Prague

In November 2018, the ESN (Erasmus Student Network) took us to the beautiful capital cito of Česká Republika: Prague! Today, Murphy takes you to this incredible city where History, night life and typical food are best friends and amaze people from all around the world…

Day 1 ~ ‘History’ rhymes with ‘party’

The city

One of the most famous attractions of Prague is this huge square in the centre of the city. There, you can find a very famous clock…

 

 

Murphy enjoyed the fountain very much. He said the almost frozen water reminded him of his home… which is not so cold nowadays, but still, YES, Prague is cold.

 

This huge clock you can see on the last picture is highly impressive! Indeed, it is one of the most famous monuments/attractions in Prague. What’s so nice about it? The answer to that question is easy: it has been officially awarded the “MDAOP”. The Most Disappointing Attraction Of Prague. Actually, an incredible amount of tourists pile up under the clock every hour to see the city’s famous “clock show“. ***Spoiler***: it lasts about 10 seconds and consists of a little character going out of the clock, turning around and going back inside. I can still remember how shocked I was realizing that hundreds of people go there well in advance to get the best spot to watch the show, hold their cameras in the air for minutes when it’s about time so they don’t miss a second of it, then go away, completely jaded by the  banality of the show. You better come here in between, and admire the beauty of the place when it’s not overcrowded!

On your way to the castle

As Murphy and I take you to an amazing part of the city, let’s make a first stop around Vltava, the longest river in Czeh Republic, which is on our way between the centre and this retired place.

 

 

 

 

 

Murphy wanted to take a swim. I told him that would spoil my pictures.

 

Up the hill

Cross the Vltava, take a nice walk, climb a hill and here you are. First, enjoy the view…

That’s the perfect spot take a great bowl of fresh air and enjoy your lunch on a bench.

Did you know that, when the weather is nice and the sky is clear, you can see the Eiffel Tower from Prague?

St Norbert’s Abbey

All this climbing! After a little stop at St Norbert’s Abbey to get your energy back with a nice, non-filtered, local fresh beer, you are almost ready to finally reach the castle.

Fun fact: St Norbert was not a nice monk, he liked drinking a lot of beer and seeing women. One day, as he was riding his horse, he fell to the ground and hit it so hard he broke his neck. Surprisingly, he did not die! Seeing a sign from the Big Guy in what he called a holy miracle, St Norbert decided to be irreproachable from now on and became the best monk of all times. Later, the Abbey, willing to honour his  memory, started brewing its own beer and named it after him. (If you think that story is creepy, don’t stop reading this article…)

 

St Norbert’s Abbey

The castle

Here is the best part. No words are relevant here. If you’ve ever been to Strasbourg, you might have a feeling of déjà-vu…

 

Official militaries guarding a superb castle and making a whole touristic ceremony out of the changing of the guard? Any resemblance to existing persons or situations can only be fortuitous…

 

 

Waw. Almost as beautiful as the French ones  xP

Back to Vltava: fiat nox!

Now that you fell in love with that amazing hidden place, enjoy the evening lights while you walk back to the city centre…

 

 

Did I hear “night”?! I hope your feet aren’t too tired from our little walk Murphy, because I have something to show you!

Karlovy Lazne

Bless you. Ready to have the best night of your international student life? Enter Karlovy Lazne, the biggest night club of all Central Europe (yes, they are very proud of it).

The nightclub is composed of many rooms like this, distributed over five floors. Five huge floors of music. Each floor plays one specific type of music. When climbing the stairs from the lowest floor to the highest, you can hear sounds of Mainstream, Dance, Oldies, Hip Hop & R’N’B or Chill out music. The club is really impressive and the different styles of music ensure you to enjoy the whole night dancing to the music you love, and not to get tired of any kind of music at any moment.

Just like in the Netherlands, laws regarding soft drugs and prostitution are most permissive in Czeh Republic than in many countries in Europe, so the professional dancers are always staying in a closed space like the one you see here, to make clear they are only dancers.

 

Phew! I don’t know about you, Murphy, but I’m tired. Let’s sleep a tiny bit before we continue exploring the country, shall we?

Day 2 ~ Exploring the streets of Prague + a little bit of magic

 

 

The Archbishop’s Palace

 

 

Why wouldn’t you treat yourself a little bit?

 

You cannot leave Prague without visiting a museum, now can you? I think not. Let’s choose one randomly, shall we?

The Národní muzeum

 

 

 

 

Founded in 1818, the National Czeh Museum houses about 14 millions items from the areas of natural history, arts, music and librarianship.

 

Day 3 ~ A bony ending

Let’s end our nice trip with a quite uncommon church… because we love them, don’t we?

This church seems pretty simple compared to what we’ve seen before. But you know what, Murphy? With that one, what matters is what’s inside.

That’s what you can see at the entrance of the Church… Any idea of what you will find inside? No, you don’t. You really don’t.

Welcome to The Sedlec Ossuary, most famously known as the Bone Church (in Czech: Kostnice v Sedlci). Located in the super small town of Kutna Hora, this chapel has a little something which makes it special… but what is it? Shall we ask someone? Hi, sir?

Okay… these ones do not seem able to answer our question right now.

Well… let’s find out ourselves, then. Ready, murphy?

Apparently yes! Wait… what are you doing? What’s that thing behind you…?

Raise your head to find the answer…

This… unique chandelier contains at least once every single bone of the human body.

What the…? Where have you taken us, Murphy?!

 

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The church was constructed in the centre of a cemetery. At some point, inhabitants needed room for new corpses, so they put them all together inside the church. One day, a weird artist arrived and thought “Hmmmmm, what a great way to express myself!”. He was probably lacking material to exert his art, or… who knows? The point is, he decided to put order in the cluster of skeletons and created this creepy masterpiece.

The bone church contains the skeletons of approximately 60,000 people! More than 200,000 people visit it every year, making it one of the most famous attractions of the Czeh Republic. That’s the reason I wonder why Kutna Hora looks like a creepy, ghost town. I really don’t understand why people won’t live there, next to this splendid monument. Strange thing, don’t you think?

 

 

Thanks for reading

What a trip! See you soon for other adventures with your favourite little pengouin 🐱

Wait… where did Murphy go again?!

 

Den Haag ~ the City of Horses

Today, Murphy brings you to… *drums*

Tsss!

Den Haag, The Hague in English and La Haye in French, is the Netherlands’ administrative capital. Various important events take place there, and there are some beautiful things to see so, of course, Murphy couldn’t wait to show you. As usual, he got the last word and we jumped on the train with some friends. Wanna come with us? Let’s go!

I’ll never understand that. Us French would never have the idea to put trees or signs right in front of a beautiful historical building that people would enjoy to take its picture!

 

First… a funny statue

 

 

 

Well…

I have no comment about this.

 

Well… I have no comment to make about this. The only thing I can say is that I asked Murphy and he enjoyed it! For my part, I really think about converting him into a fashionable handbag. Thanks mom!

 

Horses

 

Oooh yes. We got off the train, walked through some beautiful squares, and stopped in front of De Mauritshuis, a famous art museum. If you wanna know more, you can visit the Mauritshuis website.

Indeed, Murphy is not really keen on visiting museums, so we were about to leave when… aaaaaaah!

 

No, sir, it wasn’t us, I swear! Oh? You’re here for a party? Ok, cool then…

 

 

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They were only practicing to celebrate the arrival of a friend of them. Friends’ visits are quite a big deal in the Netherlands, huh? Especially when he is the one visiting…

I know it doesn’t sound like he is, but Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands is the current King of… well… The Netherlands.

 

That’s why, on every sunday, hundreds of horses go for a little walk through the city to practice before the D-Day.

 

 

By the way, a little furher we met new friends!

They would definitely need the washing cars too.

I know. You’re in love.

 

Then we left, and went through that beautiful place.

 

 

There, the horses practiced for the ceremony in front of some curious spectators 🐱

The lion you can see everywhere is the coat of arms of Den Haag.

 

Visiting Den Haag: beautiful buildings

 

 

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A lake in the middle in the city! Sounds great to take a swim when the sun shines…

As every city in the Netherlands does, Den Haag has a very well-organized transports network. However, tramways seem kind of old!

 

I admit it has charm.

 

La playa

 

I’m an international, remember? And lots of people here are Spanish students. So you better get used to it! 😀

 

 

 

 

 

This is… a hotel! Pretty cool, isn’t it? Amazed by that huge building, it took a few minutes for me to realize that… ohmygad! We’d lost Murphy!!!

But no worries…

He had just gone to the beach right behind the hotel as soon as my back had turned. And there he was, playing on the beach, pretending to be a kite!

 

At the end of the day, Murphy got tired by an exhausting day of shopping. So he just laid down on the sand and took a little nap.

Penguins like him are not designed for carrying shopping bags after all.

 

End of the day

 

I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did! Den Haag is a beautiful city, it is very Dutch-like and full of contrasts.

Murphy kisses you on both cheeks. He says that next time, we’ll go flying if there is enough wind. But, Murphy, why are you saying that? You know well that the wings… the mills’ ones and the penguins’ ones are not useful anymore! 😉

See you!

 

 

P.-S.

As we told you before, Murphy and I didn’t enter the Mauritshuis but… we do have friends who are curious about art, so enjoy!

 

 

“The art in there was of the Dutch Golden age. There were many paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer, who were very popular for the time. I remember seeing a sign that the building was originally owned by a prince […]. It really does feel like you are walking through an important person’s house! The space is unusual for an art gallery but it really fits the theme.” – Andrew

 

Thanks to Sam for the help in English, to Andrew for the story about the Mauritshuis, to Chen for the pictures and, finally, thanks to Loïs for her work on that beautiful penguin!

Preparing your trip: housing

One of the most important things when you plan to study abroad is to find an accommodation. Depending on your destination, it might be quite difficult. Here are some tips to help you finding an accommodation in the Netherlands…

 

 

 

Netherlands map: Utrecht localisation

Netherlands map: Utrecht localisation Utrecht city

 

Be prepared

As you might know, housing in the Netherlands is very expensive. Furthermore, it can be extremely time-consuming to find something that suits you. My first advice is: don’t wait until June.  Everyone who knows how difficult it is to find a room in Utrecht will tell you that. Even if you plan to wait and see if you get a reserved accommodation, even if you think starting your research four months in advance is more than enough, just don’t. Beginning to search well in advance (from April-May) will allow you to save time when the housing race begins.

Because, as regrettable as it can be, it really is a race.

 

Things to know!

• Most of the time, accommodations have shared facilities. You can search for a room/apartment with your own shower, kitchen, toilet… however this is very expensive.
• Most of the rooms are unfurnished in the Netherlands. As bathroom and kitchen are usually shared, you just need a bed and a desk to furnish your room yourself. (but also cutlery, sheets,…)
• Public transports are very developed in the Netherlands. Consider renting a room outside Utrecht, and check the bus and the train stations before making your choice.
• Send many requests. Some landlords won’t even reply to you. Don’t stop searching!
• Many landlords will want to meet you. As it is not always possible to get there to meet someone, you can propose a Skype call. Some landlords organize kind of webinars with other candidates, at the end of which they choose the one that suits them the best. It can be quite stressful. Be prepared!

Utrecht University

Attention

• Most of the websites (see below) ask you to pay to see offers or to contact the owners of the rooms. Don’t precipitate. Choose carefully. Before registering your credit card on the website, make sure that you are interested in several rooms.
• Remember to check the availability of the room you’re interested in. You’ll find plenty of greaaat rooms that seem cheap… rentable from June to August. True story: I spent a WHOLE AFTERNOON selecting rooms, then I realized the filter “September to June” didn’t work…
• When you take a look at the rent, make sure you know if it is inclusive (includes taxes, charges, water, electricity, internet,…) or exclusive. Sometimes it will be specified next to the price: “excl.”, “incl.”.

• You should keep your passport, Identity card and bank card next to your laptop. Even though it is very important to be ready in case you’d need to respond as quickly as possible to an offer, be very careful with the last one!

 

     Enemies of the Scam, Beware

And so you’re there, pulling out your hair, thinking about calling your best friend to borrow his tent for a year, when suddenly…

Waw! A wonderful room for two people, 300€ each per month! Then… you realize this looks like a hotel room. Then, the price seems very low… finally the owner explains he currently lives abroad.

This is what happened to me when I started looking for a room with an other girl. She found that offer and sent it to me. Every time she asked the owner to send photos, informations etc he responded that he couldn’t help us since he was actually living in the UK for professional reasons. However, he could send us his bank account details! Of course…

This kind of scam is not rare. Now you are warned. If someone asks you to pay in advance but is not able to send you the coordinates of a previous tenant, recent photos of the room or a proof of his honesty… be very careful. An identity card cannot guarantee his good faith. In the other hand, even a perfectly honest landlord will ask you to pay in advance at least for the deposit…

When I found my room I had doubts, so I called a shop next to the building where the room was supposed to be. They confirmed it was real. Then I called the “owner’s” bank but of course they couldn’t provide me such personal informations. Finally the University told me they knew the owner, and I could talk to the previous tenant thanks to Facebook (the owner gave me his name and e-mail but the student didn’t write me back… that made me worried). As I also found his profile on the website erasmusu.com I am now reassured.

Now you know how to deal with suspicious offers! Take extra care when visiting “Air bnb” website (there are lots of fake websites of that kind).

As I have read many times: when an offer seems too good to be true, it often is…

Housing websites

You can start your research as soon as you know you’re going. Here are some websites that could help you to find a room, studio or apartment, alone or with a roommate. You can visit some of them in English (click the UK flag, usually on the right-top of the webpage) but some of them will be written in Dutch only! This is difficult when you begin to search (Google Translate and Reverso are your best friends), but you’ll increase your chances of finding something if you do not exclude any website during your research.

Make a first selection asap then check your mailbox!

• SSH (Utrecht University) or any other website that provides you reserved accommodations with your University.
• Nl-housing.com. This website provides furnished rooms in Utrecht. That’s where I found my accommodation. Some rooms are quite expensive, others are cheaper. Warning: with nl-housing.com, you can rent rooms for 1 to 5 years. You can’t rent a room for less than 12 months. There are a few buildings with a few rooms each, and you can choose the one(s) that suit(s) you the best. To reserve a room, you have to send a message using directly the website, in which you explain which room(s) you’re interested in.
• Kamernet.nl: this website proposes you plenty of offers in the Netherlands. Rooms, apartments, shared studios… but you need a premium account to contact the owners. During your research, you’ll quickly understand that a lot of websites are linked to kamernet.nl. That means every time you’ll try to read more informations about a room, those websites will redirect you to kamernet. I didn’t need to take a premium account but kamernet is the website where I found the highest number of offers.
• Pararius.com can help you to find an accommodation in the Netherlands.
• Kamersocial and Rooms.expatrentals works with kamernet.nl.
• Justhousing.com
• Kamerjungle.nl
• Utrechthousing.com looks a bit like nl-housing
• Utrechtliving.com
• Erasmusu.com (we’ll talk about this one later)
• Rooming.nl
• Nestpick.com (furnished rooms, apartments, studios)

 

The rent

In the Netherlands, rooms, studios & apartments are expensive. To be sure of your organization, plan a 700€ budget per month for housing. Relax, if you follow to the letter these perfect advises I give you (yeah, I know how amazing I am :D), you shouldn’t have to pay that much for a room (even though it is possible).

Expect 300 to 600€ for a room in Utrecht (6 to 17m^2 average), and more for a studio/apartment with your own bathroom and kitchen (600 to 900€ and more). If you choose something farther from the city center, the rent will be lower. You can for example look for a room in Hilversum, Zeist, Nieuwegein, Woerden… keep in mind that Utrecht has great public transport (train, tramway, bus) and that in the Netherlands, your bike is your best friend.

 

Really. Your bike is your BFF.

Finally

The best thing that can happen to you is getting a reserved accommodation, but this is difficult. Whether you are going to study in Utrecht or elsewhere in the Netherlands, this blog might help you organizing your trip.

This is the website of the Utrecht University. I know it very well because this is where I am going to study (understand: “I know this infuriating website by heart because I spent days and days on it trying to choose my courses and to plan my exchange”).

Here is THE website that will help you (after mine, of course :D) with practical details for your exchange in Utrecht. Click here if you are an International student. Enjoy!

More informations about housing? The Utrecht University? Finding accommodation on your own? Living costs in Utrecht? Utrecht and the Netherlands? Just click.

And don’t forget: keep searching. Some house owners or websites will call you back days or weeks after you submitted your candidature. I still received offers in my mailbox in August. So don’t stop searching, but remember there’s always hope!

 

 

 

 

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Special Student Recipes

When you are a student, you wish you could cook but you lack certain things. For example…

• Time
• Money
• Will
• Courage (to wash the dishes)
• Cooking appliances
• Talent.

Right now you may look a little bit like this…

You know what? You’re lucky! Once again, Murphy and I have the solution for you! Here are a few recipe we love. Indeed, they are extremely easy and quick to prepare, cheap, you only need a few ingredients to make them and they use a very little amount of dishes. You don’t need an oven to make them (most of the time). Of course they also are delicious, otherwise what would be the point, right?

Ready? Put your kitchen gloves (or your rag) on!

 

Sardine Rillettes with Curry

Let’s start with a little starter. It can seem strange at first, but trust me, I tried and I didn’t regret it.

Our favorite thing about this: it only soils a fork… the one you’re gonna eat with!

You are gonna need…

• One can of sardine in oil
  
• Two portions of fresh cheese (about 40g of that kind of cheese:)
• 1 teaspoon of curry
• Bread (ideally ½ Baguette, or else rusks or other crackers)
• 1 fork

Let’s cook!

1. Get rid of half of the oil that is in the box
2. (Remove the backbone if you too can’t stand these)
3. Crush the sardines with the cheese and the curry
4. EAT.

Convinced? Easy, few ingredients & dishes, quick. I was not lying! Let’s see what’s next…

 

Eggplant, goat cheese & bacon

Another starter (that can also be a meal), or how to make you eat vegetables. Enjoy!

 

 

 

As good as toasts…

… than as a meal!

 As good as toasts… than as a meal

You are gonna need…

• One eggplant
• Goat cheese (if you don’t like it, you can use grated cheese instead)
• Bacon pieces
• A tablespoon
• A knife
• A microwave heatable container

Let’s cook!

1. Cut the eggplant in two
2. Cook it in the microwave (maximum power) during 6 minutes in a microwave heatable container with a little bit of water
3. (Meanwhile, slightly cook the bacon pieces in a pan)
4. Remove the inside of the eggplant and replace it with slices of goat cheese and bacon pieces
5. Cook it again in the microwave for about 4 minutes
6. EAT.

You can also make toasts for the aperitif! It’s very good and original when you organize a party with friends. You can also add soja sauce to the recipe.

 

Potato delight

Once you worked up an appetite with the starters, let’s get down to buisness! I added my favourite version of this recipe (the one in the picture) in bewteen (/ ). Chop chop!

Timeless, cheap and delicious, potato is undeniably every student’s favourite.

You are gonna need…

• One big potato
• Smoked salmon (/ bacon pieces)
• Greek yoghourt (/ clotted cream)
• 4 mint leaves (/ optional: a little bit of grated cheese)
• A bowl
• A knife
• A tablespoon
• Stretch film

Let’s cook!

1. Wash the potato and put it in a bowl which you cover with stretch film
2. Cook it in the oven during (10 minutes, 800 W, keep the skin!)
3. Mix the mint (cut with scissors) with the yoghourt and the salmon (/ cook the bacon pieces in the pan, not too much)
4. Split the potato in half, remove a big tablespoon of potato from each half (delicious as mashed potatoes with the possible remainder of ingredients)
5. Put the preparation inside the potato
6. EAT.

 

Banana x Caramel

And now, the one you’ve been waiting for… here comes the deseeeeeeert! That one doesn’t look like anything to be honest, so I just picked a nice picture of the ingredients. I made this recipe myself when I was bored in my flat, I wanted to bake something but I had no ingredients at all!  😀

You are gonna need…

• Two bananas
• Sugar (see below)
• A tiny bit of water
• A casserole
• A wooden spatuel
• A bowl
• A fork

Let’s cook!

• Make some caramel. If you’ve never done this, here are some tips to make it perfectly:

   

   

   

  (It can look a bit strange when it begins to cook but don’t worry, don’t stir and follow the instructions =^.^=)

• Mash the bananas. You can keep a quarter of one of the bananas and cut it into tiny little pieces to add a little more texture to the desert
• Mix the caramel and the puree together
• EAT.

Here you are! This desert is not very conventional but it is so good.

 

We hope you enjoyed these recipes and that you will try them and tell us what you think about it! They really help to try new things when you don’t wanna spend too much time cooking and washing dishes.

 

Hope now you look a little more like this!

 

~Enjoy your (delicious) meal and see you soon!~

 

 

Thanks to Emmeline for the “Eggplant, goat cheese & bacon” recipe!

Sunny afternoon around home

Back on a beautiful Friday with an ideal weather to cycle a little bit around the neighbourhood… ~

~ One side of the bridge located just next to my room. In the background you can see the Dom Tower (in the Dom Square, also called the Domplein), a famous gothic tour. Its 112 metres high make it the highest church tower in the Netherlands ~

~ The other side of the bridge ~

~ One one the famous Dutch mills ~

~ The large cycle paths. Those red streets are the veins of Utrecht ~

~ A normal house façade in Utrecht ~

~ Murphy’s taking a little nap after a hard afternoon traveling ~

 

Game time!

The mill you can see twice in this article is still in use.  In your opinion, what is it used for? Try to guess (comment)! Creative answers are welcome 🙂

Bikes

Surprise !

So I was in the car with my parents, excited to discover Utrecht city. We came out of the highway then… d*mn! SO-many-bikes.

Of course we knew there were tons of bikes in the Netherlands. Of course we knew Utrecht was full of cyclists. But we were not prepared for this. As a French driver, my father was not used to this cycling crowd and he was trying not to kill someone and not to lose himself in the city at the same time. A good start!

Driving in the city, we came across a bicycle park.

This is not an exaggeration, nor an exceptional situation. People here are crazy. Crazy for bikes! They have a system that permits to dispose bikes on top of each other easily. If you don’t pay attention when you park your bike in an empty bicycle parking, you may have big problems to get it back if it gets lost in a forest of machines…

Bikes for everyone

Here you eat bikes at breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is the classic bike, the dog bike, the shopping bike, the let’s-be-as-many-as-we-can bike, the one-wheel bike, the rusty bike, the stolen bike and, my favourite, the Noah’s ark bike.

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Ah, there’s one more:

The texting bike, for our great danger!

The Holy Cycling Path

In the Netherlands, bike paths are everywhere. Check out these great advises given by a master of cycling!

Okay. Now we are ready. The bike is ready. The body is ready. The last thing you have to care about is that you do not end up against the direction on the pedestrians path, in front of an enormous truck with nowhere to hide.

You can laugh. But first take a look at this.

“It’s not red. It’s not orange. It’s somewhere in between.” You understand better now?

Now tell me: where are you supposed to cross the road? You can’t cycle on the zebra crossing. You’re not supposed to cycle on the road either. You found it? Between the dotted lines. Good boy.

Sooo you are supposed to cycle on the right side of… well, it depends on what kind of bicycle path you are.

Ride on the right side of the path. You can be on any side of the road a s long as you stay in the right direction.

Ride on the center if the path. You need to be on the right side of the road.

• Left: ride on the right side of the path. You can be on any side of the road, as long as you stay in the right direction.
• Right: ride in the center of the path. You need to stay on the right side of the road.

“If the picture of the bicycle is upside down… then you are on the wrong side of the road!”

Of course that seems super easy. But when you’re don’t know where you’re going, when you turned around three times and a half, it can happen that you end up completely lost, realizing that everybody is doing the opposite of what you’re doing, caught between cars and a work fence.

Yup I know, it looks like I exactly know what I’m writing about… that’s because this situation was mine this morning. And you can believe me, that wasn’t funny! The only advice I can give you is to leave well in advance, because this will certainly happen to you at least once if you’re not used to this transport mode.

Signs

As cars and pedestrians do, you have your own traffic lights. You can follow the rules… or not, as always.

That yellow thing has a button on it.

That yellow thing has a button on it.

If you’re in a hurry, you can press a button (on the yellow box) which will help you being respected. I don’t really know what’s the point of doing that, since I noticed those ugly little scars on the ground…

Can you see them, before the white painting?

I definitely think there is a weight detector system underneath. Then why is there a button? That’s a mystery.

Where’s my bike?!

So there you are, at the end of an exhausting day of hard shopping, or totally wasted at the exit of your new favourite club, ready to go home to sleep for a little eternity. The only problem is… you’re pretty sure you came on your bike. The bike that isn’t there anymore. Did you take hallucinogenics? Where is your anti-theft chain again? In your bag. Urgh.

Do you see what happens when you don’t listen to Coco’s advises first? Let me help you.

That way, no piece of your bike can be stolen. Everything is connected to the fixed object. Well, if you’re very unlucky you’ll end up with Crazy Dave, then there’s nothing you can do.

Then you have different kinds of locks.

People here mostly use things like that:

I am using those:

But I think theirs are better because you can’t break them with a big clamp. Furthermore theirs are longer and easier to twist when you’re desperately trying to lock your bike correctly.

Now, if you’re too lazy to take the time to lock your bike, here’s a solution for you.

The minibike! No need to park it, you can simply take it with you everywhere you go. Make sure you keep a pocket empty when you go cycling!

Thanks to Loïs for this beautiful png ~

Thanks to Sam for helping me with English expressions ~