Hello Copenhagen. I will see you soon. :)

Assalamualaikum,

Haa, ni confirm ramai yang dah start balik kampung sebab cuti CNY ni kan? Best betol orang mesia ni, tak kira apa bangsa punya sambutan mesti semua orang pun dapat privilege jugak. Tapi yang tak mampu nak hadap masa musim-musim perayaan ni of course jumlah kereta yang meningkat mendadak kat highway. 

Memandangkan orang-orang dekat Malaysia syok dapat long weekend, kitorang pun nak bercuti la jugak sempena cuti CNY ni. hehe. Am awal-awal lagi dah book flight ticket ke Copenhagen, Denmark untuk long wekeend ni. Kebetulan hari tu Austrian Airlines ada buat offer, so apa lagi? Cepat-cepat la dia grab.

So yesterday we went to the nearest money changer to get some Danish Kroner untuk belanja kat sana. For your information, Denmark tak termasuk dalam Europe Union (EU), so matawang Euro tak boleh guna dekat sana. Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland are called the Scandinavian and they are geographically situated at the northern part of Europe.

100 Danish Kroner
Photo courtesy from here

So InsyaAllah esok tengahari kitorang akan naik train dari Graz ke Vienna, then from Vienna airport we will fly directly to Copenhagen. I have studied a little bit about the capital city of Denmark, and I think it must have non-identical traits that other places have yet to offer.

Nyhavn Canal. We really should find out more about this place.
Photo courtesy from here.

So here is my travel map that I made using maps.google.com
Let's see if I am willing to visit every place I have marked in there :)

So I think that's a little bit about the place that we are going to visit tomorrow.

I hope you guys have a great holiday with your beloved.

Till then, see you soon!

Tata.

:)

Major snow experience in Maribor, Slovenia.

Assalamualaikum semua,

How has everything been for you? Semua sihat ke? Hari ni I nak kongsi sikit pengalaman about my recent trip pergi sebuah negeri dalam negara yang bersebelahan dengan Austria, that is Maribor in Slovenia. I never knew the existence of this place only until I get here, so I paham kalau korang pun tak penah dengar nama negeri Maribor tu. haha. :p

Maribor ni dekat je dengan Graz, lebih kurang 70 km je kalau naik kereta. Tapi kitorang pi naik train, so it took us around 90 minutes to reach there. Nak dijadikan cerita, time tu lah jugak snow mula turun kat kawasan central europe, hambek kau, berjalan la dalam cuaca sejuk beku menggigil-gigil tu. Average temperture semua di bawah paras beku. Nangesssss! T___T

Pagi-pagi naik train pukul 8am. Temperature was -1 degrees.
View pun tak nampak sebab terlampau foggy.

Sepanjang jalan dalam train tu dok excited tengok kiri kanan memutih je semua benda covered dengan snow. Memang la seronok kan sebab dok dalam train ada heater. Sekali bila dah sampai sana, and we have to actually walk on (sometimes inside) the snow, perasaan dia hazab nak mampoihhh! Seriously, snow might look beautiful in your eyes, but in reality, unless if you are walking in a proper snow gear, they are horribly cold!

View di sepanjang perjalanan. Cantik kan?

Dah sampai station Maribor. Thick snow on the ground menandakan malam sebelumnya snowing quite heavily.

I walked like this most of the time around the city. Tengok bawah je tak pandang depan.
Kena extra careful sebab sangat-sangat licin kalau jalan atas snow mula mengeras jadi ais..

Winter sonata sangat ni. :p

You won't see colours around you. Just black for the road or white for the snow.

But it's okay, anggap sebagai cabaran, kitorang pun redahhh je menapak keliling Maribor tu walaupun gigil-gigil sejuk macam ayam dalam peti beku. kehkehkeh. Our first destination is to the largest park in the city called Mestni Park. Sebelum tu dah siap bawak bekal konon plan nak picnic dekat situ. Nama pun taman kan? Dah siap berangan kalau picnic mesti la best. Berbunga-bunga hati nak pi makan kat taman sebab perut pun dah lapaq.

Excited nampak papan tanda ke Mestni Park. nak picnic kononnya.

Sekali bila dah sampai kat taman, we went like, "Where on earth should we have our picnic, baby? This place is alllll covered with freaking ice!!" Huwaaaaaa!! There goes our angan-angan untuk berpicnic. But we had so much fun taking photos and playing in the snow instead. Lepas tu jumpa satu kolam itik yang boleh tahan cantik, tengok ada bench kat situ, bukak bekal yang memangnya dah sejuk pun, kitorang pun makan sandwich bertatahkan snow yang turun. T___T

Mestni Park, Maribor, Slovenia.
25 January 2014

Duckpond di Mestni Park. I bet the water must be freezing because the other half of the pond was covered with ice on the top.

Ain't this white building look cute?
Matching je dengan snow yang putih tu. :)

Goodbye Mestni Park.
We surely had a lot of fun experiencing snow here. :)

Lepas dah alas perut sikit, kitorang sambung jalan sampai kat City Centre. Masa tu tengok dah ramai orang keluar bawak family jalan-jalan. Ada yang bawak anak ice skating, lepak minum coffee under sunlight, and ada jugak memang dah pakai proper snow gear bawak anak main guling-guling dalam snow. I think that's the most interesting part of my trip here, sebab dapat tengok macam mana orang-orang dekat situ spend the weekend with their family.

Ada Maribor Museum dekat sini. But errr, you know I'm not really into museum.
Plus semuanya dalam bahasa Slovene, how could I understand. Alasan. :p

Ice skating park for kids. 2 Euro per entry.

Look at how their people enjoy the sunlight at our back.
Sejuk-sejuk ni kena matahari adalah perkara yang terindah. hahaha. :p

They have plenty of cute stalls like this around the city.

Restaurant macam ni pun ada banyak. Simple tapi comel gila kan?

We walked around the city until noon, then we decided to go to the other part of the city where we need to walk on a bridge across Drava River. Mula-mula je nampak sungai tu, I jadi jakun jap tengok pemandangan yang sangat-sangat cantik di sepanjang sungai. Omg, tak pernah seumur hidup I bermimpi untuk berpeluang sampai ke tempat macam ni, but here I am, witnessing the beauty of God's creation at a very strange place. I really need to express my greatest gratitude to the Almighty for this chance. :)

The river, the snow, the swan. Perfect!
Nampak tak hidung merah macam rudolph?? hahaha.

One of the bridges across Drava River.

See, I never got enough of the bridge. Cantik sangat1

Water tower. Antara tourist attraction jugak la kat sini.

Our final destination was a huge shopping mall called Europark. Solat and makan dekat situ siap-siap sementara nak tunggu train balik Graz malam tu. Kaki pun dah lenguh gila sebab banyak berjalan dalam heels boots. They are comfortable to cover my feet from the cold, but they are not made for a lottttt of walking. So you know what happen to me in the end?? Haku berjalan keliling shopping mall sampai la ke train station pakai selipar jepun. kahkahkah. 

Memang orang tengok atas bawah atas bawah, tapi ada aku kesahhhh??? Dah la sepanjang satu hari suntuk dekat situ orang memang tengok macam alien sebab satu-satunya manusia bertudung, pastu ditambah pulak dengan pakai selipar jepun dalam cuaca sejuk nak mampoihh tu, mana la orang tak tengok pelik. hahaha. But I don't mind, as long as I am comfortable in it, I am okay with it!

The end of our journey. Nampak tak selipar jepun ijau tu?? :p

Kitorang berjalan ke train station untuk catch train balik pukul 7.40pm. Satu lagi hazab nak kena tempuh sebab temperature masa tu -5 degrees celcius. Sejuk gilaaaaaa hoihhhh. Bernafas pun keluaq asap dari mulut, kalau bercakap apatah lagi. Dah macam naga dah berkepul-kepul asap keluaq dari mulut. hahaha. Bila train sampai sampai rasa lega gila sebab dok kat dalam heater. Alhamdulillah, tamat perjalanan yang sangat bermakna untuk hari ni. :)

Apparently the nightmare didn't stop there. 

We were greeted by the same scale of cold temperature when we reach Graz. 

Ohhh great!! 

The cold weather is killing me here! 

T__T

When snow falls

Assalamualaikum semua,

Salam hari Jumaat yang mulia, penghulu segala hari. I woke up to this view earlier this morning.

Light flurries showering outside, can you see it? 

Yes, I have experienced snow for quite a number of times when I was studying in the land down under for the last couple of years. You can read them in Snow 2010 and Snow 2011 for more details. During that time, I have tried skiing, snowboarding, toboggan ride, and I even had fun making my own version of snowman.

But this time around, the experience of watching snow falls is much more interesting because I don't have to go anywhere as I can see them right through my window. And to make it more amazing, I witnessed the snow falls with a husband by my side. I don't know why, but the feeling is so romantic! Unlike heavy snow falls, snow flurries is somewhat surprising, and I can feel that they might be pleasantly playful. :)

Mula-mula bangun pagi dengar bunyi macam hujan, pastu bila pegi kitchen untuk prepare breakfast, I was soo excited to see flurries falling from the sky and all the trees, buildings, grounds and even cars at the parking lot started to whiten and covered with snow. Ohh my goodness, this is my first time experiencing snow from home and I am totally loving it! 

Yang bestnya, baru nak feeling-feeling breakfast ala-ala omputih sambil tengok snow turun dekat luar macam dalam tivi tu, tetiba tengok sebelah, Am tengah makan nasik goreng dengan daging bakaq cicah ayaq asam. 

T___T 

There goes my angan-angan jadi omputih!!! hahaha.

Ohh well, kalau dah nama pun Melayu, kat ceruk dunia mana pun tetap akan Melayu jugak. :p

Snow starting to cover the trees

Snow on the cars

I am thinking of going out for some walk under the snow. 

Kalau ada gambar yang menarik I will share here with you guys okay. 

Till then, have a lovely weekend darlings. 

Assalamualaikum. :)

Another remarkable birthday to remember

Assalamualaikum semua,

So today is my husband's birthday. His 29th. Embarking upon a journey of 29 years of life that is always full with challenge. I have known him for so many years until now, and just by being himself, he will always be the prince of my dreams that I always wanted, no matter what happen.

In terms of celebration, there's is nothing much I could do especially when I am at a new place. I don't even know where to find a decent birthday cake for him. Tengok la nanti kalau pusing-pusing jumpa cake yang okay boleh la beli. Tapi kalau takde, a nice home-cook dinner will also do I suppose. :)

So yesterday I just bought a simple birthday card for him and slipped the card into his bag earlier this morning without notice. Ohh speaking of getting a card, it was yet another challenge that I have to undergo especially when I don't understand any single Germany word. Masa sampai kat kedai, mata pusing-pusing tengok semua birthday cards tulis bahasa German. Dangggg!! I should do some research before I come here. T__T

It's okay, I took it easy. Bila tengok dekat rak tu I notice semua kad ada tulis "Geburtstag". At least I can guess that must means Birthday. Tapi korang tau la kan, kad-kad semua tu kan depa susun untuk son la, dad la, grandfather la. Nak pilih yang ayat yang bunga-bunga memang takkkk laaaa. Buatnya maksud dia lain mampoihhh. (@_@)

So I settled with a very simple and I think quite general birthday wishes, yang sesuai untuk semua. Then kalau dalam tu nak tambah apa-apa suka hati la. Nak tulis tulisan jawi ka bahasa arab pun bolehh. hehe. I hope he has found the card by now and nanti bila tengok je card bahasa German tu dia boleh ingat yang we celebrate his 29th birthday in Austria together. :)

A very simple birthday card! It says:
"Live, Love, Laugh. Warm Wishes for Birthday."

So dear, if you have received the card, I just want you to know that words in any language can't simply describe what I really feel about you. I can never thank you far enough for everything you have done to me. And most importantly I can never be able to thank Allah SWT for lending me a husband like you that I will keep loving until Jannah, InsyaAllah. 

Thank you so much baby and may your every wish come true.

Happy 29th Birthday, Dear Husband!

Willkommen in der Region Graz.

Assalamualaikum,


The title above means "Welcome to the Graz region".

Now I am quite confuse on how to greet you my dear readers. Korang dah nak masuk malam while I'm just starting my day here. Ohh well, tak kisah la kat ceruk dunia mana pun yang you all ada, I wish you have a really great time with your loved ones. :)

The weather has been really really gloomy for the past few days and that makes me feel like just staying indoor for as long as I can. It's winter Amirah, so what do you expect? It takes me forever to drag my feet out from the house, kecuali kalau nampak sunlight muncul tetiba. Yang tu boleh dipertimbangkan. :)

Macam hari Sabtu lepas, the weather came out to be very promising with a lot of sunlight, so my husband brought me to see a few interesting places around Graz. Hmm, I did some readings before that and I come to conclusion that Graz (or Austria in general) is mostly about art treasures and historic heritage. No wonder if Graz is officially listed under UNESCO since year 2011 under the category of "The City of Design".

We took tram to the city and I found out their tram system is quite easy to navigate. Even if you don't understand their language (they speak German by the way), as long as you know where to go, then you should be alright. But I have my husband with me so that's a bonus point for me and makes me less worried to travel at the place where I don't speak their language. :)

Happy me. Nampak rupa pun macam tourist, so tak kesah la kalau buat gaya tourist. :p

Their inner city is really interesting with so many nice buildings, beautiful paintings on their walls, and we may also find arts of carving everywhere around the city. As to justify the inclusion of Graz in the world cultural heritage list, diorang kena lah maintain the structure of the buildings, and that makes the city appears to be really unique and valuable at the same time.

The city center. Kiri kanan shopping retails. Ala-ala macam Oxford Street dekat London.
Crowded during the day but very peaceful at night.

Dataran utama dekat Graz. 

From there, we headed to Schlossberg where we can see Graz city in an overview through the peak. Penat hoiihh panjat anak tangga nak sampai kat puncak old castle tu. Termengah-mengah mak encik mendaki sambil control macho sebab malu kat nenek-nenek yang panjat sekali sambil bawak cucu depa. haha. Serious weh selamber je orang tua panjat tangga tinggi gila. Tak gayat ka depa tu? ;O

The stairs you can see at the back is only halfway to the top.
Ada lagi setengah, mana la aku tak mengah memanjat. T__T 

But when I reached the top, the view I saw is really worth the climb. Boleh nampak keseluruhan bandar Graz dari puncak and I instantly stop nagging on how tiring it was to get up there. Schloßberg (English: Castle Hill) ni sebenarnya istana lama mula dibuka kepada public sejak tahun 1839. Macam-macam la yang ada kat atas ni, cafe, restaurants, public park and so on. Kira kalau mai melawat Graz, this is a must visit place yea! :)

Pardon my uncoordinated outfit colour.
Konon belasah je pakai warna apa sebab nak cover dengan jacket jugak.
Sekali penat mendaki, bukak jacket, hambek kau warna warni. T__T
Itsssokay. People don't know me here. :p

The view.

Bercinta kat atas bukit. Takpe, dah halal. ;)

And after that, we made our way to another fortified castle called Schloß Eggenberg. This castle is placed in quite an outskirt, but we can easily get there by tram. Kira hari ni macam hari melawat old castle la senang cerita. We ARE the prince and the princess by name anyway (Amri=prince, Amirah=princess). So bagi la chance feeling-feeling jadi tuan putera bawak tuan puteri jalan-jalan hari ni. :p

The entrance fee is 2Euro, but during winter the main palace is closed, so we just strolled around the hugeeee garden. Kalau tengok cerita omputih version lama-lama, haaa lebih kurang macam tu la dalam dia, ada istana, kawasan istana yang luas, pokok-pokok yang cantik, mana la tak perasan jadi puteri raja sat. hehe. I have no caption for the rest of the photos. I'll let the pictures do the talk. Towards the end of my visit, I just feel like I can stay here forever and live happily ever after. :)

That's all I could share about my recent tour around Graz.

I will come back with more interesting stories if time permits.

Till then lovelies, hope you have a great week ahead.

Tata! :) 

Window shopping di kedai runcit SPAR :)

Assalamualaikum semua,

Here I come again! I heard it's a public holiday in Malaysia, am I right? Amboihh seronoknya mesti ramai yang plan macam-macam dengan family. Either you go out for some quality time with your loved ones, or just stay at home for the same kind of bonding time with your sweethearts, dua-dua pun sangat bermakna kan? :)

Okay, hari ni rasa macam nak record sikit experience yang paling I suka buat bila sampai negara baru. I suka terjah depa punya groceries stores! Serious, tu la benda first yang I look forward to do every time I am at a new place. Jalan-jalan cuci mata dekat kedai runcit. haha. Handbag? Baju? Kasut? Naaahhh!! I don't even bother. Segala sayur, bawang, susu, kopi, teh, buah tu lagi memikat hati.

So when I arrived here, I could see a building named SPAR from the balcony of my husband's apartment. Dalam hati dah bergelodak nak tau apakah tempat yang nampak menarik itu?? Then Am pun bagitau kalau nak beli barang dapur ke apa, boleh turun je pi beli kat situ. Macam-macam ada. Ohhh yummmss!! Pucuk dicita ulam mendatang. Apa lagi, senyum sampai ke telinga lah kan??? :p

Pemandangan setiap pagi bila prepare breakfast.
Macam memanggil-manggil pulak kau ye SPAR. :p 

So lepas dah adjust body clock dengan time zone yang baru, get myself comfortable with the current cold weather, then I decided to have a walk touring around the neighborhood. Perasaan dia samaaaa macam mula-mula I jejak kaki kat Wollongong dulu. Serious, I feel like Dejavu bila jalan sambil redah angin winter sorang-sorang dekat city, masuk kedai, keluar kedai sambil tengok orang lalu lalang. I totally love doing it!

Bila dah puas explore tempat baru, then here comes the most interesting part! Jom jalan-jalan window shopping dekat SPAR. hahaha. Tak kelassss langsung shopping kat kedai runcit. Paling tidak pi la tengok kedai-kedai dekat city ke apa kan? Faktor umur memang macam gini kot. Tak nampak hat lain dah. Kedai runcit jugak yang paling menarik. hahaha.

So to make it short, SPAR is basically a place that has it all. You just name it, you can get almost everything there. Cuma mahal ke murah bergantung dekat offer yang ada time tu la. My most favourite is of course their dairy products!! Fresh milk, yogurts, butter, cheese, creams and many more. I could stay here forever just to indulge myself with all these every single day!

Cheese. More like a cheeseland. ahaks! :p

Butter. Cari butter with garlic spread tapi tak jumpa.
Sebenarnya tak paham sebab tulis German. T__T

Yogurts! 

This is my major love! Fresh milk!
Murah oiii murah.

How I wish Malaysia has cheap and high quality dairies just like the westeners have. I know you can still find them in Malaysia, but the price is damn expensive! And tak semua tempat ada, plus the choices are very limited. So sad kan? Yes, we are rich with some other things, but to those yang suka gila dairy products ni mesti rasa kecewa sebab susah nak dapat kat Malaysia. Maksud I yang high quality with reasonable price la.

And now let's check out some other things that I found interesting at my current favourite kedai runcit called SPAR! 

A huge collection of brewed coffee.

Tea with so many flavors.

Cereals. I love Aussie's muesli with fruits. Gotta try on these soon.

Fruit juice pun sangat banyak pilihan.
Tapi I lagi suka yang fresh perah dari buah. :)

Okay, done cuci-cuci mata tengok barang, sudahnya I ambik butter dengan cheese brand SPAR je. hihihi. Murah and sedap! Fresh milk semua dah ada kat rumah. Kalau ada yang habis nanti turun bawah je pi beli. Ohh indahnya hidup! :D

Till then lovelies. May you have a great long weekend ahead.

See you next time!

Hello everybody. Amirah is back. :)

Assalamualaikum,

Fuh..fuh...

Blowing dust..

Tebal sangat dah habuk ni..

Blow lagi.. fuh..fuh..

Okay, now that my blog is clean, I am finally in the mood of writing again. Well hello darlings!! Anybody missing me?? No?? Yeah, yeah I am still alive. And I am being very healthy until you might not recognize me if you see me now. There is no more Amirah yang kurus kering itu, let's welcome si chubby terlebih isi Amirah yang baru. kehkehkeh. :p

Well, apa nak buat. Blame it on the marriage though! I am so happy with my new life sampaikan lemak-lemak berlebihan pun sebokk jugak nak menempel tumpang bergembira bersama. Cubaan menghalau dah buat dah banyak kali, tapi depa ni ketegaq sungguh. So, being me yang super generous ni,  I let them stay on me, and make them-self comfortable here like home. Pffttt.

Okay, I lied. I hate them fatssssss. Haa, banyak "s" melambangkan betapa banyaknya lemak berlebihan walaupun fat tu uncountable noun yang tak memerlukan "s" untuk kategori plural. Baru-baru ni I buat body mass analysis, and I almost fainted right in front of the weighing scale the moment I saw the number popping out when I stepped on it. Berat gila hoiii macam ada sekoq rimau dalam perut ni. 

T___T

Lepas dah terlampau selesa dengan kehidupan selama ini, kini aku telah sedar diri. I desperately need to shed some fat kilos out from my current weight. 5kilograms at least to get that ideal weight of mine. Uiiii, kau ingat senang nak buang 5kg tu??? It is damn hard I tell you!! But I really really have to. Kalau tak, aku akan menyesal seumur hidup. Eceh. Drama. :p

Eh, ni apa kes meroyan tak tentu hala pasal masalah berat sendiri? Kau ingat orang kisah? Nobody cares. But it's alright, I do care. And from now onwards, I'm gonna prove myself that the old Amirah will be back writing in this blog. Just give me some time. Promise. :)

Okay, done with the ramblings. Let's proceed with my life update. Well, I am now writing from Graz, Austria. And you may expect some updates on the new place I am currently exploring now. 

:)

Austria terletak di dalam benua Eropah. Central Europe to be exact.
Dikelilingi oleh negara Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Czech.
And Graz is the second largest city of Austria, after Vienna. :)

I think that's all I could say by now. I will come back soon, InsyaAllah. 

Till I see you again in my next post. 

Bye bye sweethearts! :)