Wednesday, September 29, 2010

astronomical clock, Prague, Czech Republic

The Prague Orloj is a medival astronomical clock. It is located in the Old Town and is a popular tourist attraction. One can be 100% confident that will find it - just follow people to the most crowded area of the square.
Prague recently became very popular tourist destination and is overcrowded for my taste. It is impossible to walk in the center (especially in the Old Town area and on Carl's Bridge) without being jostled by other people. It's lovely, but visiting it is much more fun in low season.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

booking gorilla tracking, Rwanda

Gorilla tracking is a thing to do in Rwanda.
Very rare mountain gorillas live in area, that is split between Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. Luckily, most of gorillas groups are currently on teritory of Rwanda. Still, there are only 7 groups of them and 8 people per day per group are allowed to visit. This makes permit booking (500 USD per person!) quite challenging.
If you plan visiting Rwanda, don't forget to book at least 3 months in advance. Otherwise you will end up like me, mailing desperately all tour agencies in Kigali, to arrange for me a permit just 3 weeks before the trip.
May thanks to owner of WildlifeTours Rwanda, who made it possible! :)

Friday, September 10, 2010

fancy procedure for leaving Armenia

There is unusual system of fingerprint scanning upon check-in at Yerevan airport. I can imagine, that intention was to fasten and simplify boarding control process while increasing security, but results are disputable… System is frequently out of order, which means that ground staff is checking tickets, passports and scans fingerprints (painfully pushing passengers’ fingers on the reader) - as a result boarding takes over 30 minutes and engages 6 or more people.
Just compare it with Munich airport, where most of passengers go through self-check gate with electronic tickets and one person of ground staff is dealing with others. And boarding takes a couple of minutes…

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

classic Petra photo, Jordan

Everone visiting Petra just MUST TAKE this photo - famous Treasury as seen from Siq.
So did I...

Saturday, September 4, 2010

National Museum, London, UK

The most surprising thing about National Museum was number of pupils visiting the place. They have been playing and learning at the same time.
Quite different from what you can see in Polish museums - everyone is expected to be quiet and walk around the place. Cannot imagine schoolchildern sitting on the floor and drawing.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Ostia Antica, Italy

Coming to Italy I was expecting to see many Roman ruins and I was very disappointed. Forum Romamum was not impressive.
Luckily I visited Ostia Antica - large area, where riuns of first Roman colony were discovered.

Still, if you wish to see impressive Romain ruins, much better places are in Middle East. :)