» Europe 2008 - Simon Lau

Europe Trip 2008 Photo Collection

Here’s a handy little post with a list of all the photo albums I’ve uploaded for my 2008 Europe Trip.

Panoroama – Self Stitched
Panoroama – Adobe Photoshop Photomerge
London
Vence
Milan
Florence
Pisa
Rome
Paris

Tags: Europe 2008, Florence, London, Milan, Paris, Pisa, Rome, Venice

. 28 Jul 08 | Photography, Travel | Comments (2)

Paris Travel Pictures

It’s almost been two months since I’ve returned from my Europe Trip and I’m finally at the last travel picture post! After leaving Rome, the next 12 nights were spent in Paris before flying back to Toronto.

The first six nights were spent at IBIS and the last six in an apartment. Both had their advantages but I preferred the apartment living style over the hotel. That said, the hotel does have nicer perks than an apartment.

On our first full day in Paris we participated in a walking tour with New Europe. Our guide was an American who decided to stay in Paris after his running gig went south. We started at St. Michel’s square and visit the top sites of Paris.

The walking tour also covered the famous Pont Neuf. If you look at each sculpture on the bridge, they are all different. The story is that King Louis XIV got all his friends drunk and hired someone to sculptures to cast onto the bridge. It was his way of saying Thanks.

After a 5 hour walking tour, of which we stopped taking photos since we were going to revisit all the sites, we went to the Louvre. It’s free on Friday evenings from 6PM to 10PM for those under the age of 29.

Not to far from the IBIS hotel is a park were we had a couple of picnics before starting our day. It was pretty relaxing and quite the thing to do in Paris. Each day there were bigger and bigger crowds of people having a picnic. I think the largest was in the order of 30 people.

We didn’t visit too many bars or clubs during our trip but while in Paris we meet up with a couple UofT Engineers and we embarked in a Paris pub crawl which included free screwdriver shots.

By the end of the night (3 hrs), I think I had something in the range of 5 shots, a beer and two glasses of wine.

The true way to drink in Paris of course in style. On one night my dad treated Karen and I on a cruise down river Seine. We got to wine and dine while seeing all the Parisian sites. It was quite nice and definitely worth doing. I believe it was 120 Euros for the two of us. Champagne was the started and we also had a bottle wine to drink. To eat, I had a foie gras appetizers, seared perch and a fruit crepe. Karen had a seafood casserole, steak and fresh fruit in a raspberry milkshake. Delicious is the only was to state that meal.

From our cruise, we got a great view of the Eiffel Tower and the mini Statue of Liberty.

After the tour, we made our first visit to the Eiffel Tower. It was around 9PM and the sky was overcast. It was actually overcast for most of our stay in Paris. We had good weather on the last two days and the odd period.

Another major site in Paris is the Notre Dame, everyone has heard of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and it was that story that kept this church from being taken down.

We had to make two trips to the Air and Space Museum because it was closed the first day we went. So if you ever want to visit the Air and Space Museum, don’t go on a Monday! However, once we did get to go, it was definitely neat to walk around and check out some of the old planes, including a 747, concord and a few fighter jets.

A less popular site is Sacre Coeur which is a church at the just north of the downtown area. The church is situated on a large hill which allows visitors to get a great view of the city. It’s also free to go to which is perfect for the budget traveler.

Speaking of great views, there’s the obvious in Paris: the view from the Eiffel Tower. It is indeed spectacular. We arrived at the top just before sunset and got to watch the sky light up red.

In addition to the Louvre, we visited the military museum that holds Napoleon’s Tomb. The story is that Hitler once came to visit the Tomb but because Napoleon was buried in such a manner you have to bow down to him to actually see his tomb. Hitler of course did not want to bow down to Napolean so he ordered his troops to set up an array of mirrors for him to look at. Upon Hitler’s arrival, the mirrors were out of place which prevented him from seeing Napoleon’s tomb. While backup to leave, Hitler bumped into one of his troops and knocked his hat off his head. In bending down to pick up his hat, he was said to have bowed to Napoleon.

His tomb is under the gold dome in the picture above. Another muesume we visited was Museum D’Orsay.

One of my favourite gardens/parks in Paris was the Gardens of Versailles. This park is absolutely gigantic. It stretches about 4 kilometers, There are fountains scattered throughout the main park area. Something in the range of 3600 cubic meters of water is used during the water festival which we attended.

Given the option to just visit the garden for the day, visit the chateau or both, I would have just visit the garden. You can easily spend a day wandering through it all.

Taking the advice from another couple on the boat cruise, we went for a walk along River Seine towards the Eiffel Tower to get a really nice picture of the tower. On the way we also passed by Princess Diana’s memorial.

In Parisian style, we had one night picnic by the Eiffel Tower with champagne and dessert.

On our final day, we wandered around visiting the Paris Pantheon and watched the sunset by Notre Dame while enjoying a Parisian favourite: the crepe.

On June 10th 2008, our trip came to an end as we boarded our Air Canada flight back to Toronto.

Those who say a grad trip is an eye opening experience is definitely correct. The trip went by so fast and every second was memorable. If you have the opportunity, I definitely recommend you take a few weeks off and travel Europe. You can bet I’ll be back, maybe not soon but I’ll definitely be returning!

Tags: Air Canada, Champagne, Chateau of Versailles, EIffel Tower, Europe 2008, Gardens of Versailles, Grad Trip, Hitler, IBIS, Louvre, Museum D'Orsay, Napoleon, Napoleon's Tomb, Notre Dame, Pantheon, Paris, Princess Diana, River Seine, Rome, Sacre Coeur, Statue of Liberty

. 27 Jul 08 | Photography, Travel | Comments (0)

Rome Travel Pictures

Rome was the last city in our Italy leg before flying to Paris for 12 nights. The city has a ton of things to see and do, definitely a must visit for anyone thinking about heading to Italy.
After checking into our apartment in the early afternoon we headed to the Spanish Steps. The area was packed with people and not nearly as nice as what the postcards show the steps to be. Moving on, we stopped by a Ferrari store for a quick photo before making our way to Trevi Fountain.

The story is that if you throw one coin into the fountain it’s for good luck. Another coin if you want to get married and a third if you want to come back in the near future. Whether it’s true or not, I have no idea!

Not to far from Trevi Fountain is the Pantheon. It’s quite massive on the inside and is even bigger when you get inside.

While strolling through the city was also went to Piazza Navona where I took this picture of a church.

No trip to Rome is complete without making a stop at the Vatican City. We went into St. Peters and to the top of the cupola. We didn’t go to the Vatican Museum. I hear it’s really good, but by the time we got into Rome, I was pretty much ready for a break from museums as Paris has a ton for us to check out.

Getting to the top of the cupola requires climbing just under 540 steps, 537 comes to mind. You can take the elevator for the first 200 steps at a cost of 2 extra Euro’s per person. It is definitely not worth paying for. We walked up and the first 200 steps are the easy ones. It’s more like walking up a ramp with half steps. The last three hundred is more challenging, requiring you to lean with the curve of the cupola and hold onto ropes up winding staircases.

The other most important place to visit in Rome is the Coliseum. The best way to get in is to buy your ticket at Palentine Hills. The same ticket is used to get into both places and there is no line up to get into the Palentine Hills.

The hills are great to walk through if you like checking out ancient ruins. The last picture was taken outside Palentine Hills but shows what some of the ruins look like. However, nothing beats the Coliseum.

Another great thing to do in Rome and all of Italy is to eat Gelato!

The last gelato picture actually has a store in Toronto – Mount Pleasant and Eglinton. The shopkeeper in Rome said they use the same recipes as their store. You can bet I’ll be checking out that place sometime soon!

Since our flight to Paris was at 6:45AM, we skipped out on 1 nights stay and hung around at McDonald’s until 3AM before taking a cab to the airport. After a long wait, it was time to board the plane and fly to Paris!

Tags: Coliseum, Europe 2008, Gelato, Grad Trip, Paletine Hills, Pantheon, Rome, St. Peters, Trevi Fountain, Vatican City

. 20 Jul 08 | Photography, Travel | Comments (0)

Pisa Travel Pictures

There’s not a whole lot to share in the little city of Pisa. Everyone knows about the Leaning Tower and that’s all there is to that place. We spent 1 night in Pisa, arriving around noon and taking a train out the next morning.
In this city we did a fair bit walking, approximately 10KM, first from the train station to the ex-monastery where we stayed, then to the Leaning Tower, then back to the ex-monastery, then back into the city for dinner and a night glance of the tower before making the trip back to the ex-monastery to call it a night. This excludes the additional walking around to find a place for dinner, walking in the park and through the streets to see what the locals do.
There aren’t very many pictures, but here’s what I have to share:

Climbing to the top of the tower is not easy task, not because it’s tall but because the stairway is tiny!

I also find that climbing up the tower gives you a really good feel of how much the tower is leaning. It’s definitely worth doing if you’re visiting the Leaning Tower. My only advice is to show up early, buy your ticket and then make your funny pictures. They only allow 40 people up at a time and let people up in 40 minute intervals.

Tags: Europe 2008, Grad Trip, Leaning Tower, Pisa

. 19 Jul 08 | Photography, Travel | Comments (0)

Milan Travel Pictures

After 4 days in Venice, it was time to move on and our next city was Milan. It would be our first train ride of the trip and I was surprised at how nice the train was. It was modern looking, spacious and clean. A stark change to how some of the VIA/GO trains look like here in Toronto, Canada.

Milan is not a very popular city for grad trip travelers, but I’m glad we got to check out the Duomo.

Milan is obviously known for its high-end fashion and it doesn’t disappoint. Right beside the Duomo is Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The shops open up into the street which is covered by an glass ceiling. I consider an outdoor shopping area because there are no doors to get into the galleria. The types of shops you’ll find include Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada etc. There’s even a Gucci cafe but the best view of the action inside the galleria can be had from the McDonalds.

From one of the McDonald’s, you get this amazing view of the Duomo.

There was one McDonald’s across from the Duomo, that’s the one in the picture above, and there was another in the galleria. Both were packed and had a long lineup to the counter.

Another well-known place to visit in Milan is the Castle (Castello Sforzesco). The property includes a fairly massive park.

I found this piece of art rather interesting in the city.

I’m not quite sure what it is.

The last two pictures are from the same day. We went to Piazza San Carlos thinking there would be a cool park to check out but it was close. So after a day of walking, I had to kick back and relax a bit before the next days train ride to Florence.

Tags: Europe 2008, Grad Trip, Milan

. 14 Jul 08 | Photography, Travel | Comments (0)

London Travel Pictures

I promised I would share some pictures of my Europe Grad Trip, so let’s finally begin. The journey begins in London so that’s where the pictures will start.

After arriving in London around 7PM we made it into town and wandered with our bags until we could check in. Our first stop was at Piccadilly Circus:

We then moved onto the Big Ben where I observed how the clock was a few minutes fast.

Wandering along the waterfront we were able to see what the London Eye looked like, we didn’t actually go up.

From here, we continued wandering through St. James Park and made our way to the front of Buckingham Palace where we watched the guards changed. This is an hour long event and not a 2 minute job that I thought it was!

By this point it was approaching noon and we had been up for most of our flight and walked around for a few hours with our bags. After a quick lunch at Cheers we checked into our Hotel – Hilton. Outside the hotel was this yellow Lotus so I took a picture.

The next day we went down to the Thames Rivers and checked our the Tower Bridge, Tower of London, looked at HMS Belfast and a random piece of artwork in the area.

We also walked to the Globe Theater which we went back to later in the evening to watch King Lear from the 5GBP standing area.

On our way to dinner we passed by the Court house.

Our on next day we went to Regents Park.

We also stopped by at Camden Market and picked up panoramas of London.

Here’s a view looking down one of two elevators required to get to the tube from our station.

The day after that we went to Hyde Park, the Orangerie (where I stole an orange off their tree) and the Science Museum.

Early the next day we made our way out to Stansted Airport and flew with Ryanair to Venice.

Tags: Buckingham Palace, Changing of the guards, Europe 2008, graduation trip, Hyde Park, London, London Eye, Lotus, Orangerie, photos, Ryanair, Shakespeare, St. James Park, Venice

. 03 Jul 08 | Photography, Travel | Comment (1)

Europe Trip 2008 Panoramic Photos (Photomerge)

In sharing my manually pieced together panoramic photos with Nivedh Manohar of Overclockers Online we started to discuss ways the different panoramic photos we had done. He enlightened me with a feature in Adobe Photoshop that automatically merges photos into a panoramic, hence the term photomerge.
In total, I discovered I had 38 panoramic photos. At the original size, the combined size is exactly 200MB. To spare the ridiculous loading times, I have compressed them to a manageable 1024 pixel dimension. Click on the small 350 pixel wide thumbnail for a slightly larger. If you would like the full size image, drop me a message and I’ll make it available to you.

Venice