Dresden, Germany

Dresden is a beautiful city in eastern Germany which is so underrated! I'd recommend you to spend 2 full days in Dresden (a day trip from Berlin simply doesn't do it justice!) And stay in the Altstadt (old town). The Altstadt has much more to offer than the Neustadt (new town). The Altstadt is where the main attractions, museums and churches are located. It is also nearer to Dresden Hauptbahnhof (main train station). The Neustadt is further from the main attractions and is where the pubs and nightlife are located. I do not like the Neustadt as much as it is not as organized as the Altstadt.

Dresden Altstadt

I stayed at Motel One am Zwinger (which I recommend) when I was in Dresden. Just across the hotel is the hidden gem: the Zwinger, a beautiful baroque palace! And what is even better? Admission to the palace is free! No prize in guessing where I visit everyday. The Zwinger is converted to museums. Admission fee applies if you would like to visit the museums. The museum houses one of Raphael’s famous artpiece, Sistine Madonna. Go for it if you are an art lover.

Zwinger

Exit the Zwinger from the other side and continue walking and you will reach the Semperoper.

Walk along Brühl’s Terrace during sunset. Cranes can be spotted easily in Dresden as the city is undergoing restoration. The Augustus Bridge connects the Aldstadt (old town) to the Neustadt (new town).

If you walk across the bridge to the Neustadt, you can take a photo of the Altstadt and the Elbe river.

Sunset view along Elbe river

I would also recommend you to visit the Frauenkirche. Admission is free. The Frauenkirche might look plain on the exterior. Once you enter it, it exudes an aura of elegance and sacredness.  I would strongly recommend visitors to pay to go to the top of the church for the marvelous view of Dresden.

 Frauenkirche 

Interior of Frauenkirche

It was “eat with everyone day” at Dresden. It’s a potluck event which happens once a year and everyone is invited to eat with anyone at the event. The following photo was taken from the 67m high viewing platform at Frauenkirche.

Shopping at Dresden: The Altmarkt Galerie and the shopping street at Dresden Altstadt have almost everything we need. The Altmarkt Galerie also offers tourist tax refund on the spot.

Dresden Neustadt and outskirt

After spending 1 full day at the Altstadt, I spent the next day in the Neustadt and in Saxon Switzerland National Park.

Half day trip from Dresden to Saxon Switzerland National Park. 

Tip: Bring along water and some snacks for this trip.

Buy 1 day Dresden 3 zones ticket at 13.50 Eur. (So expensive! In comparison, 3 zones ticket in Hamburg cost 6.40 Eur. If I am a resident at Dresden, I'd complain to the transport minister. ) 

Anway, take S1 from Dresden Hauptbahnhof (~30min) to Kurort Rathan. The train sets off every hour.

Kurort Rathan

Exit from Kurort Rathan station and walk towards the river. Buy return ferry tickets at 2 Eur.

Take the ferry to cross the river.

Walk along the beautiful town in the direction of Bastei.

To get to Bastei, it is a non-stop upwards climb for about 0.5h.

And so I climbed…

And climbed

2 Eur entry fee to take photos of Bastei bridge and surroundings

Finally, I reached the Bastei bridge after 40min of climbing. By now, my stomach has been growling. Food at the Bastei bridge was rather expensive. Since I brought my own food, it is time to take a break and have a bite before descending and returning to Dresden.

Bastei bridge

beautiful rock formations

Since I have purchased the 1 day pass, I made use of it to visit Dresden Neustadt. The train S1 also stops at Dresden Neustadt.

Kunsthofpassage at Neustadt (new town). It has very interesting design. When it rains, the rainwater flows through the pipes and creates sounds.

Tip: You can take flix bus from the bus stop outside Dresden Hauptbahnhof to do a day trip to Prague.

10 tips on travelling in Germany

Cheap airline tickets
I usually book my tickets in advance with Lufthansa/Swiss Air. They have offers for open-jaw round trips between Singapore and Europe at around SGD800. These include meals, 23kg checked in baggage allowance and 7kg carryon baggage allowance.

Where to stay?
For hotels, I would recommend Motel One which has several chains throughout Germany. If you are looking for something even more affordable, B&B is good as well. Wombats hostels in Germany are clean and very popular.

Good walking shoes
Besides uneven cobblestones, broken pieces of glass can be found anywhere on the streets of Germany. Expect lots of walking and climbing of stairs. Good walking shoes (preferably covered) are recommended and practical. No German would be seen with flip flops on the streets in Germany.

Buying train tickets

You can buy train tickets online from Deutsche Bahn website or from the ticketing machine. Usually, you get a discount for purchasing train tickets in advance. The ticketing machine generally do not accept big notes like 50 Eur. Remember to validate your ticket before boarding.

Train seat reservation

Long distance trains like Intercity Express (ICE), Intercity (IC) and Eurocity (EC) allow you to make seat reservation at around 4.50 Eur. Is it necessary? Nope. You can save money if you know which seats are not reserved. In the photo below, the window seat is reserved from Hamburg to Berlin while the aisle seat is available. If a seat is reserved from B to C and you are travelling from A to B, you can still sit down at that seat. Of course, that requires you to know the train route well enough.

Do I really need to buy a ticket? They don’t check anyway!

Yes! You wouldn’t want to be caught as a Schwarzfahrer (a person without ticket). It is good to plan your itinerary and purchase a day ticket on days that you would be doing lots of travelling within the city. You never know when you would get checked. I had a day ticket in Berlin and was taking S and U Bahns like nobody business and never got checked. However, I was checked shortly boarding the train in Hamburg.

The guys in the photo did not have the correct ticket and were each fined 20 Eur. If they did not have a ticket, they would each be fined 60 Eur. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Toilets

Generally, you need to pay 0.50 Eur to use the toilet. You can save money by using the toilet at the restaurants which you dined in, at the museums which you visit or on the trains. Note: you would need to pay to use the toilets at the train stations, but not the ones on the train.

In Europe, toilets are usually labelled as WC which stands for water closet. Ladies are also labelled as Damen while Gentlemen as Herren.

What to eat besides pork knuckles and German sausages?

You can try roast pork, Donerteller, and for Asian food fried duck with curry. Portion is huge by the way. If you have enough of meat, you can go for soup too. For authentic bayerisher cuisine, you can go to beer houses like Augustiner, Paulaner, Höfbrauhaus or Löwenbrau.

By default, water is sparkling. Order stilles Wasser if you don't want carbonated water.

Gelato and good quality ice cream can be purchased at 1 to 1.50 Eur per scoop. Get it in a cone.

Bayerischer Krustenbraten at Augustiner

Dönerteller 

Fried duck curry rice

Shopping

Generally, the same shops can be found in any city in Germany. Tourists can get VAT tax refund on items which cost at least 25 Eur. Bring your passport with you whenever you go shopping. In generally, plastic bags are chargeable. Hence, bring your own reusuable bag when you go shopping.

Besides chocolates (Ritter Sport) and sweets (Haribo), you can find lots of goodies at the supermarket. I like to buy wine at Rewe (a supermarket) and you can buy multivitamins at the drugstore (Rossman) at 0.40Eur. Compare that with the multivitamins from Watons which are also made in Germany.

At supermarkets, the cashiers do not pack the items for you. You would have the pack the items into the bags yourself. Make sure you pack the items fast enough as you would not want to be holding up the line.

Jay walking

There is no German equivalent of the word jay walking because the Germans do not jay walk. When in Germany, do as the Germans do. Do not jay walk.

Doris Home, Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

My first impression of Sun Moon Lake was that it was a boring place. You see, the first time I visited Sun Moon Lake was with a tour group and all we did was had lunch near the lake. We didn’t even take a ferry ride because our tour guide told us it was not safe.

I decided to give Sun Moon Lake a second chance after seeing the beautiful photos of the cycling trail at Sun Moon Lake.

To get to Sun Moon Lake from my homestay near Fengjia nightmarket, I took a taxi to Taichung Gancheng bus station 干城站 for NT $245. At the bus station, I purchased the one way bus ticket to Sun Moon Lake for NT$190.

Here is a photo of how the Gancheng bus station 干城站 looks like.

Below is the schedule of the Nantou bus that departs from Taichung Gancheng station to Sun Moon Lake. Note that it is better to board the bus at Gancheng station than Taichung Railway station because the bus departs from Gancheng station and one is more likely to find a seat then. The bus journey is from Gancheng station to Sun Moon Lake took around 2 hours.

I alighted in front of the fire station at Sun Moon Lake. From there, I turned left and it was a short walk to Doris Home, my homestay at Sun Moon Lake. It was really easy to get there. You simply follow the cats and the paw prints!

Doris Home

Doris Home is a cats' theme homestay. It housed a total of 5 cats when I was there. Cats lovers should definitely stay at Doris Home! The homestay was impeccably clean and modern, the owners were helpful and friendly(they checked with me if I have any food allergy before they prepared the breakfast) and everywhere was full of cats!

In fact, I got a shock as I entered the room as I thought there was a cat lying on the bed. 

Kitten room

In the afternoon, I rented a bike at NT$200 and cycled around Sun Moon Lake for around 2 hours. I took the path in lime green and did a U-turn when I reached the steep flight of stairs.

Thereafter, I took a ferry to Ita Thao at NT$100 and spent the late afternoon there. 

Taoyuan Airport to Taichung