Prague Day 2

Day 2 welcomed more aimless meandering and wandering from the two of us, except it was perhaps less aimless than the first day. Have I mentioned that I love how the trams look on Prague streets? They're a dash of vibrant colour against the antiqued wash of the buildings. What a romantic postcard would that make? (Please excuse my strange obsession with trams...)

a tram travelling along Revolucini

We started the day with a walk along the river. Sadly enough, I don't know what it's called...

the name wasn't listed on Google maps either...

Across the river, we visited the metronome perched on top of a... hill? It's interesting, for some Expo held in Prague some 50 years ago. The elevated location meant that you can see the skyline of Prague. Sorry for the haphazardly taken photo... I'll share another photo of I can successfully stitch a panoramic view of it.

 

From there, we got a little disoriented trying to find the castle, but it was only a short walk away. We were lucky enough to see another wedding (I saw on the day before at Old Town Square).

I hope I'm not violating any portrait rights... =\

We also watched the change of guards... though I think I enjoyed the one in Taipei a little more...

Due to the rain and a (slight) lack of sleep, we headed back to the hostel for a bit in the afternoon. I took a nap, my travel buddy got to work... So hardworking *sigh*. Afterwards, we finally got me an umbrella and headed to our next destination: dinner.

Cafe Louvre has a long history. It was first established in 1902, got closed down by the Communist government, then reopened in 1990s. Its guest list includes Kafka and Albert Einstein. I saw a listing for the restaurant online and decided I needed to go for Art Nouveau and Baroque art... if I'm even remembering correctly. Excuse my poor memory. Dinner was a good price (6-12 euros for the main course), and it was positively delicious. My dish was Cream on Roast Beef with cranberry target and roll dumplings. BernZ ordered Pork Tenderloin marinated in garlic and rosemary, potato dumplings filled with ham, and stewed cabbage with apple. (Like my detailed description?)

my Cream on Roast Beef

bernZ's Pork Tenderloin.

Please excuse the poor lighting in the last 2 photos, I'm much too lazy to adjust it and pretend I'm a good photographer. Last installment of the trip to come (early) next week!

By fishii with 2 comments

Prague Part 1

Imagine wandering the streets of gorgeous Prague at 700, then being in class in Maastricht at 1330... what a strange feeling it is! I spent the last weekend in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the wonderful and enchanting city that everyone who has been there make it out to be, a place with an atmosphere that makes you just want to wander around aimlessly while getting lost in the city.

Old Town Square

Perhaps it's the architecture, maybe it's even the way they paint their outer walls in this antiqued wash, but the way that downtown Prague presents itself is absolutely charming. I couldn't find a single reason to dislike it, but then again, I don't think critically unless I have to...

 

The view from Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge was such an amazing sight under the soft sunlight of late afternoon. With leaves slowly changing colours further into the horizon, it was almost breathtaking. I really could just stand there and stare out into the captivating scenery if I could learn to ignore the noises of the multitudes of tourists behind me. Alas, I couldn't, so I could only be glad that it wasn't peak season for Prague...

More Charles Bridge shots, with the bridge included.

After more nearly-aimless wandering around this marvelous city, my travel buddy, bernZ and I settled on having a famous Czech hotdog. It was good, but I might still prefer my Bratwurst... I can't quite decide.

I forgot to take a photo before I started devouring it...

Ah, I also forgot to mention how impressive Prague looked at night, when everything is lit up. I guess it is a tourist attraction after all?

I can't put a name to this place yet, will update when I can. ^^;;

More Prague stuff to come this week, hopefully!

By fishii with 5 comments

Brussels

fishii went to Brussels on Saturday with a friend! The first train was early so I had to wake up at 530AM... I was really tired by the end of the day!

The transfer here took nearly an hour, so we popped across the street for breakfast... or hot chocolate for me. It was quite cold... Biking to the station froze my fingers. Must get gloves...

Hot chocolate with delicious fresh cream in cone. Amazing.

Second transit point at Liège. Belgium is wonderful architecture land! ♥

We then hopped on the wrong train by accident. This one is the expensive one! By the time we realized they closed the door and wouldn't let us off... So we stayed on and got off at the next stop. Luckily, no one caught us. =D Fancy this train is, isn't it? This train was supposed to have cut our travel time, but I'm not 100% sure. 

So after another transit (because of the wrong train), we finally got off at Brussel-Centraal (Bruxelles-Central) station. September is design month in Brussels, so I was greeted by an array of colours that represent the exhibit as soon as I exited the station.

I'm lacking a macro shot of the Grand Place! I only have photos of the buildings...

After strolling around a little, we decided to stop for a lunch! By chance we strolled into a restaurant that's listed in the Brussels restaurant listings or something? That's what the owner said in his broken English. Anyway, the son was super nice. When we ordered our Belgian Fries, he asked whether or not we wanted sauce (costs extra, but no matter). So we asked him what's the traditional Belgian choice, and he (perhaps because he can't speak much English) let us try the sauce! Stunningly delicious tartar sauce on equally mouthwatering fries. Heavenly.

But how can you forget about chocolates in Belgium? That would nearly be cardinal sin!

Before we left town centre, we got some Belgian waffles! How could you not have the 3 famous things will in Brussels, right? Fresh cream (you can really taste how fresh the cream is) with kiwi was my choice, my friend picked strawberry and chocolate. They got everything from the waffle to the kiwi down pat.

Taking a relaxing stroll through Parc de Bruxelles.

We left town centre by foot in search for Parc du Cinquantenaire, which according to Google Map, took about half an hour by foot. I didn't look at the clock, so I don't know, but there were lots of things to see on the way. I'm glad to have been on my own two feet. Lots of EU office buildings too!

At the fountain inside the park, we sat down to enjoy a macaroon from Paul's. The chocolate one was gooooood. It wasn't too sweet, but had the wonderful fragrance found in good chocolate. Francophones and their food, I just don't understand.

We ended our day by getting our friend a farewell gift from the famous chocolatier neuhaus. Belgian chocolate all around~ Got home at 10 and was ready to fall to bed. fishii needs sleep...

By fishii with 4 comments

Aachen, Germany

I'm posting mostly because if I don't do it now I won't do it for a while. Course load here is as bad as SFU, except here, I'm also preoccupied with chores and travelling on top of my usual procrastination techniques. Let's see how this will turn out.

Anyway, on Saturday I visited Aachen, Germany to shop with a new church friend Sarah. She's been here for about 8 months so she knows the area well. Aachen was an hour away by one direct bus. It's a larger city and *cues drumroll* it has a Starbucks! Apparently we've both been craving it (Maastricht doesn't have one), so we made a beeline for it.

Aachen's theatre (for classics, presumably).

We started by visiting a cathedral (called la Cathedrale d'Aix-la-Chapelle in French). This cathedral has been bombed and rebuilt so many times that you can see four types of bricks from the outside. The inside is quite exquisite though.

So I decided, or we decided, that since we're in Germany, it would be wrong not to have a Bratwurst for lunch (or dinner, whichever you should prefer). So we looked for the Bratwurst man who sells his Bratwurst on the shopping street!

He has his whole thing on his hip... I think, and a support bar.

So I got this from the man. It was delicious.

But a shopping trip wouldn't really be complete if I didn't buy something *whacks self for lack of control*. So I'm sorry, mom! I bought flats instead of boots. They were €14,99! ><;;

Yea, I'm going to have trouble packing for home...

Finally, I'll show you a shot of the buses here we have in South Limburg (Limburg is the province)! Veolia Transport is the name, and this is what it looks like.

The construction of this post took a good 3 days to finish. Please be kind and leave me a word. XD

By fishii with 7 comments

kyushu food

I'm back to posting about food. Recently I've been obsessing about food, what am I going to have for dinner? Oh look! A fries shop! A bakery! A chocolate store! What recipe should I try out? So today I'm going to let that keep going and post Only about food.

 

Hakata ramen from a store in Daimyo-ku, Fukuoka (I forgot the name...)

So I've decided that I absolutely love Hakata ramen. I've only been to one place that successfully made me thing it was mediocre, all the other ramen places just blew me away. This one had a soup base so milky it's hard not to just drink it up. Delicious gyoza too! Man... I want gyoza... the skin was so thin, the insides were so good, indescribable!

From this lunch, the bumhead of my little brother and I headed to Beppu for tons of hot spring enjoyment. But that's not the point of this post! So no talk of hot springs, onto the topic of dinner we go. We bought some sushi and okonomiyaki from a supermarket just across a park from our hotel. Luckily we just hit discount time (where they start putting a discount on all ready-made-food that hasn't been sold yet), and dinner was tres cheap =D.

So lunch the next day is going to be the last part of this post, or I'll seriously go buy a ticket and fly back to Fukuoka to eat. There's this amazingly delicious restaurant a block away from our hotel called Toyo Tsune. When I say amazing, I mean it's super famous too. The lines were insane (we got there just before lunch hour rush) and managed to get in within 10 minutes. 

 

toyo tsune set - even the rice looks perfectly cooked.

bumhead's ten-don. i would've ordered it too, if i wasn't coughing up a storm. the store is famous for this dish, and understandably so. The batter is light and the sauce has just enough flavour.

a look at their kitchen - this is where we sat and got served hot off the grill food.

和牛 cabbage wrap.

What is 和牛 in English anyway? That's it for today! Stay tuned for more food photos from fishii!

By fishii with 3 comments