The Giant’s Causeway is a formation of basalt columns in Northern Ireland and Scotland due to an ancient volcano eruption. Most of the columns are hexagonal but can vary in shape, and for me, it was one of the most amazing natural sights that I’ve seen. The journey north was smooth except for a few sheep blocking our way.
little guy watching you
I did not take many pictures of Bratislava mainly because it was so freakin’ cold! After walking around for three hours, our noses were running and red like Rudolph’s, our fingers numb and our ears hurt from the wind cutting through our woolen hats. Our feet refused to walk any further and we sought shelter in a restaurant for warm food and drinks.
We continued our journey to Vienna, those two cities being the two closest (in location) European capitals, being a mere 55km apart.
It was a 15-hour train ride to Budapest, leaving at midnight and arriving at 3pm. I took three different trains at night but none of them were night trains with sleeping cars, but regular express trains with normal seats. I had to change trains in Stuttgart with some transfer time (1.30am – 5am…). It was freezing cold inside the station’s main hall, there was only one tiny café open that was already bursting (not even the McDonald’s was open) so I sat on a bench in front of a closed restaurant and tried to sleep. My nap was abruptly interrupted when the cleaning ladies shooed me away at around 4am to wipe the floor (low-point of the trip right there). At least the train ticket was crazy cheap…
Shoes on the Danube Bank, a war memorial to honor the Jews killed during the Nazi Regimes. They were ordered to take off their shoes before they were shot, so their bodies fell into the Danube river and their shoes remained on the river banks.
I fell in love with this little fella above in the Shanghai Natural Wild Insect Kingdom. He is not an insect, the zoo also shows great numbers of reptiles and amphibians. He is unfortunately endangered like many other turtle species and has an all golden shell and friendly smile.
