Center of New Year's Eve

cont.

Berlin

OK, you knew that I joined with Michael to get here from Prague, with only 15 Euros. 

I had been told by a friend, that the best new year eve party is Berlin. You should and must be there for new year party, at least once. So, I planned and being enthusiastic go there and see what they have. I arrived on 30th December at 1900. And Andys, new friend with sophisticated internship experience in New York, waiting for me and let me stayed in his room for 2 nights. Thanks Andys, how nice you are, treated me like your old friend. 

So, on 31th of December, I tried to take some walk. I just remembered what Ibu Devi told me about Berlin as the Hitler History. So, here I went directly to a big street which you can see the changing from old area to new area. You knew this city, had been bombed and smashed by England and US. Here, you can see many modern buildings, seemed like Jakarta. Mall and Supermarket are everywhere. 

 I wont tell you much about this city, since I just had one motivation being here, new year's eve. Here are some pictures as souvenirs. 

Cathedral and the TV station 

Parliament Building, the modern dome were built after destroyed by bombs. 

We can see how the parliament members do their jobs here. 

 

Berlin Wall, still remained in some sites

 

OK, how special the new year's eve was here? What actually they had? You know what, if you imagine like they had a concert and fireworks, you can find those everywhere, even in Jakarta. But here, everyone, in New Year Eve, went to one spot, Brandenburger Tor. This is the symbol of Berlin. A meeting point for every single important activity, party, etc. So, I thought it was around 1 million people were there and drunk. Dont be scare if you found German walks bringing a bottle of beer. They love to do it. It's like a coca cola for them. You have to try being around those people just for one night. Amazing experience. 

More less the party was looked like this. 

So, with Michael, Adit, and some new friends, we were there. Drank our beers, yelled, toke some snaps for sure, laughed, talked, etc. No serious chat at all. Just being naughty without normal brain. Hahahaha. Yeah, at least, I can be like this once a year. When the time pointed 00:00, the fireworks shows were started, amazingly beautiful, around 15 minutes. After that music played the role. Dancing crazily. I was not there for long. At 01:00, I moved to take my luggage and went to central station waiting my early train at 08:00. I was afraid that  I wont be able to wake up in the morning. So I just stayed and waited in central station until the time. 

From here, I went to Delft Netherlands. The cost was only 29 Euros, I got special prize. 

be cont.   

We are so behind...

Kemaren malam baru liat stasiun DW-TV (saluran tivi favorit saya), ada program Tomorrow Today. Salah satu informasi yang mereka kasih bahwa sekarang Jerman sudah lama memulai membuat makan untuk para astronot (space food). Karena kondisi di luar angkasa dan di bumi berbeda jauh, mereka tentu harus memperhitungkan tentang proses biologis dalam tubuh. 

Dan sudah hampir dua minggu, masalah kedelai di Indonesia 'menghiasi' berita. 

Yap, untuk produksi diri sendiri saja kita masih sangat bergantung import. Sedangkan orang lain sudah membuat makanan untuk rekreasi luar angkasa masa depan. Ngapain ajah sih kita???

Lust.. lust.. lust...

cont.

Prague. 

Hmm.. No comment... Very No.... (baca: ga banget...). Man, it is an unbelievable damned so perfect beautiful city... You got what I mean? Yes, this is so perfect. In Indonesian, we can say, imut lucu menggemaskan dan lembut. I still missed this city. Although it's small, I don't think you will feel enough to explore it. 

Ok, a 3 days ticket was about 220 Korunas (around 9 Euros). So, in Prague, everything was cheap. Compare: In France, one 1,5 L Coca Cola is about 2-3 Euros. In Prague, only 1 Euro (surprise!!!). The city was very small. We can go travel around the city by walking. The must-visited places (4 places) were located in city center. I will explain those places after. Because its beauty, I thought this city was filled by tourists mostly. You can check it, everyone speaks foreign languages. The city is like a spider web. See this picture.

Prague's Map

Ok, first place that you have to visit is the great Charles Bridge. Ha ha ha, I spent around 2 hours just to find this bridge. But it was true that the map was not so informative. It was complicated and not easy-understood. You won't have an english map, so it was in Ceczh. Charles Bridge = Karlu Most. Find this direction on your map. Ok let's describe what it is look like. I don't know about the history of this bridge since I really do not like history. But, I will give a picture about this bridge. This bridge is around 400 meter length, crossing the Vltava River. Some street-artists showed their works, from jazz musician, painters, magicians, handicrafts artists, and fore-taler (artists? not sure :D). In its both side, it had statues, most christian statues describing hopes, prays, hard works, etc. 

street jazzers entertain people while enjoying the view

This is the best view from this bridge

Next place, Old Town Square. Ok as I told you before, this town was very compact. Old town is the central town. It is like the main meeting point (rendez-vous). It has stores and restaurant, but the main buildings here are the church (with astronomic clock), the other church (Tyn Church) and a big plain which is used to be used for special activities. Like here what I had, X-mas and New year Market. Not just market, they also had performance especially for the kids.

X-mas market

Astronomic clock with Tyn Church

Funny story, I asked somebody how to get Old Town Square. He said it's very easy. Just follow everyone here, they're going to there. Voila, he was right. Everyone is going to there and continuing to the Karlu Most. 

After old town, I went to National Museum. Since I do not like museum, I just want to have some snap shoots. Reo told me, it's not like a museum telling about the Prague History, but more less 'bout world, etc. It was in New Town and many famous cloth-brands surrounded. Nothing special, not even inside the building.

View from National Museum

Last part, here it is, the Castle. Placed in top of a hill. You can see it from Karlu Most. The castle is used for the government offices. It has a big church. This is the only one building that we can get into. Like other churchs, for me they are all the same. Yeah, you know 'bout the catholic church. Go inside and for sure that it will make you scared of the God. That's the reason why they made their churchs like 'megah na azubillah' buildings. Besides churchs, it has also some museums (private museum and opened for publics), shops, cafes, etc. 

Prague's Castle

Anyway, thank you so much Reo and Andreas for the place. I also met some indonesian delegations for ASEAN. Last but not least, Mr. Soejono thanks for the dinner. I will come again someday. 

Next destination, BERLIN!!! Hey Michael, thanks to invite me to join you. You know guys? From Prague to Berlin, I just spent 15 Euros (connected trains). You go to Zittau from Prague (209 Korunas) and take a weekend ticket for 5 people (just 35 Euros, 7 Euros each) travelling around Germany. Voila, I saved 40 Euros (direct train Prague-Berlin=56 Euros).

be con't

Andai

Oleh Gigi

Memang benar ku salah
Tak menghargai perasaanmu
Dan menghancurkan rasa cintamu

Saat kuingat dirimu
Harummu yang memeluk nafasku
Yang memberikan ku kehangatan

Terangnya seribu bintang
Tak dapat menyamai cahaya
Keindahanmu dari wujudmu

Dan aku tak mengijinkan
Cahayamu redup karena ku
Dan atas kesombonganku

Andai
Ku tak membuang dirimu
Menjadikan yang kedua
Atas cintaku

Janganlah
Keterpurukanku ini
Membuat kau membenciku
Selamanya dan membunuhku

Get Lost In Lust of Europe

Being 3 weeks, as a backpacker traveling around Europe, unforgettable memory. Nobody beside, met somebody new, unexpected problems, surprises, shocks, happiness, and sadness are some excellent experience that you will find. Oh G, I do not know how to start this story. I will try to make it more informative so you can get the idea (perhaps as a reference for you while traveling) not just as a diary. 

Tips, you should do these while being a traveller in Europe, go to information center (usually in central station or airport), ask must-visited places, take train plan, and contact your new friends there. 

Guys, I started my long journey from Munich, then to Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Netherlands (Delft, Rotterdam, Den Haag, and Amsterdam), finally to Stuttgart. With only 600 Euros, traveled around these cities was a really good deal. Oops, I forgot to tell you that money did not include the hotel reservations. I did not reserve the hotels,  I used my networking and asked my friends. Like community webs (friendster, facebook, etc), I made some new friends from my old friends. Very interesting. And you know what? Indonesians here are very nice. They will welcome you nicely, eventhough you never met them before. Trust me!

Before we start, I should provide you some interesting pictures from my beloved camera. Unfortunately, I lost it. So, I would like to take some pictures from some websites. Regards for the sources.

1st point, MUNICH. 

A daily ticket = 5 Euros

As an industrial city, Munich looked so busy and fast. Everyone seemed will lose his last train. But I liked this atmosphere. It pumped my spirit for being more efficient in time and work. First place that I visited was BMW Welt (BMW's World). This sophisticated architectural building combined the showroom, park, technology exhibition room, store, and also restaurant. I spent about 4 hours for exploring this place and I was so excited since it was a bit hard finding this kind of museum in France. Here, you can find the new series of BMW from class 3, 5, until your private-coated BMW. Also you can find some information how the sophisticated BMW combined the luxury, sport, and technology. But, I missed something here, the history how the BMW went into this recent way. But, don't worry, it was free of charge.

BMW Welt

As the most expensive city in Germany, Munich also offered you a nice down town - full of the modern stores-, old buildings, nice germans speaking english well, bretzel (the bread). This original bread came from Stuttgart (Parik told me) and the taste is salty, for me too salty. It will be better with butter. Good for breakfast and for your coffee will be perfect. 

This bretzel is big enough for breakfast, isn't it?

Fortunately, at that time, they still had annual market for christmas here. Everyone was out of their homes and got along with friends in this market. They provided christmas merchandises, foods, hot drinks, and sometimes music concerts. They seemed very lovely. If we want to compare with Indonesian culture, we can call it Pasar Malam.  

Thank you so much Allen. Seperti kata Parik, ati-ati yah dirumah itu. Hihihi.

Next destination, Vienna. I took fast train from Munich, and it costed 78 Euros, spending 5 hours 21 minutes. If you're lucky, you can find special prize (promo) with only 29 Euros. Find out in www.db.de.

2nd point, Vienna Austria

A weekly ticket= 14 Euros.

Not like Munich, Vienna is a small city. With only 1 millions people, this city looked more enjoyable. I do not say there's no rush, but it was just more relax. Everyone can speak english. The prizes of stuffs looked same as in France. After arriving, we went to the famous pizzaria here, Pizza Bizi in center of town. It provided about 4 kinds of pizzas. I took fish pizza for only 2,70 Euros each. It was big enough for dinner.  At that time, they still had Christmas Market and I thought it was similar like what I had in Munich. This market was placed in front of the City Hall (Rathaus). This old and famous building had 25 covered paintings. These paintings were opened each day until 25th December, the christmas day. I liked this building. Looked beautiful, combining the east culture and west culture.  

Vienna's Rathaus

The most interesting place here was the Hill. Oh God, I forgot the name. Ok, let's call My Hill. You can go there by train and take a bus after. I think it was only 30 minutes from town. Here, in My Hill, you can see the Vienna. It was so wonderful. Some of visitors came here just for walking, sightseeing, but also for sport running. With snow, I realized how wonderful it is. But, for sure, in the summer or autumn, it will be more wonderful. Colored by the blue sky, green leaves, and sun, you can not imagine that. Bring your lunch, coffee, coke and getting along friends will be a perfect moment while you're in My Hill.  

Hey, Rangga (Material 98, gak tahu kan kalo nih lagi ngambil PhD di Wina?), thanks man for the place. Ga nyangka bisa ketemu LFM lagi LFM lagi.

After Vienna, next destination is Prague, the City of God. From Vienna, I took train, with 56 Euros spending around 4 hours. I bought it in the Central Station directly.

be con't.