Tokyo - history and the future

This trip will be like no any other. Although most of it I will do on my own, in reality I will be travelling with a little passenger in my belly. It is supposed to be my last crazy (although I cannot be very very crazy) trip (at least for some time).

Where to go so the baby and myself are safe? I concluded that the best choice would be Japan - with no zika, no malaria and great medical care. Still - very exotic and different from everything I have seen so far. 

I chose the shortest possible flight - via Franfurt - and after 14h I land in Japan. My very first impression is border guards' inneficiency - it took at least half an hour to go through border security. I expected Japanese to be better organized. My second impression - which I will see many more times during my stay in Japan - is a guy who is "managing" the queue. I will see many people responsible for queues (although - there is a queue! - so everybody knows their order), for traffic (although there are the traffic lights! so there should be no problems either), etc.

After the border control, I head to the train station in order to exchange my Japanese Rail voucher into the Japanese Rail Pass. I bought mine in the Japanese travel agency in Brussels, but they can be also ordered online. However, these passes can be bought only outside Japan. The pass is not very cheap - I paid 500 euro for 21 days, but since the train tickets are in general very expensive in Japan (fast trains on long distances), and with this pass I can take nearly every train of Japanese Rail, I conluded it's a good investment. It will certainly save me some time and will make my trip more comfortable.

In the Japanese Rail office, there's also a big queue, and only after a long wait I realize that as a pregnant woman I have priority. I ask the "director of the queue" and indeed I don't have to wait. She immediately exchanges my voucher and gives me a ticket for Narita Express train (the fastest way to get to Tokyo from Narita airport), apologizing that she hasn't noticed I was pregnant. So different attitude compared to Belgium!!! The Narita Express arrives to the Tokyo Station in less than one hour and I have the last step to make, which is however not the easiest - finding my hotel. The hotel is somewhere in the neighbourhood, but there's nobody to show me the way! Japanese are very nice and friendly, and they very much want to be helpful, but unfortunately they speak very little of English, which makes communication with them almost impossible. Luckily I finally find my hotel - Niohombashi Muromachi Bay Hotel - which is a capsule hotel. Maybe not the most convenient for a pregnant woman, but the price and location are unbeatable! Unfortunately the check-in is possible only as of 5PM, therefore I go for my first walk in Tokyo.

I arrived to the Imperial Palace Gardens, located just behind the Tokyo Station. They are open to the public, but the Imperial Palace itself isn't. Logical as it's home of the Japan's Emperor :)

 In the evening I go for my first Japanese supper. It's not easy to choose something for a pregnant semi-vegetarian woman. Raw fish are out and so is all red meat. Many restaurants display at the entrance plastic samples of the food they serve - still, I don't really see what is it! I somehow manage to communicate with a waitress and order chicken and a buckwheat noodle soup.

After the dinner I return to my hotel. I was wondering how it will be possible for a pregnant woman to sleep in a capsule, but I can say it was a great choice! Niohombashi Muromachi Bay Hotel is excellently located (10-15 minutes from the Tokyo Station), very cheap compared to normal hotels, ultra clean, and what is also important - it has two floors only for women (most of the capsule hotels are only for men). At the entrance I receive slippers (which will be changed every day), as well as clean towels and pyjama (they also will be changed every day). All girls wear the same pyjamas and we all look like the caracters of "Orange is the new black" ;-) The capsule itself is not as small as I expected, I have some privacy in there (a curtain) and in the shower (private cabins). I store my luggage in the locker. Completely exhausted, I slept 14 hours this night.

The next day, full of energy, I first head to the Senso-Ji temple. As it looks pretty close on the map, I decide to walk there, to get some understanding of the city. The walk took me one hour.

Senso-Ji is apparently Tokyo's most visited temple and I can really feel that!! Terribly crowded, it's not really a very zen place. Between the Gate and the temple itself there's a shopping street with Japanese souvenirs. 

After the temple, I go to the National Museum of Tokyo. It is the oldest and the largest museum of Japan. It features one of the biggest and best collections of arts and archeological artifacts in Japan, including nearly a hundred national treasures. I admire Japanese art, Samurai's swords, Shogun outfits, beautiful kimonos, ancient pottery and many more!

     

On my way to the next stop - Akihabara - I cross the Ueno Park, which is just in front of the museum.

I head to Akihabara - a district full of neons, electronics, mangas and computer games. I also manage to get here a converter, as Japanese electricity plugs are different than in the EU.

I finish the day at the very famous Shibuya Crossing. This is Tokyo I always had in mind. Full of lights, colors and neons, and obviously full of people.

It was a very exhausting day. But it really gave me a great idea of Tokyo. A city where history meets the future.

Back in the hotel, I adapt to its habits. As most of the guests are Japanese, who are (or who seem to be) very closed people (or shy), I don't look at anyone, I don't greet anyone, I don't talk to anyone. I have impression that also Western girls got this Japanese approach. Total silence and not a look in the eyes. Anyway I'm too tired for socializing. Good night ;-)

Bella Roma!

I know Italy very well, I was there nearly zillion times, but last time in 2008... I really missed the country, and especially its amazing capital Rome. Since - despite the fact it's end of April - the weather in Brussels keeps on being terrible (neverending rain, greyness, clouds and cold) I decided to make some warmer break on the south of Europe.

However, when THE weekend was approaching, it seemed that Rome will also welcome me with rain. I just couldn't believe it, still, I decided to enjoy it. 

Leaving Brussels was more challenging than usual. After the terrorists' attacks, the security measures at the airport were enforced, and now it was impossible to enter the building without scanning the luggage. However it also delayed much more the procedure and it took me one hour to enter the airport.

After my arrival to Rome I was very positively surprised. The weather was nice, it was warm and most importantly there was no rain! It was everything what I needed :) The rest of the weekend turned out to be equally pleasant with small occasional showers only. I loved this short stay in Eternal City. We walked with my friend Ana through the city's major attractions, with short stops for caappuccino and ice creams :)

The highlight of my stay in Rome was exhibition of the Czech artist - Alphonse Mucha - one of the greatest figures of Art Nouveau and one of the most celebrated artists in turn-of-the-century Europe. 

 Alphonse Mucha was born in 1860 in Ivančice, which at that time belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. He then in Munich, but eventually moved to Paris, where for many years was trying to make a career. It was the coincidence that made him famous. On Christmas 1894 he was asked by the most famous French actress of that time - Sarah Bernhadt - to produce a poster for a play Gismonda in which she was featuring. She rejected all posters produced by other artist, and - since it was Christmas period - it was only Mucha who agreed to do it. Sarah loved it, so loved it the French public. One one day Alphonse Mucha and his unique style instantly became famous. He signed the contract with Sarah Bernhadt, and since then he was tasked with producing posters for all the plays she took part it.

After returning to Prague in 1910, and after Czech Republic regained independence in 1918, Mucha was designing basically everything in his country - from banknotes, through stamps and official documents. But the biggest dream of his life and his life's masterpiece was the Slav Epic. He has spent many years working on a series of twenty huge canvas depicting the history of the Czech and the Slavs (ten of each). It is now displayed in Prague, at the National Gallery.

The exhibition was opened on 15 April, and will last until 11 September in Complesso del Vittoriano, it displays nearly 250 works by this amazing Art Nouveau artist, including paintings, posters, photographs, drawers, decorative works, jewelry ad furniture.

Exotic Christmas in Curaçao

When we booked our tickets to Curaçao, I needed to check first where it is exactly located! Well, Curaçao is a small island justabove Venezuela. So I'm going for the second time this year to Carribean :)

Until 2010 Curaçao was part of the netherland Antilles, and after its disolution it became a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The official language is Dutch, but Spanish and English are also very popular. Curaçao has also its local dialect Papiamentu, which is a mix of these three langauges, as well as of some Portugues.

The biggest higlight of Curaçao is the very well preserved colonial city centre of its capital - Willemstad, which is also our destination.

The Historic Area of Willemstad with its unique architecture is a UNESCO World heritage Site. It was established by the Dutch in the 17th century, and it developed continuously over the following centuries. Punda is the oldest part of the city, and the three other historic urban districts - Otrobanda, Pietermaai and Scharloo date from the 18th century. The architecture of Punda was reminds mostly of the Dutch design, whereas the other areas were influenced also by Carribean style.
What attracts the most attention are very colourful buildings. Until early nineteenth century the predominant colour of all the buildings was white, however as of 1817 white was prohibited, and red, yellow, green and blue started to appear in Willemstad. Approximately 90% of buildings within the historic are belong to private owners.

Apatr from historic centre, main attractions of Curaçao are of course beaches. The island is also an excellent spot for scuba diving, and apparently surfing.

Direct flights from Europe to Curaçao depart only from Amsterdam, and so we also flew from Amsterdam Schipchol. We bought some last minute offer, comprising flight and hotel. We left Europe on 23 December, just in time to spend Christmas in an exotic way in Curaçao :) It was the second time in my life that I did not spend this day in Poland, and I have to admit I missed a bit this beautiful atmosphere and Polish traditional food. Here though I could enjoy some great seafood what compensated a bit the fact that it wasn't the Polish Christmas.

Our hotel was located just on the beach, but also very close to the city centre. It was rather an oldish building, however with private beach and swimming pool, what made our stay very pleasant on hot sunny days :)

After spending our mornings on the beach or swimming pool, we were usually heading to the city centre, not only for sightseeing, but also for food - as meals were not included in our package. While getting to Punda, we were crossing the Queen Emma Bridge. It's a pontoon bridge, which opens up several times per day in order to allow passage to the ships and boats.

Ships... Nearly every day the port of Curaçao was hosting a huge liner and every day the city was flooded with the tourists who stopped in Curaçao during their cruise in the Carribean. The city's casinos and expensive shops were all theirs!

Influences of its fomer ruler are visible not only in the architecture reminding us Amsterdam, in Dutch language heard on the streets, but also the local currency - guilder. We also met several Dutch people who decided to come to the island and open their business. Well, weather is definitly much better here than in Holland ;-)

But while walking on the streets of Willemstad, I also found some Polish influences and a shop of a very famous Polish brand ;)

Local street art