A day in Frankfurt!

I recently visited Frankfurt with my family and some friends, and as always I was mesmerized by its charming contrast and diversity. Frankfurt is the financial hub of Germany and the only city here where the mighty skyscrapers coexist with the old heritage buildings. This was my third visit to the city and I love going there to  spend time on the bank of Main river and admire the beautiful skyline. It looks perfect during the summers with the sun and the colorful flowers, however this time even though it was April, the air was cool and the trees lacked the lushness.
It took us 2.5 hours to reach Frankfurt Main Station from Kaiserslautern and we took the exit towards Kaiserstraße. It is a very popular street and has lot of shops and cafes, making it perfect to spend few hours on a sunny day.

Kaiserstrasse

One particular place here where I love to eat is Urban Kitchen (Kaiserstrasse 53). It has lot of options for vegetarians. They serve really sumptuous Pastas, Gnocchi and Pizza Brot (bread).

At Urban Kitchen

The Euro Sign and the hexagon building behind it is the European Central Bank

Walking straight ahead on the Kaiserstrasse, we soon reached the famous euro sign statue. This big blue euro sign stands in front of the European Central Bank, and is not easy to miss (especially if you are interested in Finance and Politics, and have seen this on BBC News).

The Main Tower (in blue)

After some clicks there, we walked ahead to our next destination and my favourite-The Main Tower. The Main Tower is 500 storey, 200m high skyscraper , and the only one in Frankfurt which is open to public. It has been named after the river Main that flows through the region. Just as we enter the building, there is a high-tech security check that each visitor has to clear (similar to the ones at the airports). After the security check, we head to the elevators that take us to the 54th floor in barely 45 seconds.

Security Check at the entrance of Main Tower

From there there are two public viewing platforms (55th and 56th floor respectively)..And what we saw from the top was simply breathtaking..and for merely 5 euros that we paid for each person..On one side was the Hauptbahnhof, where the trains looked like toy trains..on the other was the serene Main river, making everything look so calm..The height of the tower makes all other skyscrapers look like dwarfs, filling me with awe. It is totally worth going up the tower and if luck prevails and sun shines, then one can get some of the most beautiful shots of the city from the top.

At the Main Tower

Main Tower 

View of Hauptbahnhof from the top

View from the top of Main Tower

We stand taller than these skyscrapers

After spending some time at the Main Tower, we decided to take a leisurely walk along the river side..And it was indeed a refreshing break..Since it was not sunny, there were not too many people around..but on a sunny day it is extremely crowded..I love to see people doing all sorts of random activities there- jogging, cycling, boating, sun bathing, having a chilled beer or ice cream, reading a book and simply having fun. Frankfurt am Main is also referred to as ''Mainhattan'' by Germans because of its skyline.

''Mainhattan''

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Walking along the river side, we soon reached the Iron Bridge, which gave a great view of the river and the skyline. There were hundreds of love padlocks tied on the bridge. Since I had already seen these padlocks in Austria, I was well aware of this custom; however, my parents were extremely amused to see these colorful locks in abundance:)

Love Padlocks

To the north of the bridge is the old city, known as Römerberg..It is a quaint city centre with lot of historical buildings. 
There are lot of museums in Frankfurt, but I have not been able to explore that side of the city yet.
I usually go there for few hours to enjoy the sun, river and buy Indian grocery (I shop from Punjabi Shop located on the Weserstrasse).

Römerberg

Day trip to Salzburg, Austria..

As I started writing this, i just realized how long it has been since I updated this..guess I need to travel more frequently:)

I am Munich for almost a week now, accompanying my husband on his work travel. So, last weekend we just decided to travel to Salzburg (just 2 hours on the local train at a reasonable cost of $26, using the Bayern Ticket). It was a beautiful Saturday morning and we boarded the train at 10:48 am from the Munich Main Station. My husband had already been to this beautiful Austrian city and always wanted to go there with me:) The entire stretch from Munich to Salzburg is extremely serene and the views are breathtaking..The small farms, and villages with the typical European houses, and the mighty snow peaked Alps in the background...indeed a treat to senses! It had snowed in Munich few days before, and the snow had not completed melted, adding to the beauty. We also saw Chiemsee on the way, and oh my!my!, what a beautiful place it looked...(I would love to visit it sometime in the summers). I just didn't realise how the two hour journey flew and we reached Salzburg at 12.48 pm. We made a quick inquiry at the info point about the travel card and whether our bayern ticket was valid in the city..the answer was a No and the lady at the counter was pretty cold..huh..so we just decided to walk around and explore the city using our offline map ( I use the Triposo guide on my iphone, and it is just so fabulous..tells us what to see, where to eat and shop et al.)

Mirabell Castle and Gardens

We took a left from the main station and move towards the main city. Our first destination was the Mirabell Gardens. It took us roughly 15 mins to reach the pretty gardens of Mirabell Castle. It is a beautiful place to visit and spend some quiet time..fountains, Pegasus Statue lot of beautiful sculptures and well manicured gardens:) Moraztuem University of Music and Arts is also around the castle.

Pigasus Statue in the Mirabell Gardens

Mozart Wohnhaus

Love Padlocks on the bridge

Mozart Birth House

From there, we walked further in the direction of the city centre and reached the Mozart Wohnhaus, house where Mozart had lived, on Makartplatz. We did not have the time to visit the museum inside, so just clicked some pics and moved ahead:).. From there we reached the Makartsteg Bridge, built over the Salzach river, that gives a breathtaking view of the city. What struck me instantly about this pedestrian bridge was the hundreds of love padlocks with names of it, symbolizing the eternal love.

Lasagne verdura and Pizza Margherita

Walking down the bridge we reached the old town, which gives you a feel of small quaint pebbled town..We first saw the Mozart's birth place there, the building where he was born and which was converted into a museum in 1800s. The area surrounding the building was buzzing with energy..lot of tourists eating and shopping. We located a nice italian restaurant near it, Spagetti & Co and had a sumptuous vegetarian meal..I can surely recommend this place to lasagna lovers:)..
There are beautiful sovuenier shops, chocolate shops, where one can buy the special Mozartkugel (chocolate balls, made of hazelnuts and pistachio)..these are extremely popular in the city.

Pferdeschwemme

Around the town we saw many historical buildings, toy museum, horse pond (Pferdeschwemme). We also saw another horse pond near the salzburg cathedral. These horse ponds were created at the time of Prince Arcbishops. The ponds were dry but looked beautiful nonetheless.

Kapitelschwemme

From there we walked down to the Residenzplatz, square in the old town that has the main cathedral (Dom) on one side and Residenz (Bishop′s Palace) and the Neue Residenz (New Bishop′s Palace) and a row of Medieval burgher houses on the others. Next to the Dom is Kapitelplatz, where we saw another beautiful horse pond, Kapitelschwemme,
that dates back to 1732. It was also the home to Pegasus statue which is now in the Mirabell Gardens. A huge golden ball with a human figure on the top also catches the fancy of tourists on Kapitelplatz. 

Kapitel Platz, Hohensalzburg castle (in the background)

Overlooking this square is a mighty castle, Festung Hohensalzburg, atop the Festungsberg mountains. One can go up the castle on the Festungsbahn (cable car) or just climb up. Unfortunately, we missed this on this trip because of time constraint. The view of the castle from the Kapitelplatz was extremely splendid.

Mozartkugeln

It was already 4:00pm, and we had planned to board our train back to Munich at 5:09 pm. So we decided to walk back to the main station and do some souvenier shopping. We bought some packs of these special chocolates for us and our friends:)

Salzburg City

All in all it was a great day, and I wish to make another visit to this mesmerizing city in summers, so that I could see the places that I had missed on this trip.

Three Days in Prague..

Just returned from Prague after having spent three wonderful days with hubby..loved everything about the city..its culture, architecture, scenic beauty, castles, pebbled street, walking along the Vltava river, night life, food, shopping.....This is how I had spent the three wonderful days in Prague:

Day 1

We reached the Florenc Bus Station at 6.30 in the morning (it was a seven hour overnight journey from Mannheim, Germany) and went straight to the metro bus station to catch line B (to reach our hotel near Luka)..We managed to find one ticket machine right at the bottom of the stairs, however unfortunately the machine only accepted coins (we wanted anyways two 3-day tickets that costs 330 CZK each and could not be bought from the machine).We went up again and decided to try our luck at the bakery right outside the metro..luckily the guy there spoke 'small' English, sold tickets and exchanged currency as well. We had carried 1100 CZK from Germany but gave away 300 CZK to a girl who was in need of the local currency in return to Euros. We bought a 3-day ticket. Anyways, after the initial delay, we finally managed to board the metro at 7.30 and reached our hotel at around 8...since the check in time was 2:00pm, we just dropped our luggage at the hotel reception and headed out..it was not really a sunny day, but with lots of people out on the streets on a Sunday, for a person from Kaiserslautern,  it was just perfectly compensated.

We first explored the Prague's Old Town starting with the famous Wenceslas Square..its a shopper's delight, great brands to shop from, lots of shops/kiosks to buy souvenirs and good food to complete it all.
Walking around the square, we admired the beautiful modern buildings, the ancient architecture and the artistic skills of Czechs.

Brick Maze...you could paint a brick yourself too!

Spray paint artist

Old Town Square

Astronomical Clock

This I feel is Prague's heart..you can find the beautiful 'Church of our lady before Tyn' and the Astronomical Clock there.


We also climbed to the top of the Old Town Hall Tower and it was totally worth it. One can see almost all the most important buildings of Prague from the top. The view that one gets of Prague from the top is beyond words...simply spectacular.
Then we wandered around the old tower and reached the Powder Gate, historically the entrance to the old town, Municipal House, Prague's most prominent Art Nouveau building 

Municipal House

Old Town

Church of our Lady before Tyn

Chocolate Museum

Just wandering around the place we also came across a Chocolate Museum, where you can see the making of and also try the finest Belgian Chocolates and order your own..and we also tried some interesting Czech rock candies in fruity flavours..



We had lunch at Zebra Asian Noodle Bar, and it was simply delicious. Green curry, tofu fried rice, mango lassi and pineapple juice. Being a vegetarian, I am usually wary of eating out at asian restaurants, but the ambience of this place was so amazing that I wanted to check out the menu, and I was not disappointed.

After spending the day around Old Town, we went to the historical Charles Bridge, to spend the rest of the evening. I had heard and read a lot about Charles Bridge before I actually visited it, and I must confess that more than being in awe of its beauty and significance, I was worried about being robbed (I was almost paranoid about not using my iPhone for clicking pics on the bridge)..however, after being there I can say that the place is much safer now. One just has to be careful with the luggage and gadgets but no one will forcefully snatch or rob you. Just standing at the Bridge and watching the castle from a distance and rest of the city, was an overwhelming and a very calming experience.


Day 2

Funicular to Petrin Hill

Our first stop on the next day was Petřín Hill. Petrin Hill can be easily spotted from the distance by the TV Tower that is a look-alike of Eiffel Tower in Paris. One can get a beautiful view of Prague from the hill and see many other attractions there. To reach Petrin Hill, we first took a tram to Ujezd Street and after walking uphill for few minutes there, we reached the Funicular station (its like a cable train that takes you up the hill). The local travel ticket is valid in the funicular and the ride was worth an experience. There are lot of things one can do at the Petrin Hill- climb up the tower (which we missed), enjoy at the mirror maze, take a stroll in the beautiful rose garden or visit the observatory (we missed it, as it was closed when we went)..I enjoyed clicking some fun pictures at the mirror maze though!

Miniature Eiffel Tower

Rose Garden

On way to the Prague Castle..from Petrin Hill

After spending some time up there, instead of taking back the funicular we climbed down the hill to reach Prague Castle and the walk was extremely interesting and extremely scenic. It took us around 20 mins to reach the Castle from there. One can also stop at Strahov Monastry (which we unfortunately missed on the way).

Prague Castle

Prague Castle has a beautiful location and it is not a single building, but a cluster of beautiful buildings and churches that makes this area really splendid. We went inside the St.Vitus Church, behind the castle and were mesmerised by its exquisite interiors. My husband told me that this Church is normally extremely crowded and owning to the crowds, he missed visiting it on his last visit. The Church now charges some amount for the tour and probably that is what explains the ease in the crowd. We noticed lot of vintage cars around there, that one could hire to take a city tour:-)

St.Vitus Church (behind the Prague Castle)



After spending some time around the Prague Castle, we started walking down the hill and found some beautiful paintings of Prague (which can be found at lot of places in Prague)..I did buy two of them from a souvenir shop:-) On the way, we spotted a restaurant, Villa Richter and decided to have out lunch there. The restaurant is located amidst the grape vineyard and the view one gets of Prague from there is fantabulous. The food was amazing...I ordered a Potato soup in bread and was very impressed by the creativity of the chef:-) 

Villa Richter

View from Villa Richter

Kampa Island

After the sumptuous lunch break, we headed towards the Kampa Island, near Charles Bridge on Mala Strana..It was a nice walk on the pebbled streets and the place was calm, though I personally did not like it much..

The rest of the evening was spent in the Nový Smíchov shopping mall near Andel metro station. It is a nice place, with great brands to shop from, eat at, an amazing cinema and free wifi in the premises:)

Day 3

Dancing Building

We had already explored the major tourist attractions in Prague and so Day 3 was spared for shopping and chilling out. We quickly took a city tour to click some pictures of the dancing building and from there headed to the mall in Andel. We first had a quick lunch and then watched Step up Revolution  at Cinema City at the mall, amazing movie...plush theatre and a good beginning to the last day of our Prague trip.

Inside cinema city

Ice Pub

Our final destination in Prague was the Ice Pub..it was our first experience and we totally loved it..We were charged 9 Euros per person for 20mins in the pub which included the jacket, gloves and a drink. The experience was worth it! And since we went there in the evening, odd hour for a pub, we were alone in the Pub..which normally accommodates 14-20 people at a time. The staff at the place is very friendly too.

In the evening we went back to the Zebra Noodle Bar for dinner and on the way stopped at a crystal shop, to get us framed in a beautiful crystal:)

Prague at Night..view from Charles Bridge

After dinner we took our last walk on the Charles Bridge, and Prague at Night is just so beautiful...a walk at the bridge at night is totally recommended!!