Monday, July 5th, Part IV: Seventy Stories Up!

At last, around 7, I found myself in Raffles City outside the hotel lobby, waiting for the group to arrive. Once they did, we popped on up the (rather funky) elevator and effortlessly arrived at the top!

I say "effortlessly" because being at the top of the Swissôtel reminded me a lot of the Empire State Building - except much, much better. For one, it was free and easy to get to the top. For another, the Empire State Building was kind of horrifying, the way you could feel it swaying (I know that's normal, but it's still unnerving) and could hardly breathe because the wind was so strong. The Swissôtel was classy and ambient and lovely, and the view was breathtaking without actually taking your breath away.

^^ I'm not drunk in any of these pictures, I swear! I just always always always blink when there's a flash.

^^ I got the coolest drink EVER! It was called a Merlion cocktail, and while it didn't actually taste that impressive and I don't remember what was in it, the container it came in made it all worth it! You will never fail to win me over if you give me things in the shape of the Merlion!

And without further ado, here is the view!

^^ Three of my favorite landmarks: The Flyer (ferris wheel), the Marina Bay Sands (boat-shaped building), and the Esplanade (durian-shaped building in bottom-right corner)!

^^ See the river?

^^ The harbour is on the left and towards the top-right are the skyscrapers of the business district.

^^ St. Andrew's, seen from above!
^^ Me, Whitney, and Kelsey!

After we left the Swissôtel, we decided to ride the MRT a few stops down to Orchard and stroll down Singapore's poshest shopping avenue. We didn't really do anything but walk and look, but it was a good time nonetheless!

^^ Delicious tomato-mozarella bread

Monday, July 5th, Part III: Sometimes, It Seems Like Singapore Believes It Is in Europe, Not Asia

Just for contrast, the things above ^^ are what greeted me when I came down out of the park - the veritable concrete jungle! I was heading towards the Swissôtel, where I was supposed to meet up with a group for cocktails and city-watching from 70 stories up! So, I meandered towards the waterfront, whereby was located the Swissôtel, and came across so many wonderful things on the way!

^^ Seriously, I thought I was in Paris or London while walking by this building. The bottom floor comprised several posh, European-looking shops and restaurants/cafés.

^^ The giant tower in the background is the Swissôtel, one of the largest hotels in the world, my ultimate destination! I still had about an hour, though, so I kept exploring!

^^ There was this bizarre moment when everyone was jaywalking! This is a pretty big road, and we were more or less right in the heart of downtown, but there were somehow no cars coming, and I figured if all the Singaporeans were doing it, I might as well do it too!

Stumbling across St. Andrew's was a delightful surprise. I had no idea it existed, and it had not been on my list of places in the area I might want to explore. But as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to take an endless number of pictures :-) Yet again, I feel like it looks a lot like so many of the cathédrales I saw in France. And, yet again, such a lovely, majestic cathedral felt quite incongruous in the heart of an Asian metropolis.

^^ There is this concrete, steel, and glass structure that grows out of the MRT stop in front of the church. It, like so many other things, seems very incongruous.
^^ What an enchanting garden.
^^ Cathedral New Sanctuary is what it says, in case you can't read it.

^^ The City Hall MRT stop rises abruptly out of the lawn in front of St. Andrew's.

^^ It's true that many things are prohibited in Singapore.

^^ St. Andrew's crouches behind the trees as the Swissôtel soars into the sky!

^^ I will never stop loving Singapore sunsets!

^^ Setup for National Day (I think...either that or the Youth Olympics). Behind it is the river, in front, the Old Parliament.

^^ The Old Parliament, as I'm sure you've guessed, is a leftover from the British colonial times.

^^ The outlandish New Parliament, right behind the old one! Yup. Sure enough, it's a U.F.O.

^^ The Marina Bay Sands, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, is always peaking out from random angles!

^^ The Swissôtel rises up out of the Raffles City Mall.

^^ Our next stop, the fabulous Swissôtel!

^^ And, lastly, to wrap up the Europe theme, a French sign in the mall on the way to the hotel.