London sightseeing: An Episode For Men *facepalm*

Do you really wanna know where were we on our first day in London? Yeah, I'm still talking about London.

Told you I was having a severe jet lag. Whenever I opened my eyes, he had already prepared with his own schedule. So 'not interested to go London' act, right?hmmm..

So, his first and foremost agenda...among many other places in London was, the Emirates stadium.

From Paddington station to Arsenal station.

The Emirates stadium.

 My elaboration: This is a football stadium..and huge.tu je kot:|

Meeting with his football idol. The Henry T.

Among the things I enjoyed doing *grin* Going to Arsenal stadium was like him throwing lemon to me,. But I managed to make lemonades (plural, notice?) as long as there's shop around :D

Well, other things I enjoyed doing here was when he being opened up and spoke about his childhood memories he had during period living in London. I considered that was my joy visiting this place :')

Although we have been together for 11 years, there's so much more to discover right?:')

I have many pictures around Arsenal stadium. I think he managed to cover every inches of the stadium and times two:| But it's not my position to post it here mainly because..I.don't.know. what to share. Lol XD.

We spent half the day here. Hubby was reluctant to leave anyways. Lol XD. 

Then he gave me time to do what I like, that is..shopping!!

To Oxford street we go!weeee!!Can you picture his emotion graph going down to the earth crust?:P

See you in Oxford street. Before that, we'll go to Primark!

Jya matta!

London sightseeing: Episode 1

This is how I have my break. Updating blog. It's like talking to friends over tea time. You guys are my friend too anyway:)

Well, we are still in London right? 

I called our London trip as 'his trip'. Despite of being the one who strongly opposed the idea of short trip to London, hubby was the one who benefited the most from this trip. 

London was supposed to be about me because I was the one who came out with the idea T___T 

*Kidding..I was happy he had his time after hard work working in Japan:)*

We spent only 1 day out of 5, for sightseeing in London. Enough to finish all those popular landmarks.

One thing if you are in London, you are discouraged to start your journey before 930am because unlimited day pass could only be purchased after that time. 

Honestly, I didn't know where to start. So, I just let instinct led the way and it has brought us to first; the Buckingham Palace.

From Paddington Station to Victoria station.

As you walked out of the station, breath-taking view awaits you:) So, I'll just walking along this pathway following other people's footsteps whom, we presumed sharing the same destination.

This is it. The Buckingham Palace. I remember that day was a bit cloudy. So, I've to wait for my tag along photographer (beliau juga memegang jawatan sebagai sponsorer and my husband:p) for him to finish taking I assumed, 100 photos:D Too many things to catch >,< 

Honestly, I didn't know what to see. Everything was so out of reach >,< Tapi puas la dapat berada at the front of this famous palace kan?( ye..Istana negara pun tak pernah nak pergi ambil gambar T__T). 

Finished with the palace, we saw many people leaving by this sidewalk. Oh...look! It's The Memorial walk for the Diana.

Not far from the Buckingham Palace, we like the others, were fascinated by a very beautiful, green park, namely St. James Park. We didn't think much and decided to walk through the park sharing pathways with pigeons and other colorful birds (which I don't know their names). Smell of very tempting waffle had however lengthen our visit to the park besides scenery of beyond the word 'beautiful' could explain, that we couldn't just let it passed by *grin*.

I was raised with 'kartun orang putih'. In my memory I have bambi, the chipmunks, princesses. Here I saw the chipmunks' home just like the cartoons!!It surprised me that they are apparently very friendly to people. They make eye contacts, like talking to us! Adorable!

One of the scene I love from St. James Park.

As we reach at the other end of the park, we were greeted by many other stunning landmarks..

Tapi yang famous, one of it was..the Big Ben.

The Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster. 

As you passed the Big Ben, the Eye of London will instantly caught your eyes next!

 When you see this, just go at that direction. There are more awaits you at the other side of the river where the Eye of London is located.

Passing Eye of London, we were stuck there. The cheap book sales:D I got my Jamie Oliver's from here :D

This is Tate Modern. One of the main attractions of you google. You will see many more attractions as you walk along the river. I can't compile everything here. I think Londoners have made everything very easy for us:) Without you noticed, you have passed most of their main attractions.

In the quest for Tower Bridge, we found ourselves stuck in a market called Borough market. It wasn't at all in our plan to visit one of the largest food market in London. It was indeed huge and...full of food!!Yang penting murah >,< We tried their brownie and pastries :P Bread lambak-lambak je T___T Baklava pun lambak...T_T

Tower Bridge, London.

To finally arrived here, requires you to walk a bit. But worth it. There was nothing along the way that was less valued by us. Everything was new and fascinating to us. Alhamdulillah..

What can I say..tower bridge memang breath taking. We enjoyed spending our evening walking around here ^_^  oh, also, on top of the bridge. We can't afford to waste even an inch ;P hehe..

We ended our second day of sightseeing (sigh..yep..our landmarks' sightseeing only began on the 3rd day) crossing the Tower Bridge to the nearest train station, Tower Hill station. Even on the way to the station, there so many fascinating view to catch. Nothing bored hubby and me. So, we went back to the hotel to pray and to celebrate the 11th year of our 'special friendship' :)

See you in the next episode ^_^

Wedding of the Decade..

At first I thought many bloggers that I knew will post about the legendary royal wedding..but turned out..none o_O??hoho..

I'm not going to post about that too..not because of the idea 'everybody in the world has seen it..hence don't wanna be cliche'. I can't put any post because..I am one of the small potion on earth who didn't watch the moment T_T..and and..to put in a more detail scale, I am one of the people on planet earth who didn't watch the historic moment and chose to watch live football match at the stadium instead (while I had never watch any football match even on TV =|). Oh, to put it a more odd situation, I went to the football match with the whole bunch of boys and I am the only girl. The only person I knew was my husband=| sekian..

Everything happened on that Friday was unplanned. Of course my night was supposed to be a night where I will do some house chores while turning on the TV watching the historical royal wedding kan. I admit that I was not into the wedding..but still, royal wedding is not often to see in a person's life. Especially such a fame royal like Britain's.

At 3, hubby talked to me about following him to a live football match at Nagoya Stadium. I was like.."what are you talking about??I didn't even watch the TV ones."

And then he was using the skill of guilty pleasure=| That's when..I was trapped and left with no choice other than..."ok..since we are married..I think I should try do things that you like" (while had no idea that I will be joining a boys troop and I am the only girl).

The game was between Nagoya and Kawasaki.

Of course we support Nagoya team ^_^ Go Nagoya!hoho..

Look at my smile!!I was sooo 'happy'!!haha

Nagoya...team kaler merah! (I was like..no wonder they [the boys] wore red color shirts..my husband worse..he wore the ugliest red shirt since that's the only red attire he has T_T)..

Ok, from our seats T_T..Got it??we sat at the wrong site..Nagoya fan supposed to sit at the opposite side!haha..We sat very close to Kawasaki cheer group (separated only by 2 seat rows T_T). So, If ever any rusuhan happened, we will be the first few person involved T_T haha..

The losing team..Kawasaki..thanking the supporter. Since we sat near to their supporter..hence the quite clear picture of them=p

Result: Nagoya won two-nil =) Nasib baik menang..kalau tak..sia2 je dtg!

Oh, after that night...I started to like football..oh, and only the live one ^_^

Puan Wani

The Brunel Hotel, Paddington, London

Light snow falling of the sky greeted my morning:) Although chilling, the view does warm my heart:) oh well, I am wearing a piece from Primark. Albeit synthetic, it works well to keep me physically warm too :D

Let's move on with another review.

We didn't have much time to do survey and fight over it. ehe..The few hours we got was mainly being wasted on surveying hotel in Paris. For London stay, we didn't have much problem because most of the hotels that were within our budget are mostly at par with our requirement. 

We search for hotel based on:

1. Location: it has to be in Paddington. This was based on our auntie's recommendation. I have to say, it was a good choice. i could not imagined any better than this place. Hotel also must be within walking distance from the underground station.

2. Wi-fi service: Very important to search for information, keeping in touch with family members (cheapest way!), and preparing for tomorrow's trip plan:D Also, for those who's having jetlag, anda boleh tweet dengan orang Malaysia and Japan (Yours truly la tu :/). Brunel Hotel provided us with free, no password wifi in our room! (unlike Hipotel, besides requires an IMF level password, we also had to access internet in their 'lobby' only. Tapi oklah free daripada tak ada langsung..)

3. Food: MashaAllah...risau sangat pasal makanan...Paddington awesome!Besides rows of souvenir shops along the road, there are plenty of Halal restaurant. Tak tesempat nak cuba semua >,<Yang pagi bestnya, halal restaurant ni include the KFC (big deal for those of muslim residing in Japan, k), Subway (again, big deal), and others of Londoners' :'). 

4. Near to Malaysian Hall: We didn't go despite of sangat dekat. Tak sempat la :/ We heard there's a FOOD COURT of MALAYSIAN DISHES!!!Tapi still, stuck dekat Tukdin:/ 

From King's Cross St. Pancras to Paddington. Dekat sangat :') Paddington pun station yang besar. Connecting many other lines. So, senang for you to travel around London:') and nak catch intercity train later pun no need rushing:') hence Paddington is strongly recommended for stay:)

As we came out of the huge Paddington station:) It's nice to savor your eyes with totally different view from other places you had visited :) 

The room. Not very spacious like the one in Paris. Tapi enough je:) Bed and ambience yang sangat comfortable. Alhamdulillah we made a great choice:)

Other facility. All basic everyday needs provided and well functional. I believed, I was one of those who knows the current news like the back of my hand. I kept watching news in rotation due to jet lag:/

The clean toilet and all sabuns provided (again, unlike Hipotel despite on the same rate:P). Brunel and Hipotel both are three stars hotel tapi layanan and the service sangatla different. Brunel hotel sangat neat, clean and cantikla hotelnya, unlike Hipotel :P

The shower. Very important to show as some hotel do not provide private shower >,< Oh, that's the case of Paris:/

Lagi penting, depan hotel ada restoran Malaysia. Lol XD. Kami melabur di restoran ni berapa GBP sudah..

In front of the hotel. Nampak curlassss kan? memang..all awesome!^_^

One of a kind taxi yang boleh jumpa di London aje :D 

Inside the 'Tube'; the name of their public train. That was early in the morning, that why I was immersed in their free newspapers yang bersepah-sepah >,< 

Oh, yang membuatkan I lagi suka hotel ni sebab....bawah hotel ni ada supermarket 'Nisa Local' open 24hours :D So, whenever I feel hungry (apparently, not just my eyes je yang jet lag, perut pun T____T), I will ask (nag) hubby to buy me cookies, buns and milk (tapi tak lapar pun nak sebab cookies and susu kedai ni sedap sangat T__________T). I know how can milk sedap and tak sedap..I can't explain, you have to go sana and minumla kalau tak caye sangat >,<
Semua di sini sangat mudah!
I strongly recommend you to find hotel in Paddington! Better Brunel hotel. Murah and best!ehe..
We stayed for 5 days, and tak cukup. Jangan buat silap seperti kami. Sila stay lebih lama :D

Write to you more, later:)
Have a nice day!

From Paris to London

I hope my reviews will help you all, dear readers to get the pictures for your visit later:)

Now I'm done with my ultimate aim to visit Paris, the Eiffel tower.
So, we moved to London on the 3rd day.
A night before our departure to Paris, we purchased the Eurostar ticket, the express train connecting Paris to London.
Somehow, we didn't get the confirmation e-mail from the agent. Could it because we bought it in a very last minute?
When we arrived in Paris, the first thing we did was..settling the ticket. Apparently, that's common problem they are facing. The Eurostar tu pun annoyed by the online agent (the counter girl told us).
So, for you guys, do no worry, you can buy ticket at the counter je pun boleh..Well, except if its peak season. We finally bought the ticket from the counter since our initial purchase could not be traced.

From Voltaire (our first stay in Paris) to the Gare Du Nord (the biggest station I assume).
Here's a tip; when you arrive to the airport, first station you have to head to (if you macam clueless la)..is Gare Du Nord. Usually people will get their connecting train from here. Please be very careful of your belongings. It is a very huge station with suspicious looking people everywhere:/

Inside the Gare Du Nord. Classic sangat. Tapi in yours truly eyes, it was a gloomy, dodgy and dirty?:/

Checking out from Hipotel Voltaire.

In front of Gare Du Nord. 

 Please take note that, London and Paris located in different country ya..so, there will be immigration procedure that you have to passed before you can board the train. So, it's like checking in for airplane, this intercity train also requires you to check in latest by 30 minutes before departure. I advice you to come earlier la sebab bukan ko sorang je kot yang nak ride..Ramai gila >,<

Inside Eurostar. Okla, comfortable. Shinkansen is of course way more comfortable.

Hubby is studying while his wife 'pengsan'. Seriously..I suffered the most of jet lag. Beliau tak affected langsung. Nasib baik..he is my protector after all..:) I couldn't open my eyes at all..T__T
Oh, forgot to mention, our supposedly 2 hours journey was extended to another 50 minutes due to technical problem. We were given discount for next ride. cehh..tapi tiket return dah beli :/

Sampai King's Cross St. Pancras station. Lihat mata yours truly still bengkak :/ oh, and lihat!!!London is so much 'terang' and clean!!can you see the difference??Welcome to the 2012 Olympic City :)

Undeniably cantik gila kot station derang. and not to forget..clean!The people also tak adala garang-garang semacam je :/

Our stay located in Paddington. Just 15 minutes from King's Cross :D and Paddington is also one of the biggest:) yey! That's yours truly at the Paddington station. HUGE.

Lega dah sampai London coz finally we didn't anymore berteka teki looking for direction.

Now I can communicate with..people and understand what they said! hahaha..English everywhere..aduh senangnya..semua bende tanya walaupun tahu dah. haha..

Our hotel pun alahai dekat sangat dengan Paddington station. 

Malaysia Hall juga located in Paddington:) I heard there are food court in Malaysia Hall. But we tak sempat nak pergi coz this one Malaysian restaurant IN FRONT OF our hotel was sooo irresistable!!

After bag drop, and rehat kejap, we decided to hunt for food.

For muslim, Paddington would be one easy place. KFC, Subway halal. And there are so many other halal restaurant around. Basically, yang halal lagi banyak daripada tak halal..hehe..

So, baru setapak jalan, kami nampak perkataan "Tukdin, flavor of Malaysia." 

kami tanpa berlengah..terus je masuk.haha..

Our first dinner in London, makanan Malaysia. bahaha..Masak lemak cili padi daging salai..tell me how on earth could you resist that. Especially when you came from Japan yang memang makan daging 6 bulan sekali. Inikan pulak daging salai masak lomak T___T

Kami suami isteri memang suka makan nasi minyak. And there was one of the best nasi minyak we ever tasted :') Oh, itu terung bercili. Sedap T____T memang patutla restaurant ni ramai orang and banyak table! 

I'll review about the hotel we stayed in the next entry. Among all stays, this one in London is so far our favourite. Nothing minus point I could give to this hotel:)

Till then, see you in the next entry:) 

Grande Mosquee de Paris

Our first day of sightseeing, Grande Mosquee de Paris has already been included as one of main attraction for us:D

From Charles de Gaulle Etoile station to Censier Daubenton. Mosque was about 5 minutes walking from the metro.

Let's look at the mosque shall we?^_^

Can you see the mosque? My advice, when you go out of the metro station, you'll see a huge church . Go the opposite way, and you'll find the mosque. 

We finally here ^_^ 

As you stepped into the mosque.

Prayer space.

This was the only visit we had. We had the opportunity to be the ma'mum for maghrib prayer too.

Every single details about the mosque tu sangat beautiful just like what you expected to find in Paris.
However, I think they have to do something about the cleanliness of this holy place. My face turned blue when I came out from the ablution area..my husband told me, my experience was nothing compared to him in men's ablution area o.O Seriously T_____T
One of the reason we think one time is enough, except if you just wanna come and pray with wudhu' already on. Hopefully they'll do something about it.

Do you think our day ended here?

Arc de Triomphe

Our next stop after a half day visit to Eiffel tower was; the Arc of de Triomphe.
Emm...I think by direct translation means; Arc yang melambangkan triumph?:P

I  bet most of you have seen this big arch thingy anywhere before.
Check out my version pula ok?:D

From the Eiffel (Bir Hakiem) to Arc de Triomphe (Charles de Gaulle Etoile). Dekat kan??So, bolehla habiskan sehari:)

As the escalator approaching the higher ground, my eyes were feast by this sight. Its just that, by the eye everything looks so majestic! Tapi ni actually a monument. Macam tugu negara kot :D

Adoiyai sapela arkiteknya yang buat tugu peringatan cantik-cantik gini T____T ceiling pun ukir cantik-cantik T__T

Names of the defeated armies engraved.
This arc was built to remember those who were defeated during wars. 

I don't know..haha

One of the many 'senonoh' picture of us to be shared:) More pictures in fb :)

This place tak ada romantic value for honeymooners pun.
Tapi is a must place to savor your eyes during the visit. Second most beautiful landmarks in Paris for yours truly:)
Actually, you can climb up the arc and see Paris from the top of the arc. But we passed. We just dislike the idea. Its not like you can see a thing :P

Arc de Triomphe is located very near to those of high branded head quarters. Maybe, after you finished capturing every single details of the arc, you can walk around and visit all those stores.
Before that, stop by macaroons shop to relieve your almost cramp foot :P

We didn't do as proposed sebab nak cari masjid untuk solat. Hampir masuk maghrib when we finished with this arc.

I'll tell you about the masjid we visited in the next entry.

Jya matta!

Why Paris?

One of my dream was to see the Eiffel tower with my own eyes. 

But then, I was not entirely serious to do that within this few years. Let alone saying about it today, and depart next day like we did:/

So, when hubby asked me what I wanna do on our first day in Paris? Of course I answered "to Eiffel we go!" :')

When you already in Paris, do not worry about transportation. When you think you are lost, just watch for 'Metro' sign. There are everywhere. 

From Voltaire to the Eiffel tower;

Looks far, but was just 20 minutes :)  Usually people will stop at Bir Hakiem/ Champ de Mars tour eiffel/ Trocadero to see the Eiffel.

You can skip this later part cause it's full with our photos:")

'Jambatan inception'..the dialog he always saying whenever we passed this jambatan..followed by apa yang terjadi di jambatan ni dalam movie inception tersebut -__-"

Second glance of the Eiffel. First glance when we were on the train.  Memang speechless masa first time nampak tu:D *excuse my kejakunan :P*

One of the many photos of the Eiffel we took. Sigh...if only the camera can catch  the actual thing!:') Memang jaw dropping la Eiffel!

Gomen..ini pulak gamba yours truly yang sedang mencemarkan view Eiffel itu sendiri :D

Its winter...Eiffel with pokok togels :D

With my prince charming who granted my wishes:D

The weather was nice despite of winter. Tapi bila angin kuat datang tu sejuk sikit. Hence the hot cocoa :D

Finally, he used his camera yang ditatang bagai minyak yang penuh itewww >,<

This is Bir Hakiem metro station. You won't get sesat one.  Just alight when you see the word 'Tour Eiffel'. We went to Eiffel at night by alighting at other stops pula. Tell you about it later:)

So, after all, it was all about Eiffel that I've been wanting to go to Paris all this while.
Again my husband did things I never have thought would happened to me. Thank you sayang :')
And thank you Allah for bringing him to me :')

We walked around Eiffel almost every night during our stay in Paris. Despite of that, we feel we haven't had enough of it. Definitely a place to visit again, someday:)