the lastest of acquisitions - the incredible hulk

Gee, it's been quite a while since I last blogged. I'm suppose to be reading up on Consolidation, the latest, most bad-ass accounting topic ever, but I guess I could spare some time to briefly log the happenings of the past couple of months. Its been swell.

The results from the last semester ain't too shabby though I'm still a bit short of making it. On the day of my last paper, a gang of us took off to the cinema and we caught the very much anticipated Ironman 2. We had a mere weekend of reprieve before our professional attachment began. I remember how I was swarmed by figures nearly everyday of the week. I met some pretty nice folks there; the senior I worked with was like an older brother I never had. Though waking up every morning and taking that long walk down to the train station in shirt & pants that stifle from wrist to heels was so much of a chore, looking back now I really do appreciate my time there.

While I fulfilled the internship, my weekends were pretty much filled out by the miscellaneous. I completed the Sundown Marathon at a timing of around 5:30. Apart from that I was busy planning with a couple of other friends for the trip to Europe that was going to follow.

The trip was meant for the Global Summer School Programme where we'd get to clear an elective abroad at the London School of Economics. Of course we couldn't resist the opportunity to travel.

We had bought the eurail pass from STA Travel to help us in our travel in Italy. Our first stop was to Italy where we spent a week moving from Rome, to Pisa, Cinque Terre, Milan and finally stopping over at Venice. Rome was an ancient city to behold, having an immensely rich historical heritage and cosmopolitan atmosphere. It was odd, yet surreal, coming across ruins that have been left as they are in the midst of the charming city. Dinning along the laid back alleys in the evening, the fire wood pizza, coupled with a nice cold Forst beer, felt like nothing I had had before with generous slices of ham spread across the pizza and nice crisp crusts. While there, we visted the Trevi Foundtain, Spanish Steps, Vatican City, Isola Tiberina, Palatine Hill, the Colosseum and the Catacombs.

We stopped over at Pisa for a half a day to see the leaning tower, and then moved on to Cinque Terre, a fine getaway from the hustle and bustle, before proceeding to Milan, a rougher side of Italy where we saw the magnificent Duomo cathedral. As we moved around in the subways within each city, baskers would play their accordians on board the train and although I enjoyed the novelty of it, it seemed to annoy the locals as I would also later see even Paris.

Venice, a sanctuary on a lagoon, was easy to move around without any cars to watch out for. When we were not navigating the streets and alleys on foot crossing bridge after bridge over the gondolas, we were taking the water taxi, basking in the soft seaside light. The streets was full of shops that sold mesmerizing pieces of venetian masks and Murano glasswares. We visited San Marcos, where there was a vibrant public square, and Murano where they pride themselves on the quality of their handmade glassware. The Gelato ice cream was so rich and awesome I had one everyday without fail at every stop of Italy.

Our favourite stopover was at Cinque Terre. When we first arrived at Riomaggiore, we were exhausted from lugging our luggage up to our room but recovered quickly when we saw the view from our balcony. It was quite a sight, being housed on a cliff facing the clean horizon of the sea. We even hit the waters for a bit, and sat on the rocks while we watched the boys cliff dive.

The walks from Riomaggiore to Manarola and back was most reposeful. It was also known as the lover's path where couples would leave their padlocks along the railings of the path. For our two days at Cinque Terre, we continued to visit Vernazza and Monterosso, covering essentially 4 out of the 5 towns, missing out on Corniglia unintentionally. On our last night, I was out at the balcony, under the star lit night, hearing the waves, taking in the sea breeze, trying to make a lasting memory.

The seafood was absolutely magnificent, the best I have ever had in my life if I may add. I remember having an entire sea bass to myself, and how fantastic the seafood spaghetti was. I'll never forget the anchovies too.

We dined at La Scogliera at Manarola twice because of how delightful the experience was for the first time round. There was a time or two when we would walk pass a lady salting fresh anchovies at her back door near where we stayed. She would give us a pleasant smile each time we walked by. We stocked the fridge we had had with fresh peaches, strawberries, cherries and blueberries that we would eat every time we were back in our room. We also bought a bottle of 'limoncino', a cinque terre desert wine, for a friend who would later meet us in London.

We took a flight from Italy over to London where our term of 3 weeks at LSE began. Three of us shared a nice apartment at Mornington Cresent. The weather at London was cool and lovely and made it good for a hot cup of coffee on my way to school.

My group mates were some of the coolest dudes I've met in a while. I was glad our project(MAD Network) took shape really quickly. Every morning, I would buy an egg mayonnaise sandwich, and a pipping hot cup of coffee to take away from Wright's Bar. Every afternoon I'd find myself at the library catching a nap on the bean bag, a routine my group mates began to noticed and find amusing. It became the place they'd look for me when I was needed.

With the time we had out of school, we wandered the streets of Oxford, Piccadilly, Campden Market and managed a Sandemans tour with a guide around London. We spent a night watching the Phantom of the Opera and another on the riverboat cruising along the Thames river with the people of LSE. It was a pity we had missed the England vs Hungary football friendly. In the end, I felt a little bit attached to London and our cosy little apartment when we finally had pack up and leave.

Over the weekends while in London, we packed our bags for a couple of weekend trips. One to Scotland Edinburgh, where we missed our easyjet flight (the most traumatic of experiences) and had to take a 12h bus ride stopping by Birmingham where we dropped by the Bull Ring Market.

We had a little more than a day at Edinburgh. Loved the beer, calm picturesque landscape at our coach pit stop, and the jolly people there. The Sandemans tour gave a good insight to the history and quirks of Scotland, introducing Irn Bru, a drink thought to be a cure for a hangovers and other features of the new town such as the Heart of Midlothian where people would spit on (for good luck and also in defiance to Edinburgh's arch rival football club that also bears a heart for its crest) and the memorial of Greyfriar that spoke of a heart wrenching tale of the loyalty of Bobby the dog. Amongst the many sights, we also saw the site that gave inspiration to Harry Potter's Hogwards. Eventually, we ended at a pub where tried the Scottish Haggis, a national dish. It was a pity we didn't have the time for the highlands of Scotland.

We soon finished the term with our final presentation at LSE and took off to Brighton for a day trip on Friday where there was the pebbled stretch of beach and some really quirky, bohemian styled shops around. We sat at the beach watching the sunset, with the remains of the West Pier in background and the seagulls all over just before our bus left, catching what little sleep we could on the way back.

From the UK, we flew to Amsterdam (the whackiest central town ever, with the enchanting hamlet of windmills at Zannse Schans), Brussels and Paris (the Eiffel tower, Disneyland, Notre Dame, Lourve Musuem, Versailles... truly a lovely, lovely part of Europe).

To finally drop my bags back home was sort of a good feeling. I spent the night unpacking, throwing out souvenirs for my siblings, sharing bits and pieces of stories of my good travel before I headed to bed and repacked my bag for my next flight out to Phuket with the Kenai/Casper gang the next day...

(to be continued)

Labels: europe, summer, travel, vacation