Bruges

One word to describe Bruges. Beautiful. I thought it is a small town because it looks small to me as we could finish walking around the town in a day. But when I checked on the google, it says Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Ohhhh whoaaa. Okayyyy. 

Copy from Google. Too bad that I didn't download 'panorama' app in my iPhone.

I love their medieval architecture. Heard of its history and find it pretty interesting. Bruges had once been a dead city in 'don't know' which period then revived by a local man who was an architecture, rebuilding and renovated the medieval buildings to make it a highlight of the city and soon, it has successfully attracted the tourists. We felt comfortable in Bruges because majority of the people in Bruges were tourists. Everyone is a tourist! Same same.

Oh my god! I was so excited in Bruges. I saw chocolates everywhere and they have the best chocolates. Yummy! After all, Belgium is famous for its chocolates and waffles. Too bad that we did not buy lots of chocolates. Now I'm really regret. I thought I had bought a lot but when back home and giving to family and friends as souvenirs, I only left one chocolate for myself. 

Let the pictures tell you how beautiful is the Bruges. I like their cobbled roads. 

 

 

 

I'm so excited and happy to see the horse! The sound on the cobbled road when it walked past is just so nice to hear. 

 

 

 

 Belgium waffle. Thumbs up!

 

Their mozzarella cheese and hawaiian pizza is scrumptious!

It was November and they had already putting up their Christmas decoration. We could feel the Christmas atmosphere everywhere. It was so so so pretty and the scenery is just like those I seen in TV where those ang moh celebrating their Christmas season. Too bad that there's no snowing yet or else it was going to be a perfect scenery.

London

We decided to take Eurostar to London as we did not want to spend long hours on bus ride again. Quite tiring, actually. The train ticket cost us 105 euro per person per way. It took approximately 2 hours ride.

I love London more than Paris! Why? Maybe because the Londoner we met are friendly and helpful. So it did left a good impression. Their security is tight so we felt safe traveling there. 

We would not afraid to get lost in London either because they are helpful and most importantly, they speak English! Although at times, we had a difficulty to understand their strong British accent. 

 

 

Only spend 2 days in London. I know, too little time. 

Never mind. I will re-visited London in the future, hopefully. 

We were so lucky to meet Queen Elizabeth II when we were in Buckingham Palace. 

She happened to be there too! At first, I did not understand why all the tourists gathering there and waiting for some ministers driving out because I thought the royal family is not living in London and they would not be there either as there's no big function at Buckingham Palace. Well, our luck then! Able to capture a photo of Queen. 

 In memorial of the deceased army/soldiers

 

 Tourist waffle. Why is it called tourist waffle? Because only tourist loves to add toppings on the waffle while the local loves the waffle without any toppings.

 I know you, Mr. Abraham!

Say hi to Queen Elizabeth II

I love their park especially Hyde and Kensington Parks. It was beautiful. A good place to bring your spouse or family for an evening stroll. Very peaceful and calm.

 

 London's taxis are just too cute and vintage!

 

Paris

I forgot to mention my itinerary on previous blog. It was a 12 days Europe trip. Due to budget and time constraints, we had to trim spending and cut out the countries that we initially planned to visit. After going through the research and discussion, we finalized our itinerary as below:

Rotterdam - Paris - London - Bruges - Brussels - Amsterdam

 The master piece of art - Mona Lisa

Napoleon's living room

We did not want to rush and tiring ourselves on the trip. So yeah, those were the places we went. Because of our last minute booking, the train tickets to Paris were on rise. Quite expensive so we decided to board the bus (Eurolines) to Paris from Rotterdam which took approximately 7 hours to arrive. The last minute bus tickets quite pricey too (44 euro per person) but at least it was cheaper than the train tickets (Thalys - around 180 euro per person). 

 The famous Eiffel Tower

The sky already getting dark by the time we reached Paris although it was only around 5.30p.m. The sky is getting dark pretty fast during autumn/winter season. And again, we were searching for our hotel. We were lost and walking up and down the street for an hour to locate the hotel by looking at the map. It was quite tiring, you know. Cold and hungry. Their street name was way too long to read and quite confusing to read the map. Anyway, we met a kind guy who helped us by asking the waiter at the nearby cafe in French and then trying his best to communicate with us in English and some hand signal. You see, facing another communication barrier in Paris. They just don't speak English, my god! They blah blah blah there and we didn't understand a word at all. After spending 1-2 days in Paris, I managed to understand these 3 words, bon jour (hello), messi (thank you) and boisson (drink). 

Backyard garden of Versailles 

 

What do I think of Paris? Is it romantic as seen in TV or book? You are terribly wrong! Because it was not romantic at all. Pretty, yes. In some places, yes, the ancient buildings, Eiffel tower, Versailles and other tourist places. Others than that, Paris is not romantic at all and my impression on it was quite bad. There was a dark side of Paris which some people never seen before unless you are a backpacker or on self-tour. It was dangerous to walk alone in their metro stations' underground tunnels as there was no security and the tunnels are quiet unless you get down at the station which has lots of people/tourist. We met pickpockets twice there. Luckily, we were quite alerted and avoided from being pick-pocketed. Thanks God!

 

 Moulin Rouge

In certain part of Paris, not those tourist attractions, the places were quite dirty and unsafe. We even saw some kids bullying another kid by hitting him on the street. The French just walked past and ignoring them. Anyway, Paris still a beautiful place to visit but better be extra alerted and careful when traveling to Paris. 

 

Da Vincci Code? Musee du Lourve

p/s: my photography skill still need to be polished. =P I know....~

Rotterdam

Hello, I am back from my honeymoon last week. Well, I wouldn't describe it as a 'honeymoon' as it was not romantic at all. So it was more likely 'adventurous' backpacking trip to Europe. Why it was adventurous? Well, there's a long story to it but a great experience too. Sort of exploring the world out there and get to learn the different cultures. We realized how good is our Malaysia. For example, at least there are MANY public toilets around which really convenience us a lot and received a lot of FREE stuff in Malaysia. In Europe, we had to pay for almost everything. Is it because of the European crisis? I wondered.

It was my first time flying so far far away and I was so excited about it. But gotta to bear with the 12 hours long flight. Ugh! I hate the most! First time stepped on the land of western countries is making one of my dream came true. A big thanks to my parents-in-law for giving us such a great wedding gift.

Okay. Due to budget and time constraints, we only managed to visit to 4 countries; Netherlands - Rotterdam and Amsterdam, Belgium - Bruges and Brussels, Paris and London in 12 days. Our first stop was in Rotterdam, Netherlands. 

When I stepped out of the arrival hall in Schiphol Airport, I was amused to be surrounded by all the 'ang mohs' and they spoke in Dutch. I need to pinch myself to see whether am I dreaming. But not. Frankly, I was scared and worry too despite the excitement as we couldn't speak or understand the Dutch or whatever language they speak. We were facing some communication barrier as the Dutch either did not learn English or they purposely did not want to speak in English. Why they hate English so much? Just like those French. Hmmm. 

We were losing our direction as the travel information counter girl was not helping at all and quite rude. We could only depend on ourselves by looking at the map. In between we did met some nice citizens who can speak little English and helped us. We boarded their intercity train to Rotterdam (11 euro per person). Actually we could cheat as there was no one checking on the ticket but we did not dare to do so. After all, we were a good tourists and did not want to put shame on Asian. 

Once arrived in Rotterdam, it was still morning. We could only check in at 3pm. We were quite exhausted and sleepy from the long hours flight. My eyes were like a 'goldfish' the whole day. We walked around the town and took some photos while waiting for the clock striking 3pm. After check in and showered, both of us completely knocked out and by the time we woke up, it was already morning on the next day.

 

Is a must try item in Netherlands, their FEBO and famous french fries with mayonnaise. We were not really keen on french fries but surprisingly, their french fries taste good! Remember to try when you are there.