Two nights ago, I saw two Korean girls (probably late 20′s) getting off from their bikes … one of them was riding Yamaha R1, the other one was Ducati Monster … now wait … who are these girls…? aww .. I miss my motorcycle ALOT .

Paris -> Basel Switzerland -> Interlarken Switzerland -> Lauterbrunnen

My morning in Paris started with a sandwich from Paul’s

I took subway M4 and arrived at Gare de l’Est train station

My train left Paris and stopped at Basel, Switzerland. Then I transferred over to a local train heading to Interlaken.

After 4 hours my legs were cramped, I went over to the kitchen section and had a little snack… and continued reading

My eyes were wide open when I saw this view out the window…

After more than 5 hours of train from Paris, I finally arrived in Lauterbrunnen around 8PM .

Initially, train stopped at Interlaken Ost and I got onto a mini train to reach Lauterbrunnen

Walked about 8 minutes from the train station to reach my hotel “Staubbach”

This hotel had that old mountaineer feeling … I only booked 1 night here but ended up staying 3 nights.

Went to a local restaurant and had a quick dinner

I didn’t realize until the morning that the view from my balcony was gorgeous dead

On my way to the mini train station I spotted a Land Rover LR3, it’s in the right place, where it should be…

This train will take me up to the mountain where I will catch a gondola up to 10,000 ft

I loved how the uniform said “Engine Driver” … how cool is that

Beautiful Swiss landscape

Everybody was so excited when the gondola started moving up to the mountain

After several different gondola’s, finally reached the top Schilthorn (2970 meters/10,000 ft)

This place is famous from the movie James Bond 007 Tomorrow Never Dies

Look at this view … The weather was only partially clear, so I wasn’t able to see far away … but I was still lucky to see this

Hope you enjoy this short gondola ride I filmed

EPIC AWESOME

My third and the last day in Paris started off with a beautiful morning. The weather news last night reported that it was going to be raining all day but got me surprise with this gorgeous view.

so blue , isn’t it ?

this is the facade of Musee d’Orsay (museum contributed to all the impressionist artists: such as Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and more)

waiting in the line was painful … I waited 1:30 minutes to enter

This museum was once a train station to Parisian people, now turned into a beautiful sanctuary to impressionists

Later in the afternoon, I climbed up to Arc de Triomphe: This is the view of Avenue des Champ Elysees.

view to the La Defense (little Manhattan)

I guess I was very lucky to see a double rainbow dropping down on to Paris …

Time to go back and sleep to catch an early train to Switzerland

I bought few Macaroons, these were very very delicious but too sweet for my liking … I was hyper all night like a 4 years old on a sugar rush … haha

I don’t know how to tell this story because it was my first time that something like this happened to me. Anyways, here it is… I went to a charming restaurant at Rue Cler – Paris, as recommended by Europe travel guide god Rick Steves. The restaurant “La Fontaine de Mars” was located on a tiny Parisian street, it was small but filled with classic Paris atmosphere and attentive staffs. Right after I sat down, a lovely looking Parisian couple with their beautiful blue eyed baby sat right next to my table. The restaurant was jammed and the tables were touching each other. I was seating next to this gentlemen so close that my elbow could have probably hit him if I was cutting a steak (good thing I had fish for dinner). When my appetizer (I ordered snails) dish came out. The lady next to my table said, “good choice, it’s going to be very good”. I acknowledged her comment and said, “Yes it looks so pretty in this special dish”.
As I photographed every dish on my table, the couple must have developed curiosity in my presence. A young Asian guy eating at a fine restaurant by himself on a beautiful saturday evening. The lady carefully asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Paris. I gave her answers and she was eager to ask more. The conversation continued and the lady asked me how the Obama administration is effecting the lives of American people (ah…what do I know about politics). Conversation flowed and the couple was deeply interested in my background as they asked more questions. We were talking about Asian culture and Asian art and how they are different & beautiful from European heritage. They shared their personal side of the story. The story is that the wife’s brother has a mental illness and how they are dealing with his difficulties everyday (at this point, they knew that I worked with mentally ill patients back in States). After talking with them for 30 minutes on a various topics and when I finished my 50 Euro (thats about $66.50) dinner, the gentlemen carefully asked me if his family could possibly pay for my dinner. The couple said that they enjoyed my company and wants to treat me as a guest to Paris. I hesitant with an uncomfortable facial expression but was soon persuaded by the couple. I thanked them for their generosity and asked them to take a photo with me. I said good bye and left the restaurant with butterflies in my stomach. Now I think about it, I was so stupid not to ask their names … When I was walking back to my hotel, the evening breeze in Paris was warm and welcoming …

specials of the day

my snails !!

the fish with mushrooms

thank you Paris …

my breakfast in Europe always started with pastry .. I like mmm

this little puppy was having his fun of the day at Jardin des Tuileries

I forgot which flavor this was … but it was pretty darn good

I took subway for over 30 minutes to find out that the Leica Paris shop was closed on Sunday … stupid me

“Paul” – popular pastry & sandwich chain stores in Paris and over the globe

I like their packaging box

my favorite – fruit tart !

after resting few hours, I headed out again to take more photographs

this little girl with McDonald lunch bag was all hyped up by her happy meal haha

Seine river is classical and charming in every possible way

I had my film camera set up on a tripod with ND 10 stops filter & cable release and my watch counting down to take my long exposure photographs of Seine river … (photos from my film camera will be soon updated)

book seller by the Seine

you don’t need Nikon D3 to capture a flying bird hehe

dark & gloomy … yet very romantic … that was how my trip was going …

I arrived in Venice from Florence. This place is wonderful, the colors are vivid and vibrant throughout the entire city. I will be posting rest of Paris, Switzerland, Florence and Venice pics when I go to Korea next week. Until then, ciao !

Off to Paris …

Arrived at the London station at 4:00 AM … I was awake all night and I was falling apart slowly

5:25 AM train to Paris Nord station, Euro Star train experience was not good at all. I was seating next to a big young English guy who was sleeping throughout the entire 2:30 hours ride with his legs wide open … I was squeezed to the window

Arrived slightly before 9:00 AM in Paris

When I arrived at my hotel, I was so dead tired. I was going to kick this guy’s ass because he was taking forever to check-in

Ran down stairs to the restaurant, had huge buffet breakfast to satisfy my hunger

This was what I wanted to do … walking in the back alley of Paris without a destination …

gotta take a picture of an old bookstore

and of course, a Cafe

front facade of the great Notre Dame. 10 years ago when I didn’t really pay attention to art & architecture – this was just an another old building .. however, this time I was very impressed

speechless …

genius of flying buttress design

“Ahh” – this was what I said every time I saw the Eiffel Tower between alleys of Paris

The tower was under a major constructions, it was covered with ugly covers … so I didn’t bothered to take any close-up pics

for dinner, I went to Le P’tit Troquet in Rue Cler

this restaurant is how the Parisian restaurant looked like back in the 1920′s

I had three course meal; this was my appetizer – Eclair aux escargots de Bourgogne et beurre persille (snail with butter, garlic with chou pastry)

I don’t usually eat mashed potatoes .. but this was different .. very different ..so soft … so moist .. arggghh

Gigot d’agneau 7 h, jus au thym (lamb with thyme sauce)

*For the main course- try ordering the rabbit leg (I think that one is more popular than the lamb dish)*

soupe de fraises glace fromage blanc (strawberry soup and white cheese ice cream)

* the meal was awesome … so awesome that I wanted to cry awesome * haha

Tower bridge, I wasn’t really impressed …what’s wrong with me?

went to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant FIFTEEN

had half glass of London ale beer (it was smooth but not that great)

I had Pan-fried fillet of Shetland pollock with roasted bright courgettes, Florence fennel and pesto rosso.

Wookie had Slow cooked Dalgarnock belly of pork, dressed Castelluccio lentils, Swiss chard and oregano salmoriglio.

inside view from Tate modern museum London. Wish my camera lens was wider to capture the gigantic space.

view of the Millennium bridge from the Tate museum

some of propaganda poster arts ( I think )

I am very much into words & fonts these days

old wired telephone box still exists among the wireless world

I wonder how old those walls are …

backyard residential area of Westminster Abbey

photography was forbidden inside the church, so all I have is the backyard photo

old garden

after visiting Westminster Abbey, I walked to the Winston Churchill museum

had a chicken salad sandwich for lunch on the grass

can’t forget about Churchill when talking about World War II

is that a Thompson Hyun?

Fighter flight guys are always cool