24 Days in Europe

Day 00: Changi

2008-04-30T00:12:00.001+08:00

Wednesday, 19th March 2008

	31ºC
	23ºC

Months of late night meetings and planning sessions were over as the big day arrived. As was the case with every previous meetings, this evening, Marcus was late. After checking in our backpacks, we proceeded to take a group picture at the same spot we do every time we were at the airport, only with Chun Yang missing this time for he was to be meeting us in Paris.

L-R: Daryl, Alwyn, Derrick, Marcus, Hak Liang

This was 2 years ago (2006)
L-R: Hak Liang, Marcus, Derrick, Daryl, Chun Yang
And this was 6 years ago (2002)
L-R: Chun Yang, Daryl, Marcus, Shaun, Derrick, Kai Xiang, Hak Liang

Our Airfrance flight out was delayed due to a problem with the water pressure in the WCs. It was waiting at the boarding gate that we ran into an old secondary school friend, Kiat Chay, who was En Route (French phrase! How apt!) to Scotland. Small world! (Another unlikely twist to come out of this later!)

Alas, after almost 90 minutes, we were ready to depart. How was Airfrance? The seats were a little cramped, the crew were French (bleh!), drinks and snacks were self-service in the galley, and the flight was 14 hours (argh, kill me!). But in all, I would say it was... alright.

Day 01: Paris

2008-04-29T15:12:00.005+08:00

Thursday, 20th March 2008

	9ºC
	0ºC

Arrival in Paris was delayed as a result of the late departure, but that only meant we had to wait a shorter time for Chun Yang’s flight from London. Collecting baggage was a breeze, aside from that ever lingering fear of the misfortune of lost baggage. No one fell victim this time.

Whilst awaiting our friend, we proceeded to the Tourist Information counter to purchase our museum pass. Mustering all the French he knew (mainly only “bonjour”), Daryl tried to buy the passes. Maybe it was the fact he was speaking English, or maybe it was the way he looked, all Daryl got in return were blank stares and quizzed looks. Frustrated, he got Hak Liang to try his luck. Amazingly, they spoke perfectly good English to him, and he bought the passes without any hiccups. Ah the French. Such strange folk!

With the arrival of Chun Yang, we found our way to downtown Paris via the RER.

Taking a train to the hostel

At the train station: the first of our many flights of steps we were going to climb during this trip.

Locating our hostel, we proceeded to check in, again, only to be greeted by the infamous French hospitality. Our friendly receptionist barely broke a smile, and demanded that we paid in smaller denominations (difficult considering we were in Europe a few hours only!).

Nonetheless, we got our rooms despite the fact that it wasn’t check in time yet. The cosy room comprised 3 bunk beds, and… nothing else. Barely any space left in the tiny room. The shower was less than one square metre. But as budget travelers, who’s complaining!

Inside the hostel room

On our way to the Louvre

First stop, the famous Lourve museum. Renowned in its own right as the world’s most extensive and massive museum (it is said that if you spend 3 seconds in front of each artifact, it would take you 3 years to complete the collection), and made famous recently by Dan Brown’s best selling novel, this was a must see sight in Paris. Highlights in this colossus of a museum includes the following:

La Venus de Milo

Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna of the Rocks

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa

Inside the Louvre

Of course, today a famous sight in itself, we had to take a look at I.M. Pei’s controversial grand pyramid entrance to the Lourve. Good stuff! And a good break from the stuffiness inside the museum as well.

Our very own Charlie's Angels

It was not long though, the jet lag and the repetitiveness of the museum’s collection began to consume us, and it was time to leave. Without completing the museum of course. After all, how many can?

Any city is a joy to see after dark. So how better to spend the night than to take the river cruise? After a fast food dinner, we proceeded to Pont Neuf (translates to new bridge, oh the irony, I know!), the oldest standing bridge in Paris for our river cruise. And it was a no-brainer, we HAD to sit on the open air top deck! Oh the lights and sights of La Ville lumière were beautiful.

But, none of us anticipated that sitting in the open air on a boat cruising down the river at top speed in near zero temperatures was going to be a problem. We were freezing up there, and some of us started to regret not packing any gloves, scarves or beanies!

The night ended with a long walk back to the Lourve to take some night shots of the Pyramid, and in the frigid cold rain as well! Were the pictures it worth it? Maybe not, considering we had to walk half a kilometre back to the nearest open metro station. See for yourself…

Day 02: Paris

2008-04-28T15:12:00.002+08:00

Friday, 21st March 2008

	10ºC
	5ºC

Rise and shine, and who would have known that Europeans don't do breakfast in the hotel's café in shorts and slippers? Breakfast was a scrumptious spread of croissants and baguettes, jams and butter, cereal and milk, and a selection of hot drinks. All included in our nightly rates for the bed.

First stop of the day, the Arc de Triomphe. This famous Parisian monument honours French soldiers, especially those who fought in the Napoleonic wars. But most importantly for us tourists, it provides an excellent vantage point to see the beautifully planned streets and boulevards from Napoleon III's term as president - the streets all radiating from the arc.

Arc de Triomphe

The climb up the spiral steps was a long one, but only one of many to come on this trip. And boy, was it all worth it in the end, for the views of the beautiful city was breathtaking!

Climbing up the Arc

View of the city

Being in Paris, we could not help but make a stop at the Louis Vuitton store.

We were met with hail and rain soon after. When the skies cleared up, we finished our stroll down the Champs Élysées where we found lunch. Still afraid of having to confront menus in French and waiters that didn't speak any English, we settled for hotdogs from a take away stand served by a Chinese couple. Strange that we ordered food in Paris in Mandarin, but well, at least we got what we wanted! The hotdog was laced with mustard, and not the mild kind we get at home, and we were all taken by surprise by the kick it gave.

Derrick can't take it anymore

Our next destination was Les Invalides, where the army museum and Napoleon's tomb were located. The army museum was a really comprehensive one, with collections ranging from armours and weaponry from the days of knights, and exhibits of every war though to WWII. Though we had a history student and a war nut in our group, due to time constraints, and with much regrets, we had to hurry through most of the exhibits without really doing them any justice at all.

After some trouble navigating, we found the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. For a man so small (in stature, giant figure in history of course), his tomb sure is pretty big. In fact, it is made up of 5 coffinsm one inside of another, of tin, mahogany, 2 of lead and ebony, in a giant sarcophagus of imperial colored, red Finnish porphyry stone, all set in a glorifying rotunda of white marble.

We were then supposed to head to the Palace of Versailles, but unfortunately, the workers at Versailles were on strike! It is in times like this that you start to appreciate that we don't ever face such problems in Singapore. With no more plans for the day, we brought forward the itinerary of the next day, and headed to the Catacombs. But as luck (or a lack thereof) would have it, the Catacombs were closed as well!

Disappointed but not beaten, we proceeded to Île de la Cité where Saint-Chapelle and the Notre Dame were located. But it being Good Friday, the two churches were closed to public visitation.

We ended up at an unplanned visit to the Conciergerie, a royal palace and prison, famous for having housed Marie Antoinette's prison cell in her last days before her fate at the guillotine.

Dinner was at a Italian restaurant near the Eiffel Tower. Mostly, it was so cold, we decided to walk into the first restaurant our guidebook recommended to seek warmth. It was not a wrong choice though, for the food was excellent, and not that expensive (€20 each, that’s cheap for Paris! Gasp!). And when in Paris, you have to drink wine… or maybe it was just too cold to drink anything else.

Nothing in Paris is more spectacular than Gustav Eiffel’s tower by night. After a long wait in the queue (and the cold) we purchased the full ticket to make the ride up to the top of the tower. The lifts first brought us to level 2 of the tower, where we took some pictures before going on to queue for the lift to the top.

Hak Liang trying to be artistic

Again, this queue took almost an hour, and at such an altitude in the bitter cold European winds, it was no joking matter. Before long, we found ourselves at the top, and here, you could feel the tower swaying in the wind. No amount of superlatives can describe the views from up here, so I am not even going to try. At the open air viewing gallery, the winds were immense, but we, strangely, took much joy in standing in the wind and enduring the cold.

Chun Yang braving the wind

Hak Liang and Derrick
Daryl and Alwyn

After a long day, we were all exhausted...

Day 03: Paris

2008-04-27T15:12:00.001+08:00

Saturday, 22nd March 2008

	9ºC
	2ºC

Day 3 brought us back to Île de la Cité, where we visited the Notre Dame of Paris.

Sadly, as the interiors of Paris’ most famous gothic church was very poorly lit, we failed to get any good pictures, as flash photography was forbidden. And rightly so too, as it is a place of worship.

We did though, queue to climb the tower to get to the top. As are all queues, this one was slow moving too. We got in after about an hour, but not before it started to rain on us. Fortunately, a kind man and his family lent us their umbrella to keep ourselves dry, and chatted with us as well.

The long queue to get up the Notre Dame
The climb up was arduous, but we eventually made it, and again were greeted by the stunning views of Paris. For some reason, the city’s so beautiful the same view from a different location wowed us just the same. Of course, it was here that we came up close with the Notre Dame’s famed gargoyles and the bell (made famous by Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

Look at the long queue

The gargoyles at the top of the Notre Dame

The bell

Lunch was at a charming little café in the vicinity. The food was alright, the can of Sprite was €4, but most importantly, it was warm inside!

Crêpes for lunch
We returned to see the archeological Crypt of Notre Dame. My honest opinion? Uninspiring.

Next up, the Saint-Chapelle, originally built to house Christ’s Crown of Thorns, and other relics of Christ. The low ceiling bottom level was for commoners to pray, and the upper level was for the Royal Christians. The upper level boasts an impressive collection of stained glass windows. Fiat lux. "Let there be light." From the first page of the Bible, it's clear - light is divine. And it cannot be seen more so than through the stained glass of the Saint-Chapelle. The 15 panels of stained glass depicts scenes from the Bible, from Genesis, to the coming of Christ and finally the end of the world in the rose shaped panel.

La Saint-Chapelle

The rest of the day was spent in department stores looking for beanies, gloves and scarves in anticipation of the colder conditions at our next few destinations. Unfortunately, they were not to be found (I don’t think they sell winter gear in spring.) and we were stuck with only what we had. (Hak and CY had full gear, Alwyn needed a scarf, Marcus needed gloves, Daryl and Derrick had nothing…)

Our last destination before calling it a day was the Moulin Rouge. Obviously, we were too poor to ever watch a show there, but we had to take a look at it from the outside, windmill and all.

Moulin Rouge

This was followed by a walk down the red-light district of Paris, Pigalle, nicknamed “Pig Alley”. Obviously, Derrick really enjoyed himself!

Just as we were finding our way back to the hostel (a short walk according to the map) and as we started to lose our bearings, it started to rain hail. Trying to navigate at night, wet and cold, with our maps getting destroyed by the water was a nightmare. After being led around in circles asking for direction from Frenchmen who don’t speak any English at all, we finally found our way back to the hostel.

Picking up our bags, we headed for the metro on which we traveled to the end of the line to transfer to a bus to get to the airport. The bus trip felt weird as we were the only tourists on board, and all the other passengers were black French people. I guess it was in the black neighbourhood. We got off at the Paris Orly Airport – Terminal Sud in the end, and we found ourselves a cosy spot to spend the night before our morning flight out.

On the train to the Airport

The area in the airport where we slept at night

Well… it was cosy until they decided to turn off the heating after midnight, after which we could no longer sleep despite having multiple layers of clothing on…

Day 04: Berlin

2008-04-26T15:12:00.001+08:00

Sunday, 23rd March 2008

	2ºC
	-4ºC

Breakfast at Orly was simple. Bread, ham and cheese purchased from a supermarket… two days ago, and a cup of espresso. The flight to Berlin was uneventful, and we were on German soil within two hours of take off.

Walking off the plane onto the tarmac, we were greeted by snow. Well, it was snowing very lightly, but we were not expecting snow at all! After all, why would it be snowing in Spring?

We made our way to downtown Berlin by the S-Bahn and U-Bahn, the German public trains. “S” stands for “schnell” which means rapid, and “U” for underground. Coincidentally, the S-Bahn runs on the surface.

We were to be greeted at our hostel, The Circus, by a friendly receptionist, almost uncomfortably friendly, especially after the experience with the French. Nonetheless, The Circus would be one of the best hostels we will have stayed in during our 24 days. Big well-furnished spacious rooms with comfortable beds and modern shared shower facilities.

We had lunch at a restaurant just opposite our hostel, and their serving was super huge! And the beer there was quite cheap as well.

Having been underfed in Paris (argh! €4 can of Sprite?), our first meal of kebabs at a restaurant near our hostel was most welcome. German portions! And the food was mighty fine as well! And the cost? €7 for a platter, and less than €2 for a bottle of beer. Yum.

Our first sight of interest in Berlin was Checkpoint Charlie, where the Berlin Wall fell not too long ago. The Checkpoint Charlie museum showcased daring escape attempts across the wall, as well as the heroics of Berliners East and West, and the final collapse of the wall.

It was interesting at first, but as time wore on, the exhibits, which were mainly text, started to get dizzy. But all in all, it was a rather interesting visit, especially if you were interested in history. No photography allowed though, so you aren’t going to see any pictures of inside the museum.

Statue of some guy

We next proceeded to Museum Island, where we saw the Berliner Dom, and paid a visit to the Egyptian museum, home of Berlin’s most beautiful woman. A side note, Museum Island is named so, because of all the museums located on it, if it isn’t obvious enough! ;)

Berliner Dom

Egyptian Museum

The evening was exhausted scouring the Haupbahnhof’s (Main Train Station) department stores looking for warm clothing (again). The rest of Berlin was closed as it was the Easter weekend, the most important holiday after Christmas in the Western world. Again, we could not find anything. All of a sudden, the cold wasn’t so fun anymore.

Riesencurrywurst

After consuming our dinner, we made our way down to the famous Brandenburg gate and took in the sights and attempted to take a photo or two. Unfortunately, as it was at night and there were so many lights around, it was hard to get the right exposure to get a good picture.

Nonetheless, I must say, the gate, the only remaining of a series of gates through which was used to enter Berlin, named so as its road led to Brandenburg, was stunning by night.

The Brandenburg Gate

The Berliner Dom

Next, we took the long walk from the gate down the Unter den Linden, Berlin’s famous boulevard lined with linden trees, past again Museum Island, all the way to the TV Tower, where we took the U-Bahn home, just as our tired legs were about to give way.

Day 05: Berlin

2008-04-25T15:12:00.002+08:00

Monday, 24th March 2008

	6ºC
	-4ºC

Only day 5, and we were feeling slightly burnt out already. We decided to sleep in for the day, as our only plans for the day was a Third Reich walking tour.

Here is a picture of our dorm room. As you can see in the top right hand corner, Daryl is still sound asleep. Apparently, he’s the smartest cause he always lets everyone else wake up first and use the bathroom first so he can catch a few more winks of sleep.

After chilling in the hostel reception, chit chatting and using a little bit of the internet, our Third Reich tour started at 1pm, and on the same tour as us was a group from Singapore! Our guide was a big friend chap by the name of Preston, and I personally thinks he walks too fast, faster than he thinks he does, because his strides are just too big!

The tour was fairly informative, again, really interesting if you were into history and the Nazis. We visited several important sites such as the following:

Block der Frauen

The Brandenburg Gate

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Reichstag Building

Berlin Wall

Hours later and the tour ended. Jaded, we grabbed dinner at a food court where we all ended up buying Chinese food from a weird Chinese guy with a curly moustache. No kidding, his moustache was like Luigi’s from the Simpsons. It was unreal. But I digress… this detail… is of no importance…

On our way back to the hostel, we ran into the same Singaporean group again. We found out that they were students studying in the UK, and one was Hak Liang’s senior from TJ, and he also recognized Marcus as they had played football together before. Small world!

Back at the hostel, we wasted our time away again, catching a nap, using the internet, and for some, playing the Nintendo Wii at the hostel’s bar. Before long, it was time to leave for the train station.

Daryl and Chun Yang playing Nintendo Wii at the hostel

As will be a recurring feature on this trip, we paid McDonalds’ a visit, where we had some ice cream before we caught our train to Munich.

MacDonald's Sundaes and McFlurrys

At the train station

On the trains, we got ourselves couchettes (sleepers), so we had a comfortable sleep that night.

Day 06: Munich, Füssen

2008-04-24T15:12:00.001+08:00

Tuesday, 25th March 2008

	-1ºC
	-4ºC

We awoke to find that our train had arrived in Bavarian Germany. München, to be precise.

The streets of Munich greeted us with snow. In the cold, and with much difficulty, we found our way to our accommodation in Munich, the Wombat’s hostel. There, we deposited out bags into the hostel’s luggage room and left as quickly as we could back to the train station to catch our next train out of town. We did have some time to spare though, and so we stopped for a quick breakfast at McDonalds’. We then boarded our train. Next stop: Füssen.

The snow got heavier and the landscapes got whiter the further we got away from Munich. Upon arrive in Füssen, we found ourselves shivering in the heavy snow. Having never gotten the chance to play with snow as kids, we indulged in a snowball fight, amongst other silly things.

Snowball fight!

Alwyn vs Chun Yang

5 idiots doing push ups without gloves on the snow
(Guess who's the smart one who volunteered to be the cameraman ;p)

Ice Kachang anyone?

Arriving at the ticket office, we collected our tickets to the two castles we were to be visiting that day: the Hohenschwangau and the Neuschwanstein.

This was followed up a short hike uphill to our first destination, the Hohenschwangau. The name Hoenschwangau literally translate to “Castle of the High Swan County, was the childhood residence of Mad King Ludwig and built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria on the remains of an medieval fortress once inhabited by a family of knights.

While waiting for our allocated tour timing, we took refuge from the heavy snow in a souvenir shop where we kept warm by standing by the radiators. Funny thing, our tour guide began the tour by saying, “First of all, I’m not responsible for the weather!”. Photographs in the interior were not allowed.

With the tour over, we hiked back down to the foot of the hill, where we opted for the cheaper lunch option of takeaway sausages, served with sauerkraut. Not many of us liked the taste of the sourish fermented cabbage! It is quite an aquired taste!

With our stomachs filled, we then began our march up an even steeper and longer trail to the Neuschwanstein castle. On the way, we did catch some amazing picturesque views, and took some nice photographs as well.

Daryl and Hak Liang

The castle Neuschwanstein was built by King Ludwig as a retreat and as a homage to his close friend Richard Wagner. In fact, much of the interior of the castle depicts scenes from Wagnerian operas, and even includes a concert hall. Regrettably, the castle was never completed, as construction was halted after King Ludwig was declared insane, and deposed of. Again, photographs of the interior were not allowed.

The walk down was tumultuous, with some of the snow starting to melt away, and the paths were covered with slush and mud, and all sorts of vile things like horse dung and what have you. Fortunately, despite many close calls, no one slipped. Before long, we were at the bus station. After a 45 minute wait, and after the snow storm hit again, our bus to the train station arrived. At the train station, we spent another hour and a half waiting for our train back to Munich.

Snow storm

We were all tired, cold, and hungry. And without waterproof shoes, our socks were soaking wet and freezing cold. The train ride back was more than two hours long.

It was also on this train ride where Chun Yang and Daryl first encountered racist Americans. A group of American students walked by their seats and taunted them, repeatedly chanting “Konichiwa!”.

Dinner was back in Munich, at a local restaurant. As we made our entrance, we walked around the place looking for a place to sit, all the while with local heads, diners and staff alike, turning and looking at us like aliens, us being the only tourists in the authentically local joint. Amidst the discomforting stares, we found ourselves a table, and a kind waitress came over to serve us.

Derrick with his beer and beef steak

The food was all wonderful, as the portions were big, the cuisine authentic Bavarian, and the German beer simply delightful.

Checking in at our hostel, the receptionists were frighteningly friendly and cheerful, and we almost wondered if they were on drugs… Nah… I guess they were just genuinely nice!

Cheers

Interesting vending machine at the hostel

Day 07: Salzburg

2008-04-23T15:12:00.005+08:00

Wednesday, 26th March 2008

	4ºC
	-2ºC

Our amazing time in Germany came to an end, but another chapter was soon to begin, as we departed Munich by train for our next destination, Austria! Or Salzburg to be precise. Most of us slept through the 90 minute train ride, and arrived at Salzburg, to find, again, the city covered in snow.

First stop of the day was the Mirabell Gardens. This famous gardens was one of the location the movie The Sound of Music was filmed. It was here that Julie Andrews and the children ran around singing Do-Re-Mi. We arrived expecting that since it was spring , we would see lots of greenery and flowers blooming. Here are some pictures from the internet, of what we expected to see.

We were wrong. This was what we saw. The garden was covered in snow, not a sight of flowers. We did have a blast playing with the snow though, including a long drawn-out snowball fight and some other silly antics as well.

5 idiots and a snow covered tree

Poor flowers covered with snow

The sights of the city of Salzburg were really pretty. The buildings were gorgeous and the streets so charming. And amongst these building and streets was Mozart’s Residence. Again, no photography inside. The tour of the residence was interesting, but I think if we understood a little bit more music history, it would have been a little easier to digest. Nonetheless, a visit to Salzburg is never complete without paying homage to its favourite son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Staying true to our economical ways, lunch was a set lunch menu at the Uni Café of the University of Salzburg.

The Dome of Salzburg was next. While we were there, there was a choir performing. They were brilliant – immaculately in tune and in perfect harmony. They were a joy to listen, and the acoustics of the dome made the performance simply enchanting. The church in itself was gorgeous (but as is the case for every other one in Europe!).

This was followed by a visit to St Peter’s abbey and cemetery.

St. Peter's Abbey

St. Peter's Cemetry

Though our guidebook called it a tourist racket, we bought our tickets and took the funicular up to the top of the hill to visit the Hohensalzburg fortress. This fortress was built by the Prince Archbishops of the Principality of Salzburg, and historically, it has never been taken, except when it was surrendered without a fight during the Napoleonic Wars.

Upon reaching the top, we took pictures of the panoramic views, and again played with snow. Mischievously, we started to throw snowballs off the hill trying to hit the rooftop of the houses at the foot down below. Childish. But thankfully, we didn’t hit anyone. I must imagine, getting hit by a snowball from such a height… must hurt! Or maybe… more than just hurt… Hmm…

We completed our tour of the fortress, and the museums housed within. Then we continued playing with snow…

Listening to audio guides inside the museum

Hak Liang's creation: the mini-snowman

Dinner was back at the train station. Throughout this trip, fast food would be a common feature, because it is fairly economical, and its easy to order!

On this occasion, dinner was at Burger King, and a strange incident occurred. Daryl and Hak Liang each ordered Triple Whoopers. But when they unwrapped their burgers, they found Single Whoopers. They headed back to the counter to confront the cashier, but he was adamant that he did not make a mistake, repeatedly saying, “No! Don’t tell me that! You ordered a single whooper!”.

They began to feel like maybe there were some racist undertones to his attitude towards them. After further pressing, he finally said “I can check the register, but I will be right, and then you can get out of here.” He did. And he was wrong. He then asked them to take a seat, and that he would send the burgers to the table.

At this point, they started to wonder if he was going to spit in their food. But when he turned up at our table, he started to apologise profusely, and even gave them an extra burger to make up for it. Wel,l it all turned out alright in the end!

Triple Whooper Burger

That night, after another long three hour train ride, we arrived in Vienna, also known locally as Wien.

Free drinks at the hostel's bar

Wombar

Once again, we met a group of Singaporeans staying in the same hostel as us. This time, they were a group of exchange students from NUS and NTU studying in UK, having their easter break.

What a small world, Singaporeans everywhere.

Day 08: Vienna

2008-04-22T15:12:00.004+08:00

Thursday, 27th March 2008

	11ºC
	2ºC

Willkommen in Wien! We were in Vienna, the world’s music capital!

The lobby of Wombat's Hostel

Inside the room

The day started with breakfast at our favourite fast food joint, before we walked to the Hofburg’s Imperial Palace. This was the imperial palace of the Austrian royal family, and the seat of the Holy Roman Empire. Today, it houses museums, and also the Spanish Riding School.

Our first event of the day was a visit to a trio of museums, namely the Imperial Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum, and the Imperial Apartments. Daryl and Chun Yang rather enjoyed admiring the Imperial Silver Collection, a display of silverware and tableware, but the other four were bored out of their wits. I wonder why.

So we carried on and skipped to the next museum – The Sisi Museum. This museum traces the life, myths and mysteries of Empress Elizabeth, wife of Emperor Franz Josef, made popular by several movies, and well known as the Empress with a great disdain for the strict etiquette of the imperial courts. This time, Derrick was bored, but since the rest of us were ok with it, we listened through with the exhibits.

The last of the three museums, was the Imperial Apartments. Here, we walked through and viewed the apartments where Emperor Franz Josef led his daily life, and where His Empress, Elizabeth of Bavaria lived. It was a rather interesting exhibition. Photographs were not allowed inside though. At one point, Marcus took out his handphone to make notes on what he was learning, and was promptly shouted at by a member of staff, “No photos please!”. Hmm…

Our next venture was another trio of museums. This one was Derrick’s choice. They were the Ephesus Museum, Collection of Arms and Armor, Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments. The first two casualties were Hak Liang and Alwyn, who were found stoning at the museums’ exit after no time at all.

The second two were Daryl and Chun Yang, who tried their best, but were consumed by boredom after not too long. Next was Marcus, and lastly, Derrick, who was no where to be found, thoroughly enjoying every inch of every exhibit of the museums. Fortunately, we found him, and we were soon on our way. Had we stayed any longer, we might have just passed out from agony.

Storm Troopers?

Armour for birds?

Weird looking clarinet

Cool instrument

The Vienna City Hall

Lunch was at another local place, again completely devoid of tourist. The place was at an underground cellar below a restaurant, and everything was in German. With a little bit of help from a kind elderly Austrian man who spoke a few strains of English, we bought ourselves our lunch. Value-for-money!

Next on our itinerary was the Haus der Musik. Here, we looked at exhibits about the Wien Philharmoniker, and spent almost half an hour in a recreated “concert hall” watching videos of the orchestra playing Strauss music at their New Year’s concert. Exhibits here included batons of all its previous conductors, as well as the tuxedo worn by Leonard Bernstein on his last performance. On the upper levels, we saw exhibits about the human ear, and other sounds. Unfortunately, most of the exhibits seemed to be faulty and were not working very well. Also, there was an exhibit about various Romantic composers.

Being in Vienna, how can we not catch the chance to watch an Opera? We made our way to the Opera House and joined the queue for “standing tickets”. After almost an hour’s wait, we bought our standing ticket (€3.50) and proceeded to our seats (hmm… stands?). Here, you reserve your standing space by tying a scarf to the railing! How clever!

Queuing for tickets

The opera of the day was Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss. Everything was sung in German, but thankfully, there were little screens on the railings which provided an English translation. Though it was hard to alternate between reading and watching, some of us understood the plot. And so. We can now say that we’ve watched an opera in Vienna!

The 'Standing Area'

There's something interesting about this piece of art (below) which we observed while waiting for the opera to begin. See if you can spot 6 small monkey faces, 1 big monkey face, 2 Incredible Hulks, 1 Popeye, 1 horse carriage, 1 train and 1 Geisha.

The Opera House on the outside

We had a late dinner that day. We trekked across town to locate a restaurant, Snitzelwirt 52. Here, they serve Wienner Schnitzels (Austrian Breaded Pork Chops) that are bigger than your face! Take a look.

Our night ended with ice cream at a place near our hostel.

Day 09: Vienna

2008-04-21T15:12:00.002+08:00

Friday, 28th March 2008

	12ºC
	6ºC

Breakfast today was a free all you can eat buffet at our hostel. We got vouchers for this as we stayed at this branch in Vienna, as well as the one in Munich.

It was strange that throughout Vienna, we did not use the public transport at all, and depended solely on walking, which is quite a feat as Vienna is not that small a city!

Our first destination of the day was the St Stephen’s Cathedral. Throughout this trip, we visited numerous cathedrals and churches, and this was one of the many. I guess, there isn’t much significance to this cathedral in Vienna as compared to other ones in other parts of Europe. But, it was still worth a visit.

We started with an elevator ride (thank goodness… no stairs today!) to the top of the cathedral, where we got views of the city of Vienna. Unfortunately, the views were only so-so, and didn’t wow us at all. Perhaps it was the fact that the architecture and streets of Vienna were rather plain, or we had seen better in Paris already. Nonetheless, we took our pictures, and saw the cathedral’s bell as well.

Outside St. Stephen's Cathedral

Inside St. Stephen's Cathedral

On top St. Stephen's Cathedral

This was followed by a walk to Stadt Park. This is where the famous golden statue of Johan Strauss (the waltz king) is located. Aside from the statue, the park was a nice change of surroundings as well, as at last, we could feel as though Spring had arrived! The lands were green, the flowers blooming and birds chirping! A far cry from the bitter snow in Salzburg just two days ago.

Statue of Johann Strauss

Quack Quack.

We next made our way (on foot of course) towards the Belvedere Palace. On the way, we came across a monumental fountain and another Soviet War Memorial. We eventually arrived at the palace. This palace was the summer residence of the Imperial family. Well, summer surely had not arrived! We did not get to see the gardens and flowers, and all we got to see were workers working on replanting the flowers and re-turfing the land. The palace itself house an art museum, which we gave a miss.

The fountain near Belvedere Palace

Belvedere Palace

Our last place of interest was a stop by the Monument Against War and Fascism:

We had read about a café called “Centimeter” in our fold-out map, and thought that we had to have a try of it.

After overcoming our difficulty navigating the little streets of old Vienna, we found the place, and we ordered these extra-sized items:

The Wheel Barrow (for 4 persons)

The One Metre Spagetthi (for 4 persons)

But all these were eaten by just 6 persons

The result:

The evening ended with a stroll back to our hostel, where we waited for time to pass.

Derrick having a nap after the satisfying meal

By 7:15pm, we were on our overnight train to our next destination – Firenze, Italy!

Triple-deck beds

Day 10: Florence

2008-04-20T15:12:00.003+08:00

Saturday, 29th March 2008

	19ºC
	3ºC

When we awoke the next morning, we were in Florence – the birthplace of the Renaissance!

We began by finding our way to our hostel, where we woke the hostel owner (it was only 6:30am). In a daze, he accepted out payment, and issued us our keys, but we could not check in yet, as the previous night’s occupants had yet to check out (it was morning!). Our hostel here in this city was a small place with only 4 rooms – really cosy.

Again, breakfast was at MacDonalds’. Here, we had breakfast, and planned our route for the rest of the day. It was also here that we observed that Italian people are very fierce-looking. Frightening!

Being in the birthplace of the Renaissance, how was it that we not visit some art galleries? Our first stop of the day, arriving in the queue before it even opened, was the Accademia. (Admission was free on this day as it happened to be the European Cultural Week! Lucky us!)

This famous gallery houses the most famous work of Michelangelo, the colossus statue of David. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside the museum for reasons related to copyright. In any case, the picture of David cannot be uploaded onto photobucket.com (they deem it an obscenity). So, look for a picture of it online yourself!

The statue of David shows the young biblical Israelite king in the moment when he decides to fight the giant Goliath. When Michelangelo finished this work, it very quickly became a popular icon for the city of Florence, a small city state surrounded by several big-bully cities. David has an enlarged right arm, representing the hand of god by which he defeats Goliath. David, ike a Renaissance statue of liberty, represents humankind finally stepping out of medieval darkness and declaring, “I can do it”.

It is also interesting to note that in a human sense, the statue is not proportionately accurate, as it has arms and a head too big for the body. But, it is said that as the work was meant to be place on an altar, when viewed from below, it would look proportionate.

Also in this gallery, was Michelangelo’s unfinished Prisoners, meant for the tomb of Pope Julius II, today only remembered for his oversized ego.

Accademia

After finishing viewing Michelangelo’s David and Prisoners, as well as the rest of the very fine collection of Renaissance art, we were ready for our next stop – a marvel of Renaissance architecture.

The dome of the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiori (a.k.a. Duomo) of Florence was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi in the 1400s, and when built, became the largest dome in the world, and a architectural marvel. It would only be surpassed a hundred and fifty years later by Michelangelo’s dome in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican city. Today, it is the third largest Dome on the world, St Paul’s in London being number two.

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fior

Here, we climbed a whooping 463 steps to the top of the Dome, where we took in the views of the beautiful city of Florence.

Climbing up the dome

Alwyn and Chun Yang

The never ending flight of steps

Finally at the top of the dome
The view from the top

Inside the cathedral

After admiring the interior of this cathedral, we proceeded to walk down around San Lorenzo, a shopping street, before we stopped for lunch.

San Lorenzo

Palazzo Vecchio

Next, we crossed the oldest bridge in Florence, the Ponte Vecchio, one of the oldest bridges in Europe, built in the early 1000s, during medieval Roman times, noted for having shops built along it. Today, these shops are occupied by jewelers.

Our hike across the river brought up several sloped roads to a fortress atop a hill. Here, we saw gorgeous views of the city, as well as the Tuscan hills. We stopped here for a while to take a breather, and to enjoy the breeze and escape from the weather which become warm for the first time in a long while.

At the fortress

A hobbit's home?

Back across the river, we indulged ourselves in the famous Italian ice-cream – gelato. It was here in Florence that gelato was invented, and it is also here, where you can find the best gelato in the world!

At this point, the group split, with Daryl, Chun Yang, and Marcus going to the Uffizi Gallery, said to house the world’s best collection of Renaissance art.

Again, as it was the European Cultural Week, admission was free, and we only had to pay for the reservation (€3) which Daryl had made months beforehand and allowed us to skip the long queues.

Uffizi Gallery

Hak Liang, Alwyn, and Derrick, on the other hand, went exploring the rest of Florence, as well as try to find shop to fix Alwyn’s damaged camera. He ended up buying a new one…

Street art

Night market (which closed super early)

Hak Liang, Derrick and Alwyn returned to the hostel earlier than the other 3, and made themselves a cup of hot chocolate at the hostel kitchen before going to sleep.

Our hostel room

In the kitchen

A cup of warm and nice hot chocolate

Day 11: Cinque Terre

2008-04-19T15:12:00.003+08:00

Sunday, 30th March 2008

	16ºC
	9ºC

The morning began with a 2 hour train ride to La Spezia. Here, we were to took another train to the Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre translates into English as “Five Lands”. It refers to 5 costal villages by the sea, with picturesque views, and is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Unfortunately, the train workers were on strike! (Not the first time we have encountered a strike on this trip… how unlucky of us!) We were almost stranded here, until we learnt of the ferry ride that could take us to the destination as well. We navigated our way (with much confusion) to the port, where we bought our one day ferry ticket (€23, trains would have been free as we had a railpass).

On the ferry to Cinque Terre

After almost 2 hours on the ferry (the train would have taken us 30 minutes), we arrived at our first destination at the Cinque Terre, Monterosso al Mare. Here, we had a quick lunch at a wood fire Pizzeria, as it was rather late already, before we embarked on our hike. Our plan was to hike from Monterosso al Mare, to the next five towns, in order, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and finally, finish at Riomaggiore. The whole hike is 9 km long, and it takes an estimated 5 hours to complete.

Monterosso al Mare

Regrettably, as the trains were on strike, we had to catch the last ferry out of the region, and hence did not have time to complete the whole 9km hike.

We did however, finish the hike between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza, the most challenging segment of the whole hike, being 3 km long, and with lots of steps… never ending steps! The views were amazing, better than you would see in a postcard! It was a fresh change from the cities and museums, and we saw the green hills, the seas and the beautiful skies.

Let the hike begin!

Daryl shagged already?

The long road that never ends

Almost there!!

As we finally approached the town of Vernazza after 1.5 hours of hiking, we caught this classic view of hills, town and sea.

S-I-M-P-L-Y B-R-E-A-T-H-T-A-K-I-N-G!

After a short water break, and a quick walk around the streets of Vernazza, we contemplated doing a fast hike to the next town (2km away). Unfortunately, at this point Marcus was already too shagged to even hobble, let alone try to continue hiking!

We stayed at Vernazza, where we caught the last ferry out back to La Spezia, lamenting that because of the train ride, we did not get to see the full Cinque Terre. Instead we only saw “Due Terre”! What a waste!

Mediterranean Sea

Back in La Spezia, we bought ourselves more Pizzas (of course at this point, Marcus was reenergised!), and rode the regional train back to Florence where we would spend the night.

Yummmm..

Day 12: Pisa, Rome

2008-04-18T15:12:00.005+08:00

Monday, 31st March 2008

	19ºC
	5ºC

Our 7am train brought us from Florence to Pisa at 8am. Upon arrival, we checked out luggage into a luggage deposit, and headed towards “The Field of Miracles”. The small town of Pisa, also in the same Tuscan region as Florence, in reality, would be almost historically insignificant if not for this “Field of Miracles”, where the Doumo and the famed Leaning Tower of Pisa are located.

We were soon greeted with the amusing sight of a tower that leaned! What’s interesting to note, is that the tower is actually crooked, as it started to lean during construction, and half way up, the started to correct the lean by building up vertically to try to compensate.

The Leaning Tower Of Pisa

Help help! The tower is falling!

After taking our photos with the tower, we collected our tickets, and eventually, it was our time to climb the tower. It is while climbing, that we could really feel the lean of the tower as you climbed the spiral steps up, you can feel your weight shifting as you move around towards the other side of the tower! At the top, we appreciated the views of the little town on Pisa, the tower’s bell, and enjoyed feeling the effects the lean had on balancing at the top of the tower!

The angle in which the tower leans

At the top of the tower

The super narrow stairway

The river at Pisa

After lunch, we boarded a 3 hour long train ride towards Rome. On this ride, we discussed the possibility of meeting more Singaporeans, and came to the conclusion that the chances of meeting more at our hostel, was close to none. We arrived at the Italian capital in the evening.

To our surprise, when we arrived at our hostel in Rome, we were told by the receptionist that there were 5 other Singaporeans staying at the hostel as well! What a small world!

Leaving our backpacks behind, we soon left for the Campo de Fiori, where we had an Italian dinner, of (more) Pizzas and pasta! This was followed by a self-guided night walking tour as suggested by our guidebook.

Giordano Bruno statue at Campo de Fiori

As there was a AS Roma vs Manchester United football match in Rome the next night, Police vehicles and patrols were all about Rome, especially at the Campo de Fiori area, where the Roma fans like to congregate, in case there was any violence between the English and the Italians.

Police vans at Campo de Fiori

Piazza Navona

Having read our guidebook before leaving the hostel, we remembered that there was a famous café around the corner which sold chocolate ice-cream which was world famous and renowned amongst chocolate connoisseurs. Unfortunately, we left our guidebook at the hostel, and thus had no clue to the location of this café.

Thankfully, just as we were mulling over it, an American family walked by, and Daryl noticed that they were using the same guidebook as we had, and after peeking over their shoulders for a while, realized that they were reading the pages on the night walk. As a result, we decided to stalk them (from a distance), and what luck! They walked us right into the café we needed!

Tartufo (which means death by chocolate)

Our next stop was the Pantheon.

And next was the gorgeous Trevi Fountain. Here, we tossed a coin backwards, as everyone does, with our right hand over our left ear, into the fountain. We thought this was for luck, but as it turns out, it guarantees your return to the eternal city! Well, if you threw two, a marriage is imminent, and if you tossed three, a divorce! How interesting!

Did you know, also, that each day, 3,000 Euros worth of coins are tossed into this fountain, and the money is used to run a market for the needy! And, the water here is supplied by the ancient Roman aqueducts, from a pure spring 13km outside of Rome. This fountain was built in 1453 after the mending of the aqueducts, to herald the water’s arrival.

Trevi Fountain

Our last stop for the day was the well-known Spanish steps, named so for the nearby Spanish embassy.

Spanish Steps

The day ended with a long walk back to our hostel, as the metro was closed for the night by the time we were done with our sight-seeing.

Arriving back at our hostel, we were surprised when the receptionist greeted us with "Your friends are waiting for you!" We were shocked and puzzled, as we obviously did not have any appointment with anyone this night, not less in a foreign land! But surprise surprise! The other Singaporean group staying at the same hostel was the group of the friend Kiat Chay whom we had taken the same Airfrance flight with! And as it turns out, Daryl later found out that he knew two of the girls in that group as well! Is the world really such a small place?

While most of the hostel was not bad, the experience of showering in this one was pretty horrid. For one thing, the water did not drain very well, probably choked up with all sorts of hair from the other occupants, and that meant you were always standing in your own pool of filthy water. There was no proper place to hang your stuff, and the cubicles were so small, you had to get out of the shower and shuffle out the door sideways! It was ridiculous!

Day 15: Vatican City

2008-04-15T23:34:00.015+08:00

Thursday, 3rd April 2008

	18ºC
	8ºC

Just a 15 minute metro ride and a short walk later, we were in different sovereign city-state – Vatican City!

Our first objective of the day was the Vatican Museum. Knowing that the long queues and hours of waiting in line were more than a tthing of legend, we got up very early this morning, and joined the (already long )queue even before they started allowing visitors in. It was a shrewd move, as only after 30 minutes of standing in line, we were allowed into the museum. Passing through the tight security of metal detectors and x-ray machines, we continued to purchase our tickets, and not long after, we were off to explore the museum.

While the Vatican City is most well known as the home of the Holy See, it also houses this museum, which boasts an impressive collection of art and artifacts of various cultural and historical importance. As was always the case, the group split, to accommodate the different interests and objectives.

Towards the end of this museum was the famed Sistine Chapel. This is best known as the conclave in which a new Pope is selected. Its interiors have been frescoed by the world’s greatest Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Botticelli. It was here that we say the famous Michelangelo work, “Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the chapel.

Also, we saw frescos by the master Raphael, and these, together with Michelangelo’s works in the Sistine chapel, mark the High Renaissance in Rome. With all said and done, it was an inspiring visit to the museum.

Exiting the Museum back into Rome, we walked the perimeter of the Vatican City towards St Peter’s Square. This is the famous square at which the Pope gives his blessing to the thousands of people who can fit in this expansive square. In the middle of the square stands an Egyptian obelisk, and behind it, the Basilica di San Pietro.

Finishing with admiring the Baroque masterpiece that the square is praised to be, we continued toward the Basilica. Here, again we started with climbing the dome. This is the largest dome in the world. Being cheap, or rather, being fit young men, and wanting to save the extra €2 euros, we bought tickets for “Stairs only”. In hindsight, it was a wise choice, was the lift only brought you up about 220 steps, after which you would still have to climb the 331 to the top of the dome!

The climb was long are arduous, as the passageways were steep and narrow. And with such a large crowd wanting to climb the dome, the paths often got jammed when one person in front was too tired out to climb and stopped for a breather, as the passageways were usually only wide enough for one person to pass. It was not long after though, that we arrived at the top of the top. Here, we caught views of the Vatican City, and amazing views of St Peter’s Square, as well as of the rest of Rome. It was a nice cooling respite from the heat of the city below as well.

As it was really crowded, we decided to not dwell too long, and continued with our slow climb down.

Having done with seeing the dome, we entered the basilica. The basilica (not a cathedral, as it is not the seat of a bishop) is most famously associated with the papacy, the Counter-reformation, and various artists, most notably, Michelangelo, and is considered architecturally, the greatest building of its age.

Entering the basilica, the first important monument, just on the right of the entrance, was Michelangelo’s most highly finished work, Pietà, considered to be the greatest example of the artist’s craftsmanship, behind bulletproof glass. It depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus.

We continued to explore and admire the interior of the basilica. According to Roman Catholic traditions, the burial place of St Peter was below the altar, and today, it is also the burial place of Popes.

Next, we visited the Popes’ tomb, where we saw the tombs of various Popes, including that of Pope John Paul II, where there were still mourners crying and grieving.

When we were done, we took our last few pictures of the Vatican City, before leaving back to the main train station of Rome.

Here, we boarded the long bus ride which took us to the airport in two hours.

Our flight out of Rome towards Girona on Ryanair was uneventful, except that Daryl, Chun Yang and Alwyn sat at the first row of seats, and spent the flight chatting with the flight crew.

Upon arrival at Girona, we proceeded to take the airport bus to Barcelona, where we were to be stranded with no public transport. Thankfully, after navigating around feeling lost for a while, tired and exhausted, carrying large loads on our backs, we eventually found our hostel where we had a good night’s sleep, readying ourselves for a new adventure in a new country!

Day 16: Barcelona

2008-04-14T18:51:00.002+08:00

Friday, 4th April 2008

	15ºC
	9ºC

A new day, and in a new land! We were in Catalunya! (Not Spain, mind you!) Barcelona, to be precise!

Riding on the metro (touted to be one of the best in Europe), we made our way towards Montjuïc hill. Alighting and exiting the metro station, we attempted to navigate our way to the cable car station, but it was not long before we were hopelessly lost again. Asking for directions did not help much, but we decided to head uphill, and after a long steep climb, we found what we were looking for, and realized that we could have taken the funicular direct from the metro station, saving us the trouble of the long hike!

The cable cars brought us back to the top of the hill, where we found Montjuïc castle. The castle offered us a wonderful vantage point from which we caught fabulous panoramic view of the city of Barcelona below.

The Castle Montjuic

Here, as Barcelona is situated by the sea, we discussed about how seagull shit must be pretty damn disgusting, as they have a diet of fish! But, of course, it wasn’t a very important or intelligent discussion…

A funny thing happened when we were headed back down when we were done with Montjuïc. From the base cable car station, we were to take the funicular down to the metro station. Arriving at the funicular station, Derrick noticed that the tram still had its doors open, and so, rushed into it as we struggled to catch up with him. Just as he entered, the doors slammed close without any warning, leaving him alone in the car which soon departed. The next funicular was 10 minutes later. It was all really hilarious when it all happened.

Derrick trapped in the funicular after the doors closed behind him!

Barcelona is home to one of the biggest football clubs in the world – FC Barcelona. In fact, the club motto goes, “Mes que un club”, meaning, “More than a club”. It is indeed more than a club – it is a proud symbol of Catalonia. Well, not only is it a football club, it also has a basketball team and a handball team, amongst many other sports.

Turning a corner to see the 100,000 seater Camp Nou is an awe inspiring feeling. There out of no where, stands a giant of a building, and it all took a while to settle in.

The magnificent Camp Nou

We purchased out tickets to the stadium and museum tour, and went to the streets around the corner from the stadium where we had a Macdonald’s lunch.

As soon as we were ready, we started our tour of the stadium. The tour brought us to the stadium’s facilities, including the player’s changing room, the player’s chapel where they could pray before a match, the stands, pitch side, as well as the press box.

The visiting team's changing room.

The players' chapel.

It was at the stands that we sat for quite a while, taking the sights of the magnificent stadium, and imagining that we were watching a live match at this oversized arena.

"More than a club"

Soaking in the sights of the stadium from the stands.

Seated in the press box.

The very convenient metro brought us back to the center of old Barcelona, the Barri Gòtic. Here, we walked the La Ramblas, admiring the scores of “human statues”. We also did some souvenir shopping. The sky soon turned dark after dinner (at 8pm), and the La Ramblas took on a completely different feel in the night.

With our shopping for the day done, we were back to our hostel, where we were exhausted and a good night’s rest was well in order.

Day 17: Barcelona

2008-04-13T21:52:00.005+08:00

Saturday, 5th April 2008

	16ºC
	10ºC

Day two in Barcelona was to bring us to the most famous of Antoni Gaudi’s works – The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family). The church is of course, yet to be finished.

The famous architect Antoni Gaudi worked on this project for over 40 years, and devoted his last 15 years of his life entirely to this endeavour, before he was knocked down by a tram in 1926. It is said that when questioned about the long construction period, he remarked, “My client is not in a hurry.” Today, works are done based on versions of lost Gaudi plans as well as by other architects, and it is estimated that construction will be completed in 2026, one hundred years after the dead of Gaudi himself.

Having arrived early with the intention to avoid the crowds, we started with a quick take away breakfast from a nearby café, which included sausages (served in a bun), and freshly baked bread.

We bought our entrance tickets to the church (construction is funded solely by ticket revenue and private donations) and proceeded to enter. Inside we admired the genius and creativity of Guadi, and the monumental and ambitious project the church was meant to be. Very obvious, was the fact that the building was incomplete, as the interiors were filled with construction equipment and scaffolding. One must wonder though, what a magnificent piece of art and architecture this church will be when it is complete. Without a doubt, plan a visit back to Barcelona after its projected completion!

The "Passion Facade"

The next part of our visit was the museum. Here, we explored the creative genius and inspirations of Antoni Gaudi, and his works, not only the church but other projects as well, and his inspirations drawn from nature. This included an audio-visual presentation on the church, which provided much insight on the architectural concepts involved.

How the church will look like when completed. As of now, only the four short towers are done, so you can imagine how big it all is.

Unfortunately, we opted not to climb to the top of the church this time, as the queue was long, and we were not sure we had much time to spare waiting.

We arrived at Park Guell via the nearest metro station, but unfortunately took a wrong turn somewhere, and ended up trekking a long way round through upward slopes and streets labyrinths. This was not helped by the fact that almost none of the locals in the area spoke any English at all! Thankfully, we were lucky enough to stumble our way into finding Park Guell.

Park Guell was intended to be a residential site inspired by the English garden city movement. Unfortunately, it was never successful, much to the fact that in the past, the wealthy preferred to live “in the center of the action”, that is, in the city center, not in suburbs (the case is reversed nowadays, so you can wonder how Gaudi was ahead of his time). It was hence converted into a municipal garden.

Here, the park feel surreal and dreamlike, and the mosaics and the architecture were really interesting.

Done with the park, the three headed back to the city center to join back up with the other half of the group. They were in a pub watching football! And as it had been so long, we could not resist but buy a pint a sit down to watch the match amongst some very animated English fans! The match ended 1-1.

As Singaporeans, we always like our food, and when in Spain, how can we not try some good Spanish food? This day, our choice of lunch was Paella, a Spanish rice dish with saffron and olive oil. At the restaurant we dined in, this was served with a salad, and a glass of sangria. Sangria is drink of red wine, fruit punch, and citrus peel – a good combination that is really enjoyable to drink!

The quintessential Spanish drink: Sangria

A Seafood Paella!

The La Ramblas, besides being famous for its lines of human statues, is also well known for its street artists. Hak Liang decided that he wanted to get his caricature drawn!

It was not long before we had to head back to our hostel to pick up our backs and ready ourselves to leave for the train station for our train out. On our way back, we turned a corner and found a band seated and primed to play. And at 6pm, they started, and as the music started, locals started to gather. They would all lay down their backs and form a circle around it, and, holding hands, began to dance in step to the music! It was a incredible sight! This was the Sardana, a traditional Catalonian circle dance, and a symbol of Catalonian nationalistic pride. The crowd grew immense, and Catalonians of all ages, young and old, and of all sizes, rich and poor, of all walks of life would join in and dance! We were indeed very lucky to have walked into this very local event by chance! This is just the sort of thing you would never see if you took a tour package.

Picking up our backpacks from our hostel, we were off to the train station where we caught our night train out of Catalunya, and to the region of Andalusia, specifically, the city of Granada.

Day 18: Granada

2008-04-12T21:50:00.003+08:00

Sunday, 6th April 2008

	25ºC
	7ºC

Sometimes, you take some things for granted. 17 Days in Europe, and we were almost experts in European travel. We arrived at Granada at almost 10am by train, and our first task was to find lockers to deposit our backpacks for the day. But who would have expected, that the Granada train station was under renovation, and despite looking as hard as we did, we could not find any lockers. Hopeless, we decided to leave for the streets in search of a place to leave our loads. We walked several hundred metres down through Granada, and found a hotel, but even they would not keep our bags for us despite our offer to pay. Dejected, we headed back to the train station, where we asked at the information counter again. This time, we were directed to the bus station, a 10 minute bus ride away. And so, most part of the morning was spent in search of the so elusive locker. Thankfully though, we got our loads off our bags at the bus station.

By then, we were hungry! And by Marcus’ recommendation, we took a bus to the Granada city center where we started to hike towards the hilly neighbourhood of Sacromonte, where he says there is good food to be found. We scaled the slopes around the neighbourhood, but found it to be a ghost town! Perhaps it was the fact that it was a Sunday morning! There was no food to be found, and we were tired and hungry.

After a little bit more walking, we gave up. We decided then to start walking towards the Albayzin neighbourhood. Here, the streets were distinctively narrow and windy, and contained several Moorish houses, and retained the charm of its Medieval Moorish history. Here, we were not interested in what looked like rather over prices tapas, and proceeded back to the city center as it was getting late, and close to our appointment time at the famous Alhambra. We ended up having lunch at a simple café.

Spanish Omelette

We made our way uphill towards the Alhambra. I’m not kidding, the incline was steep, and it was a long walk! We were lost for a while before we found that the ticketing office was on the other side of the site. We eventually got our tickets, and we off to explore this very famous Moorish citadel and palace.

Look at that incline!

Well, the story goes… Once upon a time, the Moors took Spain, and Granada was one of its last strongholds, before they were driven out by the Christians. So today, having such an importance in Muslim and Christian historical legacy, it is a cultural tourist hotspot.

The architecture here was markedly different from the rest of Europe. And, the change was a breath of fresh air.

We started with a tour of the Palacios Nazaríes.

Patio de los Arrayanes

Wall details

And then the very beautiful Generalife Gardens.

Sadly, time was running short, and we had to make our move. It was a rather enjoyable visit, as it was a place of such beautiful Moorish architecture, and at the same time, so steeped in history.

Our last stop for the day was the Granada Cathedral. Its sheer size is impressive – 115m X 67m! This cathedral was built during the height of the Spanish Renaissance, and took 181 years to complete building. It would have been more impressive had its two planned 81m tall towers been built, but this did not happen, mainly for financial reasons.

Our long train into the sunset brought us out of the very special and very distinctive town of Granada.

Day 19: Seville

2008-04-11T23:37:00.001+08:00

Monday, 7th April 2008

	20ºC
	15ºC

We arrived in Seville the night before, and took a taxi to our hostel, as it was already close to midnight, and most of the public transportation was not available. Then again, its never fun to try to take the bus in the dark of the night, not knowing where you are going.

The city of Seville, far south in Spain, was a refreshing sight. Modern yet charming at the same time. We left our hostel in the quaint neighbourhood of Triana, and headed for the city center.

Crossing the Triana Bridge

Although many call it a bloodsport, bullfighting in Spain, especially in Southern Spain, here in Seville, is a cultural event and part of the heritage. When it is reported in the news, it is reported in the “Culture” section, and not the “Sports” section, and bullfighters are like superstars. Young girls idolize them, and each has their own fans.

And so, we simply had to, at the very least, pay a visit to the bullring. We bought our €5 ticket to the tour of the bullring, and not long after, we were off. The tour was mainly in Spanish for the rest of the Spanish tourist, but the guide also had to, after giving the explanation in Spanish, stop and explain the same thing all over again in English, almost exclusively to the six of us!

The Toreadors' Chapel

Mother of the bull that killed the legendary matador, Joselito.

Bullfighting takes place from March to October each year, every Sunday evening. But, during the Abril Feria (April Fair), the pros take to the stage, and there are fights every evening. (Compared to novice toreadors and small bulls during the rest of the season) We were in Seville right smack in the middle of the Fair, and it was a great opportunity to partake in this particularly Spanish tradition! We were hoping to buy the cheapest tickets (high seats, facing the sun, €22), but these were sold out, and we were left with purchasing the next cheapest ones at €32.50. Pricey, but in my opinion, well worth it. After all, how many times in your life do you get the chance to watch an authentic bullfight with the locals?

We next went around the charming streets of the city of Seville, and at the same time, did a little souvenir hunting. And then, disaster struck! It started to rain! We found shelter in a fast food joint (Burger King), and decided to have lunch here.

Walking the streets of Seville.

The rain subsided a little, and came to a stop. We exited back onto the streets, only to find them completely empty and the shops, all closed! It was siesta time! Every Spaniard’s gone to have his/her afternoon nap, and all the shops were closed to 5pm! There was nothing left to do in town!

We hence come to a decision to carry on to our next place of interest, the Basilica de la Macarena. As we proceeded to the bus stop, it started, again, to rain really heavily!

Marcus: "Help! I'm getting wet! I'm melting!"

We found our way onto the bus though, and not long after, we were in the Macarena neighbourhood. With a little bit of difficulty, we eventually located the Basilica. To our surprise, it was closed too, until 4.45pm! Well it seems, in Spain even religious people need their siesta!

We hung around the neighbourhood, waiting for the basilica to open, and at the same time hoping for the sun to reappear so that we would have a dry bullfight that evening. Just before the basilica finally opened, the skies turned ominously dark. Hak Liang and Derrick then very generously volunteered to give the church a miss, and headed back to the hostel to grab their jackets and ponchos, and at the same time, the rest of ours as well.

The other four of us entered the church.

The Basilica de la Macarena is home to the famous and most revered images in Seville, the weeping virgin, the Virgen de la Macarena, a.k.a. La Esperanza. She is the patron saint of bullfighters, each year on Good Friday, the holiest day of Semana Santa, the fraternity dedicated to La Macarena appears in procession, leading her image through the city streets in mourning for the death of her son.

Soon after, we were back at the bullring to watch the bullfight! The event was like going to a major football game! Everyone was there, young and old, and it was crowded beyond believe. We took our seats and met back up with Hak Liang and Derrick, we very kindly delivered us our waterproof gear. The atmosphere was electric, and we were seated amongst locals, so it doesn’t get more authentic that what we got!

At the bullring during the bullfight!

As the sun started to set, the bullfighters and their teams took to the ring and paraded. And then in came the first bull for the first fight!

The fight is highly ritualized, and starts with the first stage, signaled by a trumpet call, and matador (main star) and the banderilleros (his “assistants” on foot) test the bull for ferocity with a magenta and gold cape. Next, a picador (on horseback, horse is padded with armour to protect it) enters and the bull charges the horse (as the horse is the bull’s natural enemy). This provides important clues to which side the bull favours when charging. The picador stabs the mound of muscle on the bull’s back and this is its first lost of blood.

In the second stage, also signaled by a trumpet call, banderilleros stick razor sharp barbed sticks into the back of the bull, further weakening it neck and shoulder muscles, while also spurring the bull into making more ferocious charges.

In the final stage, the matador takes to the stage alone with a red cape and a short. With the knowledge of the bull he has earned from the last two stages, he uses the cape to attract the bull in a series of passes, demonstrating his control over the bull and his fearlessness by risking his life in this “dance with death”. Finally, the matador maneuvers the bull into position and he stabs the bull through its shoulder blades and into its aorta, killing it quickly and cleanly.

The bull is then dragged out of the ring by a team of mules.

In each bullfight, there are 3 matadors and their teams, and each fights 2 bulls. So each evening, 6 bulls are killed.

The show was entertaining, with the crowd so passionate at shouting “oles” at good passes made by the matador, as well as jeering so loudly at one stage. It would have been better if we understood what was going on though, especially what they were shouting about!

Into the 6th bull, it started to rain. And it started to rain really really heavily. Our gear was not able to keep us dry in the torrential downpour, and so we decided to leave, running all the way back to the hostel, stopping only at the supermarket to pick up ingredients for a homecooked dinner.

These 4: The 4 cooks of the day

These 2 (left and right): The dish-washing team waiting to be fed.

Dinner!

That night, we were supposed to attend the festival parties where there would be flamenco dancing and all sorts of festivities. It was the April Fair, and the city of Seville was supposed to be alive! Very very unfortunately, it rained as hard as we had ever seen before, and we had no choice but to stay indoors. I don’t think the street processions could carry on in such heavy rains anyway… Well, we’ve had plenty of good luck in terms of having dry weather. I guess it was about time it rained… Bummer though…

Day 20: Seville

2008-04-10T00:36:00.001+08:00

Tuesday, 8th April 2008

	19ºC
	14ºC

We awoke to the sound of rain hitting the roofs. It didn’t seem like the rain would let up. We were in Seville for the April Fair, and the heavens were raining down, heavy as can be.

We had a hearty breakfast, courtesy of the wonderful hostel. Then we waited for the rain to stop.

And then we waited.

And then we contemplated going out in the rain. But it was too heavy.

And then we waited.

Should we just walk in the rain? No! It’s too heavy, even with an umbrella!

And then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And it was afternoon.

Siesta time!

Oh! Screw the rain! Eh, squek la! Its only drizzling now, so let’s go for a walk!

Today, we ended up not doing much. We walked to the city center of Seville, where we took a look at the Seville Cathedral. It is the largest medieval gothic religious building in the world, by area and volume, measuring 76 by 115 metres. It was built on where the old mosque used to stand after the Reconquista when the Christians drove the Muslims out of Spain.

Us in the rain in front of the cathedral.

It was then we realized that we were in our fifth day in Spain, and we had yet to savour Spanish tapas! We walked up and down Gago street, known as the tapas street of Seville, looking for a good tapas store, in the rain! We eventually settled in a small shop, crowded enough to convince us it was good. Thankfully, the waiter here spoke English, and was friendly enough to make us feel comfortable in an authentic Spanish setting. We ordered our choices, and what a treat it was!

Fried Squid Rings

Ham and Mint Coquettes

Ham and Cheese Rolls

Pork Loin in Garlic Sauce

Mushrooms in Garlic Sauce

Oxtail Stew

Spanish Sausage

Lamb Couscous

Grilled Halibut

With our stomachs filled, we headed back to the hostel. Here, we called a cab, and headed to the airport, a 15 minute ride away. The airport was surprisingly small for such a major city like Seville. But anyhow, we checked ourselves in, and bought ourselves some snacks before our Ryanair flight into London.

Couple of hours later, we were in London!

A long long bus ride into the heart of London, followed by a walk and another bus ride, we arrived at Chun Yang's hostel at 3am.

Exhausted.

Day 21: London

2008-04-09T20:52:00.005+08:00

Wednesday, 9th April 2008

	12ºC
	3ºC

We awoke late this morning, recovering from the late night before. As we were too tired, we had decided that we would not follow our plans this morning, and would go to see the Change of Guards at Buckingham palace on the next morning instead. It wasn’t supposed to be a problem, as in April, the guards changed daily. Daryl soon woke up and sleepily, commented “Let’s just check the schedule on the website to be sure,” Chun Yang agreed, and did so on his laptop, only to reply, “You guys are screwed!”

THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE IN THE SCHEDULE AND THE GUARD CHANGE WILL NOT TAKE PLACE DAILY IN APRIL BUT ON THE FOLLOWING DATES ONLY:
1st,3rd,5th,7th,9th,11th,13th,15th,17th,19th,21st,23rd,25th,27th,29th

There was no guard change the next day! Our only chance to see it was today! It was 10:40am, and the ceremony was at 11am. It took us a good few seconds to recover from the shock. Then we rushed to wash up, change into our warm clothing, and less than 5 minutes later, we were outside rushing towards the underground. (This day, CY did not join us as he wanted to stay in to study…)

We bought ourselves single trip tube tickets (£4!) and took the short 2 stop ride from Gloucester Road station to Victoria. We got lost shortly along the way because we had not a compass, but we soon found our way to Buckingham palace, where we were just on time (11am) for the ceremony! The crowds were unbelievable. It was as if every single tourist in London had gathered all together in on spot for the ceremony. But rightly so too, as the Change of Guard at Buckingham palace IS a major highlight.

The Ceremony - One of the bands performing a pop piece to entertain the public.

The Captains of the GuardsBand of the Irish Guards

The Queen's Guards from ARRC Support Battalion

View of "The Mall" from Buckingham Palace

When the ceremony was over, we started our long walk towards Westminster. We walked though one of London’s many parks, St James’ Park, where we enjoyed the flowers and the picturesque sceneries. It is hard to imagine that such serenity exists in a ultra-metropolitan city like London.

Following lunch, we continued with our long walk towards Westminster. We were met with the site of some of London’s most famous icons.

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

Westminster Palace / Parliament House

London Eye

Our next stop was Hyde Park, very much famous for the speaker’s corner. Unfortunately, when we were there, there was not a single speaker, which was a disappointment. Nonetheless, it was also a beautiful park with plenty of wide open spaces, and it was a joy to walk through with such fine weather and such beautiful skies.

We soon arrived at another London icon – Harrods. Harrods is probably most well known as one of the most extravagant and expensive department stores in the world. Walking around, we could understand why. A shirt that costs £1400? Or a £8 char siew bao at the food section? Nevertheless, it was an experience to have looked in Harrods. It is said that the service in this department store is legendary and is touted as a store sells “everything”. One story goes, a man walks into the store and asks for an elephant. That sounds impossible to accomplish. But in Harrods, they called a zoo, purchased an elephant, and sold it to the man. Amazing!

In this store also houses a memorial to Princess Diana, and Dodi, the son of Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed.

We also took the chance to visit the “luxury toilets”, which were spotlessly clean and luxurious, and even had a member of staff inside to greet you when you enter and when you leave. It even has separate doors, one for entry, and one for exit. I didn’t know running a toilet could be so complex!

It was late afternoon, and we had to be off to our next destination. We met up with the Londoner, Chun Yang, who brought us to China Town.

Here, we, for the first time in three weeks, tasted some authentic Chinese food. Dinner was a satisfying meal of roast meats and rice. Never tasted better.

We were at West End, and what better thing to do than to watch a West End theatre production? Our musical of choice this evening was Avenue Q. In a few words, it is basically about a group of 20 and 30-something year olds living on Avenue Q in New York, trying to find their purpose in life. The show has puppet characters on top of human ones, and they sing about real life issues such as racism, depression, sex and internet porn, and even includes puppet sex. Surely not one for the kids! Musical numbers include “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist Sometimes”, “The Internet is For Porn” and “If You Were Gay”. It was a great show, and we all enjoyed it thoroughly.

In the Noel Coward Theatre

Avenue Q is one of those shows you wouldn’t expect to see in Singapore anytime soon. But guess what? The Philippine production is coming to Singapore for two weeks on 31 October 2008! Tickets go on sale 31 May, and can I say, I highly recommend this wonderful musical. Catch it if you can! You won’t regret it!

The night was late by the time the show ended, and we left back for the hostel, where we checked into our own individual rooms for the night.

Day 22: London

2008-04-08T22:36:00.002+08:00

Thursday, 10th April 2008

	12ºC
	4ºC

Day 2 in London brought us to another museum. This time, it was the British museum. The British museum is one of the most comprehensive in the world, with a collection from all corners of the world (remember how far the British Empire stretched) and spanning from the beginning of civilization to modern art. This was a enormous museum. And it was all free, as museums in London are all free entry!

The Rosetta Stone: the key that deciphered hieroglyphics

Following a lunch at a nearby café, we headed towards the Tower of London. We bought our tickets from the ticketing office, and entered the palace. We were lucky enough to catch the last free guided tour of the day, conducted by a Yeoman Warder, more commonly known as a Beefeater. These are guards of the palace, and they actually live in the compounds with their families. How do they become Yeoman Warders, they need to have served in Her Majesty’s Army, Royal Marines or Royal Airforce for 22 years, reached the rank of Warrant Officer, and hold Long Service and Good Conduct medals. (Not from the navy as members of the Navy take oaths to the Admiralty, not the crown) I’m not sure exactly how much of their original duties of guarding the tower and the crown jewels they actually still do today, but they are undoubtedly today, a tourist attraction in their own right!

Yeoman Warder

Traitor's Gate

White Tower

Original Tudor House: Built by Henry VIII for Ann Boleyn

We soon exited the Tower of London to see the famous Tower Bridge.

The day ended with a visit to Covent Garden, where we spent a while watching street buskers plying their trade, at the same time, shuffling constantly to safer positions, not wanting to be grabbed as a volunteer to help in the performace.

Dinner was again in the vicinity of China Town. This time, we had a good Japanese restaurant. It was here that Derrick left us to catch his second musical in two nights.

For the rest of us, as the sky started to turn dark, we headed back, stopping on the way to see Chelsea’s football stadium, Stamford Bridge.

Day 23: Liverpool

2008-04-07T08:42:00.004+08:00

Friday, 11th April 2008

	10ºC
	4ºC

From the perspective of Hak Liang, Alwyn and Chun Yang.

Day number 23 of the trip, the day which the three of us have been eagerly waiting for, to visit the football club that we have supported for many years.

Our day started very early in the morning, the 3 of us planned to meet at 5.15am at the main entrance of the hostel, to take the first train to Euston train station. Hak Liang, who overslept the day before, managed to wake up on time, but got a surprise when he went up to Chun Yang and Alwyn's room at 5.15am to find them still asleep!

After a quick wash up, we were soon on our way, jogging all the way from the hostel to Gloucester Road Station, which was a 10 minutes walk away. Luckily, we still managed to catch the first train.

At Euston, we took another train, this time a 3 hour long and boring journey from London to Liverpool.

Finally at 9.30am, we arrived at Liverpool Lime Street, where we took took a bus to to Anfield Stadium, the home of Liverpool FC. It was on the bus where we first noticed the distinctive Scouse accent of the Liverpudlians, coming from the bus driver.

Upon entering the stadium gates, we see the statue of one of Liverpool's greatest ever manager, Bill Shankly.

The tour group consisted of mainly Liverpool fans, but had one fan each from Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, and the tour guides, who were 2 ladies, had fun teasing the Arsenal supporter throughout the whole tour over Liverpool's dramatic victory over the Gunners in the Champions' League just 3 days ago.

After entering through the players entrance to the stadium, our first stop for the tour was the home team's changing room. Just like many other football clubs, we were told that the away team's changing room were specially designed to affect their opponents in a negative way. One thing that Liverpool did was that the floors of the away team's changing room were smooth and polished, to increase the chances of their opponents slipping when they walked around with their boots in the changing room. Whereas the home team's changing room had stickier floors to prevent slipping.

One interesting thing is that the door to the home team changing room is smaller than the door of the away team changing room, this is to make the Liverpool players look bigger sized when their opponents see them coming out from their changing room.

After taking a few photos at the changing room, we proceeded on to the stands, walking through the tunnel, and touching the famous "This is Anfield" sign, which the Liverpool players touched before every match for good luck.

The stadium and stands may not be as big as the Nou Camp which we visited at Barcelona, but it was still very beautiful and filled with very rich history.

After the tour was over, we continued with our visit at the museum, before going down to the club's store to do some shopping.

Istanbul 2005

After lunch, we walked around Liverpool City Centre while waiting for our train back to London at 8pm. Initially, we intended to visit the Liverpool FC Official Store, which was located near the train station, just before going to the train station. But when we went there at 5.30pm, we were surprised to find out that it just closed! That was when we realised almost every shop in Liverpool closed at 5.30pm. Having nothing to do all the way till around 7 plus, we had no choice but to sit in Burger King and wait.

It was another 3 hour long and boring journey back to London, but I guess it was all worth it.

Day 23: London

2008-04-07T01:48:00.003+08:00

Friday, 11th April 2008

	12ºC
	6ºC

Written by Daryl

The day started at 7.30am in the morning, way before my alarm was due to go off. Afraid that I would fall back into deep slumber and miss my appointment, I dragged myself out of bed, acknowledging to myself that I was alone in the room as my roommate had long departed for the city of Liverpool earlier that morning. There was no breakfast this morning, but instead, I spent the morning reading yesterday’s newspapers.

Traveling alone was such an exciting prospect. I strode confidently into the station, and subsequently into the carriage, behaving as though I knew where I was going, trying my best to not stick out like a bright-eyed (and usually hopelessly lost) tourist normally would. Navigating the London Underground is quite the feat, but after two days of practice before, it had become a breeze. Transferring at the right stations, covering several pages of the day’s morning papers along the way, I found myself at the Arsenal Underground Station, not before too long.

My first intention of the day was to visit the stadium of Arsenal Football Club, and there I was, at Arsenal station, right at the doorstep. Arsenal FC has the distinction of being the only club to have a tube station named after it. Herbert Chapman, the revolutionary post-war Arsenal manager, lobbied to change the name of the Gillespie Road underground station, as parts of his publicity efforts for the club. It was within a few years of his lobbying, that this was accomplished, and this day, I was using this very station.

As I exited into North London, I was met with strong cold winds. But, it was not long after that I turned into a corner to be greeted by the most amazing sight of the Arsenal stadium amidst the residential buildings. With almost a full half hour to spare before the start of my guided tour of the stadium, I proceeded to explore the perimeter of one of the most modern football stadiums in the world. As an Arsenal fan, the exhilaration of knowing that I was there, at “The Home of Football”, sent waves of excitement down my spine.

My guided tour started promptly at 9.30pm, with our entrance to the stadium via the Director’s entrance. Surely there was no grander way to make an entrance!

We were first brought through the directors’ lounge, to the Director’s Box, where the clubs directors and important personalities (celebrities, politicians, rich people) would sit to watch the match. It was here I got my first glimpse of the much celebrated well-maintained pitch that had been associated with Arsenal since their days in Highbury. I got the chance to sit on the directors’ seats as well – leather, padded, spacious and comfortable – no better way to watch a match! Of course, the guide also explained that The Emirates Stadium has the most spacious and widest seats in all the football stadiums in the whole of England, matched only by one other club. (You are going to have to find that one out yourself – this club isn’t a premier league club. And don’t ask me… I don’t know either!)

After finishing up with some last snaps of the directors’ box and the views it offered, the tour group was ushered down to level one, to the entrance where the players arrived through on match day. From here, we continued on to the Arsenal dressing room, and viewed all of its cutting edge facilities.

Next up – pitch side! The group was led down the corridor, and out through the tunnel, onto the pitch side. Here, we viewed the bench, as well as the stadium from pitch level. At The Emirates Stadium, grass is seeded on a field of synthetic grass, and when it grows, the two bind, forming an ultra-tough surface, which can withstand 5 to 6 football games without showing any damage. State-of –the-art, compared to the pitch conditions at many other Premier League stadiums!

The last part of the tour was the press area. Here, we sat down at the press conference room, where the manager Arsene would give his post match interviews to the press. In the next room was the press lounge, where journalist got free internet access, a free flow of drinks and hot food, as well as a well furnished area. No wonder this stadium was voted the journalist’s favourite last season!

While the guided tour of the stadium was over, a visit to the Arsenal museum was in order. This museum showcased the rich and glorious history of the club, and what it means to be Arsenal.

The visit to the stadium only renewed my pride as an Arsenal fan. As much as the club has not won any trophies this season, what makes Arsenal the illustrious club it is, is the never give up spirit of the team, and the flamboyant flair and class of their game. Not only does the club want to win, but winning in style is just as important. Not many clubs can say that.

I had intended to make my way to the old Highbury stadium, which is now a construction site, undergoing development as part of a residential project, but it started to rain and hail too heavily. Finding shelter after a mad dash to the underground station, I waited for a good 20 minutes, but the cruel skies did not show any sign of clearing up at all. And so I left, heading back towards central London. Do I regret it? Maybe. But then again, maybe I will be back there again in the future. The next time though, a seat in the stands on a match day might be a good addition!

The day was still young, and there was still lots more to see and explore in the metropolis of London. Having already seen the third largest and largest domes of the world, I felt that a visit to respectable number two was necessary. This of course, was none other than St Paul’s Cathedral. The rain had lightened but not stopped when I exited the underground. Walking through the wet weather, I found St Paul’s, and now, at this moment, I can claim to have seen the three largest domes in the world!

In recent times, London has come to be known for its street markets. One of its most famous is the Camden Markets, and this was just my next destination. This large network of markets consists of several small markets, and covers a sprawling area. The markets sold tee-shirts, souvenirs, and other cute little knick-knacks, and also consist a food market where you could find all sorts of ethnic foods. Regrettably, I was not sure I had enough cash to last through the day, and had to settle on a £1.35 cold pasta snack from the nearby Somerfield supermarket.

My next underground ride took me to Temple station, where I caught a glimpse of The Royal Courts of Justice (closed to the public), and tried to find Middle Temple (one of the four Inns of Courts). Sadly to say, despite my best efforts, I could not seem to find it, as much as it was so clearly indicated on my map. In fact, I wasn’t even sure it was much of a tourist attraction!

As I was only in the vicinity, I decided to visit the Wobbly Bridge. No, I’m just kidding, really, its called the Millennium Bridge (surely you know the story?).

On the Millennium Bridge, with St Paul's in the background.

Across the River Thames on the other bank of the bridge was the British Tate Museum, which I only looked at on the outside, and did not enter. After all, modern art really isn’t my thing.

A long long walk along the banks of the River Thames and then again across it via the Waterloo bridge brought me to Trafalgar Square. From here, I looked for 10 Downing Street, only to find that the whole street was gated up and heavily guarded by policemen. There was no way I was going to even get a decent view of the Prime Minister’s office. And I didn’t think it was a good idea to put my hands on the gates and peek through it with at so many policemen around.

10 Downing Street is behind those gates!

As it was Spring, the days were long, and I waited and waited in the hopes that the skies would darken so I could get some night views of the city of London. At 8pm, it was still bright, but the sun had just disappeared into the backdrops. They say that the London eye is to London what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. I decided that since I was there, there was no harm in taking the £15 “flight”. I bought my ticket at 8pm, only to find that I had very fortunately, bought the last ticket. Very quickly, we were ushered into the capsules, and off we went.

As the wheel went round, the skies began to darken, and I was treated with the marvelous view of London at dusk, and very soon after, London all lit up in the dark.

30 minutes later, I was back on the ground, but at least, I was thinking to myself, “That was pretty worth it!”

It was dark, and Westminster Palace was all lit up. Numerous photographers had set up shop on the banks of the River Thames across from Westminster Palace to try to capture the beautiful sight. I took my place beside them, and whipped out my Sony DSC-T10 camera. Of course, this paled in comparison to the professional equipment of the serious photographers. Nonetheless, I did my best and got the best shots that I could.

And why not, the London Eye all lit up in the night sky.

My day of solo adventure ended with the ride back to Gloucester Road on the underground, and then a long search for the one particular kebab stall (recommended by Chun Yang the night before, and I, foolishly, did not ask for clear enough directions). Well, it was… good!

Day 23: Outside London

2008-04-07T00:12:00.006+08:00

Friday, 11th April 2008

	12ºC
	2ºC

Written by Derrick.

Day 23 of the trip, the day which I was secretly looking forward to. Probably it might be the highlight of the whole trip. The day started out simple, I managed to climb out of bed after returning late from watching the "Lord of the Rings" musical at Leicester square. At just 0630hrs, the sun was already up as I made my way to Gloucester station, not forgetting to grab a few croissant and a chocolate milkshake as breakfast.

Taking my own sweet time, I still managed to reach Euston station WAY before the appointed time. And so, took a slow walk around and explored the vicinity, buses and train to everywhere, probably where the 3 fellas took their train off to Liverpool quite some time before me.

Met up with Melanie, my tour guide for the day, as she led me off to Victoria bus station, where I would start off my whole full tour around the outskirts of London. My first stop was Windsor Castle, and it didn't take long before we reached. As we proceeded to the ticketing booth, our friendly tour guide bombarded us with loads of information in her Queen's accent.

Here goes, the Windsor Castle is one of the principal official residences of the British Monarch, together with Buckingham Palace in London & Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends of the year at the castle, using it for both state and private entertaining. Her other 2 residences, Sandringham House & Balmoral Castle, are the Royal Family's private homes.

As we entered Windsor castle, we were greeted by hundreds of Brits and Americans there during their vacation. Here, you have the Upper Ward where the private apartments are located, the Round Tower & also the exterior facade of the South Wing, which gave the castle its symmetrical facade seen from the Long Walk.

Well, it proved a tad wasted to not being able to take pictures within the residences itself. Shelves of rapiers & foils, coupled with insignia formed up medieval pistols, the coat of arms of all the military units present in the United Kingdom. Aye, dang.

Many of the Charles II state rooms which remained after George III's redecorations were redesigned in Gothic Style, most notably St. George's Hall, which was doubled in length. Roofed over a courtyard, was the creation of the Waterloo Chamber. This vast hall lit by a clerestory was designed to celebrate the victors of the Battle of Waterloo and was hung with portraits of the allied sovereigns who vanquished Napolean.

Of course, not to mention, the daily Change of Guards they have.

Travelling down, we have the St. George's Chapel in the Lower Ward. The famed King Edward IV who was the first Yorkist King, who was said to be addicted to "the advauncement of vaine pompe" started construction, in 1475 whose architecture is in the Perpendicular Gothic Style.

Yeap, another you-shall-not-take-any-pictures-inside venue. Pity eh? then again, here you have, all the views of the chapel from the outside.

Here's a picture of the Windsor Castle Guard of the Foot Guards of the Household division.

And it was goodbye to the Royal Residence.

Back to the bus, I unknowingly fell asleep, only to wake up to another session of information overload by my dear tour guide. Soon enough, it was lunch at the 'Stonehenge inn'. A warm welcome by the country folks, and I was treated to a sumptuous main course of stewed beef with london pastry. Yum yum.

Of course, now to what I deemed to be the highlight of the whole trip. This WAS supposed to be a secret. YES I TRAVELLED MORE THAN 10,000km JUST TO SEE THIS. THE STONEHENGE!!! MUAHAHAHAHHA. Ok sorry. Just another set of standing stones? But nope, I'm not that crazy to spend a whole day staring at stones. Well, here you go, the mystical stonehenge.

Many aspects of Stonehenge remain subject to debate. And yes we know it has something to do with Celts, but there are all those out-of-the-world theories include how Merlin summoned the stones, so on and so forth. Over the years, authors suggested supernatural or anachronistic methods were used, of course, asserting that the stones were impossible to move.

What I think? Its a temple.

Friar's Heel

According to folklore, the Devil bought the stones from a woman in Ireland, wrapped them up, and brought them to Salisbury plain. One of the stones fell into the Avon, the rest were carried to the plain. The Devil then cried out, "No one will ever find out how these stones came here!" The friar replied, "that's what you think!" where upon the Devil threw one of those stones at him and struck him on the heel. The stone stuck in the ground and is still there.

Stonehenge Fact 101. This is a place of pilgrimage for neo-druids and those following pagan or neo-pagan beliefs. The midsummer sunrise began attacting modern visitors in the 1870s, with the first record of recreated Druids practices dating to 1905 when the Ancient Order of Druids enacted a ceremony.

Here's more pictures of the Stonehenge.

Spending a good 2 hours there, I got a miniature model of the Stonehenge, not to mention some illustrated texts, not found in Singapore. I've struck gold!

Next up was the Town of Bath. The main feature - thermae. This was the word used by Ancient Romans for buildings housing their public baths.

Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centers of public bathing and socialization. Baths were extremely important for Romans, whom stayed there for hours and went daily. All in a nutshell, its your modern day gym, whereby the Romans, usually accompanied by a slave, paid their fee, entered, strip naked, put on sandals to protect their feet from the heated floors. After bathing, they exercised, and did things such as running, weight lifting and such.

Well, won't go deeper into the details and historical aspects, but do enjoy the pictures.

Leaving the Roman Bath, went into the central city of Bath for a walk. Unique terraced architecture, and steep slopes. And this is the famed Bath Abbey amongst the city centre.

Not exactly a place for me, walked around and stopped for a little ice chocolate by the fudge house. Yum. Yum. Yum. Handmade fudge.

Then it was time to head back to London. More countryside pictures for your entertainment.

Upon reaching Gloucester Road, took the tube down to Picadilly. Took an uberly long time at Soho. Walked down Leicester, Picadilly, Trafalgar Square, Oxford & Regent area before taking a bus back to the Southwell Halls at Imperial Collage.

There you go, the countryside, scenic route I took for the day.