30 August, 2008

sweet rolls

In Prague, the traditional sweet roll in the pic is the well-known speciality, which can kept attracting tons of foreign sightseers.

I took the pic in a small shop located near the Wenceslas Square, and actually bought and enjoyed the sweet roll. Taking a bite of the roll, I felt the slight smell of cinnamon, and sounds of crashing tiny rocks of sugar on it. In a small shop, the middle-aged woman silently kept rolling the breads to make tons of sweet rolls, and sometimes answered bluntly to the sightseers who wanted to try the roll.

Before coming the small shop, I also got the other sweet roll in a stall located in front of the supermarket near the main street in the city. The stall was small and made by the quasi-wooden materials, anyway, painted dark brown like a sweet roll. Just like the proprietress in a small shop, the middle-age woman in the stall kept rolling the bread, and sometimes took a roll reluctantly to the shoppers who held small changes. I still remember that the stall' s roll was cheaper than small shop's, and also only slightly the taste was better.

Here was Prague.

23 August, 2008

in the train from prague to wien

That was one of the most curious scenes I've ever seen in a train.

At the time, I was in the international train, EC173, which left Praque Holesovice station at 13:33 for Wien Sudbahnhof. To say correctly, it was one or two minutes before actually the train started to go from the station. So, it was around 13:30.

When I was on the board of the train, and kept my reserved seat with putting my backpack on the upper baggage-rack, I just wanted to go to the restroom, toilet, WC. The small WC in the train was usually located in the vestibule or deck, which was also an entrance to the coach.

When I went to the vestibule, I found there was an old lady who kept saying good-by to her family members (maybe) and hugging consecutively with each other, most importantly, in front of the door of WC. I just said, excuse me, several times with a little bit loud voice, but she and her family seemed to decide to ignore the outsider for this important family ritual. I just saw the cleaning woman who was standing in the vestibule and also waiting for cleaning the trash box which was also guarded by the hugging old lady and Co..

The moment when the old lady said a little bit sharp scream was so curious for me that I still remember the exact detail of the scene. The old lady was hugging with the middle-aged woman who was fat and maybe also her kin. They were hugging for a while and I think it was longer than ever. And the next moment, two women leaned against the door of WC, toilet, and slowly the door began to open. Two women still hugging with each other, were slowly falling down on the floor in the WC, toilet, restroom, washroom, or what ever. They almost lightly hit their shoulders or even faces on the corner of the toilet bowl or silver pan.

Two women were screaming on the floor of the WC, amazingly still hugging. I and the cleaning woman, who were only two witnesses of this tragedy, said, are you OK?, at the same time. The other family members, who already finished their retuals and left from here, rushed into the vestibule. The old lady reiterated " the door was opened" with looking at me a little bit viciously, though I never touched the door and even was still waiting for relieving myself in the WC.

That was so curious, and when I saw the faces of the family, who could do not to laugh, I finally felt relief to go to the WC.

Here was on the train, EC173, Prague.

16 August, 2008

waiting for a clockwork

When looking for my hotel around the center square of the Prague city, I found lots of people looking up the old clock, and seeming to wait for something, which would maybe happen at 18:00. It was around 17:55, and was bright and really nice summer evening, so (at the evening) still I enjoyed the beautiful afternoon-blue sky with partly white clouds.

At 18:00. Time was coming.
One of the small windows above the large analog-circle was opened. From the inside, something finally came and made noises with the rings of a bell.

Sorry, I was not so sure what was actually came at the time, but it was maybe small, and for not so long time he/she had showed him/herself in front of the crowd.
Soon, the small door was closed as if it was nothing special.

The show was over in the very short moment. And a very small part of the crowd was yelling, like "whoo" with clapping hands for a short moment. That sounds of clapping seemed like the end of the summer season, at least for me.

Here was Prague, the Czech Republic.

02 August, 2008

frites in antwerp

The frites shop in the photo is located near the cathedral of our lady, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal. This is maybe one of the most famous frites shops in Belgium, at least I heard so from my colleagues. My colleague said that the madam and monsieur in the shop had regularly and separately made the frites, and he continued if I was so lucky, I got the frites made by the monsieur, which was a little bit good, a little bit, maybe.

So, must-go shop in Antwerp.

Unfortunately, I was full at the time, and I just took the photo instead of joining in the line of the waiting people. So, still I'm not quite sure even if the madam and monsieur are for real, maybe there is a possibility that just friendly guys may make a good one, or maybe not.

When I standing there for a while, two American sightseeing girls were waiting for their frites, or in their case, french fries. They found a curious sauce for frites, named "Samurai".

"Samurai?" one girl said, and another followed "Wasabi?".

Samurai sauce for frites was a kind of usual choices in many frites shop, not Wasabi taste. I learned afterward in Brussels.

Here was Antwerp, Belgium