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Four Beautiful Towns of France & Germany----a photo essay

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Four Lovely neighbours of Heidelberg Four lovely neighbours of Heidelberg A pictorial journey   Wyssembourg, France Wyssembourg is a small town in France. It is on the border with Germany and not far from Heidelberg, Germany's university town. We had taken a train that touched Mannheim and Landau on the way. When the train pulled up at Wyssembourg station, an almost empty platform soaked by drizzles preceding our arrival greeted us. An absolute beauty! Right from there it was a comfortable saunter through a picturesque, pretty, clean and graceful little town. I was so awed that even this potpourri of adjectives is not enough to describe the photogenic French town. A little river Lauter flows through the town. It is so small and so narrow that on first view it gives an impression of a narrow canal flowing through the town. Not far from its larger counterpart Strasbourg, this cute town is rich in history. Born in the seventh century, the town grew up around ...

Florence

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FLORENCE     Florence –  the capital of the Tuscany region and the cradle of Renaissance   We opted for Flix Bus while traveling from Venice to Florence. The road journey takes about three and a half-hour. In Florence, it terminates at the rear end of Santa Maria Novella (SMN) train station. One of Italy’s busiest stations, it got its name from Santa Maria Novella Church just across the plaza from the main entrance. We debarked at the station and refreshed ourselves at McDonald's before hiring a cab for our hotel. Florence, popularly known as ‘Firenze’ by the Italians, is located in central Italy. This dreamy city with a romantic name is the regional capital of the lovely Tuscany region.   Columbus Hotel, where we stayed, is located in Lugarno District. We always prefer to book our hotels through Booking.com as we always land up getting good hotels at good locations. Despite being a little away from the heart of the cit...

Pisa

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Pisa Pisa - the Leaning Tower There are several trains from Florence to Pisa Centrale. We took the morning train. We were at Pisa Centrale station in about a little more than an hour. Pisa station is one of the major railway junctions of Tuscany. An old station, which opened in 1871, has a beautiful exterior.  We boarded a bus from just outside the station, which took us directly to the Leaning Tower. Located at the Piazza Dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), this walled area is regarded as one of the finest architectural complexes in the world. The most astonishing monument at this UNESCO World Heritage site is a campanile (a free-standing bell tower) 186ft11inch tall on the higher side and weighing around 14.5 tonnes which started tilting during its construction in the 12th century. It went on leaning through the centuries until remedial measures were taken about 25 years back to arrest further tilt. Finally, the tilt has been reduced to about 4 degrees. The constructi...