18th May
We passed by a souvenier shop the next morning on our way to the London Eye.

Kitty in souvenier shop

The view of the Palace of Westminster was the best from the top. Sadly, it started raining when we were in mid air.

We headed to Chinatown for lunch after the 'flight'. On our way there, we past by the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square etc.

Luch was very cheap, at £5 for a buffet. Quality wasn't the best, but I was satisfied with it. Next up, Covent Garden, then Oxford Street and Regent Street, where we spent most of the afternoon shopping.

All cabs!

On our way back to the hostel, we saw that the protest had swelled in size. Pity I had no idea what was going on.

19th May

Bought a one day pass that includes rides on the Tube and the buses. Our first stop was to Camden Market, a popular distination for tourists to shop at. We went past this interesting place called the Horse Tunnel Market, but most of the shops were closed. When we reached Camden Market, we saw many shops that sold clothes and accessories for low prices. It's the kind of place where you can put your bargaining skills to the test.

After all the shopping, we took the Tube and headed for the British Museum. Free Entry! Lots of things to see, but we weren't too interested in these things.

Batman!

Fish and Chips for lunch! Had to pay extra to dine in.

After eating our fill, we went to the science museum. I can't even remember what I saw inside, so it probably wasn't that good. Hyde Park was next on our list. I'm so in love with the parks in London. They left the deepest impressions on me for the whole trip.

Swee la..We took the bus from the park to Oxford and Victoria Street where we did more shopping. Bus 9 and 15 serve the heritage route, so it was a good alternative to the tube, which runs underground.

Uniqlo in London

20th May

Nearly forgot to take photo with the iconic red telephone booths of London before we left!

I bought some souveniers for my parents and hopped onto the shuttle bus that brings us to Luton Airport. Our short flight to Paris departs at 3.10pm, and we're flying with Easy Jet. Too bad Ryan Air did not operate from London to Paris.

We arrived at 5.30pm at Charles de Gaulle Airport and bought a ticket that would allow us to take the RER train and switch to the Metro to get to Commerce. We were quite lost with the transport system in Paris - there were probably hundreds of stations in Paris alone! BUT the locals were SO helpful!! There was this middle aged man who offered to help when we were staring at the map of the stations available. Appreicated it alot alot alot.

In the RER train

When we reached the station, we had no trouble locating the hostel. The directions given by the hostel's website were clear enough. The 3 Ducks Hostel was cozy compared to the one at London. However, showering was another nightmare all over again. We dumped our bags in the hostel and headed straight for the greatest attraction of France - The Eiffel Tower.

Sunset by the river

To get to the tower, we had to walk along a couple of streets, and then walk along the Seine River, which is supposed to be another tourist hotspot.

When we reached the Eiffel Tower, I was impressed by the sheer size of it. But the colour.... It was kind of a let down.. I had always imagined it to be well polished, shiny and all, but in reality, it was a dull shade of bronze. As we were not going to climb it that evening, we left for one of the most well known shopping streets in the world, Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

We did not manage to spend alot of time there as it started to get dark soon. We turned back, and Xiao Hui spotted the Eiffel Tower in the distance glittering beautifully against the dark skies! It was just stunning! The tower sparkles every hour for a few minutes, and it was a real treat.

At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, there were countless tourists, and countless of peddlers hawking identical keychains of the tower. Extremely irritating.

21st May
The first thing we did in the morning after our breakfast at the hostel was to get to the Eiffel Tower to avoid the queue. We were going to climb it!!
Apparently, we weren't early enough. Queues were snaking from every entrance at the limbs of the tower. No choice but to wait patiently. It took more than 300 steps to reach the first level. It wasn't that tiring, just treated it as a morning exercise. The view was as if it were out of a postcard. Very beauiful.
Then, we climbed up to the second level. Maybe I was a little tired, so I didn't find the view much different from the first level. Things just appeared smaller from here.
The third level was accessible only by lift, which we had to pay to use, but it was worth it. I could see for miles away from there!
After the long walk down, we took our first photos with the tower. Because of its size, it was hard getting it to fit into the frame. The camera had to be positioned almost on the ground, and we could only estimate if the angles were right.Next up, Les Invalides. That's where Napoleon's tomb is located at. I guess we could not appreciate history etc, so we didn't enter. Lunch was somewhere nearby, with the company of pigeons.

Musée d'Orsay, displaying paintings, sculptures etc.

Long walk to Notre Dame de Paris. The atmosphere was surreal. Not kidding. Perhaps it was the grandeur interior and the quietness, even though there was alot of people in the cathedral. We were fortunate to be treated to an organ recital soon after we arrived.

Check out the gargoyles on the building

It was late in the afternoon by now. At the Tuileries Garden, we saw people playing Pétanque. Turned out Xiao Hui played that in her JC. We were invited to have a go at it. Very noob. Haha.

Back at Champs-Élysées, we found the mother of all LV stores

Setting sun near the Arc de Triomphe. Pcture perfect.

22nd May

Still in Paris, but we had to change hostel because 3 Ducks hostel did not have available rooms today. By the time we settled down in the hotel, it was lunch time.

Then we headed to Arc de Triomphe to have a closer look.
Next up, Catacombs of Paris! Probably gonna see something gruesome on our trip! BUT we could not find the place!! Sian.

We gave up after about 2 hours and headed to the Louvre. We heard that visitors could spend days in this world famous museum.

Yes, it was huge and grand. There were countless exhibits on display. Many of them were paintings and sculptures. Of course, we had to see the most popular, and probably the most prized possession in the museum, the Mona Lisa.
The painting was enclosed in bulletproof glass, and people were just crowding around it, trying to take pictures.

Look at the guy on the right

Winged victory

Virgo!
Outside Louvre
Final look at the Eiffel Tower before leaving Paris

23rd May

We managed to make our way to the bus terminal at 6 am in the morning and took another flight to Milan. It was an extremely short flight (it cost us only 5 euros! Including airport tax and we arrived at 9.50am. It took another bus ride to get to the city.

Milan, famous for her high fashion and home to The Last Supper. The Milan Cathedral had an indescribable presence. The sheer size and intricacy that it possessed was breathtaking.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where you can find lots of luxury goods.

Lunch at a restaurant - wonderful taste

More protests

Asti Cathedral

After exploring parts of Milan, we went back to the city square to catch the evening view.

David and Goliath

David fighting the lion

Night time, time to head to the airport again. Am I glad we only a day for Milan.

24th May

Another flight to Rome! Courtesy of Ryan Air. Seriously, why must people clap when the plane touches down?

Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs, quite a mouthful

It's interior

Crap, I forgot the name of this place. Should have typed this 5 months ago.

Freakin hot in Rome at this time

How can we not try the gelato here?? Very shiok ah! Good in this weather. After all, the summer solstice was approaching, and Rome was at the extreme southern end of our trip. :)

Spanish Steps

The Metro stations were dark. It did not smell pleasant as well. Fortunately, the trains were bright and clean. A very stark contrast. Oh, it was hard to find toilets in Rome. After shopping, we went back to the hostel.

There, we met our 2 room mates. They were from Sweden and were here to TRY to watch the Champions League finals. They haven't bought their tickets yet, and were hoping to be able to buy it from others. And they were willing to spend big bucks to get it.

25th May

We took a bus to Castel Sant'Angelo, where we saw a weird shaped building. Turned out it was Castel Sant'Angelo...
Should have read Angels and Demons again before coming to Rome..

Ponte Sant'Angelo

Vatican City - the smallest country in the world.The water is cool and refreshing! The best drinking water I have ever tasted. It's just that damn good.

Great choice of colours

Check out the trains in Rome. We took one of these to Eur Papasolo, then bus 777 to Euroma2, Italy's biggest shopping mall. Nothing special inside though..

Euroma2

26th May

What's a trip to Rome without visiting the Colosseum?

Mercati Traianei

Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

Panteon

Trevi Fountain

Lasagna

One complaint, why do the Italians smoke so much?

27th May

It's a slow day today, maybe because we have spent 3 whole days in Rome already. We just did some mindless walking around the city, and we came across throngs of soccer fans. Today was the day of the Champions League finals, between Man U and Barcelona. Too bad I wasn't a soccer fan.

We arrived at the bus station to take the bus to the airport to catch our flight to Germany. There was a snaking queue already. We were scheduled to take the 6pm bus, but it turned out that the bus before us broke down, so the passengers who missed their bus had to take the next one (ours) instead. People were starting to get pissed off. We were worried that we would be late for the flight.

The next bus arrived at 6.30, and we were the last 2 to be allowed to board! Thank God! We reached the airport at 7.30 and managed to check in for the 8.20 flight. It was a really close shave.

28th May

Ah, a new country - Germany! People asked us why we chose to go to Frankfurt during our trip. It was simply because Ryan Air was flying between Frankfurt and Tampere. Yes, Frankfurt is our last stop in our Europe trip, not counting Tampere of course.

Our hostel was Frankfurt Hostel. It was just a stone's throw away from the train station, but you'd have to throw the stone very hard. Fortunately Xiao Hui spotted the hostel, otherwise we would have walked and searched in vain.

The staff were pleasant, and the rooms were big and airy. Too bad the bathroom was almost always choking.

They had some sort of pasar malam very near the hostel, so we tried the food there. Of course we had sausages! Simple and delicious.
The weather was cool. Perfect! It was a bustling city, full of energy.

Doesn't get any more mobile than this

Relaxing in the hostel

29th May

The breakfast provided was OMG! Bread, ham, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, nutella, honey, cereal, egg, milk, yoghurt, etc etc ETC!!! Buffet style. :)

Ok, frankly, there's nothing much to do in Frankfurt. But I had a great time away from all the arty-farty feel that was rampant all over the rest of Europe. It was nice to see modern buildings for a change. It reminded me of London and home.


We passed the day shopping at Zeil Street and buying food back to the hostel. Then we spent the remaining hours relaxing in the hostel. I read a book and Xiao Hui surfed the net. Song boh..

And I think I saw 2 of the room mates cuddle together on the couch. Cool. They just met only. Haha..

30th May

After a second day of the great breakfast in the hostel, it was time to head back to my second home - Finland. Amazingly, these 2 road idiots managed to find our way back to Lixing's hostel despite being brought there once only, and that was 2 weeks ago. Very proud of ourselves. :)

His apartment was not much cleaner though he was moving out the next day with us. Xiao Hui and I went to the nearby eatery for dinner next.

Being the gentlemen that we were, Lixing and I spent the night at his campus which was a short walk away, and let Xiao Hui sleep in his room.

31st May

We took a bus from Tampere Bus Station straight to HELSINKI AIRPORT!!!!! I could almost smell Singapore already. Sadly, we had to bid Lixing farewell as his flight was on the next day, to France for his internship. Sad man. Really sad.

Here we were, back on British Airways. I had mixed feelings. I would not have a chance to step back in Europe for years, and my 5 months of holidays in Europe would become a memory. Seriously, studying in Oulu was.. a breeze compared to NUS.

On board the plane, I had wine to help me sleep better, and hopefully, by the time I woke up, my dream-like experience would be concluded.