Sunday, June 7, 2009

Europe Here I Come Part 2

BAH - FRA

The next leg of our journey was from Manama, Bahrain to Frankfurt Germany. Since we were sent early to the airport, we had to spend more time at the Manama Airport which was a busy airport compared to our KLIA. By the time we boarded the plane it was already past 1 AM local time. This time it was a Gulf Air using the Airbus 340 wide bodied plane with 2 seats on the window side and four seats in a row configuration meaning. This configuration is good in that you have to cross only one seat to get out to the rest room which we need to do from time to time.
The seat configuration in the Airbus 340.

After we had settled in our seats we tried to get some shut eye. The selection of in flight movies and the poor audio/video equipment was a disappointment in the Airbus 340 compared to what was available on the Boeing 777. We looked with envy at the people in the back portion of the plane who had the luxury of sleeping horizontally in a row of four seats in the same economy class as the plane was not flying a full load.
Without much things to do as there was nothing to see out of the windows, trying to sleep was a quite a trial.
When day break came, this is all we could see from outside of our window.I posted the same picture of the wing tip in my eqarlier post which was of the Airbus 340 and not the Boeing 777.
How I wished I had been allocated the other side of the window as I could glimpse the sunrise and would be great to shoot the sunrise from it.
The only thing worth doing during that flight was watching the flight path on the main screen as there was not much visibility on our individual screen. That goes to show how old the plane is.
The big screen showing the flight path of the plane.
When we reached Frankfurt airport, a bus was waiting for us. It was a new bus and very comfortable for our group of 32. The bus was driven by a very friendly driver by the name of Eddy.

This is the bus that will take us around most of Europe. Here the males in the group posed for a photograph. The rest of the group were females.
Since we were not touring Frankfurt, we requested for a stop somewhere in Frankfurt to see a section of the city. The tour leader had chosen Romer as the place for us to visit. Romer is an old part of the city and we were impressed with the old buildings found in the area. Here are some of the faces of Romer, Frankfurt.

A tram is widely used as mass rapid transit system

Me and my other half posed beside a statue in Romer.

After an hour in Romer we moved on to Metzingen also in the Frankfurt area which is famous as a Factory outlet in Germany. Many famous brands such as Hugo Boss, Nike, Puma etc are available. Since the same products are available in Malaysia at a much cheaper rate, many of us didn't find this factory outlets of any interest. I used the time allotted to visit the factory to walk around the town and was rewarded with many sight of beautiful buildings and things of interest. These are some of them.

On the way to Metzingen we stopped at a provision store to buy things for our use while in Europe. The store was named Norma a familiar female name in Malaysia.

After two hours of ride in the bus the driver had to stop to rest and let our group do the toilet and those cigarette smokers to have their fix. The above stop charge us 50 Euro cents for the use of their toilet. 50 Euro cents is equivalent to RM2.30 quite a price in ringgit terms to pay just to pee.


This is the price of a burger at the outlet. Multiply that by RM4.60 a Euro.

Adult magazines are openly sold at such outlets. They were placed on the higher shelves to avoid underage children from having access to them.

It was the holiday season and many people in Europe took their holiday homes out. This guy is one of them.
When we reached Metzingen, we were given time to shop around at the factory outlets. We were told to shop till we drop.

The Hugo Boss outlet.

This taxi was driven by a female.

This is a street scene in Metzingen.


An old wooden building still standing. It was formerly a winery.

Another old building with lots of wood used.

Most bikers we saw in Europe were properly dressed when riding on their big bike. I spotted this one in the town.

A lorry laden with logs. The way they maintain their forests, I am sure we will lose our own long before them.

We saw this little baby helping her mum collect firewood for winter. We asked her mum for permission to take a photograph of her. See how cute she is.

Joshua was using this Euro 8,000 tricycle to promote a newly opened cafe in town. Joshua took a spin to demonstrate the use of the bike.
Tuan Haji Fuad and wife Puan Zulaikha admiring the bike. If anyone could afford to buy it, it must be him.

A beautifully decorated corner of a street.

Another beautiful feature of the town is the clear stream gushing through the middle of the town.

Finally we were taken to our hotel in the vicinity of the airport in Stuttgard.

The hotel in the daytime.

This is already 9.30 PM local time and the area is still looks very bright.

The hotel was built on a farm. The area in front of the hotel and behind it were still cultivated with vegetables.
Everything in Europe seems to be interesting to look at. There is so much to see and savour. Now I am beginning to wonder how on earth I am going to post the many photographs that I have taken. Making the choice is beginning to give me a headache as what I find interesting may not be interesting enough for others.
Then there is also the videos to view.

30 comments:

Unknown said...

Try get a copy of that Mag for Ole-ole..hehe..
Wow!!!once again you must had a great time there..apa lagi camera tu..muat kah CF Card:)

Unknown said...

Do they have budu there? Er about the magezine, any way you could smuggle over a few hundred editions?

secret lover said...

hehe.
so hilarious comment2 di atas regarding those adult magazine! ;p

Unknown said...

...and i thought married people need no such thing as 'adult magazines' hahaha :D
kidding kidding :P
that huge bike is a perfect combination with that perfect dress. there was a scene i happened to encounter sometimes before a pak haji naik such bike wearing sarung and pagoda shirt. nothing wrong really. in fact, it's kinda cool. but i've put that one on my 'weird encounter' list hehehehe :D

Pak Zawi said...

Awang,
Wanted to buy a copy of Penthouse but can't understand the language, so had to abort the idea of buying one.
I brought along my notebook, 160 GB external HD and a spare 8 GB CF card. I guess more than enough space for a 2 weeks photo shoot.

Pak Zawi said...

Chegu,
I think budu is available in London.
By the way they check my luggage I could have easily brought in a few copies.

Pak Zawi said...

secret lover,
It was expected.

Pak Zawi said...

Akmal,
I guess Malaysian bikers don't care much about safety.
As you age, married people need more help hehehehe.

Unknown said...

Awie,

Phew.. syok nya dapat jalan-jalan di Europe.

If I were a little stronger I would have joined you.

I agree with Kata Tak Nak.. about the adult magazines. smuggle jangan tak smuggle... he he he.

How much are the magazines in M'sian ringgit?

~CovertOperations78~ said...

Woo hoo adult magazines, haa haa haa! I have some vintage ones... stuffed somewhere deep under my mattress ha ha ha! Abang Zawi, what a great trip this is turning out to be, except for the high prices everywhere la huh? Airbus A340 is one of the most fuel-efficient aircrafts. The best, if I remember correctly, is still the Airbus A380. Oh well, at least none of you are flying private jets like our Hollywood celebrities and then have the gall to appear on TV asking people to reduce their energy use to slow down global warming!

Don't you just love summer? Everything's so bright, and people can continue walking in the parks until 10p.m. My parents hated it though. Apparently it was too warm and the hotel rooms didn't come with air conditioners!

Cheerio and safe passage,
CO78

~CovertOperations78~ said...

Re Abang Zawi:

"Wanted to buy a copy of Penthouse but can't understand the language, so had to abort the idea of buying one."

But who on Earth buys those things to READ?!?!

AFJ said...

Pak Zawi, kami dah baca your blog. Jgn lupa cerite tentang incident kat Brussels Immigration! And also, my horrific P600/= shocker at Heathrow for baggage excess...hahahaha.

AFJ

mekyam said...

flicker 'em, pok wi! i mean the pix. then link the site to yr blog and allow us excess.

thank you for another very engaging travelog. makes us feel like we're there with you every bit of the way. already i'm looking forward to the next segment. :D

Pak Zawi said...

Azmy Omar,
Most magazines are about 9 Euros (RM40 over). Do't want to run foul of the law so I didn't buy any.

Pak Zawi said...

CO'78 (Ee Lynn),
The Airbus 340 is OK if they are new but since the one we were on were pretty old and we had the experience of flying in the newer Boeing 777 made us feel the difference. The A380 is of course a different ballgame altogether.
Just like Playboy, Penthouse sometimes do have great articles to read. Anyway who needs to buy these magazine if just the pictures that you want? Most of the pictures are available on the net. Just ask around where to download them from and soon you will tire of them.
I did a walk in Hyde Park at 6 AM later in London and also in the evening at 7 PM. At both times the park were still bathed in daylight. Many people used the extra daylight hours to exercise.

Pak Zawi said...

AFJ,
After we were allowed to carry 30 kg each you still managed to carry an excess baggage of 15 kg? At P40 per kg that is the excess that I could assume that you carried. You must have bought a lot. No wonder you bought an extra suitcase in London. Yet you can still afford to laugh. I would have cried.
Don't worry I will tell the story of the incident at Brussels hehehehe.

Pak Zawi said...

Mekyam,
Your request for me to flickr the pictures will be done in due course. There are too many pictures to share and it will be worth sharing.
Thanks to your encouragement, it really spurs me on.
The kain batik lepas has clearly had it's impact on the recipients. One of the recipent was Awang Goneng. Let us hope that he will blog about the 101 uses of kain batik barat as they call it in Trengganu.

xplorer said...

i was tempted to comment on the magazine also.Tak beli ke satu dua utk kenang-kenangan.
"Wanted to buy a copy of Penthouse but can't understand the language, so had to abort the idea of buying one."
Tak paham bahasa tak penting , yang penting gambar saja , ha ha.nampak mcm syok je trip ni

Pak Zawi said...

xplorer,
Confirm tak beli. Nyesal gak rasanya hehehehe. Tul gak bab a picture tells a thousand words. Who needs to read kan?

Kama At-Tarawis said...

WOOOOO!! tersedok mok aji tengok gamba hok tok paka baju tu... hehehehe..

Sure looks like you are having one whale of a good time Pok Zawi weh!! Keep it up.. I cant want to read what's next..

Kama At-Tarawis said...

* ooppss. I can't wait...
TU la Pok Zawi, sampai tersasul kawan type.. LOL

Pak Zawi said...

Kama,
It was a common sight on most magazine shelves in Europe. If it was deemed fit to be so publicly displayed there I guess there is no harm for it here too hehehehehe. Frankly I did took a peek inside it and they are quite artistic and harmless. The real things are easily available in some of the streets of Paris, Amsterdam and London.
No problem la pasal tersasul tu bab dengan gitu pun kita faham.

Anonymous said...

hi zawi...

thanks for the travel blogg... i have been to europe twice but have not written anything on my travels... looking forward to reading more... adult magazines are so dull now considering our age... hehehe... i would always prefer boeings to airbus anytime (whether new or old)... have travel in all the boeing and airbus series except the 380...keep your write-ups coming...

vt-chia

Pak Zawi said...

vt-chia,
You are right about the adult magazines, it's not for people of our age anymore but knowing that it will elicit comments from readers, I had to put it in to spice things up a bit. Wait for another bomb from me in the next post.
I find more freedom to write about my travels in blogs than in VT and that is why I find more zeal to do it here.VT is too restrictive in terms of space. Here I can write to my hearts content. I think you should try blogging about your travels and more people will appreciate reading it. You can count on me to be one of your readers.

Anonymous said...

salam pak zawi

incident at brussels immigration..do u manage 2 keep ur items?

Janna Wan Muhammad said...

owh pok zawi..can't wait to read more ! alamak..those photos pasal adult mag patut keno censor laa...hehehe....glad to hear that u're enjoying urselves!

Pak Zawi said...

Anonymous,
The Belgium police confiscated them. Wait for the post on it and I will tell you all about it.

Pak Zawi said...

Mr. and Mrs Mokhsin,
That was mild compared to the next one that I am going to post.
Yes we enjoyed the trip to Europe immensely.

Kamil said...

Hai, i'm Kamil. Its actually Metzingen. It used to be my kampung for 5 years until i graduated 2 years ago.....A really great place to shop.

Pak Zawi said...

Kamil,
Thanks for the correction, I have made the necessary amendments. I must have heard it wrongly and when I checked the itinerary again, I realized I made the mistake.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed your visit to my blogsite.
You must have loads of memories about Germany, why not blog about it? I for one will be too happy to read about it.