Road Trip At Western Australia Perth Epilogue

8 Days Road Trip Western Australia, Perth:

The mere mentioned of Perth makes me want to do it all over again. A gang of four sets off from Singapore, for their first road trip. 

 

Day 1: York Town -> Wave Rock

Day 2: Hyden -> Albany

Day 3: Albany -> Denmark -> Northcliffe

Day 4: Northcliffe -> Pemberton

Day 5: Magaret River

Day 6: Perth City (Habour Town) –> Fremantle

Day 7: Pinnacles

Day 8: Perth City –> Home Sweet Home

Memories are best stored and cherished in our hearts and brains. While fumbling through the notes however, I’ve also realised there were so much more lovely memories during the trip.

While time and work don’t allow for another leisure road trip in the near future, through the upcoming notes, photos and videos, I hope to share our happy memories and relish them all over again, through 101 memories.

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Travel to Frankfurt, Germany

May2009, Frankfurt, Germany: Back from Frankfurt, the deepest impression it left was how a beautiful city had been destroyed by, a war (World War II). Looking at the buildings, one more beautiful and magnificently looking, I can’t help but feel a pity – wondering, how much more beautiful “historically” they would be, if, they were not just left with the walls from the origins. Many of us today, do not have to go through the pains of these ancestors, yet, we see how such histories make our ancestors a legacies, how, these historical events and old monuments form a part of us. I can’t help but wonder too, 100 years after my death, would I be able to leave behind a legacy?

Weather at Frankfurt now is just great! You don’t need any air conditioners! The breeze immediately perks you up unlike the warm and humid air in Singapore. But I can’t deny, I do miss the humidity in Singapore, after having itches from the constant dry air. In addition, shower with a heater is almost a necessity. This reminds me, of how market demands can vary greatly, due to culture differences.

I also envy the peace they have, the luxury of being able to sit outside any restaurants or bars, enjoying a book and beer under the cool weather. Probably if it gets too cold, you can ask for some blankets from the restaurants  (I didn’t try it though :P, only saw some customers with them).

Night doesn’t fall until after 10 pm. That’s why, you don’t get a feeling that the day is almost gone after working til 7 to 9 plus (for most Singaporeans). Though for many of them, work ends around 4 to 5.30pm. You don’t even need to feel “unsafe” to be out walking on the street around 10pm cos it’s still bright.

And morning starts early too. It was bright when I woke up at 5 plus and I almost can’t believe myself when I woke up at 5am to start my day. Probably it’s the jet lag but it just doesn’t seem “normal” to be sleeping when the day is bright.

I can imagine, how much electricity bill I can save if I live in Frankfurt. I don’t need the lights during the seemingly “long day”. And I don’t need the air-conditioner at night. I feel too cold to spend long hours in shower, and, a waste to spend the rest of the day at home when the weather outside is so good. However, it’s costly (compared to standards in Singapore) to eat outside (on average, about less than 7 to 8 euros if you take fast food), drinks usually cost you at least 1.50 euro.

“Side track a little, in Singapore, we are already complaining if any restaurant makes us pay for plain water, or, anyone asking me to pay 50 cent for a cup of ice water is almost immediately added to my blacklisted list of restaurants.”

Here, mineral water easily costs 2.20 euro per bottle. So, a bottle of plain water is definitely handy and worth the labour to carry around. At restaurants, one course easily cost us about 8 plus euro (two plain sausages with some whipped potatoes and salad), though, this is one of the cheapest I found, most, cost us at leave 9 to 14 euro on average. Before arrival, friends named us some of the local specialities, and sausages top the list, followed by beer, pork knuckles. I am really surprised when I found myself developing a new love for sausages (honestly, other than Taiwan Xiang Chang (Sausages), I usually don’t take a liking for sausages at all)! Looking at the pictures, I’m starting to get hungry now. :S  *drooling……*

Since mineral water is not cheap, a meal usually cost us 30 euro on average. And worse thing is, the weather is so good, that I am constantly feeling hungry. So, it’s good to do some marketing at their supermarkets to curb your hunger (since typical Chinese like me, needs some rice to keep ourselves full and satisfied) from time to time. And for people who doesn’t understand German like me, look for REWE. This supermarket is almost everywhere.

Before I left, my eldest sis left me with a task of buying back 50 sing dollars worth of chocolate. Not a chocolate eater, I am quite surprised how this simple task seemed almost daunting when I arrived.

Looking at the range on the shelves, I don’t know which to pick! Judging by the price wouldn’t be a good idea too. Since, some can be pretty expensive.We are also fortunate to get good tips from the local friends we met there. Such as, the chocolates that are good to buy and within our budget. It’s quite funny too. At first, they seem to only be able to come up with one or two nice ones. After a while, the talk got more intense and the friends were getting more excited, telling and describing to us how good each brand really taste.

First on the list was Milka, this brand is really affordable. One bar of 100 g chocolate can cost as cheap as 70 or 80 cent euro. And, they strongly recommended Kinder Country and Haribo Gold Barrens for the kids. Then, there’s Lindt and Hachez for the adults too. Usually, I could only complete our souvenirs shopping after spending hours at different places and it would always be so unpleasant, so much so that I have almost decided not to shop for souvenirs for anyone. Afterall, we should be travelling to enjoy! Amazingly, we simply splurged around 50 euro, about 1 hour (cos we liked almost every chocolate) and we got all sorts of chocolates, for family and friends. Hee, really easy way out for us. After getting that done, I could finally enjoy my tour.

The sight in Frankfurt is almost magnificent. It’s one after another of Gothic building. I really love each and everyone of them. And to be surrounded by almost all of them, I have to stop myself from taking photos and videos of all of them, and, just to indulge myself in the sight seeing (as well said by my husband). Since we don’t know German, it’s most convenient for us to just walk and view all the attraction points.

However, our local friends recommended some good places,like, Mainz (but a pity, we couldn’t add this to our short itinerary) and the Rhine. A local friend suggested, that we should really plan for visits to the villages and smaller towns where we could get even better experiences. So, any of you who might have longer holiday plans, do consider them.

In the end, we had one to two days of tour around Frankfurt city, one full day in between Heidelberg (you must visit Heidelberg Castle, a world famous castle with a mix of styles from Gothic to Renaissance) and a 3 hour return river cruise to The Rhine. On the brochure, it costs about Euro 133 per pax, 104 per child (up to 12 years).

(View of The Heidelberg Castle from the River)

(Views of Castles along The Rhine)

• 15 minutes walk from Romer (from our Hotel, Miramar Hotel) to Hauptbahnhof

• Train ride from Hauptbahnhof to Heidelberg, euro 15.20 : direct train from main train station in Frankfurt, Hauptbahnhof. Direct train is good if you do not know German and you must to make sure you are not constantly worrying about which station to alight during the 1 hour and 30 to 40 minutes trip. If not sure, look for Tourist Information Centre for help. Otherwise, at the DB center (the train station company), press for a ticket (it’s usually at the entrance. if dunno, ask the service staff for help), and join the queue. Then, ask for the cheapest ticket with direct train service. A more costly one is usually because the trip is shorter, say, about 1 hour instead of 1 hour and 40 minutes). ) for a one way ticket to Heidelberg.

• Shared Lunch at Burger King at about euro 3 per pax

• a bus ride (bus 33) that costs euro 1 : from Heidelberg (when you arrive, look for the tourist information centre to get the latest map and information from them)

• Optional: a tram ride that costs about euro 2 one way, or euro 3 for return ticket: if you want to save this, there is a walking route that you can take to Heidelberg castle. There were actually 3 ways to get up to the castle. However, we didn’t realise it until the end of our tour to the castle when we ended up at a slope downhill. Unfortunately for us, we had to return the headset of the audio tour and had to head back to the entrance (probably, you might want to reconsider having this around. Nonetheless, unless you are rushing for time, having extra time to walk around the castle is still worth the effort.
  

• Optional: Walk (Free of Charge): The slope is another option (it’s very steep though. If you have heavy stuff, I won’t encourage you to take this route though it can still be very enjoyable walk with the surrounding capturing scenery) and finally, as we head back to the entrance, we asked and found the 3rd route, a flight of long stairs that lead us to the bottom of the castle. Honestly, I am glad that as we fumbled along our almost unplanne d itinerary, we did not ended up taking the
• slope or the stairs up. It’s going to be really tiring after the hours of walk within the castle. Otherwise, come equipped with good footwear!
  

• Optional: Audio Tour that costs euro 4 (at the main entrance) per headset : you are given a headset and a map with location codes on it. Once you arrive at certain spot, you can follow a code and get a narrative for the loca tion to get a good understanding of the story behind this castle. Beside this, you can share the headset with your partners, and, the owner is so nice, to even offer to help us take a picture (this is always a challenge since there is only the two of us).

• Optional: A Guided Tour that costs euro 4 (at the main entrance) per pax : Cos we had the audio tour, we missed out this. If I were not in a rush, I would prefer this to get a better understanding of the stories of this castle.

• Admission Ticket that costs euro 3 for pax (as usual, if you are a student, you can get it at a cheaper rate)

• 3 hour Cruise, to Rhine and Back (Rhein-Neckarsteinach), that costs euro 6.00 one way, euro 12 return trip: Again, we chose return trip cos we didn’t have time to check out how to take a train back to Frankfurt from The Rhine and how much it costs.

• Tea Break of about euro 7 plus: We had lunch on the cruise (that costs about euro 10 plus per pax)

• Bus Ride from Pier to Railway Station cost us NOTHING! : This is something we forgot. We didn’t ask the service staff at the tourist information which bus and direction to take. As we stood staring at the map full of German tex t, a very very kind soul, spoke to us in Chinese! This is so amazing. A pity now as I recall, I forgot to get his name! Nonetheless, he is a Shanghainese who came to Frankfurt to work for over 20 years. And, he is working in the museum. The next time I’ve got time to visit the museum, I sure hope to bump into him again. And yes, on weekends, he gets to treat his family or friends to free rides on the public transport. So, he invited us to hop on the bus with him, and even told us where to alight and walk to the train station. Otherwise, this should cost us, about EURO 1.

• Train ride from Heidelberg to Hauptbahnhof, euro 15.20
• Train ride from Hauptbahnhof to Romer, euro 0.90
• Dinner back in Frankfurt, about euro 16 per pax.

• Total Spending Per Pax: euro 79.30

“If I save on the audio tour, have less costly meals (fast food is good enough), no tram, walk back to hotel, I can easily save another euro 15 to 20 dollars! Nonetheless, this is a leisure trip. I should enjoy it. Considering that I have already saved euro 53.70 from 133 or 143 (includes pick up from hotel at 5 / pax/way) per pax, and euro 107.40 for the two of us. It’s already a great deal!”

For our last day, we took up a one day ticket of the Frankfurt Card (The Super-Saver Card) that includes:

• Free and Unlimited Travel on Frankfurt’s public transport system within the city districts (travel zone 50) and Frankfurt International Airport
• train back to airport
• 50% price reduction to admission to 20 Frankfurt Museums, and others

This card is really worth buying if you are taking train into the city on the day of your arrival (instead of taking cab that will cost you about euro 30 to 40 per trip). The train ride from the airport to the city (we stopped at Romer), is only about 15 minutes! It’s a pity I didn’t familiarize myself with the train route and this on the first day. But well, since it’s a business trip. That could be claimed 😉

The individual ticket cost euro 8.70 for 1 day, 12.50 for 2 days. And the Group ticket cost euro 15.00 for 1 day and euro 24 for two days, and group includes a maximum of up to 5 pax.

Since we have the two of us, we bought a group ticket. If there’s more of you, it’s definitely much much more affordable.

A pity too, due to time constraint, I only visited the History Museum. And what’s good about it is, you can use the admission ticket throughout the day! So, if you need a coffee, you can exit and then return to the museum with the same ticket. Being a typical Chinese who “LOVES TO SCRIMP AND SAVE”, I can’t help the evil thought of sharing this ticket with a group of friends. Or, imagine, i will station myself outside the museum and ask people for their tickets. hahahaha.. But certainly, to keep the tourism economy up, PLEASE, STOP THIS WICKED THOUGHT 😛

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