#1 Latemar, Labyrinth Path

My first hiking trip, ever! And I love it! At the end of October, we went from Karersee (Lago di Carezza), passed through Latemar, the Labyrinth path, then ended up at Karrerpass. 7.9 km in total, with the maximum height of 1,901 m.

The frozen Lago di Carezza. Beautiful isn’t it? I will definitely go there again on summer. We went there by bus, took less than one hour from the city center.

Latemar, one of the mountain in the Dolomites. That’s where we’re going!

We didn’t go to the top of the mountain, but still, the view from there is breathtaking. I guess.. that’s Rosengarten *I’m not sure ;p*. We took a break for a while, having lunch with marvelous view.

After that, we passed through Labyrinth path, which is basically a narrow and complicated path going down the mountain. Took no picture there since I need all of my focus and concentration to survive that ;p.

And finally, we arrived at Karerpass!

#2 Funivia San Genesio

At the beginning of March, surprisingly the weather was very nice, it felt like spring already ^^. So we decided to try one of the cable car, called funivia in Italian. There are 3 cableway in Bolzano: Ritten-Renon, Kohlern-Colle, and San Genesio. We tried the last one.

One of the activity in the mountain: throwing rock competition ^^.

The view? Of course one of the mountain in Dolomites *don’t ask me which one ;p* and view of the village from the hill. Then we went around in the village for a while before going back home.

#3 Earth Pyramids in Ritten-Renon

The next day, right after the #2 trip, we went to try the other cable car, Ritten-Renon. Unfortunately, the cable car is closed :’(. Two of us insisted on going up… on foot. After 15 minutes, I gave up *coz’ on the previous day I’ve walked quite a lot already ;p*, so some of us went up by bus instead.

Then we took a path downhill to see the earth pyramids, and it started raining, exactly according to the weather forecast. But we kept on going, rain can’t stop us! ^^

Here you go, the earth pyramids. How could it happen? The secret is relied on the stones on top of them. Well, most of the stones are already disappear, but some of them are still there. As we know, natural processes such as erosion can happen to the soil. The stones prevent the soil below them to be removed by erosion, then voila! Of course it happened (maybe) hundreds years ago, and took a long time to become like that.

*******

Yap, that’s all.. for now . Maybe there will be more coming. Sometimes it’s important to go out (or up ;p) to exercise and move the muscles, since I spend most of the time in front of the laptop. It’s fun! really ^^ But of course, usually I have to ‘pay the price’ XD, at least one day of rest, doing nothing but lie down on the bed.

Untungnya saya tinggal di Bolzano, tak perlu jauh-jauh sudah bisa merasakan bermain ski di the Alps, hihi. Jadi, ski resort yang kami kunjungi yaitu Carezza Ski, terletak di pegunungan Dolomites, yang mana merupakan bagian dari Southern Limestone Alps. Hanya sekitar 1 jam perjalanan dengan bus dari pusat kota.

Yak, berfoto dulu sembari menunggu bus. Kostum kami kalau digabung bagai bendera Perancis, hahah *harusnya ijo nih biar pas ;p*. Perhatikan wajah saya masih bersemangat riang gembira, belum menyadari penderitaan yang menanti…

Biaya yang dikeluarkan untuk ski di sini menurut saya tidak terlalu mahal, jika dibandingkan dengan pengalaman ski teman saya di Korea ;p. Di samping investasi untuk kostum tentunya, hihi. Kebetulan saya nemu satu setel jaket dan celana khusus untuk ski *dua-duanya waterproof dan windproof*, diskon 50% jadi tinggal €120. Sudah paling murah itu, dan cuma ada warna putih *ga bisa milih warna-warna centil, huks*, harga asli tanpa diskon mah bisa bikin sesak napas. Dan sepertinya itu ukuran anak-anak jadi lebih murah ^^;.

Kami sepakat membeli half day ticket pass, dari jam 12.30 sampai 17.00, seharga €24. Dan dengan tiket tersebut kami bebas naik skilift manapun. Sedangkan untuk biaya sewa peralatan, total €19, €6 untuk sesuatu dan €13 untuk sesuatu *hahah, maaf ga ngerti, bahasa Italia sih ^^;*.

Tapi tapi.. waktu kami melihat detail yang harus dibayar, 2 dari yang seharusnya €13 itu didiskon jadi hanya tinggal €7, dan ada keterangan JUNIOR. Menurut saya sih, itu karena 2 dari kami tingginya di kisaran 1 setengah meter, ahahaha. Memang panjang papan ski itu disesuaikan dengan tinggi badan, dan disetel menurut berat badan *soalnya pasti ditanyakan, tinggi dan berat badan*. Jadi, total sewa peralatan yang saya bayar hanya €13 saja. Yah, itulah salah satu keuntungan berbadan mungil, bukan begitu?

Pertama kali mencoba, di baby slope yang isinya anak-anak semua. Naiknya bukan menggunakan skilift, tapi ditarik oleh tongkat yang diselipkan di antara kaki, dan papan ski kita pun masih menjejak tanah. Butuh konsentrasi penuh untuk menjaga keseimbangan, oleng sedikit pasti jatuh.

Yang namanya beginner’s luck itu memang benar-benar terjadi, saya berhasil melepaskan diri dari tongkat penarik tanpa jatuh, lalu meluncur dengan indah sampai bawah. Wuih, kepercayaan diri langsung melonjak, “Ah, ga terlalu susah ternyata” XD. Si teman langsung bersemangat mengajak ke slope yang lebih tinggi, masih berwarna biru sih, yang tandanya masih untuk pemula. Lalu…

Selanjutnya, saya pun jatuh berkali-kali. Si teman a.k.a “instruktur dadakan” punya metode mengajar yang unik. Jadi katanya, untuk memperlambat kecepatan, papan ski harus berbentuk sudut atau segitiga, dan dia menyebutnya bentuk “pizza”. Masalahnya, kalau sudah meluncur, susah mengendalikan papan ski, dan akhirnya cuma bisa berjuang supaya badan seimbang, lalu kalau sudah panik, oleng, pasti jatuh deh.

Setelah sekali jatuh terguling dan kepala sampai benjol, akhirnya saya turun ke tempat penyewaan dan meminjam helm *yang ternyata gratis karena status saya sebagai JUNIOR, hihi*. Karena masih sedikit trauma, saya istirahat sejenak, sementara yang lain sibuk naik turun skilift. Maklum, cuma saya yang benar-benar pemula.

Karena bosan, akhirnya saya naik turun baby slope sendirian, sekalian mengasah kemampuan melepaskan diri dari tongkat penarik dengan lancar, yang ternyata… susah. Selalu dibantu oleh bapak-bapak yang berjaga di situ. Sampai ketika akhirnya saya bisa lepas dari tongkat penarik dan meluncur dengan lancar, si bapak penjaga teriak, “Brava!”, ahahahah. Kayaknya dia sampai hapal dan bosan ngebantuin saya terus. Saya balas berteriak, “Grazie!!” ^^v

Sudah hampir waktunya tutup, dan saya ingin sekali lagi mencoba menjajal slope yang lebih tinggi dari baby slope. Sebenarnya berdua dengan teman, tapi dia berhasil meluncur ke jalur kiri, sementara saya terjebak di jalur kanan… yang lebih susah, banyak gundukannya T__T. Jadilah saya meluncur sendirian.

Kesalahan terbesar saya adalah selalu memilih jalur yang tampak lebih datar. Salah besar, karena setelah itu slope-nya menjadi lebih curam dibanding kalau memilih jalur yang selalu tampak menurun. Ketika sadar, tiba-tiba saya sudah melayang di udara, lalu… hahahah. Untung sudah pakai helm ;p. Papan ski sampai lepas dan sudah bertebaran di mana-mana.

Ketika saya menoleh ke belakang, ternyata saya baru meluncur dari batu yang menjorok, jadi memang tidak ada jalurnya. Pantaslah kalau terbang ^^;. Setelah itu dibantu bangun oleh seorang bapak baik hati dan anaknya. Lalu mereka bilang, sebaiknya saya memilih jalur kiri, karena lebih mudah.

Masalahnya, papan ski saya mengarah ke kanan, dan benar-benar susah untuk mengarahkan ke kiri. Pilihannya antara diam di tempat, atau meluncur ke kanan. Yowes, pikir saya diteruskan saja. Siapa tahu bisa belok ke kiri. Lalu saya meluncur, dan lagi-lagi salah memilih jalur *karena memang belum lancar beloknya ;p*, kali ini jatuh menggelinding karena slope-nya benar-benar curam *curam untuk pemula yaa*.

Kali ini ga ada yang mbantuin, dan sudah mulai sepi jadi ga ada yang lewat, mungkin karena sudah mau tutup. Jadilah saya berjuang sendirian mengumpulkan papan dan tongkat ski yang berserakan, lalu… jalan kaki menyeberang pepohonan ke jalur kiri. I must say, jalan kaki dengan boots seberat 5 kg di tengah salju sambil menenteng papan ski yang ga kalah berat, jauh lebih menderita daripada jatuh karena meluncur.

Setelah menemukan tempat yang cukup datar, pasang papan ski lagi, lalu meluncur… syuuu, tanpa jatuh. Sampai bawah, saya cuma bisa terdiam terpaku. Kaki gemetaran, hihi.

Walaupun penuh perjuangan dan penderitaan… I survived this! mwahahahha…

*Lagi… lagi… akh, sayang musimnya hampir berakhir*

First of all, within 8 working days of entry into the Schengen area, we have to apply for that. Fortunately the International Relations Office from the university helped us fill the form. Then we had to bring all the required documents and the revenue stamp (marca da bollo) of € 14.62 to the post office. The post office then gave us the receipt and the appointment date and time to go to the Police Headquarter, where our fingerprints will be taken.

One month later…

I went to the the Police Headquarter, and it took 3 hours just to get my fingerprints taken.

…was my Facebook status at that time. I should’ve known that this was some sort of a clue, that my residence permit refuses to be given to me easily :p.

Another one month later…

Even though the officer said that it will be ready in the next two months, me and my friends monitored the progress of our residence permit through the website, almost every day. Because we’ve made plan to go to France on Christmas holiday, and going abroad without residence permit… is not recommended ^^; And.. it was finally ready!

At that time, because we’re there only to ritirare il permesso, we didn’t need to wait so long. After some times, both of my friends had secured their permesso, and when it was my turn…

The officer found my files (under the SC –senza cognome– category ;p), took out the permesso card, and put it into the machine where I had to scan my fingerprints (to match it with the stored data). I was thinking, “Ah, finally…” and prepared to receive my card happily. But then the officer started babbling in Italian…

“?????? ??? ? ? cinquanta sei ???  ??? ?? ??  nata ?????? ? ???”

Yap, that was my Italian comprehension at that time ^^; I managed to get those 2 keywords that I understand, but I didn’t get the relation between those and my permesso. Then he showed me the card, where my birth date was written as: 25-12-1956. Oh, I see.. damn..

After that, according to my emergency Italian translator in my brain, the officer made a joke about how he was surprised when he saw my birth year, then my face, which supposed to be around fifty years old. He showed me that the birth year on the files was still correctly written as 1986, so maybe they made mistake while printing the card. Truthfully, I was stuck between these two feelings: “Why? Of all cards, why mine?? “ and “Hahah, so funny ”.

I thought it will be ready soon after that, since the mistake only happened on the card. Besides, at that time the officer said something while making a hand gesture for 4, that I translated as 4 days later. Well, maybe my Italian was not as good as I thought it was, because…

One week later…

I went there confidently, without checking the website, and it was still not ready. The officer said that my card was still in Rome. It’s done, but it needs to be delivered to Bolzano by post, which maybe will take around 2 weeks. <– again, this is according to my ‘very beginner level’ Italian translator, so maybe it was just my imagination :p.

Two weeks after that…

When I checked the website again last Sunday,

It’s finally ready (again)!!

Today…

I knew it, when I picked my queue number, that I can finally get my residence permit today. It was lucky number 7 after all .

Please let me introduce myself… PARAMITA <SENZA COGNOME>! *well, last year it was PARAMITA, INC, I like that more, sounds like I own a company ;p*

It was so cold that day, and i had to walk to and from the train station early in the morning (I think 9~10 AM are still considered ‘early in the morning’.. on winter, rite? ;p). Brrr.. But, seeing this view, I guess it could make me a lil’ bit warmer inside (actually.. not, this is just for the sake of writing an interesting paragraph ;p).

Too bad that I couldn’t capture the falling leaves. I love it, so much! It feels like a shower of golden coins $_$. I have the same feeling as when I’m standing below a hot water shower, and feel reluctant to shut the valve off.

And I feel like… I’m walking on sunshine!

During this season, we can almost always find this fruit in the mensa (university canteen, where I eat most of the time ), which is…

Cachi! That’s the Italian name for persimmon. Actually I didn’t know the existence of this fruit before coming here, at first I thought they’re tomatoes. And when my friend said this fruit’s name, cachi [kaki], I was kinda surprised, because in Indonesian language it means feet . But it doesn’t mean that they taste like feet, no, they’re very good! Sweet, with jelly-ish texture. I love ‘em ^^

Anyway, I took those pictures more than two weeks ago. Now, the trees are starting to lose their color… and leaves. And the temperature starts to fall below zero, brrr… Soon, snow will give the city a new color (wait, white is a color rite?) ^^. But it’s okay… I can always find a place colorful enough to ‘rest my eyes’.

Actually I had this bad feeling this morning, since I woke up. The feeling of… “I don’t want to get out from this blanket! Should I skip the class?”. Errr, well, actually it happens almost every morning

Anyway, half an hour before the class start, I managed to force myself to go to the bathroom, and took a shower. Then it happened.. I don’t exactly know what happened, since I was still half awake, but signor shower became headless right after, uh oh! X(

So the plan was… plan A: skip the class, find a really powerful superglue, and fix it temporarily.. But, what if the glue can’t hold, then.. plan B: buy a new one and replace it myself, which I really doubt will be a successful case, so.. plan C: tell the guy in charge of the residence and hope they’ll fix it soon.

After some considerations *while preparing to go to class*, I chose the last resort. Before I stepped out from the residence, I told the guy in charge *he was in his office fortunately, he’s never there most of the time*, with a very sad sad face, that I accidentally broke the shower. And he replied, surprisingly with a happy face, “Okay, I’ll send a technician to your room! Don’t worry!”. I asked him whether I should pay to replace it, then he said, “We’ll see later, if it’s really bad then I will tell you”.

Thank God I chose that last plan, because.. first, I didn’t skip the class, only a couple of minutes late; second, after having lunch and came home… We’ve already had a brand new one that functions well! Hurray!! Fyuhh~

Until now I haven’t got any word from him that I have to pay. Hopefully I don’t have to. But I have a feeling that he made a note about that somewhere, and will deduct it from my deposit money ^^; We’ll see…

Fitur yang paling saya suka… temperature map! Cool! Entah kenapa saya lebih suka membaca suhu dari warnanya daripada membaca angka derajat, memang dasar berjiwa visual. Si temperature map ini diupdate setiap jam.

And here you go, the temperature map for this morning, 9 AM…

Brrrrrrr… That’s why I don’t want to get out from this warm blanket…

Although it’s double the distance of Nancy-Amsterdam (Nancy-Budapest ±1000 km), the fare is actually almost the same, even less: €75 round-trip. We departed from Nancy at 7 PM, had to change bus twice (in Strasbourg and Vienna), then.. 16 hours later we arrived at Budapest. Szia Budapest!

We spent 4 nights at 11th Hour Cinema Hostel for only €40 per person. It’s a very great hostel, only a few minutes walk from the city center. This is my first time staying in a hostel (in Europe) for less than €10 per night (€9 on weekday, €13 on weekend), wow, cheap!

The city is basically split into 2 main parts by the Danube River: Buda and Pest. We stayed in the Pest side, but not very far from the river, so we can easily crossed to Buda side through the renowned Chain Bridge or the Elizabeth Bridge.

Budapest is also very famous for its public baths, unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to try it. But it’s okay, because the city itself is very beautiful, especially the night view, and made our holiday perfect! So here you go, some captured moments in Budapest…

And as usual, some stories that filled our holiday…

Euro to Hungarian Forint

Sesampainya di stasiun, kami langsung mencari ATM untuk menarik uang dari tabungan kami dalam bentuk Hungarian Forint (HUF). Yup, walaupun ada beberapa tempat yang menerima mata uang Euro, terutama di daerah turistik, tapi tetap saja mata uang utama yang digunakan adalah Forint.

Saya menarik uang sebesar 25.000 HUF (± €90), dan karena ini paket jalan-jalan hemat, tentu saja uang sejumlah itu harus cukup untuk petualangan selama 5 hari di Budapest . Cukup siih, tapi.. ehem, di hari terakhir saya terpaksa menggunakan Euro cadangan yang dibawa ;p.

Budapesti Metró

Dari stasiun sampai hostel cukup jauh jadi kami harus naik metro. Kami membeli satu block of 10 ticket (untuk metro maupun bus) seharga 2800 HUF (single ticket: 320 HUF), untuk berdua. Karena sesungguhnya tempat-tempat wisata di Budapest bisa dicapai dengan jalan kaki, 5 tiket ini ternyata cukup untuk 5 hari *plus 1 tiket waktu mau naik bus karena kami kira tiket untuk bus berbeda ternyata sama saja, dan… ehem, 2 kali menjadi penumpang gelap bersama turis dari Filipina*.

Bentuk tiketnya hampir sama seperti tiket metro di Paris, kertas berukuran lebih kecil dari kartu nama. Bedanya di pengecekan tiket. Kalau di Paris cukup sekali memasukkan tiket ke mesin, di Budapest kita harus memvalidasi tiket di mesin (dilubangi supaya tidak bisa dipakai lagi) lalu menunjukkan tiket pada petugas-petugas berbadan besar yang menghadang di jalan menuju metro ^^;. Masih manual ternyata..

No Zebra Cross?

Di jalan-jalan besar, kami sempat bingung karena tidak menemukan zebra cross atau jembatan penyeberangan untuk menyeberang, termasuk di lampu merah perempatan. Kami sempat mengikuti jejak seorang wanita bule yang menyeberang seenaknya, tapi malah deg-degan panik karena mobil-mobil melaju kencang semua.

Akhirnya kami sadar, ternyata menyeberangnya melalui terowongan di bawah jalan, yang kami kira hanya berfungsi sebagai stasiun metro. Beberapa terowongan ternyata berfungsi sebagai tempat penyeberangan. Pantas mobilnya pada ga mau ngalah ;p.

Always Hungry in Hungary

Sebelum berangkat kami sempat survey makanan tradisional khas Budapest yang patut kami coba. Ada yang namanya.. Langos! Setelah bertanya pada mbak-mbak hostel, dan browsing di internet, kami bisa mencicipi langos, alias Hungarian pizza, di Nagyvasarcsarnok *nah loh, gimana tuh bacanya* alias Grand Market Hall. Ini dia penampakannya…

Maafkan gigitan itu, maklum, udah gemes mau nyicipin eh lupa belum difoto ;p. Selain langos, kami juga menemukan toko kue yang penampilan kue-kuenya menarik hati, dan perut juga. Kurtoskalacs namanya, alias chimney cake. Bagian luarnya dilapisi topping sebangsa: cokelat, gula, almond, dsb, sementara bagian tengahnya kosong.

Night View from Buda Castle

Suatu sore menjelang sunset kami memutuskan jalan-jalan ke Buda Castle yang letaknya di atas bukit. Bisa sih jalan kaki, tapi daripada capek kami naik funicular seharga 900 HUF untuk bolak-balik.

Setelah puas menikmati sunset, kami pun disuguhi pemandangan malam Budapest yang… wow! Yang bikin ngiri adalah, waktu saya menikmati pemandangan ini, di kiri kanan bertebaran pasangan-pasangan mesra yang juga mengagumi Budapest di malam hari. Mau jugaa, huks >_<

From all the beautiful views that Budapest has offered us, this one is my favorite. I think… I’ll be back for this! Hopefully… with someone special :”>

Moonlight Shadow

Baru-baru ini saya iseng menelusuri musik yang pernah singgah di kuping di masa SMP dan SMA, ada jaman di mana dance music by Groove Coverage sempat jadi favorit :”>. Waktu asik browsing lagu-lagunya di Youtube, tiba-tiba ada pemandangan familiar… mengingatkan pada Budapest! Jadi, sebagai pengingat seandainya lupa bagaimana suasana di kota itu, kalau lihat video klip ini pasti jadi ingat lagi ^^

Click here to view the embedded video.

——-

Waktunya pulang! Sama seperti ketika dalam perjalanan pulang dari Amsterdam, lagi-lagi kami mengalami sedikit masalah ^^; Waktu harus berganti bus di Strasbourg, bus yang seharusnya mengantar kami ke Nancy menolak mengantar kami. Supirnya keukeuh bahwa bus yang dia supiri tidak ada rencana mampir ke Nancy melainkan langsung ke Paris. Nah lho, terpaksa deh menunggu bus selanjutnya yang mau mengangkut kami kembali ke Nancy. Untungnya… tak berapa lama menunggu kami bisa pulang ke Nancy.

Oh ya, selama perjalanan pulang kami juga sempat disuguhi pemandangan menarik dari jendela. Pelangi di sebelah kiri, dan golden sunset di sebelah kanan, superb! ^^

]]> http://paramitopia.com/europe/2011/10/summer-holiday-szia-budapest/feed/ 4 http://paramitopia.com/europe/2011/10/spring-holiday-holland/ http://paramitopia.com/europe/2011/10/spring-holiday-holland/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:57:33 +0000 paramitopia http://paramitopia.com/europe/?p=2150 Read more »

We *four of us: me, Casey, Shashi, and Tzuyi* went to the Riquewihr and Kaysersberg, small towns (or villages?) in the Alsace region. It took only 2 hours driving from Nancy to Riquewihr, and around 15 minutes from Riquewihr to Kaysersberg.

The main tourist attraction is the town itself, because the houses there have a unique and colorful design. You’ll feel like you’re still in middle ages. And also, we went few days after Easter, so there were still Easter decorations all over the town, so cute…

Pictures? Here you go

Cute Shop Sign

When I looked around, these signs instantly grabbed my attention. I took so many pictures of ‘em. Here are a few..

Ah, I suddenly want to design this kind of sign for paramitopia’s home ;p

Vins d’Alsace

Yap, Alsace is one of the famous wine-producing region. We can see that the vineyard surrounds the town.

Akh, too bad that I can’t have a taste of their famous wine . But at least I bought this as a souvenir…

Huge Horses

I was a little shocked when a carriage and its horses were passing me by. They’re so huge! ^^ I’ve never seen this kind of breed of horse before, with big and hairy feet. They seems… old, like grandpas of horses . I was told that they are draft horses, a breed that can be usually found in the farm. I was like “Ooohh…”

A very fun day-trip indeed, thanks for the companion guys . Congratulations on your graduation, and hope to see you all again in next year’s LCT meeting… in Prague! *this photo below is the only photo of three of you that I took ^^;*