Nou Camp

One of the biggest reasons why I wanted to go to Barcelona was to visit Camp Nou, home stadium of FC Barcelona!

Having been to both Bernabeu and Camp Nou in the same visit, I think Bernabeu feels slightly taller and their tour is more systematic and their display is better organized, more to see and commercialized. But Camp Nou organized something a little cheesy but to me, was the biggest difference between the 2 stadiums.

For Bernabeu, we would exit from the playing field into the dressing room for viewing. In Camp Nou, we exit the dressing room into the field and they play crowd noise at the exit. I think for soccer players, you will understand what I mean and it was that experience that made me feel that the Camp Nou tour was messy but more catered for the EXPERIENCE.

I also got to hear how the song of Barca was sung and their use of technology in terms of their videos, touchscreens was really good.There was this incredible video room that was really huge and showed some of the past highlights of the previous Champions League - it was cool. I took a video of it, as a photo just won´t do it justice.

Overall, I loved the experience of coming here and I learnt a lot about FC Barcelona from the visit - it was the first place i went upon reaching Barcelona! that was how much I wanted to come here. I think I spent about 3 hours here and oh.. I got to lift the Champion´s League trophy (no picture though)!

Lack of posting

One reason why I couldn´t really post in Barcelona was because the computer usage was till 11pm and I was seldom back in the hostel by 11pm. We could use it till about 1130pm but usually I only have like 10 mins to do a bit of surfing on the next day´s activities.

So, why was I always out late? This was because the nights in Barcelona only starts at 10pm! I was either out drinking with David and the girls or visiting some sites at night (like the first night for the San Jant festival). I don´t have pictures for the night site for the last night, but I do have pictures for the night out with David and gals.

At the end of Barcelona

When it was time to leave Barcelona, I left it feeling a little sad, as I made several good friends on this leg of the journey and spent time with them either exploring the city or having dinner. Below, I have the pictures of David, Cecelia and Lexi and there is one other person whom I haven´t uploaded the pictures of, and he was called Owen.
David is from Canada, near Quebec, in a town called Rimouski (i think) and he is a social worker too.. lol. Cecelia and Lexi are sisters and they are Australians. They are from Sunshine Coast, but currently Cece is based in Sydney and Lexi is in London. Owen is from China, Canton area, so we kinda hit it off as we could converse in both chinese and cantonese, but he is currently a student in Macau University - if I go Macau, I have someone who can bring me to nice places to eat there already.

Out of everyone, I got to hang out with David the most as we arrived just a day apart and we kinda wanted to see the same things. I can only post those photos later as I have to upload them first.

Because of the nice company I had, it was kinda sad to leave Barcelona as it would have been great to explore more of the place with them. We did agreed to keep in contact if we ever go to each other´s country (though I suspect it will be a long time before I go Canada...).

Crazy First Night

As I need to run off to go to see Sagrada Familia, I will post a very short one.

Last night was San Jant Night or something like that and it was a really crazy festival in Barcelona. I was all washed up and ready to get into bed at 1015, but when I learnt of the fiesta, I just changed and ran out without a map.. lol... to the beach and it was amazing.

So many people were there and there was lots of fireworks setting off and the whole city was filled with loud bangs, like kenna attack like that. But it was crazy and the first night that I was out in the city till 2am in the morning.. hahaha.

Going on to Barcelona Tomorrow

Today was not a good day in San Seb as it was chilly and rainy the whole day.. so sianz, cos cannot go to the beach. Hopefully I will get to do so in Barcelona.

Thus for today, it was a day of resting and also to wash stuff so that I will have enough for the remainder of the trip.. ate quite a bit of pinxtos today, I think I will stop eating them in Barcelona for a couple of days as they are expensive and not very filling...

I can´t believe that my trip is coming to an end soon.. time really flies when you are enjoying yourself. Hopefully I get to blog when I am in Barcelona, as I believe there will be lotsa things to see and I feel energized to go again after resting here in San Seb. I do agree with May though, travelling on my own for one month is a little too much after a while, but nevertheless, it has been fun. I should be going Nou Camp tomorrow!!!!! Very excited about it but it will be after a 5 plus hours train ride.. lol.

Segovia - Recap

Let me recap the first place I went to in Spain, and that was Segovia. This is a small town about an hour away from Madrid and the highlights of this place was the Alcazar, the Church as well as an imposing acqueduct which was still standing. Also, this place was famous for its Cochinillos, which was roasted suckling pig.


I took this picture at a tower of the fort, otherwise known as the Alcazar. It was an interesting place and it talked about the significance of the fort. Inside were many suits of armour and it was a very interesting place because of its history behind it.

The picture below is that of the acqueduct and it is an imposing figure in one of the plazas there at Segovia. In fact, many people were sitting around in the presence of this imposing igure, bidding their time to chill out.

Besides the 2 attraction mentioned above, there was also a cathedral which was one of the biggest which I have seen in Europe so far. I took photos inside, but I don´t have space to put everything here, so I will only place what I took of the cathedral at night.

I also tried out the cochinillo and thpough it was quite expensive, it was incredibly nice tastng. It´s like roasted pork with a crispy skin and it was not dry. It was so excellent that I finished it until there was literally nothing left.

Segovia was a wonderful little town that was rather nice to just walk around and explore. There were like 30 small museums and chapels but I just visited the main ones because I wanted time to chill and people watch instead.

Not so Sunny San Sebastian

Today San Sebastian was very cloudy and I didn´t stay at the beach much because it was rather chilly. I heard that it would rain tomorrow. I hope not because I want to go to the beach to chill and swim.

I enjoyed today though, because it was a rather chill out day. I didn´t need to go to museums, no fix timing to follow, just wandering around the streets of San Sebastian. It was nice just to walk around and do basically nothing.

I tried out some tapas today, and in San Seb, they are called pinxtos. They are not cheap, but very nice tasting and I guess, eating them once in a while should be alright.

That´s foie pinxto with some apple compote. I didn´t like foie gra in Paris but this one was pretty sublime. This was eaten at La Cuchura. I think I will eat at La Cepa tomorrow. I walked around their bar today and the pinxtos look great!

Spain

Allo! I am currently in sunny San Sebastian and it is a beautiful place with beautiful beaches. For once, museum and church visiting is not the highlight and instead, it is the beautiful beaches that it has and the wonderful food that is available. The people here can´t speak much English but they are very warm and willing to try to understand and explain... so much better than another country which I had posted on previously. Haha.

For people who are interested in topless beaches, I think you have to make a trip here, from my estimation, I think half of the people at the beaches just parade their assets and I think it is quite the norm here. I hestitate to take pictures of the beaches because I don´t know if people will feel offended, so I don´t have much pictures of it...yet. Also, the sun is hot but there´s a cool sea breeze, so I think it is still alright. I can´t wait to go swimming tomorrow, I think the sand and water is gorgeous. John and LL, I think it was hotter in Madrid.

Before coming here, I have also visited Madrid. The highlight of that trip was probably visiting Santiago Bernabau (mebbe I spell wrongly.. can´t be bothered to check). It was supposedly the most decorated team in Europe and also the most prestigious of ALL Spanish clubs - Real Madrid. They started off as Madrid and the Real actually means Royal, so they are actually quite atas. I will agree till I reach Barcelona anyway. Haha. It was an interesting eye opener and it was a damn big stadium, so hopefully there is a time when I can come back to watch a match. Most interestingly, it was a stadium very near the city centre, so it was very accessible and I guess people living near the stadium can get lotsa excitment when there are matches.

As I have the use of the computer here and I have more time (finally, a place I am spending 3 nights in a row!), I will try to blog more often and add more pictures. For now, I am beat and want to wash up, so that´s all for now. Only 10 days left.. *sigh*

Slight Change in previous post

I just did a change to a previous post because I was told by my dear colleague that I better not post the smoking thingy, but I also didnt want to remove it, so I just changed the name with stars in it. For those in the know, just ignore and for those not in the know, just ask me in private. Haha.

A Random Post about Paris

In Paris, there was a day where my dear friend Andrew recommended us to go to eat at this place in Saint-Paul called "Saint Paul Something" or "Something Saint Paul". He said it was one of the best meals he had there. I think it was steak.

Anyway, me, John and LL went to Saint Paul to look for this place. As we were in Saint Paul, most places had "Saint Paul Something" or "Something Saint Paul" in them. We narrowed it to these 3 places:


Was it -
Or.....

Or.....

All 3 had menus that didn't even look close to having steak. So we did in the end found wifi and messaged dear Andrew. We also asked him if it was this one as it seemed the closest to what he said -


His idiotic reply was: "Hmm.. Le Bucheron sounds familiar..." and "Haha."

Thanks a lot my dear friend - lesson learnt: Don't listen to Andrew about places. He is crappy about them!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam - Simply said, I love this place. Above is the train station and this was the start point of many things, as it was central and it was very tourist friendly as the information was just 50 meters away in front of it. It was confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes easy. Why do I love Amsterdam? I can't really give an explanation, so perhaps the best way to describe it is - it's a vibrant town and as a city, it has everything, from nature, to sleaze, to nice building, to the arts, to late night parties etc. It feels like, as I told a friend, a mixture of Naples and Venice - simply crazy.. lol. Below are 3 things that stand out for me about this place.

After coming here, I think Rembrandt is a genius. I mean, Van Gogh was great, but I just find Rembrandt to be easier to understand and someone who was able to make his paintings outstanding by the use of light. I mean, using light is an easy concept to know, but to be able to harness it is not easy. In photo taking, it's already like tough, but Rembrandt could harness it in his drawings, so it was really cool - so I look at him in a different light after this trip!

The RED LIGHT DISTRICT - I couldn't really take a picture, so this is the best that I can do. It's a real crazy place, but the prostitutes mainly didn't look super pretty so not sure what markets them, and I think they are really professional or thick skinned cos many people just gawk at them and they gotta continue posing and preening. I think they have cleaned up quite a bit of their practices because frankly, I think Geylang is more sleazy than here. I came here twice, once around 5-6pm but there wasn't much action, so I forced myself to come again around 11pm the second time and it was very different. The whole stretch became alive and had so much more prostitutes standing around. Very interesting!

WINDMILLS!!!!! I went to Zaanse Schans to see Windmills and it was really cool - I was happily bouncing around this small area as I could see the windmills and enjoy the nice walk at the sorta country side like place. This was definitely a touristy area, but they tried to keep as much of the country charm, so they are forgiven. All I gotta say is, I love seeing the windmills and makes me feel that I am REALLY IN HOLLAND!!!

There are still many pictures that I can post, but I can't do everything in one sitting, so I will randomly add things as I go along, I have to jump places because if I chronologically place everything, then I should still only be posting about Bruges... haha

Smoking M*******a

Hi, before I post anything else, I have to post about what I did last night in Amsterdam. Nothing fantastically monumental, but still something I haven't done before - I smoked last night and my first step was to jump straight into smoking m*******a. I don't have a picture of me smoking, but I do have a picture of the smoke mates - the one who bought it was Sandra (on the left) and the lady next to me, Emma was the one who taught us how to do so properly... haha!
I can't say that it was very nice, but it was interesting and after a while, I started seeing things in slow-mo. I was watching City of God for a bit afterwards and it was an interesting movie in slow-mo.. haha. Anyway, I only had half a stick (or less), so nothing too serious. I also can't understand why people like smoking too but oh well.
Anyway, to talk a little of the people above, Emma and her friend (the one next to her), Candice are from Melbourne Australia and they are on a 6 weeks trip through Europe. They are going Brussels and Paris next - my trip in reverse! Haha.
Sandra is a Taiwanese from Hualien and we talked a lot coz we can speak Chinese and it was kinda fun to do so after all the English and Dutch. She is a student in France and is on a month long travel too - she's going to Berlin, Sweden, Copenhagen and Norway after this I think. She is an amazing traveller - she sleeps at train stations and is planning to write a sign and ask for accommodation in Norway - kudos to her. Anyway, she was the one who wanted to smoke and I asked if it was alright to share and that's how I got to smoke M*******a - she's a bad influence..
Ok, I will post more on my trip than just about m*******a. Amsterdam is not only about that!

Leaving Belgium

Today I will be leaving Belgium, with this part of my journey done. I wished I had brought my own laptop because the ones I use her have their letters in different parts. Above is a picture of Antwerp´s Grote Markt, which is a beautiful square and arguably their most famous square. I am kind of neutral... I should have visited enough Markts for now.

However, I do feel kind of sad leaving Antwerp. The B & B I am at is wonderful, with the lady Mia being a kind lady who has been very helpful and also very good to talk to. I kind of wished I was here for a while more.... kinda amazing because she used to do social work too. Haha.

Today I am going off to Utretcht! Hopefully I can post again and more next time!

So Far.....

I am currently in Antwerp but previously was at Paris, Bruges and Brussels. Somehow, my pictures cannot rotate so I can only pick what I have - a picture with John and LL at Arc De Triomphe.

I cannot believe myself saying this, but I liked Paris. I do not fancy the people too much still but the city is beautiful and there are lots to see. I will post more pictures later when i figure out how to rotate pictures!

Geneva, Switzerland

Got to Geneva via the first Emirates Flight to Geneva and I must say that it was a 19 hour journey which was ULTRA tiring! Dubai Terminal 3 transit terminaln was extremely crowded and like got nothing much to do, not looking forward to the return journey.

Currently staying over at John's place here in Geneva - the house hasnt changed much, and I think neither has the city, but it is freakishly cold today. We drove past this place on our way to dinner - "The Broken Chair" - according to LL, it's a symbolism for opposition against landmines, etc. It was very windy as you may be able to tell from the picture

Dinner was at Cafe Du Soleil - where we had great cheese fondue and asparagus which was in season!