Ireland - Wicklow

Assembled at the bus station at 11am for a day trip to Wicklow organized by ESN. Wicklow is a big County in the east of Ireland, which is a popular for tourists.

The bus first brought us to the base of The Sugarloaf Mountain. The Mountain is only 500 meters high but the slope leading up to the top is extremely steep. We took around 40 minutes to climb up to the summit and the view from the top was indeed rewarding.

Climbing down, as expected, was even tougher than climbing up. Everyone looked exhausted when we finally reached the base.

The bus brought us to Glendalough in the afternoon. Glendalough is a glacial valley, formally a monastic settlement in the Medieval times.

A simple but fulfilling day trip. Climbing is quite fun and rewarding but not so good for your knees.

Ireland - Cliffs of Moher

Signed up for ISS's Cliffs of Moher day trip. Assemble time was very early in the morning as the cliffs are all the way at the west coast of the country, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Wore 3 layers of clothes but was still freezing on my walk to assembly area. It was a really long ride, and after several short stops and lunch break, we finally arrived at the cliffs at 2pm. The bus driver only gave us until 3:45pm to see the cliffs... WHAT?

Due to ridiculous time constraint, I ended up running from cliffs to cliffs hoping to see the breathtaking cliffs from all angles, and I also intended to sit by the cliff to embrace the wind and peace. Time given was so short that I didn't get to fulfill either task.  For those who are going to Cliffs of Moher, please go on your own.

Ireland - Howth

Decided to do a day trip to Howth on my free day. Howth is a village which forms a large part of the peninsula on the east coast of Ireland, just outside the North of Dublin. Took DART from the nearest train station and arrived at Howth in 40 minutes. The afternoon was perfect, sunny with strong sea breeze.

Walked along the coast a little and began to walk up the track which leads to the summit. The track going up the mountain is along the coast so there is nice scenery along the way. Took me around one and a half hours to reach the summit where I was presented with a great view of the cliffs.

This place is pretty decent for a simple full-day or half-day getaway from the city to experience Ireland's coastal beauty.

France - Paris

Our train from Mannheim was supposed to reach Paris at 4:50 pm but due to two different train faults, we reached Paris at only 6:30 pm. It was already 8:30 pm when we checked in and had our dinner thus there was no way we were going to catch the sunset at Eiffel Tower. Still made our way to the tower and the night view was fantastic! The night sky, coupled with the bright Tower lights, cool breeze and couples sitting around the garden picnicking, it felt as if we were on another planet. The only regret was not bringing a picnic mat.

Day 2 - Woke up at close to noon and made our way to Louvre Museum, most famously for the Mona Lisa painting. I personally have no affinity for art works and museums (despite being an AEP student) thus it was a relatively boring experience for me in the museum.

In the evening, we headed to Montparnasse where we had a perfect view of the entire Paris city.

Day 3 - Took RER to Palace of Versailles after our lunch. Once again I was bored walking around the interior of the palace. Museums and art works are just not my thing. Entered the garden only at 6:30 pm as we would need to pay for the music fountain show if we were to enter earlier. Describing the garden as breathtaking is an understatement, you must go there if you visit Paris.

View before we enter the Palace

View in the garden - the arc

View in the Garden - the lake

Back to Paris city late at night looking for a place for dinner but the prices in all the restaurants were ridiculous. We finally walked into a pizza restaurant where we weren't allowed to share a pizza initially (1 person 1 plate!) but after negotiating, the waitress eventually allowed us to.

Paris is an average city for student tourists as the price level is extremely high. You might want to skip if on a budget.

Italy - Venice

Day 7 - Regretted not buying the ticket to Venice the day before and it turned out that all tickets were sold out until 1 pm. We had no choice but to sit around the McDonalds near Florence train station to wait for the next available train. We manage to reached Venice in the evening and it was drizzling and pretty cold. For the first time I needed to put on my jacket in Italy. Our B&B was off the Venice island thus we took a bus over. Venice is beautiful!

This is the main canal which cuts through Venice, it's really wide.

This is one of the small sub-canals where people go for boat rides. Sadly we didn't join one as it was rather expensive.

Day 8 - We were too tired from the entire trip and we slept until noon for the first time, it was totally satisfying. Took bus to Venice island again and this time we took a ferry to a nearby smaller island called Burano. Burano is known for its colored houses along the canals, pretty special concept.

Day 9 - Last day in Italy! We went back to Venice island once again for some final photos before saying goodbye to this beautiful country. Gonna catch our plane back to Frankfurt Hahn. Yeah the airport is really uluu and we took a seriously long bus ride back to Mannheim.

The first trip in Europe is truly an eye-opener for someone like me who has hardly been out of Asia (went Perth once). Can't wait for the upcoming trips! 

Italy - Florence

Day 6 - Took intercity train once again to Florence. We only planned one night in Florence as we thought there is nothing much to see. It turned out that we were right. Florence is full of Churches and Museums but we weren't really interested in either of them. Skipped the Museum that has Statue of David as it was too expensive. Walked around and explored the city in the afternoon.The only place that intrigued us was Giardino di Boboli, a garden on a hill where we can see the entire city of Florence.

Short stay at Florence but it's actually enough for us as Florence is more for cultural visitors who like museums and churches.

Italy - Perugia

Day 4 - Took Intercity train to Foligno in the morning. Foligno is a small town in the province of Perugia situated somewhat between Rome and Florence. The B&B was pretty good but has no wifi (first world problem). We settled down quite late in the the afternoon as we waited almost 2 hours outside the flat for the owner to arrive. It was approaching evening thus we decided to just stroll around Foligno for the day.

Day 5 - Walked to the train station in the morning wanting to get to Spello, another small town of Perugia. However, we missed the 10 am train and the next train was much later. We decided to go to Trevi instead, another small town of Perugia. The view of the town is pretty nice.

Took some wrong trains in the afternoon and ended up only arriving in Spello in the evening. Spello is also a town situated on a hill, thus some climbing is required. It was rather tiring but the view from the top of the hill was definitely rewarding.

The initial plan for these two days was to go Cinque Terre but we decided to venture in these small towns instead due to cost considerations. I can't say that this experience is better than what Cinque Terre would have offered but it is definitely more exciting to explore a place typical tourists wouldn't be going to.

Italy - Rome

Three days in Rome was absolutely amazing. Day 1 was kind of wasted as Kaixin and I arrived late in the afternoon and checked-in only in the evening. Had the best lasagna of my life at a road side restaurant for dinner.

Day 2 - Visited the Palatine Hill, Roman Forum and Colosseum early in the day and did some random strolling until evening (yeah we are pretty slack as we like to travel at a chill pace) 

Day 3 - Took metro to Vatican City in the morning and I have to say St. Peter's Square looks absolutely magnificent, a must go for anyone who visits Rome. Didn't see Pope sadly. The queue for Vatican Museums was ridiculously long so we decided to skip.

Transferred a series of trains to go Ostia Antica, a large archaeological site which was formally a harbor city of ancient Rome. The entrance fee is 11 euros. The scenery at the site certainty did not disappoint.

All in all, Rome is a fulfilling and affordable place for young travelers. There are so many places of interest that it might require 5 days to tour the city in full. We actually missed out a few popular sites like Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain but the trip was already more than fulfilling.