Vienna, Austria I: Wanderlust

I like wandering around in a foreign city with a map in hand but no destination in mind. I just walk to wherever my legs carry me or whatever captures my attention. So I've no idea what I saw most of the time but I think it's a good way to explore the city.

















1&2) Volksgarten with beautiful roses.
3&4) I really regretted not going inside the Austrian National Library because I saw photos of the interior afterwards and it's so gorgeous!
5&6) I think this is a concert hall but I can't seem to find the name of it.
7&8)  Hofburg Palace which I didn't enter either.









Photos taken while I was roaming around Stephansplatz which is the city centre. Last two photos are of St. Stephen's Cathedral which is so hard to capture because there wasn't enough space to move back to get the whole cathedral into a one frame.







Danube river runs through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine and Romania. It flows through four capital cities (Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade), more than any river in the world. Next time when I travel around Eastern Europe, I shall just follow this river. The walls at the river bank are all covered in graffiti.













I was actually looking for the flea market but the station where I alighted happened to be where St. Charles's Church is located. Then I walked around, taking in the beautiful buildings in Vienna, I reached Belvedere Palace and Museum but it was already closed.



To end the post, let me introduce you to Vienna's best ice cream shop, Eis-Greissler! My friend brought me there and lucky for us, the queue that day wasn't too long. One cup/cone (you can choose two flavours) costs 1.50 euros! I got Cherry and Butter cookie while my friend had Elderflower sherbet and Caramel. I think the Elderflower sherbet was extremely refreshing and the scent is so lovely! Try it if you're there! :)

Prague, Czech Republic III: The Lesser and The New

The Lesser Town is located at the foot of Prague Castle. You see that white building with the jade top in the last photo? That's yet another St. Nicholas Church, the other being in Old Town Square. And they look so similar! Got me confused when I was sorting photos for the post. The pictures of the church interior look beautiful which made me realise I didn't enter any of the buildings in Prague.







If you walk down the side of Charles Bridge before entering through the Lesser Town tower, you'll find yourself in a small square. Keep walking and you'll reach the Lennon Wall. When I first saw the wall, I thought I saw 'LAKSA!' and I had to do a double take (Laksa is a dish in Singapore/Malaysia). Láska means Love by the way. There's also a love lock bridge in Prague, though a small one, in front of th Prague water goblin.









Instead of taking a tram back to the hostel, I decided to walk and that led me to Wenceslas Square in New Town. Well "new" town because it was actually founded by Charles IV in 1348, following his coronation as king under the Holy Roman Empire. The pink building in the first picture is the Palladum Shopping Centre and it's really modern inside, check out the pictures. I didn't go in because I had no clue what building it was when I passed by, I just thought it looked nice and grand. #consofnotplanningbeforehand?

Prague, Czech Republic II: Where fairy tales are born

I think the Prague Old Town Square is the most beautiful city centre I've seen on this trip. If you delete away the tourists in the first picture, doesn't it look like a fairytale setting? Although the structure is not the same, legend has it that Tyn Church gave Walt Disney the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty Castle (via pragueexperience.com). Aha! Great minds think alike. But wait.. isn't the Sleeping Beauty castle based on Neuschwanstein Castle in Munich? Hmmm..

Anywayyy, the old town square was so full of sound, smell, sight and life! There were performers entertaining the crowd, food stalls selling Old Prague Ham, potato & sour cabbage, Trdelník (a sweet bread roll which tasted exactly the bread roll I tried in Taichung) and many other delicious food to tantalize your taste buds and trigger your salivary glands. You can see Tyn Church (in the first photo) and St. Nicholas Church (the white building with the green roof) as two prominent sights in the old town square.The first is a Gothic church while the second is a Baroque one. I've learned a lot more about architecture on this trip than all my years in school. Ok what am I talking about, I don't learn anything about architecture in school. Oh and the two spires on the Tyn Church are not symmetrical - one represents the masculine side of the world, the other the feminine side.





The Astronomical Clock is another famous feature in the old town square and it's absolutely gorgeous. I really want to have a smaller version of this at home, I just need to travel back in time and find the clock maker who built this, who was blinded by the government because they were afraid that he would build a better one somewhere else (the clock attracted many tourists to Prague which meant money) and who jumped into the clock and died as revenge because the clock stopped and nobody but him knew how to fix it. Or I could have bought a table top mini clock at the many souvenir shops but I didn't want to carry it around for the rest of my trip so err time travelling it is!

The wooden figures of apostles with their attributes appear in the windows every hour, while at the same time some of the sculptures begin to move: the Death holds its hourglass and beckons to the Turkish man sculpture, which shakes its head in response. There is Vanity portrayed as a man with a mirror and Miserliness as a man with a moneybag, shaking a stick. The other statues, that don´t move, are an Astronomer, a Chronicler, a Philosopher and an Angel. When the apostles finish their journey, the golden cockerel at the top crows and quivers its wings, the bell rings and the clock chimes the hour. (via prague.cz)

REALLY?? Why didn't I see this!



Powder Tower is one of the original 13 city gates in Old Town. It is so named because the gate was used to store gunpowder.

















There are 30 statues (plus one at the side) on Charles Bridge and many street artists if you want to get your portraits done. Our guide told us the story behind a statue of St. John of Nepomuk - he was thrown off the bridge because he refused to tell the King what the Queen confided to him. Five stars allegedly appeared above the river symbolizing the five letters of Latin word “tacet” which means “silent”. Somehow the statue became a symbol of luck and you can make a wish if you place your hand on the cross. Crossing the bridge with the sun slowly setting was such a beautiful experience. And not to mention extremely romantic, heck, the whole Prague Old Town is! The two towers guarding the bridge are Old Town Bridge Tower (the one with one spire) and Lesser Town Bridge Tower (the one with two spires).



Ending the post with a night view of Prague castle. Isn't it just dreamy? Too bad my camera wasn't able to capture the stars.