Barca - A very Gaudy city

I am back in Malaysia for almost a week now, hence the delay of my post. About to start working soon too! Argh! I don't know how to bekerja semula after 3 months of holiday!
Anyway.....
I heart Barcelona.

The food (owh..the yummy tapas), the friendly and cheerful people, the weather, the endless ARTchitecture, and obviously, the cheap Mango and Zara outlets.

When I was doing my research regarding the tourists attractions, I was rather overwhelmed by the amount of things to see within our limited time there. Barcelona is a city full with artwork/architecture buildings by someone called Anthoni Gaudi. This man had one of the most unique and distinctive style and most of his works were greatly influenced by the nature (the sea, the stones, and even animals). He also adorned many of his buiding with vibrant multicoloured tiles arranged in mosaic patterns. I don't understand art, be it Gothic or Modern art, but thank goodness for audio guide, I manage to somehow see and appreciate it. I will write about some of the places we have visited while we were there.

The first place we went was Casa Batllo (pronouce as ba-yo), situated at Passeig de Gracia. From outside, the facade of the house looks like it is made from skulls and bones (I had that eerie feeling just looking at it from the outside in broad daylight). It was amazing to see how Gaudi played with the natural lighting inside the house and how he played with the colours of the tiles where the blue tiles (from very dark to light blue) distributes the natural light from the floor right up to the attic and roof terrace. Another unique thing about this house is that there are no straight edges/lines except for the pillars of course. 

The "skulls" refers to the balconies and the "bones" are the pillars

Inside the house (first floor)

We spent a good one hour there and went on foot to the next destination..La Rambla. This is a famous stress in Barcelona. It is filled with arts, cafes, and boutiques. The street is approximately 1.5km long from Placa Catalunya until Port Vell - it is a one long stretch of street. We started walking from Placa Catalunya and after 5 minutes, we made a stop at a souvenir shop on the right hand side of the road to buy my fridge magnets and mugs, which I collect. Out of curiousity, I asked the shop owner how to get to Barri Gotic (or Gothic Quarter) and little that we know, we were already on the street that lead towards the quarter! Since we were already there, we made that turn and explored Barri Gothic and decided to finish up La Rambla the next day.

Placa Catalunya, on the way to La Rambla

Gothic Merkat (Market). They sell old old transcrips, antiques, ceramics, and religious stuff

Center of Barri Quarter.

There are total of 10 churches in that area but we did not visit any. Instead, we let ourselves be lost in that maze of narrow cobble-stone street with tall buildings at both sides that prevented most of the sunlight from coming in, had gelatos and just enjoying the fact that we were walking towards nowhere (possibly in circles) until our feet hurts and then we literally walked towards the light to get out of the quarter. Grabbed McDonalds on the way and we took the metro from Liceu station (halfway through La Rambla) towards Espanya to catch the "Magic Fountain of Monjuic - dancing fountain show". Fortunately, the place is just 5 minutes from our hotel, so we had the time to have a quick shower and rest before heading out to the fountain area and bersesak with thousands of people.
For me, I personally think that this is a must see "show". The fountains danced to the music (comel please), awesome lighting, and the water actually shoots up to at least 5 stories high. Amazing. The fountain starts from the top of the hill, where National Museum of Art Catalunya is situated, comes down to the big circle of fountains (the one that dance) and goes right down along the streets. Owh, do take note that if you plan to visit this place, the show is only on Thursday-Sunday at 9pm (or after the sun sets, depends on the season).

The fountain

An hour before the show started. Look at how many people were there already!  Our seat was right in front of the fountain. No heads blocking..awesome view =)

The first part of the fountain

We visited the famous Sagrada Familia on the second day. We reached there at about 10am and the queue was already really really long, almost half a kilometer. It took us almost 2 hours just to get to the ticket counter. This super huge building is actually a church designed by Gaudi and it has been under construction since more than 100 years ago (nope, no typo here) and until today, the construction is still going on.

The front part of Sagrada Familia

We went up to the top by lift and had to use this scary, super narrow, no handle bars staircase to get down to the ground floor. Mengigil lutut!

La Pedrera or also known as Casa Mila was our next stop. This house was actually built for a very wealthy Mila family at that time. The main attraction other than it's unique facade, is it's flat rooftop which features modern chimneys and figures.

The rooftop. Just look at the weird-looking chimneys!

As if we don't feel like we are living in the Gaudy era enough, our next stop was Parc Guell (pronouce; Park Gu-ey), another one of his major architecture. Time tu dah rasa macam, eh, dia sorang je ke architect kat negara ni time tu..? But since the pictures seem so pretty in our guide book, pergi je lah. Apparently, this huge piece of land was supposed to be a residential area but since the company only managed to sell 3 units (which one of them Gaudi beli sendiri), the company cancelled the initial plan and changed it to become a park instead and ask Gaudi (again) to re-design it. It took quite a walk to get to this place from the metro station and the last part of it was 200m of steep uphill walk. This park contains  beautiful structures, multicoloured tiling and mosaics, twisting rock pillars which may seem so natural as if it is growing out from the ground like tree trunks.

The entrance

Dragon Fountain

The pillars

Made a quick visit to Camp Nou, Barcelona FC's stadium. Since hubby is not Barca FC's fan (he supports MU), the visit was only around the exterior part of the stadium. Went to the megastore and bought their official mugs and some other stuff. Wanted to get the official jersey for my nephews but mahal sgt tak sanggup!

The Megastore

After visiting Camp Nou, we decided to stop at Drassanes metro station,to visit Port Vell (literally means Old Habor) and to continue on our jalan jalan along La Rambla yang tak habis haritu.

A wooden 'floating' pedestrian bridge called Rambla de Mar that connects La Rambla to the Maremagnum (a mall containing shops, IMAX theater and Barcelona's aquarium)

Beautiful La Rambla at night, filled with sketch artists, buskers and street performers

The 4 days we were there flew by so fast and we did not want it to end since we were having too much of a good time there. Next up, Rome!

Using the hotel facilities to the maximum before checking out =)

1st Anni, 2nd HoneyM

For our 1st anniversary, hubby has planned for a week long trip to Barcelona and Rome for the two of us. I've always wanted to go to Barcelona ever since I saw Samantha Brown's Guide to Europe on AFC last year...and as for Rome, who wouldn't want to see the Colosseum, right? I was super excited about this trip since other than France and UK, I've never been anywhere else in this particular continent.
Our trip started of in Barcelona where we spent 4 days and 3 nights. We went there by EasyJet..took the earliest flight of the day and I slept throughout the flight since we had to wake up at 4am that morning.
In Barcelona, we stayed at B Hotel. Hubby booked this hotel for its location and based on the great reviews given at Tripadvisor. Given the fact that it is not one of those 4/5 star hotel with doormen and huge lobby with extravaganza decorations, I did not expect anything much..but man..this hotel is awesome smoshem ok! The receptionists are friendly, the wifi is super fast, the room is big and comfortable, and and and...it has an infinity pool at the rooftop!! Huhu..not to forget that it is just 50 meters away for the Metro and right next to a huge shopping mall (score!) and 100 meters away from one of the famous touristy site, The Monjuic Fountain. By far the best hotel I've stayed in in terms of convenience and value for money. (B Hotel should pay me for this free advertisement!)

That floor to ceiling kayu thingy is actually a sliding door a.k.a the main entrance. The two of us didn't know that and we actually went around the hotel to look for the entrance. Doinks!

See through bathroom! Kinky!! Haha..ada automatic blinders in between the glass wall tu actually.

Anyway, after we have freshened up a bit, with metro and city maps in hand, we were off, venturing the city . The deal I had with hubby was that, for Barcelona, I will plan the itinerary and decide for places to visit and he will plan for Rome. This time, I actually did some research for my trip..heh. Will blog about those 4 days in the next post!

One Year Young

Taken at the top of Eiffel Tower

A year ago on this date, I got married to my best friend. My companion. My confidante. That man, I chose him to be my life partner, and Alhamdulillah, not a single second since the past 365 days have I doubt that it was the best decision I've made. He had given me so much joy, shared so much laughter, provided me with tons of love and affection despite the distance we had to go through almost 2/3 of our first year of marriage. Of course like any other married couples, we have had our fair share of small silly arguments from time to time but have learned (and still learning) how to forgive and give in. We know that we still have a lot to learn..about each other, about marriage, about life, about everything. We know that. Baru setahun pun kan? But InsyaAllah, with His blessings and our prayers (and yours too), there will be many more years to come for both of us..Amin.

Au Revoir, French Riviera

On the third (and last) day, we went to the famous flower market in Cours Saleya, which is the same area where we had our dinner for two consecutive nights. There are really beautiful and freakingly cheap fresh  flowers sold here..u can get 50 stalks of red roses for a mere 5€! Cherries, raspberries and strawberries are for 3.50-5€ per kilo! Was so tempted to buy..tapi nak simpan and bawak balik macam mana? 

Did the usual last minute souvenir hunting in the Old City too before we hit the beach. Apparently, Nice is famous for its olives other than its seafood. There were tons of olives-based and olive-related products sold there, especially soaps. I was drawn to the colours but not the smell though..so I did not get any of those and bought fridge magnets and mugs instead.

We went to the coastline at about 11am, picked a beach spot and rented 2 beach beds + umbrellas for ourselves. Took out our sunblock and sprayed it onto our skin sampai separuh botol and bukak payung besar besar supaya tak kena matahari and tak hitam. Typical asian tak nak gelap. Tapi unfortunately, tak berjaya. I am at least two tones darker after that.

According to our schedule, we were supposed to be at the airport by 6pm; meaning we had to be on our way there by 4pm. Since the airport is rather small and there aren't any fulfilling yet cheap food there, we had our lunch at one of the restaurants along the beach. Maria had "Red Mullet-mediterranean style" and I had this, erm, monster of a food.

The humongous seafood pizza. There were mussels, clams, baby octopus, red mullet, scallops, prawns and tuna on top of that huge piece of dough along with the overflowing mozarella and tomato sauce. I managed to eat only 1/4 of it and had it packed kononnya nak makan kat airport before boarding..but instead the pizza balik sampai Paris sekali sama-sama.

So kesimpulannya, Cote d'azur is a great place for a short holiday and I would really love to come back and visit Antibes, Cannes, and St. Tropez too next time insyaAllah if ada rezeki lagi. And if there's one thing that I'd like to share with you guys is that, if you are planning a trip to this little city, come with no expectation and let it surprise you with its charms.

Monaco Monte-Carlo

The best decision we made throughout the whole trip was that we bought an open ticket to Monaco when we arrived on the first day. We had the freedom of choosing the time to go and also return. So no pressure of getting up early and to rush to catch the train. Since we had to sleep at the airport the night prior and right away went on foot, exploring Nice Ville..we were pretty much beaten up after dinner. Both of us slept like a log and woke up rather late the next day. Took our own sweet time for breakfast (errr..was it brunch?) and then took the tram to the train station. We caught the 10.30am train and within 20 minutes, and voila, we have arrived in another country.
We read in the tour guide book that Monte Carlo is a really small place..just 2km long. Immediately we thought that we could cover the whole area within few hours and we could slot either Cannes, Antibes or St. Tropez in our itinerary as all of them are equally small areas. Plus, sunset is at 10pm so the day is definitely very long.
Long story short, nope. We never made it to any of those places. The whole day was spent in that beautiful town. The whole place is just so beautiful. So so clean. Not even a single cigarette butt in sight. Just take a look at the railway above..berkilat! That is how clean the place is.

View of the Port of Hercules, La Condamine, from on top of the hill around the Prince's Palace 

Fontville

The Palais Princier (Prince's Palace) 

Based on what I've read on the internet, the interior of this palace is really glorious and impressive.

Fort Antoine, next to the Jardin Exotique

Monaco Port where you can ogle at the boats and yachts. We took a bateaux boat from the Palace to get to the casino area. 

Monte Carlo Casino. The playground of the rich and famous. Kereta paling paling murah yang lalu pun Audi. Rows after rows of Bentleys, Ferraris, Rolls Royce, Maseratis and whatnot parked outside the casino. You'll get all moneyed mood just seeing their cars. Right next to it is a row of high end shops..really convenient for the wives/girlfriends I guess..lepas husband/boyfriend menang judi, gi shopping kat Cartier. Sebelah je. Credit card pun boleh melt kalau guna kat sini.

We sat in a cafe just outside the casino, ordered a mocktail (for a whooping 18€ per glass..nak nangis minum tu) and for the first time, I did what the frenchies do, sit with our chairs turned facing the street, enjoy the view and people watching. Quite nice, I must say. 

Our final mission for that day was to find the starting grid of F1 Monaco. I've always loved F1 race since Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher days..only recently that my interest is fading off. I guess due to new rules and new teams yang tak familiar dah. Anyway, we had to change 2 buses to get there from the Casino. Since F1 Monaco is one of the most anticipated race during F1 season, and the mark for the track and starting grid were all over the map, we thought that there's something special to see over at the grid. Once we stepped out from the bus at the stop marked on the map as the starting grid, we were puzzled to see that there's no sign indicating that we were at the right place. There were grocery shop, butchery, patisserie, banks and just rows of shops. Not until we walked about 50meters from the bus stop until we saw this checked line and grids. And that was it. No sign boards, nothing.  The map marked that as a must-see spot, so it built up our expectation tapi sebenarnya ade tu je. Kecewa betul.

We walked around and took last 'few' snaps of the city and at about 8pm (see how bright still it was?), we took the TGV back to Nice Ville, had our dinner there (Monaco is too expensive utk dinner!) and back to the hotel. A day is definitely not enough if you want to go to all the ceruk ceruk and the museums. If you're planning to go, plan for a day just for sight seeing and another day to visit the castles and museums. Apparently they have a world renowned Oceanographic Museum (Musèe Ocèanographique), Grimaldi Forum, Classic car museum (Collection de Voitures Anciennes) but unfortunately for us, we did not have the time to visit them all. We spent too much time enjoying the sun, the jardins, and the view.
All in all, I had a wonderful time in Monaco. Never in my life would I have imagined to be here, to visit this country, but Alhamdulillah, I have stepped my foot here and have experienced the beauty of this country. You should to. Put it in your bucket list as a must-visit place, ok?

Impian. Idaman.

I guess women and handbags are just like men with gadgets/cars. Both gender could not comprehend why we splurge and spend money on these things. For the quality? Definitely. Membazir? Maybe to some. Maybe if beli banyak sangat. Or maybe priority orang untuk spend duit kat mana tu lain-lain.

Buying leather and expensive bag sebenarnya is not a total waste of money. Really, it is not. Look at it this way, these bags can last for years (granted you take care of it properly) and you can actually hand it down to your daughter/niece later on in life..vintage ok. Plus, every year, harga naik..just last month Chanel double flap bag naik harga 500€  within a year. So kira save la jugak if beli awal..no? So, ade sape2 nak sponsor I beli any of these handbags yg dalam list idaman ni? =p

Marc Jacobs Stam Bag

Louis Vuitton Alma Bag. 

Prada Saffiano Leather Tote

The ultimate splurge 

Lady Dior handbag. Don't know when I will have that extra few (by that I meant blardy 13+k) ringgit to get this one.

I shall work hard, do more calls, locum and reward myself satu setiap tahun. Ada motivation and  arah tujuan sikit nak save up..huhu..I want them all, can? 

In the mean time, I am perfectly happy carrying my good old handbag yg byk berjasa tu =))

Cote D'Azur Day 1

Last week, another dear friend of ours came over to Paris. It was an impromptu trip for her, a celebration for completing another phase of our medical profession journey. She was here for 7 days but since it was her 4th trip to Paris, we suggested that she visits the south part of France while she was here. The plan was for all 3 of us to go together but unfortunately, hubby wasn't able to take off from work as he has a dateline for his project. Booo! So sedih ok..but he insisted that we proceed with the plan. He's the best. I know. *_*
Our flight was on the 21st at 7am..meaning we have to take the first RER train at 5am. Unfortunately, those "smart" RER people decided that they want to have strike on the very day. They gave the notification a few days in advanced so that the public can plan own transportation for that day. After tons of discussions, we had no choice but to take the last train on the 20th and spend the night at the airport. We have considered staying at the nearest hotel but since now is a peak season, no rooms were available (cheap ones at least) and we have also considered taking the cab but our apartment is in the suburbs (zone 4, near Disneyland) which is on the other side of the airport..usually it'll take us almost one and a half hour to get to the airport via train. Taking a cab means that we have to spend an additional 100€; hence it is out of question.
Anyway, despite the initial suffering sleeping at the airport, we arrived safely in Nice. I had no expectations at all of what the city will look like as I have never imagined nor planned to visit the place. And yes, I did not do my research before I came over. But it is a good thing though..I was purely surprised of how beautiful and pretty the city is. The people are friendlier than the ones in Paris.

The view from above, prior to landing.

We stayed at Star Hotel, right in the middle of Nice Ville. It is a small 3 star hotel..a very nice and comfortable place if you're looking for a place to just have shower and crash in at night. The workers there are really friendly and helpful too. One of them (Phillipe - he has been to Malaysia and loved it!) actually rearrange our itinerary for us so that we would be able to enjoy the very best of Nice. 

On our first day, since we arrived at 10am, we had the whole day to see the city. After we checked in and dropped our bags at the hotel, we went on foot to the old city.

                       

        

Along the Avenue Jean Medicine which is also where our hotel is situated. This is the modernized part of the town where there are malls, boutiques, and fast food chains. The tram pictured above will take you from one end to the other. 

Place Massena. 

Look closely and you'll see that there are men up on the stilts sitting in different positions. They lit up at night in different colours that change every few seconds. 

Vieux Nice or The Old City. 

Narrow streets with shops selling food, icecreams, handcrafts, and sourvenirs of course. And that's a stranger who just happened to be in the middle of the shot.

The Promenade des Anglais is a long seaside walkway (about 5km) that stretches along the pebble beach. Restaurants and naked people burning themselves can be found all along this Mediterranean seaside. 

This is definitely the highlight of the day ; The Colline du Chateau or The Castle Hill. There's only a few sections of the castle that still remain but mostly people climb up  (or in our case, took the free elevator up) there for the spectacular panoramic view of the city and also for the amazing fountain which I really can't recall the name. 

Of course we had to try the seafood since we were in Mediterranean (and plus the fact that that's the only halal thing we could have!) We had our dinner at one of those many many restaurants along Cours Saleya..and again , I can't recall the name..Sorry! 

Told ya they lit up at night in different colours! We spent a good few hours here watching street performances by the local artists. Coincidentally that it was Fète de la musique day so there were a few small street concerts going on along the area.

The Graduate

After 7 years of pure hard work in a foreign land, my husband is now a graduate with a Masters Degree..MSc. Electronic Systems Engineering that is. Very very VERY proud of you, love =)

Londres

Somewhere in the middle of the second week, the two of us went to London for one of our girlfriend's solemnization. We spent a good 4 days and 3 nights there. Nasib baik both of us pernah dtg sini..if not sure stress sebab nak sightseeing but masa tak banyak.

We went there via TGV and Ema picked us up at the train station. This is us, in the bus to Ema's place where we bersiap2 before going to the nikah ceremony.

We stayed at two different hotels while we were there..it was a last minute change since initially we planned to stay for 2 nights but we added another additional night due to certain circumstances and at that time, the only place available (within our budget) was Easy Hotel. Dodgy jugak la..bilik kecik but katil besar (almost 4/5 of the room was occupied by the bed - nasib baik best katil tu). Stayed there for a night tapi dah dapat cabin fever within 6 hours. The 2nd hotel we stayed was Premier Inn..we were really happy with this hotel because for one, it is just a stone's throw away from Earl's court station..50m je kot. And two, it is super comfy for a budget hotel..mcm hotel 3-4 star ok! And their staffs are friendly and accommodating..unlike the receptionist kat Easy Hotel yg sombong gila tu. Recommended for those yg nak gi London and budget hotel kurang mcm kitorang =)

Our second day there was wholly spent at Bicester Village. The 5 of us ( + sweet Dina, who took this photo) went crazy there..semua rambang mata..semua nak. Lesson learnt. Lain kali jimat kat Malaysia and spend kat sini je. At least 50% cheaper! My greatest purchase were those Clarks shoes for work..satu kasut £20..and second pair for £10. Mana tak beli sampai 4?!?!

The 3rd and final night there we went to see a Broadway show after dah penat borong kat Primark and jln2 kat Oxford Street. We went to see Wicked; one of the longest running show in Broadway history. Best nak mamps please! The actors were so good and talented sgt sgt..diorang nyanyi sampai goosebumps naik 5cm!

Our train back to Paris was at 8pm so we had the whole day to just roam around. After brunch with the newlyweds, the two of us went for last minute shopping and souvenir hunting. Atas nasihat Shida, both of us went to Bayswater for some milkshake and steak sandwich at Tinseltown for our early dinner..sodap!!