Ma vie en France

Oranje, Oranje

2010-07-11T11:03:00.001+02:00

Before leaving France for good I went to Eindhoven and stayed over there for a few days. Lucky for me the Dutch team was doing very well in the World Cup and I had the chance to watch the Netherlands – Brazil match at a public square with thousands of other people. Fortunately, the Netherlands won.

Crowds at the piazza waiting for the match to begin.

Crowds going wild when the referee blew the final whistle.

The crowd from another perspective, singing songs and celebrating the win.

The pub street filled with people after the win.

Party in the piazza.

Sadly that was my only chance experiencing the World Cup atmosphere in a country which is doing so well in the World Cup. Compared to the apathy towards the World Cup in France, where there was almost zero indication that their country were even in the World Cup, the Dutch environment conveyed so much more pride and excitement than the French. When they got kicked out of the World Cup it seemed that people around the world cared more about it than the French themselves.

Marseille

2010-06-27T15:16:00.001+02:00

Actualy went on a day trip to Marseille some time ago, but just didn’t post up the pictures cos I was too busy. Might as well put it up now together with the rest of the Southern France posts.

The Palais Longchamp, houses museums in its wings and a public park behind it.

The port of Marseille.

A plaque explaining the founding of Marseille by Phoenicians in 600 BC.

Rundown apartments on a street.

The interior of the Notre Dame de la Garde, a church located on a hill at the highest point of Marseille.

Marks on the side of the church that were caused by fighting during WW 2.

View of Marseille from the church.

Houses on a hill

Well there aren’t actually many things to see in Marseille, and that’s pretty much it.

Core d’Azur – Day 3

2010-06-25T14:15:00.001+02:00

Third day in the French Riviera, to be spent in another famous city, Cannes. Took a drive in the morning from Nice, and stopped by a town called Antibes along the way.

People out enjoying the sun.

Fortifications on the seafront.

A well that is still being used by locals to get water.

I was pretty curious to know how the interior of these old houses looked like. Don’t know what the sign on the left is saying though, it’s written in Occitan.

A nice white door in an old building.

Vine leaves shimmering in the sunlight.

View from the ramparts towards the big blue beautiful sea.

Once we finished exploring Antibes we moved on to Cannes.

Where almost every single inch of sand is taken up by restaurants and bars.

A small stretch of sand that is actually open to the public. Nude sunbathers actually do exist here.
The Palais des Festivals, where movie screenings take place during the Cannes Film Festival.

The city of Cannes from the old town on Le Suquet hill.

Apartments in the old town.

A pier extending into the sea. For rich people only.

And from there I left for Lyon. As expected there wasn’t much to do since I was a poor man in a rich man’s playground. Could just enjoy the views of the sea and the mountains.

Cote d’Azur – Day 2

2010-06-25T00:22:00.001+02:00

Took a drive along the coast from Nice to Monaco and treated ourselves to some amazing views along the way.

One of the many small towns on the hills that descend right down into the sea.

Looks like there aren’t any mega yachts here.

Dramatic cliffs on one side and the Mediterranean on the other.

A hole in the wall

Another small town along the way.

And so we reach Monaco. This is Monte Carlo as we couldn’t find a parking spot for the car in the port area.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see one of these somewhere in Monaco.

A small beach in Monte Carlo. Probably the only beach.

Along the walk from Monte Carlo to the Port Area (La Condamine) we passed by this promenade that had the footprints of many famous footballers, for example:

Zidane.

Michel Platini, current UEFA president.

Maradona.

Getting to La Condamine we passed by this turn, presumably one of the turns in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Walking on top of the Monte Carlo Fairmont Hotel.

An art installation at the hotel.

One of the many cruise ships that can be seen all over the French Riviera.

Monaco Port.

Probably one or two billion dollars’ worth of toys is captured in this picture alone.

A surprisingly quiet street near the port.

A palace guard outside the palace.

A street in the old city on the rock where the palace is also located.

A deserted alley in the old town.

The Chapelle de la Miséricorde, one of the oldest buildings in Monaco.

The cliffside terraces beside the Monaco Oceanographic Museum.

Sailboats in the sea off the coast of Monaco.

Another luxury item that can be commonly seen throughout Monaco.

The casino.

View of the casino from a convex mirror across the road.

The Hotel de Paris, a luxury hotel located right next to the casino.

Leaving Monaco, stopped by the road to snap another picture of the beautiful coast.

And that was it, another day in rich man’s land.

Cote d’Azur – Day 1

2010-06-24T23:29:00.001+02:00

Went to Southern France over the weekend, covering Nice, Monaco and Cannes over three days. Went to Nice initially on the first day since it’s located in between Monaco and Cannes and we could use it as a base for day trips to the other two cities.

Weather was pretty lousy on the day we got there.

The beach at Nice is actually just pebbles and rocks. It’s not sand.

Empty mats on the beach. No sun to bathe since it was drizzling.

Had a dinner of mussels and fries. Quite good.

We got back to Nice another day just to walk around the city instead of the beach. Nothing much to see there. This is Place Massena, named after Andre Massena, a French military commander during the French Revolution who was born in Nice.

And…that’s pretty much it for Nice.

Lyon Gay Pride Parade

2010-06-24T21:22:00.001+02:00

A couple of weeks ago there was a gay pride parade held in Lyon. It’s probably the most interesting I’ll ever get to see in Lyon that I won’t be able to find anywhere else back home, so let’s get to the pictures.

Gays wearing their rainbow flags.

The two ladies on bikes are most probably a lesbian couple. They even had a few kids.

Guy or girl, I don’t know.

One of the more flamboyant costumes at the parade.

I was taking the previous picture when this guy (or girl) walked past. He (she) was a freaking giant in a corset.

And then these guys came by.

Gay superheroes.

Giant gays in conversation.

Starting to look like some cosplay event.

Venetian gays?

People scrambling to get on the party truck once the parade got underway.

The trucks start moving on to parade all around Lyon.

Another truck went by.

With the giants bringing up the rear.

I guess it was a hot day for the old man. Too bad I couldn’t take a picture of his almost-bare back.

Muscly gays and wished-he-was-a-pageant-queen gays.

Plus-sized gays.

And so the trucks moved on for the gays’ day of celebration.

Venice

2010-06-13T17:30:00.001+02:00

After we left Rome we flew to Venice early in the morning. We had only one night to spend in Venice and we were going to make the most of it.

My first pizza in Italy. Normal la.

A square in the Jewish Ghetto.
One of the apartment buildings in the Jewish Ghetto. The floor with the five windows is a synagogue. They represent the Five Books of Moses that make up the Torah.

The apartment buildings in the Ghetto are noticeably higher than the buildings in the rest of Venice. I think this one has 7 floors or so.

A canal in the Ghetto. I wonder how they got those clothesline across the canal.

Venetian masks.

I couldn’t find the information regarding this, but I recall reading somewhere that the carving above the entrance represents the occupation of the person who lived there.

A casino in Venice.

Another canal.
This is where Marco Polo used to live.

Windows above a small alley.

One of the grand buildings in Venice. The facade on the right is more ornate because it faces the Grand Canal, while on the left it faces onto some alley. Many Venetian buildings have more elaborate facades facing the canals than onto the roads because the main mode of transportation was using boats on the canals, so naturally the facade on the canal had to be the most beautiful.

The Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, with the Scuole Grandi di San Marco on the left (now a hospital) and the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo on the right, a Gothic church. The equestrian statue is of Bartolomeo Colleoni, a mercenary soldier who made it rich.

Interior of the basilica.

More canals.

The San Geremia church right outside our hostel.

The Ponte degli Scalzi, one of the four bridges that span the Grand Canal.

Can’t get enough of the canals.

A market building.

The Rialto bridge, for a long time the only bridge that crossed the Grand Canal. It is also the more elaborate and most shamelessly touristic bridge on the planet.

On the Rialto bridge looking back towards the street leading to it. Packed with souvenirs shops left and right, even on the bridge.

The main attraction in Venice, the Basilica di San Marco.

The bell tower in front of the church.

The Palazzo Ducale, or the Doge’s Palace where the Doge(Duke) of Venice lived in.

The Procuratie Nuove on the Piazza San Marco, now a museum.

The clock tower.

The Basilica San Marco, under renovation.

Many of the cafes at the Piazza had live bands playing some oldies music, and this couple just got up from their table and started dancing.

A statue of Saint Theodore of Amasea, an early patron saint of Venice, stands on a column.

The Lion of Saint Mark, the current patron saint of Venice. The Doge’s Palace is behind.

The Chiesa di San Moise, the facade totally covered in carvings.

Gondola central.

A marble relief map of Rome outside the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Giglio. Why is it Rome? Saint Peter’s can be found on the left, Castle Sant Angelo slightly to its right, Trajan’s Column top and centre, and the Colosseum to the right. Oh and “ROMA” is written at the bottom left.

Two gondoliers having a chat.

More canals.

A boy feeding giant frogs to puny cruise ship passengers. The statue was put here in 2009 to commemorate the opening of an art gallery right beside it.

The boy’s view of Venice.

The imposing church that is the Santa Maria della Salute.

Up close view of the church.

And more canals. Getting late in the day.

While we were at the statue of the boy and the frog, we realised that we forgot to see another famous Venice attraction, the Bridge of Sighs. It connects the Doge’s Palace to the prison behind it, and is called the Bridge of Sighs as it’s the last view of Venice that a prisoner would have before getting confined. In my opinion, it’s also called the Bridge of Sighs because of all the tourists who sighed upon seeing all the obnoxious advertisements covering it up.

After our day in Venice we got back to our hostel to rest. We only came out again to take a picture of Venice at night. Nothing very special, it seems.

And so ends our little trip to Italy. Returned to Lyon the next day.

Rome – Day 3

2010-06-06T22:56:00.001+02:00

Third and final day in Rome, we’ve already seen a lot of things that we wanted to see so it was a pretty relaxed day.

The Basilica di Santa Groce di Gerusalemme, it houses a piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Didn’t take any pictures inside though because Mass was taking place.

The Basilica di San Giovanni di Laterano, the oldest of the four papal churches of Rome. Meaning to say, it’s the most important of the important churches. There’s actually another obelisk on the outside by I didn’t take a picture of it. Consider it the 7th obelisk.

Interior of the basilica.

Sunlight shining through the windows onto the priests as they celebrate Mass. Apparently in the cage like-structure in the middle of the baldachin are two busts which contain remains of the heads of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Not far from the church is the Scala Santa, supposedly the very stairs upon which Jesus Christ stepped during his Passion. As is the case with many of the other relics we’ve seen, the stairs were brought to Rome from Jerusalem by Saint Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine I.

Moving on from the church, we made our way up the Quirinal hill.

The Quirinal Palace, residence of the President of Italy.

Number 8.

Moving on from the hill, we made our way to this church, the Santa Maria della Concezioine dei Cappuccini. The church itself is unremarkable, but it’s the crypt under it that we came for. It’s essentially a tomb containing the bones of 4000 Capuchin monks that are arranged in all kinds of weird ways. Their bones are stacked high all along the walls, some bones are used to make picture frames, others are used to construct lamp holders hanging down from the ceilings. Pictures are not allowed in the crypt, but this person seems to have done a good job breaking the rules. Wikipedia has a page on it as well.

The Triton Fountain near the church above. Sculpted by Bernini.

The church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale.

The dome of the church. This church was also designed by Bernini, and apparently it is an important example of baroque architecture, though I’m not sure why. It was beautiful nonetheless, just like the other churches in Rome.

Moving on from the Quirinal Hill, we descended it to get to a church nearby that contains a sculpture that was mentioned in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons:

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. Sculpted by Bernini.

From there we moved on to our last destination of the day, the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, which is a church located in a Roman Bath.Specifically, the Baths of Diocletian.

The bizarre bronze doors of the church.

The church contains a meridian line. It’s sort of a like an indoor sundial, but I have no idea how it really works. The Wikipedia page does an admirable job explaining it.

After that final church, we got back to our hostel to get our bags and moved on to the airport to spend the night there. We were flying to Venice very early in the morning the next day.

Rome – Day 2

2010-06-06T17:02:00.001+02:00

Second day in Rome, the plan was to explore all the famous sites of Ancient Rome.

We started off by going to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

This basilica is one of the four papal churches of Rome, which is just another way of saying that it’s an important church.

The intricate ceiling inside.

Interrior of the basilica.

Looking into a dome over one of the basilica’s chapels.

Apparently the piece of wood inside this reliquary is from Jesus Christ’s crib.

Bernini’s tomb inside the church.

A relief depicting The Assumption of Mary, made by Pietro Bernini, father of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Moving on from the basilica, we arrived at the church of San Pietro in Vincoli which contains Saint Peter’s chains from when he was a prisoner in Jerusalem.

Saint Peter’s chains.

After the churches we got to where we wanted to be – Ancient Rome.

The local cinema.

Quite an amazing feat of engineering, building such a huge structure using primitive tools.

The Arch of Constantine.

Little windows which contained sculptures depicting the Passion of Christ.

Ruins on the Palatine Hill.

A Roman centurion and his trusty steed.

A statue of Julius Caesar flipping the finger.
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Trajan’s Column situated among the ruins of Trajan’s Forum.

Trajan’s Market.

The carvings on the column depict Emperor Trajan’s victory over someone, somewhere.

View of the Roman Forum, ruins of the Temple of Saturn on the left and Temple of Castor and Pollux further away on the right, with the three columns.

Il Vittoriano, a monument to Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a united Italy. A huge, white, highly incongruous building situated among the red and brown buildings of Rome.

Some sculptures outside the building.

An angel paints the domes.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

La Bocca della Verita, the Mouth of Truth that supposedly clamps down on a liar’s hand if placed in its mouth.

Had our lunch in this trattoria.

Cod fish appetizer.

Rigatoni alla Carbonara, was so-so.

Rigatoni alla Amatriciana, absolutely delicious. The guanciale (a type of bacon made from a pig’s cheeks) was great.

Tiber Island, the only island on the Tiber River.

The Ponte Rotto, oldest Roman stone bridge in Rome, washed away by floods and demolished over the years, leaving only one arch.

The Ponte Fabricio, the oldest Roman bridge in Rome that still exists in its original state.

The Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle, just some random church that we came across.

We didn’t exactly plan to see this church, just that it was one of the many churches in Rome which we came across while walking around. Almost every single random church that we entered had these lavish Baroque interiors that were absolutely beautiful.

Ruins of some Roman temple.

The Chiesa del Gesu.

The great fresco in the ceiling of the church.

The right arm of Saint Francis Xavier, by which he baptized 300 000 people.

Obelisk number 6. Nicknamed Elefantino because of the elephant under the obelisk, this too was designed by Bernini. In the background is the Pantheon.

Interior of the Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva, supposedly the only Gothic church in Rome. What a relief, since Gothic churches can be found everywhere in France, and they’re nowhere near as nice as Baroque churches anyway.

The statue of Christ in the church, with the bronze “cloth” added later on to hide sensitive parts, while in the altar on the right lies Saint Catherine’s body.

A random church facade

Since we were near the Pantheon we actually went to Giolitti again to have some more ice cream, this time trying once again Crema di Whisky, champagne, and chocolate fondue flavours. The first one we had was better though.

Piazza della Repubblica.

Porta Maggiore, one of the gates of Ancient Rome, located right outside our hostel.

And that was it for our seconday day. Once again, saw and learned many interesting things.

Rome – Day 1

2010-06-06T00:37:00.001+02:00

The Eternal City was a place that I’ve always wanted to see, and after going there two weeks ago, I found it absolutely magnificent. I didn’t know much about Rome beforehand except for the fact the Vatican City and the Colosseum are there, but as it turned out there were many, many more things to see in the form of grand piazzas and churches, and many more.

On our first full day in Rome, we set off early in the morning to the Vatican, trying to avoid the crowd that would most certainly appear later in the day.

A ruin near our hostel.
The sight that welcomed us to the Vatican, Saint Peter’s Square.

Despite our early start, there was already a long line snaking from the security checkpoint. It wasn’t a long wait though.

A huge statue of Saint Paul in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

He recommends Panasonic.

The facade of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Immediately inside the basilica, Michelangelo’s Pieta sculpture can be found. Apparently a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, it depicts the Virgin Mary holding the body of Jesus Christ after the Crucifixion.

Looking into the basilica from the entrance. The baldachin over the altar looms in the distance. It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, an artist whose beautiful works can be found all over Rome.

Sunlight illuminating the opulent interior of the basilica.

Looking back towards the entrance of the basilica.

The top of the baldachin pointing up towards the central dome.

The big and grand baldachin in the middle of the church

Saint Peter on the left, Saint Paul on the right, Jesus Christ above and Pope Piux VIII below.

Coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII, of the Gregorian Calendar fame. He introduced the calendar that we are all using today.

Looking up into one of the smaller domes within the basilica.

It is always common that whenever I’ve entered a church in Europe the first thing that I do is to look up and appreciate the grandeur. In Saint Peter’s Basilica, after walking for about an hour inside my neck was sore from all the craning up trying to take in the beauty of it all. It was nothing short of magnificent.

Seeing the colossal statue of Saint Paul and his pointy sword again upon exiting the basilica.

Hello again to Saint Paul

A “dancing” chair among the thousands arranged outside the basilica.

The dome of the basilica.

The grand street leading to Saint Peter’s Square.

From here on we started to move away from the Vatican to see some nearby attractions.

Il Passetto, a secret passageway between the Vatican City and Castel Sant Angelo, about 1 km away. It was sometimes used as an escape route for Popes in danger, and it was also featured in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons.

Castel Sant Angelo.

Piazza Navona.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, the Fountain of Four Rivers, designed by Bernini. The obelisk is one of many that can be found in Rome. I wonder how Egypt must have felt when the Romans stole so many of their obelisks.

Up close with the fountain.

Another obelisk, this time in front of the Pantheon. The Pantheon itself is incidentally constructed during Roman times more than 2000 years ago and is actually not a ruin. What a pleasant surprise, for once we get to see something Roman that’s still standing.

The oculus in the dome of the Pantheon.

Holes in the floor that drain away any water that falls into the Pantheon when it rains, since the oculus is a real opening without anything covering it.

Tomb of Michelangelo inside the Pantheon. Illuminated by someone else’s flash.

A short walk from the Pantheon, we came to this shop to try their gelato. It was recommended by a friend, and it definitely did not disappoint.

People fighting for ice-cream inside the shop.

3.50 Euros for a medium cone and 3 scoops of ice cream. We tried Crema di Whisky (which had Bailey’s in it), tiramisu, and lemon. Delicious. Someone’s happy.

The Column of Marcus Aurelius, erected to commemorate the emperor’s victory over somebody.

The Trevi Fountain. ‘Nuff said.

The Spanish Steps, with the church of Trinita dei Monti and yet another obelisk. This is number 4.

Piazza del Popolo with twin churches facing it.

And the obligatory obelisk in the square. Number 5.

On our way to another part of Rome, we passed by the Vatican again to have a picnic at Saint Peter’s Square, and we arrived just as a parade of marching bands was going on.

We then climbed up the Janiculum hill south of the Vatican to see the view over Rome.

Some creepy busts in a park on the hill.

We continued south and descended the hill into Trastevere, apparently the most “authentic” part of Rome with its narrow streets and old buildings. It was not developed in the grand styles of central Rome itself due to its location on the other side of the Tiber river.

The interior of the Basilica di Santa Maria di Trastevere (not the one pictured above, for some reason I didn’t take a picture of the facade). Apparently it’s one of the oldest churches in Rome.

The Circus Maximus. What used to be a chariot racing stadium that could hold hundreds of thousands of spectators, it’s now just a piece of crap.

Some ruins trapped behind a fence.

The Baths of Caracalla, as seen from the outside.

WIth a city packed with so much culture and history, in one day alone we’ve managed to see and learn so much, and this was even before touching on the main attractions of Ancient Rome itself such as the Colosseum. By just walking around the periphery of Rome we already had the chance to see so much and at the end of the day we were totally exhausted.

The Hague and Kinderdijk

2010-06-05T10:48:00.001+02:00

THe next day we found ourselves with some time on our hands and not much to do back in Amsterdam, so we decided to go to some other cities and have a look at some windmills.

We started off at The Hague, where we were greeted with blooming tulips on the streets.

Thanks for the welcome.

Statue of William of Orange.

The Hague is of course home to the International Court of Justice, located here in the Peace Palace.

Old-school transportation for old-school people.

The Binnenhof, where the Dutch parliament and the Prime Minister’s office.

The Knight’s Hall inisde the Binnenhof, used normally for the opening of Parliament sittings.

Some show being shot outside the Binnenhof, complete with extras and security details stopping people from walking on set while the shoot was taking place.

Once we got around The Hague, we moved on to Rotterdam to take a bus to Kinderdijk, where we can see some typical Dutch windmills.
On our way to Rotterdam

Mini windmills.

One of 19 windmills in Kinderdijk.

Not too happy to have his picture taken, it seems.

Probably one of the nicer views of the windmills of Kinderdijk.

A mutant windmill.

After Kinderdijk we pretty much ended our trip, as we took a train back to Amsterdam and spent the night there, before leaving for Brussels the next morning and flying back to Lyon.

Brussels and Amsterdam

2010-06-04T23:06:00.001+02:00

This is probably a few weeks late, but I suppose it’s better late than never.

So I flew to Brussels a few weeks ago for a weekend trip to Amsterdam. Since there wasn’t a direct flight between Lyon and Amsterdam, we just took a flight to Brussels, hung around for a few hours and then moved on to Amsterdam by bus.

Upon arrival, myself and Yukai moved on to the one and probably only attraction in Brussels, the Grande Place.

Guildhouses on the Grande Place.

More guildhouses. Not sure if it’s visible, but right above the windows on the house in the middle it says “Maison des Brasseurs", or House of the Brewers.

The Houses of the Dukes of Brabant, actually several houses hidden behind a unified facade. Victor Hugo used to live here.

After the short stint in Brussels, we took the bus to Amsterdam and got there within a few hours.

First look at Amsterdam, crooked houses right on the canals.

While we were in Amsterdam we participated in the free walking tour run by Sandeman’s New Europe. It was a very entertaining tour with a very entertaining host, and it was free.
The starting point of the tour, the National Monument at Dam Square.

Geert, our Dutch host acting out a scene in front of the Oude Kerk, right in the middle of Amsterdam’s red light district.

Dedicated to the prostitutes who ply their trade in the red light district. Nobody knows who put it there. Notice the padlock at the base of the arm.

See the shop on the far right. Amsterdam has a real bustling Chinatown that messed with my mind a bit. There were so many Chinese restaurants along the street that I forgot for a moment that I was in Amsterdam. I heard Mandarin, Cantonese and even Hokkien being spoken there.

“Now let me take you guys to the oldest Buddhist temple in Europe," said Geert. “Five years old!”

We could be right in the middle of Hong Kong.

You know it’s crazy when you see a Malaysian Restaurant selling Nasi Lemak for 15 Euros.

Amsterdam is of course also well known for its close-one-eye attitude towards certain drugs. This is a marijuana plant displayed prominently in a shop window.

As we noticed throughout Amsterdam, many houses were leaning forwards into the streets. According to our guide, this was to provide more room for incoming goods to swing as otherwise they’d be breaking windows while being hauled up to their storage rooms in the attic.

These hooks at the top of buildings were the primary means of hauling stuff up to store in the house.

This, ladies and gentlemen, was a wonderful surprise. Too bad the video below doesn’t work, but it can be watched on Youtube. Anyway, the Ocean’s movies are some of my favourite movies ever, and it was a pleasant surprise when Geert showed us the very coffeeshop at which part of Ocean’s Twelve was shot.

After the Dampkring we pretty much ended the tour, and we were left to ourselves. So, we just wandered around.

We were in Amsterdam during a time when the cleaning workers had been on strike for 2 weeks, so there was plenty of garbage everywhere.

The Albert Cuyp street market.

Amazing fries.

One of the many beautiful canals in Amsterdam.

A canal boat being manouvred skillfully through the bridges.

Statue of Anne Frank, near the Anne Frank House.

The tourist attraction slightly away from the city. Took some pictures here and headed back to catch a glimpse of the red light district at night.

Now in respect of the prostitutes we did not take any pictures at all while we were in the red light district. Suffice to say that it was a pretty surreal experience, walking along the canals on dark streets filled with people, surrounded by prostitutes standing in windows lit by purple and red neon lights showcasing their “assets'”.

Once we were done with that we got to our hostel and went to sleep, preparing for a little sojourn in other parts of the Netherlands the next day.

How much is that kitty in the window?

2010-05-12T15:00:00.002+02:00

On the lookout for more squirrels to chase. This cat provides plenty of amusing squirrel pursuits outside my window everyday.

Paris – Part 2

2010-05-02T13:12:00.001+02:00

Today was spent exploring the Montmarte quarter, specifically the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart Basilica).

The basilica up close.

The grand domes of the church.

The lousily kept side of the church. Such a shame to see the stains on the walls.

We didn’t spend a long time in Montmarte since there wasn’t much to see, so we made our way down to the Louvre after walking around for a bit.

The only thing we wanted to see in the museum.

One of the grand galleries inside the museum.

After the Louvre museum we just went to a kebab shop and had our dinner before heading back to the hostel and collecting our bags. I took a train back to Lyon that night and got back to my apartment at about midnight, thus ending our little trip to Paris and northwestern France.

Paris – Part 1

2010-05-02T08:17:00.001+02:00

The first full day in Paris, we decided to spend it by joining the New Sandeman company’s free walking tour. I was initially sceptical of the quality of the tour being that it’s free, and my first thought of it was that it’s just a marketing tool used to advertise their other paid tours.

We started the day off at Place Saint Michel, near the Notre Dame de Paris.

The fountain of Saint Michel.

Notre Dame de Paris. Didn’t go in because the tour guide didn’t bring us in, and we weren’t very interested anyway with all the cathedrals in France looking all the same.

Bullet holes on the walls of the Palais de Justice, remnants of World War 2.

The Academie Francaise, which, among its many roles, “takes care” of the French language and tries to preserve it. People in there do things like deciding on the gender of a particular object, e.g. le telephone or la telephone.

The Palais Royal colonnade leading to its gardens.

Arnold, our tour guide with the royal gardens behind.

Tree lined path in the garden.

Place de la Concorde, with the Egyptian obelisk in the middle and the Arc de Triomphe beyond.

People enjoying the sun in the Jardin des Tuileries.

Eiffel tower in the distance, from Place de la Concorde.

The pointy thing that is the obelisk.

Looking down the Champs Elysees towards the arc.

Took a little detour to the Hotel des Invalides, where a mililtary museum is located and where Napoleon's tomb is to be found.

Here lies Napoleon Bonaparte.

The magnificent dome over the tomb.

The altar looking over the tomb.

Invalides exterior.

Back to the arc.

Climbing up the stairs was a chore. According to Wikipedia there’s a total of 284 steps going up.

Looking down the Champs Elysees.

Eiffel Tower not so far away.

The Arc de la Defense, a more modern version of the Arc de Triomphe located in the financial district.

Underside of the arc. One of them contains a camera in the middle that films the crowd below and displays it on a screen inside the arc.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier underneath the arc, and the eternal flame.

The Louvre pyramid.

Inside the Louvre pyramid. Got there too late so didn’t go in. Would be going back again the next day.

The Pantheon. Was also closed.

To our most awaited destination, the Eiffel Tower. The white lights on the tower flash on for 5 minutes every hour.

The Champs de Mars, in front of the tower. The Tour Montparnasse stands in the distance.

The tower flashes for another hour, 11 pm I believe.

And so ends our first day in Paris. Rather productive.

Versailles

2010-05-01T21:53:00.001+02:00

After the trips to Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo, we headed back to Paris on the highway and took a short detour to Versailles, about half an hour outside of Paris. The main attraction there is just the Versailles palace and the gardens.

Exterior of the palace.

The chapel.

Hallway with statues of former monarchs and other significant figures.

The Hall of Mirrors, the place where the Treat of Versailles was signed, ending World War 1. The arches on the left are filled with mirrors while the windows on the right look out to the gardens.

Huge gallery with many many paintings.

Moving on from the palace, we went out into the famous gardens to have a look.

View of the palace from the garden.

Magnificent view of the gardens from the steps of the palace.

Statue of someone looking down towards the lake.

Some sculpture and the huge lake stretching beyond it.

Another side of the sculpture this time looking towards one of tree line promenades leading towards the numerous groves in the garden.

Now the thing with the gardens is that everyday they will have this “musical show” that starts from 3.30 pm to 5 pm. It was such a scam, when the difference between a show and a non-show is that they turn on the fountains, and that’s it.

Now the fountain at the head of the gardens is on.

The statue now disappeared under a torrent of water. Almost like taking a bath.

All the fountains in the garden are on now.

Once we were finished with Versailles we made our way back to Paris, checked into our hostel and returned the car. Bought some groceries, cooked dinner and then started to make our way to the Seine river to see Paris at night.

By the Seine river with the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

The Louvre and the famous pyramid.

Once we got to the Louvre it was already quite late at night, so we made our way back to our apartment and got some sleep.

Journey to the West – Day 2

2010-05-01T16:29:00.001+02:00

Took our own sweet time to get ready for this day since we only had Saint Malo to get to for the day, so there wasn’t a need to rush.

Set out mid-morning for the one hour drive there, and when we got there we were somewhere near Saint Malo, but not exactly where we wanted to be, which was the part of the city within the walls. We were in fact at a small town called Saint Servan, all thanks to the GPS unit.

The Solidor Tower, some old thing that was built by someone and used for something which is now a museum.

I call this “the middle finger tree”.

Looking from Saint Servan towards Saint Malo, where we wanted to be. The pointy thing is the cathedral, as usual.

After seeing how far away we were from where we wanted to be, we got back to the car and drove it to the walled city by following road signs.

A street leading away from one of the entrances into the city.

The first thing we did when we got there was to look for lunch, in particular galettes, a local specialty of some crepe-like thing wrapping some stuff within. Quite good.

Colours cast on the steps by the windows inside the cathedral.

Some of the windows in this cathedral were interesting in the sense that they do not depict the scenes in the Bible but are just random arrangements of colours.

A more typical window in the cathedral.

Ramparts of the city.

A stone pier snaking out towards the sea.

All along the coast of Saint Malo there are numerous tidal islands that are accessible at low tide, and it just so happened that we were there during low tide so we had the chance to run around and explore the islands.

The Grand Bé in the foreground, and Petit Bé in the background. The Grand Bé used to hold a fortress just like the Petit Bé, but it was a destroyed during World War 2.

Looking back towards Saint Malo.

The Fort National.

Tomb of Chateaubriand (a French writer) on Grand Bé.

View of Petit Bé from Grand Bé.

The rocky islands on which the forts are built.

We actually spent more time outside the city of Saint Malo than inside, because there were simply more things to see outside, rather than the touristy and residential areas inside the walls. It’s hard to express the beauty of Saint Malo and its surrounding seas and islands. It was supremely beautiful, the wonderful and sunny weather that day offered us a view of miles upon miles of the English Channel, with its deep blue sea and islands topped with small forts. Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo were both quite spectacular and it left us with great memories of Brittany.

We returned to Rennes in the evening and had our dinner, before going retiring for the following day’s trip back to Paris.

Journey to the West – Day 1

2010-05-01T15:14:00.001+02:00

During the spring holidays we had a trip to the northwestern part of France, specifically Normandy and Brittany. We rented a car from Paris and drove out from there.

Our first destination was Mont Saint Michel, a one-of-a-kind city on an island that is probably not seen anywhere else. Along the way we took a detour to Normandy and stopped by an American War Cemetery and Museum, located on what used to be Omaha Beach during World War 2.

Graves of the soldiers who died here.

Omaha Beach. One of the sites that witnessed fierce fighting on D-Day, June 6th 1944.

Steps leading down to the beach.

A wooden walkway leading onto the beach.

A memorial inside the museum.

From Omaha Beach we continued on our journey to Mont Saint Michel, a place that I’ve seen in pictures years ago and have always thought about going ever since. It’s definitely one of the rarest sights in the world.

Silhouette of Mont Saint Michel rising up from the horizon.

Getting up close to the city on an island.

Touristy streets within the city.

Ramparts of the city, now lined with restaurants.

The spires of the Saint Michel abbey.

Sides of the abbey.

View of the causeway that connects Mont Saint Michel to the mainland.

A little chapel outside the city ramparts, located on the mudflats that surround Mont Saint Michel. The little island in the distance is Tombelaine, nothing there except rocks and grass.

When we were done walking around the city we settled in a restaurant and had our seafood-themed dinner.

Mussels.

Oysters.

Omelette de Mont Saint Michel. Overpriced piece of tasteless egg.

After spending a couple of hours there it was getting to evening, and we decided to leave.

Bye bye amazing sight.

We drove to a nearby town called Rennes, and spent the night there with some friends.

London Day 4

2010-04-25T23:22:00.001+02:00

Another day in London, and this time it was just to walk all around Central London’s touristy sites.

We started off by getting to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards.

Look at the people squeezing just to get some pictures of the guards. Makes me glad I saw the one at Windsor.

The guards walking down The Mall after leaving the palace.

After lunch we went over to Leicester Square, this time to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant where I had possibly the best chicken wings I’ve ever tasted.

After lunch we continued walking around again, this time to Covent Garden and then to Westminster.

Westminster Abbey. Didn’t go in as well since it charged money. Again.

Downing Street. Couldn’t really see No. 10 though since the entrance to the street is barricaded.

Since we took our lunch quite late none of us was really hungry by dinner time. We decided to catch the musical Wicked before having dinner back at Mei Lien’s place.

Wicked musical stage. We had great seats, and it was a great musical. Definitely a contrast between big productions like this and Avenue Q (though both are really great).

The parliament building and Big Ben. Lights out in one section due to renovations.

Poling and her omelette.

Chicken wings that we bought back to the apartment. It was the only food we could find at 10 – 11pm (not even fish and chips!). it was pretty good though.

Enjoying our dinner.

Post dinner enjoyment.

And that was it for the day. Fong Chi and Lionel left the next morning while I stayed for another day in London before flying back myself. I spent my last day going around the museums, this time visiting all the museums at Kensington, and the British Museum somewhere else. Pretty interesting museums here, compared to the Musee des Beaux Arts that are everywhere in France, most of the time showcasing paintings and sculptures which do not appeal to me at all. At the British Museum in particular I managed to see the Rosetta Stone, and mummies from Egypt. Didn’t bring out my camera since I wanted to move fast.

And that’s all for London.

London Day 3

2010-04-25T11:19:00.001+02:00

The third day was finally spent in London, no need to wake up early or anything to catch the tour buses. We started off the day by making a very important pilgrimage to a very holy place:

Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC. My own personal Holy Land.

One our way to the stadium we passed by King’s Cross Station, and decided to take a detour to catch a bit of Harry Potter stuff:

It was just a lonely sign put up on an isolated wall along an emergency exit. I guess the wizards really had to be discreet.

After leaving the stadium we headed for lunch in a pub called The Hung, Drawn and Quartered, referring to the torture method used in the olden days. Not sure why they chose such a name for a pub, but i guess it’s not a problem as long as the food is good. And it was. If you look closely there’s a noose hanging from the ceiling, in the upper right of the picture beside the yellow pillar.

Sausage and mash.

Steak and ale pie. Utterly delicious, worth every penny of it’s price (around 10 pounds). The pie on top is hiding a beef stew underneath. And I wonder why English cuisine is laughed at for being lousy. This was totally amazing.

After leaving the pub saw a retro double-decker bus waiting at a traffic light.

We then made our way to wards the Thames, and walked along the river to see some of the more famous symbols of London, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

Tower Bridge from afar.

Tower of London. Didn’t go in because of the exorbitant price (about 15 pounds).

Another view of the Tower Bridge.

On the bridge itself.

The Tower of London and the financial district behind.

Hay’s Galleria, used to be a wharf where ships would come in and deliver their goods.

After looking at the two landmarks we made our way towards Kensington, to the museum district where a couple of museums are packed together – the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

We didn’t have much time so we decided to only go into the Natural History Museum.

Some of the more interesting exhibits in side.

We spent about an hour there looking at the dinosaur exhibits, and then left as it was closing. On our way out to dinner we passed by the famous Harrods store.

Atas personified.

Had our dinner at Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

After dinner we made our way back to the Thames again to see the Tower Bridge at night.

And after that, we went back to sleep.

London Day 2

2010-04-24T08:55:00.001+02:00

Second day at London (or rather, outside of London), was to go on another tour, this time to Stonehenge and Bath. Rose up early in the morning to get to our tour bus for the couple of hours ride to Stonehenge.

I know it’s a World Heritage Site and all that, but ultimately it was rather boring there. Literally just some rocks arranged together.

Spent about half an hour at Stonehenge (seriously, more than enough) and then moved on to Bath to see the main attraction there.

The entrance token into the Roman baths.

Grand domes at the entrance hall of the baths.

The Roman baths.

Had our lunch here at the oldest house in Bath, where they sell the “world famous” Sally Lunn buns.

Sneaked a shot of the interior. It was quite nice and cosy actually.

My smoked salmon Sally Lunn sandwich. It was rather great, the bread was really fluffy after being toasted, and it wasn’t dry at all.

The Circus in Bath. Townhouses all arranged in a circle.

The Royal Crescent. This time all arranged in a crescent. obviously.

After dinner we went got back to London and met Song Xuan at Earl’s Court again. She brought us to her place to hang out this time as there was still some time to go before dinner.

Luxury accommodation.

Hung around there for a while, got a tour of her house and after that made our way to a Korean restaurant for dinner.

The food that we had, whose names I won’t even attempt to remember, much less trying to write them out.

Great company.

After dinner we moved on to Snog, a little cafe that sells all kinds of yoghurt.

The yoghurt was so good, Song Xuan couldn’t even put it down to take a picture.

Looks like not many interesting things went on during the second day. I’m done already!

London Day 1

2010-04-22T22:23:00.001+02:00

Technically, this post should be about day 2 but since my flight to London got delayed by 8 hours, the first day was spent in Lyon airport.

So, day 1 was spent on a tour outside of London, to Windsor and Oxford. First stop was at Windsor, a small town where the Windsor castle is located.

The swans of Windsor on the Thames river. The swans are all properties of the Queen.

Little metal things extending from the kerb, used in the olden days before cars and handbrakes to allow horse carriages to stop on the slope.

The Royal Banner flying over Windsor castle. This means that the Queen herself is in the castle.

The crooked house of Windsor, and beside it is Queen Charlotte Street, apparently the shortest street in the world.

The Long Walk, part of the Windsor Great Park that used to be the hunting ground for the royalty.

View down the long walk. It’s huge.

The Round Tower of Windsor Castle.

St. George’s Chapel.

Interior of the chapel. Like many of the attractions we went to, photography is actually not allowed, so I just sneaked one here. Notice the intricate ceiling design.

While we were there at Windsor we had the opportunity to see the changing of the guards ceremony. It’s definitely a smaller production compared to Buckingham Palace, but then again there’s less of a crowd too.

Careful of flies.

The drummers of the marching band. I was quite curious about the swinging things that the two guys at both ends are using. Wonder what they’re called.

Two flutists getting up close and personal with the crowd.

Didn’t take many pictures in Windsor Castle, mostly because photography was not allowed and we were rather pressed for time. After gathering up we moved on to Oxford.

Martyr’s Memorial in Oxford, commemorating three martyrs of Oxford who were executed for their religious teachings.

Cornmarket Street, a bustling pedestrian-only street with a lot of shops on both sides.

The spot where the Oxford’s Martyrs were burned at the stake.

The Turf Tavern, a nicely hidden pub where quite a few celebrities have been to, one of whom is Bill Clinton.

The Radcliffe Camera, a library.

Christchurch College, the setting for Hogwarts’ dining hall. Unfortunately there was a literary festival going on at the time and the hall was closed to the public. Idiots.

After the tour, we got back to London and went to have dinner at a pub in Leicester. Met up with Song Xuan at Earl’s court and went to The Porcupine pub.

Some sharing platters that we got. Rather unremarkable except for the sausages in the foreground. The rest of it was just fried stuff.

Good times.

After dinner we proceeded on to catch Avenue Q, a great and hilarious musical.

Before the opening of the musical. Pictures not allowed once the show starts.

Video not taken by me, but it was my first introduction to Avenue Q. Wanted to watch it ever since.

After dinner we went to have supper and get to know a few other friends who watched the musical together with us.

Had some chinese dessert inside a small cafe. Sorry Song Xuan for blocking half of your face.

After that, we retired for the evening.

Cat vs. Squirrel

2010-04-08T11:26:00.001+02:00

Saw this situation outside my window today, grabbed my camera and shot it before it’s lost.

Was wondering if I was really gonna witness some carnage when the squirrel saw the cat and scurried up the tree.

Could almost hear it laughing at the cat.

Spain Day 3 and 4 – Madrid

2010-04-05T14:46:00.001+02:00

We left Valencia very early in the morning on a bus bound for Madrid. It was a rather uneventful ride but we got to see the Spanish countryside, which is vastly different from the ones in France. While in France it’s mostly green fields and big trees, in Spain it’s more often than not barren with red rocks rising from the ground.

We got to Madrid slightly before mid-day and promptly made our way to the Gran Via, the main “happening” street of Madrid, where our hostel is located. It was a really, really great hostel, primarily because it’s a big apartment repeatedly partitioned to create (very comfortable) private rooms. The room in which 3 of us stayed. Fridge included, shower and basin in the room, towels provided. Only the toilet is shared and even then it’s already more than worth the 19.60 euros per person that we paid for the night.

WIth our heavy bags left in our rooms, we set about our walking tour of Madrid, making our way to the first major attraction nearby, the Tempe of Debod, an Egyptian temple gifted to Spain some years ago.

Transferred here brick by brick, the inside of the complex on the left contained fading hieroglyphs and assorted Egyptian sculptures and bas-reliefs.

Moving on from the Temple of Debod we took a 10-minute walk to the nearby royal palace.

Extremely huge palace but unfortunately the outside is not very well kept with stains dirtying its facade.

Head missing?

Moving on from the palace we walked to the centre of Madrid and came across the Plaza Mayor, a big touristy square with tourist traps left and right.

A street leading away from the Plaza Mayor. The building with the two towers is a church which served the role of a cathedral, while the real cathedral was being built.

Went into one of the tourist traps to have our tapas lunch.

The Puerta del Sol, a big public area and basically the “real” centre of Madrid. Crowds of locals and tourists congregate here and who knows for what reason.

Hordes of people going and coming on one of the streets leading away from the Puerta del Sol.

In Madrid almost every single street is like Orchard Road with big, wide roads and grand buildings on both sides. This is just one of many such streets.

The Palacio de Comunicaciones at the Plaza de Cibeles, dunno what they are.

Puerta de Alcala, built during the reign of Some King the Number ### to commemorate some achievement or something something.

Flowers blooming in the El Retiro park.

A small, sickly green lake in the park, with a monument to Another King of Number ### for some other achievement or whatever.

An aspiring magician performing yet another uninteresting illusion.

The Crystal Palace, built some time ago to exhibit some stuff from the Philippines.

On the last day of the trip, we set out in the morning to go to a nearby market, and spent the morning there before going to the airport.

. Market activity.

Probably the most interesting street musician I’ve ever seen. This guy was really creating music by just rubbing his fingers around wine glasses filled with different amounts of water. It was quite amazing.

St. Michael’s Basilica in the old quarter of Madrid.

Magnificent interior of the basilica. Imagine my relief of not seeing yet another Roman or Gothic church.

And that is all for Spain. Rather interesting, I would say.

Spain Day 2 – Valencia

2010-03-23T22:03:00.001+01:00

Our bus departed Barcelona at 1 am and it got to Valencia at 5.30 am. Needless to say we were suffering from lack of sleep by the time we got to Valencia, exacerbated by the fact that we were going all around Barcelona the previous day carrying our bags.

On arrival in Valencia we walked towards our hostel in the center of town, and it was apparent straightaway that the Las Fallas festival was in full swing because even at 5.30 in the morning, the streets were filled with people eating and drinking. There was even one group of guys fighting. Stalls selling food and drinks were open, and it was rowdy.

We had the misfortune of arriving at 5.30 am in the morning, not check in time, most of the hostel was shut down except for the reception. Since we couldn’t check in and the receptionist wouldn’t open the cafeteria for us to sit down, we just camped out in the stairwell and tried to get some sleep. ‘

Since the place was pretty uncomfortable I just waited it out until 8 am when the sun was up and the rowdy crowds have disappeared from the streets. I left the rest sleeping in the stairwell and made my way around town exploring some parts of the city and the cathedral.

Once I got back to the hostel, the rest were awake and we decided to leave our bags in the hostel and walk around town until check-in time. We decided to make our way to an attraction located rather far away from where we were, Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences. It’s a very modern development with huge buildings and rather crazy architecture.

We made our way there by walking along the Turia, a public park that used to be a river, which was diverted away after a particularly bad flood.

One of the many bridges that used to span the river.

Riverside promenade.

Flowers blooming on one of the bridges.

A small colonnade in the park.

Jun Ghai, Jia Minh and Alison jumping for joy.

The first building, the opera house.

IMAX theatre, science museum, and aquarium.

Once we explored the city within a city, we made our way back to the hostel to check in. After that, we left our bags behind and started exploring the city.

A sculpture of the Virgin Mary made from flower offerings.

Everyday during the Fallas festival at 2pm, there will be a fireworks display at the city hall. This is the crowd who were making their way there and it was a real challenge squeezing around with all those people on the streets.

One of the more interesting Fallas sculptures on display.

The bullfighting ring in Valencia.

After exploring most of the city in the afternoon, we made our way back to the hostel to clean up and get some rest. The next event on the programme of the day was a Fire Parade at 7pm about 10 minutes’ walk away. Since there was no elaboration to be found anywhere on what the Fire Parade was about, we made our way to the end point of the parade without knowing what to expect.

The Puerta del Mar, endpoint of the parade.

The parade started off slow with some dancers, a parade of Valencian girls in their traditional dresses, and some walking bands. When those went by we thought it was rather lame, however things started to change once the street lights and the lights illuminating the Puerta were turned off.

I didn’t take many pictures during the parade as it was dark, and I was too busy enjoying the spectacle after the lights were turned off. It was a parade of people dressed as demons, devils, and the like while holding spears topped with sparklers that whistled and popped. This went on for a while until all of a sudden, the Puerta literally exploded. Fireworks were shooting out from all over the arc and we were all taken by surprise.

Hands down the best fireworks experience I’ve ever had. We were standing so near to the Puerta that the fireworks were exploding right above where we were. I didn’t even bother to take pictures anymore as the sights and sounds of the fireworks were too amazing to be missed.

Once the fireworks were over we made our way back to the hostel, breathless from what we just saw. We hung around in our room for a while more until later at night, when the Fallas sculptures were scheduled to be burned. We decided to go to the special sculpture nearest to the hostel, just about 10 minutes’ walk away.

We camped out at this place and waited for the burning to begin at midnight.

We waited around for about half an hour before fireworks (again) started going off from the sculpture itself, and then it started burning. The fire was big and the smoke copious, and the only thing that we managed to say were “This is so bad for the environment, they should ban it!”, or something to that effect.

Even at this distance we could feel the heat coming from the fire. The pole in the middle of fire is what’s left of the sculpture in the picture above.

Honestly speaking the burning was nothing to shout about, and we got bored of it about 5 minutes later. And so we walked back to our rooms, cleaned up, and went to sleep. Madrid awaits us the next day.

Spain Day 1 – Barcelona

2010-03-22T23:29:00.001+01:00

So, last Thursday began our four day tour of three Spanish cities: Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid.

We arrived in Barcelona on the first day at about noon and started walking along the main boulevard right away. The place is called La Rambla and is a rather touristy place. Not many real attractions here except for the “living statues” where people dress up and ask for money to take pictures with them.

Start of La Rambla

A man impersonating Ronaldinho. He did have real skills though, juggling the football and climbing up and down the ladder at the same time.

One of the living statues.

One of the more interesting living statues on the street.

A market leading away from La Rambla. Nothing much inside.

A small alleyway leading away from La Rambla to some apartments. It’s here that differences between Lyon and Barcelona can start to be seen, with the Spanish apartments mostly have tall windows that open into small balconies.

An interesting facade of a building on La Rambla. Notice the oriental designs with the dragon and the Japanese umbrellas.

How magical.

This man was doing some performance on the balcony of his apartment with a rather lousy puppet. Not really sure what he was doing or singing about.

What an interesting name for a shop. It’s just selling clothes and none of the stuff inside is remotely related to KL or even Malaysia.

Moving on from the big tourist trap that is Las Ramblas, we made our way towards La Barceloneta, a neighbourhood situated near the beach which is apparently also famous for its seafood.
A monument to Christopher Columbus pointing towards his home city of Genoa, Italy. According to Wikipedia Christopher Columbus reported to the Queen of Spain at Barcelona when he got back from his discovery of the New World.

Port of Barcelona building.

A whole lot of boats situated right on the waters of the city.

The turquoise waters of the Mediterranean.
Apartments in La Barceloneta.

By the time we finished exploring the seaside, we were getting hungry but we didn’t feel like eating at the touristy places, so we decided to walk deeper into La Barceloneta to see if there are any places that locals go to eat instead. As it turned out, we came across a small little shop that had no signboard, just a small door that opens into a restaurant filled with people, presumably all of the Spanish. Its menu was just a small blackboard hung on a pillar with the names of the food and the prices, and there was a whole load of people standing at the bar waiting for tables.

Since the place was smelling so good and we were getting hungry, we decided to brave the language barrier and tried to see if we can get any food inside. Fortunately we managed to get the help of a local woman who has stayed in Barcelona all her life, and who speaks very good English, to let us know how and what to order there.

The woman said that she’s lived in the area and eaten at this place since she was born, and it has never changed, and that we made a good choice going there. Thankfully, the proprietor of the restaurant speaks a smattering of English, so we could communicate a little. At this point we couldn’t wait for the food to come as everything smelt so good there. We waited about 10 minutes before the food started arriving one by one.

La Bomba, the shop’s specialty. It’s a fried ball of potato with some garlicky-slightly spicy sauce on top and it tasted absolutely delicious.

Cod fish salad. We actually didn’t order this until we saw some other table having it, and it was great as well. The fish was raw, by the way.

Calamari rings. Just normal fried squid.

Toasted bread with garlic spread on top. Much like roti bakar.

Chopped squid fried with some onions. Quite good.

My favourite of them all, one whole squid fried with who knows what and I didn’t really care. I didn’t even bother to make sure the pictures turned out nice anymore as everything tasted so good I just couldn’t wait to eat the next thing coming in.

Fried balls of mashed fish. So-so.

Artichokes. Dunno what to say about them, first time eating it. It was ok I suppose, seemed like everyone from every table was having some.

Sardines. These were really great as well, too bad they were so small.

The table after our meal.

At 58 euros total for 5 people, it wasn’t too cheap but at least we made it away from the tourist traps and ate a real Barcelonan meal which was absolutely delicious.

Being happily fed, we decided to walk to the beach which was located nearby. Too bad there weren’t any topless sunbathing going on, since it was probably still too cold.

Barceloneta beach.

And after that we made our way back to the attractions in the city.

Arc de Triomf.

A quaint little square in the Gothic quarter (Barri Gothic).

The Barcelona Cathedral.

Cathedral interior. Yawn.

Two very American-sounding street performers outside the cathedral. They were quite funny and provided some nice entertainment to the people around them.

A garden courtyard behind the cathedral.

Of course, any visit to Barcelona would not be complete without a visit to Antonio Gaudi’s masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia church. It was located some way outside of town so we had to take the metro there. It’s definitely worth a visit with its really bizarre architecture, and in fact we didn’t even see other faces of the church as we thought there was only one.

After visiting the church we just took a short walk around Barcelona and decided to end our day by having dinner at a cafe in Placa Reial. Very touristy, but we shared some (rather terrible) paella to cut costs.

We hung around for about an hour drinking Sangria and chit chatting before leaving for the bus station to wait for our bus to Valencia. In fact we didn’t see many of the attractions in Barcelona, especially the Gaudi attractions scattered all around the city, but I suppose there wasn’t much of a choice as we were going to Valencia the next day for the Las Fallas festival, which would be the highlight of the trip.

Loire Valley – Day 2

2010-03-22T20:28:00.001+01:00

On the morning of the next day, we took a short train ride to a nearby town called Amboise where there’s another chateau to look at.

The small town of Amboise, with the castle in the background.

On Saturday during the train ride to Tours, we passed by quite a few villages with houses that seemed to be built right into hill sides. Apparently these are known as troglodyte houses, most of which exist because of the massive amount of stone quarried from the land (more often than not used to build the many castles around the area), leaving voids behind that were later converted into homes or wine cellars. The benefit of these dwellings were that the temperature indoors is cool and constant throughout the year.

A troglodyte house in Amboise.

Also located in Amboise, is a house that Leonardo da Vinci lived in for the last three years of his life.

The Clos Luce, where Leonardo da Vinci lived and died.

Bedroom

The lounge

Detail of the little statue at the end of the corridor.

View of the garden outside the house.

One of the many models inside the house, this in particular being a ladder.

A huge garden that surrounds the house, populated by large models of da Vinci’s works.

We didn’t have much time to spend in Amboise as we had to catch a train to another nearby town called Blois, so after Clos Luce we just made our way to the train station.

Our main objective of getting to Blois was that it was the nearest big town to the Chateau de Chambord, the biggest castle of all in the Loire Valley. However, we found out from the Tourism Office that there’s only one and only one bus that goes to the chateau on Sunday (it’s located quite far away from town), and it had already left. That bummed us out quite a lot but then we decided to try our luck at hitch-hiking our way there.

And so we followed the road signs that pointed to “Chambord” and followed it to a point where a single road leads away from the town. We decided to stop there and start hitch-hiking, so we drew up a sign on a piece of A4 paper, gave ourselves 15 minutes, and started waiting. Luck was not on our side however, and no cars stopped for us until we decided to try a few last cars coming down the street. In the end a pretty hip guy driving a black Audi stopped, and told us that he’s going to a small village outside of town that is on the way to Chambord, but still far away enough that we still need to continue hitch-hiking in order to get there. Being such adventurous people that we are, we decided to take up his offer and continue our journey from there.

We started to regret our decision immediately upon arriving at the village, this being France and the day being a Sunday, there was virtually nobody on the streets and zero shops were open. We were lucky enough that there were some cars on the streets, and Alison continued to hold up the sign to Chambord while I prepared the sign for Blois as a contingency. We didn’t have much time to spend hitch-hiking as we didn’t want to get to Chambord when it’s gonna close, so we set aside 10 minutes to do it.

And so once again no cars stopped for us, so I took up the Blois sign and went across the street to show it to cars going in the opposite direction, while Alison stayed on the other side still hoping to get to Chambord. Much to our surprise, 5 minutes later a guy driving a jeep stopped and talked to Alison. This time he’s going to another village called Bracieux that is once again along the way to Chambord, but then he said he’ll just bring us all the way to the chateau since it’s not far away.

In the end, thanks to the two guys we managed to make our way to the grand Chateau de Chambord, only after just about an hour of waiting and travelling.

Alison holding up the sign that we used to hitch-hiking. Looking at this, it’s a wonder that we got to Chambord at all since the only legible part spells out “CHAM” .

The Chateau de Chambord, our reward after all that trouble.

The double-helix staircase in the middle of the castle, designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. This is only one side of the spiral.
Many towers on the roof of the castle. Don’t really know what they’re for.

F for Francois I, the King of France that built this castle. The salamander was his symbol. This pattern is repeated throughout the ceiling of the castle.

Fruits of their labour. The castle was actually just used as a hunting lodge by Francois I. It wasn’t even occupied for most of the year.

Satisfied with our exploration of the huge castle, we made our way down to reception to find out about transportation back to Blois, and found that the last bus would be leaving in 5 minutes. Not wanting to hitch-hike again, we ran like hell to the bus stop where thankfully the bus was still there picking up passengers.

Blois castle.

Having made our way successfully to Chambord and back, we decided to take it easy in Blois and just walked around a bit exploring the town.

Joan of Arc was blessed here before leading her army to Orleans to fight the English.

When we got back to Blois the castle was closing down, and the staff were leaving from the castle. A door was left open during this time and we got to sneak a peek of the interior courtyard.

Puny compared to the Chateau de Chambord.

An old medieval street in town with a modern picture spoiler.

A lone man sitting on a park bench.

Blois cathedral.

While we were there Alison contacted a guy from the couch-surfing website and we met up with him and his friends. They were staying in a huge and beautiful apartment, and we had dinner together at their place.

After that we made our way to the train station for the night ride back to Lyon. And so ends our exploration of the castles of the Loire Valley.

Loire Valley – Day 1

2010-03-17T22:38:00.001+01:00

Over the weekend I made my way to the Loire Valley, famous for its many castles, to spend a weekend there.

The journey to the city of Tours in the garden of France took 5 hours from Lyon, and when we got there our Couchsurfing host, Bruno, welcomed us at the station. He brought us over to his friend Isabelle’s apartment, as she was going to drive to a nearby town to collect an oven that she bought online, and a small town that we wanted to go to called Azay-le-Rideau, was on the way to that town.

Once we got to Azay we made our way to the castle located over there, but us being cheapskates when we saw the underwhelmingly small castle, we decided to just take pictures from outside and forget about paying 5 euros to get in. Since we had a tourist map and about an hour to spend, we decided to walk around the town instead.

Much to nobody’s surprise, the town was so small that almost every single “tourist attraction” was just a specific type of architecture from a specific era. Seriously, plaques were placed on the facades of houses to indicate which centuries they’re from, and those were the tourist attractions. Thankfully we only had one hour to hang around.

A watermill on the Indre river that runs through the town.

After hanging around Azay for the hour, Isabelle picked us up again on her way back to Tours. On the way back she said she’d lend us two of her bikes (that belonged to her children, who were away for the weekend) so that we could explore the city of Tours more efficiently. And explore efficiently, we did.

Cathedrale Saint-Gatien, in Tours. Much, much taller than both the Cathedrale Saint-Jean and Basilique Fourviere in Lyon.

Cathedral interior. Same old same old.

Following the Tours map, we came across this huge cedar tree planted in 1804 by Napoleon himself. And when I say huge, it’s really freaking huge.

Using the Musee des Beaux-Arts building on the right as a scale, the tree appears to be as tall as the building itself. The Tours cathedral is right behind.

Entrance to the courtyard where the tree is located.

Cycling along to Rue Colbert, a street filled with shops and people. Quite vibrant as it was Saturday night.

Place Plumereau, a very very nice square with old school half-timber buildings and cafe tables and chairs laid out around the square.

Some spooky house that was completely black from top to bottom. I thought it was a pub or a club but didn’t see any signs outside at all. I thought it looked like some house straight out of Harry Potter.

Road leading away from the Place Plumereau.

Basilique Saint-Martin, or what’s left of it. Majority of the basilica was destroyed during the French Revolution, leaving only a portion of the front.

Tours city hall.

Tours train station, taken while we were leaving the next day after spending the night at Bruno’s.

We had dinner at Isabelle’s on the first night, ate some “chinese” cuisine which was not bad, while Bruno baked a chocolate walnut cake which was really good. Enjoyed some wine, homemade yoghurt, homemade bread (Isabelle has a diploma in baking) and went to Bruno’s place to crash.

The next morning we had a breakfast of cereal, milk, a variety of cheeses, homemade jams (this time made by Bruno’s sisters) and baguettes. Bruno was nice enough to pack lunches for us that consisted of baguettes and cheeses, some fruits, and leftover cake.

We left Tours Sunday morning and made our way to Amboise, the first town on our planned town-hops throughout the Loire valley on that day.

And so ends day 1.

Those funny people

2010-03-04T17:28:00.001+01:00

Loose translation: “Thanks for not disturbing (except when asking to go to eat)”

One Sunday in Vienne

2010-03-03T23:24:00.001+01:00

Took a day trip to a nearby town called Vienne, about 20 minutes south of Lyon by train.

War memorial right outside the train station.

It’s a pretty small town with some Roman ruins, churches and that’s pretty much it. The only notable thing is this Roman Temple that is apparently one of two left in the whole of France.

The Ancienne Cathedrale Saint-Maurice.

Interior of the church. Seriously, they’re all beginning to look the same to me.

Ruins of the Roman temple (le Temple d’Auguste et de Livie) that’s been around since around 40 BC. Another similar monument can be found at Nimes, called the Maison Carree.Some of the grooves on the pillars have been chipped away due to its conversion to a church some time ago, and a wall was built around it. The pillars were smoothed out in order to facilitate the alignment of the walls.

The Rhone. Swim up the river to get to Lyon.

Ruins of an ancient Roman hospice.

Cours Romestang, used to be a green field or something during the Roman times.

An Egyptian obelisk at the centre of what used to be a Roman circus, where they raced chariots.

And that was it. In fact Vienne has a grand Roman theatre as well, but since we weren’t willing to pay something that’s essentially the same as the Roman theatres in Lyon, we just looked at the theatre from outside the gate and fencing. It is indeed rather big, and is still used today for concerts.

Well, that’s all for Vienne.

A long walk in Lyon

2010-02-28T21:22:00.001+01:00

Woke up to a sunny morning yesterday, so I decided to take advantage of the sun to go walking around town.

Initially intended to meet Thye Boon and Hari in Vieux Lyon to catch Chelsea vs. Manchester City, but apparently none of the pubs there were showing the match. By the time I found that out, I was in Vieux Lyon while the two of them were back in Charpennes, on the way back to school.

I’ve always intended to take a walk from INSA to Cite Internationale, and walk along the Rhone river until I get to town. But since I was already in Bellecour in the middle of town yesterday, I just decided to walk the opposite direction instead, going on foot back to INSA.

On the way back, I came across the first interesting landmark, a church (surprise surprise) called the Paroisse St. Pothin. The Greek columns outside it was rather unusual. I took a peek of the interior and it’s just like any other church, except that there were a few hobos snoring inside.

And so, walking along tree-lined paths,

I reached the Cite Internationale, a modern development project at the north end of the Tete d’Or park, about 15 minutes’ walk from INSA.

Covered walkway in between offices, apartments, hotels, restaurants and other establishments.

Contemporary art museum.

Self-explanatory.

An interesting little art piece.

More strange “art”.

Facade of the buildings at the CIte Internationale. Very very modern, probably will look even nicer at night.

And that is all. It took just about one hour and a half to walk from Bellecour to INSA, including all the sight-seeing. This is definitely not a very big city.

“Qui ne saute pas n’est pas Lyonnais”

2010-02-19T10:57:00.001+01:00

On Tuesday I went to the Stade de Gerland to watch a Champions League match between Olympique Lyonnais and Real Madrid. It was an opportunity not to be missed to have an important match with a big big team like Real Madrid happening right in Lyon.

The view from my seat in the stadium.

I was surprised to have such a good view of the pitch as I was expecting some far far away seat that would have lousy views, but as it turned out my cheapo ticket got me a decent seat with a clear view of the pitch. The atmosphere was great with the people cheering and singing throughout the match.

When the OL players entered the pitch everyone on the North stands held up coloured cards that spelled out “Bad Gones” (Bad Kids in local Lyonnais dialect) which is the name of a supporter’s club.

Players on the pitch while the Champions League anthem is played.

One of the few clear pictures that I managed to take from the stands.

Ronaldo unhappy about something or other, as usual. Maybe it was the colour of his boots.

The match in itself was rather uneventful, with the OL being wasteful with their chances on a few occasions, and Real Madrid not getting into their stride. It was great when OL managed to get a goal early in the second half, which occured on our side of the pitch and hence I managed to see the goal clearly. Everything seems to happen quicker when watching from the stadium than when watching on TV.

The only cheering that I managed to catch was “qui ne saute pas n’est pas Lyonnais” which translates to “who doesn’t jump is not Lyonnais”.

It was a great experience attending a Champions League match in person, but somehow I get the feeling that watching it on TV I’ll be able to appreciate the play more, perhaps because of the clearer views of the action. Things seem to happen very quickly when watching at the stadium I was half expecting replays to show up whenever some key action occurs.

Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc

2010-02-07T23:43:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago when I went to Croix-Rousse with Yukai and Jia Minh, we came across this church, Paroisse de Saint-Augustin, and outside the church I saw a notice saying that the choir from the movie “Les Choristes” will be performing there today.

Having watched the movie about two years ago, it has remained in my mind ever since. It was the first French movie that I watched, and I loved the music from the film. Two years later, I got to watch the choir that sang for the movie (though not the same members of the choir from 6 years ago, of course).

For the first half they sang mostly religious songs, while near the end of the performance they sang a couple more songs from the movie, which in itself was worth the trip to watch them.

One of the soloists singing.

On the side of the church there was a board with a question, “What makes you happy?” and on it was pasted this little note, “playing the Wii”.

All in all, it was certainly worth it to have made the trip across town to watch the choir. It certainly is interesting to start from learning French 1, watch Les Choristes, and two years later end up in Lyon watching the choir that I first saw when I started learning French.

The hill that works

2010-02-02T22:58:00.001+01:00

Today the class went on another trip to learn more about the Croix-Rousse quarter, also known as the “Hill that works”. Compared to Vieux Lyon there wasn’t much historical sights to see, but still interesting nonetheless.

Our first stop was a museum called the Maison des Canuts, where a Canut is the term for a Lyonnais silk worker. There was a well-preserved and still functioning machine in the museum, which back in the day was used to produce silk cloths.

The lady in the first picture works at the museum and gave us an explanation of the machine.

Our other French teacher, Brigitte, was the guide this time around.

We hung around for about an hour in the museum and learned some stuff about the history of the silk industry in Lyon. After that we left on a walking tour around Croix-Rousse, with several stops at interesting places along the way.

We stopped at a small open area with a great view of Fourviere hill, and Lyon below. Unfortunately it was too foggy to be able to see everything clearly.

A saxophonist provided some ambient music while we enjoyed the view of Fourviere and Lyon.

The Cour des Voraces (Court of the Voraces), an internal courtyard that can be entered and exited through several traboules. It was a refuge for revolting silk workers during the multiple uprisings, the first of which came about when the Canuts protested their poor working conditions and low wages.

From the Cours des Voraces we departed on a walking tour through traboules and stairs to descend the hill. It was an interesting experience to be going through the small alleyways and narrow streets to get down the hill. In the end we arrived at the theatre in town, at the foot of the hill and we took the metro back from there.

On another occasion when I went to Croix-Rousse with Jia Min and Yukai, we came across another Croix-Rousse attraction, wall paintings.

Mur Peint des Canuts (Painted wall of the canuts). Don’t know exactly the story behind this but it’s just a giant painting of Croix-Rousse.

On that occasion we didn’t spend much time there and we just descended the hill after walking around for a while. We got down to the Place des Terraux and decided to explore the town area on foot.

Side of the Hotel de Ville building.

The Rhone river.

The Hotel Dieu, a grand old hospital.

And so that’s all that we saw on that occasion. Lazy to write anymore.

The hill that prays

2010-02-02T22:22:00.001+01:00

Fourviere hill is situated slightly outside of the center of Lyon, but the Basilique Fourviere and the Tour Metallique both dominate the Lyon skyline, being visible almost from every corner of town. Myself, Jia Minh and Yukai decided to explore the Fourviere hill on Sunday, and we took the metro to Vieux Lyon and decided to climb a long flight of stairs that gets to the Basilique.

Apartments in Vieux Lyon.

Climbing the stairs really took some effort as it was going straight up the hill, and I was still hungover from the skiing trip the previous day.

Getting to the top of the stairs.

Basilique Fourviere welcomes you.

A small park on the side of the hill.

It was a glorious day as we went up, as the sky was clear and the sun was up, there was no fog and we could see all of Lyon and miles beyond. It was truly beautiful.

View of Lyon and beyond. Cathedrale Saint-Jean can be found on the lower right and in the middle of the picture is the Part Dieu tower.

The Croix-Rousse quarter rising up on another hill, also known as the "Hill that works”, as opposed to Fourviere being the “HIll that prays”. It had a major silk industry going on a few centuries ago, and the silk workers all lived and worked in the same apartment.

After soaking in the views on the outside, we made our way into the Basilique Fourviere. We started off from a crypt underneath the basilica, and went up to the basilica proper. The interior of the basilica was not what I expected at all, with all the Gothic and Roman architectural styles in the churches I’ve seen, the basilica sported a Byzantine architectural style. The difference is quite remarkable, with colourful interiors and intricate mosaics on the walls.

Interior of the Basilique Fourviere.

It was definitely unexpected, and also a rather pleasant surprise.

After the Basilique, we proceeded on to another Roman theatre, this time located on the Fourviere hill (the other one being in Croix-Rousse). It was basically the same thing again, except it was slightly larger. According to Wikipedia it was built in the year 15 BC, which makes it 2025 years old. It’s unbelievable.

Hard to believe that it’s more than 2000 years old.

Since there wasn’t much to see at the Roman theatres, we moved on to another attraction on the Fourviere hill, the Cimetiere de Loyasse. It’s a cemetery with some grand gravestones, where some of the rich and dead Lyonnais are buried. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there so we could only take pictures from the outside.

Sunset over the cemetery.

As can be seen from the picture of the cemetery, the sun was already setting by the time we got there, so we decided to leave for INSA. It was a really glorious day from sunrise to sunset, and on our way back we were treated to a colourful sunset over Lyon.

Shades of blue and purple on the sky. La Tour Metallique on the right.

And so ends our exploration of the Fourviere hill. Will probably return again on a Thursday and the museum is free to the public on Thursdays, and perhaps we’ll make our way to the Cimetiere de Loyasse before it closes.

Fresh Alpine Air

2010-01-31T09:48:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, went with Lukas’ family in their van to Les Deux Alpes ski station. It was a really really big ski resort with plenty of hotels and plenty of people.

I didn’t get much “skiing” done in the end, mainly because I was learning how to snowboard instead, and it was really exhausting. Heavy boots, heavy board, climbing up and down the learning slope was all it took to sap all my energy. In the end took a few tumbles and all I managed to achieve was going sideways and a bit of going downhill.

Great views at Les Deux Alpes. Even being in the alps alone was amazing enough, let alone skiing there.

Lukas, my Czech classmate and snowboarding instructor.

In the end, with all my energy gone and the ski resort room being so small, I decided to call it quits and took a bus down from the ski resort. Took about one and a half hours to get to Grenoble station, where I bought a ticket for a train that departed 5 minutes later. Got back to Lyon at 2112h, right on time, Got back to my apartment, cooked some spaghetti, and just crashed on the bed an hour later totally exhausted,

This morning woke up with aches all over my body. I probably wouldn’t have survived another day on the slopes, it seems.

One day in Dijon

2010-01-24T21:43:00.001+01:00

Woke up at 5.30 AM to meet up with some friends and make our way to Dijon by train. We planned to spend the day in Dijon and after that make our way to a nearby town, Beaune for some wine tasting.

Met up with Yukai, Alison, and Jia Minh at La Doua tram station at 6.30 AM and left immediately for Part Dieu station as the other 3 who were supposed to join us were not ready yet. In the end they missed the 7.22 AM train that we took, and had to take the next one at 9 AM.

Playing cards on the way.

Foggy for most of the way to Dijon, Dijon itself.

Once arrived in Dijon, fortunately there was a tourism office right outside the train station so we promptly went in and grabbed some maps. Compared to Lyon, Dijon is a really small town where most of the attractions can be reached on foot.

We started off our little “walking circuit” at the Jardin Darcy, a small park dedicated to Henry Darcy, a Dijonnais who contributed some significant works to the field of hydraulics. In fact, I’ve even used one of his equations before, the Darcy-Weisbach equation, while studying fluid mechanics.

Since I’m so lazy, I’m just gonna present the next few places in the order that we visited them. Nothing interesting happened along the way anyway.

Grand old trees in the park.

Some impressive pools in the garden. the pools are fed by an underground source, probably part of the network of a water distribution system built by Henry Darcy many years ago.

Panoramic view of the park.

Located right outside the Jardin Darcy is the Porte Guillaume, Dijon’s own little arc de triomphe. It used to be part of a city fortification wall, I believe.

The post office building

A flea market along a street leading to the Eglise Notre-Dame de Dijon.

A basket of unwanted toys at the flea market. I was thinking some of the bears looked scary and sad more than cute.

A huge market that sold all kinds of stuff. Interestingly, there was a stall selling Asian food there, and I bought a bottle of oyster sauce for 3.50 euros. Now I can say I have a souvenir from Dijon.

Facade of the Notre-Dame church. There were at least 50 gargoyles on the face of the church.

The grand Palais des Ducs in Dijon. It houses the Musee des Beaux Arts, which was a reminder to me why I disliked museums. Paintings and sculptures don’t really appeal to me.

After going through the museum, we took a detour to a shop selling Dijonnais mustard. After that, we took our lunch at a cafe called La Comedie. I got the chance to try out Escargots de Bourgogne and Boeuf Bourguignon, two famous local specialties.

Vin chaud (hot wine) with a piece of orange inside. Tasted quite good, perfect for the cold weather.

Escargots de Bourgogne. Tasted ok la not to say spectacular.

Boeuf Bourguignon. This is where it rocks. The beef was tender and the sauce cooked with wine was excellent. Too bad there was so little meat and so much potatoes. Cheats.

Nougat something something with Creme de Cassis (blackcurrent cream) and a hint of wine. Also excellent. And I usually don’t even like dessert.

Eglise Saint-Michel. I think it was at this point where we just got lazy to go into the churches anymore because everything started to look the same on the inside.

We left Dijon in the afternoon to get to Beaune, a small town 20 minutes away by train that is surrounded by vineyards. We planned to take a wine-testing session in one of the cellars in town.

Beaune station.

One thing that we noticed while walking around Beaune is that it’s virtually dead. Not a soul on the streets except near the town center. It was a really small and sleepy town.

It was a really small town without much to see, except for the Hotel Dieu, which like the Hotel Dieu in Lyon is also a hospital. We didn’t have the time to go in and see it before it closed as we had to go for the wine tasting session.

I didn’t take any pictures while trying out the wines as it was too dark in the cellars. Suffice to say, I paid the 10 Euros just to be able to say that I tasted some of the finest Burgundy wines while in France. In all honesty, at the end of the session the feeling I had was that all the wines tasted almost the same to me, with one red in particular being quite spicy. Looks like I’m just not cut out to be a snob.

Tours of Old Lyon (Part 2)

2010-01-23T22:59:00.001+01:00

I returned to Bellecour with Jun Ghai on Thursday and walked around the area, which is now quite commercialised with a lot of shops all around the square. We then crossed the Pont Bonaparte once again and went to Vieux Lyon to complete the rest of the questions that we didn’t managed to the other day.

Close up detail of the Cathedrale Saint-Jean.

As it turned out, there wasn’t much else to see in Vieux Lyon anyway so we didn’t spend a lot of time there.

One of the many flights of stairs leading up to Fourviere hill.

Instead, more interesting things were found at the Bellecour area on that occasion.

A fountain with statues of four famous Lyonnais. Don’t remember their names.

The theatre.

A fresco on one whole side of an apartment building with all of the characters being famous Lyonnais people.

One side of Hotel Dieu, a grand old hospital that still functions as a hospital today.

The Eglise Saint-Bonaventure and its interior.

Hotel de Ville, the city hall. Picture taken from the Place des Terraux, which is the square in front of the city hall. The building on the right is the Musee des Beaux Arts.

The Bartholdi Fountain at Place des Terraux.

And that’s it. Will find some time to get to Fourviere during the day and see the Roman theatres there as well.

Tours of Old Lyon (Part 1)

2010-01-22T23:35:00.001+01:00

This week I had a few opportunities to visit Vieux Lyon and its surrounding areas. On Tuesday we had a class outing to Vieux Lyon where we had to follow the instructions on a set of papers and answer the questions, not unlike the amazing race.

It was quite foggy during the morning, and everybody gathered at the Humanities building. As usual, the two Mexicans were the latest to arrive.

Max, second to last to arrive and Jose, the latest.

Lucas from Czech Republic, Jun Ghai, an NUS student from Kelantan, and Marie-Pierre, our French teacher.

Once everyone was gathered, we went to our starting point, outside the tourism office of Place Bellecour and right in front of the Ferris wheel that operates there.

Statue of Louis XIV in Place Bellecour.

We formed into groups of 3, with Jun Ghai, Max, and myself in one group. We started off towards Vieux Lyon on foot to complete the first few questions. Along the way, across the Pont Bonaparte (Bonaparte bridge), we had excellent views of the Saone river, the town of Croix-Rousse, the Cathedrale Saint-Jean, and the Basilique Fourviere.

Basilique Fourviere on the hill, and Cathedrale Saint-Jean below.

Croix-Rousse, on another hill.

We crossed the Pont Bonaparte and arrived in Vieux Lyon. Our first stop was at a mosaic map of the quarter placed on the ground.

The big blue streak represents the river Saone.

From there, it was just a few minutes’ walk to the Cathedrale Saint-Jean, a grand cathedral both on the outside and in.

Entrance to the cathedral. Note the Gothic architecture with the pointed arcs above the doors.

Interior of the cathedral.

The cathedral also houses a 500 year-old astronomical clock that depicts the Earth as the center of the solar system, with the sun and moon revolving around it. The highly detailed faces of the clock indicate the days of the week, the dates, month, year, etc.

Astronomical clock.

Tall ceilings and tall windows.

From Cathedrale Saint-Jean onwards we set off to different places in the quarter, and we had the chance to cross the famous traboules of Lyon, narrow passageways that go through residential buildings to facilitate movement from one street to another.

Jun Ghai in a traboule.

There was also a courtyard in a building that used to belong to a rich merchant, and in this courtyard he built himself a tower called La Tour Rose (the pink tower).

Due to a lack of time, we did not have enough time to complete everything on the papers, so we had to stop after the pink tower and go to the pre-arranged meeting place and get back to INSA.

I went back again on Thursday to explore more of the quarter.

A sunny day in winter (Part 2)

2010-01-18T07:52:00.001+01:00

From the cemetery, I backtracked towards my residence and started walking West, to the opposite end of school.

Panorama of some of a big open area in front of some of the academic buildings. The two linked buildings on the right are the Civil Engineering buildings, which is also where I’ll be doing my research. Further away, next to the Civil Engineering building, is the Humanities building where we’ve been taking our French classes.

I’m going towards the West because at this end of school, there is a huge park called the Parc de la Tête d’Or. It’s called the Park of the Golden Head because “according to legend”, there’s a treasure with Jesus Christ’s golden head buried in the park. On the way, I passed by Lyon 1 university, one of the many educational institutions sited in the La Doua academic campus.

Lyon 1 University.

It was about a 20 minutes’ walk to the park, and once I got there it did not disappoint. The park really was huge. It reminded me of the Taiping Lake Gardens.

A lake in the middle of the park.

I mean, it reminded me of the Taiping Lake Gardens when all the trees are on the verge of dying. Since it was winter, there were no leaves on the trees, no flowers, and the only greenery that I could see was the grass in certain places.

Brown and grey everywhere except the water.

Nevertheless, I took my time exploring the place and tried to look for the main gate into the park, la Porte de la Tête d’Or. There were quite a few interesting places in the park as well, with a zoo that was open to the public and a huge greenhouse.

A big green field in the middle of the park.

A big greenhouse in the park that housed plants from around the world. The statue in front of it is of Bernard de Jussieu, a French botanist.

Statue of Bernard de Jussieu

After walking for about an hour and a half around the park, I finally found the Porte de la Tête d’Or, which was disappointing because it looked no different from all the other gates into the park that I’ve walked past. So I didn’t bother to take any pictures of it. I exited the park at the gate and decided to walk on the outside of park to get back to the entrance where I entered.

View of the Part Dieu Tower (La Tour Part Dieu) from the park’s main gate.

Along the way, there were quite a few majestic houses that bordered the park, which I presume belonged to millionaires. The fences were so high that I wasn’t able to get decent pictures of them. In any case, there were also millionaire apartment buildings right across the street.

The ornate architecture of these buildings with their tall windows and grand doors really set the m apart from the regular apartment buildings that are usually seen in the area.

Having found my original point of entry into the park, I was getting tired so I took the tram from the Lyon 1 University tram station back to INSA.

It was an afternoon well spent with so many interesting places to explore just within walking distance from where I live. Breathing in the fresh air, looking at the buildings, it’s starting to sink in that I’m actually in Europe and living my dream. These memories will remain with me for a long time to come