London.

After our Sem2 exams ended, everyone was busy. Busy packing, busy checking out apartments, busy getting ready to come home! But when all was done, it was time to holiday! London this time! Stayed at Jury's Inn which has become the hotel of choice when we go visiting. It's relatively cheap and the ambience is wonderful! :)

On the first day, we departed Dublin at about 10am. Reached London an hr later and dumped our stuff in the hotel. Then Stephen brought us to Chinatown. Had Msian food. Not bad. After Chinatown, we made our way to Madame Tussauds wax museum!

The gateway to Chinatown. Busy eh?

Baker Street stop. Home to the greatest detective, Holmes!

Shrek!

Good impersonation eh? Actually, I think I look better! xD

Now, this is a great shot. In your face, greatest asshole on earth!

Stephen, hoping that this would coax Einstein into sharing some of his intelligence with him! :P

Derrick, who disagrees with this man. Einstein's friend if I'm not wrong.

After toying around at Madame Tussauds, we made our way to Buckingham Palace hoping to catch the changing of the guards. However, that didn't materialise and we had to make do with just watching 2 guards exchanging places to prevent them from collapsing =.= Lame.

Buckingham Palace and the 2 guards.

Us! In front of the huge gate fronting Buckingham Palace!

Next on the list was the London Eye! Was tempted to take a ride on it but the cost to get on it put us off :(

Baby with the London Eye in the background!

Us in the park. Stupid me had to look up. Sigh!

Big Ben and London Eye.

Ah Ben up close!

Us and the London Eye!

From L to R : me, Baby, GinPeng, ChoonKeat, Stephen and Derrick

London Eye at night!

And that was our first day in London. Pretty hectic eh? The following day was much more relaxed. In the morning, we headed to Stonehenge!

The majestic Stonehenge!

Us at Stonehenge!

After Stonehenge, we didn't do much and the next highlight was the opening World Cup match for England. Against USA. Our first experience of watching a WC match in a country which I thought had a real chance of bagging it this time round. How WRONGGGG I was.

5 of us at a pub. Free vuvuzelas! And they're freaking hard to blow!

The following day, London Bridge and St. Paul's cathedral was on the itenary. First up, the humongous St. Paul's Cathedral!

Now you believe me when I say humongous?

London Bridge. And contrary to what I've always believed, this is not the bridge in the "London Bridge is falling down..." song. The bridge they meant was Tower Bridge, pictured below ;)


Us on Tower Bridge! And no, it's not falling down! :)

This is a picture of baby trying out cow's tongue at a Korean makan place. Not bad!

This is us at Quo Vadis, a restaurant serving traditional British food. We had Fish&Chips and Lobster Spaghetti although I seriously doubt the latter could be considered traditional British. Ambience was classy and food was good!

We then bowled, in the dark. Fluorescent balls and pins! Nice?

And this was on the last night before we came home. Giant Toasted Ants. Bacon flavoured!
Was curious so I tried and it sure ain't easy trying to put an ant into your mouth! Try it yourself!

HUGEEEEE!

And that was our London trip. Simple. And very very enjoyable! Owya, next time you are in London, do try out the roasted duck served at Four Seasons restaurant! Simply awesome! Trust me! Tata.................!

Paris!

And so, as promised here's the Paris post! As you already know, I surprised baby with tickets to Paris when we were having lunch at Howth sometime during the Easter break. 3D2N break to Paris! Have always wanted to go there!

After dumping our luggage at the hotel, we made our way towards the Sacre Coeur (I still don't know how to pronounce it properly! xD) which is supposedly a church. Didn't go in as we didn't have much time to waste. After that we grabbed a light bite before making our way to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc is the focal point of 8 major roads in Paris and there's a long history of how and why it was erected. For more info, there's always wiki! ;) On the map it didn't seem far but by the time we got to the Arc our feet were aching like mad!

The Sacre Coeur. First stop of the trip!

Us! With the Arc de Triomphe in the background.

A close up of the Arc.

From the Arc we couldn't really see the Eiffel Tower although on the map, it's really really really close :( And so we decided to continue walking even though our feet was screaming for dear life. And after what seemed like an eternity we finally saw the iconic structure that is the Eiffel. Here are some shots of the Eiffel and the view from up there.

First sight of the Eiffel!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The magnificent Eiffel!

Stunning!

Baby!

The boss! xD

Us!


View from up top!


Sunset as viewed from the Eiffel!

Nice shot eh?!

Eiffel at night! Truly magical when you actually see the lights sparkle!

Baby! Who has always wanted to go on one!

That was pretty much the first day. Headed back to hotel and recharged for the following day. Day 2 was Disney day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who doesn't love Disneyland? So we got up early and took the train to Disneyland! Once we reached, sleepy heads became happy heads! Now let's enjoy shots of Disney!

First photo at Disneyland!

It's called Space Mountain if I'm not wrong. :P

Twice in 2 days! You can tell baby's happy!

:)

Minnie mouse!

Princess and the castle!

Us and the castle!

From L to R : Stephen, me, Baby, Gin Peng, Derrick

We stayed till Disney almost called it a day. Had to board the very-crammed train back to town. Rushed back so that we could have dinner at a restaurant recommended by one of the locals. It's called Au Claire de La Lune. Was really really excited. Along the way, something went wrong (misread directions I think) and we only reached the restaurant at 10pm sharp. The restaurant was already closed but the owner saw us and how eager we were to eat at their place that they agreed to let us in. And how thankful we are to him as we had a scrumptious meal there! The food was just amazing! Words CANNOT describe how good it was. Everything was good! From starters all the way to desserts! Everything was top notch! Here are some pictures of our very first French cuisine!

The famous escargots! They're actually tasty, not yucky!

A starter that has egg in it. The texture is so smooth it literally melts in your mouth!

Baby trying an escargot after gathering enough courage to put one into her mouth! :D

And this was my dessert. Choco cake. Need I say more?

Best sorbet ever! Baby's dessert!

Us after our very delicious meal!

After having such a scrumptious dinner, we retired to bed knowing that the trip was drawing to an end :( Woke up extra early then made our way to the Louvre. And let me tell you, that place is HUGEEEEEEEEEE! We only allocated a few hours as we didn't really know how to appreciate art. But we got to see the Mona Lisa smile which is by far the biggest draw at the Louvre. We then proceeded to the Notre Dame cathedral!

The Louvre from outside. It's crazily huge!

Mona Lisa as viewed from the left.

From the middle.

and from the right.
Notice how her eyes are fixed on you no matter where you look at her from? Creepy!

Us at the Notre Dame cathedral!

The Cross inside the Notre Dame.

Notre Dame was the last attraction on our list. We then went to the bus stop to board the bus back to the airport to catch our flight back home...... and that was our Paris trip! Overall, Paris is over-rated. Actually, over-rated would be an understatement! Especially their people and their manners, or the lack of it actually. Nonetheless, we still had a good time and that was our Easter getaway for our first year! Hope you enjoyed the pictures in this post! Tata!