Europe trip (Venice, Italy) (8th day)

Sorry for the late posts! Had been having some difficulty in onlining but here i am! Now, im actually at my last stop, London! And it is SOOOO COLD because the clothes we brought are not really enough to keep us warm for more than 30 minutes outside. Don't know how to survive till friday night! :/

For the previous days, i was in Italy. After Austria, i took a train down to Venice as known as the City of Water. This is one of the city i've been anticipating for since after watching all those movies filmed there. Well, some of you might know, i was feeling quite insecure with that place one day before i was there. However, thank God, everything was great there. The place didn't turn out as bad as what i'd imagined. The road was not that complicated (but of course a map is very needed). It was really interesting to know and see their main transport is through the river. There're no cars, motors, buses in Venice except in one small island called Lido.

the smaller branch of river

The scenery was amazing in Venice. We traveled around Venice by water bus and feet. The water bus is something like a public bus or ktm. And i guess most of them don't take driving license and their 21st birthday gift from parents will most probably not be cars but boats!

the water bus station.

on the water bus.

Venice is famous for its mask. They call it the Venetian mask. Pretty interesting. Now i know where those masks originate from.




trying on one..lol. there is another type which is just like the joker's mask. Kinda freaky.



another version again. I find this mask...weird. Especially the nose. xD Heard this is also in the Assassin Creed game? haha

At long last, i had my first Italian pizza on the land of Italy! Actually they taste pretty the same la. Just that they have more cheeeeesseeee, so its delicious! I really gained so much weight after all these days in Europe! Like, seriously! I think i've regained back the kgs i lost when was in mission trip and even gained extra dy!

pizzaaaaaaaaass! :D

Didn't really do a lot on the first day in Venice. In the evening, we just sat on the water bus and enjoyed the scenery in Venice during sunset.

Europe trip (Salzburg, Austria) (6th and 7th day)

Initially, we were supposed to go to Innsbruck instead of Salzburg. However, we changed our mind as Salzburg, as we know, is more interesting. This city is famous for just two things. The Sound of Music and Mozart. Sometimes I really feel the older generation contributed and affected the future of the younger ones. Because of these two, and also the creative designs of those old buildings ,  Salzburg is a famous tourists’ site. I would say that to all the European countries! Imagine Kajang is famous for some international stuffs and our nenek moyangs were good in architectural. It’ll be flooded man!

one of the old town streets.

taken from the river area.

I didn’t get to go to all of the places where The Sound of Music was filmed. Only went to the Mirabell Gardens where they sang the “Do-Re-Mi” song and the Nonnberg Abbey.

this is the garden.

For Mozart, I only got to go to his residential area and his birthplace. Not much of it. Even I couldn’t find for his monument! :(

my brother acting a beggar in front of Mozart's living place. =P

I could see many puppets in Austria too. I guess it is famous for this.



they make this puppets a lot there.



One thing I am so not used to here in Austria and also in Switzerland. In Malaysia, when someone wants to cross the road, he or she will have to wait for the road to clear up before they can cross even when using the zebra crossing lines. But here, it seems that the pedestrians have higher authority or placing than the drivers. Even when the driver is driving full speed, he will stop and let the person to cross. The pedestrians here also really abide the law. Even when there’re no cars at all, everyone will choose to wait till the pedestrian light turns green only they cross! Really in awe with their attitude.

Festungsberg! Climbed up the hill for that castle!

the view from above..

Oh yeah, not to be missed! Their pasar area! =P



this one is a huge one! quite interesting also..



how they cut cheese. the cheese there are hugeee!

We stayed one night and the next night, we took a midnight train to Venice, Italy. Had to stay over at the train because we were lack of time.

Stayed in the church for one hour to wait for the night train. It was so cooold inside! This painting at the ceiling caught my eyes. Really beautiful :)

p/s: yes teacher, the things in austria are much cheaper! looks like switzerland is the one with higher price to everything! =P

Europe trip (Lucerne, Switzerland) (5th day)

So here again, updating my 5^th day! Still in Lucerne. Again, one of our mission, or rather my mom’s, is to visit all types of markets. So, we went to a morning market just beside of the lake. Different again from the one in France.

it was beside the lake.

love to see the sight of cheeeeese! kinda cute :)

the flowers there were preeeettty!

buildings lining the lake

 

Again thank God it was sunny that day! We were planning to go up to Mount Pilatus. It is the northernmost branch of Alps. If it was not sunny, with the clothes we brought, I don’t think it would be enough! I wore 5 clothes for the trip to the mountain!

We took a bus to Linde station and then cable car up to the top of the mountain! On top of it, i was simply blown away by the view! I could see the whole Lucerne, the vast lake and the mountains surrounding them! Picturesque indeed! Words simply can't describe how is it even photos!

on the way to the cable car station

my bro and i sneaked away to this field. nice view.

the city of lucerne with the lake!

looking upwards. thats the mountain~

second cable car to ride on.

on top of the mountain~love the view.



Left my ink on top of the mountain. :)



Once my mum took her first bite of her bread, these crows at once flew to her and begging her for food. Lol. They have sharp eyes and ears indeed!

Just playing around with the camera and rocks. Hehe

x)

We stayed on top of the mountain for about 3 hours. Not wanting to leave the place! xD

Peek around in the middle of the mountatin. Saw a church and took a picture with it.

We went back down and simply walked around the other parts of the city we missed earlier. No matter where i turned, i was constantly in awe by the place! We decided to visit this monument called Lion Monument. This monument is to commemorate the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution. Mark Twain, an American writer, praised that sculpture as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world". Even i felt pretty sad too seeing the that dying lion.

The ducks feel for the monument too. =P

Oh! we saw Bata shop! lol. saw one in paris too =P

Another church. Could see the two towers from far.

A goodbye toast to Switzerland! We'll miss the place. x)

So, that was my trip in Switzerland. :)

p/s: currently am in Salzburg, Austria. Tonight will be taking a train to Venice, Italy. I don't know why but am feeling quite unease with that place. It'll be great if you can pray for us! :)

Europe trip (Lucerne, Switzerland) (4th day)

Its 9:30am. I’m currently typing all of these in the train to Salzburg, Austria from Lucerne, Switzerland. Feeling quite heavy to leave this place. Switzerland especially Lucerne is a really beautiful place. Last time only knew that the Alps Mountain here is beautiful but after reaching here, I would say the whole place here, everything here are!

***

After France, we took a train to Lucerne, Switzerland. We reached the hotel around 2.30pm. It was drizzling and cold. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the people here are so different than France. All of them were so kind, helpful and friendly. They were so sincere in giving us the directions to our hotel and patient when dealing with us.

Lucerne train station

At first my brother wasn’t that excited anymore for this Lucerne town when he passed by Zurich city, which is the main capital of Switzerland, and saw the place there. Zurich is not that special but just a normal town like any other. But when he reached Lucerne, he not only didn’t regret, his whole face brightened up at once like how a guy sees a beautiful lady.

The Old Town. Can you see the swans? :)

I guess I was too! Love this place a lot. You can see very cute buildings, old yes, but in very nice designs. Almost every single buildings are different than the other. Besides, Lucerne is situated at the end of The Lake of Lucerne and is surrounded by mountains which are capped with snow (now). The scene is simply amazing!

New Town with the view of the lake.



Lake of Lucerne. Really incredible view. This was at dusk.



For the first day in Switzerland, we just toured around the Old Town and New Town in Lucerne just around our hotel. My brother led us to enter into a Catholic church right behind of the hotel. The interior design is pretty cool. I guess it is not meant but tourists but what the heck, we just went in and listened to the sound of the organ.

The church behind. Not sure of the name.

After that, we walked on the Chapel Bridge across the lake. Quite peaceful to see the sceneries. There are swans and ducks swimming around too! First time seeing such ducks. I’d always seen it back in my old children story books! In the middle of the bridge is a tower called Water Tower. Last time, it was used as archives, treasury, prison and even torture chamber! *Can’t imagine such beautiful place has this type of chamber back in the olden days* That tower is kind of a trademark in Lucerne.

The Chapel Bridge and Water Tower.



Ducks of Europe! Don't know what is it called in English~



Couldn’t stop taking pictures everywhere.  Altogether I took 978 pictures only in Lucerne. That was how fascinated I was with this city. Love everything that is in it!

They don’t have much of night life though. It only gets dark at 9pm and by this time, the streets are almost deserted. It was quite cold too so we went back hotel earlier.

Europe (Paris) (3rd day)

It was Sunday. It was also my dad's birthday! x)

In the morning, we planned to visit 2 morning markets we saw over in the internet. Wanted to know the lifestyle of the people in France. But when we stepped out from our hotel, we were surprised to find that right in front of it was a huge market! What a waste of time thinking of how to go to the other markets when it was in front of the hotel all the while! The morning market was really interesting.

the market.



There were a wide varieties of things sold there. There were the normal ones and there were also some stalls i don't see in Malaysia like cheese, wine, honey, secondhand french books, oysters, chocolates, olives etc. Lots of food stalls too! Ahmaaaazing!



droooools!



Am not sure what are those. Anyone know? Lol.

so tempted to buy but afraid of diarrhea.

In the end, one of the things we bought are a box of strawberries as they were so cheap and huge! I ate till i think i can stand not eating any for the next 5 years. xD

Its about 3 kg i think!

In the afternoon, we went to Louvre Museum. As it was the first Sunday of the month, we got free admissions into the museum! Good timing! The museum was really fascinating! At first i didnt know that Louvre Museum was that huge! VERY huge indeed! I guess my imagination of the museum was just limited to what i'd seen in the Da Vinci movie.

The center of the museum which is under one of the pyramids.

Later on, i found out that the museum is actually housed in a palace itself! I can't imagine how the king and queen could live in such big place. Must be tiring to walk from one room to another. Hehe. 

one of the corridors. this one leads to Mona Lisa.

In the museum, i viewed of course the famous Mona Lisa, Aphrodite aka 'Venus de Milo', Colossal Statue of Ramesses II, Medieval Moat, Winged Victory of Samothrace and other more paintings and sculptures.

room with paintings.

beautiful sculpture of a woman. looks like mattress was invented way back!

For the Mona Lisa, i guess i'm quite a noob in viewing paintings because i don't know why that painting received the most visitors. I know it was something about her being enigmatic but still, to me, its just a woman smiling. But seeing this particular painting is so popular and a not-to-be-missed painting, me being kiasu actually squeezed through crowds in other to see it! Hehe.

the crazy crowd. it was more than these!

The courtyard outside the buildings of the palace is beautiful. Saw the inverted pyramids.

beautiful architectures.

i wonder what's the use of this pyramid. is there any?

Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris was the next destination. It is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral. Said to have the finest example of French Gothic architecture in Europe. The interior was pretty superb.

the exterior of the cathedral.

the interior.

When we went there, a service was being conducted since it was Sunday. My first time s

eeing how Catholic church conducts service. I wonder how the church members can concentrate since there was always a constant stream of visitors entering the church even on Sundays. So i couldn't really take nice pictures as flash was not allowed in service. 

the preacher.

Before going to the church, we passed by this bird market and we saw this!

Hello!

It is the same species as my bird! Had been searching out for this!

some of the great architectures around paris~

serene :)

Wanted to go to Versailles Palace but didn't as time was limited. At night, we went to the Eiffel Tower again to view it at night. Pictures taken are not nice though but the scenary was still breathtaking. So that was the 3rd day and also the last day in Paris!