Welcome April!

Welcome April!

Spring has just come in Norway!, the cold weather goes away slowly but it's still too  cold for Asian boy like me. Today is the warmest temperature since first time I stepped my feet in this country, yes it was 9 degree this morning!.

If in the mid of winter animal had been hiding in their nest, now I can see herd of birds and other kinds of animal flying or walking on the street make the street became very crowded.

I noticed that the biggest differences between winter and spring, is the duration of day light.  in the winter the day started to be dark at 3 PM, it is very different in spring,  I still can see the sun still shining at 9 PM, it makes me can’t sleep!.  In addition, people in Norway suddenly change their habit in this season, in winter time they were always went back home after office hour, in spring city is still lively at the night , people tend to take a walk or just enjoying a cup of coffee in the bars around Oslo.

The Ancient City of Netherlands- AMSTERDAM

Hello backpacker mania! I would like to share whith you my journey to one of the captivating cities of the Netherlands; Amsterdam. My journey began from Gare du Nord Station Paris. My friend  from the Indonesian Embassy and I, led by a friend who helped at a free shelter, went hastily to the station by taking a taxi because we were almost late. Fortunately we arrived at the station 10 minutes before the train departed.

Windmills

windmills

Before entering the train, we had to print train tickets from an automatic machine at Gare du Nord  station,  It is important to get the ticket stamped in an automatic machine to validate them otherwise you will be charged inside the train. We deliberately purchased the tickets two months earlier to get a cheaper fare. It was only $40 for the journey from Paris to Amsterdam.

The train finally departed at 12:20 Paris time.  The express train left Paris very quickly. The view outside the window of was very beautiful but I got bored without internet. I remember that I’ve read blogs about other travelers who got free WIFI inside the train but unfortunately my ticket was only an ordinary ticket with no extra WIFI so I had to purchase an internet connection. They offered some kind of 1 hour internet connection package for EUR 6.5 or EUR 13 for unlimited internet connection.  I would not recommend this because the connection is very slow and lame! It can only can be used for Facebook or light websites.

Wooden shoes factory

wooden shoes factory

We spent about 3.5 hours on the train before we finally arrived at Amsterdam Central Station. The magnificent European building was welcoming us; it was a very enchanted building that I’ve never seen before.  In the station you can ask helpful people who wearing red jackets with an “I” mark on their backs.  They can give you information about any place, attraction or anything about the city. I got lost and asked them about my hotel.  They showed us a map and marked my destination. It was very helpful!  We arrived at Aviengo youth Hostel at 16:30 Amsterdam time, checked in and took a rest for a moment before continuing our journey. The Hostel atmosphere was good; there are two rooms with 20 beds in each co-ed room.

There were discount cards on the wall for travelers who have a limited budget.  These cards can be used for entering attractions. The discount is depending on the cards which varies from 20% to 50% discounts.

We took a walk and enjoyed the night view of Amsterdam,  The scenery was lively at the night! It was a view that I’d never seen when I was in Indonesia or even in Norway!.. The next day, We used the discount card and paid EUR 29 to travel to Volundam to see windmills, a cheese factory and the most famous wooden shoes factory. We used two kinds of transportation; bus and boat. When we arrived in Volundam there are lot of bars with drunk young people. 

The most impressing part of the journey were the windmills, very big! I had only read or seen them on the television but now I saw see real windmills with my own eyes and touched them.  I decided to visit Amsterdam again someday since I didn't enter the red light district. 

Magnificent city, with its Gargantuan Eiffel Tower

Selama 2 hari saya explore keindahan paris, saya merasa banyak sekali tempat-tempat wisata yang menarik di Paris, tetapi yang paling menarik perhatian saya adalah Menara Eiffel, yang merupakan menara tertinggi di paris dengan ketinggian 325 m (1.063 kaki). Waktu kecil, Menara Eiffel yang menjadi ikon kota paris ini Cuma bisa saya lihat di layar kaca atau hanya dapat membaca melalui buku-buku perjalanan, tapi hari itu saya benar benar melihat menara Eiffel yang megah dengan rangkaian 18.083 rangakaian yang sempurna yang membuat bentuk Eiffel menjadi semakin menawan. Pengunjung dapat naik ke puncak menara Eiffel dengan menaiki lift atau dengan cara tradisional alias jalan kaki, atau ngesot. saya mengurungkan niat untuk menaiki menara ini karena antrian yang sangat panjang (bahkan sebelum waktu operasional di buka) dan waktu yang sangat terbatas. perjalanan dilanjutkan dengan menggunakan Metro, Transportasi ini membantu sangat praktis dan sibuk, orang berlalu lalang di sana sini dan kereta silih berganti datang untuk mengantar penumpang, jarak kedatangan kereta sangat cepat!, hanya 2 menit dan tidak mogok pastinya, sehingga kita dapat dipastikan sampai ditempat tujuan dengan tepat waktu, kami berangkat dengan menggunakan kereta sibuk ini mengunjungi museum tempat lukisan monalisa bersemayam, musée du Louvre. Dibagian depan museum beberapa pyramid transparan, pyramid terbesar menjadi pintu masuk untuk melihat galeri seni. Untuk tiket masuk, ada beberapa pilihan 12 EUR untuk melihat 1 tempat pameran yang ditentukan atau 16 EUR untuk melihat keseluruhan lukisan. Jika backpacker mania hanya ingin melihat lukisan legendaris karya Leonadrdo davinci ini saya sarankan cukup membeli tiket seharga 12 EUR. Di ruangan ini ada beberapa pintu masuk yang menghubungkan ke beberapa ruangan pameran, untuk jelasnya silakan baca di ruangan informasi terdekat.

  

Di pusat kota, terdapat Arc de Triomphe, yang merupakan gerebang simbol kemenangan bangsa perancis, bangunan yang merupakan ide besar dari napoleon bonaparte ini berbentuk seperti gerebang, seperti gapura di Indonesia, ini merupakan salah satu kebanggaan penduduk perancis. Sepanjang jalan dekat Arc de Triomphe merupakan daerah pertokoan bagi kaum berduit, di jalanan banyak sekali seniman jalanan yang menari atau untuk mencari perhatian para wisatawan, sangat menarik.  Ada juga Place de la Concorde yang tempatnya tidak begitu jauh dengan musée du Louvre. Untuk makanan, saya di ajak makanan ala afrika dan Nasi goreng ikan asin di sini (Loh?), karena emang undangan dan rekomendasi dari teman yang tentunya gretongan heheh.

My First Backpacker in Europe

Halo para penjelajah dunia, Kali ini saya ingin sharing pengalaman tentang perjalanan backpacking saya ke dua kota, yaitu Paris dan Amsterdam  yang telah saya kunjungi, saya harap bisa memberikan informasi yang cukup untuk para Backpacker mania yang ingin bepergian ke Paris atau  Amsterdam.

Saya dan seorang teman yang sama sama bekerja di KBRI berangkat dari Bandara Rygge, Norwegia sekitar jam 18:30 waktu setempat, tiket saya beli dari 2 bulan sebelum keberangkatan demi mengejar tiket murah, maklumlah uang saku pas pasan hehe.

Dari Oslo Central, Saya berangkat naik bus yang langsung menuju bandara rygge. Di norwegia transportasi cukup lengkap dan praktis misalnya jika ingin bepergian ke luar kota atau keluar negeri kita cukup datang ke Oslo Sentralstajon, di sini transportasi mulai dari Train, Bus, T-Bane, Tram lengkap semua!, untuk bis kita bisa langsung beli di atas bus dengan cash atau kartu kredit/debit.

Volundam, The Netherlands

Ketika naik pesawat, ada hal yang menarik ketika naik pesawat, saya baru tahu bahwa salah satu maskapai norwegia dengan low-cost airlines ini menerapkan sistem seperti di bus. tidak seperti maskapai penerbangan lain, di maskapai ini para penumpang sudah mengantri dari awal ingin masuk pesawat, kenapa?? Awalnya saya juga bingung  kenapa setiap orang ingin sekali buru buru masuk pesawat, toh tempat duduknya juga sudah di atur. Ketika masuk pesawat saya kaget ternyata sistem mereka tidak menerapkan nomor tempat duduk pada setiap penumpang. Di tambah lagi mereka tidak henti hentinya menjajakan barang dagangan mereka dari mulai terbang sampai mendarat!. Saya rasa ini lebih cocok di sebut bis terbang dari pada pesawat terbang!, jadi inget sama Bus Damri di Bandung.  

Eiffel Tower, France

Akhirnya Bus Terbang ini Safely landed di Paris Beauvais sekitar jam 20:30 waktu setempat, karena sudah malam jadi tidak ada pilihan lain selain menginap di rumah kenalan!, maklum sebelum berangkat kita udah gencar cari kenalan yang bisa nampung tidur 2 malem ini sini. dari Paris Beauvais ternyata perlu 1 jam lebih untuk sampe ke kota Paris (Hale bus Porte Maillot ), dan tiket nya cukup lumayan EUR 16. setelah sampe di Porte Maillot, kita langsung di jemput oleh temannya teman saya yang juga bekerja di KBRI Paris, langsung di ajak keliling kota paris, makan ayam afrika yang uenak tenan dan foto di jalanan deket Arch De triomphe, simbol kemenangan perancis yang terletak di bukit Chaillot dan merupakan titk pertama dan terakhir dari jalan yang sangat terkenal, yaitu Champs de Ellysee di kota yang sama, Paris.

Setelah puas berfoto ria kami diantar ke rumah seorang pejabat di KBRI paris, Seorang yang sangat baiiiiiiiiiiiiik hati, kami sangat tertolong oleh bapak ini!. (Di tunggu kunjungan balasannya di Oslo loh pak!).  

dan perjalananpun dimulai..

BERSAMBUNG.......................

Vigeland Park

Although Norway has many magnificent attractions for tourists such as Viking Museum, Trømso (The place where you can see Northern light in winter time), Nobel Museum, National Theater, and others, I still recommend Vigeland Park as the most magnificent, cheapest and reasonable distance from center of city for backpacker who has limit on budget ^_^..

Main hall of Vigeland park

The Vigeland Park is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist, and is one of Norway's most popular tourist attractions. The park is open for visitors and the most important thing, there is no entry charge A.K.A FREE... GRATIS TIS TIS.

The unique sculpture park is Gustav Vigeland's lifework with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron. Vigeland was also in charge of the design and architechtural layout of the park. The Vigeland Park was mainly completed between 1939 and 1949.

Most of the sculptures are placed in five units along an 850 meter long axis: The Main gate, the Bridge with the Children's playground, the Fountain, the Monolith plateau and the Wheel of Life.

when first time I visited this place on December 2012, all sculptures were covered by snow made the atmosphere was so melancholic at that time!.
 
you can find the many unique sculptures in Vigeland but the most famous sculpture is 'Angry boy', called angry boy because this sculpture resembled like angry and cried boy. people believe that if we grasp the Angry boy arm someday we will return to Norway, you can see the arm of the Angry boy is no longer black as another paint because many people grasped him :D.

Angry boy

Jikan ga attara zehi Irashite kudasai ne !

New year eve in Oslo

Maybe it is too late for me to write my experience about new year eve in Oslo because it's already third month of 2013. well, I just want to share my first experience when I spent fabulous new year eve  in Oslo.

I am just surprised when numerous people gathered in one place to celebrate the new years eve.

People gather to celebrate new years eve in akker brygge- Oslo

I spent fabulous night with my friends from Indonesian embassy

Mbak vivin, Me, Mbak diah, Mas feri

this is first time I saw Oslo city full with car and people.

Traffic jam in the entire of Oslo city