Czech Republic - Prague

weekend at prague

24/1/2014～27/1/2014 

I love the Fridays here! The office is like a desert by 3pm (just learnt that most of them go back at 1pm). And last Friday we just left for Prague before lunch like it's the most natural thing to do!

Four hours of bus and we are in Prague by 17:30! Surprisingly, the buses and trains in Austria are almost as punctual and reliable as Japan! This is the street where Hostel Mango was. 

14 bed dormitory but my bed was in a smaller, slightly more secluded room inside the room so lucky me!

  

The common room in Hostel Mango. va-va-va-ness.

It's like in a caveeee. 

The two ladies from Basque. N on the left and O on the right. O and I are in the same research lab in JKU and she has been a total angel to me: introducing me to her gang of Basque friends, lending me her frying pan and tupperware, trying to include me in her activities as much as possible, and this time, inviting me along on her Prague trip with N who came to visit. She's 3 years younger than me but I'm being taken care of orz. *shame on me*

The first thing we did after dropping our luggage at the hostel was to hunt for dinner at Atmosphere Cafe Pub which was recommended by O's friends. The interior looks like a pub but the atmosphere is that of a restaurant. It's a pretty weird concept for me to find dinner in a pub. Prague is famous for having the cheapest beer in Europe. This humongous one was less than 2€ but I'm not a fan of alcohol so this news wasn't very exciting for me.

Randomly strolled around the town to take in the night view and we stumbled onto Old Town and the Astronomical Clock. You can (almost) effortlessly navigate the famous places in Prague just by foot. There's Charles Bridge and on one side of it you have the castle, on the other side of the bridge you have Old Town with the Astronomical Clock, Jewish Quarters, and Wenceslas Square.

Day 1

Free tour! Just drop by the astronomical clock at 11pm or 2pm and look out for people with umbrellas.

Baroque style church. There's a myth that once a thief tried to steal some holy statue from here but the statue gripped his hand and wouldn't let go. His hand was then mummified and still hanging near the entrance door.

Sexy pregnant sexy woman statue by a controversial artist.

This one is interesting. It's a monument dedicated to Kafka, who's regarded as one of the most influential author in the 20th century (according to wiki) and the statue depicts Kafka riding on an empty suit. Take a guess at what you think it means before seeing the answer. Hint: It represents most of the society now.


okie dokie??


Answer: Kafka hated his 'bread' job at his insurance company which he did just to pay the bills and wanted to devote more time to writing, thus the empty suit. 
He wasn't well-known at all while he was alive, but after he died, his best friend who refused to follow Kafka's instructions to burn his writings, had them published instead. Only then Kafka's fame sky-rocketed.

The Jewish Quarters

Apparently the Jewish's activities were limited to this area. I really don't know much of the Nazi or Jewish history. I blame on Malaysia's education system where ONLY Malaysia's history was taught. So all I know is Parameswara, Melaka tree, Malaysia's "hero" who assassinated James Birch for being disrespectful to the local customs... by outlawing slavery =.=

A break before continuing the tour to Charles Bridge and Prague Castle. It was -10°C so we were really grateful for the chance to warm up.

View of Prague Castle from Charles Bridge.

John of Nepomuk - a national saint of Czech Republic

le story: Nepomuk was the queen of Bohemia's confessor and the king got curious of his wife's secrets so he demanded Nepomuk to spill the beans. When the confessor refused, he was thrown into this river. Then abracadabra!! Five stars circulated above the water he drown in and so the people hailed him as a saint directly after he died. 

You see the pattern now? I really feel for people like him and artists whose works only become valuable after they die. If I ever have to choose, I will never hesitate to become filthy rich and famous for the short time that I'm alive rather than to be remembered forever after I die. 

Here's another monument showing ol' Nepomuk resting under the water. There are many other statues along Charles Bridge but these were the only ones whose story was explained to us.

The stairs up to the castle. I read like it's a real hard walk and there were tips for taking trams but this is really not that high or far for me and I was wearing boots with heels.

I was expecting a disney-style stone castle but it was actually just a complex of normal-looking buildingsss and this cathedral was the nicest looking one there. It looked very similar with Mariendom, the cathedral in Linz. Size-wise this is obviously bigger but the interior of Mariendom wins it hands-down when it comes to making me feel awed and like there really is a god.  

Our tour ended here and we tipped our guide 200CZK for the 3 of us so it was like only 2.5€ per person for the 3 hour. She told us from the very beginning that she would appreciate any donation if after the tour we felt that it was worth it and also that she will not mention another word of it - and she kept true to her word. No raised eyebrow when other people gave even less money. Her name is Klara so look out for her if you want to do the free tour!

Famous souvenir for Prague but I find marionettes creepy.

The food here is a lot but we never seemed to learn our lesson and kept having tons of leftovers. I asked for the restaurant if they had aluminium foil and the waitress replied apologetically that they only have boxes if I don't mind. And she returned with this cool airtight sealed box LOL.

Us with Yuko, the first Jap I met after coming here. I was thrilled to meet her in our hostel yesterday and we chattered late into the night. She was just the nicest girl -offering us her hairdryer without us asking. Really wanted to ask her to join us for today but it didn't feel right since I was just an invitee myself. Yuko is traveling Thai-Czech Republic-Poland-Austria-Croatia alone for a month. Super daring especially since she didn't speak much English.

Day 2

Cannot believe I paid 150CZK to have myself out-of-breath not from the beauty of the scenery - but from climbing up this 300 steep spirally (if this is a word) steps tower in Prague Castle. It felt like the bbq/picnic game where you circle the same spot for 10 times before you attempt to race... except you do the spinning part for 15 minutes. There wasn't much to see up here and we went back down after we de-froze our poor toes. 

Dancing House 

The other girls KO-ed after climbing this tower and decided to chill out until their time for the bus back so I strolled here myself. Inside is just some offices so I didn't bother to go in.

 Really glad I decided to spend an extra night here by myself. It felt liberating and I began to notice more details around me.

How beggars in Prague begs

Day 3

It snowed on the last day and it felt so magical and purtyyyy

Old Town in snow version

Astronomical Clock

On every hour the skeleton on the right side would ring the bell, reminding us that we are one hour closer to our death. On the left most, there's a man holding a mirror representing vanity, then a miser holding a bag of gold and the right most is pleasure/entertainment.

Wenceslas Square

I dragged myself here just to feel productive because all I did was got myself cheated, souvenir shopping and getting lost the whole morning. It's not as touristy here.

After this few days, I still couldn't really tell how Czech people look like because during this whole trip I can only be sure that I met ONE Czech. The rest were from Russia and other neighbouring countries who came here for a better life.  

Bye praggy! 

You're the first famous European city I ever visited!

/*
Notes:
Hostel Mango
Extremely friendly and helpful receptionists with smiley faces all the time. Or at least the two pretty receptionists I met were. If they didn't know about something you asked, the answer isn't the typical "sorry, I dunno", they would look up on their computer immediately. Free (but weak) wifi, free towels, free soap and shampoo. free padlock to lock your own mini cabinet, sockets beside your bed. Less than 2 minutes walk from Charles Bridge on the castle side and less than 10 minutes walk from a subway station so I'd say the location is perfect. Cheaper to book on hostelworld → 6.49€ than their own official website and even cheaper (by 0.50€ anyway) when I extended another night after I arrived there.

To there:
From linz, the cheapest option would be the studentagency bus. Price differ if you choose round ticket etc but about 16€ one way. But as the only day to leave Linz was Sunday and to return is on Thursday, no chance of using it. *sigh* The pain of living in a small town. From Vienna you have a lot of days to choose from.
So we took the second cheapest way:  westbus one way 22€. And it has WIFI!!!!

Transportation within:
Besides the subway from the main station Florenc (where our bus arrived) to Malostranka (where our hostel was), everything else was within easy walking distance.

My fav website for Prague info:
http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/

Must-do:
Free tour 
Walk along the river to Dancing House in the evening

*/

Christmas Eve in Japan - Ghibli in Laguna Gamagori

Merry Merry Christmas! Have been wanting to do this blog for the longest time and I'm missing my boyboy and the blue sky of Japan so what better time than now?

Cheese fondue has become a tradition food for us to have when xw comes over for winter. One day I will cook him a proper romantic candlelight dinner but today's not the day! Scallop is the BEST to the go with cheese fondue and it's freakin' cheap during winter.

And AND AND

THIS IS MY CHRISTMAS PRESSIE (*∩ω∩)ﾃﾚ

The packaging already so damn pretty. Fyi Uno Kanda is a famous model in Japan who has her own line of products. Didn't know her before as I almost never read fashion magazines and the only programs I watch on Japan TV are variety shows.

deng dedeng～～ my first proper wallet. 

Cannot believe I used my rm9 fugly wallet which I hastily bought in KL Sentral for 3(?) years. But thank you for serving me well.

Love the insides and the little details like the heart on the zipper.

On the way for our christmas eve date. Christmas held zero meaning for me before dating xw but it's something I look forward to every year now ^^. This particular Japan culture is almost enough to make up for the girls having to give guys presents on Valentines Day instead of the other way round. Almost.

Ponyoooo～

Sweet bf did most of the checking so that everything would remain a nice surprise for me. If you want it to be a surprise for you when you come here then it's time you stop reading this post! YOU ARE FOREWARNED! 

We decided to just buy entrance ticket without including the rides because I wanted it to be a relaxing date without having to worry if we are going on enough rides to make the ticket worth. Which, fyi, was the right choice because the rides there were really kiddy and normal.

We are so adorable *zilian*

The first thing we did was a mini treasure hunt quest by ghibli which I loveeeed. We had to locate cats hidden all over the theme park to find clues that would lead us to Baron. Perfect way to check out laguna.

The whole place isn't that big and as you can see there weren't many(or any) people in the photo even on Christmas Eve...as expected of a water theme park in the winter. Yay!!

jiji's whole family (// ▽//)

have seen this dog before but cannot remember from which film

みっけみっけ！

hey there, handsome～

 Our prize for finding Baron.

After completing the maze we finally went to the ghibli solid exhibition.

This was eerily beautiful with the rain coming alive in the background. Was the scene from the anime this sinister-looking too? 

xw helped me took this one. wish I had more time to do trial and error with the pose but people were queuing behind. 

If I get another chance to go Laguna Gamagori, imma gonna wear this outfit and bring a fat mouse with me. 

We played another game - Finding Makkurokurosuke!

There were around 6 rooms and you have to find the right makkurokurosuke in every room. This one was a breezeee and it took less than 10 minutes. The rooms were very interesting and I'd love to explore each room slowly but with people waiting for you to get out of the room so they can play the game... fat chance.

Our prize for solving the game.

Many little ghibli details waiting to be discovered in the theme park!

Here comes one of my favourite part of christmas celebration - xw always brings me to a very nice restaurant and treats me to a full course dinner. This one was a very yummy italian buffet with many dolce! 

 Extremely original Christmas trees at the harbour nearby. Ro-man-chik-ku 

Very impressed with Laguna Gamagori's Christmas fireworks. Got music, dancing, fountain, fire display, fireworks, laser display, a gargantuan blown up egg-balloon.. they really used up any element there is.

Spent my New Years at boyboy's home. Can earn a lot of money if do intensive part-time job during the year end/new year holidays but this year I really wanted to just relax. You know la, old age catching up.

Ciel looks so gentle and meek here. But this damn poodle was responsible for me not being able to go down fetch drinks or to go down to brush my teeth in the morning because he would bark his head off and wake the whole household whenever he sees me. In the photo he was trying so hard to run away but I held him with my deadlock arm. Ha! Who's the boss now??

 Won xw at the first round. 

Then lost all others.

Finally went to this classy looking cafe in Kobe... inside a mall !

Tata for now! Happy New Year to you!

Linz

And so folks, this is Linz, the city I am staying for the next 2 months.

It's a choice I made by myself to do my required internship overseas instead of Japan or Malaysia. Yet I really felt dreaded to part from my comfort zone when the time neared for me to go Austria. Mainly because I was unprepared... or 気のせいfeeling unprepared, nah who am I kidding, I really was unprepared... luggage, exchanging money to euro, school things that must be settled before I leave. It's not like I try to bring all this hastiness upon myself. This time I especially set aside 4 days to get things done. But what am I to do with everything closed for New Years in Japan and only reopening on the day I fly?

FYI le conclusion after hours scouring through the internet is that compared to exchanging in Japan, the rate is better if you exchange money at the destination country with the exception of usd and euro. You're welcome :)

City center of Linz, 15 minutes of tram ride from my uni.

 And no, not every building in Europe is so European like this. Just the city center for Linz.

 I am pleased to inform you that the only adventure during my journey to Austria was missing the bus to Toyohashi station by 3 minutes which I must get on in order to reach the airport in time. I  somewhat manage to avoid a mini disaster by a combination of bullet train and normal train. You wouldn't get it but it really was a decision silently praised myself for my quick wit afterwards. 

I am a insecure girl when I am alone. I kept having thoughts like 'omg what if I reach Vienna Airport and the custom demands that I need some sort of unknown visa and I get sent back to Japan?' 

Ophi offered to fetch me from Vienna airport and brought me to Westbanhnof where I can catch my train to Linz. It's not impossible to navigate alone but with a friend around, this part actually becomes fun instead of stressful . I hope to talk to her another time before I leave. Her stories were hilarious XD.

She also helped to arrange for a guy to bring me to my dorm when I arrive in Linz. All these arrangements were made on the spot and up till I arrive at Vienna Airport, I was like  'omggg I still have no instructions whatsoever on what I am to doooo. Do I somehow find my way to the dorm by myself and just waltz into the research lab the next day??' Too comfortable with Japan's しっかりness.

 

My big room. 

Not as cozy as I imagined it would be but am satisfied.

I have my own kitchen which is both good and bad actually. Normally cooking at the common kitchen is how they meet new people here.

 

The Science Park of Johannes Kepler University Part where I am doing my internship. 

My own office! 

The internship here is everything I imagined it to be. Similar to what I am doing back in Japan.

Free to come and free to go, stress-free (for now anyway), reading research papers...

One of the happy moments when I managed to apply for an Aktivpass, which allows me to use trams and buses in Linz unlimited for just 10euro per month.  I didn't think I would get it easily because my friend who tried to apply it was bombarded with many questions and had to bring documents like student proof, salary slip blablabla. But when I went to apply on the next day the person in charge was a young sweet lady instead of the usual aunty and she made it easy for me. 

This kind of reminds me of the rpg games I play. Sometimes you just need to repeatedly go to the same place and wait for the right person to show up to trigger some event.

More photos on the city center coming up next!