especially carrying the huge 27kg+ luggage on board and out the train. I had to do that 4 times and my arms were sore and aching.

Taking the next train at Manheim station.

That's not the end of my travelling. I had to take another mode of transportation, the bus RNV, around 10 minutes to reach Universitätsplatz.

Finally we're here, after travelling for almost 17-18 hours!

Off to the Student Info Center to collect our keys.

Tried the sparkling water in Germany and wow it was unique but not to my liking...

We had a lot of trouble trying to search for our apartment because we haven't familiarised ourselves with the town yet. After spending almost 3 hours pulling our luggages around (including up and down a flight of stairs THRICE), asking for directions, going back and forth the info center, we found our dormitory. Goodness gracious.

But I must say, all the effort taken to find the hostel was worth it (100%) because the room is amazing. It's huge and cozy, plus I have my own room and I do NOT have to share a toilet/bathroom. So so happy. I felt even more grateful and lucky when I found out that Europahaus I and Europahaus III were much smaller and not as cozy as mine (Europahaus II rocks). Also, the distance from the center of the town to my apartment was reasonable, considering the wonderful condition of my single room. YAYERS, I love it here!

Off to explore the town!

Church of the Holy Spirit.

Old Town Square.

Candid shot of me peeping into the Froyo store HAHA.

Look who got gelato on her first day in a foreign land? ME.

Tried the banana and chocolate flavour and it was HeAvEnLy. So milky and thick, tasted really authentic too!!

Alcohol there is really really cheap, no kidz.

Went grocery shopping!

Check out my cute toilet paper.

3 September 2014 (Day 2) - Visit to the Heidelberg Castle

Cinnamon cereals for breakfast!!!

Flowers are cheap here in Europe!

Lunch!

Lots of puppies in Heidelberg! So cute!

Walked along the River Neckar. The view is magnificent.

Reached the Heidelberg Castle and wow I was blown away by the view!

Got caught in the action for taking pictures of ducks. OOPS.

Oh and after much research (searching around, high and low), I got my prepaid card!

4 September 2014 (Day 3) - Visit to the Kurpfälzisches Museum  and the Old Bridge

Super yums.

Brunch for the day!

Not a surprise but I got ice cream again, choco chip flavour this time!

To my first museum in Europe! It was such a different experience, really worth my €1.80!

Coffee with lotsa milk, self-service (coffee machine was cool heh).

The New Bridge.

After the museum, we walked across the River Neckar once more! But this time around the river, crossing the New Bridge and then the Old Bridge. I love the scenic view!

Cheesy poem right there.

The Old Bridge.

Pepper Pots on the Old Bridge!

Whipped up my own dinner! I only cooked twice in Singapore, or merely helping out my mom in the ktichen. So I was really proud of myself for cooking my meal, even cooked 2 dishes simultaneously (if y'know what I mean or you can see what I meant from the pictures).

And I stocked up my refrigerator pretty well hehehe.

  5 September 2014 (Day 4) - Lazy Friday

Explored and walked the town some more and look what I found yesterday! Cheap thrills from European supermarkets - the trendy-famous Oreo ice cream sandwich!

Filled with Oreo goodness.

Oreo milky ice cream sandwiched between soft and chewy Oreo cookies.

6 September 2014 (Day 5) - Second Trip to the Castle

Got my fav berries from the stand-alone stores!

Found a dandelion while on my way up to the Castle! Was so lucky to find a dandelion (huge ones like those in Tumblr; 5 times bigger than SG's dandelions). Was intrigued by its beauty while I blew the dandelion to make a wish. It's definitely one of my fav flowers!

The amazing view was so good, it was worth climbing up the hill another time just to see it!

Lunch @ Sahara Restaurant!

I had kebabs, lamb skewers. Really good! The meat didn't have this lamb smell and it was really soft and juicy.

And so I tried wrapping my kebab. Not bad hahahah.

A bee decided to go for a swim in my drink (Spize - mix of Coke and Fanta) halfway through my meal. It was really persistent no matter how much I waved my arms to get rid of the bee.......

Did more grocery shopping for lunch the next day because shops over here are closed on Sundays! Housewife material maybe?

Had a chat with our friend from the UK over a drink before heading over to the Neckar to watch the fireworks! It was my first night out on my first weekend here in Europe. :-)

I loved how everyone was relaxing on the grass, having a picnic and all.

Was fuhreezing while waiting in the cold for almost 3 hours in just tee and shorts... But the wait was worth it. The 10-minute long fireworks was brilliant. And I came to know that it was actually an event called the Heidelberg Castle Illuminations. It is to recall the destruction of the castle (which is lit up in red with fireworks shooting up from the castle as seen below).

It is then accompanied by more fireworks which are historical fireworks for the wedding festivities. I must say I felt really lucky to be able to catch this spectacular event, especially when it happens only 3 times a year, and that day being the last day of the illumination for 2014. My first weekend in Europe was greeted with fireworks, can it get any better?!

7 September 2014 (Day 6) - Welcome Drink