In the afternoon we took an excursion to Zaanse Schans, Volendam, and Marken. Of course, windmill is Holland's trademark. No visit is completed without visiting the windmills village at Zaanse Schans. We also got the chance to see how wooden shoes (I don't know what is it called) and cheese were made. Another extraordinary feature was when we took a boat to cross the biggest man-made lake in the world. It stretched 35 km long and wide enough to make 6-lane highway. All these were covered during the excursion.

Germany was the first country that really impressed me with its sceneries and historical buildings. We arrived at Berlin Zoo station early in the morning. It was formerly known as a "Ghost Station", where East German border guards once patrolled deserted platforms. The first thing we did was joining the Berlin Walk excursion. It was well worth it. Yes, the weather at that time was sizzling hot and we were walking all the way. But the excursion brought us to historical places like the site where the Nazis burnt 20 000 books; where Hitler's bunker really was and walked down the former "deathstrip" where people used ingenuity to escape, successful or failed. Other sites were like the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, TV Tower, Checkpoint Charlie and the remains of the Berlin Wall. I would recommend you to bring a Berlin map before taking this excursion. This is because after the excursion was over, we were not taken back to the starting point but were free to wander off in our own direction.

Later in the afternoon we went to the Parliament Building or Reichstag. The entrance is Free and do expect quite a long queue. The building is in glass dome shape and has a very intriguing design.

The journey to Munchen/Munich took the whole night. We covered only a small part of the city since our aim was going to Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen (too bad we didn't have time to cover places like the Olympic Villa and the BMW museum). We arrived at Fussen in 2 hours?time. Fussen had a marvelous view that we would never forget especially near the castle (mountains, lakes, river and waterfall). The Neuschwanstein Castle is the castle that had inspired Mr. Walt Disney on how the Disneyland castle would look like.

While we were in Austria border, we went to Wien/Vienna and Salzburg. We tried to cover both cities within one day, thus it didn�t leave much time for us to explore fully. Most of the tourist spots were closely situated. You can visit the UN City, Heldenplatz, Rathaus and the Parliament. Salzburg was the location of the famous movie, Sounds of Music. It was indeed as beautiful as what you would have seen in the movie. The environment was very tranquil with fresh air from the nearby mountains. Explore places like Hohensalzburg Fortress, Mozart Sq., and Getreidegasse. Two of the recommended excursions would be The Sound of Music tour and Salt-Mine Tour.