TravelerM's VirtualTourist Home Page

My name is Maranda. I'm from Taiwan. Taiwan is an island (around the size of Holland) southeast of China with a population of 23 million. Yes, it's a bit crowded here. So from time to time, I like to get out of here and see the world. I love travel and would like to get to know people who love to travel too. Hopefully, I could meet some of you travelers out there on the road. Peace.

September, 2004 I went to Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Munich, Strasbourg, and Paris on a 18-day trip. I spent most time in Austria. I found it a small but very interesting country. There's a lot more to offer than I had expected. I like those cities I went to and the Alpine side was breathtakingly beautiful. I climbed the giant ice caves in Werfen, which was something I'd never seen in my life. I was out of breath the whole way through, but when I saw all the ice formations and the wonders in the caves, it was all worthy!!! Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck are all very delicate and culturally enriched cities. I could still enjoy the time there even though I'm not into classical music at all. Oh, I must say, the white wine there was fantastic!! I had a day trip in Wachau, which is outside Vienna, where I tasted wines in different vineyards and saw some pretty scenic towns on a bike. What an experience!~

As for Munich, it was my second visit, so I only aimed for the Oktoberfest. It was not bad, but I wish I could have companions to drink with. But I enjoyed walking around checking out different tents. A suggestion to those who want to go there--don't miss out on the first day parade...supposedly very fun, according to some other travelers I met...However, I missed out on it :(.

This was taken on the June 2003 trip to France and Barcelona. I spent around 3ish weeks backpacking on my own. I flew in and out of Paris, and visited Tours (for castles in the neighboring areas), Carcassonne (Really cool medieval town!), Nice, Cannes (missed the film fest though!), Marseille (horrible place that I don't want to go again!), and Avignon (kind of dull...). I traveled again to Paris and Nice, because I just can't get enough of my favorite city Paris and the heavenly cruisine in Nice!!! Check out my Nice page for the restaurant I highly recommand. Paris and Nice are two cities I can always go again and again. :o)

This is a photo I took at Pepe (a metal pub) in Barcelona. It seemed to be a BRN head bangers' regular hangout. It's also got lots of metal celebrities' autographs and memorabilia. As you might have guessed it, yes, I like hard rock, 90's grunge and metal music (I love a lot of Melodic Power/Progressive Metal bands from Germany! ) For hard rock music, I love Def Leppard best. Grunge, definitely Nirvana (Kurt Cobain is my personal hero ;-) and Pearl Jam (the earlier songs). For metal, I love ex-Helloween with Michael Kiske best. He's got the world's most amazing voice!!! Unfortunately, I've never participated in any of their concerts. I'm waiting for them to tour. Any fans out there?

1. Paris, France
2. San Francisco, USA
3. Mykonos + Santorini + Chania, Greece
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Chicago, USA
6. Los Angeles, USA
7. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
8. Heidelberg, Germany
9. Venice, Italy
10. Nice, France

As the following places to the degrees I felt the shock:

1. The Grand Canyon (Speechless for minutes!)
2. The Niagara Falls on the Canadian border (Spectacular!!)
3. The Dome in Köln, Germany (Humongous!!!)
4. The corn fields right outside of the airport of Cedar Rapids of Iowa, USA (I almost shed a tear!)
5. Los Vegas at night (Glamorous!)
6. The Eiffel Tower at night (Can't take my eyes from it!)
7. The mural paintings on the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican (Masterpiece!!)
8. The Varsailles, France (All that glitters!)
9. The Underworld in Camden and
other clubs in London (Total culture shock!)
10, The cliff view of Santorini, Greece (Can't believe it looks just like the postcard!)
11. Highlands, Scottland (So green and misty!)
12. The Duomo of Siena, Italy (Marvelous marble!)
13. The Rocket Gardon of the Kennedy Center, Florida (Science rules!)
14. The Mississippi River in the spring (Flowing like a stampede!)
15. The terracotta warriers at the emperor's tomb, Xian, China (Massive!)
16. A visit to farmers' horse trade market, Iowa (Never seen horses this huge and stocky!)
17. Graceland + Sun Studio, Memphis, USA (Goosebumps + chills...Elvis's back and standing among us...No kidding!)
18. The riverboat ride on the Rhine River from Koblenz to Mainz, Germany (Breathtakingly beautiful!)
19. The view of the snow-capped Alps from the plane (Truly Amazing!)
20. The roller coasters at Magic Mountain, Los Angeles (Awesome!)
21. The sighting of Nessi at Loch Ness (Just joking.........^_* I do wish, though)

Thank you for stopping by my page. I hope you'll enjoy some of my pages. My hometown Kaohsiung is a more completed one and there's a good story on my Irakleion (Crete, Greece) page. Also, check out the lovely photos of Pisa, Italy. It was one of my dream destinations as a kid. I was very excited to have been able to climb onto the top of it! Another is Disneyland (been there, but wasn't that much fun as I wasn't a kid any more). The only one I haven't been is Pompeii. Hopefully, I'll make it there one day. Ok, I'd be glad if you could leave a command. Happy Travels!!!

Maranda ;o)