Nice Quotes

Rummaging through my drawers today and I found a little booklet where I used to copied down some of the quotes I've came across over the years.....

Here are some that I like to share with all of you.

You shall not worry, for worry is the most most unproductive of all human activities.

You shall not carry grudges, for they are the heaviest of all life's burden.

You shall face each problem as it comes. You can only handle one at a time anyway.

You shall not try to relive yesterday for good or ill, it is forever gone. Concentrate on what is happening in your life and be happy now.

You shall be a good listener, for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own.

You shall count your blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to a big one.

快乐的秘诀 ： 不是做自己喜欢的事， 而是去喜欢自己做的事。

伟人之所以伟大， 是因为在他们不想那么做的时候， 做了他们不想做的事。

如果你不能改变环境来适应自己， 就改变自己来适应环境吧 ！

If you are not riding the wave of change, you will find yourself beneath it.

There is an island of opportunity, in the middle of every difficulty.

The happiest of people don't necessary have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Think what is good, speak what is kind.


**After reading the little booklet, it has somehow enlighten me once again like it used to be and I will put some of them into good use now **

The Javanese Spa

I've haven't did a massage since the last scratch at Contiki Bali Resort late July.

I am in need of a good knead but don't know where to go too. The masseue at the previous massages I went were not using enough strength to loosen my knots especially on my legs and shoulders.

Chanced up this spa at Telok Ayer Street, took a copy of their flyers at the door and realised the prices of their massage menu quite reasonable. A 90min massage with herbal oil cost $75 and I decided to try it out.

The local malay or Indonesian masseue didn't ask me a lot of questions like where pain, where need more attention, etc. She uses enough strength and more strength at the tight knots and strain area. She could actually knew which part of my body that need more strength and focus as I noticed she spent more time massaging those places.

I must say she was good.

I also found another Javanese massages online and decided to try it next month before I gave verdict and settle for 1 of them as my regular massage hangout.

More update on this next month.

Aaron Kwok in concert September 2007

Aaron Kwok was getting more and more manly and charming as he aged. He looks so good at 40 years as compared to almost 20 years ago when he burst into the entertainment scene. I do not like him in his beginning years as a singer as I felt his vocie too girl and he can't really sing well. As he progressed and focus more on acting in movies, I saw his improvment and he was getting better and better, just like a polished porcelin.

At the height of 40 years old, he still looks ultra fit and toned. He changed into so many outfits during his concerts here and it is definitely a feast to many eyes as well as he groovy dance steps.

Korean B Boys

The NATAS Holidays 2007 ended last Sunday with sales for my company soaring. This really caught all of us by surprise as Europe had never did so well for year end. But this time was different. All of us were happy of the results.

And also, performance brought in by NATAS improved tremendously this times, especially by this performing group from Korea. Apparently, they are the winning team of a hip hop competition in Korea and this performance at the travel fair was sponsored by the Korean Tourism Organisation.

We were very amazed by their breakdance movements, whether with slow music or fast music, complemented with their half naked bodies showing off their 6-pack stomach.

They danced with synchronised dance steps and movement. Even with traditional slow korean musicand classical music, they can actually cheoregraphed such hip hop and graceful dance movement to the music.

The finale piece of dance presented us with twists and turns using every parts of their bodies with applauses non-stop. All of us (men & women) were very much impressed and we were excited whenever they performed on stage throughout the 3 days.

Honeymoon in Europe : Day 12 & 13 (last)

Route : London (via Bangkok) to Singapore

It was a tiring day yesterday and we woke up late and missed the morning's breakfast. We did some last minute packing and decided to check out since we cannot extend the late check out till 3pm. We left our luggage at the luggage room of the hotel and left to do the last bit of sightseeing.

Since we couldn't match the time to watch an Arsenal soccer match at the Emirates stadium belonging to Arsenal, we decided to visit the stadium instead. This stadium is much accessible than Hotspurs stadium. We can reached the Emirates stadium just by take the Tube.

A couple of minutes after we left the Underground station, the gigantic stadium appeared in front of us.

We walked around the stadium, peered through the glass and caught a glimpse of the interior. Read seats flood the interiors, contrasting the green fields. You can actually join a guided tour to see the interior but we decided to give it a miss because the Arsenal boys were not doing their practising at that time..... We spent a great lots of time in The Armoury , the souvenir shop.

Arsenal was actually the name of a British gun unit. And that's why it explains the 2 canons sitting prominently in front of the stadium.

We bought some t-shirts on sale for my bro and Alvin's bros. We were delighted when we can actually take home the clothes hangers free of charge and being Singaporean, I don't have to spell out what I had done...hee....

We met up with Yen one last time before we depart London for home. She brought us to a cantonese restaurant that serves dammed delicious roast duck in Bayswater. The restaurant is called Four Seasons and Yen told us it's the hangout of SIA cabin crews. True enough, it serves really delicious duck. As Alvin and me didn't had any breakfast, we had a hearty meal. Soon, it was saying goodbyes to Yen. We took a picture of her (with Alvin) so that we can showed it to her parents who last seen her since the CNY, beginning of this year.

Yen proceeded to work while both of us decided to take a stroll to Noting Hill since it was within walking distance and we wanted to digest away some of the lunch as well as to pass time. Noting Hill was quiet on a weekday afternoon and some tourists were seen. The walk to Noting Hill was pleasant and idyllic.

We passed by this toilet that appeared out of nowhere on the street. We decided to check it out was was caught by surprise the toilet is so clean. It actually clean and sanitirised the public toilet after each use. And if you cannot finish your business within 20 mins, sorry, the door will open by itself !!!!

We returned to Royal Norfolk to collect our luggages and take a rest before walking over to Paddington Rail station to catch the Heathrow Express to the airport. The ride was fast and it took only 15 mins to reach Heathrow airport. Renovations and roadworks were going on, possibly to upgrade the terminals to gear up for the Olympics for 2012. As well as to handle more passengers when the terminal 5 is built. Apparently, there were campaigns going on by environmentalists as they object to build another terminal in Heathrow.

And here I can tell you that you REALLY need 3 hours to clear the customs. You have to go through 3 x-ray screenings and the immigration counter, with endless queues. Shopping in the terminal is lousy and every eatries is packed with people. We managed to grab a table, have some pasta and pizzas first so that we won't go extremely hungry after we board the plane.

The plane took off on time at 2130 hrs and after a late dinner, we slept throughout the flight. Only waking up 2 hours before arriving into Bangkok, the return journey of 10 hours seemed to fly off so fast...... After a shrt 1.5 hours of transit in Bangkok airport, we took the connecting flights and arrive at Changi airport at 1830 hrs the next day.

Finally, the journal for my honeymoon is coming to an end. We really had such a good time in Europe, though we walked a lot, we felt recharged and I once again fell in love with Europe once more. Though Europe is an expensive destination but I know I will return, not in the near future but I will.

Honeymoon in Europe : Day 11

Route : London

It was raining the night before and it was still drizzling when we woke up this morning. We were pretty lazy and so we 'nuah' a bit on bed. I've took yoghurt with cereals and toast for breakfast today since I've tried ham & cheese the previous morning.

The rain had stopped by the time we finished breakfast. It's shopping day ! I am such a happy gal. Though, everybody says everything is expensive in UK, but I still shopped and I spent wisely. Our first stop is definitely Primark. By the time, we are there at about 10.30am, there were already shoppers and there were like 10 people in front of me at the fitting room queue. It cleared fast because there are is more than 20 rooms in there and they don't limit the number of pieces you brought in to try. I ended up buying 3 tank tops at 1 pound each; a pair of gold mary jane ballerina shoes at 4 pounds; 3 bras at 4 pounds each; a black handbag at 6 pounds, 1 top at 4 pounds (I think); etc, etc...Together, we spent about 50 pounds at Primark.

Little did after meeting up with Yen, we were told Primark could sell so cheaply was because they had factories in poor countries and sort of abusing child labour.... how sad I was for a good 10 mins as my patronage to Primark encourages the company to abuse more of child labour ! But every Londoners and tourists are buying like nobody's business...so this made me least guilty...hee... Yen told us more that during Primark official opening on Oxford Street, people are so determined to lay their hands of the goods that women fought at the door and in the store for the merchandise.... aww.....awful...so kiasuism doesn't just happen in Singapore.....

Happily, we continued through Oxford Street visiting Marks & Spencers buying nice cookies and chocolates for colleagues at company and for ourselves....Bought a pair of black patent heels in Clarks. I was surprised by the designs they have. They are hip, trendy and fashionable without compromising comfort. Although the pair of heels is going to cost me 34.99 pounds, I still buy it. Because I cannot find such nice design in the Clarks in Singapore and I could do tax rebate so it should be well worth it. The sales assistance is also good in their service. They recommend suitable shoe protect for every pair of shoes you buy. But they never push the sale nor forwn when you reject.... How nice is that and they given me the confidence that they know what they are selling.....

Browsing through a few more stores and we were getting so tired from the walking and carrying the shopping bags that we decided to return to our comfy little room to rest. We also shopped until we forgotten to have lunch and we ended up 'tau pah' nice pasta from 1 of the eatries near our hotel. So happy I was that I admire my shopping again before packing them into my suitcase.

We were meeting Yen, her boyfriend Ben and Ben's childhood friend this evening for a game of live English soccer match. This is one of Alvin's biggest wish to accomplish on this trip and this is also 1 of the reasons why he seconded to go Europe. We are going to watch Tottenham Hotspurs Vs Everton at Hotspurs' homeground.

We met Yen at Liverpool Underground station as she is going to treat us dinner at one of the restaurants she worked. So Liverpool station is also the connecting station to switch to National Rail of London. This not not named after the Liverpool soccer team and also not where the Liverpool stadium is located. The National Rail will bring you to the suburbs of London city and probably greater London. This station is also like the Raffles Place MRT of Singapore. Liverpool station nested in the heart of The City of London's financial hub.

Many Tube stations of London were built plenty of years ago and some of them are really old rundown. They existed even when our dear father of Singapore , LKY, studied in London when he is a young adult. So you can imagine how old the stations are. There's no lifts, no escalater and no aircon in the trains...... This is one of the better maintained old station, Hotting Hill Gate station where we got off to switched lines....

Yen arrived at the Liverpool station and brought us to her restaurant, Leon, that served Mediterranean food. We had a full dinner just be having the 8, 9 types of different finger foods. We met up with Ben's friend at the National Rail platform to catch the train to White Hart Lane where Hotspurs' stadium is located. During the train journey, we chatted and got a big surprise from Yen ! Not only did I found out thet the lady we met on the day we arrived was Neo Swee Lin, Yen also know many theatre artistes in Singapore as friends. People like Emma Yong, Pam Oei, Hossan Leong, Sebastian Tan....YES ! SEBASTIAN TAN !!!!! etc etc and many more. She always meet up with all of them when she is back to SIN for holiday. Alvin and I was getting so excited, he for Hossan and me for Sebastian that we insisted Yen to return for next CNY and asked her to intorduce us to her frens... Ha ha ha.....She don't have the intention to return home for vacation for next CNY because she will going Brazil for holiday this December. However, we dangled carrots in front of her by promising to paid for her trip back.... the airport taxes !!!! Ha ha ha...Yen doesn't seem impressed by our 'kiam seap' gestured though...ha ha ha....

We knew we arrived at the station because many many people started to get off the train and we followed. You could see fans in all sort of attires.....in jerseys, sportswear, officewear in coat and tie, women in officewear and high heels..... The entrance to enter the stadium was so tiny that I have to practically squeeze in. This is done of purpose so that only 1 person can entered the stadium at a time and no one can take the opportunity to sneak in without a ticket. All drinks sold in the barcame in plastic bottles, so are beer. This is to prevent angry fans to throw the bottles around and hurt people. Though this don't often happen in English Soccer now as the authorities are so experienced that they know what to do for preventive measures.

We got good seats, front row, just at the corner kick edge... This seat cost us each 45 pounds. We actually couldn't get any tickets as public sales had been closed long time ago. We were lucky when the galfren of Ben's brother helped us with the tickets. She worked in one of the clubs of a team. The rain began to fall again and we could feel cold wind gust blowing at us. The match opened on time at 8pm with the commentator introducing the players from both teams through the giant TV screen......

...while the mascot of Hotspurs going around delivering his cheers and waves together with the young Hotspurs......

The match started soon after. The rain also got heavier as the match progressed. It came and go throughout the whole match.

Hotpsurs were not playing with all his might and very soon, Everton was awarded a free kick, and followed with a corner kick in a couples of minutes later.

Fans from both sides cheered, yelled, shouted or scolded with all their might whenever a goal is missed or silly mistakes were made. Tens of ushers were patrolling and monitoring the areas with their eagle eyes so that no fights were broke out. It was definitely exciting and safe.

Without realising the time, it was half time and the closing score was : Hotspurs 0, Everton 2. Much to the fans of Hotspurs dismayed as they were playing on homeground and should performed better. But they were not.

Hotspurs were finally awarded a corner kick when the match continued into the 2nd half of the game. We could see they were trying their best but with no luck.

Despites all efforts, Hotspurs didn't seem to be in their top best and the game score perched at Hotspurs 1, Everton 3, after 20 mins into 2nd half. By then, many Hotspurs fans were frustrated and angry, they left the game. We too, knwoing there would not be any twist of fate in the last 15 mins, we also left.

By this time, there were many polices outside the stadium with barricades and we were told by Ben that there were special exits for Hotspurs fans and Evrton fans which will lead to different rail stations. This is to prevent clashes and fights by the supporting fans from the 2 teams. I was impressed by the arrangement.

While we continued to walk back to the rail station, more polices were seen, some of them on horses. We soon were stopped by a queue. Looooooooong queue for people waiting to take the train. we obediently joined the queue. There were no room for jump queue as the polices on horses guarded these queues closely. They did not hesitate to tell those queue jumpers to move back to the end of the queue politely and sternly at the same time. Trains were specially arranged to stop longer at the station so that as many people can board the train as possible.

Double IMPRESSED. I am indeed very satisfied with such arrangement and crowd control by the police. There were not a stint of chaos at all. How I wished our authorities could learn fron the London police for such measures when dealing with events that handles thousands of people.

We returned back to Liverpool station and Ben drove Alvin and me back to our hotel before they proceed home.... The rain continued to drizzle. After a hot shower, we tugged under our cosy bed in our comfy little room and soon, we were in dreamland.

Honeymoon in Europe : Day 10

Route : London

Continental Breakfast was provided at this 2-star hotel named Royal Norfolk Hotel. It was surprisingly good. I thought toasted bread and jam or butter plus coffee or tea will be served only, for continental-styled breakfast. Not only these, they actually also provided ham & cheese or yoghurt with cereal for you to choose. I took ham & cheese this morning and Alvin opt to upgrade his breakfast to Full English with additional 2 pounds. And he had 2 sausages, some bacons and sunny-side up eggs with the toast.

We set off for the day at 9.30am because the Underground master told us that it is cheaper to purchase day pass after 9.30am and we heeded obediently. We paid 5 pounds per person for 1 day unlimited ride on the Underground.

Our first sightseeing for the day begins at Westminster. Upon exit from the Underground station, Big BEn and the Parliament House surfaced.

On the bank of the other side of River Thames, stands the lofty London Eye.

We strolled over and as we approached the Eye, Alvin suggested we go check out the ride tickets. So I stepped into the ticket area and realised the ride will cost 15 pounds each person.....a quick mental calculation and it will caused both of us S$90 for 30mins ride on the gigantic ferris wheel. Then, Alvin came running in happily telling me that an 'ang moh' young gal gave him 2 tickets for the ride. Both of us were doubtful and being the kiasu Singaporean, we actually brought the tickets to the customer service counter to ensure both tickets are still valid.

We were so happy when the customer service officer told us the tickets were valid and we quickly hopped to the queue. It was not very long yet as it was still considered early. We were onto an Eye within 5 mins and there were about 15 of us in 1 Eye.

As the Eye rose, the aerial view of London city appeared slowly beneath our feets.

Soon the ride was over and had a walk along the bank of River Thames enjoying some of the street artistes performing. The wind is cool, accompanying with the occasional sunshine, it was such a lovely morning ! While we were strolling back heading the the Undergorund, we heard some noises,
"shoo...shoo....wanna to take me home? "

We turned around, saw this and burst into laughter !!!!!!!



We continued to laugh while we stared at the 'dog'. The 'dog' couldn't care at all to be mock at and keeps shoo-ing passer bys to 'adopt' him. Everyone couldn't believe what they had just saw and laughed. We knew the rules and put in some penny before taking pictures of this London 'dog' before continuing our day.

Since I was in London, I decided to visit my UK colleagues and saying hello to my MD. So, Alvin followed me and we chatted and met up some some of my colleagues, seen and not seen before. Our head office was located near to Knightsbridge, so after the office visit, we moved on to do window shopping, covering Harrods. It is huge and decorated extravagantly. All stuffs were branded in there so we covered the mall is a few minutes. Before we left, I managed to buy 2 Harrods bags much to Alvin's dismay for spending so much on 2 plastic bags.... but I dun care... We continued to roam Knightsbridge until we were pretty tired and decided to return to our comfy little room to rest.

We were amazed when we returned and realised that we little room had been housekept with new towels for the day !

We returned to Oxford Street hoping to be able to do some shopping at Primark but it was entirely filled with people with cashier queues and changing rooms longer than I ever saw in my life. The clothes racks were still as messy as ever.....so I told Alvin we better returned the next day. By then, we were hungry and Alvin wanted to have chinese food and so we find our way via Tube to Leicester Square where Chinatown is located. We got a little lost initially but manged to reached the Chinatown after some inquriries.

You know you have reach a Chinatown because all foreign Chinatowns look the same in decor... with a sign gate at the entrance.

We toured around the mini Chinatown and finally settled on this chinese cantinese restuarant which we saw they hung yummy roast meat at the door. We also shared a lobster noodles which is so huge and worthwhile at 15 pounds. It was a great dinner and we left the restaurant will a full tummy. We walked around Leicester Square to digest away some of the food as it was impossible to sleep with such a full stomach. And I realised Leicester Square was a part of the theatre places in London. We wandered around and ended up in Picadilly Circus. Wow ! Shopping again ! But, we were too tired by then and gave the shopping a miss.... and returned to our comfy little room....

Honeymoon in Europe : Day 9

Route : Paris to London

It was en early day start for the journey back to London city. The coach depart on time at 7.30am. Enroute, the coach make its way to Charles De Gaulle airport to drop of some passengers, mainly the Americans and Canadians. Then, it continued its journey via Somme Valley to Calais again. We had breaks and lunch stop all along the highway.

We were actually earlier than our booked ferry schedule but unfortunately, the Tour Director couldn't get it change to an earlier one because the ferry company told him to respect his booking .

Soon, the coach (3rd one) was given to signal to move and our driver drove all the way up onto the ferry, with all of us onboard the coach !

But we don't actually stayed onboard the coach. After parking in line, all of us can disembark from the coach and make our way upstairs to enjoy our meal or snacks. When we heard an announcement to return to our vehicle, then we made our way back to the coach and it will drive off straight after arriving in Dover.

We drove through the countryside and arrived into The City of London. We were told this is the financial hub of London, just like our CBD. It was interesting. Very different from Oxford Street. The City is exactly like our Shenton Way or Raffles Place. Working people all around. And Oxford Street is just like our Orchard Road. Always packed with shoppers and tourists.

We finally arrived at Thistle Marble Arch at about 3.30pm. As we were not staying at Thistle Marble Arch, we had to take a taxi to our own hotel. As we were extending 3 nights of stay in London, we couldn't afford to pay for Thistle Marble Arch and had to lower our expectation and make do with a 2-star hotel at a much lower value. For your information, Thistle Marble Arch is 4-star.

Yen, Alvin's cousin who worked and stayed in London, was right. She told us that the taxi driver in London just know everywhere of the city, even if you can only produce the street name. So we hopped into a London cab, big and spacious....., and I just told the driver,

"Please send us to 25 London Street, near Paddington station. Thank you."

And off he went with a few turns here and there, he stopped and pointed to us.

" Here's 25 London Street."

And hey, he was absolutely correct, Stopping us right in front of our hotel.

The ride costs us 6.60 pounds which is considered reasonable in London and later on Yen told us the taxi driver never brought us go merry-go-round. Honest cabby, not like the one we had in Paris.

It was a 2-star hotel and it still uses keys to open the room door. The lifts was SO old and small that both of us had to squeeze into the lift with hardly any moving space and breathing space, together with our luggages. When we opened the door, you couldn't imagine our crestfallen faces.

After 7 nights of good stay at 4 & 5-star hotels, this room was SOOOOOO SMALL there is hardly any space for luggage. When I put the luggage on the floor, sorry, you can't actually walk. If you insist to compare, this room is definitely consider 'rundown' and some may even think this is not for human to stay (my boss !). We had a queen size bed, a little window to let the air in, as the room has no air-conditioned. As the weather in London was cool, no rain and no sun, mostly cloudly. So cool breeze came into the room and we still managed to have good might sleep daily. Temperature ranges about 14 to 17 degree celsius. We had a little TV that offers local TV channels, lucky there is BBC. We also managed to catch some good movies (quite dated) on TV on 2 nights. The window overlooks the train track of the Tube.

The toilet is worse ! It is the tinest toilet I've ever seen and used ! The standing area for shower is so tight that is I draw the shower curtain, I will be back - kissing the wall and front-kissing curtain and the same time. It's really a BIG problem especially for Alvin. Luckily our room was near to a shared toilet along the corridor and Alvin used that for his showers throughout the stay we were there. And this time, I had no choice but to wet the entire bathroom because there was no way not to do it. Trust me. I am one weird person that dislike the whole bathroom to be wet. But they still do provide basic amenities like glass for rinising, soap, and towels - 2 small and 2 big ! And they also have tea and coffee facilities in the room !

After a good 30 minutes 'after shock', we decided to take a walk back to Oxford Street to servey the shopping since we hasn't been doing any walking for today. So we walked along the main road following the map and arrived at busy Oxford Street in 20 minutes time.

There was this huge shopping outlet called PRIMARK and it was very crowded and the merchandise were all over the place. We thought there was a sale going on and so, wanted to take a look. But unfortunately, it was almost 6pm and the shop is closing. Almost all the shops closed at 6pm on Sunday and today is Sunday.

So nothing interesting for us and we decided to walk back to Paddington though we are tired. Because taking the tube today for one way is going to cost us 4.40 pounds per person. We decided to save that money and walked.

Avin decided to take the inner routes as he thought it will be shorter which turned out to be really shorter. Although her doesn't know the way, but he is more adventurous to try new route as compared to me. I am the more safe person and will stick to somethinf familiar at times. We walked passed Hyde Park route and saw pretty houses, much to my surprises ! The houses are decorated nicely and neatly and you can see these houses must be belonging to those middle class families in London. And staying so close to Oxford Street, like River Valley to Orchard Road, these houses must be expensive !

As we made the last stretch of road before turining into London Street, we came a cross line of small little houses turned into motels and 2 or 3-star hotels or B & Bs, on both side of the streets. The whole place was so tranquil, nested in a quiet enclave and the beauty of it is that it was only a 3-5 minutes walk away from our hotel. The place is called Sussex Garden when I screened through the map.

We liked the surrounding very much but the hotels or motels ther aren't cheap. Ours considered one of the best deals you can find in London with close proximity to Tube, eateries, city centre, etc etc.

We had dinner at a nearby eatery and turn in early for the evening. Despite the train running past almost every minute, it was like a lullaby and we fell asleep very quickly and dozed off for the night.

Honeymoon in Europe : Day 8

Route : Paris

It was a very early start today. I haven't even tossed enough on the big bed with the fluffy pillows and I have to be awake. Due to my always 5-more-minutes in bed, I had to gulp down the sumptous buffet breakfast at the hotel.

We left the hotel at 7.30am for our optional to the Lourve Museum excursion. This is one optional you should join if you do not have an extra day in Paris because you need an entire day to see Lurve Museum as well as figuring out how to go about to view the exhibits. With a guide, it had been all narrowed down and you just follow the group yet not to worry you will miss out any of the important exhibits in the museum.

We arrived and waited at the basement for our guide while he ran off to get our group entrance tickets and we were left to figure out how to use the personal headphone. This is absolutely necessary as the musuem is huge and tends to get very noisy when the crowd came in. This will ensure you can guide the instructions and commentary of the guide in the museum. The inverted glass pyramid, where the huge glass pyramid stands on ground above it.

We were brought through lobbies and lobbies of statue exihibits while the guide gave explanation and pointing out the important or more popular and prized ones.....

And also galleries and galleries of painting exhibits. So of them are really so gigantic that I wonder how those painters of that era managed to paint that.... Well, after some conclusion, during those days....where got shopping centres, where got TV , discos, etc etc..... If they don;t paint or carve, they are going to bored to death right ?



And soon, we were brought into a gallery where the most sought after painting is hanged. Millions and millions of people who braved the weathers and queues to enter to Lourve is to catch a glimpse of her ! Presenting Mona Lisa.......

You can see how different status she was treated from the rest of the exhibits. She got to 'stay' in a huge gallery by herself...sharing with only a few pieces of painting... must be of almost equal status as her.... She has 2 or 3 security guards standing beside her all the time as long as the museum remains open for viewing. She was barricade at least 2 metres away from any human, except her loyalty security guards.....She had this must be bullet proof and camera flash proof galss protecting her from any harm.... Despite all these, she never failed not to smile to anyone who came forward.

As more and more people came into her gallery, we decided it's time to bid farewell to her and move on.... Peering through the window, a caught a glimpse of the famous glass pyramid...eh.....40 minutes ago, I was standing beneath it...

And I peered longers and realised a long queue is forming quickly.... heng mem......I'm already in here !

After a few more lobbies of statues and gallaries of jewels, we arrived back at the basement and I'm standing right below the glass pyramid ......

Next, we were rejoined by the rest of the group members and we toured the city in the comfort of the coach.... We passed by Notre Dame Catherdral (too fast for me to take a picture) ....... the Opera House, the Concorde and the Ritz Hotel..... the hotel Princess Diana stayed and visited just hours before her death..... and on our way to the Effiel Tower, we drive along Champs Elysees and around the Arc de Troimphe......

We were able to ascend to the 2nd level of the tower and everyone was very excited....when we arrived at the bottom of the tower, there were massive crowds everywhere....Snakes and snakes of queues waiting to purchase the tickets, waiting to ascend the tower..... It was really messy if you want to find out which queues is for what purpose.....

Luckily we were in a group and so after waiting for about 15 minutes, we were all packed into the lifts and ascend to the 2nd level........ poof ! And here we are.....

See that yellow architecture there? It's a huge square and something named as Trocedo if my French spelling is correct. I'm going there this evening as we were told you can see and take pictures of the Eiffel Tower in a different perspective.....

The last for Paris included sightseeing is a visit to the Tomb of Napoleon. By now, about 1/3 of the group 'abandoned' us as they had joined a tour to visit the Versailles which it was not offer on our optional due to time constraint.

Statue of Napoleon can be seen at the entrance as we are about to enter.... He looks short....maybe because the statue is placed high up and give people the impression he is short...or maybe he is really short.... Well, usually short people are very powerful .....

By then, I was too history overloaded and didn't really pay attention to the guide who actually did such a good job and share with us all his knowledge of the artefacts, paintings, satutes all the time. And you will not missed the enormous tomb resting in the middle, surround by Romans coluomns and Greek -like statues.

Finally it was the end of the sightseeing and we asked to be drop off Champs Elysees......how can you not walk along the famous area when you are in Paris.

As we walked along, we saw many cafes with their tables and chairs arranged in such a way that faces the street. It is meant for people watching....if you have money and time to spare....why not enjoy a cuppa at one fo these cafes and people watch ?

But for us, we would rather spent the time to walk more and see more....hard work pays off.... the largest Louis Vuitton stands in front of us......

Many many storeys, many many turns, many many people in there...and you spot people from Asia, people from Middle East but no cucasians if you are not careful.....though no $$ to buy, but it's an experience to visit.....no one shopper is given the 'you got $$ to buy or not' look.

At the turn of the building, I caught sight od this crooked building. It was funny ! Walking closer and I soon found out that it was painted on and not real. But it was very real when we saw it outside the LV building.

We decided to retir back to hotel to have a rest before hitting the streets again taking in the sights in the evening again..... Just before dusk, we raced to the Trocedo to see Eiffel Tower again....the square was huge and there were young people performing dance, drums and kiosks selling ice-cream and hot dogs and crepes ! I wanted to try very much but as we just had dinner before we came, I could hardly load my tummy more....are we romantic ?

I zoomed my camera to the max. to show you how chaotic the bottom of the tower is, anytime, any hour, any minute, any second.....

The sky turns dark soon and I went back to Champs Elysees to take pictures of Arc de Troimphe again with glowering lights lined the trees and the lights of vehicles that lined the streets....

We also went back to Lourve Musuem where the glass pyramid is. It was a total difference compared in the day. The crowds were gone....and the glass pyramid sit quietly in the dark surrounded by the old building of galleries and lobbies..... No pictures shown here because my camera flash is not strong enough...but on our way back, caught the hotel instead.....so cool to stay at this hotel and knowing you are sharing the same neighbourhood as Mona Lisa. Hee...

I was definitely a long day for both of us and I did crawled back to the hotel and onto bed......bringing sweet memories of Paris with me......