Le voyage d'une vie

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

=) go try this out. see my name on the left? haha... it's really fun. go try with both chinese and english names, see which one you prefer. oh yeah, remember, put your surname first, and please select your gender correctly.

the link is on the left, but you can also click this link: http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/969/ to access.

now i have a japanese name! =P

Labels: randomness

Saturday, April 26, 2008

next week: last week of lessons!

i'm coming back real sooon... haha... soon u're gonna miss not having me ard. =P

enjoy the last few weeks b4 i come back. muahaha... *evil grin*

well, it's getting pretty warm here. hitting 12 degrees already. woohoo! feel the heat man. (ok kidding, pity u in singapore. i'm so gonna die of heat stroke when i'm back...) i actually do not turn on the heater and i open my window at night. AND i don't have to wear that thick winter coat anymore!!! muahaha... locals actually go about in short sleeve tshirts n shorts. that's way too much 4 me though. haha... one thing's for sure, i'm gonna miss the cool weather here... :)

i'm waiting for leaves to grow on the trees. will they grow b4 i leave?

Labels: digressions and distractions, mad ramblings

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

hey peeps,

yeah, finally got all the photos on my europe trip uploaded. go check out: http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn271/evenevemel/Europe%20Trip/

used photobucket cos there's no limit to uploading, unlike flixter, and not as troublesome as facebook, where u can only upload max 50 photos each time... haha...

there's many photos, so take your time to look thru. and yeah, once u get to that page, click the subalbum links on the left. i organised them by the countries and cities i went.

:)

Labels: travels

Monday, April 21, 2008

ok class, today we're learning about florence, or firenze, as it is known in italy. *snigger* class is over. let's get serious. =P Florence is a beautiful place, full of culture and fantastic art. florentine (and italian) painters and artists are renowned. names like michelangelo, leonardo (da vinci, not di caprio, like janet thinks... lol), and botticelli are famous names, and much of their artwork (some the most famous in the world) is displayed here, in galleries. fantastic.

florence is part of tuscany, a beautiful place, which i unfortunately did not have the opportunity to visit in detail. tuscany also includes pisa, and siena (another famous art place). spent about 2 days here (4-6april), and it was really great.

we actually literally bumped into our american flatmate meghan n her friends. we ended up traveling on the same train (from venice to florence), in the same carriage. AND stayed in the same hostel. how's that for a coincidence? AND we bumped into each other again in rome. it can get pretty freaky at times. haha...

anyway, here are some photos of florence. bet u'll love it. :)

Day 1:

the statue of David (by michelangelo). one of the most famous works ever. n actually photography is not allowed. =P

the duomo (cathedral).

inside the duomo

the dome. the artwork's fabulous.

Day 2:

there's this market which sells fruit very cheaply, and also plenty of dried fruits. yummy! the dried mango is one of the best i've ever tasted. they also have dried melon, papaya, banana, etc...

in a public square, a replica of the famous david. there are altogether 3 davids in florence (1 real in the gallery, 2 replicas in public areas)

a very famous bridge (not sure why, but on many postcards). links the 2 parts of florence together. very pretty bridge :)

found this in a bookshop. pop-up storybook of moby-dick! simply have 2 show this 2 my american lit prof. haha... i nearly died reading it last sem, n they do a kiddy pop-up version of it?!

ok, here i am, past the bridge u saw jus now. so i'm on the other side, waiting for the sun 2 set. u'll noe why later. =D

some of the cutest cars i've ever seen!

this car is pretty common throughout europe. not sure why, but i really like its compactness. wish they had something like this in singapore... i'd b able 2 drive in something like that. :)

voila! now u see it... beautiful sunset... more below. no more words. just enjoy it.

ok, liked the sunset? if u do go to florence in future, go across the bridge, to piazza michelangelo, where i caught this sunset. really great. oh, btw, the other replica of david is at the piazza michelangelo. lol. n please check the sunset times. haha... i mean, if u go in winter it's bound 2 be much earlier, n if u go in summer, sunset will probably be at 8 or 9pm... haha...

hope u look forward to the next post!

Labels: travels

Friday, April 18, 2008

took a one day trip from rome to pisa (by train). actually makes more sense to go from florence to pisa, so take note of that k? haha...
pisa is small, but it does have a number of attractions. but of course the most important is the cathedral, together with its famed leaning tower... most people just take a day trip to pisa, and it's more than enough. an afternoon would be enough actually. and if you don't have the moolah, u can spend even less time there. to go up the tower would cost you 15EUR, and tours of the cathedral etc have different prices. anyway, on to the photos!!!

the famed duomo (cathedral) in the piazza dei miracoli

the baptistry (same place)

ah... u see how it leans? scroll further down for cooler leaning pics! haha...

we went up the tower, which doesn't really look slanted (not on photo anyway), but felt really strange. we were climbing up the stairs, n could really feel the leaning. anyway, the view's great from the tower.

yup, so that's me.

the duomo as seen from the tower

just trying to show how it slants. good?

and from the main door itself, u can see the slant. haha...

the whole tower! quite an obvious slant rite?

the same, in greyscale

it's really nice to see people jus having fun. we had a picnic on the grass too :)

we, as in janet and me, as well as celia (janet's friend) who joined us for paris and italy! they both LOVE taking photos. seen here, they're examining the photos i took for them n having a good laugh at some of the crazy ones. =P

the duomo with pisa in the backdrop. cool?

ended our day walking back to the train station, passing the river. it's beautiful. and the houses. i have to say, the houses in europe are so colourful and so quaint. if only singapore houses could be like that. :)

today i'm gonna upload my stuff on my time in switzerland. switzerland is an absolutely fantastic place, especially if you like nature and peace and quiet. sadly i was there only for a weekend, which is way too short to go places. we wanted to go to jungfrau, which is a very famous snow mountain, but the journey from geneva was long, and it is too expensive to go. costs about 300 swiss francs by train, which makes it about... 400SGD *whew* =) and we wanted to go to luzern, which is also a very nice place, but also cost way too much. about 140 francs by train. so in the end, we stayed in geneva, and had a very nice time there, and went for a day trip to lausanne (which sounds very much like luzern, so be careful and don't mix the 2 up). Lausanne is significant for its being the HQ of the IOC (internation olympic committee) and has a museum on it. really pretty nice trip overall.

hostel wise, we stayed in HI (hostelling international, which has branches in various places). judging from this one we stayed in, i would recommend this to most people. it is the largest hostel we stayed in, price is average, goes by key-card system (including a locker which is secure), includes breakfast (which is comparably good). of course, have to pay for internet access, and they have laundry facilities and so on. more importantly, the staff are helpful and friendly. website for HI is: http://www.hihostels.com/web/index.en.htm in case anyone wants to travel around in future. for switzerland in particular, this website is better than hostelworld (which has pathetically limited offerings for switzerland in particular, for some strange reason): http://youthhostel.ch/home.html?&L=1 or http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/?rubrique=0000000000&lang=_eng (for geneva only)

one of the highlights of this trip was our flight from switzerland to venice. we were supposed to go by train, but there were some problems with the booking of train, and ended up, the flight was cheaper than train, and by far better! one of the nicest airlines in the world (and it is a SMALL airline). the name is "fly baboo" and the website is http://www.flybaboo.com/ it operates only from switzerland to a number of neighbouring countries (luckily for us to venice), and also back. wanted to get the model plane for daniel, but they didnt have it... sad... it is a very cute plane. not a plane actually... hmmm... well, have a look at the photos below. :)

Day 1 (geneva):

cute flower clock!

street with flags. love flags. =P

isn't he cute??? haha... it was nice and warm. i repeat. WARM. (unlike leeds...)

rather famous fountain on lake geneve (managed to catch it just as the yellow boat passed under it, and the fountain looked kinda like the sail of the boat. haha...)

bought a new pair of shoes cos my cheap 4pound shoes from primarks gave out on me. these caused about 29francs, which is really cheap already. and i saw a similar one later in the day (branded of course, but looking almost the same) and that one cost 100francs. good buy! :D

Day 2 (geneva):

we visited the UN. u just have to. it was great. this chair, outside the UN, does not belong to the UN, but is significant as a piece of art regarding the issue of land mines (notice the broken chair leg) really meaningful

more flags :) anyway they have a guided tour of the UN. u can't enter without going for the tour anyway. security issues. but do go for it. it's really educational and eye-opening.

this is china's tribute to the UN. many countries have given something or other. what's cool about this (which i can't show here) is the slight optical illusion. if u walk from one side of the painting to the next, u'll see that the path follows u; it is always directly in front of u. so no matter where u stand, the path leads to the pagoda. :)

now what does this remind u of? "the interpreter", of course!

cool postcard (couldn't afford to buy it)

wat more fitting than to have the red cross directly opposite the un?

from the red cross, you can see the un building, and to the right of it, in the background is mont blanc! we were very lucky to catch a good view of it. it's not everyday that u can see this peak.

in the evening we came back to the lake. u can see how strong the wind is by the fountain...

isn't this the sweetest thing u ever saw???

location: lake geneva. date: 30 march. time: 1940hrs. 7.40pm!!! (well not so much of a surprise now that the sun only STARTS to set in leeds at 8pm. and may i add that the sun RISES at 6am. be thankful, singaporeans! =P)

Day 3 (lausanne):

not so good weather, raining... visited a number of churches and buildings

got lost! with me holding the map. lol. but found these cute houses along the way. :)

of course, the olympic museum! decorated for 2008's beijing olympics.

singapore's national olympic council :)

countdown to beijing 2008!

the olympic fire

a pretty nice view, also of lake geneva, but from lausanne

the train station, where the sign says: lausanne capital olympic

this is janet. finally u get 2 meet her. haha... we went to this restaurant to eat cheese fondue.

big mistake, cos it contained alcohol, n we both don't drink, don't like to drink, n totally couldn't finish it! but a very good experience, though we almost died trying to eat more... lol

Day 4 (geneva airport):

fly baboo!!! cool rite? this is the boarding area, where u wait ard 2 board e plane. those who have flown b4 would have had their fair share of lounging ard, and u noe how uncomfortable some places can get... and boring...

well, not here! here they had 3 mac computers for free usage!!! ah!!! haha

and just look at those comfy chairs man...

and this is the plane. so cute!!! has propellers, u see? it's a really small airline with small planes. probably seat no more than 50 passengers. so it was really comfy and cosy and fun.

see the propellers? haha...

and i have to mention, the service onboard was fantastic. 2 flight attendants, very professional and friendly. and our flight was barely an hour, but we were served food. not any kind of food, but really delicious food. there was appetizer of biscuit sticks, followed by this small container of i don't really know, but was really good (had ham, and this carrot mash thingy), and sandwich, and dessert. and cos the flight wasn't full, there were leftovers, and we were allowed to take extras!!! muahaha... basically the best flight i've ever been on.

not to mention the view. oh my goodness, i don't know how to begin describing it. couldn't take photos of it. well, the clouds covered the sky below us, and you could see the mountain peaks sticking above the clouds, covered with snow. it was really amazing. beautiful. oh man... so wanna relive it...

switzerland's really a must go place. seriously. go. but make sure u've got the $$ to travel ard. if u're going to a number of places by train, consider getting this half price card for 99 francs. see, if u buy it for 99francs, u can travel to jungfrau for not 300, but 150francs. 150+99 makes it 219, still less than 300. worth it. :)

oh and yeah, for those who don't know (at least those who did social studies at o lvl should...), the swiss speak a number of languages. in geneva and the nearby area it's mainly french. some places speak german, etc... but not much of a problem seeking help in english anyway. so no worries about any language barrier.

Labels: travels