Monday, January 28, 2008 02:54 p.m.
Paris was definitely the most romantic and ritzy city we've been to in Europe. Everyone on the street looks so well dressed, the ladies all carry Louis Vuitton handbags or at least a shopping bag from there, the buskers at the metro entrances play the violin instead of the harmonica or the guitar, people drink Evian water at home (tap water in Paris taste weird!), the river boats and restaurants along the Seine River look so grand (and possibly overpriced) and even the french language sounds so refined and smooth! Everything in the city, from the people to the Eiffel Tower just screams chic. We flew into Paris from Barcelona and took the Air France bus to Montparnasse Tower where Christophe was waiting for us. Chris is E's marketing project group mate, finance class mate and PSP playmate so naturally the two guys hung around quite a bit in Copenhagen. He's one of the french guys I know that can speak very fluent english. Anyway, Chris brought us back to his place to put down our bags then we walked to this row of shops one block from his place (he lives just at the Arc de Triumph) to buy some food for dinner! They've got shops selling fresh seafood, cheese, wine and a bakery and a butcher and it reminded me alot of Greenwood! If I lived at Chris's area, I'll be down at those shops everyday buying fresh food for dinner! We bought the raw food back to his place and Chris started preparing for us a traditional french meal and introduced us to french food. It was like french eating 101. Haha. He even donned his mum's white apron because the french usually wear something like that to cook (with the exception of college kids of course). He started us off with cheese, baguette and a glass of red wine and my goodness, the baguette was really fresh and fluffy! It's very different from the ones we have here in Singapore where the inside of the bread is all flat. I don't quite know how to describe it but it was just different and you could easily eat the french baguette on its own. Even E, who is not a big fan of fresh bread really love the baguette! After that, we had chicken (cooked with southern french herbs), sauteed potatoes and long beans! It was really a nice proper home cooked meal and it was definitely nice sitting there talking to Chris and learning more about the french culture.
The next morning, E and myself got up early to have baguettes for breakfast at a nearby cafe before heading down to see the Eiffel Tower. Chris told us to get off at Trocadero metro station because from there, we could get the best unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower from a slightly elevated ground. So we obediently followed his instructions but when we got to the metro station, we didn't quite know which exit to take but somehow, we landed ourselves at the main street, walked 10 meters, turned to our left and guess what! The Eiffel Tower in full glory before our eyes!! Unfortunately, it was really cold and cloudy the first day so we only got to see half of the Eiffel Tower! Haha. I've got to say, that the first 10 seconds when I turned my head to the left and caught sight of the Eiffel Tower was really special for me. Well, at least I got to see how the Eiffel tower would look like if it's top got blown off! Haha.
After a while, we walked down to the Eiffel tower itself where we bumped into one of the korean guys from CBS while waiting for Chris. Despite the limited visibility at the top, tourists were still queuing up to go up the Eiffel Tower! Haha. Chris then brought us on this whirlwind walking tour around Paris! We went to see Napolean's tomb (the golden dome), the military hospital, walked past the Louvre and stopped for a hot bowl of ramen at Japantown. After our late lunch, we walked on to see the Opera House and then walked up Champs-Élysées to see the lights at night! The Champs-Élysées was really posh and grand (they've got a huge Louis Vuitton store there) and it was really beautiful with the Arc de Triumph at the end of the avenue. I think it's the broadest and most famous avenue in Paris and seriously, the lights on the trees made it very beautiful but it was packed with tourists and more tourists and shops screaming for your attention so that really drained my energy!
It was only slightly after 6pm when we finished walking down Champs-Élysées so E and myself went down to the famous Louvre Museum. Looking at it from the outside, you would think that the Louvre is only that small triangle but it's seriously huge. I think the Vatican is probably the only museum that is bigger than the Louvre. Since it was not possible to actually finish looking at all the collections in the Louvre, we headed straight for the Mona Lisa painting. It really is a small painting and everyone's just crowding around it to get a picture of it! Haha. I had to squeeze through the crowds just to get in front and snap a picture of Mona Lisa. Haha. The other 2 paintings that I could remember from there would probably be the huge painting of the wedding feast (just across from Mona Lisa) and a smaller painting on the cruixfiction of Jesus which I felt was quite an accurate portrayal of what we know of it from the Bible. I still think the Uffizi in Florence and the Vatican are the best museums I've been to so far and I know this might sound blasphemous but I thought the triangle of the Louvre was more interesting and cooler than the collections they had inside. Haha.
The next day, Chris couldn't come out with us because 3 other people from CBS were arriving for new years in Paris so E and myself decided to go back down to see the Eiffel Tower. We went back to that metro station, got out at the same exit, walked 10 meters and turned left and guess what! The Eiffel Tower in its full glory. No low clouds covering it and the sun was out! I think we probably stood there for like a good 5 minutes with our mouths open before I dragged E nearer to the front to get a better view. The Eiffel Tower is really amazing and for all the time I seen it on magazines and on TV shows, nothing beats seeing it for yourself. It seriously takes your breath away. And as much as it is such a touristy thing, it really is very majestic and grand and very beautiful and you can take so many pictures of it and it wouldn't be enough. It was really an amazing sight and definitely the best thing in Paris for E and myself.
After gawking at it for a long time, E and myself crossed the river (I like my pictures of the bridge, the river Seine and the Eiffel tower) and leisurely strolled along the banks of River Seine. Along the way, we saw the French Parliament, the Grand Palace and Little Palace, walked around this Plaza where it's filled with your high end jewelry shops (Cartier, Mikimoto) and apparently Eva Longaria's fiance went to one of those shops to buy her a diamond engagement ring! The Ritz is also on that Plaza and I think there was some celebrity that was going to come out (because of the many limousines and cameramen) but E refused to follow me to do some celebrity spotting so we had to continue walking. Haha. Along the way, we bought some crepes from a road side stall and I think that was way better than the ones we had at the restaurants! We walked back up Champs-Élysées again since Chris lives just at the end of the avenue, did a bit of shopping and bought a box of macaroons and went back home after dinner!
Our last day in Paris, we met Chris, Anders (Swedish), Emily (Australian) and Ben (Hongkie) for lunch at this french cafe where I had salmon quiche and E had crepes! It was really nice seeing the rest of the CBS people and after lunch, Chris took on the role of tour guide and brought us to the Notre Dame Cathedral. I expected something really grand and magnificent but it was just like a plain church and it didn't knock me over like the Duomo in Florence or the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The inside isn't that fantastic too so I was a little disappointed but thankfully the back of the cathedral was all white and nice and beautifully structured so that kind of saved it.
After the Notre Dame cathedral, Chris brought us all to Montmartre which is a hill with a church at the top of it. From there, you can get a pretty good view of Paris and that whole area is kind of like an artist's colony because many famous artists like Van Gogh, Monet and Picasso all had studios in that area. Now it's really a bustling hippie community and it's filled with souvnier shops, cafes and random artists sitting by the side of the road and are willing to paint a portrait of you for 10euros. In my opinion, it was the second nicest thing in Paris (after the Eiffel Tower) and I really enjoyed walking around that area, soaking in the atmosphere, seeing Paris from that point and just walking into all the painting shops. It would have been nice if the sun was out and we went there a little earlier so we could see more of it before it turned dark. Chris had to attend a friend's surprise party and the rest of the CBS folks wanted to walk up Champs-Elysees again but E and myself had wanted to go down to the Red light district of Paris and Moulin Rouge so we split up with them. We continued walking around Montmartre, stopped and listened to 2 buskers, who were so good, they attracted this huge crowd of people who just sat on the stairs overlooking the whole of Paris and sang along with them before we had a nice last dinner together.
We had originally planned to go to Moulin Rouge and the Red light district but since it was our last night and E and myself really loved the Eiffel Tower, we decided to go back and see the Eiffel Tower at night with all its lights on. The Eiffel Tower has this flashing dazzling lights display every 10minutes of the hour so when we got there, we were just in time to see the lights flashing! The Eiffel Tower was still as majestic and grand at night and I think we probably stood out there in the cold for a good 30 minutes before we headed home to pack.
Paris was definitely a nice city to visit and I'm glad we did because it was the one European city that E really wanted to visit especially after we came back from San Francisco last year. The Eiffel Tower was also really majestic and beautiful and it did leave me in awe but the whole city was just packed with tourists and its pace just reminded me of London and Singapore so I guess that's why it isn't my favorite city. I'm glad we had Chris to bring us around too because that made reading the french menus so much easier. E and myself decided that we're going to come back here again in a few years, spend a couple of days in Paris, visit Chris and then rent a car to drive round the french countrysides, vineyards and head down south to Monaco and Nice! :)
Monday, January 28, 2008 01:56 p.m.
I am slowly drowning in my readings. It's only the beginning of week 4 but I am already 2 weeks behind schedule for all my accounting modules. 2 seminars a week is no joke because that means you're just constantly preparing for the seminars without any time for a break. All of a sudden, one case assignment got pushed forward by a week so I now have to submit 2 case assignments at the start of next week. It suddenly feels like mad chaos because now I've got to get cracked on my cases and I can't exactly see myself having any time this week to even catch up on a week's readings. Ah. I hope I manage really. It's starting to get crazy and it doesn't help that I have a 5 day week. I'm really thankful that somehow I'm able to get the car on 3 out of the 5 days because that makes going to school less dreadful and tiring.Saturday, January 26, 2008 09:33 a.m.
E and myself went to Sentosa yesterday with Steve and Jialin! :) When we were driving into Sentosa, we thought that it was going to rain because the clouds looked really heavy and dark but when we got to Tanjong beach, the sky cleared up and we had sun for the entire time we were there! Once we finished lunch, Jialin and myself just lounged at the deckchairs at KM8 and watched a group of buffed guys (probably from army) play volleyball while E and Steve played frisbee and tried to pick up these 2 girls lying on the beach. Haha. I think after a while, they realized the girls weren't responding to them so we two had to play frisbee with them. Haha. Besides playing frisbee, E and myself took long walks up the beach, dipped ourselves in the water and Jialin and myself reminisced about how our boyfriends used to be quite buff. Haha. The beach was surprisingly very nice, the water was relatively clear and there was hardly anyone around so that made it really enjoyable!! I don't think I've ever had such fun times on Singapore beaches. I'm all burnt now and my shoulders hurt but I guess the sun was really appreciated after since I've gotten so fair from staying in Copenhagen! We showered up at E's country club and then went for dinner at Waffletown with Ben! Good day really :)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 06:24 p.m.
We had auditing lecture yesterday afternoon and the tutors invited a guest speaker from ACRA and her role is basically to audit the auditing firms and professional accountants engagements and see how they can improve. Basically, she's the auditor of auditors. She went on explaining the role of auditors, what her department does, what were the findings of the latest research and it was mildly interesting but I guess majority of the people in the lecture found her really boring so they just talked and talked and talked to their friends. You could tell she knew that people were talking and that she was visibly distracted by all the noise but these stupid people just continued talking, without any respect for her. Sure, she isn't the recruiter from Morgan Stanley or GIC and but I seriously think she deserves some respect. You might be really bored but you can always stone and think about something meaningful instead of talking to your friends! Where is the respect! I don't think there was anything the tutors could do about it since we're after all university students. Back in SCGS, we'll probably get a huge scolding and we'll have to stay back for 2 extra periods as punishment. I was seriously quite mad that day (thank goodness Kenneth and Karen shared my same sentiments) and I walked out of the lecture hall fuming and complaining to E about how much I really hate some people in school. Honestly, I thought it reflected so badly on NTU accountancy students. Maybe that's why MM Lee said it'll take a long time before Singapore becomes a gracious society.Sunday, January 20, 2008 09:08 p.m.
Lunch today after church at Manhattan Fish Market with Adrian, Steve, Jialin and E. It's always good times with them because we make it a point to treat ourselves to something nice and we always have wonderful, heartwarming (and sometimes really weird) conversations. It's really nice to spend Sundays with them just talking about the week, the random happenings and all. It's also my chance to sit next to Jialin and talk about our boyfriends and complain about how they've annoyed us so badly. Haha. This weekend was really all about food because the same group of us went down to Changi Village for lunch yesterday afternoon and stuffed ourselves with ji pah hor fun, goreng pisangs and my favorite commando dessert and last night, my friend announced she was getting married (I don't believe it!) so it was another dinner feast to celebrate their engagement!
I've been wanting to write about Paris and our last night in Copenhagen but I'm a big time procrastinator so I'm going to try to do it this week before I forget all the places we visited!
Sunday, January 13, 2008 06:27 p.m.
This is the best hawker center dessert in Singapore ever! The picture doesn't do it any justice. It's my all time favorite commando dessert at Changi Village and it's really really delicious. You can easily find ice kachang or ice jelly at every hawker center in Singapore but this dessert, even if they sell it, isn't quite the same as the one sold at Changi Village. The jelly, carnation milk, longans and shaved ice just comes together really nicely. I don't really know what's the real name in Mandarin so I simply call it commando dessert because according to the boyfriend, it's the dessert that the commandos only used to know about and they always order it back to their camp! It's not even on the menu! Haha. It's really so good and it was the reason why we drove 30 minutes there yesterday night just to chow down one bowl (and my ji pah hor fun) and it's the reason why we're going back there with the sunday lunch group next saturday for lunch and commando dessert. I can't wait!
Lunch again with Steve, Jialin, Adrian and Chang this afternoon in church. I really missed the laksa sold in the church's canteen and I know everyone claims it isn't authentic laksa because there isn't any cockles or coconut milk and it isn't spicy enough but I really like it that way with shredded chicken! Haha. We went over to Island Creamery for ice cream once lunch was over, talked more and laughed at Steve (again) and it looks like lunch followed by ice cream is going to be a usual sunday routine for us all in 2008! :)
Saturday, January 12, 2008 01:27 p.m.
Tea with the boyfriend yesterday afternoon at Ya Kun Kaya and I really did miss their tea with milk and half boiled eggs when I was in Copenhagen! I don't think the kaya toast is exceptionally good but I don't know where else in Singapore I can get half boiled eggs or how to even cook half boiled eggs. E went off for dinner with his cell boys and I went over to my Aunt's place because she organized a mee siam dinner party for our family and after dinner was over, we moved on to Island Creamery for cookies and cream ice cream!
Friday, January 11, 2008 02:32 p.m.
This is what Grace, Lydia and myself do with Grace's Vaio during Auditing class. Haha. I didn't know where to look.
Friday, January 11, 2008 01:57 p.m.
Lunch with the usual group after church on Sunday at Holland Village's Crystal Jade before we moved over to the Daily Scoop for ice cream! I didn't realize how much I miss them and our usual sunday fellowship till we had lunch, talked, joked around (revealed all the secret things Steve does when Jialin isn't around) and just let the good times roll. Haha. Steve's also going to Shanghai for an internship in Summer so I'm hoping E and myself can go up there sometime in June, crash his place while Jialin is there too so that I can go shopping with her while Steve brings Adrian and E to happy happy (his own words) and hopefully not get swindled of all their money.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 02:45 p.m.
Now that I'm done with all my traveling, I can safely say that Barcelona is my #1 favorite city in Europe! It's got the sun, miles of endless beautiful beaches, the Mediterranean sea, lovely weather and mild winters, narrow cobbled stone streets lined with apartments that have small cute looking balconies, beautiful architecture all over the city, mountain ranges in the near distance, wide avenues filled with shops like Zara and Mango and littered with restaurants serving up really gastronomical food and there was so many things to do and see! It's got everything I want in a city and spending a good 7 days in Barcelona, taking it slow in the sightseeing and eating at nice restaurants made it even easier to fall in love with the city. The good thing also was that the city wasn't as packed with people as it was in London or Paris so it made it really pleasant. I really believe that no other european city that I've visited so far comes close to Barcelona. Barcelona was really gorgeous in its own right. After only an hour's sleep the night before because I was still crazily cleaning my room up, saying goodbye to the people at the residence at 6 am in the morning and fighting the airport crowds with Max, Noah and Charles because we were all flying off around the same time and panicking at Kobenhavn H when the airport train stopped for a good 15 minutes, we finally made it into Barcelona at around noon. As the plane was preparing its descent, we could see bits of Barcelona; the mountains, the beach and the Mediterranean sea and that was a really good first impression of Barcelona. At that time, I just felt like we made the right decision in escaping the cold and coming to Barcelona for Christmas. Haha.
Because we were so tired, we ended up sleeping the minute we got our keys to the apartment till about 8pm before we headed out to grab some rotisserie chicken for dinner. Thankfully, the Spanish have weird eating hours so we could still grab dinner. They lunch at around 2pm, have an hour of siesta and dinner is at 9pm. Our apartment was gorgeous and totally worth the price (500 euros!) we paid for it. It's in the most central location, near all the major shopping streets and just a straight road down to the beach. It's got a huge kitchen, hot and strong pressured showers, clean toilets, big comfy bed and a lovely view (we could see Barcelona's cathedral from our window), I really couldn't ask for more. We walked around Plaza Catalunya to see it at night before coming back home to devour our chicken.
Our second day in Barcelona, we decided to walk down La Rambla (Ramblas). It links Plaza Catalunya to Port Vell (Old Port) and it's probably the most famous street in Barcelona. It's rather distinctive because they've got a huge center walkway and narrow sidewalks and trees just line the entire Ramblas. The center walkway is filled with artists, street performers and the random pet shop that sells fishes and rabbits. Initially, I thought that the Ramblas will be filled with all the famous spanish clothes shops and be more like a pedestrian shopping street but turns out, it's mostly expensive unappetizing restaurants lining the Ramblas. We walked into this fresh market, La Boqueria, which sells everything from spices, fresh seafood to meat! To be honest, I think the Ramblas is over-rated and it wasn't my favorite place in Barcelona. At the end of the Ramblas, there's the Christopher Columbus column (commemorating his discoveries?) and there's a mall just behind the marina. We did a spot of shopping inside FC Barcelona's shop, walked along the marina and walked back up Via Liatena (the other major street parallel to the Ramblas) and explored the side streets, went inside Barcelona's cathedral (didn't take any photos outside because they're doing some construction work) before stumbling across this restaurant where we had really awesome seafood paella and spanish omelette for dinner.
On our third day in Barcelona, we decided to explore the Barri Gothic area (old town) which is just down the street from where we're living. We wandered along the streets, wowed at the cute looking apartments (it's so spanish and I really want an apartment that looks like that), walked past the arc de triumph and stumbled inside this city park where they had a band playing and some old folks dancing. We saw a small lake and they had boat hire so E and myself decided to rent the boat and row around that lake! Haha. It was quite fun because we've never rowed a boat together before and obviously he did all the rowing, while I just posed for pictures and pretended I was rowing it. Haha. But the small lake was really pretty with the sun shining and they had small islands inside the lake where you see ducks sunbathing. There was this bridge we could go under but had to bend our heads down really low. E's definitely a good and strong rower. We walked past the Parliament House (situated inside the park) and we were supposed to head straight to Picasso Museum but the sun was out shining (after 2 cloudy days) so we wanted to soak all the rays up and decided to walk down to Port Olympic.
Port Olympic is Barcelona's new port and it was where the 1992 Olympics were held. It's a really modern area, with the olympic village just near by and lots of empty poles to hang the countries flags. There are 2 distinctive tall buildings there and a huge marina with plenty of restaurants at the side. It did remind me a lot of LA though. I didn't think we will get to see the beach and the sand, but we were pleasantly surprised!! :) Just walking slightly further away from the marina, all that was before our eyes was miles and miles of the beach, the Meditteranean Sea, blue skies and a few brave souls wind surfing in the winter. THere's just something about the beach and water that makes me really happy. Maybe it's the wind, the salty smell of the sea, the softness of the sand or just the whole feeling of being able to relax and even though I wasn't dressed for the beach, I was hopping around with excitement! We spent a long time at the beach, soaking in the sun, talking, smelling the salty air, staring out into the Mediterranean Sea and just amazed at the fact that we could go to the beach in winter. I would definitely have loved to wear something more approriate and lie down on the sand beside E and just finish reading my book. It was really the perfect beach and the prefect thing to do on that sunny day :)
After much mediterranean sea loving, we walked along the coast back to Port Vell (It's one long stretch of beach) and perked ourselves up with Starbucks's christmas coffee (I miss Starbucks so much in Copenhagen) before making our way to the Picasso Museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures but I think I much prefer Picasso's paintings to that of Van Gogh. We saw his collection of blue paintings and apparently, Picasso also ventured into ceramic painting and I thought all his designs on the plates, water pitcher and all was just so beautiful! Lovely! I want kitchenware like that! It's a pity that museums (especially art museums) don't particularly interest E or else I think we would have spent a much longer time there.
Christmas Eve was on Monday and we decided to make that Guadi-loving day. Many people say that if you haven't seen Gaudi's works, you haven't been to Barcelona. Antoni Gaudi was the Spanish architect that lived around the same era as Picasso and he designed a few notable buildings in Barcelona. He was a devout catholic and his works are truly amazing! Two out of three of his works are along Passeig de Gracia, so we walked down this wide avenue that stretches northward from Plaza Catalunya and is dotted with lots of good looking apartments, stores and yummy eateries.
The first Gaudi-designed building was Casa Batlio. It was an apartment and the rich owner wanted to re model it so they got Gaudi to resdeign it and what we have today is this really pretty looking building along Passeig de Gracia. I think the colour theme of the apartment is blue and Gaudi even designed the furniture inside. E and myself just stood across the road and gawked at that apartment.
We took a break and had lunch at Tapa Tapa which is a Spanish restaurant, just across the junction from Casa Batlio. It served up the best, mouthwatering tapas I've ever had! It was delicious, their seafood was very fresh and it was all done and presented in such a nice cozy manner. It was E's first time trying tapas and he was definitely won over and for the first time, he didn't make a single noise when we got the bill. We must have ordered at least 15 different tapas; fried calamari, paella, mussels with fries (my favorite), veal with mushrooms, spanish omelette and so much more. While the food was excellent quality, the desserts was just orgasmic. I had warm chocolate cake and when you cut a slice, the warm chocolate oozes out. E chose creme brule which was an equally excellent choice. You know E doesn't have any preference or liking for desserts but when he actually praises it and melt in his seat, you know that those desserts they're selling has got to be one of the best. That was definitely one of our best meals in Europe, a little on the high side, but so worth it.
After Tapa Tapa, we continued on our Gaudi-loving tour and continued walking up Passeig de Gracia where we finally landed ourselves up at La Pedrera. This is another apartment designed by Gaudi and it was constructed somewhere in the early 1900s. The exterior of the building itself was really unique and beautiful and much grander than Casa Batlio. It's no longer a residential apartment because some Spanish bank bought it over and converted it into a museum showcasing Gaudi's works, the apartment and all. We went up to the roof terrace and Gaudi designed it in such a way that there are steps everywhere so it was a series of ups and downs and there were other interesting structures there too. After that, we walked down to the museum where we learnt more about the other works of Gaudi, what went through his mind when he constructed those projects, architecture and also about his life story. We were told he used the concept of Canterary arches to design it (very brillant man) and it was quite evident at La Pedrera and also at Park Guell. The floor below the museum is a re-creation of an apartment at that time when Gaudi first finished designing it. La Perdrera was really beautiful and I wish we had such beautiful apartments here in Singapore. I think it was also the only museum (beside the Vatican) that E was really interested in so I'm glad we went in.
From La Pedrera, we walked 8 blocks to Sagrada Familia (Temple of the Holy Family) which is the other famous cathedral in Barcelona. It was designed by Gaudi and it was not completed during Gaudi's lifetime because of the lack of funds. It's currently still under construction and Gaudi died somewhere in the 1920s so I've no idea when it'll actually be completed. According to the commentaries at La Pedrera, they don't use the Mont Juic stone to construct the new section so if you actually walk round the cathedral, you'll be able to easily spot the new section.
It was dark by the time we finished taking a good look at the Sagrada Familia so E and myself walked another 10 blocks back, picked up pizza for dinner and spent Christmas Eve watching movies and eating Haagen Daaz ice cream. Since we spend almost all of our waking hours together, we didn't have any time to go out and shop for each other's christmas gifts, so we decided to buy Kinder Surprise and when the clock struck 12, we each got to pick 2 Kinder Surprise. Haha. E was rather upset because he got some lousy toy while I got the blue dragon which could squirt water so we spent the early mornings of Christmas day, fighting over the blue dragon and squirting water at each other. Haha. I definitely missed Christmas at home, having the big family dinners with lots of food, attending christmas service but at least I had E around so he definitely made Christmas less lonely :)
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 02:44 p.m.
On Christmas Day, most of the shops and restaurants were closed so we went out with Aaron and Anna and took the metro to Park Guell. It's north of Port Vell and the Ramblas and when we got there, we had to climb this really steep slope and somehow, the escalators decided to go on holiday too so there was no way we could escape the climb. Park Guell was supposed to be a residental park and this rich guy had orginially bought this whole plot of land and got Antoni Gaudi to design the park and the houses. Unfortunately, they never managed to sell the plots of land (except for 3 plots and Gaudi bought one) so it was a failure and the State bought it over and designated it a city park. Now, anyone can go in there for free and gawk at some of Gaudi's works and also get a good view of Barcelona. I thought it wouldn't be that interesting since I'm naturally not a nature person and what kind of designing can you do to a park? But Gaudi is obviously a genius and he really designed the park really well and even made sure the water from the top of the hill was drained properly to the bottom. There's this huge bare area where you get palm trees in the back and all around this area, there were those stone chairs and Gaudi actually designed it with colorful marble tiles and he also made sure that it was comfortable so it was really cooling and comfortable just to sit there, lean back and marvel at the palm trees! If I have my way, I'll love to have my wedding reception there, white tentage and a jazz band playing and champagne flowing freely. The palm trees really add to the mood. From that point, you can see 2 houses right at the Park's gate that Gaudi designed as well and one of them looked like Gingerbread Man's house and also the famous Kodomo (made out of marble tiles). Haha. We saw Gaudi's house (he lived in the park till he got old and moved next to the cathedral so that he could supervise the construction) which was painted pink and it's now converted into a museum! Haha. It was really a nice walk in the park, marveling at Gaudi's works and the sun really made the place more beautiful!
After Park Guell, we brought Aaron and Anna to Sagrada Familia, before we went to see sunset at Port Olympic, hung out at the Marina area chatting and then walking along the beach back to Port Vell to have dinner! It was definitely one of the best days out because the park was really beautiful and the sun really makes a difference.
Our last day in Barcelona, E and myself decided to go to Mont Juic. Mont Juic is this mountain area just at Plaza Espanya and the entrance to this area is quite distinctive because they've got 2 huge red pillars (presumably made from the stone from Mont Juic) at the entrance. It was also the place for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics so E and myself took a slow walk up Mont Juic and went to check out the Olympics Stadium. The national museum is also on Mont Juic and just at the steps of the museum, there was this busker playing on the spanish guitar so E and myself sat there for quite a while, listening to him and staring out at the whole city before us. The view of the city is different from the view we got from Park Guell because this time around, we saw more of the mountain ranges while from Park Guell, we could see Port Olympic, the Mediterranean Sea, Sagrada Familia as well as the Old town area but still, the view was just as magnificent. At that time, I wondered if that was something like what Jesus saw when He was in the desert and Satan tempted Him and offered Jesus the whole world if Jesus would just bow to Satan.
We went back down to Plaza Catalunya for lasagna, headed back to our apartment for a time of siesta (when in spain, do as the Spaniards do) and in the evening, we headed to the Ramblas to meet up with Stephen! He was there in Barcelona with his Taiwanese friends too so we met up for tapas (lousy), paella and wine and caught up with each other before E and myself came back for another movie night. It's going to be a long time before we meet up with Stephen again and it was definitely a really helpful international econs class mate as well as one of the best floor mates in the residence! Haha. We woke up late the next morning, packed and had lunch before catching our afternoon flight to Paris. I definitely want to go back to Barcelona again and perhaps at the time when it's actually possible to wear lighter clothes and sit by the beach and read. Barcelona's definitely my favorite city and ah, it was amazing! :)
Friday, January 4, 2008 12:55 a.m.
A late dinner of sushi with the boyfriend a few hours ago. It feels funny now that he has to SMS me to tell me when he's leaving his place to come over, that we don't have to take the metro or bus 5A down to town and we don't have to think twice about eating out. $2 for a plate of sushi is less than 1 euro and we only paid 25 euros for our dinner. I remember paying 40 euros for tapas in Barcelona and while it was definitely more satisfying, it barely kept us full for more than 2 hours. Everything in Singapore feels so cheap all of a sudden. I cut my hair yesterday for 100 kroners. E can cut his hair for that price at a muslim barber who will probably use a shaver and not a proper hair scissors. Fried prawn noodles yesterday was less than 2 euros. I can't even get one hot dog from the nearby hotdog stand. I guess it's how the europeans feel about the prices in their countries too since you can get belgian waffles for 2 euros, McDonalds for 6 euros, paella for 10 euros but for us, we convert it back to singapore dollars and the minute we do that, everything that looks cheap in euros or kroners becomes exorbitantly expensive because why should we pay 4sgd for mediocre waffles when we can get something similar to that at the neighborhood bakery for 1sgd?Thursday, January 3, 2008 04:06 p.m.
I'm back home in Singapore and languishing in the humidity! It's at least 30 degrees celsius hotter than it is in Copenhagen but I appreciate that because now I don't have to pile on 5 layers of clothes, wear leggings under my jeans or remember to bring my gloves out. The 15 hour flight was torturous. I couldn't sleep at all so I ended up watching movies and when the nice ones ended, I got bored and sick of sitting around so I woke the boyfriend up and made him play with me memory games and talk to me. Haha. My parents brought me straight for bak chor mee the minute I got out of the airport and dinner was fried prawn noodles, char kway teow, sambal stingray and sugar cane juice. It does feel a little weird to have so many people living in the same house and everything seems much bigger and multiplied. And last night, when I came home from dinner, my suitcase was put back nicely on top of the cupboards, my clothes were all in the laundry room waiting to be washed, chocolates were put in the fridge and my souvenirs and presents were all nicely arranged on my table. If I remember correctly, it took me a good 2 whole weeks to unpack my suitcase in Copenhagen. It's nice that I don't have to wake up in the morning to boil water, take a bus to go out, worry about whether I have enough food in the fridge or walk to the ATM to get money. I do miss Copenhagen, the people, the life, traveling, and independent living but it's good, very good, to be home. I'll write about Barcelona, Paris and the last night in Copenhagen soon! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------