05/05 - Parisian Treat

This was our last full day in Paris. We couldn't resist anymore. Highly recommend:

Cake - Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki (a Japanese/French patisserie shop)

"One of the best ice-cream in the world" - La Flore en l'Île

04/05 - Void

Couldn't really remember what we've done on this day, probably shopping, shopping and then shopping. The above photos show the balcony of our hotel room. Yes, we switched from our hostel to a budget hotel in Montmartre.

03/05 - Parisian Architecture

After the museums, we dropped by the Effel Tower, took a few pictures. Then we found our way to Dominique Perrault's National Library. It was an interesting complex, with tons of criticism about having the building sunken in a courtyard beside the Seine, ignoring the risk of flooding. We entered the complex and walked in the public area for a while. We continued our way along the river until we hit the recently completed bridge project and design school, which we had seen in magazines before. Just before dusk fell upon, we made our way to visit Jean Nouvel's masterpiece, the Arab World Institute. By the time we arrived it was already closed. We could only walked around the building and take pictures of the exterior.

After we exhausted ourselves with museums and buildings, we headed to the nearby 13th Arrondissement, where Chinatown is located, to dine in a Laos restaurant.

03/05 - Parisian Museums

Going to museums in Paris on the first Sunday of the month is by no means something that we love. First Sunday of the month means free admission to many national museums and galleries, and free entry means long lineups and crowded exhibitions. Nevertheless, we managed to first revisited Louvre (wrong choice), then went to Centre Pompidou, and finally the recently completed Quai Branly Museum of non-western art by Jean Nouvel.

02/05 - Paris Night Stroll

We stopped at Lille for roughly 45 minutes. We didn't venture far from the train station, only the "devil" sculptures along the main road captured my attention.

By early evening we finally arrived at our last stop, Paris. It had been exactly 10 years since we last visited the French capital. We dropped off our stuff at our hostel on Montmartre and then decided to take a walk in the area to find something to eat. We strolled through the very touristy red light district and entertainment quarter, then turned south. By the time we found ourselves standing in front of the Paris Garnier, night had already fallen upon us. We stood quietly across the street from Garnier. It was as beautiful as always. In fact, we almost forgot how beautiful Paris really is until that very moment we stood facing the Opera House.

We had a quick bite at a Chinese fast food place. Most places were either closed or seemed unsuitable for our taste. After the meal, we continued wandering without knowing where we were going. We strolled by Place Vendome, and ended up reaching the forecourt of the Louvre. It felt magical as we sat at the edge of a fountain where we probably sat at a decade ago. We could still remember the surprising fireworks show 10 years ago. At the same place the glass pyramids seemed unchanged, so as the street lamps, the fountains, the night sky.

It was really late and we were tired from the half-day train ride. We just hopped on a night bus nearby, passed by a small street full of Japanese noodle eateries, and arrived at somewhere near Paris Nord. We changed to metro and finally settled into our hostel room after midnight. The Basilique du Sacré-Cœur stood high up outside our window, as the music from the nearby carousel continued to hype up the romantic atmosphere until way past 01:00.

02/05 - Rotterdam

Time was ticking right at the moment we get up. We were leaving Rotterdam in the early afternoon. So during our remaining time in Rotterdam, we visited the cube houses, the NAI (Netherlands Architecture Institute), and Rem Koolhaas' Kunstahl. After Kunstahl, we returned to our hostel to pick up our backpacks and said farewell to the friendly hostel dog.

In order to save money, we never took the Thalys during this trip. The route that we took from Rotterdam to Paris involved some train changes at Antwerp and Lille. Each of us only spent 3 euro to reserve a domestic TGV from Lille to Paris Nord, and our Interrail Pass took care of the rest.

01/05 - Almere and The Hague

It was indeed contemporary architecture that drove us to revisit the Netherlands. This was a day reserved entirely for architecture.

In the morning, we took our time wandering in downtown Rotterdam, passing by an urban plaza designed by West 8 a few years earlier. At Rotterdam Centraal, we hopped onto a train heading to Schiphol. Our destination was Almere, a new developed city northeast of Amsterdam. By midday, we reached Almere. From the station, we walked through a series of pedestrian arcades and shopping area until reaching the waterfront area where OMA was responsible for the masterplanning. In a few parcels of land we could find a number of interesting architecture done by renounced architects like Alsop and SANAA. On our way back to the station we dropped by UN Studio's La Defense, a colourful office complex widely published earlier.

From Almere, we took a train to Amsterdam Sloterdijk, where we stopped for a bowl of tomato soup, at the same restaurant where we had lunch in April 2008 when we visited Amsterdam. After the refreshment, we headed off to Den Haag (The Hague), where Netherland's central government is located. Again architecture was our main draw. We visited the Dance Theatre by Rem Koolhaas, the city hall by Richard Meier, and a new metro station by again Koolhaas. Before we returned to Rotherdam, we paid a quick visit to the Dutch parliament.

After dinner, we made a special visit back to Belgium's Antwerp, because I have left my mobile phone at Bed, Bath & Bread. Luckily someone was there to open the door and we left happily with my mobile phone for Rotterdam to spend our final night in the Netherlands.

30/04 - Keukenhof

We took a morning train from Antwerp to Rotterdam. After off loading our backpacks at the hostel, we decided to head for the famous Keukenhof Garden. After all, it was a pretty nice day to see some flowers, indeed a few millions of flower bulbs! We dropped by a mini market for some can-food, water and snacks and off we go to the Rotterdam Centraal.

All trains going to Amsterdam were packed with cheerful youngsters, excited, noisy, and half drunk. The very day that we arrived in the Netherlands, it was the Queen's Day! Though we had no intention to revisit Amsterdam and exhausted ourselves in drinking, we went with our plan and get off at Leiden. After over 1/2 hour standing in a cramped exit vestibule on the train, we were relieved to find ourselves sitting on a bus heading to the garden.

Keukenhof is the largest flower garden in the world, displaying several million of flower bulbs each year from late March to early May only. This was our first time and probably our last time that we would come to Keukenhof. We enjoyed our time wandering around the flower beds, taking pictures of the fist-size bulbs, until late afternoon.

After dinner, we took a walk from our hostel in Rotterdam, reaching as far as the concrete Euromast Tower.

29/04 - Antwerp

We came to Antwerp for the fashion, not particularily the Antwerp 6. The Fashion Design School is situated nicely in the heart of everything. When we were there, they had a good show on paper fashion. Particularily impressive was a video on a fashion show done by Brazilian Japanese designer Jum Nakao http://www.jumnakao.com.br/ . His show of paper dresses and how each model tore apart her dress at the end of the show was phenomenal. Also worth noting were Issey Miyake's paper dresses. After the show, we strolled through the downtown and found a few interesting fashion boutiques.

28/04 - Bed, Bath & Bread, Antwerp

A comfortable treat for us after many days of hostels. Bed, Bath & Bread of Antwerp, a B&B with only 3 rooms.

28/04 - Antwerpen Centraal Station

A beautiful train station. A unique mix of architectural styles in the old terminal, and an nicely done expansion in the interior that house the high speed railway platforms recently completed. A nice Belgian welcome for us, after the long-haul train ride which took us most of the day, from Caen, then Paris, Lille, and finally Antwerp.

27/04 - D-Day Beaches of Normandy 2

It wasn't the right day and time to visit the D-day beach. The water was high. The wind was chilly. And then the rain. Pointe du Hoc was quite impressive. Scars and craters of warfare were everywhere on the landscape. Empty concrete shell that once fortified the mighty German guns, which defended the Normandy beaches from Allies attack, scattered around the site. Influxes of tourists came and followed their guide like school children. A sensational site, would be much nicer without the tourist noise. Though of course I was one of them. We returned to the Memorial Museum in the afternoon. It is an fantastic museum on everything about WWII and the D-Day battles. At the atrium, a large photography depicting Berlin's Brandenburg Gate in 1989 commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Fall of Berlin Wall.

27/04 - Memorial Museum and D-Day Beaches of Normandy

In the morning, we joined a 1/2 day tour at the Memorial Museum to the Harbour of Arromanches, Normandy American Cemetery, Omaha Landing Beach, and Pointe du Hoc. It was a cold and rainy morning. From the museum, we hopped into a van with a guide for the Harbour of Aromanches, where remnants of wartime articial harbours were still on the beach and out in the sea. These articial landing platforms were prefabricated in England. During the D-day operation, these concrete and steel structures were dumped into the sea to form a series of landing strips for te Allies supply ships. We could only take pictures of these amazing structures from a cliff high above the beach. We then moved on to Normandy American Cemetery, where more than 9000 soldiers were buried.