Finally a day to catch my breath. I'm currently back in Nottingham for a grand total of 24 hours before I depart for my second road trip which starts from Italy to Greece and Turkey for a month.

In this 24 hours, I have to do my laundry, repack, shop for essentials in the city, exchange currencies, enquire about my accomodation deposit and hall hoodie which is posing a minor problem, fill the parcel ready to ship back, keep in touch with my family and girlfriend, plan for my Scandinavia trip, upload photos, reload my phone, have a hearty meal, watch the Incredible Hulk and blog.

A tough day indeed.

Maybe a summary of the rest of my first trip.

Munich was fun when we joined the free walking tour to learn abit about the city's history which we never did before. The food especially the sausages and pork were magnificent.

The central Europe countries (ie: Budapest, Prague, Bratislava) were getting easier due to their cheaper currency exchange (still slightly expensive if compared to the ringgit). What is there to ask for when the things are cheap and the scenary and people as pretty?

Had a great time in Vienna thanks to the football fever and experiencing opera and plenty of other bizarre events for the first time. Would go into detail next time with photos.

Great. ~Crosses out blogging from the to-do list.

I have just found the best foreign currency exchange rate ever here in Munich.
 
For just 20 euro, you would be able to exchange millions that would definitely come in handy when you visit the respective place.

So, anybody here interested to go on a holiday to China's Hell?

Will be leaving on a road trip of my life in exactly 3 hours.

Will keep things up to date provided I have the resources at my disposal.

See ya.

Finally, everything is done. After grueling and stressful hours preparing for my exams, it has all come to an end. I must say I should be able to perform better than the previous semester..I hope. It all boils down to the 30 credits Research & Development Project really.

After our last paper Introduction to Management Accounting at the Senate Chamber

When exams are done, it means that my short stint here in the university is over as well. I would be packing my bags and leaving the university in two days time to go places I would never imagine I would be going.

However, the heavy-hearted feeling will remain. I believe I would definitely miss studying here despite the short period I was here for.

We went for some photo taking sessions around university after the last paper to capture our journey as an exchange student.

I would write about it when I have the mood to do so. Now back to packing my bags...

The sound of the ball hitting the post.

The imagery of the man above sobbing his heart out under the pouring rain.

The cheers of the red clad people around me when everything has fallen apart.

Definitely the most heartbreaking football moment I have ever experienced.

However, the bravery of the captain was second to none. To step up to the plate and shoulder the heaviest responsibility at the very tensed moment requires tonnes of courage.

Then came the divine intervention....he slipped.

....and the trophy ended up 2 inches away from the goalpost.

Such is football. Such is lady luck.

Despite everything, he is still the hero, the brave and commited leader in every fans' eyes, no doubt about that.

Chin up. The trophy is waiting for you next time.

So, 2 papers down. The easiest and the toughest one respectively. And, as usual, I did just decent for the easiest and was screwed left, right and centre for the toughest paper. Typical.

Let's continue where we left off.

Notre Dame

Made popular by the novel "Hunchback of Notre Dame", the Notre Dame gothic cathedral belongs in the category of Paris famous landmarks.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Regretfully, it was somewhere near Easter when we were there and the amount of tourists lining up just to go inside the cathedral was unbelievable.

Another view from the south

We decided just to admire from afar, snap a couple of photos and enjoy the street performances nearby...without paying.

Look at the crowd behind

Pantheon

The Pantheon in Paris acts as a burial place for the famous ancient people instead of a temple ala the Pantheon from Rome.

The Pantheon

This is where you will see crypts, tombs, necropolis and stuffs that you normally encounter while slashing demons in the Diablo game.

From the side

However, there was a cancer awareness event going on that day and we didn't enter the Pantheon. Well, it should be well worth visiting the interiors as it seems to look beautiful on the net.

Cancer awareness event

Sacre Coeur Basilica

Located at the highest point in Paris lies proudly the Sacre Coeur Basilica, another famous landmark in Paris.

The Sacre Coeur Basilica

From the side

It took us hours to locate the place as there were too many confusing streets before and the fact that we didn't know the basilica is at the top of the hill makes matter worse. Nonetheless, it was worth it when we finally arrived to behold the skyline of Paris from the top and of course, the majestic basilica itself.

Skyline of Paris

The Sacred Coeur is currently a Roman Catholic church and since entering the church was free, we got to admire the beautiful interiors of the church. Sadly, there are no photos available as I wouldn't want to disturb the peaceful service/prayers with my touristy act.

Thrown out by nuns and rolling down the hill definitely ain't on my things-to-experience list.

Miscellaneous

Other monuments that might be worth having a look at would be the July Column at the Place de la Bastille, where formerly the Bastille prison stood.

The July Column at Place de la Bastille

Or just walking past the Petit Palais musuem, and the Grand Palais exhibition hall.

Petit Palais

Grand Palais

For the avid fan of shopping, you could pay the Galeries Lafayette a visit for a wide range of fashion and designer goods.

For me, all see no touch.

The dome in Lafayettes

Or if designer goods are way out of your budget, you will be glad to know there are some stuff that you can always afford.

Bata in Paris, now this is unexpected

Due to my imminent final year exams, I realised that I'm running out of time and guess what? This is the semester that I SHOULD, MUST do well, as it will decide whether a first class would be a far-fetched dream or not.

Hence, I've decided to summarise the places of interest in Paris into 2 entries itself. I bet nobody would want to read about Paris everytime anyway. Furthermore, I have loads of backdated entries about London, Cork, Edinburgh, Newcastle, etc. that I believe I won't be able to finish anytime soon. I imagine how long would it take for me to write about my tours post summer. ~Shrugs.

So, let's see what else Paris has in store for us.

Arc De Triomphe

The Arc De Triomphe is another Paris famous monument located at the end of the Champ Elysees. 

The arc from Champs Elysses.

I had the privilege of staying near the arc seeing it from many angles every single day and I must say the view of the arc especially during the night is majestic. I'd never thought it was that huge.

Nightview of the arc.

Close up

Apparently, the arc was built to honour the generals who fought for France and beneath the arc lies a tomb of an unknown soldier. Don't ask me why this unknown soldier has a nicer home with thousands of visitors daily compared to other unknown soldiers. Beats me.

The tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Place de la Concorde

The Place de la Concorde is a major square which leads to the Louvre from Champ Elysses.

Place de la Concorde.

Smacked right in the middle of the square, a huge obelisk with Egyptian hieroglyphics was erected.

Egyptian obelisk.

In companion, beautiful fountains within the square wetting unsuspecting tourists who stands too near to them in the name of a photo.

Fountains.

Tuileries Garden

If you enjoy sitting down the bench watching people walking by, baking under the sun, french kissing your other half in an open area, posing for photos, then the Tuileries Garden is the place to be. Of course I'm not guilty of anything above. Ok, except for photo posing.

Pondering beside the pond and radio controlled yatch.

Decided she wanna tag along.

The Tuileries Garden is a huge formal garden with statues, nicely trimmed hedges, a pond with radio controlled yatch, little cafes and loads of people chilling about. Oh yeah, a huge spider to boot too.

Huge spider. One in London too.

There is another statue beside this that shows a kicking motion. I guess this one has fallen down after being kicked I suppose

Mini arc towards the Louvre.

Musee de l'Armee

Fans of Napolean, this is your museum. The Musee de l'Armee houses the tomb of Napolean and various army related artifacts that I couldn't be bothered with.

Why hello Napolean.

Especially since we need to pay to go in. The only thing that interests me was how beautiful the exterior of the museum is.

Golden Dome

Deserves a photo.

Golden dome, nice garden, long corridors and everything. Needless to say, I didn't go into the museum hence have no idea how worth it it is.

The size of the museum.

Seine River

To quote somebody, every beautiful city has a river running through it. London has the Thames, Paris has the Seine River. Obviously that particular person hasn't been in Klang for a very long time.

Walking along the Seine River, you could see plenty of Paris monuments and tourist attractions.

Seine river overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

Statues along the river.

King of the river.

If you are too lazy to walk, there are river taxis available for a charge, of course, to bring you along the Seine River while you ponder upon why you paid for it when you have two perfect legs. Just kidding, I'm sure the river taxis provide a different perspective of Paris entirely.

Water taxis

To be cont...

I was never an artsy-fansy person nor have I ever admit or try to act like one. That is quite clear by the fact that I will only visit musuems if they fall into the following categories:

1) They are hugely popular
2) They are free
3) Just because everybody else wants to

Not to say that a little extra knowledge will do me harm but I am always enthusiastic to read everything......for only the first 10 minutes before my eyelids start betraying me. Unless they are especially interesting/unique.

With the number of musuems in Paris that would rival M'sias number of shopping complexes, it was obvious that I only went to one during my 5 days stay.

The Louvre Musuem

Yes, just because it fits 2 out of 3 of the above criterias. Hugely popular and of course free. Ok, normally it would cost 9 euros for a musuem ticket but god knows what did I do to deserve the luck of 2 free tickets from a kind soul while I was queuing up to purchase my ticket.

"Do you need tickets? "
"Err..actually we are going... ~trying to find an excuse while wondering what is the catch"
"It's free! "
~beaming "Oh, Ok, thanks!" . I am such a cheapskate.

The morning crowd.

Well, the Louvre Musuem is popular due to it housing some of the world's famous art collection and scrulptures, its unique glass pane pyramid architecture and well.... who hasn't read Da Vinci Code before.

Glass pane pyramids on top of the main lobby.

The inverted pyramid

Oh yeah, before I proceed. If you are way underage, easily offended by small concrete penises or any art figures showing off in their birthday suits. Kindly proceed no further. Thank you.

A hermaphrodite. Spot the boobs and the small penis. I bet you have no problem .

Bearing in mind that I don't have the knowledge equivalent to an encyclopedia, except for a few famous artworks and greek gods, it was to my horror that everything there was in...well you guessed right....French. And you have to bloody pay for an audio guide.

Taking a cookie bite out of an ancient stone. Just because I don't know why it is there for.

A potrait of Marie-Madeleine Guimard.

Well, at least I can still read names. The small booklet in my hand stating the famous artpieces and locations in English suddenly upgraded into my personal Louvre bible. My girlfriend and I was practically having a treasure hunt searching for the famous art pieces from the booklet around the huge musuem.

Christ and Abbot Mena.

Borghese Gladiator dancing in the nude.

I have always imagine The Louvre to be huge. But not this huge. Taking into account that we did not stop to read anything on the exhibits because we plainly can't understand, and breeze through everything and maybe take a few (~ahem..maybe not quite) photos in the process, we took freaking 6 hours! And we didn't even manage to see everything.

St. Mary Magdalene.

Tomb of Phillpe Pot.

I wish you good luck if you are an artsy-fansy person who speaks French/not stingy enough to have an audio guide. You probably need days.

Say hello to mini Zeus.

Killing a snake with a ....err...stone?

Crown Diamonds of Louis XV

There were a huge amount of exhibits in the musuem from every corner of the world. The Greeks, the Italians, the French, the Asians, the Egyptians, etc, you will techically know a little history about the each part of the world through those exhibits....if you read whatever is on them that is.

With small Sphinx.

Mummy unveiled.

With huge Sphinx.

Napolean III apartments. Glamourous

The annoying thing about a famous tourist attractions is none other than the crowd. Whenever we reach a famous exhibit, it will probably take us a thousand tries before we can get a nice photo of the exhibit. Some people acts like a human statue blocking the view. There were people rushing to pose with the statue every millisecond.

Psyche and Cupid. The only shot without anybody blocking. Oh wait, what is that head doing behind there?

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

Like come on, give me some quality time with the naked dude already!

The Dying Slave by Michaelangelo

The worst crowd in the musuem was none other than one of their most famous exhibits, the Mona Lisa. I couldn't even steady my hands to take a zoomed photo when the kids are pushing into the crowd. Everybody was acting like a paparazzi pushing and shoving as if Miss Mona Lisa is gonna call it a day and hide in her chamber room after teatime. Ridiculous.

Needs no explaination

However, I am still pleased to have seen and pose with some famous exhibits and the real Mona Lisa. It was hard work you know.

How small the actual potrait is.

By the end of the day, we were worn out but it was fun trying to identify some exhibits, having a mini treasure hunt with the girlfriend and of course attempts to act smart in front of her. Lol.

The girlfriend with Athena.

" I think this is err....Athena...err..the Goddess of Hope! (Goddess of War actually..thanks to Mr. Cheese) And that will be Aphrodite...i think...don't ask me why she got no hands... "

Venus de Milo/ Aphrodite.

You get my point.