Ahhhhhh, I've finally finished the whole post on the trip to Europe. It took me quite a long time to write everything with the pictures. I could have forgotten some things and places that I've been to. I didn't edit this post so please let me know if you spot any mistakes be it structural or grammatical errors. So please enjoy!

The first day 

Nothing much to say about the first day. All I can say is that the plane ride was too long. All I could do was to eat, watch the IFE and sleep. At least it's better than schooling.

When we landed at Frankfurt, we went directly to our hotel. My dad and my cousins went with me to have a walk outside our hotel. It was cold and I was wearing only one shirt and a jacket. I only have one picture here. They are my cousins and brother who went there with me.

The second day

Okay, day two of the Europe trip. Yesterday's hotel is called Hotel Mercure. It was a night's stay only. I woke up early, around 4am in the morning. Everybody's awake at that time in Singapore. The breakfast is at a restaurant in the hotel but at another block. We had many different types of bacon, cheese, eggs, bread and yogurts. It was so filling and I wish I can have have that kind of breakfast everyday in Singapore if I can.

Anyway, after breakfast, we got our luggage back on board the coach. We headed southwards toward Switzerland. The coach travelling time wasn't too long either. In Singapore, a 2-hour ride could kill some of us but in such a big country, 2 hours is not long at all. The tour leader told us about the history of Germany along the way. Things like the ruling of Hitler and his hatred toward the Jews, the incident of the Berlin wall etc. He had the goose pimples too when he said that tour leaders had to go through a course of looking at real pictures of what happened in the past. The history of Germany in the world wars were too gruesome. Germany is 550 times of Singapore and the population is only 20 times of that in Singapore. So they have a lot of land while Singapore has a lack of land.

We did not go straight to Switzerland. There was a stop somewhere in the middle of the highway where there is a mini eatery for a light snack. The temperature at that time was around 3°C and mild ice were forming everywhere. This was a  photo opportunity so I didn't eat anything. Some pictures below.

 

 

After the short break, we went to the Black Forest region where everywhere dense forests surrounded the town. It was named Black Forest because when you are in the forest covered by all the trees, very little light reaches the bottom. Hence it's dark and called the Black Forest. We made our journey all the way up to the very top of the mountains. Temperature dropped to around 0°C and more snow was seen in the whole town.

 

Lunch was at a restaurant at the town in the Black Forest Region. I ate some food which is in a hot plate of noodles served with black pepper beef, a gigantic bowl of mushroom soup with an extra long hotdog and the original Black Forest cake. I couldn't finish any of those because they were far too much for my stomach to take! I could have ordered less but the tour leader told us that they were the must-try food there. See how the menu make me look like an illiterate without any pictures.

The nearly 40cm hotdog.

After lunch was a tour in the cuckoo clock workshop where they showed how did cuckoo clock originated, what are the processes in making a cuckoo clock and what makes a cuckoo clock so special and stands out from ordinary clocks. Every single part is made in Switzerland. The clocks were very expensive, one normal sized clock could fetch a price of 2000 euros! I think it is not worth it unless you're obsessed with such magnificent clocks. Especially it doesn't fit my house at all.

 

Then, we had our free time to roam about the place and enjoy the scenery and playing with the snow at the same time. My cousins and I went to play at the field just behind the restaurant. The snow wasn't very deep, about 30cm thick. And there is a partially frozen lake nearby and we had fun throwing snow onto the ice. Some snow cracked through the ice while some smashed into pieces. The ice was still in the process of freezing into a complete frozen lake. As stupid and foolish as I can be, I went to try walking on the ice and within a few steps into the lake, the ice gave way and there I was submerged in the water to my ankle. My shoes were all so super wet and cold!

This is actually snow which was thrown on the layer of ice, not on rocks.

After this stop in Germany, we headed directly to a small region in Switzerland called Schaffhausen. The borders between Germany and Switzerland is so special that I can be in two countries at the same time. My left half in Germany and my right half is in Switzerland. Crossing between these two countries is as easy as ABC. The driver just needed to pay a sum of money and some short documents. After this, we are in another country!

Okay, here I am in Switzerland! It will be country which is the coldest and the most days I'm staying in. It is made up of 66% mountains and 34% land. It's because of the Alps crossing the southern part of Switzerland. Schaffhausen is a beautiful town with houses instead of apartments in cities like Zurich or Bern. We proceeded to the Rheinfalls. It is not a very tall waterfall at the height of 23 metres and 150 metres wide. However, it is the strongest waterfall in mainland Europe.

It was very cold once we got outside of the coach. All I had was my sweater and a shirt inside. My gloves, jacket and beanie was all in my luggage in the baggage compartment. The temperature was below 0°C. Anyway, the cold was still bearable and I did not shiver like my cousin did. We witnessed the waterfall for one last time before leaving for our hotel which is located at Lucerne, a 2-hours drive away.

It was already totally dark by 4.30pm and the temperature fell quite a lot too. This hotel is called Hotel Astoria. It is the leading first class hotel in both designs and service. We stayed there for two nights. We quickly checked-in and had our dinner at a penthouse restaurant. Dinner was great. Pork rib-eye. Delicious!

The Internet rates is not cheap here and I don't plan to use for long so it was a waste buying fixed time usage. The first hotel charges were at 0.30 euros per minute. The blogger here is in German, I don't know how to change it to English. I went to sleep shortly after I went online.

The third day

Today was a great great day! Breakfast wasn't too early, around 7.30am. The tour leader told us to gear up ourselves for the trip to Mount Titlis. Then we got ready and left for Engelberg at 8.30am. 

The drive from the hotel to the foot of the mountain was about 40 minutes. On the way there, we were asked questions, one of which was what was the highest point of Singapore. And many people couldn't answer it correctly. It was actually 172 metres - Bukit Timah Hill. Okay, that was a hill after all. So we shouldn't expect anything more than 600 metres. Anyway, the town of Luzern is 500 metres above sea level, which is already so much higher than the tallest point of Singapore. Engelberg, the little town at the foot of Mount Titlis, sits at the height of about 1000 metres above sea level.

Snow was already everywhere when we entered the mountains. Thick snow covered trees, roads, cars, buildings and river streams were frozen. It was super cold at the temperature of -8°C. From the foot of the mountain, the Swiss Alps looks beautiful and covered all in white. We then bought the tickets and took the Titlis Rotair up to the peak of the mountain. There were three stops of cable car in total. The cable car was able to hold up to six people. The second one was a rectangle cable car holding up to 80 people. Lastly, the final stage cable car is able to hold 80 people and is rotating while moving up which allows visitors to see a panoramic view of the Alps.

This is the rotating cable car up Mt. Titlis.

This is the rectangular cable car also able to hold 80 people.

This mountain's highest point is at 3020 metres. The cable car trip up was quite fast, except for the waiting time and the little squeeze while getting into the cabin. This is the first time I've ever been to a mountain this high. The slopes were steep and is a challenging course for skiers or snowboarders. It wasn't surprising when the wind blew so strongly and swept snow which hit our faces. Snow may seem soft and comfortable to lie on and make snow angels, but when the wind blows snow on you, I believe you'll never like it.

We played with the snow, throwing snowballs to each other, sliding down the slopes and lying on the snow. The was also this higher peak from the viewing area and my cousins and I climbed all the way up. The snow was thick and quite hard. Every step made you sink into the snow. By the time we got all the way up, we were almost breathless. But the surprise was that we found an igloo! It was small and cozy inside. I don't know who made it but good job done there!

 

There was also an ice glacier 20 metres below the peak. Inside is totally dark and icy. The floor was slippery but there was a trail of rubber mat for us to walk on. The glacier was not very cold, it was actually warmer than outside. Lunch was at a restaurant which is self-service. It is like a buffet style where you get to choose your own food. However, this is different because you tell the chef what you want and he cooks on the spot. You'll pay after getting your food. It somehow seems similar to the Kopitiams in Singapore. But the environment and food quality is way better and nicer. I particularly love their grape juice! It's a pity the bottle is too small for consumption. Maybe a thirsty man could finish it in two mouth.

You see I'm not afraid of the cold! That thermometer actually reads -6°C. AND IT'S REAL!

We went back to Engelberg by cable car all the way down after lunch. I'll try skiing again some other time when I visit another snow mountain, although I heard from the locals that it is not easy picking up skiing. That's why the schools in Switzerland have skiing as their extra curriculum activities. Nonetheless, it is still worth trying. 

After almost half a day at the mountain, we finally got back to flat ground. We visited the Lion Monument made by some people long time ago. It was in memory of the Swiss guards for the heroic and bravery act for some things they did in the past. It was very accurately carved and it looks beautiful when seen. The wall was made so smooth and flat because the people used the Egyptian method of breaking the wall.

Free and easy time! We were left to do our shopping and dinner for the remaining of the night. There were plenty of shops along the streets. This also meant that we would never finish walking till midnight. And they close shops before 8pm. So, I bought quite a few items and souvenirs from a shop which sells lots of things. Some were famous Swiss watches, pens, bags etc. I bought a Swiss army knife by Victorinox (with my name engraved on it) and several other souvenirs. Dinner at Movenpick restaurant before going back to the hotel.

This is the bridge which was built in the 13th century.

My knife with my name!

I'll end here and catch some sleep as there's another mountain to go to tomorrow. Goodnight!

The fourth day

Let me start off from the first place we visited. It was the highest train station in the entire Europe. It is called Jungfraujoch. The train station is at the altitude of 3452 metres. Being the highest station, it allows tourists to see the Alps which covers France and Germany. There are also many other locals that come up here to do skiing or snowboarding. To get to the top, we have to change two trains which the ride was 45 minutes each. Some pictures of the train station.

Myself, my mother and my brother.

The train is like the one in the movie called The Polar Express. We had to buy a ticket each and when the train is about to leave, the conductor comes around to punch a hole on the ticket. I said 'A' hole, not so many holes like in the movie.

This is another of the same train which was taken from my train passing by this train.

We could see the mountains higher than us on the way up. The windows of the train could be wound down, so I had a good view of the surrounding scenery. So, below are the pictures taken on the way up in the train.

This is actually snow blown off by the wind, not fire. It appears to be orange because of the backlighting by the sunlight.

Look at the left hand side of the picture, that is the building called the Sphinx which is the highest viewing area. The train station is actually hidden in the mountains because it is in the mountains! When the first people dug the way through the mountain, they expected it to be completed by 7 years but it ended up taking 16 years to do it. It was done around 100 years ago. They were supplied with 1 bottle of wine everyday, in order to keep themselves warm. For all the people who dug the tunnel, most of them did not leave beyond 30 years old because of inhaling the mountain gases. The tunnel is so long that it cuts three chain of mountains. No pictures taken in the tunnel because it was too dark.

Not long after, we reached the second train station which was already around 2600 metres above sea level.

From this station, this train will go through the 7.3km long tunnel which cuts through three mountains. And it will be dark all the way up for 30 minutes. This is the entrance of the tunnel.

Once we reached the top, we walked around on our own. There was this high speed lift which operates at 6.3m/s to get us from 3463m to 3571m in 18 seconds.

 

Here I am at the top of Europe! The wind is so super strong up here and it's cold. It feels so great to be at the top of Europe. The wind speed is 46 km/h which means that I could get blown off the viewing area if I jumped up near the edge. Taking pictures was also quite a difficult task because of the piercing snow poking my face. From the pictures below, you can see the snow blown away by the strong wind.

 

This is my entire family who went to Europe.

Lunch was at a restaurant that I don't know what they did to their heater or air condition system. It was so super hot inside. All I can say is that the outside was like a freezer while inside is like a sauna. Anyway, the food in the 'sauna' tasted great. This are just the picture taken in the restaurant.

After lunch, all of us went to the ice palace where there are ice carvings. The floor was so slippery unlike the Titlis ice cave, this one has no rubber mat for people to walk on. It is much bigger and more like a maze. So all of us had to carefully walk in order not to fall. The ice carvings are crafted very precisely, they look nice with the lighting but with the flash from the camera it didn't look like what it was supposed to be. But it still does look good.

Those black things are not rubbish, they are coins thrown by visitors as a tip.

Then after the ice palace walk, we went outside again to get some snow on our face. We didn't expect the wind to be the same even though we were 100 metres below the Sphinx. It is still strong enough to get blown off the cliff. Some pictures of the other mountains of the Alps.

 

After about 4 hours on the mountain, we took the same train back to the ski resort station and changed to another train down to another part of the mountain. There we watched people ski and played some snowball fights. The bus came after awhile to pick us up. The final view of the mountains on the way back was wonderful. Pictures should prove it.

Shooting star?

The ride back to a town called Interlaken was about 1 hour. There, we stayed in that hotel for just one night. Our dinner was at a restaurant called Bebbies. Bebbies was the name of the owner of that restaurant by the way. He came and lived in Singapore for about two years and he knows how to sing our national anthem! It was fun, but if only you were there because I don't know how to describe. Fun as in the entertainment by the host. Dinner ended almost at 10pm and I slept almost immediately after bath.

The fifth day

It's been mainly city touring today. I went to three towns/cities. The first one was to Bern, which is also the capital city of Switzerland. I've always liked the history of Europe and my tour leader told us some little history about Switzerland and how their kantons were formed. Kantons are like districts which have their self governing powers within each kanton. The reason why Bern was given this name is because before the early settlers decided to give this town a name, they decided to go hunting and name the city after the first animal that was caught. In the end, they caught a bear and hence named it Bern, which also means bear.

Once we reached Bern, we proceeded to the main streets. We had a small city tour. The city is in conservation where nobody is allowed to build new mordernised buildings or destroy the old buildings. This is to conserve the heritage of the buildings of the 1800s. The buildings were all from the 1800s but the modern people built an extension for the walkway for pedestrians. They were really beautiful as all the houses were located very closely together and right next to a flowing fresh water river. Shopping was next. The shops were plenty and filled up the whole street. There was also this clock tower which was also made from the period of the Romanian empire.

 

 

Yes, their water from the fountains can be consumed. The water flows down from the melted snow of the Alps and are drinkable even from natural rivers.

Lunch was a McDonalds with my cousins. The rest of my family went to another restaurant for their lunch. I just wanted to try out the Swiss Mcdonalds standard. Their meals were so over priced. A lunch for five people cost over 50 Francs. By the way, the currency in Switzerland is called Swiss Francs or Fr. for short. On top of it all, we had to pay for our sauces! One packet of ketchup costs 20 cents.

After lunch, the most spectacular thing of the trip happened. It snowed! Only on the fifth day then it started to snow. Unfortunately, the snow wasn't big but it was the only time of the holiday that snow came from the sky. They were only mini snow droplets. I hope it will have a nice snowfall on Christmas day, and then I'll celebrate white Christmas. It would sure be a million times better than having it in Singapore. Anyway, there was a bear pit which symbolises the animal named after the capital of Switzerland. We left Bern for Montreux after a quick photostock.

Can you see the tiny little falling snow?

 

My tour coach is parking in the car park!

Montreux is a French speaking town. In Switzerland, the western side speaking mainly Swiss-German, while the eastern side speak French. There's something unique in the culture, which is when you accidentally hit someone or offended someone, you just have to say pardon or excuse me. In French-speaking towns, when one hits another person and apologises, he is in the wrong. I find this so fun. Imagine I can go around the French-speaking areas and hitting people but don't need to apologise to them. Wouldn't that be a little fun?

There was this very long Christmas market along the biggest and cleanest lake in Switzerland. The lake has a length of 72 Km which could fit the entire Singapore inside it. Again, shopping, eating and sightseeing at the Christmas market.

Next, Lausanne, the heart of Spa treatments. The town is well known for its spa treatments. Each spa could rip one around 200,000 Francs off their savings. Only the rich millionaires could afford such prestigious spas. That's also their main income for the town. This town also hold Olympic meetings. There is also a museum which was closed. So, we only had the chance to view it from the outside. The time was only 4.30pm and the shops were already closing one by one. That's the disadvantage about going to winter countries during the winter season.

Finally, the last stop for the day was Geneva. The third largest city in Switzerland. The hotel is also located in Gevena and surrounding it are shops, restaurants, subway station and attractions. It was free time till tomorrow morning. So, I had dinner in a Chinese restaurant where the food tasted horrible. I think it was their way of cooking doesn't match my style or that I just didn't like it. I felt sick so went back to the hotel after that.

The sixth day

It's already day 6. It seemed so fast as if I just arrived in Europe. It started off with the usual breakfast in the hotel. American style breakfast with the usual bacon, ham, yogurt, scrambled eggs etc. It's been the same since the first day in Europe. After breakfast was a mini city tour around the town of Geneva. It's a Sunday morning so most of the shops aren't open. In Europe, shops do not open on Sundays not because the owners do not want to have business. It is because that the extra charges and taxes on Sundays for shops will cost more than 2000 Fr each day. Therefore, many shops are closed on Sundays.

We visited several places in Geneva. The first was the flower garden where there are many flowers along the front yard of a building. The next stop was the famous university founded by Martin Luther and his monument. There were also quite a number of giant chessboards and checkers on the ground. They were really fun and I think those university students play with it everyday. Hahaha!

 

She is a Singaporean who is studying in UK and here for a holiday.

The United Nations headquarters was next. We saw several buildings by the UN and the flags which were placed next to each other to represent all the 197 countries which are in the United Nations. Near these buildings are other big organisations like the World Health Organisation, the Red Cross federation and the European Union. In the town of Geneva, they have held more than 8000 international meetings since. In the town square, there is this giant chair with a broken leg. This is to create awareness that every 20 seconds, somebody will be killed by a land mine. This is something which we cannot alter but will try to make more people aware of it. Lunch was at Geneva before heading north to France. It was approximately a 30 minutes drive to the border of Switzerland and France.

 

From the border we headed to Lyon, with a toilet stop along the highway and there's still snow. So had a quick business in the toilet before taking pictures.

The city of Lyon. The tallest building in the picture is the hotel I stayed in!

Bonjour! The first place of visit in France was Lyon, the third biggest city in France. The traffic in the city was so overwhelming. Cars were cutting into queues, going past red lights and honking at each other. Once we reached the tourists centre, a local guide came and guide us along the city of Lyon. Like all other cities, Lyon has a very rich historical value and it's worth listening to how the guide explains it, although the accent was a little funny. We visited a church first.

 

Zey spoke like zis. Zey pronuncet thousand as zousand, north as norz and three as zree. Mosta of ther sightseeing wasa from ther coach buta several locations required usa to get down and walkd. Some guides spoke English which was hard to understand. The city has many passage ways or called Traboule in French. This was so special and the people here can play hide and seek without having the thought to get found or to be able to find. This is how complicated the Traboules are.

"Thanks for respecting.the tranquility of the inhabitants of this passage way and crossing it with silence."

After the local guide left us, we were on our own to explore the city. There was another gigantic Christmas market with thousands and thousands of people everywhere. Nightfall was around 4pm and to us, we look at the sky to determine the time when we are in  Singapore. But in Europe, the sky already turned dark at 4pm in winter, which makes me think it's already 7pm. This made me feel like having dinner but only 4pm?

 

 

Dinner was at a French restaurant. In typical French restaurants, they are usually very squeezy and small. This made it a little difficult to move inside. Salmon with cheese! That was the main course. The dinner was extremely filling. The night was -5 deg celcius so most of us got mild frozen due to the lack of clothes and the cold drinks during dinner. Especially after a sumptuous meal, your blood rushes to digestion and lower blood flow to other parts of our body. That's why we feel cold after meal. There was a short drive to the hotel that we're staying in. The building looks like the shape of a crayon, a pencil or a pen. Whatever you think it may look like to you.

The hotel lobby is at the 32nd storey! The 1st storey to the 32nd storey took us about 15 seconds only. So high and cool. My room's on the 33rd storey which was already in the clouds. This made me unable to see the city from the window. All I could see was white clouds moving past me. 

The seventh day

Today was a day of travelling. We left Lyon in the morning at about 9am and sat in the bus till about 4pm. The journey from Lyon to Tours was that long. We listened to our tour leader telling us his experiences and chatted with him. There were a few stops in between plus a light lunch.

That's my cousin and I eating our Magnum ice creams. I had the double chocolate while he had the classic flavour.

Then coached all the way to the next stop for lunch. Had sausage with frites. Frites means fries in French.

Their highway stops are better than the ones in Malaysia right?

The small children played in the playground and the big children joined them, =P.

Dinner was after check in into our hotel at Holiday Inn City Centre - Lyon. There were little stars and pebbles on the tables as Christmas decorations.

This is the people sitting on the same table as me. I'm at the back!

 

 

Back to the hotel and subscribed a 24 hour internet usuage. The price was quite reasonable, 30€ for 24 hours. Went online and saw very few people online. My time was 9pm but the time in Singapore is 4am.

The eighth day

Joyeaux Noel! That is Merry Christmas in French. I woke up early today, at 4am in the morning Tours time so I can talk to some people online. Anyway that's not the point of a holiday. I went out of the hotel for no reason and saw the sunrise. It was the one and only sunrise with orange sky that I saw and have the opportunity to shoot a picture of it. On other days, I was either in the coach or at some place that I cannot see the sunrise. It was about 8.30am at that time. I hope it is nice.

 

We went to meet up with our local guide then went to the Chateau of Chenonceaux. Chateau is actually a palace or castle where the kings empire lived in the past. Along the Loire river, there are many chateaus and for this trip, we'll be visiting two chateaus. The castle was built in the 13th century. It was used by a few kings like King Francois I, Louis XIV and Henry II. The garden was very nice and the castle has a bridge which cuts through the River Cher.  The garden has some animals like ducks and donkeys. I particularly liked the fireplaces because it's the only place with warmth! They also have a chapel in the palace.

   

The ducks are walking on the frozen layer of the river.

 

This is one of the fireplaces I like!

Is this picture NC16 or R21?

After the tour around the Chateau of Chenonceaux, we went for lunch at a nearby restaurant.

The salad was tomatoes with vegetables! I almost didn't eat it. But the main course was great, black pepper sauce pork with green peas was it.

Then we went to the castle where I forgot who lived in. We didn't go in but we got to see the castle from across the river. I think the tour guide didn't elaborate much about this place. Anyone who know this guy please tell me!

This is the guy I'm talking about. Someone please tell me who is he.

 

Oh my! What's he doing?!

Once again, the boring walking city tour which I don't like. I prefer to walk in places like chateau or nature. Walking in the city is boring unless there's something which interests me. We went to a church and to see a ultra gigantic tree. The church is in the gothic style where most of the sculptures are constructed such a way that there are sharp points pointing upwards.

 

This is that tree I'm talking about.

The ninth day

I've been writing so much already and I'm getting tired trying to recall everything. So, I will be very brief from now on.

Today's itinerary is quite simple. A visit to the Chateau of Chambord followed by a drive to Paris. It was much bigger than the chateau we visited yesterday. This one has 436 rooms, 288 fireplaces and 77 staircases! The weather those few days were really bad, fog was everywhere and we couldn't see the sun at all with intermittent rain throughout the day.

 

 

We then went to a shop which sells the famous Chambord biscuit and wine. I carried this cousin of mine on the way there and he dirtied my jacket and jeans! So I made him clean it for me. =)

Proceeded to Paris after that. It wasn't too long, about 3 hours only. There was lunch on the highway too. The checkpoint where we needed to pass was so jammed up with cars. We had to wait for about 15 minutes before passing it. The traffic was still slow all the way to the main street of Paris.

Paris is as nice as I thought. They had very few high rise buildings except for their business district. To the Parisians, high rise building are ugly to their eyes. Their houses cannot be higher than 6 or 7 storey or they will be ugly. Strange isn't it? In Singapore all we see are tall buildings. On top of all, Paris has a very high rate of pickpockets. The city is also quite dirty, litters can be seen everywhere but it's still the top visited city in the world. The reason by the locals for throwing litters on the floor is because they want the cleaners to have a job. They have a thinking which is not to have stress. I'll say more about it as more is to come.

We passed by this castle of Notredame on the way to the a shopping mall called the Gallery Lafayette. It is like the heeren of Singapore but 10 times bigger. There are in total three buildings, with 9 floors. It is blocked by the tree because the city is full of trees. We had two hours to shop around and buy what we want. I didn't buy anything because the mall is too crowded and hot. I went out with my brother to walk and met my aunt there. She has been living in Paris for more than a year already.

We had dinner in a French restaurant. The jam was so bad that we took about 40 minutes to travel just 4 kilometres! We had some astonishing appetizer! Escargots! It was served with garlic sauce but the escargots were one of my disliked food. One person had five and I managed to finish all five of them. Main course was chicken thigh with hashbrowns.

I thought we were going to be late for the river cruise but we managed to catch the second last boat. What a relief. It was freezing cold when the boat was moving and the wind was so strong. There isn't much picture to take except for some group photos. And there is a Statue of Liberty there. This is not the pirated one but another smaller one. The original one was made by Paris but given to New York.

  

My brother's face so white because of the direct spotlight.

This are all the people under the age of 21 years.

The hotel we are staying in is call Pullman Hotel which to me, is the second best hotel of the trip. The best one is still Hotel Astoria in Lucerne.

The tenth day

This day was rather interesting. We visited some of the world renowned places in Paris. The first one was the Arch de Triumph built in the 16th century. It is located in the Star Square which is a circle road with 12 linking roads. In the middle of the arc, there's a tomb of the unknown soldier. We only had the chance to see the monument from across the road, so there's no chance to see the tomb.

This is the 12 road intersection I was talking about earlier. The circle road is called the Place de I'Etoile.

After taking pictures of this monument, we got onto the bus with the tour guide and moved to the must-visit place in Paris, the Eiffel Tower. I don't think any tourist would forget about the Eiffel Tower when they are in Paris. The weather was terrible. Like the past few days, intermittent showers and thick fog. We couldn't see the top of the Eiffel Tower from the ground. The fog blocked it totally.

 

See what I mean by the fog blocking the top of the tower?

 

Although we can't see the city of Paris like on a clear day, we still needed to go and experience what all tourists need to. It was so crowded at the ticketing booth and the lift entrance. The whole of Eiffel Tower only have one pathetic lift up. So we had to wait for 30 minutes to take that lift up. There's a total of three storey. We bought the ticket for the second level only. Our tour leader said that the third level is very small and couldn't fit all of us in.

The tower is made up of 18,000 pieces of iron plates and nearly 2.5 million rivets!

So we took the lift up to the second floor. Hey, the second floor is not as high as the normal second floor of buildings. The height of the tower is 300 metres. The first floor is at the altitude of 95 metres, the second floor at 125 metres and the third floor at 275 metres. So after all, the tower is still high although there's only three floors. I'll show what I saw from the second floor. Do you agree that the fog spoils everything?

Then a few of us walked down to the first floor cafe to get some hot chocolate and fries. On the way down we saw two super daring people doing maintenance works.

Hehe, they are fakes.

Oh, I almost forgotten about this. On the way to the Eiffel Tower, the coach passed by the place where Princess Diana had her accident. I couldn't take any pictures because I'm in the bus.

After getting down from the Eiffel Tower, we went for our lunch. We saw the place that Princess Diana had her last supper on the way there. The coach alighted us near that restaurant. Nope, we didn't eat there, just passing by only. A short walk from here to our restaurant.

This is the restaurant where Princess Diana had her last supper before she died.

The Da Vinci Code! No, I did not see Leonardo Da Vinci. Instead, we went to the Louvre Museum. It was the place where part of the movie was shot. The beginning and the ending. This museum is not an ordinary museum. It is the most visited museum in the world with about 8.3 million visitors a year. Close to how many visitors Singapore has every year. Amazing right?

There are over 400,000 genuine collections in the museum, including the Mona Lisa. Most of the paintings are in nude. It's nude, not pornography. The people in the ancient times like painting in nude to show off the beauty of the human body. That's their main intention.

There's a park outside the museum called the Jardin des Tuileries. There are plenty of people and sculptures. It is actually meant as an entrance for the museum. And I saw a funny sculpture.

 

 

Looks like he is sobbing because there's a bird on his head.

And some pictures of the entrance of the museum.

The crowd outside was already as bad as it is. Inside was worse! It seem as if the whole world is visiting the museum. In actual fact, nobody can finish walking the whole museum in a few hours. At least a full day is needed to finish everything. However, we only walked for 2 hours because we went to the famous collections only. We went to the Sphinx, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa and I forgotten what's the name of the last one.

There was this two pyramids pointing at each other near the ticketing booth. That was also showed in the movie at the ending where the tomb was found below the point of the pyramid. I tried so hard to try taking the photo of the pyramid without anybody around but it was just so impossible to do it, so I gave up.

The first place was the Sphinx sculpture by the ancient Egyptians. The sculpture is a lion body with a human head. There is also a snake at the top of the head. I can't remember much about what the guide said about all these sculptures so my sentences will be short.

The first stop was the Venus de Milo. Which meant Venus of Milo. Aphrodite (Venus) is the statue who was found on an island called Milos.

Next is something which everybody knows. The Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. When you see the picture, move your head around your monitor and she will still be looking at you. The hall is so crowded and it took me a hard time to get to the front and take a picture of it. The painting is enclosed in a glass cage and a barricade surrounds the cage. Everybody is just pushing their way to the front and nobody says sorry. =)

The last one was I forgot what name. But it's a headless sculpture with wings.

We went to see some other collections too, but not too many. I'll not post any of the pictures because it's unnecessary.  After the museum tour, my family went to meet my aunt and went to her house for dinner. We went to buy some food from the Marche and a bakery shop. We bought things like salmon, chicken, grapes for her to cook. But the log cakes are so expensive, like 40 Euros for one? Anyway the dinner was great!

The worst of the worst happened! My family was supposed to go back to the coach with the rest of the group at 5pm on that day, but we went to my aunt's house instead. As I had left my wallet and phone on the bus for whatever foolish reason, I told my tour leader to get my things back. But when he got to the bus they were all gone! He called the tour company and asked the driver whether he saw the wallet and phone but according to him, only the phone was there. What I think is that he took both the phone and the wallet but only returned the phone because it was useless to him. The wallet has a lot of money inside so I guess he got attracted to it and didn't want to return it to me. =( I swear I'll not leave any things in busses or coaches anymore.

And I saw this Santa playing the grand piano on the way to my aunt's house! It is actually a toy in a shop. I find it so cute (:

We stayed there for around 4 hours then went back to our hotel by Metro. That's what they call their subways. In Singapore there are only three lines, the North-South line, East-West line and North-East line. In Paris the Metro has 9 lines! But they number their lines by numerical order.

 

 

This giant thumb was somewhere outside near my hotel.

The eleventh day

Yesterday night was the last night sleeping in Europe. We'll be going back to Singapore tonight. The whole day was free and easy for us to shop around and buy what we want to. Sadly enough, my wallet was gone and couldn't buy much things. I had to use my brother's money to pay for the things. Otherwise, we could have bought many more. So just walked around the shopping centre which was as big as vivo city. There's a Christmas market outside too. So we spent almost half a day walking around there.

After shopping, eating and checked out of the hotel, we got to Charles De Gaulle airport. Never to expect that the world's top visited city to have an airport like a closed shopping centre. There are like so few shops which I can count with both my hands and 90% of them are closed. It looks just so run down and like our budget airport in Singapore. But that's their International Airport.

When we were there, we had a quick check in, went into their shopping area before entering the gate. As I said, the shops are 90% closed, so we just find somewhere to sit and talk to other people. There was this IQ question given by someone which I particularly like. Here's how it goes:

"One day, a man was taking a stroll along the beach alone. There was no one else on the beach, only him. He thought that it was a great day to enjoy the breeze and have a stroll all alone. Then he started walking but when he looked back behind him, he couldn't see any foot prints. Not his shoe markings either. It look as if no one ever walked on the beach. Why are there no markings? "

I was so stupid to think for 15 minutes and still couldn't get the answer. Guess what was the answer? I'll say the answer in the next post.

Anyway, my tour leader had to go for Rome in the afternoon so he left it to another tour leader to help retrieve my phone and wallet. Unfortunately, only my phone was able to be found. It was still better than nothing. After that, we boarded the plane at 9.30pm. The flight back doesn't seem as long as I went there on the first day.

The twelfth day

Touch down! We landed at 5.50pm in the evening. The landing in Changi Airport was quite unstable because of the rain and the strong wind. But the SIA pilots managed to do it well, all of us landed safely.

So that's all about my trip to Europe. Hope you've enjoyed reading everything! =)