Europe pre-wedding trip - expenses summary

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 17 + 18 (Paris)

25/8/2013- 26/8/2013

Flight details 

1530 EK381 Paris to Dubai
0320 EK139 Dubai to Hong Kong

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @apartment
Place de la Bastille
Marche Bastille
Roissy bus @Opera
Paris
Dubai
Hong Kong

Did some online reserch and found that Marche Bastille opens on Thursday & Sunday only from 7a.m. to 2:30p.m. Even we slept at around 1a.m. after a serious wash up, (really hard to remove all those make-up and hair spray...) we still insisted to wake up early for Marche Bastille.

Planned to have breakfast in Marche Bastille, but seeing those leftover in our fridge, we made up our mind to cook them all instead. It was a rainy and chilly morning. We decided to walk all the way to Bastille from our apartment (20 minutes walk) but we found that we had made a wrong decision. Even we could take a look at all those interesting shops on the way, we couldn't stand with the cold weather. (I didn't even wear my jacket! Stupid me!) We saw a Starbucks and immediately got inside and bought a pastry and a cup of hot Mocha. (EUR6.5) Then we got pretty much warmer and continued with our long journey.

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 16 (Paris)

24/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Brunch @apartment
All day photo shooting

Here comes the most crucial moment of our trip- our big project. After finishing our home-made brunch, we still got some time for packing and writing postcards.

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 15 (Paris)

23/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @apartment
Sacre- Coeur Montmartre
St- Pierre de Montmartre 
Les jetaime 
Place des Abbesses 
Le Moulin Rouge  
Tea @Café des 2 Moulins 
Supermarket Franprix  
Dinner @apartment 

It was the most relaxing day of our trip as we were gonna have our pre-wedding photo shoot the next day. Didn't want to get too tired before that. Slept in and slowly we made our own breakfast and sandwiches to eat on the go. 
We took the metro to Chateau Rouge (2 tickets) and made our way to Sacre- Coeur. It was a bit far though, but still there were quite a lot to see on the way. Have heard stories of pick-pocketing and everyone reminded me to mind the gypsies and the blacks. We really saw lots of those from the metro station and we started to get panic. Maybe it's a bit weird with Chinese people like us heading there on our own, many of them seemed to have curiosities from their eyes. We broke into a trot and rushed all the way until we thought we were safe. 

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 14 (Paris)

22/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @apartment
Notre- Dame 
Lunch @Glace de la Mansion
Sainte- Chapelle  
Conciergerie 
Musee du Louvre 
Arc De Triomphe du Carrousel 
Jardin des Tuileries 
Place de la Concorde 
Galeries Lafayette 
Dinner @Poissons Coquillages et Crustaces
Centre Pompidou 
Supper @apartment

Cooked our own breakfast in the morning to save some money for a nice dinner. Actually I remembered we packed some sandwiches as well so that we could have them on the go.

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 13 (Paris)

21/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
breakfast @train
Chateau de Versailles 
Port Alexandre III 
Musee de l'Armee Invalides 
Rue Cler  
picnic @Champ- de- Mars 
Eiffel Tower 
Arc de Triomphe 
Avenue des Champs- Elysees
dinner @apartment

Woke up at 8a.m. and we were not able to cook our own breakfast. Gotta take a long trip to Chateau de Versailles, so just bought a sandwich and a big cup of yogurt (EUR12) and had them on the train. 

From Rambuteau, we needa take the metro to Gare Saint- Lazare then changed train to Versailles- Rive Droite. (EUR4.1) From there we got the direction from staff in the train station. They got a handy map for us and told us it was like 20 minutes walk away. It wasn't a heck to us even we got the wrong way and finally reached there in more than half an hour. The quite street with trees along the way and nice sunshine did't bother us too much.

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 12 (Paris)

20/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Paris
Apartment @ Rambuteau
Musee des Arts et Metiers
Lunch @Caffé Soprano
Archives Nationales
Hotel de Ville
Notre Dame de Paris
Pont de L’Archeveche
Aux Grands Hommes la Patrie Reconnaissante
Afternoon tea @Soufflot Cafe
Dessert @Amorino
Jardin du Luxembourg
Dinner @Léon de Bruxelles

Taking night train from Munich to Paris was a kinda good experience despite what happened to us. We saved the cost booking accommodation for a night and at the same time, saved the time on transport. We had quite a good sleep though the train went jiggly. (Maybe we were way too tired) At around 8am, there was an announcement waking us up for breakfast and wash up. But as I mentioned, sharing a washroom with a whole lot of people was a nightmare, so we had our breakfast first before we could get a chance to do wash up.

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 11 (Munich)

19/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Rimowa
Lunch @Paulanla Im Tal
Karlsplatz
Tea @ Copa
Viktualien Markt 
Dinner @ Augustiner am dom
Night train to Paris

Here's our last day in Munich. Didn't think of much to do as most of the shops were not opened due some some reasons. (that were still unknown) 

Went to Rimowa with my friends again. Finally they got their lovely baby suitcase back home. See how happy they were! They took heaps of photos with it as if they met a super star... crazy!

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 10 (Munich)

18/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @Ristorante Cadoro
Football match @Allianz Area
West gate
City Hall
Hofgarten
Theatinerkirche
St Michael's Church
Hofbrauhaus

After a long day yesterday visiting Neuschwanstein, we slept in while my friends went our early hunting for Rimowa suitcase. She said it was like 40% cheaper than buying in Hong Kong. Here's our hostel in Munich Jaeger’s Hostel. For a 4-bed-ensuite, it cost us EUR26/ person/ night. That's was reasonable and we didn't need to share the bathroom with others, which was a credit for travelling in group. But the drawback was, we gotta take turn using the bathroom, which was quite time consuming. Overall, the service was good with excellent Wifi in our room. Location was more than great as train station was just at the corner. (within 5 minutes walk)

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 9 (Munich)

17/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @on the train
Munich
Fussen
Schloss Hohenschwangau
Neuschwanstein
Dinner @ Ludwigs
Jaeger’s Hostel

We booked our train tickets on DB bahn directly (EUR35 /person). It took us around one and a half hour to get to Munich. We planned to arrive at 10:30am, dropping our baggage at the hostel and got back to the train station to catch the 11:52 train to Fussen. 

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 8 (Salzburg)

16/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @apartment
Untersberg
Hellbrunn Palace & Trick Fountains
Salzach Cruise
Dinner @Alter Fuchs

It came to our second day in Salzburg. Finished our breakfast at the apartment and went to the bus terminal right away. 

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 7 (Salzburg)

15/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @Gasthof Bergfried Hotel
Beinhaus the bone house
Salzburg
Hohensalzburg Fortress 
Hohensalzburg Fortress cable Railway 
Fortress Museum 
Marionette Museum 
Getreidegasse
Mozart’s birthplace
Makartsteg
Mirabell Garden
Dinner @Corner am Bahnhof


Had a buffet breakfast at our hotel again early in the morning. Then we attempted to take a look at the famous Beinhaus the bone house (EUR1.5/ person) before we caught our boat. We were quite curious on how people there put all the skulls together in a chapel. That's kinda scary actually. Unfortunately, as it was too early to get into the chapel, so we just took a tour around the cemetery at the hillside. 

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 6 (Hallstatt)

14/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @Gasthof Bergfried Hotel
Boat trip in the lake
MarkPlatz 
Dinner @Gasthof Bergfried Hotel

Had a breakfast buffet at our hotel early in the morning. It's very hearty that they assigned tables for those who stay in the hotel. 

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 5 (Hallstatt)

13/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Wombats City Hostel Vienna- The Base
Billa Supermarket
Hallstatt
Gasthof Bergfried Hotel
Salzwelten Salt Mines
MarkPlatz 
Dinner @Gasthof Zauner

Booked train tickets online via Oebb in advance from Vienna to Hallstatt. (EUR24/ person) We took the 9:56a.m. train and arrived at 13:24p.m. Train in Austria is quite on time. Left our hostel early in the morning again. Before we got on the train, we went to Billa Supermarket and bought some ham, cheese, bread, yogurt and drinks for breakfast. (around EUR10 for all) It was so lucky we could have our own cabin and so we spread our food all over the flipped tables and enjoyed our meal on the train. 

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 4 (Vienna)

12/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Pension Merlin
Vienna
Wombats City Hostel Vienna- The Base
Lunch @Kebap Pizza Palace
Hundertwasserhaus House
Stephansplatz
Demel 
Hofburg Palace 
Dinner @Weinerwald Restaurant

Booked CK Shuttle (800kc/ person) and it picked us up right at our hostel. Could spend more time sleeping. Still got some kc and gotta spend all of them. Bought 2 cakes (30kc each) for breakfast. (Too early and there was only one shop near our hostel opened) The van was very clean and cozy. We were able to take a nap on the way.

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 3 (Cesky Krumlov)

11/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @Pension Merlin
Lunch @Restaurant Krumlovska Fontana
Church of St Vitus
Nam Svornosti Square
The State Castle

Dinner @Jidelni a napojovy listek

Woke up early in the morning and that was the amazing sunrise I saw from the window of my room.

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 2 (Cesky Krumlov)

10/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
David's Apartment
Cesky Krumlov
Pension Merlin
lunch @KRCMA
Church of St Vitus
Nam Svornosti Square
The State Castle
Castle Garden
Dinner @apartment 

Woke up really early in the morning at around 6a.m. and all of us started to do our wash up pack our baggage and have our simple breakfast.

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 1 (Prague)

9/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Prague airport
David's Apartment
Prague Castle
Dinner @Kolkovna Palac Savarin

Arrived at Prague at around 1:30p.m. Immediately we looked for the counter selling bus + train tickets to the city. (32 kc) As the exchange rate in the airport was extremely unreasonable, we decided to pay via credit card and exchange money in the city. And we found our decision very right!

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 0 (Prague)

8/8/2013

Winning a competition from a photography vendor is definitely a good chance for my boyfriend and I to explore Europe, in which we longed for a lifetime.We had a really great time even we made it budget.Really wanna record where we visited, what we did, what we ate and who we met in our trip. It must be fun if I read my blogs again with our children some years later.

Flight details (HKD8548/ person)

0035 EK381 Hong Kong to Dubai
0905 EK139 Dubai to Prague

Our pre-wedding photo shoot would be done on the last day of the trip. It would be a nightmare if I didn't take care of my skin well. Brought heaps of facial masks to keep my skin in  good condition.

Winning a pre-wedding photo shoot to PARIS - preparation

Joined a competition by Joseph Photo for a free pre-wedding photo shoot package in February. With the help with our friends and family, we finally won the prize!