15th Oct (Fri) - Paris

Paris, Paris - the city that had me walking in roundabouts with my 15kg backpack and other barang barang for over an hr just to find my freaking hostel. Firstly, the hostel kinda lied. It was a really long walk from the station, approx. 30 mins.

Secondly, I didn't know that odd and even unit numbers will never appear on the same street. So I spent half hr or more walking up the street seeing unit 35 jumping to unit 37. Until I could take it no more, I took out my phone and dialed the number (I hate making overseas calls which I couldn't claim) to the hostel and was told that I should start searching on the opposite street instead. So there. What an unhappy way to start my "romantic" Paris trip.

Maybe çoz I was staying near Anvers station, I got to see a different side of Paris - not the glamour nor charming bit, but the part where immigrants conglomerate, and whereby the wedding gowns in the nearby shop displays (think of designs back in the 80s) made me cringe. I'm not saying that it was bad. It was a decent neighbourhood where things were just slightly different from the usual projection of Paris. I could even find people BBQ-ing corns or even chestnuts on a used oil barrel, placed in a shopping cart, to earn some money from passerbys. Not to mention cheap ladies boots ranging from 5€ to 30€ in shop fronts that look like our "Closing down sale" stores in SG.



And here were some of the places that I'd visited:

1) Arc de Triomphe

2) Area around The Eiffel Tower
I didn't go up the tower as (1) it was rather foggy when I was there and I didn't want to spend so much time and money just to go up there and see absolutely nothing and (2) I was tired out by the walk. But I did learn some quirky facts about the place. For instance, there was actually such a thing as a marriage to an inanimate object (i.e.: Berlin Wall & Eiffel Tower). One marriage was recently conducted in June/ July 2010 on the tower, between a girl and the tower. And because the tower is considered a female in French, it was basically a les marriage. And the girl (human) was so upset that the officials did not close the tower for her to carry out the ceremony, thus opening her to other tourists' ridicule and photography, she's now sueing them. In addition, she was upset that the officials did not grant her the wish to spend the night with/ on the tower to consumate her marriage with the tower. Erh... I don't know how she's gonna do that but intercourse/ masterbate with steel in the middle of the night doesn't sound good nor sane to me. But then again, there were at least 20 or 30 others who were already married to the tower. Hmmm... I wonder if any of them could sue the tower (and the authorities) for infidelities...

And btw, I saw students protesting near the area as well. And my sis' friend (a local) congratulated me for experiencing the "true" Paris.



And I did catch the sparkling effect on the Tower too on midnight when my sis' friend and his gf brought me around after a lovely and super filling French dinner :) Cool~







3) Notre Dame Cathedral
I didn't manage to head inside for a look çoz I was either busy getting lost in the streets or going somewhere else.

4) Sainte Chapelle
Everyone's been telling me that this was way more beautiful than Notre Dame but I only passed by it and no chance to enter it for a look. Çoz I was busy hunting around Paris for my rings. Sheesh.

5) Centre Georges Pompidou
Absolutely love this place. Go there if you like contemporary art and have a stroll in its boutique and bookshop as well!





6) Rue des Rosiers and the Jewish QuartierIf you have the time, do take a stroll from Centre Georges Pompidou to Rue des Rosiers and the Jewish Quartier. I found these more charming than the Champs-Elysées. You won't be able to find much shopping there but there were definitely some chic boutiques (think SG's Haji lane) and lots of pastry shops around :)







7) The Louvre
Had a fun time when my free walking tour guide started telling us how the Mona Lisa came to be so famous and it led to the numerous shields around her. I did went through the security check just to look at the basement of the pyramids (which wasn't exciting at all - just your usual starbucks, McDonald's & some other boutiques which weren't selling anything interesting), but I did not want to waste the money just to be one of the 15,000 pple visiting her each day. And I've had enough of art pieces çoz I'd been to quite a handful of art museums that any more of it would be a lethal overdose.



8) Champs-Elysées
Don't see what's the big deal with it. SO BORING... unless you like branded stuff. And oh, H&M just opened a boutique there. If you buy anything from that branch, you'll receive a specially embossed H&M paper bag with the words "Champs-Elysées" on it.

9) Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
Wooooohhhh!!!!! DINOSAURS!!!! I like.









10) Moulin Rogue & The red light district
Apparently my hostel was just a few streets from the red light district (where you'll see rows and rows of sex shops and clubs).

11) Place de la Concorde
Witnessed the "ring" scam being carried out on a fellow Asian traveller. But as I was travelling alone, I thought I better stay clear, just in case. And my free walking tour guide (a girl) was also a bit hesitant as well. But in the end, a Caucasian girl in our group went up to the victim and the guy and asked the guy to fuck off. The guy was super pissed and he kinda pushed her. That's when another guy in my group pulled her away. Upon seeing that she's part of a bigger group, the "scamer" went away grudgingly. Kudos to the girl. But the victim seemed to have went away without even saying a "thank you"to her. How rude and what a disgrace.

All in all, I'm not in love with Paris but neither do I dislike it. Even though it was only my first time there, I fear that it may become another Rome in years or decades to come - where it becomes truly touristy and little would be left of its romantic charm. So go there soon before this becomes the reality.

And just to end it off, here are some random snapshots taken around Paris:

10th Oct to 12th Oct - Zurich/ Luzern/ Swiss Alps

Zurich was just so freaking expensive!!! SERIOUSLY. A BK burger meal cost average about 11 CHF, which equated to more or less 20 SGD! And when I first met up with Uma in Zurich, we headed over to a local eatery, off the tourist track, and ordered a Rosti. It cost 12 Euros. Yes. 12 Euros (close to 23 SGD) for a plate of potatoes.



Don't get me wrong though. It was nice. But too ex for a plate of nicely cooked starch. Oh well, nothing I could do about it. Even freshly cooked pasta from the supermarket (like a entree portion) would already cost about 5 Euros. Oh man.... But one thing I did like about their supermarkets was their variety. Yummy! Yummy! :)

Spent the first day visiting a church and a museum (where I saw one of Van Gogh's self-portrait, Monet's and Chagall's works, amongst many others). Happy :)



The next day, I woke up bright and early and went on the 9.5 hour trip/ tour to Mt. Pilatus. Had booked the tour at the Tourist office for 137 CHF (about 97 Euros). But before I even reached Mt. Pilatus, the coach first took us to Luzern - a small, quiet town that didn't really appeal to me. There were nothing much there other than the usual suspects - The Lion Monument, The Chapel Bridge and the Water Tower.



When we finally moved on, the fog was still strong. So, as I took the cable car up to the mountain, I was struggling to see through the fog to see how far I was up from the ground, and how much higher I was going to go. But I could see nothing. And thought that the tour guide had lied about today was a beautiful day to visit Mt. Pilatus. Then, I imagined that I was in a fantasy world, taking a cable car, entering into Harry Porter's world. 'coz the journey just seemed so dreamy and it was as if I was carried through the clouds and into the sky. Hahaha.





But as the cable car went higher and higher, the fog began to clear and bright sunlight and mountain scape greeted me. Magnificent!!! The tour guide was right! It was super bright and sunny up there.



And here's a pix of my lunch break @ Mt. Pilatus - dining on a mountain! :)



After taking a quick lunch at the cafeteria on the mountain, I began my short hike to the peak (actually, there were stairs all around, so I just need to climb the stairs and not really hike up a dirt road). The view's beautiful and I thought to myself that it would be great to see the sunrise on the peaks, instead of viewing it then, in mid afternoon. Maybe next time.







And I was amused to see a helicopter ferrying the building materials up and down the mountain numerous times within the hour. Kinda cool actually. But I supposed it was real tiring for the pilot. Anywayz, they were still broadening and constructing a sheltered walkway/ platform so that visitors could have a better view of the alps, irregardless of the weather. So nice.



As for my descent, I took the world's steepest cogwheel railway (48 degrees gradient) all the way down. At first it seemed a bit frightening (like "when am i gonna fall...") but the view along the way distracted me. LOVELY. And then, I'm back to foggy "ville" again.







In order to get back to Luzern to board the coach back to Zurich, the guide took me (and the others) on board a boat ride to enjoy the picturesque view of the lake. Too bad it was too foggy. Otherwise, the view would have been lovely.



The next day, I woke up early again to see if I could get my hands on the train tickets to Jungfraujoch (so called the "top of Europe"). I'd initially wanted to join a tour 'coz it was cheaper by about 50SGD but the tour happened only from wednesday to sunday. So, I'd to go on my own instead.

The railway office helped me calculated the cheapest way to get to Jungfraujoch and it was as such:

Zurich HB --> Bern --> Interlaken Ost --> Lauterbrunnen --> Kleine Scheidegg --> Jungfraujoch (total duration: approx. 4 hr 20 mins)

And so I began my adventure to the alps alone, after munching on the following:



The feeling and the scenic view from Bern --> Interlaken Ost --> Lauterbrunnen --> Kleine Scheidegg --> Jungfraujoch was simply GORGEOUS!!! The non-stop changing of trains and the long travelling time, not to mention the cost of rail tickets, was definitely worth it! I just felt so brightened and happy along the way! At one point, I was so busy taking photos that I just shoved my ticket to the train conductor and quickly returned to my picture snapping. But he found it amusing and it was kinda clear that he had picked that time to check all passengers' tickets to playfully disturb them. Waraoz... kajiao pple...









When I finally reached Jungfraujoch, I went straight for a cup of hot choc at the cafeteria before I dared venture out into the observation platform and into the cold. It was kinda scary to stand on the platform 'coz I kept imagining that it could collapse any time (i.e.: whether the steel platform would freeze and then suddenly crack under the weight). But it ended up fine. Ha.







Honestly, though the view was nice, I found the scenary along my way up was a lot more captivating.





If given more time, I would definitely want to visit other parts of Switzerland such as Leissigen (where I think it would be beautiful to go there in Summer), Grindelwald, Interlaken and a few other small towns in between Lauterbrunnen and Jungfraujoch.

I LOVE THE ALPS!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here are some random pix I took along the way:

9th Oct (Sat) - Munich

I wished I had spend one more day in Munich (which would make it a total of 2 days). If I had, I would've been able to make a trip down to Dachau - the concentration camp constructed in 1933. (- _ -) And I'd missed the Oktoberfest by 3 days as well. ARGH!

But nonetheless, I'd a wonderful time in Munich. Maybe 'coz I'd went there on a Saturday, so the locals were out in the Beer Gardens drinking beer and chilling out. The whole atmosphere felt great (though I don't drink beer at all). And I even saw a toddler and some other old gentlemen, dressed in the traditional costume. SOooooooooo cute! But too bad I'd to stay in the walking tour before I got swallowed into the crowd, so I didn't manage to capture any of those moments. Another argh.



Apparently, only the 4 - 5 fountains around the Beer Gardens were potable. So, my free walking tour guide strongly discouraged us from drinking from the other fountains in the city. Those were just for decorations.

And just right beside the Beer Gardens, was the Viktualienmarkt. I went berserk after seeing some stalls selling cute handicrafts and bought like 80 to 100 Euros worth of stuff - which Tuk said he would split the cost with me. And thank god Uma was willing to help me bring back to Singapore when we meet up at my next stop (Zurich). Otherwise, I think all the handicrafts would be damaged in a way or another by the time I went back to SG - coz apart from my 15KG backpack, I still have my sling bag and a hand carrier for instant food. How the heck was I gonna hold on to one more item? Phew! But Joe had a different opinion on my choice of handicrafts and I'd asked Uma to hammer him in return.









Anywayz, back to the topic. As part of the walking tour, I'd also visited:

1) The Glockenspiel
It was so funny when the tour guide had his back to the clock but could still tell us exactly when the next tune would come in, what actions the figurines on the clock would do, when the next "woooos" and "ahhhhss" would come from the other fellow tourists. Hahahha.



2) The Beer Hall Putsch (Coup of 1923)



3) Marienplatz (city centre) - where all major brands could be found. In short, a shopping heaven and a sibei crowded place.

4) BMW Musuem







There were so many others that I couldn't remember anymore. Above were of the most memorable. In any case, though there were a lot of "dry" history to listen to, it was nice to have learnt all of that. :) Maybe, just maybe, I would return again during one of the Oktoberfest. :P

To end off, here are some additional pix taken around the city: