Tuesday, October 23, 2007

It's no use objecting. u get what u demand in the end anyways. and as always, u just manage to make me feel like an idiot.
maybe i should be nicer to myself. i think i feel too much.

on a sidenote, number 2 has responded heh.


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I just read LN's post on getting to know more people. Bro it's the same everywhere u go I think, especially on exchange. Everyone is here on their own more or less, so everyone is trying to know as many people as possible so that they won't end up in a situation whereby they have no kakis for any activities.

I guess it's like what Jemmy said, on exchange, we don't really have the luxury of thinking "ok so I don't really like to hang out with this group, let me hang out with someone else" cos our social circle is not exactly THAT big. Not that my social circle is very big in SG to begin with hahaa.

Which brings me to the main point of this post - Do I maintain good relationships with someone because I'm genuinely interested in getting to know them, or do I have a more self-serving purpose (that is, that person is my link to getting to know more people and do more things). Yes yes, I know nowadays, inter-personal relationships are more or less all like that. In fact, we even have a nice word for it, it's called networking. But I don't like to think of it that way, that I'm nice to someone cos he/she is my "gateway" to other people. It disturbs me somewhat.

Then again I guess maybe it can start with being nice to someone initially because of the self-serving purpose, and eventually he/she becomes a real friend. The real problem starts when u realised that someone whom u considered a friend is starting to become the "network"..

Like I've always said before, inter-personal relationships are just about the most complex things ever.


mais tout est bien, je suis heureux toujours =)


------ Sunday, October 21, 2007

Normandy, 20 October

L'introduction: Je suis allée à Normandie hier avec mon ecole. il a été organisé par le groupe d'étudiants, Cultures Connexion. Nous sommes allés regarder les tapisseries de Bayeux. Alors nous sommes allés à la Musée de Debarquement, le cimetière américain, la plage Omaha de Normandie et aussi, un visite de calvados. Le calvados est un alcool local de Normandie.

I went on a school trip to Normandy yesterday. It was organised by the student group, Cultures Connection. We went to look at the Bayeux Tapestries, followed by the D-Day Museum, the American cemetery, the Omaha Beach and also, a tour of the calvados. The calvados is a local alcohol produce of Normandy.


Our first stop - Bayeux Tapestries



We weren't allowed to take pictures of the actual tapestry, which is a pity cos I thought it was quite remarkable. It's 70 metres long, completely handmade and has awesome attention to the tiniest details. Colours were made use of extremely well to portray movement and speed even though the scenes were 2-D.

The tapestry depicts the victory by William, Duke of Normandy, over the Hastings on 14 October 1066. It all when an oath between the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans were broken and what followed was the Battle of Hastings, which saw the English defeated and William the Conquerer eventually became King of England.

On a sidenote, the short film that we watched said that this, together with the D-day landings of World War 2, inspired a monument that was built in Normandy. We eventually passed by that monument on the bus but did not stop (a pity). The inscription read something like this: "We who were conquered, have liberated the land of our conqueror."


The tapestry tour took shorter than expected, and we made a trip to the Notre Dame cathedral. And as usual, another stunning piece of architecture.


Every French city has its own Notre Dame cathedral (Notre Dame is French for Our Lady), and the one in Rouen is actually very, very beautiful too.

Next up, we visited the largest American military cemetery. There were quite a number of uniformed persons (I can only presume that they are American servicemen here to pay respect to their fellow men who died in WW2).


The tribute to all who gave their lives in the fight for peace.

I would like to think that the cemetery is a fitting final resting place for the soldiers. The place is peaceful, serene and has a fantastic sea view.


This is just 1 tiny part of the cemetery.


The board marking out the Landing beaches on 6-8 June 1944.


This display actually marks out the piers and harbours that were constructed to enable the D-day landings.

The D-day landings is a historical feat and some call it, the greatest project ever undertaken. Landings there were necessary in order to link up the British landings to the east with the American landing to the west, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the Normandy coast. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of United States Army troops. After the failed initial waves of assault, the Allied troops realised they had to build harbours so that the ships arriving can be sheltered from the rough English Channel. It was a near-impossible feat, to construct a harbour in a matter of weeks, where it normally takes years to build one.

But Winston Churchill envisioned it, and the engineering division built it and even though the harbour was not perfect, it withstood a strong gale and achieved its primary objective.

Walking further inwards, we reached the actual cemeteries.


peaceful and serene


And the greatest respect to the American soldiers who lost their lives in Normandy


Inscribed: Here rests in honoured glory // A comrade in arms // Known but to God

We also spent some time to capture the beautiful view from the cemetery.


My neighbours who were also on the trip - Gregory (from Poland) and Francisco (from Chile)


New friends made - Xue Na and Lina (from China)


My travel buddy for the day - Louis (French)
And that's his shades that I've hijacked cos they looked quite cool on him


Next up - D-Day Museum



The museum was like any other museums, with reconstructions and short films. In fact, it was quite small but what made it different was that it tells history of mankind, instead of art and architecture.


Parachutist landing


A model of the landings on the beach


The bunkers



The command centre


The photographs of the Generals involved in WW2


And then, to Omaha Beach itself! I do not know (and the French students themselves do not know) if this stretch of the beach was the one used in the filming of Saving Private Ryan, but the view is stunning nonetheless.


Reamins of the port from the D-day landings during WW2



and the views of the Omaha Beach coastline:










Here ends the historic part of the day. Next up - a tour of a Calvados brewery!






Calvados is an apple brandy from the French région of Basse-Normandie or Lower Normandy. It is normally between 30%-50% in alcohol concentration.


The barrels used to store all the alcohol


5 different kinds of calvados, each differing in age

And finally, tasting of the calvados!


With Greg, Francisco and Annieska (from Poland)


Drinking with Louis


The Normandy trip was pretty nice, even though I signed up for it alone. Maybe precisely because I signed up for it alone, I was made to interact with other people haha. I met my neighbours on the trip, which was quite nice, and Louis was excellent company. The company, the sights and most importantly, the historic significance of the place I went to, made it quite unforgettable actually.

Till the next big adventure.


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Prague, 5 - 7 Oct

Un peu d'introduction! Nous sommes allés à Prague de 5 à 7 octobre. Prague est la capitale et la plus grande ville de la République tchèque. Elle est très jolie, mais il y a trop de touristes!!

Désolée, my french is still quite limited haha. The translation:

A little introduction! We went to Prague on 5 to 7 October. Prauge is the capital and the largest city in the Czech Republic. It is a very pretty place, but there are just too much tourists! (yes although we are tourists there too)

The standard of living in Eastern Europe is considerably cheaper than in Western and Northern Europe. When we were in Prague, coffee is so cheap as compared to France! Food is cheap and good too, for about 250 Czech crowns (approx 10 euros), u can have a damn good and large main course, dessert and beer at a restaurant with a nice ambiance.. ok enough with the narrations, pictures up!


we met up with Raymond and Felicia in Prague at the hostel we were staying in, and the first place we headed to was the main square, of which the most famous structure is the astronomical clock tower.


Just look at the number of tourists all trying to get a photo of the clock tower!!
The clock chimes every hour and there is a little procession whereby the clock windows will open and the 12 apostles will move across the window. look at the upper clock. it looks mightily complex because it can tell 3 different times: the current time in Prague, the olden time in Prague and the Babylonian time. I never did find out how to tell all 3 times from the clock though.

Daytime in the square is just too crowded so we left the square and spent most of our time just walking around Prague, walking through the gardens, sitting in cafes to drink cheap and good coffee and eat cakes.

We eventually walked towards the National Gallery of Prague. I can't quite remember who's the statue on the horse in the background of this photo, but here u can see most of my Prague mates..


flea, huiying, nicole and that's raymond taking the photo for them



a nice view of the busy street in front of the National Gallery

We went to eat dinner next and once again, the pictures of the food are not with me hahaha. One day, I will do a post of all the food I've eaten in Europe!

After dinner, we walked to the famous Charles Bridge.


The arc at the entrance of the bridge

It is more difficult to see things from the Bridge at night, thou I still think the Bridge is beautiful at night. My camera can't really take too fantastic shots with the night mode and the high sensitivity mode (I keep trying though), but here's one of the Prague castle in the background..



After Charles Bridge, we went for a 2nd round of drinks in a local pub, and after which Nicole, Ray, Flea and Huiying went to club. Huiting and I decided to forgo it and take a walk around Prague at night instead.

The main square is so quiet at night, so different from the day time!


and wheeeeee here we go again ;p


The next morning, we took a free walking tour of Prague and one of my favourite places on the tour was the Jewish quarters - rich in history and gorgeous architectures of the jewish synagogues.


beautiful, beautiful building!


and an elaborate 6-sided star of david

It was a Saturday and it was Sabbath for the Jews so the Jewish quarters were closed.
Huiting and I went to visit the Jewish quarters and the synagogues the next day, but we weren't allowed to take photos inside the synagogues. We also got to learn about the Jewish Holocaust that occured during World War 2. I thought it was a pretty good experience even though I don't have much photos to show for it. We did get a photo of this though:


Inside the Old Jewish Cemetery. It consisted on at least 7 layers if I remember correctly. Meaning, bodies were just buried on top of another grave, such that the oldest tombstones are not visible anymore.

The tour took us past some interesting icons, including the statue of the famous writer, Franz Kafka.


The statue of Franz Kafka sitting on his own shoulders (no idea what the sculptor was trying to portray)

We also got to see the John Lennon Wall, which is the only piece of property in Prague that u can legally do graffiti on. It started after the World War, where the Beatles started becoming popular in Prague with their songs and their messages of peace.


Somehow, a sculpture of John Lennon appeared on the wall and people began to write messages about their longing for peace on the wall.


Yes, people of all religions can coexist on this earth!!

The walking tour brought us to the Prague castle in the early afternoon. After the tour ended, Huiting, Huiying and I went on to visit the Castle while Flea and Raymond, who have already been to the castle, went somewhere else.


entrance to the prague castle


The simply beautiful cathedral inside the castle. It was built across centuries, so the cathedral has got different architectural styles, all the way from Baroque to Romansque to Gothic. I'm still not at the level whereby I can tell different architecture styles apart, but I think this is Baroque hahaha.

Back in Singapore, I stay in St. George's Lane, so every country I go, if I come across St. George's Road (in London), rue saint georges (Paris) and so on, I will take a picture. I thought I won't see it in Prague considering the Czech Republic is not a deeply religious country, but guess what I saw outside the cathedral..


The statue of St. George slaying the dragon!


Within the castle itself, there wasn't anything especially interesting. It's just another castle, big rooms, high ceilings and chandeliers. After visiting Versailles Palace in the outskirts of Paris, I think all other castles and palaces kinda pale in comparison. Only difference is, this Old Prague castle is not lavish in style at all. In fact, it is really kinda... old. And relatively small. Just about the most interesting aspect of the main castle itself is this:


Part of my ideal bedroom, with books over the door arch!!
The books here are actually Jewish records dating from waaaaay back (I overheard an English tourguide telling a group of tourists).

Went to take a look at an exhibition of medieval clothes, armour and torture instruments.


And is it just me, or does the suit of armour look like its constipated?? LOL.

Within the castle was this area called Golden Lane. Some king in the past actually kinda favoured short people cos short people pose less of a threat (serious!) so he had entire street for them. Now, that street is a tourist trap but nonetheless, still cute to look at!


Look at how short the entrance is!


The long rectangular bronze plague indicated that Franz Kafka once stayed in this tiny blue house.


And this is my favourite house selling antique clocks.
Damn, I'm really very short!!

We went to talk a walk in the palace gardens just before the castle closes at 7pm and yeps, got some fantastic views yet again due to the castle being on higher land..


A view of Prague town


I like how the leaves show up in this picture, and that's the fake Eiffel Tower in the misty background hahaha.

We walked down the hill thereafter and headed back towards Prague square to meet Flea and Ray for dinner.


Look at the steps up!

We had the equivalent of Prague fast food - Prague sausage in sandwich with mustard and onions.. It was damn oily and sinful but damn good!!

After dinner, we went to the biggest club in Central Europe (or so they claim):


It has 4 levels: basement was hiphop and r&b, ground floor was eurotrance, 2nd level was 80s music, 3rd level was another r&b, and 4th level was a chill-out area.

All in all, it was pretty nice, though the mixed drinks like long island tea and the cocktails were not too good. The only good one was the local beer at 38 crowns per half litre (approx 1.2euros!!). The rest of the photos though, are not with me (again).


The next morning (it's Sunday), we woke up pretty early in order to cover the Jewish quarters and to head back to Prague castle to finish off what we didn't cover on Saturday.


And this is a rare moment in the day time when it's not overcrowded with tourists. This, my friends, is the Prague square, and it is very gorgeous (except for the restoration/construction going on in the center).

On our way to the Prague castle, before we crossed the Charles bridge, I was entirely mesmerised by this view across the river:


The castle in the background, the beautiful river in the foreground and autumn trees shedding its leaves in between. This is nature and man-made buildings blending in seamlessly!!

Charles Bridge is marked by many, many statues on both sides, and this one is famous and popular with people (meaning tourists):


Touch the sculpture for good luck!
There is another one just beside it, and word has it that if u touch that one, u will be able to keep your husband from straying hahaha..


Back in Prague castle, we went to climb the tower in the cathedral. I can't remember exactly how many steps there were (445 i think).. It wasn't exactly a lot, but we've been sleeping very little and walking a lot so we were already quite tired even before we climbed it. Doesn't help that it's those round winding steps! It was very narrow and there were people moving in both directions.. quite a challenge to climb it..

But the view from the top is absolutely totally worth it!

Picture-perfect (or postcard perfect)!

Back from Prague castle and on the way back to the square, we passed by the John Lennon wall again, and I saw something that I didn't notice the first time we were there:


How apt. Imagine" is a song written by John Lennon that speaks about imagining the world as one.
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one


My trip to Prague was very enjoyable.. It was slightly different from the trip to Belgium in the sense that we had nothing much to do in Belgium, and it was the people we met and my travel mates who made all the difference.

In Prague, my travel mates were great too, it was nice meeting and travelling with Flea and Ray. But Prague is so much more. It's the beautiful place, the rich history, the many things I discover while walking along Prague's streets at night. A country with a turbulent history, yet a country that is not bitter. It's rare. It's really a nice place to go to, even though there were too many tourists.


And finally, my favourite picture from the Prague trip:


Charles Bridge at dusk


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