ramblings~
Yijin + girls! '05
Xiz, Ms Wang + guys! '04
* 03S78
* hwachong junior college
* candice
* lifang
* yang
* xiaoxuan
* hilda
* quanyao
* xizhen
* sharon
* huiqi
* meiyin
* yijin
* yifan
* pear
* nwxiang
* weixin
* samuel
* ningqi
* pua
* yilin
* eliza
* wijaya
* ronnie
* weilei
* bong
* ryan shea
* wuwei
* r~linz
* hwachong!
* IVLE :)
* 30th Anniversary!
* HJC Council! :)
* our funky yahoogroups! :)
* winning thinkquest entry - i-Matrix
* blogger
* blogskins
* junior class!
* grandjuniors!
* 06s78
* 07s78
* 08s78
* dearly beloved ms wang!
* 03S77
* 03S75
* 03S71
* 03S7A
* 03A11
* 03A12
* 03S62
* 03S69
* 04S68
* 04S62
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florence & pisa
after munich came florence & pisa, after a 8+h long train ride. it immediately struck me that florence at night was a very pretty romantic place. walking ard the piazzas, down the narrow streets (not so congested at night thankfully) and across the bridges was very soothing. :) here's a view fr one bridge at 8+ at night. :) lovely weather helped too!
another pic taken at night, of one of the many churches scattered around florence, aka firenze in italian. :)
we went to pisa one of the days. to see the famous leaning tower, mainly, and also to check out the university mensa that was so cheap & gd, highly recommended by the other grp :P were early enough to avoid the crowds, but that didn't stop us from stumbling across a singaporean family :) here's a pic of pisa.. :)
all in all.. hmm, despite florence's good name, i didn't find it particularly attractive, perhaps cos of the overcrowding (of people and vehicles) and narrow streets which turned out stifling in the day. i thot pisa was small but more pleasant, pity they don't advertise anything else about pisa apart from the tower, cos i'm sure it's worth a closer look. yes, and this was stop #5 for me. :) 2nd last stop already.. doesn't time fly when ure enjoying urself.. :)
xiz lived on 3:11 AM
- 03S78 forever -
Backpacking 06: Salzburg
2nd June - 4th June
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Blanketed in the mist of rain for most of the days we were there, Salzburg brooded in a faintly tarnished languor… like an aging yet still very beautiful courtesan in a smoke-filled room, avid to welcome us yet weary too of ardent ways. The charm she exuded didn’t hit us at first. After all, it was raining and windy and we were cold, wet and hungry. But the cosy and natury feel of the city grows on you.
No skyscrapers or office buildings were in sight in Salzburg, just small shops and eateries around the churches and sights. So the city was relatively small: we could have finished walking it in a day, even if it was under the cover of umbrellas. We took our time exploring the gardens of Schloss Mirabell where some scenes of “the sound of music” were filmed. In the picture on the left, you can see the fountain of the garden with the fortress in the background. We also visited Mozart’s residence, which documented mostly how his family dealt with raising him and nuturing his musical genius. Had dinner at Fred’s doners, a quiet shop near our hostel selling cheap and delicious doner kebabs. It was really UP. He was nice enough to let us clear our small change too… while we were nice enough to patronize his shop again the next night =)
Another surprise awaited the next morning when we stumbled upon a massive parade, still not sure what it was for though but it seemed to be celebrating traditional folk life. Spent most of the remainder of the day visiting the Fortress (Festung Hohensalzburg) which offered a great view of the city and insights into the history of the city.
But the highlight of Salzburg was the 3rd day. Had a very filling breakfast at the hostel and met friendly fellow backpackers as well as a few Asians studying music in the city. Took the bus to Schloss Hellbrunn, summer residence of the Prince Archbishops and famous for its Wasserspiele (trick fountains). These hidden fountains were quite an engineering feat at that time and haunt every corner and angle of the gardens. Imagine going to have lunch outdoors with the archbishop. After your meal, suddenly, water spurts out from under your seat. Your pants get soaked but to make matters worse, you cant get up from your seat until the archbishop does. According to the archbishop, it was installed to refresh guests after they had their beers… okay =)
Had a quick lunch picnic in the rain of nutella, bread and apples before heading to Untersberg to go up the Alps. Everyone at the cable car station must have thought we were nuts to go up the Alps in this weather. But being crazy teenagers who had come all the way from Singapore, that wasn’t going to stop us!
It was the first time seeing snow for most of us. Naturally, the feeling was magical, like we’d just discovered another world of nature and were left speechless in awe. All of us seemed to have a collective déjà vu: of childhood fantasy. Euphoria then followed: snowball fights, failed snow angels, taking crappy videos, making a snowman and a trudge up into an unknown cabin which turned out to be a skiers tavern.
I think it’s a fleeting feeling even memory cant capture the essence of. Like for that period of time, everyone tastes the exhilaration of reckless abandon and warmth of childhood bliss. Everyone relishes the moment: of each others’ company as well as the fun we’re having. Its this type of unforgettable moments with your friends that people try so hard to relive and recapture during the rest of their lives. It was a dream within a dream.
Having read our junior class’s rather nostalgic posts, went back to read what we were thinking when we graduated. Those were posts in Nov 04, one and a half years ago. Really funny reading how we wrote stuff back then, like kids like that. (Which is why having a class diary/blog rox) Haha, we’re only marginally better now =P But I still do agree with what was said then: that the feelings in friendships or any relationship will change, that we must not be too parochial and cling to past perceptions of good times but treasure our times with each other in the new contexts. Easier said than done but I think we’re still doing fine. Let's hope it carries on =)
Remember writing this on graduation, with reference to the awwish picture of a rose on ice we used to have at the top of the blog. Sadly, never got to and still cant complete the 2nd stanza to reply the 1st but still felt it would end this post well:
A whithering rose, a fading scent.
A chapter’s close, a heart’s content.
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ryaniq lived on 3:22 AM
- 03S78 forever -
Backpacking 06: Vienna
30th May - 1st June
Vienna is really a city of music and the arts. Home to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Johann Strauss, its musical heritage has been preserved right to the present day with the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Vienna Boys' Choir and the Vienna Conservatorium. She certainly sets a worthy benchmark for Singapore to aspire towards. Music is everywhere, from the performers on the streets to the cafes playing classical music to the many great theatres which play music and ballet every night.
Spent the remainder of the 1st day (first half was in Bratislava) walking around the Ringstrabe: a wide avenue, constructed in the late 19th century by the very hardworking Emperor Franz Josef I, which encircles the old city of Vienna. It was built to replace the city walls built during the 13th century and the buildings along the avenue would showcase for imperial Habsburg grandeur and the glory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On a practical level, in the wake of the revolutions which brought him to power, this widening of the streets would also make the erection of revolutionary barricades impossible. Sigmund Freud was also known to take daily recreational walks around the Ring… wonder if that gave him any inspiration hmmm.
1) Unfortunately for us, we weren’t used to the weather. It was cold and worse, windy.
2) Us in a garden with the Burgstheater in the background
3) The beautiful Rathaus (Town hall)
4) Vienna’s parliament house
The next day, we visited the Belvedere (meaning “Nice viewpoint” in Italian), a stunning baroque palace complex built by Prince Eugene of Savoy, a brilliant military general. Today is houses the Austrian Gallery, which we gladly spent 5hrs browsing! We were still rather interested with the Impressionist works by Monet etc, as well as the Cubist works. Medieval paintings and sculptures were mainly religious and still ok. But by the time we got to the abstract art section… the “random” splashes of paint and sketches clearly deserved appreciation of an esoteric nature beyond our levels.
Of mention though are the works by the best known artist on display, Gustav Klimt. THE work on display in the museum definitely had to be his “The Kiss”. The following is a rough adaption of the description on the audioguide we shared:
“The setting is a flowery green platform that is probably a cliff top in the midst of a golden void. A man and woman embrace, in a moment of mutual self-abandon. They are swathed in metallic, shining bursts of drapery like a halo, an aura that bathes and blesses them, as if they are enclosed in the moment of their union and it sprays them with molten gold. Below them rain of golden ivy. Her robe is studded with whirls and spirals while he is emblazoned with upright black rectangles. This world of contrast all melt at the point of their harmony, their kiss…”
5) Belvedere
6) Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”
7) St.Stephansdom interior
8) Picture of the Wiener Philharmoniker with choir. Yes, we went to watch them perform Beethoven’s Symphony no.9 (ends with Final Chorus on Schiller's "Ode to Joy")!!! We got the cheapest (6euro, and there were like abt 200+ of us squeezing on that small standing platform. Imagine how much money each concert makes when u factor in the seats) and rather uncomfortable and cramped standing places on the platform at the back of the theatre where we squeezed for entire 1hr 40mins of the concert, albeit the music was great and uplifting =) Made up for us missing the Annual Music concert held at Schloss Schönbrunn 2 days later.
Speaking of which, we visited Schloss Schönbrunn (where the royalty stayed, not belvedere) the next day on the eve of the concert and had a great time admiring the rooms and lavish gardens…
9) A group of schoolkids having their excursion. Just imagine, their school excursions are to palaces… not saying its better but feels different huh.
10) The girls outside Schloss Schönbrunn doing some ballet steps.
11) View of palace from the Gloriette at the top of the hill behind the palace. St.stephansdom is visible on the top right of the picture.
12) Colourful ducks we saw on the way down.
Spent the rest of our last day touring outskirts of Vienna…
13) More cute schoolkids sitting on a bench sipping capri-sonne. Think the centre 2 kids make a good couple =P
14) One of the scarier rides at Prater, this theme park which I must say, has very few tourists and a lot of locals.
15) Flowers taken at a park near UNO city. UNO stands for United Nations Organisation.
  
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ryaniq lived on 1:55 AM
- 03S78 forever -
Backpacking 06: Prague 2 & 3
28th - 29th May
Prague & Kutna Hora
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The cultural capital of Bohemia since the 10th century, Prague is definitely one picturesque city. Unlike many other European cities, Prague didn’t suffer great destruction during World War II with the last major disaster being a devastating fire that ravaged much of the city in the 17th century. Also the center of the Velvet revolution that brought the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989 (velvet divorce splitting Czechoslovakia was in 1993), Prague is, today, one of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist cities.
Tourism contributes a great deal to Prague’s economy and its observable. The great numbers of tourists swarming the streets has sullied a little of its Bohemian charm. We must have seen the greatest deal of Asian tourists in Prague. And nowhere is this more so than the main sight of the city: Hradcany Castle (Prague Castle).
Built in the 9th century, the history of this magnificent Gothic structure overlooking Prague has been long and rich. From its very origin to present day it has been the seat of administration of the country. Prague castle was also where the term “defenestration” originated: the act of throwing someone or something out the window. Sound familiar?
In any case, 2 significant defenestrations (of people) were documented, with the 2nd defenestration erupting in the Thirty years’ war between the Protestants and Catholics across much of Europe in the early 17th century. Interestingly, the Catholic version of the story claims that angels appeared and carried them to safety. The Protestant version says that they landed in a pile of manure after falling 15m which spared their lives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague
1) Front view of St.Vitus Cathedral and its rose window, the seat of the archbishop, which is found inside the castle.
2) Cathedral from the side.
3) View of Prague city being divided by the Vltava River from one of the towers of the Cathedral. We climbed the dizzying 287 of the spiral staircase =)
4) The late sunset view of the castle and its surroundings from Charles’ Bridge, the famous historical bridge in Prague lined with statues erected in the 17th century of Prague’s saints. Its really busy in the day with Russian painters, owners of the kiosks, black sailors but has a nice serenity at night =) Its famous because it used to be the only bridge crossing the river, also because famous people fell (or, not unexpectedly, were thrown) from the bridge too. Scenes from Mission: Impossible were filmed here too with Tom Cruise watching one car blow up under the square of the bridge in one scene.
The next day in was spent visiting a former mining town outside Prague called Kutna Hora. It’s a welcome change with less tourists and we finally saw what their neighbourhoods looked like. The highlight here was probably visiting Sedlec Ossuary, a small Christian chapel located beneath a cemetery. It contains about 40,000 human bones artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel, the reason being the cemetery could no longer meet with demand.
5) A chandelier of bones with at least one of every bone from the human body.
6) Coasters in a cheap chinese eatery we found (owned by a mainland chinese lady who migrated there, playing邓丽君 music too!) with the theme: retribution. At least we think so.
7) Taking the night train to bratislava that night. Basically a 6-bedded compartment all the guys squeezed into with our backpacks =)
Shall skip Bratislava since it was only half a day and I don’t have any pictures of our cheap 1xgd meal+dessert =P
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ryaniq lived on 11:54 PM
- 03S78 forever -
The Epic of Birds and Men
a bit lame but i promised so....
qy lived on 4:30 PM
- 03S78 forever -
Go watch this
Click here
And this:
Click here
nwxiang lived on 2:02 PM
- 03S78 forever -
World Cup Final?
anyone wants to come over to my place and watch the final of world cup 2006?
the details are as follows:
date: 9-10th july 2006
time: match starts around 1am (i think) but if you all wanna steam or what...leave this open to your imagination
venue: my (parents') house living room
bring
- yourself
- booze if you want
- the colour of the team you are supporting (i am kinda hoping it's argentina vs brazil)
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qy lived on 11:59 AM
- 03S78 forever -
Backpacking 06: Prague
27th May (Saturday)
Prague
Arrived in Prague in the afternoon after taking the morning train from Berlin. Upon reaching the station, we were greeted by a relatively small but busy train station. There were quite a number of English signs leading us to money changers, transport arrangements and accommodation littered the station along our way. This turned out to be quite misleading as we found ourselves 笔手划脚-ing at the ticket window for our transport out of Prague. Think it took us a good half an hour to settle the night train tickets to Bratislava. We realized that brochures and numbers help a great deal, and withal so do helpful locals who understand English. But it was quite funny because it seems people of different countries have different ways of writing their numbers and it takes a while to differentiate their “2”s and “7”s for example.
This was to be repeated when we checked in into our quaint hostel a few metro stations down. Was greeted by a very pleasant and jocund old lady who was tending to her flowers from the balcony above the entrance, welcoming us warmly into what appeared to be an aged but still charming apartment block. This 笔手划脚 session yielded 2 important phrases though:
Thank you -- Děkuji (Ya-ku-ee)
Your welcome – Prosím (Proh-seem)
www.myczechrepublic.com/czech_language/czech_phrases.html
After settling in, we went walking around the New Town Square (St.Wenceslas Square, with its long and happening boulevard) as well as the enamoring Old Town Square with its Town Hall and Astronomical Clock. St.Wenceslas was the Duke of Bohemia (now approximately the Czech republic) and is their most famous martyr and patron saint. Yup, he’s the subject of the Christmas Carol: Good King Wenceslas.
The most interesting event of the day, however, was to come when we went to celebrate Nq’s birthday at a Czech pub. The Czechs were the first to brew clear, golden lager apparently: Pilsners. And although Budweiser is a german word, and also the name of an American beer, its the name of a the most exported beer in the Czech Republic: Budweiser Budvar.
Anyway, at the pub there happened to be an English family holding a wedding anniversary celebrations. Hence, the was a live band there playing music too. Chancing upon this, we requested a birthday song to be played for Nq. But who was to expect that when the band gladly obliged, the whole room stood up to sing Happy Birthday with us. Not only that, they all started converging on our table, taking turns to hug and kiss Nq. That includes even the bride! Qy has video evidence haha.
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ryaniq lived on 4:48 AM
- 03S78 forever -
an afterthought
 "Arbeit Macht Frei". Loosely translated, it means "work makes free". Perhaps not for the 'prisoners'. The harsh living conditions and treatment accorded were appalling and i felt saddened to learn of the transgression against human lives. For me, the visit to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp left quite an indelible mark on me.
"It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible." -- Mark Twain. I certainly hope it's not the case.
ronnie lived on 12:03 AM
- 03S78 forever -
dachau
reminder of the past - dachau
the first concentration camp set up in germany, eventually to be also used as a training ground for SS troops and as a model for concentrations camps to follow. everyone gets a diff feeling & experience, but for me, it was very shocking, disturbing, how one can inflict such pain & humiliation on others. made me think abt the idea of power, of conscience.. and the way the prisoners fought for survival also made me respect their ability to make the best out of the worst conditions.
what one sees when entering is actually a vast, mostly empty area. where 34 barracks used to stand, only 2 now remain, rebuilt and 'refurbished' to show us the living conditions then. i have no pics of the interior, but it is roughly divided into 3 huge rooms, each with 3-layered bunk beds, all joined to one another, covered with straw. the crematorium also remains, and gas chambers as well as a clothes collection room, a waiting room..
in the picture below u can see part of a memorial which stands in front of the former administrative building, now a museum. it shows pple tangled in the barbed wire trying to escape. in fact, its not jus a barbed wire preventing the prisoners fr making a run for it. before the wire there's a wired patch at shin level, and before a ditch. on the other side is another ditch, and anyone coming close enough to it will be shot immediately by guards in the guard towers. it's reported tt some who wanted to put an end to their suffering simply walked into the zone.
all in all, a reminder of our responsibilities as a citizen of the world to prevent history fr repeating itself.
xiz lived on 7:34 PM
- 03S78 forever -
the famed neuschwanstein..
castle which inspired walt disney, also visible in walt disney's logo :)
despite poor reviews fr other travellers, we made the long journey there. the castle actually rests in a town called füssen, which is 2h from munich, and we walked another 30mins up a pretty steep slope (like 40deg!) to reach it. didn't go in but jus hung ard to take pics and enjoy the scenery and nature :)
xiz lived on 7:01 PM
- 03S78 forever -
english fans :)
last worldcup pic from me: the english fans!
having a good time with their beer :D and watching england beat paraguay in a dull 1-0 match. as the germans would say, it was todlangweilig. like, one gets bored to death watching it.
(differing opinions are welcome :))
xiz lived on 6:49 PM
- 03S78 forever -
pple of the world gather!
the world cup's the only event (apart fr the olympics) to bring so many pple fr all over the world together to celebrate, cheer, moan and drink together (esp when its held in germany!)
here are two german and two costa rican fans together celebrating each team's amazing achievement! of winning, and of at least scoring two goals! :P
xiz lived on 6:41 PM
- 03S78 forever -
munich world cup fever!
ok lets see how it goes with photobucket :)
stop #4 for me: munich - here's a picture of the german fans at munich's olympiapark, waving their german flags crazily, having the german colours painted on their faces, wearing the german jerseys :) fantastic atmosphere, aided by the fact that germany won 4-2 :D woohoo! similarly, click to enlarge :P
xiz lived on 6:06 PM
- 03S78 forever -
Sunset
Click to enlarge
nwxiang lived on 3:09 PM
- 03S78 forever -
ningqi me yangs ryan and xiang-ge in front of Schloss Schönbrunn, the summer residence for the Habsburg empire (i.e. Austrian-Hungarian empire) - very lavish building, interior & gardens
xiz lived on 6:39 AM
- 03S78 forever -
another Lao Ma Jiao Dai this time with yangs. don't really get why the statue is so well liked and frquently photographed but well :) nice view & really pleasant surroundings there.
xiz lived on 6:37 AM
- 03S78 forever -
a typical Lao Ma Jiao Dai photo :P this is Schloss Belvedere (Schloss being castle in German, and Belvedere meaning beautiful view in Italian) which houses a lovely art collection, and random other stuffs. also note xiang-ge's new jacket! :) ji cool yi xia huh :)
xiz lived on 6:36 AM
- 03S78 forever -
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