25 more Madrid photos uploaded to my flickr gallery. Commentary to come later… Been really busy! Better late than never haha!

Madrid 2008 on Flickr

Back to the city of lights. This time via budget airline easyJet. There was a problem when we reached the london busstop for our pre-booked easyBus that would take us to ulu ulu Luton Airport. One of the buses overturned and it caused a delay in service. Luckily we reached the airport with a teeny weeny bit of time to spare for our check-in and boarding. Phew!

The teeny weeny easyJet that took us to paris. I think they are taking the orange corporate colour a teeny weeny bit too seriously (the plane, the cones, the groundstaff). I’m surprised they didn’t sell oranges on-board.

Us at the arc de triomphe. What a sunny day! This was taken after we were done with the 1st day’s shoot. We actually saw another couple (rather beefy korean couple) having their bridal photos taken. Not DIY unlike us of course. It was smash and grab style though. Arrived in a black merz and started snapping immediately.. Wow.. more efficient than us wor! We laughed when they started shooting the couple grabbing the Place Charles de Gaulle street sign (behind us on the left of the photo) between them. Korean style photography maybe??

Discerning ladies will know where this photo was taken. Probably the most exciting address in paris? Girls go crazy and guys go dizzy. 101 Avenue des Champs Elysees. Home of Singaporean’s favourite 2 alphabets - ‘L’ and ‘V’. And yes, i went dizzy too.

After so many years people are still as fascinated by the eiffel tower. Typical long queues under the paris landmark. We might be the only tourists not to actually go up the eiffel tower after visiting paris twice.

That’s what i rather do with my time. Have breakfast outside a cafe and watch people get on with the daily grind.

Us after completing our shoot in paris! It’s really early though, as you can see from the lack of crowds. Earlier we bumped into some drunkards and one of them tried to tell me how good it is to enjoy the eiffel in the morning where there are no tourists and the place is quiet. Ah ba then!!!! The blue skies just started to come out when we were finishing… But we really had to stop then cos we had to check out the hotel and leave for madrid. Maybe we’ll go back again for our 5th year wedding anniversary or something??

Here’s 4 more previews from our bridal shoot. Have not decided on the look and feel of the photobook so the heavy photoshop work will come later.

The Louvre Pyramid is a large glass and metal pyramid, surrounded by three smaller ones, in the courtyard of the Musée du Louvre Museum. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the museum.

The Pont des Arts is a steel-and-wood pedestrian bridge across the Seine River that connects the Louvre to the Institut de France.

Cheryl as the cheeky runaway bride. Having some fun showing off her sandals hidden underneath the gown. Beautiful dash of red right opposite our hotel. An atelier is an artist’s studio or workroom.

Stealing a kiss (and a shot) outside our hotel for the 2 nights. Now the pole looks distracting but i thought it gave the image some depth when i was shooting it then. Opps!!

Wanted to post some more photos yesterday but the ping pong sports league pinged the pong out out me… Sounds right… heh heh… Anyway, here’s some more from the cloudy city. Not much though cos we spent only one night there.

Was running late for the Arsenal stadium tour but i guess you can’t stop the snappy happy us haha! Yes, we started snapping at each other the moment we landed. Er hmm… This is just outside our bed and breakfast hotel at King’s Cross, just 1 min away from well-linked King’s Cross St Pancras station. The hotel was owned by a russian family though… not sure if we were having the full english breakfast or the russian roulette..i mean omelette … i still don’t think it was pork sausages that we ate that morning.

Cheryl’s happy. Between the Arsenal tube station and the stadium. At this point we still can’t see the emirates stadium! Maybe she’s thinking we can go shopping if we don’t find the stadium?

More views of the stands.

Inside the players’ changing room. The shape is unlike other stadiums in england as insisted by manager arsene wenger, a staunch believer in fengshui. It’s built in a horse-shoe shape for good luck, with no edges or corners, with a ceiling designed such that the manager does not have to shout or raise his voice but can speak calmly and yet be heard by everyone.

Outside the stadium.. You know, sometimes you can’t tell people exactly what they shouldn’t do.. because…

This happens. Hahahahaa.. actually i did the same but that image looks weird. Don’t ask. I won’t show it to you.

After the tour, we started the sight-seeing proper. Piccadilly Circus was among the first few sights. Maybe it’ll look nicer at night but there were quite a lot of people hanging around the fountain.

On Westminster bridge, we started noticing these human advertisement boards. Thought it’s a great way to get your brand noticed at expensive places to install permanent advertisement boards. But i guess great ideas also need proper implementation hahahah. A hungry tourist going the wrong way, away from subway as the guy checks out his shoes.

Cute bus-stop that looks like some revolutionary “bring-your-own-bus-stop” scheme. Drop the sign and wait for the bus to arrive! So easy! Maybe we can do that for taxis in the CBD?

Kua si mi? Oh.. chey.. all tourists… Are there any londoners in london??!? Bunch of tourists waiting to cross the street called Great Scotland Yard.

Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column. Think people in london are linked closer genetically to our ancestors. Plenty of people climbing the giant bronze lions at the foot of Nelson’s Column.

I just love to sneak up on unsuspecting strangers reading their daily newspapers.

I don’t understand why our site’s bandwidth is always exceeded towards the end of the month, even though i’ve started hosting the newer photos on flickr. Wah lew… Anyway… We’re finally back home! It sure didn’t take long for us to ‘warm up’ to Singapore once we stepped out of Terminal 3. I miss eating gelato in sub-25 degrees celsius Europe already! Still suffering from jet lag (no thanks to the 5-movies-movie-marathon we had on the flight back) but I’ll try to give you guys a sneak peak into our second european adventure here… Will follow up with more detailed entries (and more pictures) in time to come (I hope hahaha). Didn’t take as many photos as we did in 2006!

As our flight was at 11.30pm, we couldn’t see the new queen of the skies, the A380 from the viewing gallery. Not sure if it’s intentional. At night, the windows were highly reflective and we couldn’t see what’s on the other side of the window at all! Had to make do with the photo above before boarding SQ322 to London.

There wasn’t a party atmosphere on-board like the inaugural A380 commercial flight to Sydney but it was a throughly enjoyable experience nonetheless, save for the nasty turbulence which almost turned my beef steak to red wine beef stew. The plane was huge, new and very spacious. We were seated on the upper deck and the window seat had additional compartments at the side for storage and also additional space to rest your arm/body. The aircraft was significantly quieter than the jumbo jet and the take-off/landing were so gentle compared to the Boeing 777-300ER we took from Barcelona back to Singapore. What a great way to fly!

LONDON

Landing safe and sound at London Heathrow Airport early in the morning.

The famous Tube network that people associate London with. Although staying in London for only one night, we used the Tube quite frequently to save ourselves for the days ahead. A lot of renovation works going on as you can see from the photo taken on the escalator. England may be the only right hand drive country in Europe but they keep right on the escalator just like them (opposite of us)!

First stop, Arsenal stadium tour! Had to rush there due to the delay at the customs but we made the tour we pre-booked in time after dumping our luggage at the hotel. Phew! The tour was informative but over in a flash. Quite excited to be in a Premier League stadium for the first time. Though empty, it looks grand and I can only wonder what a fantastic experience it must be to run out of the red tunnel into a cauldron of 60,000 screaming fans.

Did some shopping and sight-seeing at the major tourist spots in London and captured this photo of a local newsstand. The owner was changing the posters that showed the major news of the day. This shot was actually taken along Oxford Street, where the outrageous gang murder in daylight took place.

Big Ben… wasn’t as big as I had anticipated from all the photos i’ve seen before. Weather was terrible too as it alternated between drizzling and cloudy skies with bright sunshine. I think we had 10 minutes of blue skies.

Cheryl and random visitor trying to catch a glimpse of the guards at the Buckingham Palace scratching themselves when they think no one is watching.

Cheryl with her mega-watt smile, and my reflection in her big-ass sunglasses. We heart London.

PARIS

Was very happy to be back in Paris. This place has happy memories heheheh (proposed there lah)… By the time we reached our hotel we were quite tired already so we didn’t attempt a night shoot. Took a leisurely stroll around our hotel area (3 minutes walk to the Eiffel Tower) after some shopping at Galleries La Fayette. The next morning, we set off for the Louvre for the morning shoot. Rather unlucky to have this security guard asking us not to shoot at the premises after a short while. He didn’t impose the same rules on those with similar sized cameras! Idiot. And we looked so harmless leh. How can he have the heart to chase away a couple traveling all this way to do a bridal shoot (all by themselves no less)! Hopefully we will have enough Louvre pictures to work with. Was supposed to do a night shoot at the Eiffel Tower but it absolutely poured! Steady…

Oh oh… I look like i’m still asleep isn’t it? Us in the morning before making our way (dressed like that!!) to the Eiffel Tower. Last chance before we fly to Madrid!

Preview of one of the shots at the Louvre. Wasn’t easy to work with the available light i must say. Will sort through them soon. The intention is to show them at our wedding dinner (poster/photo album) so we haven’t decided if we should post them here before then heheheh…

MADRID

Went for a few walks around the city to the various tourist destinations in Madrid. One of the first stops is the Royal Palace. The wallpapering and decoration inside is really stunning… and too over the top for my liking but i’m no king of spain!

One bad thing about staying in a hotel right at the door steps of the shopping belts in madrid – You do much more shopping than sightseeing! This is the start of Gran Via, with the well-recognised Metropolis building.

This might be the highlight of our madrid stay, if not the whole trip? Watching Real Madrid beat Levante 5-2 with ease. It was party time as the confetti filled the stadium after Raul lifted the league trophy. At the final whistle, the spectators did their parts too by waving a silver cardboard placed on every seat. The whole stadium glittered like the crown jewels under the floodlights of the Bernabeu Stadium. Magical moments on a cold cold night.

Some shots of madrid’s Plaza Mayor, Puerta de Alcala and the entrance to Retiro Park.

Cleaners making sure the Reina Sofia Art Musuem is clean (and shiny). We didn’t go in though, having visited the equally popular Prado Musuem earlier.

Us leaving on the high-speed train to Cordoba, but not before we took a day trip to nearby Toledo.

TOLEDO

Toledo can be easily summed up with two words – steep slopes. Had a good work out walking to the foot of the UNESCO World Heritage City from the train station and going all the way up the hills… by foot. Here’s one of the streets decorated with flags and over-hanging canvas which shielded the narrow walkways from the sun. Cars are allowed on the streets of Toledo by the way. The most profitable restaurant in town is at the street with the heaviest car traffic i believe – every time a car drives past, you have to stick yourself to the wall or hide in the shops to avoid being hit. It’s insane!

The main sight of the small city – the cathedral. Well done if you manage to find it! Toledo is quite difficult to navigate and most tourists will no doubt get lost at some point in time. Ah yes the cathedral… It might not be the biggest but the architecture and detail on the walls within are quite something. The grandest choir room i’ve ever seen. Worth every penny.

CORDOBA

The location of our hotel in Cordoba was great - right beside the Mezquita, which is the main sight of the city. If our hotel was 2 storeys higher we would have been able to do a flying-fox into its grounds haha… I know it doesn’t look like it but it is a christian place of worship. The Islamic leaders gave the place its unique look before the christians re-took the city and converted the Mezquita into a cathedral. From my shallow point of view, i thought it was rather weird for the tourist handouts to emphasise on what a great christian church this is. I rather see it as a great mosque which was converted into a cathedral.

Typical patio of the houses/restaurants there. What a lovely place to retire in!

One of the popular items sold to tourists. Tiles of alphabets and intricate patterns which you can customise. Not sure if it’s made in china though… Next up, high-speed train again to the southern city of Seville…

SEVILLE

A lot of carriages. A lot of horses. A lot of horse shit.

We’ve seen a lot of churches in Seville but we’re not going to show you pictures of them here. The problem is we got a severe overdose of churches in Seville and can no longer tell which one’s which. Bleah… So let me show you the very spacious and relaxing Plaza de Espana. A huge semi-circular building facing a park, complete with a moat (currently dried for renovation work)!

Highlight of the Seville leg of our trip! Toro toro! Got a good look at the history and the venue through the guided tour before we attended a bull-fight the next day.

Thought cameras weren’t allowed so only brought our compact digicam. Alamak. Anyway, it was value for money as the 3 matadors fought 2 bulls each. 2.5 hours of entertainment and seville sun! It’s a weird experience. Not as exciting as i thought it should be. You soon realise that the odds are very very heavily stacked against the poor toro. First a few bullfighters surround him and taunt him into charging at them before running back to a safe area. Cowards! Then a horseman (complete with padded horse) comes along and stabs him, then 6 darts are stuck onto him, before the matador comes in and does what he does. Not surprisingly all 6 bulls on show that night made it to the meat market the following day. At one point we were rooting for the bull.

The funny bits of the bull-fight were the repeating of the bull-fighting procedure 6 times. It was like… watching an episode of teletubbies 3 times. Damn bull shit lah! And the cleaners that rushed into the ring to swiftly clear the bull-shit before someone steps onto it. Before they started this procedure i’m sure some brave bull-fighter got mauled by a bull after stopping mid-way to scrap the bull-shit off his golden hand-made shiny outfit.

Us trying to look like bad asses. I think we failed haha!

BARCELONA

Lots of things happening all at once at the famous Las Ramblas - shopping, eating, drinking, people watching, romancing, pickpocketing etc.

Just off Las Ramblas is a quiet piece of space called the Placa Real. You can be at absolute ease and read your newspapers any way you want.

Park Guell by Gaudi, the brilliant architect behind many of Barcelona’s must see places of interest. It’s a good 1.3km away from the nearest metro station! The road signs didn’t tell us the last 400m or so was up a steep slope. Faint.

Besides the popular Casa Milla and Sagrada Familia by Gaudi, we also visited Casa Battlo. It’s also a building that looks more like a living organism than cold hard cement. Maybe he was inspired by the trees lining the street?

The local catalans are mad enough about their soccer to pave their streets with patterns resembling the soccer ball. We visited the Nou Camp too, home of FC Barcelona, to grab some souvenirs.

Us at the Port Vell area. Beautiful on the second attempt with blue skies and cool breeze. The first time we went there, it rained!

If you’re flying into barcelona, make sure you sit by the window on the right side of the plane. Planes will approach the city from the sea head-on before making a sharp left turn and land. You’ll be rewarded with gorgeous views of the port and city, as we did flying from seville to barcelona.

Barcelona makes up for the 3 days of cloudy skies with a decent sunrise. Till next time, adios!