My Europe Trip: Italy/Switzerland/France - Part4

Venice

What i love about Venice? Emm..love the cafes and shops surrounding the place.  Cozy place to walk about. I discovered that Italian loves ice-cream, almost all corner of the streets have one...can't help myself but to indulge in their gelato. Almost everyday i would take at least 2 times of ice-cream since i set foot in Italy.  Superb! 

courtesy by Mr Google

Some snapshots during boat trip to Venice

boat station

First stop was Doges Palace also known as Palazzo Ducale built in 1340.  The Palazzo Ducale is a superb example of Venetian Gothic architecture. Macam tempat bersidang pak-pak menteri. Tapi sekali tengok more like a castle.

View of Doges Palace from outside

View of Doges Palace / Palazzo Ducale from inside

If you're on budget, stay clear of having coffee at St Mark's Square. Jalan kaki jauh sikit to get food and drinks around the little backstreet shops. And the food are far more delicious.  Geng kami terjebak minum espresso at RM150 for 3 people just because cafe tu ada live music. Extra 25EURO for live band hehehe..kenyang ngan music ler..

 St Mark's Square

Sambung again later ..

My Europe Trip: Italy/Switzerland/France - Part3

Discover Itay - Venice / Mestre, Italy

Pergh...berjanggut nak tulis..kalau tangan ni jenis yang keluaq bulu alamat berjuntai-juntai bulu keluaq..ok lets continue

We arrived late in Mestre.  Mestre and Venice is like ...emmmm senang cerita macam Penang and Butterworth/Seberang Prai.  Camtu laa kalau nak gambarkan. Staying is Mestre is way much cheaper than staying in Venice.  Overhere you can get a better hotel at a better rate. Plus there are highways and trains connecting to Venice.

Malam tu jugak jalan ke supermarket dia, Auchan.  Cuma nak cari mineral water...alih2 terjebak beli pasta laa..beli cherry, strawberry, peach... The thing which struck me the most was how honest Italian can be. You pick you fruits and weigh them according to the code stated on the fruit all yourself and stick the price onto the packaging, again all by yourself.  Since they're almost close, the counter girl asked us to pay all by ourselves! Ha?? Scan the fruit and put the money in the machine, it will return the balance! Mak aii..kalau kat KL, if main timbang and letak harga sendiri jawabnya..ambik buah mahal, letak code buah murah je laa.. silap2 ada yang tak bayar kat counter keluar sebab semuanya buat sendiri.  Dasyatnya..semuanya based on sikap honest saja.  Canggih babe! 

EURO 1.00++ , damn cheap! Malaysia mana nak ada jual jus RM1.00++...gerai pun RM2.50

We stayed in B4 Mestre. The hotel is great, lovely layout. But I was surprised as the breakfast spread was like...emm..kiranya kalau makan breakfast kat hotel 3 star malaysia, lagi banyak laa choices.

Mestre, Venice, Padova @ Padua, Verona

Next day, we're off to Venice.  Baru set foot kat port dia..terbeliak biji mata you...italian men..fuhh..gorgeous ha!! Kalau tengok Italian team main bola..camtu laa gak orang2 dia kat sana.. stylo milo. Perempuan pun sama tapi since kita perempuan, takyah sibuk tengok species sendiri la kan hehehe. Asyik buat dosa mata je laa..apa nak buat.

Memang sangat recommend pi Venice. Nice view sepanjang journey. Venice is actually made out of 118 small island and connected thru canals and bridges.  Opss before lupa, if you want to get souveniors, do it before you board the boat, thats the cheapest place you can buy and bargain.  You can see various jumbo cruises overhere.  Besaq besaq kapal cam Titanic!

Jap nak kena stop, Nabila nak main puzzle pulak..sambung later

My Europe Trip: Italy/Switzerland/France - Part2

Discover Itay - Padova @ Padua, Italy

The thing i hate about taking tours is that they rush you here and there.  Makan pun nak cepat, jalan pun nak cepat. Semuanya cepat laa...Dan paling tak tahan, terus pergi the hot spot punya places, takde check in hotel dulu.  Just imagine dah berjam-jam dalam flight +- at aiport, travelling to airport and all..almost 24 hours tak mandi!!!!! Then terus makan, sight seeing then eat again!!..Dah laa summer time...bergetah semacam je rasa.., ketiak dah hangit. Kepala jangan cakap laa..gatal ala2 kutu start break dancing ha..

Venezia airport is rather small ala-ala airport Alor Setaq kot.  Amusing thing happened in the toilet.  Masa nak flush toilet, i was confused.  Because there were no handles. Cari punya cari, rupanya chewah...tekan dengan kaki saja. It was on the floor!

Padova is at the northern part of Italy. The city is picturesque! You can discover the city on foot.  After that, we're off to Mestre for lunch, which is around 45km away.  

ok peeps..sambung later...tadaa...

Looking out for my lunch...Fuh...nampak sedap..tengok2 resipi daging muka kemek, 

terus potong stim hehehehe

My 1st lunch meal in Italy, the pizza was damn BIG

Saint Anthony's cathedral (Basilica di Sant'Antonio)

Prato della Valle is the biggest square in Europe.  

A large central grassy area surrounded by a statue-lined canal

 Muka paling sembab... tengah sakit perut, berangin asyik makan mushroom atas Emirates!

 Basilica di Santa Giustina

  my first souvenir shop!

And one thing i discovered that you cannot snap 'polizia'!! Polis ni siap berenti depan and interview haa...sib baik lepas tu dia tunjuk thumbs up. Habis dia chow baru ada satu pakcik tua ni bagitau tak boleh tangkap gambar polis! Its an offence.  Mana tau patut laa dia stop

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My Europe Trip: Italy/Switzerland/France - Part1

It started off like this.. masa tengah i fold baju.."Yang, i bawa u pi Europe" said Mr Hubby.  I was like biaq betoi ni...and my reply was "You jangan buat i tersyok pulak, benda takdak jangan dok cerita" and he was like.. "I'm serious!"...

Flying on Emirates EK343 departs KL around 2am, reaching Dubai at 4:50am.  Right, it looks as if we're flying for only 2 hours ++..Well KL is 4 hours ahead.  So all in i was tied to my plane seat for 7hrs! Thank god for the wide bucket seat, individual 15' screen and nice food.

Dubai airport was huge! It took us around 10minutes on bus to get to the terminal. Long queue at the  security checkpoints. First time ever in my life, i repeat first time ever.  I was asked to remove my shoe because the damn alarm keep on barking me! Masa ni yang angin ni, alarm tu tak reti nak check ke besi kasut ke besi bom...hishhhhh

Anyway once past the checkpoints at Terminal 3, i was thrilled!  I have never seen so many people strewn all over an airport floor. Ibarat macam potong buah betik, biji-biji tu laa kepala orang. Ramai siot! I mean seriously gila punya ramai. Planes were landing every 5-10mins.  See below for proof!

Once you're in this airport, you'll feel the atmosphere as a departmental store as compare to an airport.  You can find all sorts of perfume from every corner of the world.  Minyak atar, minyak angin je takde hehehehe.

And from one end to another, it was really LONGGGGG.  Free wifi all over the airport. Plus baby strollers are everywhere.  Tak pernah ku nampak stroller sebanyak tu..MacLaren lagi you..

Dasyat tak dasyat almost every 5 minutes ada plane landing!!!!!

 Bukan nak tunjuk screen tu tapi nak tunjuk siap ada tempat nak charge ur phone/ipod/ipad/padding ke apa lagi seangkatan dengannya laa...nampak sangat dah lama tak naik jumbo flight

 Fantastic food on Emirates!  2 Thumbs Up

 Paper dia memang the best so far..licin babe, ink tak melekat kat jari

and bagusnya orang dubai ni siap ada satu section Community Report Competition.."Standing up for community"...wow excellent laa.. Malaysia boleh adopt ni..

Yikes..i'm sleepy daaa....next chapter ya..

Hard Rock Hotel, Penang

Last September 2011, we went to Hard Rock Hotel Penang for our Aidilfitri trip.  Every Raya, we'll have family trips because that's the only time my brother is available to join us.  Noffal runs his own business so only during Raya, he's free.  Everybody decided for Penang because during Raya kalau jalan-jalan cari makan at other negeri, semua tutup.  Jalan during Raya memang quite challenging laa because of the jam, price hiked, kedai tutup and many more.  Even masa stop kat R&R, kami buat picnic because even nak park the car pun dah jamming habis. So picnic tepi longkang je laa...tapi imaginekan diri cam picnic tepi sungai


We decided to take ferry since its the first time for the kids.  Excited habis semua.  Kalau tak dipegang, ada yang scuba diving kat laut. Sampai je terus balun Nasi Kandaq Subaidah.  Headed straight to the hotel, my brothers semua syok habis because dapat seaview, initially i told them hillview.  Room was great for me, i got yang ada bathtub whilst the rest dapat with showers. Usually i don't use hotel shampoo even if its a 5 star hotel tapi Mandarin orange shampoo dia sungguh mengasikkan..


Jalan kat Penang masa time Raya pun nazak gak la.  Restoran Line clear pun jadi Line Queue.  Tak kuasa makan beb so we end up sebelah restoran dia..tak berapa ingat nama.  Tapi mak ai, lepas habis makan tengok2 lantai..nak muntah pun ada, berlumut habis..kalau jatuh duit syiling confirm aku tak pick up.  Loya terus tekak ni.  Kata orang kedah, "Melungai".  Dropped by kat Pasar Chowrasta beli ole-ole jeruk asam.  Malam pi Padang Kota, ingat nak makan pasemboq..alih2 tersemboq makan ala-ala fish ball, jam hiked! So last day we decided makan kat HRH je la..


Anyway these are some shots.. I would definitely come to HRH again.  Tempat yang superb for kids! Bawah 12 years, makan free.  Slides and playroom dia pun just nice for the kids.  Plus kalau your kids dah big enough, u can leave them at the playgroup and u can go and do ur own things.  Breakfast pun great tapi biasa laa walau ada waffle, pancake, omellete, beef stripes, macaroni and bla bla...Iman makan the same cereal dia yang dok makan rumah! 

 Anakku yang tak sabaq nak terjun kolam

 The shower is exposed! Sexy weii...

Kami tengah picnic baiknyer...tengok keta belakang tu..Q babe

Slides dia cun for kids

Dalam banyak2 makanan, depa nak makan cereal jugakkkkkkkkkkkkkkk eiiiiiii geram!

The kids had such fun in the pool sampai kami kena drag 'em out..no kidding especially Nabila!

The playroom..nice

Pasar Chowrasta

 Nabila almost turn into a Puerto Rican girl..tu baru 3 hari, kalau 7 hari mau Negro gal