FRENCH RIVERIA

The French Riveria or the Cote d'Azur refers to the south-eastern coast of France, dotted with beaches to die for, crystal-clear light turquois water and populated with the rich and famous. During our 3days there, we were based in Nice and made day trips to Cannes, Antibes and Monaco. Cheapos alert: Ok face it, attracting budget travellers wasn't on the agenda of the tourism board in the French Riveria. Hostels (what hostel?) are a rare find in Nice and they are >20euro a night. And there are no hostels in Monaco.You'll understand why when you scroll down.

We flew into Genova in Italy, thanks to a 0.01euro Ryanair flight. Genova is supposed to be real pretty (as seen in Dee's blog) but we were too shacked to explore it after spending a night sleeping on the floor of Frankfurt Hahn airport.

Took a train from Genova to Nice on a EuroCity train, and from Jem's snooze shot you can gauge how comfy it was. BUT the scenary along the way was tooooo beautiful to waste our time dosing off! Check this out, pardon my embarrassing "Wah I want to swim now" murmur.

NICE

A very out-of-place Russian cathedral in the middle of Nice. Strolling along the very very famous Nice beach. If you scrutinize the pic, you would notice that this is not a sandy beach! It's full of rocks, stones and pebbles.The focus is not us. Check out the naked lady behind hur hur. An uncountable number of chicks sunbath naked on the beach. So guys, another incentive to go Nice.Cafes and souvenir shops grace the sidewalks of Cours SaleyaSplendid view of the Nice PortNice beach at night... A unison of water and sky.The famous Negresco hotel, an icon of Nice
CANNES

The annual Cannes Film Festival has brought this sandy-beach paradise into the limelight. A 25min train ride away from Nice, Cannes has more tourists than inhabitants, for sure. About 3/5 of the strip of beautiful sandy beach are private, lined with blue umbrellas and comfy-looking sun beds. Fear not, small parts of the beach are free for the public to laze around and sunbath.

We headed straight for the old town; narrow winding streets filled with restaurants and souvenir shops. Climbed up a small hill to the the castle ruins and enjoyed the splendid view of Cannes from there.

This is the convention centre where the annual Cannes Film Festival is held! Doesn't look that glam now without the red carpet and paparazzis. The top is a helipad!

MONACO
Oh how we love this place! It has a beautiful coastline, interesting history, a damn-famous casino and a real-life (tiny bit screwed up) monachy that you can gossip on a whole afternoon. Psst! For more, please consult Dee the hands-down royal family gossip expert.
?Did you know? The head of this country will always be a "Prince" and not a "King"! That's because a long time ago Monaco signed a treaty with France which states that France will only recognise this place as the "Principality of Monaco" and its leader shall always be a Prince.

The Palace at night...
The St. Nicholas Cathedral, where the royal family has been buried through the years, and also where the wedding of Prince Ranier and Grace Kelly took place. They are buried beside each other inside now. Institut Oceanographique, started by Prince Albert I, partly because he himself was a great seaman.
I was initially quite against the idea of going to another Underwater World kinda place, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise! Aside from the pretty fishes, we saw much on the history of ocean studies and extinct sea animals.
The Coastline behind the Institut Oceanographique

We're in Monte Carlo! How can we possily skip going to the casino!! The most famous casino is 'Le Casino' hur hur. We didn't make it with our sneakers and burms outfit, so we went to Fairmont instead. Had fun and with some luck (phew!) with the Roulette, we walked off with our 35euro winnings :)Night view of Monaco Ville... You can see the Monaco Grand Prix viewing stands in blue.A piece of advice: If you becomes a millionaire in the future and decide to live in Monaco (the tax heaven), please don't buy a black Bentley coupe. On our short bus ride from the palace to Monte Carlo, we saw Porsches, Lambos, Mercs, etc but a stunning 20% of all cars we see are black Bentleys. So, if you don't want your car to look as common as a taxi in Monaco, you know what not to get.

VIENNA

2.5 days in Vienna left us the impression that it is a really cultural city. Classical music, theatre and opera houses galore, this is a place to be if you are at least a tiny bit into music.


First stop, the grand Hofburg PalaceThe Hofburg family ruled Austria for a looong time. A visit to the Sisi Museum was truly eye-opening. Princess Sisi was probably the most famous royalty of all, for her queerness, her suicidal tendencies, her brilliant dark poetry and of course, her tragic assassination.
Night viewWe got up ultra early just so we can squeeze in to the chapel inside Hofburg to watch the famous Vienna Boy Choir for free. Cheepos alert: The boys perform on every Sunday at 9:15am, but be there queueing outside the chapel by 8:15am or you can only watch from a tiny TV outside the chapel! These men you see in front of the alter are by no means the Vienna Boy Choir. Phew. We got a shock when we first saw them sing, so old + not very melodious leh. In fact, they are alter 'men' so they only sing hymms. We got to enjoy the crystal clear, ultra high-pitch singing of the real Vienna Boy Choir midway through the service. They stand right above us so we didn't get a glimpse of them, a price we 'pay' for the free standing slots.

From the inside looking out.Peterskirche. Every St. Peter's that we've been to has really nice interior. The famous street (which we unfortunately forgot the name), lined with stylish cafesThe statue commemorating the PlagueThe great Stephansdom: Note the unique patterned tile roof
We caught a ballet performance at the State Opera House. The interior was pretty impressive and people in the audience were dressed to the t. I can almost picture myself with my taitai gang strutting in our fancy garb to the opera in the future gasp. Cheapo alert: Start queueing for the 2euro standing tickets 2 hours before the performance! After you get the ticket, you will be brought to the standing gallery/balcony to CHOP your place!! No kidding. Bring a paper/broucher/jacket/foldable chair to stamp your presence before going out to catch a quick dinner!

The Opera House at night
After the Opera, we took the Tram around the Ringstrasse. Cheapest way to take in the sights located along the route!
The RathausThe Parliament House Schonbrunn Palace: The instantly-recognisable sunshine yellow palace grace the coveres of Vienna guide books and postcards.Poor trees were victims of conformity. How the hell were they shaved so straight?
The Gloriette perched on top of the hill, which we were too cheapskate to pay to see it upclose. Same same la.Manicured gardensA pity we didn't take a picture of the hugomongous Schnitzel we had for lunch. Wiener Schnitzel (equivalent of Western Food stall pork cutlet) is a famous Austrian cuisine, though we eat it quite often in Germany too. Make sure you (+1 friend) visit Schnitzelwirt Schmidt along Neubergasse, and SHARE a 5.60 euro schnitzel. Value for money, plus the restaurant is fully equipped with Tabao facilities ie. grease-proof paper and plastic bags. How considerate!
A sweet parting shot

PRAGUE

We're back!!

Prague, Vienna and Nice are indescribably beautiful! It was a fantastic trip! Breath-taking sights aside, we (thank god) didn't have any mishaps, no amazing-race-run-for-your-lives experiences. Phew :)

And now, be amazed by Prague!

Staré město / the old town: This little square is surrounded by quaint pretty buildings.

Easter spirit in the air...

Tyn Church by night...

The astronomical clock, a must-see in Prague! Every hour when the the minute hand strucks 12, the 12 apostles appear at the little windows and everyone gets amused by the bell-ringing skeleton. So much so that we watched it thrice heh.There are plenty of lovely open-air restaurants in the old town square. We had an awesome dinner at the Staromeska Restaurant, cheap and yummy!

Check out the goatlet stew and popeye's melt-in-your-mouth spinach. slurp.

?Did you know? Czech Rep is one of the biggest beer producers in the world! And according to the Ryanair inflight magazine, it also has the highest beer consumption in Europe!

Jem loves Pilsner Urquell. 0.5l for 1euro. Walao where to find.

The Art-Noveau styled Obenci Dom

The National Museum2 ramdomly nice cathedrals facing the Charles BridgeChilling along the Vltava River, gazing at the famous Charles BridgeNight view on Charles bridge. Be wow-ed! A glimpse at the magnificent castle we'll be heading to the next morningCharles Bridge is not lit up at night, unlike the beeeautiful Chain Bridge in Budapest. You've got to enjoy the walk along this bridge in the day, with the lively presence of uncountable baskers, artists and craft stalls.
Prague Castle

Changing of guards, the old-fashioned way

The unmistakable twin peaks of St. Vitus CathedralAdmiring St. Vitus from another angle View from the topThe bright red St. Stephen's
Recommended by almost every guidebook to visit for the best view of Prague: we climbed the hill behind the castle in the Lesser Town. What a view!

Nicole, me, Stephanie and Kit enjoying the sunshine..

A stroll along the Vltava River...

A postcard-worthy shot by Jem.A shot especially for dearest Lulu!

PARIS

The amazing view along the Seine River...

This Paris trip was truly a mad rush for us. With just 2 days to explore this historical, romantic, cultural yet modern city, we truly made our legs pay for it and our day-passes more than worth its price. To get there, we took a night bus from Frankfurt, departing at 10pm and arriving at 6am. Being such a deepsleeper, I think I slept through 70% of the journey. Our poor friend Nicole had motion-sickness and puked her guts out (while i was in dreamland) poorthang.

The weather sucked the day we arrived. Rainy and windy, totally not optimal for sight-seeing but we had to make every minute in Paris worthwhile. So, off we went to Versailles Palace...

History students, you remember Versailles Treaty signed at the end of WW2? Ya, this is the place it took its name from.

Lonely Planet says this is one of the most magnificent palace in Europe. Well, even if we factor in the bad weather, this palace still don't come close to being a 'gasp-eyeball-drop-out' kind of place.

King Louis XIV's private chapel

As for the interior, everything was very gold..

Hercules arriving on a chariot...

Versailes has a huuuge garden behind the palace. A stroll in the lush greenery would have been real lovely in the summer, but it was too rainy, windy, cold for us to venture out.

Basilique du Sacre Coeur, at Montmatre Hill Moulin Rouge, located at the foot of Montmatre The Opera House
The weather was brilliant on the second day! We wasted no time and rushed to the Lourve...
It opens at 9am, but common-kiasu-sense tells us we have to queue at 8am, since its a free-entry day. Spot on, we joined the 50m queue at 8.20am, feeling damn smug as we see the line stretch more than 200m by the time we were let in.

Cheapos alert: On the 1st Sunday of the month, many museums are free, including the Louvre!

Hotel de Ville: not very famous, but oh so beatiful!

Ya, I like this place :)

Notre Dame

The Patheon
Taking a breather and chomping on our standard budget lunch: home-made ham-cheese sandwich.Eiffel Tower
You can't help but be mesmorized by this magnificient architechture. It’s hard to imagine that such an enduring symbol of Paris was originally built to last only for the duration of the Paris World Fair of 1889.We started doing the SMU jumps......and our friends thought it's damn fun. Sooo, we stayed there and jumped for half an hour :)Jem's very proud of this postcard-like picture
* France must-try: Eat crepes, especially the Nutella ones. Yummmy!

FLORNECE & PISA

Florence // Firenze

Florence gives us the impression that it is a really cultural place. In fact, I read from some guide that people from Florence consider themselves cleverer than the other Italians. haha snobs.

<-- The coat of arms of Florence (reminds you of scout emblem?)

The most famous sight is definitely the Florence Duomo. Its unique white-green exterior is only seen in Florence! Palazzo Vechio: The intimidating-looking fortress overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which is famous for its replica copy of Michaelangelo's David and many other statues. Here is Fake David.We caught a parade in the vicinity, with people all dressed up in costumes and drumming lively beats.Along the Arno River...
View from Ponte Vechio
Boys fooling around at the water fountain.

Santa Croce: This church looks similar to the Duomo, the same white-green exterior.

It houses the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Dante and other famous people. We were cheapskate and didn't want to pay to go in, sooo here's a peek.

View from Piazza Michaelangelo. Oh how we love this place. Pisa

Pisa has nothing much worth seeing aside from the leaning tower of Pisa. So if you're planning to go there, just save half a day for it, and pack you pinic basket along!

Perfect weather for snapping pictures!

Campo dei Miracoli // Field of Miracles

The Tower from far...A close-up...And then, start posing/ jumping/ kissing/ leaning...

:)

ROME

Hallo, meine Freunde!
missing in action for quite some time, sorry bout that. been busy mugging (gasp!), doing case studies and cleaning the house. err ya, my new hobby is cleaning the house. we use the vacuum cleaner like twice a day. beat the auntiness, mirmir.
anyway, updates on the holy city of Rome. the weather was so-so, aside from the glorious sunshine we had on the day we visited the Vatican. thanks to the fantastic company of our 9 Bocconi amicis, our trip was zuuuper! (with heavy german accent)

Coloseum

The Roman Ruins

This block of pillars used to be the Roman treasurey. And behind this, there is a small clearing, where my Lonely Planet guide book says that Marc Anthony made his famous 'Friends, Romans, countrymen' speech!The Vatican City
The Mecca of Catholicism. Was really really thrilled to be in the Vatican, especially since i dig Dan Brown novels AND i'm neither catholic or christian. The night before, i researched online the various 'Angels and Demons' tours and 'Da Vinci Code' tours, hoping to prep myself for the day trip to the Vatican.
*Don't forget to bring your passport.
- St. Peter Basilica
Inside St. Peter'sKudos to the 4 of us who climbed 500+ steps to the top of the cathedral! Magnificient view from the top...- Vatican Museum
It is sooo huge, we took about 3+ hours to make it to the exit. By that time, our feet were aching (for obvious reasons) and our necks were stiff from gazing at the freascos and paintings on the ceilings. And we still sigh in amzement what an eye-opening this museum was. The highlights would certainly be Raphael's Rooms and the Sistine Chapel (ya u read that in Da Vinci Code!)

My favourite painting: The School of Athens by Rapheal
It depicts ancient Greek philosophers, many of whom we know like Pythagoras (a2 +b2 = c2!), Aristotle, Plato, Socrates...

The Disputation of the Blessed Sacrament by RaphaelThe Sistine Chapel was just amazing. The frescos, paintings onthe ceiling and of course, The Last Judgement by Michaelangelo. Everything was just perfect, except for the fact that the guards were really hostile; kept scolding people for taking pictures and SHHH-ing everyone. And ya, no pictures.

Trevi Fountain
The most spectacular of all Roman fountains. The story goes that if you throw a coin into the fountain over your left shoulder you will return to Rome again soon. And as for the second coin you throw, make a wish and it will come true!
Posing at the Spanish Steps


Santa Maria Maggiore
Sunset at Gianiccolo Hill

Some extrasss...

Guofeng's statue Jem's irresistable Baci ice-cream. Damn unglam.Kiasu Singaporeans caught in action. "Nice ah? OK take picture first. Later tell me the story."

Having Chinese dinner in Italy.