Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The classic Italian coffee maker

Assalamualaikum,


Hai semua! Hari ni saja nak borak-borak sikit. I am at my husband's workplace, accompanying him while he is doing his work. I also did mine just now, but it completed earlier than expected, so here I am, doing what I do best, checking out current updates on blogspot! ;)


Dah berapa malam dah I datang teman Am kat ofis, bringing him dinner from home. Kalau nak tunggu dia balik baru nak makan, nanti lewat pulak. So I decided to bring the foods to him instead! Dia dapat makan awal, I pun dapat jumpa suami awal sikit. hikhik. :p


Tapi I takde la datang melopong tak buat apa-apa. I brought along my laptop, portable wifi and some journals to review. Dapat jugak la buat benda berfaedah dalam dua tiga jam. Kalau duduk dekat rumah pukul 8.30pm I dah lalok. Tapi bila dekat sini, elok pulak sampai tengah malam pun cerah mata lagi.


Ohh, I am soo in loveeeee with the coffee machine they provide here. Ada sebijik espresso machine yang kacak bergaya kat dalam office ni tau, so tiap-tiap kali datang pun I mesti akan buat satu mug! Tapi amount of coffee sikit je la (40ml per shot) yang selebihnya susu aje. hihi. Omg, I miss my all time favourite, Mocha (and their cool baristas :p) from Rush Coffee in my university back in Wollongong.


Lebih kurang macam ni la rupa dia, minus the milk frother  and button pun lain sikit.
Handsome kan????? (^_^)


Hmm, come to think of it, I was not a coffee person when I was younger. Minum kopi pun tak penah masa kecik-kecik dulu. However after a few years of living in Australia, I got influenced by their coffee culture, and I started to embrace the nice aroma of the black bean more wholeheartedly now. Tapi tak pro la macam coffee lover yang lain sampai bau pun dah tau jenis kopi apa. Takat minum sikit-sikit tu boleh la. :)


So, masa dekat Rome baru-baru ni, tuan rumah bed & breakfast yang kitorang duduk tu introduced another type of coffee maker (very famous among the Italian) or they call it coffee pot or moka coffee, very easy to use, produces a full-bodied coffee and also rich in aroma. And we instantly fall in love with it!! Serious senang gila nak guna, and rasa pun sedapppp sama macam guna coffee machine. So we bought one! :)


Bialetti Moka Espresso. Sounds like Mocha coffee but not to taste alike. :)
The little aluminium stove top coffee maker that you may find in almost 90%  Italian homes.
(Photo courtesy from here)


Balik nanti boleh la nak feeling-feeling jadi Italian wife serves husband dengan nicely brewed Italian coffee.
Ceittt poodahhh!! 
Mata sepet hidung penyek ada hati nak mengaku Italian. 
kehkehkeh. :p

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Vienna, the City of Music

Assalamualaikum,


Hai how are you everybody? Good? I hope you really are! Eh, pejam celik pejam celik, bila tengok calendar tadi, terpaku kejap. Dah nak hujung February rupanya? Ya Allah cepatnya masa berjalan. Can somebody help me to freeze the time please? I desperately need more hours in a day, more days in a month, and more and more months in a year. Tapi kan, I rasa kalau dapat extra pun tetapppp rasa tak cukup jugak. Kan? ;)


Ha, perasan tak lately ni blog ni dah jadi travelogue pulak? It was once a personal blog of an innocent international student struggling with her research at the land down under. Then lepas kawen, this space had evolved into a food blog tak kira la masak sendiri ke, review restaurants ke, tapi banyak pasal makanan la. And then now, it has been flooded with traveling stories one after another. Caca marba sungguh orang Penang kata! haha.


Korang bosan tak asyik baca pasal cerita jenjalan je? Tuan tanah sendiri dah bosan macam mana ni? hahaha. But I still have a long list to go. T___T Kalau tak tulis rasa sayang, because for the past 5 years, most of my precious memories (bitter & sweet ) were beautifully carved in here. Esok-esok kalau dah tua nak baca balik kenangan zaman dolu-dolu, sini lah tempatnya yang boleh refer. Amboi justification tak agak. :p


Last weekend I didn't go anywhere that far. Too tired for another long distance trip right after Rome. But we went to Vienna instead. hahaha. Dalam tak pegi mana tu ada jugak mencelah pegi berjalan walaupun dekat. Ye la, rasa rugi pulak kalau duduk saja tak pegi mana-mana. We must fully utilize our time while we are still here. Takmau nanti dah balik Malaysia baru nak menyesal.


The famous Schonbrunn Palace.
Summer palace for the royals during Roman Empire.


Extremely hugeeeee. Ni baru bangunan utama. Kiri kanan tu ada lagi.
Dalam istana pun boleh pakai gps agaknya. :p


So, knowing Vienna (or the locals call it Wien) as the capital city of Austria, you can get almost everything there. Bangunan dia semua nampak classic with a slight of modern touch here and there makes the city appears to be very classy as it is. The well structured metropolis somehow reminds me so much of my favourite city, Melbourne in Australia, but in a little different way of course.


Cuba cari midget kat dalam ni? hahahaha.
My husband made me posed like this for a freaking 10 seconds because he accidentally pressed the self timer button.
T________T


Ohh by the way, Vienna is also listed under UNESCO in the category of "City of Music" where everyone knows music has become one of Vienna's greatest legacies. Kenal Mozart? Beethoven? Brahms? (and the list goes on). Haa, they are the legendary musical prodigies yang menghasilkan banyak karya agung diorang dekat kota Vienna. But, psst, I personally don't really know how to appreciate those kind of music. Korang rasa sedap ke? hahaha.


The very popular State of Opera. Mozart semua tu penah kerja kat sini.


At the side entrance of the Opera House. Macam dalam istana kan?
Kalau main entrance laaaagi cantik.


Okay lah, cerita banyak pun nanti korang bosan (padahal I yang bosan hahaha), I better let the pictures do the talking instead. Mana tau ada sesapa yang nak datang Vienna nanti ada lah jugak gambaran sikit-sikit macam mana rupa tempat ni ye dak? :)


You may find this all around the city. 1-hour ride is free.
Lepas tu sejam satu Euro.


Techniques Museum Wien.
Bangunan muzium teknikal pun ala-ala istana kan.


Jalan raya yang sangat lebar. There are special lanes for pedestrian and also for bicycle.


Calm and comfort city.


Have you ever found any Bentley simply parked by the road side?
I found one in Vienna! :)


Danube River (Europe very own version of Amazon)
Sungai terpanjang dalam Europe yang merentasi 6 negara.


Swan feeding.


A perfect place for family outing.


Night market.


That's a little bit of everything about Vienna.
A city with less adventure but definitely worth to explore.
See you next time people!
Assalamualaikum. :)

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A day at the Roman's Kingdom

Assalamualaikum,


Okay, here comes the sightseeing part! Selama ni bila orang cakap Rome, mesti dok nampak Colosseum je kat dalam kepala kan? I seriously never bother about the existence of other interesting places apart from the Colosseum, maklumla, tu je yang termasuk dalam wonders of the world. 


But when I read my cousin-in-law's blog about her trip to Rome not very long time ago, I become all excited sebab rupa-rupnya ada banyak lagi tempat yang ada dekat Rome tu selain Colosseum. haha. Kesian gila kat orang macam I yang kurang pengetahuan ni. With her travel tips and reviews, we manage to go to almost all interesting places within 1-day! Thank you so much Kaklong!! :)


Benda yang paling kitorang appreciate sangat-sangat is how to skip the massive and crazy long queue at the Colosseum entrance. Kalau tak baca blog Kaklong, mesti kitorang pun jadi macam orang lain jugak beratur tunggu turn nak beli tiket dekat Colosseum. Bukan sikit-sikit tau, there were thousands of people in line, siap melingkar-lingkar ke luar bangunan lagi. 


What we did was, we bought the same ticket from Foro Romano with only less than 5 people in front of us. The price is 12€/pp that includes Colosseum, Foro Romano and Palatino. Semua tempat ni just next to each other so you can decide which one to enter first. This ticket is valid for 2 days, tapi dalam sehari boleh masuk sekali je.


The entrance to Foro Romano & Palatino

See!! Pendek je kena beratur.
Line to enter Colosseo is thousands times of this one here.


The entrance ticket for Foro Romano, Palatino & Colosseo.
12€ per person.


So lepas dah beli ticket, kitorang pun start la masuk dalam kawasan Foro Romano tu. Tempat ni kira macam kawasan pentadbiran kerajaan Rome la suatu masa dulu. It is just like a really really big rectangular plaza, surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings. I got sooo thrilled the moment I stepped into the Forum, because EVERYTHING there is beautiful.


I imagined there was like a gigantic royal residence during the Roman's Kingdom placed at the center, and then there must be places for the citizens could gather for commercial, political or religious. Looking at the location of the Roman's Kingdom at the heart of ancient Rome, it must be one of the most important meeting places in the world, and in all history.


Nampak kesan bengunan runtuh dekat belakang tu?


Vary beautiful


I forgot the name of this building. :p


Kalau datang sini, kena spare at least 3-4 hours baru boleh habis pusing keseluruhan tempat ni. Tu pun dah jalan habis laju dah tu. Kalau nak betol-betol baca sejarah semua tempat, rasanya sehari baru boleh habis. Semua tempat nampak sangat cantik, jadi tak tentu arah kitorang dibuatnya. Pictures really don't do justice here, trust me, you got to witness them by yourself


Royal residence palace


Sebahagian dari runtuhan bangunan


The stairs to the House of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome


Rome city from the balcony of House of Augustus


Stadium di Palatino Hill


Lepas dah beberapa jam dekat Foro Romano and Palatino, dalam pukul 11 lebih macam tu kitorang start berjalan ke Colosseo pulak. Bila makin dekat dengan bangunan bersejarah tu, tengok manusia punya la ramai tengah beratur dekat luar bangunan untuk beli tiket. Ramai gila!!! Rasanya belom tentu semua orang kat situ ada chance nak masuk. Kitorang pulak berjalan masuk macam VIP sebab dah ada tiket yang beli dari Foro Romano pagi tu. Seronok gila!!


Approaching Colosseo. A lot of excavation works going on here and there.


And bila dah masuk kat dalam Colosseo tu, yes, it was indeed the biggest and most beautiful amphitheater with greatest work of Roman architecture and engineering. Disebabkan bentuk bangunan ni yang elliptical, kita pusing kat arah mana pun tetap akan nampak seakan-akan pemandangan yang sama.


At level 1. Sangat kagum dengan setiap perincian bangunan.


Still at level 1. Antara bahagian yang selamat dari runtuhan.


They have a lot of spaces like this all around the building


Level 2. Kat atas sekali tu kerja baik pulih (yang batu putih) sedang berjalan.

Colosseo ni dulu mainly tempat untuk gladiators bertarung dengan binatang buas. Dalam tu jugak ada macam ruang macam penjara, quarters, and macam kubu pertahanan pun ye jugak. The huge building has partially ruined because of earthquakes. And after a while, it becomes one of Rome's most popular tourist attraction. Tahun 2007 baru dia tersenarai dalam 7 wonders of the world. Memang layak!


Pandangan keseluruhan kawasan yang runtuh. Luas gila, macam padang bola.


More picture of us. :)


Pandangan dari luar bangunan.  Kitorang datang balik pagi-pagi esoknya
Hari sebelumnya tu terlampau banyak kepala manusia. :p


Kawasan yang runtuh dari luar bangunan.
Semalam kawasan ni semua penuh dengan orang beratur. 



Perhaps that's a little bit of everything about the interesting places you might want to visit if you are visiting Rome. Sekali sekala melawat tempat bersejarah memang menarik. Rasanya lepas ni nak pegi melawat other wonders of the world la pulak. hehehe.


Okay, I guess that's enough for now.
I still have a few other things to share about Rome.
Hopefully I have time to write more.
Till then, have a great week ahead people!
Tata. :)


General information about visiting Rome

Assalamualaikum,


Hai hai semua!! How are you? Phewwww, now only I have time to share with you about my recent trip to Rome last weekend. But err, I think I have to separate the story into a few entries because there are sooo many interesting things to tell. So please bear with me yea!


Okay let's start the warm up first, shall we? I nak cerita pasal our trip to Rome secara general dulu lah. Later baru masuk cerita pasal tempat-tempat melawat yang super cantik yang ada kat sana. We were there only for the weekend (too little time to explore everything). I would suggest you to spend AT LEAST 5 days there, termasuk jalan-jalan, shopping apa semua.


A welcoming greeting from Aeroporti di Roma.


Our Rome trip was a very last minute decision. Bila last minit tu paham-paham la kan, mana nak dapat flight/train tiket yang murah? We were very lucky because our flight searches brought us to this one online ticket seller, Flugladen.at. The price comparison feature helps us to find tickets at the cheapest price. So, once the tickets were confirmed, we went like, okay, this is serious, WE ARE GOING TO ROME!!


Thank you Flugladen.at. You made our dreams come true.


Next, we booked our hotel through Booking.com. Our main concern every time we travel is, an accommodation that provides microwave or kitchenette. Sooo, we narrowed that down in our search, and finally we decided to stay at Aquarius Inn (near central station) because that was the cheapest we could find. Masa tu pasrah je la, macam mana pun rupa tempat tu pun tak kesah, maklumlah nak tumpang makan and tido je pun. I'm gonna tell you more about this place in a separate entry. :)


An Italian Bed&Breakfast at the center of Rome. Highly recommended!


Flight tickets? Checked. Hotel? Checked. Sooo next thing to do is to plan the trip la, apa lagi kan? We have less than 48 hours to include everything in our itinerary, so we have to utilize our time to the maximum. Tak boleh buang masa walau sikit pun kalau tak nanti confirm menyesal. huhu. Bila dah balik Malaysia nanti memang harapan je la nak pegi Rome tu kan. Tak pernah berangan pun sebenanye. Eh tipu. Berangan tu ada, cuma ala-ala mat jenin je la. hehehe. :p


Bila dah naik flight, kena fikir jugak cara macam mana nak get connected to the city centre (Termini Central Station) to/from the Fiumicino Airport. There are three ways of getting to the central station from the airport; train, metro and bus. We chose to ride on the bus (Terravision) because it is the cheapest (16€ for two return tickets) and the travel time is around 40minutes. Bas sentiasa ada you can even buy the ticket before boarding, cuma kalau beli online murah sikit la. Selagi boleh jimat, kitorang jimat. hahaha. :p


The online ticket, and the boarding card you need before getting on the bus.


Termini Central Station. Lebih kurang macam KL Sentral la.
Train, metro, bus semua ada kat sini.


Underground Metro station at Termini.


Dari segi living cost pulak, I reckoned Rome has quite a moderate life. Not too high nor too low. Kira boleh jugak la nak survive as compared to Copenhagen yang mak datok mahal bukan main tu. Tapi kalau dah nama pun matawang Euro, walau murah macamana pun, kita tetap akan kena bayar mahal dalam RM kan? So kitorang takdela berbelanja sakan sangat kat sana. Utamakan yang perlu je. Kalau tak perlu, pejam mata and jalan terus tak pandang kiri kanan. hihihi. :p


Umm, what else? Ohhh ya, kalau korang pegi sendiri (without tourist guide) and rely solely on the public transport, go grab a 1-day ticket that will cost you 6€ per person. Naik la bus ke, tram ke, metro ke bape kali pun tak kisah, ticket will only expire at midnight. So berbaloi sangat la. Tapi kalau untuk family yang bawak anak kecik or senior citizen, I think public transport is not a very good choice. Too crowded, pastu nak kena naik turun tangga yang sangat banyak. Better hire tourist guide yang sediakan transport or consider renting a car!


The 1-day ticket


The ticket counter. Practically the same in almost every country around the world.


Outside Colloseo Metro station


Perhaps these are the things that you might need to know before planning on your trip to Rome. If you ever have the chance to visit Italy, please please make your time to go to Rome. You'll never regret, trust me. Terlampau banyak keindahan yang boleh dihayati dalam kemusnahan satu empayar yang besar satu masa dulu. I will show you more about that in the next entry yea? 


Till then, have a good night people.
Assalamualaikum.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Weekend getaway. Where is next? :p

Assalamualaikum,


Well helloooo everybody. I'm back. But yeahh, this time I'm back to tell you that I'm gonna be away AGAIN over the weekend. :) Hmm, where to this time?


  1. Orang cakap tempat ni macam open air museum sebab boleh kata hampir keseluruhan bandar adalah tinggalan sejarah and will remain to be ancients forever.
  2. This place is listed as one of the most photogenic cities in the world. I still have no idea how true is that. Let me verify the fact myself in the next few days.
  3. It is also one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Europe and referred to as "The Eternal City". Hmm, I think this is the plus point why we must include this place in our must visit.


Sooo, dah banyak clue dah bagi tu. Perhaps you can guess already? 
Okay, let me just go straight to the answer. 


I'm going to visit the perfect place for honeymoon and travel destination none other than 


Rome!!



We are flying from Vienna, transit in Zurich, and then, Rome here we come!!


The places that we plan to check out.
If time and weather permit and most importantly, dengan izin Allah SWT. :)


So I think that's merely something about my weekend getaway this time.
Wait for more updates from me okayy. 
I will surely come back to share stories about the ancient Romans.
Pray for my safe and interesting journey!
See you next week.
Tata! :)

Monday, February 10, 2014

Short trip to Schöckl Mountain

Assalamualaikum,


How was your weekend everyone? I am having my lazy Sunday here as I got to sleep in for a little longer today. Well you know, life is assumed to be in a different rhythm on the weekend, am I right? So a little extra time on the bed on Sunday morning is always count as a blessing. :)


While my husband is concentrating on his work now, I better take this chance to share with you about our activity on last Saturday. We climbed a mountain!! hahaha. Betol ni, tak tipu. We hopped on a cable car and let it do the hard work of climbing from bottom to the top. Kitorang cuma duduk diam-diam dalam tu sambil menghayati keindahan alam sekeliling. Teeheeee. :p


Tapi ada kisah di sebalik cerita panjat Schöckl Mountain ni. Malam sebelum pegi tu kitorang dah checked tourism website on the current condition at the mountain. It is mentioned in there that the temperature would be around 6-9 degrees Celsius with a lot of sunlight received at the peak. Siap ada 360-degree real time camera lagi tunjuk kawasan sekeliling. Ohh, such a beautiful weather at a lovely place, WE THOUGHT.


So pagi tu kitorang pakai baju 2 lapis je (yang tak berapa nak tebal) sebab nak menikmati keindahan matahari di puncak Mount Schöckl. Dalam pukul 10am kitorang keluar, singgah beli kebab sebab KONONNYA nak picnic dekat atas tu. And then we took a bus ride from the city center that costs us 6.10 Euro each, dalam perjalanan lebih kurang setengah jam untuk sampai ke station cable car.


The view sepanjang perjalanan adalah sangat-sangat menakjubkan. Tapi yang hairannya, kenapa kiri kanan lembah semua penuh dengan snow lagi? Dalam website tu tunjuk temperature dah tinggi. We were still in denial mode dengan harapan bila sampai puncak, tak lah sejuk sangat dan ada matahari seperti yang digambarkan. Padahal tak logik langsung, kalau kat bawah pun dah penuh snow, kat puncak apatah lagikan? hahaha.


The cable car ride went very smooth, despite the foggy weather and cold temperature. Bila sampai je puncak, the current temperature went down from cold to extremely freezing we almost got our hands and body cramped sebab tak pakai proper gear for that condition. We looked around for a place to eat, unfortunately there wasn't any! Semuaaaaa tempat penuh dengan snow. T___T


We ended up eating while standing, trembling and freezing. All at the same time. Kesian gila. hahaha. Then we went to the nearest WC (Water Closet = Toilet) aching for some heat sampai badan dah kembali ke room temperature. Bila dah rasa okay sikit, kitorang keluar ambik gambar laju-laju, and off we went down the mountain to catch the next available bus balik ke Graz.


Begitulah kisahnya pengalaman ke Mount Schockl minggu ni. Taktau samada nak salahkan tourism website tu sebab sediakan maklumat yang tak tepat, atau salahkan diri sendiri sebab tak ikut logik cuaca semasa. Kalau sejuk di bawah, kat atas gunung mesti sejuk berganda-ganda. Whatever it was, this would be one bitter-sweet memory that I definitely want to cherish for all my life. :)


Sooo, let's enjoy looking at the following photos which were taken in less than 15 minutes just before we left. Jangan tertipu dengan senyuman dalam gambar sebab sebenarnya kitorang tengah menahan kesejukan yang melampau! hahaha.


We were at Schöckl Mountain on 8/2/2014


My blazer matched the signs


A guest house at the back.
Two adorable kids having fun playing with the snow


I love how the white snow appears to be very beautiful inside picture.


Look how foggy it was.


The cable car station


There is a WC in this building. It was very comfortable and warm in there.


On our way down the mountain. Macam biasa, hidung mesti merah. haha.


Inside the bus, ready to go back.
Goodbye Schöckl Mountain.


I'm sorry if I sound a bit terse in here. This entry was written via an iPad. 
Writing and editing with big fat fingers like mine adalah sangat annoying. 
@____@
Till I see you again next time darlings! 
Adios!