Travel: Czech/Vienna Trip 2012! (Post 1 of 2)
Saturday, 30 June 2012 01:10![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elusivekI'm finally ready to post about this!
There will be photos posted here and there, but the complete set of some 500 photos can be found at my Flickr Czech Photos Set.
I'm already done with the captions of the first 100 or so already, and aim to eventually get it all done :D
Day 0
Met up with my 2 friends at the Macau Ferry Terminal. We got the Sea Express ticket that would take us directly to the Hong Kong International Airport, without going through Hong Kong immigration. It's one of those new nifty services and has been going on for a few years already.
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Day 2
KV -> Prague
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Day 3
Terezin (Theresienstadt) / Prague
On this day, we went to a probably rather touchy place. We visited a concentration camp, Terezin. I think this place was supposed to be some form of "modal" Jewish towns.
In my upbringing, the Wars, the Holocaust, history, is just, well, history. We studied about all that in school, but, forgive me for saying this, it had nothing to do with us. From the history books in school, we learnt of the horrible things done to Jews (and civilians as well) but that was that. It was just a subject to be studied and then to write an exam for. For this reason, one of my 2 friends and I were particularly curious on the topic.
In many travel information sites, they say to get to Terezin you have to go to the Florenc bus station. Apparently this information is outdated. We went to Florenc but was told that the bus does not leave from Florenc, but we could buy the ticket from the counter there already. With ticket in hand, we had to take the metro a further 2 stations to a station called Nadrazi Holesivice.
What we also found out is that you can pre-buy a ticket (which would cost some 10CZK more and give you a seat number plus you can board on the bus without queuing) or you can pay before you board the bus (but you have to stand in line and wait).
Another outdated information is that in Terezin, there is now only ONE working bus stop. The other bus stop near the small fortress is OUT OF SERVICE. More on that later.
Reaching Terezin, the bus driver was very nice and indicated to me where to wait for the return bus back to Prague. Many of the Czechs we've met in this trip are all so nice and friendly.
First thing we did was to visit the Ghetto Museum and get a general background of the place. Got chilled to the bones. It was all so sad... The children's drawings and the daily little items and trinkets tugged at me the most. There was a story there that in Terezin they organized an orchestra and after the orchestra, the whole group of musicians and the conductor were gassed. It's just sad...
The ticket we got gave us access to a few places around the Ghetto and the to the Small Fortress, but then we also found out that as it was a Saturday, there are only 2 return bus to Prague. So that left us with quite a short span of time. We walked leisurely to the Small Fortress and we passed by a cemetery.
The three of us turned silent as we approached. After walking past the cemetery, we reached the Small Fortress. Aside from the iconic "Arbeit Macht Frei" entryway, which had a bit of yellow on it, everything else just looked grey to me.
The bunker beds where hundreds were packed in, the row of washbasins, the row of solitary confinement rooms... we didn't get an audio guide so we had no idea what a few of the things we saw were... especially, there was a long, dark tunnel that seemed to go on endlessly with only a row of lamps to light it...
In the corridor that had rows of solitary confinement rooms, as I walked out to the exit, I turned around and saw a dark shadow. Whether it was a trick of light and shadow, or something else, I don't know. But while you are in such a place, your brain is somewhat inclined to think that it's something else. Honestly, I did get spooked out a little bit by that shadow, but it was still broad daylight, so very soon I recovered. Only after we left did I tell my friends of it.
We timed our departure to reach the second bus stop Terezin Bioveta, which we had passed by as we walked to the Small Fortress, a little earlier, and since we had time, so we decided to go to the opposite shop to get some souvenirs. This bus stop is a small on-the-side-of-the-road, just a few steps away from the Car Park. With some difficulty in communicating (with the use of my limited knowledge in German) with the shop lady, we soon learnt that this Bioveta station is "kaputt" (the only word I understood from the lady), With this piece of news, we immediately rushed back to the Ghetto area... crossed the river, crossed another bridge, and finally reached the square with some 10 minutes to spare. Phew.
After a 1 hour bus ride, we were back in Prague, and decided to go get a late lunch. On our itinerary we wanted to go King Solomon, a Jewish restaurant in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Alas, we did not research enough, and well, it was a Friday, so... the restaurant was closed. Not only so, I think aside from being a Friday, it was also a Jewish holiday, so the Jewish Cemetery, and other Jew-related things we wanted to see were out of the question.
But never fear, we had a lot of places on our back-up list to visit if things went wrong, so we simply first hunted for a quick lunch, then went next door to the Jewish Cemetery, the the Prague Museum of Decorative Arts. It was rather cute, and I enjoyed going through the glass drawers with sketches and blueprints of... stuff. They also had a section just for timepieces. I'm not a fanatic for timepieces, but I do enjoy looking at clocks!
As we left, one of my friends went to the washroom and spent an eternity in there. Apparently, the window in the washroom looks out to the Jewish Cemetery and she was in there snapping photos.
After that, we walked towards the Old Town Square and looked at the usual sights. The Astronomical Clock, the various churches, the street performers. They had a party or a fair going on that day so there was a stage and people were dancing and stuff. Very lively!
During my research, I found it was a MUST to see the Astronomical Clock "do its thing". So, I was really eager to see what the whole ruckus is about. However, I was quite let down as this "thing" that the Astronomical clock does is... just the Skeleton ringing the bell, and then two windows open up and some dolls (of priests/bishops? or kings? didn't get a clear view) being rolled out. Finally, a guy dressed as a... jester (or court musician I guess) would blow a trumpet at the top of the tower. Sorry to say, but I thought a cuckoo-clock is more interesting as there is more movement and motion.
We did some shopping at Botanics, something like a body shop, looked at more ceramic stuff, where I got myself a very pretty expresso cup and dish set (note: but I do not drink coffee), and basically just walked around aimlessly.
Eventually, we decided to grab some dinner and had a really spectacular dinner of Tartar Steak, a "Farmer's Roast" (that thing was FILLED WITH FOOD!) and a really delicious roast Pork Knuckle. Probably a tad fat, but basically, it was GOOD.
And after that, we headed back to our apartment, and called it a day.
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Day 4
Kutna Hora (KH) / Prague
This day was met with a few nice surprises. We started the day with a new favourite local delicacy, the Trdlo (or Trdelnik). It was really yummy! Every time we passed by a bakery we would get at least one to share amongst the three of us.
Apparently in Germany it's known as the Baum Kuchen... so does that mean all the Baum Kuchens we find in Japan are just... fake? Here I go digressing in some other direction again. Pull me back, please.
We made our way to the train station, and got our tickets. The first nice surprise was that we got a really good discount. We had budgeted 101CZK per person per journey, so it would have been 606CZK for the entire train transport round trip. But as we were a group of 3, we had a group discount, final price some 412CZK including return journey. Oh yeah!
We arrived Kutna Hora and hopped onto the bus. Our first stop was the St Barbara's cathedral, a really beautiful church built in Gothic style. Then we got on the bus again, aiming to see the Ossuary, but then found out
that the Church of Our Lady of Ascension (or some name along those lines) was just next to us, so we visited that first, and finding out that there is actually on offer group tickets for all three places (the Ossuary, St. Barbara's Church, and Church of Our Lady of Ascension). So we missed the 3-in one ticket, but we still got the 2-in one ticket!
We spent quite some time at the Ossuary because one of my friends is a big skeleton fan and spent a long time in there. It was quite an impressive place, with a chandelier made of bones, and an emblem made of bones. On the bottom right corner of the emblem a bird was pecking the eyes of the human head (well, all bones and skeletons really), and on second thought, I think I've seen some other emblem (not made of bones) that had a similar design, with the bottom right corner having a bird pecking at a man. I digress again. I forgot to read in the pamphlets how many sets of bones were used... but I did buy a book on the Ossuary so I will be doing some reading on it soon.
So after much waiting for the right moments (where the throngs of people moved out of our way) we finally decided to leave. Not sure what the bus schedule is like, we went ahead and walked to the train station from there. A loooooong walk, but it was pleasant, as we grabbed a sandwich to go. The restaurant said it's a baguette sandwich, and come on, I know something about my breads, and that is so not a baguette. That is just a bread roll. Moving on...
Back in Prague, we rushed to the Mucha Museum and enjoyed the prints and his sketches! But were bummed by the few items being exhibited. Did quite some shopping at the Museum shop though, so that wasn't entirely a waste.
On the way back, I noticed we were just in the area of the Lucerna Kino and so we hopped in to see the sculpture of the poor inverted horse. That earned an instant dislike from my but my artist friend enjoys these "out of the box" quirky arts.
We sent a friend to the Young Arts Museum, whereas the other friend and I went to TGIF for ice cream. Then we roamed around and spotted a very interesting restaurant, Restaurant Mustek, where they had funky swinging tables al fresco. There was also a very annoying guy using a spray bottle and spraying at people's feet. I thought he was dressed up as a jester but later found out he's actually the executioner. After inquiring how we could secure the funky swinging table, we left to kill some time.
This is when we passed by the Astronomical clock again and I saw this group of 3 guys street performing! The music was really cool, very cult-ish. I grabbed one of the last 2 CDs they had on offer there... So the main guy is the Grandpa in the middle, Jiri Wehle. Youtube brings out some of his music so you can do a quick search of him too.
Eventually, we met up with the other friend and we headed back to Restaurant Mustek. That is when I found out the Mr. Jester is actually Mr. Executioner. Friendly staff, very funny too. Mr. Executioner asked me "You ladies are from China," and pointing at me, "You also from China?" and I said "Of course!" he handed me a Chinese menu. Which made no sense at all, not because I can't read Chinese, but because... it made no sense at all.
Mr. Executioner started passing us many little games, like to dismantle this, or put that back together... easy as pie!
Food was nice here. Rump steak excellent. We also liked the Sword of Charles IV (basically it's a skewer barbecue, but the skewer is a sword), and when Mr. Executioner saw us fooling around with the sword, he said "I have a larger one, I'll show you later," but then a family with kids came in, and he had to entertain the kids, so he never showed us the big sword.
The bugger sprayed water at me as we left though. A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G!!!!
And then, we left, as it was a really tiring day...
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Day 5
PRG / Cesky Krumlov (CK)
This time we had to go to the Andel station to get to the Student Agency bus that would take us to Cesky Krumlov. That is really cute little town, and if there are gamers out there, I will tell you that this little town looks like it came right out of the Professor Layton universe..
The little stone paths, low buildings, the river, the iconic signage in a shop's door... really really quaint.
We found our pension, Pension Lobo pretty easily. The owner Mr. Martin Lobik, and another email contact Mr. Jakub Curda were very nice. I don't know who the person we met that day was (Mr. Lobik or Mr. Curda), but he was really really very very very very very nice. We just showed up, and without saying who we are and he was all "oh that's you Kat, with a room for 3!" He gave us a map of Cesky Krumlov, and gave us a suggested route to walk down the path and visit the Castle, and then have lunch at the Two Mary's. More on that later. oh, and when we asked where to change money, he advised us to go to a certain exchange house, and when we went comparing prices, his recommended house really had the best rate.
With all formalities done (payment and changing some money), we headed on to the Castle. Something about the Castle bothered me but I couldn't place my finger on it. It was only after hanging around there for some time that it hit me: the brick-like patterns on the Castle walls are not natural. I mean, the pattern is not from the layering of bricks... it's all PAINTED only! Hah! That was so interesting!
We didn't go into the Castle per se, but we went to see all the public parts in the Castle, like the garden, the viewing platform... The weather wasn't quite stable that day, and then the rain came, so we headed back indoors... and stumbled upon some artsy exhibition being exhibited in... a cellar? Dungeon? It's a Castle, so... dungeon it is. I guess you'd categorize it as modern art... the exhibits are predominantly of fingers, teeth, and weird creatures... the "creatures" looked more like the monsters you'd see in Silent Hill (or in my favourite Playstation2 game Shadow Hearts). Friend artist friend was ecstatic with the find, good for her.
When we came out of the dungeons, the sun was out again! And we decided to continue explore the little town. We walked further down the cobbled lane. We found another Trdelnik shop and got one to share. After that we crossed a bridge and saw the signage for the restaurant The Two Maries (U Dwau Maryi) and went right in. Just as we got seated, it started to pour. Nice timing!
The food was nice, but I think the herbs used were something I wasn't too used to. I wonder if my friends really enjoyed the meal as while I'm not used to those herbs and flavorings, I know them and have eaten them before, but as for my friends... that must have been a first for them.
After that, the rain stopped, and off we went again. We passed by the town square and decided to try our luck and see if we could get a Student Agency bus ticket from Vienna to Brno, as Student Agency is a Czech company and we weren't sure if we could buy a ticket in Vienna. Bingo, got it, and the exploring continues.
We walked quite a lot, even going as far to the Jewish building on the other side of the river. At this point we decided to make our way back. We passed by a traditional Czech toy shop that had so many, so many wooden toys! It was lovely, but I did not get anything.
And we just made our way back to the pension.
After a short rest, we went to hunt for dinner, and this is when my bad premonition came true. Cesky Krumlov is a small European Town. Shops and restaurants close at 4pm. There was practically nowhere to go at that time (it was 8pm... still bright daylight... if people complain about jetlags, I complain about daylightlags...)
We were very very lucky to have found the Hospoda 99... The food was very good... and their home-made Sesame Ice Cream... heavenly... best ice cream I've ever had...
Surely after such a long day, we headed back to the pension for the night!
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There will be photos posted here and there, but the complete set of some 500 photos can be found at my Flickr Czech Photos Set.
I'm already done with the captions of the first 100 or so already, and aim to eventually get it all done :D
*☆*:;;;:*☆*:;;;: ■ T H E ■ T R I P ■ *☆*:;;;:*☆*:;;;:
Day 0
Met up with my 2 friends at the Macau Ferry Terminal. We got the Sea Express ticket that would take us directly to the Hong Kong International Airport, without going through Hong Kong immigration. It's one of those new nifty services and has been going on for a few years already.
In case anyone will be visiting Macau and decide to leave Macau this way, I have 2 helpful pointers for you. Although you do not have to pass through Hong Kong Immigration, you still have to check in again in Hong Kong.
Point 1
Depending on your flight, the airline, and your destination, whether you have a stop-over or a connecting flight or not, you will either have to 1) Pick up your luggage in Hong Kong and check in again in Hong Kong, or 2) just check in again in Hong Kong. Remember to reconfirm with the check-in staff in Macau.
Point 2
After checking in (in Hong Kong), the staff will give you a tax refund slip. Hold onto that, and pass through the security check. Follow the corridor down and eventually you will reach a one-way escalator that goes down to a metro. DO NOT GO DOWN JUST YET. Walk further on to the front, there is a small counter (depending on your eyesight, you might or might not be able to see the signage from the escalator). Present the tax refund coupon to the staff and they will give you a HKD120 refund.
I have no idea why they do this refund, perhaps it is something about not using the immigration service or something, but in any case, you get the refund. HKD120 can buy you a simple-to-mid-class meal at the airport food court!
After that, you can go down the escalator, hop on the train, and just follow the signage on to your gate.
So we have done all that, and had eaten at the food court (with that refunded money haha) and boarded the plane. Upon settling down in our seats, we found the world's greatest modern world invention: USB connectivity at the seat, to charge our phones or any other device that charges via a USB cable. Silly and superficial of us, but we loved that flight, just for this.
I might have posted already that on this flight I watched The Woman In Black and then just listened to some albums. Then I got tired and just went ahead to sleep.
Arriving London Heathrow, we had to catch a connecting flight in Terminal 3. The trip from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 was easy as pie, and we arrived Terminal 3 with plenty of time to spare. It was some 5:00am at that time and most of the shops were open already. However, we were stumped as none of us had British Pounds on hand. I had British Pounds at home and I was stupid enough to leave them there when I was sifting through my foreign currencies before my trip. And so, we were left standing at Pret and looking at these cute little cans of drinks and thinking to ourselves "Is it worth to use our 500euro notes here in the UK for a drink?"
We decided to just let it be and headed on to the gate. The flight was uneventful (the sandwich they served was really nice!) and as we landed, that is when our trip really started!
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Day 1
Prague Ruzyne Airport -> Karlovy Vary (KV) a.k.a. Carlsbad
We first went to get a local SIM card. We got a Vodafone SIM card for 300CZK. This is what the sales lady recommended after we explained that we need it mainly for our iPhones data plan (Google Maps is very important!) and we will make minimum phone calls. After that we went to get Student Agency Bus tickets to go to Karlovy Vary. The bus ride was quite nice. They served complimentary coffee/tea and certain drinks (other stuff you had to pay), like in a plane, they have entertainment in the form of TV shows and music, which they provide earphones if you need. Most of our inter-city/town trips were made via Student Agency. We did not pre-book online, we just showed up at a ticketing counter one day before to get the following day's ticket and we still managed to get seats for the 3 of us.
Arriving KV, got off at Triznce bus stop and then we went to the bus terminal to get our tickets back to Prague for the following day We then started exploring the place (and hunting for our hotel). We stayed at Hotel Romania in KV, it is situated just next to the Main Post Office after walking down the pedestrian street T.G. Masaryka. Nice, clean functional rooms, nothing too fancy.
After a short rest and freshening up, we went out again, following the river down, towards the Grand Hotel Pupp. The walk down was very pleasant, nice sky, clean streets, and many things and shops to see! As this is a spa town, we found many little water spots, I think it's the spring water or geyser water and you can buy little jugs, fill it with water, and drink from it.
The water tastes yuck, by the way, as my friend can contest, haha. Just look at her face :D I remember the spring water I drank when I was in Bath had the same yucky fishy and metallic taste. Horrible! Friends didn't believe me and gulped a large gulp. For the sport of it, I did sip a a little bit from her little jug. And in Bath I had to pay 1 pound for it. Here in KV it was free of charge, drink as you like. huh....
Eventually, we reached Grand Hotel Pupp and had some cakes and tea in the cafe. I wouldn't say the food was exceptionally good, but, well, the Hotel itself is supposed to be somewhat of a historical triumph or whatever (my friend explained, but I don't remember). We rested ourselves for a bit after this small meal (not really, in hindsight, it was quite a big meal - 2 panini sandwiches, 3 cakes, 3 pots of tea...), we left Grand Hotel Pupp, crossed over to the other side of the river, and walked the way back up.
It was starting to turn cool at this time, and when we left, I was feeling pretty chilled. I stuck to walking anywhere where the sunlight shone on. We heard a dog barking non-stop and followed the sound. Apparently the owner of the dog, a Yorkie, brought the dog to church and tied the dog to the door while the owner went inside for service. We sat with the dog for a little while and followed a small path up, eventually reaching a mini fort/tower thingie.
We had just seen this cat (statue) atop a pole on this fort/tower, and were walking back down, when 2
old ladies asked us.... "blah blah blah" it was a language I couldn't really discern. Maybe it was Czech? Maybe some other eastern-European language? This was my first day in Czech, so I haven't heard enough of Czech to recognize it, so I'm not sure.
Anyway, my friends and I were at a loss, but the 2 old ladies kept blah-blah-blahing and we had no idea what they wanted.
Eventually, I heard the old lady say a lot of things that I couldn't understand, and then "Miao". So I showed her this photo. She she seemed to be happy, and we pointed her the direction that we came from.
And then the old lady again went blabbing and well, I guess I can make a wild guess of what she said was, "Imagine that! I've been blabbering away and we couldn't understand each other. Just a "Miao" and it has solved our dilemma!"
Of course, to date I'm not even sure if that is what she was looking for, but oh well....
Our plan was to just follow our route back to the hotel, but seeing that the sun was still out, we decided to walk up another road that should lead us to an Orthodox church. On the way, we passed by a Karl Marx monument, some embassy or consulate, a Chopin hotel (I forgot to mention there were Beethoven hotels, Mozart Pensions scattered around here!) and finally reached the Orthodox church.
After that, it was soon time for dinner, so we started hunting for a restaurant. It was already almost 9pm, and the sun was just setting then, we got a little disoriented time-wise as to us, that kind of light should be 6pm... so we were doubly confused that most restaurants have stopped serving dinner. Finally we found a place that still served dinner, but had only limited items as it was the end of the day... and we had a dinner of Beef Goulash, Duck, and some kind of fish. The Dark Beer (Dunkel Bier) we had was very, very good too. After dinner, it got dark, and only places serving beer and the one grocery store manned by a Chinese guy were still open. We got ourselves water, and just headed back to the hotel.
Our plan was to just follow our route back to the hotel, but seeing that the sun was still out, we decided to walk up another road that should lead us to an Orthodox church. On the way, we passed by a Karl Marx monument, some embassy or consulate, a Chopin hotel (I forgot to mention there were Beethoven hotels, Mozart Pensions scattered around here!) and finally reached the Orthodox church.After that, it was soon time for dinner, so we started hunting for a restaurant. It was already almost 9pm, and the sun was just setting then, we got a little disoriented time-wise as to us, that kind of light should be 6pm... so we were doubly confused that most restaurants have stopped serving dinner. Finally we found a place that still served dinner, but had only limited items as it was the end of the day... and we had a dinner of Beef Goulash, Duck, and some kind of fish. The Dark Beer (Dunkel Bier) we had was very, very good too. After dinner, it got dark, and only places serving beer and the one grocery store manned by a Chinese guy were still open. We got ourselves water, and just headed back to the hotel.
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Day 2
KV -> Prague
At Hotel Romania, breakfast is served, and what an excellent breakfast they serve there too! If the rooms are a bit on the tacky side, in terms of decoration, then the breakfast quality definitely covers for it. That is the best hotel-served breakfast we had on this trip.
After breakfast, we went out to hunt for a currency exchange house. We had changed a little bit of Czech Korunas the day before, but noticed the rates fluctuating among shops, but that it was generally cheaper than at the airport. We eventually found a Chinese shop that gave us a very, very, very good rate and so we changed money there.
We were just aimlessly walking around and I guess we reached a more residential part of town, and the sights started to get boring as it was just streets and buildings. But the buildings are beautiful, especially the old, haunted-looking, falling-into-pieces buildings... I think our conversation did run along the lines of "if you got the money you can buy land here and build a house." Oh yeah.
The time for check-out was approaching, and so we headed back. Along the way, we found an Oblaten store! If you ask me what an Oblaten is, I will say it's just one of the wafer pieces... or the "Eucharist/bread" during the holy communion (church service).
So sweet I could feel my teeth decaying as I chewed on it. But it's local stuff, and I'm always open to try anything local, as long as it does not involve worms, bugs, and certain types of meat.
We made our way back to the bus terminal, and on the way my friends went to the open market and bought cherries and strawberries. Compared to Macau, those berries are so cheap in Czech!
The hostess serving us on the Student Agency bus on this trip was a young blonde, her name was either Paula or Pauline, something along those lines. The most helpful and friendly of the Student Agency host we met. Apparently, in the KV->PRG route, the bus would first stop at a station called Dejvicka and only then at Florenc, As our accommodation in Prague was somewhere near the Charles Bridge, we asked for her advice, and she said to get off at Dejvicka and take the metro green line straight to Staromeska. We were wondering as this was some 6 stations apart, whereas if we got off at Florenc it would have been some 4 or 5 stops only...
Well, long story short, our trip on the green line went really smoothly. If we went to Florenc, it would be lugging our bags up and down different platforms. So, thank you so much, Paula!
But well, the walk from the metro station to the hotel was terrible. Prague, at least the touristy city center, still used the old style of cobble stone grounds... so every step we took and pulled our baggage, it felt like the wheels of our bags would fall out anytime soon.
We found our place, the Royal Road Residence. We checked in, but the lady said our room was in another location (WTF!?) and she took us there. Again, lugging those baggage on wheels felt like the worst decision ever, but eventually, we reached the place. It's an apartment complex, with a 1-Michelin star restaurant on the ground floor. Wow. The apartment was really nice. Duplex, made into something like a woodhouse cabin. It was fun.
Having changed into fresh clothes, we went out again, heading towards the castle area of Prague. Along the way, we passed by Charles Bridge, traded many jokes and stories, and saw people going on Segway tours. One of my 2 friends didn't have a pair of sunglasses, and the other friend and I just encouraged her to get a pair. We also had a SMURFS flavor ice cream (I passed, I had watermelon), and another friend had pistachio. We couldn't discern what the SMURF flavor tasted like, and left it at that.
Finally (and oh so finally) we reached the top of the hill (or at least the entry level of the castle grounds) and went in. We got ourselves short visit tickets, and actually managed to visit all the locations that the ticket gave us access to. It was rather late already when we reached there, so we didn't think we could have visited everything.
I need to check the ticket to know exactly what we visited, but I do know we went into the cathedral, visited 2 exhibition spaces (one was a mini chapel of sorts, the other was something like a gallery) and then we walked down what I think is called the Golden Lane (but there was nothing golden about that lane)
(This is "In Pursuit Of The Perfect Shot" ↑↑↑↑
After breakfast, we went out to hunt for a currency exchange house. We had changed a little bit of Czech Korunas the day before, but noticed the rates fluctuating among shops, but that it was generally cheaper than at the airport. We eventually found a Chinese shop that gave us a very, very, very good rate and so we changed money there.We were just aimlessly walking around and I guess we reached a more residential part of town, and the sights started to get boring as it was just streets and buildings. But the buildings are beautiful, especially the old, haunted-looking, falling-into-pieces buildings... I think our conversation did run along the lines of "if you got the money you can buy land here and build a house." Oh yeah.
The time for check-out was approaching, and so we headed back. Along the way, we found an Oblaten store! If you ask me what an Oblaten is, I will say it's just one of the wafer pieces... or the "Eucharist/bread" during the holy communion (church service).So sweet I could feel my teeth decaying as I chewed on it. But it's local stuff, and I'm always open to try anything local, as long as it does not involve worms, bugs, and certain types of meat.
We made our way back to the bus terminal, and on the way my friends went to the open market and bought cherries and strawberries. Compared to Macau, those berries are so cheap in Czech!
The hostess serving us on the Student Agency bus on this trip was a young blonde, her name was either Paula or Pauline, something along those lines. The most helpful and friendly of the Student Agency host we met. Apparently, in the KV->PRG route, the bus would first stop at a station called Dejvicka and only then at Florenc, As our accommodation in Prague was somewhere near the Charles Bridge, we asked for her advice, and she said to get off at Dejvicka and take the metro green line straight to Staromeska. We were wondering as this was some 6 stations apart, whereas if we got off at Florenc it would have been some 4 or 5 stops only...Well, long story short, our trip on the green line went really smoothly. If we went to Florenc, it would be lugging our bags up and down different platforms. So, thank you so much, Paula!
But well, the walk from the metro station to the hotel was terrible. Prague, at least the touristy city center, still used the old style of cobble stone grounds... so every step we took and pulled our baggage, it felt like the wheels of our bags would fall out anytime soon.We found our place, the Royal Road Residence. We checked in, but the lady said our room was in another location (WTF!?) and she took us there. Again, lugging those baggage on wheels felt like the worst decision ever, but eventually, we reached the place. It's an apartment complex, with a 1-Michelin star restaurant on the ground floor. Wow. The apartment was really nice. Duplex, made into something like a woodhouse cabin. It was fun.
Having changed into fresh clothes, we went out again, heading towards the castle area of Prague. Along the way, we passed by Charles Bridge, traded many jokes and stories, and saw people going on Segway tours. One of my 2 friends didn't have a pair of sunglasses, and the other friend and I just encouraged her to get a pair. We also had a SMURFS flavor ice cream (I passed, I had watermelon), and another friend had pistachio. We couldn't discern what the SMURF flavor tasted like, and left it at that.Finally (and oh so finally) we reached the top of the hill (or at least the entry level of the castle grounds) and went in. We got ourselves short visit tickets, and actually managed to visit all the locations that the ticket gave us access to. It was rather late already when we reached there, so we didn't think we could have visited everything.
I need to check the ticket to know exactly what we visited, but I do know we went into the cathedral, visited 2 exhibition spaces (one was a mini chapel of sorts, the other was something like a gallery) and then we walked down what I think is called the Golden Lane (but there was nothing golden about that lane)(This is "In Pursuit Of The Perfect Shot" ↑↑↑↑
, teeheehee)
After that, we left, and found a small little stall selling really pretty accessories! Apparently it's some family business and it's the only one in Czech (so the guy says). But as the necklaces are so nice, I bought one pretty cross! Emphasis on "Made in Czech Republic".
One friend bought a larger cross, and the other was unable to find anything that she liked.
After that, we walked all the way back to Charles Bridge, and I bought a really cute piece of artwork! It's a water color painting (or a plate printing?) of a black cat on the Charles Bridge. I plan to make a frame for it but it probably wouldn't be now as I'm swamped with work nowadays... when my parents are back I'll frame it (and show you too!).
Back in the Old Town area, we hunted for some dinner. I had a repeat of Goulash and Bavarian dumplings but it was served with cranberry sauce... yummy :D I wonder why, I aspire to be a gourmet, but I'm so easy to please with food... hm... I'll think on this another time. In this restaurant I had another Dark Bier but for some reason they served it in room temperature and it was totally yuck. Now that I think back on it, I should have complained and asked for a chilled one, but anyway, it's in the past.
After dinner, we walked around, taking in the sights, and then went back to the apartment and called it a day.
After that, we left, and found a small little stall selling really pretty accessories! Apparently it's some family business and it's the only one in Czech (so the guy says). But as the necklaces are so nice, I bought one pretty cross! Emphasis on "Made in Czech Republic".One friend bought a larger cross, and the other was unable to find anything that she liked.
After that, we walked all the way back to Charles Bridge, and I bought a really cute piece of artwork! It's a water color painting (or a plate printing?) of a black cat on the Charles Bridge. I plan to make a frame for it but it probably wouldn't be now as I'm swamped with work nowadays... when my parents are back I'll frame it (and show you too!).
Back in the Old Town area, we hunted for some dinner. I had a repeat of Goulash and Bavarian dumplings but it was served with cranberry sauce... yummy :D I wonder why, I aspire to be a gourmet, but I'm so easy to please with food... hm... I'll think on this another time. In this restaurant I had another Dark Bier but for some reason they served it in room temperature and it was totally yuck. Now that I think back on it, I should have complained and asked for a chilled one, but anyway, it's in the past.After dinner, we walked around, taking in the sights, and then went back to the apartment and called it a day.
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Day 3
Terezin (Theresienstadt) / Prague
On this day, we went to a probably rather touchy place. We visited a concentration camp, Terezin. I think this place was supposed to be some form of "modal" Jewish towns. In my upbringing, the Wars, the Holocaust, history, is just, well, history. We studied about all that in school, but, forgive me for saying this, it had nothing to do with us. From the history books in school, we learnt of the horrible things done to Jews (and civilians as well) but that was that. It was just a subject to be studied and then to write an exam for. For this reason, one of my 2 friends and I were particularly curious on the topic.
In many travel information sites, they say to get to Terezin you have to go to the Florenc bus station. Apparently this information is outdated. We went to Florenc but was told that the bus does not leave from Florenc, but we could buy the ticket from the counter there already. With ticket in hand, we had to take the metro a further 2 stations to a station called Nadrazi Holesivice.What we also found out is that you can pre-buy a ticket (which would cost some 10CZK more and give you a seat number plus you can board on the bus without queuing) or you can pay before you board the bus (but you have to stand in line and wait).
Another outdated information is that in Terezin, there is now only ONE working bus stop. The other bus stop near the small fortress is OUT OF SERVICE. More on that later.Reaching Terezin, the bus driver was very nice and indicated to me where to wait for the return bus back to Prague. Many of the Czechs we've met in this trip are all so nice and friendly.
First thing we did was to visit the Ghetto Museum and get a general background of the place. Got chilled to the bones. It was all so sad... The children's drawings and the daily little items and trinkets tugged at me the most. There was a story there that in Terezin they organized an orchestra and after the orchestra, the whole group of musicians and the conductor were gassed. It's just sad...
The ticket we got gave us access to a few places around the Ghetto and the to the Small Fortress, but then we also found out that as it was a Saturday, there are only 2 return bus to Prague. So that left us with quite a short span of time. We walked leisurely to the Small Fortress and we passed by a cemetery.The three of us turned silent as we approached. After walking past the cemetery, we reached the Small Fortress. Aside from the iconic "Arbeit Macht Frei" entryway, which had a bit of yellow on it, everything else just looked grey to me.
The bunker beds where hundreds were packed in, the row of washbasins, the row of solitary confinement rooms... we didn't get an audio guide so we had no idea what a few of the things we saw were... especially, there was a long, dark tunnel that seemed to go on endlessly with only a row of lamps to light it...In the corridor that had rows of solitary confinement rooms, as I walked out to the exit, I turned around and saw a dark shadow. Whether it was a trick of light and shadow, or something else, I don't know. But while you are in such a place, your brain is somewhat inclined to think that it's something else. Honestly, I did get spooked out a little bit by that shadow, but it was still broad daylight, so very soon I recovered. Only after we left did I tell my friends of it.
We timed our departure to reach the second bus stop Terezin Bioveta, which we had passed by as we walked to the Small Fortress, a little earlier, and since we had time, so we decided to go to the opposite shop to get some souvenirs. This bus stop is a small on-the-side-of-the-road, just a few steps away from the Car Park. With some difficulty in communicating (with the use of my limited knowledge in German) with the shop lady, we soon learnt that this Bioveta station is "kaputt" (the only word I understood from the lady), With this piece of news, we immediately rushed back to the Ghetto area... crossed the river, crossed another bridge, and finally reached the square with some 10 minutes to spare. Phew.After a 1 hour bus ride, we were back in Prague, and decided to go get a late lunch. On our itinerary we wanted to go King Solomon, a Jewish restaurant in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Alas, we did not research enough, and well, it was a Friday, so... the restaurant was closed. Not only so, I think aside from being a Friday, it was also a Jewish holiday, so the Jewish Cemetery, and other Jew-related things we wanted to see were out of the question.But never fear, we had a lot of places on our back-up list to visit if things went wrong, so we simply first hunted for a quick lunch, then went next door to the Jewish Cemetery, the the Prague Museum of Decorative Arts. It was rather cute, and I enjoyed going through the glass drawers with sketches and blueprints of... stuff. They also had a section just for timepieces. I'm not a fanatic for timepieces, but I do enjoy looking at clocks!
As we left, one of my friends went to the washroom and spent an eternity in there. Apparently, the window in the washroom looks out to the Jewish Cemetery and she was in there snapping photos.After that, we walked towards the Old Town Square and looked at the usual sights. The Astronomical Clock, the various churches, the street performers. They had a party or a fair going on that day so there was a stage and people were dancing and stuff. Very lively!
During my research, I found it was a MUST to see the Astronomical Clock "do its thing". So, I was really eager to see what the whole ruckus is about. However, I was quite let down as this "thing" that the Astronomical clock does is... just the Skeleton ringing the bell, and then two windows open up and some dolls (of priests/bishops? or kings? didn't get a clear view) being rolled out. Finally, a guy dressed as a... jester (or court musician I guess) would blow a trumpet at the top of the tower. Sorry to say, but I thought a cuckoo-clock is more interesting as there is more movement and motion.
We did some shopping at Botanics, something like a body shop, looked at more ceramic stuff, where I got myself a very pretty expresso cup and dish set (note: but I do not drink coffee), and basically just walked around aimlessly.Eventually, we decided to grab some dinner and had a really spectacular dinner of Tartar Steak, a "Farmer's Roast" (that thing was FILLED WITH FOOD!) and a really delicious roast Pork Knuckle. Probably a tad fat, but basically, it was GOOD.
And after that, we headed back to our apartment, and called it a day.
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Day 4
Kutna Hora (KH) / Prague
This day was met with a few nice surprises. We started the day with a new favourite local delicacy, the Trdlo (or Trdelnik). It was really yummy! Every time we passed by a bakery we would get at least one to share amongst the three of us.Apparently in Germany it's known as the Baum Kuchen... so does that mean all the Baum Kuchens we find in Japan are just... fake? Here I go digressing in some other direction again. Pull me back, please.
We made our way to the train station, and got our tickets. The first nice surprise was that we got a really good discount. We had budgeted 101CZK per person per journey, so it would have been 606CZK for the entire train transport round trip. But as we were a group of 3, we had a group discount, final price some 412CZK including return journey. Oh yeah!We arrived Kutna Hora and hopped onto the bus. Our first stop was the St Barbara's cathedral, a really beautiful church built in Gothic style. Then we got on the bus again, aiming to see the Ossuary, but then found out
that the Church of Our Lady of Ascension (or some name along those lines) was just next to us, so we visited that first, and finding out that there is actually on offer group tickets for all three places (the Ossuary, St. Barbara's Church, and Church of Our Lady of Ascension). So we missed the 3-in one ticket, but we still got the 2-in one ticket!We spent quite some time at the Ossuary because one of my friends is a big skeleton fan and spent a long time in there. It was quite an impressive place, with a chandelier made of bones, and an emblem made of bones. On the bottom right corner of the emblem a bird was pecking the eyes of the human head (well, all bones and skeletons really), and on second thought, I think I've seen some other emblem (not made of bones) that had a similar design, with the bottom right corner having a bird pecking at a man. I digress again. I forgot to read in the pamphlets how many sets of bones were used... but I did buy a book on the Ossuary so I will be doing some reading on it soon.
So after much waiting for the right moments (where the throngs of people moved out of our way) we finally decided to leave. Not sure what the bus schedule is like, we went ahead and walked to the train station from there. A loooooong walk, but it was pleasant, as we grabbed a sandwich to go. The restaurant said it's a baguette sandwich, and come on, I know something about my breads, and that is so not a baguette. That is just a bread roll. Moving on...Back in Prague, we rushed to the Mucha Museum and enjoyed the prints and his sketches! But were bummed by the few items being exhibited. Did quite some shopping at the Museum shop though, so that wasn't entirely a waste.
On the way back, I noticed we were just in the area of the Lucerna Kino and so we hopped in to see the sculpture of the poor inverted horse. That earned an instant dislike from my but my artist friend enjoys these "out of the box" quirky arts.We sent a friend to the Young Arts Museum, whereas the other friend and I went to TGIF for ice cream. Then we roamed around and spotted a very interesting restaurant, Restaurant Mustek, where they had funky swinging tables al fresco. There was also a very annoying guy using a spray bottle and spraying at people's feet. I thought he was dressed up as a jester but later found out he's actually the executioner. After inquiring how we could secure the funky swinging table, we left to kill some time.
This is when we passed by the Astronomical clock again and I saw this group of 3 guys street performing! The music was really cool, very cult-ish. I grabbed one of the last 2 CDs they had on offer there... So the main guy is the Grandpa in the middle, Jiri Wehle. Youtube brings out some of his music so you can do a quick search of him too.Eventually, we met up with the other friend and we headed back to Restaurant Mustek. That is when I found out the Mr. Jester is actually Mr. Executioner. Friendly staff, very funny too. Mr. Executioner asked me "You ladies are from China," and pointing at me, "You also from China?" and I said "Of course!" he handed me a Chinese menu. Which made no sense at all, not because I can't read Chinese, but because... it made no sense at all.
Mr. Executioner started passing us many little games, like to dismantle this, or put that back together... easy as pie!Food was nice here. Rump steak excellent. We also liked the Sword of Charles IV (basically it's a skewer barbecue, but the skewer is a sword), and when Mr. Executioner saw us fooling around with the sword, he said "I have a larger one, I'll show you later," but then a family with kids came in, and he had to entertain the kids, so he never showed us the big sword.
The bugger sprayed water at me as we left though. A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G!!!!
And then, we left, as it was a really tiring day...
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Day 5
PRG / Cesky Krumlov (CK)
This time we had to go to the Andel station to get to the Student Agency bus that would take us to Cesky Krumlov. That is really cute little town, and if there are gamers out there, I will tell you that this little town looks like it came right out of the Professor Layton universe..The little stone paths, low buildings, the river, the iconic signage in a shop's door... really really quaint.
We found our pension, Pension Lobo pretty easily. The owner Mr. Martin Lobik, and another email contact Mr. Jakub Curda were very nice. I don't know who the person we met that day was (Mr. Lobik or Mr. Curda), but he was really really very very very very very nice. We just showed up, and without saying who we are and he was all "oh that's you Kat, with a room for 3!" He gave us a map of Cesky Krumlov, and gave us a suggested route to walk down the path and visit the Castle, and then have lunch at the Two Mary's. More on that later. oh, and when we asked where to change money, he advised us to go to a certain exchange house, and when we went comparing prices, his recommended house really had the best rate.
With all formalities done (payment and changing some money), we headed on to the Castle. Something about the Castle bothered me but I couldn't place my finger on it. It was only after hanging around there for some time that it hit me: the brick-like patterns on the Castle walls are not natural. I mean, the pattern is not from the layering of bricks... it's all PAINTED only! Hah! That was so interesting!We didn't go into the Castle per se, but we went to see all the public parts in the Castle, like the garden, the viewing platform... The weather wasn't quite stable that day, and then the rain came, so we headed back indoors... and stumbled upon some artsy exhibition being exhibited in... a cellar? Dungeon? It's a Castle, so... dungeon it is. I guess you'd categorize it as modern art... the exhibits are predominantly of fingers, teeth, and weird creatures... the "creatures" looked more like the monsters you'd see in Silent Hill (or in my favourite Playstation2 game Shadow Hearts). Friend artist friend was ecstatic with the find, good for her.When we came out of the dungeons, the sun was out again! And we decided to continue explore the little town. We walked further down the cobbled lane. We found another Trdelnik shop and got one to share. After that we crossed a bridge and saw the signage for the restaurant The Two Maries (U Dwau Maryi) and went right in. Just as we got seated, it started to pour. Nice timing!The food was nice, but I think the herbs used were something I wasn't too used to. I wonder if my friends really enjoyed the meal as while I'm not used to those herbs and flavorings, I know them and have eaten them before, but as for my friends... that must have been a first for them.
After that, the rain stopped, and off we went again. We passed by the town square and decided to try our luck and see if we could get a Student Agency bus ticket from Vienna to Brno, as Student Agency is a Czech company and we weren't sure if we could buy a ticket in Vienna. Bingo, got it, and the exploring continues.We walked quite a lot, even going as far to the Jewish building on the other side of the river. At this point we decided to make our way back. We passed by a traditional Czech toy shop that had so many, so many wooden toys! It was lovely, but I did not get anything.
And we just made our way back to the pension.After a short rest, we went to hunt for dinner, and this is when my bad premonition came true. Cesky Krumlov is a small European Town. Shops and restaurants close at 4pm. There was practically nowhere to go at that time (it was 8pm... still bright daylight... if people complain about jetlags, I complain about daylightlags...)
We were very very lucky to have found the Hospoda 99... The food was very good... and their home-made Sesame Ice Cream... heavenly... best ice cream I've ever had...
Surely after such a long day, we headed back to the pension for the night!
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