It was raining today and I saw something I had never seen before: someone was walking around with a shower cap on!
It was pink!
I thought it was a beret!
But it was a shower cap!
Month: April 2006
Some photos from my holiday
Because I went on holiday for three weeks, I am now catching up on a lot of homework for a part time university course I do. Hence my post-holiday blog quietness. I would like to take a break from work and show you a few of my photos. These aren’t chosen for any reason other than I can think of interesting captions to go with them.
There are waterfalls at Singapore Changi Airport.
Look at me, I have a big camera. Actually, on average I believe that Damo took better photos with his little camera than my big one. Which goes to show, it’s not the size that counts, it’s how you use it.
The streets of Cambridge.
There are many canal boats in the Oxford Canal. People live on canals and travel to the various English towns that are connected by these waterways and rivers. Perhaps this is what is considered ‘assisted parallel parking’.
The Basilique du Sacré Coeur at Montmartre, Paris. Our hostel was right in front of it. There were a lot of tourists. I hate tourists — especially those that take photos in places that are signed ‘Do not take photos’.
The Arc de Triomphe should be a place of quiet reflection. I mean, one of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier mounuments is there, right? However, the five lanes of Parisian traffic roaring around it does little to promote an atmosphere of thoughtful contemplation.
The Burghers of Calais are a famous statue composition found at musée Rodin. Burghers, get it?
We ate seven crêpes in one day. Look, I’m eating so fast I’ve blurred out. Yes, Daniel, that’s cider we’re drinking.
The glass pyramid in musée du Louvre, now notorious for being the location of the Holy Grail, as described by that tome of authority and integrity, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (now a Major Motion Picture Starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou).
There were some balls in a palace behind the Louvre.
Sigh. Isn’t it romantic?
Tour Eiffel. Surprisingly, an affordable and interesting attraction. There are over 100 interpretive signs to read as you climb the Tower. I love interpretive signs.
Joan hangs out at Tour Eiffel.
Damjan commits what would be a federal offence in Australia: he tampers with Royal Mail.
People who know Damo will not be surprised to learn that we baked our own bread (really, the only option after returning from France, the land of heavenly bread, to England, the land of fish and chips).
People who know Joan will be surprised to learn that I made noodle soup — and it was good too, except that the noodles absorbed all the soup and it eventually became soup-infused noodles.
National Public Toilet Map
Having just been travelling, I appreciate the usefulness of Australia’s National Public Map, which was featured on Wikipedia‘s English home page today.
You can even “Register for My Toilet Map to save your trips, favourite destinations and public toilets.”
Mille feuille!
Yum, yum, yum! Mmmmm. Ooooh. Mille feuille!
The boulangeries (bakeries) and patisseries of Paris are slices of heaven. We had croissants for breakfast every day and Damjan introduced me to this delicious, delicious treat called ‘mille feuille‘. It cost €2.25 and was made up of (from the bottom up):
- thin croissant-like sheet of pastry
- light, yellow custard
- pastry
- that glorious custard again
- pastry
- oh, this was the best bit — white icing with chocolate swirls, sweet but not cloying, so perfect.
I have never had something delicious like that, where you bite it and every chew is wonderful and then it goes down your throat. Then you bite it again and you’ve realised that between swallowing, pausing and biting again, you had forgotten how yummy it is.
Between the two of us, we ate nine crêpes:
- apricot confiture (apricot jam)
- fraise confiture (strawberry jam)
- champignon, ouef (mushrooms, egg)
- jambon, gruyere (ham and gruyere cheese)
- beurre, sucre, cannelle (butter, sugar, cinnamon)
- Nutella, fraise confiture (Nutella, strawberry jam)
- ouef, fromage (egg, cheese)
- marron, chantilly (chestunut cream, whipped cream)
- Grand Mariner flambée
There’s much more to say, all the touristy bits beside food. I’ll get back to you on that. Damo and I are baking bread at the moment. Somehow, the bread in England just doesn’t satisfy after the French baguettes and flûtes. We’ve resorted to baking our own.
In other news, yesterday, Damjan and I went to see Les Misérables and Stomp on London’s West End. Both were bloody fantastic. I was afraid Les Miz could not live up to the hype but it did. I got teary.
The most romantic city in the world
Damjan and I have been having a fine time trekking around Oxford and Cambridge. There are many old and beautiful buildings here. I’m being educated in the English notion of beauty. I’ve always enjoyed period dramas like Pride and Prejudice and Sherlock Holmes, when they were always ‘taking a turn about the garden’ and angsting in the moors. I’m seeing it for myself. Everything here is neat and graceful. There are an awful lot of lawns you aren’t allowed to walk on — unless you’re high up in the university ranks. There is definitely a ‘rank hath its privilege’ culture here. More about this later.
Anyway, tomorrow Damjan and I are going to take the train under the English Channel and arrive in the most romantic city in the world — Paris! Good thing we’re not sick of each other yet. If we were, then I would take advantage of the latest offering from the clever people at Google: Google Romance. Damn, those Googlians think of everything.