Nelson Chin

Hectic August

2009-08-19T17:26:00.002+01:00

It's been a busy August for me - various arrangements for relocation, last European holiday trip to Italy and Germany last week and meeting friends prior to departure.

I've just returned to Dublin from Munich. It was scrotching hot in Rome and Venice last week. I've got the opportunity to visit some Roman historical ruins and tour the Vatican. I must say the Roman was really a great civilisation. Their monuments and legacies are taunting! Venice, the canal city is quite a romantic city; though everything are expensive and touristy. Munich and the surrounding Bavarian villages are pretty. I love the facade mural paintings at the smaller villages, and also the renowned Neuschwanstein Castle.

I hope I have the time to blog about my recent trips to Turkey, Italy and Germany in weeks to come. :)

Black Mulberry Wine

2009-07-24T22:41:00.003+01:00

I'm back to Dublin last Saturday and tonight, we gonna enjoy one of our souvenirs bought from Turkey.

We're drinking the Black Mulberry Wine bought from Sirince! :)

At İstanbul

2009-07-14T15:49:00.001+01:00

İ give up in using Turkish keyboard! İ'll post later when İ return to Dublin this Saturday ;p

Departing for Turkey

2009-07-10T23:12:00.003+01:00

I'm experiencing an insomnia tonight. Could it be that I'm too excited, for Turkey?! ;p

I've just got my backpacks packed an hour earlier and we'll have to rise early at 3am later for our flight to Izmir. We're flying with Onus Air, a small airline based in Turkey. Hopefully it'll be a pleasant journey.

I'll update on my holiday whenever I've got the chance. :)

CEng MIEI

2009-07-08T20:59:00.004+01:00

After going through 2 years of kindergarten school, 6 years of primary school, 6 years of secondary school, 4 years of undergraduate studies, 1.5 years of postgraduate studies and 4.5 years working in the industry, I finally obtained my first professional qualification.

I am now a Chartered Engineer with the Institution of Engineers of Ireland. More than just a title, I hope with the recognition, I will be able to progress to the next stage of my career and contribute my part in the construction industry. :)

Lira

2009-07-06T23:57:00.003+01:00

I become a few thousand dollars richer today - in Turkey Lira! Hehe!

I went to city centre to get myself the necessary Turkey currency notes, for my upcoming holiday. I'm counting down to 11 July! ;)

Schmap Dublin Guide

2009-07-03T11:44:00.003+01:00

Yay! One of my photos taken in February around Dublin has been shortlisted for inclusion in the eighth edition of Schmap Dublin Guide, to be published at the end of this month.

Colourful doors of Dublin Georgian Buidlings

Hopefully I make it all the way to publication. :)

The Liffey & Ha'Penny Bridge at Night

2009-06-30T23:07:00.004+01:00

I was crossing over the O'Connell Bridge on my way home the other night and passed by a very familiar scene - the River Liffey and Ha'Penny Bridge at the far end.

Dublin might not be the largest nor the most historic European city, but if you slow down your pace to treasure its uniqueness, Dublin could be quite picturesque.

Dinner at Mandarin Oriental Restaurant

2009-06-29T23:59:00.000+01:00

Together with Alan and Aravind, we met up one of our ex-colleague last Saturday afternoon at his house. The weather was very warm by Dublin's standard at 25 degree celsius. Sitting round a wooden table at the backyard terrace, we had a cuppa and cookies while catching up with each other. He is an Irish and was loving the sun; Alan and his wife were dodging under the shade. ;p

That night, we had our dinner with Alan and Kher Xing at Mandarin Oriental Restaurant. Seafood with beancurd, chicken and vegetable with salted eggs. Yummy! :)

Mandarin Oriental is by far our favourite chinese restaurant in Dublin. The owner is from Hong Kong and the food served are especially palatable to us Malaysian. ;) We've not been to the restaurant for about half a year. The food still tasted as good.

Turkey Holiday!

2009-06-26T17:01:00.006+01:00

One of the places I wish to travel to before I die is the state of Israel. Being the focal point of the 3 great monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - it's the biblical Promised Land to the Jews, home to the Solomon Temple and also the third holiest site in Islam, Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Holding a Malaysian passport and being an independent traveller, the bureaucratic arrangements to set foot on Israel are complicated. As such for my next holiday, I found an interesting alternative - Turkey!

Some of the greatest ancient cities - the Hellenistic Troy and Pergamum, the Roman Ephesus and the Byzantine Constantinople - are located in Asia Minor, modern day's Turkey. Turkey is a transcontinental country where part of the land belongs to Europe and the rest to Asia, being separated by the strait of Bosphorus. Part of the ancient Silk Road also passed through this land. Not only does Turkey contain some of the most complete ancient ruins and monuments in the world, it's got beautiful beaches along the Aegean Sea and Mediterranean too.

I'm going to soak in history and the sea in 2 weeks time! ;) Siew Leng and I are taking a package holiday for my flights and accommodation this time round.

Day 1 - Flight from Dublin to Izmir. Land transfer from Izmir to the resort town of Kusadasi where we'll be based at. We'll spend the rest of the day orientating ourselves at the resort town.

Day 2 - Our first highlight of the trip, the ancient city (or ruins) of Ephesus! This is where St. John the apostle and Virgin Mary spent the end of their life here. The gospel of John is said to have been written here and St. Paul also preached at the Great Theatre here twice. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis is also located here; but there's nothing much to see as the temple has been damaged over the course of history and only a handful of Corinthian columns are left standing.

Day 2 - After lunch, we'll head to the hilly town of Sirince nearby which is famed for its Greek rural architectures and vineyards. Some travel guides suggest Sirince is photographers' paradise. Hehe! I'll find out soon. And we surely are going to do some wine tastings too!

Day 3 - Excursion to the Greek island of Samos. Yes, we're taking a ferry day trip to Greece! If you still remember your high school's mathematics - the Pythogoras Theorem, Pythogoras was borne at Samos. We're going to take it easy and chill out at the Greek villages and seasides.

Day 4 - We'll be taking an overnight bus from Kusadasi the night before and arrived Istanbul early morning. After checking into our hotel, we'll head straight to the famous Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and romp the Grand Bazaar. We'll probably spend the night tasting authentic kebab, blowing the waterpipe Shisha and attending a Turkish belly-dancing show. ;)

Day 5 - Conquer the Topkapi Palace and cruise the strait of Bosphorus. We'll be cruising under two of the greatest suspension bridges in the world at over 1 km long. During the evening, we'll wash up at one of the atmospheric Turkish bathhouses, Hamam before taking an overnight bus back to Kusadasi.

Day 6 - It must be tiring after taking 2 overnight bus journeys during 2 of the last 3 nights. So we'll chill out at the sandy beach of Kusadasi right at the doorstep of our resort. We might do a scuba dive or snorkelling at the Aegean Sea and spend the rest of the day sunbathing. ;p

Day 7 - We're returning to nature - Pamukkale. The distinctive stalactite formations were formed by the natural hot springs and tectonic movements of the earth crust. Certain sections of the hot spring are opened to public. We're going to swim in these aqua blue natural pools! :)

On top of the Pamukkale are the ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis. We'll spend rest of the day wandering the ruins and return to Kusadasi during the evening.

Photos courtesy to various photographers copied from www.flickr.com

Day 8 - Land transfer from Kusadasi to Izmir early morning and fly from Izmir to Dublin.

I'm already excited, jumping up and down, and can't wait for the holiday to come! :)

Herbert Park during Spring

2009-06-22T23:22:00.001+01:00

On a lovely afternoon more than 2 months ago, I went to check out Herbert Park which is nearby our apartment in Ballsbridge. It was early Spring and was still rather chilly in Dublin when cold breeze bashed against your face. The 48-acre park is only 15 min walking distance away. :)

On my way to the park, I made a short detour to visit the Parish of St Bartholomew. It's a cosy church consecrated in 19th century.

I was strolling alone and it was rather quiet around the church compound. For a moment, I felt so peaceful.

Herbert Park is another 5 min away. I entered the park through the Herbert Park Hotel's entrance.

The park was so serene. It was not crowded, nor it seemed eerily deserted. Irish are indeed one of the friendliest bunch of people in the world. While strolling around the park, I was greeted by almost every folk whom I bumped into. Most of the strollers were retired old folks. I find that old folks here really know how to enjoy their life. A number of them own a holiday house somewhere in Southern Spain or France and spend their day reading books, enjoying wines and the beautiful seascape scenery.

And they are very kind and nice to animals. It won't be surprised seeing people feeding the birds and swans with expired breads. :)

I was taking pictures around this beautiful pergola, where an old lady offered to photograph me. We chatted briefly and our conversation revolved around the hard times of the financial crisis. She is such a lovely person. Unexpectedly, upon parting, she read me an Irish poem! I couldn't recall every phrases of the poem. I only remember the message was that no matter ups or downs, good or bad, Ireland welcomes my coming and going and I should always be cheerful. Wonderful lady, doesn't she?

I passed by the flower garden and the tulips were starting to blossom! It was so colourful and beautiful.

It was an enjoyable and relaxing walk except that I had to dodge the drizzle for 5 min under a tree! :)

5 Minutes of Fame

2009-06-21T22:58:00.008+01:00

Spirit of Manila Airlines is a low-cost airline based in Philippines and Manila Skies is their inflight magazine published bimonthly. In their April/May issue, there was an article on Dubai tourism.

Above is an excerpt of the article copied from their magazine's website.

3 months ago, I was approached by the editor of Manila Skies, requesting the high-resolution file of a photo taken by myself in Dubai and my permission to use the photo in their magazine publication. I was hysteric and elated, by all means! That was the first time ever my photo is being considered to be used in publication. I emailed over my photo as discussed and was looking forward to the next magazine issue.

However, the editor informed me that they had changed their mind at last minute and used another photo instead. Heck! "Return my jpeg file!" - as if this could help.

Obviously I was disappointed and dejected.

Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai by Nelson Chin

I only remembered to check out Manila Skies' article on Dubai today.

I actually think mine looks better than the one being featured! :p What do you think?

Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin

2009-06-20T23:50:00.004+01:00

I was walking to the city centre last month on a foggy day when I stumbled upon Dublin's latest engineering masterpiece - the Samuel Beckett Bridge.

Samuel Beckett Bridge spanning across River Liffey is designed by world renowned Spanish architect and engineer, Dr Santiago Calatrava. Santiago's designs and creativities never fail to amaze me. I visited the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia 2 years ago, which was design by him as well. The design of the building complex totally blew my mind off, both structurally and architecturally.

This is Santiago's second bridge project in Dublin after the James Joyce Bridge further upstream. The main span of the bridge is 123m long and the arc pylon is 48m height. It could be rotated mechanically about its concrete pier to allow larger ships to pass through when necessary. It's not really a huge bridge structure relatively. Nevertheless it's still a very gracious cable-stayed bridge.

The contract was awarded to Graham and Hollandia joint venture and is scheduled to open to public next year. The steel bridge superstructure was fabricated in Rotterdam by Hollandia and was only towed to River Liffey recently. The bridge structure has yet to be lifted to its concrete pier then, pending the completion of some finishing and commissioning works.

The layout of the cables and arc pylon are meant to resemble a harp lying on its edge. Harp has been a political symbol of Ireland for centuries.

Marvelous!

Dubai Creek & Souqs

2009-06-19T17:51:00.004+01:00

Having spent the whole morning at Jumeirah, we went to Dubai Mall for lunch.

En route, we passed by many modern towering skyscrapers along the Sheikh Zayed Road. These buildings were non-existent merely a decade ago. Imagine the billions of dollar that have been spent by the Emirates state to put Dubai on world map.

That's the newly-opened indoor aquarium at Dubai Mall.

Burj Dubai, is undoubtly the tallest structure in the world by all records. Standing majestically at over 800m, Burj Dubai is almost twice as high as the 452m Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia. I felt so minute standing at the base of the megastructure.

The Gold Souq of Deira Dubai. This's bizarre; basically most of the shops lining the street were selling gold, 22ct gold!

We strolled around the area, gold shop upon gold shop. I have never seen so much gold in my life, until as if they were unreal. ;)

Abra, being used as water taxi to ferry people across the river of Dubai Creek. This form of transport was very cheap, AED1 one way!

Emirati costumes. In fact, there were still many locals wearing these costumes at the streets. All of the staffs at the airport were wearing these costumes too.

We thought of seeing the city from another perspective - from the river. No other tourist to share with us, we hired a private abra for an hour river cruise at Dubai Creek. Emiratis are adamant. I bargained for about 10 min and was only able to reduce AED10 to AED90 for the private cruise. Well, thinking it was less than €10 per person, we took the deal. :p

Dubai Creek is home to the historic sea port of Dubai, or Dhow Wharf as it's being called. Dhow is a traditional Arab sailing vessel with lateen sails. Many dhows today still dock at Dubai Creek and the wharfs are still bustling with activities.

Silhouette of the Burj Dubai and the Emirates Towers during sunset.

Dhow Wharf.

The sceneries along Dubai Creek were indeed picturesque. With cold breeze bashing against your faces as the abra cruised, it's just so relaxing. :)

He's our captain onboard - the cool man who refused to give me further discount! Darn him!

The sunset was warm and glorious. This is my favourite photo taken during the trip.

After the cruise, we proceeded to the Bur Dubai Souq. We were rather tired and thus just walked around the souq briefly before heading to our last destination of the day.

Bastakiya District. It's home to many reconstructed buildings in traditional styles - with the Dubai Mosque looming in the background.

Bastakiya also houses some nice museums and galleries. It was getting late and some of the museums were closing during our visit.

Traditional wind towers.

We decided to call it a day. I'd love to visit the Arabian Peninsula again, and probably head to the dessert for sand activities and overnight at Bedouin camp next time round. Siew Leng is not so fond of Dubai though, having met some hostile-looking Emiratis at the souqs. :)

Next, we were going to meet my friend, Chow for dinner. Guess what, he brought us to a chinese restaurant! I wanted to try Arab food, Arab spices! *frustrated*

Dubai's Madinat Jumeirah & Burj Al-Arab

2009-06-18T23:55:00.002+01:00

During our last trip back to Malaysia in Jan, we travelled with Emirates Airline. It was my first experience flying with Emirates, and also my first experience boarding the gigantic Airbus A380!

Emirates operates its international network from Dubai. We took the opportunity to stop over for a day and visit the city of Dubai. Dubai has been home to many superlative structures built during the last 2 decades. The world's tallest building at over 800 m is located at Dubai and was under construction. Being a structural engineer having involved in a number of high-rise towers, I was eager to see the tallest! :)

From Heathrow Airport, we arrived early before dawn at Dubai International Airport. We had our breakfast at the city centre and then headed straight to our first destination - Madinat Jumeirah. The taxi journey costed us about AED50.

Madinat Jumeirah is a modern and chic place to hang out which includes a 'traditional' souq. A market in an Arab city is called souq. Without further ado, I got out to the outdoor terrace to have a glimpse of the famous sail-shaped hotel, Burj Al-Arab towering behind Madinat Jumeirah Resort.

We strolled around the souq, browsing through the shisha water pipes, textiles, vases, sculptures and various Arabian souvenirs stall by stall. They were not cheap though.

Extensive man-made lakes and canals have been built linking various parts of Madinat Jumeirah Resort & the souq. The surroundings were really scenic with soothing weather of around 20 degree celsuis in the morning.

Abra, which is UAE's traditional wooden boat were available to ferry resort guests around. Tourists could hire the abra to tour the area too - at a hefy price. We toured around as well - but by foot. :p

There were many swish restaurants, cafes and bars located in this complex. Above was one of the alfresco cafes facing the beautiful Arabian architecture of traditional wind towers.

Our morning was basically revolving around the Burj Al-Arab. From Madinat Jumeirah, we walked for about 15-20 min to our next destination - the Jumeirah Beach. No. We were not there for the sun and sand. We just wanted to be at the best location to see - yes - Burj Al-Arab! ;p

Towards afternoon, temperature was rising during our walking journey. I started to take off my jacket and hoodies. Not long after, I even sweated; it was winter and I hadn't sweat for months. Even the Emirati in the poster was getting red-hot. ;)

Jumeirah Beach. It's a beautiful beach, except that construction activities were visible offshore - the reclamation and construction of The World. The World is another ambitious project in Dubai that lands are reclaimed offshore to form the shape of a world map and these plots of land are then sold for commercial and residential developments.

Burj Al-Arab, claimed to be the first 7 stars hotel in the world is a super luxurious hotel in Dubai. The building structure itself is an engineering masterpiece built on top of a man-made island. It costed more than USD700 per night for a standard suite. Tourists were not allowed to visit the hotel, unless you reserve a table at one of the hotel restaurants or bars, and with a certain minimum expenditure spent.

Like most tourists, we could only see from afar.

I have seen ladies in bikini lying on a beach, but not so much women in headscarf, or tudung sunbathing on sandy beach - a truly Arabian state. ;)

We Can Fly!

2009-06-17T18:01:00.008+01:00

I have never seen big ducks fly until recently. I mean, really fly high in the sky and not just hop for 50 m away or up to the tree.

Mallard ducks are resident to many of the lakes, canals and rivers in Dublin. I am living right next to the Grand Canal and have strolled up and down the canal countless times. Water levels differ a few meters after each lock and the canal leads to the open sea. I often wondered how do the mallards get upstream. Are there actually people rescuing at the downstream of the canal and transport them upstream; and there goes the loop. Silly thought I had, hadn't I? Haha!

And mallards can fly! I first saw it last month and my puzzle was solved. Hehe!

But I was still curious of my other mystery - what about the big swans which also resident to the canals and rivers?

Swans are such a gracious creature and it's so relaxing to just see them swimming along the canal. I was getting really up close within 1 m while taking these photos. I was photographing her cautiously while she stared at me curiously. Haha!

She was flexing her powerful wings. I hoped she wasn't hinting me to go away. Hehe!

I actually spent a good half an hour 'dating' her on this occasion, observing her sunbathing by the canal bank on a sunny afternoon. Probably feeling annoyed being photographed after a long while, she dived into the water and cruised away from me. :(

Several weeks ago while walking along the canal, I heard a loud flapping noise behind me. I turned over and surprisingly, saw two huge swans flying over and crashed onto the water. Bemused and relief, now I need not feeling regret for not rescuing them downstream. ;p

These pigeons were annoying and fighting for some coverage while I was photographing the swan. I know you can fly okay, no doubt about it!

Maritime Festival & Summer Market

2009-06-16T23:15:00.019+01:00

The Dublin Dockland Development Authority has organised a Maritime Festival cum summer market to mark the beginning of summer season earlier this month. It's probably one of the largest outdoor market in Dublin with over 100 stalls and majestic tall ships docking the quays of River Liffey.

Ever since the Oktoberfest Festival in Dublin last year, I've been 'addicted' to visiting European markets. I was looking forward to it. :)

We visited the market on a lovely Saturday afternoon with excellent summer weather.

A number of beautiful tall ships sailed from all over the world for the festival and the ships were opened for visit.

Lord Nelson was one of the more popular ships docked. How wonderful if I could own a small yacht someday and set out to the sea for fishing and diving trips or even just for a lazy Sunday lying under the sun and enjoy a bottle of wine! ;)

Dublin has attracted talents from all over the world during the Celtic Tiger economic boom and has since been a melting pot of diverse cultures. The summer market saw a variety of cuisines from different countries and above was the Spanish paella.

We had some paelle during our trip to Spain and it's really delicious.

The French crepes! :)

Sausage smacked on her face! Hehe!

And the German sausages - my favourite! ;)

I actually like it without the bread! Well, the bread was paid for and I've been taught not to waste food since young. :)

The French churros!

The Spanish flamingo dance! Siew Leng has been an avid enthusiast of flamingo dance and she was rather excited. No. She couldn't dance. ;p It's just that she loves to see Flamingo performances.

We missed it during our visit to Spain. We should have seen it. Not too bad we still had a chance to see it in Dublin. ;)

Reindeers are such a lovely animal especially in various Christmas stories. I couldn't imagine they are being slaugthered for their meats and hides. €85 - not cheap though. :)

Sweaters in reindeer theme.

The Dutch souvenirs stall - the traditional shoe and windmill replicas.

This stall seemed to be selling some sorts of handicrafts from Indochinese peninsula. I think I saw similar bags at our very own pasar malam in Malaysia. ;p

Fresh olives, are widely used in Mediterranean cuisines.

And cheeses!

The Italian salami! Yummy! Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried.

The Italian nougats. For a moment, I thought these were from Australia.

Lebanese roast pork with bread. This smelt really good. I was thinking to buy this on our way back and unfortunately it was closed by then. Aah!

This ship sailed from France and carried barrels of French wines along. Visitors were allowed to dock the ship and join the wine tasting sessions, at a cost of course. :)

After strolling through the tall ships and stalls, we headed to the nearby Harboutmaster Pub for a few pints. I ordered my favourite German pilsner, Paulaner. :)

There he was, my housemate, Ta Wei, who brought us to this pub! :)

Bak Ku Teh - 肉骨茶

2009-06-15T11:27:00.000+01:00

I couldn't remember when was the last time I had Bak Ku Teh; it was probably few months ago.

Alan and Kher Xing have just moved into a 1-bed apartment in the city centre 2 weeks earlier and he invited Siew Leng and I over last Saturday for dinner.

Alan has always been a good cook and he prepared Bak Ku Teh this time round!

Apart from the chinese herbs and porks, he added shiitake and enokitake, which are more commonly known as the chinese black mushroom and golden needle mushroom. It's simply delectable. ;)

The dinner was completed with boiled lettuce, or 油菜 and chinese tea! It's believed that tea would aid the digestion of fats of the pork meat consumed.

Dear Alan, please invite us to come over more often ok! :p

Irish Dance

2009-06-11T23:43:00.005+01:00

I met up with one of my high school friends last night. We went to a Korean restaurant for dinner. It's always nice to catch up with old friends. And the dishes were surprisingly delicious. :)

After dinner, Adrian suggested to go to Knightsbridge Bar at Arlington Hotel for a few pints where Irish dance performance was staged too. Well, we went for the Irish dance actually. ;)

Eurocode 3 Steel Design

2009-06-10T23:53:00.001+01:00

British Standards code of practice will be obsolete starting March next year and will be replaced by a series of Eurocodes. Eurocodes will be the only authorised code of practice to be used across the European Union and they are being incorporated to the building regulations in the respective countries.

Malaysia, having used British Standards since decades ago, will be migrating to Eurocodes accordingly in due time as well. As such, I think it'd be good to equip myself early to use the new codes.

I signed up for a full-day course today on Eurocode 3, which deals with the design of steel structures. It was a fruitful training session. I started to appreciate the comprehensive scope of the new standards, which have incorporated some of the latest research findings as well.

I believe in keeping abreast with the latest developments, to be an all-round engineer in serving the clients' needs. :)

Budapest

2009-06-08T23:55:00.004+01:00

I'd wrap up my holiday trip to Budapest with some random photos below. :)

It was evening when we arrived Budapest by train and we headed straight to check in at our hotel, Mercure Budapest Korona. It was on offer when we booked the 4 stars hotel and we're glad we had a really good deal. The room was so comfortable.

We had our dinner at Central Kavehaz, or Central Cafe & Restaurant. Central Cafe first opened its door in the late 19th century and frequently patronaged by artists, painters, photographers, musicians, architects and doctors. The cafe is famed for its traditional atmospheric environment, good food and refreshing drinks. Ironically, we were the only customers when we entered the cafe; probably because it was Easter Monday and was getting late.

I ordered a grilled lamb. Yummy! ;)

And Siew Leng had a salmon, and a carrot. :p

And the espresso was excellent!

The next day we had our lunch at Tabani Terasz located at the foothill of Buda hill. The ambiance was relaxing and we were seated at the open-air inner courtyard.

Tabani serves excellent wines. I had a glass of Hungarian red wine to go with my meal. Hehe. :)

Goulash soup (Guylas in Hungarian magyar) as appetiser. Goulash is a traditional Hungarian dish - a beef stew cooked with red onions, vegetables, spices and ground paprika powder. Delicious though it's a quite oily. :)

I had a smoked ham with bread and Mediterranean vegetables. It was mediocre.

Siew Leng had a chicken breast baked with ham and creamy Parmesan cheese, served with mascarpone and tomato jasmine rice. This was really mouth-watering.

We walked over to the Gellert Monument after lunch. The monument could be seen from almost everywhere in Budapest. It was erected to commemorate Saint Gellert, who was responsible to convert the pagan Magyars to Christianity in 11th century.

The Calvinist Church on the bank of Buda at Szilagyi Dezso ter.

St. Anne Church at Batthyany ter is one of the most beautiful baroque church in Budapest.

The famous Parliment Building of Budapest. You shouldn't and won't miss this imposing gothic monument by the Danube.

After visiting the Easter market on the next night, we bought some Gerbaud's cakes for our desserts. :) Gerbaud at Vorosmarty ter is undoubtly the most popular traditional cafe and confectionery in Budapest. We just had our dinner when we stepped into this cafe. So we thought it's a good idea to buy some cakes and enjoy them at our hotel room. So we did. :)

The ever popular chocolate cake. We had this! Hehe. ;)

It's been our habit to visit spots with scenic night views during our holiday whenever possible. The Szechenyi Chain Bridge and Budapest Castle glowing in glory. Here was probably one of the most picturesque city night scenes I've ever captured.

And the majestic Parliment Building.

We had a great trip and truly enjoyed the festive moods of Easter in Budapest as well as Vienna and Budapest. I learnt to appreciate more in savouring the local cuisines and seeing cultural performances, than only rushing through all of the popular tourist spots in a hurry. :)

Szechenyi Bath of Budapest

2009-06-06T02:10:00.001+01:00

Budapest is blessed with a total of 80 geothermal springs and the largest thermal water cave system in the world. Many bathhouses have been built around the thermal springs and was made popular by the Turks since Ottomon occupation in 16th century. For this reason, Budapest is also called the 'City of Spas'.

There are a number of baths in Budapest. For some of the more historic one like Gellert or Kiraly Bath, male and female are not allowed to mix around and there either are separate pools for each gender or the baths are opened for respective gender on alternate days. Traditionally bath facilities were reserved for men only.

We decided to soak ourselves in the thermal water of Szechenyi Bath on the last day of our Easter holiday trip. I must say it was the best arrangement on planet earth. Being tired and exhausted of trudging through the various attractions days earlier, it was just so relaxing and soothing to just rest the body in thermal pools.

Szechenyi Bath was built in the early 1900's and is one of the largest bath complex in Europe. It boasts 3 large thermal pools located at the central part of the complex and also 12 other indoor thermal pools with water temperatures ranging from 28'C to 36'C. Szechenyi is also complimented with several steam baths, saunas, massage services and other therapies including drinking cures.

There is also a daytime hospital which offers thermal spring-related therapeutic treatments. Physicians specialising in traditional and natural medicine use the springs to treat patients suffering from burns, paralysis, strokes, and disorders like arthritis and spinal injuries.

This is one of the larger thermal pool with 32'C water temperature. The weather was sunny and there were many patrons, Hungarians and foreigners alike, thronging the pools to chill out. We were the minority Asian faces joining the fun.

This is probably the hottest pool at the complex at 38'C. It was feeling really great to relax in this pool! ;)

Chess by the poolside, is a signature activity with Szechenyi. The baths including the outdoor pools are opened during winter as well. I've seen some photos and they looked really surreal; imagine that the pool decks are covered with 1 ft thick snows and you're soaking in a 38'C outdoor thermal pool with steams rising around you, and you could still enjoy a chess game!

I only managed to snap some photos around the outdoor area and reckoned it might not be appropriate to bring along my camera to the indoor sections, which in a way feel more private and intimate.

We really had a great time hopping from pool to pool, pool with different temperatures, pool with whirling streams, rectangular and circular, deep and shallow, indoor and outdoor. 2 hours of bathing was definitely insufficient and we should have spent longer hours. :)

The Great Synagogue of Budapest

2009-06-05T12:58:00.003+01:00

I've been interested in Jewish history and culture as well as the development of the state of Israel since a couple of years ago. Being able to visit a synagogue was quite an excitement to me.

In Budapest, we visited the Great Synagogue at Dohany Street, which is the largest synagogue in world second only to the Temple Emanu-El in New York.

The synagogue was built in Moorish style in 19th century and could seat up to 3000 people at a time. I've seen many Romanesque, Renaissance, gothic, baroque and Art Nouvea architectures by now but this was my first time seeing Moorish style. It was based chiefly on Moorish models from North Africa and Spain.

I understand there are many Jewish customs and traditions to be observed, especially among the Orthodox Jews at other countries. I was cautious during my visit so as not to offend the people. I was glad we took a guided tour. The local Jewish tour guide explained patiently the history of the synagogue and the Jewish culture to us.

When I first set my foot into the great synagogue, I was immediately handed a kippah. A kippah is a thin, slightly-rounded skullcap traditionally worn at all times by observant Jewish men. It's a practice to show respect and reverence to God. I had to put on the kippah inside, to show respect and reverence. :) It was rather awkward initially; Siew Leng was giggling at my new headgear! And when I queried our tour guide the meaning of wearing it, the other 2 tourists on guided tour with us bursted into laughter as well. I don't think it was a funny question, do I?! ;) You'll see a photo of kippah later.

One of the most recognised symbols of Jewish identity and Judaism is the Star of David. It's in the shape of a hexagram and these symbols are all over the place inside and outside of the synagogue. This huge Star of David was displayed prominently above the main altar.

The interiors are simply impressive.

The synagogue complex consists of the Great Synagogue, Jewish Musuem, Heroes' Temple, Jewish Cemetary and Memorial. The Heroes' Temple is topped with a dome with a 250 seat capacity. It hosts regular religious services on weekdays during winter time. Spot the Star of David? :)

Even shadows couldn't escape the symbolism of the Star! ;)

Traditionally Jewish cemeteries shouldn't be located within the house of prayer. This was the only exceptional case where a mass graveyard is located within the synagogue complex. No thanks to the tragic events of World War II where 2000 Jews were killed at this Jewish Ghetto.

It's eerie to observe that all of the deceased year were 1945!

This is the kippah I mentioned earlier. You know what it's now, and could imagine how I look like then. ;p I'm not posting my photo with a white kippah here.

Jewish Musuem, which houses many Jewish ritual objects, relics and artifacts.

That's a Tanakh which includes the Torah! Tanakh is Hebrew Bible while Torah consists of the Five Books of Moses. This piece of scroll seems to be rather mysterious to me, and the Hebrew writings are even more confusing. Hehe!

It was coincidentally the day of Passover on our visit, which commemorates the Hebrews escape from enslavement in Egypt thousands of year ago.

The synagogue complex was closing earlier than usual to celebrate Passover. I am glad I made the trip to the Great Synagogue. :)

Budapest Easter Market

2009-06-04T23:51:00.003+01:00

It was Easter week when we visited Budapest. Having been to a few Easter markets in Vienna days earlier, I was eager to check out Budapest's. I really enjoyed the markets in Vienna - seeing the local handicrafts and indulging in Viennese food and wines. :)

Traditional beer steins or mugs. Most souvenir shops and stalls sell these beautiful steins. I've seen many of these in Prague as well. If I'm not mistaken, beer steins have its origin in Germany. Why include the lid, hinge and thumblift for a mug? During 15th century, Central Europe was repeatedly overwhelmed by summer swarms of insect and thus the practice of covering food and drinks were common.

Traditional Hungarian dolls.

Traditional costumes. It's actually still quite common to see Hungarian wearing their traditional costumes in the city. We stumbled upon some during our trip.

Perfumes.

Trdelnik is a sweet pastry comes with flavours like cinnamon or walnut and is originated from Central Europe. We tried Trdelnik in Prague last year and didn't eat it this round. We were saving our appetite for other delicacies. Hehe. ;p In fact, I think Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary are similar in history, culture, arts and architecture in many ways.

Food. Food. Food. Various types of Hungarian food! Hehe! As I passed by each Hungarian food stalls, I was getting hungrier than ever. ;p

How could beers be missed in festive celebrations?!

I don't remember the Hungarian names of the food. We ordered a fried potato dish, sausages and BBQ grilled chicken! Yummy! :)

Labyrinth of Buda Castle

2009-06-03T23:44:00.010+01:00

While visiting the Castle Hill of Budapest, I took the opportunity to explore the Labyrinth of Buda Castle. I'm always fascinated by anything ancient that were of significance.

Labyrinth is a complex system of interconnecting cavities or caves. The Labyrinth of Buda Castle is situated in the complex of caves and cellars underneath the Castle Hill. These caves were the refuge and hunting ground for the prehistoric men 500,000 years ago. During the Turk occupation in 16th century, these small caves were transformed into a system of tunnels and cellars. During the World War II, the labyrinth served as a bomb shelter and was large enough to accommodate as many as 10,000 people at a time. That's pretty huge! Today the 4,000 sq.m labyrinth is opened to public and showcases some prehistoric cave paintings, ancient fossil imprints, and a well with flowing red wine among others.

I was already excited reading about this place before the trip. The ticketing counter is beautifully integrated within the labyrinth. It costed us HUF2000 - €7 equivalence - each for admission.

There are several converted cellar halls where function like wedding dinner could be held. The ambiance of the cellars are really impressive.

Here we went. The adventure started from this point onwards.

Firstly, we passed through several chambers where prehistoric cave paintings were found. They resemble very much the prehistoric cave paintings I once saw at Niah Cave in the Borneo island of Malaysia.

The Hun Elevation, which was supposed to commemorate the Hun Empire. I don't know much about the Hun Empire but this pathway certainly look like a passage to the underworld! It's mysterious. ;)

This was a baptismal font where the stored water was used for baptism ceremony of the Magyars. The Danube river was just nearby. Why didn't they just baptise at the river? I have no clue.

Walking through the labyrinth, I smelt wine at one stage even before seeing it. I didn't believe it was real red wine flowing from a well until I saw this notice, 'Red wine is not suitable for consumption'. I was really tempted to taste it and I really regret that I didn't!

This huge dropping Crowned Head is a symbol of the downfall of independent Hungarian Kingdom to the Ottomon military expansion campaign. The Hungarian King was also killed in the battle.

A fossil imprint of human foot was found during one of the reconstruction works and carbon dating indicated that this footprint belongs to a civilisation which was 42,000,000 years ago! This has prompted successful diggings elsewhere around the Buda hill. What is more daunting was that researchers and archeologists discovered that the footprint doesn't originate from the species of Homo Sapien or any of its ancestors. It doesn't belong to our civilisation; it is from an other-world. Conrete anthropological links have yet to be established and scientists have classified this species as Homo Consumus.

The Labyrinth Gallery displays a series of different representations and symbolic images of labyrinths from various ages and culture.

Siew Leng signed the guestbook.

We saw an interesting note left by some tourists - '骗人钱'. Haha. We were laughing at the comments left. After analysing with my Singaporean housemate, we reckon this note was left by Singaporeans simply because of 2 reasons:

i. There was another comment on the same page which stated 'Come to Singapore for A Better One!'
ii. The handwriting of the chinese characters were simply awful - typical of Singaporeans. Mainland Chinese would write much better.

Hehe! I actually think the Labyrinth of Buda Castle is quite a pleasant spot to visit, and rather interesting! :)

Castle Hill in Budapest

2009-06-02T23:43:00.007+01:00

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and is dubbed the 'Paris of Central Europe'. The city sits on the banks of Danube River. By the way, Danube is the second longest river in Europe at 2850 km, stretching all the way from Germany's Black Forest through Vienna, Bratislava to the Black Sea. Buda and Obuda are located to the west of the Danube while Pest is located to the east.

From Bratislava, we took a train to go to Budapest.

The Buda Castle Quarter including the Old Town and Royal Palace has been listed as a World Heritage Site. We were living at the Pest side. Early morning we took a metro to cross under the riverbed of Danube to the Buda side and entered the Old Town through the Vienna Gate.

Mary Magdalene Tower was part of a 13th century Franciscan church and is opened to public as a lookout tower now. The Old Town itself is located on top of a hill and there are a number of scenic viewpoints free of charge and thus, we didn't pay to enter this. ;p

Fisherman's Bastion is a beautiful lookout terrace complex overlooking the Danube built in 19th century. It has never served as military defense towers although it looks very much like one. In case you're curious how did the name derive - as I was curious as well, it was named after the medieval fish market once nearby and the Guild of Fishermen.

The view across the Danube from Fisherman's Bastion are really a sight to behold. It's really pictureque with the Parliment Building sitting majestically at the other bank of the river.

Part of the Fisherman's Bastion has been converted to a cafe to cater for the flocking tourists. It's probably one of the best place to have a cup of coffee with commanding views.

It's easy to guess which side is the Danube view. Hehe. The right row of tables were almost unoccupied.

The Matyas Church, or Matthias Church in English was first built in the 13th century and is one of the oldest churches in Budapest. It was also the site where two weddings of King Matyas were held. During the Turkish occupation, many of the ecclesiastical treasures and frescoes were removed. It was subsequently restored to baroque and late gothic styles. I think the colourful roof tiles are quite pretty complementing the grey exteriors.

A model of Matyas Church.

There weren't many tourists at this rather secluded viewpoint behind the Sandor Palace.

The St. Stephen's Cathedral and the famous suspension bridge, Szechenyi Chain Bridge are also clearly visible from here. Chain Bridge was built in the 19th century and was the first permanent bridge spanning across the Danube. It was an engineering marvel upon its completion then.

With a major river cutting through the city, this is really an ideal place for bridge engineers to showcase their ingenuities. When I was younger during the university years, I dreamt of designing a monumental long-span bridge like this if I ever have a chance. Somehow I ended up in building design now. I still love bridges very much.

The Royal Palace is an extensive complex on the south of Castle Hill. It houses several musuems and galleries.

Another viewpoint from the Royal Palace.

When we were walking from the Old Town to the Royal Palace, we stumbled upon a group photographers honing their skills with an instructor demonstrating in front. It immediately reminded me of a renowned wedding photographer from my hometown Sabah, Louis Pang. :)

ACCA Exam

2009-06-01T15:45:00.011+01:00

4 June is approaching. That's the D-Day of my dearie and she's working hard on her revision now. Just do your best ok.

Try and fail, but don't fail to try.

Luv,
Nelson

Tomato Juice with Pepper & Salt

2009-05-30T23:30:00.001+01:00

I have drunk tomato juice many times but not with pepper and salt. I first came across this on a flight back to Malaysia. Thanks to the Emirati air stewardess.

I'm loving it now! :)

Bratislava

2009-05-29T16:53:00.004+01:00

Slovakia was part of Austria-Hungary a thousand years ago and after World War I, it merged with the Bohemia and Moravia - present day Czech Republic - to form Czechoslovakia. Slovakia celebrated its independance from Czechoslovakia fairly recently in 1993.

Bratislava is not only the capital city of Slovakia, it's also the cultural, political and economic centre of the country. Vienna and Bratislava are probably the closest capital cities of 2 countries in the world and are only about 60 km away. We took a train from Vienna's Sudbahnhof station and arrived Bratislava 75 min later.

Bratislava has got very graceful medieval old town with narrow winding cobblestone alleys. Getting to the city centre by tram was so cheap from the Hlavna Stanica railway station. It costed us €0.20 per person only! Comparatively, the cheapest bus ticket in Dublin is €1.05.

The Old Town is compact and easy to navigate with Hlavne Namestie being the central reference point. The main square was bustling with tourists and locals and many were enjoying a cuppa at the alfresco cafes under the wonderful Spring weather. The Old Town Hall stands prominently at one corner of the square and currently houses the Municipal Musuem. We strolled around the alleys off the main square.

In an attempt to enliven the city, a number of funny and quirky statues have been installed in recent years. Apparently they have become a tourist attraction. Well, we did a little treasure hunt to locate them as well. Hm. We should have spent our time better to visit other area. ;)

Primate's Palace was a neoclassical palace built in the 18th century and is now the seat of Bratislava's mayor.

The beautiful street of Sedlarska. We even stumbled upon an Irish pub along our way. Irish pubs are known for their atmosphere, or craic as how the Irish call it. Irish pubs are so popular to the extent that there is scarcely a major city in Europe and North America that doesn't have one.

St. Michael's Gate is the only fortification left and preserved from the medieval period. It was built circa 1300 and is among the oldest town building in Bratislava. Today it houses the Exhibition of Weapons of Bratislava City Musuem.

Under St. Michael's Gate and along the street of Michalska are many designer shops and alfresco restaurants and is one of most expensive streets in Slovakia.

St. Martin's Cathedral is the largest and oldest church in Bratislava. It's also the seat of the Archdiocese of Bratislava. The gothic cathedral was built in 14th century.

Hviezdoslav Namestie is a large square nearer to the Danube River.

Slovak National Theatre. This neo-Renaissance theatre was constructed in the 19th century and consists of 3 ensembles - the ballet, opera and drama.

Bratislava is a marvellous city which still retains the medieval atmosphere at its Old Town area. It's just nice spending a day to explore it. :) Unfortunately, Bratislava Castle was under renovation.

Vienna

2009-05-28T12:35:00.005+01:00

This is the last instalment of my Vienna trip and I'm sharing some random shots of the attractions in the city. There are just too many beautiful places to visit in Vienna.

Johann Strauss II Memorial at Stadtpark. There were many music legends in Vienna history and memorials have been erected to commemorate some of the more famous one. So I decided to do a treasure hunt to locate them. Strauss was an Austrian composer renowned for his contribution to dance music and operettas and he was best known as "The Waltz King". I really thought of extracting this gilded bronze statue and I suspect it could fetch me millions! Hehe!

Ludwig van Beethoven Memorial at Beethovenplatz. He was a great German composer and pianist. He relocated to Vienna in his early twenties and continued to compose great music even after he was completely deaf. His illustrious short life has left many legacies to the classical music world.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Memorial at Burggarten. He was an influential composer during the classical era and had composed over six hundred musical works.

Freyung Passage is a posh luxury shopping centre located in the city centre.

Sache-torte is probably the most popular chocolate cake in the city of Vienna. How could we miss tasting torte in our itinerary? I ordered myself a torte and a cup of Melange coffee at Cafe Sache. Honestly I think the torte was just so-so and didn't live up to the hype but the Melange, a caramelised coffee with milk on the hand was quite aromatic though.

The street of Domgasse, is a beautiful cobblestone street where Mozart once lived at. Apartment No.5 of Domgasse has been well preserved until today and is opened to tourists nowadays.

An artist at Graben.

The Secession Building. Secession was an architecture movement during the late 19th century which emphasized linear ornamentation in a form commonly called whiplash or eel style at building surfaces. Secession was a close genre to Art Nouveau style. Regardless, I still couldn't figure why on earth did the architect of Secession Building installed a Mister Potato's moustache above the entrance of the building. ;p

Rathaus in the background. Rathaus is a gothic building built in the 19th century and is currently the seat of both the mayor and city council. The famous Vienna's annual Christmas Market is held annually at the park to the front of Rathaus.

Hundertwasserhaus, is one of Vienna's most eccentric apartment cum office complex built in the 80's. The apartments feature undulating floors and roof covered with extensive tree landscaping. It has become a major tourist attraction.

Prater is a large public park in the city and within located one of the oldest Ferris Wheels in the world, Riesenrad. The structure of the wheel looked really run-down and I did not even dare to take a ride. ;p We just strolled around the park and theme park under the early morning sun.

On our way to our next destination after visiting Prater, we stumbled upon this street busker who played beautiful music at Praterstern station - indeed a great legacy of Vienna. ;p

Vienna Naschmarkt

2009-05-28T00:08:00.003+01:00

Naschmarkt is Vienna's most famous central market. The market is about 1.5km long and existed since 16th century. Fresh fruits and vegetable, exotic herbs and cheese from all around the world, breads, meats and seafood could be found here.

I made it a point to visit a local market whenever possible while visiting a city as I believe local markets reflect very much the way of life and culture of the people. While I was trying to take Siew Leng a photo, a friendly Viennese local pulled over to her for the shot and chatted slightly. The handsome stall owner happily joint in and posed too. :) And we didn't buy anything from him though. Oops. ;p

This stall sold a variety of pickled food and local delights. I was scouting in front of the store curious of what were being sold. The jovial lady kindly offered her assistance and asked "can I help you?" I politely replied "can I take your photo?" Hehe. She nodded and business dealt. ;p She's a lovely lady.

Frankly, we don't know what these spices are. I guess, SESAM = sesame? ;)

The name of this shop is Gegenbauer. It's a popular local shop selling vinegar in various flavours. They sell beer vinegar, drinking vinegar, fruit vinegar and wine vinegar. I never knew there are Apricot's, Blueberry's, and Tomato's vinegars!

Apart from the stalls mentioned, there are also a variety of restaurants selling foods from Asian, Middle Eastern, German, Spanish to American styles. We resorted to try some kebab and falafel.

I had a falafel and washed down with a pint of Viennese beer. :)

PS, I Love You

2009-05-25T15:46:00.006+01:00

I have just finished reading PS, I Love You, a novel written by Cecelia Ahern. Cecelia is the daughter of Ireland's former prime minister and has got several bestsellers under her belt. The novel is about the agony suffered by a young married lady, Holly who had just lost her husband due to critical illness, and how her late husband taught and guided her that life goes on with a bundle of notes left behind.

It's a classic heartbreaking love story set in Dublin city with strong Irish accents. I find that the storyline is rather predictable and there is no real climax. Nevertheless it's still worth reading.

Life's for living, Holly realises-but it always helps if there's an angel watchin' over you.

I'm looking forward to see the movie next starred by Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler.

I'm currently burning my midnight oils on The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. ;)

Hofburg & Schonbrunn Palaces

2009-05-24T12:02:00.013+01:00

During our trip to Vienna, we spent quite a substantial amount of time visiting the Hofburg Imperial Palace and Schonbrunn Palace (Schloss Schonbrunn in German).

Hofburg has housed some of the most powerful people in Austrian history, including the Habsburg dynasties. It was the Habsburg's winter residence. The earliest part of the building was built in the 13th century and has been extended many times under different rulers over the course of history. In the photo above, the dome of Michaelertrakt is framed by the buildings along Kohlmarkt street at Michaelerplatz.

The extensive Hofburg Imperial Palace includes among others the Amalienhof, Imperial Chancellery, Burgkepelle, Naturhistorisches and Kunsthistorisches Musuems, Prunksaal and Spanish Riding School.

Located at Michaelerplatz at the eastern end of Hofburg, Michaelerkirche or St. Michael's Church is a fine Romanesque building in Vienna.

There are many horse-drawn hackney carriages plying the cobblestone streets of Vienna old town. It's quite a beautiful sight but the horses could get nasty at times - they left trails of shit, real shits all along the streets and it could be very smelly! ;)

One of the statues at the facade of Michaelertrakt. I think his tummy could match mine. ;)

That's the courtyard of In der Burg, Amalienhof at the back and the Imperial Chancellery Wing to the right. The Imperial Chancellery was the office of chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire and was later converted into the presidential suites of the emperor family. The famous Emperor Franz Joseph once occupied here as well.

Neue Burg, the new castle is nestled between the two beautiful gardens of Volksgarten and Burggarten, housed the historic arms and armour collection, old musical instruments, high-quality finds from Ephesus in Turkey and the Greek island of Samothrace, etc.

The statue of Prince Eugene of Savoy is standing majestically in front of Neue Burg.

Naturhistorisches and Kunsthistorisches Musuems which houses the precious artifacts and artworks are located right across the Ringstrasse road. There are too many musuems in Vienna and we could afford to visit all of them. Furthermore, some are quite boring though. We skipped these. :p

After Hofburg, we headed next to Schonbrunn Palace which is located about 8km from the city center. Schonbrunn is again another extensive royal residence which has served the Habsburg dynasties and was the summer residence of Habsburg. The palace and the surrounding gardens have been listed under the Unesco World Heritage Site for its historical and cultural significance.

We took the self-guided tour to enter the royal residence and to see what's it like to live in a palace. We visited 22 of the state rooms, strolling through the west wing of the palace which houses the apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, as well as the magnificent ceremonial rooms in the central part of the palace.

This was our first time entering a palace building. The interior decorations, the rooms layout, the sculptures and paintings, the intricately crafted furniture, the tableware and cutleries, the chandeliers, etc are unbelievably gorgeous. They are so delicate and impressive. I left the palace speechless. ;)

The sculpted gardens are really huge in its ancient layout and glory. Scores of people relaxed and strolled around the gardens. We rested at one of the benches too. :)

Churches in Vienna

2009-05-23T17:44:00.009+01:00

Vienna has such a large concentration of beautiful churches and synagogues in the city centre, ranging from small parishes to monumental cathedral, with architectures from Romanesque era, gothic, baroque, to neoclassical styles. We had no choice but to shortlist only 3 churches which we attracted us most.

St. Stephen's Cathedral, or Stephensdom in German is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and is the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Stephen. This largely gothic cathedral was built and consecrated in the 12th century and has been extended several times over the course of history.

Mind you, the south tower is 136m tall at its highest point and is a dominant feature of Vienna skyline. That's equivalent to a 40 storeys highrise tower! One of the special features of this cathedral is its richly patterned and coloured roof tiles.

It's free to enter Stephensdom but tourists are only allowed to visit the narthex area and a side aisle. Nave, transepts, chancel, santuary, altar and apse areas are reserved for genuine catholic patrons and we could only view these area from afar. The vaulted nave ceiling is indeed impressive.

Candle lights. There were scores of catholics gathering around the racks to light a candle and offered their prayers. I was thinking to light a candle and pray for world peace too. :p

St. Charles's Church, or Karlskirche in German is one of the most impressive baroque church in the region built in 18th century. It's flanked by two tall columns of bas-reliefs and topped with a huge elliptical dome.

When we visited the church, there was a service going on; probably a Eucharist or Easter Vigil mass. We were 'refused entry' again :( Well, the best we could was to peep from the portico. On top of that, there were conservation and restoration works going on too and scaffolding were erected in the nave and at the west facade too.

This angel statue is located at the entrance of the church. I really like this picture. The clear blue sky formed a clean backdrop and made the beautifully crafted statue stands out.

St. Peter's Church, or Peterskirche in German is another baroque church built in the 18th century and is conveniently located off Graben in the city centre. The design was inspired by the St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican in Rome. The facade of the building might not seem that interesting but the interiors are quite impressive though.

The interiors are decorated with rich golden stucco and the frescoes at the oval dome are especially impressively. I couldn't really draw nor paint, and that's why I really respect the great painters of the past.

Looking at the great churches in every European cities, it's easy to visualise that religion played such an important role in people's life in the early ages.

Dining at a Heuriger

2009-05-23T00:25:00.002+01:00

I must say this was the most romantic dining venue with great ambiance I've ever been to-date. The name of the place was Twelve Apostlecellar, or Zwolf-Apolftelkeller in Vienna. Zwolf-Apolftelkeller is a heuriger, a wine tavern which serves local wines as well as food.

The heuriger is located at a 3-storey underground vaulted cellar which dated back to as early as 12th century. Entering from the street level entrance, we descended through a rather narrow stairway down to the cellar. The ceiling of the vaulted cellar is high and I think we were probably 5 or 6 meters below ground at the first underground level. Looking at the well-preserved historic masonry, I felt like as if I'd travelled 500 years back to an ancient dungeon!

The cellar is lighted with tungsten lights and suitably dotted with pieces of antic at a number of the corners. The atmosphere was really romantic.

I've read that waiters and waitresses in Vienna are particular grumpy and bad-tempered. Well, we experienced it first-hand at this heuriger. We'd probably waited for 5 or 10 minutes before a middle-aged waiter served us a menu. We were browsing through the menu for a few seconds to determine what to order before the waiter left us rudely and only returned 5 minutes later to take our order. He was so impatient donning his vexed faces.

Fortunately the great ambiance of place overwhelmed the incidence and we were not really offended in any bit. There were also two musicians playing violin and accordion which lifted our spirit immediately when we stepped into the cellar. And they played good classical music! We should have tipped them to show our appreciation.

We ordered a Viennese platter for 2: meat dumplings, greave dumplings, smoked pork, carraway roast, black puddings, liverwurst and Frankfurter with hot cabbage and bacon salad. Yummy! Yummy! I loved the dish but Siew Leng thought it's a bit too salty though, and she disliked the black puddings and liverwurst. I was satisfied having the meal and washed down with a glass of local white wine. ;)

Even the streets around that area were so romantic. I'm already missing Vienna's Zwolf-Apolftelkeller! :)

Vienna Easter Markets

2009-05-22T20:35:00.011+01:00

It was Easter during our visit to Vienna. I've never been to any Easter market and in fact I didn't know markets are usually organised during this season in some European countries to celebrate Easter. So I thought we should pay a visit to at least one of the more popular Easter markets in Vienna. We visited three Easter markets eventually. Hehe. ;)

The first we stumbled upon was Am Hof Easter Market in the city centre. It was morning before lunch and was still rather quiet. There were only a handful of people patronising the stalls. What impressed most was not the handicrafts but this talented harp player. The sound of the harp was so soothing. :)

I was looking forward to some merchants selling Viennese sausages and other Easter snacks. There was no food stall. Only handicrafts, souvenirs and some antics were being sold at Am Hof.

Well, I think the biggest reward was meeting this pretty Viennese girl. :p With permission, she gently posed for me for a few shots. I was more eager than ever to visit more Easter markets! :p

Freyung Easter Market was just a short walking distance away from Am Hof. Yay! I smelt sausages. I knew this is where we were going to have our light lunch. Hehe. Not only that, there were stalls selling Viennese wines too. I couldn't wait to taste a glass of Gruner Veltliner, a local white wine. ;)

Even dogs joint the crowd and had fun at the festival. By the way, Vienna people love dogs so much that we were even taking our Metro train rides with dog beside.

It's expected that numerous beautiful and traditional easter decorations - easter eggs in all variations, easter candles, palm leaves, flowers, stoneware, ceramics, eggs in different sizes, toys and handcraft from all over Austria - would on sale at every Easter markets. This beautiful woman sold some scarf and tie accessories.

Easter eggs in various decorations and colours. I've seen Easter eggs before but I never knew what's the meaning of it until this trip. Egg is a symbol of rebirth or resurrection and traditionally, Easter eggs are often hidden, allegedly by Easter Bunny, for children to find on Easter morning.

I've yet to come across Easter eggs in actual egg shell in Dublin. But chocolate eggs were plenty being sold in all major department stores.

A cheese seller was slicing a wheel of cheese into pieces for sale. He seemed to be really 'pro'. Hehe.

Schonbrunn Palace Easter Market was located right in front of the palace itself surrounded by beautiful baroque architectures. The set up was pretty similar to the other two markets which we visited earlier that day. We didn't spend much time here and just strolled around briefly. :)

These eggs were made in various stones and marble.

The cookies and pastries looked rather delicious. Hehe. We had a pretzel before heading off to visit the palace.

Traditional wooden puppets.

Visiting the Easter markets reminded me of our own pasar malam in Malaysia. I've not been to any pasar malam for more than 2 years now and I'm really missing it. :)

Vienna State Opera House

2009-05-22T17:39:00.001+01:00

On the next day of our Vienna holiday, we took a guided tour to visit the famous State Opera House, or Wien Staatsoper in German . Looking at the exteriors, it just looks like another opulent stately building in a European city.

Vienna State Opera as its name suggests, is an opera house with history dating back to the 19th century. The construction of this Neo-Renaissance style monument was a controvesial subject then and upon its completion, it was not popular with the public. The architect of the building was so sad of the critique and even commited suicide. Nevertheless, the opening premiere was the Don Giovanni opera by Mozart.

The opera house was partly damaged during the World War II but has since been beautifully reconstructed to its original design. The craftsmanship and masters of the yesterdays never fail to amaze me.

We started off our tour walking up the celebratory main stairwell built in marble. This is the grand entrance to various parts of the main auditorium and is adorned with a number of notable statues and paintings.

With view straight across the main stage, the Middle Box seats were formerly reserved for the Court. Today it's accessible to the public. Being the first tour of the day, we got the chance to visit the backstage as well. Some workers were busy setting up the stage for the opera show later that night. The backstage is huge and I guess it could easily fit in 2 to 3 tennis courts.

The main auditorium and the balcony levels are designed in horseshoe shape in traditional red-gold-ivory colours to provide the best view possible to most of the seats. And you won't miss the large chandelier made from crystal hung high above the main auditorium. I advise you not to choose a seat beneath this monster as it weighs 3 tonnes! I never thought of attending an opera show but being inside this magnificent auditorium has changed my mind. I'll want to see an opera and feel the atmosphere in such a magnificent hall whenever I have a chance next time! ;)

Tea Salon is a richly decorated room located behind the Middle Box reserved for private use. The ceiling and walls are adorned with 22 carat gold leaf. We were only allowed to 'peep' from the door eventhough I'd told them I won't steal the gold. :(

Okay. Forget about the Tea Salon, this hall, Gustav Mahler Hall is dedicated for the rest of the spectators during opera reception and intervals. Gustav Mahler was apparently one of the most accomplished conductors and directors in Viennese history.

Foyer and Loggia, this is more of an art gallery instead of its intended use as reception area. This room is dedicated to the great Viennese composers, conductors and directors. Their statues and paintings are prominently displayed all over the room.

Even the vaulted hallways are so delicate.

The State Opera House is indeed an architectural masterpiece. I wish I had the chance to spend more time inside but unfortunately the only way to visit it was by a 40min guided tour.

Classical Music in Vienna

2009-05-21T15:28:00.009+01:00

Vienna, or Wien in German is dubbed to be the 'Capital of Classical Music' in the world. This is where many classical music legends like Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Brahms, etc congregated and produced some of the most recognisable symphonies and glorious chamber works in 19th and early 20th century. Vienna is also home to the Vienna Boys' Choir, which is renowned of their angelic voices and tailor suits and has its origin during the medieval period.

I am not really a great fan of classical music. However, I found myself immersed in the heavenly melodies and truly enjoying it on a very rare occasion - attending the Mozart Concert presented by Vienna Mozart Orchestra at Musikverein concert hall.

We bumped into people dressed like Mozart in historical costume and wig at most tourist spots in Vienna. They are not street entertainers but are employed to sell various concert tickets performing in the city. It was great atmosphere with their presence. :)

We had a hard time having to decide which show to buy between the Vienna Boys' Choir performance at Burgkepelle and Mozart Concert at Musikverein. We eventually chose Musikverein and bought our concert tickets with this Mozart impersonator. He seemed to be very nice and helpful running us through most of the ongoing performances in the city; of course he was since he wanna does business with us. We took the advantage, and snapped another few photos with him. ;)

Attending the more popular concerts at major concert halls was not cheap. As we're already in the Capital of Classical Music, we wanted to experience the best. We chose Musikverein, famous for its superior acoustics and is one of the 3 finest concert halls in the world. Well, that's what the travel books told me. ;) Musikverein was built in the 19th century and is also home to the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. It costed us €42 each for the cheapest seats high up at the balcony at the back!

Arriving at Musikverein in the evening, we were greeted by its stately entrance facade. We were already starting to get excited. Hey, I never imagined I'd ever attend a classical music concert!

When we made our way into the Goldener Saal hall, my jaw dropped having overwhelmed by the elaborate interior decors cladded in golden colours. I have seen the pictures in books and webs but being present in there was quite a different experience. Without further ado, I took out my camera and began snapping before the crowd pulled in. ;p

All of the performers were dressed in historical costume and wig. Sometimes I wonder was that the best hairstyle available in the 19th century. Imagine music legends like Johannes Brahms once performed at this very same stage!

The violins and all other musical instruments roared. I must say that's probably one of the best live music I've ever heard in my entire life. There was no microphone nor any modern sound system but the sounds and voices of the orchestra was clearly audible and vibrated across the hall from front to back. I fell in love with classical music, for 2 hours. ;p

I might not have the chance to attend another great classical music concert, but I certainly would not hesitate to recommend any visitors to Vienna to experience Haydn's, Mozart's or Strauss' music concerts.

Easter Trip 2009

2009-05-20T19:15:00.003+01:00

During the last Easter week earlier this year, Siew Leng and I made a impromptu trip to visit Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. It was Spring and the weather was sunny not being too hot. It was fantastic trip visiting these Central European cities. I'll be writing on this trip next. :)

About Nelson Chin

2009-05-19T09:30:00.005+01:00

I am a civil and structural engineer by training and has been practising with engineering consultancy firms in the building construction sector since graduation. I have carried out numerous structural design of buildings as tall as 50 storeys in Malaysia and have been involved extensively in the use of concrete, steel and composite materials for various building structures in commercial, residential, healthcare and educational sectors in Ireland.

On the lighter sides, I enjoys reading and travelling very much. Indeed one of the reasons I chose to relocate to Dublin was to explore and experience Europe. More than just seeing of historic monuments and breathtaking scenery when travelling, I seek to savour the food, engage the customs and culture, understand the religion and meet the people. I just bought my first DSLR camera last Christmas of 2008 and photography has since become one of my fondest hobbies. I enjoy capturing the essence of a place, environment and people and find great satisfaction sharing the photos with friends and family members.

Together with my lovely fiancee, Siew Leng, we are currently residing in the city of Dublin. I hail from Tawau, Sabah and am a Chinese-Malaysian.

I may be contacted at yychin At gmail Dot com.

Welcome

2009-05-18T12:00:00.001+01:00

Welcome to my blog.
I've always wanted to start up a blog to document my experiences living in Ireland and to share snippets of my life since almost 2 years ago. I know I've procrastinated too long. ;) I'll be posting my backlogged travel trips around Europe, apart from the updates and trivia of my recent happenings.

I hope you enjoy reading my posts. Cheers!

2009-05-18T09:00:00.002+01:00

All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Nelson Chin.

© Nelson Chin 2009

DISCLOSURE POLICY

This policy is valid from 18 May 2009

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me.

This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations.

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.