da-da-da come on baby we ain't gonna live forever

Europe Summary Wednesday, June 07, 2006 7:09 PM

Met up with the Europe gang to consolidate our pics tog! Took almost 4 hours to compile everything. Whew... The pics are so pretty! Such great memories it brought back, and I'm only back for wad, less than 4 days and I'm missing all these already! Argghh...

I'm gonna write a real short summary of what happened in Europe. Do pardon me, my memory may fail me alittle and I don't intend to spend the rest of tonight writing about the experiences! haha.

Fire Away!!

17th May-- Changi Airport

So our flight's at 3.25 am. And the 6 of us arranged to reach the airport at 12 midnight. But guess what? The NTU Market turned up at the departure hall to send us off! U guys shouldn't have!! So touched. Seriously surprised. Thanx to everyone who made their appearance at the airport esp Roger who's still healing his injuired leg and Alvin who had to work the next morning. And so we boarded our Emirates Flight to Dubai!!

17th May (UK time) -- London, Gatwick Airport

The flight 14 hrs flight was a torture. Luckily there was a break in between at Dubai Airport. So when we arrived in Gatwick, we had to make our way to Royal National Hotel in Russell Square, Central London. Jamie pre-booked our Express Train tix so we just needed to board the train. But things got a little chaotic when we reached Victoria Coach Station. Ade and I went frantic when we saw the flight of steps that we had to climb at th tube station. Imagine me lugging a 20kg luggage up and down the steps! So unglam but it didn't hit me the worst. It was Ade. hahaha... More of that later! We had a Contiki briefing at the London Cafe in the hotel. It was the 1st time when we met Claire, our tour manager and the rest of our tour-mates. Scan Scan Scan: wow!! So many pple in our group! and we spotted only 2 Chinese! OH no!! But what the heck.

18th May to 29th May -- Contiki!!

Alright! If I were to break down the 12 days part by part, it'll be too much! So let's just group them ALTOGETHER. In the 12 days, I left my footprints in Amsterdam, Rhine Valley, Munich, Austria Tyrol, Venice, Rome, Florence, Switz Lucerne, Paris and then back to London. To describe it all: It's EXHILIRATING!! Every moment of it!! We were on the coach averagely 3 hrs daily just to travel from place to place. There were a total of 47 of us on the Contiki tour group and we met Australians, Canadians, Americans (duh), South African (there's only 1 of him and it's enough), and of coz SINGAPOREANS. We were known as the Singapore 7s at the end of the whole trip. haha. The friends we met on the trip were really fun-loving pple and great company! Had such crazy times on the coach just singing our DAY SONG: "No Tomorrow by Olsen". It just keeps ringing in my head and even as I'm writing this, the song's on Repeat Mode in my itunes. LOVE IT!!

Maybe I should just note down some classic moments in Europe. More interesting for u guys that way. hmmm... where should I start? OH!! Amsterdam! Red light district was a real eye-opener! Coffeeshop vs Cafe, Barbie Dolls, Triple Rated Sex Shops, Sex Shows... whew... I'm glad I'm over with that.

Munich is all about BEER! German beers ROCK! I hate drinking beers but somehow, the german beer we tasted was smoother, freezier and lighter? haha. We went to the infamous Beer Hall in Munich. I'll just call it HB (forgot the full name) and it's the biggest beer hall in Munich. It can house thousands of customers and they serve the BEST PORK KNACKLES ever!! Oh yay! I don't ever touch those stuff in singapore but they tasted heavenly! Germans cook the best pork!! The pork steak tasted like fish!! of course I had my fair share in tasting german sausages but pork was fantastic!

Austria Tyrol is is the place where I had my water rafting!! we conquered 12 rapids and each rapid's named! Can't recall all of them but here's some names: Kick-ass, Standup, Postcard, Iron Bridge, Construction, Fallout, Swirlpool, Gordon Jaws... I think this was the highlight of my trip. Enjoyed the whole experience. It took us about 1 1/2 hrs to reach the end and but in between each rapid, we had time to admire the breath-taking sceneries around us. Austria's a beautiful place. Totally postcard!! Imagine travelling thru the river and surrounded by mountains and more mountains. ahhh.....

Venice is a really romantic city. We sat on the gondola ride and "cruised" along the city. Peaceful, except for the times when the "gondolians" were shouting across to other "gondolians". haha. The architecture at the St Mark's Square was pretty grand and we had quite a bit of time walking around the city. Claire said we should try getting lost in Venice coz the alleys are the place where we find the most interesting stuff. It's true I tell u guys!

Rome... I've been there so when the guys were in Sistine Chapel, I opted out and walked around on my own. Of course I re-visited the Trevi Fountain to make a wish so that I can go back to Rome. It was my 1st time seeing the Pantheon and visiting St Peter's Square. Saw the Pope coz he's out for Wed session. Didn't make it into the Basilica unfortunately. Darn... but no worries, I'll be back! I really don't get tired of Rome. Too many things to see. It's like everything that you see and touch is part of history.

Florence is enchanting. Yup! Enchanting's the word. TOo bad I didn't have enough time at that place. I think I'll fall in love with Florence if I had more time. I can't quite explain why I like that place. I just do. We had a sight-seeing tour with the local guide who brought us through the city central and explained to us the statues and architectures that we saw. Later that night was the Tuscany dinner which I paid 38 euros for. Wasn't quite worth the money esp when I'm embarrassed by the little incident that happened over the dinner. Quit talking about it. Move on!

Lucerne. Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland. I LOVE THIS PLACE! Heard so much about it, it's probably the only reason why I wanted to go to Europe so much. Chocs to die for and the sights..oh the sceneries just blew me away! We took a cable up to a mountain. Caught sight of a Brazilian flag far away near the bottom of another mountain. Apparently, the Brazilian team was training for the World Cup. Cool!!

Paris. what's a trip to Europe w/o Paris? We were at Champs Elysees. Saw the Eiffel Tower. It sparkles at night!! I love it when it's all glittery and sparking, otherwise, it's just like the tower I see at mt faber everyday. hahahahaha.... We also went to The Louvre. and yes! I saw the mona lisa painting. I actually had goosebumps all over when I saw it for the 1st time. I had no idea why!! Anyway, we also visited the Notre Dame, beautiful cathedral!!! it's even more grand than the one I saw in montreal but somehow I thought the one in montreal had nicer stainglass. anyway, yupz! they are still having services at Notre Dame despite the huge infloods of tourists. I admire that! We CLIMBED up the Arc De Triomphe at night. A total of 200 over, nearly 300 steps to get to the top. A test of our stamina. haha.. but it's worthwhile coz we saw the Eiffel Tower SPARKLING at night.

So that was the end of the Contiki tour. Shall blog abt London another time.