Eastern europe - flash forward

Hello guys,

Am back from my 15 day trip to E. Europe. I actually flew back into Singapore yesterday evening and had to attend my father's 70th birthday celebration that very night itself and hence, did not try to update the blog to include the rest of Day 13 as well as Days 14 & 15.

I will probably not complete the entries for E. Europe tonight as the main purpose of this particular entry was to let you guys know that I'm back and had a very good time in E. Europe and also that I do intend to complete the missing entries soon.

Would have liked to have continued mobile blogging days 13 - 15 but got too tired and busy travelling to finish it up. I will continue to use the photos from the SE cell phone camera to complete my account of my trip to E. Europe before attempting to tackle the rest of the 100s of photos I took in E. Europe. Of course, as is always the case, please do not hold out your breadth that I will complete the full and proper entries on E. Europe any time soon as I've yet to complete Guizhou and have barely even touched Sichuan and Vietnam. =)

Anyway, the above is a photo of what is the smallest house in Salzburg, Austria. Actually, by the time I took this photo, I was pretty much photographed out and far more interested in doing some retail therapy than photography. It was only because of a request from a friend that I ended up snapping this photo on the cell phone and another better quality shot on the Canon DSLR. These ended up being that last photos I took in Salzburg.

There is a story behind this tiny house that is now a shop and I will get to that another day. I'll leave you with this for now.

cheers =)

Eastern europe day 13

On our way back to vienna, we made an unscheduled stop so that we could try and capture some of the beautiful Salzburg countryside digitally on our cameras. Now we're back on the bus and on our way back to vienna where we'll lunch and some of us will head off to Seegrotte for an optional tour before returning to vienna for some free time and dinner. That's it for now. Later. :-)

Eastern europe day 13

This is the view from the corridor window just outside my hotel room in Salzburg. This hotel was the least nice of all the hotels we're stayed in since our trip began so far and some of my tour mates were unhappy. It didn't help that the weather had been almost unbearably hot and the air-con-less hotel rooms absorbed that heat and reflected it onto some of my tour mates. Sadly, it turned up to be more than a little hic-cup in a near perfect day yesterday. But with that behind us we embarked on our journey back to vienna.

Eastern europe day 12

One of the things Salzburg is known for aside from Mozart and music is the chocolate. I bought some of the well known Mozart chocolate to bring home earlier on. Then during our walking tour, our last stop was just outside a little cafe that still hand makes these traditional sweets. It would not do to not at least try one even though they were more expensive then the ones made by machines. When we entered the shop we realised that Taiwanese model Lin Chilin was in the shop. She was tall and quietly demure. I don't particularly like or dislike her but still must say it was kinda neat to spot an Asian celeb in the most unlikely of places. Although i must say if she was Ada Choi, Matsushima Nanako, Ueto Aya, Amami Yuki or Stefanie Sun, i might be more starry eyed. :-) anyway, back to the chocolate. At the centre of the Mozart chocolate is a piece of marzipan. Now usually i'm not a big fan of marzipan but this chocolate was quite tasty. Btw, before we partook of the chocolate, we had a cold drink, enjoyed the moment and chatted for quite sometime. It was quite relaxing and even though i did not see more of Salzburg and took no more photos for the day, i was quite happy to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the day like other eastern europeans and tourists in the many cafes round the city.

Eastern europe day 12

The temperature in Salzburg was a sweltering 30+ degrees. I think the coolest place in town must certainly be this cathedral. The cathedral is built in the early baroque style. It is naturally cool, there is no air-conditioning in the building but it's actually quite quite cool and was a welcome respite from the heat in the square outside. So, we all took our time in this incredibly beautiful church. The interior of the church is designed to be mostly in black and white except for the paintings of the passion of Christ. The back of the church and the hallway leading to the gorgeous altar is mostly b&w, symbolizing the darkness leading to the light of the altar. There are 5 sets of pipe organs in the cathedral with the largest one at the back. The organs can be played independent from each other and if you're lucky enough to attend one of these performances, you can hear the organists improvise musical answers to each other. This isn't the cathedral's only link to music, Mozart and Joseph Mohr, the man who wrote the lyrics for Silent Night, where both baptized in this cathedral. However, as our tour must go on, we had to tear ourselves from the cool comfort of the cathedral and re-enter the oven outside.

Eastern europe day 12

According to our Salzburg guide, this is the cradle of present Salzburg. The history of Salzburg started with the founding of the monastry of St. Peter's. The building is in the high romanasque style and it's interior is in the Rococo style.

Eastern europe day 12

This is the main shopping street in Salzburg. One of the defining characteristics of this street are it's pretty and innovative store signs. The signs are cast in metal and hang out at at a ninety degree angle from the store front. We walked through this street during our city tour and returned to it later during our free time to do some shopping.

Eastern europe day 12

Salzburg is Mozart's hometown. The above photo is of the family home he stayed in from the age of 17 to 25. It's now a museum but we didn't go in.

Eastern europe day 12

This is another section of the garden outside the palace building. Really pretty, isn't it? Sadly there is some construction work in the distance which spoils the mood somewhat. Maria and the children sang "do a deer" on those steps up there. On the right is the palace building. The original was destroyed by fire except for a staircase and hallway. The rest of the building was rebuilt in a simpler style.

Eastern europe day 12

We began our city tour with a stop at the Palace of Mirabell. This is a garden outside of the palace building. It's a baroque styled garden and the statues that line both sides of the garden depict greek legends and gods like hades and hercules etc. If you look closely, in the distant background, you may be able to spot the castle on the mountain. It might be obstructed by the sculpture of the vase in the foreground but you might still be able to spot bits of it. Linden trees line the side of this garden and if you know your Sound of Music, you might recognise the garden. It is quite pretty.

Eastern europe day 12

We've reached Salzburg. Now at the chinese restaurant for lunch. Not very palatable at the moment.

Eastern europe day 12

We don't have this particular flavour in Singapore which is why i picked it. But i must say it's a bit strange and i'm not v fond of it. I want my magnum. :@

Eastern europe day 12

We just made a rest stop at a petrol station. I've been dying to eat those damn magnums but there were none in this station. Arrrggghhh... so i had to settle for this.

Eastern europe day 12

It's day 12 of our tour and we're currently travelling towards Salzburg which is approximately 260km from Vienna. The meaning for Salzburg is salt city and it's Mozart's hometown. It's also the place where they shot Sound of Music, my favourite musical in my childhood so am looking forward to going there. :-)

Eastern europe day 11

The traffic in Vienna was particularly bad so by the time we got to the restaurant, we only had 20 mins for dinner because 9 of us bought tickets to a performance in Brahms Hall. The above is a photo of the concert hall. Even though it isn't the main hall, it's still pretty opulent, isn't it? Sorry the photo isn't very clear, the light was a little low and i was unable to keep my hand steady. The ticket cost me 49euros and the trip back cost us 7euros each. The performers were dressed in traditional european costumes and it was a mix of symphonic music and opera. I really rather liked this performance. It wasn't the full orchestra but the music was still good and so were the singers. The conductor was loads of fun as he introduced some audience participation my conducting the audience in accompanying the orchestra by clapping along at points. Kinda cool. :-) it's off to salzburg next.

Eastern europe day 11

This is Hero's Square in Vienna, i think. This is the last walking stop on our city tour. By this time i was really quite tired. I think the exertions from all that walking in Prague the previous day were begining to take its toll and i was a unable to absorb a lot of the information that was given out about some of the places we saw after the Schonbrunn. I know that there is some historical WWII importance about this place and will have check up on that later and fill in the blanks. After this stop, it was back on the bus and our city tour continued on the bus. I actually dozed off and before i knew it, we were stuck in traffic, trying to get to this place called Romy, i think, so that we could buy crystal at a discounted price if we wanted to. There wasn't much time as we still needed to make dinner and then for some of us had to rush off to attend a concert at night.

Eastern europe day 11

This is the garden at the back of the Belvederegarten Palace. Quite pretty isn't it? Unfortunately, we had even less time here then we did at the Schonbrunn. Our guide in vienna is quite knowledgeable but i was a little preoccupied by the ducks in the garden and hence missed virtually everything she had to say regarding this garden. :-) Will have to read up about it when i get the chance.

Eastern europe day 11

Next stop is the Belvederegarten Palace. This palace means the beautiful view palace. The view is indeed quite beautiful. The palace is now a museum and we did not enter it.

Eastern europe day 11

Since Schonbrunn means beautiful fountain, it wouldn't do not to have a beautiful fountain in the Palace grounds. I'm not sure if you can see the fountain in the distance but trust me, it's there. :-) this photo, imo, doesn't do the they much justice, the view in reality is stunting. The garden is huge and beautifully kept. Just looking at it from the photo, you can't really tell the magnitude of the garden because the photo isn't able to present the many other side branches to probably other smaller gardens. Unfortunately, we only had 20 mins to spend in the garden and i was unable to explore it fully.

Eastern europe day 11

We had lunch in yet another chinese restaurant in vienna. This one was actually quite good, probably the best chinese meal i've had since we began this trip. After lunch, we began our city tour. First stop is the Schonbrunn which means beautiful fountain. No photos are allowed in the very beautiful interior and unlike many of the previous places we've been to, they were pretty strict about it. The interior, according to the vienna guide, is in the Roccoco style while the outside is in the Baroque style. This was the residence of the powerful Hapsburg Dynasty and the exhibits detailed their illustrous history. In the Palace, you can see photos and portraits of familiar names including the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, the youngest daughter of the powerful and highly intelligent Hapsburg matriarch Maria Thesesia, and the very beautiful Princess Sissi.

Eastern europe day 11

We had lunch in yet another chinese restaurant in vienna. This one was actually quite good, probably the best chinese meal i've had since we began this trip. After lunch, we began our city tour. First stop is the Schonbrunn which means beautiful fountain. No photos are allowed in the very beautiful interior and unlike many of the previous places we've been to, they were pretty strict about it. The interior, according to the vienna guide, is in the Roccoco style while the outside is in the Baroque style. This was the residence of the powerful Hapsburg Dynasty and the exhibits detailed their illustrous history. In the Palace, you can see photos and portraits of familiar names including the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, the youngest daughter of the powerful and highly intelligent Hapsburg matriarch Maria Thesesia, and the very beautiful Princess Sissi.

Eastern europe day 11

We just crossed the border into Austria. This is a photo of a theme park near the border. We've got one more hour before we get to our restaurant for lunch.

Eastern europe day 10

At the end of our long walk around the city, lily got more ice-cream then we met up with another tour mate, Hanny, for coffee and another look at the apostles. Then it was dinner at the same chinese restaurant we had lunch at. Then it was back to the hotel. It was still way early so we went to Tesco again. The above photo is of the subway station near our hotel. That's it for day 10. We leave for vienna the next morn.

Eastern europe day 10

Our free time lasted from 130pm till about 6pm. We decided to walk and see as much of the city as possible and we really did walk everywhere. It was close to 5pm and we were headed to our last location and we were a little tired and thirsty. Luckily, the honeymooning couple spotted a stand giving out free beer. So we gratefully accepted the quarter cups of ice cold beer and drank. I think it was non-alcoholic beer as i didn't get a buzz. It was light and a little sweet. Good stuff. :-)

Eastern europe day 10

Btw, i forgot about lunch. After the guide brought us to view the clock, we had lunch. Then we returned for several hours of free and easy time to shoot the clock and view the apostles go by the window. Anyway, after our little snack, we paid about 70kc each to go up to the viewing tower on top of the Astronomical Clock. The view from that vantage point is simply amazing. We shot so many photos it bordered on ridiculous. :-)

Eastern europe day 10

After we saw the 12 apostles say hello, we went to look for some ice-cream. The guys i were with wanted to get Italian ice-cream but we couldn't find any at that point in time so ended up getting non-italian from a desert place. To tell you the truth, i'm don't know the difference, my grapefruit flavoured ice-cream tasted like gelato to me. But in the end it seems like I was the only one who like my ice-cream. :-)

Eastern europe day 10

This is a closer view of the dials on the Astronomical Clock. Gorgeous aren't they. Every hour on the hour, the little doors above the dials will open and the 12 apostles will take turns to come to the windows to saw hi. I saw it along with Lily and a honeymooning couple. We were expecting something super spectacular so we were a little disappointed. Still, it cool to have seen it.

Eastern europe day 10

This is one of the more recognizable structures in Prague. This is the Astronomical Clock. The clock has been featured in advertisements and films. Rin said that Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun Yanzi was also in an ad that featured the clock. She thinks its for SK Jewellery. The clock was made in 1410 and is equipped with two dials. The upper is astronomical while the lower is a calendar. Several sculptures adorn the tower and the face of the dials are very colourful and beautiful.

Eastern europe day 10

This is the Charles Bridge after we crossed over to the other side. This side is closer to the Old Town Square. You can see one of the sculptures in the photo. The Czech guide told us that not all the sculptures currently on the bridge are originals. The jet black ones are original. The whiter ones are replicas. The city is currently in the process of moving the originals to the museum to preserve them.

Eastern europe day 10

After we walked through Golden Lane, it was a short walk to the Charles Bridge. The bridge is a stone structure with many religous sculptures lining both sides of the bridge. Temporary small stands selling souvenirs and artists willing to draw you portrait for a sum line this gothic bridge all the way through. This is the view from the bridge.

Eastern europe day 10

This is the Golden Lane. The little houses in this small narrow street are more than 400 years old. These houses were the residence for soldiers and family of those who protected the castle. Goldsmith's and alchemists used to live in this lane. The alchemists were never able to create gold but they did manage make other chemical inventions though. We walked through the area and in upper levels on the left one can find various armour and weapons exhibitions. Apparently, franz kalfka used to live here too.

Eastern europe day 10

We were unable to enter St. Peter's Church as it was a Sunday and there will be Sunday mass. We were told that we could come back later in the day during the free and easy section of the day if we wanted to enter the church. However, in the end we didn't as it wasn't that close to the Old Town Square. We were, however, able to enter what i think is called the Theresian Wing. We were all given a ticket but looks like i've lost the ticket. Sucks. :-( anyway, this looks like a ballroom or courtroom of sorts. I'll have to go read it up later. Whatever the case, the hall is huge and very cool. There are little rooms attached like a little chapel and a little courthouse,i think. There is also a balcony on the side where one can get a view of the city down below.

Eastern europe day 10

This is the wide shot of the St. Peter's Church. The right side of the castle is older hence, it is jet black. The pollution through the centuries have seeped into the sandstone that was used to build the castle and it would be very difficult, if not impossible to remove it as the dirt has become integrated into the stone. So technically the right side is gothic and the left side is neo-gothic because it was built much later when the other styles were in vogue.

Eastern europe day 10

After viewing the square we walked through the main entrance of the castle and entered the first and second courtyard before we entered the third courtyard where we were greeted by a magnificent dark structure. The above is a close up of the towering steeples of the St. Peter's Church. The church is built in the gothic style. It's extremely cool and very impressive.

Eastern europe day 10

This is the medieval square outside the entrance and first courtyard of the royal castle. You will find buildings of many different architectural styles like baroque and renaissance. There is also a statue of the president of the republic and a panoramic view of Prague by the side.

Eastern europe day 10

It's day 10 of our tour and the first thing on our itinerary is a visit to the Hardcany Castle. The Hardcany Castle grounds consist of not only the castle but also towns, houses and churches. The above is a photo of the second courtyard of the largest castle in Europe. The castle has something like 2000 rooms. Of course royalty no longer live here but it i'm not wrong, the president of the Czech Republic works here now. If his flag flies above the castle, it means that he's at the castle working.

Eastern europe day 9

We're now in Prague, Czech Republic. We reached the city in the evening and proceeded to have an early dinner at about 6pm. Rin told us that we could take a free shuttle bus from our hotel to this hypermart called Tesco. And so we did. We dumped our luggage, gave the room a cursory check and then made our way to Tesco. Man, this place is quite big but the hilarious part about it is that we spent all our time in the supermarket and most of it in the chocolate section. My tour mates wanted to buy chocolate. I did take a walk around the mall and tried to find a dvd that my brother-in-law asked me to look for. Unfortunately, i was unsuccessful. Actually, the whole excursion was quite fun. We may still return here tomorrow if we finish early. Anyway, i'm in the hotel room resting now. Will probably sleep in a bit. So good night and see you guys tomorrow. :-)

Eastern europe day 9

Our final stop on our walking tour was this large square. The square is flanked by several beautiful buildings and there were cafes and restaurants all around. The focal point of this square seems to be this church with a statue of Martin Luther in front of it. I'm guessing this is probably a Lutheran church. A lot of people were in line to get into the church. I would like to go in too just to see why everyone was going in. But there was simply no time and so after some happy snapping it was time to go for lunch. It's chinese for lunch and then it's off to Prague. :-)

Eastern europe day 9

There were many people in Dresden today. This should be another wing of the palace. If you look carefully i think you should be able to see the blue skies and white clouds reflected in the windows.

Eastern europe day 9

I think this is the palace. The weather in Dresden was really good and you can see it from the lovely blue skies and fluffy white clouds. We thought it might be windy so most of us wore jackets. In the end it got so hot that by the time we got to lunch, i was down to my t-shirt.

Eastern europe day 9

To tell you the truth i really am not sure what this building is. By the time i arrived, she had finished talking about it and after that i was busy shooting. I think this is the opera house but don't take my word for it. It is quite cool though, isn't it? :-)

Eastern europe day 9

As i write this entry, we've just crossed the border and we're now in the Czech Republic. As our group didn't want to pay extra for a licensed guide, Rin served as a stand-in of sorts. I would have liked a licensed guide but i know the others didn't want and i didn't want to insist. As Dresden is cool, soon everyone was too busy snapping to pay attention anyway. This building here is a church, i think. And if i'm not wrong, no building in the city is allowed to be taller that the statue at the top.

Eastern europe day 9

Dresden is SO COOL. I really need to read up more about the city. A lot of the buildings here are amazing. You can see a panoramic view of the historical part of the city from this bridge i'm on. Really super city if you like older architecture.

Eastern europe day 9

We're in Dresden now. :-) now the bus will be going to the the historican sites. Will be going for our walking tour now. Later guys. :-)

Eastern europe day 9

Yummy, doesn't that look good. :-) this cost me 1.70 euro. Not that cheap. It's prob cheaper in the supermarket. Heh heh... Here goes my diet... :-)

Eastern europe day 9

I finally caved in to temptation and got myself a stick of magnum. One of the biggest reasons why i've not yet bought one was because previous to this most of the petrol stations we stopped at didn't take euro and even if they did, converting at the counter was a little troublesome.

Eastern europe day 9

We're still on our way to Dresden and we're back on the bus after a rest stop. I've been eyeing the magnum ice-cream since the first few stops we made way back in Hungary. At every petrol station, i would gaze in amazement at all the different flavours that were available for the magnums and connettos.

Eastern europe day 9

We finally get a good view from our hotel room. Previous to this, we had views of the backyards of other buildings or construction sites. We stayed at the Marriot for the night and it's a comfy hotel with a good breakfast. The worst breakfast we had was at the hotel in Warsaw. The staff in Warsaw were very nice but the breakfast was sparse. Today we go to Dresden. It's an optional tour, we have to pay 25 euros to go but i don't mind. I hear it's a very pretty town so am quite psyched. :-) ok, taking a break now... Later. :-)

Eastern europe day 8

At the end of our city tour we were given some shopping time at the shopping centre of Berlin. Unfortunately we only had an hour to shop which meant that everyone had to rush. I managed to pick out a shirt i rather like but boy is it expensive, it cost 19 euros. The photo above was taken outside the mall that the guide said is the equivalent of Harrods of London. I didn't have time to enter the mall unfortunately. Also take a look at the strange type of trishaw mode of transportation lined up outside the mall. It's a kind of taxi. Quite cool, huh? :-)

Eastern europe day 8

This is part of the original Berlin Wall. It's all fenced up and so you can't touch it. The way the soviets put up the car is amazing. They put it up pretty much in one day. If you see the map of how long the wall was, you'll be amazed how they did it. They secretly made pre-fabricated sections of the wall in factories near the wall. Apparently the news of the possibility of a wall being built leaked out days before the wall came out and something like 3 million people crossed into West Berlin before the wall came up and split the city into two and separated families for about 2 decades.