Europe 2015: Regensburg Update

After being wowed by Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic, we decided to visit a medieval city in Germany too. We checked travel forums and asked German friends and Regensburg kept being recommended as a nice place to visit. Other cities that we would have loved to visit were Rothenburg and Nuremberg but they’re farther away from Munich and we didn’t want to waste too much time on train travel. About an hour and a half away from Munich, Regensburg is a charming city by the Danube river with a rich history – first capital of Bavaria, previous center of the Holy Roman Empire, the residence of the Thurn and Taxis nobility and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We started with lunch at a cafe across the church:

Here’s the view of the city from the bridge tower:

This 12th century Stone Bridge was one of the first built-in Europe. I read somewhere that it helped inspire the Charles Bridge in Prague. It’s currently under construction so I couldn’t get a good shot:

The Porta Praetoria was the gate to the Roman camp Castra Regina from 179 AD. It’s amazing that a structure that old has been maintained and incorporated into the city’s architecture:

Goliathhaus is a 13th century patrician residence with a mural of David and Goliath:

The Schloss Thurn and Taxis is within the grounds of St. Emmeram. It’s a 19th century neo-Renaissance palace built from a monastery. The Thurn and Taxis family built a postal system in Europe in the 15th century. No pictures were allowed inside Schloss Thurn and Taxis so I only have a courtyard picture and a paparazzi shot of the floor of the winter garden:

A sign with directions and a medieval house which has become a shop:

This is the last of my series of posts about the places we visited in Europe during our two-week trip a few weeks ago. If you want to check out the rest of my travel updates, here are links to them:
Prague
Kutna Hora
Cesky Krumlov
Munich, where I met up with my Goodreads friend Estara
Neuschwanstein Castle

I’m waiting for some rolls of film to be processed and I’ll try to share some lomography shots when I get the results.

Europe 2015: Neuschwanstein Castle

It’s been more than a month since I came back from Europe and I’m still not done with my travel updates here on the blog. I’ve even gone back home to Manila since then. I’ve been distracted by real life, reading and writing book-related posts (which is what this blog is actually about LOL). As promised, here’s an update on Neuschwanstein Castle, one of the sites we visited that I LOVED.

Neuschwanstein Castle is probably one of the most famous castles in Europe. It was the inspiration for Disney’s iconic Sleeping Beauty castle. It’s located above the village of Hohenschwangau, which is 2 hours away by train from Munich. I really, really wanted to see Neuschwanstein which was why I chose Munich as the exit point (with Prague as the entry point) when I was booking tickets for Europe. Check out the pictures and let me know if you agree with me that Neuschwanstein Castle is worth a visit.

View of the town of Hohenschwangau and Alpsee, the lake nearby:

Some shots of the front of the castle:

And the back of the castle:

We joined a tour of the castle interiors but pictures weren’t allowed inside, which is too bad because the rooms we saw were all beautiful. Not surprisng since King Ludwig II intent was to make the castle his refuge from court life. There is a magnificent view of the castle from a bridge called Marienbrücke:

From this area, there is a view that shows Hohenschangau Castle, where King Ludwig II grew up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to explore this yellow castle.

I’m so glad I got to see Neuschwanstein Castle in person, and in such gorgeous weather too. It’s really the stuff fairytales are made of.

Europe 2015: Munich Update

I think most people who include Germany in their Europe itinerary usually choose to go to Berlin. But when I booked the ticket to Prague and was trying to decide what other city to visit, Munich was the first place that I thought of. Mainly because I wanted to see Neuschswanstein Castle, which I will talk more about in a different post. If I had done more research, I probably would have chosen to visit the Romantic Road from Frankfurt to Munich, which is a tour of medieval towns in Bavaria. I can always go back, right? 🙂 While Munich is not always an obvious choice when planning a European tour, I did enjoy exploring and discovering more about Bavaria’s capital. As a bonus, I got to meet a long-time online friend in person! Again, more on that in another post.

It’s funny how we visited as many castles and palaces as we can during our trip. Our first full day in Munich, we chose to explore Nymphenburg Palace and its surrounding gardens:

Park palaces Amalienburg and Badenburg:

The Hall of Mirrors inside Amelienburg, a smaller version of the one in Versailles:

During one of the days we were in Munich, we met up with one of Kim’s friends and she showed us around the area. We visited the elaborately decorated Asamkirche, which was built by the Asam brothers to be their private church:

We explored the outdoor market Viktualienmarkt:

The famous Marienplatz:

Shakespeare and Co. is an indie bookstore in the Marienplatz area. It has the same name as the renowned bookstore in Paris. Unfortunately, most of their stocks are German titles so we weren’t able to buy anything:

The Munich Residenz is another royal palace located in the city. It was previously used by the monarchs of the House of Wittelsbach.

The Antiquarium, the oldest room in the Residenz. It was created to house the royalty’s collection of antique sculptures. If these were antique during the 1800s, then they’re now ancient:

One of the mirrors inside the palace and a super fancy cabinet for china:

Ancestral Gallery, which displays portraits of the rulers of Bavaria:

A bejeweled crown and a ceremonial sword from the Treasury inside the Residenz:

A traditional German meal that I had was cheese spatzle with Hacker-Pschorr Radler (beer with lemonade and my favorite out of all the beers we tried):

Have you visited Munich? If you have, what did you think of it? I’m not aware of any books set in Munich but I believe The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is set in a city nearby.

Europe 2015: Cesky Krumlov Update

Cesky Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage medieval town (or city?) about three hours away from Prague. When we were planning day trips out of Prague, I initially hesitated about going to Cesky Krumlov because it felt like the travel time would be too long. But the pictures that I’ve seen showed how gorgeous the place is that I didn’t mind the road trip as much. Like with the Kutna Hora day trip, we joined a tour company for the day just because it’s hassle-free when it comes to transportation arrangements. The downside is that we felt a bit rushed while going around. We definitely felt like we could have spent more time in Cesky Krumlov, maybe even spend a night there. If I had to choose a favorite out of all the places we visited, I would go for Cesky Krumlov with its mix of renaissance, baroque and gothic buildings. It was founded in the 13th century and was developed until the 17th century. It really is very beautiful, the kind that can make you say, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS?” If I could find a job in that place, I would live there. It looked like the setting of every fairytale or medieval fantasy novel that I’ve read. There’s even a medieval castle that has been very well-maintained. I don’t know why but a city or a town instantly looks better in my eyes when it’s beside a body of water. And the Vltava River meanders around Cesky Krumlov. Again, I don’t think my words can do enough justice on this place so I will let the pictures I’ve taken show you what I mean.

Our first view of Cesky Krumlov included a bridge that looked like an aqueduct with corridors on top connecting the palace to servants quarters.

After going through the bridge, we were treated to this view:

We walked around the town leading to the main square, where there is a fountain dedicated to victims of the plague, since this disease took so many lives in Cesky Krumlov. There were some nice cobbled streets and of course, I had to take a shot of their manhole cover with the town’s seal.

Cesky Krumlov’s palace is the second largest in Czech Republic, after Prague Castle. We joined a lovely tour of the palace but unfortunately, pictures weren’t allowed inside. So I can only share some exterior shots of the palace, and also a bear in one of the bridges leading to the courtyard.

A fuller view of the tower:

The panoramic shots at the start of this post are views from the palace and here’s another one from the same vantage point:

All pictures were taken using my phone’s camera. I’m sorry if the brightness and contrast aren’t consistent in all the pictures – I edited some using my laptop and some using Instagram. Have any of you visited Cesky Krumlov? While I don’t know of any books set in this gorgeous place, I’m sure I’ll be reminded of it whenever I read a well-written medieval fantasy or fairy tale.

Europe 2015: Kutna Hora Update

As mentioned in my earlier update about Prague, I’m also doing recaps of the day trips that we did in Czech Republic. Last year’s Europe trip really tired me out because I felt like we kept hopping from out city to another even though we only visited four: Paris, Barcelona, Aix-en-Provence and Milan. So for this year, I wanted to visit only two cities and just plan day trips from there. That way, we only had to lug our suitcases around three times (from the airport, from Prague to Munich and then back to the airport).

One of the cities we visited from Prague was Kutna Hora. We joined a day trip organized by one of the many tour groups in Prague. It was just more convenient for us to join a tour group for half a day because it included the bus rides (about an hour and a half each way) and a tour guide to enlighten us about Kutna Hora’s history. Kutna Hora and its neighboring town, Sedlec, is one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites in Czech Republic. In its heyday, this mining city was the second richest in the country. Today, it’s a quiet and cozy city that has well-preserved historical structures.

Near Kutna Hora is the Sedlec Ossuary, which has a creeptastic collection of bones that have been made into decorations. There is a huge chandelier of bones that contains at least one of every bone in the human body and also a coat of arms of the House of Schwarzenberg.

One of the well-known sites in the city is the gothic cathedral of St. Barbara, who is the patron saint of miners. Apparently it took 500 years for this church to be finished.

After exiting the cathedral, we saw a path lined with big statues, like a smaller version of the Charles Bridge:

I enjoyed walking around the cozy cobblestone streets of Kutna Hora.

We also saw this huge gothic water cistern that was used for water storage, it was filled with water through an irrigation system. And like with Prague, I noticed that even manhole covers have nice designs on them.

Have any of you visited Kutna Hora? I don’t know of any books set in this city but I think it would be a good inspiration for some authors, I’m sure Sedlec Ossuary would present various story ideas.

Europe 2015: Prague Update

Dobry den! I have a feeling my blog will look more like a travel blog than a book blog as I post updates about my recent trip. But I like doing these recaps because it also helps me remember the experience and I feel like I can look back and reminisce whenever I’m in the mood to do so. For the first leg of our trip, we traveled to the beautiful city of Prague in Czech Republic.

Whenever I find out that a friend has been lucky enough to go around Europe, I would ask what his or her favorite city was. I’ve gotten Prague as an answer several times. I found out more about this fairytale city when I read Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor and that just further strengthened my resolve to visit it one day. So when January rolled around and I started planning for my Europe trip this year, I knew Prague had to be one of the destinations that I’ll visit. And the city didn’t disappoint. It was even more charming and beautiful that I expected. Some parts of the city are modern (which is to be expected) while others feel like they’ve been frozen in time. It was a place steeped with so much history and I wanted to just absorb as much as I can in the days that we spent there. I fell in love with Prague the same way I fell in love with Paris last year. I think the pictures will do a much better job of showing everyone how beautiful Prague is. Here’s is a lovely view of the city from the palace gardens:

The iconic astronomical clock and Tyn Cathedral in Old Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site:

Another shot of Old Town when we came back another day. You could see how big a difference the nice weather makes when it comes to historic buildings. Also, we noticed that even the manhole covers are pretty in Prague:

Another famous landmark in Prague is the historic Charles Bridge, which crosses the river Vltava. It was super crowded with tourists and vendors so I’m quite proud that I was able to get a shot of one section of the bridge WITHOUT any people in it. I also loved how the sunlight bathed the bridge and the surrounding areas in such a warm glow:

We walked around the palace gardens and saw quite a nice view of Prague Castle. We went back another day to explore the insides of the castle (where pictures were not allowed) as well as the grounds within.

We were awestruck by the magnificent St. Vitus Cathedral which is inside the grounds of the Prague Castle:

The stained glass panel above was designed by world-renowned Czech artist Alfons Mucha and because Kim is a Mucha fangirl, we also visited the Mucha Museum in the city. No pictures inside so this was all I got:

Some traditional Czech dishes that we had: pork knuckle, beef goulash with bread dumplings, beef sirloin with cream sauce served with bread dumplings, potato dumplings with bacon. Of course, served with Czech beer.

And because we are book nerds, we took note of bookstores whenever we saw them:

From the indie bookstore above, I bought the one and only book that I managed to buy for our entire trip. It’s a children’s book called This Is Prague and I loved its quirky illustrations. Even better? The bookstore also sold postcards based on the book. Such a perfect souvenir for a book and postcard nerd like me.

I feel like I can go on and on about Prague but I’ll leave you all with this write-up. Next up will be recaps of the day trips that we took from Prague to Kutna Hora and Cesky Krumlov. Have you been to Prague? What did you think of the city? If you know of any books set in Prague that you think I’ll enjoy reading, please feel free to recommend them!

Europe 2014: Milan Update

Ciao! I always thought “ciao” meant goodbye but apparently, it also means “hello”. The last city that we visited during our Europe 2014 trip was Milan. From Paris to Barcelona to Aix-en-Provence and then on to Italy. How I wish we had time (and resources) to explore other cities in Italy – I would love to visit Rome, Venice and Florence. We chose Milan for practical reasons, the tickets were cheaper if we fly from there back to Southeast Asia. We only had a brief stay – two nights and one full day – in Milan. I’m a big fan of Italian food so of course, I loved the dishes that we got to try! We also visited Duomo di Milano, the city’s famous Gothic cathedral and also the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is right beside it. The latter is one of the oldest shopping malls in the world.

Books I’ve read set in Italy:
Rome: Antonio & Carrie (Love Stories) by Rachel Hawthorne
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

Books set in Italy that are in my TBR pile:
Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae

The scenery was beautiful on the train ride from Aix-en-Provence to Milan. I’m hoping that I could go back to France so I could visit Nice, Cannes, Eze and Grasse. Here are some shots of Cannes that I took from the train:

Milano Centrale is the grandest train station that I’ve seen so far:

Here’s Duomo di Milano:

And here’s the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a lovely and historic mall where I wasn’t able to buy anything because all the shops are so fancy:

Milan also has such a nice post office. Unfortunately, it was closed when we passed by. It would have been great if we were able to get some philatelic stamps.

Last but not the least, some pictures of Italian food. I loved the prosciutto with melon, ravioli, ossobuco and tiramisu. And the coffee!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed browsing through the pictures I’ve posted. Going through pictures is making me want to go back. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I’ll console myself by reading books set in Europe. Please let me know if you have any recommendations that you think I’ll enjoy.

Europe 2014: Aix-en-Provence Update

Bonjour again! We started our trip in Paris then traveled by train to Barcelona and then back again to France for a few days in Aix-en-Provence, a city in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. I loved Aix-en-Provence and it’s probably my favorite city out of the four that we visited mainly because I felt like I could live there. I like the small city charm of the place and how everything is within walking distance, although some places take a bit of a walk. It’s also only 30 minutes away from a big city, Marseille (which sadly, we didn’t get to explore). I liked that we were able to stumble upon quaint shops just by walking all over Aix. Plus, there were some pretty good restaurants which served good food at more affordable prices compared to Paris. It was expected that Musee Granet would have paintings of Cezanne since he lived in Aix but we were surprised that they also had paintings by Ingres, Van Gogh, Monet and Picasso.

I don’t think there are that many books specifically set in Aix-en-Provence so I’m broadening the scope to the whole region of Provence. Would love to read more books set in the south of France.

Books I’ve read set in Provence:
La Vie en Roses series by Laura Florand – Turning Up the Heat, The Chocolate Rose, A Rose in Winter

Books set in Provence that are in my TBR pile:
Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart

Aix has been referred to as the city of a thousand fountains and yes, we came across a lot of them:

Cours Mirabeau is the main road of Aix, framed by plane-trees on both sides. There are cafes, pastry shops, souvenir stores and old houses along this road.

I found a picture posted on Tumblr of the facade of Bibliothèque Méjanes so we decided to look it up while we were there because we were curious about the giant books in front of the library.

Some of the shops we loved:

We discovered Le Bistro Latin on our first night, just by wandering and checking out menus of the restaurants. We loved the food so much that we decided to return on our last night, and get bigger courses.

Lavender and roses:

We were planning to travel to Grasse, the perfume capital of France (and the world?) but it’s too far away from Aix for a day trip. Good thing artisan soaps and perfumes made from Grasse are available in Aix.

I feel like Aix is a hidden gem of a city because it’s not as well-known as other cities in the south of France. I’m so glad we included Aix in our itinerary. Have you been to Aix? Know of any novels set in Aix or the Provence region that you think I might enjoy?

Europe 2014: Barcelona Update

Hola! After Paris, the next leg of our trip was Barcelona. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t really excited to visit Barcelona because I hadn’t heard a lot about the city. As a result, I was pleasantly surprised at how vibrant the city was. It’s a place where we found delicious food (all those Spanish dishes like tapas, jamon and paella), architectural masterpieces, lovely artwork and warm, friendly people.

A book I’ve read set in Barcelona:
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A book set in Spain that is in my wishlist:
Small Damages by Beth Kephart

I would gladly go back to Barcelona just for the food:

There were so many creative and original art pieces all over the city and I was tempted to get some as souvenirs but decided not to since I don’t really have a place of my own to display them in.

Plaça de Catalunya is a lovely park for tourists and locals:

A post about Barcelona would not be complete without talking about the architect Gaudi. I wasn’t familiar with Gaudi’s work prior to our trip in Barcelona but I’m impressed by his style. I like how he was inspired by nature and how there’s an almost whimsical aspect to his designs, making them seem like objects out of fantasy novels. Some shots from Casa Museu Gaudi:

Casa Batllo, probably my favorite Gaudi-designed house:

And of course, the awe-inspiring Sagrada Familia, which is still under construction after more than a hundred years:

Have you been to Barcelona? What were your favorite aspects of the city? Have you read books set in Barcelona or Spain that you think I will enjoy reading?

Europe 2014: Paris Update

Bonjour! There are so many things that I want to share about my first time in Europe, I don’t even know where to start. I thought I would do an update of each city that we visited. These will be picture-heavy posts, mostly from my Instagram account. It’s funny because at the end of each day, I would spend time uploading pictures (staying up late to do so) because I wanted to write captions while everything was still fresh in my mind. To make these travel posts a little more book-themed, I thought it would be a good idea to include a list of books I’ve read/plan to read set in the cities we visited.

Books I’ve read set in Paris:
Amour et Chocolat series by Laura Florand – All’s Fair in Love and Chocolate, The Chocolate Thief, The Chocolate Kiss, The Chocolate Rose, The Chocolate Touch, The Chocolate Heart, The Chocolate Temptation
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Books set in Paris that are in my TBR pile:
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan

Ahh, Paris. I feel like Paris will always have a special place in my heart since it was the first European city that I visited. It’s such a beautiful city, oozing with its own charm – even a normal street or building looked wonderful in my eyes. I was surprised at how well-kept the old structures are – the bridges, the palaces, the museums, etc. We don’t really have things like that in the Philippines. But then again, we probably get more natural calamities like typhoons and earthquakes back home. Moving on to the pictures…

Here’s the iconic Eiffel Tower – before and after dinner shots, with the latter captioned by my friend as “Does the moonlight shine on Paris?”

Sacré-Coeur and around the Montmartre area:

Arc de triomphe and Champs Elysee:

The opulence of the Palace of Versailles:

Museums Orsay and Louvre – the former was previously a train station while the latter was a palace:

Notre Dame and Point Zero, as mentioned in Anna and the French Kiss:

The bookstore Shakespeare and Company – several friends who knew I was in Paris kept saying that I should visit this place. What’s great is that all five of us ended up buying something from this bookstore:

Hope you had fun going through these pictures. They were all taken using my phone camera and some filters were applied in Instagram. If you know of any books set in Paris that you think I’ll enjoy reading, please feel free to recommend them!