My Easter Break

This easter was a pleasant gift from heaven.
Unravelling treasures of europe is always delightful I say. Glad that I was able to lug back a bagful of wonderful and fruitful memories of Brussels, Cologne and Barcelona.

BRUSSELS, Belgium

After tolerating almost 14 excruciating (butt-aching) hours on the bus, we finally reached Brussels. Although this was my second time there, I felt nevertheless extremely excited about being in an international melting pot, redolent of european politics. With a different group of travelling companions, namely the exchange students, I managed to experience some other interesting aspects of Brussels in which I didn't had a chance to discover the first time round.

Group photo of us, exchange students.

Mira and I donned in business suits.

The time spent in Brussels was definitely a holistic one. Not only did my sense of political awareness heightened from the seminars and visits of some of the European institutions, I also thoroughly enjoyed myself with the company of exchange students, especially with the Kazakh girls and Renjie aka Jay from China. We made sure we stuffed ourselves with Belgian delicacies- such as its orgasmic chocolates, addictive waffles and succulent mussels.

Mussels in Brussels!

Photos of Brussels here

Apart from visiting some hotspots in Brussels such as the 9 atoms, there was also another place that we couldn't miss-Le Courbeau. It was a restaurant cum bar which turned Coyote Ugly at the strike of midnight. Party animals, those wilder ones, would prop themselves up on the tables and start stomping their feet to the beat of the music. We couldn't help but joined them for 2 consecutive crazy blastin' nights.

Time to let loose

Photos of table dancing here

It was a poignant goodbye when all of us exchange students parted ways and went ahead with our easter plans. Some took the bus back to Aarhus, some headed back home to their countries, and others like me were dying to conquer the rest of Europe .

But we all knew we would meet again very soon..

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GENT, Belgium

Opting for Brugges the last visit, I decided to give Gent a second chance this time. Thus I made a very abrupt and spontaneous decision to visit Gent along with Jay. The freaky thing was that Debbie, my friend whom I was suppose to meet up with in Leuven and then travel to Cologne and Spain, was coincidentally in Gent as well! I mean, what was the probability of me meeting up with Debbie at that same particular Sunday, at the same train station, at the same time? Luckily, my initial plan to aimlessly roam around Gent turned for the better with the guidance from our tour guide, Debbie.

There was an extreme stark difference between Brussels and Gent. Though it was less bustling and city like as brussels, it had it's own beauty that spelled of tranquilty, medieval romance and harmony. I like.

Pictures of Gent here

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COLOGNE ('KOLN'), Germany

I love being in Europe because of the way cities, pardon me not cities, but countries are so interconnected with one another. Whether it's through the railways, roads or by budget flights. Maybe because I come from Singapore and getting to another country can least be easily overcome by planes; of course apart from neighbouring countries like Malaysia and so on as being the exceptions. But I am very fascinated by such sheer convenience!

It took us only 2 hours+ to get to Cologne from Leuven by train. Greeting us as we stepped out of the train station was the famous Cologne Cathedral towering over us. We held our breaths and admired the intimidating looking gothic architecture. Wasting no time and energised with enthusiasm, Debbie, Chao Yuan and I (..reluctantly) climbed up the 500 steps up to the summit of the church. Legs almost like jelly, our efforts were fortunately gone unwasted as we were rewarded with a million dollar view of Cologne. Fantastic, beautiful, gorgeous. Definitely a view to remember for a lifetime.

Cologne also offered us it's famous cuisine- German sausages with sauerkraut(white cabbage fermented with lactic acid bacteria which gives it a sour taste hence the literal translation 'sour cabbage); tickled our sweet tooth with its delicious cakes and pretzels along with the best hot chocolate i've ever tasted; good shopping for a pretty wide variety of birkenstock designs; and an opportunity to wind down at the sculpture park and River Rhine. It was indeed a pretty short and sweet (pun intended) 2 days stay in Cologne .

Chao yuan and I getting high after climbing 500 steps at the Cathedral.

More photos of Cologne here

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BARCELONA, Spain

Barcelona. My dream city fulfilled. Satisfyingly crossed on my to-do-before-I-die wish list. It was a city as what I imagined it to be. Or even more than what I expected. It was THE place that spoilt me the most without drying my pockets too much. Zara, Bershka, Mango and Stradivarius made no hesitation to seduce me. Without goes saying, I was defeated and shopped almost the entire street of La rambla, Le Roca and others along the main shopping stretch. Fortunately with the timely elections just around the corner, the Singapore government gave(bribed!) me my rightfully deserved 'dividends' for the country's economic progress, and hence I had extra $200 sing dollars to spend! What was also very tentalizing was the Spanish food! Paella( pan fried rice/noodles with normally seafood) and tapas (small snacks) such as its spanish omelette, stuffed octopus, greek tomatoes, fried calamari and anchovies never fail to trigger my taste buds whenever I start to think or dream about them. In addition to the above, the weather was such a blessing to this holiday. It was so warm that I could walk around in just a top, bottom and slippers. You have no idea how deprived I've been ever since I arrived in Europe-the weather had been so cold and dreary that my poor legs and arms have not seen the world for months! Yes, it was at times chilly because of the winds, but hey i'm really not complaining as long as the sun shines hokay?

Frolicking at the beach. It looked warm but the darn chilly winds forced, at least, me to put on my clothes in no time. But I withstood long enough to get my desired tan.=)

Barcelona has also its famous late architect, Gaudi, to thank for. Gaudi had embellished Barcelona with his exotic and unorthodox architecture in which till today, has drawn worldwide attention. I think his work has made Barcelona very distinct and carnival like; indeed a pleasurable sight every day. I personally saw several of his masterpiece, such as those in Park Guell,the famous Sagrada Famlia church and other architecture in which I chanced upon while sight seeing.

Me in Park Guell

The three of us decided to make full use of our time in Barcelona to experience what it was renowned for. Such as-

Finding out what was considered life and death to the Spaniards at the FC Barcelona stadium;Taking a 'spiritual' journey through the Montserrat Caves. It was believed that the image of Mother Mary and Jesus Christ was seen in one of the caves.

And what appeared to be just teasing and playing with the bulls as seen in Madonna's Take a bow MTV, turned out to be a real gruesome life and death ordeal.

Until now, the bloody scene of how the bulls were pierced, jabbed and speared to death, still haunts me. I suggest that one should watch it only he or she has the guts to.

Barcelona may seem almost like a paradise, but we must acknowledge that it has some glitches. To caution those who want to head there for your next holiday destination, beware of pickpokets! We witnessed 2 Spanish sneaks blatently trying to unzip the waistpouch of an american couple at the metro station and luckily they gave up their plan when they realised that we had noticed and were watching them.

All in all, I had an excellent time in Barcelona. I had a chance to meet up with Khar Hao (the boy above), a school mate who's doing an exchange in barcelona. He played a real good host by showing us around in whatever spare time he could. Also, I had great travelling buddies, debbie and chao yuan, who took great care of me and of course their quirky company made the trip so much more interesting and fun!

Barcelona's a place definitely not to be missed. I urge all of you to go there if/while u can.

More photos of Barcelona here