A slack spring day

Some of you are probably thinking "But ALL your days are slack!!" Not true ok! I've got a lot of presentations, which I hate. Group or no, presentations suck. I'd rather write papers.
After making my ISIC card, headed to Jardin des Tuileries to slack abit before heading to the Louvre. Wanted to get there earlier to read, but got stuck watching video at home haha. So went out late, plus walked more since only a few tickets left from the carnet I'd bought on Monday. Walked from Centre Georges Pompidou (ugly building), near the STA/OTU agency, to Galeries Lafayette, then down to Tuileries. When I passed this place on the last day of March, the trees were all still barren. See? This is evidence that spring has indeed managed to kick winter aside. Not away, but aside.
No, that's not mouldy bread. Scroll down to find out what it is.
Fountain at the head of Tuileries, near place de la Concorde.
Can't see very clearly, but the flowers are blooming. And the sun was disappearing just as I settled in.
This is how life should be, hanging out in a nice park, with a yummy snack on your knee, better still if there'd been tea. Good breeze, needed more sun, a little chilly, but still ok heh.
Bought a dacquoise from Galeries, from the Sadaharu Aoki counter. The patisseries there are soooo pretty!! And ex, of course. Could only afford a dacquoise macha, which was still €2.10. Ingredients are: almonds, flour, egg whites, sugar, green tea and azuki red beans for stuffing. Yuuummmmyyy~~~

Look familiar, Lit&OtherArts students? Really, Europe is like gg thru tt course again.
A painting of Ponte Rialto in Venice, where I was 2 mths ago.
By the time I left the Louvre it was 9.30 and just getting dark. Cold too.

Prague I

Theatre in Prague, Stas wanted to get tickets to an opera performance but wasn't able to.
On the way up to Pravsky hrad, another castle, if you haven't already guessed.

That round thing there's called the Powder Tower. The castle compound is huge, as you'd expect, and there are abt 8 attractions enclosed within the walls, but we only went to 4, which was more than enough haha.
We were supposed to get there earlier to watch the changing of the guard, but missed it. Oops.
St. Vitus Cathedral in the castle compound.


My favourite stained glass window ("vitrine" in french) so far, which looks like it was coloured in with oil crayons. Strong, vibrant colours.
Wonder what the coat of arms are there for?
Big big organ. Must be scary to play with all tt resonance.
View from the top. Yes, we climbed up a long steep narrow flight of stairs again. This one wasn't as bad as that leading to the Cupola in Firenze. View in Firenze was better too, tho can't complain abt these, can you?


The back of St. Vitus, taken lying backward on the courtyard.
Place called Golden Lane, tho I don't see what's so Golden abt it. There's a museum of torture on the 2nd flr of the building to the left, but it's less torture than exhibit of armoury and arms. Cool arms btw: there was a collection of 2-in-1s, like pistol-rapier, rifle-crossbow etc.
Franz Kafka, author of "The Trial", was born in Prague. So's Milan Kundera. So's Antonin Dvorak.
One of the towers of Charles Bridge, or Karlov Most. A pedestrian bridge now home to slew of souvenir stands, portraiture/caricature artists and usually a jazz/blues band or other independent artiste. The ppl playing change from day to day, probably take turns to attract tourists, and also as a live advertisement for their CDs. I sat on the bridge after the Dali museum the next day just listening to the 7pc band play. Again, breeze, sun, music, nice spot on the bridge to sit on leaning against a lamp post. Prime for slacking.
View from Charles Bridge. Changes as the weather changes, which is always, and fast.
This guy was playing water glasses, which Stas commented was "like Miss Congeniality". Not bad, he was tuning the glasses as we walked past. Kerk said the guy was "calibrating the glasses", while Stas and I said tuning. See the diff between sci and arts fac students? They need to get out of the lab more hiakz.
Sounding the fanfare for the start of the classical performance that was taking place in the church at the head of Karluv Most, next to the Dali Museum, on the Staromestska (Old Town) side.
Glass recycling machine located at the entrance to the supermarket at Karlova Namesti. You stick in glass receptacles, such as water/milk/wine etc bottles, and a receipt is printed for a rebate at the cashier. Or so I understand.
The Dancing House, something like the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna? Looks like its skirt is flying in the breeze. The interesting thing is that it's built at the corner, and the building adjacent to it at the other side is also irregularly shaped, but the rest of the row on either side are the old, no-embellishments type.

One of the bands on Karlov Most.
Another picture from Karlov Most.
Astrological clock in the Old Town Square, which dings on the hour, with the parade of apostles coming out at the top, and a skeleton marking time with a bell.
Easter egg tree! Came upon an Easter funfair near the clock. They decorated the tree with plastic (?) colourful eggs and ribbons.

I'm sure you all can figure out what this is, without knowing Latin.

More to come.. just too many pictures in 1 post, and I'm sleepy..

Bratislava

This is bean soup with potatoes. Thick, rich, filling w bread.
Plate of dumplings, Slovak style with special sheep cheese (bryndza) and spicy sausage. The taste is very strong. HAd too much to eat and cldn't clear the plate. It was abt 200g. Oh yah another thing abt the menus we come acress, is that they put the the weight of the serving so that you can guage how much to order. Well, cos it was cheaper than anywhere else we'd been, ordered to try, too much for me.
One of the rooms in the rather large 1st Slovak Pub. The place was recommended by hostel staff. More a student restaurant than a bar proper. Student friendly, with student prices, free wifi access and altogether inviting enough. 5mins' walk from the hostel, this is the first night.

Ahh, the Danube again. Looks so much better away from the indy'l area, but still reminds me of a certain bridge in the upper parts of Singapore.




Bratislavsky hrad overlooking the Danube.
Hrad Devin overlooking the confluence of Danube and Morava. Came here to take a look at the ruins, but ended up spending more time dozing on the slope in the sun, w nice breeze. Pleasant to sit and rot hahah. This other Canadian guy came up from the steep side and joined us, got to talking and found that he was in the dorm opp ours. He was doing an exchange to Switzerland and he hadn't been to sch in 2mths! Just travelling. Rich. Turns out he wanted to get to Asia and act applied to India, Hong Kong, and NUS but cldn't map the modules. Anyway the weather was v good tt day so all 3 of us jus flaked out on the slope. Muahahaha.
Tomoko! The cute Japanese girl we met at the hostel, met up for dinner at 1st Slovak Pub again. She stayed in Brighton with a host family for a month while on English course. Her reason for learning English? To make travelling easier cos she loves travelling. Not yet to Singapore, but visited Thailand. After UK, she came over to the continent to go around before back to Japan to start work. Cute! Not in the Jap schgirl kawaii~~ cute but cos she's easily amused, a very happy person. She's amused cos we've actually heard of Yokohama and can guess where it is, that we have some knowledge of Japanese food etc etc.
Passed on the bryndza and dumplings tonight, went for the pirogi, a traditional Slovak (?) pasty, which more resembles wantan or gyoza than the other. Had meat and sauerkraut in it, but not too much. Also abt 200g, very filling, good thing I passed on the soup as well.
Apfelstrudel for dessert!! Yay~~
Enjoyed w a large large glass of cafe latte~~~ This cost abt €1.50, which you wil never find in Paris. Both times dinner cost abt €8 which is ok cos there's a lot to eat, and we skipped lunch anws.

I prefer Bratislava to Vienna, possibly cos I lost my wallet there, but also cos it's cheaper, prettier, and less cosmopolitan. Now, on to Prague..

Vienna

Stephansdom at Stephansplatz, same idea as the Duomo in Italy
Where you see this, you know the Austro-Hungarians had a claim on the land at some point of time. The empire, that is, also known as the Habsburg empire if I'm not mistaken.
Quaint horse carriages that take you on a tour of the city, also saw them in Prague.
Karlskirche (note: not the same as kirsche!!)
In front of the main building of Hofburg palace, which now houses a host of institutions such as the National Library, musical museum, Spanish Riding School, church in which the Vienna Boys' choir sings, every Sunday at 9am Mass. Must reach there by 8am to get standing room.
The building that is on the back of the 50centimes coin minted in Vienna. Museum of "Plastisches" as far as I can tell from the elaborate metal lettering.
Some square we came across while searching for lunch. Had schnitzel! K back to the statue: supposed to be some wellknown one cos I've seen it on postcards but don't know what it is. Religious possibly, cos of the inscriptions praising "God our Father the Divine" or sth like that.
The hostel was in some ulu part of town, but near the Westbanhof so didn't have to walk too far to get there, w our packs. Met this Mexican guy Alfie who'd taken 2mths' off work to travel. He was doing on average 1city in 2days, so was quite dogtired by the time we met him in the dorm. Quite a funny guy.
Parliament Hall. I'm thinking Germany's Reichstag will prob beat this flat, Natl Assembly.. so-so.
The small Palais Auersperg the performance was at. Enjoyed it much more than the opera in Rome cos this is interactive, there's singing and dancing. Familiar instrumental pieces, some accompanied by arias, some by dance. Plus smaller room, nearer the action, less likely to fall aslp.

Yes Glen, I know what you want to say.
Schloss Schonbrunn which was probably a summer palace. Comes with it's own extensive gardens, fountains, zoo, and hill in the bottom of the garden (like some Enid Blyton description).
Climbed up to the top, breathless view. (ok fine, the climb left me slightly panting, alright?!)
Austria's Pathfinder HQ. How zai3 is that? I mean compared to Scout HQ. It's "hey, I'm going to the Castle for meeting at HQ". Way cool.
The Danube river, after a long long frus time of searching on the lousy hostel map and the equally lousy amusement park map. Wasn't as pretty as I'd expected, with indy'l areas flanking one bank and state-subsidised concrete housing on this. To family: looks familiar doesn't it, remind you of somewhere near Ah Kong's house?
Castle Belvedere which houses paintings from the Romantic period, but also has some Impressionistic and post-Impressionistic art. Klimt's The Bride, The Kiss and Judith were all there. Much more impact than on the screen in Dawson's Lit&OtherArts. The Kiss and Judith esp. Great paintings.

The other guy in the picture is Steve, a Canadian we met at Castle Belvedere. Was in Vienna only for the day, and the next day back to Frankfurt and then Canada. Got talking to him, and he offered us a lift in his wheels! Yay! Asked if he cld drop us off near Marxfriedhof where Mozart's grave was and he says "You gotta be kidding me. I've gotta see this!" and so he comes along. Told us abt the snacks he was used to from childhood in Trinidad/Tobago. Tamarind boiled till toffee, then rolled in sugar n pepper, popped right in. Guava boiled down, adding loads of sugar, then poured out into a pan to cool, then cut up to eat like candy. He even knew abt roti prata! Told him that Singapore's pretty much spicy food paradise (for all cuisines) and he says might come over to our neck of the woods. Nice guy, offering us a lift when we'd only just met.
And here Mozart's grave. Marxfriedhof is not a place that is that easy to find. Take tram 71, drop at the stop Marxfriedhof (it's labeled in the tram) walk up to the S-bahn station and walk in from there. At least tt's as far as i figure. The next stop might get you closer, but not a lot of landmarks there. Same thing, when you drop walk up the slight incline to where there's longer grass then turn left. The cemetery's on the right.

Cafe Central, most famous cafe in Vienna, the last with fin-de-siecle design, supposedly where Lenin, Trotsky and Freud stopped by for chess games.
Had rindsgulasch (beef goulash) with Vienna-style dumpling, which is basically a ball of bread/pudding with herbs, goes down real well with the gravy and beef. Too hungry to remember taking picture, which is why only dessert is left to take pic of. Apfelstrudel's the way to go, and with a Cafe Central Kaffee (coffee with apricot liqueur) even better, to warm up before hitting the chill. Ahh dessert~~ haha
Woke up earlier the next day to go in search of Zentralfriedhof and the others' graves. Actually not as dificult to find as Marxfriedhof tho still poorly indicated on the lousy map. Take tram 71 also from Schwarzenbergplatz, alight at Zentralfriedhof 2, tho it's marked "crematorium". Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Strauss, are buried near each other in a special section (Ehrengraber), prominently labeled and straight ahead, to the left as you walk in. The sign for gruppe 32,33 which is where their plots are if I remember correctly, and the marker for musicians will come up on the left abt 2/3rds of the way in. I asked the caretaker at the gate where that section was, and he replied either in English, with an accent so strong I thought he was speaking German, or in German, which is strange cos I actually understood what he said. I know Eng and German are closely related, but maybe being in Europe jus flips on the 'amateur comprehension' button, so that enough is understood to not get lost.



This guy here was a major in the Luftwaffe. Cool huh?
Anyone tell me what the formula means?

And so ends the time at Wien... Next to Bratislava. The return trip ticket cost €14 while the single trip cost €18. Don't ask me why. Caught the aftnn train out, short ride, but evening fell faster in Bratislava, or at least I felt it did.

My new room at Residence Lila

9th April 2006 Sunday, Paris Marathon

The first of the runners, ard 10, coming up the incline from the tunnel at Avenue de New York, near Pont de l'Alma.



Throngs of people here, didn't want to go near the finish line where it was bound to be much worse. There were 2 quadriplegic (is this the correct word?) marathoners who were given extra cheers and encouragement as they came up the slope. One of them had a hard time making it up, but continued to push on as the crowd cheered harder for him, and at last! made it up. They each had a spotter on a bike behind them, which I think is superb care given to athletes. There was a guy in a gorilla suit running, and he was one of the first 50 that passed by. Must've been cooking inside! Then there were the mums and dads who were running and pushing their kids along in the pram, and other runners with family/friends whom they were pushing in what looked like modified wheelchairs (a 3wheel affair, 1 in front 2 in back). The crowd weren't all there for family/friends, they were also there cheering complete strangers. Wow. My first time spectating at a marathon.

Part 4

Part 3 - Beaune!

The millefeuille (thousand layers - french kueh lapis?) de pain epice in a pool of melted vanilla icecream. Rich and thick, yums.
Bourgogne in a glass. Wanted to try it ever since .. the last time in Beaune hiakz.
Natnat~ remember this?

Part 2

Lunch at Leon's, mussels restaurant. Eat your fill of fresh, fat mussels with fries and mustard.
Front facade of Opera Garnier, glam place on the outside, rather dark and gloomy on the inside.

Opera Garnier again, this time from the walkway linking Galeries Femme and Homme.
Of the equally glam looking back facade of Opera Garnier. This is a rather glam area anws.
The interior of the main Galeries (Femme, of course) building, with the stained glass dome and opera-box-like balconies on each flr.
The garden at Versailles! Went on a sunny day, not as many tourists tho, which is good.
The first part of the garden on the same level as the main palace. The gardens are being manicured and prepared for summer blooms. I shall come back in summer to walk the main grounds around the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal was built cos Louis XIV, the Sun King, liked Venice. He had sized-down gondolas and ships built to row abt in the Canal. See it in the bkgrd below? Yes, that is the visual extent of the garden.

Royal chapel inside the west wing. Occupied 2 floors, gold leaf on the railings and balustrades on 2nd flr. As well as the ceiling.
Hall of Mirrors, half of which was under restoration. It was here tt BIsmarck made clear France's defeat in 1871, and here too that the Treaty of Versailles was signed, imposing the massive reparations and Article 231 on Germany after "the war to end all wars". Irony or poetic justice?


On the Bateaux Mouches river cruise. Point of embarkment/disembarkment at Pont de l"Alma near Eiffel Tower n Trocadero, €8, no student/youth discounts.


Alexander the Third bridge (Pont Alexandre III), in commemoration of the French-Russian alliance. Don't ask me when it was signed.
My dining room. Charming isnt it, nice and grand. Hehe.

Part 1

This was taken in front of La Duree along Champs Elysees, an upmarket cafe, way cool. Prices are way cool too so didn't go take tea, but bought some macaroons and pastries out.

And in the brasserie itself, at the to-go counter. Look at all those yummy stuffs... slurps
The interior of the American Church in Paris where I worship.
From Pont de l'Alma on the way back from church
Charles de Gaulle statue at the Rond-point along Champs Elysees.

Notre Dame de Paris and one of the larger stained glass circles.
The marker outside the cathedral which it is said will guarantee ur return to Paris if u step on it. Well I haven't before.
On the bank the Seine outside Notre Dame

Louvre outing

Mum went triggerhappy with the cameraphone until there's no more memory space. Brought her to the oohaah exhibits, it was €8.50 a person, but I get in free cos of the €15 Carte Louvre Jeunes. Visited the Mona Lisa (not so impressive), Crown Jewels (droolworthy - 36emerald, 1048diamond necklace/choker), Napoleon's appartements, and medieval Louvre. There were a lot of ppl today tho it was a weekday. Tho not as bad as free Sunday.

Lunched at Chez Georges at 1 Rue du Mail (1200-1445; 1930-2230, closed weekends and public hols). Food was great, but very expensive. Duck, lamb, entrecote, all very well executed in the Bourgogne style, simple country fare deliciously done. Going to Beaune in Bourgogne (wine country!) tmr, less than 2hrs' TGV ride out with a change at Dijon. MORE delicious cty food! With escargots, and hopefully some wine.. With Carte 12-25 my ticket is €21++ each way yay!

K lah lazy to upload photos now, when I get back to my room then everything will come up if I've connection.

Greve tomorrow!

There's gonna be a sizeable strike tmr! We were thinking of going to Versailles but if the RER lines are gonna be interrupted then how to go?! And plus.. public transport is gonna be a real pain since there'll prob be blockages on major roads, and on certain metro lines. Only Eurostar and Thalys will function per normal. Maybe it IS better to go to London one of these days. Sigh, shld've booked these trips out en province/a Londres long ago. But they can't decide and I can only help them book what. Alamakz. Anw tmr Eiffel better not be closed cos of greve or else it'll be an entire day wasted plus i'll get blamed for not arranging trips out again. Photos soon!