Last day of 2006.. what a turmultous year this has been.. from Block Head woes to my 1st Biathlon to the drowning of my laptop to Chingay to Maple Craze to Daily Express to Stepping Down to SEP. Can't say this is the most smooth sailing year of my life but it is definitely the most eventful. SEP alone stretched my horizons so much that I can't describe how wonderful this experience is.
Well, in France now.. transferring photos into my iPod and kopping Chye's Prison Break haha. Morning flight to London later in the morning and then it should be countdown by the London Eye with spectacular fireworks! This Europe trip has been wonderful.. though the overdose of Museums and Churches are starting to put me off. Don't think I'll be blogging about the trip as coming 2007 I'll be intensively mugging for the exams. Prob only after returning back to Singapore ba. But photos will be uploaded soon though =)
22 more days to returning to Singapore.
Happy New Year everyone!
Signed off at 8:09 am
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Paris
Thursday, December 28, 2006
All the trains to Paris were full! Serious.. We couldn't get a ticket in Rome.. we couldn't get a ticket in Nice.. so we had to take from Nice to Marseilles then to Lyon then a first class ticket to Paris. Expensive sia! Oh well.. as long as we get to Paris. Makes up for the accommodation by bunking in with Chye (who ironically isn't around.. haha)
28th Dec - Paris Disneyland
The happiest place on Earth! Oh well.. not comparable to the one in the US.. but the visit to Paris Disneyland was much needed break from all the museums and churches and the artyfarty stuff that we were exposed to the past 2 weeks. Though it was foggy and extremely cold and the rides were disappointingly unexciting.. the feeling of being a kid again shopping around Mickeys and Donalds was stress-releasing. =)
29th Dec - Eiffel, Arc de Truimph, Louvre Our spate of good weather seemed to have ended in Paris.. Predicted fogs over Paris meant that we would have made a wasted trip up the Eiffel Tower.. hence we decided to take a chance to ascend the Eiffel on the 3rd day instead (when it was predicted to rain).. No Eiffel = more sleep.. coz if we wanted to scale the tower we would have to go early to beat the crowds
Oh but it turned out to be sunny! Ok not exactly blazing sun sunny but at least there was sun amongst the fog. Yeap so a minute change of plans and we headed for the Eiffel Tower instead.
Whoa the queue was terrible! There were 4 queues into the 4 entrances into the tower and they were all snaking around the underneath of the tower making some sort of a swirly pattern if seen from the top. We queued for like 2.5 bloody hours before we managed to scale to the 1st level by lift)
What's fascinating about the Eiffel was its construction.. but I wasn't able to understand/appreciate it haha.. just know that scaling Eiffel was one of the must-dos in Paris itself.. The view on top, just like the view from any high point, was great.. though it could have been much better if the weather had been good.
Sent postcards from the Eiffel. And we went down without continuing up to the 3rd and highest level coz the queue at the 2nd level was simply too long. Regret.
Well, we continued on to other sights like Arc de Truimph.. where I broke contact with the rest of them (again) while trying to snap a shot in the middle of the photo. Haha.. wasted a few SMSes trying to locate them until we decided to meet at Notra Dame.. which we did.
One of the great things about being a student in Europe is that students get to enjoy extraordinary perks.. like free entry into the Lourve on Friday nights! The queue into the home of Mona Lisa was long but fast moving.. and we entered in no time.
I must admit I wouldn't have enjoyed the Lourve at all if not for the existence of the Da Vinci Code audio guide.. which Weijie and I shared. Interesting walk through of the Lourve explaining some artwork related to the story.. some with Mary Magdalene inside.. the scenes in the movie.. Mona Lisa (which is surprisingly small) itself and of course.. the "blade and the chalice" as described in the book.
Mona Lisa was really a hoo-ha. It was small! Probably about like A2 size? But it was well protected by THREE security guards and a bullet-proof glass! It was exactly like what you will see in posters and postcards.. except that the very fact that I am looking at the real thing itself.
30th Dec - Paris Opera House, Notre Dame, Sacre Cour, Moulin Rogue Paris just had too many things to see.. Fangxi wanted to visit Chopin's grave, Summer wanted to see the Catacombs while I, still being the crazy Phantom fan like I was 12 years ago, would want to visit the home of the Phantom of the Opera - the Garnier Opera House. So how? Split up lor.
Went to the Opera House just in time for the guided tour. Initially I thought the guided tour will include lotsa stuff about the Phantom.. or even visit the legendary river below the Opera house.. but no.. it was all about the guy who constructed the Opera house.. how he was 'accidentelly' chosen to build the Opera house for the Emperor.. how he created the 'new' Napoleon style.. how the Opera house was actually never completed after the emperor was captured by the Germans during the war, how the Opera-watching culture was like in those days.... Though the only mention about the Phantom was the visit to Box No. 5 which is, according to the story, only reserved for the Phantom, the excellent guided tour was surprisingly good enough to ward off the initial disappointment.
Met up at Notre Dame again.. Summer and Caiping didn't though. So the 3 of us continued into the home of the hunchback.. Rented the audio guide.. same old information about churches.. blah blah blah..
Then we went on to Sacre Cour and Moulin Rouge.. our last 2 stops in Paris...
Hence ended our visit to Paris. I must say Paris is one of the places I'll definitely visit again.. in Summer.. coz I'm sure I didn't get to see Paris at its best. After all, it's the most romantic place in the world.. =)
To thank Chye for bunking us in.. here's a little video that we made for him haha.
Signed off at 11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Rome
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Rome probably is the city with the most to offer.. Though it's still a lot on Christianity.. I kinda liked the ancient Roman parts of the city best.. after all.. it's like what you always hear in stories and watch in movies.. and now I'm there to experience it all.. =)
Christmas Eve Our first day in Rome was Christmas eve. Checked in to this hostel full of Americans. In fact I would think that most travellers into Rome are Americans coz there are full of them on the streets (recognisable by accent)
With Lonely planet on hand, we visited the typical famous Roman sights like the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon.. and of course, Weijie didn't miss the chance of making his Travel Video..
Trevi Fountain
Piazze Colonna
Pantheon
Why Christmas Eve in Rome? Coz the Pope would be giving his Midnight Mass.. thought that this would be the real way to celebrate Christmas at the heart of Christianity itself.. Whoa should see the queue at the St Peters Basilica where the Mass would be held man.. it was already like more than 200m long worth of people at around 6pm! There were big screens at the square outside the church so we didn't pay the 100euros to get in.
We went for dinner first. Found this nice little steak house at the corner of the road near the Vatican City serving affordable cheap steak.. a nice way to celebrate Christmas. But we didn't eat the steak haha.. had pasta.. with red wine.. while we waited for midnight to come.
By 10pm when we got back the queue had almost encircled the square 2 times! Crazy! But the square was still relatively empty though. Went around our usual routine of taking photos while waiting for the Mass to start. Cold sia! Wasn't as freezing cold as Switzerland but standing around in open space doing nothing was chill-inducing. The girls paid frequent trips to the toilet just to use the heater! hahaha..
Surprisingly we met fellow Singaporeans in a foreign land.. Gabriel my OCS buddy and Clement from KR! They flew all the way from UPenn (where Weijie is now).. so coincidental!
So talk cock all the way until midnight where the Mass actually started.. oh but it was in Latin (or wadever language it was).. and about 15 mins after it started it was so unbearably cold and tiring that we left.
So much for Christmas eve at the Vatican City. Haha. Heard that the previous Pope organised live concerts before the event to celebrate Christmas. This new Pope, however, well.. more religious ba... I guess I very much prefer the commercial Christmas rather than the religious one.
Looking forward to Christmas celebrations in US or in Finland.... I wonder how many years from now....
Christmas Day Woke up late today.. Met this Hongkong girl while cooking breakfast in the hostel and she suggested tagging along to see the city.. Strange request.. but ok lor... since we fellow Asians and she was alone...
And at the reception while waiting for the Hongkong lass to 'take money to pay for her stay' I met this American dude called Chris who happened to tell us about the Pope giving his Christmas speech at the very same place at Noon. Ha looks like we have somewhere to go now.. though it was the same place haha.
15 more mins to noon so we went to the Vatican City again.. Roman style.. by squeezing in the crowded Roman bus there. The girls probably didn't find it too amusing but I thought it was quite an experience!
The square outside St Peters was much more crowded compared to the night before.. and the Pope was standing on the small balcony giving christmas wishes in every language possible! Serious! Even in Japanese (クリスマスをおめでとございます) and Chinese (圣诞节快乐)! And of course it wasn't hard to tell where the different groups of people were from based on the cheers everytime he spoke in a different language.. i.e. the Spanish would cheer if he spoke in Spanish and the French would acknowledge when he spoke in French.. We were joking that he left out Singlish.. which would probably be "Ok la ah.. Merry Christmas ah!" Haha
So after the hooha we went into the St Peters Basilica to take a look.. after all.. it was build at the very site where St Peter was buried.. and the 2nd largest church in the world. As usual I couldn't really appreciate it that much coz I'm not Christian.. but still a nice place to visit...
Then the 6 of us (Chris included) headed on to the Colosseum to take a look. Passed by the Roman ruins, which, under the setting sun, looked magnificent. Too bad the Colosseum was closed on Christmas day.. kinda disappointed the we didn't get to go in...
Here are the photos on the 2nd and 3rd day in Rome...
Boxing Day While the rest of UK are scurrying around with Boxing Day sales.. we were taking our loong looooong queue outisde the Vatican Museum waiting to go in. Yes.. the queue was so damn long.. about 500m like that.. but luckily it moved quite fast.. so we went in about half an hour later of queuing.
The museum was huge! And we could spend our whole day there... could la.. but I couldn't haha.. by about 2pm I finished walking the entire place already.. coz nothing really interested me.. not the arty farty stuff.. not the Christian stuff.. probably only the Sistine Chapel where many of Michaelangelo's frescos that we always see on Postcards covered the walls was interesting...
We were supposed to meet at the exit of Vatican Museum at 4.45pm when the museum closes.. that's 2 hours more! So I headed off alone to the Colosseum again hoping that it would be open!
And it was! I paid 20euros I think for this guided tour that would allow me to skip the horrandous queue into the Colosseum and have 2 guided tours into the Colosseum and the Palentine Hills as well. Quite worth it la I think.
The Colosseum was much smaller that what I expected.. not like what you see in the Gladiator. Though it's very much in ruins now but still can see the internal structures.. where the animals and prisoners and fighters were kept.. where people sat around to watch others fight.. interesting.
If you noticed the photos above.. the photos in the Colosseum were much lower quality than the ones outside. Yah.. coz I was using my camera phone to take the photos. That's the bad thing about sharing camera.. aiyah who ask my camera to spoil.
Next stop was the Palentine Hills.. also a guided tour. Very very nice view what used to be a little garden of the Roman Emperor. What's left are ruins of the structures there.. but the guide was good.. explaining what they were and the little stories about what happened here blah blah blah..
And ending off with a spectacular view of Rome from the hills, again against the setting sun, was a sight that I will never forget =)
Met up with the rest back at the hostel.. cooked dinner.. talked to an ABC from Canada.. funny guy.. then we went off to catch our train to Nice.....
Signed off at 11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Pisa
Saturday, December 23, 2006
It was FANTASTIC weather with clear sunny skies! So from Florence we took a day trip to Pisa to.. guess what? Take corny photos with the infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa la!
There were signs all over the place prohibiting people from entering the grass patch but when we arrived the grass patch was full of people taking photos! So we joined in the illegal activity as well! Haha.. luckily the police only came to chase us away after we took all the photos we wanted =)
And weijie started on his series of travel videos hoho..
Signed off at 11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Florence
Friday, December 22, 2006
The overnight in the train wasn't too bad. At least there was breakfast given to us before we alighted at Florence itself.
Didn't take long for us to locate our hostel.. only to find out that the hostel doors were locked! Despite waiting for more than half an hour outside the hostel knocking on the doors, blasting the doorbell and ringing the reception, no one attended to us.
A neighbouring hotel receptionist told us that the hostel owner is probably sleeping. This has happened to other travellers before us.
Whoa.. ok lor.. finding no other way but to wander around as much of Florence as we can with our heavy backpacks until later in the morning when we hope the hostel will be open.. we did just that. Luckily it took us only a few steps away from the hostel when Weijie called the hostel receptionist again thank heavens, someone picked up the phone.
It was a one-woman-show hostel. Yup. She did everything there was to be done in this small hostel.. from settling our rooms to cleaning up to cooking breakfast for the rest of the guests. And my my was her breakfast fantastic! She baked some extra muffins for us and it made up for everything that ever happened in the morning.. coz her baking was WONDERFUL! Added on to her jovial nature and taking the initiative to explain how to get around viewing all the sights in Florence, this hostel began to feel like it would be the best hostel that we will be staying in.. And it indeed was.
So, without our backpacks this time, we started to explore our first stop in Italy. A bright sunny day so I didn't hesitate to don my Oakleys haha. Things in Italy were relatively cheaper than Switzerland.. or in any case UK.. and there were quite a few street markets for us (especially the girls) to satisfy their shopping cravings. Other than that.. we just visited the main churches and the Piazza della Signoria which used to be the Florence town centre and houses many (replicas of) famous Italian sculptures.
Though Florence was an arty-farty place to be.. we still had our dose of nature after climbing up a small hill with brought us to a spectacular view of the city of Florence. Breathtaking.
Come to Italy how can don't eat pasta? And yes, we struggled with Italian with lotsa hand gestures in order to place our orders of different varieties of pasta for lunch.. which was, delicious =)
Perhaps the most significant part about Rome would be visiting the very famous Michaelangelo's statue David. It was only after seeing the statue for real that I understood what all the fuss was about - it was really magnificent.. a piece of work that none other replica could live up to. The amount of detail that went into the sculpture and the flawlessness of the gaze on David's eyes were unparalleled. Applause to Michaelangelo.
Signed off at 11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Geneva and Lausanne
Thursday, December 21, 2006
The initial plan was to stay in Interlaken for 1 more day.. but.. considering that we did not have the budget so ski.. and scaling another mountain would probably mean seeing the same, though still breathtaking, sights of the Swiss Alps, we decided to change our plans and make more use of our Eurail Pass.. and see the other Switzerland cities..
Geneva The first half of the day was spent at Geneva. Not a very exciting place to spend the day.. considering that the UN headquarters were very far away and the Red Cross museum was closed.. and we couldn't meet the timing for the free Lake Geneva Cruise. So it was just walking around the city.. bearing chilling winds..
Lausanne Lausanne was our next stop in the afternoon.. and thankfully for it's beautiful lakeside, we spent more time there taking rubbish photos. Wanted to see the sunset but was too cloudy already. And since Lausanne was the designated City of the Olympics, how can we miss visiting the Olympic Museum? Haha but that was all we did.. stood outside and took a photo.. as well as send some postcards.
We wanted to try Cheese fondue before leaving Switzerland for good but we were chased out of 2 restaurants for only ordering 2 pots of cheese fondue for the 5 of us! Haha. In the end we settled on kebabs for dinner.. of which proved too spicy for the rest of them.. especially Weijie haha.. Luckily I asked for no chilli in mine as usual =) Spent the night walking around the old town.. spending our last swiss francs eating rubbish at the pasar malams around.
Stocked up food, and we headed for our overnight crouchette train to Italy!
Signed off at 11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Interlaken
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
I must say Interlaken's probably the best part of the trip. I arrived earlier coz we kinda broke off while rushing for the train from Zurich. It was a peaceful quiet town to walk around at night.. The hostel was great (though the staff kept me waiting like half an hour before I could check in) and the best part was Weijie joined us the next morning! Haha though his plane was delayed and he couldn't stop recounting his horrible experience spending the night in the cold at the train station...
Waking up to see Interlaken set amidst all the mountains was a fantastic experience. Thank the skies for brilliant weather.. we decided to go up to the famous Jungfraujoch via a very expensive train ride. But it was all worth it because the view enroute and especially on top of the mountains was BREATHTAKING! and of course the best part was it was the first time I got to see, and touch, SNOW!
Spent the night in the in-hostel bar playing Spades.. and the next morning we woke up to COOK breakfast.. even though we had catered breakfast.. even though we had an early train to catch.. ALL BECAUSE WEIJIE WANTED TO EAT EGGS AND BACON FOR BREAKFAST! Hahaaa
Signed off at 11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Zurich
Monday, December 18, 2006
It was the first stop of Le Grand Europe Tour. Took a plane to Bern.. settled some of our train tickets.. then took our first train ride using our Eurail to Zurich..
Zurich turned out to be a nice small city but a bit disappointing.. coz there was really nothing much to see. The hostel was expensive as well.. which triggered our decision to go Interlaken slightly earlier than planned.. But seeing the Rhine Falls aka the biggest waterfall in Europe as well as the short free cruise around Lake Zurich was good though =)
Here's a video on the Rhine Falls... nothing much though
And yes.. here are the photos..
Signed off at 11:59 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
I wonder if anyone still checks this blog now... well this is the 1st post after so long that both blogs have different posts...
So much has happened the past week.. Came down to London on Sat.. supposed to go Prague from Mon-Weds but Manhon and I MISSED OUR FLIGHT! Damn result of dillydallying.. both of our bad habits. So in the end we spent the whole week in London. Haha.
Manhon. This guy is like a younger brother to me now man. From fellow singaporean cum neighbour to cooking buddy to 双天至尊 and House M.D. buddy to travelling buddy.. Sigh I'm really going to miss this boy when I go back Singapore.
So yah.. here are our photos of our exploits in London. Mainly we went into this mega fun Toy Shop 3 times and walked along the streets of London and the most significant thing we did was to tune our watches to Greenwich time accurate to 100th of a second at of course, Greenwich.
My parents came over as part of their Europe Tour as well and went to Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge.. amongst the other common touristy places like London Eye, Westminister, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Chinatown... No photos coz my camera screen cracked for no reason. Damn. Will be leeching on Fangxi's camera this next trip.
Watched the musicals Mama Mia and We Will Rock You and Billy Elliot the past week. And I must say they were all FANTASTIC! Probably will put up a post comparing all the London Musicals that I've watched before..
20 mins more and I will be heading for the airport towards Switzerland. Then Italy. Then France. Fun but I can't help thinking that I'm actually not very prepared for my exams when I ultimately return from the trip.
Oh well.. ciao for 2 weeks!
Signed off at 4:30 am
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
Amsterdam and the Last Week of School
Friday, December 08, 2006
Finally finished all my assignments due this semester. Feeling is quite shiok.. especially finishing way before deadline heh. Need to catch up on readings though.
Backupdated my post on the 27th Meetup we had. Either scroll down or click here to read i or view pictures. Well.. slowly slowly update the other weekend outings ba.. Halloween, Dublin, Scotland, Nottingham, Belgium... (whoa looks like a lot)
Yes, it's officially the last day of school today. Last week of school is rather slack here.. the people that pon lessons this week is outrageous. Most lectures I go to are like 1/4 full. And the lecturers are equally in a Christmas mood as well. Damn should have gone overseas haha. Still thought that the lecturers will give exam tips or what. Bleah.
To celebrate the last day of school (or rather the last day of commitments) for most of us.. the Singaporean gang went to have sumptuous Chinese buffet at Wokmania! Sorry no photos of the wonderful food.. coz it was an adhoc thing. Never bring camera. Ha. And yeah.. plans to to Copenhagen after our exams are on the way. Need to whack one last country before I leave Europe for good.
Last weekend was spent at Liverpool/Amsterdam. And it turned out to be the most exciting weekend yet... =)
Liverpool - 2nd December & 4th December
Why Liverpool? Well simply coz the plane I'm catching to Amsterdam will be from Liverpool airport.. so since I'm there might as well take the chance to explore the place before/after the flight right?
The trip to Liverpool was rather unprepared.. struggling with essay deadlines before the trip = no research = aimlessly wandering before figuring out what to do. For one thing the city centre was hard to find without a map. But heng I managed to find a tourist information centre in time to kope myself some maps and what-to-do-in-Liverpool brochures.
Liverpool is a port. A port with terribly unpredictable weather. Tamade it was bright and sunny when I came but by the time I finished my £1.99 full English Breakfast (egg, sausage, bacon, hash brown, tomato, mushroom, baked beans) it started drizzling! So I braved the cold rain to the port called Arthur's Dock to explore.. damn the weather. So cold.. and cannot take good photos.
I'm not an arty-farty person.. but I had to strut into the Tate Liverpool (art gallery) with the highly cultured look to seek shelter.. and yeah.. see the art pieces as well lor. Nothing much to comment... except that it's free. Ha.
Whoa by the time I came out it was bright and sunny again. Siao one. So yeah.. after snapping some photos of the sea and the dock I went to probably the only museum that caught my interest - The Beatles Story Exhibition.
Again I'm not a particular great fan for the Beatles.. but I haveta admit their songs rock. And which other museum blasts good music throughout the whole time inside? Haha.. it was rather enjoyable not only for the songs but after 24 years of my life hearing about this legendary band then I know how they are formed.. what they did and how they disbanded. Cool. How many bands nowadays can start from teenagers and still get support from fans even when they become uncles with mustaches?
After that I made my way back to the city centre again.. filled my stomach with rubbish from the Christmas market before meeting up with Summer. Liverpool is really another bustling city.. (Why are all cities bustling other than Leeds?) Even at 6+pm the streets are thronged with people.. even though some of the chaokeng shops will still close at 5pm. But I like this type of a-lot-of-people scene.. beats walking along cold lonely streets.
Ok, soon enough, we headed towards Liverpool John Lenon International Airport. So much for Liverpool.
Amsterdam - 2nd & 3rd December How long I spend in a country is dependent on how cheap the plane tickets are. So this time, I only had a total of 2 nights and 1 day in this city.. so Summer and I carefully planned out which tourist attractions to whack. And I'm quite happy we went to all the right places!
After touching down we headed to the Amsterdam Sexmuseum. Whoa! No prizes for guessing what this museum is about. Pay 3 euros and you enter a building with 3 storeys of porn, porn and more porn. Oh but it's after all a museum.. so the people inside are not supposed to look horny though I think most are.. just look at porn as.. ART. Yes, and at the same time dealing with Summer's squeals as naked men and women get thrown in her face.
Didn't take long to find our hostel. The receptionist was nice too as we asked him lotsa questions on how to maximise our one day in Amsterdam. =)
Hoho and did I mention that our hostel was just a stone's throw away from Amsterdam's world famous Red Light District? Haha.. yeah so after resting a while we headed down to take a walk around. And the experience was just crazy. Being a saturday night the streets were filled with (horny) guys and their version of fish tanks = each fish got their own tank. How does it work? The girls will strut their stuff inside their rooms by the window while potential customers walk by and do their window shopping. Interested? Just open the door and negotiate prices. On then go in and close curtain. Maybe we went late.. so lotsa curtains were closed. Haha. So it was two streets full of window shopping both of us went. Haha. Can't take photos though. Can't put it in words properly too. Haha so too bad for you guys. The only thing is: All guys MUST come to Amsterdam RLD once. =)
It was an early start the next day as we took a train out of the city to this little, albeit too touristy, place called Zaanse Schans to see windmills. How can come to Holland don't see windmills? Yah, and it turned out to be exhilarating to see them! Like finally I get to see windmills in Holland! The scenery was beautiful.. the air was fresh.. and summer and I just went around photowhoring. The only windmill that was open was a paint mill and we were allowed to go in to explore. Cool.
Just nice in that place got cheese factory (or so they claim.. though i think most of the cheese they sell is manufactured elsewhere) and clogs shops. Yeap, clogs are the Dutch way of life.. last time.. and the number of designs for the clogs they have are simply crazy! Feel tempted to buy one for myself but managed to stop my insanity. I don't want to die of blister outbreak on my feet.
Pressed for time, at noon we rushed back to Amsterdam central to head to our next destination. Damn the stupid weather but it was drizzling. Coupled with the countryside strong winds was no joke. Freezing like hell.
On the way to the next destination we took a walk around the tulip market. Not a good time of the year to visit the tulip market coz all the flowers were non-existent. The only flowers that were there were the wooden aka fake ones. Haha. Too bad la. Should have come in spring/summer.. then can see the flowers in full bloom. Anyway, I'm not particularly a big fan of flowers.. so yeah.. didnt affect me much heh.
Drenched and cold, we finally arrived at the Heineken Brewery.
Well, at first was a bit reluctant to go the Heineken.. after the disastrous waste-money visit to the Guinesses Brewery in Dublin. But between Heineken and Van Gogh Museum, both of us decided on this. Well, we wouldn't be able to appreciate Van Gogh's art anyway. Furthermore, the only art piece by him I know is the Sunflower, which is in London hoho.
But Heineken turned out to be so much more fun than expected! Content-wise it was crap.. just telling you how beer is made and all their advertising strategies and how they market their beer. Oh but the fun part was the high amount of interactivity of the place! There's even this thing where we could make videos of ourselves haa...
And with the entrance fee is 3 pints of beer! I only drank 2 pints la.. kept the 3rd token as souvenir. Though that was not the only souvenir that we got.. after exiting the place we were given this cool bottle-opener-in-the-bottle thing. (compared to Guinesses's lousy paperweight) Yeap, all-in-all.. Heineken was fun! (though I don't like beer still)
Van Gogh Museum was nearby.. so we just went out there to take photo lor. Haha cheapskates.
Next up, we went to the Ann Frank House. Yea.. that was the house where she wrote her famous diary. Cool to really experience where they lived while hiding during the Holocaust.. but it was harrowing as well.. to learn of her story and to be standing on a piece of history. Sad. Nothing much to say here.. just read her diary ba.
Lazy to cook.. we went around hunting for food. Things were expensive sia.. until we bumped into this ulu Chinese restaurant that served buffet for 9 euros! No need to think, just whack! Oh but the food sucked.
That night we headed to a local 'coffee-shop' near our hostel and tried Amsterdam's Space Cake. Space Cake is just this little gardenia muffin thingy with 0.2g of hash peppered around it. Yes, taking drugs is legal in Amsterdam. So we ate our space cake while the rest of the people in the coffee-shop smoked Weed. Smelly like hell. Anyway I think the Space Cake was a rip-off. No effect one leh (luckily). The only thing I felt was similar to drinking 1 pint of beer. Ok la for the experience la.
And guess how we spent the rest of the night? Walk around RLD again! Haha.. Sunday night got less people.. but still a lot. And more curtains were open so we just got to see different exhibits lor. Haha.
Went back.. sleep.. wake up.. rush to airport.. we boarded the plane like 5 mins before take off! Heng ah! And so that was bye bye Amsterdam!
After describing so much.. here's a treat: (photos)
Oh well... gotta sleep already. It's officialy the last day of school and I have to go for my last lesson in Leeds. How fast time flies... only 45 more days. Booked my train tickets back to London to catch my flight on the 22nd already. *haaaiiiii*
Ok la.. hope that I update soon haha. Next weeks' more travelling.. London.. Prague.. Switzerland, Italy, France.. =)
Cya!
Signed off at 3:40 pm
▐▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▌
A very sad birthday to come...
Friday, December 01, 2006
Taking a break from writing another 2000 word report on Environmental Management Case Study.. it's due next week but I just feel like finishing it off before flying off to Amsterdam this Saturday.
52 days, 6 hours and 32 more minutes to my flight back to Singapore. Suddenly I'm getting all nostalgic here and 舍不得 to leave this place... BTW, the provisional examination timetables are out:
08 Jan 2007 14:00 16:00 SLSP102001 Sociological Thinking
11 Jan 2007 09:30 11:30 PREN109501 Environmental Management
12 Jan 2007 09:30 11:30 LUBS206001 Contemporary Ind Relations
15 Jan 2007 09:30 11:30 PREN101001 Intro to Engineering Materials
16 Jan 2007 09:30 11:30 PREN5350M01 Process Modelling & Simulation
17 Jan 2007 14:00 16:00 PREN231001 Transfer Processes 1
Seems like a pretty decent well spread-out timetable for an exam, though it doesn't help that my 2 worst papers are at the very end and my last paper is an afternoon paper on my 24th birthday itself. Considering that the sun sets at around 4.30pm nowadays.. ending a paper at 4pm is equivalent to half my birthday spent mugging.
And my 24th birthday will mark the last few days I'd be spending with all my friends here.. my flatmates.. the Singaporean and Malaysian gang, Yuanjing's flatmates... I haven't had enough of this place yet (no not UK but Europe in general).. and who knows when I'll ever ever ever come back to this part of the world again in my lifetime?
Teckie was proposing going to Copenhagen from 18th-22nd Jan. Sounds like a good last-ditch attempt to visit another city 12 hours away from home. But now I'm seriously considering spending my last days with friends here instead.
SEP's really a good retreat and a fantastic hideaway from all the problems back home. Much as I wanna see my family and friends again, going back to Singapore still = going back to sucky NUS = worries about results, IA, Specialisation, FYP...
Sigh. The best thing I can hope for is that my exams will end earlier. (Notice I said provisional exam timetable?) Knowing that how cockup English system is anything can happen until the final timetable is out. *cross fingers and pray*
I hate goodbyes. Especially goodbyes-for-good like this one. Wanna run out there and give everyone a good hug before leaving.
Wa lau what happen to me? So gu niang. Haha. Must be the cold rain at 2am in the morning.. adds to the nostalgia.
Ok la back to my essay. Uploaded photos on my Visit-Kinyew-in-Belgium trip on Flickr already.. need some time to come up with a post (yes, and all the other posts on my past few weekends). In the meantime, to all Harry Potter fans, here's what I found at London's Kings Cross train station
