Holland (Amsterdam)

first thing we did there was we sat the canal cruise.yet another boring boat ride.this boat ride is even more boring compared to the one in Paris.all you see is canals and boathouses,some of which is pretty nice.luckily for us,the captain of the cruise is a funny guy,trying to speak mandarin to us.





i just realise,i didn't get any pictures of a nice boathouse.i got one which is quite...dull.

after the not so exciting boat ride,we went to see diamonds.yup...we went to a diamond factory called Gassan.we manage to see how they sort of shape the diamond to become so sparkly.in fact why diamonds like sparkles is because of the cutting.the more cuts it has,the more it sparkles.
this is the new diamond...which is the most sparkling of all.



a Gassan worker showing us the different types of diamonds.


after that we went to the....erm...red light area.
then we were on our own.
that's me and my brother pointing to the place we were and my other pointing don't know where.





going to holland for a holiday wouldn't be complete without visitng the clog and cheese factory.so the next day,we were brought to the factory to see how they make cheese and clog shoes.


the cheese part was boring.they only talk and talk which by now i can hardly remember what they said.as for the clog shoe...now that was fun.they really showed us how they shape the shoe and all.one of the uncles even got one side of the unfinish shoe as a souvenir for helping to saw the wood.the unfinish looks like a wooden trophy to me which,by the way,looks quite cool.{oh yeah...the wood they used ,if i'm not mistaken,comes from a tree called poplar tree(not sure about the spelling)}
all those things behind on the shelves are the unfinish clog shoes.



we also had to go and see a windmill while we're in Holland.so,again we were dropped off at a place i don't know where to take pictures of the windmill.according to the tour guide,it is very hard to see a moving windmill these days.of all her years as a Europe tour guide,she only manage to see a few times.but...i guess lady luck was on our side that day,we manage to see a moving windmill TWICE when we were in the bus.




then we made our way to a village in Volendam.it's more like a fishing village.




since it's a fishing village,our lunch was fish & chips.the food there was quite
yummy and,as expected,everything was huge.


the shop we ate at: DE KOE


next stop: Brussels,Belgium.

Germany

Germany wasn't really as nice as Switzerland or Paris.
rape seed flowers at the Switzerland-Germany border.very yellow isn't it?other pictures somewhere at the border.




this is taken when we were heading towards the Black Forest.



upon arriving(at Titisee),we were brought straight to the restaurant to eat....pork knuckles.


lucky for me i decided to change mine to fish because the pork knuckles wasn't really that nice.it's really hard and it smells really...porky.my poor second brother had a really hard time finishing it.fortunately,the free flow of fries was super delicious.appetiser:God knows what soup(taste more like the maggi mee soup).desert was Black Forest cake (of course).




after lunch,we went to see how they make cuckoo clocks.


some of the clocks are very cute and funny.there's one,instead of the cuckoo bird coming out,theres the wife beating the husbands head with a stick.another one even have water,like a small waterfall.so cool


the old fashion cuckoo clock.

surrounded by cuckoo clocks.


Titisee.



Black Forest.



with our super funny tour leader Cindy.


next,we went to Heidelberg.
along the streets at Heidelberg.




can you see that this monkey is holding something??well,it's actually holding a mirror to tell people to look or reflect yourself first before you look down on others...something like that.

the old castle...forgotten who stayed there already.sorry :(


this is the cheapest ice cream you can get in Europe.its cheap and YUMMY!!!


our hotel: Holiday Inn at Frankfurt.yet another hotel situated at a ulu place.can't believe all our hotels are situated way out of town.


sunset at Frankfurt.


bye bye Germany.

next stop:.....




you guessed it!!! :)