Gorgeous Venice with overflowing tourists (it almost rhymes)

Finally finally. The end of my 15 days trip, Venezia was my last stop. Waking up at 4am, took a cab to Prague airport for a flight departing at 6am. Sounded like fun especially for the fact that I looked like a zombie afterwards. But I got the perks of being an early bird, and for the first hour I was in Venice, there were actually space around me and not just layers of people after people.

It was also my lucky day for so many strangers extended their helping hand for a day that I was really distressed. Stranger 1 lifted my luggage up the upper head compartment, a charming married woman.

I was starving by the time I got there, and I had my last cup of cappuccino in Italy and a ham baguette. Everything in Venice was overpriced. And with the big crowd, it wasn’t hard for me to run into familiar faces at all. It’s a small world after all!

Basically, all of Venice looked like that, bridges, big and small, canals, big and small. Sharp buildings (just like in James Bond movies.) It was perhaps the most difficult city I have been to in terms of navigation. I crossed every bridge I saw, took every turn that came to me, and walked down every alley that my feet stumbled upon. In less than 4 turns, I was completely lost. Disorientated, surrounded by water.

Can you believe actually having a boat, to your door and that is the only way of getting home? How could that be? It was like a parallel universe, no cars, just boats. Big and small.

Good thing about this was I got to see the residential part of Venice, (yes, there are actually people living there full time, not just selling hats and masks on the street.) away from tourists and most of the time was just me and my minute shadow, under the almost mid-day sun.

Eventually, I got to some sort of end and with one more step, I will be walking into the sea. My phobia for water suddenly sinked in and it took me 3 seconds to figure out that if I fell, no one would notice and I will just sink to the bottom of the ocean. Or I will float to the end of the world, joining Jack Sparrow, Captain, Jack Sparrow.

That was when I wanted to go back into the crowd and do tourist-y things, getting to the Marco Polo Plaza.The signs were super confusing. Stranger number 2 appeared and asked if I am lost. He did not seem kind enough and I dismissed his “concerns” with a smile and quickened my pace.

I was just passing by alleys after alleys, chapels after chapels, and canals after canals. Everywhere looked exactly the same. Stranger number 3 tapped on my shoulder not long after and spoke to me in Italian holding out 15 euros. Oh my, I must have dropped it somewhere, I thanked the nice old man and carried on walking. That was the only cash I have on me left. It was a preventive measure against more shopping. (Thank god I would still be able to get home as I have already bought return bus ticket ;)) Learning from my mistake in Rome.

And as my shadow disappeared, I was joined by endless tourists instead. The square was indeed rather captivating. It was unlike the Spain or Belgian squares, where all buildings kind of looked the same, here there were different kinds of architecture: corridors, clock tower, church, arches everywhere.

I felt suffocated, perhaps it was the mid-day heat, or the people. When I was away by myself an hour ago, I felt insecure, and then when I was enveloped by people, I felt unease. How contradicting? So where else should I be really?

Ah, perhaps I should be like those seagulls, resting on ancient statues’ heads, as if that’s their territory. Removed from the crowd, but still watching closely. Hey, just one more spot left for me on the far left!

Anyone see what I saw? Those glaring eyes under bold eyebrows, watching the postman. The huge almost wolf-size “pet” resting by, being protective of his master.

Afterwards, I went into the glorious church, but did not take any photos. I was tired from walking 4 hours straight and I sat inside for 30 minutes, just absorbing the atmosphere and catching my breath. Perhaps there really is something about churches that calm people. Is it the flickering candle lights? The elevated dome shaped ceiling, perfectly smooth arches, solemn religious paintings on the wall, subtle sunshine through the miraculous windows or the faint scent of …incense I think?

After that I wandered off to a park with a sparse number of people, and wrote my postcards. One to myself was lost and I completely forgot what it was that I wanted to tell myself. It was quite sad not knowing where my personal message from past self to present self is now 😦

Venice was such an artistic place, and I am not even referring to their famous glasses. I stumbled upon a very special photographic exhibition in a worn out house. In the 2 floors building, Latvian culture was displayed on photographs all over the walls. The photos were so vivid yet impeccably staged in a way that I was convinced these scenes, 100 rooms, actually reflected Latvian homes.

After more walking (or perhaps getting lost is a better word), I saw the familiarly ridiculous moustache of Dali. There was an exhibition on him, The Dali Universe, and since I so regrettably missed out his museum in Barcelona, I went in although it was rather pricey (even for students!). And man, I certainly made the right decision.

That famous melting clock, I finally understood what it symbolises: the ticking of time can be so precise, yet the speed of time really only depends on us. That’s why it’s in a liquid form. Time is not absolute. His sculptures were full of recurring images of snails and eggs and ants. These all demonstrates nature’s greatest paradoxes, soft and hard, strong and weak all in the same object. It was intoxicating to be introduced into his great mind. He was a cocky bastard and I loved him for that, like how many others did.

That statue focused on what he was always interested in, femininity. Women’s true beauty is their mysteries. The drawers, where she store them are left ajar. He thinks these are not to be feared by men, but they should understand. hmmm.

I don’t do drugs, I am drugs. Take me, I am hallucinogenic.

There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad.

I was chuckling to myself reading his oh so proud quotes of himself. No wonder people loved him so much, you have to love yourself before people grow to like you.

I have lots to write about Venice because I went alone. People say your travel-mates are the filter between you and the local culture and surroundings. I was able to see more and go by my own pace.

I stopped a lot just to watch people, no matter they were just walking their dogs while getting busy on their phones, or sitting/lying under the sun savoring the beautiful day.

It was a lot of fun to be by yourself to some extent, but I could never do this all the time. It is too tiring to be alert at all times and I hate that I had no one to talk to. Stranger number 4 offered to help me take a photo when I was setting up self-timer. If I had a mate, it would be much easier 🙂

At the end it finally occurred to me I should start finding my way back to the shabby hostel. Since I had absolutely no idea my whereabouts, I resort to a rather non-scientific method. When I walked into the heart of Venice in the morning, I was walking towards the sun… so now I just have to walk towards the sun again because it is setting… and it should be right? Luckily, I was right and after 45 minutes, I was on the bus ride heading back.

Milan, Italy

First of all I’d like to declare my love for these gorgeous, lovely and heavy keys. The Rome one even has my favorite number on it. They were so tricky to use but I just adore them 🙂

Now why such a dull title? Because that will only suit how the 2 days felt in Milan. Some personal issue undermined the supposedly very exciting shopping hearts of ours. But none of that matters anymore, issue was not fixed, but I have learnt to let go and accept. So back to Milan.

They have these GENIUS technology in the train station so we could spare our arms for once (Apart from the lifting up and down buses, budget airlines’ staircase to the plane, UP our 3nd floor hotel etc.)

When I thought of Milan, I automatically think of the huge cathedral. But what I didn’t know is that the plaza in front of it are full of black guys handing out bracelets “for free” saying those are “gifts from africa”. It just sounded so odd and we never took them…wonder what would happen though if we did.

All the branded luxury shops are here in this glorious mall: Gucci, Prada, LV etc. Not exactly what we were looking for, we were starving FOR FOOD.

The mall has starry tiles in blue. AND THERE we found it. We had lunch there twice during our 2 days in Milan.

These friendly Swiss couple sat next to us and told us how they like to hear Chinese because they think it’s a beautiful language. What we noticed was how nice the old man was towards his wife. He helped her into her jacket, and these things I just never see in the Chinese society. I know that does not mean they don’t love each other as much, but perhaps they just show it in a different way.

Turns out Milan will hold the World Expo in 2015, there were all these flags along the walking street. Until we felt tired and sat down in this coffee place.

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Then we got hungry…no wait I think we were tired again, or were we cold? OH WELL who cares, we had gelato right after. This GROM place is one of the best one we have had so far!

The next day we came back to the same restaurant because it really was that good, and we were too lazy to think.

The plan was to see other famous attractions, i.e. Sforza castle, and The Last Supper, but since the theme of Milan is fail, we not only missed the opening hours of the castle by just 5 minutes, we also didn’t know to see the oh – so – famous – last supper has to be pre-booked one week in advance…

Caught a glimpse of someone taking photo of a couple who was so “in love”. 😉

At the end we sat down outside a church to take a break. Suddenly the bells started to ring. Usually it is peaceful and calming, but the ones there? It sounded unsynchronized and so chaotic. Sigh, what else to say about that? Even the bells we heard were super fail.

World’s smallest “independent state” – Vatican and more Rome

Although I am not the most religious, devoted Catholic out there (according to the social norms of going to church and stuff) the idea of meeting the pope (THE NEW Pope!) was such an excitement and luckily we got to spend Sunday in Rome without any previous planning!

Right from the metro station, it was already extremely crowded. We were literally squished; even worse than Admiralty station. Everyone was heading to one direction only – Vatican. We just had to follow the parade of people and every step I took was faster than the previous. It was like going to Disneyland, the security check, huge crowd etc, but on a more spiritual level kind of excitement.

As we got to the square, the mass has already started and we could only see from afar, the first Pope from Southern Hemisphere under the red shelter. The hymns sounded so serene and there must be over tens of thousands of people! Everything was kept in order though and I was not afraid of theft at all, because I didn’t think anyone would be desperate enough to steal in the Holy See.

The sun was striking hot but everyone just stood there patiently and intently. Well except the horny couple right in front of us…not very nice is it?

After 45 minutes of listening to the Italian mass and watching the Pope from afar under the searing sun, we gave up and went for lunch.

Strolling along the river under the sun and going through the flea market was just so relaxing. I can imagine myself doing this every day when I retire. (Ahem, seems like you haven’t even started a day of actual work and you’re already thinking of retirement…)

Then we went back to the famous Basilica just in time to catch the super long line. The wait actually was not too long because the group behind us was very entertaining. They were a group of mainland Chinese discussing what nationality my friend and I were.

They couldn’t understand Cantonese and came to the conclusion that we were Malaysians. HAHAHA Perhaps Hong Kong people tend to be whiter? Honestly though, nationality really doesn’t matter. It takes more than what race a person is to determine their morality and virtues.

The basilica is the largest in the world. You could tell by how tiny the people are compared to it. It obviously made all previous churches that I have seen extremely small.

At this point, I started reflecting on the whole idea of faith and religion. I used to have this theory that only kids and old people are most religious. As a kid, I knew nothing and tend to believe in everything nice and miraculous. As I grew older though, I started questioning how things were and there’s a part of me that seemed to believe more in fate in my own hands. I can imagine though that when we became old, religion is perhaps the only reassuring thing that calms our fear of the unknown.

After that the inevitable resting spot is GELATO! Then we went for a bit of shopping and early dinner before going back to watch Angels and Demons again.

With that context in mind we were excited to visit the last few attractions in Rome. We first arrived at the random pillars, then the Pantheon. It was magnificent. After 2000 years, it is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome!

There is a hole in the middle to allow sunshine into the temple (it was not particularly catholic, but rather a temple to all gods) First I did not understand why the central part is restricted, then I remember it rained earlier and thus right below the hole was wet and slippery 😉

The bodies of 2 Italian Kings were buried here too. After that it started raining rather heavily and we had to skip along souvenir shops and gelato shops (such a good excuse) before arriving Piazza Novena. The flea market there was not as fascinating as the dogs passing by. It seems like Italians like bigger, chubbier dogs compared to the petite and fragile dogs in Southern France.

That’s it for Rome and next stop? The fashion city, Milan!

And lastly, what made Vatican even more like Disneyland were these colorful Swiss guards 😀

The land of RUINS – Rome, Italy

The first stop of my longest trip ever. Rome… movies like Angels and Demons, Eat Pray Love etc. built a high expectation inside my head and the reality is, everywhere I looked in Rome was RUINS. Not that I didn’t like it, but may be if it was tied together with a wretched love story of a Prince and a beautiful girl, it would have been more interesting. (Even the signs call those “ruins”)

So what I loved about Italy? Sorry for being shallow again, but it has to be the gelato. All in all my lovely companion and I had almost 30 scoops of gelato throughout Rome and Milan. Some were better than others, but most of them were way above average and reasonably priced. That alone is a big enough motive to go to Italy! Then again they also have the pizza, risotto, pasta, panini…you name it and they probably taste better than you could imagine 🙂

The inevitable first stop is obviously the old town. Colosseum, some kind of Square, some crippled walls, broken rocks (Sorry too lazy to look up what they are called, but you really don’t need to know, just follow the crowd and you won’t miss these “touristy” places)

All those ruins looked the same and we kept going in circles. My map reading skills must have improved a lot but still not meticulous enough.

How I wish I was born a man, not being sexist, but it’s biological that they are better in navigation.

The weather was thankfully nice, although for a southern France-r no weather can really impress me anymore, so spoiled by the always bright sunshine white clouds blue sky weather. So much talking and laughing along the way, combined with gelato stops in between.

Before we know it, we stumbled upon THE fountain. It was BEYOND crowded. My height, of course, was a huge disadvantage at these scene, good that my buddy is tall and I could just cling on to her 🙂

I did throw coins in so hopefully it will bring me back to Rome 🙂

The sun set so quickly while we ran into a WWF event. Do you know why their logo is a panda?

Because when they started they were too poor and black and white printing is cheapest! Learn something new everyday eh! (Credits to my roommate 🙂

The mornings were so warm but at night, it started to get cold again. We had to stop by an ancient but elegantly designed mall to defrost before we could continue walking to dinner. We were really exhausted from the 8 hours of walking and decided to take the metro back instead, 1.5 euro each. It was too cold to walk back anyway. And that’s when the REAL adventure begins.

We finally sat down at a restaurant. We first sat outside reading the menu but suddenly everyone started jumping onto their chairs and we did the same, not knowing what was going on because they all spoke Italian. TURNS OUT THERE WAS A MOUSE RUNNING ACROSS from the other side. No big deal, we then moved inside to dine. I mean all we wanted was some hot food to replenish our energy… Ok we ordered our food and it tasted good, of course it has to be, it’s ITALY.

Funny how we only carried just enough cash and brought our credit card along. When we paid for our meal, we realized service charge wasn’t included and the waiter was expecting tip. We gave 3 euros to them and happily left the restaurant with a full stomach. THEN it occurred to us why we have 3 euros left is because we saved that for taking the metro back home! So instead of our perfect plan, we had to walk 45 mins home. We couldn’t even find our map anymore. Turns out we left it outside when the mouse intruded…it was wet because water was spilled when we were frightened.

What else could we do but laugh at our own stupidity? We had to half run half walk back because it really was cold, our clothes wasn’t meant for the night. All in all it was a great day though. Get a good companion and you are 50% guaranteed to have a good trip 🙂

The next morning we had breakfast served inside our room. It wasn’t super fancy, but we were just staying in a hostel! I wasn’t expecting that at all. The next day we met the new Pope in Vatican! More on that in the next post 🙂

Oh and I almost forgot about these lovely Brocoli looking trees 🙂

The coolest (not literally) country – Iceland Part 1

3 weeks after the trip to Iceland and I am still so excited about this country. I mean come on, it’s ICELAND. It is not an obvious country to visit in Europe but then again, I don’t always do the obvious 🙂

Starting with the airline, WOW. yes WOW, it is a funny budget airline, their flight attendants looked like they were made from barbie moulds. Blonde, pale, slim and tall. Funny how the tour guide said when the vikings came to Iceland, they took all the beautiful women. If that didn’t happen, perhaps everyone in Iceland would look like barbies.

Currency exchange: it’s such a pain that up North, they rarely use Euros. Kroners is fine but can they NOT be called the same when in one country it’s x1.3, and in another it’s /164? The rate is really good in Iceland though, the bank is also the most modern one I have ever seen.

Of course to me, the most essential part of travelling, is the food. On the first day, we walked for almost 1 hour straight all the way out to the bay for this restaurant that serves lunch buffet for less than 10 euros. It was a very sincere and traditional Icelandic seafood buffet.

For the price we paid, it was extremely worth the walk. (Especially for me, buffet is always a good deal 😉 The owner and staff was so nice too and I started to form a really positive image on Iceland despite the shitty ever-changing weather.

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On the way back, we walked pass the photography exhibition that I read about on the plane. I love reading those inflight magazines; they always tell you interesting things to see in the time that you are visiting. This photographer took photos 25 years ago with the idea of juxtaposing the past and present 25 years later. Isn’t that a really intriguing life-time project? It’s kind of like a time capsule, you see a new Subway here and the old building was restored … I could easily copy him and do the same but will I remember this silly idea after 25 years?

We landed 1 am at night so we had a really chill first day. We explored Reykjavik really thoroughly: the main street was filled with exciting graffiti, interior design and window displays etc.

I think Icelanders (sounds really cool, I’m an ICELANDER) are really amazing people, they value their heritage, they respect their nature, and they embrace arts and literature.

The modernistic Harper Concert hall is nicely designed and it was dazzling to see it at night.

Although the weather was cloudy and occasionally crazily windy and rainy, the city lake with swans and ducks was quite entertaining, especially to the kids. (and me.)

This church is so different, so out of the box. 🙂 I liked it.

The air there was revitalizing. Iceland is simply too remote to have any kind of pollution; their population helps too. If we think in a world with only HongKongers and Icelanders, you can only find 1 Icelander for every 22 HongKongers you meet!

Icelanders claimed they have the best tasting water, and I would attest to that any day. It quenched my thirst with its refreshing and deliciously cold taste. It’s hard to explain how flavorful water can be, you just have to try it for yourself. It just felt like what water should taste like. Funny though, you must remember to turn the tap to the coldest side or else you get the hot spring water that smells like rotten egg. Yes we made that mistake like, twice. However, that water is extremely good to shower in 🙂

At twilight, the ground absorbed the rain from earlier and was reflecting the traffic lights under the glowing lampposts. I felt peaceful and safe.

Back to hostel, we cooked in the cutest kitchen ever with cheese that we thought was butter. And we rested. Realize I never use the word rest in this blog? Because we really never did.

The day before, I dramatically tripped and landed on the floor at the end of a horizontal escalator like in a bad Mr. Bean show…

R: (Traumatized) shoot I feel like grandma

V: No you’re worst than them. At least they know that they’re weak so they don’t turn around talking on an escalator and then trip.

R: …

This is the 5^th day of our trip and the 13^th day of 6-8 hours walking. I really couldn’t stretch myself to the max anymore. I had the best night sleep in a long time snuggled up in my sleeping bag brought to me specially by a dear friend.

End of part 1.

The Unintended Trip Finale (Antwerp, Belgium)

Originally, it was never my plan to rush any country/city. But somehow there really was nothing much to see after spending one full day in Ghent/Brussels, and we thought, why not spend the last 5 hours before our flight in Antwerp, the fashion center of Belgium. With this limited timeframe, however, detailed planning was needed and here I lay out the (much anticipated, I hope 😉 ) grand finale of Belgium.

I loved the trains here, for youth like us, you can travel to any city for 6 euros one way. There were quite a lot of “THE First/Best” claims here and the first we saw was the “Prettiest” train station in Europe.

For that particular day, there was a Rotary event. As we headed for the pedestrian street with most shops, I saw this lovely chalkboard and as I arrived at the Italian Church, I looked down and there was a black, long limo. (Of course it was too rude to take a photo of it.) Someone died. My heart sunk a little.

But these once-off moments are the little bits and pieces that build up to a memorable and unique experience. Indeed, the Schelde River will always be there, and so will the clock tower. But these spontaneous snapshots were not here to stay. At this precise moment, the event must have ended, probably no funeral today and the cafe owner might have drawn up a new smoothie menu. And it’s comforting and special to feel that you were there at that particular moment in the universe. Isn’t it a wonderful thing in life that despite the static castles and clock towers, life is ever-evolving in big and small ways?

Now inside these marvelous architectures, was a huge champagne glass bar. And next to it THE First Skyscraper in Europe (Not exactly scraping the sky at that height though I suppose), the Farmer’s Tower 1932.

Since Antwerp was an important port, we saw a lot of related decorations all over the town.

This was the furthest walk because we were heading to a special floating swimming pool that was frozen into an ice rink in Winter! (On the way we passed by the red light district. OMG. It was just, shocking. I was too timid to take photos, but my friend should have it. The ladies were banging the window as we passed by. I simply cannot imagine how it’d be like at night, a small, curious part of me wanted to stare longer, but the startled part of me pulled us away from that street.)

That day was somehow the coldest ever, the wind was blowing from all directions pushing me forward and dragging me back at times. We decided to take a break, and walked in to the MAS. They have a wonderful view on the top (Also where I realized I lost my left glove 😦 sorry grandma) but the point was, the intriguing and slightly dark exhibition on Life and Death. (I don’t know why this motif kept appearing in Belgium)

In the introduction it asked the questions

“Where do we come from? Where will we go to?” As the first one addresses what was already happened, my curiosity for that is not as strong as for the second one. What happens after this wonderful, vibrant life? What would be left of me? Interesting questions to ponder upon in my free time.

It reminded me of one of my favorite poem by Robert Frost,

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice”

Perhaps the only convincing and utterly calming answer to this is to make an impact that will last even years after I vanish. There would be a tiny part of me staying and watching as the world progress.

Finally we arrived! It was my first time skating in the outdoor and you could not imagine how freezing cold it was. Also, I am a bad skater for all sorts of reasons: poor balancing and coordinating skills, inability to lose control, pathetically thin blade on the shoes and the slippery ice…

I would rather be dragged around like this.

Afterwards we rushed through the plaza and heard the clock town ring and saw the fairy-like fountain. Honestly, these are really the same after seeing the 3rd one. Suddenly though, a carriage just passed by us out of nowhere. Wow, I think I really haven’t seen one ever in my life.

For lunch, I had the best ham and cheese sandwich I have ever had and this was my camera working the natural blurry filter upon entering the store.

Finally it’s 3 pm and we were back to where we started, the beautiful Antwerp Centraaaaaal Station. (They like to spell it with many As 🙂

The Unintended Trip Part 2 (Ghent, Belgium)

Quote of the day: Life is too short to NOT LOOK BEAUTIFUL EVERYDAY! 🙂

After a nice warm sleep, we took the early train and headed for Ghent. We didn’t really have anything in mind particularly, and perhaps that’s what made the trip so fun. Learning from our mistake, we made it to their big Friday Flea Market and bought some really cheap but cute stuff. Yep, those are buttons. We’ll figure out what to do with them somehow…

The weather was a bit gloomy because it was still winter, but the river view mirroring the fluffy clouds above still tried its best for us to take nice photos 🙂

Now we arrived the “Graffiti Factory”. It really wasn’t much, just “Graffiti” on an abandoned “Factory.” It was cute though, midway, a dog started barking at us and I thought of running, but then I realized I was way too tired. That was when I dropped my map 😀 and picked it back up where I dropped it. Typical me, careless mistakes + fortunate outcome.

And then another antique shop. There were creepy baby cribs for sale… I did not quite like it there. The aura was somehow frightening to say the least.

Afterwards we went into a museum that displayed the lives of Ghent people back in the days. But the MAIN point: the door knobs were HEART SHAPED. awwww, first time I saw something that cute. Now I want one on my front door when I have a house.

Now, time for some food! We went to a bakery where they were supposed to have cookies that they use a real iron to flatten, but turned out they only sell those for breakfast 😦 so we had something else instead, the Creme Brulee is obviously delicious as I forgot to take photos 😛

These strollers we saw everywhere, sold Ghent specialty, purple nose or whatever it was called I forgot. They weren’t exported because they expire very soon. It was with some strawberries and rum inside I think. Worth trying, but were too sweet.

Now to the main part of our GHENT day trip. GRAFFITI. DIY. We walked into this spiraling alley FULL of paints in all colors you can name. I did not see a single empty space. Somehow I have always associated graffiti with bad guys and the thought of actually doing it myself is thrilling.

We bought a bottle of white paint spray and my heart was just jumping up and down insanely inside me.

There was me looking retarded and amazed by the bottle of white paint spray 😛

So there, I know it kind of spoiled others’ great art work, but that’s the whole point of Graffiti, right? To find beauty in ruins. That’s the cost of having a free canvas, and constant public audience. It is refreshing to think that every now and then, the walls would be renewed, Rebirth.

Well, it probably is gone now and is replaced by some beautiful graphics(or perhaps ugly, signatures by tourists like us) but at least we established our presence there vividly. 🙂

Before the sun went down, we found a cute and ancient looking cafe and had what they said might be best coffee in Ghent, and waffles. aaah Isn’t it just wonderful, the combination of cream, milk, butter, egg and flour. Almost like a miracle.

Notice that the blurry effect, was natural! Since it was only 0 degrees outdoor, once we entered the warmly heated cafe, my camera just automatically created these wonderful effects. (I know it is simple physics, but just let me put it this way so my photos feel more special)

The view when the sun was going down was intoxicating. The dimly lit lights within the buildings, the floating boats and metal bikes was just so… “Europe”. (Sorry for the lack of a more intelligent word)

At night we went back to our cozy hostel at the penthouse to tidy up things and grabbed dinner at a local version of McDonalds.

The lady asked what sauce I want and I went ermmm…hmmm.. and she just said “I will give you all, so you can try.”

Small town people are just always nicer.

The Unintended Trip Part 1 (Brussels, Belgium)

Before going on exchange, it has never ever crossed my mind that I would be visiting Belgium, Iceland and Denmark. They all sounded too cold for me. But life is all about surprises and ad – hoc decisions 🙂 so here I am, overloaded with Belgian chocolates and missing Icelandic water, recalling my 12 days trip to these wonderful places.

Embarked for Brussels on Feb 20th, 4pm, we got off the shuttle bus at 3:35pm. Thank GOODNESS we made it. Upon arrival, we saw several of these ugly hearts and I wonder what sin did this person commit… The next day we woke up and we saw this huge protest from people wearing Red, Blue and Green respectively. (Research has shown that it was one of the biggest Anti-Austerity Protest)

Brussels was cold, I couldn’t bring my hands out to take more photos but here I saw some wooden llamas and color-coated bottles so I had to take a photo of it.

There was a gallery featuring Hong Kong photos and I suddenly miss home, and the vita soy, and the BBQ pork, and Japanese Food.

This is our lunch place! It was really good money for value. That was our first meal of deep fried food…Brussselians LOVE fried food… Did you know French fries were invented here?

1) Gueze Beer. They say it tastes like vomit, but I actually liked the sourness of it. We also visited a beer brewing factory and had a taste of lambac and cherry gueze beer. (NEVER try cherry, one way or another they taste like meds)

Perhaps I just wasn’t a big science person nor a beer fan, that’s why bottling and labeling was the only processes that I understood 😛

Those brownish mushy stuff right there was how it all started. It smells so warm and good, like ovaltine. (And I’m not short, the boxes were just stacked high :P)

2) Pissing statue… I simply didn’t understand their fascination with pissing stuff. There’s this pissing dog, and then the manneken pis…which is supposed to be THE tourist place, but I.T. W.A.S T.I.N.Y. NOW I am pissed.

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3) Of course there were the lovely waffles too ❤ I must have had fries and waffles as many times as I tripped/stepped on poop because of concentrating on the map.

4) The Tin Tin and the graffitis, they were all over the streets! You just got to be super eagle eye to spot them 😉

5) CHOCOLATES !!! This was basically why I even took notice of Brussels, not because it is the Capital of EU. There was a street with ALL kind of chocolates, and of course I didn’t buy any Godiva. AND WE HAD CAKE FOR DINNER :O

Mary’s is my favorite one 🙂

V: (pointing to a 60 year old lady) Hey the sales lady over there looks like the owner, you think she is Mary?

ME: (pointing under the logo) The shop was established in 1919, do you think she looks 94?

Dinner in the hostel common area , girls eating Salad.

V: Look at them eating salad…OUR dinner looks so much more delicious!

ME: Yea, that’s also why they are thinner…

Well who cares 🙂 The cake and chocolates were heavenly. It was chocolate mousse with creme brulee filling. The bottom crust was ALSO CHOCOLATE. aaah god.

Erm… we also went to a flea market…after it was over. Apparently the owners just leave whatever they don’t want anymore for free. And my dear friend and I started searching for treasure/trash, along with the hobos… yea it was fun. She got her Discs for I-Don’t-know-what

Note to self: MAKE SURE you go to these markets in the MOOOoooorning.

At night we arrived a square thingy (which all looks the same everywhere, in Madrid, or Bordeaux) and IT REALLY WAS FREEZING. I couldn’t stand it anymore and called it a day.

Please note that we did ALL THOSE, in one day. Thank you very much. (Yes you might say that on day 1 walking 10 hours is normal, but do note that I have been walking for at least 6 hours a day for 8 days right before the trip… It was just such a huge challenge for me but I made it alive and enjoyed every bit of me, except some of the hostel but we will get to that 🙂

Sweet water? Dolceacqua, Italy

After seeing all the ancient villages in France, let’s move on to their close neighbor, Italy! How wonderful, in just 2 hours train you find yourself on the land of ITALY.

Ventimiglia has an overrated friday market, but their cheese and ham was already worth it.

The store owner might look fierce here, but he was actually really nice! He kept urging that I eat more of his cheese and gave me a discount 🙂 The reggiano was really good especially when it goes with the parma ham ❤ (I forgot how many pieces I “tried”)

Then we were done here. Moving on to another random destination, with the sweetest name – Dolceacqua, even though I know not Italian, I could make out that it means “sweet(it can mean fresh too) water” 🙂 Now, you might think you have seen all of the Lord-of-the-Ring-villages, but THIS! This blew my mind away. This is the place with the least tourists amongst all other old villages I have been to. People actually still live here!

The weather was flawless. The clouds has finally decided to cooperate with us and the sun worked seamlessly with the river to create the spotless mirror under the bridges.

On a side note, this has got to be the sunniest day which I forgot to put on sunscreen -,-

If I were alone, I doubt that I would have the courage to walk under…

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mightly spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

Then we saw this old lady, stumbling her way up the steep slope, resting every once in awhile. It made me sad to see how she was dragging herself while we were skipping along so effortlessly. How great to be young was my first thought, but my second was, what if I become old and weak? Then I realized there is no doubt that one day I WILL become old. The least I can do is make myself healthy so as to prolong the days of traveling and eating whatever I want 😥 Time is ridiculously ruthless.

This angry cat suddenly disrupted my thoughts with its meowing. Well little tiger, what are you starring at?

As we hiked up the village, we came across a choice, the 5 mins walk and the 45 mins walk. Guess which one we took? Well to the left it is 🙂

Indeed to see great views, one must climb the hills.

Despite of the inappropriate shoes, the heavy cheese and ham in our bags and our way too warm clothing, we made it there!

This is exactly the scene that Monet saw and painted in 1884. Unbelievable how some things can last hundreds of years. When the world changes, this picturesque village just seem to remain as it has always been. As if nothing sad has ever happened, and no one ever grew old or die young.

As we hiked down, all restaurants were closed and I started feeling dizzy either because of the heat, the lack of food or the daunting thoughts of growing old. It probably was the lack of food because we only had gelato all morning… (CREMA gelato, whatever that is, was the best one I have ever had and so cheap 3.8 euros for 3 scoops ❤ Can’t wait to actually go to REAL Italy 😛 , sorry Ventimiglia, you are too close to me to be labelled “real” Italy.

How I wish you were, Missing Puzzle Piece, you would have loved it. At least you got the postcard this time finally 🙂

The aromatic city – Grasse

I started to think I am a natural in traveling for day trips near home. Not only am I good at matching suitable point of interests with my friends, I am also good at planning.

On the day to Grasse, the town of Perfume, we changed bus so seamlessly: the moment we got off bus 200, the bus to Grasse was just right behind. It was the exact same situation on the return bus ride 😉 OH what a genius I am. (done with boasting mode, moving on!) There are 3 major perfumeries in Grasse, but they all kind of sound alike just to confuse us. So first on Fragonard, there was an art collection museum and traditional jewelry and clothing museum (for free) that was quite nice to visit. (There were CCTV everywhere so I could not snatch a photo of the beautiful necklaces and keychains)

Apart from shopping for perfumes, each perfumery provides free guided tour in English. Or at least they claimed so. When we were at Molinard, they said there were no English tours for that day. 😦

Just when we were about to leave with a disappointed heart, I saw a group of tourists speaking alien language (I assumed it was french) and I thought, oh well it’s free, might as well spend 30 minutes to see what’s inside!)

So we followed the crowd and proceeded with the tour. Midway I realized it was an Italian guided tour and I could not stop laughing at my stupidity. We nodded as if we understood fully.

Thank god there were occasionally written english descriptions on the methods of making perfume. We got to test our sense by smelling different scents and guessing what it was.

At the end – the highlight of our tour! Making customized perfume! I was never a perfume person, but I am definitely in for anything that I can play around with.

For 45 euros you get 2 hours to mess around with 80 different fragrances, a bottle of self-made 100 ml perfume with your own label, your own formula number and a certificate ❤

First you choose 3 scents from several categories and/or vanilla. Then you pick 3 fond notes from the categories you previously picked. 6 scents of the heart notes were then added into the cylinder.

Every time you add a new scent, you have to pour it out and back in so it is mixed thoroughly. Then you dip in the perfume paper and smell the new scent through it to check if they are compatible.

Oddly enough, some scents smells extremely terrible on their own, but surprisingly pleasant along with other scents while some just stinks one way or another.

Lastly 5 peak notes were selected and your bottle was removed and labeled with the name you picked. The lady in lab coat explained to us how to test whether the scents go well together and all in all was a special experience. I think my nose was numb afterwards.

To my pleasant surprise, no bottles were broken and not even a single drop of perfume was spilled. Skillful me. (Very unlike my usual self)

VOILA, here is the end product. 🙂

Miss Tofu

My journey in life

Category: Western Europe