First, updates on my December Eurotrip. I visited (in cronological order) Rome, Vatican City, London, Nice, Monaco, Cannes, Marseille, Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Triberg am Schwarzwald.
I don’t intend to do an entire entry on each individual city I visited because there’s just too much to write about. So I’ll just briefly highlight some key points of the trip.
Rome: One of the worst trips made. The Roman ruins were amazing but that sadly is all the city could offer. I felt there’s was a lack of respect in Rome. People spat on the streets, tracffic laws were basically inexsitent and touters swarmed the streets. Staying in a bad hostel made things even worst. I came back to a hostel in blackout and beds stacked away like it had been running an illegal business (which could be the case because the owner had to visit a government office to settle the matter). Everybody in the hostel had to move to another hostel which was really terrible. Stayed for too many nights too many in Rome. It gave me a very bad impression of Italy. And to think visiting the Vatican City would be a Holy and Reverend thing to do, well, it wasn’t, at all. I did see the Dalai Lama in Rome when he was checking into a hotel and that actually felt more spiritual. I must admit though, Italian food is fantastic and didn’t have a single bad meal in Rome.
London: London is simply fantastic. Perhaps I’m biased because I’ve been away from home for so long I found it very comforting and a strong sense of familarity when I was in London. The cars drive on the left side of the road, the instructions are in English, talking to people had never been easier. Besides that, London has amazing museums and they are all free! I could spend hours just visiting some of the museums but I simply didn’t have enough time because there was just so much to see and do. Street theatre’s great, the markets at Covent Gardens, Portobello, Camden Lock were so great fun. Not to forget to mention visiting Wembley and Emirates Stadiums. Thoroughly enjoyed London and I didn’t really want to leave!
French Riviera: Met Winston in Nice. We took it easy in the Riviera. The beaches in Nice are interesting because it has pebbles instead of sand. The weather was good. Monaco is a nice country, but heck what am I talking about, the rich and famous stay there. The Cannes film fest building is darn ugly. Marseille was pretty decent too. The church on a hill that could be seen from the main station was quite an amazing sight. It is the ports and the beaches that really make these places really nice.
Paris: Yes, the Eiffel Tower is overrated. It is pretty in the night, but freezing cold too. Food and bread is alright, not as spectacular as expected. Paris isn’t exactly a very romantic place, there are drunks all over the city and dog poo ALL over the place! A crazy woman was singing “Heal the World” at the metro while being surrounded by Police, quite a funny moment actually. Parisians aren’t that bad as people normally say they are. We had lunch with a Parisian and learnt a bit about Paris from him. Lourve was fun but at that point I could feel a little fatigue from all the travelling. The ice skating performance on our last night there was awesome.
Luxembourg: Wealthy country that’s really interesting because the city is in a valley. One side is pretty modern and other is what looks like an old town where weirdees could be seen. Stopped by to have local Mettwurst for lunch.
Brussels: Comic strip walls and Christmas markets selling square waffles. Taking picture with a boy peeing on my head, no foul play there. Visited Mini-Europe which was really educational. The highlight for my Brussels trip and possibly my December trip is catching a girl in my arms preventing her from falling.
Amsterdam: In terms of governence, it is the exact opposite of Singapore. The Dutch are nontheless very nice people. Sadly, central Amsterdam, especially areas in the inner circle are really touristy and rowdy and insecure. Visiting the outskirts of Amsterdam was very nice. We spent our Christmas in Amsterdam and I’d say we’ve been bad and I wasn’t surprised went Santa didn’t leave any presents for us on Christmas morning. We spent Christmas at the infamous red light district (overrated) and I got drunk, throwing up in the hostel. Felt like shit the next couple of days.
There’s actually lots of stories about the trip but I guess it’ll be more fun if I did the storytelling live so I leave it here for now.
We came back to Stuttgart on boxing day. I was totally beat out. I managed to conjour some energy to leave for Strasbourg and Schwarzwald a couple of days later. So gald I did because although it was terribly cold, it was a lot of fun. I really like the natural sights of Europe and trekking through the black forrest was very satisfying.
In a few days I’ll be back in Singapore. For now, there’s plenty of cleaning and packing to do. Later we’ll be going for new year countdown. I went cycling along the Neckar river earlier in the morning and recalled 5 months ago I was riding along the same track for the first time. Time flies went you’re enjoying yourself.
