Travel : Prague Part 2

Still the post about our trip to Prague last last weekend.That Saturday morning we went to the hilly area of Prague across the river.But we took the metro and walked up hill to Prague Castle and its area.

Despite its name,Prague Castle these days serves as a museum and the nearby area also is the home to many museums and national gallery,and also a good place to view Prague city from up there.

Prague Castle

At the castle square

At National Gallery

Artists selling their paintings of Prague,quite cheap actually.Generally Prague is a cheap city to travel to.

Entrance of Prague Castle

St. Vitus Cathedral's door

St. Vitus Cathedral,one of the oldest and most famous churches in 

Prague,near Prague castle

The view of Prague city from the castle area

Enjoying the view of Prague city from Prague Castle area

Lesser Quarter/Town

Lesser Quarter is an old district near the castle.From up the hill,the visitors can walk down towards the Charles Bridge while enjoying the old buildings scattered all over places here in this little town.The souvenir shops and cafes are also available everywhere.Such a beautiful place to walk around.

Walking down the hill towards the Charles Bridge in Lesser Quarter area.Oh,we brought Alayna's stroller down the 200 ++ stairs here,it was crazy exhausting :P

Lesser Quarter/Town

Many old buildings with different architectures and designs here made me mesmerized.

Travel : Praha/Prague,Czech Republic Part 1

So last weekend we made a last minute plan a few days prior to the departure day to the capital city of Czech republic,Praha(The original name)/Prague.It was our first time and second Eastern European country I've been to after Hungary.

Eventhough Czech Republic is a neigbour country of Germany,but neither me nor husband know anything about this country.My husband was also had no idea what is special about this country,or to be precise about Prague since he was never interested in coming here till I asked him to after seeing many scenic pictures of Prague city.

So,we drove there that took us merely 5 hours(including jam because it was Friday evening) and we parked our car a bit outside of the city center and took train going to the hotel.This is specially for safety reason.

Prague is generally a safe city to travel to,so safety should not really be an issue here.What I love about this city is that,there are just too many attractions to visit,many old preserved buildings with different types of architecture,and also this city has a very panoramic view.

Being in Prague somehow reminds me of being in Florence Italy.The small alleys with many Italian restaurants and the leather shops,and also many gelato shops.Finding food is not an issue as well here compared to when we were in Budapest few mnths ago,because there are a few number of halal restaurants and also Italian restaurants are everywhere.

Old Town

The center of the city with many shops,museum,churches,clock tower and the old town square.We were pretty much mesmerized being in the old town because of its old buildings in many kinds of designs and colors.

Being in the old town reminds me of being in Florence,Italy.

Near the Astronomical Clock Tower ,one of the very few astronomical clocks in the world that still works fine till today.

Astronomical Clock Tower

Us in front of the clock tower

 Old Town Square

The Square

Charles Bridge

A historical bridge and also the highlight of the city.

Charles Bridge as the background

On Charles Bridge

The Observation Tower in front of Charles Bridge

Travel : Osaka,Japan

Osaka was our last destination of our Japan trip.We started in Tokyo and decided to fly back to Malaysia from Kansai Airport in Osaka.I'm not so sure about the total flight tickets damages,but I assume that there is not much different than flying to and back from the same airport and taking the train twice,or flying to different airport,and flying back from different airport but only taking one time train.Besides,this way we can save time and energy.

However,we were so done with Japan by the time we arrived in Osaka.It was mainly because of the heat.Osaka is the 2nd biggest metropolitan city in Japan,so apparently,it has many interesting places to explore and see.I was still eager as I was not so familiar with this city eventhough I have been here several times before.

When I studied in Japan,I came to Osaka only for 3 reasons.One time I came here because I wanted to go to USJ(Universal Studio Japan).Second reason coming here was because I had several job interviews that time that required me to travel from Nagoya to Osaka and third,Osaka was the arrival and departure city when I first arrived in Japan back in 2005 and when I departed back to Malaysia for good in 2009.

This time though,we still didn't do much here.However,we met my long-lost friend I got to know when I was studying in Nagoya,Kak Ros,a famous food blogger of jintanmanis and her two daughters Damia,who was born in Nagoya the time when we were all still there,and the latest and the youngest one,Maryam,who is 4 months younger than Alayna.

We really had a fun time together that day in Osaka.Kak Ros brought us to the famous Namba and Dotonbori area,a famous shopping arcade in Osaka.It was definitely my first time here and the place itself is freaking freaking huge that we took few hours to walk passing each shop :P

We also bought some Osaka souvenirs here.

Namba/Dotonbori Area

Met Kak Ros and her kid,Damia

This place is like the trademark of Osaka,the Glico Man

Pretty manhole cover in Osaka

Dotonbori Area

This is also another trademark in Osaka,the big Crab on top of the famous crab restaurant in Namba area

Shopping Arcade street

Yukata Wearing at Osaka Tourist information Center,Namba

This was not initially planned,but Kak Ros invited us to try on Yukata,another traditional Japanese costume normally worn in Summer to celebrate the festival season each year.People normally get it wrong with Kimono.Kimono is a thick,made of high quality fabric,very neatly and perfectly made because it is occassionally worn(modern days)only for formal occasions.

My husband and daughter "were" also forced to wear these traditional Japanese costumes,and to my surprise,my husband liked this idea a lot.

It wasn't the first time for me,I even have Yukata back home that I bought one time in Kyoto,but since I came back to Malaysia I had no reason to wear it :P

Such a picture to keep

Umeda Sky Building

This is a good place to look over the metropolitan city of Osaka at any time of the day.We chose to go up the building at night as we wanted to see the scenery of Osaka at night.It's not only about the high building and the scenery from up there,but the history about the building itself.It consists of 40 storey towers that are connected through a bridge in the middle,and a very high escalators going up and down the open sky garden where the visitors are allowed to enjoy the panoramic view of Osaka.Whoever is afraid of speed on high level,this place is not so recommended as there is only one way going up to the open sky garden. By ESCALATOR :P

Kansai International Airport

This is the airport where I first landed in March 2005 and was also the airport I departed back to Malaysia in March 2009.It was a happening airport I would say,with very efficient facilities,many shops to shop from when killing time,and the latest,there are 3 Malaysian authority halal certified Japanese restaurants available here.As I wanted to eat soba so badly before we departed back to Malaysia that night,we went to one of the halal restaurants which is famous for serving soba.

The land of the flavored Kit Kat

The Soba set I ate that night.I'm such a big fan of Japanese food,give me Japanese food anytime anywhere,I can eat it all clean :P

With this Osaka travel post,comes the end of my Japan travel diaries.I hope you guys enjoy every story I post here,and for those who are planning to visit Japan as first timers,I hope my entries will help you guys a bit.

Till then,next post will be about my trip last weekend to Praha/Prague,Czech Republic.Bye :)