Venice, home of the rich, famous and bad

Final entry on Venice, I promise. ;)

 Our hotel garden where we had breakfast.In the background is the home of Desdemona of Othello fame

 a nice and friendly boutique hotel.We will stay here again, InsyaAllah

 the home of Marco Polo

 Marco Polo's home, a close up

 Rumah berok mat yeh di Itali (Casanova)

 Rumah Antonio Vivaldi

I will miss the garden of my hotel in Venice

Venice, city of canals

Dayung

 a common scene in Venice

 water transport since so long

 it's so relaxing to be surrounded by water

 gondolas at work

 can't get enough of venice

 see how radiant I am on the water? ahaks

 my gondola man Giovanni

 Venice in the morning

 easy crawl.No traffic jam

city for lovers

Venice, city of masks

Folks, if you menyampah baca my Venice entries, I make no apology.:)
Entries on Venice are for me.Sorry, yah? I'd go on and on on this one.

 Tak sempat tengok tempat buat masks di Venice

 Remember Shakespeare?

Met this lady while I was shopping.Ahaks

Venice!

 Venice in the drizzle

 Italian design

 Design for the stomach: my ikan todak

I want to live in this city: artists everywhere

theatres, music, galleries...

Alhamdulillah despite such an inconvenient delay at Manchester, we arrived safely in Venice.Some tips for those who wish to travel this way:

1.If you were travelling on a budget flight, give some allowance for delays, etc.We were all nicely buckled up when the pilot said there was some technical prob.They tried to fix it (phuiyoo..ingat ni mesin rumput ke? Fix then start mowing? Ni nyawa, tau?)

For those who are tight with time: don't travel on low-cost flights.

I was so relieved when we were given a different flight.Even then, it didn't take off till 30 mins later.

But we made nice friends onboard..some people booked to travel on a cruise from Venice to Athens to Istanbul etc.

2. At Marco Polo airport, we took the water taxi to Saint Marco..the cheap one will take about 1.5 hours as it makes stops.Buy your tickets at the counter.To Saint Marco it'd be about 15 euros one way.If you take water taxi straight to Saint Marco it would be around 90 euros.But you'd get there in 20 mins.

Nak termuntah travel by water nih.But once at the Saint Marco area..ooo la la...all your low energy picks up again.This place is a beauty.Wait till you get to your hotel..ours has a nice Italian garden..and the best part is, you WALK in this city as you window shop through narrow alleys.Oh..I wish I had booked more days here.It's so...Italian.I think of Ben Jonson's plays as I breathe Venice.It's Jonson's immoral city in the 16th century.I have yet to find out but my hotel people are so nice..service at this hotel pun bagusss...(free internet for 3 days! 24/7)

Will update more as I discover Venice.

Post-dinner: met honeymooners from all over (the couple next to our dinner table were dentists from Melbourne on their honeymoon.Wife dia cantik and peramah..we were talking about our travels, then nearby couples..ada yang celebrating their anniversaries pun joined our 'loud' conversations.Haha.The far end couple from Perth menyampuk as dentist lady and I comparing notes on UK and Ozzie unis.Dentist tu pun ada PhD from an Oz uni.Nak tergelak pulak..macam balik kampong la pulak..geng2 Oz berkumpul kat Venice!)

I love this city..full of life and artistic expressions.

Altrincham's the best couple award

 Dropping by Yam's place to meet NZ alums: Din, Yam and hubby, Jono.

Thank you Yam!

...goes to Yam and Jono. :)

We arrived past 12 midnite at their place in Altrincham, Manchester.Yam dah tidur but Jono waited on us.Nik was so sleepy (from London to Sheffield then to Manchester) that we came this close to just sleeping in at the Travel Lodge.But dah janji nak menyusahkan Yam and Jono..

Tak sempat buat apa2 ..masuk2 rumah mereka terus tidur.Nice home.Very warm.

Pagi2 lagi Yam dah buat roti canai and asam pedas ikan pari.Hoiyoo..it pays to have generous friends like Yam and Juno (and Din).Our prayers for all of them.

Lepas tu Jono tlg temankan kita pi airport..pulang kereta and then dropped us off at Terminal 1.

Waiting for our flight now.See you soon!

London

 This is London

 My London, from another angle. :)

 Our hotel across Hyde Park

 Lunch at a Lebanese Restaurant

 which is called halally Maroush

 Having a drink with Nik's London friends, M and wife

 Shanta's garden from her kitchen

watching Wicked, at a West End theatre

Can you imagine missing a great play in Singapore only to watch it in London?

We managed (finally!) to watch Wicked at half price at the Victoria Theatre (the actual price was 80 pounds per head).Still cekik darah, right? But worth it I think except towards the end, it got to be a bit draggy.Matilda you have to book like 3 weeks ahead you.

Met up with Nik's London friends (M used to work with Shell, was in Qatar for a bit and now back in London).Their other friends are all over.One is an MP in Sicily.Awat tak habag siang2? Rooner is in Norway.Maybe one day we'll visit him.

Kita sempat ambik raspberries at Shanta's allotment at Staines.Their allotment is growing bigger each day. :)
Peter bought another piece next to Shanta's.Ada buah labu nampaknya tadi.

Walking down memory lane

 To my Liverpudlian alums: can you remember

what this was before? I remember the uni bookshop

 Mulberry Court: that way ==>

 ahhh..my Mulberry Court..now gated!

 The Victorian Building is now partially a museum

 From Vanessa's office on Level 4

 Pakcik Mat Nor yang banyak berjasa menjual

daging/ayam halal kpd kita

 Kedai Pakcik Multan

 Another fav. spot on Bold Street

 In discussion with Vanessa in her office

 Albert Dock

 Must return again for this

 and we love you, yeah yeah yeah

 Bold Street as it is

Bold Street at sunset

Z was still busy so Nik and I decided to travel to Liverpool to meet up with some friends there.I had arranged to meet up with Vanessa to discuss some possible jv projects and Pakcik Mat Nor said he'd be at home for us to visit.

Brunch at Kenwood Hall. We will stay here again.Such a lovely place, really.Dulu Marriott Hotel.

At Liverpool, I saw how the uni and city grew..it's the fastest growing city outside London (economically speaking).The uni itself had grown so pretty, clean and huge.I hardly recognise much of the buildings.Mulberry Court (my residence hall) would soon be knocked down to make way for a nicer-looking building.Pakcik Multan is still alive but the shop had moved to a different location (same row) and met the wife.Told her to thank Pakcik Multan for all the years he sold us snacks etc (walaupun dia ni grumpy but dia tak pernah kasar dgn I.Rita yang selalu kena.Haha.Must tell Rita, pakcik dia masih hidup)

Then went to visit Pakcik Mat Nor at L8.Itupun dah jauh berubah.The city bukan sahaja bertenaga, clean but warm.We went to Albert Dock..ahhh..sweet sweet memories..ada sesuatu terlekat di kerongkong.Pakcik Mat Nor took us to Bold Street.Nostalgicnya...my fav. Greek pizza restaurant dah tak da but I saw it at a different corner of the city.Mattas is still there..now the son is taking care of the grocery shop.

Maghrib kita start bertolak ke Manchester to visit Jono and Din, NZ friends now working in Manchester.Met Yam (Jono's wife) who prepared us a nice dinner.Walaupun we had eaten at Pakcik Mat Nor's, sebab Yam pandai sgt masak..kita tanpa segan silu went for a second round.Nice just talking about life both abroad and at home.Sampai lupa hari dah lewat nak balik ke Sheffield!

Sampai midnite.We came through the Peak District (the Snake Pass) from Sheffield..phuiyoo...bahaya jalan ni but very scenic.Masa nak pi rumah Jono, gps gila tu ikut jalan kampong..dlm hati I apa Jono buat duduk dlm semak ni (the road was dark, narrow and kiri kanan hutan/lalang) We thot sudah sesat.Then dgn tidak semena2 ada pulak toll (25 pence).I dgn Nik tergamam..sampai budak toll tu tanya are you alright there? I stupidly asked, "do we have to pay?" Haha.Bdk tu gelak je..yes, he said..25 pence.Yam kata sebab ada private bridge kat situ.Macam2.

Masa nak balik, kita buang gps and harapkan Jono punya instructions je.Dialah gps sebenarnya. We found our way back to Sheffield without much trouble.Semoga Allah berkati mereka semua.

Well, long day for me.I'll put the pics later.