NeXt StOp - BaRcElOnA

Day 6 - 25th Feb

From Paris, we took a domestic flight to Barcelona.. I dunno why but our flight is always delayed.. as usual we gotta wait and wait..

Siiting at the airport - damn ugly pic of me but it is to show how sick i am haha

After we arrived at Barcelona, we took a bus to Plaza Catalyuna as our hotel is near there. As the map provided by the hotel was so lousy, we did not know how to walk there.. my 13kg was getting heavier and heavier with each step i take... finally baby went to ask a police for directions... Seem to be very fated with policemen on this trip hehe...

After waklking for 3 streets, we finally found our hotel and.. its very very nice haha.. and the best part is its only 70 euros a nite! The hotel is undergoing renovation thats why its at a discounted rate.

Our bed for 2 nights

Toilet with bathtub.. did not get a chance to soak in it though

Day 7 - 26th Feb

It was the last day before i had to report to work.. didn't really know where to visit though so we just took out time and walked ard..

I dunno wats the purpose of this pic.. just that we were walking from the hotel to look for breakfast

eh ya us eating breakfast..

baby eating gelato and i cannot eat

A market at La Rambia.. something like our wet market but there was only meat fruits and candy.. ..

they had really huge pieces of meat hanging on the stalls - cannot be seen here though

Lots of candy.. but it was placed so openly..

Chocolates!!

Did not really do much.. just walked ard, went to a cathedral.. my sickness was really a burden.. but it will be such a waste to stay in the room so we had to go out and at least see the streets..

Had dinner at a cafe as baby insisted he wanted to eat Paella (not sure if its spelt correctly). Its a Spanish rice/noodle dish

at the cafe..

I had noodles and baby had rice.. wasn't really to my liking though but my was nicer than his.. his rice was not cooked properly and very very hard.

We decided to sit down at the side of the road to take a pic together

Day 8 - 27th Feb

It was the day i report for work..so sian.. had to carry my very heavy bag pack to take the train to the hotel my company booked..

Walking to the train station - as usual he is smoking

After checking in we came out for lunch.. the neighbourhood near Princess Sofia was very quiet and not near any shopping area.. Its supposed to be a 5 star hotel but its ok only.. a bit over rated

baby ordered the wrong thing and ended up having some raw beef.. he was so disgusted he did not even finish it

Our hotel was near the Barcelona Football club so we took a walk there to take a look.. There was a match on that day.. It was the Spanisj League.. Barcelona ve Valencia.. Of cos we did not watch..

luckily baby's not a football fan haha

Outside the Stadium

A stall selling Barcelona FC's merchandise..

The surrounding near the hotel we stayed in..

Had dinner back at the hotel with my colleagues as dinner was provided by my company.. tomorrow is working day...

Day 9 - 28th Feb

Spent the whole day in a conference today while baby went for a half day tour organised by my compnay for the partners. Lucky him!.. Conference was from 0845 to 1730.. There was still dinner after that.. We were brought to some country club 40 mins drive away from our hotel.. Entertainment was provided as well.. Spanish dancers on podiums graced us with short intervals of folk spanish dance..

Me and baby sat with some of my UK colleagues cos the Asia table was full haha.. There are more than 1000 pple in my co and hence being such a small fry i do not know most pple.. however, they were very friendly.. i found out one of my colleagues from the UK sitting in the same table as us used to be a regional volleyball player. How cool is that!

Day 10 - 29 Feb

It was our last day in Barcelona and a free and easy day for us.. except for a formal dinner we had to attend at night.. We slept in late and skipped breakfast as i had not been sleeping much due to my coughing fits at night..

Our last day was spent shopping for last min gifts..

. Visited the famous half built cathedral - forgot the name hehe..

Met this cute, big dog along the streets.. It was lyin outside its owner's shop.. so i had to go up to scratch it.. hope it made him happier cos it had a very sad puppy look

Did not have much time to do much as we had to rush back to prepare for the formal dinner.. Baby bought a shirt at Zara there to wear..

This is the first time he looked so formal.. the first time he see himself so formal too haha

so Shuai!! haha

Shuai Ge and Mei nu hehehe.. i seldom have so much make up on my face..

The formal dinner was held at the old casino of Barcelona.. it is an hour drive from the hotel.. They booked te whole mansion.. damn big deal la!.. Everyone was dressed so glamourously.. tink i was under dressed.. but i dun really care haha..

There were even pple hired to play the roles of rich patrons of the casino in the 30's...they even staged a fight to bring the mood back to those times..

The band playing at the cocktail area.. That is a very big instrument and it goes round that guy

Me and my colleagues..

So that was the end of my 10 day trip.. quite a waste though cos i was sick throughout the trip and poor baby had to take care of me.. Sorry to disappoint Sy cos she is not going to be a godma anytime soon haha no baby Paris or baby Barca haha..

If i am still in this company, i must make sure i will not be sick next year!

PaRIS 2008

Day 1 - 20th Feb

Left on 20th Feb at nite for my holiday/work.. i was still ill and coughing very badly..

Had dinner with sy and munky first at Red House Seafood before going home and the airport to catch our midnight flight..

It was a long 12 hour flight to Milan followed by an hour stopover then continuing our journey for another hour to Barcelona. Even someone so small like me feel so uncomfortable sitting in that small seat for more than 10 hours.. tink baby must have felt alot worse than me haha..

Before we board the plane..

On the plane.. e flight was not full so we coulf lie on the seats to sleep

SIA's inflight entertainment system..

so many shows to watch! could not resist watching a few shows before sleeping..

Day 2 - 21st Feb

We woke up on the plane and saw lots of mountains below us.. so pretty!.. finally the long journey is going to be over soon.. my knee was having cramps from the long hours of sitting..

We finally touched down at Baracelona at about 0830. but we had to take another domestic flight out to Paris and the flight was at 1400.. Another long wait..

Baby was dying for a smoke, of cos, BUT!! Barcelona Airport do not sell ciggies haha.. can u imagine how pissed and irritated he was.. After a long 14 hour flight and finally after we land, he can finally satisfy his cravings but there were no ciggies to buy..

We had lots of time to kill.. took a walk outside to enjoy the cool weather and hopefully to cool baby down haha.. but think it was worse cos everyone was smoking outside heh..

sat down for coffee.. Thsins are really damn expensive over there..

bought 2 coffee for about 4 Euros (about S$8)..

It was the machine kind of coffee but only slightly bigger

Shop around in the duty free.. see his face to black..

Had lunch and finally it was about time for our next flight.. see his forced smile haha

It was actually quite a wasted day cos we spent most of the day waiting in the airport for our flight to Paris.. When we reached Paris it was almost 4-ish already.. Heng they sold ciggies at the Paris Orly airport.. We met a cop at the airport and he taught us how to get to the metro stop where our hotel was..

I was so happy when we reached the hotel.. was damn tired and the cold weather was worsening my cough.. bought a cough mixture from the pharmacy hoping it will work.. apparently not

Day 3 - 22nd Feb

Finally our first day in Paris.. It was cold there.. temp were below 10 but living in a sunny place all year round, it was something exciting to us haha...

We decided to take a walk to the Effiel Tower.. took us about half an hour. The streets were very quiet and peaceful.. guess everyone was at work haha..

my hair is so messy due to the wind..

Getting nearer.. stopped for breakfast and coffee along the way..

Finally we have reached..

There were already many pple there queuing up to go up the tower.. Of cos we queued too.. there were many Asian tourists. esp Japanese. It costs us 11 Euros each to go up to the highest floor. The last time i was there i did not go up so i must do it this time..

It is really very very high and damn bloody cold up there..

Proof of the windiness - my hair... although it was very cold, we had to make our money's worth so we refused to come down until we could not take it haha typical Singaporeans

Quite a lousy shot of the Effiel Tower.. if u can see thats Shihao i the foregound haha

Me all wrapped up by the river... on our way to walk to the Arc de Triumph..

Took us another half an hour to walk to the Arc.. quite tiring..

there it is..

of cos we had to take a picture together there.. many of our photos are neo print shots as there is no one to take for us.. its either us or the background haha..

We took a walk down Champs Elysees (something like that), the place to be seen! and of cos to go LV haha.. saw the picture below and i had to get baby to pose with her.. but he refused to make the lao hua face haha

but he does look happy haha..

As promised to Sy, we went into LV to help her get a bag for her mom.. It was really crowded inside and mostly Jap tourists.. haha.. anyway we helped her buy the speedy monogram bag for her mom. Was only about S$750 after the tax refund! Even though its about $200+ chepaer.. i cannot bear to buy anything for myself from there too..

Had lunch at some cafe and took another long walk to the Lourve.. From the map it looks near but we walked for more than half an hour..

Taking a rest at a fountain near the Lourve.. as u can see baby is cold haha.

baby and LV..

We finally reached the Lourve.. although pictures were allowed inside, i did not wan to take any and risk spoiling all the art pieces.. The place is really huge and we had trouble finding the exit.. its quite scary to get lost in a museum..

That was all the walking i could do in a day.. took the metro back to the hotel and had dinner ard the neighbourhood..

Day 4 - 23rd Feb

Took a nice morning walk to Mountparnese.. a very nice neighbourhood.. there was a skating rink there.. how nice it would be if Singapore had winter too..

Cute baby learning how to ice skate..

baby standing outside the rink..

visited the Orsy Museum

Lunch near Orsy.. baby had beer

and i can only drink water.. was coughing really badly already..

Made our way to the Notre Dame Cathedral.. Only took pictures outside as i think its really rude to take pictures in a cathedral..

Notre Dame Cathedral

Went shopping after that as i wanted to get some presents and check out the shopping in Paris.. Was really tired as my cough was getting worse and had difficulty breathing.. Asthma i guessed.. Felt bad for dampening the holiday mood cos baby had to take care of me..

It was another sleepless and coughing nite...

Day 5 - 24th Feb

It was our last full day in Paris.. It was a very cold day.. had to put my hands in my pockets the whole walk to the train station..

The hotel recep told us we had to visit the Chateau Versatilles, a Castle in the outskirts of Paris.. so we did.. the place we wanted to go to was out of the map of the metro line.. but there were many tourists so we just followed along..

on the train..

After a very long train ride and a short walk, we reached the castle

The sky looked so blue..

There was a very long queue to go into the castle so we did not even bother queuing, we took a walk in the garden instead,, it was nicer when i visited it in Spring.. but tink baby liked it alot.. We spent half a day there strolling and siting by the lake..

I wonder how do they grow all the trees to be of the same height and cut

In front of a fountain.. no water spurting out though.. tink its not on in winter.. see how far the garden stretches!

i did not really touch it k

Olie!!

a stroll along among the trees.. so romantic haha

Sitting by the lake

baby acting cool while i take photo

That was the end of our 5 days in Paris..

Next Stop... Barcelona!