Sunday, October 13, 2013

Prague. Day 3

Day 3

It was our last day in Prague, so were slightly under time pressure, as we haven't seen the city properly yet. Like on the previous day we went couple of station towards the city and started walking. We spotted graduating lawyer's ceremony at the University and random horse carriages on the way. 


And, of course, the beautiful architecture. Prague is undeniably one of the most amazing cities I've ever visited. The buildings have survived through wars almost untouched, so it all together is such a crazy mixture of styles. On the main city square, where the city hall is, I could spot 5 houses build in different times, now standing there together. I fell in love, I  might have even mentioned it to Ismael couple of times that we just have to move here after we are done with Munich.

Don't you just feel like these towers come from the fairy tails?


 Again artists, musicians, crowds and soap bubble makers :)






 Every time there is a new side to the city to be discovered. We have to go back to Prague.

Prague. Day 2

Day 2

Oh, day 2 was a typical "tourist walking through the city" kinda day. We woke up early in the morning, had a big family breakfast and  made a plan for the day. Luckily the tram station was right next to us, so we went directly up the hill to the Prague Castle. On the tram we spotted rather interesting people ( do you see guy sitting behind me with the knife on his belt ?).

Thankfully we made it safely to the castle, which to our surprise turned out to be a a whole complex of castle, cathedrals, monasteries, museums etc. 


There is no way in the world we could have seen it all in one day, so we tried to make the best of it. 

We visited St Vitus Cathedral ( that took over 6 centuries to finish) in Gothic style with really inspiring stained glass windows and lots of details.  




...Vladislav Hall ( famous for defenestrations that started couple European military conflicts) and a a very cute Romanesque Basilica of St. George. 


The sun was shining outside so we took our time to fool around and make pictures.


 

I did not really notice that we were so high on the hill, as it took us forever to get down, but we were grateful for the panoramic city views.


\
 It was a great place to take romantic couple pictures, but... we slightly failed..

As we got down to the old city, we stopped to snack on traditional Czech desert - kolache. It's a simple cinnamon roll that you can find on every corner in the city.
 


 We finally got to Charles Bridge, which was full with tourists, musicians and artists. Being good tourists we made tons of pictures, Ismael bought a street musician CD, as he always does, and we stopped for a coffee at one of those terrace cafes. 







My frustration with the crowds grew with my hunger, so we headed to the restaurant we didn't get in on the previous day. We might have over-ordered, but it was delicious and felt like home. 




We ended our day shaking that substantial dinner off with some salsa dancing. Perfect day.



Prague trip

I guess I'm way overdue with our Prague trip updates, am I ? :) Nevertheless, here's how our trip went.

Day 1

\We took off early in the morning from the Munich train station to meet Alex and Sofian in Plattling, and drive from there to Prague ( about 3h drive). Apart from major heating system failure on the train and weird navigation settings that took us to the countryside roads of Czech Republic instead of highway, we arrived safely and checked into our beautiful apartment.



 Please ignore all the mess we managed to create in the first 5 min.

We were pretty tired after the road and hungry so we checked our Prague book and moved towards the old city in search for a good local cuisine. Our first choice was overbooked so we had to move on to the first one we found nearby, as by that time we were starving and freezing. I can't remember the name, but it must have been something medieval and Czech. Pretty disappointed with our goulash choice and happy about that tasty dark beer. 

As the rest of the group went back to our cosy warm rooms, Ismael and I took a walk through night streets of the city admiring Charles Bridge's fascinating views. That was a perfect end of the day, and we were lucky to get there at night, as it wasn't as crowded as during the next day.











Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Happy Birthday, Resi!

Yesterday we celebrated Resi’s birthday. Although it was grey and cold, Ismael tool a day off to spend it with his  mom  at Oktoberfest. 
Sofian joined them later on for lunch, and… coffee. It might have been that the waitress had to run off the Oktoberfest grounds to get the coffee and yes,  one passerby might have pointed a finger and made fun about the incompatibility of Oktoberfest and coffee, but we will never know for sure ;)


 Maruan, Andreea and I  joined the happy family after work, they on skype and I at the table, for a birthday song and a piece of cake.  As a birthday present we booked a 3 day trip to Prague for 5 of us and we are heading off tomorrow early in the morning. 




I really love Prague, as I have enjoyed it each time I’ve been there: be it a bachelorette party or a school trip.  I could not be more excited!


Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Nothing describes Munich in autumn better than Oktoberfest  (or Wiesn). It all started as a 5-day marriage celebration of the Bavarian Prince Ludwig and Pricess Therese in 1810. It obviously was a success back then since it takes place every year for 200 years now.
For 3 weeks city turns into the jolly beer fest, with 6 million visitors from all over the world (5 times of Munich inhabitants). Insane 7 million liters of strongbeer are sold during these weeks and almost  half a million chickens are eaten.  In recent years it has become a true fashion to dress up in traditional Bavarian Dirndl and Lederhosen (some tourists can be spotted half naked  directly at the Central Station while trying on the costumes).
I bought mine several months in advance for a Fruhlingsfest (much smaller Oktoberfest in spring) but did not really get a chance to wear it back then. So I put my brand new dress on, braided my hair up and we headed with Ismael to the place of festivities.  



Before joining our friends in the beerhall, we strolled along the fruit and glazed nut stands and watched those courageous ones on the roller-coasters. And oh the delicious strawberries in chocolate.

We were lucky to avoid queues to the Schutzenfesthalle on the Sunday afternoon and joined Paulina and Dennis at the table on the balcony. Some time later we went down for the real party where music and beer never stop .



     


Prost!

We’ve had really good time and got home early enough to still rest before the working week.