Trip Summary : London & Dublin
London photo gallery : http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/london.htm
Christmas 2004 ended with a trip to London. We found a deal with British Airways where we go 2 nights of free hotel in central London with our roundtrip plane ticket. In the end we paid less than USD$200 each for a week in the British capital, which was quite a good deal given how expensive hotels are.
We did a walking tour from our hotel at Russell Square to the Thames. We were all quite tired from the overnight flight since we barely slept as the plane flew across the Atlantic. In the end we gave up, ate lunch in Chinatown, and headed back to the hotel for a nap.
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3. Whitehall - from Trafalgar Square to Parliament
4. Westminster
We had lovely weather in London on Boxing Day and we rushed to the Eye for a panoramic view of London. We actually reserved tickets a few days beforehand, but apparently the credit card company was a little slow wiring the payment to the UK because of the holidays, but the attendant was understanding and let us through.
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6. I thought blue skies are quite rare in London!
7. Too bad the BT Tower doesn't have an observation deck anymore.
8. Although the temperature hovered around 10C, humidity was high, so it felt very very cold - much worse than -15C in drier weather. Nevertheless, there were still a lot of tourists around Buckingham Palace. I wonder how they got around on Christmas Day without the Tube.
9. Lovely taxis
10. I met up with fellow HK forumer InitialD18 in the afternoon at Piccadilly Circus for a walk around town. He knows a lot about urban design and London's planning history.
11. What a nice mix of old and new :
12. Swiss Re is such a distinctive skyscraper, and has a huge visual impact on the city. It would be neat if
it becomes a multicolour beacon at night.
13. I didn't visit Canary Wharf on my first visit to London many years ago. I regret not having walked around a bit more though.
My London trip was interrupted by a day trip to Dublin. I was searching through Ryanair's website for some cheap deals, and I found a very cheap fare to Dublin, leaving early in the morning and coming back in the evening (less than a pound each way but have to add a lot of taxes).
Dublin photo gallery : http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/dublin.htm
14. We left Russell Square at around 5am for the train from Liverpool station. We saw the sunrise at Stansted as we prepared to board our flight.
15. Dublin has a lot of nice streetscapes. I especially liked the pedestrianized shopping arcades on Henry and Grafton Streets.
16. Merry Xmas everyone!
17. We criss-crossed the River Liffey several times while touring the city. It was a gloomy day though, a break from the sunshine in London.
18. If only it was sunny, the view from the Guinness lounge would have been stunning!
19. Now back to London. Since I bought the London Pass, I criss-crossed the city to make the most out of it. The weather was clear once again, but it was very windy the morning I went up Tower Bridge.
20. Look at the ripples in the Thames!
21. Swiss Re is truly a stunning building!
22. I was very surprised that I could go up St. Paul's Cathedral. I first noticed people going up from the bottom, when I looked up to the dome and saw some people walking around the perimeter near the top. I gave it a try, and after a very long climb up a circular staircase that got me quite dizzy, I reached the top of the dome. But there were more stairs. I wasn't sure where they lead to but thought I'd go explore anyway. Well, this was the view when the light re-emerged :
23. It was like uncovering a treasure chest of a zillion photo opportunities.
24. Unfortunately I ran out of memory up here, but since I did 90% of my work already, I didn't mind too much that I wasn't able to take many photos from the very top Golden Gallery.
25. London has a very interesting mystique to it. The bus heading up to St. Paul's winds through narrow streets in the City. Then all of a sudden you see this huge building - St. Paul's - that is so out of scale with the rest of the City.
26. Unfortunately, since it was winter, the sun sets really early - at around 5pm. Nevertheless, we tried to make the best of the little daylight we got, especially during sunset.
27. London's new City Hall is one neat building!
28. I did a walking tour of the City at night on my own. The place was deserted and for the first time I felt a bit jittery in London. I didn't bring my tripod with me so a lot of the photos didn't turn out too well. Here is one that turned out all right.
29. STOP : Canary Wharf Station
30. I actually stood in the median of Regent Street taking photos of buses for a good 20 minutes. This particular model is also in Hong Kong!
Next Stop : Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh photo galleries :
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/g...gh-incline.htm
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/g...h-triangle.htm
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/g...urgh-upitt.htm
31. I visited Pittsburgh many years ago, also just after a trip to London. My aim this time was to explore as much in two days as possible. Pittsburgh has a nice collection of modern architecture, and the mountain setting adds a lot to the skyline's dramatic effect.
32. I like the contrast :
33. I really like the bridges!
34. University of Pittsburgh has a stunning skyscraper! The Cathedral of Learning is a great place to study! Look at the architecture!
35. Pittsburgh was a nice trip. I bought a lot of stuff at the outlet mall and took a lot of pictures. I wish to come back in the fall to see the leaves change colours.
Next Stop : Paris
I never expected to go to Paris, not so soon after London. I had some time off after exams and I wasn't going to waste them sitting at home watching TV. My friends wanted to go on a grad trip to Europe and I became the organizer. In the end a bunch of us flew to Paris in April, thanks to a free plane ticket with Lufthansa.
Paris photo gallery : http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/paris.htm
Unfortunately, free tickets do come at a price - lots of connections. I had to connect in Frankfurt early in the morning with only a 20-minute layover. The flight arrived slightly late, and I had to dash to the other side of the terminal to get to my connecting flight. There were a few other poor souls from my flight on the same boat as well. Apparently, the pilot was stuck in traffic and couldn't get to the airport, so the flight was delayed. Why didn't they show it on the information screens so I didn't have to run for it across the airport???
36. Here is a picture from the gate. I sat and waited for a good 15 minutes to catch my breath before boarding a bus to the aircraft.
37. I kept on snapping a lot of pictures as the bus winded around the terminal to get to our shuttle flight to Paris out on the tarmac. Here's an airplane from home.
38. Frankfurt Airport has a lot of airplanes! There is a constant army of buses shuttling passengers to and from aircraft parked on the tarmac. Here is the view from inside my airplane as the crew hurriedly prepared for takeoff.
39. I didn't get very good weather in Paris. The skies were often cloudy, but at least it didn't pour.
40. I went up several vantage points. You don't need to go that high up to see some Parisian rooftops!
41. I lived in 11eme near the Bastille at a youth hostel with bargain basement prices! We only paid 15 euros each per night with a private bathroom. It was clean and the room was pretty big. One morning I went out to get my beloved pain au chocolat and snapped some pictures of the neighborhood.
42. Paris' two main tourist trap department stores - Printemps and Lafayette - both have rooftop terraces that are open to the public. This is yet another vantage point to see the city!
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45. I did get a few sunny days with lovely sunshine and set out for a long walk through the streets of Paris. Here's Opera :
46. Here's a very lively street scene in the area. The buildings are also very nicely designed and it was a very pleasant walk. North America ought to learn from Europe on these.
47. La Tour Eiffel
48. Bienvenue a Paris!
49. Magnifique!
50. One of my favourite street scenes!
51. I had to downsize the size of my photos because I was running low on memory and photography shops weren't open on Sundays. I had a much easier time finding an internet cafe in London with CD burners to unload my memory cards.
52. Two people enjoying their wine on their balcony waved at me as I was snapping photos of the neighborhood. It turns out I was the only one around as far as the eyes can see. I had a lot of white wine in Paris! If only the prices were just as cheap back home.
53. Paris' glorious history began on these islands in the Seine :
54. Notre Dame has a rooftop observation deck that is open to the public. You have to be quite energetic again to climb over 400 steps, but the view is well worth it!
55. Look at the details
56. Look at how beautiful Paris is even during cloudy weather!
57. 2 of Paris' tallest landmarks - Tour Montparnasse and Tour Eiffel
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59. Is that gargoyle lost? Pompidou isn't that far away!
60. Versailles is a stunning residence. I budgeted half a day hoping I could get through the maze of beautiful rooms. In the end my tour was a little rushed, but I saw all the exhibits. Each room is a masterpiece of its own.
61. Paris isn't just about historic architecture. La Defense is a very modern skyscraper district in the western outskirts. You can go up La Grande Arche for a view of the whole area towards Arc de Triomphe.
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63. Now I say goodbye to Paris and towards my next stop! I will miss your desserts, wine, and delicious pastries!
Although Paris and London are very similar cities, they are also very different. It's hard to pinpoint which one is better. There was a sort of messy disorder to the Paris but at the same time there are so many more beautiful streetscapes.
Next Stop : Brussels
Brussels photo galleries :
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/g...sels-grand.htm
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/g...sels-south.htm
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/g...ssels-city.htm
64. In order to fit a cheap Ryanair flight to Barcelona, we had to fly out of Brussels instead of Paris. So we took the Thalys train to the Belgian capital. After a few rounds of cards, we arrived at Brussels. It was that fast!
65. Brussels is a city under construction. Buildings are being renovated everywhere! But Grand Place remains a special place - my favourite square in the world!
66. Again, look at all the details! European cities are truly remarkable!
67. I really didn't know where to start snapping. I could zoom in and out of every statue and each building seems to have a lot of them! I got dizzy after a few minutes of non-stop snapping. My friends, meanwhile, were enjoying their shopping spree at Neuhaus.
68. Absolutely delicious!
69. I'm under renovation. Here is what I would look like without the veil.
70. Nice buses!
Belgian chocolates are magnifique! I regret not stocking up more. My friends bought a lot from Neuhaus whereas I settled in for the cheaper alternative at Leonidas. I didn't get to visit every place I wanted to though. I really wanted to tour the EU Parliament but just couldn't fit it in because of the flight out of Charleroi, but I only had one day, so I should be happy for the coverage I made already. But I definitely will come back to Brussels in the future!
Next Stop : Barcelona
My friends wanted to see Barcelona because their beloved F4 singers from Taiwan filmed a series there recently. At first I didn't want to go. I preferred continuing from Brussels to Amsterdam, but in the end I had to concede because girls know how to twist a guy's arm into submission. Well ... Barcelona was my biggest surprise on the trip. Thanks to help from fellow Hong Kong forumers in the UK, who have all been to Barcelona, I realized that perhaps I should've spent more time in Barcelona than initially budgeted.
71. I lived right by the waterfront at a nice hostel. The walk along the beach during sunrise was very soothing, but unusually cool for a Mediterranean spring.
72. Good morning Barcelona!
73. Skyscrapers!
74. Barcelona is full of magnificent architecture. Park Guell is more like a page out of a fairy tale than an urban park.
75. Street after street of distinct, interesting buildings!
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78. I once again had that helpless feeling of snapping yet not being able to cover it all.
79. What a roof!
80. Casa Batllo ... drool
81. Casa Batllo is only a hundred years old, yet to me it looks like an ultramodern building masked in a very historic facade. Some of the design concepts are very ingenious for the time. The inner courtyard and fluid style make the house a very comfortable place to be in.
82. Fluid-style lights
83. Gaudi loves sculptured chimneys!
Barcelona will definitely be on my hit list again. Praise Ryanair for their cheap flights.
Flughafen München
German airports were very surprising after going through much older airports in Paris (CDG) and London (LHR). I didn't expect much more from the European airport experience, but both Munich and Frankfurt were very nice airports. I particularly liked Munich's new Terminal 2. I walked in and out of the terminal a lot. In the end I had to go through immigration three or four times with my passport page full of Munich stamps.
Munich Airport gallery : http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/munich.htm
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85. The Transrapid exhibition outside the terminal caught my attention. A maglev link is planned between Munich airport and the city!
Next Stop : Switzerland
Geneva photo galleries :
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/geneva01.htm
http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/geneva02.htm
Since I get a free stopover as part of my ticket on mileage, I checked which cities I could do a short layover. Geneva came up on my radar. Geneva was appealing because it was near Frankfurt or Munich, my main connecting hub for transatlantic flights back to the New World, and also because they speak French in that part of Switzerland. My survival in Paris confirmed that my French-speaking abilities weren't as bad as I thought. I understood them and they understood me. Maybe I should've been more confident of my 10 years of French studies.
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87. I met some really friendly people in Geneva. My Dutch roommate was a very insightful person and we had a lengthy and fruitful conversation over dinner at a Thai restaurant whose owners and cooks spoke Mandarin and Cantonese (I have no idea how all of these can come together). The next day, a lady came up to me on the street and said 'hi' in Mandarin, which was quite odd because up until then most locals thought I was a Japanese tourist.
88. Geneva is a very small city. It is very walkable and you can cover it in a day. It's also very expensive. A McDonald's meal costs 10 Swiss francs. So I had to resort to hanging around free attractions such as the Jet d'eau :
89. It rained quite hard that morning. It got so bad I finally gave up and decided to head to the airport early. It was Sunday and the UN was closed, so even if it was sunny I wouldn't be able to make it inside anyway. I was quite tired and soaked by then so I was hoping for better weather and do some plane spotting in Frankfurt.
Arriving in Frankfurt ...
Frankfurt Airport gallery : http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/g.../frankfurt.htm
90. I've never seen a rainbow from the sky before! And it's sunny!
91. It was an extremely bumpy descent into Frankfurt. The skies weren't too cloudy but it was quite a wild ride, even more difficult with my camera on hand trying to take pictures of the skyline.
Frankfurt is a wonderful plane spotting airport. I had a chance to see some on my way to Paris the week before, and this time I had a 2-hour layover so I wouldn't need to dash for my connecting flight again. I took it easy and walked around the terminal, observing the various types of aircraft from all corners of the world.
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Montréal
My friend had to go to Quebec for a trip and offered a lift for me and another friend of mine. I immediately dumped my books, gathered a few pieces of clothing, and fled school. I was trying out a new Canon and the pictures came out very well even in cloudy weather.
Montréal photo gallery : http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/montreal.htm
94. My friend, a photo-taking maniac, did some magic with the settings and came up with this beautiful nightscape.
95. We walked around the city a lot! We were both cheap so we passed on the transit pass, and did a trip up and down Mont Royal and then towards the old part of town. I think both my feet were gone by the time we climbed up to this vantage point.
96. Although I've been to Montréal many times before, I never got a chance to go inside a few key buildings. Here is a church right next to the Fairmont Hotel I stayed on my last visit, but never had time to go inside for a look.
97. A few blocks down the street around the shopping heart of St. Catherine Street.
98. I really like this skyscraper. Although the shape is very typical, the colour and tiling pattern give it a very distinct look.
Quebec's 2 main cities : Montréal and Quebec City have a very European flavour. However, after just returning from Europe, I didn't get that European feeling anymore. The streetscapes are not as dramatic, and the architecture is not as beautiful. But nevertheless Montreal was a nice trip. My most memorable moment was coming home from Mont Royal just past midnight, when a drunk girl tried to pick my friend and I up on the street. It was quite a funny scene ... no pictures though!
Final Stop : Winter in Toronto
I will end off this review with 2 more photos of bitterly cold weather in Toronto, as a reminder that even on the hottest days of summer, colder weather is on the way.
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Thoughts
These are just a small sample of the thousands of photos I have taken in the first half. I can see my camera begin to age after about 20,000 photos over the past 3 years. I've been trying a bunch of new cameras recently. While I liked the Canon most, its battery power is still far inferior to my Ricoh. I wish there was a camera out there with a super battery that can last a few hundred photos per charge.
Summary of Cities Visited (December 2004 - June 2005)
London, Dublin, Pittsburgh, Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva, Montreal, Toronto
Going Forward
I will be going on another major trip before the year is done. I am currently finalizing my plans (yes, this time I will have a plan and not just drop onto another continent like before) and will be bringing you a lot more updates over the next few months. As to where I'm going, I'll keep it as a surprise for now.
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