okie..i finally decided to blog about my holiday trips..even though i am quite lazy to do so..cos like quite long..haha..but i try to make it interesting yeah..'try'..lol..wanna finish blogging before 2008 come..haha..my target..or else i'll keep dragging..

anyway, the weather is really irritating sometimes during the trip..sometimes very cold, sometimes okay..definitely not hot..cos it's winter..but our trip is actually moving from north to south..which means from the coldest to not so cold place..like in paris..super duper cold..cannot stand it..we need to wear get fully armed everytime before leaving a building..lol..wear everything..from the winter hat, gloves, etc..so troublesome lar..then place like barcelona..nice weather..wear the least..sometimes dunno what to wear lor..how much to wear..cos really depends on the weather..

Day 1, 16th December 2007

start of our holiday trip...early in the morning, around 9am..took train from montreux to lausanne and then took TGV train to paris..around 4 hours..yah..reached paris..looked for our hotel..stayed in a 2 star hotel..4 people in a room de..so we've got 2 rooms there..stayed in paris for 3 days..after we've put our luggages, set out to Eiffel Tower..it was in the evening..took metro..well, at that time, i really think france is better than italy haha..but the weather is super cold lar..i think got minus degree ba..cos later on the next few days, we realise that in some places, we can see that the water outside ( like fountain) has turned into ice..

okie reached eiffel tower..the light on the tower is on-ned..and it's almost christmas..so the light they make it flash..quite nice..many people were queuing..but quite fast bought the ticket..cos it's like dinner time ba..haha..i dunno..got 3 levels at the tower..at that time, the highest level is closed ...so can only go level 1 and 2..and the wind up there was big..super cold lar..

after that went to eat dinner in Bufallo Grill, a restaurant near our hotel..

Day 2, 17th December 2007

ate Mc'D breakfast..cost us 4.50 euro for a brunch set menu..but really full lar..and then set out to see Arc de Triomphe ..took few pictures there..

after lunch, went to the famous street Champs L'Eysées..it's kinda shopping street lar..with all the big brand there..and it is really nice at night, when all the lights are lighted up..went to see the LV shop there too..super big and nice..the internal decoration is super nice lar..haha..and u know one of the salesman mistook us for japanese..he talked a lot of jap to us..but i don't understand lar..haha..

eh yeah and we saw a cinema there, with Death Note poster pasted on the wall outside..Death Note in french..can u imagine that..haha..it will be showed in the cinema there next year..like so late lar..and in the hotel..i forgot which day..we saw a Jackie Chan's old movie on the tv..'n they speak french..it's like so weird..haha..i always watch jackie chan's movie either in mandarin and canto..but now in french.really not used to it..


at night ate dinner in a restaurant along the street..there are a lot of set menu which is worth the value in france..yeah..in any restaurant, sure u can find set menu for lunch and dinner..so make things simpler..



during dinner, we were discussing of where to go..cos at night shop will be closed..then someone suggested to go Moulin Rouge..so there we went..well, at first only wanna see the outside building..took few photos..that's all..and we saw so many people outside the building lar..we went up closer..and hey we thought maybe we could watch the show since we were already there..haha..so asked about the price..it's 99 euro for a 2 hour show and half bottle of champagne for each person..so deal..went inside..cos actually there is another package..for show & dinner..we didn't choose that one of course..cos we had our dinner liao..n it's more ex also..



hey that's the first time we feel as if we were vip..cos there are 2 lines in front of the building..then in one of the line..lots of people were queueing until outside.then u know we were lead by another line..where there is nobody..there is somebody to take care of us..we cannot bring our coat inside.so must put a the cloak room there..then lead inside to our seat..cannot take photo inside also..yah..so there we watched 2 hour of Moulin Rouge..okay lar..the girls bare their top..and some dancing..i and in the middle still got other entertainment show..i like the songs though..



everything is fine there except for the after show..when we need to get our coats..there is really no rules & regulation..so messy..everybody just squeeze each other to get to the cloak station..can u imagine all the people watching the show were there in such a small space..


by the time we reached our hotel, it's already like almost midnight..yah..these few days like always came back quite late..



Day 3, 18th December 2007



ate Mc'D for breakfast again..then we planned to go to Chateau de Versailles ..but when we reached there, we saw nobody..we feel quite weird cos it's supposed to be a tourist attraction..but this one like deserted castle..haha..and we realised that we've gone to the wrong one ..i forgot the name of the castle..but sound quite similar as Versailles..we then realised that Chateau de Versailles is at the other end of the map..haha.so there we took metro to reach there..



it was a big castle where King of France once resided in..yeah..saw all the rooms..we were given audio guide .with the language of our choice..so that when we enter each room, we can see the number for audio..then we enter it into our small audio device..and we can start listening to the story for the room..yeah..went to see the garden too..quite kua zhang lar..the two big fountain there..the water turn into ice..and we see the bird like playing ice skate on it..lol..



i'll skip the lunch part..cos throughout our trip, our lunch are mostly simple one..cos we said we want to have a better dinner..haha..



went to the Pompidou Centre ..the modern art building..the place Diella always wanna go..but it was closed on Tuesday..same as Museé de Louvre..yah..the outer design is quite weird i can say..some people say ot was ugly.haha..i dunno..u can judge it by yourself if u see the pics..



next destination is Notre Dame..the church..can be linked to the cartoon show..The Hunchback of the Notre Dame..well, for me is like other church..just that the outer design quite nice..but overall, like nothing very very special..lol.bought at medallion coin of it..cos nice..hehe..



at night, ate in a korean restaurant at the Rive Gauche there..nice food..haha..took a short walk by the river..and then continue walking to Museé de Louvre..it was closed on Tuesday..what a pity..cannot get inside..cannot see the Monalisa painting..it was at night also..so can only took few pictures outside..with the pyramid..



Day 4, 19th December 2007



took train to lyon early in the morning..yah..sh's cousin is studying there..diella 'n annette have friends there too.so in the train station, we were welcomed by sh's sis..yah..she brought us to our hotel..stayed in ibis...i am in the same room as diella..'n after that, we separated..free programme..sh 'n danny follow her sis..then diella, kuan 'n warren follow diella's friend..then jn, annette 'n me..discovering the big shopping mall there..and it's indoor..haha..so won't feel cold..hey they have carrefour inside too..bought the breakfast for the next day..



u know in one of the departmental store, women dept..we saw lots of coats were sold..then when we walked to a section..u know lar..i always like to touch here 'n there..then i touched that fur coat..so damn soft lar....so i asked jn 'n annette to touch it too..and i saw all the coats there were locked..their hanger were locked by many locks..and we saw the price ..guess how much was one? 7000+ euro..oh my..no wonder they need to lock it lar...so kua zhang lar..i wonder who will buy it sia..



for dinner, we went to a chinese restaurant at the chinatown in lyon..dunno why when we went there, lots of shops are not opened..



Day 5, 20th December 2007



meet sh's cousin ard 11am..then she brought us to eat lunch in a restaurant..quite nice de..i eat the wok of the day..nice..then she becomes our tour guide of the day..brought us to the old city of lyon..actually lyon also have many history..that's the place where the author of Little Prince came from..that day is basically sight seeing day..in the evening, went to the church on the hill..the church is really grand lar..the inside..the ceiling all made of gold..really grand..then from the top of the hill, can see the night view of lyon..very nice..but it's really very cold there..especially the wind..

then at night, we went to have dinner together with all sh's cousin, diella's friend 'n annette's friend..and who know that diella's friend 'n annette's friend actually know each other..world is so small lar..haha..

Day 6. 21th December 2007

took train to marseille..didn't go avignon..cos some plan went wrong..didn't get the night train tix..yah..so straight away go marseille..stayed in ibis too..same room as diella again..after we put our luggage, went out..

ate lunch first..a very cheap and full lunch..kebab..after that went to the port..yeah..so nice..many yacht parking there..then we took the small train for a round trip from the port to the church..Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde..the special thing about the church is that there is a very big golden statue of Our Lady of the Guard on top of the church..

after that took the small train back to the port..gonna blog about a funny happening in Marseille now..

for dinner..we wanna try out the famous marseille fish soup called the bouillabaisse..then we went to see the restaurant that is recommended by the receptionist of ibis..well, it wasn't too cheap..so 8 of us are separated..kuan, warren 'n diella wanna eat simpler dinner..so only annette, jn, sh, danny 'n me went to try out the restaurant..it was a high class restaurant..

well, we were the first customers cos spanish ppl eat very late one..'n u know what..as we went in, so many servers serving us..waiting for us to take off our coat..gave us menu..then took order..cos the fish soup must be ordered by at least 2 person..so 2 ppl take that..and the rest each order one more dishes..but we decided to share it lar..and u know when we were ordering the fish soup, the waiter asked whether we wanna add lobster..and everybody say okie we can..not thinking that much..at first, we said that our budget for the dinner is 50 euro.so while ordering, jn was pressing calculator..counting how much for each person..cos we are going to share all the food..and we said..we still behind 50 euro..so maybe we could order a wine..we ordered a bottle of rose wine..

after that i went to toilet with annette..when i came back, jn, sh 'n danny told us..that just now the waiter bring a super big living lobster to our table..'n say attention attention..we thought that he was warning us that the living lobster can be dangerous..later on we know what's the meaning..anyway, he was asking whether that lobster was okay..and they said okay..yeah..actually when we went to the toilet, we saw a big aquarium near the toilet..with all the big lobster inside..then when we walked back to our table, annette 'n i saw the floor was wet..'n we were thinking maybe the person just caught a lobster from there..'n it turns out to be true..haha..

so there our dinner start..we were given two kind of appetizer..foc..very nice one..and our food came one by one.very nice lor..all the food..the server taught us of how to eat the fish food correctly..yeah..quite complicated..okie..the lobster was nice..the flesh is fresh and sweet..now dinner end liao..time for coffee..danny ordered a cup of cappucino 'n annette a cup of espresso..we were given free dessert too..many kinds of small biscuits..nice..everything was nice..the food the service.

time for the bill..sh said she wanna pay by card first..'n then we gave her cash.cos she dun have enough cash..before the bill come..we were guessing how much this dinner is gonna cost..i guessed 320 euro..maybe the highest? i am not sure..so the bill came..'n sh take it..she said she wanna see it first..and the rest of us..our eyes are concentrated on sh..lol..i saw her reaction lar..she was like stunned..'n i saw her eyes went big..she was loooking at the bill for sometime before danny took it over..sh said nobody guess correctly..danny saw it..'n then stunned for while too..next passed to annette who sit beside him..at this point of time, jn 'n i already very curious..how much it actually cost..we saw annette..the face like quite shocked..then we take the bill over..jn 'n i looked at the bill together..we saw 5 in front of the total..587 euro if i am not wrong..it was like around 100 euro each person..and we looked at the detail..the lobster is 1900 g..almost 2 kg..and it cost us around 280 euro just for the lobster..yah..and while jn was counting how much each person should pay, jn said..hey danny, your cappucino cost 11 euro..'n danny said what?? show me the bill..he saw the bill..'n after that took his cup..finish up every single sip left in the cup..haha..he is so damn funny lar..he said if he know that cup of cappucino would be so ex, he would have drink it slower, enjoying every sip of it.. we were like saying okay now finish up everything on the table..don't left anything..finish up the wine..we even took 2 bread home..haha..this is the most expensive dinner that each of us have eaten before..maybe the first time 'n the last time..'n the girls said..unless we are married to a millionaire..i dunno why we don't feel sad at that time..just feel funny..the most ex dinner..when we reached hotel, we straight away go to kuan's room..'n tell the rest of them about our stories..

Day 7, 22th December 2007

basically spend the whole day on train to Barcelona..cos we didn't get ticket for straight train to Barcelona from Marseille..so we need to change 3 times for the train..and each journey..the longest take around 4 hours..the least also 2 hours..yah..by the time we reach barcelona..very tired liao..

we stayed in a hostel in barcelona..the outer appearance is not very good lar..when we reached there we were thinking..is this really the place where we are going to stay for 3 days?? but when we go in, we really feel very good about it..the receptionist is so re xin..so nice..then the place still got free internet and free breakfast..even though the price for one person didn't even hit 20 euro per day..yeah..and 8 of us are staying in the same room..the room has 4 double decked bed..and each bed is numbered..every number has got their own locker..so nice..and everybody is given a card..to open the door and to open their own locker..the locker is big enough for our luggage..

Day 8, 23th December 2007

in the morning went to Dali's museum..a very interesting museum..not in Barcelona..so need to take 2 hour train there..then come back..another 2 hour..after that went to see the very famous church Sagrada Familia by Antonio Gaudi..oh my..this church really impressed me..cos the outer design is not like any other church..it's so special..the four sides of the church have different design..'n their own meaning..and it's still under construction now..it has been under construction since almost 200 years ago..can u imagine that?? so u can see the old part and the new part very clearly..

it was almost at night..went to Park Guell, another creation by Gaudi..but it was too dark..can't really see anything that we decided to come again tmr..ate dinner in a restaurant at a shopping mall..i tried the Spain most famous seafood rice, Paella..

u know what? i really like Barcelona ..among all the countries in Europe that I've ever been..it's really like a real city..the shops are closed late..not like other cities in Europe..it's quite a modern 'n high tech city too..u can see tall building in the city centre..n the shopping street..lots of nice brand that i've never seen before..it's like exploring , discovering new things..really like Barcelona a lot..it's one of the place that is more like Asian..and not only me, I think for those people who have gone to Barcelona before..like most of my friends..all of them said that they like Barcelona ..i don't mind going there one more time ..really..

Day 9, 24th December 2007

took the hop on and off bus..for a trip round barcelona..yeah..went to Park Guell...a very nice and meng4 huan4 park..bought some souvenir there..after that..went for lunch in the shopping mall that we went last night..8.95 euro for an all you can eat buffet & a drink..quite worth it..the salad was so fresh lar..after that we shope there for a while before moving on to the shopping street..oh love there so much..haha..bought a clothes from zara & a tshirt from mango with the word mango barcelona on it..

actually at first wanna go hard rock barcelona to eat one..but it was xmas eve 'n they were having staff party..was closed ..so in the end just pass by lor..

after that went to an asian store nearby to buy food for steamboat dinner..it's xmas eve and we have decided to cook steamboat for dinner..cos the hostel has a kitchen that we can use..yeah lor..so had xmas eve steamboat at night..quite wen xin lar i think..cos we're on the trip and yet we can still cook our own steamboat..

Day 10, 25th December 2007

it's xmas day..and we have like half a day before taking train to madrid..so we decided to go to the beach nearby our hotel..oh the water is so damn clear..it was blue..so nice..the girls took off their shoes and played in the water..except for me..cos i don't like troublesome thingy..and i am not prepared..haha..stayed there for a while..all shops are closed..found a burger king which is opened..so ate that for lunch..not really lunch lar..it was around 3 pm plus i think..haha.yeah..during the trip, our lunch time is always not fixed most of the time..

in the evening, took train to madrid..4 hours..but the train is the best so far..like aeroplane that kind one...got seat number, given earpiece..they played video on the train..the seats are nice..really like aeroplane..

reached madrid at night..stayed in a 3 stars hotel near the city centre...reached hotel at around 11pm ba..then we went out for a walk..see see nearby..stop by a restaurant&cafe..have a light supper and drink there..cos we didn't eat dinner..slept at around 2am i think..

Day 11, 26th December 2007

Had Starbucks for breakfast..cos it was just beside our hotel..u know people in Spain all eat very late one..yeah..i think they can eat breakfast around 10-11am..then lunch around 3-4pm that kind..dinner 9pm plus..lol..really off the normal timing..anyway, took the hop on and off bus again..cos unlike the first few days of the trip, where we were still excited and full of energy, towards the end, we were like quite exhausted liao..so rather take bus that can take us around..the bus also provided us earpiece so that we can hear the explanation that kind de..

after the trip around the bus, it's shopping time again...yeah..meet up in the hotel for dinner..went to eat in a beef restaurant..yeah..u know in the restaurant, there are a lot of bull head hanged on the wall..i think it's the real one..now made sample..and below each bull, there is this board, written when it died..all of them died because of the bullfighting..still got their picture pasted below also..during the show..

yah..after dinner, went to hard rock cafe madrid..so many people lar..at first thought of eating there..but need to make reservation..n our turn is like 11pm..so we decided to just have a drink..yah..stayed there for a while.drinking..went to the shop too..wanna buy a tshirt..but so ex lar..haha..so just take a picture instead..

eh yeah..and on this day, you can see many many people on the road..i dunno what was the occassion..the road..especially nearby our hotel..so crowded..'n the throughout the day, we can also see long queue at the lottery stand..haha..maybe it was xmas ..so big payout for the lottery..

didn't manage to go to the madrid football stadium..but i got buy the postcard..the souvenir shop sell a lot of real madrid keychain..

Day 12, 27th December 2007

last day of our trip..free programme..diella and i woke up quite early..had a very nice breakfast menu in a restaurant opposite our hotel..'n after that went shopping..went to the shop that i like most..sephora..cos i only saw it in france 'n spain..they don't have it in switzerland..it's a shop that sell a lot of perfumes 'n make up thingy..a bit like sasa.. haha..spend almost one hour there..bought lots of things there..

after that went back to hotel to check out..n ate lunch..

went to airport ..took easy jet..the budget airline within countries in europe..well, i dunno whether it was because we were in budget terminal or what..it was quite small 'n so damn hot inside..yah..took easy jet back to geneva..2 hours journey..no food given on the plane also..well, you can buy it if u wanna eat.haha..what to expect..budget...

took train back to montreux at night..

end of journey..quite a long and tiring journey..but was a fun one too..now facing the reality..many projects to do..sian..haven't do lar..and i have spent almost half of the day blogging..pictures to be uploaded dunno when..cos i need to wait for others' pictures..took so many pictures this time..

anyway, i really learn a lot throughout this trip..getting to know myself better..seeing the reality better..yeah..i was way to dependant on others..really..i see that in the real world, the only way to survive is to depend on yourself..

i dunno why nowadays feel myself having problems communicating with others..feeling that i've never had before..yah..i dunno why now i care very much about what others say..not like last time..i heck care about everything de..it's really weird..i dunno what changes me..


P.S: for some photos, please go to this site..sh's album..http://www.wretch.cc/album/taco77..she has uploaded some of the pics..