Last instalment - Classical Vienna

It may come as a surprise, but Vienna was my least favourite city of the trip. It felt like just another city, and a small one for that matter with much less shopping. Not that I was there with the intention to shop, as shopping to me, should be a "by-the-way" sort of thing and not the main focus of any trip (unless it's meant to be a shopping trip in the first place).

Unlike other major cities where museums charge close to nothing, Vienna's museums were horrendously pricey (EUR 9 and above). Last year, we didn't have to pay a cent to visit the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, and that sure was a good art museum. Based on my scant memory, most of the museums in Washington DC are FOC. So, EUR 10 to visit a museum at the tail-end of a 16 day trip did seem pricey!

This is our very cool apartment at Schwedenplatz, which was a mere 10 minute walk from Stephansplatz - the centre of Vienna!
We cooked breakfasts of ham, sausages and bread in this very tiny kitchen.
Stephansdom was partially under construction and I liked how they used cloth specially printed with the cathedral motifs to cover the mess up. Look carefully and you'll notice how neatly the motifs are aligned to the structure! Beats having ugly scaffolding and green netting uglify the view, that's for sure!
At the impressive Hofburg entrance.

Lots of knight-on-horse statues in Vienna...this one was taken at sunset from the Hofburg.
Church of St Charles at Karlsplatz.
I have great admiration for Austrian architect Otto Wagner and his creations. Top to bottom: Majolica House, Medallion House and the twin pavilions for Karlsplatz station.


Hanging out in alfresco cafes at Stephansplatz, strolling along Kartnerstrasse and Kohlmarkt doing real shopping and window shopping (I'll admit here that P and I loitered around the Chanel boutique one too many times, even after shopping hours...my idea of course!), gaping at the impressive Hofburg, snacking on big fat Wiener sausages and yummy Italian gelato...doing all of these with my darling P made the trip special and memorable for me! Till the next trip! :)

Salzburg makes me happy

The gorgeous Mirabell gardens. At my insistence, we came here everyday...which wasn't a bad thing, as we caught a few free concerts here! Imagine the crisp cool air caressing your face and the wonderful music tickling your ears! Haaaaa truth is, the "cool air" was more like "cold wind"!
These beauties made me real happy!

We caught this on my cam on our hike up to the Salzburg fortress. I love walks where I catch unexpected surprises like this...
...unlike P, who was a lil' grumpy that he had to walk when we could have taken the funicular!
The impressive Hohensalzburg Fortress perched atop a cliff. We spent an educational day touring the castle with our audio guide.
Bird's eye view of Salzburg from the castle.
On one of the days, we took a 1-hour bus to the Salzburg Lake District (Salzkammergut). The bus makes several stops in Fuschl, St Gilgen, Strobl and Bad Ischl. I had done some research before we embarked on our journey and shortlisted St Gilgen and St Wolfgang!

Here in quaint St Gilgen. Obviously, Mozart reigns here too?!
From St Gilgen, it was a relaxing 40 min ferry ride to St Wolfgang. We sat at the top and froze our faces off! But it was really nice :)
The rain in St Wolfgang hampered our movements but it did not dampen our spirits. P was especially happy after buying his pet bull from a shop there at almost half the price compared to Salzburg city.
On our last day in Salzburg, we visited Schloss Hellbrunn Castle. We tried walking to the palace, and it did look possible from our map. However, an hour of walking and we were still nowhere close. Plus everyone we asked shook their heads and spoke in their halting English "quite far", so we gave up and took the bus eventually.

Here's a pic of the canary yellow palace.
The feature and highlight of our trip was the trick fountains in the palace grounds. This was a pleasure palace for the playful Prince Archbishop Markus Sittikus von Hohenems. He had water fountains and water holes installed all over the palace gardens to amuse and entertain his guests. At this particular banquet table, the water fountains, once activated, would wet all his guests except himself! The kids were having so much fun and us adults watching them had a good laugh too!

Kutna Hora & Cesky Krumlov

Kutna Hora

One of our day trips while we were in the Czech Republic was to an old mining town, Kutna Hora. Originally, the plan was to visit another town Karlovo Vary, a spa city that sounded more interesting but the bus tickets were sold out and Kutna Hora was easier to get to.

We boarded a train from Prague's Hlavní Nádraží station. Unwittingly, we sat in the first class carriage for about 30 min and was chased out by the conductor into the 2nd class carriages which were all packed. Ended up standing all the way to our destination, which thank goodness was only for another 30 min!

The sign at the train station tells you how ancient this mining town is...
We visited St. Barbara's church, purportedly one of the most famous Gothic church in central Europe and a UNESCO world heritage site. This site reminded us of our friend - Ms Barbara To.
The interior of the church was just as impressive as its facade. As P and I are both not catholics, we could only marvel at the beauty of the stained glass windows, ornate engravings and elaborate altars. Fascinating frescoes depicting the secular life of the medieval mining town and religious themes are depicted on the walls of the church.
A bird's eye view of the small mining town from St. Barbara's church.
While in Kutna Hora, we also visited the Sedlec Ossuary, also known as the Bone church. The visit was rather chilling as the interior of the church was decorated with skeletons from about 40,000 people. There is an impressive chandelier in the middle of the church constructed entirely of bones from different parts of the body. P and I were so spooked that we did not take any pictures here!

Our last dinner in Prague was at Andel's restaurant, possibly one of the best we tried. Another favourite is Cafe Slavia, but Andel's more traditional and local. What can I say...P loved his sausages!

Cesky Krumlov

Cesky Krumlov is a very pretty town in the Czech Republic, very different from dusty Kutna Hora. We stayed at Pension Na Ostrove, a small establishment with only 5 rooms I believe. Our room was simple but comfortable, and what I liked best about it was the sound of running water that can be heard from our room as the pension is located right beside the river! It certainly reminded me of home...

Cesky castle is just across the river from our pension!

Bird's eye view of Cesky Krumlov from the castle. Ain't it pretty!

Someone trying to pluck a red tulip from the royal gardens.

Ahhhhh....me love this place!

Here's a picture of us together at Cesky castle. I think the photographer did a good job!

Another one of us (there aren't too many).

This marks the end of our Czech adventure. The next day, we took a private shuttle transfer to Linz, and were on our way by train to Salzburg, Austria!

"Prague is so beautiful!"

...was what P and I heard from friends countless times before we even set foot in Prague! What people didn't tell us was how touristy and crowded Prague really is! Everywhere we went, there were hoards and hoards of tourists milling about in every corner of a square, queuing to enter cathedrals, crossing the famous Charles Bridge etc etc! We were able to find some reprieve from the crowd whilst wandering around Mala Strana (Lesser Town) and Kampa island. It was almost impossible to take a decent picture in the Old Town and Prague castle without having some strange looking people appearing in the photos.

We stayed at the lovely Mamaison Riverside Prague. I can't recommend this hotel enough. The rooms were royally furnished and the bed was plush and comfy. Best of all, the service level displayed by the hotel staff was top notch! I posted this pic as P looks like he's posing for MTV...lol.


Prague castle, Mala Strana & Kampa island

This is a touristy looking me at Malostranské Náměstí - the beginning of our short trek up towards Prague castle.

The gothic St Vitus catedral. We wanted to visit but the queue was way too long!

Changing of the guards at Prague castle. The procession was much longer than the one at Buckingham Palace in London. You can see some guards in the windows playing their instruments.
A picturesque view of Mala Strana and St Nicholas church with the green domed roof taken from Strahov Monastery. Mala Strana is also known as Lesser Town, due to its position on the left bank of the Vltava river.

Wandering along the quaint streets of Mala Strana.

John Lennon wall in Mala Strana. The wall was named as such as it was filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles songs. I googled the wall and found some history on it.

"Lennon was a hero to the pacifist youth of Central and Eastern Europe during the totalitarian era. Prior to 1989 when communism ruled, western pop songs were banned by Communist authorities, and especially John Lennon´s songs, because it was praising freedom that didn’t exist here. Some musicians were actually jailed for playing it!

When John Lennon was murdered in 1980 he became a sort of hero to some of the young and his picture was painted on this wall, for whatever reason right here, along with graffiti defying the authorities. Don’t forget that back then the Czech people had few opportunities to express their feelings with their lack of freedom. By doing this, those young activists risked prison for what authorities called “subversive activities against the state”.

But the threat of prison couldn’t keep people from slipping there at night to scrawl graffiti first in the form of Beatles lyrics and odes to Lennon, then they came to paint their own feelings and dreams on the wall.

The Communist police tried repeatedly to whitewash over the portrait and messages of peace but they could never manage to keep the wall clean. On the second day it was again full of poems and flowers with paintings of Lennon. Even the installation of surveillance cameras and the posting of an overnight guard couldn’t stop the opinions from being expressed."

Devil's Stream (Certovka), which separates Mala Strana from Kampa island. It is also known as the 'Venice of Prague' because of the houses that sit on the water's edge.

P and I had a quick snooze on a bench at Kampa island. It was so serene and peaceful. Check out the plastic yellow penguins installation outside the art museum.

View of Charles Bridge and the other side of Prague. Charles Bridge is a famous historical bridge decorated with 30 statues on both sides. It is indeed very impressive but we were put off by the buskers, souvenir kiosks and numerous tourists crossing the bridge.

Another pretty view of Prague.

Old Town square and surrounds

The Old Town Square's most notable sights are the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, the Old Town Hall Tower & Astronomical Clock and the stunning St. Nicholas Church.

St. Nicholas church

Church of Our Lady before Tyn. Our guide pointed out that the 2 spires are not identical - one is bigger than the other, representing masculine dominance in that era.

The medieval astronomical clock below does a little performance on the hour. 4 figures flank the left and right side of the clock. According to our guide, the skeleton says yes to death by nodding its head and 3 other figures shake their head as if to say no to death. The doorways of the clock will also open and the 12 apostles move through it in succession.

There were throngs of tourists witnessing this the 2 times we were there - once on our own accord and the 2nd on a free walking tour of Prague.

Puppets for sale in Old Town.

Wenceslas square, the other main city square and a popular meeting point. The square was named after Saint Wenceslas, duke of Bohemia, who was eventually killed by his brother.

We managed to catch Don Giovanni at the National Marionette theatre. We could not understand the opera as it was performed in, I dunno, Italian? But it was fun watching the puppets perform and we managed to catch the gist of the story at least :)

Last but not least, I have to repeat this: Prague has the best beer in the world - BUDVAR. I'm getting thirsty as I'm typing this.