Day 12 - Bulletin Amsterdam

Berlin - The Story

One of the interesting place that we passed by from Prague to Berlin, Volkswagen factory. Ha Ha.

Us conquering the coach again. :P


We arrived in Berlin, Hauptbahnhof Station at around 3.20pm. From there we took the commuter train to Alexanderplatz. Then, we need to change the train to Senefelder Platz.


Boy! The train change is quite confusing! There is a few times where we need to walk back and forth to confirm if we are on the right track. But once we reach Senefelder Platz, the hostel is very nearby. Yea!

Nice room too!

Everytime we got a room with double decker, there will be a small calibration on who sleeps on top. Hehe...very small discussions ...Less than 10seconds. We are civilised people. :P

Since it is getting late, we don’t waste much time but head straight out. It’s Berlin, so, the 1st thing that we wanted to go is none other than the Berlin Wall. We were advised to get off at the Osbanhoff stop as the Berlin wall will be just in walking distance. But once we reach Alexander Platz, we get hungry. (-_-) . After making a big round, we finally opted for this vegetarian noodle for a very cheap price, EUR3.





Here’s a funny story. The noodle, albeit nice, but us being a Malaysia, we can’t help but to keep topping it up with the sauce and fried onions placed at the counter. However, after a few times, we found out that the fried onions is nowhere to be seen! The shop owner’s wife has keep away from us! Kedekut! (Stingy!) .



The Wall was erected in 1961 because more than 2.6 million East Germans escaped to West Berlin or West Germany from 1949 to 1961. The life in the West was much better than in the East after 1948. In East Germany a communist system was established and many people had to suffer under repressions of the Communist party. East Germany lost too many skilled workers in these years. The East German government saw no other way to prevent from escaping to the West via Berlin than closing the border between East and West Berlin on August 13, 1961.

(Credit)

In 1989 the first free labor union was founded in the communist Poland. The end of the communist system had begun. Mass demonstrations against the government and the system in East Germany begun at the end of September and took until November 1989.Erich Honecker, East Germany's head of state, had to resign on October 18, 1989. The new governement prepared a new law to lift the travel restrictions for East German citizen. In November 9, 1989, A press conference is held where the SED government announced that travel restrictions for East Germans had been lifted. In that night people from East Berlin flooded into the western part of the city and hundreds of thousands celebrated throughout the city. Next day Berliners begin to discover the other part of their city. (credit)

After Berlin Wall, we wanted to go to Brandenburger Tor, but we got on the wrong train and got confuse. Thus, we change the plan and head out at Alexander Platz.

It was a super freeeeeeezing night. So, we stopped for a while to buy some souvenirs, took photos quickly and head back to the hostel.

TV Station

The next day, we woke up at 6.30am, had a quick breakfast in the kitchen and heads out at 7.45am. This time, we did our research and heads to Postdamer Platz.

From there, we walk along Ebertstraße street where we pass by a real nice snowy park.

Pass by Jewish Holocaust Memorial

And finally, Brandenburger Tor!

The we walk straight up passing Reichstag.

From here, we took the metro back to HB. Look at us running to catch the train where one of us flapping the hand some more while Laili walk cozily behind us and snap this photo.

Once we reach HB, we suddenly stumbled into this area called United Buddy Bears.

They have bears representing each country here, but we can't find Malaysia! :(

China

UK

Forget d.

Bear Liberty

We reached hostel, pack our bags and head back to train station for the next ride to Amsterdam, baby!

Transportation: EUR 6

Hostel: Nice rooms and kitchen but only have 1 common bathroom in a wing

Food: EUR3

Snow gets in my eye

Those of you who had experience snow, be honest with me...... do u need to wear shades to prevent the snow gets in ur eye? Haha.... am i being a bimbo here? It's funny looking at the video now. :P

Day 11 - Second Snow in Berlin

Day 10 - Escaping the ghosts in Prague

We reached Prague at 9am and from Praha Hlavni Nadr Station, took tram No9 to Mustek and walk down to Havelska road.

This is the view of New Town

We opted for Pension Tara which have one of the most beautiful room among the hostel we have stayed. It is also really spacious, have a small table, kettle and private bathroom. This is where most of us had our first Maggi Mee through out the trip. Imagine that! I brought a stock of food with me, and only started to fully utilize them from Day 9! Apparently it is not that hard to get Halal food in Europe. :) I keep telling the girls "I am not going to take all these food back to Malaysia. Better eat them now!" :P

Pink some more!

Then we head downstairs to wander around the market which is right in front of the hostel.

Perfect place to buy souvenier
A fridge magnet/keychain will cost ~60CZK

It is here that we discovered Prague is actually also famous as a ghost city. Most of the shops sell ghost puppets that give a hysterical laugh once you make some movements at it.

Next, we walk to the underground station and take the metro to Malostranska.

It is quite hard to find Prague Castle from the metro station. We had to ask a few people to get there. One of them is this guy. Aida and i were trying to decipher the map when he suddenly stop and ask if we need any help. We asked for Prague Castle, and he led us out of the subway and pointed the direction. I know it's actually not good to accept help from strangers, but he seem like a nice person and he told us that the reason he asked is because we look like his friend who was from Malaysia. So, he wanted to help. ;)

A ha! Prazsky Hrad == Prague Castle

It's actually quite a walk and we could take the tram to another stop, but we did not know it. :P

Found it!

Guards

Aida & I with the landscape of Prague Castle as our background

Prague Castle is one of the biggest castles in the world (according to Guinness Book of Records the biggest ancient castle) at about 570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters wide. (credit)

We were greeted by St Vitus Cathedral

It was the home of Emperor Charles IV and his four wives in the 1600’s and is still occupied to this day. The Castle is like a maze connecting several buildings, cathedrals and courtyards. The crypts in the castle are still open today for those willing to go in the deep, dark, and dusty lower levels where the ghosts of the wives are said to bicker amongst themselves in the night time.

(Credit)

St George's Convent

Guards doing the round walk

Another Cathedral, i guess.

Next, after successfully asking for directions, we headed to Charles Bridge by taking tram no18 to Karlovy Lazne. The view here is really spectacular! Feels like watching a fairy tale in real life. :)

Prague Castle from afar.

After that, we walk up and pass some souvenier shops before we board the tram back to Mustek for the last stop at the famous Astronomical Clock somewhere in the Old Town.

However, we walk at the wrong way which is right the opposite way towards the New Town!

But as most travellers would say, when ever you get lost, you might discover something! We landed in the Wenceslas Square which is a huge boulevard, lined up by shops, albeit high or low end. As we walk, we noticed that Lady Gaga is really likeable here as most of the stores were playing "Ro Ro Ro Ma Ma Ma...Ga Ga Ooo La La". The song stuck in my head until now. :(

At last, we walk back and turns out the Astronomical Clock is just around the hostel! :P So, what's so interesting about this clock?

Wiki says....It is is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; "The Walk of the Apostles", a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. The oldest part, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial, dates back to 1410. More detail, get it from Wiki yeah. :P (Credit)

THE clock

The surrounding of the Old Town Hall is magnificent as well.

I think this is a Cathedral

Does this picture remind you of Disneyland?

If you notice, we did not stop much for food, but instead we bought it from the stalls. I did take a few photos, but somehow i lost it. :( Anyway, i had vegetarian falafel which is very nice for the cost of 59CZK and then had creamy baked potato for 19CZK.

To sum it up, i do believe that Prague is really a beautiful city. :)

Transportation: TBD
Hostel: The stairs might kill you, but overall it is a nice room. :)

Food: CZK 78