Copenhagen | Why are the Danes so happy?

Wohoo! An update! It's been pre-set from two months ago though! I don't expect that anyone would still be looking though *looks around* Yohoo? Drop a message if you're there!

Day to day lives of an ordinary Dane:


Rise and Shine! Danes are hard-core biker, even at the chilly hours of 7 in the morning!


Newspaper boys there are amaaazingly energetic. They hop around the street to deliver their papers to the basketed hurried bicycle riders...


And they dodge cars!


Smushi. What is smushi?


Sudoku n' poo?


Danish dogs can readand use touch-screens.


Everybody buys cut flowers? Ah. What a grand life!


Roses are red~ Roses are yellow~ Sugar is sweet~ ...


They are, lucky.

Copenhagen | Dream Home for the Snail

Can't you tell what kind of a person am I from the kind of home I want to live in?

Copenhagen | Swan Lake

Copenhagen, located near the sea, is weaved in and out by broad strokes of canals. These canals are clean, and it reflects the blue of the sky. It doesn't stink like Venice too. Strangely enough, they're not as famous.


A swan feeding from its shallow depths...


Walking by the waterside on a sunny day... The houses in Copenhagen are so harmonious!


Some of them even have these suburbanesque trees in front of them...


Two friends on a bridge.
What are they talking about?


Floating house. I would love to live on one. Not one that is on the tourist's route though, probably.


The Maersk Opera House. Maersk is the largest company in Denmark. It is an international container shipping company which (practically) owns the country.


The LITTLE Mermaid.

Brussels | Antiques City

As the capital of the Europena Union, and comparing it to other European cities, I must say that Brussels is a let down. The atmosphere is rather Frenchly snobbish, and unless you are talking to an immigrant, they are not very nice. There's lots of (expensive) boxed gourmets, but not much gutsy good food. There's plenty of stylish art-nouveau decoration pieces (lamps, door knobs, window panes, etc.), but they seem to have not succeeded in putting them together to create great architecture, save great urban design. Plus, the amount of tax they are levying on its citizens, the maintenance of its infrastructure is patchy, the metro smells like beer (and seems to never have gotten any renovation since the 70s!). Eww.

Anyhow here's the prettiest gleans:


The Maneken Pis (the pissing mannequin) is a tourist icon of Brussels. As you can see, there's always a constant crowd hovering around it. Legend has it that the boy in the statue stopped the bombing of a certain quarters in Brussels by pissing on the explosives. (Really?)


Ok, the shops there are authentic and darn cute. Don't you think this could easily have been in London?


And what else could these cute shops be selling! Chocolates, flowers, potted plants! Life is sweet.


French Garden = Robotically neat hedges.


Professor's lamp.
Putting this on your desk will make you look smart.
Second hand (other wise it wouldn't look so eclectic, wouldn't it! )
Sells for 80 euro apiece.


I love the antiquated look of its hinges. Makes you think that things used to be made with thought.


Innovative inside-outside bench... with trashy beer cans inside.


HQ of Cote d'Or Chocolate? Free tasting of the day (left) is their concoction of chocolate with white pepper and pecan. Exotic!


This is their main square, La Grand Place. It doesn't look striking during the day, these buildings glisten prettily at night. Come to think of it, these Belgians, they have time to trim their hedges to perfection, but none to clean their smogged-out gray city square?


A dirt's view of the glam. Surprisingly, them speaking French doesn't mean that they're uptight. People can casually sit on its pavement and drink beer here at night.


Lego at the airport is a really good idea. I wish they think to make that elsewhere (hint hint... american airports where they often run late!)

Having said that though, I must say that its a rather unfairly mean comment. I'm complaining because I don't have money to spend, and Brussels don't have public good freebies. Brussels may not compare favorably to its European friends, but it is still way prettier than Houston where I am now.

Oporto | Portugal

Oporto is the quieter side of the tourist-run western Europe. It is out of the way of major airline routes, and it does not have an attraction of a legendary scale, but! It's a cute, well-organized and well-disciplined place (ie. the people are reluctant to speak English, but there's plenty tourist info center and english signs, that non-Portugese speakers can traverse its city without much trouble).


The one scene that Oporto is famous for.


This is the hostel where I stayed at. A charming, petite, historic house. Complete with pigeons. The residents here seems to like the idea of feeding pigeons, unlike their pigeon-averse European neighbors.


The ultra modern light rail that runs through this city. Nice man. (because he stays calm as I stalk him).


Me on the bridge scene.


Souvenirs with chicken of Barcelos on it. In Australia, this chicken is also better known as, Nandos. Yummmm!


Vibrant café and shops riverfront. Touristy, but not overtly so.


One of the things I miss about the touristy Europe is the sound of accordion wafting through the air. And the smile of the old men who plays it.


Advertisement for port wine. Not my endorsed brand though. But in case you're looking for a good bottle of port, go and find Graham's 10 year tawny port next time you're at the airport's duty free.


Whispers says that this is the best pastry shop in Oporto. It is small (no seating), tucked away on some street corners, but surprisingly packed with people, even on a rainy Monday. I had to jostle around to get the sights many delicious Portuguese egg pastry at the shop. I couldn't possible eat all of them, but thankfully they have these takeaway mini-version!


Nice pastry people. They think I'm Japanese.


Complicated stair manouvers seems to be their pastime specialty (see the post on the Lello)


Ceramics as walls is another one of their favorite architectural bag of tricks.

Oporto | The Lello

Of all the famous places in Europe, why did I end up visiting Oporto? Oporto (or Porto, in local language, but I think that is a less distinctive name, so let's stick with Oporto) is the second largest city in Portugal. On the grand scale pf the glamorous European tour however, it is a rather modest town, known mainly for port wine!


Anyhow. The answer to why I end up here can be found in the Lello's Library. No, it's not about the search of some rare books or tomes of secret knowledge, but it is for the search of a stair.


This stair. I saw the photo of this stair on Google Image as I was browsing ryanair's destination list going out from Barcelona. And it looks befuddlingly interesting. I couldn't figure out how does this stair work in 3D. It seems convolutedly elegant, and yet it compactly snug in the small space. Plus, I have soft spot for antique shops, a bookshop no less!


View from the other side of the balcony. And that's a person coming up from the first floor. Do you start seeing how this stair works? It's works like a ribbon weaving in and out and finally parting ways in two. There's four landing along the way, and the red floor material seems to be made out of something like latex.


Looking from the second landing onto the street entrance. The shop makes the simple event of purchasing a book like a scene from a bygone era. There is cart at the other end of the small rail there, that carries books thru and fro the shop.


View of the back of the stairs. Looks like it sits on a Victorian gothic mansions, huh? I love the sight of books.

Barcelona | An embodiment of Cosmopolitanism

On the train from Valencia to Barcelona, I sat across a violinist. An elegant lady, she copied my (inelegant) way of sleeping at a train by lying flat on the entire row of seats, with feet up on the, of course. We chatted for a while, as the train speeds across the Andalusian landscape. She described Barcelona as "a cosmopolitan city. Probably the most cosmopolitan city in Europe. There are many people from different places. Not many Spanish people. You're more likely to meet a foreigner as you'd meet a Spanish." She was German herself.


I forgot to note. I have been traveling with no guidebooks and only a minimal GoogleMap research. So, here's the fastest way to get to know the city's main attraction, by the postcards!


The great street of La Ramblas. It's an invert of the regular street: it has a narrow vehicular road on the side, and a broad pedestrian avenue in the middle (see? urban planning utopia!). I would not appreciate the sociability of this place without walking it with found friends from the hostel. It was a modern version of the Italian passegiata.There's a lot of buskers on both sides, and peddlers of live pets. Fishies, bunnies, kittens, parakeets or a full sized hen is up for grabs (don't think that they'll pass through the x-ray scans though). A selection of sights:


Happy evil buskers!


Sad man on a toilet...


A lively musical choir kept us entranced for over a good half-hour. Whatever they were singing about, it was fun! They acted well and the music had narratives.


As the selection of live poultry is being sold on La Ramblas, with a detour to your right, you will find an even more diverse choice of meats being sold at the market.


Something like a mussel... I remember seeing on some bio textbook. I wonder what it tastes like.


Muy dulces = Extra sweet. Do you believe it?


Fresh dedication. Every day.


Paella dinner with friends from the hostel. Left: seafood paella. Middle: Melon cream with bacon. Right: Asparagus and mushroom paella. And Yumm... they really know where to go.


La Ramblas at night, humming with light and liveliness.


Day 2. Casa Milà, nicknamed La Pedrera (the quarry) by Anroni Gaudí. Barcelona is a city of Gaudí, the architect who has created most of Barcelona's famous landmarks (Sagrada Familia, Casa Battló and Parc Güell).


Looking up to its balconies as I queue for tickets. The inspiration behind the architecture of this building comes from nature. Imagine. The windswept hills of the desert sand. The spine and ribs of a snake. A seaweed growing from the ocean floor.


From the interior of La Pedrera, one of those noisy school-tour boys look out, quietly.


The undulating terracotta rooftop of La Pedrera.

Arritey, another bye-bye message. I'll be flying to HK, NY and then Houston tomorrow for the long awaited internship. There are a few more posts to go for the coming weeks: Oporto, Brussels, Copenhagen, and Cinque Terre. Next week, I would have to start writing a blog for internship too. When it comes I'll link it up *wink!*