To go or not to go?

We are going to have a long weekend this week because it's bank holiday next Monday *Hurray*

Hubby suggest we should go for a day tour. I'm so happy when I heard it at that moment. Then I felt like I'm falling from heaven to hell when he said we should visit Newgrange.

Sigh! Tak minatlah, abang!!!!!

I know! I know! It's older than Stonhenge but it's just a tomb! I know nothing about the history and have no interest at all.

It's All About Gaudi

It's gonna be all about Antoni Gaudi when traveling to Barcelona. His landmarks scatter all around Barcelona and beyond.

1. Sagrade Familia

It is originally designed by Antoni Gaudi. Make sure you do some reading before you go to this Europe's most unconventional church. Or, you could go for a guided tour - like me (the lazy style), to know more about the history of it. It is absolutely worth it.




We went for the guided tour and the meaning behind all of the facades and sculptures in this church are just marvellous. There are reasons and meanings for every single detail decorating the interior and exterior of the church!



From what I remember the church has three facades! Emmm....google it...

"The Passion Facade, the Nativity Facade and the Glory Facade. Each facade has three portals representing the virtues of Faith, Hope and Love"



And there is a story of each facade.

Like this one, the square number which look like sodoku is actually represents the age of the death of Christ - 33yrs old. No matter how you add it up (i.e. horizontally, diagonally & vertically), it would add up to 33.






This is the Nativity Facade on the east side which narrates the birth of Christ.

The Passion Facade on the west side tells the story of the suffering and death of Christ.

The construction of the church started at 1882!!! With the technology of that time, how could they build such a wonderful church?

This is Gaudi's hanging model used to design Sagrade Familia. It is a system of threads represents columns and walls. Sachets with lead shot resemble the weight of small building parts. The purpose is to find the most efficient weight distribution for the building structure. The actual building constructed is actually in the form the hanging model, turned upside down.



Isn't it brilliant?


As you can see from the photos, there are tower cranes hovering over the church. The church is still not completed yet. The church is scheduled to be completed in 2026.

Oh my, by that time I am already an old woman!

By the way, we purposely returned there at night just to snap the night scenes. Nice hor?

2. Casa Mila "La Pededra"

I'm just so curious how Gaudi got the inspiration to build this cliffs-like building. Its wall just like an ocean wave.

On the roof of Casa Mila, there are chunks of weird projection which I could not fathom their existence. Apparently, these are the chimneys, ventilation shafts and the roof of stair wells for Casa Mila. At the early years, Casa Mila was the apartment home of a wealthy businessman.

More weird stuffs. To me, these just looks like a couple of masked knights guarding the roof of Casa Mila.

Bizarre!

3. Parc Guell

Another Gaudi's works. I could not remember much about the history of this. As far as I know, Parc Guell is a public park now.

Nice mosaic decoration at one of the benches in Parc Guell.

The park is quite huge though. I guess we only managed to tour about 50% of the area.

That is a pedestrian bridge constructed by stones! Rather ingenious though.

We snapped tonnes of photos like no tomorrow in Barcelona and I am glad most of them turn out to be quite picturesque.

And Out of Nowhere It Arrived...

The sun came out yesterday and brought a smile to everybody face. What is so precious about the sun? You must be asking the question now. Me too!

I hate sunlight! However, you wouldn't think that way if you are staying in a country like Ireland.

~St Stephen Green in Dublin~

Temperatures hit 22C recently. We have already felt the heat. I think we are getting used to the temperate weather here. It's hot these few days! We couldn't even sleep at night and have to open the window!



Because....The season of Ireland...is basically summarised as...




Spring : Rain
Summer: Rain
Autumn : Rain
Winter : Rain





So, sunny days are PRECIOUS to the locals here.



Anyway, it was such a beautiful day. We had a stroll at public park in central Dublin today. It was so crowded.



It was so relaxing and exhilarating when you could have a break and breathe some fresh air after a long working week.

We saw this group of people. They were trying to form a word. Can you see it? It's ITALIA.

Oh, I miss my friends. I wish I could snap some cute photos like this but what word should we form? Definitely not MALAYSIA!!!!!

This cute little kid showed off his butt to his dad. He shake his cute little butt while screaming "Take my butt, take my butt!!"

Oh ya, we had lunch at Charlies that afternoon; a malaysian cuisine restaurant. We've heard a lot about that restaurant. Most of them have bad impression about the food. They commented the food just doesn't worth the money.

After trying a few dishes a few times, we opine otherwise. Instead, most of the food are quite delicious. I would rate 4/5 for the dishes we have ordered thus far.

Hai Nam Chicken Rice

Malaysian Curry Mee

From the pics above, you could tell they really taste good. I have no idea why do they warn us not go to the restaurant ever.

Perhaps it's because of the price. For the price like this, I could have 10bowls of curry mee and 10plates of hai nam chicken rice at Malaysia.

La Rambla

The first day we arrived Barcelona, we went to this boulevard called La Rambla.

La Rambla - meaning the dried-up bed of a seasonal river. It used to be a river if I'm not mistaken. It is a busy street in central Barcelona, popular with tourists.

When walking down La Rambla, we visited its many small shops and enjoy watching the various performances by street artists/entertainers.

Personally, I think they are far more professional from those in Dublin; and they are really REALISTIC!

If they caught you trying to snap a picture on them without tipping them, they would cover their face and use their leg to kick on his/her "money bowl"

And we passed by the popular fresh market. Fruits are so fresh. I could not believe when I saw the fruits at the stalls; they look so unreal to my eyes.

I've never tried FRESH cherry before until my visit to Barcelona. Shame on me. I have only tried the canned one -_-''

It was selling at 12euro a kg. Kher Xin had a hard time when she was trying to tell the seller she only wants 500g.

Witnessing Kher Xin's difficulty, hubby tried to challenge me to buy the cherry from the fruit seller. He doubted that I could get what I want.

Ta - da !!! I got the cherries.

The power of money! I told the fruit seller I want SIX EURO of cherries. He got it immediately.

Money breaks all communication barrier!

Travelling to a non-english speaking country could be challenging. Most of them speaks, of course Spanish, what else? We had a little hard time when trying to ask for direction.

One of the good examples was when we were trying to buy train tickets to a place (could not remember what's the name of the place now).

Us : Which is the station nearest to XXX?

Ticket Seller : . . . . . *silence*

Then we were trying to point at the place on the map. She finally understood where we wanna go. However, we could not understand a single word when she was showing us the way!!!

She did not even know how to tell left or right. In the end, we had to figure the direction by ourselves.

After that,

We asked : How much is the fare?

Ticket Seller : . . . . . *silence*

We have to use sign language. Showing our fingers to let her knows, 1, 2 or 3???

Ticket Seller : Uno (One in Spanish)

Us : Ok. Give us FOUR tickets, please.

Ticket Seller : ??? Uno? Dos? Tres? (1,2, 3 in Spanish)

We then showing her four by sign language again.

We spent a good 20mins just to get the tickets. *Phew*

However, it was a great experience to us. We had so much fun in Barcelona.

After the trip, there is an urge in me that prompts me to learn Spanish. After all, Spanish is the 4th most spoken language in the world.

Gym 2

Did I mention that the sauna and steamroom are share? It's unisex! Ooo La La....

Maybe I could bump into some Irish celebrity-like gym members in the sauna/steamroom.

Some one like Pierce Brosnan, perhaps?

Collin Farrell?

Maybe someone like Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Gabriel Bryne also not bad. Tee-hee :)

Seminar for Australia Migration

We attended a seminar on Australia migration after works just now.

No, we are not migrating there; At least for now ;)

We just wanna to get some information and the necessary contacts.

Australia might be a good place to migrate to because it is near to my home -Malaysia, as compared to where I am now.

Personally, I don't think it is hard to obtain the 120points which is part of the requirements for PR application.

22mins

Yes! 22mins! That is my new record!

I broke my record today. I ran NON-STOP for 22mins!

Laugh if you want, but it's true. It is big deal to me!
When I first joint the gym, I could merely run for 5mins *pai seh*