5.27.2014

Prague

Our next destination was Prague, Czech Republic.

At first sight, I fell in love with the city's architecture. Walking down the streets felt as if we were walking in a dollhouse. The most banal buildings seemed to be historical monuments, and I could feel that the city was really, really old.

The feeling of stepping onto the ageing slabs made me realize how lucky I was to visit such a historical place. Even if the first feeling I had of the city was a gloomy one (I arrived late at night), I quickly changed my mind when I saw the city under the rays of a returning spring sun. So, it is definitely a city to visit to experience its historical richness and architectural beauty. 

As we were experiencing the Couchsurfing way of travelling, we got the chance to meet some people who brought us to have some typical czech food and drinks. As I'm neither a meat lover, nor a beer drinker, I wasn't much appealed by the food. But my friends actually loved it! 

Heading to Amsterdam now :-)


See? A real open-air dollhouse!

The medieval astronomical clock : 





The famous St. Vitus Cathedral, located inside the Prague Castle complex :




Spotted :
The John Lennon's Wall, symbol of a revolted youth willing to spread ideals as love and peace at the time of the communism regime :


5.05.2014

Berlin

Berlin combines the culture of New York, the traffic system of Tokyo, the nature of Seattle, and the historical treasures of, well, Berlin. (Hiroshi Motomura)

First crush, Berlin. What of a city!

If I have one word to say about it after having visited the city for four intensive days, I would say that Berlin is... crazy. And to be honest, I wasn't expecting Berlin to be such an alive, huge and overwhelming city. It feels that place is a magnet for creativity, especially when it comes to the  paintings on the Berlin Wall. 

That was the first destination of some kind of Euro-trip I did with three girlfriends of mine. I cannot remember everything that we've done, but we saw "a lot" (and walked, oh my, so much).  We walked by the Holocaust memorial, checked the Checkpoint Charlie, admired the Brandenburg gate, get ahead of the Reichstag, had a great spanish meal around Potsdamer Platz, visited the Hamburger Bahnhof museum for contemporary art, and so on... Berlin is definitely a gigantic city, and it's impossible to see everything in a week. For sure, I'll be back there.

I also took some time in the train to draw a little something coming from what inspired me the city. A german looking guy walking by the Berlin Wall. Incomplete, but still, I feel good to have drawn something. Is has been a long time!