A blog by a Singaporean architecture student which began during his exchange in Delft, Netherlands but continued upon returning...
"The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', which means many, and 'ticks', which are blood sucking parasites."
"Architecture critics are like eunuchs... They know, but they cannot."
One of the food that I miss the most while I was abroad was Clementi Chai Tow Kway! Bet there are loads of carrot cake stores in Clementi, but when you hear "Clementi Carrot Cake", I bet we will think of the same one run by that father and sons right? Yummy... A 5 month long craving was satisfied!
Just like the farewell dinner we had at Fish + Co. before I left, met up w/ my dear friends at Lao Pasat for supper after returning. Food! Glorious Food!! Thanks for the lift Kelvin! It was great meeting up w/ you guys once again... :)
Guess the building above needs no introduction... well, at least to aki students haha. We had to queue up for some time before making it into the Centre Pompidou. Below shows 2 of us on the train ride to Poissy, a long part of our architecture pilgrimage. Hiakz! Savoye here we come!
These mark the end of the long Europe exchange and year end trip. It was very tiring, but enjoyable, and definitely an eye-opener. If got the chance and cash, I won't hesitate embarking on another trip to Europe...! As we took our Thalys straight from Paris to Schipol Airport (Amsterdam), we passed by Delft. Boy that place sure brings back loads of wonderful memories... All good things must come to an end I guess, but they will continue to live within me, always :)
Every boy and girl's dreams come true in Disneyland... My first visit to a Disney! Well, it is really a theme park and a world of its own! Still, the staff there could be friendlier. One of the cashier asks us where we are from and we said Singapore. Then he spoke to us in French and we asked him if he could speak English. His reply was, "English, go England." Ka pui! Well, that's the only sianz part of the day... Took alot of thrill rides and stuff, and watched the Disney Parade!!!
Effiel tower! Took us half a day in the queue to get up! Symbol of the age of industrialization! The view on top was wonderful, but very cold... Still, you can see at one glance how strictly the government restrict the building height limits in the old city. High-rise buildings can only be found nearer to La Defense.
I'm quite fascinated by the stuff we see in Paris, but I'm quite turned-off by the exorbitant prices in their restaurants and cafes, as well as general unfriendliness of the people here... True, I don't speak French, but at least, be courteous? Above is the Arch de Triumph which stands in the centre of the round-about, and below its modern interpretation called the Grande Arch.
At the bibliotheque, we were very much distracted by this bridge, another one which I studied for one of my projects, but forgot its name... Urgh... Chet's always been fascinated by the tiny smart cars here in Europe. First time play with animated .gif images. More to come later!
The Louvre and I.M.Pei's entrance. Let's not argue the appropriateness of a glass pyramid amidst such old heritage classical buildings here. It's nice by itself and I appreciate that. Check out the night shots too! Must thank Chet and Ju who gave in to my willfulness in returning after dark just to take some photos... But it's worth it right?? Below is the headless statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. You can see a miniature of it in Taka's Kinokuniya on display now!!!
Notre dame. We went up to the highest balcony on the tower's roof and met the cleaner there. He was an old man and believe it or not, he was a hunchback! We talked to him and he told us that Disney got inspiration from him for their famous animation. Well... If you really believe what I just said, you are as naive as Elita (who believed it when we told her). Hiakz... Below are shots from Chateau de Versailles. Free admittance for architecture students, if you can prove that you are one at the ticketing booth :)
