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Showing posts with the label city

Tourist Trap Chronicles - Prague's Museum of Alchemy

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While Prague is nowadays full of tourists, there was a time when the city was full of visitors of a more esoteric nature.  * How can one NOT get intrigued by this shrouded figure by the Museum's entrance!

Prague the Photogenic - Wenceslas Square and New Town

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Prague is probably the most photogenic city.. EVER . Looking like a mixture of every picturesque city in the world (Paris, Budapest, Vienna, etc), Prague is a feast for the eyes and the mind, especially for history buffs like this writer.  Apart from being the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia , Prague was also the former capital of the Holy Roman Empire , played major roles during the Protestant Reformation and Thirty Years War, and was a crown jewel of the Habsburgs, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nazis, and the USSR . * The very orderly  Wenceslas Square is the business and cultural center of Prague. This is where demonstrations, celebrations, and other gatherings are often held.

Munich - Center of Germanic Culture

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In the planning stages of the honeymoon, Monicca and I were faced with a dilemma. Since we could only go on leave for three weeks, we had to decide between Berlin and Munich . While Berlin is one of Europe's most vibrant, trendy, and hip countries, full of nationalities and almost New York-like in terms of vibe, we ultimately decided to go with Munich, seeing as how the city was perfectly in line with our theme to visit medieval European kingdoms. * Size-wise Munich is only a third of Berlin . So while it is a city of over 1.5 million people , locals (who are very warm and friendly) like to brag that it has maintained a charming, medieval-town feel. And we agree!

Vienna Coffee Culture and Night Walks

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Because of the sheer efficiency of the Viennese Subway, the U-Bahn , getting around and exploring Vienna was a very pleasurable experience. And while we may have only spent 3 days in the former imperial capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I felt that we really got to cover a whole lot of ground! * St. Stephen's Cathedral , known in Austria as the Stephansdom , is Vienna's most important religious building and seat of the Roman Catholic Archiocese.

The Before Sunrise Itinerary - Train To Vienna & Prater Amusement Park

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The fourth stop on our Honeymoon Itinerary is the Imperial City of Vienna . The capital and largest city in Austria, Vienna was also the center of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and is known as the "City of Music" due to its enormous musical legacy. A great cultural center in the history of man, Vienna was home to such prodigies as Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert . * One of the bonuses of this trip, was that we got to recreate a scene from one of my favorite movies of all time, Before Sunrise .

Budapest Walking Tour with the Magyar Horde

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The third stop on our honeymoon itinerary was the breathtaking city of Budapest . Often touted as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, Budapest is a feast for all the senses with an overabundance in culture, a great nightlife scene, and warm people. * Founded in 895AD by the Seven Chieftains of the Magyars , Budapest is linguistically and culturally different from the rest of Europe, who can trace their lineage to either the Romance-speaking (Latin), Germanic, or Slavic people.  * It seems that almost every corner of Budapest has a statue or work of art erected in it. Here's a statue of Andras Hadik , a Hungarian nobleman and Field Marshall of the Habsburg Army, who captured the Prussian capital of Berlin during the Seven Years War. * Our tour service that day was conducted by Discover Budapest , an awesome service run by a group of young Hungarians full of enthusiasm and zeal for their beautiful city. * Apart from walking tours, they also

Krakow Market Square - The Largest Medieval Square in Europe

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Leaving wonderful Warsaw, with its immense World War II and Communist-era legacy, we headed down to the second Polish city in our itinerary, medieval Krakow. Arriving in Krakow, we had no expectations as to how we would find the place. Imagine our surprise as it turned out to be in the Top 3 of our favorite stops in this trip! * Flying via Polish LOT Airlines was a pleasure. Winning several awards including "Best Airline in Eastern Europe" for three straight years, and being hailed as one of the safest airlines in the world, our experience with LOT was very positive and highly recommended.

Exploring-ski Warsaw-ski

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* After checking-in our room and freshening up for a bit, we excitedly agreed to right away explore our first stop in the Honeymoon tour. For history buffs, like yours truly, Warsaw is significant in that it was a major World War II site (setting of many a movie involving Nazi atrocities and the Warsaw Ghetto) and later a major Cold War site (where the USSR's Warsaw Pact was founded). However, what I found was a city rapidly commercializing and growing thanks to its embrace of capitalism and a people sincerely enjoying their relatively newly-found freedom; very much polite, helpful and much friendlier than all other European countries that I had previously been in. * Stepping outside our hotel we immediately see Poland's tallest building, the imposing Palace of Culture and Science . A gift from the USSR to the people of Poland, the building is in the traditional "Stalinist" communist-style architecture, which means it is HUGE and completely dominates the

The Pleasure of Getting Lost in London

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Here are some snapshots of  other places of interest in London . It was a pleasure to explore her streets; marveling at the fabulous mix of history, modernity and pop culture located at almost every corner. In fact more so than New York or Paris but equal to Chicago (still my favorite city outside of Manila and Cebu), I could actually see myself living here, maybe as a student, possibly as an expatriate. Time will tell. * It seems that almost every corner in the city has a story to tell, a tale of heroism, tragedy, travesty or oddity, what with the thousands of random things you can find; such as this  Memorial to the Royal Artillery  located randomly in the middle of a park.

6 Hours in Singapore

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En route on my  company trip from Manila to London , I was awarded a  6-hour  opportunity to explore the ultra-modern and oh-so-neat city of Singapore. The last time I was here was around  15 years ago , so I was excited to see how much the place changed.  (In hindsight though, this was the exact same orderly, clean and prosperous city that I remembered from my youth.)  * Touchdown Singapore, after a  short flight  enjoying Singapore Airlines'  great in-flight entertainment service and cuisine .

Awesome Athens and its Neighborhood of the Gods, Plaka!

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Such is the beauty of this city, that a random turn on some street corner can expose you to a sight like this. Continuing on my life-goal to explore a big chunk of the world in this lifetime , I found this Athens trip significant for three reasons: a. This crossed out another city from my “ Civilization II / Age of Empires Ancient Capita l” list; having already done Jerusalem and Rome and just leaving  Cairo and Istanbul . b. This was the first foreign trip that Monicca (my sweeter, much more attractive, definitely less grumpy, half) and I have ever gone on together. c. By attending the wedding of Monicca’s good friend in Mykonos (the whole reason for the trip to Greece) , I could now check both "Attend a Greek wedding" and "Experience an Orthodox mass" from ye olde bucket list. So accompanied by our beloved chaperone , Khamil (Monicca’s aunt) , and having re-watched 300, Troy and Percy Jackson as a refresher course on Greek culture, we em

Hello Paris!! CDG, Arc de Triomphe & Eiffel Tower

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After Barcelona and the Mediterranean Coast, our adventure continued on to Paris where I was totally stoked to spend 5 full days exploring the city. Having grown up with images of Paris from books, movies (with Da Vinci Code and Taken as my personal favorites) and stories from friends and family who have gone before me, I was fully prepared to absorb as much history, sightseeing, culture, arts and culinary delights as I could in those 5 days. Leave the shopping for the ladies of the group, I was here to get my sensory overload fix ! * The EasyJet terminal in Barcelona kinda reminded me of one of our own airports here in the Philippines, NAIA 2 ; not the run-down, “world’s worst airport” yet strangely charming (in my opinion) NAIA 1.

Glitzy Monte-Carlo in Monaco

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The second stop on our cruise was the glamorous Monaco . Known as the playground of the rich and famous, Monaco is the smallest country in the world next to the Vatican.  But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in style with almost everyone wearing something branded , including the police! Like sur Mer, this was a light, relaxed day, which really helped with my jetlag. Well that and all the cappuccinos and espresso shots that my cousins and I were taking! The only downside to this stop was that it was raining non-stop the whole day. Ergo, I couldn’t take pictures of the beautiful parks, architecture and cars to protect my camera from the elements.  And when I say cars, I mean cars like the Bugatti Veyron which is apparently a common sight in this place and NOWHERE to be found back home in Manila. * Casino de Monte Carlo  which I mistakenly thought was the setting of my favorite James Bond movie, Casino Royale (sorry Skyfall fans!!)  Too bad it was raining pretty hard;

7 Other Things To Do In Barcelona

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The first stop on our Eurotrip was Barcelona .  I was told by all of my friends not to miss this city as the culture and history is just so beautiful.  In many ways, they say that it is even more beautiful here than in Madrid (which I hope to see in a future trip).  Now apart from seeing the Sagrada Familia and Barcelona Cathedral , here are 7 other things that one MUST do while in Barcelona. 1.  Walk Down The Las Ramblas This is what travelling is about!  Full of great shops, cafes, street performers and interesting sights, walking around and getting lost in the various alleys intersecting the main street is such a pleasure.  Stretching on for about a kilometer and a half, this is the main tourist spot in Barcelona, kind of like how Times Square is to New York and Nanjing Road is to Shanghai.  Prepare to get culturally stimulated, just mind the pickpockets! (And there are a LOT of them)

Hong Kong Toy Hunt

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After the culture and history of Shanghai , we were treated to a few days of shopping, eating and galavanting in Hong Kong .  Truthfully, I did not know what to expect from HK as the last time I was here, I was about 12 and I was with my folks. We were given two days to wander around this city of lights, sounds and cars driving in the wrong side of the road (or so my Brit buddies disagree) and while some went to Disneyland and that huge Buddha place, and others went shopping in the stores not found in the Philippines (HMV, H&M etc.), I decided to indulge in two of my favorite past times: exploring a city alone AND toy window shopping . Hong Kong opened my eyes to a whole different level of toy window shopping.  The toy scene is absolutely CRAZY.   (Think a whole building dedicated to small stores specializing in specific toy sets: LEGO, Transformers, GI JOE, Marvel, DC, Anime etc.)  This was ten times the awesomeness of Shoppesville and Virra Mall combined! Thanks to the

Shanghai Walk

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Thanks to my company, Pernod Ricard , I was able to spend a couple of days in Shanghai last August for some R&R.  As was the case in Jerusalem , I got giddy over the fact that I could explore another great city, full of rich history and booming with  (Yes, that’s 23 MILLION) people. Though I had been to Shanghai a couple of years ago with my folks, I knew I wasn’t seeing the total picture as guided tours rarely give you the satisfaction of just “hanging out”, getting lost in the place and getting a true taste of the people and culture. The adventure starts when the taxi driver drops me and my three buddies from work at some “shopping area” (think Greenhills) for foreigners.  Originally, we had asked to be dropped off at Nanjing Road (the central commercial center, think Times Square) but he dropped us off around 6km from our intended destination. ** I think it’s safe to say that among Asian countries, it’s only truly the Philippines where you can talk to ANYONE in English