Family Vacation

They almost did not make it here. Winter came way too early and the abundance of snow, super cold temperature and blizzards rendered the airports in London inoperable. Their Ryan Air flight from Stansted to Bremen was cancelled and we quickly explored other land routes. Options that came to mind were ferry crossing and Eurostar. Ferry tak berapa menarik coz kena travel up to Newcastle to take the route to Amsterdam, one of the nearest ports to our place in Hannover and then one whole night dibuai ombak. Sejuk-sejuk freezing ribut topan all ni tak berapa menarik la option ni. Nak naik ferry ikut Calais nanti kena cari train connection pulak from France to Germany which with the snow condition in France was also tricky. That leaves the Eurostar direct from St. Pancras to Brussels. Of course thare was a mad scramble for the Eurostar what with most of the airports closed. Somehow, Uncle Pete managed to book the last few tickets on sale. Masa nak check-in even as early as 5.00 am for the train departing to Belgium at 7.30 am, queue teramat panjang berjela sampai keluar St. Pancras Station tu. Although people had confirmed tickets, they were put on a first-come-first-serve basis sebab people who had missed earlier trains due to cancelled services were also allowed to queue. Looking at the situation, Uncle Pete was ready to balik terus ke Malaysia kalau tak dapat seats as they have had enough of the travel chaos. Somehow seru nak ke Germany must have been very strong, despite the odds and with a lil bit of mengelat kasi "suap" cigar kat Mamat yg queue di depan and buat muka seposen, they managed to get their seats on the train to Brussles. Hence bermula la their adventure to the other side of the European continent, covering parts of Belgium, Germany, France and Netherlands.

Berkelah nasi lemak kat parking lot Brussels Train Station. Uncle Pete said it tasted especially good in the cold wintry weather after the hassle with transportation and what not.

Despite the biting cold, we had fun at the Christmas Market in Hannover, located next to the Market Church and Old Town Hall.

This is not child labour. These two are as thick as thieves and enjoyed playing in the snow.

Despite the long 7-hour drive, snow and icy roads, we arrived safely at the apartment near Disneyland Paris, at Citea Magny-le-Hongre. The Autobahn was ok though as the snow was cleared regularly and given salt treatment.

We were satisfied with the apartment which came in the form of a double-storey terraced houses. The only grouse was the lone toilet which necessitated some very tak tahan member of the entourage pergi toilet dekat reception. We were also without hot water for one day and the solution...pergi mandi kat toilet di reception tu which was also equipped with a shower.

Snowball fight..plenty of snow to play around with. That's Angah trying to hide from Uncle Pete who was trying to hit him while taking care not to slip lest his kepala lutut tercabut balik.

Burger Malaysia for breakfast. The budget traveller that we are, we try to have homecooked meals (read:nasi and lauk) at least once a day. Normally breakfast and din will be enjoyed at the apartment. So kalau berjalan, it's like dapur bergerak with periuk nasi, rencah2x, frozen lauk pauk basah stored in the ice storage box.

These two tak boleh berenggang, jalan pun pegang tangan. Nanti dah besar sikit sure malu.

Jalan2x di Val d'Europe shopping centre in Marne-la-Valee which is very near to Disneyland and some 5 minutes from our apartment. We parked the car here and took the RER/Metro to downtown Paris. Driving would have been madness with the snow and the notorious Paris traffic jam.

Macarons that we bought at the supermarket at Val d'Europe. Not as great as Ladurée or Pierre Hermé in terms of presentation but scored rather high with me on taste as they're not as sweet as the former. I especially love the green pistachio ones.

Icing-topped car anyone? These accumulated over the few hours that we took the train to Paris.

Great spot at Trocadero for photo shoots with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

The Avenue des Champs- Elysees

Some of the crowd in LV.....
Somebody sure was happy at LV's flagship store....see the big brown paper bag...siap balut dengan plastic to keep away the rain. All purchases were given the same treatment by the sales personnel as it was raining then.

I love Paris. Walaupun dah pergi a few times, Paris never fail to provide the excitement.

We managed to go to château de Versailles this time tapi tak sempat masuk. Dah tutup. So bergambar kat luar and dengan statue King Louis. It started out as a modest hunting lodge built by Louis X111, the King of France in the small village of Versailles and thereafter enlarged by Louis X1V, who turned it into a great palace.

This shop sells bake wares and has been in business since 1814. Actually nyer nak cari E.Dehillerin another specialist bakeware shop established in 1820 and was Julia's (of the movie Julie & Julia) favourite haunt but tak jumpa plus potong steam bila dengar a lot of reviews kata kedai tu tak berapa nak layan orang2x biasa ni tambah2x tourist as they especially cater for professional chefs. Kedai MORA ni ala-ala peralatan dapur kat Chow Kit (aparrently E'Dehillerin pun katanya same set-up, kinda old like that), penuh stacked with cooking and baking wares, tapi shop assistants di sini quite eksyen sebab yang datang beli ramai chefs. Barang2x very expensive and I think in terms of selection Malaysia has got more especially products form China. But here of course they claim that quality is guaranteed. Dah la kita tak pandai berbahasa French, memang kalau kita bertanya, bo layan la depa. Cari la sendiri, which was what I did. I was looking for silpats, so bertanya la kat one of the sales assistants...dia tunjuk2x dari jauh jer kata there in the corner. Terbongkok-bongkok cari, nasib baik jumpa.

Can never get enough of Eiffel Tower, tak jemu mata memandang. The one above captured when the lights glittered is priceless.

Arc de Triomphe

This was at the hotel in Eindhoven. Kari ayam dah siap masak the night before kat apartment in France so masak nasi jer and rebus telur plus we still had leftover daging masak merah. To avoid trigerring the smoke detector, the rice cooker had wet towel treatment while the rice bubbled away. Since tak der pingan coz we didn't bring any as the Paris apartment was well stocked, tudung periuk pun jadi la....kalau org tua2x tengok mesti banyak pantang larang makan atas tudung periuk. Tak takut ka Ziad? Sangat seronok berkelah dalam bilik hotel and sedap worrrr....especially kari yang dah semalaman tu.

This one had better presentation. We used the coffee tray in the room.

Designer Outlet Roermond, Holland on Boxing Day. Sale not as great as that in London tapi 2 orang happy here dapat kasut Timberland. Yayyy...

These two buddies happily main XBox kat lobby Novotel Eindhoven. Ami Ziad rajin melayan depa ni, temankan main kat bawah. Value for moneyhotel ni, we got 3 rooms at around 50 Euros each for a family room for 4 pax plus kids get to eat buffet breakfast free.

Breakfast was superb for 7.50 Euro per adult while kids eat free. We had scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, salad, various bread, buns and pastries, cereals, fruit, yoghurt, and unlimited supply of specialty coffee.

Last stop was Amsterdam as Uncle Pete's flight was out of Schipol. The guys sempat ke "aquarium" tapi quite dissapointing katanya as "ikan2x" banyak yang cuti Krismas maybe. Sementara tu Mama, Aunty Ani and Enya masuk H&M.

Au revoir Uncle Pete, Aunty Ani and Enya....