Announcement

To all who have been following my posts, I'd like to say a big thank you and at the same time, I'd like to apologize for not updating my blog ever since I got back from Europe.

Work has been driving me crazy - but Joyce and I did catch a short break during the last Singapore National Day holidays. We made a short (and rather unprepared) trip to Hokkaido, Japan.

Stay tuned for updates.

Cheers,
Simon.

Day 14 - Frankfurt to Singapore

10 Mar 2010

It’s time to say goodbye to Europe. After having the complimentary breakfast at Holiday Inn Express Frankfurt-MESSE, we board a taxi to the airport. The journey took about 15 minutes with a fare of EUR 28.85.

VAT Refunds

I'd like to share our experience with regards to claiming VAT refunds. The process of getting a VAT refund is not too difficult as long as you have your paperwork done and having your goods ready for inspection.

Step 1 – Paperwork

First and foremost, ensure that the retailer fills up the Tax Refund forms for you. This has to be done at the point of purchase. Then ensure that the forms have been signed and filled up with your particulars, i.e. your name and address. The retailer will attach your purchase receipts onto the tax refund forms.

Each retailer in the European Union uses one of the following refund agencies i.e.

• Global Refund
• Tax-Free

You can only receive your refund from the specific refund agent that the retailer uses, for example, Hard Rock Café in Prague uses Tax-Free as their agent and therefore you can only get your refund from Tax-Free and not Global Refund.

Step 2 – Packing

To make inspection easier, pack all the items eligible for refund in a single bag. At the point of check in, inform the counter-staff at the check-in counter that you wish to have your bag inspected by customs for VAT refunds.

Step 3 – Customs Inspection and endorsement

After the baggage tag has been issued, bring your bag containing the items to be inspected, to the customs inspection counters located at Hall B, counters 643-644.

Hand in your tax refund forms to the customs officer and s/he will ask to inspect your bag(s). Once done, the customs officer will endorse your forms with a stamp. This is a very important step. Without the stamp, you will NOT be able to get your refund.

Step 4 – Deposit your bag to be checked-in

Just immediately after the customs inspection counter, there is a baggage handler who will collect your bag from you and check it back in. Alternatively, you can bring your bag to the check-in counter and drop it there.

Step 5 – Collect your refund

If you’re collecting your refund from Global Refund, you may proceed to the counter located on the left hand side of the customs inspection booths. Just present the endorsed form to get your refund. We were paid in cash.

However, we ran into some difficulty collecting our refund from Tax Refund. There is a Bureau de Change that act as an agent for Tax Refund but the amount on the form did not tally with the system. The counter staff mentioned that she will have to revert with the parent company to resolve the discrepancy and they will reimburse the amount due to my credit card.

The process would take about 3 - 4 weeks. I'm still waiting...

Anyway, we board our flight to Singapore and arrived safely the next day at about 7 am in the morning, and welcomed by the warm and humid air. I will update this post after 3-4 weeks regarding the status of our VAT refunds.

Cheers.

Day 13 - Vienna/Frankfurt

9 Mar 2010

Donauinsel

We had about half a day in Vienna before we made our way to Frankfurt in the afternoon. So, we decided to explore a little by taking the U-Bahn to Donauinsel. There wasn't much to see there, just the Danube (Donau) and some people jogging. It was nice and tranquil, a contrast from the hugely touristy Stephansplatz.

A view by the bank of the Danube

StadtPark

Next, we visited Stadt Park which is home to many statues of famous composers such as Johann Strauss Jr and Franz Schubert. Here are some shots from Stadt Park.

Ducks swimming (background)

Simon and the statue of Johann Strauss Jr.

Frankfurt

Frankfurt was our final stopover before heading home to Singapore. We flew from Vienna via Air Berlin and arrived at Frankfurt airport around 5.25 pm. I made a mistake of booking Holiday Inn Express Frankfurt - MESSE when I should have booked Holiday Inn Express Frankfurt Airport, which comes with a free shuttle service.

Taxi to Frankfurt MESSE cost EUR30.00 (including tips). Driving time by taxi was about 20 minutes. Initially we thought of getting into the city to have our dinner but changed our minds since it was cold.

Dinner
We had our dinner at a local German restaurant called "Luftikus". It was quite an adventure for us to get to the restaurant. The hotel staff just told us to 'turn left, left and left'. After turning the second left and walking a number of paces, we saw a tiny lane and duly turned left. It got a little scary after walking for 5 minutes because it was really dark and all we saw were some railway tracks and no 'Luftikus'.

We decided to backtrack and walk back to the main road and sought help from a local dude who was walking towards us. He spoke reasonably good English but unfortunately, he was not from Frankfurt and had no idea where 'Luftikus' was.

Anyway, we kept walking until we saw another main road. We turned left and there it was - 'Luftikus'. The lady at the restaurant didn't understand English so she had to bring out the English menu, which we used to point and choose our food and she cross referenced our choices with the German menu. We had some calamari and soup (on the house) and some locally brewed beer. Total cost of dinner: about EUR25.00.

After dinner, we strolled back to our hotel and ensure that we have packed everything.

Day 12 - Vienna

8 Mar 2010

I've uploaded some pictures we took around the Hofburg Palace grounds, where we spent most of our day. We got up a little late after having a long day at Salzburg the day before (age is catching up and we needed the beauty sleep).

After making our own breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast etc), we headed towards the Hofburg Palace grounds and visited the Schatzkammer - which is a huge vault containing Austria's secular and ecclesiastical treasuries, as well as the Burgkapelle.

Hofburg Palace

The Hofburg Palace currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria. In the past, the palace was once the residence of the Habsburg Dynasty, who ruled Austria and Hungary for many years. The Palace Grounds is quite vast as you can see in the pictures below.

Hofburg Palace (The Michael Wing)

Hofburg Palace Grounds

Hofburg Palace grounds

Schatzkammer

The Schatzkammer was like a large vault containing both secular and Ecclesiastical treasures. I've scanned a copy of the Schatzkammer layout (shown below):

Layout of the Schatzkammer

Reliquary with a nail from The Cross

One of the highlights of the Ecclesiastical treasures was the Reliquary containing a nail from the cross, which was believed to be supposedly affixed to the right hand of Jesus Christ during His crucifixion.

Vienna Boys' choir

The Vienna Boys' choir performs at the chapel every Sunday morning and again we were disappointed because it wasn't a Sunday. We took a shot of the Burgkapelle (interior).

Burgkapelle (interior)

Augustian Church

After visiting Hofsburg Palace, we walked past the Spanish riding school (which unfortunately did not have any performances on that day) and then to the Augustinian Church (Augustinerkirche). Augustinerkirche is located between Michaelerplatz and Josefplatz.

Augustinerkirche (interior)

Lunch

After much walking about, we decided to have lunch. We ordered a sausage (which was pretty large when compared with the sausages sold in Singapore) as a supplement to our main dishes. I couldn't remember the name of the restaurant though.

Lunch

Day 11 - Salzburg

7 Mar 2010

Our trip to Salzburg began with a train journey from Wien-Westbanhof (a few stops from Schwendenplatz U-bahn). There were frequent train services to Salzburg and after confirming with the Information counter, we boarded the 8:44 am train that was en route to Munich, stopping at Salzburg. No reservations were necessary.

The train journey was comfortable, as you can see us relaxing in our 'private' cabin. We also had some snacks and drinks on board and we saw some nice scenes along the way. Most of the land area were still covered with thick snow.

Chilling out in our private cabin

Beautiful houses as seen from our train cabin

Another beautiful scenery from our train cabin

We arrived at Salzburg at approximately 12.00 pm local time and it was freezing! As you can see, Joyce was in full winter gear.

Joyce @ Salzburg Hbf train station

There were quite a number of busservices from Salzburg Hbf to the city area. We took the wrong bus (well, probably the right bus, just wrong direction) from the terminal and we were told by the friendly bus driver to take the bus from the opposite direction. I can't remember which bus we boarded but I reckon it was bus no. 5.

We alighted somewhere near Mozartsplatz but unfortunately the tourist information office was closed on Sundays. I should have visited the tourist information office at the train station. We had to spend EUR 9.00 for a Salzburg guidebook (and map) from a souvenir shop.

Me and the statue of W.A. Mozart @ Mozartplatz

After a brief stop at Mozartplatz, we visited the Dom zu Salzburg, a cathedral that was dedicated to St Rupert and St Virgil (click here for the official website).

Dom zu Salzburg

Dom zu Salzburg (interior)

Our next stop after Dom zu Salzburg was Kapitelplatz, which in present times is essentially a square located at the foot of the hill where Salzburg's medieval fortress (Hohensalzburg) was built. In former times, Kapitelplatz was where a monastery once stood.

Kapitelplatz

Medieval Fortress

There are two ways of getting to the entrance of the fortress, by the funicular train (according to my guidebook, the transit time is one minute) or on foot. We chose the latter as we needed the exercise. The pathway to the top of the fortress was not steep but the snow and ice made it rather slippery. Quite a number of senior citizens also scaled the hill slopes to get to the fortress. We finally reached the summit after about 20 minutes.

Apart from admiring the view of Salzburg from the top, we visited the medieval museum and St George's chapel within the fortress' grounds. The views of Salzburg from the fortress were really beautiful and serene.

Salzburg - as seen from the fortress

Another view of Salzburg

I don't mean to sound too morbid, but the exhibits that caught my eye were the torture equipment used during medieval times. With such equipment (see below), I didn't think there would be a backlog of criminal cases.

Torture chair

St George's Chapel (St Georgs Kapelle) was a small late-Gothic chapel built in 1502. Although not as grand as the Dom zu Salzburg, the chapel evoked its own unique charm and tranquility.

St George's chapel (interior)

Marble reliefs of the Apostles

Mozart - Salzburg's famous son

After making our way down from the fortress, we walked towards Getreidegasse and visited Mozart's place of birth. It looked like a modern service apartment today.

Location map of Mozart's birthplace (Mozarts Geburtshaus)

Mozart's birthplace

Next on our visit list was Mozart's residence a.k.a. Mozart Wohnhaus (not to be confused with Mozart's birthplace), which was located at Makartplatz. Mozart lived here between 1773 and 1780. While we were on our way to Mozart's residence, a couple sought our help to take their photograph on the bridge across the Salzach river. They returned the favour by taking our picture.

On a bridge over the Salzach river

Mozart's residence

Mirabell Gardens

Our final stop in Salzburg was Mirabell Gardens, one of the most visited places in Salzburg. A few scenes from the movie The Sound of Music was shot on location at Mirabell Gardens. It would have been fantastic if the fountains were turned on (only in summer).

Joyce goofing around @ Mirabell

Another view of Mirabell Gardens

Scene from Mirabell Platz

After Mirabell, we had a late lunch and some really good cakes. The pastries in Austria are second to none.

Salzburg - Vienna

We took a leisurely walk to the Salzburg Hbf train station to get rid of the calories and managed to catch the express service back to Vienna. However, the train was crowded - likely because it was a Sunday. We almost couldn't get a seat, since we didn't hold a reservation. A bold young girl refused to give up the empty seat next to hers until a nice middle-aged fellow passenger ticked her off. We finally arrived in Vienna at about 9.10 pm.

Day 10 - Vienna

6 Mar 2010

Before boarding our morning train to Vienna, we took a stroll around Budapest and visited the Parliament grounds as well as some monuments preserved as remembrance of the Soviet occupation.

Parliament

View of Danube from Parliament

Scene around Liberty Square

Szabadság ter - Soviet War Memorial

Shopping district in Budapest

There were regular trains to Vienna and we need not make a reservation. The journey from Budapest to Vienna took about 3 hours. Below are some shots we took from our train on the way to Vienna.

Train to Vienna (Wien)

Wind turbines

We arrived at Wien-Miedling station (temporary station for Wien-Sudbanhof) around 2pm. The station, though temporary was fully functional, just like any other train station. We took a taxi from the station to our hotel, Adagio Wien Central at a cost of about EUR17.00.

Later, we found out that stopping at the Westbanhof station was better as it was more established and have more facilities.

Our hotel the Adagio Wien (service apartment rather) is in a very good location (near Schwendenplatz) and came with a fully equipped kitchenette, dishwasher and fridge. After check-in, we walked towards Stephansplatz, which was about 12 minutes walk from our apartment.

We paid a visit to St Stephan's Cathedral (pictures below) and thereafter went for a stroll along Stephensplatz, Kohlmark, Graben and surrounding areas. The snow showed no signs of stopping. We also managed to get some groceries from a local supermarket. Here are some sights around Stephansplatz.

Hofburg Palace (main entrance)

Night view along Graben (near Stephansplatz)

Cathedral of St Stephan (inside)

We had our dinner at Mr Lee, a simple Chinese take-out restaurant (picture below).

Mr Lee - Chinese takeout restaurant along Schwendenplatz

Day 9 - Budapest

5 Mar 2010

We took some shots from our train cabin en route to Budapest and I have uploaded one of the better shots here.

Scene from train while en route to Budapest

We finally arrived in Budapest at about 8.30 a.m. and were greeted by taxi touts as we got off our train coach. The first guy offered EUR 15 to get us to our hotel and refused to budge when we asked for a reduction. We ignored him and went with the second guy, whom I managed to negotiate down to EUR 10. Having to negotiate like this reminds us of our native Malaysia where many taxi drivers still refuse to go by the meter.

It was a coincidence that our cab driver was planning for a trip to Zakopane, Poland and hence needed some Polish Zlotty and we also had some Polish Zlotty to get rid off. I paid him about PLN40.00, which was close to EUR 10.

He offered to drive us around various sights in Budapest for 5000 HUF per person for about two hours and claimed that the price was similar to what regular bus tours offer. We took up his offer because we only had one day in Budapest, did not want to waste a lot of time and he seemed like a guy who could be trusted. Later that night we found that we've been ripped off. The hop-on, hop-off bus tickets to various tourist attractions only cost 5000 HUF per person for a period of 24 hours.

Budapest is combination of two 'districts', i.e. Buda on one side of the river Danube and Pest on the other, just like Shanghai (Pudong and Puxi). Buda is the older district of the two.

We visited the following main sites since we only have a day:

• Citadel
• Buda Castle (Royal Palace)
• Matthias Church
• Fisherman's Bastion
• St Stephen's Basilica
  
• Parliament
  

Citadel
Views of the Danube from the Citadel were simply breathtaking and in my opinion, better than the view from Charles Bridge in Prague. I'm not about to give a history lesson here - the Citadel is basically a fortress, built sometime in the 19th century atop the Gellert Hill by Hungarian forced labourers. It was occupied by Austrian troops, until a compromise was struck with the Habsburgs in 1867.

Here are some of the pictures we took at the Citadel.

The Danube, as seen from Budapest Citadel

Another view of the Danube from Citadel

Liberty Statue

The Liberty Statue is a reminder of the liberation of Hungary from the Nazis by Soviet troops during World War II. The Liberty Statue is very prominent and can be easily seen when you're driving along Buda or from Pest across the Danube.

Art inspired by Socialist Realism (Soviet influence)

Before going to our next stop, Royal Palace, we bought some souvenirs on our way down from Gellert Hill, where the Citadel is Located.

Citadel and its bombarded walls

Royal Palace (Buda Castle)
Here are some shots from the Royal Palace. The views of the Danube and Parliament were just plain spectacular. I would rate the view of the Danube to be more beautiful than Prague's Vlatva river.

Chain Bridge, as seen from the Palace Grounds.

Palace grounds

Outside government house

Parliament as seen from Royal Palace

Monument of Prince Eugene of Savoy

Eagle sculpture - Palace grounds

St Matthias Church

St Matthias Church, located within the confines of Buda Castle hill, was next on our visit list. Unlike the majority of churches we visited before Budapest, which was filled with Baroque styled interiors, Matthias Church was designed and constructed in grand Gothic style and architecture.

Square outside Matthias Church

Matthias Church interior (Gothic hall section)

The church interior was airy and not crowded, probably because of the low season. Portions of the church were under renovation and repairs and we initially couldn't locate the entrance. The entry fee was 500 HUF per person, which was equivalent to about EUR 2.00.

Saint kings

Pews from Matthias' Church

Fisherman's Bastion
The Fisherman's Bastion is a terrace located by the banks of the Danube (Buda side). You can get a nice view of the Danube from here. There's nothing much going one here apart for some locals selling their wares and also people gambling (probably because it's winter).

Statue of Stephen I (foreground) and Fisherman's Bastion

Statue of Stephan I flanked by two towers from the Fisherman's Bastion

St Stephan's Basilica
During the evenings we strolled towards St Stephan's Basilica, which was accompanied with a pedestrian-only square at the front.

St Stephen's Basilica (front)

St Stephen's Basilica (main altar)

Square in front of St Stephen's