St Vitus Cathedral - The Gem of Prague

Beautiful spectrum of sunlight in the cathedral
The heights and depths of the building

St Vitus Cathedral is the spiritual heart of the nation as the mausoleum of Bohemian kings and Prague's greatest landmark.

I am really impressed by the architecture of the cathedral and also by the astonished stained windows

These colour stained glass windows are stunning, the different facets of colours penetrate through and gently reflected on the wall are really lovely. The sort of enjoyments of the eyes are uncomphrensible. Whenever there is enough sunlight shines through the stained glass, the characters of the story as-if becomes alive again.

~~~~

Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge's construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of 15th century. As the only means of crossing the river in Prague, Charles Bridge used to be the most important connection between the Old Town, Prague Castle and adjacent areas until 1841. Also this 'solid-land' connection made Prague important as a trade route between east and west Europe. The bridge was originally called the Stone Bridge (Kamenný most) or the Prague Bridge (Pražský most) but has been the "Charles Bridge" since 1870.

The bridge is 516 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide, resting on 16 arches shielded by ice guards. It is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Lesser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side. The Old Town bridge tower is often considered to be one of the most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world. The bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues, most of them baroque-style, erected around 1700.

During the night Charles Bridge is supposed to be a quiet witness of medieval times. However, it didn't happen during our trip as we happened to visit Prague on the Easter weekend where everyone decided to go to Prague too. During the day, it is almost impossible to navigate through Charles Bridge without bumping into other people. It is a very busy place where painters, owners of the kiosks, and black sailors trade to carry away some money on the tourists.

The alley of 30 mostly baroque statues and statuaries situated on the balustrade forms a unique connection of artistic styles with the underlying gothic bridge. Most sculptures were erected between 1683 and 1714. They depict various saints and patron paints venerated at that time. Among the most notable sculptures, St John of Nepomuk. Beginning in 1965, all of the statues have been systematically replaced by replicas and the originals have been exhibited in the lapidarium of the National Museum.

Mărţişor - A celebration of the beginning of Spring

Yesterday, after I chatted with a Romanian colleague about work, she MSN'ed this picture over to me.  At first I didn't understand what is the intention of this.  She then explained that every female in Romania will receive Mărţişor (as picture) in 1st March. 

Mărţişor is the traditional celebration of the beginning of the spring in Romania and Moldova, on 1 March. The day's name is the diminutive of March (in Romanian Martie), and thus means something like "little" or "dear March". Nowadays, men offer women a talisman object also called Mărţişor, consisting of a jewel or a small decoration like a flower, an animal, etc., tied to a red and white string. However, giving a little nickel tied to a red and white string is an old custom and was originally designated for both men and women. It was believed that the one who wears the red and white string will be powerful and healthy for the year to come. The decoration is a symbol of the coming spring. A woman wears it pinned to her blouse on this day and up to two weeks after.

Up-Closed and Personal Tower Bridge

 

Call me 'blessed' if you want, but I feel really blessed not just materially or career perspective  but also spiritually.  This Monday and Tuesday I had an opportunity to participate in another company event.  The event is an EALA wide event which stands for the regions Europe, Africa, Latin America.  The event took place in central London and right beside the famous London Tower Bridge.  There were about 10 of us representing the Dutch practice, 3 of us arriving early in London City Airport and have  a few good hours to enjoy the stroll by the bridge and early morning coffee.

When we checked into the hotel, all of the rest just got the normal low floor room but I was checked in to executive high floor with the perfect view of London Bridge welcomed me into the room.  I knew this was not by accident but the Lord was pampering me...The photo above was taken at around 5 GMT.

Finally this is the night scene of the Tower Bridge again after we had an enjoyable dinner (with never ending flow of Moët and Chandon champagne, excellence food) at a restaurant to celebrate the success and great place for networking.

In short, I witnessed the up-closed and personal view of Tower Bridge from the morning to the night.  Tower Bridge remains charming regardless of the time of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Pig Year!! 猪年快乐

The year of Pig is approaching in less than 48 hours!!  It is another Chinese New Year.  This year is MY year and also a special year for my favorite cartoon characters - McDull and McMug, who are the stars of the year of Pig as they are made of the pig figures, original Hong Kong creation.  Whether you consider this Hallal or Tidak Hallal, they are the best when it comes to cartoons.

We don't celebrate Chinese New Year here and it is not a big thing and thus we don't have any holiday or major celebration like re-union dinner, red packets, never ending eating, feasting like what you are going to do AGAIN this year.  To all my families and friends back in Asia, wishing you all a Happy Chinese New Year.

I am enclosing the picture of my favorite cartoon, McDull dressing in the red chinese motif top and imagining with the Mcdull's wisdom that he is going to enjoying the good food and perhaps ZZZZZZZzz in the coming Chinese New Year.

To end, with the special greetings from McDull - Happy Pig Year

麦兜祝你-猪年快乐，万事如意，新年进步，身体健康。

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

 

Tonight, this verse became a rhema word to me.  I do believe what I have long hope for and that I have not see will surely and soon come to the past in His time. AMEN

Quad Parcours

Today, I attended a focus group activity of my company.  The main purpose is to foster the relationship with members of the focus group and also to discuss the hottest corporate topic GP2W.  GP2W (Great Place To Work) is a corporate initiative with the main aims to make Accenture a great place to work and indirectly increase productivity and talent retention.  It took place at Dorhout Mees at Biddinghuizen nearby Lelystad.

Given the weather of +3C, it was relatively cold for outdoor activity.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed myself on this Friday afternoon.  It was good to set aside a Friday afternoon to focus on something completely different.  The first activity we did is called Quad Parcours, some form of racing but in a muddy and murky ground.  The vehicles is not too difficult to control and I had a joyful ride after all.

Despite of no competition, my colleague was trying to over take me from behind.  It was rather fun and enlightening, above all some form of physical activities that I desperately needed after a week of work.

 

CARPOOL

 

Skyline when we started our journey from home

Skyline of Rotterdam when we about to enter the city

These days I have the blessings of carpooling to work with Johannes.  Carpool is not a very common practice in Europe, but we decided to do it anyway.  After all, with Johannes now working in Rotterdam and I have to be at my client's head office 3 days a week that also happen to be in Rotterdam, it is indeed a brilliant idea.  We are contributing positively to the environment by travel in one car and also allow us to spend more time together.  After all, I have a car park reserved for me by my client.  The only disadvantage is that I have to start very early (since I am not a morning person) as Johannes starts his work at 8:15am.  However, so long as I sleep early and well the night before, I like the idea of starting early.  There is absolute solitary in the morning that I can get things done in the peace of mind before the other come in by 9am.  I also get the opportunity to enjoy the early morning scenery by observing the colour changing in the sky....  

Finally SNOW in the Netherlands!

 

As per the weather forecast, we finally have the out poured of snow today.  I was told by my co-worker who asked for permission to work from home tomorrow instead of driving all the way to Rotterdam due to the anticipation of the weather.

This morning I woke up full of expectation that I will see the houses and the garden to be covered by beautiful fresh white snow.  But...,I was disappointed because I woke up and the usual grey sky welcomed me.

 

A few hours later, just before I finished with my first con-call of the day, I looked out to the window and the snow flakes started to pour down from the sky, rather heavily.  It was rather pretty as if the Lord is pouring out His glory and blessings from Heaven above.

With a few more hours of snowing, the area is covered with white, I managed to take two photos.  The one on top was taken around 10am when the snow just started, the 2nd photo was taken about 3 hours later when I had my late lunch break.

Another common norm for this country, snow is not here to stay, it is usually melts away as soon as it stops snowing.  Outside is getting murky now and by tomorrow, snow will be washed away....

Creative Writing

Last night we went all the way to Amsterdam to attend a creative writing workshop organized by Open University UK.

The session took place in an English Bookshop along Lauriegracht.  There were around 14 of us including the facilitators.  David Stephenson is the lead of the evening and he took us through the basis of creative writing by asking us to work in a group of 2 to 4, first described about the last book we read.  The highlight was when he gave each group a black and white photo and then asked us to observe the photo carefully and write down our impression and our story.  It is amazed that later when we shared our stories, each of us, despite of working on the same photo, came out with completely different story.

It was Johannes that first enrolled himself to this session, I am sort of just coming along person.  I also benefited from the session and hopefully I will be able to apply some of this skill in my blog writing...

Sushi all the way!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night, I attended a community event that I organized.  It was a rather big event with almost 100 colleagues gathered together.  Apart from being the organizer, I was also leading the diversity workforce group discussion.  Set apart from the hard work, the high light of the night was the sushi workshop.

This is the first time I learn how to make sushi, it is simple but yet different when you put that in action.  I have ended up with sticky hands (as a result of my hands not wet enough), My sushi row doesn't close-up nicely due to too much rice and all the first timer mistakes, you name it I have tried it all.

It was interesting and fun, especially doing it in a big group.  My colleague took a candid shot of mine that I didn't even aware I was on the spotlight.

The (in)famous Romanian's Palace of Parliament

Finally I arrived to the most famous or infamous Palace of Parliament.  A must see star attraction is the big mama of monstrous buildings.  The building is conceived at the height of Ceausescu’s communist fervor.  The enormous showcase of Romanian craftsmanship with 12 floors now houses the chamber of deputies in the grandiose innards. 

 

Controversy still rages around this massive edifice.  More than a symbol of

Ceausescu’s Communist vision – it stands today as a reminder of the price Romania paid to satisfy the egotistical whims of Nicolae and Elena.

 

It was built in 1984 to house the central committee, presidential office and state ministries.  It is the world’s second largest building in surface, after USA’s Pentagon and the third largest in volume.

 

Over 700 architects and three shifts of 20,000 workers labored on it 24 hours a day for 5 years.  It has 12 storey and 3100 furnished rooms. Beneath it is a vast nuclear bunker, plummeting 200m deep.

 

I took a 45 minutes English tour to have a  sneak preview of the interior of the building and its staggering insight into Ceausescu’s ego-driven vision. It is to my amazement that this is indeed a very huge over-size and over-engineered concrete building.  The current government is trying to rent it out (by room) for events, but still enormously low in term of the utilization rate. 

 

 

A lovely little Chapel - Stavropoleos Church

When I was told that I have arrived the location, I doubted as it is in a very small alley with some construction almost in front of the church.  I have a feeling that this one has been forgotten by the Romanians in Bucharest.  After all there are countless of churches in the city.  Stavropoleos Church was built by Greek monk Ioanichie Stratonikes  in 1724 in  late-Bráncoveanu  style.  Prominent Romanian architect Ion Mincu designed the courtyard and restored this little gem in 1899.  Inside are richly ornate wood and stone carvings, coloured with paintings and frescoes.

Economic Consortium Palace stand diagonally opposite Stavropoleos church.

The church is miserably small and if I was not told explicitly, I would not even take a look at it, as it looks like one of the many post communist ruins.  I like the court yard very much.  A very small courtyard with some stone display but I find it lovely, it characters stand out strongly from other mainstream Orthodox churches.

 

Glimpse of Bucharest's past glory

At 1pm, I embarked in a sightseeing route.  First place, Museum of Romanian Peasant, a folklore museum located at the northern side of the city.  Entry fee is only 2 lei for student, and the guide think I am a student and there is no way to communicate that I am already long past student era.  There are lots of folklore display especially on the various craft of the Orthodox cross, the traditional costumes and the colorful glass window with religious design.  The highlights of this museum is the Communist exhibition, which has the only surviving portraits of Ceausescu, several thoughtful Lenin's and heart-rending accounts of those who objected to collectivization.  Oh yeah, also an interesting table with some peeled peanut shells leftover.

 

After that I head to Herãstrãu Lake where the Press Centre can be seen opposite the lake, which many lovers, kissing passionately in the park, kids running around, old Romanian men and women either sitting down staring at nothing or walking slowing with a typical Russian mink hat.  We drive through the Triumphal Arch. Based on Paris’s name sake monument, is  11m-tall was built between 1935 and 1936 to commemorate the reunification of Romania in 1918.

 

Then we drive further along Seseaua Kiseleff and the enormous Press House (Casa Presei Libere).  It has a 1956 Stalinist, wedding cake structure.  The Press House gave a clear message to the citizens of Bucharest – Big Brother is watching you !  Symbol of the powerful Communist regime.

 

Conclusion, a city with past glory that can never return...

Bucharest by day

After a good night beauty sleep, I woke up early enough to enjoy the hearty breakfast and then sort out the logistic on how to see Bucharest.  After a chat with a concierge guy and a short stroll to one of the so called mall (to buy water), I come to conclusion that I cannot handle this city by myself.  Not by walking, or by public transport such as metro but hire a private driver to drive me to wherever I want.

 

Here are some of the photo taken on the short wall.  Mixed impression for me, the post war feeling is still very strongly indulging.  Look at what Communism has done to the country and despite of the revolution was almost 18 years already, the city still very much remain in a post communist era.  I wonder what made Romania qualified for EU?  However, given a few years, the facelift of the city should be done.

 

Romanian Athenaeum

One of the hightlight of the day is the Romanian Athenaeum.  One of the sight that I enjoyed most so for.   Athenaeum is located just south of the city center, very near to Hilton Hotel. 

This exquisite circular building is the majestic heart of Romania’s classical music tradition.  Scenes from Romanian history are featured on the interior fresco inside the big hall on the 1^st floor , and the dome is 41 m high.  It was built in 1888.  The composer George Enescu made his depute here in 1898, and now it is the home to the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra.

Unfortunately there is nothing on tonight, otherwise I will surely go for it.  There is one tomorrow night but I wasn't sure if my schedule permits me to go for it, will keep my fingers crossed.

First Impression of Bucharest by Night

20 Jan 2007

 

I have never dream of being in a Eastern European country and tonight here I am in the capital of Romania, Bucharest.

Two and a half hour flight journey, brought me from modern western world to a rather under developed country.  The international airport is only resembled a fraction of Rotterdam airport.  On my way from the airport to the hotel, I saw only ruins, not the historical ruins but more like a post war ruins.

Not really positive impression, it reminds me of the cities in North Eastern China, Bucharest not even come closed to any big China city like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen or Guangzhou.  Even Inter-Continental hotel, the structure is grand, like any developing country, the hardware is cool but just lacking of something somehow.  The photo is taken from the balcony of my hotel room, not much street lights and so this has not change my impression even thought I am now in the Bucharest City center.

 

I shall stay positive and will check out the city tomorrow. J

 

Catching big fish

Last night despite of the hectic at work, we decided to go to prayer meeting and have an set apart time for God.  The first prayer meeting was amazing. As we entered into the heights of prayers,  I actually saw this vision when we were praying, as my both hands were half raise (in the carrying thing position) and suddenly my hands became heavier and heavier.  Then I saw a big golden orange fish, kicking and alive and it was on my hands, and my hands became tired.  I knew it was a vision but I didn’t know what does that mean and I was wondering what I should do about this vision, sometime visions are personal. At that very moment, Pastor Victor asked me to pray.  Another surprise (not normally happen J) but that actually served as a confirmation that I should share this vision and then the word comes, that the Lord wants to make us fisher of men…  That’s where discipleship started when Jesus called Peter to be fisher of men.  That is something we ought to do as Christians that is to win souls for Jesus…

Paris

While majority of the people are still enjoying the extended Christmas/New Year holiday, I already back to full force on Wednesday 3^rd Jan.  

It was thrilled to be in Paris again, especially in the city itself and not at the greater region.  Work wise was stressful especially hard to manage the meetings when most of the side conversations were taken place in French.  It is almost impossible to find any English word at the coffee machine, at the canteen or anywhere outside airport.

My French colleague has been very hospitable; she really hosted me and gave me the true insights of the real Parisian lifestyle. Anouk invited me to her apartment for a glass of wine and foie gras experience.  Then we embarked for the real Parisian dining experience, this is an experience that a tourist would never sample.  We went to this restaurant and had our fine cuisine (as ever in any Parisian restaurant).  We ended our dinner with the French cheese palette and I tasted the stinkiest cheese, but when it combines with sweet fig paste, the taste became heavenly.  It is so complicated and yet so enjoyable.

After the dinner, we went to a club which one can only get in through special invitation. The event is only meant for working professional in Paris.  It started at 7pm and will end by 2am so that every one can get some rest and back to work the next day.  My favorite French sentence of the night was 'parlez vous anglais?' or rather ‘do you speak English?’.  Thankfully most people I met do speak reasonable English which is kind of logical as this is a melting pot for working professional.

The whole event took place at the side streets of Avenue des Champs Élysées, in fact very close Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile as pictured.

 

Happy New Year

 
Happy New Year!!  Wishing every one a very blessed year ahead.  May 2007 bring forth health, wealth and above all, the blessings from the Heaven above. 
To me, year 2007 will be a continuation of 'The year of Victory' as I am advancing into 'The year of the Next Level'.
Next Level in term of my personal spiritual life with Jesus Christ
Next Level in term of reaching out to others for Him
Next Level in term of seeing Santubong
Next Level in every thing that He has prepared and intended for me!!