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skin by: Jane
Thursday, May 24, 2007 @ 11:18 PM
Back from Europe!
It's been a great 3 weeks! Been back for 4 days now and I'm pretty much rested (but not ready to work yet haha)! There's a ton of pictures to post (like about 5GB worth or something) and of cos I ain't gonna do that! Posted some pictures on Picasa to share so hopefully I'll get everything up soon!
Just a short summary of some of the places I've set foot on:
Paris
Reached London on 30 Apr, met up with Ying (the girl's there to lend me some warm clothing heh) for an hour or so before departing for Paris on the Eurostar (supposedly a luxurious highspeed train).
Stayed in Paris for 2 days. Visited famous places of interest such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum and the Sacre Coeur Basilica (a cathedral). Don't think I need to go into details about these places!
Had some small adventures there as well on the 2nd night. After visiting the Eiffel, we wanted to camp but left our tent at the bag deposit in the previous hotel which was quite far (and we had already taken the last train for the day). So we decided to head straight for the campsite hoping to be able to stay in a mobile home for the night. Took a SGD28 cab ride to the campsite from the train station (a 10min cab ride). But alas! There were no more mobile homes available so the guy at the campsite suggested we go find a budget hotel nearby. We walked and walked and finally found a nice hotel to stay in at close to 2am. Phew! [Warning: Don't ever take a cab in Paris (dunno 'bout other parts of France) unless necessary, the meter is mad! No kidding, it jumps every 3-5 secs!]
Link for Paris photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brenda.lee84/Paris?authkey=vdhPPKiC6Q0
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Barcelona
Headed to Spain (Barcelona) after which. Saw the Sangria Familia (Gaudi's cathedral). It was cold up there! There was really nothing to see inside though and it was dusty due to the construction going on. But I must say the exterior of the cathedral is enough to wow most people. It's really a piece of art. Simply amazing.
Love the bustling, colorful and lively Las Ramblas market. Lotsa extremely talented buskers and street performers that really made Barcelona's ambience feel very cultural and historical. Lotsa talented artists as well.
We went to the Picasso museum too. Had to queue for some time even before it was open. Felt good to be seeing some original works since I studied some of his works in Sec school. Then again, most of the pieces I studied weren't on display there. -_-
Then there was the 1992 Olympic stadium. Actually to me, it's just another stadium, but it's not surprising that the value increased since it was used for the Olympics before haha.
We also went to Carrefour to shop for groceries. Food in Europe is just exorbitant when you convert it back to SGD (no choice, gotta multiply the prices by 2 for everything haha). We always try to find supermarkets when possible to stock up on drinks, snacks and breakfast. Ya wouldn't wanna pay like SGD4 - 6 for a bottle of Coke, would ya?
Thanks to Ying for some great food recommendations! Love eating mixed paella (rice) and tapas (xiao3 chi1).
Basically, Barcelona is my favourite city of the trip! I love Barcelona!
Link for Barcelona photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brenda.lee84/Barcelona?authkey=N8oD0MGDf9k
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Nice & Monaco
After Barcelona, it was back to France again! This time, we went to Nice (pronounced as 'niece') and Monaco. Honestly, I keep getting Nice and Florence (in Italy) mixed up. We spent just one day in Nice and almost another in Monaco and the nearby villages. Reached pretty late at night so walked around the streets and saw some spray paint artists selling their work to tourists. The way they spray painted was rather creative, I must say.
We walked all the way to a pebbled beach and strolled along to enjoy the breeze. There were some casinos and grand looking hotels overlooking the sea. The next day, we walked to the French Riviera again to take pictures. It's almost summer so there were lotsa sun bathers on the beach (nude ones too). We could finally see that the sea was really blue, unlike ECP. Then there was also a flea market and all sorts of things were on sale. Think those stall holders really dug deep into their house to dig out all sorts of crap to sell.
Monaco is half an hr away from Nice. The view from the top was pretty cool. Could see all the different levels of housing on the hill (the whole hill was covered with civilisation) and the yachts at the bottom. Heard that Monaco is frequented by the rich and the famous. Didn't get to see any celebs though. Saw a Ferrari workshop too. Later, we found out there was gonna be a Grand Prix held there in May.
On our way back to Nice, we stopped by this stop where no one really alighted or boarded cos we heard from the guy who owned the hostel say that it was worth stopping by some of the 'villages'. It was no village ok! There were so many huge villas. Now these are definitely for the rich and famous. We walked along the sea (the whole train ride was along the sea you see) and I really felt like I was in paradise. Can't really put to words the scenery and feelings felt while I was there. You really gotta be there to experience it. Then we walked into the 'neighbourhood' and a Rolls Royce convertible drove past. Cool!
FYI, the train workers were on strike that day so trains were not so frequent from Nice to Monaco and vice versa. Quite funny.
Link for Nice and Monaco photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brenda.lee84/NiceMonaco?authkey=VNVcd0tS8F8
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K shall stop here for now. There's so much more (Italy, Switzerland and UK) it's gonna take prob 2-3 more entries or mebbe more. Enjoy these photos in the meanwhile!
I hope the next 2 months will fly past just like these 3 weeks did! Can't wait for him to be back by my side.
Missing you lots dear.
P/S: Remember to buy lotsa nice stuffs back for me from the US. Hehe.