By Martin on September 28, 2008
We passed by Malostranske Namesti at noon and was stuck in a traffic which was unusual on a Sunday. It turned out there was a ceremony ( we even heard a marching band playing) to celebrate the placing of domes on Malostranska Beseda. There was a small crowd that gathered in the parking lot beside Starbucks where the crane that placed the domes was situated too.
As you can see, the copper domes are shining like new pennies. But after some time, once it has been exposed to air and water, oxidation reaction will happen which will change the color of copper into green just like the other domes of the old buildings around Prague.
What’s interesting about these domes was that according to the article I read, they were removed in 1828 and after 180 years they put it back. It didn’t have further explanation though why it took that long for them to place the domes back.
Posted in Prague, Travel Stories | Tagged Malostranska Beseda, Malostranske Namesti |
By Martin on September 19, 2008
New episode from my fave ‘name the city’ series. Lately I travel to the same destination over and over again, so I dug out an old one from my archive. These pictures were taken in the years 2005 and 2006, so these days the location might look a bit different. And since it is very uncommon place for travellers, here are some hints:
- about 80% of the country is covered by desert
- world’s number 10 producer of cotton
- world’s number 5 in natural gas reserves
- gained full independence only couple of years ago
- more than half of the population is unemployed and living in poverty
From the pictures it looks like a nice place to live in…
Continue reading “Name the city – part 3″
Posted in Destinations, Photos | Tagged name the city |
By Martin on September 8, 2008
I had a few visitors from Asia who were visiting the National Museum last week. I wasn’t able to go with them because it was a weekday, a working day for me. While at work, I got a SMS from one of them asking me what happened on August 21, 1968. They informed me that there were exhibitions mostly photos of tanks and soldiers but since the captions were in Czech, they couldn’t understand anything.
The exhibit poster.
August 21, 1968 is the day when Soviet and Warsaw pact armies saved communism in Czech Republic. There was an attempt to make reforms headed by Alexander Dubcek and the allied armies of Soviet Union and Warsaw invaded our country to halt the said reforms. Read the Prague Spring for more information.
If you want to see it, you can still catch the exhibition which runs from August 21 until September 30, 2008 in front of the National Museum and also in the foyer.
At the museum’s foyer.
Displays of postcards sent by Dubcek’s supporters when he was in custody.
The battle tank, displayed outside the museum.
Coincidentally, the Czech National Museum is also celebrating its 190th anniversary this year. There is also an exhibition and film showing on the ground floor at the special hall which showcases how the museum was built, how it survived the invasion and the bombings and the repairs being done.
The white patches on the columns are repairs on bullet holes that riddled the museum during the invasion.
Posted in Prague | Tagged August 21 1968, Czech history, czech republic national museum |
By Martin on September 1, 2008
The subject of my “Name the city – part 2” is Stephansdom or the St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. This church is dedicated to St. Stephen, also known as the patron of the bishop’s cathedral in Passau.
The facade of the church.
As soon as you come up from the Stephansplatz subway station, this grand Romanesque and Gothic cathedral will greet you. The area around it are all filled up with tourists. You can’t miss this imposing structure when you’re in Vienna as it is one of the most visited site by tourists.
Tourists! A building right across St. Stephen.
Note the beautiful roof mosaic of the building.
Posted in Photos, Vienna | Tagged cathedrals, churches, Gothic, Romanesque, St. Stephen, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Stephansdom |
By Martin on August 26, 2008
If you recognize this building, then you’ll have no problem guessing the city where it’s located.
Clue: It’s still somewhere in Europe, one of Czech Republic’s neighbors. I was there last month so maybe you can find more clue in my previous posts (or maybe not). Good luck!
Posted in Destinations, Photos | Tagged cathedrals, churches, Europe, name the city |
By Martin on August 22, 2008
On our recent trip to Berlin, I’ve noticed that most of their historic and important structures are undergoing renovations. One of which is the Alte National Galerie. It’s good that they maintain these architectural icons of the city coz some of them are really in bad shape. But visiting the Charlottenburg Palace, its right wing was quite a disappointment to us especially that we rested on one of the benches there and the view wasn’t that appealing. On that side, there’s a wide open space with grasses but there was lack of plants and flowers. It’s summer time and there are many pretty flowers that they could have adorned that specific space to make it attractive. It badly calls for a landscaping job!
The right wing of Charlottenburg Palace
I’m not sure if in Germany they have this online directory listing of different services, but in the US, clients can easily locate landscapers with the help of Clicksmart directory. They have a comprehensive listing of all landscapers throughout the country. Should one need a dallas landscaping or Raleigh landscaping, all they do is browse by state and Clicksmart will locate one for them. It’s a good way to quickly find help when you need one.
Anyway, we still enjoyed our visit to Berlin and I was personally awed by their wide sidewalks especially in the tourists’ areas, which we don’t have in Prague.
Posted in Berlin, Travel Stories | Tagged alte national galerie, berlin landscape, charlottenburg palace, palaces |
By Martin on August 19, 2008
We passed by Humboldt University last month and saw what seemed like a flea market for books. We found out they were selling old books at low prices. We could have bought some, but the problem is, the books were in Deutsch. They were probably old stocks from the university’s library.
These pictures were taken a month ago:
And this one was from the weekend: 
*Humboldt University in the city’s oldest university founded back in 1810 by by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt . It used to be named as the University of Berlin and was later on changed to several other names: Frederick William University and Universität unter den Linden and finally it was named in honor of its founder.
The statue of Wilhelm von Humboldt
Posted in Berlin | Tagged humboldt university berlin, universities, Wilhelm von Humboldt |
By Martin on August 18, 2008
I took this photo on our weekend trip yesterday. Can you guess where this is?
Let’s make it easy by giving out a clue. It’s somewhere in Europe. 
It might not be a top tourist interest in this country but when you’re a hungry traveler and needs to be fed badly, this stall is exactly where you’ll find what you need – FOOD!
Posted in Destinations, Food Trip, Photos | Tagged Europe, name the city, wurst |
By Martin on August 11, 2008
Planning and preparation is as always an essential element in the success of any endeavor including a trip. I’ve been traveling a lot lately with family and I can say that half of it weren’t maximized to its fullest because we didn’t plan ahead. Because of that, we missed several important destinations and sites to see and visit. Traveling on a limited time can also badly affect the whole trip as we always have to hurry from one place to another, without really relishing the place and its beauty or history.
Because we plan to go back to Berlin within this month, I am looking for travel websites where I can get travel information on the place we’re visiting. One site that I am currently looking at is GeckoGo. It is still a new travel site but the people running it are experienced travelers who have traveled to many continents in the world and have the passion to share their interesting travel stories. In fact, anybody can join their network of travelers by signing up for a free account and viola! You get to share your stories and the places you’ve visited too. From what I’ve read so far, the members are having a great deal of fun in this site.
Anyway, I’ve done my research assignment and thanks to GeckGo’s travel tips from their members, I now have an important information at hand; from Caitlyn sharing on the free walking tours in Berlin meeting in Pariser Platz every day. It would have been better if she mentioned what time they meet but the nice thing with GeckGo is that, it allows me to send a message to Caitlyn, thus I can ask her my question. That is, if I sign up with them.
Posted in Travel Essentials, Travel Tips | Tagged Berlin trip, travel planning, travel websites |
By Martin on August 11, 2008
In three weeks he had traveled over 10,000 km. He stopped more than 100 cars, three times he slept using his bedroll, ten times he was invited by someone to stay overnight and eight times he used hotel accommodation – but never more expensive than 25 USD. Other expenses included about 400 USD for visa fees, 1000 USD for flight ticket Beijing – Prague and 1000 USD pocket money.
And guess what? He won the ‘bet’!
On Wednesday late night he arrived in Beijing, two days ahead of schedule. But surprisingly he didn’t attend the grand opening of the Beijing Olympic Games 2008. He was more interested in the Sunday soccer match of his favourite team back in Czech Republic.
Related posts:
Hitchhiking from Prague to Beijing
Update on Tomas’ hitchhiking from Prague to Beijing
Posted in Travel Stories | Tagged Beijing Olympic Games 2008, Beijing Olympics, beijing prague, hitch hiking, prague beijing |
