Life changing event

Okay, due to popular demand, let me dedicate this post to detailing a recent event that opened a new chapter in my life...

So, it all started when....

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(key: you can't miss it)

Europe trip summary

Finally, after 2 months, I managed to finish blogging about my Europe trip!! Woohoo!! To summarize the trip, it was a fun and great. I am glad that I did it, and it was really like sampling Europe, since we did the whole thing in about 2 weeks. Now that I have learned more about the continent, I will know where to revisit in the future.

Of course, the trip won't be great without the 2 buddies that traveled with me. Here I wish to thank them for making the trip interesting. Hope we will get more opportunities to travel together in the future.

I don't know what took me so long to finish the travelblogging, but actually lots of things have happened in the past 2 months. I am still pondering if I should blog about a life-changing event that happened late January, or straightway jump to blogging about my very recent Yosemite-Las Vegas-Grand Canyon trip. We'll see!!!

London

London was the most disappointing city in my list, despite the fact that my expectation was not high in the first place. The city struck me as uninspiring and dull not only because of the weather, but the lack of soul and perceived personality. I should say that such opinion is highly subjective, and I bet a lot of people would beg to differ. The thing is, I was probably wrong since we didn’t really have the time, spirit and mood to have a good look at the city. We were so worn out and lazy that the only places we went were the Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Windsor Castle. We didn’t even go to the Parliament House and the Tower Bridge.

On the side note, here I should extend my gratitude to Ren Jie’s aunt and family for their hospitality. Not only they took time to fetch us from the airport, they let us stay in their house and cooked meals for us. We were very well fed and taken care of. Each of us even got a Christmas present from them!!! Ren Jie’s aunt really reminded us about the warmth of home and family. Thanks a million!

Trafalgar Square

Big Ben

The London Eye

Poor guard in front of Prime Minister's residence

On our way to the Windsor Castle

Walls of Windsor Castle

Entrance to Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle!

Paris!!

Paris is another exciting metropolis saturated with cultural elements that make it one of the most romantic and happening city in the world. Although I do not like the fact that French has this inexplicable pride to their culture to the extent that they exude a sort of xenophobic aura, I do love the city of Paris. It is sufficiently big, it is well planned and organized, it is the hub of almost all aspects in Europe mainland, and it seems to have a vibrant pulse that pumps through the spiraling boroughs of the city. One can almost find everything here; iconic landmarks, awe inspiring cathedrals, important museums, major galleries, famous parks, interesting shows, operas and concerts, fine food, great universities, romantic rendezvous, uber-urban downtown, glamorous fashion and you name it, all packed in this magnificently beautiful city.

We live in Hotel Luxia, a small 3-star hotel just blocks away from the Sacre-Couer. We intended to spend our first night in the airport, but unfortunately the airport closes at midnight, so we resorted to find a small sketchy motel nearby and settled in before we checked out early next day. To make long story short (frankly don’t remember a lot about the details), we visited most of the attractions in Paris a la walk horse see flower.

We tried to be fancy too in terms of dining, wanting to experience the classy French-style dining experience. Hence one of our nights we walked around trying to look for a chic yet affordable restaurant. After much observing, we decided to go to this restaurant which offered a 20 euro dollars 3-course set. We were impressed when we read the menu; it was donned with indecipherable French words that seemed to be depicting posh and fine cuisines. Excitedly, we each picked our choices and waited with anticipation. We got a jug of white wine to go with the food too.

Disaster happened when the server, an old fat guy who was probably also the owner of the restaurant accidentally spilled some fish sauce on the right sleeve of Shermern’s favorite sweatshirt. In an attempt to make things right, the old man stopped Shermern from wiping it off himself. Instead, he grabbed a tablecloth and used it to clean Shermern’s sleeve. God knows how clean the tablecloth was. Shermern must have let out a muted scream; he was giving a look of horror mixed with disgust. As for me and Ren Jie, everything happened so fast that we could only suppress our laughs and watch the comedy unfolding itself.

That was not all. We got our wine, and due to the fact that Ren Jie doesn’t drink much, Shermern and I drank quite a bit and were soon getting tipsy. When Ren Jie reached over in attempt to take some food from Shermern, he accidentally knocked down Shermern’s wine glass and spilled the white wine all over Shermern’s left sleeve. At this point, I just lost control and laughed unstoppably. It must have been the wine laughing; because how would one laugh when these sort of unfortunate things occur? But well, Shermern didn’t mind and was actually laughing himself too. We must have looked like a bunch of drunkards losing control. Indeed that was one of the favorite moments of my Europe trip.

Okay, enough of anecdotes; let's look at the photos:

Entrance of Musée du Louvre

Paying homage to Mona Lisa

Arc de Triomphe

Paris! City of Lights!! Eiffel tower!!!

Sacre Coeur

The hunchback of Notre Dame...lol. Come to think of it I should hunch a bit to add some effect...(ok in case one doesn't realize, this is intended to be self-deprecating)

Interior of the great Gothic cathedral

Upper chapel of Sainte Chapelle, deemed to be the most beautiful chapel in Paris

Pantheon of Paris (Entrance built with the original Pantheon in mind)

Interior of Paris Pantheon

Macho guy beside the phallic structure