Lucky for some.

On Friday the 13th, we set off on our weekend getaway to Abu Dhabi - the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. We dropped Gypsy Dog off at his best pal's, Groucho's, for his weekend of fun before starting our 90-minute drive to Abu Dhabi.

It's basically one straight road to the capital city from Dubai, and much of the scenery along this stretch is of 'the green belt' - basically cultivated greenery in what would otherwise be desert. As we approached the city, there were more villas, mosques and rows of small shops distantly resembling some of the smaller townships in Malaysia.

...the view from our room at the Hilton Abu Dhabi...

We arrived at the Hilton on the corniche which had gorgeous views of the Emirates Palace Hotel and the Marina Mall across the sea. I have to admit that the exterior of the hotel did look a bit dated and like something out of the 70's, but it couldn't be more different once we got inside and to our guest room.

Despite being the capital city, I found the pace of life a little slower and more relaxed compared to Dubai. The traffic didn't seem as bad and the city also seemed more developed, less crowded and generally well organised. We took it easy at the hotel once we arrived, before having a leisurely buffet lunch at the hotel's Thai restaurant then took a short drive across the causeway to the Marina Mall.

...at the beach...

We didn't spend too much time at the mall, but just enough to check out Gap [as the one in Dubai is not open just yet!], and my all-time favourite one-stop home furnishing store, IKEA. We then retreated back to the hotel in time for an evening swim and to watch the sunset on the beach.

...at the pool...

The rest of our stay was filled with relaxing by the beach and the pool, reading, and eating - including one of the best Italian meals we've had outside of Italy! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect long weekend getaway.

Itchy Feet.

This time last year, we were getting ready to leave for our European Escapade, and what a trip it turned out to be! I've really missed travelling the last 6 months, and now at 27 weeks pregnant, it's really too late to fly anywhere.

Not to despair! We've got a short weekend getaway planned to Abu Dhabi which I know, does not sound all that exciting, nonetheless it's something we're both really looking forward to. I've never been to Abu Dhabi - a neighbouring emirate of Dubai and the capital of the UAE - and Gypsy Boy is desperately in need of a well-earned break. We're also just looking forward to getting out of Dubai for a change of scenery, and a weekend of lounging at the hotel and beach in the garden city of the UAE.

Here's to what will probably be our last holiday as a couple in a while!

Waiting.

Gypsy Boy comes home today! He's only been away two days in Bahrain for work, but I'm really not used to him being the one going away and me staying home. It used to be the other way around when I was working, and both Gypsy Dog and I have missed him heaps even though it's just been a couple of days.

Anyhow, he is on his way home now and Gypsy Dog and I are anxiously waiting!

Dubai to become a geo-city.

It was recently in the news that Dubai is set to become a geo-city next year. It will be interesting to see progress with this, in a city amongst the highest per capita waste generation in the world.

Recycling at Brussels Airport

While we were in Brussels recently, I noticed these clever bins dotted all around the airport! Just what we need here to kickstart recycling.

Turkish Delight.

Istanbul has got to be one of my favourite cities in the world! I never expected that I'd like it as much as I did, but I couldn't help falling in love with this beautiful, historic city and its warm, friendly people.

We started off by taking a nice long walk after checking into our hotel, just a stones throw away from the famous Blue Mosque, Haghia Sohpia, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar!

...Fresh pomegranate juice for 3Turkish Lira at every street corner - yum!...

Our timing probably couldn't be worse, coinciding with Pope Benedict's visit to Turkey. I was a little concerned that we wouldn't get to see all the sights after hearing about the police force being out en masse with snipers and decoys while the Pope toured and visited famous landmarks. However the worst we endured was a 2 hour car ride from the airport to our hotel in Sultanahmet, that normally would've taken us 25 mins, facing grid lock traffic, road blocks and many a detour.

...The entrance to Topkapi Palace...

...The beautiful Topkapi Palace...
...Gorgeous tiling in one of the rooms in Topkapi Palace...

We had a full-on second day, but I think we just managed to cover most of the sights and fit in some delicious Turkish meals plus some great shopping!

...Inside the Haghia Sophia: a church-mosque!...

...Looking over the Bosphorus at Asian Istanbul from European Istanbul...

...One of the many entrances to the Grand Bazaar - the largest undercover market in the world...

...Inside the Grand Bazaar...

...Delicious Turkish food - our first dinner in Istanbul!...

...enjoying Turkish coffee after dinner - yum!...

...Turkish Delights for sale in a window of a cafe...

...The Blue Mosque...

...Apple tea and flower tea - a bit like hot apple juice and hot ribena!...

Istanbul really surprised me. Turkey is a Muslim country with over 99% of its population being Muslim. Yet, aside from a handful of older women, I didn't see any that covered their hair and they dressed in modern western clothes. Other than this, alcohol is also served in cafes and restaurants everywhere and we got to try some great Turkish wines!

We just loved the atmosphere of this old, bustling city which is always so full of life. We adored the food and the hospitality of the Turkish people touched our hearts. Hopefully we will be able to return again soon to see more of beautiful Istanbul.

Bonjour Bruxelles!

So here we are in Brussels, where Gypsy Boy is attending a short course for work and I am taking full advantage of the benefits!

...Heading in the wrong direction!...

Yesterday afternoon, I set out looking for the famous Grand Place which is just a stone's throw away from our hotel, but I missed the turning and got a little lost. I gave up using my little map and decided to practise my French by asking for directions. A kind man in a suit offered to show me the way as he was headed for similar direction. Like when we were in France, I am trying my best to only speak French [apart from when talking with Gypsy Boy of course!]. I learnt that the gentleman is actually a Parisian but works as a diplomat here in Brussels!

...On the right track - passing a beautifully decorated shop in an arcade...

Alas, I found my way down a winding alley filled with restaurants and cafes boasting traditional Belgian fare, many displaying fresh seafood on ice on the terrace. A restaurant called Chez Leon caught my eye and I decided to stop for a spot of lunch. Evidently as popular as rumoured in travel guides, it was one of the only places that was busy. I was seated at a table adjoining one with an older Belgian couple on the terrace. The couple, like the gentleman I'd met earlier, were curious to learn where I come from having heard me order in French! Of course, once I say Dubai and New Zealand, they are all the more curious! Hee hee.

...Looking for lunch...

After I finish my seemingly huge but delicious pot of Belgian mussels and frites, our conversation [en Français!] continues and we chat for the next hour or so before I finally make my way over to Grand Place. Leading away from the square, I wandered down the lanes full of quaint Belgian chocolatiers, lace and embroidery shops, and workmen busy putting up Christmas decorations.

...Grand Place...

One of my favourite things to do when in a foreign city, is to visit the supermarket. Yesterday afternoon I came across 3! I just love browsing the aisles to see all the different products and discovering the local fruit, veg and food the locals buy. I ended up buying 3 different boxes of Belgian chocolate and found my favourite pastry in the patisserie section - pain au chocolat!

...another gorgeous shop!...

...in the window of a chocolatier...
...Hot wine? I must try some!...

I wondered further away from Grand Place and came across a street housing the usual brands of apparel shops such as Benetton, Bershka, MNG etc. I browsed in a couple of local malls then decided it was time to find my way back to the hotel before it got dark!

************************************************************

This morning, we rose early and enjoyed a beautiful buffet breakfast where I got to meet with some of Gypsy Boy's international colleagues. I have to say that the breakfast at the hotel is pretty darn good, with a huge range of pastries, cereals, yoghurts, cheeses, cold meats [including smoked salmon!], eggs cooked to order, sausages, potatoes, baked beans etc. Phew! It was a great way to start the day.

...La Musee du chocolat...

As Gypsy Boy headed off to start his course, I headed out for day 2 in the city of Brussels! I set out this time to find Place de Sablon, an area filled with shops selling antiques, books and art before paying a visit to the Chocolate Museum where I saw a demonstration on how to make Belgian chocolates!

I browsed in some of the lace shops and bought two little lavender filled scent cushions for my Mum and Gypsy Boy's Mum, both with their initials embroidered on. I also went into a beer shop and bought 2 bottles of fruit flavoured Belgian beers for Gypsy Boy to try as I know he's been dying to taste them since we got here! Then I headed back for the hotel to meet Gypsy Boy for lunch.

There was a lunch put on again for his course attendees however I suspect he was a little envious of my delicious traditional Belgian feast yesterday and so decided to skip the free sandwiches today. So off we went to Chez Leon where he ordered what I had yesterday and I ordered a poached fillet of Pangas with potatoes. Yum!

Flying Turkish.

We have arrived in Brussels, after what seemed like a very long 8 hour trip via Istanbul early this morning with Turkish Airways.

The fares were very well priced at 2340AED per person, including all taxes and a stopover in Istanbul on our way home. This being our very first flight with Turkish Airways, we did not fail to notice that the clientele is very different from Emirates', the check-in queues were crowded and a little unruly and due to inefficient staffing and management wait times were out of control! Similarly, the flight was delayed by approximately 20 minutes and the boarding process was also ineffectively managed.

I have to say there is considerably more leg room in Economy class compared to Emirates, however you do have to contend with not only uncomfortable but garish turquoise-coloured vinyl seats! Also, the service and delivery process of meals onboard had to be the slowest and most inefficient I've ever encountered!

Having said all this, I found the Turkish people [just from my limited experience from onboard and at Ataturk airport] warm and friendly. The language is what puzzled me the most as I have to admit I haven't really heard much Turkish being spoken before today. I am not sure why, but I expected it to sound a bit more like Arabic, and to me it sounds more like an Eastern European language such as Hungarian or Cesky?! I'm not an expert, but this has spurred me on to find out more when I get home about this sing-song language and its roots and influences. Yep, being the language geek that I am.

The last 10 days.

I've been a bit slack with posting lately partly due to laziness, lack of motivation to post, and I guess it's been a little busier than normal.

The most exciting thing I guess was throwing a surprise party for Gypsy Boy's Birthday over the weekend, and getting my first piece of work completed.

Gypsy Boy's little party was fun, thanks to all our friends who came over to celebrate, and special thanks to Joy who helped so much with shopping, preparation and organising all the balloons! For some reason, I didn't take any photos which is a real shame so I'll have to post some when I get the photos from Joy that she took with her camera.

I also got delivered my first piece of work last week, and as it was urgent, I found myself working hard to get it finished by the deadline. I was pleased to find that it's not far from the sort of work I had to do as part of my previous role in NZ, and I really enjoyed it as well as being able to work from the comforts of home!

Today, I'm digging up some of our old winter clothes and starting to pack for our trip to Brussels and Istanbul. I can't believe we leave tomorrow already!

Oh, and as I type it's raining outside! I thought I could smell the rain, so I ran out to the balcony with Gypsy Dog at my heels to find grey skies and a light but constant drizzle. I haven't seen the rain in Dubai since January!

Nice pics.

I kinda got sidetracked from posting about the rest of our recent trip to Europe. Anyway, I guess I will do it slowly over time.

For now, here are some of my favourite shots from the short time we had in Nice, the South of France.

Out and about

Over the last couple of days [Eid], the streets were really quiet and the shopping malls have been absolutely packed! There was a festive feeling in the air that reminded me of Christmas as friends and families meet up to wish each other a Happy Eid and bring one another gifts. It was lovely to see children dressed up in their brand new outfits while the adults paraded in their 'Sunday bests'.

The Gypsy Family didn't get up to much over these last 2 days. The most exciting things of note would be:

1) Our trip to Al Ain. We enjoyed the drive there with chiseled and rolling sand dunes along the motorway and the mountainscape backdrop, but to be honest we didn't find much to do in Al Ain.

2) Booking our flights to Brussels. Unfortunately the flights via Greece were fully booked, but we managed to get a very good deal on Turkish Airways with a stopover in Istanbul on the way back. We've heard lots about how beautiful Istanbul is, so we're looking forward to our trip next month!

3) Meeting up with a Malaysian couple. We haven't really met many Malaysians here, especially not ones our age. So, it was fun meeting up with A & S for dinner and hear words like "cin cai" and the good old "lah" peppered into sentences!

Eid Mubarak

Selamat Hari Raya!

We have decided to take a last minute road trip today to the Garden city of Al Ain. It is approximately one and a half hours drive away and is part of the Abu Dhabi Emirate, bordering on Oman.

Safe and happy holidays to you all and your families!

More on art.

As promised some time ago in a previous post, here are photos of the recent additions to my little private gallery - 3 paintings I brought back from our trip to Europe in August.

The first, is an oil painting of a café scene in St. Germain-des-pres in Paris. It is also the smallest of the 3, and was purchased in Paris. I really liked this district [where the Musée D'orsay is located], and just loved the details the artist has captured here of the ubiquitous Parisian street café scene including the menu set out on the black board, and also the ornate wrought iron balconies.


The second painting is also an oil, and also purchased in Paris. It is recognisably a copy of Le Pont sur le bassin aux nympheas [Bridge over a pond of water lilies] 1899 by Claude Monet.


The last painting we purchased is from Venice and pictures a narrow, quiet canal in Ferrovia. The artist and her sister paints from photos they take of the scenery around Venice and to a lesser extent, other parts of Italy. It was nice to be able to chat to the artist and purchase one of her beautiful works. I love the way she has captured the light and the reflection in this painting.


All 3 were stretched and framed in Dubai. [Click on each image for an enlarged view].

Spaghetti ai tartufi neri

...is what I cooked for dinner last night!

This is a Florentine specialty that I first tried on our recent trip there and needless to say it was love at first bite! In our 4 days in Florence, Italy, I must've ordered this dish at least 3 times! Before we left, we came across some bottled truffles in the food market and bought a small bottle to take home. We also bought a bottle of truffle and mushroom olive oil we found in a supermarket at our next stop in Venice.

Armed with these items, cooking up a simple dish of spaghetti with truffles is quite easy. Just add garlic, freshly chopped herbs and some parmesan. Yum!

Belgian waffles in Belgium?

I love Belgian waffles, and there is a possibility that Gypsy Boy and I could be doing this very thing in November! How perfect!


It just so happens that we did not go to Belgium at all on our recent European escapade. Fingers crossed, will keep you posted on more as details unfold...

Paris, vous êtes belle!

I loved absolutely everything about this beautiful city - the language, the people, the art, the museums, the food, the wine, the architecture, the pretty façade of the buildings, the french windows... Really, what is there not to love?

...the view of Paris from atop L'arc de triomphe, CDG Etoile!...

...Gypsy Boy by L'Arc de Triomphe...

Paris was hands down my favourite city on this whole trip, and actually, it's probably in my top 3 favourite cities in the world!

...La Tour Eiffel...

We stayed in between the first and second arrondissements, just up the road from the Opéra, and down the road from the Louvre! As with most of the cities we visited on our trip, we bought passes which included unlimited entry to museums and also on public transport. This was fabulous value as we visited at least one museum each day of our stay [and avoided long queues at the same time!], and caught the métro everywhere.

...Louvre pyramid...

I was lucky enough to spend my Birthday last month in gorgeous Paris spending the morning in the Picasso Museum, the afternoon wandering down lovely rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter where we enjoyed some delicious crepes! Then, we browsed through the amazing Galeries Lafayette and neighbouring Printemps.

...an ad for the Galeries Lafayette sale...

...Galeries Lafayette - inside...

..spice for sale at Galeries Lafayette...

I'd learnt about Galleries Lafayette in high school French class, so to actually finally see it and shop there was really cool! Gypsy Boy and I have taken a liking to eating escargots every now and then at home in Dubai. We can easily get them seasoned and frozen from France at our local Carrefour hypermarket in Dubai. So, at Galleries Lafayette Maison [the department store actually occupies more than one building in the block!], we were delighted to find the little plates, forchettes and pinces specially for escargots.

I was also excited to see Printemps - a French department store that my family used to frequent when I was little in Kuala Lumpur, except this was the real deal!

During our stay, we got to be friends with Moun a lovely French girl working at our hotel, who'd suggested the most amazing places to dine at as well as making reservations for us. One of which was at a wonderful little family run restaurant nearby, called La Cordonnerie. The chef passionately described the menu to us, his wife helped him in the kitchen, and their young son enthusiastically waited on guests! It was simply delightful, and the meals were delicious!

...My Birthday dinner at La Cordonnerie Restaurant...

One of the things we really wanted to do while in Paris, was to go to a French cabaret. There were a few choices such as The Crazy Horse, The Lido, and of course The Moulin Rouge amongst other smaller but also excellent cabaret shows. Once again, Moun was ever helpful in describing what each was like and seeing that we wanted to go to a real French cabaret [as opposed to a more 'Americanised' one], she made reservations for us to go to The Moulin Rouge. The tickets are as pricey as they are rumoured to be, however you do get a bottle of French champagne to enjoy with the show, and we loved every moment of it we even bought the CD afterwards!

...outside the Moulin Rouge...

************************************

6 days is probably more time than most visitors would spend in the French capital, however I was so in love with this beautiful city, I was ready to move in! It is however an extremely expensive city to be in and Chief Financial Controller [aka Gypsy Boy!] was ready to move on. More snippets of our stay in gorgeous Paris in photos:

...Le Bon Marché, the world's first department store!...

...a fruit market we stumbled across in Marais, the 3rd arrondissement...

...rue Mouffetard in the 5th arrondissement - great restaurants, cafes, traditional French shops, and a small market to boot at the end of the street...

...a Gargoyle enjoying the view of Paris from Nôtre Dame, with the Sacré Coeur in the background...

...The real deal! LV's flagship store on Avenue des Champs-Elysées...