And so here I am, back from the land of beauty and wonder.
What I've seen of Europe so far, I like. True, there may be many unpleasant things like corrupt police, beggars littering the streets that suggest unrest and social problems, but these things exist everywhere and it would be idealistic to think otherwise. Spain and Portugal are beautiful countries, with a fairly good mix of rolling fields and rivers, and gorgeous medieval and archaic buildings and towns, and big cities. Unfortunately I think I nearly froze half to death there and my skin rashed up in fright at the horrendously dry weather. I guess we need a certain amount of adapting, because after a couple of days my lip stopped cracking too. Haha and yes, I had a lot of fun! Shopping was great too I bought lots of new stuff hahaha YAY! Okay I think this is going to be an impossibly long post littered with zillions of photos, a small selection from my hp camera, because the rest of the photos (with people in it haha and with nice lighting and nice scenery) with the proper cameras have yet to be uploaded. So for people who are interested in pretty Europe photos this shall be a small sampler first!
Haha our holiday could be described as hopping around Spain (and Portugal) by coach, seeing the highlights of a few select cities and towns. Many, many hours spent sleeping on the bus, let me assure you. Even the very interesting book that I brought along (Death Gate, yay!) didn't manage to keep me occupied long enough and instead was lulled to sleep everytime. Ate amazingly a lot and slept a lot on this trip... In all likelyhood I've probably gained weight. Damn. =p Darn tours should stop feeding us so much chinese food though! Although admittedly some of the chinese meals weren't too bad la... I'm really kind of sick of chicken though. Okay so the trip started with a LONG and arduous plane ride to Paris, where we were in transit, taking yet another plane ride to Barcelona where we immediately launched into a city sights tour. First church we saw was pretty damn impressive, some church of the Holy Families or something like that, and they've been building it for like what, 100 odd years already? And its not even half done! Haha its estimated to take a couple more generations to finish :x
Front of the church! So much more impressive and imposing in real life though haha.
Okay oops I've decided to try and use the weird photo blogger thing because I think my photobucket is overloading and this way can click on the photos to get the original size. But I think its gonna screw up my alignment and whatnot haha, ohwell, nevermind. Haha and the next day we stopped by Valencia to have some local food lunch thing which was pretty good actually! The Spanish paella rice which is something like their local dish is really nice :)
A archaic looking building in Valencia, isn't it pretty?
Scenery from the bus window at Monserat, along the way to the next destination... it was freaking -1 or 0 degrees there la when we hopped off to take photos! mountains :)
Upon reaching our next destination where we spent the night, we walked around and umm, shopped. Haha in fact, we shopped quite a lot on this trip! Got a bunch of clothes and accessories and belts and whatnot, and a pretty pair of furry suede boots! :) Yes anyway in Alicante, which is like some nice seaside resort town place, which I feel has rather happening streets at night (I was standing at the balcony and I kept hearing music and sounds of people on the streets), and really couldn't sleep so decided to take a walk to buy ice cream, and soak up the atmosphere of the night. Was simply wonderful, taking a stroll down brightly lit streets with a smattering of little 24hr shops, pubs, diners which were open and alive with people, so many people all walking all over and really just making the whole place feel amazing. Ended up in a salsa club, surprisingly enough, as I followed my feet and ears into a side lane and upon discovering it, went back to change from my retardedly chachat slippers into heels and pranced right back there. Had quite a lot of fun actually, except half the people there were basically just hopping around with no particular style, and those who were actually dancing salsa were doing it in some strange style I couldn't place. Figured one to be sort of like cuban style, as I spent half the night talking to and dancing with some Cuban guy who reminded me vaguely of like a younger and less loud version of Gupson, who actually accomodated to my way of dancing because apparently in Cuba, 'salsa is like a religion'. Haha, very amusing. Some other guy kept doing weirder stuff tho and kept dipping me and even merrily lifted me from the waist.
I know it's hasty generalization, but it seems that a lot of European men are pretty strong! I felt it, and I saw another guy lift up this rather ahem heavy looking girl as if she were a feather, and saw a couple other instances la. Ahem haha Singaporean men please shape up abit ;p And no, for the record, I am NOT an SPG in any way haha, just a little jibe please don't sue me for sedition ;p
Oh yes and alot of the people are gorgeous too! It's true, what they say about hot spanish babes and guys, because there are so many on the streets! When shopping in Barcelona and walking around in Alicante, and well basically everywhere else, I saw soo many damn hot girls and guys la... And especially the girls, in their boots and stockings and short skirts.... hot hot hot. Gorgeous. Damn! Haha... got a lot to work on =p Anyway went to Granada next (and I think if I continue narrating like that this post will never end) where we visited this GORGEOUS palace which used to be a mosque and then a cathedral (okay most of these places are either mosques turned into cathedrals or cathedrals turned into mosques turned into cathedrals or something like that because of Spain's history!), with a BRILLIANT view of the city and absolutely STUNNING carvings on the walls! I know my vocabulary is limited but please bear with me because when I say gorgeous I really do mean it.
A pretty star-shaped ceiling! I was practically lying down on the floor to take this shot, resulting in many amused relatives taking pictures of me in some contorted position on the floor, angling my hp for a better shot. Haha.
Check out the intricate flower carvings!! I want walls like that in my house :x
Yet another cool wall carving but well taken from an interesting angle.
I think my breath did, in all honesty, stop for a brief moment when I beheld this view. I know my handphone camera seriously does not do this justice, capturing only a mere fragment of a whole panaromic, breathtaking view of the entire city below, but still... I'd like to share. The most amazing view I've ever seen, with strong refreshing and relaxing winds as well.
Me with the view, taken with a proper camera.
Doesn't it look like a palace?
A pretty autumny looking tree that sunlight was shining upon, making it glow, but when captured on photo it looks like its burning!
Parting shot of Al Hambra Palace/Mosque/Cathedral... I took a lot of photos in this place because I was terribly enthralled haha. Then I started running out of memory space =( so really, there's less photos from other places, this post will end soon, really! =p
Watched a flamenco performance at night too, which was way, way cool. It was held in a gypsy cave, which was nice and cosy, with a traditional feel to it, because of the decorations, the singing, the guitar, the costumes, everything. I really quite like flamenco! Used to think it was just stomping and clapping and didn't really like it all that much, but seeing it right in front of my eyes, barely 1 metre and at times, 1 centimetre away from me, with all the emotions being expressed in each wave of the hands and stomp of the feet, it really impressed me quite a bit. Some may think this dance lacks finesse, but I tend to disagree, because I can tell the movements require a LOT of control. It ain't easy to stomp and look totally glam while doing it, really. I love the style of the male flamenco dancers too - so strong and sleek, quite different from the female style which is strong too, and pretty, but less... oomph. Was really mesmerised by all the wonderful dancing, and so impressed by the absolutely beautiful double or triple pirouettes one of the male dancers did, with a totally neat setup and landing. Swoon.
Hot girl #1, hot girl #2, and long black-haired brooding latino looking guy (who did the cool pirouettes!), and yes, they dragged me up to try too omg -_-
Okay so from Granada we headed to Sevilla and on the way we stopped by at Cordoba, where we visted umm another mosque turned cathedral, but apparently like 500 years ago Cordoba was the capital of Spain when the moors were occupying it. Hmm... okay just 2 pictures from Cordoba -
Yes, another ceiling haha, but this time the little glass dome in the centre is quite special, being made up of 1000 pieces of glass which are 9mm each. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Okay this photo is kind of boliao, I know -_- its the result of sunlight streaming through colourful stained glass windows and projecting it on the marble floor of the mosque/cathedral.
And then off to Sevilla we went, where we umm, not surprisingly, visited another cathedral. But this apparently, is the third biggest cathedral in the world, after the one in Vatican City and the other one umm in England or something? Haha but before the cathedral we visted the Spanish Square and the Plaza Espana, which was kind of like a representation of Spain in some world exhibition thing. Took some act artistic photos la but hmm not quite successful.
Plaza Espana :)
Oh dear, ended up losing part of my post anyway, even though I saved haha. Fell asleep while blogging just now haha. It's nearly 4pm now and I just woke up! Slept at 8plus after breakfast with lance, who so kindly drove me to food (yay!) after I was sitting, ok lying in bed the whole night feeling hungry and whining to everyone online haha. Thaaaanks lance (and da who happily and helpfully suggested it to him after feeling bad for zhong se qing you-ing me right hahaha), haha. Yeah so finally woke up at 3plus haha. Been posting this damn post since 2 or 3am last night with alot of distractions in between, and still not done although it's 530pm now! But I've managed to upload pics from the other camera too (because everyone else is awake now haha) so I'm going to add some in, yay.
Heehee acting artistic with the plaza... I actually took one of myself but I decided the one my dad took is nicer because well its clearer. Haha.
Ended up 'drown(ing) in a wave of nostalgia' as da so succinctly puts it, in the bus on the way to the hotel. For some reason, I was reminded of joel. Europe is so... him. All the sights and everything, suddenly made me think of some things I guess. He loves Europe, so I thought he'd love Spain. Drowned indeed... shed silent tears while staring out the window in the bus... for no apparent reason, other than nostalgia and what was indeed truly wonderful for a while... and well... it really kind of sucks to not be able to remain friends la. Really. But well, I've learnt to accept things which I cannot change or have no control over, or which seem like they're meant to be, or sometimes, have to be. Not that I'm becoming fatalistic, but life is a complicated, amazing, beautiful mess which is really, funnily good and bad at the same time. We don't always know what to do, but somehow, sometimes, the answer will come, I guess.
AND off we went to Portugal!
The next day, after a freaking long 6hr bus ride O_O, in Lisboa.
Whoa. The Portugese sure do love their country. Check out the size of that flag?!?!
Went to this place called Jeronimo Monastery which was apparently done up in the manueline style which is supposed to be a cross between gothic and renaissance. Ate portugese egg tarts after that! Very yummy :)
Trying to look demure (cough) outside the Fatima Basilica, which was named such because the daughter of Mohammed the Prophet apparently married a Catholic and became one herself or something like that. Nice and serene place, where people had to keep quiet; one of the more religious ones which we visited, which actually had lots of people going there, burning candles for blessings, attending mass, and getting rosaries blessed etc. There's apparently some sort of thing going on yearly worshipping the apparitions of Her Lady to three little shephards and the three secrets, something like that. Peaceful indeed.
Had lots of shopping in a nice huge shopping mall called Colombo too!
Back to Spain...
Spent a night in Caceres after shopping (again... bought my boots here!) and headed to Toledo the next day. We had a nice 2 hour walking tour of the Old Toledo (the New Toledo is like situated next to it, with all the new buildings and such but the old one is really preserved from goodness knows what century, as with most things in Spain... which are all hundreds of years old!). Okay just going to whack photos =p
Snow bunny! No snow though...
Rwoar! Haha cool sword huh... Toledo is apparently damn good at making steel stuff so they sell many swords and the like there. Picked up this beauty because my cousin demanded to be knighted hahaha =p
Nice little family picture with the view from the top, of Toledo and the River/Lake(??) Tajo (okay I really don't remember how to spell this)... oops.
Oh also bought a mini reproduction of the absolutely stunning painting by El Greco, 'The Burial of the Count Orgaz', which is one of the main highlights of Toledo. Going to hang it in my room! :)
And off to Madrid for the last two days of the trip,
Real Madrid Stadium or something... pretty cool =p
Outside the Royal Palace of Madrid, it's how opulent and lavish inside la! So pretty, and HUGE, with 2200 rooms omg, we walked through only like 22 and got super tired after that.
A beautiful ceiling fresco. Every inch of every room is decorated, can you believe it!
Chandelier O_O
I know this just looks like a table, but the top of the table is actually entirely made out of millions of TINY miniscule pieces of mosaic that join together so seamlessly that the pictures look painted on!
Taking the metro to the city centre to go shop! :)
And finally...
Family of twenty! We caused quite a bit of amusement at our size haha, and having the company of my cousins and another girl on the trip, was pretty entertaining as well. All the beautiful and exciting things in Spain and Portugal, the eye candy, the SHOPPING, the company, and even the bitching about certain incidents involving curtains, chairs, catholics, indians, snakes and longkangs, made the trip really pretty good! Minusing off of course, the slight unpleasantries, but anyway who can really have a 100% wonderful trip right!
Back to reality now, but I've missed everyone! And apparently I've missed quite a bit of funny stuff too haha. But well, its not everyday you get to visit Europe, really. I shall not complain haha. Brought back lots of chocolates for everyone haha they've got oodles and oodles there, especially cherry brandy ones which are really quite yummy! Otherwise I don't really like alcohol, hmm. Really have to try icewine one day though, what with all the hype about it, even our tour guide was talking about it. Coincidentally, she used to salsa too, and apparently she's met Gupson. How amusing haha, but yeah Judy's cool! Another one who looks about tons younger than she really is haha, I think she looks... about 12 years younger. Amazing right I want to look like that when I'm 30plus la, hahaa. And so jealous, my MALE 21 year old cousin can do a full FRONT split and I think side split both ways too. He told me he did a front split in the middle of club momo la and lots of people bought him drinks... wahlao right! No fair :x
Okay its 730pm now, and I'm finally done! Oh dear that took quite a while. So much for Narnia (aah I want to watch it!) haha, well another day I guess. Looking forward to getting my new heels (they're here, they're here! and it seems like everyone's seen them but me, erps) and going dancing again, and to seeing everyone, and to going clubbing (I want to go MoS it sounds interesting! and mambo! and well, whatever haha) and whatnot before school starts (next week?!!?!!?!). I think I'm going to give up on ice skating though since no one seems to want to go, damn.
Haha I'm longwinded, I know. But there's much to say la, oops ;p
Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day everyone!
:3:46 PM: :sugah~plum
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