Easter trip Day 34 - Nice to Barcelona

We've just checked in to a super budget €10pppn hostel(with the most atrocious shower ever) in Barcelona, gonna stay here for the night and continue out journey tml morning, 5hrs train ride from Barcelona to Seville. Will reach Seville only at 2pm. =(

I'm so sick of taking trains now, after today's freaking 14 hours journey from Nice to Barcelona. Haiz, so much time wasted. Really feel like teleporting to Seville right at this moment. But more practically, I'm going to sleep now lest I oversleep again tml morning!

Easter trip Day 34 - Nice to Barcelona

I can't believe this man. We actually overslept and woke up at 6.30am, exactly at the timing which our train departs! We missed the most important train that could restore the flow of the second part of our trip! FML.

We're now on the next earliest train but wouldn't be able to reach Seville on time by tonight. Will have to spend the night in Madrid before another 2 hrs train ride to Seville tml morning.

The most troubling matter is that our train reservation tix have become invalid. And we couldn't complete the journey in a day on our eurail pass = much more cost incurred. Damn pissed with ourselves. 

法国人are super fucked up. Wake up your idea and stop thinking that your language is superior or international cuz it's not! 

Haiz. Everything was going so well in the first part oft he trip with Denz they all, BEFORE THE STUPID VOLCANO ERUPTS! Totally screwed up our plans and left us running around making alternative plans for the trip.

On the 1st train now and only 3 hours have passed. 15more to go... How exciting......................   

Easter trip Day 33 - Nice, France.

Today is a super slack day. We cooked pasta for lunch and I went out to do a little shopping from H&M, before having dinner at out favourite chinese restaurant with the guys.

I'm lying on bed now.. Going to fall asleep soon. In 4 hrs' time, I'll be waking up to catch the train at 6.30am.

CS and I will be taking the train all the way from Nice to Seville, an 18hrs journey with 7 train changes! Sounds like a friggin troublesome process. Hopefully the seats are as comfortable as the ones on eurostar Tren Italia so we can all have a good sleep on it lol!

Will be meeting BF in exactly 24hours' time! Feeling so excited and pray hard that everything goes well. =D

Denz, Jus & Sean will be taking train back to Edinburgh too cuz their flight got cancelled. Ultimate suayness. If I'm not wrong their train journey is even longer, approximately 24 hours!

Hope everyone has a safe trip home and no more disruption to plans again!

Easter trip Day 32 - Cannes, France.

Cannes!, yet another beautiful coast.

I woke up rather late this morning as I was feeling rather moody and tired. Luckily CS was nice and he went to the train station to buy our reservation tix first in the morning. We shifted room for the 2nd time in Hotel (hostel) Pastoral, this time into the 8ppl dorm where Justin and Denzyl are staying.

Had our lunch together at Mi-am, a restaurant which sells tasty Chinese food at reasonable price. I've been having it everyday for the past few days that I'm here.

We took a bus to visit Cannes, which is supposedly nearby, also in the French Riviera. But..... The journey took us a friggin near 2 hrs' of bus ride! Much longer than we've expected!

We arrived and walked around aimlessly cuz we did not research on what to do in Cannes. Eventually found our way to the Tourist information centre and got a map of thr city centre. Apparently, the stretch of beach was way too long we couldn't possibly have time to walk the entire length as it was getting late. 

We strolled abit along the beach and saw the panoramic view from a hill. Cannes is in fact quite similar to Nice, except that it has nicer sandy beach while Nice's beach is rocky. 

Cannes is similar to Monaco in the sense that you will be able to find many branded boutiques just along the coast. Meaning u just have to cross a road from the beach and voilà! You see LV, Chanel, D&G etc!

Cannes is perhaps most well known for it's film festival in May but perhaps that's about it. I still prefer Nice to Cannes though in fact, both are really similar. I guess these are what coastal cities in the south of France have to offer. =)

Anyway, today is officially 1 month since I left Warwick to tour Europe for the Easter holiday. Couldn't go back to UK for a pitstop due to flight cancellations affected by the damn volcanic ashes from Iceland. Therefore, I'm still on the go! Travellig directly to Spain next. 

Well, even though I get to do my laudry occasionally in the hostels, I'm getting super sick of wearing the same clothes over and over again for 1 month now! Gosh! I seriously need some retail therapy SOON! 

Easter trip Day 31 - Nice, France.

Nice is really nice!

CS & I explored the city of Nice today and  strolled along the stretch of beach.

The scenery is beautiful and the weather is just nice and warm. Not prickling hot like in Singapore.

Lots of people sun tanning on the beach  although I would have preferred a sandy beach to the rocky one in Nice.

Nevertheless I'm just so happy to be in Nice. This is such a slow-paced city with breathtaking scenery. Perfect getaway in the midst of the chaotic air traffic breakdown; relaxing place to get "stuck" in.

I love places with water! Makes me feel like swimming and I wanna learn scuba-diving! Haha kk. This is random. =)

Anyway, we went to the supermarket to stock up on some toiletries and food since we have fridge and microwave in the hostel room. Surprisingly good right! 

We were on our way back to hostel when we bumped into Denz & Jus infront of our hostel. It shocked us for a moment because they were supposed to leave for Marseille today but apparently the tix was much more expensive than expected and not worth it, so they're staying and moving over to our hostel too! This is reunion for the 2nd time in Nice! =D

  

Easter trip Day 30 - Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Super cars @ Monaco!

We took a day trip to Monaco today which is approximately an hour's bus ride away from central Nice, with just €1!

I haven't really heard much about Monaco previously so I simply went there without any expectations.

Indeed it was fast and furious on the streets. Casinos, super cars, wealthiness, beautiful coast... That's what it's all about!

We saw the Monte Carlo casino but didn't go into the gambling hall cuz some of the guys were wearing slippers and were not allowed to enter. There were so many posh cars parking outside the casinos and tourists taking photos of them as it they were exhibits.

Anyway! It was coincidentally the last day of event "Top Marquee" - the live super car show in Monte Carlo. We got to see quite a number of those powerful cars which I'm sure would drive my didi crazy. Lol!

There seem to be no speed limit on the roads! Every few minutes u can hear a super car zoom past with it's powerful engine sounding so fierce. Ferraris and Porsches are everywhere; B&W and Audi are a commonplace!

We had lunch on the beach...super expensive and not-worth-it fusilli bolognaise. But I love the Nutella panini though! I wonder if Nutella is a product of France cuz over here, you can find so many different kinds of Nutella food which is not common elsewhere like nutella milkshake, panini, crepes, waffle, snack bar and biscuit!

1 day in Monaco and I'm already contented with what I've seen. Monaco is indeed an eye opener and live up to it's name of a super car city! ^^

Easter trip Day 29 - Nice, France

Voila!!!

We're finally in NICE after a 9 hours train ride from Rome this afternoon. It was an impromptu decision to come to NICE since most alternative flights out of Rome were cancelled.

Fortunately the train running at the time we took the train was eurostar Tren Italia, and it was really a comfy ride. The seats were spacious and looks new. CS and I occupied the entire table seats and had our lunch on board the train. Chinese food and Macdonald's!

I've always wanted to visit Nice but it is located all the way south of France and not really on the way to incorporate into this Easter trip plans.

Since we are kinda left with no choice due to the volcanic ash disruption, it might be a good chance for us to explore the French Riviera!

This is the first time I'm travelling without any plans in advance! So exciting! Yet I still feel damn sore that I can't go back to UK on time and we have to give Lisbon a miss. =(

CS & I have just met up with Denz and Jus to discuss our plans for the following days a little. They're currently staying at an apartment quite a distance away from our hostel.

Experiencing mixed feelings seeing them once again in Nice when we thought that Rome would be our last stop travelling together. Even though I'm really happy for this reunion, but it also means that our initial travel plans have been screwed.

Easter trip Day 29 - Rome to Nice

OMG! We're about to leave the guesthouse for Rome fiumicino airport when one of the Korean gal told us that all Easyjet flights from Rome have been cancelled.

I can't believe this man! We've just booked the tickets yesterday night and this morning the volcanic ashes have spreaded over to Italy!

BF also informed us that his flight from Singapore to London has been cancelled, next available flight tentatively on 20th April. Since CS and I can't even fly directly to Portugal, we're only left with 2 choices. Take the train to Switzerland or France and see how we can get on to Spain from there.




The train station is chaotic with long, atrocious queue to the ticketing booth!!!
Due to the closure of Rome airport, people are flocking to the train station to get tickets and travel by alternative route. 

We were lucky to be able to buy our train tickets to NICE from the self-service ticketing machie, without the need to queue at the booth. Phew! Finally found a way to get out of Rome and hopefully will be able to proceed on smoothly to Spain afterwards!   

Easter trip Day 28 - Rome, Italy

Mysterious Vatican city!!!

The visit to Vatican City marks the end of the first part of my europe trip, and of cuz last day in Rome, Italy too.

We set off early to beat the crowd for entry into St. Peter's basilica in the vatican city. 

The basilica was amazingly grand with beautiful decors/sculptures. You can actually feel the 名副其实的 holy-ness. But as described by Justin, the beauty of the basilica cannot be perfectly captured on photos.

We spent quite a while marvelling at the impressive structure and wandering around to take photos. I'm really curious about this small independent city run by the pope himself and would very much like to explore the residence area inside Vatican, which apparently was not open to public at all.

I sent a few postcards from the Vatican post office and we then rush back to the Korean guesthouse to settle our flight issue, initially due to depart this evening. 





We can't go back to UK on time! Damn the volcanic ashes!

Lastest news updated, in fact more or less expected, our evening flight back to London has been cancelled too! 

Our initial itinerary was to fly back to London, take a day rest in Warwick, and go to London the next day to meet up with BF, before flying to Portugal to start the 2nd part of the Europe trip.

Now the plans are kinda screwed up and we need to plan for alternative travel routes instead. Shit man! =S

Denz they all have already bought the train tix to NICE, departing later at 3pm. I guess CS and I will most probably be flying to Portugal directly from Rome to explore Porto first before BF arrives.

We just wanna get out of ROME! 
 

Easter trip Day 27 - Rome, Italy

4th day in Rome and we've almost seen it all by now.

These few days staying at Korean Guesthouse has been a nice experience but on the contrary, rather tiring. This is because we have to wake up at 7am every morning to have our breakfast, according to their culture/pratice and waking up early is always a torture to me.
 
Breakfast is always rice with many different kinds of veg, kimchi and sometimes soup. They have the habit of brushing teeth/ washing up only after the meal. I tried to follow suit and found myself eating while only half awake most of the time, lol!     

I'm really happy to be able to experience the Korean way of life and hearing them speak to each other makes me wanna learn korean well even more than ever. If only I could understand everything they were talking about.

Anyway, we went for the Rome free tour today but sneaked off half way cuz the guide sucks! We definitely would not want to tip for such a lousy tour, much less waste our time following them around.

We went to the colosseum to check out the entry fee but decided not to enter because it wasn't worth the price. I'm already satisfied just admiring it from the outside and taking lots of photos for keepsake!!!

We had so much free time on hand so we bought snacks and drinks and sat in front of the colosseum to chill. Can't believe all my life I've been seeing pics of colosseum online and today I had the chance of being there by it. It's really amazing how this structure manage to survive 2000 years since the Roman period. More amazigly how they were able to build such a magnificient building.

I wonder how many more years will it stand strong. Hmm...







We've just received news that the volcanic eruption in Iceland has caused massive volcanic ashes to be blown over the UK and the air traffic is severely disrupted!

We're scheduled to fly back from Rome to UK tml and currently denz's & juz's morning flight to Edinburgh has been cancelled. I'm getting real worried that our flight to london will be affected too, which is most likely the case. =(

Now we just have gotta wait for the online news update for tml's evenig flight. 

Easter trip Day 26 - Rome, Italy

Magnificient Colosseum!

We walked so much today my boots are really on the verge of giving way. I really hope it'll last me another two days till I get back in Warwick before I change to another pair of shoes to go on the 2nd part of the Europe trip.

Today's weather was clear and not too windy. The morning was slightly cold but the temperature increased to a relatively nice degree later the day and it was a good day to sight see around the city ad take photos.

After watching Angels and Demons last night, we mapped out the route taken in the movie where they searched for the stolen canister and went around to see the sites where some of the movie scene was filmed, such as St Peter's square and the panthione.

We finally saw the ancient Roman ruins and the colosseum!

The colosseum was much more massive than I expected. Probably we might pay the fee to enter the colosseum for a sight-see tomorrow, we'll see how.

Korean Bibimbap was for dinner and it was really delicious and authenic. I was so full by the end of the meal, that's what makes the lodging fee at the Korean guesthouse so worth it.

We bought chips and beer, wanting to enjoy while watching the Da Vinci Code but it was a disappointment in the end cuz the movie had no subtitles. No point watching it since we couldn't hear the speech loud and clear enough either as we were playing the movie from the laptop.

Sleep then. Tomorrow is the last full day in Rome, and also with the guys. Afterwhich, Justin, Denzyl and Sean will be heading back to Edinburgh while CS and I continue to embark on the 2nd part of our journey. =)

Easter trip Day 26 - Rome, Italy.

It's our third day in Rome today and we have checked out from the Korean guesthouse because we wanted to keep our options free and search for a better one because the previous one had too few toilets and was not that ideal.

Sean found us another guesthouse just across the train terminal and it is run by an old couple. Very cure grandparents! The moment we checked in they started feeding us! Haha like what grans always do. They gave us 김밥, blood orange and made us felt really welcome and at home. ^^

We're going out soon to start our third day in Rome! Going to see the colosseum today! 

We downloaded and watched the Angels and Demon last night. It's so damn cool to watch it in Rome and see the familiar scenes of the Vatican city and places in Rome! ^^   

Easter trip Day 18 - Vienna to Venice

We're now travelling on the overnight sleeper train for the second time this trip, departed Vienna and heading towards VENICE!!!

I love sleeping on trains, it just feels so cool. Previously we slept in couchettes, cabin with beds, pillow, blanket and even bed linen. This time we wanted to save money and opted for just inclining seats. But it turned out that the seats could be set up into beds, just that pillows and blanket are not provided. It's still comfy!!!

Venice has always been my dream country since young. Never thought that I'll have the chance to visit it sooner than I expected. I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully the weather would be good. 

The guys are conducting an orchestra here with their snores and the train has been stationary for the past one hour as I lay awake. Wonder if there's something wrong with the engine. Ok, I shall catch some sleep now, waking up in 6 hours' time!

 

Easter Trip Day 18 - Vienna, Austria

Today's weather is finally much better! Super sunny but still tortured by the merciless strong wind!

We had breakfast at a small local cafe  with some simple meal of burgers, frankfurters and apple strudel. It's hard to find true Austrian food here in Austria. In fact, I don't think there's such local dishes as most of their food simply followed the German style.

We went to the Schönbrunn Palace, which was once the imperial summer residence for Queen Maria Teresa. The palace also houses the Vienna zoo, various gardens and is now preserved as one of the national heritage site by the UNESCO.

We paid for the entry to the gloriette and took lots of photos in the beautiful garden. I love the greens and the water in the pond!

After visiting the palace, we went back to the city centre foe lunch. I was so hungry that I ate a plate of Spanish rice with fried fish (very stingy portion), one piece chicken from KFC and one chocolate sundae from Mac.

We were too tired after lunch so we went back to rest and wash up in the hostel. The guys cooked us spicy Korean instant noodles for dinner! Cheap and delicious!

Easter trip Day 17 - Vienna, Austria

It seems like Vienna has become the pit stop for our trip instead of Salzburg. Out of the 3 days we're in Vienna, 2 of the days collided with the Easter holiday and the shops along the streets are all closed, except for the tourist attractions like museums and arts performances. 

It didn't affect us that much actually since shopping wasn't our agenda in the first place. The main issue that affected us was the difficulty in finding restaurants for meals since shops are closed.

Yesterday evening, we bought standing tickets to watch an opera at Staatsoper (states opera house), my first opera experience which was terrible! 

This is going to surprise u but merely 20mins into the show, people are falling asleep or getting up to leave the theatre even though it was a 5 hours opera!    

Firstly it was the language barrier. The opera was staged in German and the story itself is really boring.  For half an hour the actors were all old and ugly men, visually unappealing. I already forgot the name of the opera but i'm glad that we're not the only ones who didn't appreciate the opera. Fortunately the ticket cost only €4.

Today, we slept quite alot and woke up only after 10.30am. We were supposed to visit Schönbrunn palace with our new found friends from Taiwan and Egypt but the weather was just so bad we had to forgo the plan. It was raining and the wind is typhoon-like, could almost uproot my hair and skin. lol! 

I really didn't expect such weather in Europe at this month so the clothes which I brought along are not entirely suitable. The temperature now seems ok but it's the killer wind that frozen us. 

We decided to visit the palace tomorrow so all we did today was to walk out to the city centre to buy the tickets for the Vienna concert, chill at starbucks then head back to hostel to hide from the bad weather. Hostel Ruthensteiner is really a great place to simply chill, keep warm and male friends. =D

In the evening we had dinner at a Chinese cum sushi buffet but it was horrible. The food was stale probably kept too long cuz there was hardly any business, but the auntie was a nice person. The guys were funny, after having such a terrible meal, they keep wanting to pretend that the dinner never occurred cuz it was a "horrifying experience" LOL!

In the evening, we watched a concert by the Vienna Residenz Orchestra which comprised of a small band, ballet, opera and waltz performance. It was amazing! They played really beautiful pieces by W.A Mozart and John Strauss! I had a good view of the pretty flautist lady and could marvel at her fast fingerings! 

It was my first time watching a live ballet performance and I was entirely captivated by their elegant moves. I wanna watch a full ballet in near future, probably The Nutcracker or Swan Lake!!!

The theatre wasn't very big, unlike yesterday's state opera house but it was entirely worth the €29 and most importanly, I really enjoyed the concert. Finally felt that... 

I AM IN VIENNA! 

Easter trip Day 16 - Vienna, Austria

Vienna! The capital of MUSIC!

After a 2.5h train journey from Salzburg, we've arrived in Vienna! However today is a Sunday so most shops are closed. Fortunately, Sean had brought along some Korean Ramen so he cooked us lunch in the hostel!!! 

We're staying in Hostel Ruthensteiner, a damn cool hostel with a nice bar, big garden with BBQ pit, kitchen, laundrette and musical instruments for us to play. I really love the relaxing enronment of this place. We're now waiting for Denzyl and Sean to finish their game of English chess before we go out to explore the Vienna city centre! 

Easter trip Day 14 & 15 - Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg is a mere 1.5 hours train ride away from Munich. I had no idea and no expectations of how Salzburg would look like. The only thing I've heard about this city is that Sound of Music was filmed here and I actually remembered only a small part of that movie.

Upon arrival at the Salzburg hofbahnof (central station), the scenic view of the alps overlooking the city already made my day! 

For the two days that we were in Salzburg, the weather had been good. Sunny with a tinge of warmth and not too cold or windy like the past few days in Munich.
 
We checked into Yoho hostel, 6men room with ensuite toilet. It was a real pleasant stay as the room was big ad nice with huge security lockers and clean bathroom and toilet. =D

1st day we went to explore the city centre which wasn't really that big but I really love the laid-back towny feel of Salzburg. Justin and I visited the Mozart birthplace and Mozart residence. 

One thing about Salzburg is that they are commercializing too much on Mozart for tourism, just because Mozart is born and raised there. But nevertheless, the Mozartkugel is a very nice salzburger chocolate!!!

We climbed up to the Salzburg fotress on the 2nd day, it was really tiring to take the steep slope. Also saw the catacomb, which is a beautiful graveyard, no idea what's the history behind it though =X

The weather was so nice we had our lunch by the river bank, where u can see lots of angmohs taking off their clothes to sun tan in whichever patch of grass the sunlight shone onto. IN THE CItY CENTRE! LOL.

Last night on Salzburg, we went up to the terrace bar on Hotel Stein to grab a drink and enjoy the night view of Salzburg. 

I really appreciate the serenity of this special city. It has served as a great pitstop for our Easter trip! 

Easter trip Day 13 - Munich, Germany

It's our last day in Munich today and
we visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial site. It was a super cold  and windy day, almost snowing flakes, and there was a gloomy atmos phere looming over the concentration camp.

We first watched a documentary about the history of the camp and then looked at the exhibitions and the various areas of the concentration camp. 

It makes me feel sad and also hard to believe that wherever we stood was the actual site where massive deaths and brutality had occured in the past. So many people worked to death / were killed in the camp. All these war shit always remind me of the Japanese occupation and made me so emotional. Where the hell is humanity. Damn.

Ok anyway, we visited the BMW showroom (local production) and the
Olympiapark which houses the 1972 Olympic stadium. It looked quite old and dirty, not very marvellous but then again, back in those days it could have been quite an impressive architecture. BMWs are everywhere on the road man!

Last night in Germany! We just had to stuff ourselves with more pork knuckles, wurtz and drown ourselves in beer cuz I'm so sure I'm gonna miss it after tonight. 

We went to Hofbrahaus which was the first biergarten in Munich. It was amazing! From the moment we stepped in, we could sense the strong German feel, men drinking beer in their traditional costume (which I don't know why, probably some festival going on), beer ladies in their costume walking around serving beer and pretzels. A small band playing traditional folk music and huge mugs of beer on the table. 

We ate and drank to our hearts content, ending the visit to Munich on a high note. Surprisingly the bill wasn't really expensive considering the amount of food that we ordered. 

Good food makes me happy. I'm so gonna miss the pork knucles!