Paris Sight -Seeing

9:16:00 PM Unknown 0 Comments

What comes first in your mind when ya think of Paris?

You: French fries?
Me: -_-" Nah.. That's Macdonald's

You: LV Bags!! * Screaming in the background*
Me: Yeah!!! Erm.. I mean no... that can only be the 2nd item, of coz..

You: Oh I know! Eiffel Tower!!
Me: Finally.... ^_^

In fact, I had purposely chosen a hotel that was so near to Eiffel Tower, that was almost walking distance. But then I bought the Paris Visite Pass , which meant unlimited access in all metro, RER, who would wanna walk? Keke

Eiffel Tower from far

Yeah lah, it was really from far!! I swear on the lives of all my teddy bears! Even though my English sucks, but I still know how to differentiate between far & near okay? =p The Tower is standing tall at 324m, so almost everywhere I went I can clearly see the Tower. Pretty amazed by how people century ago ( Tower was completed in 1889) built this gigantic structure....


Panoramic View from the Tower Top

Sun rays beaming onto the city


View from underneath the Tower

Tower Lit up!
As it was summertime, I had to "brave" through the strong winds and waited on top of the Tower from almost 3 hours to capture both the daytime & the sunset sceneries. So if you are thinking of coming in summer too, perhaps it is not such a bright idea to come up before 7 plus. I think I went up around 6pm and the sun only set at 8 -9 pm. Hungry & cold!! It was such a sacrifice to capture the sunset.. Sobz. Fortunately we came down timely enuff to catch the lit up of the Tower which lasted for perhaps a few minutes? Not too sure whether it would be lit up in intervals or not, but glad that we manage to see that!
The Invalides

This was where Emperor Napoleon was buried since 2 April 1861. Dint go in though , coz need to pay money and I'm no fan to tomb visiting.. keke

Saint Chapel

There was 1,113 scenes depicted in the 15 stained glass windows in the upper chapel to tell the story of mankind from Genesis through to Christ's resurrection. I dun read bible, so perhaps those who know the bible by heart, would be able to appreciate much better.


Notre Dame Cathedral

When I came to Notre Dame Cathedral, they were having a service so we sort of went in free ( Yeah!). Shant elaborate a lot since I'm not preaching Christianity here but I bought a cross here for my mum, not too sure whether it had been blessed mah... hmm

I amazed by how this picture turned out. This was actually a gigantic cross, so I had to lean backward to capture the whole thing. Somehow or rather, it turned out to be "glowing". Trust me, the place was not really brightly lit...



Opposite side of Notre Dame Cathedral


Arc of Triumph

This was standing at the end of Champs-Elysees, so quite prominent. I sort of "squeezed" some time out from my shopping to take a photo of it. Keke. =p Here, basically is the Orchard equivalent, where you can find the rich & the famous. Come here for big bargain for the big brand like LV ( a building of its own!), Gucci, Channel etc



The Louvre

Well, I came to the Louvre for free ( Yeah! Again!!). I got do homework before going for my trip okay? Some of the museums are free on the first sunday of every month, so for those that you are keen to go, try to schedule them all on a first sunday.

Anyway being a typical Singaporean, I went to queue up half an hour before the opening time. But to my "horrified" surprise, the kiasu spirit had spread to the other side of the world!! The queue was already very very long -_-" The whole place is like a maze, it's so damn HUGEEEEeee! I think you probably need at least 4 hours to cover everything. But again for those super artistic people like myself who strongly only my art pieces are worthwhile, perhaps 2 hours should be enuff.. Hahahha

Statue with * clear throat * distinctive feature ....ooOOo

Painting on the ceiling

Aphrodite, aka Venus De Milo
The Winged Victory of Samothrace

This is also called the Nike of Samothrace, which is a third century B.C marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike. Apparently, this is how Nike, the sport brand's name come about. Interesting huh? So Nike has a hidden meaning of victory..


Mona Lisa

This was taken after I squeezed through crowds of giants. I'm small comparatively to my Asian peers, so Caucasians are considered giants to me. * Rolled eyes*

Anyway, kinda disappointed coz we were not allow to go near to the painting. In fact, it was already protected with a glass panel, yet there was still a barrier. I took this picture with my camera zoom feature, and so not very well taken. I dunno much about the famous painting, except that the painting was so alive that the lady appeared to be looking at you whichever angle you are. I wanted to do that, but there was simply too many people! Haiz, I guess I would never have the chance to try that le... >.< ~~


Statue in pain

Statue: My life is so miserable! My ass already kenak "poked", and then everyday there are stupid birds resting or shitting on my head!! Let me die!!

Mystery voice: But.. but.. you are not alive!

Statue: ARGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..........

Madeleine Church

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Journey to Loch Ness - Continuing in Scotland

7:20:00 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Enough of the city, I personally much prefer sceneries & nature which are so scarce in Singapore, thus I enjoy this part of the tour more. I signed up a Day Tour with Rabbie to travel up from Edinburgh to Loch Ness & Inverness Highland. The tour guide was pretty good and humorous, who entertained us with his wide knowledge of the English History, Tourist spots etc. Commendable indeed!


Doune Castle

This was more like a toilet break than a tourist spot. Castles were almost everywhere, that we went to 3 castles ( Stirling, Doune and Urquhart Castles) in our 2 days tour.


Highland Cow - The Drawing

A real Highland Cow !!

Wasnt he cute? His name is Hamish, born in Feb 1993, almost 15 years old. Basically Highland cows have no layer of fat to keep them warm and so they have an extra coat which also maintains weatherproofing. The long fringe keeps the driving wind and rain out of their eyes in the winter and insects in the summer months. Well, apparently the long fringe protect them from the weather but polly the Highland cows got to live with the poking of the fringe in their eyes. You cant just have the best of both worlds, I guess. Hahaha..



Magnificent Highlands

The land is so vast, I'm so tiny.
( P.S For those who dunno me, actually I'm also tiny everywhere coz I'm so petite in size -_-")



Harry Potter Photo Stop

This was the railway bridge for the Hogwarts train to ferry the students back to school in Harry Potter 2. To help you recall easier, remember the flying car that Harry & Ron took to return to school?

The Commando Memorial


This was just another view at the Memorial. You must be thinking, what's so special about grass and a straight road. You are so wrong!! You got to enlarge this photo to see clearly. There, across the road, can see trees right? More on the centre left. The trees were formated in such a way that it was actually showing Scotland Flag ( below). Amazing yeah... remember to look out for this when you are there!


Loch Ness

This was the place where we tried to spot for the water seahorse, aka Nessie! I really wanna came here after I watched the movie. The sceneries were so nice and magnificent, and of coz Nessie was so cute in the movie ( until it grew up and turn "ugly" & gigantic), that was part of the reasons. Needless to say,we dint manage to spot any big animal in the water lah. If not, you polly can see me in the newspaper liao... keke

Just a little knowledge sharing, the word "Loch" actually mean lakes. Beside Loch Ness, there was also Loch Luibnaig, Loch Earn, Loch Laggan etc. in Scotland.




Inverness

These photos were taken at Inverness, where we stayed for a night before moving on. You polly find a lot of B&B ( Bed & Breakfast) here, which are usually homes of the people who stayed here throughout their lives. The one I stayed belongs to a granny, whose children have moved to the city area, while she stays in the town, visiting her children occasionally.

A funny ( maybe not so funny to us) story to share. On the way to our respective lodging, our tour guide was driving us around, showing us where were the better places to eat and he specifically said " Dun go Macdonalds!!" Nth against Mac, it just that we ought to try some local food since we were there mah.

However the moment we checked in, granny said there would be some water works and so no water supply after 9pm. No choice, we got to quickly bath before going out again for our dinner, which by then was oreadi 8pm. By the time we reached the town center, walked around before deciding what to eat, the kitchens for most of the restaurants were closed. Well, you guessed it.... YES, we went Macs. SOBZ. And when we came back, there was still water supply... SOBZ, granny bluff us... SOBZ

The next day, our driver was asking so where did we dine yesterday. He dun believed us when we said Macs.. -_-"

Well, that was my short story.. Okay, let's move on...


Loch Beinn


River Affric

The next morning, we started off the day with a nature reserve walk at Glen Affric. Here, you would find River Affric flowing down through a dramatic gorge, surrounded on all sides by the beautiful Caledonian pine.

Along the walk, we actually picked blueberries to eat ( YES, FOC!! =p) and drink from the river, which tasted like => Distilled water, out from the fridge! Cooling & refreshing!


Nessie found!! Erm, in wires leh

Urquhart Castle

My tour guide said there used to be no barrier around the castle, and people can just take photos. However now, they planted small bushes to "hide" the castle so that they can start charging people to go into the castle. No choice, that was the best picture I can take in that kind of "circumstance"... Hee

Loch Laggan

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Edinburgh Sight Seeing

10:31:00 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Updates in Pink - 21 August

After much (very) procrastination, I finally decided to pen down ( blog) about my trip to UK & Paris. It serves as a memory track for myself as I cant remember things very well nowadays, polly due to aging ( *_*~~~). For others, it serves as a peek to the other side of the planet Earth, and of coz, for those who are planning a trip, I would be much pleased if you decide to take up some of my recommended places to go.

Basically, I would be blogging about the trip in a few entries, coz too many photos! I took 1000+ lor.. hee. That's the "problem" with digital camera, you just snap at everything and then end up spending time deleting those uglier photos.

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Streets of Edinburgh



Street Performers




Princes Street Garden with Edinburgh Castle in the background(P.S Try to imagine, coz it was too foggy when I took this photo.. hee)

Edinburgh Castle on a clear day

Paranomic view of the city from Edinburgh Castle

Cannon view ( self invented vocab) of the city from Edinburgh Castle

A portion of Edinburgh Castle

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Camera Obsura
This was the most fun stop in Edinburgh, a break from castles, museums and old architectural buildings. There are lots of things to see, from optical illusion, bendy mirrors to light fantastic and many mores. The Victorian " Eye in the Sky" would allow you to spy on people in the streets realtime! You can even lift people on the streets, create bridges for vehicles to cross over etc. Confused? Haha, find out yourself when you are there! But try to go on a clear bright day, you dun wan to miss the scene of someone showering because of the fog, dun you?? * Wicked smile*


Shadows Captured!

What's on a man's mind?

I love this lor! It was so very true!! Any guys wanna debate???? ............ DUN BLUFF!! =p

Bf's manga transformation

My transformation

I love this!! Did I say I love sth else earlier on?? Hmm... dun care. This is better than comestic surgery. In a split second, I was transform to cute Japanese animation looks, with big eyes, sharp nose and small mouth. ^_^

Greyfriars Bobby

This was erected as a tribute for a faithful dog which kept constant watch and guard over the grave of its owner for 14 years until its own death in 1872. Read more here.

You can find this along the street of George IV Bridge, in the direction towards The National Museum of Scotland. If you are keen, dun forget to visit Museum of Edinburgh to see Bobby's collar given by William Chambers ( The Lord Provost of Edinburgh), with a brass inscription " Greyfriars Bobby from the Lord Provost 1867 licensed".

Scotland Piper

Easily you would be able to find a man wearing traditional kilt playing bagpipe in the street. Here I found one standing outside The National Museum of Scotland. The bagpipe is a traditional Scottish wind instrument, consisting of three drones and a melody pipe (called the chanter), which are fed continuously by a reservoir of air in a bag.

Btw, my day tour guide mentioned that the sound frequency of the bagpipe is quite damaging to our ears when subjected to prolonged listening ( which I cant remember whether it was 28 seconds or minutes). So dun be too engrossed with photo taking with the piper, remember quickly take and run!! Anyway, from very far distance, you would be able to hear it.



Holyroodhouse

Once the home of Mary, Queen of Scots, the Palace of Holyroodhouse stands at the foot of the Royal Mile. Today, the Palace is used by The Queen for State ceremonies and official entertaining.

Well, are you expecting pictures of the palace interiors? Sad to say, they are only meant for the eyes of those physically present, i.e, no cameras and videos allowed!! =(

Needless to say, the palace is majestic with the detailed carving, the furniture, the drawings etc. But very very old.. Okay I know, I'm being dumb to say so, since the palace existed a few hundred years ago. Kinda eerie too, as murder was said have been done in its chamber.


The ruins of Holyrood Abbey

This being the burial place of several Scottish Kings and the site of the coronation of Charles I in 1633, the Abbey was abandoned after the roof collapsed in 1768.

So practically, we were like stepping on the tombs of Kings & Queens ( the rectangles on the ground) like nobody business. I'm not too sure whether their bones are still there, but I tried not to step over them lor. Give respect to ancient people mah. And hor, a bit dumb & pai seh to ask " eh, really got corpses underneath mah??" A unsolved "mystery" indeed.

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