Archive for the "Travels" Category

Praça do Comércio

May 7th, 2011
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When I arrived in Lisbon, I made sure to take one of those pamphlets at the airport. From my experience in Paris, I concluded it best to go for those hop-on hop-off tours, especially for lone travelers like me with only a couple of days to spend on sightseeing.

I planned to buy tickets from the Carristur Yellow Bus. From the map, it seems that one of the ticket outlets is close to the last train stop: Cais do Sodré. I should go to the Praça do Comércio, 5-10 minutes walk from the train station.

It was a Saturday afternoon and I found it really odd why downtown Lisbon was deserted. Many stores were also closed. Might be because it was weekend…

I love the pavements but they do need to repair their roads…

Still, I love Lisbon! It’s such a charming, interesting and unique place. For one, it was a lot warmer than Paris. But I felt something different, different from what I felt while I was in Paris. I can’t describe it. You would know when you get there. ;)

Lisbon is known for its trams, so why not have an old tram for a ticket booth? It was not hard to find at all…

Around it, more charming structures…

When you see this, you would know that you have arrived at the Praça do Comércio:

Let’s have a closer look. (You may also click on these photos for bigger images.)

Another beautiful landmark, the Arch of Triumph looking towards the River Tagus:

Watch out for more Lisbon photos in my next post! ;)

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My first train ride in Europe

May 4th, 2011
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The training started on a Wednesday so I spent a weekend in Lisbon. I was excited to explore the city but it rained so hard on Saturday morning…

I was already dressed before 10AM so when the rain stopped at around 1:30PM, I grabbed my bag and quickly got out. The hotel was quite far from downtown Lisbon and far from the main roads so the hotel receptionist had to call a cab for me. Paço de Arcos, the nearest train station was 5-10 minutes away.

I didn’t know how to buy a ticket from the ticketing machine so I approached the counter. Fortunately, the friendly attendant spoke English and patiently told me what to do. There were no ticket gates from Paço de Arcos, so one must do the ticket validation in one of the machines before going up the platform. I had to wait for sometime before the train arrived.

When it arrived and finally stopped, I waited for the doors to open, but it didn’t. I just thought that the train driver had some reasons why he delayed opening the doors. But when I looked sideways, I noticed that some doors were already opened! Perhaps that particular door was defective somehow? I was about to transfer to an “open” train car, when a guy stepped in front of me and pushed a button at the side of the train doors. Only then the doors opened! Apparently one has to push the button to open the train doors when getting in and getting off the train.

He smiled at me and I know my ears were red when I thanked him. If it’s your first time to take the trains in Lisbon, don’t forget about the buttons! I haven’t tried the train/subway in Paris so I don’t know if they have the same mechanism.

Here are some photos of the train station and the views along the way. I also played with GIMP a little bit…

Another note:
Paço de Arcos - Portuguese pronunciation: ['pasu 'darkus]

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Hotel Real Oeiras

April 30th, 2011
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The company booked me at the Hotel Real Oeiras, which is about 20 minutes from the airport by cab. On my way to the hotel, I fell in love with Portugal because of the lovely houses, the green hills, the bluest skies, and interesting cloud formations. Above all, I had a wonderful stay at the charming Hotel Real Oeiras. I know I should not compare it with my accommodation in Paris, but I can’t help it. Hotel Oeiras is way cheaper than Hotel Innova but the service is superb, not to mention the inclusive, delicious, and visually-appetizing breakfast buffet!

I finally managed to create an account at PhotoBucket, thus the slide show above. If it doesn’t show up, I suppose you would have to refresh the page.

I need to invest a lot of time again migrating to PhotoBucket and replace the photos with slide shows, for the sake of consistency. Wish me luck! *_*

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Lisbon!

April 29th, 2011
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Paris to Lisbon flight is about 2 hours. These two places have one hour difference. The flight was really pleasant and a bit exciting because we’ve got to fly over Spain. Hopefully, I could visit that place in the future. I attempted to take sky photos but it was full of really thick clouds and no interesting cloud formation so I won’t bother posting it here.

I took Air France to Lisbon, I think it was an A320. There was no difference between the business class and economy class seats but I suppose the in-flight meals were? Anyway, here’s what I got:

I loved the bread, salad and cheese (got addicted to it actually) but I only had a spoonful of the chocolate pudding. Because of that, the flight attendant asked me if there was something wrong with the dessert. I couldn’t tell him straight that I generally don’t like chocolates so I just told him I was too full. For the first time, I was asked to fill in an airline’s feedback form, which I willingly did to kill time.

I don’t like using an aircraft’s toilet so my first destination when we reached the terminal was the toilet! When I got out from there, it took me sometime to find my way to collect my baggage. The airport layout was quite confusing or am I really bad at navigation? Because of the Schengen Visa, I didn’t have to go through immigration.

I’ve visited some sites online to know about Lisbon and came across warnings from tourists of getting over-charged by cab drivers so I headed to the tourist information booth. I was directed to this taxi queue:

I was told to pay about 28 euros to the hotel but when I asked the cab driver, he told me it was 48 euros! He even showed me the table of charges. Still, I had doubts, but I didn’t want to spoil the excitement so I forced myself to shrug it off. The beautiful scenes on the way to the hotel made me feel a lot better.

I recorded some videos for my families, friends, and you of course! Here’s one…

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Your queue is over there

April 27th, 2011
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I still woke up very early, mainly due to jet lag. I was quite blue because I wanted to explore Paris more but I couldn’t. So I left the hotel and was relieved that I only had to pay the amount stated in my online booking confirmation plus the breakfast meals. I couldn’t find a cab so I dragged my luggage (which seemed heavier) to the bus stop.

I was to go to the Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2D. I arrived three hours before the departure time so I had to wait an hour before I was able to check-in. I tried to ask for early check-in but the lady at the counter just told me that my luggage could get lost if I do that.

I’ve never been comfortable taking photos at airports but I had to, having this blog in mind. :P Still, the Changi airport here in Singapore is better. Here are the Business Class and First Class check-in counters:

After checking in, I headed directly to the business class lounge and was delighted to have given the key to use the free wifi connection for 6 hours if I’m not mistaken. Wifi is free for everyone but only for 30 minutes. Aside from wifi, I also had my fill of sandwiches, coffee and bottled water at the lounge.

Traveling in business class (thanks again to a certain company policy) gave me the choice to go through the “N1 gate”, an express lane going to the boarding gates. I was not able to find it quickly so I approached an airport staff, pointed at my flight number in the ticket. He directed me to go to the farthest one. When I got there, the queue to the x-ray machine was just too long so I back-tracked and finally found the N1 gate. I gave the ticket to the attendant but without even glancing at the paper I was holding, she directed me again to the direction I’ve been through. Then I showed her my ticket and pointed at the “magic phrase”. When she realized her mistake, she gave me her apologies. Well, I don’t blame her because I obviously look like I couldn’t afford to travel in business class. Honestly, it is even worse, because with the state I am in now, I couldn’t even travel in Thailand or South Korea, which I’ve been longing to visit for years!

At the boarding gate…

So I finally left Paris with a few souvenirs and a lot more wishes. I wanted to buy some t shirts but 10 euros each was too much for me.

By the way, this Schengen Visa was really convenient. I didn’t have to go through immigration when I left for Portugal.

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Goodbye, Paris

April 25th, 2011
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From the audio guide in the hop-on hop-off buses, I learned that quite a lot of the buildings in Paris just had minor renovations. How could they be still standing so elegantly when there were still no metal buildings centuries ago! Anyway, one of the things in Paris that bewitched me was the sunset. It just made the buildings glow…

After my visit at the Louvre, I walked to the souvenir shops near the Notre Dame Cathedral. I wanted to buy a lot of those Eiffel Tower miniatures/key chains but my bag was still full of sweets from Singapore.

I lost track of time looking through post cards and I missed the hop-on hop-off bus. I walked and walked hoping to find the tall tower close to the hotel but I ended up in a dark alley. (That tower looked so near based on the map!) To make things worse, it even took me so long to find a cab! It was Valentine’s Day so most of the cabs were occupied. I looked at the restaurants but wondered why most were still deserted. Was it because it’s still 6PM? Thankfully, I got myself a cab with an English-speaking driver. I bought a sandwich for dinner and retired to bed early.

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Paris, Travels

Finding Mona Lisa

March 11th, 2011
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I am actually more interested in the sculptures than seeing Mona Lisa . So, my first stop was not to see the most famous painting, rather at one of the most deserted areas in the the Louvre Museum. Here are the photos of my favorites:

The museum closes at 5:30PM so I only had an hour. I wanted to explore more sculptures but I may not have another chance to visit Paris. At least I would be able to say “yes” to my friends every time they ask me if I’ve seen the Mona Lisa.
Finding Mona Lisa was not hard at all considering how gigantic the museum was. Directions leading to it are plastered almost everywhere. If you want, you may watch the video I took on my way to the painting…

I didn’t expect it to be huge but I was still surprised at how small it was…

It was hard to get a photo because it was really crowded in there. “No flash” signs are everywhere but people still ignored it. After squeezing through and finally taking a not so good photo, I had a few minutes left to explore more interesting paintings. This is my favorite:

I wish I could recall who painted this, and how I wish I could visit Paris again! I will definitely spend at least a day at the Louvre Museum…

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Musée du Louvre

March 9th, 2011
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Like the other tourist spots in Paris, the Louvre Museum was filled with tourists. A Chinese guy was kind enough to take two of my five photos in Paris…


There was a long queue going into the museum that I almost decided not to go inside. But that could be my only chance to visit Paris, so I endured the long queue and went inside.

One of the ticket booths:

The ticket cost 10 Euros but it was worth it, having seen the famous Mona Lisa. Not to mention, I was able to use the toilet.

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On the way to the Louvre Museum

March 9th, 2011
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It was almost 4PM and I still haven’t seen first hand that famous glass pyramid at the Louvre Museum. Nevertheless, I stayed at the open, top deck of the bus and thoroughly enjoyed the scenes on the way there (even if I could no longer feel my fingers and ears). I was almost tempted to get off the bus because there was a better place to view and get a better photo of the Eiffel Tower:

And this building (forgot the name) was right in front of it…

I’m not sure what are these. Apartments, perhaps? It would be great to try living there…

Golden statues…

And, here it is, finally!

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The bus did it again

March 8th, 2011
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After getting rid of hunger and of some fluids, I was in my best condition to continue exploring Paris again. So I headed to the pickup point, being confident that the bus would be there in 30 minutes at most.

I spent the first few minutes observing the people around me, proving more and more that many people in Paris don’t follow traffic rules. Luckily, no crazy guy approached me, but a woman (who didn’t look like a tourist to me because she didn’t have a camera on hand) asked me if I could speak English. I just shook my head, keeping in mind what happened at the Eiffel Tower. 40 minutes since I started waiting, still no bus! I was getting agitated because I only had but a few hours and I still haven’t gone inside the Louvre Museum! Also, I haven’t taken a photo of myself with these wonderful buildings in the background.

Then a Chinese couple joined me at the pickup point. Obviously, they were tourists too because the guy had a DSLR. They looked so friendly and the guy was fluent in English, so I asked them to take a photo of me (my second and third one in Paris).

Actually, with my eyeglasses on, many Chinese tourists mistook me for a Chinese tourist.
Finally, after an hour and 10 minutes of waiting, the bus finally appeared! But we didn’t get out of the avenue fast because of the heavy traffic.

The pickup point that I was looking for before having lunch? I was actually on the right track but I was just too anxious that I missed the small pickup point sign!

It was already 3:30PM so I made a decision that no matter how marvelous a certain building I find along the way, I should by all means not get off the bus and head directly to the Louvre Museum.

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50 Euros for the toilet

March 7th, 2011
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The liveliest place in Paris is probably the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Malls, boutiques and restaurants are on both sides of the avenue. Just when I started to think that most people in Paris don’t love to go out, this avenue proved me wrong:

I got off two stops away from the Arc de Triomphei because I needed to find a toilet. I made sure not to drink too much liquid during breakfast but I just couldn’t control it. I got into the shopping malls, desperately looking for “the sign”. But I never found one! Oh, how I missed Singapore at that time. It was not that urgent yet so I took some photos of Arc de Triomphe…

On the other side of the avenue, I found a sign pointing to the stairs but as I approached it, there was a small sign with English translation that said “out of order”. I decided to go back to the hotel and tried to find the bus pickup point. Due to my navigation skills, I wasn’t able to find it. It was getting unbearable, that at that time I was willing to pay anyone 50 Euros who would let me use their toilet! One of my last resort: have lunch in one of those restaurants. I was getting really hungry and thirsty, too.

I actually prefer fast food chains because I am not comfortable about giving tips. It’s not that I don’t want to give tips, but I just don’t know how much should I give. But then again, I was already desperate, and the McDonald’s I saw didn’t seem to have a toilet. It was around 2PM but most of the restaurants were still fully-occupied. Then I found one that serves pasta. I placed my order, tried to endure it until I finished my meal, paid, and finally got to do my thing!

No, my lunch did not cost me 50 Euros. The pasta was 16 Euros and the bottled water was 2 Euros. I couldn’t recall if there was a service charge or tax. Still, that meal was about 50SGD!

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Notre Dame de Paris and the way to Champs-Élysées

March 6th, 2011
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Trying to forget the scary encounter with that guy, I chose Notre Dame de Paris as my first stop. It was magnificent!

I don’t know if it was normally free to go inside, but I didn’t have to pay for anything. Maybe there was a part of the cathedral that requires an entrance fee but I still had so many places to go to. I didn’t have more time to thoroughly explore the place.

Maybe it was just because I was raised Catholic that I got goosebumps upon entering the church. Picture-taking without flash was allowed but still, there were a number of people who ignored the signs.


Before I left the church, I bought some rosary beads and pendants. I also got two of these 2-Euro medallions:

I won’t narrate here I got lost and wasted about an hour locating the pickup point. But at least I met a Chinese family tourist who were kind enough to take a photo of me near the Notre Dame…

My next stop, Champs-Élysées. I can’t recall the names of these structures but these are what you would see en route to the Champs-Élysées:

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