Feasting in La Rambla, Barcelona

There is always at least one street in every city that gives a reason to feast and party. Here, in Barcelona, you get something extra - typically Spanish Flamingo dance theatres or auditoriums in the bustling street of La Rambla!

During the day, La Rambla appears to be shy and quiet. But when the night arrives, it transforms into an upbeat place with rhythmic music, delicious looking eateries and quaint souvenir stalls. It is definitely a place to feast!

Apart from the main street of La Rambla that seems never ending, you will notice many smaller alleys stretching perpendicular to the main. Those are equally happening and interesting. However, some alleys may appear quieter than others. In such instances, you may want to avoid venturing them alone. I do not know how safe it is but my instinct says stay away, if you can.

Bistros and shops along the busy street of La Rambla.

A place that you absolutely should not miss is the local market La Boqueria. There, you could find fresh local produces and get yourself lost in a flavourful gourmet tour. Needless to say, the market is crowded even during the night!

Beware of your precious belongings and wallets in such places. 

Here is a cool duo, adding a reason to feast at La Rambla. In fact, they themselves attracted a humble size of crowd. I couldn't help but chuckle when he started to cycle. The "sexy lady" next to him followed suit as he made his rounds.

We had a problem, though that night. It was difficult to decide what to have for dinner! At such precious moment, hubby never failed to unleash his secret weapon - yes, he suggested to have KFC! -.-

He is an absolute fan of KFC, for some reasons I couldn't comprehend.

I, somehow condoned to feasting on a sinful meal of fried chickens.

In La Rambla.

Unbelievable.

How about a pre-wedding photography in Parc De La Ciutadella, Spain?

Over the years, wedding planners and photographers have been introducing various creative ideas in making pre-wedding photography fun, interesting, and most importantly, a memorable one. It is no longer a pose and shoot affair but all the sessions come with story boards and cheeky gimmicks!

The recent wedding dinners had given me an idea what you could do in Parc De La Ciutadella, a mid 19th century Catalonian Park in Barcelona.

Exactly, pre-wedding photos!

The Cascada Fountain in Parc De La Ciutadella reminded me of Trevi Fountain in Rome. Apparently, the Cascada didn't have any meticulous sculptures initially. It was amended later, after receiving some criticism.
The fountain was constructed by Josep Fontsére with some contribution from the then unknown architecture student who turned into a renowned architecture of Spain - Gaudi.

Fontsére wanted Cascada to have slight resemblance of the Trevi in Rome.
Well, it did. Yet, it is beautiful in its own unique way.

When I revisited these photos, a sudden crazy idea trespassed my mind. Wouldn't it be cool if a simple wedding ceremony is held here too? Imagine the bride is waiting at the upper tier of the fountain facade while the groom walks up to her.

I know, the norm is the other way around. But aren't we always trying to be different, to be special on our weddings?

And finally, if you wish, you can give a wild African touch to the photographs. There is a monumental elephant right in the park at your service ;)

Apart from the glorious fountain, the northeastern edge of the old town where Parc De La Ciutadella is located, is also home to the famous zoo.

Perhaps, not a pretty idea for pre-wedding pictures' theme. However, certainly a brilliant idea to keep your little ones entertained. It has about 7000 animals, except the albino gorilla Snowflake, who had sadly left the zoo's family in 2004.

Ciutadella is huge but you will not realise it if you stroll the park hand in hand with the love of your life.

Hunting Wild Honey in Orchard

When I first heard of the name, I thought Wild Honey was a honey selling shop. To my surprise, it is a cafe that serves western meal.

My sister and I went to the outlet in Scott's Square, Orchard, Singapore for brunch. We didn't make any reservations. So, lucky angel must be by our side. There wasn't a need to queue for a table, like in many eatery outlets in Singapore. Especially during meal times. It can be quite daunting to stand in line, watching people eat (unintentionally, of course :p) when you are so hungry that you could eat a cow.

The indoor tables were full and we were guided to a table at the balcony, overlooking the busy street of Orchard. It wasn't too bad. There were ceiling fans and the sun hadn't shown off its power to the highest intensity.

Taking a glance at the menu, Wild Honey serves breakfast all day! And the varying options are refreshing - ranging from American, to French, to Scandinavian and European breakfast, you could one type of breakfast each time you come by. One more reason for another visit ;)

My sister told me the portion is huge. Hence, we decided to share one breakfast and some fruits.

Egg Benedict, a glass of mix fruits with vanilla scented yoghurt and a pot of Chamomile tea for sharing. The tea was served with a tiny jar of honey.

The food was good and the service was excellent. The price, though, is considered on the higher end (perhaps by Singaporean standard, it is normal). It costs about SGD35 to SGD40 in total.

Address : 333A Orchard Rd, Singapore 238897

Phone: +65 6235 3900

Nou Camp : Calling for FCB fans

Watching twelve men running after a ball isn't my cup of tea and I never feel thrilled doing so. All right, if I do, my eyes will be fixed on the subject - a.k.a the gorgeous player. In spite of that, the motivation isn't great enough for me to sit through a game for more than 2 hours.

Unlike myself, there are many football lovers out there and the sport means the world to them. Unfortunately, my other half falls into this category. Well, on a positive note, it is easy to please him when he watches the league. His attention is only focused to the game and you could practically do anything you want to him (except blocking the TV screen) without having him repel *cheeky grin*.

When the birthday boy found out about Nou Camp during our trip to Barcelona, he was excited. How could I turn down a birthday boy's request?

Nou Camp is located relatively far from the Barcelona city centre. We took a combination of tram and bus to arrive there. Upon alighting from the bus, we still needed to walk a distance to reach the place.

 

You have been warned: you will probably spend a considerable amount of time in Nou Camp.

And perhaps, some money too ;)

Living the fairy tale in Universal Studio Singapore

My sister had been raving about going to Universal Studio but she didn't want to go there alone. Fortunately, I was there to save her day.

Or that was what I would like to believe :p

I know I should have continued with the Spain trip entries but since it was already long overdue, another wait does no harm ;)

What really caused my sister to rave about going to Universal Studio again was the new Transformers 4D Ride. Her friend told her it was spectacular and delighting.

Glad to testify that the claim was true. The queue to get a ride was tremendously long and the waiting time was 1.5 hours!!

Fortunately, we had the Universal Express pass, which came along with the Universal Bundle Package - buy a pair of entry ticket to the Universal Studio Singapore at SGD75 (normal entry fare is SGD74) per person and you will be rewarded with the Express pass, SGD10 voucher for meals and merchandise purchases respectively, and an RWS Invite membership card. The latter offers you benefits and privileges for a year, such as free parking. I am not entirely sure how long this promotion lasts. We just happened to know while queuing to purchase our entry passes.

The Transformers 4D Ride is located in the Sci City zone. You couldn't possibly miss it because many people flock the entrance and you will be greeted by Bumblebee!

 

 

If you are an avid fan of Transformers or an action flick lover, this ride is highly recommended. In terms of audio, visual and sensation, it is blended perfectly into an entertaining ride.

Next in the must-try list is a show in the WaterWorld. I didn't film the show as I was too engrossed in it. The show was performed live by a group of stuntmen and stuntwoman, I believe. It was like watching an action film live, just few hundred metres before my eyes, with real explosions and flames sparked right on the "stage". I shall not disclose too much as I don't want to spoil the fun. Another fortunate event of the day - we managed to catch the last show for the day (5.30pm session).

Interesting as it may sound, one thing to note, though. It is certainly not suitable for young kids as it contains violence elements and the sound of explosions could very much startle and frighten the little ones.

About to enter the "Far Far Away" Castle.......

 

The other 4D experience offered is a short story of Shrek. Compared to Transformers, it is certainly not as spectacular but the effort worth some audience.

Although I am not a huge fan of Rock music, I was very much entertained by the performance put up by the crew of Monster Rock. The performers were very skillful in injecting some humour in between dances and singing.

As I entered into the "theatre", its interior design reminded me exactly of the musical theatre I had been in London.

It is a shame that the audio effect at the beginning of the performance was a little flawed. Especially when the performers started to sing. The flow of vocal was slightly choppy and broken. Or at least it appeared so. Nevertheless, from mid-way till the end of the performance, it got better and that mattered.

To those thriller seekers, there are roller coaster rides up for challenge. To the faint-hearted ones like myself, do not be disheartened or shameful. There are many performances worth watching. Otherwise, put up your most gleeful, sexy, and mischievous look for photography sessions with movie and cartoon characters you come across.

It was tiring to try to get a non-blurring shot of Kungfu Panda. He is one cheeky and perky fella, who just couldn't stop moving around. Hence, contributing to slightly blurry pictures.

All right, this is better.

September Wedding Bells

I just got back from Singapore and Malaysia, after attending two wedding dinners in Malaysia. It was a good catch up with family and friends and boy, September is really an auspicious month to tie the knot! In just two weekends, there were so many wedding functions in the hotels and ballrooms.

Fresh flowers for the brides maid and wedding decoration.

It was fun to be part of the ji mui session(it is a Chinese tradition which is also adapted by the Chinese community in Malaysia, where the bridesmaids will arrange strings of games for the bridegroom and his best-men (a.k.a heng dai) when they pick up the bride at her house - some called it bridenap, which is a combination of the word bride and kidnap), though the preparation may require an amount of effort.

You could say, it is one of the main highlights in the Chinese wedding ceremony and the best part is, the bridesmaids can be mean (such as injecting wasabi paste into banana for the best-men to eat, requesting the best-men to pick up coins that are submerged into flour with mouth, etc) to the best-men without any guilt!:p

Nah, just kidding.

Anyway.....

May all the newly weds live happily ever after, as in fairy tales.

Getting enlightened in Montserrat, Spain

A friend recommended me to visit Montserrat when I told him I planned to go to Barcelona.

Montserrat is a monastery (more precisely, Benedictine abbey) located in the mountains of Catalonia, out of the Barcelona city.
The scenery reminds me a little of Cinque Terre in Italy. Both located on a hilly landscape and beautiful in its own uniqueness.

Here, is also where you seek enlightenment, forgiveness and aspiration. Though I am not a Christian nor a Catholic, I enjoyed my visit to the Catalonia's religious home.

Similar to Cinque Terre, you could hike your way up or take the funicular, stopping by at the designated stations - Santa Joan and Santa Cova.

Needless to say, we took the latter option :p

We arrived at the base of Montserrat in a green train. It was new, modern and clean.

The natural shape of the Montserrat mountain is intriguing. It still stands out a midst the magnificent architecture of the abbey.

From above, we could see Catalonia right under our feet. The serenity and tranquility of the sight offered a sense of unspoken bliss and joy.
There are more mountains surrounding vicinity and humble streams of rivers.

The clear blue sky, additionally perked up the day.

The museum

The sacred place was even more captivating as twilight and night slowly making its entrance.

It is recommended to stay overnight should you want to watch sunset and sunrise from the mountains.

One of the highlights of Montserrat is its basilica.

Like any other cathedrals or churches, you may whisper your prayers and light some candles with tokens of donation.

The architecture of the building was impressive. Actually, I find most basilica and cathedrals in Europe have very extravagant architectural designs. With the technology back in those days, it is amazing how people could deliver such fine pieces of art.

We took a tour inside the basilica. Not a guided tour though. There was a mass going on but it was still opened for visitors, with the condition that we should remain silent at all times.

If memory serves me correctly, the entrance was free.

In each funicular station, there was a ticket counter, waiting place and washrooms. Taking visitors into consideration, there was also a monitor that displayed the departure and arrival time of the funicular. We noticed that the same staff was hoping on and off the funicular, servicing each station as the rail system transported passengers back and forth.

As always, find out the last departing and arrival funicular so that you do not end up stranded in any of the station.

Expect to spend at least a day in Montserrat. Two days, if you want to catch sunrise, as mentioned earlier.

Next to the museum, there was a souvenir shop that sold a variety of items, which I find rather interesting. Do check it out. If you are not a souvenir-shopping person, you may of course skip that.

If you are not a religious person, I would still recommend to go to Montserrat, at least for the surrounding scenery and perhaps, photography? Unless you are totally allergic to sacred places :p