Bibo European weekend road trips!

I can still remember the excitement for having my first trip abroad. It’s amazing and overwhelming to be given the opportunity to go Europe FREE! :) I am truly blessed by God with my career, company and my managers in Manila and Belgium.

63 days ago I took my first ever international flight to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport going to a connecting flight to Stuttgart, Germany then taking a cab from the airport to the Mercedes Capital of the world Boblingen Germany. This is my first time to be in freezing zero temperature and my first glance to Europe was cold, literally.

I was in Germany for 5 days to attend an important knowledge transfer session on a critical migration project for the account. I met very nice and remarkable people in this short trip including the owners Hotel Bohler and my HP implementation counterparts from Boblingen.

I explored the quiet and peaceful town of Boblingen on Saturday. On the other town Sindelfingen is the factory of Daimler Benz or we know as “Mercedes”. I went to Stuttgart square, shopping district, cathedral and Mercedes Benz Museum on Sunday. The palace is just very beautiful.

On my first Wednesday I took a 6 hour 477 km road trip from Boblingen to Stuttgart to Mannheim to Mainz to Cologne to Liege to Brussels Central to Kortrijk. This includes 3 bullet trains and 2 regular trains. All I can say is that the railway system of Europe is very organized, convenient and easy. I arrived in Kortrijk to meet my colleagues Leo, Greg, and Richelle to continue the onsite migration and support project.

I was in Belgium for 52 days 9 hours and 30 minutes and I enjoyed it a lot. I had 7 weekends to explore something around town and I achieved my 3 primary goals – Rome, Venice and Paris.

On my first weekend (03/9-10), Richelle and Leo went back to the Philippines. It was only me and Greg left. I went to Brussels, Belgium to meet my cousin who lives in the city to work. My cousin took me to a walk around town.

On my second weekend (03/19-20) is the actual migration project, on Saturday I went out to explore the city of Kortrijk, went to jog in cold weather and saw the windmills, got lost in Bellegem. In the evening and until Sunday it was all work and we had less sleep.

On my third weekend (03/26-27), Greg left for Manila and it was only me left. I met a friend during the work week from India and we explored Amsterdam, Netherlands during this weekend. We saw and climbed the “I am Amsterdam” monument, walked around town, Sex museum, Heineken Experience, Van Gogh museum, and Red light district, Oh yeah! On Sunday I dropped by the house of my cousin in Brussels and we explored the Atomium and Mini Europe in Heysel district.

On my fourth weekend (04/02-03), I went to Rome. I met a number of people due to my misfortunes. It was a good learning from me to turn out the bad luck and turn it into an interesting scenario. Saw the coliseum, old Rome, the forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, cathedrals, and the Vatican and Castelo de San Angelo on Sunday. The Linguini Carbonara @ Napoleonito’s Pantheon area is awesome and the best. I went around the country of Vatican and just relaxed my whole afternoon inside the Vatican to the fresh air and Panini. No I was not bored.

On my fifth weekend (04/09-10), I spent an awesome time in Disneyland Paris with my global manager and his daughter. We also had a tour around Paris France with the Notre Dame, Eifel tower, Louvre and Paris castle. I slept in their house in Lemorlaye-Chantilly, France. We took a guided tour in Stad de France on Sunday and I spent the afternoon in Lille France to continue my French encounters. Paris is my number one city to go to.

On my sixth weekend (04/16-17), went to Venice Italy. Island hopping, cathedral hopping and boat riding is quite fun. Also saw the famous San Marco Basilica and square. They don’t have train or taxi but they have boats. They have the most number of bridges! I also had to work from Venice at night which was memorable.

On my seventh weekend (04/22-25), I went to Maastricht to see a football game (MVV vs. Telstar) with my manager. Ate in a very good Italian restaurant in the town where they serve the best steak. At Sunday morning I went along with my manager to dog school. Sven’s dog Luka is having his second course in dog training and it was a disaster for Sven :) .
I then went to Brussels again to spend the rest of my holidays with my cousin. We had a tour around Brussels again and had home cooked meal for lunch and evening. It was awesome. I went to Antwerp zoo on Monday since it was a public Belgian holiday after Easter Sunday. This is the biggest zoo in Europe and I saw my ever evasive Giraffe and wonderful penguins. Thanks Antwerp zoo!

On my eighth weekend (04/30), I took my train trip from Kortrijk to Antwerp to Schiphol. Then I took the 12 and half hour flight back to Manila from Schiphol Airport on Queen’s day where most of the Dutch people is wearing Orange.

Overall I travelled on 6 countries in Europe: Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany and Vatican. I lived to tell the tale that best part of Belgium, Brussels – BEERS! I had 24 brands of beer from all over Europe and 3 best beers are Karmeliet, Duvel, and Omer. And oh, don’t drink Japanese beer. ;-) Cheers!

This is a summary of the road trips I had over the weekend for my Europe trip. I hope I can write all about each weekend and tell you. This is it for now. Till next time.

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