Paris Spring trip Day 1 : Versailles

As you know, we went on Europe trip (Holland, Belgium, France) together with our friends last spring (April 2012). We drove all the way from England and crossed the English Channel to Europe. We stayed at two caravan parks holiday ; Duinrell in Holland & Paris park in Maison-Laffitte (out-skirted Paris) Here's my Paris story. 

It was truly a long road we had from Brussels to our caravan park in Maison-Laffitte, about 15-20 km of Paris. I wasn't sure if we were fooled by the GPS and the journey dragged almost 3-4 hours, but because of that I experienced French villages and towns ( through our van window) And finally we reached our caravan park in Maison-Laffitte at 11pm when the gate was already locked =( 

Never mind, a new day came eventually and on early morning after light breakfast (we cooked our meal, and that includes our packed lunch) we went to Château de Versailles.  

Versailles was a country village before it turned out to be the centre of political power (if you read about the French Revolution, but I don't) It was a resident for royal family, and now of coz one of main attractions in Paris (located in suburb Paris). According to other travellers' review, the queue for ticket entrance is always horrible long, and truly yes. We queued for almost 2 hours amidst the wind and chill of winter/spring in our bones! Sejuk sangat, and we didn't have a decent attire to match with the weather =( 

Yes, I bought the ticket online and that wasn't a license to skip the queue. Every visitor has to pass a security check up. 

finally inside the resident

 the grand hall

 up close the dome

 up close the ceiling

 at one of the apartments

the Queen bedchamber

 the Hall of Mirror

 park outside

you can make stories from a painting,

one large painting

 zoom 1

zoom 2

hehe, lama tau I termenung depan lukisan tu =)

from google,

The smell at Versailles was said to be "unique out of all the palaces in Europe" (duc Saint-Simon). There were no functioning toilets until 1768. By the time of the French Revolution in 1789 there were only 9, and those belonged to the King and his closest family members. The rest of the palace simply had to live with the constant smell of the privy-chambers clinging to their clothes, apartments and the general atmosphere. Although banned, chamber pots were constantly emptied out of the nearest window.

Ok! let's move on..

Aildilfitri 2012 : Pengalaman beraya di perantauan

So this time I was all alone in the kitchen, I prepared kuih raya, kuah kacang and rendang, nasi impit and lemang (ok lemang was hubby's project) But then, I should proudly say that I was all satisfied with my cooking, they turned just like what I wanted them to be =) And they became our first dishes on pagi raya at home. 

After breakfast, we were all ready at the Guild of Student, at the University of Birmingham with other Malaysian community. The  takbir and sembahyang raya was scheduled at 8 am. Seperti biasa, masing-masing bawa juadah raya. I cooked 'ayam kicap jawa' , I seriously  didn't know and it was my first time eating kuah lodeh (lontong) with ayam kicap! It's Jawa style, they say. Have you?

Baju raya? Aariz was the only one that has new baju raya. We bought him baju melayu before we came here and I just realized that I had to alter his pants on malam raya! I wore my old baju kurung and shawl, and hubby wanted to prove that he still can fit in his nikah baju melayu =) Nonetheless, it was a perfect 'pink theme' for us hee..

Guild of Student building is a worship hall, and anyone with any society can use the hall for multi purpose. Because last raya was fall on Sunday so we were scheduled to leave the hall before 12pm. So rasa macam sekejap sangat raya tu... 

 preparing table and foods. Clearly Aariz masih tidur

 inilah geng2 Aariz di Birm

 hubby made the banner

one happy boy

Begitulah raya di perantauan =) Tapi ada juga open houses dan takbir raya rumah ke rumah. Macam kita di Malaysia. 

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf Zahir & Batin

Salam from Birmingham, UK

Ramadhan 2012 : Pengalaman berpuasa di perantauan

Iftar di rumah sahabat

Alhamdulillah majlis khatam Quran di rumah sahabat juga

Majlis rasmi khatam Quran di University

Berhadapan bangunan Guild of Student

setting up foods =P

kids

tugasan individu - sudah berangan jual makanan di bazaar Ramadhan tahun depan,

erk no?

fresh tempe, Indonesian tempo from Holland. Yes I remember memang ramai Indonesian di Holland sebenarnya. 

my attempt for murtabak daging

lontong! 

eh eh..macam dia pula penat puasa =P

London day trip : an afternoon at the Tower Bridge

Sometimes I think it's unfair for my son to trouble city adventure, for it is actually exhausting. I'd rather give him beach where he could play with the sands, or simply outdoor playgroud where he could play with the slide or grass, or anything that he fancy for like chasing birds at square. But Aariz has been a good boy, very cooperative for us taking chances while we can.

I love you, my son. 

part ni yang leceh ..

We hop on the London Underground and get off at Tower Hill station. At first it was quite confusing to find the Tower Bridge, we didn't bother to ask people. Ataupun masa tu dah penat sangat...

I always wanted to have a photo like this, standing here at this road with Tower bridge at my back

us, London 2012

London Tower

Hubby's writing postcards =)

spent almost an hour just chillaxing with a view of the Tower bridge. We cancel British museum - tapi tetap pergi masa second visit he he he

 at Euston , near Euston station

Alhamdulillah, the earlier plan was to visit and solat at London Grand mosque, Regent's Park. Tapi memang tidak sempat. This is Euston mosque

back to Birmingham by Virgin train =)