The Lickie

Oh no, I have no time to update my trip to Budapest and Berlin. Now it’s time to travel again. I guess the next time I’m updating this blog will be in Singapore.

This is not really a post about my travelling, but notification of my travel

I’ll be going Budapest, the capitol of Hungary from Sunday to Wednesday. After that I’ll fly to Berlin, capitol of Germany, until Saturaday where I go back to Lyon.

Watch out for more updates when I’m back

This weekend we went to Paris again, mainly to catch the Paris Air Show. This time round is not a long weekend, and I took a day off instead. On Friday, we visited the Lourve, which is the national museum of France and the most visited museum in the world. This is also the muesum that house the painting of Mona Lisa. Although I saw the painting, but it wasn’t as exhilarating as I thought it would be. Maybe I’m already indifferent to the paintings. We only have the time and energy to see the main exhibitions in the muesum. A comprehensive visit will require a few days.

For this trip, we were staying at Hamon’s family friend’s house, which is located at the outskirts of Paris. This is the true China Town of Paris. We met a few old ladies during the evening walk. They admitted that they can’t speak French, but since they are only interact with people who speak chinese, there is no need to learn much French. The family is very homely, and they prepared breakfast and dinner for us (chinese dinner ).  It really reminds me of home.

On Saturday, we went to the Paris Air Show, which is held bi-annually. The air show is actually around for the whole week, but only the last 3 days is opened to public. The entry cost 12 euros. There are a few exhibition halls displaying airspace technology. Further inwards, there are the static displays for various real airplanes. The highlight of this show is the Airbus 380, which  Serial 001 (bought by SIA) flew in the aerobatic display. I actually met the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. I was just 1 handshake away from him… My friends managed to shake his hand.

On the last day, we went around central Paris. The first location is Catacombs of Paris. It was a former mine which was used as a cemetry. It stores bones from several cementries around Paris that was moved into the Catacombs to prevent the diseases from the rotting of the corpses. This is the ideal place for a Fright night. Too bad it is in France

After lunch, we went to Panthéon, the tomb of France’s most famed man and women, including Louis Pasteur and Marie Curie.

I really enjoy this trip to Paris, including staying with the family over the weekend. Even I came to Paris twice, I only managed to visit the major landmarks in the city. I guess I’ll be back someday, especially to the Disneyland.

We went to the Sunday Market at Croix-Rousse. While walking down 3 streets of Sunday vegatable and fruit market, we bought 2 kg of cherries for 4 euros, where each of us get 500g. This is the season of cherries, and they are damn juicy and sweet. Kartik bought this bread that looks and taste like roti prata. We just need some curry to go with it. The market sells a variety of stuff, including poultry, meat, fruits, vegatables, cheese, spices. You will be surpise to learn that French classify rabbits as poultry (they are of the same size). Therefore rabbit meat is sold although with chicken and pigeon. Roast chicken is pretty common stuff that they sell at the market (we bought that a few times on our trips).

Yesterday, my cousin asked me what’s interesting in Lyon. Thinking back, I realised that I spent more time travelling out of Lyon and visiting places within Lyon. I should try to finish up my work and take a walk around the town. It sounds dumb to visit everywhere except the place you stay for the longest time.

We meet up with my cousin, Alice, from Paris. We went to a cosy restaurant (cosy in winter, warm in summer). The price is quite afforable, I ordered the menu of the day which is just 12.5 euros. It comes with: goat cheese on toast with salad, steak in pepper sauce (some cheap cut), and floating island. I wouldn’t say it’s a great dinner (relatively normal food), but it’s fun to meet up with my cousin (especially when she brought maracons from Paris .

Note to myself: Need to work hard to finish up my work, so that I will have time to travel around.

This weekend, we left work early on Friday and took a flight to Toulouse. It is the center of aviation and spaceflight in the past 20 years. More than 35,000 of the city’s 400,000 citizens work in the civil aviation or space industries.

For dinner, we decided to try typical cuisine: Cassoulet. It was duck stew with beans and was quite delicious with some pepper. It comes with a starter (grilled mussels) and dessert (apple pie with ice-cream, drizzled with caramel).

The next day, we took a walk around the town, visited Basilique Saint Sernin. It claims to have the most beautiful pipe organ in Europe (which I didn’t take a photo of it… ).  In the afternoon, we visited the Cité de l’espace, the space museum and educational park. It was in the outskirts of the town, and we had to a 1/2 hour bus to the museum. Although the exhibits are interesting and it has a IMAX Theater, it turns out to more of a kid’s educational centre. Moreover, the tickets are pretty expensive (16 euros).

For dinner, we popped back to our favourite place, the restaurant that we ate the day before. This time we had something simpler: Moules et Frites, which means Mussels and Fries. This is a typical cusine that can be found in the southern part of France, usually near the coastal region, especially at the seaports. It basically just a bucket of mussels cooked with white wine and onions, and a pot of fries. They are surpisingly good, the mussels are fresh, and it combines with the fries to give a fulfilling experience. It’s pretty cheap too, about 10 euros.

On Sunday, we came to the antique market. Initally we thought it was just a flea market, but it’s out of our expectation. Unfortunately I don’t have much luggage space for such stuff, or else it will be great to bring back some of the antiques to put in my room. We spent the rest of the day at Musée des Augustins, which used to be a monastery church, and is today an art museum. It conserves a collection of sculpture and paintings from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century.

The flight back to Lyon is also on the same airline: Easyjet. It was one of the budget airline that flies from Lyon too. Although we did not managed to visit the Airbus as we tried to reserve the tour too late, it was still a fun and relaxing trip.

This was another long weekend with Whit Monday. We stayed in a hotel in the china town of Paris. On the way to Notre Dame de Paris, we  dropped by one of the famous ice-cream store in Pairs, Berthillon Glacier. It claims to have more than 70 flavours. I got myself 2 scoop of honey nougat and liquorice. The price here is comparable to those in Singapore, cost 3.20 euros for 2 scoops of ice-cream.

Notre Dame de Paris proves to me that Paris is really a tourist attraction. It cost 5 euros to climb the tower, 3 euros to enter the treasury, donation box every 5 metres.

We also visited the Sainte-Chapelle, a gothic chapel built for the kings. It was famous for it’s stained glass.

After we met up with Victor, we took a detour to Ladurée, where we bought 24 macarons Although it’s a bit expensive, 2 euros per piece, it was pretty good. Too bad I can’t bring this back to Singapore, it will spoil by the time I get it back.

In the evening, we had dinner at a chinese restaurant in china town. We ordered beancurd in claypot, beef stewm fried vegatables and deep fried pork in sweet and sour sauce. The reason that I didn’t have most of the photos of the meal is that we were too buzy eating the food ;P But the rice is expensive, 2 euros per bowl. The meal was around 13 euros per person, inclusive of the chinese tea which cost 9 euros in total -_-

Actually the night was the highlight of the trip: Moulin Rouge.  It cost 92 euros, that’s why we were required to dress in formal for the show. The show includes 1/2 a bottle of champagne. But it wasn’t as risque as I thought it would be. Actually it looks more like a circus act to me, with miniature ponies and swim with pythons. There are special performances in between the show like juggling or ventriloquist. But I would say this will be my first and last time to the show. Nice experience, but not something that you would want to watch daily.

Next afternoon, we visited Musée d’Orsay, where there is an extension collection of impressionist artworks. Too bad we did not have sufficient time to visit all the exhibitions, only managed to see the important aspects of the musuem.

We went to the Montmartre, to visit the Saint Pierre de Montmartre and catch the view of Paris from the hill top. On the way there, we also passed by the red light district, Quartier Pigalle. Unfortunately, we ran into a group of swiners, who tried to cheat money out of us. They tied a bracelet around our wrist, and tried to demand 10 euros for each of us. I managed to get off paying only 2 euros. In the end, the view from the hilltop was not spectular, we coudn’t even see Eiffel Tower (it was covered by the trees).

On Monday, we took a train down to Palace of Versailles,  one of the royal château of France. However it was closed on Mondays, and we only took a walk around it’s gigantic garden (spanning about 4km across).

Initially we wanted to visit  Catacombs of Paris, but it was closed on Monday too. We visited the Les Invalides instead. It houses the sarcophagus of Napoleon Bonaparte and musuems such as Musée de l’Armée. It has a World War Collection, a medieval armor exhibits, etc. We could spend a whole day here, but we only had an afternoon.

The day ended with a bang at a japanese restaurant to celebrate my birthday. I indulged with tempura (carrot, cucumber, egg plant, sweet potato and prawn) and brochette (pork, beef, chicken, meat balls, beef with cheese) meal. It was pretty good, inclusive of prickled cabbage and mushroom miso soup as starter.

Unfortunately, I had to catch my train back to Lyon immediately after dinner. I only managed to reach my train 1 minute before the train leaves, where everyone was kissing farewell at the door. I had to squeeze through them to hop on in time, just as the conductor blew the whistle to signal the train leaving.

Paris showed me the best and worst side of France. The museums have extensive collections, food is great. But there are swindlers, beggars around and the tramway is filthy. Maybe I met too much trouble in Paris, which gave me a really bad impression of the capital of France.

This is another long weekend, with Ascension Day on thursday. Most people take or get off on Friday. For us, we visited Marseilles, the Summer Palace of France.

On the first day, we took a boat ride out to 2 islands on the Frioul Archipelago. The main point of visit is Château d’If, where the main character in The Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned. The other island just look like Greece, and we trekked up the hill to have a bird’s eye view of the island and sea.

We have 6 pizzas for dinner, which 3 pizzas only cost 10 euros. But it was too much for 5 guys to take… Especially the anchovies pizza was just too salty. I finally got sicked of pizza….

Day 2 was another route-march around the city. We walked around the Vieux-Port thrice, visited Notre Dame de la Garde and Palais Longchamp.

In the end, we rewarded ourselves with Bouillabaisse. It comes with fish soup and 1/2 a lobster, rockfish and 2 other types of fish that I can’t identify. That is one hell of a fishy meal

Saturday we took a train down to Nice again, stopping over before going to Cannes to catch the Cannes Film Festival. I finally met up with my cousin, Alice, who was working in Paris. We were hoping to catch some free films. Unfortunately, there was a short live concert before the film starts. By that time, we have to head back to our hotel.

Sunday was a visit to Monaco, the smallest city-state in south-west europe.  Monaco Grand Pix was held that day, but we did not get any tickets into the stand. It cost 90 euros just for the walk-about tickets, and we need to catch our train back to Lyon. We tried to catch some views of the cars from the top of the hill, but they were smart enough to block off the view -_-

Actually by the time that we were leaving Monaco, some guy who couldn’t get a good view of the cars was trying to sell off his ticket for half price. There was always black market for the tickets to the Grand Pix, just the matter whether you are willing to pay for it or not.

One of the memorable stuff about this trip is the baking heat in the train back to Lyon. We were having free sauna in the train due to the summer heat….

This weekend is the only weekend of the month that we are in Lyon, yet there are something interesting awaiting for us. INSA Lyon and Lyon 1 organised a gigantic funfair event, called INSA 24. Basically there are activites 24 hours a day from Friday night to Sunday night.

I get to try out lots of new stuff, like Gladiator, riding on Sensational Las Vegas (a trill ride that spins you around), etc. Learnt how to play contract bridge too. There are 24 hours events like running marathons, cycling marathons, roller-blading marathons, etc. Performances, sports, sing, everything happens. People around Lyon gathered there for the weekend. At night, there were out-door clubbing and rock concert.

Initially I wanted to go for pony ride, but apparently the pony is too small for adults to ride on (only kids). I am amazed at the level that the event is being organised. Most of the stuff is free, except food and drinks. I don’t think I can ever see this back in Singapore. It’s hell-alot-fun of the weekend

Before visiting the D-Day beaches, we spent a day at Mont Saint Michel, a tidal island with an abbey built on it. The impressive thing is how they managed to build the abbey on the top of the rocks, and it remains standing until now.

For dinner, we tried fresh oysters (which was actually frozen oyster) and mussels. There’re tons of mussels in Normandy, something must try there. But actually I had stomachache from eating oysters. Apparently if you don’t eat raw seafood regularly, your body can’t take the food.

We visited the Memorial for peace at Caen, and got to see the World War II exhibits. It really brough back memories of my secondary history lessons. After going through army, I seem to appreciate what the soldiers in the war had gone through.

From Caen, we drove to the D-Day Beaches 15km away. There are in total 5 beaches with different country landed on each beach – Sword Beach(British), Juno Beach (Canadian), Gold Beach (British), Omaha Beach (USA), Utah Beach (USA). However, the eastern side of the beaches have been turned into a tourism attraction, with horse rides, go-karts and casino -_-

We decided try out more local dishes during dinner. Too bad they ran out of crayfish, and I tried escargot again (probably the last time I’m trying that). It’s have the same rubbery and earthy taste. For the main course is scallop and salmon. Since Normandy has fishing ports, the seafood here is fresh (maybe except oysters). Dessert is Passion of Red Fruits, which is basically berries in cream.

The last morning at Normandy was spent in Bayeux. We visited the Tapestry Musuem, which exhibits a 70m long embroidered cloth, retelling the tale of William the Conqueror, King of England. Too bad cameras are off-limits to preserve the cloth. We also dropped by the largest British war cemetery in Normandy. The last stop was at the Bayeux Cathedral.

Normandy is a place to visit to understand more about the World War II, too bad it has be “polluted” by the tourism industry. Everything is overpriced. Art Musuems are cheaper than the war musuems. Isn’t war history as important as cultural history?

It’s Thursday, and I have to take a day off to travel to Corsica. It is located at the southern end of France, pretty near Italy.

The main residents in Corsica are Italian speaking. That’s why there are active groups in Corsica pushing for independence from France. I’ve heard news of bombings on the island to drive away the French. But tourist aren’t their main target (they need tourism for survival).

We took a morning train to Nice, which is a wonderous beach. We transitted in Nice to take a 5 hour ferry to Corsica.

Finally reaching Corisca after almost a full day of travelling, we decided to have our dinner at a restaurant on the way to our hotel. We went for the cheapest food on the menu: Pizza. However, after the waiter/owner? recieved our orders, his attitude towards us changed completely. Although the Pizzas are great, the service we had from him was atrocious. He didn’t bother to give us any plates for our food nor servicing any plain water for drinking. This gave us an impression that the locals on the island is always looking out for opportunities to leech money out of the tourists. Maybe they thought “Hey, chinese dudes, free cash”, then “Wtf, they speak french and they ordered cheapo food!!!”.

Day 2 was basically a road trip to our next accomdation (we drove around the island). The roads here was a serious challenge to non-local drivers, being windy and narrow. But we still stop intermittently to take photos of the scenery,  especially the sunset. In between, we stop over at a town, Calvi and visited the Citadel. Late night, we finally made our way to our service apartment in Serra-di-ferro.

The next morning was a short shopping trip at the supermarket (you can cook yourself in the service apartment, it’s something like a chalet). We made an hour trek down to a beach near our apartment, and had the roast chicken for lunch at the beach.

In the afternoon, we drove to Bonifacio, which was greatly recommended by our friends. They are famous for their cliffs and sea. Our only regret is that we didn’t manage to catch a boat ride around the cliffs.

On Sunday, we returned the car at Ajaccio airport. On the way to the city, we took a break at the beach, making our GIP France mark on the beach , and enjoying the sun and sea breeze.

At Ajaccio, we visited the house that Napoleon used to live in when he was young. The mission in the city is to take photos of all the statues of Napoleon

The dinner was at a local restaurant that was filled mostly by regulars. But the owner was enthusiastic, the bread and water kept coming. I ordered mussels in fresh garlic, calamari rice and applet pie. The service was great enough for us to tip them (people don’t usually give tips here).

Finally, we took an overnight ferry to Toulon, where we would catch our train back to Lyon. After arriving back in Lyon, the holiday seems too surreal. I really hope that by blogging it, it will remain memorable, not some places which memory of it fades away in time. After visiting too many places, sometimes things just looks the same everywhere.