EUROPE@8:BRUSSEL , BELGIUM

Today is abit special. we had our breakfast at amstersdam, lunch at brussel and dinner at paris...superb.....really one of my daydreaming moment comes true....Our first stop at brussel is the Atomium.Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn for the International Exhibition of Brussels, that took place here in 1958, the Atomium is a structure that is half way between sculpture and architecture, symbolising an iron of cristal, magnified 165 billion times. Throughout the ages, man has sought to give architectural expression to his desire for height; towers, pyramids, belfries, cathedrals,… The Atomium, in particular, embodies the audacity of an epoch that seeks to confront the destiny of man with scientific discovery. The nine large spheres joined by tubes which comprise the Atomium, are arranged in the configuration of a central cubic system. These spheres, with a diameter of 18 metres, were fitted out by the architects André and Jean Polak. Made entirely of steel clad with aluminium, the structure, at a hight of 102 metres and standing on three enormous bipods, dominates the Heysel plateau. The Atomium was not intended to survive the Exhibition of 1958. Its popularity and success, however, ensured its place as a major landmark on the Brussels skyline.


Next we went the Grand Place, one of europe's most beautiful square. on the way there, we notice this rainbow flag. this rainbow flag is known as the pride flag which represent the gay pride.

At the square, our tour guide took us to view the famous Manneken Pis also known as little man wee. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. A legend says that In the 14th century, Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. The city had held their ground for quite some time. The attackers had thought of a plan to place explosive charges at the city walls. A little boy named Juliaanske from Brussels happened to be spying on them as they were preparing. He urinated on the burning fuse and thus saved the city.

Jeanneke Pis on the other hand which forms a counterpoint in gender terms to the city's trademark Manneken Pis, as it does aurally and geographically, being about the same distance away on the other side of the Grand Place.it was erected in 1987 and endowed with its own instant legend, the better to amuse strollers. This half-metre-high statue of blue-grey limestone depicts a little girl with her hair in bunches, squatting and urinating, apparently very contentedly.

on our way to the jeanneken pis, we have to pass through this seafood streets. mst of the restaurants display their seafood....yummyyyy.....

EUROPE@9 : PARIS, FRANCE

EUROPE@7:AMSTERDAM,HOLLAND

Amsterdam is the capital of holland. In Holland, they legalize prostitution, gay rights, drugs and abortions. here they allow the drugs to sell over the counter as there is a saying "if you can beat it, you join it". that is why the crime rates is low in holland as people do not have to offend the law to get drugs. kinda cool yeah.... our first stop in holland is the clog factory.

here, the sifu demontrated how the clog was produced.

next, we were gong to the river cruise. in amsterdam, there are 160 canals and lots of bicycles.

the houses along the river ....

the ritz hotel of amsterdam....

this is called the house boat. the house boat cost about 300,000 euros.

after the river cruise, we went to the diamond factory. this is where the diamonds are being polish by the experts.



next, we went to the red light district. too bad we cant take any photographs as the guide advise us not to as a respect to the legalize professions. the professionals will stand in the display glass room just like an aquarium for promoting their display.the rooms are lighted with red florescent light. if you were to require their service, after agreement is achieved for the charges, they will invite you in the display room and pull the red curtains. there are alot of professionals here.different type of race and size..really amazing...how i wish my 2 brothers were here...i bet they will be very excited. besides the professionals, the street is also famous of marijuana.

the shop which is called coffeeshop do not only offer coffee but also marijuana..cooll...

EUROPE@8:BRUSSEL, BELGIUM

EUROPE@6:RHINELAND AND BLACKFOREST,GERMANY

Today we went to thhe largest waterfall in europe , the rhinefall which is the last stop for us in switzerland. well, its not that big after all isnt it?

next, we continued our journey to our next destination, the blackforest of germany. blackforest is famous of its lake titi and the blackforest cake and not forgetting the cuckoo clock.

had a taste of its blackforest cake. it is different because it has rum in it. it tasted kinda weird..dont really like it. i rather prefer the blackforest cake from secret recipe.....

EUROPE@7:AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND

EUROPE@5:LUCERNE,SWITZERLAND

Switzerland, after a night stay at lugano really gives me an impression that this country is really really clean. We can even drink from its tap water. Today, we went to up to the mount pilatus. the weather is fine and its bout 5 celcius. very very cold.



this was the view we took up from the mountain. there were 2 hotels up in this hill. i am really sure that its really very very expensive.


snow..snow...snow....this place was surrounded by snow. in fact this was my 2nd time on snow encountered. the first was at the yosemite national park in san francisco...well ...i was really hoping that it would snow that day...but too bad...it didnt


this was 1 of the hotel at mount pilatus. it can view most the the lucerne town.

hubby's masterpiece...a snowmannn.....a very happy handsome snowman..:)

we took an extra steps up to the observation station. the view up here was memorising.....wow...speachless....

yummy yummy..the apple was much more tastier up onthe mountain rather than down the mountain.

finally, we had to come down from the mountain after 3 hours of loitering on pilatus. our next place was to view the injured lion monument. this injured lion was craved on the granite rock as a tribute to remember the 600 swiss army that was executed in france for protecting their king.

finally, we went to shopping. switzerland is famous of its swiss knife and watches. i managed to bought a pair of couple watch for mum and dad and swiss knifes for wei and kit. no doubt the price here is much more cheaper than europe and they have the latest model for the watch tooo...by the way , switzerland is not a part of the european union . they doesnt even use euros and they have their own currency which is the swissfranc.according to the guide, switzerland is a neutral country. that is why the United nation headquarters is here in switzerland.


after our dinner, the guide took us for a walk. we encountered this ....do not know how to describe it. is it a car or motorcycle? take a look at the pic below and try to figure out ....

besides that....i also notice this....i dont think i can get this in malaysia...too bad..i cant buy this because this really contributes to my luggage weight. the heathrow airport officer is very very strict on the luggage weight.

this is a 5kg super size nutella......yummmyy yummyyyyy..........

**EUROPE@6:RHINELAND AND BLACKFORREST, GERMANY

EUROPE@4:LUGANO,SWITZERLAND

today we were heading to lugano, the border of swiss and italy. On this Journey, we made a quick stop at Milan, another shopping heaven. No doubt that milan is much more better than rome in terms of security and cleanliness.




a beautiful church at milan

a famous shopping complex in milan

After milan, we were heading to Lugano. Lugano is famous of its lake and it is located in between italy and swiss. Lugano is also known as monte carlo of switzerland. When we first arrived at lugano, we felt very very safe in terms of pickpockets. what a relieve. the scenery besides the lake is soo breathtaking that we sat there for almost 1 hour , admiring the beauty of it. we even plan our retirement days here.:)

look...the swiss even mobilized their tree using helicopter...impressiveeee.........

hubby loveees thiss treee very very much

while we were strolling along the lake, we came across an exhibition by the swiss army. they were recruiting young men to join the army.

hubby cant stop looking at the boats and how was the ramp designed....i think he is going to make one once he get back to msia.

**EUROPE@5:LUCERNE,SWITZERLAND

EUROPE@3:VENICE,ITALY

Venice was the next destination after Pisa. Here's a little info on venice. Venice is made of 122 islands link by 400 bridges. We travel from the mainland to the island using the waterbus and cruise along the canals. i should say the only mode of transport in venice is by boats. no cars and motorbikes in that island.

this is a picture taken during the waterbus cruise.

yahooooooo........arrive at venice already....an island of romance....hahahaha.. romantic meh? i dont think so....

a famous view in venice....forgotten what was this place called........

a famous castle in venice....the only one in venice....

however, venice is full of pigeons. Kinda worried bout pigeon droppings.

went to the glass factory..wow.....actually we can see this kind of act in langkawi. so nothing special about this. the most impressive stuff was that the bald man in the picture knows how to speak mandarin.....coollllll

next we went to for a gondola ride. it is very expensive. they are charging 22 euros per person which convert to amount of RM110....we were waiting for our gondola anxiously...seen this gondola in genting highlands and lasvegas ....but do not have the budget to have ride it....besides, this place is exactly the same as the one in las vegas....miss las vegas very much.....

this is our gondola driver....most of them are very big size and strong..a very cool man....

marco polo's place

Our trip to venice last bout 4 hours only. we doesnt seems to get enough of it. We need to leave at 5 because it starts to get dark by 5. Venice looks much more better at night. Miss this place.

**EUROPE@4:LUGANO,SWITZERLAND

EUROPE@2:ITALY-PISA,FLORENCE

The 3rd day of the trip was to Pisa and florence of Italy. Pisa is about 371km from Rome, Just like Tampin to Ipoh. However it takes about 4 to 5 hours to reach pisa due to a rule set by the italian government. all bus drivers are compulsory to stop for every 2 hours journey. its all recorded on a special auto print cd look alike paper. what a rule.....should have implement this in malaysia to reduce accidents.

Anyway....

Pisa is famous of its 55 meters tall Leaning tower that defies gravity.the funny part was, our italian driver kept on remind us on pickpockets. italy is famous of professional pickpockets ..besides artist...unfortunately, one of hubby's aunty lost herpurse to them...toobad...toobad....

-FLORENCE-

Arrive florence , one of the state in Italy.ahhaa.....during this trip on italy...i was wondering why the italians love naked scupture....ahha...look at this...hubby was imitating the scupture...hahahaha

this is the apartment of leonardo da vinci...

this is the apartment of michealangelo...

this a a fautly naked scupture by dont know what artist. Can you notice the faulty area? keke...

yummy yummy these ice cream really looks very tempting....too bad...the weather was too cold ...do not really have any desire for icecream.....

-EUROPE@3VENICE, ITALY

EUROPE @1:ITALY

Hubby and i went for europe tour for prior to Leemeng's convocation in London. Arrive Rome, Italy after 13 hours of direct flight from KLIA. i didnt expect that it will be so cold. Our first stop was the Vatican City. Vatican City is a state by itself. The achitectual structure is too amaze. we visited the church, which is 20 times bigger than the church in malaysia. In fact the Basilica is the world largest church.

They even have the swiss guards to guard the church and the pope. the most amazing part about the guard is their uniform. It is said that their uniform was designed by michaelangelo and they are still using the design till today.

This is the St. Peter's Square, a gathering place at the vatican city.

this picture was taken inside the basilica. the height of the internal church is roughly 3 storey high. Its kinda dark inside...

This is the confession cubicle in the Basilica.




Our next stop is the colliseum. It is now remain as historical ruins.

Another ruin near the colliseum. This is the Arch of Constantine. Do not really remember the history.

Around the colliseum, there are a few ugly-money-making-model-gladiators waiting for business in photo takings. They charge about 5 euro per person but i dont think it worth it coz they are ugly with flabby tummy. yucksss....really damaged my imaginary heroic image of gladiators.

We were able to view most of the rome up on the hill where the colliseum located.

Next, we went to the Spanish steps. Its a believe that anyone who sits on the steps will return to this fantastic place. Kindly note that the lady in red hair with peace sign was our cool guide.




In front of the spanish steps is the Condotti Shops. It is also known to the italian as heaven street for ladies and hell for guys. Gucci, Prada, LV, Bally, Armani....you name it, you got it there. I managed to get a handbag from Emporio Armani for my future sister in law, Pooi wei as a gift for her wedding. Hopes that she will like it.

Hmmmmmmm...right now my euros only left a few hundreds. Do not know how to survive the rest of the trip...kekek...really love the shopping part. Hubby was really pulling his handbrakes very very hard in every shop we entered. that is why i only manage to get a handbag. aiyah......at the end of the street we noticed these twin buildings..do not know what it is.....

The day darken kinda early ....rougly around 5pm. therefore we were sent to our hotel in Rome for a night. Very tired that day...and having jet lag tooo....Slept at 7pm.....miss the 2 lil ones very very much......

*****EUROPE @ 2 : PISA.........