Chilly Paris-Sheffield

Nampak simple but pembikinan yang canggih.

This design won a competition.Masa tu semua orang ingat 

very da ugly.But tahan sampai sekarang.High technology

well...feminists will accuse it as being very penile looking

apartment harga million euro

first day of summer.Melepak tunggu free concert (every first day of summer)

majestic, kan?

We went shopping at St Quentine after Ivy prepared breakfast.I wanted to get some perfumes.Nik dah bising tanya dah beli ke tak his parfum (tak sempat in Paris proper..sibuk cari my handbags and shoes).

Murah juga parfums at Sephora (the airport's duty free mahal lagi dari di sini I found out later).
Ivy and Chandran dropped us at the shuttle bus station opposite Hyatt.Chan and Cecile were with us so we went in Hyatt for hot chocs and Z wanted French pastries (budak ni tak habeh2 makan!)

Then we left.Chan cried as we hugged.Kesian dia.

At the airport, ada pulak someone left a luggage unattended.The airport authorities had to shut down the whole terminal.Nasib masa tu I dah checked in.Then we were all instructed to transfer to another terminal.Sini makan susah.Saved by Z's pastries.

4 jam delay.Travelling on cheap airlines mcm ni la (checking in bags and bayar shuttle service lagi mahal dari harga tiket plane).Met this friendly young man.Rupa2nya dia French kerja kat Liverpool.Semalam all day ckp pasal cougars di Paris (Janine wrote a poem on this saying many of her French friends are cougars.Ivy kata not necessarily psl  old women having sex with younger men je..it's about old women knowing what they want and aren't afraid to get it. Amboi boi boi Ivy.Haha. Must get Ruzy and gang to do a research on this cougar culture).

We thought of sleeping over in Manchester (I need a nice warm bath) but hotel kat airport tu dah penuh.So we took the train back to Sheffield.

Penat.I dah tak sabar nak balik.Lama sgt rasanya holiday kali ni.

Greetings from Paris

Chandran, Janine (poet and painter living in Paris), Sylvy (French-English translator),
Ivy, me and Cecile (also French-English translator who did a wonderful job
translating my pieces from English to French)

with Z and my writer friends in Paris

Printemps: syurga Paris for shoes and handbags

Laduree which makes double-decker macarons
Interesting background (the inventor was a writer activist)

The reason for me to migrate to Paris..

Yang ni kedai tepi jalan je

Parisians elegant habeh

Pakaian lelaki :D

Sempena nama suami saya. :)

Boiferen bought me.It's not French.Ferragamo OK?
I love Italian handbags,Ada gaya, practical and cantik.Yang ini new
season (takda zip kat tengahnya..boleh letak anak hanjing macam Paris Hilton atau payung atau buku)

Z and I are in Paris.Dah 2 malam.My friends in Paris Ivy and Chandran Nair take real good care of us.May God give them much happiness.Baik bebenor.The airport where budget airlines stop is a long way to Paris.We took the shuttle bus.Not free.Pi balik is 64 euro for 2.Ivy and Chandran picked us up at the bus terminal.Then we went to see Eiffel Tower.It's the first day of summer.Then they took us lunch at Mina Mahal, a halal Pakistani restaurant not far from UNESCO office where Chandran used to work.

We cabut before the traffic jam got worse.The Nairs live 30 mins away outa Paris in a nice suburb.Pics of Ivy's garden later.

On Saturday, we took the train to the city to meet up with another friend T.Wignesan of Bunga Mas fame.He took us around.Shopping, sightseeing and eating in Paris.Vig speaks 7 languages, an Asian Studies scholar, poet, critic.

We can live here.Very refined city but like NYC in the 1990s...some parts hancing bau kencing or anjing not properly groomed.The immigrants (not all) bring bad habits to a refined city.

Vig took us to lunch at Le Procope the oldest cafe (now fine dining) where Napoleon Bonaparte, Marat and Voltaire used to dine.

Then we walked and walked to shop, sightseeing.We covered and learned so much in half a day.We just got lucky with Vig.

Chandran picked us up at St Quentin station.Ivy cooked nice curry to eat with prata which Chandran made.They are good cooks! (and Ivy had kindly bought halal meat and chicken for us.Menantu dia Muslim from the UK so dia faham bebenor mana nak cari halal supply.In fact they found out daging halal lagi sedap dan lain rasanya and so, they have been buying halal meat/chicken)

Firemen mrk ganteng!

Packing again

Our holiday is coming to an end.Emails screaming work dah bertalu2.

Nik left this morning on the train to Manchester Airport to fly back to KL.Besoknya he has to fly to Hong Kong for work.I have to stay back to help Z pack and move her things to another apartment.She would not stay at the uni. hall anymore next year. This place is convenient cos' the tram stops depan her hall.The new place is a fair bit of walk from the tram station. Maybe we just meet her in London if we come again next time.Tak larat nak mengangkut luggage.

We went back to Waterstones after seeing Nik off at the train station.Bought a couple of books.Then took the tram to do our prayers then keluar balik naik taxi hantar barang2 Z to her friend's place.Took the same taxi to lunch at a Chinese restaurant (halal).

Balik pack lagi.We have 4 suitcases now.Nak mengangkut barang2 Z balik cuti di Msia 2 bulan.

Yes, missing home now. :) 

Back in Sheffield

We arrived in Sheffield on Tuesday (18/6/13).Ordered bryani on the phone cos' we were too tired to go out again.

Besoknya a lazy day in the city with the family.The REAL holiday.No rush, no chase after planes and trains.We had lunch at an Italian restaurant at the Millenium Square.Cantik this place.Lots of fountains and tempat melepak.Byk art galleries.here are some moments captured:

This tiny tot in diaper is having fun playing with the fountain on a fairly hot  day
in Sheffield

Waterstone's...I miss this bookshop

Spring is summer

View of the Millenium Square from Piccholino, our Italian restaurant

Kalau halal, dah lama kami beli

Still at the Millenium Square.You can see the green house atau winter garden
(where it's green throughout the year and people can sit down and read books or have their lunch
inside.So good, yah? Rakyat didahulukan)

Jangan ingat kenyang makan macam ni.Nik order-kan satu lagi  pesto
(he asked that seafood be added to it.Kalau tidak, kosong kering je pesto tu)

Mask from natural fruits

Gemok, kan? I tak kisah pun - asalkan happy. :))

One thing about this city, it is so walkable and spacious.You just walk from one shop to the  other

Ini la hasil ciptaan Nik..Pesto yang campur serba serbi macam mee mamak

I like this.Creating awareness  on recycling and how not to waste food

A smaller version of this tree is in my garden.I didn't know it could grow this big

Dinosaur from steel spoons, forks, knives

Tabung also from steel (Sheffield was big with the steel industry before)
Took this at a steel museum

 This is the winter garden.Best, kan?

How not to waste your food

School kids at the Millenium Square (visiting the winter garden and galleries/museums nearby)

Greetings from Vienna

Pics later. Some with my new Muslim friends in Vienna.

 Egin was a young attache at an Embassy but recently quit to complete his PhD at Vienna University

Fun talking with him on politics and religions in the Balkan.

 Maide, Z and Ridha

Maide is also doing her PhD and taking 2 years leave from her job at the Canadian Embassy

Greetings from Salzburg

Ini adalah trip utama kami..me melepaskan janji nak bawak Z pi tengok concert kat Salzburg if she got all As for her UPSR. Itu dah dekat sedekad yang lampau.Apa nak buat..we were all too busy and belum diizinkan Allah untuk sampai ke sini.

Mozart lahir di sini.Filem Sound of Music juga dibuat di sini.Mcm Budapest, Salzburg menjadi rebutan pembikin filem Hollywood.Memang cantik.Tempat ini dah wujud sebelum Nabi Isa lahir lagi.Lepas tu Kerajaan Rom takluknya di kurun ke 8.Penuh sejarah tetapi malangnya kami tidak dapat lama..Nik nak mengejar waktu utk ke Hong Kong utk program kerjanya.Memang pelik jadual kerja kami kali ini.Saya di HK sebelum trip ke sini.Nik ke HK selepas trip ini.

Some pics (not in order cos' saya tengah mengantuk)

shops in Salzburg

From the cruise in Salzburg

From the hotel window we were in Salzburg

Buskering at the foot of Festung

Our cruise captain was a British Naval Captain

View of Salzburg from our dining table at the Festung

also view from the fort

ah Austrian dessert...

one of the statues at Mirabell Garden

open space at the foot of Festung

ini pun

from foot looking at the top (naik cable car yang canggih manggih)

magnificent

My all time favourite pic.Mcm film James Bond, kan?

Tengok je..tak mampu beli..

Salmon dish since Hong Kong! But Austrian style lain sikit rasanya.
Sedap!

The concert (tak leh ambik gambar while they play)

The station we arrived at from Budapest (train-bus-train cos' of the flood)
If you go via Munich lagi dekat..about an hour or so je from Munich on the train.
5 hours from Budapest via Vienna

Kesan banjir tu ada lagi.Strong river current!

Mcm ni strong nya!

Masa ni captain British tu tengah pecut.Air tengah dalam, he said

Salzburg in the evening.It is also a ski resort

Can't get over this.Mesmerising!

Mirabell Garden.Tempat Sound of Music being filmed

Mirabell Garden

Still at Mirabell.Can see Festung from here

The family with our kind taxi driver, Andrea who stopped at Mirabell after knowing
 we didn't have time to go there.

Roses, roses, roses

Nik said the garden in Hamilton dekat rumah Norman Simms lagi cantik

Lavender

If only my roses grow like this