红酒·绿茶 / Red Wine & Green Tea / Vin Rouge et Thé Vert

Result of a three-hour photo trip to the Loch Raven Reservoir . Jump to this set on Flickr or start a slide show . Enjoy! Mosaic , originally uploaded by nuance1979 . PS, the collage was made by Mosaic Maker . Nice application.

I took a nap on the train from Antwerpen to Paris and enjoyed the first-class served breakfast. (How could I afford Thalys first class? Two words: summer sale!) Basilique du Sacré-Cœur Originally uploaded by yisu The first thing I did after arriving was to buy a carnet of 10 Métro tickets . (By the way, Paris Métro was *the* best metro system in the world. Tokyo might be a contender but don't even mention New York, please.) It didn't took me much time to find my hostel, Le Village , in the busy Montmartre neighborhood. The best thing about this hostel was that it had a public patio with a beautiful view of the Sacré-Cœur . Sitting on the top of the hill with a panoramic view, the Sacré-Cœur was a popular place to be day and night. Arc de Triomphe Originally uploaded by yisu After I came down from the Sacré-Cœur, a smooth Métro ride took me right in front of the great Arc de Triomphe . Statue on the Left Originally uploaded by yisu There were fou

Saw the much anticipated Ang Lee film "Lust, Caution" in the Charles Theatre . The reaction from the general public in United States differed a lot from the Chinese community: While the Americans, with their proud lack of history, yawned it as "yet another period drama with some sex", as exemplified in this New York Times review , the Chinese, with a much wider historical context, paid a lot more attention, to say the least. The film is based on a (very) short story by Eileen Chang (张爱玲), who in turn based it on a true story. Unlike the real life heroine, who was allegedly a determined patriot and femme fatele , the protagonist in the novel and the film was reluctant to be a spy and confused from the struggle between sense and sensibility. Do I really care which government I am living with? Aren't good meals and good sex all that we want? Asked Ms. Chang, who was a longtime mistress of a high ranking official in the Japanese-supported collaborationist govern

Did I mention I came to Europe for business, as well? Anyway, here came the business part of my trip: Interspeech '07 in Antwerpen . Interspeech '07 Originally uploaded by yisu The opening day, as expected, was packed with general information and keynote speeches. To my surprise, they booked a huge place, the Flanders Congress and Concert Centre , conveniently located on the north of the Centraal Station. The main hall of the center needed a dedicated camera to put the speaker live on the screen through a big projector in order for the audience to see her/his face. Flanders Congress and Concert Centre Originally uploaded by yisu Besides being spacious inside, the Centre looked pretty nice outside. The square just in front of it was a busy place for travelers and businessmen. From the conference website, I learned that the FCCC wass part of a larger complex that also encompassed the famous Antwerpen Zoo , allegedly one of the oldest in Europe. But I had to a