WORLD OF NADA: January 2016

Hello everybody! I'm finally back. Yeah, I know that my blog has been abandoned for a while. I was enjoying my 3-day year-end holiday too much and when I went back home, I had to start my first internship immediately. It's been a month now and I've been enjoying it very much. Great office location, lovely office mates. I'm having such a great time there.

Let me finish what I started. My journey hasn't ended yet after Paris. I'm coming back to Prague! Yes, for the second time, I visited this largest and as well the capital city in Czech Republic. This would be the last city I visited on the whole month trip.

I arrived in the afternoon and went to the accomodation straight away. It is a super lovely and affordable apartment we booked through Booking.com located in Wenceslas Square area. The only downside is there isn't any escalator nor elevator so it was quite tiring to bring our big and heavy luggage! The hosts are very nice and helpful, the air-con and wi-fi are well-functioned, and the location is perfect.

This is taken when we were going to leave so it's a bit messy

We stayed in our room for a while and decided to go out to look for food since we were starving. Thankfully, there was a kebab restaurant just beside the apartment and we had a pleasant dinner. Since it already turned dark and most shops were already closed, we just walked around Wenceslas Square and visited some shops that were still opened. We didn't stay up late because our time is limited here and we only had a day to spend which is the next day.

Muzeum at night

The next day, our first stop is the Prague Castle. The nearest metro from the apartment is Muzeum. When we arrived at the station, we were confused at first where to buy the tickets. Turns out, there is a ticket booth inside and thankfully the staff is fluent in English.

The ticket system is a bit unusual. It is a piece of small paper that can be used for bus, trams, and of course metro. There is a choice of 30-minute, 1-day, or 2-day pass. If you want to use the ticket immediately, you have to put it in a machine first to print the time and date.

Please don't be mad at me that I always comment about metro stations everywhere I go because I'm going to do it again. Since Paris gave me unpleasant experience before this, Prague's is still much acceptable. They have some kinds of interesting sidewalls and it is less crowded. Unlike Barcelona's, though it's not too cold, I still can breathe here. The train itself is also comfortable.

Well, still..

To reach Prague Castle, we had to go to Malostranská which is the nearest station. As soon as I got out, I did a flashback of 2013 memories. I was here back then! But I didn't know what the place is called.

From there, we had to walk on a steep road. The path was quite different from what I remembered and turns out I was walking from the back side of the castle. I found out there are actually more places around the castle, such as museums and christmas shop.

Suddenly, I saw crowds of people watching something. There was a guard changing! Since I am short and there were already many people, I couldn't see it clearly.

On my first visit, I didn't have the chance to explore St. Vitus Cathedral and I was happy that I could look all parts of the church this time. Thanks to my student card, I got discount for the ticket!

However, the castle itself was such a big disappoinment. It gave me a nice first impression (read the story here), but it was under renovation at that time so it lacks of beauty and there wasn't even any guard who stand by so we couldn't take pictures with them like I experienced before.

The pretty Prague Castle was being renovated :(

On the way down back to the station, as I was hungry, I decided to try this klobasá (sausage) with bread that looks exactly like a hot dog. Going further at the end of the street, I saw these tempting fresh juices I couldn't resist to buy during the hot weather.

For the next stop, I insisted my friends to go to the famous Dancing House since I only took its picture from car on my first visit.

Not long from there, we went straight away to... the Old Town! This is my most favourite part of the city because it's the center of entertainment. It's a perfect place to spend your afternoon at. Shops for shopping (of course) or at least window-shopping and cafés/restaurants for people watching are all here. This time, I had the chance to try street food from the stalls and enjoying those while watching street performers.

Astronomical Clock

Walk through the alley between this blue and cream building to find Manufaktura and Havelská

Tried this pork slice which I think too salty (and too expensive!)

And Trdelnik is something that cannot be missed

Curious about this Sex Museum

Manufaktura, Czech's very own face and body care products which made from natural extracts such as wine (my favourite!), mojito, etc.

While you were in Old Town, make your way to Havelská. Here you can find souvenirs and there are lots of shops available. Not only this tent on the middle, but the buildings on the sides are also souvenir shops. I recommend to buy fake beer mug which I think is very Czech and looks fancy as well.

I love pork but it's a bit awkward for me to see this whole pig being cooked

Many sausage stalls in Wenceslas Square. No worries for those who can't eat pork, there are chicken and lamb sausages as well. I'm not a fan of lamb, but this is an exception!

We were a bit tired and we all agreed to rest for a while at the apartment which is not far after all. I was curious about John Lennon wall, so after feeling refreshed we went there by tram. The finding was not easy, I was struggling to find the wall. It was dark already and the area around it was a bit quiet. After desperately walking around and asking people, I still didn't manage to find it :(.

After giving up, we made our way to Charles Bridge. On the way, accidentally we found this night food stall. Suddenly we felt a bit better. The food looked so tempting! The mushroom is the best.

I've experienced Charles Bridge in the afternoon but not at night. Turns out, I was having a spectacular and an amazing night! The view was just lovely-pretty-beautiful I couldn't describe it more. These pictures might better tell how I was feeling. We all had to go home the next day and I feel blessed and grateful having my last night like that to end the whole trip.