Date: 30 MARCH 2009

Left Belgium for a day trip to yet another special country, Luxembourg.

On the train towards Luxembourg, Clayton is pretty excited.



After a long train ride we got to Luxembourg.



And it was only after we got off the train then we realised that our train look like a loft of bread. Haha.. Cute!!



Luxembourg (pronounced /ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg), is a small, landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Luxembourg has a population of under half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (999 sq mi).

Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarch; it is ruled by a Grand Duke. It is the world's only remaining sovereign Grand Duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world as per IMF and WB. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish road when Spain was the principal European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 16th–17th centuries.

Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, NATO, OECD, the United Nations, Benelux, and the Western European Union, reflecting the political consensus in favour of economic, political, and military integration. The city of Luxembourg, the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the European Union.

Luxembourg lies on the cultural divide between Romance Europe and Germanic Europe, borrowing customs from each of the distinct traditions. Luxembourg is a trilingual country; German, French and Luxembourgish are official languages. Although a secular state, Luxembourg is predominantly Roman Catholic.

Enough said. Its time for pictures. I love this small country. It was as if I had entered into a fairytale with mountains, rivers, castles, high walls, towers and so on......

Although I know that my photo shooting skills is not very good but I still believe that a picture speaks a thousand words. So I hope that the following photos will bring you into Luxembourg without you going there yourself. :)





















































Can you see me? :)









Just as we were enjoying our walk along the river, I saw many of these lying along the way.. Heehee.. Luxemboourg, naughty naughty ya?





So we laughed and joked about it as we carried on our walk.































This walk was tiring but worth it. So tiring that Clayton slept his whole way back to Brussels, Belgium.



What about me? I was so bored on the train that after I finished doing the sudoku and all the riddles in the papers, I did this. Haha...



Back at Sabrina's place, it time to cook again. :)



I feel like I am preparing to be a good house husband for the future. Keep cooking... Haha.. Any takers? I am still single and available!!! HEE HEE.....

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Date: 17 MARCH 2009

FINALLY!!! The day I have been waiting for... The reason why I come to Dublin.... Its PADDY'S DAY!!!! WOOT!!!! There will be a huge street parade/party going on in town later and so armed with my camera, I marched towards O'Connell Street, the main thoroughfare of Dublin and one of Europe's widest Street.

It was already packed with people by the time I got there and I could not clearly see the parade when it started. Instead, every time when the parade/float passes by, I saw hundreds and hundreds of hands stretching high up, snapping away. It was quite a funny sight. Haha....



Few moments of the parade.





After trying to capture shots of the parade, I decided that it will come to no avail. There were too many people and the shots will not turn out nice. So I decided to do street photography instead. Capturing the moments, the expressions, the fun and laughter might be a better choice. And it was indeed.

You see, there were too many people viewing the parade and so if you want to be able to see it, you have to be on higher ground than others. So some people stood on the rubbish bins, trying to catch a glimpse.



Some climbed up trees.



How about clinging on bus stop sign posts.





Clinging onto street lamp posts.



Some made their way up monuments.





Others brought their own ladder.



However, the best of all are those who climb up the traffic lights.



Even better, wearing skirt up on a traffic light.





While these people were going all out just to have a view of the parade, the police seems to be alright with them. No one seems to have concern for the safety of these people. Well, I LIKE IT!!! Thats the way a parade should be. Its freedom!!! Haha....

Anyway, liked I said, I was going to do street photography and street photography I did. I went wild and crazy shooting at random people. It was fun. Presenting to you, the colourful St Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland 2009!!!









































The police, smart and ready for the parade.











Then it was time to go to a bar to catch a cold Guinness, have a break, before heading back out again. Saw a couple of CS'ers in the pub.





Back on the streets!!!





































Since there was a huge crowd from all over the world here in Dublin, how can the attention seeking drags not make use of this good chance to have their own mini parade?







Even though the parade has ended, there were still thousands and thousands of people roaming around the streets. Everyone were in very high spirit. Singing loudly, holding hands, dancing in group, It was pure fun. How I wish my friends were here as well, it would be more fun!!

Noone was camera shy that day. Everyone wants to be captured and was so willing to pose in front of the lens! Some saw me shooting them and they even stop for me, others approached me and asked me to take photos of them. It was awesome.

















Even the police were friendly. Hey, did that police wear a make up while on duty? Beautiful ya?



Well, only one guy was not very friendly. One random guy on the streets. Just as I was talking photos of some cute little kids, he walked passed me and shouted " BEWARE OF THIS MAN!! DONT LET HIM TAKE PHOTOS OF CHILDREN!! HE IS A PEDOPHILE!!!"

What is wrong with him?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Anyway, the fun did not stop with the parade. People were singing songs, drinking, smoking, chilling, playing guitar all over the streets and also, on the ledge of windows!! :)









The most interesting of all was this group of youngsters. I stood by the street for a very long time trying to capture these moments. They were on the 2nd or 3rd floor window and were waiting for victims to walk pass along the streets on the ground floor. Then, once they decided on their victim, they would lower down a sock using a string. Most of the time the sock would hit the head of the victims, and sometime, it just appears inches away from the victims faces.

The shock and surprise look on the victims faces were priceless. Many of them gave a "huh?" look at first but ended up laughing. It was like gotcha or gigs in the making.

Check out this pictures.















The cool thing was noone got angry. :) It was Paddy's Day!!!







I met up with Joey for the later half of the day, visiting some places around Dublin.















and then I headed back to my host's place for a rest.



Wassup for the night? Another round of huge party ofcourse!!! Sad to say, it was the last party. Everyone will be heading off towards their own direction from tomorrow onwards. But no worries, we live to enjoy the moment.

Haha.. Check out Emma's name tag.







More asian!! Japanese.









Asian spotted again! Its me?? No No... Its Andrew....













More Asian spotted! Korean.









P/S: Saw another drag on the streets wearing only a small piece of cloth which was just enough to cover up his "little brother". Along with that, 2 tiny strings run up along his body covering only his 2 nipples and then down his back connecting to his G-string. I was quite amazed!! He was as good as naked. How can he not feel cold at all? Impressive!!



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