San Pietro In Vincoli

When I was on my way heading towards the Colosseum, I saw a steps on the road side and few artists working on the piazza, as I have plenty of time I decided to climb up to the top and have a look if there's anything nice.

Like any other cities, Rome can't escape from the youth creativity.

Rome is a place where you must bring at least one travel guide book so that you won't miss anything. I'm sure I'll miss San Pietro In Vincoli if I walk pass the building which looks so ordinary without a guide book.

I was actually quite tired of visiting all the churches in the Europe even though all of them got great interiors and unless you spend reading a bit of history about the church it's pointless to visit thousands of those.

I've shoot many pictures on these guardian angels and the green spots appeared on every picture. I'm not sure whether was it just optical effect or something else...

The church was built to house an important relic, the chains ("vincoli") that held Saint Peter when he was in Jerusalem and those that held him in Rome, which miraculously joined together.

I thought that's the only highlight of the church so I decided to continue my journey else where. Well, I'm that kind of person who most time only read 30% of an article and think I've done enough. When I saw some people surrounding the statues on the right hand side of the altar I pulled out the guide book and read the bottom part which I did not finish earlier.

It is Moses carved by Michelangelo for the tomb of Pope Julius II. This is the famous unfinished masterpiece of Michelangelo which occupied him on and off much of his career and eventually he reluctantly gave it up to paint the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which I visited later.

It is a bit commercialised though, the light around the tomb will only lit up when someone put in coins to activate it. I waited for some other people to contribute so that I can take the pictures under decent lighting.

Prague Part II

most people come to prague because they've heard it's a beautiful place. with some 600 years of architecture virtually untouched by natural disaster or war, few other european capitals look as good. but as i said, don't go during winter unless it's snowing.. it could be better if i see the beautiful gardens and parks as seen on the guide books..

prague castle

view of prague castle (top left) from the other side of river vltava.. serve as headquarters of the czech president, also home of prague's chief tourist attractions such as gothic cathedral of sv vit, old royal palace, golden lane and numerous museums and galleries.. make sure u bring enough koruny as all charge separately!

toy museum in prague castle

mala strana

the small hill at west bank of prague.

rozhledna of petrin - the little eiffel tower on the hill

view from kampa island - the largest of the vltava islands

interesting statues at museum kampa, check out the bottom actually moving left, right, up and down.

stare mesto (old town)

prague's most central, vital ingredient with the capital's busiest markets, shops, restaurants and pubs in this area.

charles bridge (karluv most) - by far the city's most famous monument, bristling with statuary and crowded with people.

flying seagull at river vltava

staromestske namesti (old town square) - traditional heart of the city. on the left is the 15th century astronomical clock whose hourly mechanical dumbshow regularly attracts a crowd of tourists.

josefov

the old jewish ghetto district where the jewish town hall and the medieval cemetery still survive to this day.

the old jewish cemetery - i still think that paying 300czk to visit was over priced and paying 30czk to take photos was a bit silly..

wenceslas square and northern nove mesto

prague's new town - the city's main commercial and business district.

wenceslas square by night

obecni dum - cafe, bar, restaurant, exhibition space and concert hall, this art nouveau masterpiece is preserved exactly as built in 1911.

kutna hora

the town which is in UNESCO's world heritage list, located 63km east of prague city, approximately 1 hour journey from florenc bus terminal. i had explored most of the city sight within the first two days so i decided to make a trip out of the city. between terezin (turned into the nazi's concentration camp for jews in 1941) and kutna hora, i had chosen the later because of the ossuary (kostnice), located at sedley, 3km from kutna hora.

the chandelier made by human bones in ossuary

the church was formed initially from the bones of 30,000 people killed in a plague of 1318. i was told that now there are more than 40,000 sets of human bones in the church.. undoubtedly, this visit itself worth for my trip to prague.. there are actually some other tourist attractions in kutna hora but due the the stormy weather and less frequent bus service, i went back to prague right after the visit (in fact i spent an hour to catch a bus from sedlec to kutna hora bus station and another hour to catch a bus back to prague)...

Prague Part I

while waiting for commencement of my new job, i decided to go for a short trip, sort of last minute but managed to grab cheap return tickets to prague. the journey took 2 hours from london luton airport.

it was a low budget trip so i picked a hostel and stayed there for 3 nights, it wasn't exciting but really can't complaint for the price i paid for. anyway it was a good experience as i get to meet some interesting people from all over the world.

winter isn't really a right season to visit prague as most of the gardens are dead, but i heard it's beautiful when snowing.. i didn't have the luck to experience the first snow in my life.. instead of experiencing the stormy weather for the last two days.. several were killed in europe.. on the third night i suppose to join a ghost trail tour (prague is the most haunted city in europe!) but cancelled it coz i almost got blew away on the street.

compared to london and paris, accommodation, food and public transport in prague are quite cheap.. but one thing that annoyed me a lot is that they really wanna squeeze every single cent from tourists. almost all museums, churches and even cementery have admission fees.. as most of it are under funded (czech is not as rich as UK and france) so it needs support from tourists.

in prague castle itself, there are a few museums, galleries, a sv vitus church, and golden lane (a shopping place), all charging between 50 to 300czk (100 koruny = GBP2.50 = RM17 = 3.60 euros).. you have to pay 50czk to golden lane before you can start shopping.. wtf.. i paid 300czk (rm50+) to visit the jewish cementery + 30czk to take photos! and the dirty toilets in the city are collecting 10czk, hey, klcc VIP toilets only charging RM2!

apart from that, attractions in prague are generally 'ok' but not brilliant.. let the photos do the talking..

prague streets

an antique at shop pstrossova st

a bar near narodni trida with funny name

there are plenty of chinese restaurace in prague, chinese are really capable to grow their roots in every corner of the world.

"when hitler's armies invaded czechoslovakia in 1939, hitler himself came to the castle on hradcany hill, had a pilsner beer and from the second floor gazed down at his magnificent conquest..." - the local favourite brand of beer

stall at prague castle

others than the bohemian glass, crystal and jewelries, puppets are the most seen items in the shops.

there are quite a lot of young beggars on the street begging in their own style..

she fell down after i took the shot.

to be continued in part II...