Euro Travel & More

While I go to Farmer’s Market as often as I can while traveling for the food – I also loved the ones in Australia – Sydney best because of all the trinkets you can buy.  But yard sales are fun too because you can get things you need for really cheap – I found all sorts of stuff that I want from both the Farmers market as well as the yard sales nearby.  As much as I enjoyed the organic and home made stuff – i love hand made jeweleries and hand made bags & shoes too. I used to buy Beading Tools online but also found some lovely handmade stuff  online as well but it’s nice to be able to try it first before buying them.

These are lovely right?  yes great presents to bring back for the kids – your nieces and friend’s daughters.  I found some gems to bring home – because you can’t bring that much jam home can you and fly home with you – too heavy.

Another pretty store in a yard sale in Australia.

More food – and home bake stuff

Fresh bread – organic anyone?

We took a trip one year to Canada’s oldest national park but we weren’t expecting it to be that cold and wasn’t really prepared for it.  Banff National Park is in the Canadian Rockies and the view was awesome!  In the province of Alberta – the forest is quite dense and the alpine landscapes were breath-taking.

The park is open for all 4 seasons – reason being because they have the best maintained roads I’ve seen in Canada.   We reached Lake Louise which wasn’t too far away from here using Highway 1.

We did checked out the hot spring (not natural but man made) – famous i heard – while the rest went on hiking.  I didn’t take any pictures there – for fear some guest/s wouldn’t like it too much.  We headed back to the town of Banff after the spring – too crowded.  Down at Bow Falls we could have opted for white water rafting but didn’t – we decided to take a walk instead.  Then we ended up having dinner at a pub – i think it is German if i recall correctly.  More pictures in another post.

Phnom Penh has changed quite a bit since I was last there according to a friend who had just got home from there.   She said there was a  steel building just at every corner they turned in a cab.   So yes – not only is Phnom Penh a touristy place now – it’s pretty industrialize too.  Check out the evening market at Sisowath Quay but they were more for food – if you are into trying local cuisine but if you have a weak tummy – i think you should skip that.

Don’t be too surprised if you are frisked when you visit the Heart of Darkness – the security is really tight there and it’s not about the terrorists that they are afraid of – but more like the locals trying to gun down each other in a dispute – so i heard.  For those who loves their drinks – Phnom Penh is the place to be – because they are dirt cheap – we had our filled that night and went bar hopping till wee hours in the morning.   More on Phnom Penh in another post.

No i wasn’t there silly – but the nephew was – his company sent him there – a US based company – with lots of perks like health care for the entire family with Blue Advantage – I often wonder if it was anything like the Blue Cross here. But it is always good to have some health insurance if you are traveling a lot like the nephew of mine.

There was a parade for the opening of the show – but he was pulled away to attend a meeting – so this was the only picture he got – bummer!

This is the Netherland and Holland Pavilion

The Croatia Pavilion

The Australian Pavilion – look at the line up!  i guess ppl do like to be in Australia eh.  If you are not a participant – you can still buy a passport to enter the expo -  and of course lots of food to try out and souvenirs that one can buy.  The Shanghai Expo is a cultural exchange for lots of countries coming together in one place – as you can see – it is a huge event – i wished i was there  – large scale expo like these are only hosted by countries with the capability – not only in manpower but resources to accommodate tourists and event planners from various countries.  Shanghai is definitely proud of itself.

My buddy just came home from Amsterdam and before he left, he had asked me what to expect going to Amsterdam in Spring.  Well, it’s the end of Spring and the beginning of summer in Amsterdam but in Spring – Amsterdam is just as lively as in the summer.  But one thing for sure – going to Amsterdam in Spring is definitely a lot lower than in the summer.

Lots and lots of beautiful flowers, from Dutch tulips to lupins, watch the hyacinth and narcissus bloom and of course the days gets longer and sunset is like 8pm.

There are less than 100 working windmills in Amsterdam now – see if you can spot them when you are there.  This was enroute to Brussel.

If you have watched the Da Vinci Code you will know or recognized this picture.  So i thought I would share it with all of you – since I am currently reading the Da Vinci Code and am quite fascinated by it, the spouse even stopped playing his ps3 when he started reading it.

This interesting glass upside down pyramid can be found in front of the Louvre Museum in France. Many who may not be looking out for the inverted pyramid may even missed the pyramid from the outside and just think that it is just another glass window/building.  Honestly, i think the inverted pyramid became famous after this Dan Brown’s book because I myself didn’t pay too, too much attention to the pyramid when i was in France many years ago.

As promised – i’ve shown you the outside of the CourtYard Marriot on the previous post and now for the inside of the hotel.  The bedroom given to us was a very nice room – spacious with 2 queen bed.  The receptionist at check in was very nice and polite – but the bell hop was helping someone else during check in – so we carried our own luggage – to our room.  But it was a lazy Sunday – so having only one bell hop is understandable and we didn’t have very much – just 2 luggages and lots of shopping bag with acne body wash that we had bought for a friend’s kid.

The view was very pretty – as you can see here.  And our fear that the road may get too noisy from the reviews that we read – were unfounded – we didn’t hear a thing outside of our room.

I thought we had read that our tv was going to be an LCD tv – therefore we had brought along our xbox 360 to be hooked up to it for our stay.  But alas – it was a normal tv and what made it even more frustrating was the tv didn’t allowed us to play our xbox 360 onto it.  But – the saving grace was the receptionist had offered to give us the one in the conference room if it wasn’t in used.  Now that was very nice of her – but it came with a huge rack and totally took up part of the room.  By then we were too tired to try and return it and just left it in the room because it was already late – 9pm.

This was the breakfast room – it’s located right in the lobby – a really small area – no restaurant or a drinking hole but the wait staff and the kitchen staff were great – they made a waffle for my kid even though they didn’t have it in the menu.  Very sweet indeed!

This is the hotel’s pool – it’s tiny!

Boy! i sure missed those pools in Asia! hotel pools in Asia are Olympic sizes.

We were up in Halifax, Nova Scotia a few weeks ago – and this time we stayed at a different hotel and it was right smacked in the middle of town.  It was pretty awesome knowing that you can go just about anywheres even walking to find shops and eateries -and driving made even easier to go anywhere in town.  But parking is hellish as far as we can see but it can be because we are just not used to the city and don’t know where to park.

Parking isn’t cheap in downtown Halifax and we are already paying for valet parking at the hotel – so while the spouse was reading up on nuphedragen review i took some pictures of the scenery right on top of the hotel we were staying at.  But yes, while once we were a Econolodge loyalist – we are not a convert to downtown hotels.

Halifax also known as the Atlantic Playground is beautiful as you can see.  Winters are harsh here – but summer – with seafest and many outdoor activities – it almost seems like i haven’t seen Halifax enough.  The place is too huge to enjoy in just a few days – so if you are up that way – there to stay a little longer will you.

Parking has always been free in the hotels i stayed in  when i was in Asia – therefore when I was told that I had to pay for parking – $20 – i asked myself – if i needed to tip the valet whenever i use our car.  Have i gone cheap or is it because – we usually use the $20 for tipping the valets – plus in Asia – you have the option to park yourself – but even then – we still tip the bell hop.

The West and the East – so much difference – back in Asia – you have room service door hangers you can use to order your breakfast – in the morning – but even at the Marriot in Canada – there wasn’t any room service for breakfast.  No wonder the westerners don’t want to leave Asia as soon as they’ve experienced the Asian hospitality.

So to tip or not to tip?  We did tip at the end of our stay  – but it was so unfair to the valet whom had taken our car on the first day – but he didn’t provide any bell hop services and the check out valet was only nice to us when we tipped him $5 – so all in all we paid $25 per day for parking – it could be worst.

There are many cathedrals in France and one you must not miss if you are in Normandy is the Rouen Cathedral – with its years of history  to be exact was built in 1200 AD.  The great architectural – will leave you  in awe like i was when i first saw walk in bathtubs at some 20 yrs ago for the first time.  Unlike  other cathedrals it took more than three hundred years to finish Rouen cathedral, That’s why it looks so much lacier and fancier than the other facade. I personally feel that Rouen is so unique because of Claude Monet – who was so inspired that he reproduced so many paintings of Rouen – during the different times of the day and years.   The inside of the Cathedral is even more lovelier than the outside – i always fall in love with painted glass.   So don’t forget to visit the St Joan’s church – they have more painted windows than anyone i know.