A Youth Backpacker in Europe
Chapter X Part I
Munich, more than Oktoberfest




City: Munich
Country: Germany
Currency: Euro (€)
Dates: 15th January 2008 - 19th January 2008
Travel buddies: Stella, Egon, Rahma, Sid, Chris and Meghan








Caption: Olympia Tower in Olympia Park

It was intriguing to observe how every alphabet flipped in an old-fashioned way as the schedule changed in Budapest central station. But what occupied me the whole night was by having Budapest setting such a high standard in travel, will Munich, city lived and promoted excessively by Soon Hooi be able to live up with the expectation?

Anyway, the Budapest-Munich train ride was definitely nowhere close to a comfortable 10-hour. Despite the fact that Germany is probably one of the countries in the world that produces the best trains, the journey was surprisingly awful as the train was crappy and completely worn out. Not to mention also how slowly it paced. But I guess this is just the nature of international train - except no quality train, unless you are willing to churn out money from your wallet.

Munich, as described by Soon Hooi as one of the coldest cities in Germany contradictorily welcomed me with its warm hug. There wasn't a single snow fall during my entire visit. And in fact, it was the time when I was relaxing in Olympia Park Munich that I had to unbutton my jacket to feel the soothing winter breeze.

Caption: Lake in Olympia Park (left) and interestingly, was it feeding ourselves or feeding swans?

Yes, besides the worldwide acclaimed annual Oktoberfest event, Munich certainly has a huge galore of fun to offer. Olympia Park, as mentioned previously, was built for the 1972 Summe Olympic Games. It was the first Olympic complex I have visited in my life. Wondering how monstrously huge an Olympic Stadium would be, I found the park was lovely in size.

Visiting Olympia Park in the morning was definitely the smartest decision of the day. Surrounded by groups of swans gliding smoothly in the beautifully created artificial lake, birds flying by the park and occassionaly added a closer-to-nature scent to the park, and the scattering crowds of people eithier practicing sports or leisurely strolling around the park like I did, I asked myself, what could be more relaxing?

Ascending to the Olympia Tower however may seem to be luxurious treat as it offers nothing more than a panoramic view of the industrial hub of Munich City. With so many historically erected monuments in Munich city centre offering fascinating sceneries of the Bavarian capital, it really is hard to convince that a climb to the Olympia Tower is necessary. But I did give it a try and found that it really was... nothing much.

Caption: Olympia Park (left) and BMW world from Olympia Tower.

If you are willing to spend the money for the tower, then it is absolutely idiotic if you choose to skip the guided tour to BMW Manufacturing Plant in the BMW Weld (BMW World), which is located just less than a few hundreds metres from the Olympia Park.

Germany, a nation often associated with state-of-the-art high speed trains and luxuriosuly good performance automobiles certainly would render disappointment to mechanical technology fanatics impossible. Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkwagen are all originated from Germany. But most importantly in Munich is home to another automobile giant - BMW.

With the newly constructed BMW World, BMW certainly promises to provide the ultimate pleasure and intense excitement to cars lovers by cramping a BMW Museum which unfortunately was under renovation during my visit, manufacturing plant, exhibition and sales centre with test drive facility all under the same roof.

The feel-free atmosphere in the centre was so encouraging that no matter who you are and whether you can afford a BMW, you are encouraged to jump into any model of BMW on display, except the very exclusive F1 race cart centred the exhibition hall like the king of the kings. Filled with information, interactive games and friendly staff fluent in multiple languages, satisfaction is assured in the world of BMW.

Caption: That is the logo that everyone is chasing after. And to the right, observe the test drive runway which appears as a bridge as seen from below.

But the highlight was surely a guided tour to the manufacturing plant. It was one of the single most important events in my winter trip. Being able to witness this state-of-the-art manufacturing plant which adopts robotic aid in 95% of its operation was stunning. I was first impressed, and then amazed, and lastly fascinated by how a half-a-million Euro automobile is produced to its every detail. Not a mechanical enthusiast myself, the charm of the tour proved to be irresistible.

As mentioned, cars are not the only proud product of German. Trains, on the other hand is also an affair Germans take very high pride in. The delusive impression of German trains not too long before vanished after train journeys within the nation embarked. By deliberately served ignoring the supreme quality of train rides and just amplifying the types of trains in the nation, it is already sufficient to impress train commuters.

It was wonderful to travel in Germany by trains, not to mention my superb night train from Munich to Berlin. I was even travelled from Berlin to Hamburg just for the sake of trying out the ICE train at one point of my journey within Germany. You can tell that I was hooked to the quality of German trains. Although price concern travellers might find German trains slightly absurdly priced, but trust me, it worth the money. But in order to travel wisely, I would still advise you to buy a railpass.

Caption: BMW F1 and posing next to BMW.

From Olympia Park to BMW World to German trains, I trust I have given Germany a superior technology giant coating. The admiration to this highly developed nations is without a doubt. But the history behind Munich and the charm of it from an historical point of view surely will not surrender to dazzle visitors. Of course, all these are coming in the next entry.

Have I already told you that Munich is my most favourite city of my entire winter trip?

Caption: Allianz Arena which hasn't been mentioned in the post.

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I know it has been a long while since my last update. The reason, internship. Travelled to Kalimantan in the beginning of July and then came back to the Netherlands after three weeks. And then got re-posted by company a day after to England. So voila, here I am in Great Yarmouth, east coast of England. Heard that this is probably the roughest coastline in the North Sea. Well, so far, the nasty English weather is not prevailing. I guess summer season does help.

So, I guess you know this is not going to be a typical travel post that I normally make. Accessing the internet from wireless connection in hotel, nothing much to expect. Constant discontinuation is more likely. And everytime when there is a huge amouth of data transfer, I will get disconnected. It means no upload of picture. Therefore, this is not an ordinary travelogue from Sambaldeli.

Anyway, I will still share some travel experience with you. But they are my travel experiences in Banjarmasin and Great Yarmouth because under the reason of travel light, I didn't bring my travel diary with me, and my winter travel diary is inside.

Firstly, Banjarmasin. It is the capital of South Kalimantan. I thought it would be a huge city, but I was disappointed. Not that it is not huge enough. But it is monstrously huge just because of the population. As any typical city in Indonesia, the only thing to see in Banjarmasin is human, human, and more human. It is evident that the city is expanding because of the population and nothing else.

The traffic on the street, it was hardly imaginable. There wasn't a lot of cars, but motorcyclists were everywhere and they costed me five minutes before I managed to cross a road. There was apparently a floating market which according to my colleague, a waste of time. There was also something called a boat trip to a monkey island. But apparently, you only sit in the boat passing by the monkey island.

Sounds like I am complaining. But I am not exactly. Growing up in Malaysia, how much difference I would have expected between Indonesian and Malaysian was obvious. Monkey, it might be interesting to European, but not me. Floating market, perhaps it is just people selling goods on boats. By having said these, I didn't involve to any of the aforementioned activities.

Great Yarmouth, on the other hand, is a complete different story. According to my colleague, it is a, C.H.E.A.P English toursit city. Funny? Yes, indeed!

After slightly more than a week here, I have to agree with my colleagues that Great Yarmouth is indeed a popular beachfront city for poor English people. Not the mention the nasty English weather that mostly rain prevailing. It was because having a beautifully wide sandy beach but a deadly cold North Sea just doesn't make it interesting for, at least me, a typical tropical beach lover.

I went for a swim in the North Sea for the first time in my life last weekend. The moment I was in the water, I thought I was going to meet my creator in a few minutes. It was deadly cold. Okay, maybe it wasn't a great idea in the very first place to swim in the sea. But if you keep moving, you will soon get used to the sea temperature and be able to enjoy a little bit. But still, don't spend too much time in it. Because the harbour my company is building is just a mile away.

What to say? Poor English people.

Okay, you may have noticed I am not revealing a lot here. Because this is just an update for greater travel stories in the future. I will be back with more detailed travel bites in Banjarmasin and Graet Yarmouth. See you soon! I hope.

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Budapest, delightful Turkish experience
A Youth Backpacker in Europe
Chapter XI Part II

City: Budapest
Country: Hungary
Currency: Hungarian Florint (1Euro = 238 Ft)
Travel Date: 11-14 January 2008
Hostel: Goat Hostel
Travel Buddies: Siddharth, Egon, Rahma and Meghan

Caption: Random street view in Budapest

In Budapest, the fun wasn't limited to just walking endlessly from one tourist attraction to another. Having been told by the hostel owner that there is something called the thermal bath, the five of us were eagerly excited for another exploration. But the challenge, five kilometres of walking one way.

The navigation was extremely easy as I just walked along the Andrassy utca (the Embassy street) where embassies are located. But as you would have imagined, the scenery wasn't all that impressive. It was only until the very end of the journey where I spotted another concentration of tourist attractions; the Heroes Square, ski park and museum.

Indeed, thermal bath may be treated as another form of tourist activity. But the construction of this Turkish-like thermal bath centre, called Szechenyi, is actually for medical purpose rather than to attract tourists. Therefore, it wasn't surprising for me to notice that there was a handful of people holding a medical card in their hands asking for discount while I was queuing in the line.

Caption: Random street views in Budapest

One question, since thermal bath is medically beneficial, especially to skin problem, would transfer of diseases by sharing the same pool occur? Honestly, I don't know. I didn't give it that much of thought at that time. And judging by the fact that no one talks about it, I supposed it was all safe to enjoy the endless body contact with others in the same pool, to relax under numerous water jets and to have fun spinning in swirl pool.

But one warning, no underwear is allowed. Wear your swimsuit.

I did bring my swimming trunk with me. However, concerning whether the heat of the water might render extremely high weariness to the fabric, I opted for my white sport shorts. Unfortunately, it was a mistake, or perhaps a beautiful disaster.

Caption: Heroes Square (left) and Ski part next to a museum.

Not that I was questioned and scrutinised by the guard of the centre while standing half naked, which happened to my friend in his underwear. It was because while pool hopping in Szechenyi, I got uninvited stares from others as my white sport shorts turned to be transparent and I was wearing nothing more than the shorts. (Blushed)

Yes, it was absolutely hillarious. But it wasn't because of the indecent exposure, it was because of my high self awareness that had rendered me to walk (or run) from pool to pool extremely awkwardly while struggling to cover certain parts of the body, pathetically. However, the mist around the pools (except the cold water pool) did help a little in saving my embarrassment.

Caption: Szechenyi Thermal Bath centre (left) and its interior.

It was absolutely the best idea to just have a luxurious dinner around Szechenyi thermal bath centre after the two-hour relaxation. Heard also from the hostel owner that there is a restaurant somewhere around Szechenyi that is owned, operated, and served only by female, we were curiosuly interested.

Unfortunately, the nught came really early and instead of risk getting lost in the darkness, we decided to return to Budapest city centre, along the yet another five kilometres journey. How effective was the thermal bath after all the walking? I have absolutely no idea.

However it wasn't a bad decision to just have our one-proper-meal-per-city in the proximity of our hostel. The restaurant that we subscribed to was indeed eerily quiet when we first stepped in. But since it was recommended by the hostel owner, we gave it a shot, and it was definitely satisfying. The portion of food was generous, the environment was soothing with music played in the background, and most importantly, it was delicious and cheap. I especially like the layers potato in my lamb pot.

Caption: Food in the restaurant (first three) and langos in market.

Talking about food, there is a food called Langos that one must try in Budapest, or Hungary in general. It is very typical deep fried bread served with different topping, from savoury to sweet, which Hungarians normally have in the morning for breakfast. Though it might be new to some of my friends, I did find it quite resemble to "yaw zha kuei". But I guess it was the different topping that made it slightly unique.

To sum up my Budapest trip, i was thrilled to have visited this capital accidentally. Budapest certainly has a lot to offer and in great deal. The people don't speak perfect English, but they are genuine and friendly. But still, most importantly, expenses in this capital weren't that expensive.

I have had absolute good time in Budapest and I will definitely go back again.

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Budapaest, eastern mysteries revealed
A Youth Backpacker in Europe
Chapter IX Part I

City: Budapest
Country: Hungary
Currency: Hungarian Forint (1€=238Ft)
Travel dates: 11-14 January 2008
Hostel: Goat Hostel
Travel buddies: Egon, Rahma, Siddharth, Meghan

Caption: Charles Bridge.

Budapest didn't strike the mind during the initial planning of the winter trip. It was rather a last minute plan than a desired location for visit when a gap between Vienna and Munich has to be filled. However, the Budapest visit turned out to be greater than pleasurable, even under minimum planning.

One good thing about travelling in Eastern Europe is that it is relatively cheap compared to other parts of Europe, especially Western Europe. In Poland, it was a great shock which was of course welcome that the expenses could be so affordable. However, it was in Budapest that I truly enjoyed the value of Euros offers.

Perhaps the city does look a little too worn out and unorganised, perhaps there were just somehow a little too much construction going on during the winter time. But the lovely sunny weather in the winter week truly accentuated the enjoyment for tourists in Budapest. Though with slight snowfall, Budapest was simply too warm to be considered as winter by the time of my visit.

Staying in a recently setup hostel at one end of the city centre, it was astonishing to learn that I had no key access to my room, because rooms were not locked in the hostel in general. Though padlock was provided by the hostel owner, who happened to be an extremely kind and polite peerson that was also very informative, I felt a little uncomfortable leaving my belongings in the hostel when I was out for exploration.

Caption: Danube from bridge (left), and from Jubileumi Park (centre), and Charles Bridge.

It wasn't discrimination, but to my fellow travellers, it is very important to always keep an eye to your belongings, especially when travelling in Eastern Europe. But don't get me wrong. They may not as wealthy as people from the western part, but it was always so interesting to learn the excitement and enthusiasm and friendliness of people from this region. It someone was really picky, I can guarantee snobbishness is something you wouldn't fing within easterners.

Budapest was really a very beautiful city. Of course, the sunshine covering the entire visit was a great enjoyment booster. The every single bridge that crosses the Danu River has its own very distinctive design. And no matter which bridge you are standing on, you will always have the greatest scenery from the both sides of the river. Though the one just at the end of the street near to my hostel was under construction, I guess it offered the best view to the more historical part of Budapest.

Caption: A market (left) and Buda Castle from Jubileumi Park.

If you haven't known, Budapest is divided into two parts; Buda and Pest which is located at the right bank and left bank of Danu River respectively. Buda is the old side of the city, every monument erected at this end of the city has extremely high historical value. By having said that, it is clearly undrstood that the Pest side is the new city district, which of course offers less attractive destinations but more modern concrete structures. However, the age of these structures are comparatively older than modern structures as have seen in other capitals.

It took me one day and night to enjoy almost everything at the Buda side. Of course, this is only feasiblt if you minus very detailed museum visit. I started my day by ascending slowly to the top of Jubileumi Park, where Szabadságszobor (Liberation Monument) is located. This is the highest point of the Budapest city and from here, a mesmerising panoramic view over the entire city, especially the Pest side, will worth your risk of falling off the hill due to icy walking path.

From the Szabadságszobor, one can slowly explore the whole Buda side by walking along the approximately five kilometres tourist destinations along the hill. These include Citadella, Buzogánytorony, Budapest Historic Museum, Halászbástya (Firsheman's Bastion), and most importantly the Budai Vár (the Buda Castle) which is listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Caption: Way leading to Fisherman's Bastion (left) and one of the building in Buda Castle.

It actually does take a very long time if all these points are to be scrutinised properly. but as a museum skipper, I glided through the Buda side pretty effortlessly within a day. Personally, by simply enjoying the uphill-downhill walk was truly relaxing enough.

However, I did step into not one, but three museums. It was during the time when I was in Buda Castle. Haven't been admitted to any restroom that day had mae my bladder reached its ultimate limit. Naively thinking that there should be a toilet in one of the buildings in this vast area surrounded by massive structures, I ended up entered nearly every single building but still failed to locate a toilet.

No, do not think that I didn't open my mouth and ask. Instead, it was the confusing answers given to my simple question that led me walking fro and back several times for a total distance of about 1.5 kilometres before I finally got a zero Forint admission ticket into the Budapesti Történeti Múzeum for the toilet inside. Yes, you read it correctly. I had got a very beautiful admission ticket to the museum, but only for the use of toilet. This of course had created a buzz among my travel mates. And the result was exactly what you would have anticipated; everyone got similar ticket in the end.

Caption: Fisherman's Bastion (left) and Matthias Church near it.

If you have a sweet tooth and really like marzipan, then you should visit the marzipan museum located right at the ground floor of Hilton Hotel, next to the Fisherman's Bastion. In there, you would be amazed by all the marzipan displays which definitely require supreme skill work and consume lengthy time before finish. It was just too bad that it was nearing its closing time by the time I reached there. Though not sharing the snobbish characteristic, Hungarians do have the same working attitude as its counterparts in the rest of Europe.

Night wasn't coming early as compared to previously visited cities. But a walk from Fisherman's Bastion back to my hostel at night, along the beautifully lit Danu River marked a remarkable conclusion of the whole walking day. Amazed by our walking ability, we embarked on a journey of no return. But of course, this is coming in the next post.

Caption: Parliament as seen from Buda side (left) and Danube at night.

Note: I will be travelling to Kalimantan, Indonesia next Tuesday for two months for internship. Since internet connection in Kalimantan is slow, and I will have less time, and posting here gave me huge trouble today, I anticipate updates will not come as frequent as current. Sorry.

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Vienna, vaudeville of the world
A Youth Backpacker in Europe
Chapter VIII

City: Vienna
Country: Austria
Currency: Euro (€)
Travel dates: 9-10 January 2008
Hostel Stayed: Wombat Vienna
Travel buddies: Egon, Rahma, Siddharth, Stella, Meghan

Caption: Vienna Opera House.

Early in the morning, I was sitting in a rather vacant train leaving from Prague for Vienna. It was the starting city of the second half of my winter trip and officially, I entered into the euros zone. Having been confused with numerous currencies for the past half a month, it was really challenging to switch to euros. It is strange to state this since I am actually receiving scholarship in euros. Fortunately, the transition was a positive one as spending habit was closely monitored now.

Vienna, the capital of Austria, was really cold during winter. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that Austria is part of the Alps mountain range and therefore the altitude of the country is relatively high. Though my winter clothes were proven to be sufficiently trapping the body heat, walking long hour on streets was still something unbearable. However, the situation was definitely a lot more enjoyable than in Poland.

Personally, I don’t think visiting Prague and Vienna one after another was a good idea, because you might end up sharing the same count as me that Vienna was nothing impressive. Perhaps this is somewhat biased as Prague had really set a supreme standard and thus shadowed the charm of Vienna.

Caption: Life as backpacker is not glamorous, having kebab before opera (left) and interior of opera house.

Having enormous structures in a beautifully planned city, Vienna to me was simply neat and tidy. However, whether it has left a significant impression in my mind is definitely questionable. But this doesn’t mean that Vienna should be erased from the travel list, though I would strongly agree that there wasn’t much to experience in the capital.

Contradicting to the previous comment, one of my winter trip highlights was actually happened in Vienna. I bet you know that I am talking about watching opera.

Yes, opera is indeed a world renowned thingy in Vienna. I think despite the fact that most of the world’s famous opera shows are originated from Vienna, it is also because watching opera is not going to cost a fortune, but could be extremely cheap and surprisingly affordable. From my experience, it was only two euros, but standing at a still having complete view of stage corner, for two hours.

Caption: Okay, the top part was where I stood (left) and the opera house before performance.

However, it wasn’t really a real opera show where you get to see opera singers singing with their extremely high-pitch vocals. It was a ballet performance with live orchestra performance in the background, but located in front of the stage. The performance was brilliant. But even if you are not entering the opera house for opera, paying two euros for the interior of the building is worthy.

Like many other tourists, one question that lingered in my mind was whether I need a suit to get admitted into the opera house. This may sound exaggerating. But to say that this requirement is merely a printed custom on pamphlets is an understatement. Carefully put on the nicest clothes I have in my backpack, yes the somehow still wrinkle free pants and decent looking shirt which would be covered under nicer looking jacket, I braved myself to the opera house and passed the test.

There were certainly a lot of audiences coming to the opera with extravagant suits and crying-out-loud dress. But to make the whole opera thing more balanced, there was also a fair amount of backpackers, like myself, dressing decently casual. The main difference between the two groups was one booked their ticket earlier through various channels, and the other (the backpackers) bought their tickets by lining up at the nearly invisible side door ticket counter of the opera house. It is also very important to note that you have to be there earlier for the queue because two-euro tickets are limited.

Caption: Ballet performance (left) and merchandise in Mozart House. Basically everything with his head on sells.

Opera is certainly not the only cultural and artistic activity to do in Vienna. Mozart, one the most celebrated composers in the world, lived in Vienna for ten (or fourteen) years and therefore making a visit to his house a must. I am not sure how worthy it is to spend money on the expensively priced ticket just to walk the four-storey building located at a unnoticeable street in the middle of the town centre, which is quite near to the more eye-catching St. Stephen Cathedral that dominantly erected, because I didn’t go there.

However, a visit to the merchandise store located at the ground floor opened my eyes to learn about the commercialisation of the whole Mozart thingy. From the dazzling array of merchandise, either a Mozart mouse pad or a Mozart mug, or maybe a Mozart chocolate, it is really hard to avoid thinking that maybe to buy a piece of scarf with his music printed on top is more important than walking through the various chambers in the building.

Caption: Mozart house (left) and there he is, Mozart.

There are also two gigantic museums in the city centre of Vienna, namely the History of Art Museum and History of Science Museum. Yes, museums. However, you don’t really have to visit the interior. My suggestion would just to walk in the middle of the Maria-Theresien Platz to experience the fierceness of these two absolutely identical buildings at both sides of the park. But that’s also because I had really extremely limited time in Vienna. Who knows that you might end up being more culturally educated after visiting to the two museums?

I am not a museum fan. But I did pay a visit to another kind of museum, the Sisi Museum. It was not because it was a kill three birds (Imperial Apartments, Sisi Museum and Silver collection Museum) in one stone reason, it was mainly because the lethally cold weather. However, I think staying indoor wasn’t that helpful at that time as I still felt deadly cold. Perhaps all the silver collection retained coldness?

Caption: In front of National Library (left) and St. Stephen Cathedral.

But paying a visit to Sisi museum was worthy as the story of Sisi was then raised again during my visit to Munich. But I think I should leave it as it is now. Vienna is definitely a culturally rich capital. But it was also where I started to suffer the inundation of cultures. Luckily I was only staying for two days. Can’t imagine what I will do in the third day. Perhaps just a tram ride around the city?

Caption: Maria Theresien Platz and History of Art Museum.

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Prague, fairy tale capital
A Youth Backpacker in Europe
Chapter VII

City: Prague
Country: Czech Republic
Currency: Czech Koruny (€1=24.5kr)
Travel dates: 5-8 January 2008
Travel buddies: Egon, Rahma, Siddharth, Stella, Meghan

Caption: Prague Castle at night.

Walking on any street in Prague, Jiann Chyuan couldn’t help but wonder where have all the Czech gone?

The idea was to take a night train from Krakow to Prague so that we can have a wake up coffee breakfast in one of the world’s most beautiful city. However, it was all drained down to a nasty toilet experience in a somehow unthinkably ugly train station in this one of the world’s most beautiful city.

Okay, toilet was indeed there. But if you were having emergency call to subscribe to the toilet service in train station, after refraining yourself from using the disgusting toilet on the train for one whole night, make sure you have exactly the amount of change for toilet admission. I bet you just don’t wish to run into different partly opened (or partly closed) stores and to ask tens of people for small coins for toilet admission.

It was really bizarre and confusing to me that I was rejected to enter the toilet just because, not me, but the service counter didn’t have change to my paper note. I mean for toilet’s sake, allow me to settle more important business first, please. And most importantly, the most important counter in a train station (I mean the toilet counter), has no one that speaks English. I couldn’t help but wondered would visiting Prague become a beautiful disaster?

Caption: Tourists at Stare Město (left) and Charles Bridge.

Luckily, after a whole week of gloomy snowy weather in Poland, Prague showered us with the longed sunshine. It was surprising that being so closed to Krakow, Prague was relatively dry and had no trail of snow at the time of visit. But of course, it was cheerful news to me. And staying in probably the cheapest and closest hostel from nearly every tourist destinations in city centre did really help sweeping away to unforgettable toilet experience.

However, there was only one question: Where have all the Czech gone?

Walking to the insanely popular Stare Město (Town Square), the only thing you would really like to see is the insanely famous town hall. However, what you would probably end up, similarly to my experience, was the equally insane tourist population.

Caption: Clock at Old Town Hall (left), a beautifully decorated building in the posh street (centre) and at the end of the street near Old Town Hall.

Standing at the square, if you were lucky not to tumble around while being pushed, you would definitely notice there is no Czech language, but a bowl full of mixed foreign languages salad. I honestly reckoned that if the flags of different tour guides were laid down, it would probably sufficient to cover the whole circumference of the square.

The square itself is humongous, but the number of tourists made it impossible even to just walk without brushing to anyone else. And mind you, it was winter! I was really losing the ability to imagine the crowd in summer when I was gasping at the crowds from the top floor of the old town hall, which I was so afraid that it would collapse due to the overloading of tourists.

What is the point? Prague is a city built for tourists.

Caption: Market with fruits and souvenirs near to Old Town Hall.

No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you will find tens of people walking the same way, tens of people doing the same thing. And by looking at different souvenir shops that sell the same “Czech it out!” t-shirt, you definitely would wish that you could ‘czech’ some Czech out.

However, I must give a bit of credits to Prague because it was really beautiful, even in winter time, even when slushy snow paid an unexpected (and unwanted) visit since the second day. The best way to appreciate the charm of the city was definitely from a spot where you can overlook at least three bridges across the Vltava River.

However, again, the challenge of visiting Prague was not to visit every corner by walking, it was about where you can find a spot to take a decent photo without the tourists’ background. This was especially true at the Charles Bridge, at the Prague Castle, at the Stare Město, at the Old Town Hall, at the National Theatre, at the Church of Our Lady, etc. Okay, it was everywhere.

Caption: Downhill to Prague Castle (left) and Prague Castle from other side of Vltava River.

Well, if I have successfully killed your desire to visit Prague, then I should apologise, because there were occasions when I was indeed able to enjoy myself wandered around the city without bumping into too many tourists. And one of these examples, the one I recognise as the most enjoyable experience, was a walk along the Vltava River. It was a nice two kilometres walk where there were swans and birds waiting for you to feed. And the experience of counting the number of bridges was simply relaxing, as there was no need to fight for space on the bridges.

Although it may be crowded, you simply could not miss the souvenirs market near to the Old Town Hall. It was a place where tourists were most willingly to churn out the cash for absurdly highly priced souvenirs. Of course, this included the “Czech me out!” t-shirt.

Caption: Cakes in an ice-cream shop near to Old Town Square (left) and the must try bread.

Food in Prague was however to my surprise slightly expensively priced. Perhaps for the same reason, Prague is simply a tourist city and tourists need to eat. The restaurant that we went in at the downhill of Prague Castle was having quite little portion in serving. But it was compensated with extremely lively atmosphere. I guess part of the money on the bill went to this. I forgot the name of a kind of bread that is rolled over a steel bar and is touched with caramelised sugar before being baked. But it is a must try.

Looking at the title of the post, I indeed didn’t mention anything about how life in Prague could be a fairy tale, mainly due to the beauty of the city. Why? I bet you have known the answer right now. Prague, a beautiful place filled with culture-rich buildings, but unfortunately, fairy tale no more, tourists? Plentiful.

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