Day trip from Florence to Pisa

Hey Anna!!

Yayy! Your 'magic' lamp arrived! I'm glad you like it. I wish I could've brought the whole store back!Just one doesn't have the same effect. To open it you have to pull out the top bit really hard.

I want to see more photos of you! I do hope you blog about the truffle festival with lots of photos. Of course you look gorgeous normally, but I haven't seen any photos of you dressed up and you look super gorgeous when you do!!!! I'm Anna-photo deprived.. that reminds me... it's business.. it's businesss timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!ooo I'm feeling good.. I'm feeling good tonight! ( I think we should do a dancing clip to this song and add it to our Ibiza video collection)

Anyway just a short post to let you know that we are alive and going! We've been busy travelling after Porto to Lisbon to Rome and now in Florence and I haven't had the chance to type out our adventures!

I can't believe it's only three more days and then I'll be back in London. I have to say that Rome second time around didn't impress me too much but I got to see some pretty cool things in Vatican City like the crypts and Sistine Chapel. Plus looking into the Vatican secret archive to see Gallileo's and Michelangelo's handwriting in letters that they've written and signed. I definitely love Florence more than Rome. It's a lot cleaner, relaxed and pleasant to stroll through.

Tonight I will leave you with badly and hilariously taken shots by dad. I took loads of photos for mum and dad and initially didn't bother too much about myself because I was there this time last year but then thought heck- why not just a few more! Haha! There are some wet-your-pants-ones of them but they won't let me publicize them. Oh I am enjoying myself a lot more than I expected!!!!Little things and their strange ways. Like how they get confused between Pisa and pizza. Oh dear! I am going to miss them when they leave :( Like the feeling when friends part after a wonderful holiday :(

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Distressed....

Butt on the lady's head

Kicking it

I'll let you be the judge of dad's camera abilities. None of them turned out the way I had imagined.

Enjoy!

XX

Last night in Porto

Hi Anna!

Oh I have been checking the blog hoping to hear from you!!!You've been missed and I've been wondering what you've been up to.

It's always a delight to see photos of you and more of a bonus of other friends;) hehe.. how cute a double date! I can't believe it's been another year for you. It feels as if it was only yesterday when you and Kev celebrated it :) Although Kev and Chin look very much in love too! Looking smoking with your red lippie. Love how it matches your blazer. Kev is one lucky man! Anyone would want you... including me :p Ok no lessy stuff. Just showing the love.

I will have to watch season 2 of Game of Thrones. If I run out of episodes I would definitely pick up the books to read too. At the moment I know I'll be moving I'm resisting buying any books as I wont have time to read them. I'm a bit disappointed about Khal. I bet he comes back alive later on though. Oh he is one sexy beast in a very strange beasty way. I think I'll be terrified if I ever came across someone like that in real life.

I'm a little uncertain how I'll react when I go to Perth for a visit. It will be the longest I've ever been away from Perth. I do miss it though. Even today I thought of Perth and how beautiful it is when I was at one of the beaches in Porto. It reminded me of Cottosloe. Today, my parents wandered somewhere and I was left with one hour (that went by too fast) to spend baking in the sun. The shore consisted of tiny pebbles the size of your thumb and smaller. I hope it's OK to pinch a few pebbles. They were very unusual marbled colours, very smooth and almost rounded in shape. The strangest thing was the freezing cold water! It wasn't extremely hot for a swim, about 25C, but I had to dip my feet in to say I've stepped in the Atlantic Ocean. I certainly did not expect it to be that cold! There were only three children frolicking in the water and I have no idea how they were able to handle the cold. Madness!

If only it was warm water like the summers in Perth. I'm starting to think that after a couple of years I'll actually move back. I could do with living near the ocean too. One can only dream..... all this sun her and regular walks down the river is making me want to live in Perth again. Not to mention how much I've missed everyone!!! I'll get you back into the swing of late nights with several sessions of catching up over drinks and dancing the night away. I wonder if we will manage to even stay up beyond 12. I can't last past 11 myself!  I also hope the winter isn't too cold for you. For once, Perth's temperatures are cooler than London's. How annoying that the sun decided to come out in London after we've left.

Mercado Bolhao was no where as good as the one in Valencia. It was a bit disappointing and there wasn't a lot of stalls. Nevertheless, mum and dad really enjoyed looking at the fresh seafood they had on sale. You wouldn't believe these huge octopus tentacles they had on sale that were as wide as my wrists. I shudder to think the size of these octopuses. Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember you don't like those suckers on tentacles and the squid they serve in dim sum creeps you out a bit. Haha!

Tomorrow we are catching a morning train to Lisbon. Just like all the cities I visit, I end up falling in love with them and it's no different for Porto. I'll end here with photos of the riverside and some of the seafood we've had. Bed time!

We're staying just behind the yellow buildings in the middle of the pic

Bless dad for trying to take a good pic for me! On top of one of the many bridges.

Porto is known for it's port wine and seafood! Various meals we've had. Clockwise port wine, roasted octopus (surprisingly soft and delicious!) and potatoes, shellfish and prawns and beans, grilled codfish Parents are totally loving the seafood here and we've been having it for lunch and dinner.

Sunny Porto and seafood

Greetings Anna from a very sunny Porto!

Legs up and blogging away

Just a quick blog to tell you how we're doing in Porto!

We arrived yesterday at noon. Unfortunately for us google maps let me down and pointed me to the wrong apartments with similar name. I won't blame my poor googling skills) This meant that dad had to lug down a 20kg suitcase that contained his and mum's belongings down these uneven windy steps. Oops!

Getting us lost!

Sneak peek of the river as we took the steps the wrong way. Will take better pictures when we go there again.

The steps!

Immediately I thought of Perth and parents agreed too because of the blue skies, fresh air, cleanliness, and wide open spaces. I also thought of Spain because some of the terrace buildings had balconies and the black wrought iron barricades that we saw in Gaudi's house. The one where we went crazy taking loads of photos in with the blue mirrors and tiles that were suppose to be like water.

We had lunch 'Annaandchia-in-Spain' style too! After finally checking in, we were so hungry and couldn't find any decent restaurants nearby so we went into a supermarket and got various bits and bobs for lunch. Mum and dad aren't fussy at all with their food so I grabbed random things like chickpeas, some sort of snails/fish in a tin in tomato sauce (haha. I know sounds bad but it was tasty!), bruschetta cruskit things, fruit and yoghurt. That was it I think. It was good because we wanted something light and especially because we planned to indulge in a huge seafood feast for dinner.

That dinner was huge alright! Again google maps let me down and we did a big loop before we asked a couple of locals. What I like about Porto is that the people leave you alone. They don't pester you to buy things and they don't stare at you. They pretty much leave you alone and I like that.  It might come across as unfriendly but they are very happy to help you but if you are lost and there is so much sincerity and humbleness when they speak. We asked a couple of old women peeping out the windows of their houses having a little evening chat where the restaurant was, and they pointed it to us and spoke in Portugese the right direction. Bless!

Dinner was in a restaurant called A Antiga. Porto is well known for it's fresh seafood and it was fresh alright! We did not realise it was fine dining and of course not dressed for it. Mum and dad definitely loved getting into the seafood. I had barnacles for the first time too! Think black stubby hairy fingers. They look rather ghastly! You had to twist them in the middle and shcluuuck the rubbery flesh out. Haha! good fun though and they tasted quite nice. Salty with a hint of an after taste I can't think of a word to describe it, but I did end up having a fair bit. Mum and dad also tried these shell creatures that looked like hermit crabs except instead of a crunchy creature inside it was like a conch inside. The crab was amazing too! Soft buttery juicy flesh. Best I've ever had!! And the fish came in huge portions too! Before we ordered, they brought out this humongous fish and we pointed to them which part we would like. They cook it up and bring it on a trolley and the waiter will dish up the food right in front of you.

.

He sells sea shells by the sea shore. You select and they bring it to you. Barnacles on the left, the shell things in the middle ad shrimp

Waiter serving food

Names of the things we ate. Cherne= crab, camarao costa= shrimp, ercebas = barnacles, sapateira= fish I think?, canhilhas= those shell things I was trying to describe,

The crab!!!

Empty street waiting for the tram back

That was yesterday for us It's almost 10am now, and after we're ready, I'm planning to take my parents to Mercado Bolhao and to walk along the river. I wonder if Mercado Bolhao will look similar to the markets in Valencia. Maybe we'll end up gathering another Annaandchia-in-Spain lunch.

It's a bit of an adjustment travelling with my parents and making sure they are alright and enjoying it. I was telling them how it's like looking after two children. I'm the one doing all the map reading (not so good on this trip!) and organising and them following like little ducklings, behind. We must stand out, haven't seen any other Chinese. I like to walk everywhere, but with my parents and the hilly cobble paths here, it means I have to limit the walking and have frequent stops with them. Overall I have to say they are a lot fitter and easier to travel with than I imagined!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our first day in Porto. Not sure if I have time to write later on the travels so thought I'd do a first post :) Enjoy your weekend!

Second day in Prague

Hi Anna!

Ahh when you read this it will be CHRISTMAS EVE!! I wonder what you will be doing?

Last night before our sauna session, we walked around the Old Town and climbed up the Astronomical Clock Tower for spectacular night views of the Christmas Markets. HW booked all the hotels and so far it's been superb because they're all close to the main attractions. The hotel that we're currently staying is rather grand and decorated in art noveau style. Plus it's great having free wi fi here! This means I can blog and wish everyone a Merry Christmas :D

Digital fireplace in the lounge of the hotel

I didn't know Prague was called Praha in Czech

Giant Xmas tree and markets

This morning after we'd stuffed ourselves silly with a continental breakfast buffet, we thought it was wise to spend the whole day walking it off. We walked all around Prague from the hotel to the Old Town, over Charles Bridge, up to Prague Castle, pass plenty of churches and a monastery, into shops for more Christmas decorations and back again.

Having my second helping :)

HW and I on Charles Bridge. Took us ages trying to get a decent photo of us!

Behind is Prague Castle. We walked from the bottom right of the photo. Unfortunately we weren't able to go inside because of the state funeral for the late Czech President.

HW and I went crazy with our decorations! We bought them from various stores along our descend from Prague Castle.

Prague isn't as cold as Nuremberg and sadly no snow is forecasted for Christmas :( The upside is that we didn't have to walk around with our gloves and were able to stay outdoors and walk around quite comfortably for a longer period of time.


I'm excited about tomorrow's lunch because we've made a booking at a restaurant based on reviews on tripadvisor.com.

Hope to hear about your Christmas activities soon :)

Salzburg - A beautiful little city

Hi Chia!

Your posts!

Two posts! I was treated! HAHA! Yea I have more photos of you and me from ages ago! Perhaps I shall post them later on when I don't have other things to post!

I love your pretty floral things! It really put me in the spring mood, and I wish that summer comes soon! I do like the happy diary idea! I had one last year actually. I found myself needing something to inspire happiness so I bought a journal from Kikki.K and it had 365 pages, one page for every day. So I decided to use this book to write or draw a positive thought, or thing. Even if it was a shitty day, I would find something that would make me happy, such as a picture or drawing on the net, or some lyrics of a song etc. I can't believe what a wonderful journal I ended up having in the end! It is a bit of a challenge to set aside a few minutes to write something down. But it is well worth it!

I called it '365 Days of Happiness' - Guess who featured in there a few times?!

Oh and speaking about spring! Your last post with your cute as a button black dress and the flowers, just made me wish if spring and summer even more! Kev actually started reading your post outloud to me this morning, as I didn't realise that you had made another post! I had to tackle him to stop him from continuing to read more and spoil my read! But ah! That dress just reminds me of Spain. You, and Me and Spain. It was the most romantic time everrrrr! Like the most romantic time that two girls can have in a foreign place! It more so reminded me of Valencia, and our trip to the market! Ahhh.... *sigh*

Salzburg

I had to do another post for Salzburg, because besides mountains and music, there are other wonderful and beautiful things about this city.

The part that Kev and I explored the most was the 'Old Town' which had cobbled stone lanes and is pedestrianised.  I love it how they make attempts to keep the culture and tradition in the Old Town, and soon discovered that even the modern stalls had old school signs which helped people figure out what a shop specialised in:

An umbrella shop

A clothing shop (See the thread and scissors!)

A pharmacy and hat store

Guess!? =P

I really enjoyed the little city of Salzburg as it was so easy to get around, and it was super safe! One of the things about Salzburg is that they had great food from the Michelin Star, to cafe to markets.

Carpe Diem


On our first day in Salzburg, it was raining and we were not prepared for it. So after finding a wonderful umbrella shop, Kev and I walked around Old Town, until we were able to find the restaurant Carpe Diem. Before we had left, I had searched for a Michelin Star restaurant to visit, since we do not have any in little old Perth, the one restaurant that caught our attention was Carpe Diem. When I explained to Kev what food they had and showed him the menu, he asked 'Are you telling me, they serve everything in cones?' When I answered 'Yes' he became super excited. The cone concept was truly unique, and I was curious how they would do it. So, when we found the restaurant, we walked in and enjoyed the yummy cone dishes!

Kev's Red Chicken Wings with baby corn
& spicy dip in a red pepper cone 

My Beef Hamburger with cheddar- cheese
in a rosemary cone, with french fried potatoes
& homemade ketchup

Other food

Kev and his chicken schnitzel burger, both showing off their tongues.

Tasty Pretzel

Cafe Tomaselli

Cafe Tomaselli was recommended to us by our Segway tour guide. She said that it had one of the best apple strudels there and had other wonderful cakes such as cheesecake strudel and the like. Another special thing about this cafe was that Mozart frequently visited this cafe for its coffee and cake too! Kev and I found the cakes were indeed wonderfully light, and the perfect sweetness and taste that one wishes for in a cake, and so we ended up coming here for lunch and 'afternoon tea' two days in row! The cafe also had cake waitresses who walked around with cakes on a platter for you to choose from (just like dim sum) and this was supposed to be how it was back in the day. I was very amused that they had kept this tradition!

Cake waitress!

Strawberry torte of some sort

Ohhh baby... 

Kev and I also made our way to the Monk's Brewery called Augultiner Brau. The monks brought beer to Salzburg and this has been maintained for people to visit and enjoy their beer garden and food. The Brewery itself still looks like a monastery, and so it was a little bit eerie for me. However, it was thriving with life with people in the beer gardens.


Kev and I shared a stein and ate their food. Admittedly, their food was not the best and I could have done with a better dinner, but we had fun and enjoyed the experience. When Kev bought the beer, he had to choose his stone stein from a shelf, and then had to wash it through some water, and then they serve the beer into it! He also said that you could wash the stone stein through hot water in order to warm it up if you were going to drink warm beer. Another tradition that I was pleased that the Austrians had maintained.

Weisswurst from the Markets in the morning. So Yummy!

Chocolate made to look like various vegetables and nuts!

More gardens and trick fountains


While taking photos in Mirabell Gardens, Kev and I stumbled across some mazes which were fun to explore.

Kev in 'zen' mode

Lost

On our last day, I was pooped as. Totally exhausted from no day off from the holiday, however, we had yet to travel outside of the city of Salzburg to see Hellbrunn Palace and the trick fountains. Kev got me up and going though, and when we arrived, I was so happy that he got me up and going! This palace was built by an Archbishop for 'funnsies'. It was a place for him to take his guests to seek relief from the summer heat. No one stayed at the palace over night, it was just for the day, and it contained gardens with grottoes and the trick fountains. The Archbishop had a sense of humour, and throughout the palace gardens, he strategically placed water fountains to wet his guests!

The Archbishop's outdoor dining area.

  

Watch out, for your bum will get wet, unless the Archbishop gives you his seat at the head of the table.

And that's about it for Salzburg! I'll put more photos up on facebook once I get more time to organise through the photos to find the ones worth while posting!

Salzburg, and how it sings to my heart!

Chia! Again, your baking is wonderful! I remember that even in Perth you would always have some goodies for me to try and eat... remember this time:

You and Me in 2008, baking.

My god we look young. AND my pimplesssssss... yuck! Anyways, seeing your muffins reminded me of this day, and it made me miss you in Perth!

Yea the rides looked awesome! Though Kev and I didn't manage to go on any because we always were too full from food or beer, and those rides would have made us yack!

But yes... Salzburg... Ahhhh... it is the city where The Sound of Music was filmed, and also where Mozart was born and raised until he moved to Vienna. Our time here consisted mainly of two things things:

1. Mountains; and
2. Music

Let me go through all those things.

Mountains

As in my previous posts, I do find something special about being high in the mountains, or deep down under the sea. In both places, I feel like I am in a different world, and nothing else matters. Big love for nature. Love love love! When we took the train from Innsbruck to Salzburg... I had to film our ride:

The mountains are so mysterious and I think it is because we are so much higher, that the clouds are closer to us. I also think that seeing clouds touching land, gives an impression that that land is somewhat near to 'heaven' or where the mythical gods live. 

On our first day in Salzburg, Kev and I went on an ice cave tour to the largest ice cave in the world. What I didn't expect was the beautiful hike we would have to take to get up to the ice cave.

Some of the path that we walked

We discovered Mezzo Mix! I mix of coke and fanta!

Kev's Austrian alternative to beer!

The mountain birds standing at attention!

Unfortunately, we were unable to take photos once inside the ice cave, but it was huge! And so very cold despite being summer/autumn!

Mountains were everywhere! Even in the city of Salzburg we could see them. When we went on our Segway tour (organised by Kev), our guide said something really cute: "Sometimes the clouds are too heavy to get over the mountains, so they stay in Salzburg. Once it rains, the clouds get lighter and then they can get over the mountains."

Me on a segway

Music

Sound of Music

In the heart of Old Town, Kev and I ended up going to a 'Sound of Music' dinner performance at Sternbrau (a beer garden and restaurant). It had traditional Austrian pub-like food as well as a live stage performance of songs from the Sound of Music, some traditional Austrian folk music, and Austrian classical pieces including some Mozart. I enjoyed The Sound of Music songs of course, and though Kev and I were the youngest couple there, we were the only ones who were singing along! Anyways, mid way through, they had a traditional folk dance, and Kev was dragged on stage!!! He did really well actually! Later on, when they were singing the last song of the night (so long farewell, tea with jam and bread) I was then dragged on stage to sing along too. AH! We both had our share of the limelight!

Kev and I walked everywhere as Salzburg is quite small. We eventually made it to Mirabell Gardens which was beautiful! It was built by an Archbishop for his 'wife' that he was not supposed to have, but more importantly, it had scenes from 'Do, re, mi' in The Sound of Music. When we first got there, there were SO many people. It got SO annoying.

Augh! Tourists, tourists, and more tourists!

I got so frustrated, and poor Kev had to try and keep me sane. Eventually I just gave up with trying to get photos and said to him "I'm sorry, but we are going to have to get up super early tomorrow morning and come here when everyone is asleep!" 

So the next day, Kev had set our alarm, and we walked to Mirabell Gardens at around 8.30/9/00am and it was quiet. There were still tourists, but a lot less of them, so we had to wait to get certain shots. Eventually we got the photos and footage that I really wanted to take. By way of introduction, and to get you into the right mind set... here's a video from YouTube of the song 'Do, re, mi' from The Sound of Music, and perhaps you can see where my shots are taken from!

Other scenes from the movie include:

'I have confidence in sunshine! I have confidence in rain! 

The cemetery that the movie based the runaway scene from.

I think there is a scene here... I think. But anyways, its the horses bath - for horses (back in the day) to wash after a long journey.

I am 16 going on 17...

Mozart

We also visited Mozart's birth place and place of residence in Salzburg. We were able to go inside and have a look at things like Mozart's piano and original music sheets with his handwriting. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any photos. But from memory, the thing I really liked was seeing his handwritten notes. There is something about handwriting that is so special. It's so personal, and there is no denying that time was spent by that person, pressing down that sheet of paper, and creating fine strokes and shapes to communicate one thing or another. I just loved it.

Mozart's residence

I just realised that there is so much more to Salzburg, and so, I will have to do another post for the other special things about this beautiful city! Until then, I hope you had a great Monday Chia!