斯洛維尼亞 (Part 1) Slovenia: Postojna Cave (23 Jul. 2013)

由於時間的關係，我們先在最靠近義大利的斯洛維尼亞濱海城市Ankaran睡了一晚，隔天才前往Postojna Cave。

克羅埃西亞 (Part 5) Croatia: Rijeka, Opatija, Pula, Poreč (21 ~ 22 Jul. 2013)

由於時間不是很多，我們在兩天內就去了四個地方，Rijeka、Opatija、Pula和Poreč，因此都只是個別看一點景點而已，沒有多待。

Here, we went to 4 places, Rijeka, Opatija, Pula, and Poreč, in 2 days, which means we didn't really have much time visiting.

克羅埃西亞 (Part 4) Croatia: Nacionalni Park Plitvička Jezera (20 ~ 21 Jul. 2013)

在Croatia，最具世界知名度的自然景觀，非 Plitvice Lakes National Park 莫屬了。其公園主要是由16座湖泊及無數的瀑布所組成，此處亦為喀斯特地形的經典代表作之一。其湖區主要可分為上湖區與下湖區，兩區的景觀不太相同，上湖區充滿著森林與瀑布，而下湖區多為矮灌叢。其他細節就不再多做說明，大家可以在網路上查到相當詳細的資料，這裡大家就...看照片就夠了XDD 我只想說的是，這裡的水清澈到非常不可思議!!!

The most famous natural landscape in the world in Croatia? It must be Plitvice Lakes National Park. It's composed mainly by 16 lakes and lots of waterfalls, and it's also one of a classical Karst topography. There are two parts, upper lakes and lower lakes, and the scenes are quite different, full of forests and waterfalls in upper lakes and mostly shrubs in lower lakes. Well, I don't want to go further here, because you can find lots of information on the internet. So......just watch some photos, then!XDD I just wanna say, the water here is too clear to believe it's real!!!!!

克羅埃西亞 (Part 3) Croatia: Šibenik, Zadar (20 Jul. 2013)

在 Šibenik，其實並沒有停留太久，主要就是去看一座相當獨特的教堂，聖雅各大教堂 (Katedrala Svetog Jakova)。獨特之處在於，這是一座全世界完全只用白色石灰岩而沒有任何木頭或紅磚建造當中最大的教堂，並已於西元2000年被聯合國教科文組織列入世界遺產。

In fact, we didn't stayed too long in Šibenik. We only went to see a every unique church, Katedrala Svetog Jakova. It's the largest church in the world which built only by white limestone without any woods or bricks. Also, it has been listed as a historical heritage by UNESCO in AD 2000 year.

克羅埃西亞 (Part 2) Croatia: Split, Trogir (19 Jul. 2013)

Split 是 Croatia 境內的第二大城，並且為整個 Dalmatia 海岸的核心，而其歷史主要就是當年西元293年的羅馬皇帝 Diocletian 在此地建造了一座皇宮而興盛起來，其用途為當年為了自己退位後所使用。其皇宮的北、東、南、西門分別稱為金、銀、銅、鐵門，各有特色。這座皇宮有個特色，就是地下室，在被挖掘出來之前，前人沒有多留意在上方蓋房子，並且在地上直接挖洞當作垃圾桶，直到後期被人們挖掘出來後才發現有個如此規模龐大的地下室，卻被人們的垃圾堆滿了。如今，Split已發展成觀光勝地，人來人往相當熱鬧。

Split is the second largest city in Croatia, and also is the core in the coast Dalmatia. The history mainly started from AD 293 years, Roman Emperor Diocletian built a palace here, Diocletian Palace, which was built for his retired life, and then it thrives since then. There are four gates of the palace North, East, South, and West gate, and each of them are called Golden, Silver, Copper, and Iron gate respectively. There's a special thing I want to say, the basement. Before digging it out, people built houses on it without much attentions and dig some holes on the floor in the house directly as a trash can. After so many years later, people dig it out and found such a huge basement which is used as a trash can by people before. For now, Split has become a famous tourist attraction.

克羅埃西亞 (Part 1) Croatia: Dubrovnik, Hvar (18 ~19 Jul. 2013)

抵達 Croatia 的第一站，即為所有旅客來到 Croatia 必到的城市，Dubrovnik。不同於Budva和Kotor，整座古城面積更大並且更為繁榮，商店自然也多了許多。唯一不變的是，亞得里亞海的海水依然如此蔚藍。

Arrived the first stop in Croaita, Dubrovnik, the city every visitor who come to Croatia must go. Different from Budva and Kotor, the area of the old town here is much bigger and more prosperous, so more stores here for sure. What remains is the color of the ocean, blue.

阿爾巴尼亞 Albania: Krujë, Petrelë, Tirana, Shkodër (16 ~ 17 Jul. 2013)

這次巴爾幹半島(Balkan)行的第一站，來到了Albania的首都：Tirana。老實說，我從來沒想過我會來到Albania玩。其實從機場即可見得，其國家的進步空間還相當地大，更不用說他們的市容了。

The first stop of the journey in Balkan is the capital of Albania, Tirana. Frankly, I've never thought I will get here in Albania!! Actually you can notice that this country still has a lot of spaces to improve from their airport not to mention about the cityscape.

Welcome to Albania

蒙特內哥羅 (黑山共和國) Montenegro (Црна Гора): Budva, Kotor (17 Jul. 2013)

Montenegro 在這次行程當中其實只有半天，但很明顯可看出這裡比阿爾巴尼亞還要進步多很多。Montenegro這國名源自於義大利文，monte 是義大利文中山的意思，而 negro 是義大利文中黑色的意思，顧名思義當年人們看到這國土時的第一印象就是黑色的山之意。

Although the trip in Montenegro had only half a day this time, it's still obvious that it's more and more in progress than Albania. The name of Montenegro comes from Italian. "Monte" means mountain, and "negro" means black. As the name implies the first impressions of the people here is the mountains in black.

意外到巴爾幹半島 A chance to Balkan

才從德國回來沒多久，就又意外地有機會在開學前到巴爾幹半島地區玩。但這次是跟我爸媽跟團，而不是自助旅行。跟德國相比，我對於巴爾幹半島的歷史真的是完全不了解。跟團的好處就是吃、住、交通,,,等等都不需要擔心，然而對於旅程當中的所見所聞印象就很難比自助旅行深刻，所以這次我還是會盡量像上次去德國一樣盡可能將各地的風情記錄下來。希望我這次在巴爾幹半島的旅程會很棒!!

Just came back home from Germany, and I got a chance to go to Balkan before the semester starts. But this time, I go with my parents with group instead of traveling in solo. Different from Germany, I know few of histories of Balkan. The good part of traveling with group is that I don't have to worry about accommodations, traffics, eating, ...etc.; however, I don't have enough impressions about all the stuffs during my journey. Anyway, I will still try to record things as many as I can so that I may remember more things about Balkan. Hope my journey in Balkan will be great!

旅行之後 After the Journey

註明：以下言論純屬個人意見。

NOTE: The following comments are purely personal opinions.

        經過了44天的長途旅行(包含飛程)，終於完成了我從高中以來的夢想：到德國旅行。小時候，不知為何就總是對歐洲帶著某種夢幻的想法，像是英國、法國、西班牙...，當然，還有特別有感情的德國。原因是高一時，因緣際會之下選擇了德文作為第二外語來學習，從那時起，就與德國結下了不解之緣。然而，課程結束沒多久後早已忘得一乾二淨。上了大學後，由於忙於雙主修課業，無法挪出多餘時間學習德文，直到畢業前一個學期才終於又重新學習了半年的德文。如今，計畫回到學校後能在專業領域努力之餘將德文學好。或許，只是或許，下次到德國就是念書而不再只是旅遊了。經過這次的旅行，讓我更有動力未來到國外進修，尤其是德國。

        After a 44-day-long journey included the flight, I finally finished the dream I have since I was in high school: Travel in Germany. When I was young, didn't know why I just had some special feelings with fantasy about Europe, like England, France, Spain, and of course Germany, the most special one for me. The season is that the first year in senior high, incidentally I chose German as a second foreign language, and I have bounded up with Germany since then. However, I already forgot almost everything about German soon after the class ended. In college, I didn't have much time leaning German because of the tough work in my double major until the last semester before I graduated, I started to learn it, again, diligently. For now, I'm going back to school for my master degree something about engineering, and I plan to spare some time to learn German better. Maybe, just maybe, next time I go to Germany is to study abroad instead of just traveling. After the traveling this time, I have much motivation to study abroad, especially Germany.

Weimar (10 May 2013)

Finally, my last stop in this long trip, Weimar.

Weimar is a city with strong dramas, if you want to know more about some great writers like Geothe and Schiller, you should be here! And if you want to know the great musician Liszt, then you should, too!! Since I'm not a man with a lot of interests in literature........ so..... I don't really familiar with Geothe and Schiller very much, actually. I only know Geothe created "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" and Schiller...I don't know... that's it!! Sorry about that......@@  Oh! There's another famous thing is Bauhaus. It's something about modern art, and it has already founded its own museum and a school!!

Anyway, in a view as a bystander, Weimar is a nice place for people who has interests in arts or literature.

Weimar Hbf

in front of main station

Leipzig (09 May 2013)

In Leipzig, I felt more musical than Dresden. Here I visited so many musicians' museum, like Bach, Meldelssohn, and Schumann. When I got there, I realized after I asked the reception of the hostel that 09 May is a Father's Day in Germany, and they got a holiday this day!!!! So,... most of the stores were closed, and fortunately the museums were still opened. Since I had enough about the history about Germany, I only visited the museum related to musicians and others unrelated to histories or paintings. Btw, the weather this day was very unstable, rainy this moment and sunny later, and so on. So... good! It was a nice day to stay in museum!

Dresden (08 May 2013)

Dresden, a beautiful city located in east Germany. Although the center of the city can not be compared with Berlin, it still need at least 2 days to visit the whole center of the city, unfortunately I didn't. Since it need about 2 hours from Berlin by EC to get here, it was already 11 when I hot here. There's an interesting thing was that the hotel I lived let me check in at 11 without any question!!! So... great!! I went to visiting the city without worrying about my luggage right away~~~ Basically, Dresden has two part, old city area and new city area, and I started from the old one which is also the main one.

Dresden Hbf, also very large!

Potsdam (07 May 2013)

Taking S-Bahn only less than 40 minutes to get Potsdam from Berlin Hbf. In Potsdam, the most famous attraction is Schloss Sanssouci. If you come here to visit by yourself, you can feel "sonssouci" truly. "Sanssouci" is Franch, which means "without worries". It was built in 1745~1747 by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. It's a building with Rococo style. In Park Sanssouci, there are so many other palaces to see, so if you come, you can spend a whole day here in this park.

Potsdam Hbf

In front of the station, you'll see these buses stopping by here.

Berlin (05~07 May 2013)

It won't take too long from Hamburg and Berlin by ICE, so I got Berlin before noon and started my journey in Berlin city right away!

Berlin is a really big city that I couldn't visit all the places I wanted to go, but I still maximized my limit to go around as more as possible......@@ Basically, you can separate it into three parts, Unten den Linden and Museumsinsel, Potsdamer Platz, and Kurfürstendamm. Since Kurfürstendamm is a shopping area and I've already bought most of the things I want, so... I decided to go there only if I had more time.

Oh! I found that in Berlin I've heard English more than German!!!! I didn't why but there were so~~~~ many people speaking English. And most of all, people in Berlin can speak excellent English I've ever heard in Germany.

Berlin: Museumsinsel (06 May 2013)

In Berlin, there's an island full of museums, Museumsinsel. The time was limited and it was Monday, so I only visited two museums. This time, I found I started to like some museums of histories or arts. After this day, I thought maybe I should go to National Palace Museum in Taipei someday, and probably I'll feel something different.

In Museumsinsel, there were too many museums that you can buy a 3-day ticket and spend enough time just right here. Unfortunately, I had only one day to visit the museums......

Hamburg (02~05 May 2013)

Hamburg is the biggest harbor city in Germany. It's a lively city in North Germany, here you can stay for about a week and won't be boring at all! In the morning, you can visit some attractions and museums; while at night, you can go to see a opera or musical, or if you don't mind, you should go to the red light district here and don't be shy.

Hamburg Hbf

Lübeck + Lüneburg (04 May 2013)

Lübeck, a small town not far from Hamburg, is worth visiting if you have enough time.
This day, I decided to walk slowly and had a leisure day.

Lübeck Hbf

Speicherstadt: Miniatur Wunderland (04 May 2013)

A famous tourist attration is the Speicherstadt. You may see many museums on this island, for instance, Hamburg Dungeon, Miniatur Wunderland, ... Sorry but I didn't have the courage to go to the dungeon because it's a ......... scary paradise in there, so I only went to visit the Miniatur Wunderland.

In Miniatur Wunderland, you'll see enormous models of everything you can imagine!!!! The airport, the trains, the view of many cities, the hostory of Germany,... You can stay there for more than 2~3 hours and you didn't even notice it!!

Speicherstadt

Bremen (02 May 2013)

Bremen, my last stop about Brothers Grimm, the hometown of the story Bremer Stadtmusikanten.
Although I didn't remember exactly the story about Bremer Stadtmusikanten, I still like this city anyway.
Unfortunately, I underestimated the size of this city, I which I could stay for more time...
Here, I started to see the architecture of northern Germany, which is totally different from the southern.

inside the Bremen Hbf

Hannover (28 Apr. ~ 01 May 2013)

The weather in Hannover was much much better than few days before. Actually, I lived here but I didn't took much time visiting this city, because there's so much other small towns nearby I wanted to go, like Hameln, Wolfsburg, Celle, and Goslar.

the logo of VW was very clear near the Hannover Hbf

Celle (01 May 2013)

Suddenly, my journey has already been 1 month!!!

Celle, a small but beautiful town. Here you can view at least two things, the style of the buildings here and the gardens in this town, at least I think so. Although maybe you've already seen enough buildings of German style, you can still come here to see something special here if your journey has some more time.

Celle Hbf

in front of the train station

Goslar & Hahnenklee (30 Apr. 2013)

Every year at night on Apr. 30 across to May 01, there's an activity called the Witches Night, and there's a story about it. In ancient time on Apr. 30, the witches in mountain Harz will celebrate the end of the Winter and welcome the Spring to come with some devils. Until now, the celebration has become a happy ceremony and has been a kind of spreading happiness. And that's why I chose this day to come~! The night of course!

In this city, you'll see most of the houses were built before 1850, so it's a kind of special attraction of this city, so... enjoy!

The Goslar Bahnhof was small but look nice.

Hameln (30 Apr. 2013)

Hameln, the hometown of Grimms' Fairy Tales "Pied Piper of Hamelin". It's a very small town and you can take just 2~3 hours to finish the tour. I recommend you to come in the morning after 10 o'clock, and then you can visit the town with a very slow tempo. Here, you can see rats everywhere... not the real one of course! And many of the signs were very interesting, too!

Hameln Hbf

Wolfsburg: die Autostadt (29 Apr. 2013)

On 29 Apr. 2013, it was a car city day! When you take off the train at Wolfsburg, you'll see the factory just in front of you. It's telling you that you're in Wolfsburg, die Autostadt.
As the name said, it's a city of cars. Here, you can spend all day long in the museum because the museum is... almost the entire city I think! Although it might be too overstated but the museum is really big!!!
The best part of the museum is that there were a lot of interactions much much more than other car museums, and they have more exhibition cars that you can touch and sit into it. Oh! I really like the buildings here, and you can see the views here were just like the 2010 International Flora Expo in Taipei.

die Autostadt

You'll see the factory which has four chimneys when you're at Wolfsburg Hbf.

Göttingen (28 Apr. 2013)

Göttingen, a nice small but cute town in Germany. Walking along the streets, I felt comfortable just like I was part of the city.

Göttingen Hbf

Kassel (27 Apr. 2013)

Took off the train, I stunned. The temperature was quite low I believed! I checked it and it was true......only about 5 degree Celsius..... The weather in Europe is really unstable...@@

Kassel Hbf, the decoration was quite interesting.

Uh....I don't know why there's a statue which a man walking on it just in front of the station.

Marburg (27 Apr. 2013)

I found that every place related to the Brothers Grimm were all raining when I got there, even in Kassel later ...T^T My fairy tale trip was so..........Mmmmmm.....= =|||

The downtown is a little bit away from the train station, so you have to walk for about 15 mins to get there. Unfortunately, the station didn't have the luggage room!!!!! Are you kidding???? I was thinking, "It was raining...", "Do I have to bear my 15kg backbag(or even more) to walk through the mountain town in such a bad weather?", "Can't I just leave and go to Kassel?",...... blablalba, many thoughts emerged into my mind. In the end, I still visited the town with my BIG backbag......

Marburg Bahnhof

Frankfurt (24~26 Apr. 2013)

Frankfurt is a big city in Germany, and many centers of economic company are located here, so you can see the tempo here is faster than many other cities in Germany.

Frankfurt Hbf

Hanau & Steinau (26 Apr. 2013)

Hanau and Steinau were both a place not far from Frankfurt, it would be nice to visit if you have interest in The Brothers Grimm.

Unfortunately, the time I chose and the weather were both bad this day. I found Hanau was under construction everywhere near the tourist attractions when I got there, and the weather was raining all day long included Frankfurt. In the end, I only took some pictures in front of the Hanau and left right away heading to Steinau.

Trier (24 Apr. 2013)

The weather was great in Trier. It's a city at the boundary of Southwest Germany. Since the location is a little bit far from the main city of Germany, not many foreign visitors come here. However, it's still a nice city to go if you have time. Here, you can see some remains of Rome, like 

Trier Hbf

Porta Nigra, which you'll see walking along with the road straight ahead from Hbf

Luxembourg (23 Apr. 2013)

I left Paris before 9 and got Luxembourg at 11, which was very fast for me.

Luxembourg was smaller than I thought!!!This city, or I could even say the entire country is very small, which the land area has only 2586 km^2 and has only about 500 thousands people citizens!!!!
There's an interesting part is that they can speak three languages in such a small country because of the historic reason!!!! Luxembourgish, French, and German. Cool isn't it!? So visiting in here, you'll here at least four kinds of languages at the same time!! (including English for many tourists of course)

Luxembourg Hbf

the hostel I lived

the interesting part is that there's a table tennis table in front of the entry...XDDD

my room

the view from my room

Soon, I started my walking trip in such a little city, which only took me about 3 hours......

Pétrusse Valley

there were few people on most of the streets

but in this street, also the shopping road in Luxembourg because there were many famous brands stores.

in Luxembourg, you can see most of the motorcycles are the kind like this........

and..........this.

walking on the Pont Adolphe, a famous bridge in Luxembourg.

under the bridge

Pont Adolphe

the stream in the valley was very small, just like this......

I like the way walls are.

Where was it heading to?

It's an art gallery and also the elevator up and down next to the  valley so that you won't have to climb the steep slope.

Place d'Armes, a qsuare

Place Guillaume II, quite a lively square!!

Palais Grand Ducal

the stand guards

Musées de la Ville de Luxembourg, which was very boring for me...... I came out soon.

After all these places, I went to Casememates du Bock. The bock, is was the most famous tourist attraction in Luxembourg, was quite cold, dark, and very scary in some places, especially for only one person in it..............

I didn't know why these two ducks were here....watching the view..............

like this?

Casememates du Bock

I didn't know why the bock has to put such a strange and scary color here................
I ran out in the end....yes, "RAN"!!!

It was only 4 p.m. after the trip, I went back to hostel and took a rest until 8:45 p.m. since I wanted to see the night view here. The night this day had a soccer game, Bayern v.s. Barcelona. Every TV I saw in the bar or restaurant were all broadcasting the soccer game!!!!!! So crazy it was!!!! And...........I was part of them after all....XDDDD

Delicoius dinner with great game was totally perfect~~~!!!!!!

The dinner bier + main dish + dissert total was only 15.9 euros, so cheap~~~!!!!!

There were some stores still opened after 10 p.m.!!

Back to hostel, everyone, mostly German, in the bar in the hostel were all watching the game~!!

In the end, 4:0 Bayern won of course~~!! Haha~~~!!!

Luxembourg, and old country but also nice for visiting for 1/2~1 day.