Paris, je t'aime

Sacre de coeur at night

It is very common to see demonstrations and riots break out in Paris. Our bus got trapped in the middle of one... go figure!

. Mind-blowing experience.

Le Louvre! I've only read about this place in one of my favourite books The Da Vinci Code and I've only been dreaming about it. No big!!! Even better, the day I went happened to be a French holiday and they waived the admission fee. Note: If you are ever in that big line up to see Mona Lisa, take a few seconds to turn around and look at the 15 feet tall painting by an annonymous painter which, in my opinion, is more impressive.

The best melted chocolate I've ever had! If you are looking for a close-to-Angelina's hot chocolate go to SOMA chocolatierie in the Distillery District in Toronto..

If you know me, I'm the biggest sweet tooth ever, so I also had some dessert to go from this place.

It looks exactly the same as in the movie, The Devil Wears Prada

The French President Sarkozy's residence hidden by tall plants.

This garden reminds me of the Secret Garden..

Arc de Triomphe

Of course, it's Paris.

At an angle..

Paradise only very much unapproachable...

Escargot anyone...?

Wash it down with some champagne and cheese...

They still have these in Paris!

This city of love never sleeps :)

Need a remedy!

You cut out all forms of communication and social networking

You tell all of your friends you're going MIA

You wake up in the morning either with a pen or a book still in your hand or in a library cubicle desk.

Yes, it's that time of the year again..

Exam period without a doubt is the most lonely, depressing and stressful time of the year for universty students.

Here are some tips I have to help you get through the dark times:

1. Did you know that you can book study rooms for you and your friends in the library?

If you go to the University of Waterloo like me, go to this link and do it it takes 3 seconds

https://bookings.lib.uwaterloo.ca/sbs/

So you don't have to be that lonely loser hermit girl studying in her room all day long.. :S

2. Listen to music that will cheer you up!

My personal favourite album is Jason Mraz's, especially:

The Remedy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM_W0tLHZxY

3. Grab take-out food with your homies

Making plans to grab food with your friends gives you time to catch up during this busy time.

I strongly recommend Campus Pizza if you're in the Waterloo area because it is open the latest, perfect for late night munchies!

And of course, there's nothing like eating leftover frozen pizza or chinese from last night's allnighter.

Imma get my sweat pants and hoodies out.. Let's do this!! :)

xoxoxo

Oh Amsterdam...

One of the last destinations before heading back to London was Amsterdam, which is the capital city of Netherlands.

An outdoor picnic by one of the many canals the city

A snap shot of a beautiful building taken while water biking on historic canals of Amsterdam.

A clogs and cheese store we went to. The owner demonstrated handcrafting of a clog from a log of wood in less than 7 minutes!

After that, the clogs are painted and turned into these finished goods. At the end of the tour, we even got to indulge ourselves in over 20 different types of cheese made at the factory itself.

Windmill.. such a stereotypical Amsterdam thing :P

There is nothing more relaxing than a bike ride along the canals on a Sunday morning.. Cycling is a very common and most popular form of transportaiton in Netherlands. Perhaps this is why so many Deutch I ran into were all very fit...

A snapshot taken while I was on my bike. I probably shouldn't have been taking photos while on a bike because I'm a horrible biker as I am but I couldn't resist!

Netherlands has many many dams because the water level is so high that they need these to keep the water out.

On a cruise in Amsterdam on our way to a Chinese restaurant where I had dinner. It was the first time in the entire duration of the trip that I got to eat asian cuisine although it wasn't quite like the Korean food my mom makes me at home :P

Red light district was not as intimidating as I saw on TV mainly because we were there in a group of 50 people including the tour guide.. It was definitely different environment from what I'm exposed to back home but I have to say the liveliness of night life in Amsterdam was worth experiencing.

A giant clog!

Other spots that you should definitely visit while in Amsterdam include the Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum, and the Heineiken museum for beer fans out there.

The ultimate hotspot of liveliness, youth and freedom. If you like the combination of cosmopolitan entertainment distrcit and the rural outdoor activities, Amsterdam is the place to be...