Krakow + Antwerp Trip Day 4 (22 Apr 08) (Part 2)

We walked to the Grote Markt (Main Square) and we were impressed by its beauty and the lovely buildings.

Antwerp City Hall

16th-century Guildhouses

Bustling activities at Grote Markt (Antwerp Market Square)

Group photo with Antwerp City Hall

Statue of Brabo and the giant's hand + Antwerp City Hall

Statue of Brabo and the giant's hand + Guildhouses

Horse Carriage

Parisian looking buildings

Bridge

Lion and Cathedral of Our Lady

Antwerp Cityscape

Statue at the bridge

Group photo by the river Scheldt

At Het Steen (The Stone). This is a rather small medieval castle on the banks of the river Schelde. It used to function as a city fortification and now houses a naval museum.

Statue of the water spirit Lange Wappe

Castle Fortifications

Buildings by the river

Riverside walk

Ship on land

Cathedral of Our Lady is very tall

Check out the intricate designs at the main door

Passing by a chuch

The intricate designs on the exterior facade are nice

Walking back to the train station

Hundreds of bicycles parked at the train station

Europeans are generally more environmentally friendly compared to the rest of the world and they like to cycle from one place to another. This saves fuels and does not contribute to air pollution.

Before boarding the train back to Delft

Caught sleeping!

The great thing about EU is that there isn't much border restrictions (no stamping of passports for travel within EU nations, etc) and we comfortably had the smooth train ride from Antwerp (Belgium) to Delft (Netherlands).

End of Krakow and Antwerp 4 day trip.

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Christmas Eve

Firstly, let me wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Went out with Ys and Qy for a 4 hr ktv session at orchard earlier in the day. My throat had not regained to my optimal condition and we successfully destroyed ('sha ji'ed) some challenging songs.

At Partyworld

I then headed to Qian Xi Restaurant at Civil Service Club again for christmas eve dinner hosted by my father for his company. It was my fourth time there and the food still tasted as good. The lobster cold dish and the cereal prawn were excellent.

In the restaurant

There is ktv available

Some of my dad's business associates really know how to party and they finished up all the hard liquor that my dad brought. Some of them were dancing along while singing the karoake songs.

Aged but still very energetic

My parents with the signboard with company name

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Derrick and GS 24th Birthday

Met up with some of my jc friends to celebrate GS and Derrick's birthday which is on 24 Dec. We went to eat dinner at Fin Cafe in Marina Square and headed to Paulaner Brauhaus next for a drink.

Munich Lagers and Munich Dark

Drinking

The singers had quite good voices

Some sausage snacks

Group photo

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Twilight

Watched Twilight with Stephen earlier. I've never read the book so i have no idea which is better.

When Bella's mother remarries and sends her to live with her father in the little town of Forks, Washington, she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen - a boy unlike any she's ever met. Intelligent and witty, he sees straight into her soul. Soon, Bella and Edward are swept up in a passionate and decidedly unorthodox romance, for Edward is a vampire. But he doesn't have fangs, and he doesn't drink human blood, as Edward and his family are unique among vampires in their lifestyle choice. To Edward, Bella is that thing he has waited 90 years for - a soul mate. But the closer they get, the more Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. Synopsis extracted from Sg Movies.

The movie tells a rather straightforward but unconventional romance between a human and a vampire. They fall in love, boy rescues girl once, twice, and many times. The story is oh so teenage love affair but what Twilight offers is a little something more than that. There is some character development as the movie introduces Bella as the independent and quietly passionate girl next door with the out of the world romance. She deals with her broken family issues with maturity and handles her transition of life to the small town of Forks well. Kristen Stewart who plays Bella is quite the marvel with acting chops that will enable you to overlook her young age. The same cannot be said of Robert Pattinson who does a passable attempt of playing the vampire who always looks good. There is some genuine and believable chemistry between the two leads though.

The depth behind the vampiry stuff is what saves the show from becoming another mindless vampire flick or another high school romance movie. Granted that it is better than the crop of so called disposable movies, i would like to see the sequel to have more intense fighting scenes instead of the lacklustre fighting vampire scenes for this episode, to crank up the intensity and fun factor, and not just focusing on the lovey dovey stuff.

***

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Krakow + Antwerp Trip Day 4 (22 Apr 08) (Part 1)

We woke up at around 1 am to prepare to walk to the bus station to catch our bus to Katowice Airport at 2.30 am. The walk from our hostel to the bus station was a little scary as the streets were empty and there were one or two drunkards hovering around which we kept a distance from. We avoided going through an underpass to the bus station and decided to take a detour via the roads for safety reasons.

The hostel we stayed in Krakow

At the bus station while waiting for the bus

I had booked Wizz Air flight from Katowice to Charleroi Brussels South as it was very cheap and i decided to tour Antwerp along the way from Charleroi back to Delft.

At Charleroi Brussels South Airport

At Charleroi Sud Train Station

A group of European youngsters saw us taking photos and decided to join us for the group photo

Checking the train departure timings to Antwerp

Caught sleeping on the train!

The seats were plush and ride was smooth (and there are toilets in the train cabins)

Inside the elaborately designed Antwerp Train Station

Posing with a lion sculpture

A closer view of the train station interior facade

Antwerp Train Station is a traditional grandiose train station

The exterior facade of the train station

I had planned for a half day walking tour of Antwerp before returning to Delft via train. A short description of Antwerp is as follows. In the 16th century, Antwerp was one of the most important financial centers of the world, where traders from all over Europe and Asia sold and bought their goods. After the siege of Antwerp in 1585 by the Spanish, this role as a financial center was taken over by Amsterdam. Nevertheless, since the 19th century and especially the 20th century, Antwerp has made a serious economic comeback. It is the second largest city in Belgium, after Brussels, and it has a major European port.

Upon stepping out of the train station

Walking along the main street of Antwerp

Many historical buildings along the main street

Group photo

Buildings with traditional elaborate designs

The main street is grand and imposing with the impressive buildings

Looks like a very expensive shopping center

Passing by a church

Having our lunch break

Quaint little house/shop

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