I think i might be an auditor afterall.

Austria

Finally uploaded the photos into my comp.. so i've decided to revive my blog abit.

Vienna:

I visited the Hogwarts Library!!

Check out the x'mas market in front of the palace

Getting ready for our concert. Great staff. Performance on Mozart and J. Strauss pieces.

don't rmb this place only that it stinks because of all the horse carriages

Salzburg:

check out the mountain behind. looks fake eh?

i miss snow!

me and my baby sis

Innsbruck:

queen of the monutain!

look at the frozen waterfall!

Loading the photos really brought back memories. Really really want to go back to Europe. Miss all the travelling, esp. the impromptu ones, the good food, being able to nua the whole day, the beach, the sunsets, the beautiful autumn leaves, the snow, and all my friends! So glad i decided to go on exchange.. it was such a great experience!

Now's on to reality.. trying to find a job while trying desperately to get back to smu life.. trying to plan a grad trip but just realized that i'm REALLY broke. may have to scratch plans of gg to the U.S. damn.

Sick

Been sick since Tues.. sianz.. Can't believe it. Wasn't sick when I was in the land of rain and cold, only when I got back to the land of sun and warmth did I fall sick. What is this man! This came in a time that's totally bad. PresentationS, exams, and my mum and sis are coming tomorrow. And I'm still freaking sick. ARGH. Hate it. Can't even be bothered to upload my photos here. Please check into Facebook for more photos. LOL

Switzerland

Switzerland was amazing!! Nobody was free to go with me.. so I decided to plan a solo trip there.. and to meet up with Jon and Louis in Bern. My plan was to enjoy the mountains, buy lots and lots of chocolate, eat rosti, eat fondue.. and I think I accomplished it totally!!

First stop: Geneva

U.N. Look at the flags waving in the air

The amazing botanical gardens next to the U.N. It was so freaking big.. it took me about 2 hours to find my way out again. It links to different parts of the garden I was really lost!!

As planned, I took a 1 hour river cruise on Lake Geneva. It was amazing... amazingly cold!

The view along the lake.. it was breathtaking! Autumn leaves, houses scattered with the occassional mansion..

Jet d'eau.. shoots up 7 feet into the sky! Awesome. And I managed to catch it with the rainbow!

2nd stop: Bern

Jon and Louis came to pick me up at the station.. and we headed to a restaurant for Rosti! Nice! But all the talk about Swiss high costs of living is really true. Amazing.

Somewhere in the city centre?

Clock tower of Bern.. seems like the one in Prague.. but less complicated?

Amazing view.. there's the lake at the background

HMM.. can't believet they're playing PING PONG in the cold and outdoors.

It was snowing the first time in Switzerland this year and it coincided with the first day I was in Bern!! God's way of welcoming me?? It was so nice! And freezing! Snow on autumn leaves!

3rd stop: Zurich

All thanks to Jon, I cancelled my hostel booking for Interlaken, to go skiing. However, the weather was bad and the cable-lifts up the mountain were stopped.. SOO.. we couldn't go skiing.. and ended up in Zurich, which by the way, was FREEZING. It was like 1-5 degrees, raining, I didn't even feel like taking out my camera..

Cute walkway

Climbing up the tower.. here's the paranomic view.. the wind was so freaking strong up there.. when Jon tried opening the door, the door almost slammed into him. ALMOST

Really good cheese fondue near the train station.

4th stop: Thun and Interlaken

Took a short train to the small city of Thun (on a Sunday) to take the boat to Interlaken. Almost got fined by the conductor cuz stupid Jon was telling me there's no need to get a ticken from his place to the main train station in Bern cuz it was a Sun morning and there usually isn't any conductors, PLUS, we were running abit late. Somehow, unluckily, a WHOLE group of them got on the train to check at the very last minute, we were already reaching the station when the conductor came to check. OH MY GOD. Luckily they were nice enough to let me just get a ticket from Jon's place, transit at main station Bern, and then to Thun. So in the end it saved me the time to get a ticket to Thun. PHEW. If not there goes 80 francs.

Thun.. really pretty small town, but everything was closed cuz it was a Sun. VERY QUIET

Some castle.. that I had to climb up a hill to get to..

The boat ride to Interlaken that took me around 2hours.. a group of Singaporeans consisting of 2 families were aboard too.. interesting cuz at first glance I already noticed them, and I think they noticed me too cuz we were like sneaking glances at each other.. when they started talking, I just KNEW they were from Singapore. Heh. Interesting how we can differentiate ourselves from other Chinese.

An old guy came to talk to me on the boat too.. and he started talking about himself.. and showed me his passsport.. to be exact, his DIPLOMAT passport. Like WOAH.

The view was really breathtaking.. even better than the Lake Geneva one..

Snow capped mountain, autumn leaves, green grass, houses, and the lake. The most perfect picture ever

At Interlaken.. super touristy place. It's the first place I see so bustling with activity on a Sunday. There were lotsa shops opened too, especially those catered to tourists. They had signboards saying Japanese language, spanish, chinese etc. etc. were OKAY at their shop. The Japanese and Chinese were going crazy in the shops.. getting watches and stuff. I was super tempted to get too.. but it's really expensive.. 280 Fr? BAH

However, the tourist information center was closed.. so I had to walk around the place, ALONE, without a map.. amazing how I accomplished it..

Pretty place.. looks symmetrical huh?

Love the snow capped mountain in the background

Japanese garden. Apparently Japan and Interlaken are sister cities??

Really nice casino. Looks really grand. Walking through the entrance from the main street is like walking through a gateway to another place..

Notice the cows?? They're everywhere!!


Switzerland was amazing.. I really loved it. And I managed to buy some chocolates from the supermarket.. but not enough. Thought I could get more from the airport and they might be cheaper cuz it'll be tax free. I was mistaken. Totally. Super expensive at the airport. Decided not to get any.. and be satisfied with whatever I got from the supermarket. My supply is rapidly decreasing tho.. really hard to resist the temptation when I know there's one whole bag of choclates sitting in my fridge. Argh

Grasse

After getting back from Prague, I headed to Grassse with my friends in Nice. Grasse, if you don't know where that is, is the capital of perfume.. and was where the movie "Perfumer" was shot. It's like only 1.5 hours bus ride away from Nice!

This isn't photoshop-ed! It was the decor at the entrance of the shop and the shop owner was like gesturing at us to just go take a sit and offered to help us take the photo! WHEE

This is the famous parfumerie.. that brands like Dior outsource to.. so we're able to get high quality perfume without all the branding and packaging.. cheap! Heh

Touring the making of the perfume..

All in all, I had a great trip there.. although most of the shops were closed cuz it was a public holiday on the 1 Nov.. BUT, I did lotsa perfume shopping! HAHA. really liked the perfume there.. everybody who knows me should know I don't really put perfume.. but I couldn't resist it. How can I not get perfume from the capital of perfume!?

Prague

The journey to Prague was, well, eventful. My flight to Germany (transit) was delayed by 1 hour, and it so happens that I was at the airport early that day - for those who know me, I'm never early! So I had to wait at the airport for hmm, 2 hours? When I got to Germany, I rushed all the way to the gate for my transit plane to Prague, passed 2 passport controls, and finally got there. But DAMN there was nobody there! I could see the plane outside still but I couldn't get out! So, I had to get out to get another ticket to Prague, which meant I had to get through another passport control. And the stupid guy was so strict! He was flipping from front to back, back to front like 4 times!? And he finally stopped at my VISA, and called for the guard to come. My heart was beating super fast la! Apparently with the student visa from france, the privileges with the Singapore passport as a tourist - allows us to travel around europe for 90 days, is gone. And so they had like a lot of problems with the visa, think they wanted to deport me back to France man. F*** Totally panicked lah. Acted damn blur and pitiful.. kept asking them questions and they were like busy answering me. Heh. And so I finally passed. PHEW. And so with the super eventful wait, I got up the plane with my heart still beating a bit faster than usual. HAHA.

Alright, other than that, Prague was so beautiful! The buildings are a massive array of colours, with the super nice architectures. Was in awe when I first arrived. Alright, enough talk, pictures...

Met up with Adrian and joined his school's nation-to-nation party-theme was Canada

Super strong drink

From the top of the hill in Prague - climbed up all the way, think it took us about 40 mins. This picture is from the mini-eiffel

On the way to Karlstejn Castle - the beautiful lake
Village along the way to the castle. Superb Karlstejn Castle from afar
Colourful trees. LOVE IT

The palace gardens. Not that spectacular, but still nice.



SO COLD AND SHE's IN BERMS!?
Autumn trees. My fave.
While taking a photo on Charles Bridge, this group of Germans just rushed in. HMM.

The cathedral at the palace grounds. Super awed.
Typical Czech food: smoked ham, smoked pork tongue, dumplings, sausages
The Jewish cemetry: cuz the Jews were only allocated one piece of burial grounds, and by their religion they can't move the body after burial, what they did was pile up the bodies. That's why there's super congestion of the tomb stones.
It was their national day, and they were having some public performance. And this group of kids were dancing to the song in front of the stage! They were so cute!
Astronomical Clock. Tells the time, day, month, whether it's day or dark, the zodiac, etc. Amazing. But the hourly show, was, super disappointing.

The notre dame of Prague

On Charles Bridge

The photos aren't in order and a mess cuz I'm too lazy to organize them. Heh. Can't wait for my next trip. But DAMN. My timetable just came out and I have classes every day from 12 nov onwards! Shit. Can't find time to go London and Dublin etc. ARGH.