Linkopi @ Linköping

Part 2 of 2 weeks in East Europe

After we settled down in our rooms, we went to the train station to buy our train tickets to Vienna. There was a huge mix up when the girl, who can't speak much english, thought we had train passes and told us that the tickets were just 50pzl, which is actually just the reservation fee for a sleeper train. The actual price is about 200pzl which is near 100sgd. This was only established after about an hour of miscommunication! And all this time, we were starving having travelled without lunch!

After finally settling the silly train tickets, we set off for dinner! It was Darren's birthday and despite his refusal to celebrate, we had a "good" meal at a local chain, the Sphinx restaurant. It's a restaurant a little like swensens in singapore but with better atmosphere. But we felt a little cheated by the supposedly big set which is in the lower corner. It was quite pathethic..big containers with little food but the fried cauliflower and beer were good! If you're going to Poland, Okacim beer is pretty good, even for a non-drinker like me.

After dinner, we took a walk around the town and train station. The main picture is of the Science and Sports Palace that Stalin gave to Warsaw. It's quite a spectecular building , a little bit like the empire state building, but we eventually didn't go into it. Didn't have the time to and it was probably expensive. The top photo is a shopping mall behind the train station and it looks like Singapore's esplanade! The other photo is the train station.

Inside the train station is actually a huge complex of little food stalls and it's been a long long time since we saw street food! The boys couldn't help but buy some food for themselves and the food's very very cheap. The pastries and doughnuts cost no more than 1sgd and are pretty good! The very long time bb is holding is called a Zapiekanka, baguette topped with mushrooms, cheese and tomato sauce, toasted to perfect crispiness. They promptly fell in love with it and become the Zapiekanka brothers. hahaha. but it is quite delicious for such a simple thing and cheap too! about 1.50sgd for a very very long piece.

Here's a photo of the public transport. The top left is bb in the tram, the bottom left is the tram. The top right is the ticket punching machine and the bottom's the metro station. The transport there is really really cheap. A 24 hour ticket, valid on trams, buses and metro, costs 6.40pzl, which is about 3 sgd. And the transport system in Warsaw is pretty good and easy to use. It saved us alot of time!

The next morning, we set off for the citadel as Darren suggested. I love navigating the streets of the cities and finding our way through a map. There's a great sense of satisfaction when you get to your destination!

This is the Citadel. It is actually a military facility now and only a part of it is open to public, namely an old prison which held the revolutionaries and radicals in the past which is now a museum. There are also some war memorials here and there. The men working on the lawns there wear Mario-like suits and they all look like Mario and Luigi! Damn cute!

Here's our group shot in front of the execution gate at the citadel. It's a memorial for the soldiers killed during the world war.

Here's a very nicely taken macro shot of the little white flowers found on all the fields everywhere now that spring is here. This flower even had a little worm in the middle if you look carefully. Spring really makes one happier with all the beautiful flowers!

We walked from the New town to the Old town in Warsaw and it wasn't very much different. But the place was extremely lively maybe 'coz it was a sunday and easter was nearing. But the atmosphere was wonderful and so was the weather! There were even people dressed in costumes walking around town. And horse and pony carriages with the Clip Clop Clip Clop as they walked up and down the cobbled streets!

We kept seeing happy people walking past us with huge cones of ice cream and got us craving like crazy for them, until we wandered up a street and saw a long queue. And yes! they were queuing for ice cream and obviously we joined the queue. The ice cream was super cheap and really good..it's like 2sgd for 3 huge scoops in a nice waffle cone. And bb fell in love with the whisky flavour that we didn't manage to find again.

Somemore sights around the old town. There was some health carnival in the old town and there were people doing aerobics in the middle of the square and a huge chiquita banana wandering around disturbing people. There were also girls giving out apples and ricky didn't hesitate taking a photo with them and got himself and darren free apples! haha. The top left corner is a street "artist" who will ring a bell in his sleeve and shake around when you give him a coin. he managed to scare a couple of kids who disturbed him thinking that he was fake.

This is a church in the corner of the old town. It's pretty grand inside but the outside looks like some government building. The poster on the front is of the late pope, who was polish and the pride of the poles.

After wandering about town awhile more and checking out some Jewish areas which were closed for the day, we went in searh of FOOD! haha. there's this place with famous doughnuts and they deserve to be famous. even bb who doens't really like sweet stuff loved the coffee eclair and demanded to take away some for our overnight trip to prague. the doughnuts had rose jam inside and icing coated with orange bits! i had a small cheese cake and it was super. We had 2 eclairs, 3 doughnuts and a cheesecake for 10sgd! not cheap but worth it. We then decided to try the dumplings which are local specialities. It's quite okay..not as yummy as chinese dumplings but quite special with many different fillings.

One more group shot in the hostel where we had our takeaway dumplings dinner before we left for Prague. And that wraps up Warsaw. It was surprisingly good, maybe because of the weather and the festive mood. But the city area is really messy and the train station is full of old beggars who are so pitiful but you can't give them any money 'coz they will just keep wanting more. But generally, g'dansk is more enjoyable than warsaw but warsaw has more stuff to eat and shop since it's the capital. To read more about Warsaw, here!

1st April to 3rd April: Prague!

We finally reached prague after a 10 hour train ride. The prague train station was abit shady with alot of scary looking people looking like they're ready to pounce on you! We got to our hostel by tram eventually. The hostel we stayed at looked really good on the internet, with alot of facilities like swimming pool, pool table, blah blah, but when we got there, there was nothing! The building did look impressive, the size of a hotel but it was only their 2nd day of operation and most of the stuff were not ready. We were so disappointed. But at least the beds were new. But that's also why we forgot to take photos of the place 'coz it wasn't worth it.

After settling in, we set off for town. It was impressively beautiful! We fell in love with the place at once. The photo above is of the town hall, on which there were people walking around near the top of the tower. There is an astronomical clock at its side which is famous for the 12 apostles which appear every hour and there are always people waiting there for it to come out. We did too. hehe.

This beautiful and imposing building is the Church of Our Lady before Týn. You can never see the entire buildling 'coz the buildings infront of it are built right onto it. They represent different architectural styles and have been built one upon each other over the years. The church is the main feature of the old town square and it's really impressive looking! The church was closed so we couldn't go in. =( but it's supposed to be very grand inside.

Here's another view of the church. It's in gothic style and no other building we saw in the other places looked quite like it.

There was a huge easter carnival in the old town square and many many food stalls and souvenior stalls selling all sorts of stuff. They had huge pig trotters grilling, pigs stuffed with unknown stuff, sausages, sweets, apples, pastries, waffles, etc. So much food, so little time! haha. we wasted no time in getting a huge wurst and it was delicious. and all for about 3sgd! I got a yummy stroopwaffle, 2 thing and crispy waffles with a layer of caramel in between. It was delicious! I still miss the carnival now!

We walked the little allies of town looking for a good restaurant. There were so many around we didn't know how to decide. We eventually settled for a czech style restaurant with reasonable prices. They had free pretzels hanging on a stand on the tables and they were alot of fun to play with. Bb was elated when he saw the word PORK KNEE on the menu and didn't waste any time ordering it. He certainly did the pig justice by polishing off every bit of edible pig on the knee! He still drools about it now and then. haha.

After lunch, we walked back to the old town square to check out the church at the corner of it. This is the church of St. Nicholas. It's very ornately painted on the inside and the huge chandelier hanging in the middle is just magnificent.

With no place in mind to go to, we just walked around and saw this random statue on the streets. He reminds me of my dad's silly face and i just had to take a photo with it. haha.

The next morning, we crossed the very very famous Charles Bridge to get to the Prague Castle. Charles bridge really is very pretty and no amount of photos can do justice to it. It's a pity it's so overcrowded with tourists but nonetheless, the bridge and the view from the bridge makes up for its lack of atmosphere.

Here is the St.Vitus Cathedral in the prague castle complex. It is an amazingly complicated gothic building. The exterior is so intricately carved with strange gothic and pagan stuff. It looks abit scary in fact. But the inside is in contrast very gloomy and simple which was the aim of the architect. The stained glass in the cathedral are very beautiful. It is by far the most impressive cathedral we have seen. the rest of the castle was nice too but this is the one thing most worth mentioning. After spending half a day at the castle, we head for lunch at a restaurant near the castle. We lunch on the balcony of the restaurant. The view was superb! We could see the entire hillside and it was so calm and peaceful. An experience impossible in Singapore. The food was also very good, albeit a little bit expensive and we were shocked that we had to pay for the ketchup and salt and pepper that was on the table.

After lunch, we decided to stroll along the hill and look at some of the churches and monastries there. The view from the hill was great. You could see the entire old town and the various steeples. This photo is really funny. Ricky somehow has low tolerance for beer and always knocks out after their lunch beer. haha.

After strolling the hill, we took the funicular down the hill and crossed charles bridge again. It was a really beautiful night and i love this photo, minus the people. The moon was prefectly round and orange hanging just above the roofs of the buildings. No wonder people say that Prague and Charles Bridge are romantic places. We headed back to our favourite square for dinner. Bb had the huge wurst again and i had a czech speciality called Trdlo. It's a really cute bread dough thingy that are cooked on metal cylinders over flames. The bread dough are rolled around the cylinders then rolled in cinnamon sugar and almonds. After they're cooked, they're pressed in the mixture again. It's uber delicious! I want more!!

To find out more about Prague, here you go! The next day, we went souveniors hunting and off to vienna we went in the afternoon! Prague was the best leg of our tour and the most beautiful. I would love to go back there next time! just for Trdlo! haha.

So sorry for the very slow blogging rate..i still have a backlog of Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava and Krakow. It's tough sorting through thousands of photos. And there's still the Tallinn cruise. AND! we're off to Amsterdam, Belgium and Luxemborg for a week! hehe. till then! =)

luv, jL

posted by jL-yZ @ 3:15 PM 0 Comments

Part 1 of 2 weeks in East Europe!

G'dansk was actually not on our plans. I've never even heard of G'dansk prior to this trip. We ended up flying to G'dansk 'coz of the cheap ryanair tickets which was about 60sgd for a return trip + 1 check in luggage between the two of us. That's like one of the good things about Europe -- the abundance of budget airlines.

Here's the happy boy upon our arrival at G'dansk airport which is a very small airport and it is their international airport. We had to take a bus out to the city and with the help of the very kind ladies at the tourist information, we were in town in no time!

Happy people on the way into G'dansk city!

The transport system in poland is really interesting. You buy tickets at the kiosks and validate them on the buses at machines like this one. You feed the ticket into the machine and it will print the date and time on it. The other countries we went to were similar too. Including their Metro (MRT) which has no ticket barriers like in Singapore. You simply walk in and take the metro.

Anyway, G'dansk is in Poland. G'dansk is also where WWII started but the city has been restored since then. For those who want to learn more about G'dansk, click here! G'dansk was a pleasant surprise and a good start to our tour. It was surprisingly beautiful and the things were much much cheaper than in Sweden. We stayed at this hostel which was simply named HOSTEL. haha. HOSTEL's location was super. It was right in the corner of old town where all the sights are situated in.

That's HOSTEL over there. It's an old building which the friendly owner transformed into a hostel. We stayed in a 13 bed room in the basement but were the only people there. The owner of the hostel was super friendly and insisted we each take a shot of the local vodka when were were using the internet in the evening. He said that his idea to open a hostel actually stemmed from a visit to Singapore where he stayed in a hostel along beach road. Interesting huh?

This is the main street of G'dansk old town, Dluga street which means Long street. It's a very picturesque street with colourful old houses. The building with the tower is the town hall. The inside of the town hall is really intricate. We only managed to peek at the ceiling through the windows but it was enough to put us in awe.

In old town was also this huge cathedral of St. Mary Magdelene. and by huge i really mean huge. It's supposed to be able to hold more than 10000 people and the whole building was built in gothic style. It may not be as intricate as the ones that we see in the other countries but it certainly is impressive. The stained glass just below the organ is absolutely breathtaking. That's the 2nd one in the left column. Here's another church which is more decorated on the inside and more fancy. I can't remember the name but it's one of the most adorned churches i have seen thus far, with all the paintings and a very ornate organ. You must have been wondering when the food photos will come in. Here they are! we had some vegetarian food for lunch without knowing that it's vegetarian food but it was cheap. the cheapest food we've had since we've gotten here. that's the one at the right. It was actually quite delicious! The piece of cake i was so eagerly eating was damn nice! it's like the royal chocolate cake at coffee bean but better, with nuts and chocolates and cream. i want more! the other photo is of the pork knuckle that bb loves. And this is the beautiful Dluga street by night. We were really glad that the place was relatively safe with police patrolling the streets at night so that we could have beer at one of the pubs where bb had his pork knuckle. And the streets weren't too deserted. There were still lots of tourists walking around and enjoying the night scene. And this wraps it up for G'dansk. I would recommend visiting G'dansk if anyone's planning to go to Poland. Just take a day trip there. It's worth it.

We took a detour to Malbork on our way to Warsaw. Malbork is about an hour's train ride away from Gdansk and on the way. The owner of G'dansk Hostel suggested we go to Malbork to check out the castle. Suggest is too mild a word. haha..since we didn't have anything to lose and the train to warsaw had to pass by malbork anyway, we went! so what's so great about Malbork?

This is what. The biggest brick castle in Europe built in the medieval times. And it really is very very big. It is actually a couple of castles combined into one but the size of it is amazing and it really is all built of red bricks. And as always, those who want to know more, here you go.

We didn't go into the castle as we had limited time and the admission fees was quite high. But the outside and the surroundings of the castle was impressive enough and it really brought you back to the medieval times where knights walked along the very streets we walked on. It's really incredible how they could concieve and build such a place without the cranes and modern technology.

On our way rushing back to the train station to catch our train to warsaw, we passed by this super cute doggy. haha. it looks like some cartoon doggy with its forlorn eyes and the way it was sitting there so cutely.

And this is it for now..part 2 featuring Warsaw and Prague will be up soon!

posted by jL-yZ @ 11:15 AM 0 Comments

Easter Holiday = Backpacking in East Europe!

posted by jL-yZ @ 4:28 PM 0 Comments