lynnypoo's Xanga

Reality

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:20:55 GMT

I see that my last post was almost 2 years ago.

The promised Tuscany post with pictures never came to fruition. I still remember the reason why - my life then was filled with too many activities, too many social engagements to grace, too many things to get done before I left the UK to eventually settle into something that I knew that was inevitable.

Growing up.

I've avoided coming to this page for quite awhile, knowing that it would only serve to remind me of a time where I once thought I had all the time in the world, and all the options available to my disposal.

I finally have today.

Where last time it used to be sitting at the desk in the quiet late hours of the night, with a glass of vodka and juice to sip on, has been replaced with a glass of whisky Coke and my work computer.

How far I have fallen.

So many things to show, so many things to express, yet I find myself short of words.

Rome : Part 2 of the Graduation Trip 2007

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 05:05:18 GMT

On to Roma!

mag, chloe and i awoke early and made it to the train on time, with enough time left over for McDonalds breakfast always wanted one of those in London but never could actually get up on time.

upon arrival, it was a harried and stress-filled quest to locate the property office from which we were renting our apartment for a week to pick up the keys, and finding our apartment. Yes, they were located in different areas, and on opposite ends of Central Rome.

from the Termini station (central bus/train station in Rome) we took the underground for 1 stop with all our luggage. Left chloe to guard the bags as mag and i tried to decipher the newly purchased map of Rome for the elusive office.

Many (expensive) phone calls later, we found the office, checked in and got the keys and headed back to the underground station to go back to Termini station and meet Esme, who was flying in from London.

Upon meeting up, we gathered our bags and boarded a public bus to our apartment. the guy at the office had said that it would be a 20 minute journey, and to stop at the first stop after the river. He did not, however, mention the notoriously unreliable Italian public transport system and that our bus would be packed like sardines.

But we found our apartment eventually, after much detouring. It was tiny - with a bathroom, a common room with a double bed and a single fold up bed and small kitchenette. there were 4 of us in an apartment meant for 3. Ended up pushing both beds together to fit 4 of us.

The bathroom wasn't very impressive - the drain clogged every so often despite our best attempts, and the hot water ran out after precisely 1 1/2 showers. Hence we had to time our showers accordingly - "Who's washing their hair today?" the luckiest would be the first to go in to shower, and the unluckiest would be the last two. the middle one would try and speed her way through showering and hope that by the time the hot water ran out, she'd have almost finished conditioning.

Some showers, fresh change of clothes later, we headed out to see the sights of Rome. Oh, and lunch too - which was unimpressive. We didn't have a lonely planet guidebook for Rome. And without one of those, Rome can be a massive tourist trap. Our lunch was an example. Never would have thought that the land of pasta could serve such mediocre pasta.

Anyway.

We waited almost half an hour for a bus to take us to our first sight, the Colosseum. Upon giving up waiting in the unmerciful sun, we decided to walk instead, which led us to discover something about Central Rome: everything is within walking distance

After walking a bit, we got to Piazza Venezia (piazza means 'square') and were met by a massive crowd of extremely unhappy looking people. What you see above are riot police.

Esme's arm with the map on the left, and more unhappy people having a face-off with the police. These were taxi drivers, and they were on strike. Something about taxes and pay...they were the only ones who were unhappy and shouting. some riot police could be seen smiling, and the piazza being a touristy area, tourists were happily snapping pictures ("Oh look darling, a real Italian demonstration! Quick i want a picture with that policeman make sure you get his helmet and shield") That included us.

The strike and demonstration ended up closing several roads, including the one we wanted to take to the Colosseum. But on the other end of the piazza, was this important looking building - the Monumento Nazionale, in all its (scaffolded) glory. Free entry, so we went in for a look around.

I was dying of thirst at this point, but the refreshment trucks all around were fleecing tourists with their overpriced refreshments. i flatly refused to pay 5 euros for a bottle of Gatorade. Tourist traps.

Tomb of an Unknown Soldier in the Monumento Nazionale

Spectacular view from the top of the Monument. that's the Colosseum all the way to the right. It was when we saw a potential route there...

One of the rulers of Rome on impressive looking horse at the Monument. Climbing up the numerous steps of the Monument, we got to see behind the statue. Such detail was paid to this sculpture, I could tell that the horse was male. Ahem.

left to right - Esme, Chloe and Mag on the steps of the Monument.

One of Rome's many excavation areas with exposed ruins

The long road to the Colosseum. There were grandstands being set up on either side of the road at the time of our holiday as the Rome Marathon was in a few days.

The Colosseum

Some arch at the side of the Colosseum, think its called Napoleon's Arch or something

Esme and I were too lazy to queue to pay and enter the Colosseum, so we sat outside to take a break while mag and chloe went in. that's them in the distance, mag's the one with the bright pink bag.

After the Colosseum, we were all ready to call it a day and headed back towards the apartment, stopping by a supermarket on the way back and grabbing some dinner (pizza).

The next day: on our way to the Vatican City

Us outside the Vatican City

While I was busy taking the many pictures that make up this shot...

...They found it funny to take pictures of me.

A Vatican Guard. The closest I ever got inside the Vatican, because my shorts exposed a bit of my knees, I wasn't allowed in (been inside before, so it was okay). So while the rest went in, i roamed around the area, stopping for some coffee and found a lovely internet cafe to while the time away.

when the rest came out from the Basilica, they couldn't enter the Sistine Chapel as it was already closed. We proceeded to the Spanish Steps, where most of the shops are...

Mag, with the Spanish Steps in the background.

Some guys were on the rooftop of a nearby building, singing Beatles hits in Italian.

After the Spanish Steps, it was on to the Trevi Fountain. Esme with part of the fountain in the background.

A slightly distorted view of the Trevi Fountain. The story goes that if you throw a coin in facing away from the fountain, you will return to Rome. Worked for me the last time, so we each threw a coin in

Next stop: the Pantheon.

The pillars of the Pantheon were very thick.

Really really thick.

Don't ask me what she's doing.

The piazza outside the Pantheon.

By this time, mag had located a bookshop and acquired an all-important guidebook to Rome.

Dinner, I'm happy to say, was better this time around - though still not what i expected of Italian food. We had the requisite cone of gelato after that. My Vahlrona chocolate gelato, mmmmmmmm....unfortunately no pictures, hehe.

Random Rome view

On the whole, the Rome trip was pretty laid back, woke at noon on some of the days and pretty much took our own sweet time. One of the days, though, we managed to make a day trip out to Tivoli, a nearby historical town. 'Nearby' entailed going to the nearest underground station (all the way back to the Colosseum) and riding to the last stop, taking a bus (again packed like sardines) and getting off at what we guessed to be the right stop, about half an hour's ride.

There were 2 ancient villas that were recommended for visiting: the Villa d'Estes, and the Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa). as the Villa Adriana was 10 minutes bus ride out of Tivoli, we opted to just go for Villa d'Estes. It was previously built by a wealthy family who claimed to be descended directly from Hercules, before coming into the ownership of several governors and eventually a cardinal who restored the place, at least that's what i can remember of what i read.

Besides, entry into the Villa d'Estes was free for that day

the fountain that greeted us at the entrance

The courtyard

frescoed ceiling of a room in the Villa. pretty much all the rooms looked like this. They depicted scenes from famous myths and Roman Gods - and the odd Biblical story here and there.

Lovely weather - from a pretty archway at the adjoining restaurant.

The gardens of the Villa d'Estes

View from the balcony of the Villa

View from the back of the Villa

some of the structures in the gardens of the Villa.

the main fountain. if you look hard enough you can see small rainbows in the fountains.

By the middle of the visit, some were enthralled by the great weather and fantastic view...

...others were hungry and thirsty and grumpy.

so it was back up a steep slope to get to the exit of the Villa.

Waiting for the bus back to the station.

Tivoli was a rather nice little quaint town. Wait, is this a picture of Tivoli? Oh well...

On reaching Rome, we were hungry (having skipped lunch) and started to stake out one of the restaurants recommended in the trusty guidebook. After painstakingly locating the street and lot number, we were dismayed to find that the address stated in the guidebook led us to a small dingy alley with shut doors. No such restaurant. Attempts to ask for directions from nearby astrology shopowner failed as well.

After thumbing through the guidebook again, we eventually found another restaurant just a street away, and quite affordable too.

Clinking our well-deserved glasses of sweet Italian sparkling Muscado wine.

Ravenous monsters that we (or rather i) were, no holds barred in ordering food. A typical Italian menu consists of a starter, a pasta dish, and a mains, followed by dessert. We usually ordered a pasta dish, and sometimes a starter ("do you guys want to share a salad????") after several days of this (plus the fact that we walked so much during the day), i was quite tired of the feeling of not being full enough. the other girls ate far too little. So this time i ordered a bruschetta (grilled italian bread with topping) to share, a pasta dish, and a steak.

The left is a bruschetta topped with cherry tomatoes, rocket and buffalo mozzarella. To the right is a salad.

This restaurant specialised in bruschettas, and this was no different - bruschetta topped with porcini mushrooms, cheese and truffle cream. it was heavenly. After dinner it was gelato at another recommended gelato joint, as always

On the last night that the four of us were together in Rome (Esme was to fly back to London the next day, Chloe to meet Adam to travel to another part of Italy, and Mag and I to meet 2 more friends to drive to Tuscany), we did not do much. Only for our last dinner....

It was also Chloe's birthday, and we sprung it on her with a slice of cake from a nearby gelateria (didn't taste very good) and a Chupa Chups as a candle, in a small alley..

"this so cannot compare to what i had last year..."

After that dinner we headed for our usual gelato, hehe.

It was back to the apartment and we slept pretty late at about 3am, only to be rudely awakened at 10.20am by a buzzer.

Horror of horrors, when we moved in on the first day no one bothered to read an innocuous looking piece of paper stuck on the back of the front door. I read it with bleary eyes which slowly widened into panic: we were to vacate the premises on the last day by 11am, or we would be charged for an extra day. we were also to leave the flat as it was when we first came (no big deal, it wasn't that clean to begin with) and clear the rubbish bins, or it would entail a 60 euro charge.

4 large suitcases with their contents strewn all over the single studio apartment (we were all girls, what to do..) and no one had showered/washed up/dressed yet.

The buzzer sounder had been the cleaner, who unlocked our door and poked her head in, explaining that she needed to clean the premises as someone else would be moving in at 12pm.

Never underestimate the power of being threatened with having to pay extra.

By 10.50am, we were all standing outside the block of apartments fully dressed, with suitcases packed and locked, and waiting for a taxi that we'd called to take us to chloe's next accommodation. Not only that, the beds had been separated, bed sheets taken off and folded, and everything cleared out.

Why is it that the first and last days of my stay in a new place always has to be so stressful?

We cabbed it to chloe's new accommodation and waited for Adam to arrive (flying in from Notts).

With all our luggage, Mag, Esme and i walked to the nearest underground station and went to Termini station again, where we deposited our luggage in storage lockers and bought coach tickets to the Roma Ciampino airport. Rushed back to Central Rome to make our booking for a restaurant, ate lunch and did some last minute shopping and coffee before rushing back to Termini to catch our coach to Ciampino Airport.

Upon arrival, Esme flew back to London from Ciampino Airport (where the flight was delayed and she missed her connecting coach back home from Stansted Airport, heh) while Mag and I tried to find our way to the hostel where we were to spend the night before coming back to Ciampino Airport to meet 2 friends to drive up to Tuscany.

We got horribly lost. it was initially thought that we were to take a bus straight to the hostel from the bus stop at the airport. Didn't help that the guy at the hostel whom i called didn't speak very much english and could only tell us to take a bus and get off at Ostello del Monaci, which is the bloody name of the hostel.

It turned out that we were supposed to take a bus FROM the airport to the Ciampino railway station, where we had to take ANOTHER bus (about 20 minute ride) to the hostel.

we missed our stop at the railway station, and sat in the bus for an unsettling 30 minutes or so for the driver to finish the route and turn back towards the airport, getting off at the railway station. It was already getting dark by that point, and we were not very sure of where we were to take the bus to our hostel.

Ciampino town is also on the far outskirts of Rome.

There were taxi drivers outside the railway station, but these were unmetered cabs and us being Asian, we would be cheated.

I went to a nearby shop to ask for directions, leaving Mag with our bags. Shopkeeper didn't know what i was talking about, naturally (stupid guy at hostel had also given me wrong spelling/wrong pronunciation of the name of the place where we were supposed to be waiting for the bus). Came back out to find Mag talking to 2 Italian girls.

Turns out that they spoke really good English and were just coming back from a day out in Rome. Also turns out that they lived just behind our hostel. And one of them had a car parked in the railway station parking lot, and offered us a lift there, since it was late and it was likely that there were not going to be any buses going to our hostel, which was in the middle of nowhere.

I had never felt so grateful.

Our hostel was isolated and quiet. Very quiet. Except for a troupe of nuns staying there too. only one man (same guy who fielded my phone calls) staffed the desk in the deserted lobby. Did i mention that he was creepy? the whole place was creepy. Our 4 bed hostel room (no one else, so we had the room to ourselves) looked like a hospital ward. There were no restaurants open in the vicinity too, for dinner. we bedded down for the night where i had a difficult time getting to sleep due to mosquitoes and the sheer eeriness of the place.

somehow it doesn't look so scary during the day...

Hostel front, missing several letters

Outside the hostel, just proving how middle of nowhere it really was.

Not forgetting token abandoned airplane in the parking lot...

We waited for the stupid bus to take us to the railway station for almost an hour (supposed to come every 20 minutes). When it arrived it was a tiny vehicle and we were crammed inside with other tourists and their luggage where the driver proceeded to drive recklessly to the railway station, all the while having a loud argument with a local who was berating him for being late.

Thankfully we got to the railway station in one piece, waited at the right stop for the connecting bus to the airport.

We made it on time, met with the guys, XW and Jon, collected our car and proceeded on the next leg of the adventure.

Which will be Part 3.

Long-assed entry.

Florence : Part 1 of The Graduation Trip 2007

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 02:35:43 GMT

Sorry, been away for too long..but its not as if i have a lot on my plate.

far from it.

but anyway i think its time i put up pictures of the Italy trip complete with commentary. but given the sheer volume of pictures, i shall do this in 3 sittings; Florence, Rome and Tuscany...

THE ITINERARY - Florence 3 days, Rome 5 days, Tuscany region 1 week.

Our journey began with a 3.50am coach ride to Stansted airport on the 29th of May. Queued at the airport to get into departure gate as per usual, dawdled around buying essentials from Boots, and strolled to our flight gate before hearing an announcement for the last call for the Ryanair flight to Pisa Airport. As luck would have it, our gate was at the furthermost part of the airport.

So we ran.

And made it.

Approximately 4-5 hours later, we arrived at the Pisa airport, and decided to take a train to Florence. Queued up, bought the tickets and eventually found our way to the railway platforms outside the airport and got on what we hoped was the right train...

In our carriage, there was a hen party who were consuming copious amounts of champagne and acting the part. For the entire duration of the journey (about 2 hours) there were no signs of them slowing down on the yelling.

Didn't affect these two though

So. we got to florence okay (except for being fined 5 euros each just because we didn't get our ticket stamped at a machine before boarding the train. but seriously how could we have known, since the guy who sold us the tickets didn't mention anything and everything else was in italiano? stupid.)

Found our way to the hostel, which wasn't too far from the train station, and of quite a good size actually..

It had 3 single beds, and shared toilets which were situated outside our room.

All the alleys pretty much looked like this, and they were all pretty. And looked quite similar.

After lunch (some seafood pasta), we headed off for our first gelato fix of the trip! Thank God for the lonely planet guidebook, recommending all the good gelato joints

Did i mention that the gelato was good? (N.B. my gelato only appears smaller than the rest not cos i chose single scoop, but i was the quickest in deciding what flavour i wanted and in finishing it)

random graffiti on wall. couldn't resist. plus they were busy trying to get Muse concert tickets after finding out that they were performing in Florence the next day.

while mag was still trying to enquire about Muse tickets....

Finally, we stopped for pictures at the Duomo (Cathedral). this is the tower of the Duomo. Might i add that the day was rather overcast, and even rather chilly, which wasn't good because I had anticipated ridiculously good weather and hadn't packed more than 1 pair of long trousers and 1 jumper, both of which i was already wearing...

the left side of the Duomo. building was too big, so had to take it in segments. i tried piece-ing the shots together using PhotoStitch, but unfortunately it just turned out really odd.

the right side of the Duomo

sorry if the picture might seem a little distorted because i basically pieced together the entire scene from different pictures...quite a few pictures are going to appear like this later in the entries so be warned

So yes, the above is the view of the Piazza Duomo from outside the Cathedral.

tired of taking pictures of the Duomo, the attention shifted to themselves....

This is the inside of the Cathedral, obviously...and what you see is the ceiling - or rather, arches...

the interior of the Cathedral

the main dome of the Cathedral, pretty isn't it? Many more cathedrals to come for the duration of this trip...

After that, i couldn't take it anymore and vetoed to return to the hostel to get some shuteye. the rest agreed, but we took awhile to go back because the girls were constantly distracted on the short walk back (read: Miu Miu, Massimo Dutti...)

We concussed for several hours, heading out again at 7-ish pm in search of a good Florentine meal. Eventually came to this place which actually looked like a tourist trap (but it was recommended by the lonely planet guidebook) - though to be fair, the whole of Florence is a tourist trap...

Ravioli with olive oil and broccoli and some shrimps. Mediocre.

Lobster pasta. Surprisingly mediocre.

But this, this! Fiorentina Chianina Bistecca - Florentine T-Bone steak from a special breed of cow native to the Tuscan region, Chianina steak. i can't say it out loud because it reminds me too much of that swear word i always hear Singaporeans use. Anyway, there's no fixed price for this because they charge by weight, usually about 5 euros per 100 grams. A joint can weigh up to 2 kg. This one that you see here weighed 1.3 kg.

You can tell that this restaurant is used to catering to tourists - the waiter was quite willing to snap pictures for us.

He also cut up the steak.

The steak chunks were quite rare on the inside (nestled in between red cabbage leaves) - chloe refused to touch it, only daring to try the parts that looked cooked. mag ate a fair bit, but gave up after awhile no complaints from me, heh heh

...absolutely no complaints at all.

After dinner, we pulled out the map again and tracked down another highly recommended gelato joint.

I had the chocolate and chocolate hazelnut flavours.

it was very very good.

Gluttony reigned the day.

And that was our first day in Italy.

Woke up bright and early the next morning to go to a tour agency to pick up coach tickets to Montevarchi, where the Prada outlet and the Mall (Ferragamo, YSL, Gucci...) were situated. This day trip would take up an entire day, but it was an absolute must, mainly because we were all girls and...erm...we just really really wanted to go, hee hee.

Another cathedral, the Santa Maria...something something. it was just the cathedral nearest to the railway station.

View of the Tuscan countryside from the coach on the way to Montevarchi

We were first dropped at the Prada outlet and given only an hour 45 minutes to shop around. the outlet is really a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Turned out that this was enough for me, didn't really buy anything except for some gifts.

The coach came again and ferried us to the Mall, about 15 minutes away. this time we were given 3 hours 15 minutes (or thereabouts) to peruse the different shops - Pucci, YSL, Gucci, Ferragamo, Valentino, Sergio Rossi, Balenciaga, Tods....just off the top of my head)

It was more than enough for me, and proceeded to wait out the rest of the time in the cafe with..

...you guessed it

mag waited with me too. it was pretty disappointing, this day trip.

but not for some

Arrived back in Florence in the evening and headed straight for dinner (after dropping off purchases in the hostel)

There wasn't much we could do on the third day, as our train to Rome was at 8am.

Onwards to Part 2!!!!

Quote of the Day

Tue, 15 May 2007 19:22:36 GMT

"This kind of weather makes you wanna bitch-slap Gaia"

Johanan Sen, 15th May 2007

London Legal Walk 2007

Tue, 15 May 2007 14:50:15 GMT

had my conference assessment yesterday, and it was....bleurgh.

think i passed though.

after that rushed home and got changed into sports gear for the London Legal Walk 2007, which is a 10km walk through the 'legal landmarks' of London.

we were to meet at the school office at 5pm - where we were given papers with numbers to stick to the front/back/any part of our body to indicate our school and registration.

oh and balloons too. the proper helium ones!

creative ways of tying the balloons

part of our little walking posse, geneive and clarice

starting off on our merry way in not so merry conditions

did i mention that it was raining?

our starting point: the Royal Courts of Justice. there's a waiting crowd with yellow/orange balloons from some other school/ law firm.

where we turn off down an alley into middle temple inn...

..and geneive gets a call for help from a member of the posse who came late and got lost. how a bvc student can get lost looking for the Royal Courts of Justice in the legal centre of london is beyond me, but...anyway. so we had to split up. Gen went back to look for the missing sheep, while clarice and i stood in the rain watching people file by, and saying ever so often, "the route is that-a-way."

Finally we get another call - gen is lost too. and still hasn't found HT(the lost sheep) yet. decide to go on first, and tell them to take the tube to westminster station (which is the bulk of the route covered already) and meet us there.

some bridge along the Strand

the old OXO tower. they make gravy granules and stuff.

the Millennium Bridge

after crossing the millennium bridge at St Paul's, there's the London aquarium further down the river.

3D rendition of the long-legged Dali elephant outside the Dali museum, flanked by the omnipresent balloon.

and it was at waterloo that we were finally reunited with geneive and HT.

the London Eye from Waterloo bridge.

a really fat pigeon.

the three of them with their balloons on waterloo bridge.

see what HT's pointing at? that's westminster.

our bedraggled long line of balloon carrying legal walkers weren't the only ones who were being stared at.

HT, balloon, and St James' Park.

sisterly love

view of Whitehall (administrative government centre) from st James' Park

Buckingham Palace

It was at this part that my feet started to get pretty sore and i stopped taking pictures. so i'll just fast forward to the end part.

some men on stilts at the Law Society to keep the atmosphere jovial.

us and our free drink for finishing the walk.

i was really hungry, wanted a steak, and we headed to Planet Hollywood at Leicester Square afterward for dinner. which was kind of a big mistake. we finished the walk in a little over 2.5 hours, and our dinner at the place took about there. the food wasn't great either, but i tore through my steak, mash and vegetables in 15 minutes because i only had a few slices of bread at breakfast that day.

walking to the tube station, there were a bunch of people holding bigass SLRs waiting in front of Cafe de Paris, next to the Hard Rock Casino. which can only mean one thing - these people are paparazzi, and wherever these people are, there's a celebrity!! so we hung about with our cameras.

but it was cold. and we were tired. and the celebrity (or celebrities), being a celebrity (or celebrities), took really long coming out so we couldn't be bothered after about 10 minutes and went home.

THE END.

New Arrival

Fri, 11 May 2007 02:02:51 GMT

Allow me to introduce the latest addition to the Cheng family

Sammie B, 6 week old female golden retriever

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Tue, 08 May 2007 22:06:51 GMT

Salisbury

Mon, 07 May 2007 21:34:26 GMT

Went on a leisurely drive to Salisbury over the weekend. the pictures aren't all that nice though, because the day was overcast.

medieval bridge across to the town from where we parked

gatehouse to the cathedral

friendly dog in the cathedral grounds

military museum

the cathedral

"what you looking at?"

i really don't think this picture needs a caption.

"peace, yo."

main doors to cathedral with Mary, baby Jesus and 2 accompanying angels

the cathedral courtyard

the cathedral cemetery, from the courtyard

black cat in cemetery grounds. creepy eh?

another gratuitous shot of the cathedral, this time from cemetery grounds.

arches inside the cathedral

i know its a little distorted, but since the entire place was a little too long to fit in one shot, i took several and pieced it together.

at lunch, we were so bored and hungry that...

notice anything wrong with this picture?

leafy part of the journey home

if it were sunny this shot would have been way nicer - this was what it was like before we hit the motorway...countryside

stopped by Stonehenge on the way back - didn't go in because it cost GBP6.25 (per person) and GBP3 to park the car. really not worth that much just to see a pile of rocks.

Greenwich

Tue, 01 May 2007 06:19:16 GMT

Greenwich is a little town on the outskirts of London, zone 3 (or 2??)

It is also the little town chosen as the start for measuring latitude and longitude of the earth, bla bla bla.

Don't bother correcting me on that.

Anyway, there wasn't very much.

Greenwich Park. Or it could also be Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Green Park...

After traversing a little steep hill (Laura you misled me - I thought it was some bigass hill and was preparing for the worst!), we got to the [old] Royal Observatory, where the Meridien Line is. Its slightly visible in the picture above, below where the man in checkered shirt is standing...

So-called start of the world...?

all the tourists there were taking pictures of themselves pointing at their home country so i guess...well i didn't want to climb that little hill for nothing!

Classical Music Concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 01:32:00 GMT

could only snap pictures while the rehearsal was going on...couldn't take any during the actual one cos not only would it disrupt the performance, but it'd be too dark anyway because they turned off most of the lights.

Spot where the orchestra performed - 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 1 double bass and the harpsichord player doubled up as the conductor.

They played some pretty well-known pieces - however towards the end I started spacing out. its undeniable that they're talented and i really do appreciate all that intricate fingerwork and stuff...

...ahhhh call me uncultured or whatever you want, so i found it boring. well, only for the pieces i wasn't familiar with. bleh.

maybe in about 40-50 years' time...