CHALLENGE 1: How to finish paris in a day...
Target: the louvre, notre dame, eiffel tower, arc de triomph, champs elysees, plus all the night views.
Outcome: completed!
How? you ask. well, the only answer is... lots and lots of walking.until wanna 'nua' dy.
The Louvre
of course, being who we are, a visit to the louvre wouldn't be complete without some cam-whoring.
we are creative.. you see..
we walked on to various galleries...
visited napoleon's apartments...
saw numerous statues...
it was all nice, but in the end me and soo fen 'nua' dy.. legs too tired!! and this was just the first stop in the first country. gosh!
we came back at night for the night view and managed to take a picture of the inverted pyramid. i think da vinci code used it as one of the possible hiding place of the holy grail.
Notre Dame
i really like the place. just admiring the colour, the architecture.. it's definitely one of my most favourite cathedrals since coming to uk. the cathedral is made from sand stone, hence the colour is continuous with the sand around it. i love that natural colour.
birds in flight
bridge outside notre damewe didn't have enough time to explore the nearby island or taste the supposedly famous ice cream there, as we had to rush on to eiffel tower, another must-see.
Eiffel Tower
it was nice up close, but a bit too close to take any pictures with it.
hence, we crossed over to Trocedoro, the palace gardens on eye level with the eiffel tower. you could see that most people were there, along with their cameras.
by the time we got to arc de triomph, we were too tired to even think of climbing up the 300plus steps to see the wonderful view of paris. who cares right, with your feet hurting, your back aching, and your stomach rumbling.
anyways, we went on along champs elysees. the street is really full of shops for shopping. we tried the famous macaroons from La Duree. they were very expensive, especially since they were so tiny,but it was super nice. totally worth trying. for dinner, we bought pastries from Paul's bakery across the road. even a simple croissant was so nice... crispy, fluffy, tasty. you can imagine how much nicer the 'Pain au chocolat' would taste. i guess french pastries are simply different.
some interesting things i noticed:
guess where we are?
a museum?
no way.. this is the louvre-rivoli metro station. i couldn't believe it either, that they would put such relics in a place where people wait for the metro to come, and which in most places are the most vandalised public areas. by the way, the metro day ticket is specially useful if you want to shoot across paris numerous times in a day, since it only costs 3.20 euros after student discounts.
next, i saw those cute and helpless but totally useless little doggies everywhere. seems everyone has one. they sure are cute though.
the journey to prague was quite scary though. we almost missed our flight, since we were waiting for the bus at the wrong bus stop. in times of desperation, even the heavy 15kg luggage seemed to weigh nothing. wow.. somehow.. we managed to catch our flight on time. it was a close call though.
-PRAGUE-
CHALLENGE 2: How to finish up all your crowns...
i changed 250 pounds for the 5 days 4 nights there, which is way more than enough, which we found out soon enough. things in prague are cheap.
our accomodation (Hotel Venezia), which included a suite with a living area, our own bathroom and kitchen, was less than 18 pounds a night. in fact, we got a bonus of having a totally cute consierge who was cute, helpful, friendly and polite, if not a little short and balding.
food was cheap too, with the average around 1 or 2 pounds for a meal. for a very nice meal complete with starter, main course consisting of austrian specialties and desert, it all came to 18 pounds or less, which was way cheaper than what we ate in florence, plus nicer and more filling.
anyways, we visited numerous churches with spirals...
visited the jewish town...
and of course, a visit to the famous charles bridge is a must...
St John of nepomuk used to be the queen's priest. but since he would not divulge the queen's confessions to the king, he was killed and thrown over the bridge. hence, to this day, it is said that whoever touches the statue.. would come back to prague one day? i can't really remember. anyways, hence the few more polished spots on the statue, which is at the locations most easily reached by the throngs of tourists. 
the bridge was full of artists selling paintings. since we spent christmas there, we could actually visit the chirstmas markets at the old town square. but first, we had to look at the famous clock, where something special would happen every hour. what exactly? we would find out soon enough.
after waiting with a whole pack of other tourists, this is what we saw... the skeleton on your right would pull a bell, then the 2 windows above would open and the 12 apostles would walk by. pretty lame actually, since they were all so small. but still, it's not something you see often.
the christmas market sold various things, including traditional prague food, paintings, souvenirs, magnets. i'm overloaded with magnets already. please don't let me see any more.
we met up with some other coursemates in prague - our very first reunion.
since we had so much money to spend in prague, we actually took a boat cruise. the guide was quite funny and entertaining.
we had our scrumptious christmas dinner @ my birthday dinner at a restaurant nominated to be the best in... 2007 i think.
starter was fish soup with croutons (supposedly their traditional christmas fare).
i decided to splurge and try their escargots burgund style (snails). it was simply delicious!^^
yi lyn had chicken steak grilled with pear, fried potatoes, blue cheese sauce and mango chutney.. at least i think that's what she ordered.
fiona and soo fen tried the old bohemian style roast pork, red and white cabbage, 1/2 bohemian dumplings, 1/2 potato dumplings with roasted onion.
meanwhile, i tried roast beef with cream sauce, bohemian dumplings, cranberries, lemon and whipped cream...
and then it was time for desert!
we ordered italian profiterol with vanilla ice-cream and whipped cream...
home made apple strudle with whipped cream and vanilla ice-cream...
and 2 of them decided to share a sundae for 2 with a total of 7 scoops! we were wondering whether they could finish it, since we were all already so bloated.
i guess others were wondering how big it was too!
the next day, we visited prague castle.
sometimes i pity those guards, not being able to move away when people treat them like pieces of furniture. sigh.. but what the heck, lets take a picture!
at the castle gardens, with very very light snow.after visiting the castle, we walked down and headed back towards the bridge.
on the way, we saw their pharmacy sign. just couldn't resist taking a picture. we also visited the paladium, which boasted over 200 shops there.
-VIENNA-
CHALLENGE 3: How to stand the cold...
1. wear many many layers
2. jump around when you are stationary and even while you are walking
3. if you are in vienna, it still won't be enough. you'd better find a place with heating to hole up. example? buses, trams, information centres.
our hotel was quite pathetic, charging 3 euros for sheets. i mean, who does that? needless to say, we slept on our coats rather than paying the 3 euros. hmm.. it wasn't that bad.
we visited the summer palace, which was mainly about how the austrain royal family lived.
playing around in the palace gardens
the squirrels actually pose for you. 
the fountains were so frozen that you could see the water freezing while they dropped down. so cool!
we had our first snow in vienna. yay.. it wasn't heavy enough to settle though.
after that, we visited the state opera house.
and on our last day in vienna, we went to hear the famous vienna choir boys sing. we ended up having to stay for the whole mass conducted in german. i couldn't understand anything, couldn't really see anything since most people in front were much taller. all i could see was people in the pews standing and sitting and standing and sitting and so on. the music was played by the state orchestra though, which was quite impressive.
after that, we went on to visit the official palace. it included a sissy museum, regaling the life of the late emperess sissy. i found her life quite weird, but rather sad.
even their napkins were so impressively folded. what can i say? we met pui leng's group for the second time at the mozart house, the first being in the official palace.
we mainly ate fast food, partly coz it was cheaper, and also partly because they had heating. ;p
my favourite spicy crispy chicken wings. 
burger king
but of course, none can compare to nordsee, which serves cheaper food, and most importantly, fresh prawns!! we were so obsessed we ate it almost every meal since we discovered it, thanks to chris's recommendation. the metro stations in vienna were interesting too. i found them quite intellectual.
and of course, the cute dogs were found everywhere.
we grasped every opportunity to cam-whore...
act cute...
gosh..
anyways, pretty soon, we were on the train to salzburg.
-SALZBURG-
CHALLENGE 4: To tour or not to tour...
we decided not to follow the sound of music tour and devise one for ourselves.
our first stop was mirabell park, where a few scenes were filmed. it was quite disappointing though, since most trees were dead and certain areas cut off.
next, we went to hellbrunn, just for the sake of seeing the gazebo used in the 'you are 16 going on 17' song. it seems it used to be open, then one day some guy tried to re-enact the scene of jumping from one bench to the other, and ended up breaking his hip. thus, sadly, the gazebo is now locked. nevertheless, it was a nice place.
we went back to the old town for lunch. never ever try these huge predzels. they are simply awful, and sickeningly sweet. or maybe we just chose the wrong flavour. the choice is yours.
we went to kapitelplatz to witness an intense game of chess.
their skating ring is quite cool. they actually provide beginners with all sorts of animals to hold themselves steady while on ice. they came in shpaes of penguins, pola bears etc. cute.
we intended to visit the st peter's catacoumbs, where the scene of maria and her family hid from the guards while liesel's bf blew the whistle on them. sadly, it just closed by the time we reached there.
on our second day in salzburg, we went to the hallein salt mines. we had to put on some suit before going in.
then we hopped onto a train and in we went.
after a while, we had to walk the rest of the way in, passing into germany somewhere along the way.
the mine was very beautiful, and even had a salt lake, so peaceful, so ethereal-like. it seems they mined red salt there, red due to the high iron content i think.
once we were done with the tour inside, it was snow time!
we even visited the celtic village. and more snow!
finally, we went back to our hostel - haus christine. the place was very nice, if not a little out of the way. the lady of the house was kinda fierce though. she got impatient very easily, and was quite intimidating. the food was good though, and we ate breakfast everyday overlooking the alps. how cool is that?!
she actually took a group photo for us on our last day though.
we had our lunch at the airport.. some meat dumpling with pork and cabbage salad. the cabbage salad was pickled with vinegar i think, super sour.
-LONDON-
CHALLENGE 5: To enjoy london the elite way...
all too soon, it was time for the last leg of our journey -- london. count down at london was terrible, full of crazy people doing crazy things. they even climbed onto traffic lights for a better view. no wonder we saw signs of anti-climb paint the next day. guess it's normal in london.
on new year's day, we headed to buckingham palace. the changing of guards was on the next day, but nonetheless, we were too busy cam-whoring to bother.
we went for the new year parade. there, i noticed the strange thing about reporters...
some bring along their pets..
some depict the wrong perception of the weather...
left: the reporter wearing so nice and thinly in front of the camera, then.. in reality, wearing the thick coat required to combat the freezing cold. that's why, you should never plan your suitcase according to what you see reporters or actresses wear on tv. 
the parade was kinda cute, but it was way too cold. i was shivering until i had a neckache. 
we managed to see some sights.. like big ben..
play around with telephone booths.. 
saw the london eye from afar..
went to madame tussoud's on baker street and saw sherlock holmes.once we entered madame tussoud.. the celebrity chase began... with...
victoria and beckham
jelly beanie elvis
spider man
shah ruh khan
terminator
shrek
bond girls
tiger woods
stephen hawkings
einstein
little mozart
the beatles
justin timberlake
tom cruiselunch was at bayswater -- tuk tuk (a thai restaurant)
we saw the musical 'the phantom of the opera' in her majesty's theatre. it was super nice!!! christine is not as pretty as emmy rossum in the movie, but the phantom is more lengzai, and has a much nicer, smoother and more powerful voice.
to wrap up our trip, dinner was at planet hollywood, a package together with the entrance to madame tussoud. the meal was quite disappointing though, but i liked the ambience, and the music, by DJ Kaboom.
and just like that, 2 weeks was over in a jiffy. and i'm back in glasgow, still feeling cold. what happened to the tolerance i supposedly developed in salzburg??! i wonder..
and now to reap my rewards.. buahahaha..
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