Day 10 – Science Museum & Shopping @ Oxford / Regent Street
Our final day in London was spent at the Science Museum which unfortunately was marred by the pain in my feet. I did not know how it happened or why it did but the tendons at the back of my feet was hurting like hell and by this day, I was actually hobbling along more than walking. My most dreaded London Underground station was Green Park which was the interchange for the Jubilee line that our station, St. John’s Wood, was on. It was a huge interchange and the walk from one platform to another nearly killed my feet and it did not help that we were usually out and about in the early hours when everyone was rushing to the office and there you have a Singaporean tourist in her dirty white jacket (did I mention that the air in Paris and London were most dusty?!) hobbling along and trying to keep out of everyone’s way. Doppy was quite sweet and tried to wait up for me but I could tell that his enjoyment was diluted by the pain I was suffering. The Science Museum was a very big one but doppy was not impressed with all the galleries as he had seen some other better exhibits such as at the NASA museum. Nevertheless, the little grounds we managed to cover was still a rather educational one and I got to see the very first Apple computer! It was also interesting making the connections between the development in Science and Technology that we were seeing in the museum with the concurrent developments that were taking place in the same time period as shown by the exhibits in the other museums and one will truly be amazed at the developments that humans have made in the last half a century or so.
Our last evening was spent getting last minute souvenirs at Regent / Oxford Street but by this time, we were really quite exhausted from our trip. We had been doing non-stop walking (and I really do mean being on our feet from the moment we wake up to the second we drop off to sleep barring meal times) and it was beginning to exact a toll on us. We had a leisurely dinner at the brasserie at John Lewis mall and was contented to just slow down our pace and took in the last sight and scene we would see of London. While we were both sad that our trip was coming to an end, we were both happy at the thought of returning to Singapore and being able to see our son again. We have missed him very much on this trip and this is the first time since he was born that we had been apart from him for such a long period of time.
All in all, we both had a most wonderful time in London and Paris. While I feel the need to restate my disappointment with the closure of the Louvre, I was still glad for the trip we made to Paris for me to see the city for myself. London is definitely worth visiting even if it was just for the museums themselves and the English people (at least the ones I met along the street) were most polite and helpful ones (unlike the Koreans I met on a previous trip to Seoul). I contemplated writing a separate post about my musings for the trip but I think I shall save that for another day. Look out for the pictures that we would hopefully upload onto Facebook or Picasa soon and check out the sights that I have been blogging about for yourself.
Au REVIOUR, Paris and goodbye, London … for now.
Showing posts with label Our Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Holidays. Show all posts
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men?
Day 9 – Natural History Museum & Les Miserables @ Queen’s Theatre
Second last day of our trip and of course we must make sure that we pay the Natural History Museum a visit. The dinosaur collection was indeed most awe-inspiring but I think I dampened doppy’s enthusiasm a little when I pointed out to him that the exhibits were casts and not actual fossils. I also had fun at the cocoon at the Darwin Centre where we saw classification of the natural world at work and I had a go at classifying beetles. I am trying to inculcate an appreciation for nature in XT and in our very limiting urban landscape and hot weather, that translates into taking him for walks at my estate to see whatever natural sights we can find. He’s currently fascinated with worms and caterpillars (most probably due to the fact that these are the only things we get to see in our walks) and my scientific knowledge is sorely lacking in my explanation. From the classification exercise, I learnt that the definitive characteristic of insects was that they had SIX legs. Though doppy insisted that we must have learnt this from our science textbooks at one stage or another in our education, nothing beats going through the experience of actually justifying my classification and having my reasoning clarified by the curator. I was most excited at this new found piece of knowledge I have learnt and most likely internalized and could not wait to share it with XT.
This evening was another special one as we were going to catch our 2nd West End theatre production. I had been trying to secure tickets for Les Miserables back in Singapore but was unsuccessful in my attempt as the seats left were right in the front of the theatre and we had been warned against neck strains. Fortunately, upon our arrival in London, doppy with the help of Oldman managed to secure 2 tickets for this show with decent stall seats. And boy, was it an experience not to be missed. When we first entered Queen’s Theatre, we were a little surprised at the stage size and commented we had expected it to be bigger. However, the sets used in the musical were most amazing. We were most impressed at the perspectives that were created and truly, the crew managed to work wonders with the limited space they had. The orchestra was fantastic too and needless to say, the songs were most awe-inspiring and well-written. When I was in Singapore, PJ had tried to share the songs with me as she fell in love with the musical too but they had not made much sense for me as I did not have the context of the play. After watching it though, one of the things I would be hunting for when I get back to Singapore would be the CD for the musical. We were too poor to afford the one that was being sold at the theatre but I was determined to get hold of it in Singapore. The players were most amazing and I fell in love with the leader of the revolution. Truth be told, I thought that Cosette and her lover were the most useless characters in the play and I had the least sympathy for them. I felt the most for Eponine (is that how you spell her name?) while doppy, the heartless one, remarked that she was real silly to have made such sacrifices for a love that was unrequited. We both enjoyed the musical very much and was really glad that we caught it. This was apparently doppy’s first musical of an international touring fame standard and he was very moved by the musical. I was so glad that we saved Les Miserables for the last and caught Blood Brothers first. While we had definitely enjoyed Blood Brothers, it was simply not in the same league as Les Miserables and I think we would both have been hard-pressed to appreciate Blood Brothers if we had caught Les Miserables first.
Second last day of our trip and of course we must make sure that we pay the Natural History Museum a visit. The dinosaur collection was indeed most awe-inspiring but I think I dampened doppy’s enthusiasm a little when I pointed out to him that the exhibits were casts and not actual fossils. I also had fun at the cocoon at the Darwin Centre where we saw classification of the natural world at work and I had a go at classifying beetles. I am trying to inculcate an appreciation for nature in XT and in our very limiting urban landscape and hot weather, that translates into taking him for walks at my estate to see whatever natural sights we can find. He’s currently fascinated with worms and caterpillars (most probably due to the fact that these are the only things we get to see in our walks) and my scientific knowledge is sorely lacking in my explanation. From the classification exercise, I learnt that the definitive characteristic of insects was that they had SIX legs. Though doppy insisted that we must have learnt this from our science textbooks at one stage or another in our education, nothing beats going through the experience of actually justifying my classification and having my reasoning clarified by the curator. I was most excited at this new found piece of knowledge I have learnt and most likely internalized and could not wait to share it with XT.
This evening was another special one as we were going to catch our 2nd West End theatre production. I had been trying to secure tickets for Les Miserables back in Singapore but was unsuccessful in my attempt as the seats left were right in the front of the theatre and we had been warned against neck strains. Fortunately, upon our arrival in London, doppy with the help of Oldman managed to secure 2 tickets for this show with decent stall seats. And boy, was it an experience not to be missed. When we first entered Queen’s Theatre, we were a little surprised at the stage size and commented we had expected it to be bigger. However, the sets used in the musical were most amazing. We were most impressed at the perspectives that were created and truly, the crew managed to work wonders with the limited space they had. The orchestra was fantastic too and needless to say, the songs were most awe-inspiring and well-written. When I was in Singapore, PJ had tried to share the songs with me as she fell in love with the musical too but they had not made much sense for me as I did not have the context of the play. After watching it though, one of the things I would be hunting for when I get back to Singapore would be the CD for the musical. We were too poor to afford the one that was being sold at the theatre but I was determined to get hold of it in Singapore. The players were most amazing and I fell in love with the leader of the revolution. Truth be told, I thought that Cosette and her lover were the most useless characters in the play and I had the least sympathy for them. I felt the most for Eponine (is that how you spell her name?) while doppy, the heartless one, remarked that she was real silly to have made such sacrifices for a love that was unrequited. We both enjoyed the musical very much and was really glad that we caught it. This was apparently doppy’s first musical of an international touring fame standard and he was very moved by the musical. I was so glad that we saved Les Miserables for the last and caught Blood Brothers first. While we had definitely enjoyed Blood Brothers, it was simply not in the same league as Les Miserables and I think we would both have been hard-pressed to appreciate Blood Brothers if we had caught Les Miserables first.
I am one good-looking girl in London!
Day 8 – Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Shopping @ Harrods & dining at the infamous Wong Kee
After helping Oldman with his luggage at the train station, we both set off for Buckingham Palace to see the change of guards ceremony which only took place once every other day. Unfortunately, the stateroom was not open for tour during the winter season but we still had fun snapping pictures away at the palace grounds. You would not believe the crowd that gathered around to witness the change of guards. I am not sure if you had seen the change of guards at Istana but believe you me, we really imitated our colonial master in many of their ways. Obviously the procession in England was a much grander one complete with the guards riding into the palace on horses to change their shifts. We could not get near enough to the palace to actually witness the ceremony (we took a while with breakfast) but seeing the procession and just being there with the crowd was a rather fun experience too.
After Buckingham Palace, we proceeded to Hyde Park despite the less-than-ideal weather and was pleasantly surprised by a winter funfair that was held there. It was then that I remembered oldman mentioning to me about a free-fall ride that I could take. We both enjoyed a hotdog in the cold, wet weather and you will not be able to believe how fragrant fried onions and crisp sausages would smell in the cold, chilly winter air. We had fun walking around the fair, admiring the many creative and exquisite arts and craft work but had no monies to afford any of them. The sight of many little tykes also reminded us both of XT and we just spent the time talking about the rides we want to take him on and imagining his excitement when we were to actually do it. We stopped at a most wonderful lovely place for lunch where it overlooked the Serpentine river and it was a most romantic afternoon spent at Hyde Park. How I wish that the weather in Singapore would be cooler so that doppy would take more walks with me in the parks too.
In the evening, we decided to pay Harrods a visit since it’s the quintessential English store. It was indeed a most up-market place and we really could only barely afford the things in the food hall. The experience at the Harrods Store was a most thought-provoking one for me. I was most tempted to get a Harrod’s bag to commemorate my trip but when I saw I had to pay at least 15 pounds (more than thirty Singapore dollars!) for a simple bag, I just could not justify the purchase to myself. The thoughts about consumerism and class consciousness in my Gothic class began to come back to me and I started questioning the reason that I want to own such a bag and the value of doing so. When we explored the other levels of the store and took a look at the price tags, I was most outraged at the prices of some of the goods. Undoubtedly, they were luxury goods and I am sure of the top quality, yet I could help but ask myself what’s the value of such highly-priced goods beyond an indication of one’s social status? Seriously, does a toddler really know the difference between a 200 pounds shirt and one that costs less than 10 and would that difference really even matter? Doppy was bemused at my wonderings and in his usual pragmatic way, told me that I must understand for the very rich, this 200 pounds would merely be a drop in the ocean, much like what 2 dollars would be for me. I could not help but remember the sight of the homeless people in Paris and the discussion doppy and I had about urban problems and the increasing widening income gaps between the haves and the haves-not and I most self-righteously proclaimed that I would very much rather donate the money to charity. Doppy was most amused at my reaction and remarked that I would probably think and feel quite differently if I was ever in such possession of such great wealth. And this is one of the things that I treasure about the trips I make with doppy – the opportunity for us to exchange our thoughts and begin to understand each other and appreciate each other’s position just that little bit better. And all this from wandering into a Harrod’s store.
Our dining experience on this day was worth a mention. After many meals of sandwiches, we were both sick and tired of dough in the form of bread and craved some rice or noodles. So for this night, we decided to check out the infamous Wong Kee which friends and colleagues alike had said it was an experience not to be missed, more so for its notorious poor service rather than the quality of food. SAD also forewarned us and claimed that their service would only be impeccable if there was a good looking lady in the group. Otherwise, they would apparently just remind you to remember to tip them. Seeing as how we did not get our food thrown at us and were not reminded to give tips, I therefore drew the logical conclusion that I could pass for a good-looking girl. :P While the texture of the roasted duck noodles I had left much to be desired, I must admit that the duck tasted pretty good and we were both so deprived of Asian carbohydrates, we even found the noodles and rice palatable. We tried very hard not to think about the wonton noodles or roast duck noodles that we could get in Singapore for a fraction of the price we paid and just soaked in the so very noisy Chinese ruckus in a typical Chinese restaurant. We both left as 2 very satisfied customers and while I won’t recommend it as a die-die must go restaurant, I guess it’s fun to visit just so that you can proclaim, “I have been to Wong Kee!”. And we did.
After helping Oldman with his luggage at the train station, we both set off for Buckingham Palace to see the change of guards ceremony which only took place once every other day. Unfortunately, the stateroom was not open for tour during the winter season but we still had fun snapping pictures away at the palace grounds. You would not believe the crowd that gathered around to witness the change of guards. I am not sure if you had seen the change of guards at Istana but believe you me, we really imitated our colonial master in many of their ways. Obviously the procession in England was a much grander one complete with the guards riding into the palace on horses to change their shifts. We could not get near enough to the palace to actually witness the ceremony (we took a while with breakfast) but seeing the procession and just being there with the crowd was a rather fun experience too.
After Buckingham Palace, we proceeded to Hyde Park despite the less-than-ideal weather and was pleasantly surprised by a winter funfair that was held there. It was then that I remembered oldman mentioning to me about a free-fall ride that I could take. We both enjoyed a hotdog in the cold, wet weather and you will not be able to believe how fragrant fried onions and crisp sausages would smell in the cold, chilly winter air. We had fun walking around the fair, admiring the many creative and exquisite arts and craft work but had no monies to afford any of them. The sight of many little tykes also reminded us both of XT and we just spent the time talking about the rides we want to take him on and imagining his excitement when we were to actually do it. We stopped at a most wonderful lovely place for lunch where it overlooked the Serpentine river and it was a most romantic afternoon spent at Hyde Park. How I wish that the weather in Singapore would be cooler so that doppy would take more walks with me in the parks too.
In the evening, we decided to pay Harrods a visit since it’s the quintessential English store. It was indeed a most up-market place and we really could only barely afford the things in the food hall. The experience at the Harrods Store was a most thought-provoking one for me. I was most tempted to get a Harrod’s bag to commemorate my trip but when I saw I had to pay at least 15 pounds (more than thirty Singapore dollars!) for a simple bag, I just could not justify the purchase to myself. The thoughts about consumerism and class consciousness in my Gothic class began to come back to me and I started questioning the reason that I want to own such a bag and the value of doing so. When we explored the other levels of the store and took a look at the price tags, I was most outraged at the prices of some of the goods. Undoubtedly, they were luxury goods and I am sure of the top quality, yet I could help but ask myself what’s the value of such highly-priced goods beyond an indication of one’s social status? Seriously, does a toddler really know the difference between a 200 pounds shirt and one that costs less than 10 and would that difference really even matter? Doppy was bemused at my wonderings and in his usual pragmatic way, told me that I must understand for the very rich, this 200 pounds would merely be a drop in the ocean, much like what 2 dollars would be for me. I could not help but remember the sight of the homeless people in Paris and the discussion doppy and I had about urban problems and the increasing widening income gaps between the haves and the haves-not and I most self-righteously proclaimed that I would very much rather donate the money to charity. Doppy was most amused at my reaction and remarked that I would probably think and feel quite differently if I was ever in such possession of such great wealth. And this is one of the things that I treasure about the trips I make with doppy – the opportunity for us to exchange our thoughts and begin to understand each other and appreciate each other’s position just that little bit better. And all this from wandering into a Harrod’s store.
Our dining experience on this day was worth a mention. After many meals of sandwiches, we were both sick and tired of dough in the form of bread and craved some rice or noodles. So for this night, we decided to check out the infamous Wong Kee which friends and colleagues alike had said it was an experience not to be missed, more so for its notorious poor service rather than the quality of food. SAD also forewarned us and claimed that their service would only be impeccable if there was a good looking lady in the group. Otherwise, they would apparently just remind you to remember to tip them. Seeing as how we did not get our food thrown at us and were not reminded to give tips, I therefore drew the logical conclusion that I could pass for a good-looking girl. :P While the texture of the roasted duck noodles I had left much to be desired, I must admit that the duck tasted pretty good and we were both so deprived of Asian carbohydrates, we even found the noodles and rice palatable. We tried very hard not to think about the wonton noodles or roast duck noodles that we could get in Singapore for a fraction of the price we paid and just soaked in the so very noisy Chinese ruckus in a typical Chinese restaurant. We both left as 2 very satisfied customers and while I won’t recommend it as a die-die must go restaurant, I guess it’s fun to visit just so that you can proclaim, “I have been to Wong Kee!”. And we did.
British Museum Shop needs to take a lesson or two
Day 7 – British Museum, Bodean & Soho
Doppy diligently did his homework the night before and wanted to take us to Convent Gardens this morning. As our luck would have it, we woke up to a pouring sky. He changed tracks immediately and we decided to take a chance with the weekend crowd and go visit the British Museum.
Baby’s mummy (me friend and former colleague) was trying to console us about our missed Louvre trip by telling us that some of the exhibits at the British Museum could definitely rival that of the Louvre. We were certainly not disappointed. We arrived at the museum at about half past 11 and stayed till its closing time at 6pm. All the galleries were not just interesting but very educational. Hence, many of the shots I took were not of the exhibits themselves but of the explanatory notes that were very well written and concise and constituted a crash course in some of the great developments in human civilizations. The ancient Egyptian exhibition was definitely awesome, given that it was the largest Egyptian exhibition outside of Egypt. Doppy was most pleasantly surprised by the exhibit of the Rosetta Stone as he did not know of it beforehand. He was so touched at the sight of it that he teared as the significance of the stone to unlocking modern civilization’s understanding of the ancient Egyptian culture bore upon him. We were awed by all the displays and our senses were just assaulted by beauty and grandeur. An interesting gallery we visited was the ‘Life and Death’ gallery where the museum exhibited how different cultures deal with the harsh condition of the environment in the quest for survival. A particular exhibit that left a deep impression was a huge strip of cloth made up of pills that made up the time line of a person’s lifetime. This exhibit was accompanied with photographs of the key moments in a person’s life bearing witness to the different stages of one’s life. It really put things into perspective for us and made us stop for a moment to take stock of what it is that we want to get out of our limited time on earth. We also had a once-in-a-lifetime experience to handle ancient currency in the monies gallery and I got to see what cowries shells were which I have only read about in books. The museum had stations dotted around the galleries which allowed visitors to handle some of the exhibits under the curator’s guidance. We also overheard one of the guided tours and wished that we had the time to spare to join one of these tours as the guides were really knowledgeable and told interesting stories about the exhibits. After a most enriching afternoon at the galleries, I was most excited at going to the British Museum shop to get souvenirs but was sorely disappointed at their merchandise. When I was at the National Gallery, there were so many things I could get to commemorate the experience and remind me of my time spent there. At the British Museum shop however, the merchandising was pathetic. There was nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, that appealed to the two of us at all. Even at the Shakespeare Theatre Globe shop, doppy was able to pick out nerdy stuff that would appeal to me (such as a poster listing the new phrases that Shakespeare invented which I intend to frame and hang it up in our study) and that was when we did not even visit the Globe itself. In the end, doppy was convinced by me to get a paper weight replica of the Rosetta stone as I could tell that seeing it was really a big deal for him. Though the consumerists in us were not satisfied, the experience of walking the British Museum will probably stay with us a long time to come and we were both most happy that we managed to visit it
Dinner was a most charming affair meeting up with both Oldman and Baby’s mummy. I finally managed to introduce the two of them to each other, nevermind they were both heading back to Singapore soon. Oldman took us to an American BBQ restaurant along Portland Street, Bodean, to try the buffalo wings and we had a great time with beer and all the typical starters such as quesadillas and chili fries that kept us happy. What doppy and I failed to realize though was that we were actually in the bohemian? part of London and the moment we walked out of the restaurant, doppy’s gay radar was up and he was very much attuned to the environment. Just as he was asking Oldman what kind of place he had taken taken us to, a man walked up to doppy and attempted to proposition him. Doppy was deeply embarrassed while Baby’s mummy and I were most surprised. Baby’s mummy then remarked that she’s beginning to see doppy in a new light and for the rest of the evening, doppy stucked next to me like superglue and sought my protection. :P All in all, we had a most wonderful evening and managed to take a few nice shots with our dearest friends.
Doppy diligently did his homework the night before and wanted to take us to Convent Gardens this morning. As our luck would have it, we woke up to a pouring sky. He changed tracks immediately and we decided to take a chance with the weekend crowd and go visit the British Museum.
Baby’s mummy (me friend and former colleague) was trying to console us about our missed Louvre trip by telling us that some of the exhibits at the British Museum could definitely rival that of the Louvre. We were certainly not disappointed. We arrived at the museum at about half past 11 and stayed till its closing time at 6pm. All the galleries were not just interesting but very educational. Hence, many of the shots I took were not of the exhibits themselves but of the explanatory notes that were very well written and concise and constituted a crash course in some of the great developments in human civilizations. The ancient Egyptian exhibition was definitely awesome, given that it was the largest Egyptian exhibition outside of Egypt. Doppy was most pleasantly surprised by the exhibit of the Rosetta Stone as he did not know of it beforehand. He was so touched at the sight of it that he teared as the significance of the stone to unlocking modern civilization’s understanding of the ancient Egyptian culture bore upon him. We were awed by all the displays and our senses were just assaulted by beauty and grandeur. An interesting gallery we visited was the ‘Life and Death’ gallery where the museum exhibited how different cultures deal with the harsh condition of the environment in the quest for survival. A particular exhibit that left a deep impression was a huge strip of cloth made up of pills that made up the time line of a person’s lifetime. This exhibit was accompanied with photographs of the key moments in a person’s life bearing witness to the different stages of one’s life. It really put things into perspective for us and made us stop for a moment to take stock of what it is that we want to get out of our limited time on earth. We also had a once-in-a-lifetime experience to handle ancient currency in the monies gallery and I got to see what cowries shells were which I have only read about in books. The museum had stations dotted around the galleries which allowed visitors to handle some of the exhibits under the curator’s guidance. We also overheard one of the guided tours and wished that we had the time to spare to join one of these tours as the guides were really knowledgeable and told interesting stories about the exhibits. After a most enriching afternoon at the galleries, I was most excited at going to the British Museum shop to get souvenirs but was sorely disappointed at their merchandise. When I was at the National Gallery, there were so many things I could get to commemorate the experience and remind me of my time spent there. At the British Museum shop however, the merchandising was pathetic. There was nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, that appealed to the two of us at all. Even at the Shakespeare Theatre Globe shop, doppy was able to pick out nerdy stuff that would appeal to me (such as a poster listing the new phrases that Shakespeare invented which I intend to frame and hang it up in our study) and that was when we did not even visit the Globe itself. In the end, doppy was convinced by me to get a paper weight replica of the Rosetta stone as I could tell that seeing it was really a big deal for him. Though the consumerists in us were not satisfied, the experience of walking the British Museum will probably stay with us a long time to come and we were both most happy that we managed to visit it
Dinner was a most charming affair meeting up with both Oldman and Baby’s mummy. I finally managed to introduce the two of them to each other, nevermind they were both heading back to Singapore soon. Oldman took us to an American BBQ restaurant along Portland Street, Bodean, to try the buffalo wings and we had a great time with beer and all the typical starters such as quesadillas and chili fries that kept us happy. What doppy and I failed to realize though was that we were actually in the bohemian? part of London and the moment we walked out of the restaurant, doppy’s gay radar was up and he was very much attuned to the environment. Just as he was asking Oldman what kind of place he had taken taken us to, a man walked up to doppy and attempted to proposition him. Doppy was deeply embarrassed while Baby’s mummy and I were most surprised. Baby’s mummy then remarked that she’s beginning to see doppy in a new light and for the rest of the evening, doppy stucked next to me like superglue and sought my protection. :P All in all, we had a most wonderful evening and managed to take a few nice shots with our dearest friends.
A most wonderful day to be out and about
Day 6 – Borough’s Market, Whiskey Exchange, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Tate Modern Museum, Chinatown & Regent/Oxford Street
Saturday was the last day that Borough’s Market was opened and so we decided to check it out that day. The weather was merciful to us and we had a good time at the market. One must always visit the market on an empty stomach for there were just way too many stalls that were selling hot-dogs and burgers of various kinds that would tempt your taste-bud. Doppy devoured one beef burger (the steak was absolutely sweet and succulent), one wild boar hotdog (which was surprisingly not gamey) and one jam muffin. I had a hot cup of cream of mushroom and bought a tiffin (imagine a flat brownie that’s chocked full of chocolate and shortbread) to try and both were really good. The market had fresh produce of all kind and I saw what Brussels sprouts look like before they were plucked. The orchids looked absolutely gorgeous too but both doppy and oldmand convinced me that it would be real silly to buy orchids in London and cart them back to Singapore. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning and I even managed to get some jars of homemade jams which I hope will taste as good as they look.
Along the walk to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, we passed by a whiskey exchange. Given our alcoholic nature, there’s no way that we would give up a chance to buy a bottle or two. Faced with so many choices at such such affordable prices (starting from a mere 20 pounds!), we eventually picked out 2 bottles of single malt whiskies randomly. You have no idea how tempted we were to clear the entire store with the prices that were listed. If I live in this country, I believe I would completely subsist on alcohol for my beverages and throw a whiskey party every so often. If not for the liquor limit imposed by immigration and the weight limit for luggage, you can be sure that I would have been carting cartons back. Everyone who is reading this blog is definitely welcome to our stash. :)
We then proceeded to Shakespeare Globe but alas they wanted to charge us for a 45min tour. I much prefer walking on my own and hence decided against going for the tour. Unfortunately, as it was a working theatre, we were only allowed to walk the grounds outside of the theatre for our safety consideration. At least, that was the official story that was told to me when I approached one of the staff members. While I did not get to see the Globe Theatre, I had a whale of a time in the shop. Doppy was most evil. He knew all the nerd stuff that would appeal to me and pointed them all out. I ended up purchasing 2 posters, 2 comic books on Shakespeare’s play (for XT when he grows up mah … though Doppy asked me to stop using XT as an excuse for the things that I wanted to buy for myself) and love magnets. The merchandising at the Globe Theatre was a most successful one and I left the site a most happy and satisfied tourist.
Our next pit stop was the Tate Modern Museum. Though both Doppy and I were not exactly fans of modern art, we thought that since we were here, we should at least pay it a visit. Oldman settled himself in a café to do some work, figuring that we should be done with the museum by an hour or so. Even though it was not a large museum in comparison to the National Gallery, we still took 2 hours plus or so to cover 2 floors of the free main exhibitions. Surrealism was really not my cuppa tea and after 2 or 3 galleries of that, I was tired by the experience. The realist art were much better and we got to see Monet’s Water Lilies which was one of Doppy’s favourites. There were some cool installation art works too and the one that left the deepest impression was a display of an over-sized table and chairs and it was like we were brought down to XT’s eye level to see what it was that he saw when he ran around at home and walked under the table. Some of the modern art work were obviously disturbing (given the modern / post-modern condition of being disillusioned with the world and its perpetual seek of truth) and the films were the worst. Both doppy and I concluded that some of the artists had very disturbed minds or psychological states as we could see that through their art works. Alternatively, doppy suggested that they must have been high on some drugs. While I could profess that I enjoyed the tour as much as the one at the National Gallery, it was nevertheless an experience to see some of the popular art works that we recognized from popular culture (such as the Campbell Soup and Madonna prints) in real life.
After a long day of walking around, we went in hunt for Japanese food for an early dinner as doppy had been craving for ramen since Paris. Oldman took us to a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown which he had been meaning to try but did not managed to do so as there was perpetually a line waiting for seats. We lucky to not have to queue as we were pretty early (4pm plus to be exact and yes, the sky had already turned dark by then so we thought nothing of taking dinner at that time) and were seated immediately. Unfortunately, the restaurant did not serve ramen but doppy still satisfied his noodles craving with udon. I had a huge serving of katsudon which obviously doppy helped to polish off and we all imagined that SAD would really be taken by their tori karage rice as the fried chicken was really quite good.
After dinner, we parted ways with Oldman as he needed to catch up on some work and we ventured into Hamley’s Toy Store to get some thing for XT. From the crowds and the number of people fighting to get into the store at the entrance, you would have thought that the toys were hugely discounted or even imagine that they were going for free. Unfortunately, for poor XT, his folks were poor ones and we found everything rather expensive. XT is also at the awkward age whereby some toys were too kiddie for him and others, too grown-up. In the end, we got a boat that according to the packaging would skip on water and we hope that we could take him to the swimming pool to try it out. We had to call it an early night as my feet was hurting like hell from wearing my boots for such a long time and proceeded to go back to oldman’s place.
Along the way, doppy could tell that my feet was causing me a lot of pain as my gait was visibly affected. He was so very sweet and dragged me to buy a pair of sneakers despite my strongest protest. I thought it was real silly to spend pounds buying a pair of sneakers when I already had one at home. Doppy refused to give in to me and insisted that I purchased one as he rationalized that we had another 5 days or so of walking to do and he did not want to see my grimace of pain every single evening. In the end, he found me a real nice pair of black Nike sneakers which was really comfortable. My feet felt like they had been liberated from a tough prison and were experiencing freedom for the first time. In my Clark’s boots defense, twas not that they were not good. It was just that the cut of the boots was not meant for long walks to be taken in them and the soles were also not thick enough for those walks. Consequently, by the late afternoon in those boots, my toes felt like they were going to go into spasms from the constriction and lack of blood flow while the sole of my feet could feel each and every single protruding surface that I walked upon. I felt like ‘the princess and the pea’ albeit a walking version rather than a sleeping one. I hated the old streets in Paris where cobblestones were used as the uneven surface caused me many painful seconds, minutes and hours. After I changed into the sneakers, I felt like I could go on walking forever but alas we were both tired by then and decided to retire for the night.
Saturday was the last day that Borough’s Market was opened and so we decided to check it out that day. The weather was merciful to us and we had a good time at the market. One must always visit the market on an empty stomach for there were just way too many stalls that were selling hot-dogs and burgers of various kinds that would tempt your taste-bud. Doppy devoured one beef burger (the steak was absolutely sweet and succulent), one wild boar hotdog (which was surprisingly not gamey) and one jam muffin. I had a hot cup of cream of mushroom and bought a tiffin (imagine a flat brownie that’s chocked full of chocolate and shortbread) to try and both were really good. The market had fresh produce of all kind and I saw what Brussels sprouts look like before they were plucked. The orchids looked absolutely gorgeous too but both doppy and oldmand convinced me that it would be real silly to buy orchids in London and cart them back to Singapore. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning and I even managed to get some jars of homemade jams which I hope will taste as good as they look.
Along the walk to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, we passed by a whiskey exchange. Given our alcoholic nature, there’s no way that we would give up a chance to buy a bottle or two. Faced with so many choices at such such affordable prices (starting from a mere 20 pounds!), we eventually picked out 2 bottles of single malt whiskies randomly. You have no idea how tempted we were to clear the entire store with the prices that were listed. If I live in this country, I believe I would completely subsist on alcohol for my beverages and throw a whiskey party every so often. If not for the liquor limit imposed by immigration and the weight limit for luggage, you can be sure that I would have been carting cartons back. Everyone who is reading this blog is definitely welcome to our stash. :)
We then proceeded to Shakespeare Globe but alas they wanted to charge us for a 45min tour. I much prefer walking on my own and hence decided against going for the tour. Unfortunately, as it was a working theatre, we were only allowed to walk the grounds outside of the theatre for our safety consideration. At least, that was the official story that was told to me when I approached one of the staff members. While I did not get to see the Globe Theatre, I had a whale of a time in the shop. Doppy was most evil. He knew all the nerd stuff that would appeal to me and pointed them all out. I ended up purchasing 2 posters, 2 comic books on Shakespeare’s play (for XT when he grows up mah … though Doppy asked me to stop using XT as an excuse for the things that I wanted to buy for myself) and love magnets. The merchandising at the Globe Theatre was a most successful one and I left the site a most happy and satisfied tourist.
Our next pit stop was the Tate Modern Museum. Though both Doppy and I were not exactly fans of modern art, we thought that since we were here, we should at least pay it a visit. Oldman settled himself in a café to do some work, figuring that we should be done with the museum by an hour or so. Even though it was not a large museum in comparison to the National Gallery, we still took 2 hours plus or so to cover 2 floors of the free main exhibitions. Surrealism was really not my cuppa tea and after 2 or 3 galleries of that, I was tired by the experience. The realist art were much better and we got to see Monet’s Water Lilies which was one of Doppy’s favourites. There were some cool installation art works too and the one that left the deepest impression was a display of an over-sized table and chairs and it was like we were brought down to XT’s eye level to see what it was that he saw when he ran around at home and walked under the table. Some of the modern art work were obviously disturbing (given the modern / post-modern condition of being disillusioned with the world and its perpetual seek of truth) and the films were the worst. Both doppy and I concluded that some of the artists had very disturbed minds or psychological states as we could see that through their art works. Alternatively, doppy suggested that they must have been high on some drugs. While I could profess that I enjoyed the tour as much as the one at the National Gallery, it was nevertheless an experience to see some of the popular art works that we recognized from popular culture (such as the Campbell Soup and Madonna prints) in real life.
After a long day of walking around, we went in hunt for Japanese food for an early dinner as doppy had been craving for ramen since Paris. Oldman took us to a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown which he had been meaning to try but did not managed to do so as there was perpetually a line waiting for seats. We lucky to not have to queue as we were pretty early (4pm plus to be exact and yes, the sky had already turned dark by then so we thought nothing of taking dinner at that time) and were seated immediately. Unfortunately, the restaurant did not serve ramen but doppy still satisfied his noodles craving with udon. I had a huge serving of katsudon which obviously doppy helped to polish off and we all imagined that SAD would really be taken by their tori karage rice as the fried chicken was really quite good.
After dinner, we parted ways with Oldman as he needed to catch up on some work and we ventured into Hamley’s Toy Store to get some thing for XT. From the crowds and the number of people fighting to get into the store at the entrance, you would have thought that the toys were hugely discounted or even imagine that they were going for free. Unfortunately, for poor XT, his folks were poor ones and we found everything rather expensive. XT is also at the awkward age whereby some toys were too kiddie for him and others, too grown-up. In the end, we got a boat that according to the packaging would skip on water and we hope that we could take him to the swimming pool to try it out. We had to call it an early night as my feet was hurting like hell from wearing my boots for such a long time and proceeded to go back to oldman’s place.
Along the way, doppy could tell that my feet was causing me a lot of pain as my gait was visibly affected. He was so very sweet and dragged me to buy a pair of sneakers despite my strongest protest. I thought it was real silly to spend pounds buying a pair of sneakers when I already had one at home. Doppy refused to give in to me and insisted that I purchased one as he rationalized that we had another 5 days or so of walking to do and he did not want to see my grimace of pain every single evening. In the end, he found me a real nice pair of black Nike sneakers which was really comfortable. My feet felt like they had been liberated from a tough prison and were experiencing freedom for the first time. In my Clark’s boots defense, twas not that they were not good. It was just that the cut of the boots was not meant for long walks to be taken in them and the soles were also not thick enough for those walks. Consequently, by the late afternoon in those boots, my toes felt like they were going to go into spasms from the constriction and lack of blood flow while the sole of my feet could feel each and every single protruding surface that I walked upon. I felt like ‘the princess and the pea’ albeit a walking version rather than a sleeping one. I hated the old streets in Paris where cobblestones were used as the uneven surface caused me many painful seconds, minutes and hours. After I changed into the sneakers, I felt like I could go on walking forever but alas we were both tired by then and decided to retire for the night.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Paris Hates Us
Day 3 – 5 Paris
*Warning: this is a very, very long post. Feel free to skim through it or skip it if you find it tedious. I just want to capture my thoughts and feelings for Paris, with many recurrent exposition on the disappointment of not being able to visit the Louvre.
TimHotel Le Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral & Eiffel Tower
And so we arrived in Paris via the Eurostar train. The train ride was a rather comfortable one but doppy was thoroughly annoyed by three chattering women who yakked non-stop (and I do mean non-stop!) from London to Paris. I was happily blogging and could tune them out but poor doppy was trying to catch twenty winks and was real amazed at their ability to sustain a conversation with nary a pause for breath for 2 solid hours.
We had decided to put up at the TimHotel Le Louvre primarily because we thought that it would be a most convenient location. The online reviews for this hotel was also decent and we thought we could give it a try. It did not disappoint us. We were 5 minutes walk away from both the metro and the museum and we thought that we got a decent deal considering that we bought the room as a package deal with the train tickets. Our room was spacious enough and we even had a small bathtub (which really came in useful on the second day when I needed a warm soak badly for my aching, tired feet). We did not linger long in the room but immediately set out to explore Paris.
Our first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral where the famed Victor Hugo restored the church with his novella, Hunchback of Notre Dame. The cathedral was a sight to behold. The gothic architecture set it apart from the Westminster Abbey and I finally got to see how the various paintings that I admired in the National Gallery would look like inside a cathedral. Unlike the abbey, photography (albeit without flash) was allowed in the cathedral and I was busy snapping shots of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring paintings. Doppy laughed at me and said that there would be more to see and snap away at in the Louvre but it was fortunate that I did not take his word for it. Of course, we had to climb up the Notre Dame to take a look at the gargoyles and a view of the great city and though the climb nearly killed us both, every single step and the breath we panted was worth it once we were on the top and got a panoramic view of the cityscape. We even managed to reach the bell tower and touch the bell. Unfortunately, the souvenir shop at the Notre Dame was real pathetic and it didn’t help that we did not understand French. Hence we could not find anything to get to commemorate our trip. Nevertheless, the experience of standing in the cathedral and seeing the gargoyles in real life is one that will stay with us for a long time to come.
After the Notre Dame cathedral, we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower to catch the night scene. On the way there, doppy was already beginning to warn me of all the tourist traps and told me to watch out for my belonging. We stopped at the Trocadero metro station and took a walk along the river to the tower. It was rainy and windy and truth be told, we could not profess to have enjoyed a romantic walk. Nevertheless, the sight of the Eiffel Tower was still enough to take our breath away and we were both excited at the prospect of doing our favourite activity, going up to the highest tower in each city. Wisely, we decided that we should not overestimate our fitness level and opted to take the lift up the tower. When we stood at the top of the tower, we were real glad that we did not think to climb up the stairs. The exertion and cold would have probably left 2 dead Singaporeans halfway up the Eiffel Tower. The night scene was spectacular and the 360 degree view of the city was truly magnificient. It was also a rather unique view as much of Paris was filled with low-rise buildings and not many sky-scrappers. Unfortunately, my experience at the Eiffel Tower was blighted by the touts who were hawking their wares. There were so many of them along the way and each and every single one of them would come up to us to ask us to buy their dubious goods tirelessly. I was also very sick of people coming up to me to ask if I speak English and if I admit that I do, they would promptly proceed to ask me for monies. It did not help that they all moved in a group and the touts were tall, dark and looked menacing. My feet were hurting like hell by that night and I sometimes trailed behind doppy in my walk. I must admit that I was frightened by the touts, so much so that I had to ask doppy to slow his pace down and walk with me. I was so glad when the police arrived on the scene and the touts all scrammed at once. However, the police did not give chase and the touts merely ran across the road, only to come back again once the police rode away. Truly, I think they are a nuisance and my Singaporean self says that the government should do something about it. Doppy and I were wondering about their business model for it’s beyond our comprehension how they could survive in Paris from selling things at 1 euro. Our uninformed, completely biased conclusion was that hawking things was their sideline while their main source of income probably comes from criminal activities. Either that, or they were laundering monies.
Well, after the Eiffel Tower we were both dead beat and trudged our way back to our hotel. Once again, we wandered into a random restaurant and it was another one of those fortunate finds. We both had seafood spaghetti and the food really warmed us up. Then it was back to our room we went to rest as we anticipated the next day to be a tiring one at the Louvre.
The Louvre (well, the exterior grounds, that is), Arc du Triomphe, Champs Elysees & Jardins au Tuileries
We woke up bright and early in great anticipation of going to the Louvre. The guidebook warned of long queues and we thought that we wanted to be there early to avoid that. We went out to the streets before it was light and not a single shop was open for breakfast yet. We ended up at the Golden Arches and I had a nice bacon and egg muffin. We were both excited at the thought of the Louvre and did not really care what we were eating for breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed down to the Louvre and we were really pleased to have the entire place to ourselves since we were so early. The building was simply awesome and the grounds were so huge and imposing. We went trigger happy with our respective cameras (doppy got the digital-slr while I held on to the point-and-shoot) and of course we went in hunt of the glass pyramid structure outside the Louvre. At about half-past 8, we decided to be the kiasu Singaporeans and promptly stood in line. We were not at the head of the queue and so I guess, we were not that kiasu afterall. After half an hour in the line, and the clock struck 9 (which was the opening hour), we started getting really excited. And it was also at this precise moment that a lady in suit walked out of the museum, pasted a notice that informed us the museum’s opening hours would be delayed and promptly removed the cords to let people who wish to leave the line exit. That was when doppy’s fears began to materialize. On the previous day, doppy heard talks about some museum strikes but we did not give too much thought to it since we had no idea what was happening. As luck would have it, the museum workers were on strike to protest against the government’s planned headcount cuts in the next few years. The government had proposed a replacement of 1 staff member for every 2 members who would retire from henceforth and the museums were protesting that they would not be able to carry out their work with the reduced staff strength. The lady at the Louvre informed us that the union workers were demanding a meeting with the Minister of Culture to open a discussion on the issue. Apparently, the strike had started on the previous day and the lady said that the Louvre had opened at 10.30am then. Thus we were hopeful that the museum would open later that day and hence decided to go see the Arc du Triomphe before coming back to the Louvre to try our luck again.
So it was to the Arc Du Triomphe we went and there, the workers were on strike too as the gates to the top were not opened. Since we had already taken in the birds-eye-view of the city the previous day, we were contented to just walk the grounds at the Arc Du Triomphe. The monument was erected to commemorate Napolean’s victories and the names of his generals were also listed on the arc. We found out an interesting fact about the names that were underlined – those were of the generals who had died in battle. There was also a commemorative plaque dedicated to the universal unknown soldier and a flame was kept burning there. Doppy remarked that it was an interesting contrast between this relatively recent dedication to commemorate the sacrifices made by the common man in war versus the olden days’ dedication to great heroes such as kings and generals. After walking the grounds, we headed down the street to walk along what I would imagine to be Paris’s equivalent of our Orchard Road and exclaimed at all the brands of which we could not afford any. We made a quick stop for snack at one of the fast food restaurants before heading for the metro station to go back to the Louvre.
By now, you would have known that we were not fated to visit the Louvre. The strike was still on and there was still no news of the museum opening that day. That was already the early afternoon and as reluctant as we were to leave, we both decided that there was no point in waiting indefinitely. Our disappointment was evident from the numerous video clips that doppy interviewed me at the Louvre with our Vado. I was on the verge of tears for we came to Paris not being able to afford to shop, but at least we thought that we would be able to marvel at the great art masterpieces and sculptures. I particularly wanted to see the real painting of the print that PJ had gotten for us from the Louvre and the Origins of the World which was what I had initially requested her to get. Doppy was there for the Mona Lisa and of course we both wanted to see the Greek statues and sculptures and goodness knows whatever else there is inside the Louvre. But it was not meant to be and twas with great disappointment that we decided to make alternative plans. While walking, we vowed never to take XT to Paris Disneyland. We cannot imagine having to deal with his disappointment and lack of comprehension should we meet with another strike that would cause the closure of the amusement park. Even as understanding adults who were sympathetic to the museum workers’ cause, I still found it difficult to manage my own disappointment. Afterall, we did fly across half the world to visit the Louvre and it is not a trip that we can so easily make again. We are both not sure when it will be next that we can afford both the monies and the time away from XT to come to Europe again and we were sorely disappointed that we did not get to visit the Louvre this time round. Our only consolation was really that we were still going to the British Museum and the Natural History Museum which would go some way in satisfying our appetites for the aesthetics.
And so it was to the Jardins au Tuileries that we detoured and though the gardens was a sight to behold for its sheer size and the art sculptures that dotted the place, the rainy weather was somewhat a downer. In the end, we shared a ham and cheese baguette while walking the grounds (yep, we were that poor!) and sat for a while in the park before making our way slowly back to our hotel. We were both tired and rather miserable by then and as much as we both tried to keep our spirits up, we just wanted to rest our feet and take a nice, warm meal. An unplanned walk into WHSmith filled an hour of our time and I got 4 books that I was rather pleased with. Two of the books were advice for husbands and wives and though these were dispensed in 1913 (the first edition of the book was printed then), they were still very relevant ones today and I could see both doppy and myself breaking some of the prohibitions listed in the book. If you like, you are most welcome to borrow the books from us, just to remind yourself on some little tips to keep our marriages going.
Fortunately, the day ended with a most wonderful dinner at a café near our hotel named Louise. I got to try the quintessential French cuisine, ratatouille, and it was a nice dish of stewed vegetables with poached eggs. Doppy tried the coq au vin which was essentially chicken braised in burgundy wine. The chicken was lovely and we both shared a carafe of rose wine and chocolate cake with ice-cream which completed the dining experience. We retired for the night after dinner as we were both exhausted from all the walking. It was also then that we found out more about the museum strikes from surfing the internet in our room and we held out our hope that we might get to see the Louvre the next morning before we leave Paris.
Montmarte, the Sacre Coeur & Place du Tertre
We went back to the Louvre bright and early on the third morning, hoping against hope that the Minister of Culture had taken some action and appeased the workers. We happened to live right next to the Ministry of Culture and every time I walked past the building, I was tempted to put in a personal appearance and appeal to the Minister for him to do something just so that the workers would open the Louvre for us. There was still a line snaking around the Louvre, filled with people who harboured the same hopes as us or those who were none the wiser to the situation. We knew that our hopes were in vain when we saw that the flags were brought out and all the workers were gathered inside the glass pyramid to listen to a rally. Initially, we thought that it might be the negotiations taking place but after a while we noted that there was too much applause and cheering for it to be the government officials making announcements of any sort. I was most reluctant to give up, for the worst was that there’s no definitive announcement that the Louvre would remain close. When I asked one of the staff members whether the museum would open later (as it did on Wednesday), all she could do was to shrug her shoulders and replied, “I don’t know”. That was the most frustrating part. I kept wondering if I walked away, would I be walking away from the once-in-a-lifetime-chance to visit the Louvre should the workers decide to take pity on the long line of tourists waiting in the rain outside the Louvre and open the museum for us. Finally, doppy exhorted me to be rational and concluded that we had limited amount of time in Paris and it was pointless to waste it on a bunch of people who we could not predict their next action. And so this time round, I really gave up any hope of seeing the Louvre and decided to enjoy the rest of the day as much as I can.
We went to Montmarte which was the definitive tourist destination and started our walking tour with a funicular ride up to the Sacre Coeur (the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart). On the flight of stairs leading up to the cathedral, there was a harpist who was playing beautiful tunes on his instrument. True to the guidebook’s note, we were astounded by the white, wedding-cake basilica structure of the cathedral. We stood for a moment to enjoy the music and take in the breathtaking sights before heading into the cathedral to be astounded by the stain glass windows with sunlight streaming through them. The cathedral was built entirely by donations from the faithful to thank God from freeing Paris from the Prussian invaders and we did our fair share to contribute towards the maintenance of this cathedral by purchasing souvenirs from the shop.
After the cathedral, we walked the streets and were greatly charmed by the artists and their works at the Place du Tertre. According to the guidebook, this was the original bohemian hangout place for artists but today, it has become a tourist attraction where one gets many offers to have your portrait or caricature done. The art works on display were most beautiful ones and I was really tempted to get a few. The price was a huge deterrence though with a small painting costing 30 euros which translates into 60 Singapore dollars. Doppy added his pragmatic consideration of logistics in terms of transporting the paintings back to Singapore and I was quite easily persuaded to rein in my desire to purchase a few of the art pieces.
As it would be our last meal in Paris, we treated ourselves to a three-course lunch at a nice café looking out to the artist square and had a most satisfying meal of liver pate for starter, beef stew and steak and fries for mains, and chocolate mousse and ice-cream for desserts. We also had 2 glasses of beer and it was a most happy couple who walked out of the restaurant to bid farewell to this beautiful city to head back to London.
And thus, our stay in Paris ended and while we were still sore about not visiting the Louvre, the experience of being in one of the most romantic cities in the world with its beautiful architectures is still something that we cherish. We hope that in our lifetime, we will be able to visit the Louvre once and hopefully, the next time, our luck would be better.
Post written onboard the train ride back to London. Gonna catch some shut-eye now. Au vior.
*update: Post was posted a day late due to tiredness. Had a late dinner with a good friend who was a former colleague studying in London. Enjoyed catching up so by the time we parted ways, twas already close to 11pm which our body would have recognised as 12am Parisan time.*
*Warning: this is a very, very long post. Feel free to skim through it or skip it if you find it tedious. I just want to capture my thoughts and feelings for Paris, with many recurrent exposition on the disappointment of not being able to visit the Louvre.
TimHotel Le Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral & Eiffel Tower
And so we arrived in Paris via the Eurostar train. The train ride was a rather comfortable one but doppy was thoroughly annoyed by three chattering women who yakked non-stop (and I do mean non-stop!) from London to Paris. I was happily blogging and could tune them out but poor doppy was trying to catch twenty winks and was real amazed at their ability to sustain a conversation with nary a pause for breath for 2 solid hours.
We had decided to put up at the TimHotel Le Louvre primarily because we thought that it would be a most convenient location. The online reviews for this hotel was also decent and we thought we could give it a try. It did not disappoint us. We were 5 minutes walk away from both the metro and the museum and we thought that we got a decent deal considering that we bought the room as a package deal with the train tickets. Our room was spacious enough and we even had a small bathtub (which really came in useful on the second day when I needed a warm soak badly for my aching, tired feet). We did not linger long in the room but immediately set out to explore Paris.
Our first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral where the famed Victor Hugo restored the church with his novella, Hunchback of Notre Dame. The cathedral was a sight to behold. The gothic architecture set it apart from the Westminster Abbey and I finally got to see how the various paintings that I admired in the National Gallery would look like inside a cathedral. Unlike the abbey, photography (albeit without flash) was allowed in the cathedral and I was busy snapping shots of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring paintings. Doppy laughed at me and said that there would be more to see and snap away at in the Louvre but it was fortunate that I did not take his word for it. Of course, we had to climb up the Notre Dame to take a look at the gargoyles and a view of the great city and though the climb nearly killed us both, every single step and the breath we panted was worth it once we were on the top and got a panoramic view of the cityscape. We even managed to reach the bell tower and touch the bell. Unfortunately, the souvenir shop at the Notre Dame was real pathetic and it didn’t help that we did not understand French. Hence we could not find anything to get to commemorate our trip. Nevertheless, the experience of standing in the cathedral and seeing the gargoyles in real life is one that will stay with us for a long time to come.
After the Notre Dame cathedral, we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower to catch the night scene. On the way there, doppy was already beginning to warn me of all the tourist traps and told me to watch out for my belonging. We stopped at the Trocadero metro station and took a walk along the river to the tower. It was rainy and windy and truth be told, we could not profess to have enjoyed a romantic walk. Nevertheless, the sight of the Eiffel Tower was still enough to take our breath away and we were both excited at the prospect of doing our favourite activity, going up to the highest tower in each city. Wisely, we decided that we should not overestimate our fitness level and opted to take the lift up the tower. When we stood at the top of the tower, we were real glad that we did not think to climb up the stairs. The exertion and cold would have probably left 2 dead Singaporeans halfway up the Eiffel Tower. The night scene was spectacular and the 360 degree view of the city was truly magnificient. It was also a rather unique view as much of Paris was filled with low-rise buildings and not many sky-scrappers. Unfortunately, my experience at the Eiffel Tower was blighted by the touts who were hawking their wares. There were so many of them along the way and each and every single one of them would come up to us to ask us to buy their dubious goods tirelessly. I was also very sick of people coming up to me to ask if I speak English and if I admit that I do, they would promptly proceed to ask me for monies. It did not help that they all moved in a group and the touts were tall, dark and looked menacing. My feet were hurting like hell by that night and I sometimes trailed behind doppy in my walk. I must admit that I was frightened by the touts, so much so that I had to ask doppy to slow his pace down and walk with me. I was so glad when the police arrived on the scene and the touts all scrammed at once. However, the police did not give chase and the touts merely ran across the road, only to come back again once the police rode away. Truly, I think they are a nuisance and my Singaporean self says that the government should do something about it. Doppy and I were wondering about their business model for it’s beyond our comprehension how they could survive in Paris from selling things at 1 euro. Our uninformed, completely biased conclusion was that hawking things was their sideline while their main source of income probably comes from criminal activities. Either that, or they were laundering monies.
Well, after the Eiffel Tower we were both dead beat and trudged our way back to our hotel. Once again, we wandered into a random restaurant and it was another one of those fortunate finds. We both had seafood spaghetti and the food really warmed us up. Then it was back to our room we went to rest as we anticipated the next day to be a tiring one at the Louvre.
The Louvre (well, the exterior grounds, that is), Arc du Triomphe, Champs Elysees & Jardins au Tuileries
We woke up bright and early in great anticipation of going to the Louvre. The guidebook warned of long queues and we thought that we wanted to be there early to avoid that. We went out to the streets before it was light and not a single shop was open for breakfast yet. We ended up at the Golden Arches and I had a nice bacon and egg muffin. We were both excited at the thought of the Louvre and did not really care what we were eating for breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed down to the Louvre and we were really pleased to have the entire place to ourselves since we were so early. The building was simply awesome and the grounds were so huge and imposing. We went trigger happy with our respective cameras (doppy got the digital-slr while I held on to the point-and-shoot) and of course we went in hunt of the glass pyramid structure outside the Louvre. At about half-past 8, we decided to be the kiasu Singaporeans and promptly stood in line. We were not at the head of the queue and so I guess, we were not that kiasu afterall. After half an hour in the line, and the clock struck 9 (which was the opening hour), we started getting really excited. And it was also at this precise moment that a lady in suit walked out of the museum, pasted a notice that informed us the museum’s opening hours would be delayed and promptly removed the cords to let people who wish to leave the line exit. That was when doppy’s fears began to materialize. On the previous day, doppy heard talks about some museum strikes but we did not give too much thought to it since we had no idea what was happening. As luck would have it, the museum workers were on strike to protest against the government’s planned headcount cuts in the next few years. The government had proposed a replacement of 1 staff member for every 2 members who would retire from henceforth and the museums were protesting that they would not be able to carry out their work with the reduced staff strength. The lady at the Louvre informed us that the union workers were demanding a meeting with the Minister of Culture to open a discussion on the issue. Apparently, the strike had started on the previous day and the lady said that the Louvre had opened at 10.30am then. Thus we were hopeful that the museum would open later that day and hence decided to go see the Arc du Triomphe before coming back to the Louvre to try our luck again.
So it was to the Arc Du Triomphe we went and there, the workers were on strike too as the gates to the top were not opened. Since we had already taken in the birds-eye-view of the city the previous day, we were contented to just walk the grounds at the Arc Du Triomphe. The monument was erected to commemorate Napolean’s victories and the names of his generals were also listed on the arc. We found out an interesting fact about the names that were underlined – those were of the generals who had died in battle. There was also a commemorative plaque dedicated to the universal unknown soldier and a flame was kept burning there. Doppy remarked that it was an interesting contrast between this relatively recent dedication to commemorate the sacrifices made by the common man in war versus the olden days’ dedication to great heroes such as kings and generals. After walking the grounds, we headed down the street to walk along what I would imagine to be Paris’s equivalent of our Orchard Road and exclaimed at all the brands of which we could not afford any. We made a quick stop for snack at one of the fast food restaurants before heading for the metro station to go back to the Louvre.
By now, you would have known that we were not fated to visit the Louvre. The strike was still on and there was still no news of the museum opening that day. That was already the early afternoon and as reluctant as we were to leave, we both decided that there was no point in waiting indefinitely. Our disappointment was evident from the numerous video clips that doppy interviewed me at the Louvre with our Vado. I was on the verge of tears for we came to Paris not being able to afford to shop, but at least we thought that we would be able to marvel at the great art masterpieces and sculptures. I particularly wanted to see the real painting of the print that PJ had gotten for us from the Louvre and the Origins of the World which was what I had initially requested her to get. Doppy was there for the Mona Lisa and of course we both wanted to see the Greek statues and sculptures and goodness knows whatever else there is inside the Louvre. But it was not meant to be and twas with great disappointment that we decided to make alternative plans. While walking, we vowed never to take XT to Paris Disneyland. We cannot imagine having to deal with his disappointment and lack of comprehension should we meet with another strike that would cause the closure of the amusement park. Even as understanding adults who were sympathetic to the museum workers’ cause, I still found it difficult to manage my own disappointment. Afterall, we did fly across half the world to visit the Louvre and it is not a trip that we can so easily make again. We are both not sure when it will be next that we can afford both the monies and the time away from XT to come to Europe again and we were sorely disappointed that we did not get to visit the Louvre this time round. Our only consolation was really that we were still going to the British Museum and the Natural History Museum which would go some way in satisfying our appetites for the aesthetics.
And so it was to the Jardins au Tuileries that we detoured and though the gardens was a sight to behold for its sheer size and the art sculptures that dotted the place, the rainy weather was somewhat a downer. In the end, we shared a ham and cheese baguette while walking the grounds (yep, we were that poor!) and sat for a while in the park before making our way slowly back to our hotel. We were both tired and rather miserable by then and as much as we both tried to keep our spirits up, we just wanted to rest our feet and take a nice, warm meal. An unplanned walk into WHSmith filled an hour of our time and I got 4 books that I was rather pleased with. Two of the books were advice for husbands and wives and though these were dispensed in 1913 (the first edition of the book was printed then), they were still very relevant ones today and I could see both doppy and myself breaking some of the prohibitions listed in the book. If you like, you are most welcome to borrow the books from us, just to remind yourself on some little tips to keep our marriages going.
Fortunately, the day ended with a most wonderful dinner at a café near our hotel named Louise. I got to try the quintessential French cuisine, ratatouille, and it was a nice dish of stewed vegetables with poached eggs. Doppy tried the coq au vin which was essentially chicken braised in burgundy wine. The chicken was lovely and we both shared a carafe of rose wine and chocolate cake with ice-cream which completed the dining experience. We retired for the night after dinner as we were both exhausted from all the walking. It was also then that we found out more about the museum strikes from surfing the internet in our room and we held out our hope that we might get to see the Louvre the next morning before we leave Paris.
Montmarte, the Sacre Coeur & Place du Tertre
We went back to the Louvre bright and early on the third morning, hoping against hope that the Minister of Culture had taken some action and appeased the workers. We happened to live right next to the Ministry of Culture and every time I walked past the building, I was tempted to put in a personal appearance and appeal to the Minister for him to do something just so that the workers would open the Louvre for us. There was still a line snaking around the Louvre, filled with people who harboured the same hopes as us or those who were none the wiser to the situation. We knew that our hopes were in vain when we saw that the flags were brought out and all the workers were gathered inside the glass pyramid to listen to a rally. Initially, we thought that it might be the negotiations taking place but after a while we noted that there was too much applause and cheering for it to be the government officials making announcements of any sort. I was most reluctant to give up, for the worst was that there’s no definitive announcement that the Louvre would remain close. When I asked one of the staff members whether the museum would open later (as it did on Wednesday), all she could do was to shrug her shoulders and replied, “I don’t know”. That was the most frustrating part. I kept wondering if I walked away, would I be walking away from the once-in-a-lifetime-chance to visit the Louvre should the workers decide to take pity on the long line of tourists waiting in the rain outside the Louvre and open the museum for us. Finally, doppy exhorted me to be rational and concluded that we had limited amount of time in Paris and it was pointless to waste it on a bunch of people who we could not predict their next action. And so this time round, I really gave up any hope of seeing the Louvre and decided to enjoy the rest of the day as much as I can.
We went to Montmarte which was the definitive tourist destination and started our walking tour with a funicular ride up to the Sacre Coeur (the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart). On the flight of stairs leading up to the cathedral, there was a harpist who was playing beautiful tunes on his instrument. True to the guidebook’s note, we were astounded by the white, wedding-cake basilica structure of the cathedral. We stood for a moment to enjoy the music and take in the breathtaking sights before heading into the cathedral to be astounded by the stain glass windows with sunlight streaming through them. The cathedral was built entirely by donations from the faithful to thank God from freeing Paris from the Prussian invaders and we did our fair share to contribute towards the maintenance of this cathedral by purchasing souvenirs from the shop.
After the cathedral, we walked the streets and were greatly charmed by the artists and their works at the Place du Tertre. According to the guidebook, this was the original bohemian hangout place for artists but today, it has become a tourist attraction where one gets many offers to have your portrait or caricature done. The art works on display were most beautiful ones and I was really tempted to get a few. The price was a huge deterrence though with a small painting costing 30 euros which translates into 60 Singapore dollars. Doppy added his pragmatic consideration of logistics in terms of transporting the paintings back to Singapore and I was quite easily persuaded to rein in my desire to purchase a few of the art pieces.
As it would be our last meal in Paris, we treated ourselves to a three-course lunch at a nice café looking out to the artist square and had a most satisfying meal of liver pate for starter, beef stew and steak and fries for mains, and chocolate mousse and ice-cream for desserts. We also had 2 glasses of beer and it was a most happy couple who walked out of the restaurant to bid farewell to this beautiful city to head back to London.
And thus, our stay in Paris ended and while we were still sore about not visiting the Louvre, the experience of being in one of the most romantic cities in the world with its beautiful architectures is still something that we cherish. We hope that in our lifetime, we will be able to visit the Louvre once and hopefully, the next time, our luck would be better.
Post written onboard the train ride back to London. Gonna catch some shut-eye now. Au vior.
*update: Post was posted a day late due to tiredness. Had a late dinner with a good friend who was a former colleague studying in London. Enjoyed catching up so by the time we parted ways, twas already close to 11pm which our body would have recognised as 12am Parisan time.*
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
London, Here We Come!
Day 0 – 30 Nov 09
It has been 2 years since doppy and I went on a long holiday together. Our last trip was to Seoul, Korea back in 2006. I got pregnant in 07 and gave birth in 08 and since then, we have only gone away for a weekend at Bintan. This trip to London and Paris did not come easy for I was initially reluctant to leave our son for such a long time. It was only when I was away in Brisbane for work and walking the streets by myself that I remember how much I have missed walking around in a foreign land with doppy. Hence, I finally made up my mind to bear the pain of missing XT and set things in motion for this trip.
Ironically, while doppy was initially worried that I would not bear to part with XT, it was he who missed him most. Last night we stayed with XT till the last possible moment to tuck him into bed at my grandma’s place. Kids are real sensitive creatures. I think XT could sense that we were going away and would miss him very much. In fact, we sat him down and told him that Papa and Mama were going to London and when we asked him to check for understanding, he said, “Papa and mama see lantern (close homophone with London)” and started singing “London bridge is falling down”. That really cracked us up but also made it all the more difficult to part with him. When doppy put him to bed, XT kept bugging him to play with him. When we finally had to take our leave to go home to do our final packing, we both teared in the lift and really missed the little tyke so much. When we stopped over this morning at Doha, I called home in the hope of hearing his voice. Alas, he was out playing with his full-time and part-time babysitter (my cousin) and hence we did not get to speak with him. Both us are really lucky and blessed to have a trusted help who we could trust to take care of XT. So while we are both sitting here in the plane watching movies, trying to catch some forty winks and missing XT like crazy, we are nevertheless assured that he is in good hands and he will probably survive the days apart from us much better than we from him.
The flight on Qatar Airways has been alright thus far. The first leg from Singapore to Doha was admittedly in a bigger and newer plane in which we had touchsensitive widescreen multimedia players. Though this leg we had to contend with much smaller screens, I am not complaining as there is still movies on demand and there are more than enough shows to occupy my time for this flight. I had finished watching “Endgame”, “Overheard” (a Mandarin show), started on “District 9” but abandoned it halfway and just finished watching a most heartwarming “Mothers know best”. Doppy has been trying to persaude me to nap for he said that no matter how tired we might be when we hit London, we must strive to stay awake till it’s time to go to bed so that our body clocks would adjust asap and we would suffer from minimum jet-lag. Since he is the more seasoned traveller between the two of us, I trusted him implicitly. However it was really not easy to sleep on a plane especially for me cos my back needs support. There are also the many movies to catch that can easily keep me awake.
We are approximately another few hours away from London and looking out of the window at the mountains we are flying over and the white fluffy clouds we are flying through, I cannot help but get excited about reaching London and finally getting the trip going. Oldman, who is kindly going to take us in for our stay in London, promised that he would pick us up at the airport with a placard that says, WELCOME THE MMF. I dared him to do so and actually thought that it would be a pretty cool thing to do! It shall remain to be seen if a LBS MBA student would degenerate himself to such a level all in the name of fun.
Not sure when we will have the internet connection to post this on our blog but will strive to write consistently so that we can share with all our trip and more importantly, have precious memories for ourselves. So stay tuned for the adventures of the mmf in a foreign land!
Now, will I be able to survive “Elizabeth” or should I opt for a lighter show?! Hmmm...
Day 1 – 30 Nov London
Have you ever fallen asleep on your feet?
I sure did for this trip.
We arrived at London at noon-time and after taking the metro to Oldman’s place (he’s very kindly putting us up and even offered us his bed!), it was 3pm when we finally took our lunch. Along the way to lunch, I finally saw London Business School for myself and was told that technically, the land that the school sits on belongs to the queen who rents it out to the school for a token sum of 1 pound a month. The building is a rather small and cozy one with a very nice courtyard right in the centre. Every single person, with the exception of Oldman, was dressed in nice suits and great winter wear. I had a whale of a time in London checking out everyone’s boots (some of them are to die for) and their winter clothing. For some inexplicable reason, all the Londoners look damn chic in their clothes. I think the monies they spent on their clothes probably have something to do with it.
We initially arranged to meet another friend who is studying in IOE for dinner. I have been meaning to introduce Baby’s mummy to Oldman for the longest time in Singapore but did not manage to do so. I thought that this time round in London, they would finally have a chance to meet but alas it was still not meant to be. We scheduled dinner for 8.30pm as we had a really late lunch but by 6.30pm, I was struggling to keep awake. I was literally falling asleep on my feet and rocking on the balls of my feet to stay awake. Both Oldman and Doppy could tell that I was not going to make it and suggested postponing the dinner to another day. Initially, I was still insistent that I could be decent company. However, the moment my butt hit a chair, I was literally dropping off like a fly. I decided that I really should not drag Baby’s mummy out to look at a walking corpse and took a rain cheque for the dinner. Thankfully, she was real understanding about it. I was actually looking forward to meeting up with her but I guess it will now have to wait till we are back from Paris.
And so it was to our friend’s kind bed we retire and I was completely knocked out till this morning.
Then the first real day of our trip began! Stay tune!
*sorry .. gotta go to bed .. gotta wake up at 5.15am tomorrow to catch a train and it's already past 1am now. :) Will blog on the train ride tomorrow. :P*
It has been 2 years since doppy and I went on a long holiday together. Our last trip was to Seoul, Korea back in 2006. I got pregnant in 07 and gave birth in 08 and since then, we have only gone away for a weekend at Bintan. This trip to London and Paris did not come easy for I was initially reluctant to leave our son for such a long time. It was only when I was away in Brisbane for work and walking the streets by myself that I remember how much I have missed walking around in a foreign land with doppy. Hence, I finally made up my mind to bear the pain of missing XT and set things in motion for this trip.
Ironically, while doppy was initially worried that I would not bear to part with XT, it was he who missed him most. Last night we stayed with XT till the last possible moment to tuck him into bed at my grandma’s place. Kids are real sensitive creatures. I think XT could sense that we were going away and would miss him very much. In fact, we sat him down and told him that Papa and Mama were going to London and when we asked him to check for understanding, he said, “Papa and mama see lantern (close homophone with London)” and started singing “London bridge is falling down”. That really cracked us up but also made it all the more difficult to part with him. When doppy put him to bed, XT kept bugging him to play with him. When we finally had to take our leave to go home to do our final packing, we both teared in the lift and really missed the little tyke so much. When we stopped over this morning at Doha, I called home in the hope of hearing his voice. Alas, he was out playing with his full-time and part-time babysitter (my cousin) and hence we did not get to speak with him. Both us are really lucky and blessed to have a trusted help who we could trust to take care of XT. So while we are both sitting here in the plane watching movies, trying to catch some forty winks and missing XT like crazy, we are nevertheless assured that he is in good hands and he will probably survive the days apart from us much better than we from him.
The flight on Qatar Airways has been alright thus far. The first leg from Singapore to Doha was admittedly in a bigger and newer plane in which we had touchsensitive widescreen multimedia players. Though this leg we had to contend with much smaller screens, I am not complaining as there is still movies on demand and there are more than enough shows to occupy my time for this flight. I had finished watching “Endgame”, “Overheard” (a Mandarin show), started on “District 9” but abandoned it halfway and just finished watching a most heartwarming “Mothers know best”. Doppy has been trying to persaude me to nap for he said that no matter how tired we might be when we hit London, we must strive to stay awake till it’s time to go to bed so that our body clocks would adjust asap and we would suffer from minimum jet-lag. Since he is the more seasoned traveller between the two of us, I trusted him implicitly. However it was really not easy to sleep on a plane especially for me cos my back needs support. There are also the many movies to catch that can easily keep me awake.
We are approximately another few hours away from London and looking out of the window at the mountains we are flying over and the white fluffy clouds we are flying through, I cannot help but get excited about reaching London and finally getting the trip going. Oldman, who is kindly going to take us in for our stay in London, promised that he would pick us up at the airport with a placard that says, WELCOME THE MMF. I dared him to do so and actually thought that it would be a pretty cool thing to do! It shall remain to be seen if a LBS MBA student would degenerate himself to such a level all in the name of fun.
Not sure when we will have the internet connection to post this on our blog but will strive to write consistently so that we can share with all our trip and more importantly, have precious memories for ourselves. So stay tuned for the adventures of the mmf in a foreign land!
Now, will I be able to survive “Elizabeth” or should I opt for a lighter show?! Hmmm...
Day 1 – 30 Nov London
Have you ever fallen asleep on your feet?
I sure did for this trip.
We arrived at London at noon-time and after taking the metro to Oldman’s place (he’s very kindly putting us up and even offered us his bed!), it was 3pm when we finally took our lunch. Along the way to lunch, I finally saw London Business School for myself and was told that technically, the land that the school sits on belongs to the queen who rents it out to the school for a token sum of 1 pound a month. The building is a rather small and cozy one with a very nice courtyard right in the centre. Every single person, with the exception of Oldman, was dressed in nice suits and great winter wear. I had a whale of a time in London checking out everyone’s boots (some of them are to die for) and their winter clothing. For some inexplicable reason, all the Londoners look damn chic in their clothes. I think the monies they spent on their clothes probably have something to do with it.
We initially arranged to meet another friend who is studying in IOE for dinner. I have been meaning to introduce Baby’s mummy to Oldman for the longest time in Singapore but did not manage to do so. I thought that this time round in London, they would finally have a chance to meet but alas it was still not meant to be. We scheduled dinner for 8.30pm as we had a really late lunch but by 6.30pm, I was struggling to keep awake. I was literally falling asleep on my feet and rocking on the balls of my feet to stay awake. Both Oldman and Doppy could tell that I was not going to make it and suggested postponing the dinner to another day. Initially, I was still insistent that I could be decent company. However, the moment my butt hit a chair, I was literally dropping off like a fly. I decided that I really should not drag Baby’s mummy out to look at a walking corpse and took a rain cheque for the dinner. Thankfully, she was real understanding about it. I was actually looking forward to meeting up with her but I guess it will now have to wait till we are back from Paris.
And so it was to our friend’s kind bed we retire and I was completely knocked out till this morning.
Then the first real day of our trip began! Stay tune!
*sorry .. gotta go to bed .. gotta wake up at 5.15am tomorrow to catch a train and it's already past 1am now. :) Will blog on the train ride tomorrow. :P*
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A beachy holiday
Yes, yes, ... this blog post is long overdue and for those of you who are doppy's friends on fb, you have already probably seen some photos of our trip. However, even if a picture paints a thousand words, nothing beats reading my ramblings, right? :) At least, if you are bored out of your mind at work, this is one post that you can read to keep yourself awake. :P
To cut to the chase, it has been 2 years since doppy and I last had a holiday. Doppy has been trying to get me to go for a holiday since eons ago and since we both had some leave to clear, we decided to do a short weekend getaway. After polling all our friends, it appeared that (1) 3D2N was way too short for us to go to Australia, (2) Bangkok and KL are kinda out of the picture cos doppy is not that into shopping, (3) Sentosa isn't quite far enough and so it seemed like we were left with (4) Bintan Beach Resort. Of course the other competing beach resort would be Bali but since I was al cheapo and didn't want to take a flight for such a short holiday, Bintan was the default choice.
All who know doppy (and me) kinda predicted that we are not really 'beachy' people. And thus it should come as no surprise to all that our 3D2N trip was essentially more of a 2D2N trip. :P We did originally intend to leave on late Sunday evening and I even asked the resort for a late checkout. I even booked the last ferry out from Bintan and doppy was going to make alternative arrangements for his bread delivery programme. However, by the end of the first day, we were running out of things to do. There was only that much food and beer we can consume and as for 'happy happy times', there was also a limit to our stamina. :P So the loser-us came back early on Sunday morning instead and ended up catching "Angels and Demons" in Singapore.
Now that we have gotten the loserish part of the trip out of the way, let's move on the good things! :) We both had a most enjoyable time and really, this trip has also made it to one of our memorable trips together (and no, it is not because we do not go away enough together!). Besides the most delicious food, cheap beer and fantastic scenery, what we enjoyed most was each other's undivided attention and kindness towards each other. Yes, kindness. It might seem like a strange word to use but that was truly how I felt. When we were there, time did not matter and there no chores to be done. There was no schedule to keep (except dinner reservations and even that was really to catch the sunset), no errands to run, no families to entertain, no little rascal to run after and yelled at (though we did miss him like crazy! and saw him in every little boy on the beach), no work to bug us, no nothing! Just the sun, the sea, the beach, the food, the beer and us. And we were so kind to each to other, not just in our words (not that I was counting but doppy did not make a single sacarstic remark to me on the entire trip!) but also in our acts of service and love to each other. We discussed what we would like to do amicably, we decided on things to do in an unrushed, unhurried, most compromising manner, we held hands as we walked on the beach (nope, didn't swim in the sea cos doppy said that the red flag was up and he did not want our child to be orphaned by jellyfishes), we reaffirmed our love for each other and we shared our thoughts and dreams over good food and beer. These things might not seem like much but somehow when we are in Singapore, our lives always seemed to be spent in such a rush, with one person or the other being so easily irritated by some action of the other, with our words being short and curt and our manners left much to be desired. Truly, those two days and two nights were such great ones (kinda reminded us how we got from dating to marriage) that nowadays when we catch the other party not exactly being loving, we will say, "Can we please go back to the Bintan days?"
If you had begun reading this post thinking that you were going to read all about Bintan, so so sorry to have disappointed you. :P Since I believe that all readers of our blog have been to Bintan earlier than us (twas both our first trip there), and are much more outdoorsy and seasporty people than us, there is no point in my writing about Bintan since your first-hand experience is most probably more exciting than ours. Nevertheless, we took a couple of shots for all of you here, just to share with you some snippets of our trip. For a more complete pictorial rendition, check out doppy's fb or better still, wait for me to share my Picasa album. :) Till then, enjoy the ones below.
Our little hut at Mayang Sari.
This is our room (duh!). I think doppy was 'pleasantly' surprised by it. The only time he had stayed in a beach resort was in Bali and he stayed in a five-star resort. Suffice to say, Mayang Sari was not quite what he expected it to be. :O I loved the bath tub though and had a splashing good time soaking all my tiredness and anxieties away.
A shot captured while we lazed outside on the beach.
We took a set lunch at this Japanese restaurant on the first day. It was a very good lunch and the presentation of the food was impeccable. The set lunch came in a 3-tier bucket/barrel? and the layout of the food was exquisite. It also tasted very good and all in all, it only cost us $25. Where to find such good deals in Singapore?
Satu ...
Dua ...
Tiga ...
and the full spread for both of us!
Al fresco dining ...
... for obvious reasons.
Dinner on the first night at the kelong.Facing the huge sea, you cannot help but feel calm and serene.
汪洋中的一条船。
Another al fresco dining experience. This was at the Thai restaurant, Baan Aarya, where the setting and ambience was unbelievably romantic and the food was good too. Unfortunately, there were only two of us and after we went crazy with the crabs on the first night out at the kelong, we had to be more prudent with the amount of food we ordered here.
Our tour guide for our 'adventure' out at the mangrove swamp.His English is very good! See? I too am guilty of assuming that non-native speakers could not speak good English. Sigh.
Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream ...
Great shots by doppy on our mangrove eco-tour.
Lunch by the poolside. The pizza was great and the Bintang beer just made it purrrfect. :) We had two more drinks when we hit the pool cos there was a pool bar!And so all the sandfly bites (why am I always the only one cursed with that? The last time I went on a dive trip with my friends to Redang, I am the only person who got the sandfly bites too!) and the intense missing of our uber-cute son were worth it. For it is only with a strong marriage built upon lots of love and affection between the adult meowmes that the little one would have a warm and safe litter to come home to.
Look out for my Picasa invite to see more of our pictures (those with us in them lah!).
Look out for my Picasa invite to see more of our pictures (those with us in them lah!).
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Day 6: Travel to HK
Itinerary:
Travel to Hong Kong
Esprit Outlet Mall & countless other shopping outlets
Avenue of Stars
Festival of Lights
Apparently, I have been handed the baton to write up the last leg of our trip to Seoul and HK. Since we didn't do much in HK, this should be a short-er post.
On Day 6 we got up at 5.30 in the morning to take the airport shuttle bus to Incheon as we had a 8.30am flight. We left Myeong Dong Guest House without getting a chance to say goodbye to the owner Mr Park, as we didn't want to wake him up at that ungodly hour. To make things up to him, we decided to send him a Xmas card with a Singaporean token to thank him for the accommodation and help he provided us whilst we were in Seoul.
The flight to HK was mostly eventless, except for the fact that we both slept nary a wink. This was despite having only slept about 4 to 5 hours the night before. Lovebell's disappointment at leaving Seoul was evident, but it was somewhat balanced with her excitement at being able to visit HK for shopping. For me, I was just looking forward to the good food in HK.
Upon touching down, we checked into the Ibis North Point hotel located at er.. North Point on HK Island. The room was slightly bigger than the Myeong Dong room, but the bathroom was incredibly small!! I couldn't even spread my arms while taking a shower! Imagine if I was 20 lbs fatter, I wouldn't even be able to get into the shower!!
We took a late lunch at the "cha chan teng" next to the hotel, and I was reaffirmed of my belief in the quality of food in HK. Lovebell had wan ton mee and I had beef noodles. The food was good and reasonably priced.
After lunch, we hopped over to Kowloon for a spot of shopping. Lovebell went insane in the Esprit outlet mall, buying close to $300 worth of clothes and bags, although she insists most of the items were intended as presents. :) We also hopped into a variety of Giordano, Baleno, G2000, and countless other shops, although we didn't buy anything else outside of Esprit.
As night fell, we decided to head over to the Avenue of Stars. Lovebell wanted to be early to "chope" good spots for the Festival of Lights show. But as we were one whole hour early, we popped by the cafe to have a couple of drinks. The cafe overlooked the Bruce Lee statue and the Avenue, and we had a good time pointing out the Singaporeans to one another.
The Festival of Lights was very pretty, but I didn't find it as impressive as the previous time I saw it. The lights were somewhat shadowed by the permanent displays of "Merry Christmas" and other festive lightings which weren't part of the light show.
After the light show, we hopped onto the subway and went over to Temple Street. As much as there were many "geh-yan" things there, Lovebell's desire for shopping had been satiated at the Esprit outlet mall, and we walked down the whole street without even so much as stopping to talk to a store owner. We did find a good place for dinner, and we both had claypot porridge. The pig liver lovebell had was cut into large and thick slices, but it was perfectly tenderised and seasoned and the taste in my mouth was heavenly, as it melted away between chews. The meatball porridge I had was pretty decent too, as they gave huge meatballs that were incredibly tasty and filling. Mmm.... I wish you could find porridge of that quality in Singapore....
All in all, it was a fun and relaxing day in HK, and it was funny to see Lovebell's curiosity inside the cha chan tengs we went to, given that her previous trip to HK was with a guided tour and they mainly stuck to the big restaurants for meals.
One final day left. :)
Travel to Hong Kong
Esprit Outlet Mall & countless other shopping outlets
Avenue of Stars
Festival of Lights
Apparently, I have been handed the baton to write up the last leg of our trip to Seoul and HK. Since we didn't do much in HK, this should be a short-er post.
On Day 6 we got up at 5.30 in the morning to take the airport shuttle bus to Incheon as we had a 8.30am flight. We left Myeong Dong Guest House without getting a chance to say goodbye to the owner Mr Park, as we didn't want to wake him up at that ungodly hour. To make things up to him, we decided to send him a Xmas card with a Singaporean token to thank him for the accommodation and help he provided us whilst we were in Seoul.
The flight to HK was mostly eventless, except for the fact that we both slept nary a wink. This was despite having only slept about 4 to 5 hours the night before. Lovebell's disappointment at leaving Seoul was evident, but it was somewhat balanced with her excitement at being able to visit HK for shopping. For me, I was just looking forward to the good food in HK.
Upon touching down, we checked into the Ibis North Point hotel located at er.. North Point on HK Island. The room was slightly bigger than the Myeong Dong room, but the bathroom was incredibly small!! I couldn't even spread my arms while taking a shower! Imagine if I was 20 lbs fatter, I wouldn't even be able to get into the shower!!
We took a late lunch at the "cha chan teng" next to the hotel, and I was reaffirmed of my belief in the quality of food in HK. Lovebell had wan ton mee and I had beef noodles. The food was good and reasonably priced.
After lunch, we hopped over to Kowloon for a spot of shopping. Lovebell went insane in the Esprit outlet mall, buying close to $300 worth of clothes and bags, although she insists most of the items were intended as presents. :) We also hopped into a variety of Giordano, Baleno, G2000, and countless other shops, although we didn't buy anything else outside of Esprit.
As night fell, we decided to head over to the Avenue of Stars. Lovebell wanted to be early to "chope" good spots for the Festival of Lights show. But as we were one whole hour early, we popped by the cafe to have a couple of drinks. The cafe overlooked the Bruce Lee statue and the Avenue, and we had a good time pointing out the Singaporeans to one another.
The Festival of Lights was very pretty, but I didn't find it as impressive as the previous time I saw it. The lights were somewhat shadowed by the permanent displays of "Merry Christmas" and other festive lightings which weren't part of the light show.
After the light show, we hopped onto the subway and went over to Temple Street. As much as there were many "geh-yan" things there, Lovebell's desire for shopping had been satiated at the Esprit outlet mall, and we walked down the whole street without even so much as stopping to talk to a store owner. We did find a good place for dinner, and we both had claypot porridge. The pig liver lovebell had was cut into large and thick slices, but it was perfectly tenderised and seasoned and the taste in my mouth was heavenly, as it melted away between chews. The meatball porridge I had was pretty decent too, as they gave huge meatballs that were incredibly tasty and filling. Mmm.... I wish you could find porridge of that quality in Singapore....
All in all, it was a fun and relaxing day in HK, and it was funny to see Lovebell's curiosity inside the cha chan tengs we went to, given that her previous trip to HK was with a guided tour and they mainly stuck to the big restaurants for meals.
One final day left. :)
Day 5: Seoul HATES us!
Itinerary
Dongdaemun
Shopping @ Myeong Dong
Our trip was coming to an end and we had decided to take it easy for this day. We had deliberately left Seoul Museum of Art to this day because almost every other tourist attractions in
When we arrived at the door at half past nine, the entire place still looked deserted and empty. The door was locked and apart from a few workers working inside taking down some exhibits, there was hardly anyone in sight. It really didn’t help that the notices on the front door were written in Korean and apart from recognizing the Arabic numbers written on the door which stood for the opening hours, we had absolutely no idea what was going on. We attempted to look at the passers-by, hoping that someone could read the notice for us and tell us if the museum was opening at a later hour or something, but every single one of them avoided looking at us and merely went on their own business despite registering our obvious confusion and distress (did I mention that they were not a terribly friendly lot?). Finally, we found an English notice by the side door and it told us that the museum was closed on Monday! Not only does
Well, there’s no use crying over spilt milk and so we decided to head down to Dongdaemun to do some shopping. We emerged a station earlier as doppy was hungry and we wanted to find a place to take lunch and we figured that along the streets before we hit Dongdaemun, we should be able to find a place to rest our feet and take some food. We emerged from the underground metro station only to find ourselves at “五金店” central. Gosh! All the shops sell locks and wires and such and all the rubber bands that you can possibly imagine in all lengths and different thickness were sold at this place! Then we wandered into another street that sold various walking aids lah, toilet aids lah for ah-mas and ah-gongs and realized that we had unknowingly walked into a ‘retirement village’! What was most amazing was that along these two streets, there was not a single eatery to be found! Our mood was rather lousy by that time and our arching feet and hungry stomach only served to make the situation worse.
Finally, we arrived at Dongdaemun and our top priority was to feed our empty stomachs! I spotted a nice café on the second floor of a building where two chic city ladies seemed to be enjoying their late lunch. Doppy spotted a Japanese eatery but when we walked by it, business was lacking and the menu didn’t look too great either. Doppy asked me to decide on the place to eat and since I was too tired to walk anymore and the Japanese place wasn’t exactly appealing, I decided to go with Café Sydney. Doppy expressed his reservation as the menu board displayed at the bottom of the stairs was entirely in Korean and there were also no picture in sight. I was adamant in my belief that if the owners named the café, Café Sydney, surely they must speak some English. Too tired to argue with me, doppy took a chance on me and we strolled into the café.
A humble pie was served to me the very next minute. When we opened the menu, it did have English words. However those familiar English alphabet only appeared next to the drinks menu! Noooooooooo!!!!!!
Hunger however can make a person extremely creative. At the same precise moment, we both came up with the idea to try to match the Korean words in the menu with the phrases that Lonely Planet included in its book! Aha! Brilliant, you say! Indeed we were! After flipping the pages furiously and comparing the characters intensely, Doppy finally figured out what two characters stood for, “Fried Rice”! Yeah! But hold on. There were two items which were listed as Fried Rice but we had no idea what’s the difference between them. More furious page flipping and eureka! Doppy figured that one of the items was actually Kimchi Fried Rice. EEEEEEEKKKKKKSSSSSSSS! After another 5 minutes of intense studying or so, doppy managed to identify a few other characters which stood for Tonkatsu. Ah ah! That we could take and hence the mmf excitedly got down to ordering one Tonkatsu set and the other item of fried rice (that was not kimchi!). One would have thought our hunger would now be satisfied but wait a second! The waiter came back and told us that they did not have Tonkastu! Arrgggghhhh!!!
By the time we were done with our tunch, we were too tired to walk anymore and merely did a cursory tour of the shopping centre at Dongdaemun across the street. Eventually, we surrendered and decided to head back to our guest house area to do some last minute shopping there and ended up walking the night market for the night before we retired to our guest house to do our packing and getting ready to move out the next morning at an ungodly hour of 0530hr to catch the airport limousine.
And that concludes the mmf’s little adventure in
I shall leave the blogging on
Till our next trip then, tis adieu for now. Wishing everyone here a very good holiday too! :) And if it has been some time since you last held your loved one’s hands and just walk and talk, do it! Our life is way too short for us to be perpetually wrapped up with our work.
Day 4: NANTA!
Itinerary:
For some strange reasons, we always take pictures of birds when we are abroad. Methinks that it is because in Singapore, we seldom slow our pace down to appreciate the nature that is around us.
Ssamziegil
Nanta! @ Nanta Theatre
Our morning began bright and early at the
For some strange reasons, we always take pictures of birds when we are abroad. Methinks that it is because in Singapore, we seldom slow our pace down to appreciate the nature that is around us.
Very scenic, hor?!
We managed to make it for the 1130hr English guided tour to
We headed back to Itaewon (again, yes! Because it is near lah!) for lunch and this time round, we went hunting for dofu dishes. We found a restaurant whose waitress surprisingly spoke Mandarin (apparently she’s Chinese) and it was the first time I had no trouble at all ordering my food. The restaurant was located in this artsy building, Ssamziegil, and after lunch, we had fun walking around window shopping for geh-yan things that we could not possibly afford!
Hee .. hee.. you can tell how good the dofu was by the remnants in this picture. :P Yummy!
After enquiring at the tourist information centre regarding the availability of tickets for Nanta, we were advised that no more tickets could be reserved but we could try our luck at the ticketing office. It was once again divine intervention that made us try our luck at the ticketing office and we managed to secure 2 mid-price range tickets (which mind you, was USD50 per pax!). I was rather surprised that doppy was willing to spend so much on a show but somehow the air in foreign countries always make him a more generous man. We had a ball of a time at the show. Nanta is actually 乱打 in Chinese (this is contrary to what
Since it was our second last night in
Our holiday is drawing to a close soon (Hong Kong doesn’t really quite count because I only stopped over to go to the Esprit outlet and
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