Neuschwanstein, Germany '12

Assalamualaikum wbt.

Sara Hanapi is now in her motherland for 3 weeks. Berat pun dah naik 2 kg. This is serious (muka serius) Spell me food that I don't swallow yet. 

Terasa skill memblog kian terhakis akhir-akhir ini. Ehem maklum lah, part-time blogger famous bersara awal gara-gara exam. Bila dah berhenti, momentum harus tinggi untuk start balik. 

Duduk rumah jadi anak tunggal ni, segala drama berjela-jela aku buat roundtable, tak kira lah Filipina ke, Indon ke, Melayu ke, Hindustan belum lagi. Movie omputeh aku tak layan, tak sanggup mak. Ohoh sekarang tengah syok dengan Dingdong Dantes. Haritu Christian Sugiono. Kalau dah namanya orang Asia Tenggara sejati, orang Asia jugak lah mata sedap memandang. Mark Foster letak tepi. "Sara, jangan pandangan", kata Kak Kina. Hee. Padahal si Dantes tu, dua kali tengok macam pakcik-pakcik je, dah la kurus-kering macam tak cukup zat, harap tinggi je. Kategori tinggi harus masuk dalam list.

To make sure that this entry looks aimed, aku nak tulis journal pasal journey to Germany tempoh hari. Takyah nak tempoh hari sangat lah, exactly 5 months ago. Rentetan daripada entry Munich-Salzburg dulu-dulu

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Neuschwanstein, nak sebut pun susah, nasib baik ejaan dia aku ingat. A must-visit spot in Germany.  Sebelum ni, memang aku tak pernah tahu langsung pasal tempat ni. Kalau sesiapa berhajat nak jelajah tempat ni, naik intercity train then berhenti di station Fussen. Serious cantik wa cakap lu. Subhanallah. Kebetulan kitorang pergi time winter, snow covers the entire place, sebijik macam imaginary castle in any Disney cartoon series. 

Before actually reached Neuschwanstein Castle which is exactly located on a hill, ada lagi sebuah castle colour kuning, tapi kitorang tak jelajah masuk castle tu. 

Neuschwanstein Castle or in Deustch called Schloss Castle was once owned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Info hasil ehsan encik Wiki selepas lupa explanation si tourist guard. Castle ni dibina selama 17 tahun to finish one, tapi si King Ludwig ni hanya sempat bersemayam dalam tu less than 100 days. (penat otak aku fikir word 'semayam' tu)

Untuk sampai ke castle, perlu meredah lereng bukit bersalji kira-kira 45 minit. Don't stop walking or you'll freeze. If not mistaken, the temperature that day was -20 degree something. Don't dare tu put your gloves off, tangan rasa sakit nak mati. Dengan gloves tebal dua lapis, nak ambik gambar pun susah. Kalau ada yang berkulit sensitif, mesti kena frost bite, muka merah-merah macam kena gigit serangga. Bagi sesiapa yang rasa tak larat panjat gunung, kereta kuda disediakan free. 

The castle's entrance. 

Bila dah sampai ke puncak gunung, haruslah queue up tunggu turn nak masuk castle dulu. Punya lah ramai tourists time tu. 

Dalam castle, kitorang dibawa ke balai utama istana, bilik raja beradu, dapur diraja, teater dan macam-macam lagi lah. So unfortunate that we couldn't take pictures inside the castle. Seriously, awesome gila. Tapi macam horror jugak lah sebab si raja tu duduk sorang-sorang besides dia punya pekerja-pekerja, sebab dipercayai King Ludwig II tu homoseks, so tak kahwin. 

Time paling epic ialah time nak solat. Kitorang solat dalam tunnel on the way nak turun dari castle. Tunggu line clear bagi tourists lain keluar dulu then bentang muffler masing-masing buat sejadah. Dengan berhimpit-himpit nya, dengan sorang-sorang pakai wintercoat kembung nya, dengan jalan berbatu, sakit dahi. Time nak bangun untuk rakaat seterusnya, aku terlanggar jemaah sebelah, Fateen kot, sampai nak terduduk balik, kaki berselirat nak bangun semula. Time tu berserah je lah, solat Allah terima ke tak, tak kusyuk langsung, lol. 

 Walking down the slope. 

Alhamdulillah. It was an exciting journey. Really hope one day boleh jadi tourist guard untuk kawan-kawan or maybe my family ke sana. Terima kasih Allah kerana nikmat alam yang Kau berikan. 

Salzburg, Austria '12

This post is delayed due to busy-ness. Cewah.

*Sheesh, I don't have better idea to kick off.

I went to. Well actually it was 'we'. We went to Germany and Austria during lasssttt winter break, which was approximately 3 months ago. *Worgh lame nya kau Sara baru nak cerita* 6 of us. It was an usrah project. The plan's constructed even before I stepped in Vienna.

We started walking out of Neredin (students' lodging area) early in the morning because we had to transit in Prague before actually moved to Munich. 

The journey from Olomouc to Prague was nostalgic, I can say. Everyone here knows that Prague is extremely insecure from pickpocketing, but none of us was being aware that it could also happen in the train. I'd rather say the term 'pickpocket' is no longer applicable and that was a pick-backpacking. It happened when we all fell asleep (on the way to Prague) and nobody noticed when exactly the culprit sneaked into our cabin. 

The view inside the train. Harry-Potter-to-Hogwart-train style. Each cabin can allocate 6 or 8 persons.

Outside the train. Subhanallah sangat cantik. You could see more than an inch layer of snow outside. Wahh miss winter already. 

Then sampai-sampai Prague, the train heading to Munich had already departed, in other word, we missed the early train and had to wait for 4 hours for another one. In the mean time, Kak Kina, Syer and Tiqa went to lodge a police report regarding the money loss. Epic ! Frust jugak la sebab terpaksa tinggalkan Tiqa kat Prague because she lost her biomatrix card. You can't cross the country's border with no biomatrix card in hands. 

Overall journey took approximately 12 hours. Fuhh penat giloss. Should be 8 hours but we missed the earlier train. Dah rugi masa untuk walk around Munich time tu. Sampai-sampai main station Munich, mata melilau cari restoran halal sebab perut dah nyanyi lagu Like a G6. Alhamdulillah there in Munich, it's not very hard to find a restoran kebab halal so haruslah dengan rakusnya order durum kebab dengan daging melimpah-limpah sebab kebulur. Then, headed to our hotel. 

Well, it's actually a hostel, with very good amenities I can say.

Malamnya, melilau Marienplatz, a must-visit spot here in Munich. Takde apa sangat waktu malam, tengok lampu-lampu je la. Coincidentally time tu, ramai pulak teens Deustch melilau-lilau jugak kat situ, it's a weekend I guess, lupa. So rasa a lil threatened jugak lah tapi alhamdulillah policemen were everywhere to keep their eyes.

Marienplatz is a resident, used to be a cathedral kot. Superb. The building is untouched from modern influence. Completely preserved since it was early built.

 Me and Kak Kina, my naqibah aka buddy.

Esok, pergi rumah Kak Mima di Rosenham, masa tu still pregnant, sekarang anak dia dah keluar dah pun, haaa kira berapa lama dah entry ni hanging. And met other sisters from Russia. Lepas tu, headed to Salzburg, Austria. Jerman and Austria kan berjiran, so Rosenham and Salzburg tak jauh mana. 

Salzburg is also a tourist center. Kalau nak jumpa architecture Europe yang gah-gah macam di Munich, Salzburg is not the choice, tapi kalau nak tengok bangunan Eropah Timur yang ancient, yang diperbuat daripada tanah liat plane takde colour, this place can meet your desire. 

Before actually arrived at the castle. The bridge is awesome. Awesome tak awesome, sejuk beku hidung merah kalah Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer dah ni. 

 In a park. The pond water was frozen. Siap boleh jalan-jalan atas tu.

Shopping souvenir before actually arrived at the castle. Mozart kan asal dari Austria so almost all souvenirs mesti ada gambar Mozart. Mozart chocolates are sold too. Tapi kawan aku cakap rasa dia macam lipas. LOL.

Salzburg castle. Not really nicely-seen during winter. Macam Fort Margerita. Memang feeling Eastern Europe habis. 

View dari Castle. 

Subhanallah serius cantik. Bukan yang wintercoat pink kat tengah-tengah tu, yang tu semua pun tahu dia cantik. Bukit kat belakang tu yang cantik. Ok time ni memang senyum paksa sebab tak tahan sejuk weehhh. Aku dah pakai 6 lapis baju, 3 lapis seluar, 3 lapis stokin, 2 lapis gloves dah ni, tapi still gegar-gegar ketar-ketar lagi. Tak pernah terfikir akan pakai 6 lapis baju sebelum experience the true winter. Up to that moment, rasa nak tambah 2 lapis lagi. 

Castle tu seolah-olah macam kubu pertahanan negara. Kitorang nampak satu pintu kayu yang besar, dipercayai tempat keluar tentera berkuda kerajaan Austria time tu kot. Overall view kat castle ni, bagi aku agak scary sikit sebab terlalu ancient. Macam tempat berhantu pun ada. Dalam castle, ada muzium. Yang best, dalam castle ada heater, hee. 

Aku ingatkan nak tulis entry Germany-Austria sekaligus, alih-alih describe pasal Salzburg pun dah berjela belum masuk Neuschwanstein and Munich betul-betul lagi. Till the next entry !

Vienna, Austria

Alhamdulillah sampai jugak kaki ni melangkah ke Vienna. Sebuah kota Eropah kegemaran pelancong yang sukakan untouched architecture macam aku. Binaan bangunan tak terpengaruh dengan gaya moden sebaliknya keunikan hasil tangan penggiat seni bina Eropah dikekalkan.

Visiting Vienna during winter seems not to be the best decision since some part of the land is being covered by snow and there's no flower along the road, but still the buildings can be viewed as they are supposed to be. Thanks for the snow which does not fall that heavy.

At first, I expected that a vacation with quite a number of people in it is such no fun but it turned out to be not that bad. Friends, you are awesome !

In front of Wien Universitat. 

 Schonbrunn Palace

 Vienna Islamic Centre

Prater Amusement Park

 Vienna Zentrum

The prices of stuff here are bloody ridiculous ! But people who go there must have tried their coffee. It's a quite famous hotstuff there.

That small cup of coffee in my hands priced 1.35 euro. I've finished it with a sip. Ok lahh tu Europe kot, what do you expect, even in Malaysia pun, kadang2 harga buat orang jatuh rahang.