From Prague to Nuremberg

After visiting Prague, we left Czech Republic and headed towards Germany again. The destination was Nuremberg, which is a very lovely small town in Germany. The scenery on the way was lovely too.

Albert Einstein and Matcha Ice Cream

When we were window shopping in Prague, I came across this interesting limited edition pen by Montblanc. It was dedicated to Albert Einstein with all his famous equations engraved on the body of the pen. It looked very nice but I didn't dare to ask for the price. Therefore, I took it back in pictures only.

In contrast to the limited edition pen, the matcha ice cream was much more affordable. So we grabbed a cone of ice cream each before we were about to leave the Old Town.

After indulging in a cone of matcha ice cream, it was time to get on our tour again. The last think we saw before leaving the Old Town was the Powder Tower. That was the end of out tour in Prague.

A Lamborghini Experience in Prague

After we had finished with the tour itinerary in Prague, there was still a few hours of free time. Therefore, we went on window shopping as well as some real shopping. Since my sister shopped in a high-end shop and made the salesperson very happy, we requested her for recommendation of good coffee nearby. She said: "Lamborghini!" without any hesitation and pointed us the direction.

Even though we had obtained the information on direction, it still took us a while to find as the café isn't called 'Lamborghini' but it serves 'Tonino Lamborghini' coffee. If not for the packets of coffee on display, we could have missed it. There is no doubt that this was one of the best coffees we had in this trip.

Since it was afternoon tea time, we ordered some items to go with the coffee. We choose the strawberry mouse cake and tiramisu. These cakes were unexpectedly good. Do not be deceived by their looks!

We were extremely satisfied with this tea break and Prague left a very good impression again in my travel journal, for the third time!

A Sunny Day in Prague After the Flood

It was the 5^th of June in year 2013. It had been raining heavily in Eastern Europe for more than a week before this day. We had been watching the news on television of the flood happening in Prague a few days before this day. The rain had finally subsided before this day when we arrived at Prague. The 5^th of June in year 2013 in Prague was a sunny day.

It was the first and only sunny day on the whole tour and we made full use out of it to roam around Prague. The first stop was non other than the famed Prague Castle.

Although it was already the third time for me to visit the St. Vitus Cathedral, I still couldn't resist to take more pictures of the interior. It is one of the most beautiful churches I have visited in Europe.

The tour also included a visit to the Old Royal Palace. As it was already my third visit, I did not take too many photos on the inside.

The Golden Lane is a very prominent part of Prague Castle, therefore it couldn't be missed for our tour.

Even though the rain had subsided, the water level of the Vltava River was still very high. The water flow was so rapid that Charles Bridge had to be closed to the public.

Since nobody was allowed to get on to Charles Bridge, all the tourists got on to the adjacent bridge to admire it.

As we were approaching the Old Town Square, we could still see the water barrier set up to stop the flood water from entering the Square.

It was business as usual at the Old Town Square. There wasn't any sign of flooding that hit Prague two days ago.

The Astronomical Clock was still running and putting a head-up show at every right hour.

The Jan Hus Memorial was still standing steadily after the flood.

Everything was looking good despite the flood. The Church of Our Lady before Týn was still as good looking as before.

From Wrocław to Prague

After having lunch at Wrocław and a short walk around the Market Square, we started our cross-country journey again from Poland to Czech Republic.

It took about three and a half hours from Wrocław to the border of Czech Republic. We were at the abandoned immigration check point looking for the tour bus vehicle pass but the whole place was deserted. The bus driver was so worried that he entered Czech Republic without a vehicle pass. Fortunately there was a petrol station not very far into the land of this once communist country where the driver could acquire a vehicle pass.

We also took a short break at this petrol station before heading to Prague. It was almost 9 o'clock in the evening when we arrived at the city for dinner. It was also time to rest after dinner as everybody was tired from a long coach ride.

The Nicholas that is the Nicholas

Two years ago, I misread that there was no entrance fee to the St. Nicholas Church at Lesser Town Square. In fact, the section that I read in the travel guide was for the St. Nicholas at the Old Town Square. I had not enough time to visit this St. Nicholas Church with free entrance two years ago, but I finally made it to the inside of the church this year on my third trip to Prague.

This St. Nicholas Church was completed in 1735 by the same architect who constructed the St. Nicholas Church at Lesser Town Square. Therefore, there are many similarities between these two St. Nicholas churches.

The design of the church is baroque style from the inside to the outside. Some people even call the church a wedding cake of the Old Town Square because it is just so pleasing to the eyes.

During World War II, the Czech army units stationed at the church helped in the restoration of the church alongside the artists of that era. The visually splendid stucco decorations above the ground that we see today are the hard work of these people during those days.

Nowadays, this church functions as a church in the day and a concert hall by the evening. We actually wanted to listen to the concert session starting at 5 p.m. but the time set by our tour guide to meet up did not permit us to do so.

I guess that to experience a concert session here, it has to be on my fourth trip to Prague. I also don't know why I ended up in Prague thrice, but Prague just has this charm to make me there again and again.

Before I finish up this post, I googled for St. Nicholas Church again and found out that these two St. Nicholas churches that I have been to are not the only churches with the same name. There is another St. Nicholas Church in Vršovice!

Český Krumlov: Street Art

Where I was walking along the streets of Český Krumlov one day, I spotted some street art and I recorded them with my camera. These are not some magnificent pieces of art buy they are true to the street life.