I heart VIE

We also visited Vienna, a beautifully elegant city. I love the city so much. Everything is much more expensive that the other two cities, just like in Paris, but the city is really worth to visit. For me, it's not the old building or the orchestra that amazes me, but the environment while I was there. The city is modern and the people are mostly very elegant during the day and night. There are many cafes in small street which are all beautiful. One night, I went to a quartier, and there was a guy playing cello. he was a street musician, i guess. But he really doesn.t look like one. I would prefer to say that he is a musician who wants to practice while entertaining people.  The music he produced was really a high class one. Something you'd expect when you are in Opera house. I enjoyed it so much. I fell in love with the city since that moment. Where can you walk around and listen to amazingly beautiful play and then stop by in one of the small cafes insteadof in Vienna?

During the day, it was also amazing. The main road was very nice, and everything looks so expensive but once again, worth to visit. The buildings are all beautiful like in Paris, in addition, the systems, the transportation, the arrangement of benches in the street, etc., all are like in Germany, very well-arranged.  Imagine a mixture of Parisian old buildings, the German modern system and the elegant people of tourists and locals, that's Europe for me. I will revisit the city, with my special one, someday.

  

Budapest et Praha

The road trip to middle Europe was quite surprising. First, I was surprised about the city of Budapest. The city was beautiful and nice, but I was surprised that It was pretty small and not crowded at all. Okay maybe I get used to live in Jakarta, with more than 17millions of people for years. But in my mind, the cities in Europe, without exception, are all crowded, modern and alive. That's why I was so surprised to find that some cities, eventhought they are capital cities, are pretty small and quiet, such as Budapest and Prague.

I like Budapest, it doesn't feel like it is part of Europe. It is very different, from the number of people, the buildings, the transportation, the speed of people during rush hour, etc. I had never could really understand what does it mean 'under Soviet Union regime' until I see it there. I saw so many remarks of how the SU had been very powerful in the past.  From the type of people, the old transportation vehicles, etc.  I went to the traditional market and expect nothing than paprika. Yes, they eat paprika a lot, even on their dessert. The food was more tasty and the goulash was very delicious.

I like the area of the castle, a bit at the top of the city. It was very nice there, and the area are just great. One remark about Budapest is the guys are averagely handsome. I even ask Sarolta, how could she have a French boyfriend instead of those good-looking Hungarian? Ahh and one more, one of their popular souvenirs is the fat policeman. The story is that the city is very safe that their policemen were all becoming very fat. =D

Prague was another small but nice cit to visit. The main spots are the Charles bridge and the palace. Don't expect the big palace like in the movie, it was pretty small in fact. The area is big but it consists of churches, restaurant, etc. But walking down from the palace to the main street was another experience to enjoy the city. The astronomical clock was not as special as I thought, but the area was the main tourism spot, so we found lots of local foods there.  The jewish area was interesting for me. Honestly, I never really know what is Jewish, because in Indonesia, It's not legally recognized so I never learn about it in school. I don't remember exactly, but there was a place where our tour guide told us about how the kids were kidnapped to be part of them at that time and they expressed their feeling at that time by drawing.  

Ahh there was also a statue of 'dementor', exactly like in the harry potter movie. Maybe J.K. Rowling got the inspiration from that statue. There was also a quartier, in which one side is the hotel owned by the american, and the other side is the cubiczl building used to belong to the jewish. They said that Hitler loves Prague so much that he allows the Jewish area not to be demolished there, not like in other area. Good job! That's how the history should be learned by the young generations. 

Another story is the St. Anne church. In the past, everything in the church were made from gold, and the church was also open for anyone, without being guarded. Then one day, a guy came to steal the crown of St. Anne, but his hand was being hold by the statue of St. Anne and he couldn't move his hand at all. Then the next day, the priest saw what happened and nobody could help him. They were planning to bring a big saw to cut the hand. The thief was thinking that it was the hand of the statue that would be cut off. But the priest said 'no, it's you who come to this place and intend to take what is not yours. It has nothing to do with the statue.' So at the end, his hand was being cut off, and it was still hanging there, as a lesson for other people. And the guy was working in the church as a mean of apology.  I saw the very small hand there near the statue. I don't know whether the story was true or not, but for me, the lesson is more important.