10 days 7 nights Europe Trip Itinerary (11th November - 20th November 2014)

Day 1:

Checked in KLIA, Transit in Dubai Airport

Day 2: 

1. Arrived at Heathrow UK Airport at 7am 
2. UK sight-seeing tour at Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, the Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey,
3. Lunch at Chinatown 
4. Visited Buckingham Palace and No.10 Dowing Street (external view) and a two-hour shopping at Oxford Street
5. Had dinner at Kings Mall after checking-in Novotel London West.

Click Say "Hello" to London (Part 1) for more details.


Day 3: 

1. Took underground train at Hammersmith Underground Station to Westminster Station to re-visit Big Ben and House of Parliaments.
2. Took a ride on London Eye
3. Visited SEA LIFE London Aquarium
4. A great noon in Madame Tussauds London
5. Explored Underground Stations to shop at Oxfort Street.

Click Say "Hello" to London (Part 2) for more details.


Day 4: 

1. Bid "Goodbye" to Novotel Hotel and left for Brussels by Eurostar. 
2. A short tour in Brussels; Belgium - Grand Place, Chocolate shop and say " Hello" to Manneken Pis, Atomium.
3. Left Brussels to Amsterdam; Netherlands for the nice, hot dinner and checked-in Mercure Amsterdam Airport Hotel

Click below links for more details:

• London-Brussels via Eurostar
• Town Hall, Grand Place, Chocolate Shop- Chocolaterie Manneken-Pis, Manneken Pis and Atomium

Day 5:

1. Amsterdam sight-seeing
2. Zaanse Schans - Wooden windmills, barns and museums,Chocolate Factory, Dutch wooden Clogs Factory/ Showroom, Cheese Factory
3. Lunch - Fish and Chips at Van Den Hogen Restaurant; Volendam
4. Amsterdam Canal Cruise- Along Skining Bridge, Stoppera, Science Museum, Harbour, Railway Station, Gentleman;s canal, Prince Canal, Emperor Canal and stop at Gassan Diamond Showroom
5. Had dinner around Dam Square and Visit to Dam Square; Red Light District; and enjoy night scenery of Royal Place and National Monument Amsterdam.

Click below links for more details:

• Amsterdam Day Tour- Sight-seeing
• Zaanse Schans
• Volendam
• Amsterdam Canal Cruise and Gassan Diamonds Showroom
• Netherlands Chinatown and Red Light District
• Dam Square

Day 6:

1.  UNESCO World Heritage Kinderdijk for the authentic windmills
2.  Rotterdam- Cube Houses, Erasmus Bridge, Lunch @ McD Rotterdam
3.  Den Haag- The Rizzerdaal (Hall of Knights) and its beautiful fountain, Prince of William Statue; Paleis Noordeinde and Peace Palace.
4. Scheveningen- Beach
5. Had dinner at Amsterdam and visit Amsterdam Casino, Hard Rock Cafe/ Beer cafe and shops

Click below links for more details:

• Kinderdijk
• Rotterdam- Euromast tower, Central Station, Cube Houses and Erasmus Bridge
• Den Haag
• Scheveningen
• Amsterdam Hard Rock Cafe

Day 7:

Checked out hotel and dropped by rest houses for Milk/ Champagne flavor ice-cream, had lunch at Café France before heading to Galeries Lafayette.


Click below links for more details:

• Cote France Autogrill 
• Galleries Lafayette

Day 8: 

1. Admission to the 2nd floor of Eiffel tower, 
2. Paris canal cruise on seine river- passed by Pont des invalids, Passerelle Leopold-Sedar-Senghor,Pont Alexander III Bridge, Pont de la Concorde, pont du Carrousel, Pont des Art, Pont Neuf, Ile de la cite/ Pont de la Tournelle, Pont Bir Hakeim, Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir, Pont au Change, Pont d’ Austerlitz, Pont de l’ Archeveche, Pont de Sully, Pont d’ lena; Galeries Lafayette 
3. Enjoyed dinner in Paris

Click below links for more details:

• Eiffel Tower
• Seine River Cruise Tour by Bateaux Mouches
• Chez Edouard

Day 9: 

1. Visited Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmartre, Louvre Museum, Roue de Paris- Paris Ferries Wheel, Arch de Triomph,
2. Bid farewell to the nice destinations and back to Malaysia with wonderful experiences in Europe.

Click below links for more details:

• The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris -Sacré-Coeur Basilica
• Louvre Museum/ Musée du Louvre
• Not-so-authentic Japanese Cuisine @ Higuma Japanese Restaurant
• Arc de Triomphe, La Grand Roue de Paris (Paris Ferries Wheel), Luxor Obelisk

Day 10: 

Home, I'm back to your hug :)

Europe Trip- Brussels; Belgium | Land of chocolates, waffles, fries and beer

14th November 2014

A train ride to Brussels was seamless and comfortable. We had a nap during the train ride to Brussels.
The land of chocolates, waffles, fries and beer had welcomed us with a couples kissing each other during our arrival at the station.The Europe trip I embarked would be incomplete without the experience of taking Eurostar.

Some brief facts before continuing with my journey in Brussels:

Brussels, the capital of Belgium which hosts many organizations and it's the capital of European Union Commission. Brussels is situated on the coast between France and the Netherlands. Brussels is famous for over 700 varieties of beers, waffles with different kind of toppings, chocolates, The Smurfs and Tin Tin, and Mini-Europe.

It wasn't a good choice to come to Europe during Autumn season as it was cold and often have downpours. Anyway, our journey onto the Brussels was still remarkable with the famous landmarks we had gone to during this short five hours tour.

1. Town Hall

The tall Gothic tower which could be seen from far. It was built in 13th century and it was one part of the Grand Place.

In front of one of the monuments seen in Brussels

2. Grand Place

The Grand Place is a square containing the town hall and Guild Halls i.e. buildings that belong to various business associations of different trades. Grand Place is well known as UNESCO World Heritage Site. The creativity of the architecture and ornate baroque were really amazing. Hence, it was not a surprise to know that Grand Place had reputed as one of the most beautiful in Europe because the city was survived from the bombs during the 2nd World War. We took a stroll to the beautiful Grand Place and surprised with the market square surrounded by gold-gilded gables. The photography session had us gone missing and luckily the tour guide came to find us.

3. Chocolate Shops

You can see many chocolate shops such as Leonidas, Neuhaus, Guylian, Godviva and much more. We went passed La Belgique Gourmande Shop and finally stopped at Chocolaterie Manneken-Pis. The tour guide mentioned that it's one of the very famous store offering various kinds of chocolates, confectionery, beers, candies and etcetera.

The signature Manneken Pis look-like chocolate had been seen here. The group  had bought over 88 pieces chocolates on a great deal in which each piece of chocolate costed Euro 2.20. 

The photo of myself standing at the street of Brussels.

4. Manneken Pis

We heard numerous people say " what a small statue" whilst stood beneath the Manneken Pis, a tiny bronze statue of a little boy peeing into the fountain. Awww.. I never expect the size of the statue was so small. According to the website, the little boy statue used to have many costumes. From the picture below, you could see the boy was naked.By the way, the original was created in 1619 and had been stolen for many times. The one shown in below photo was the latest version dated in  year 1965.

5. City Sightseeing / Bus Tour in Brussels

Bun Fried Chicken... Does Brussels have Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)?

Belgian Art Lace- I should have bought a laced pillow case.

Atomium shop which I spotted my favorite Smurf.

Cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudula- the national  Belgium Church where royal weddings take place.

 St. Nicolas church which was rebuilt after the 2nd world war.

Galeries Royales St Hubert- a gorgeous shopping arcade in the middle of Brussels; the place where I captured during the time where we missed the group.

6. Atomium

The final stop was at Atomium; located on the site of 1958 World Exposition. I never know it's a building structure which utilizes the shape of atom and bond. I thought it's just an icon of atom which has maximized. In fact, you may enter the building and have a great view of Antwerp. Few photos were captured in front of this 102 metres high iron molecule.

A church opposite of Atomium

The tram

Our journey in Brussels had ended and we headed to Amsterdam by bus around 6.40pm. The sky was a pitch dark and the driver was nice enough to travel around the city of Brussels to let us have a look on the city before we left for Amsterdam. We arrived Amsterdam with empty stomachs so we headed to restaurant for dinner before checking in our hotel in Amsterdam.

The big bowl of hot soup was served at the right time.

Our hands were extremely cold due to the weather in Amsterdam.

Post-script:

If I have more money and travel time, I will buy chocolates from different shops especially the famous one such as Neuhaus and Godviva. We did not have sufficient time to try waffles and fries from any cafe that situated near Grand Place. Also, we did not manage to get some fridge magnets and postcards to my mom. Anyway, we shall visit Brussels again in future as we missed out the Mini Europe.

Europe Trip- London to Brussels by the Eurostar

 14th November 2014

After London, our next destination was Amsterdam, however we had a brief stop at Brussels; Belgium. Today was the day we had to bid goodbye to United Kingdom as we were going to Brussels. We were still unable to get used to the time zone difference and both of us woke up at 6am. The view from my hotel was really breathtaking. I wished I could stay longer in United Kingdom. 

After having our breakfast,  we had departed to St. Pancreas Station. I was regretted for not having a photo in front of St. Pancreas Station. Anyway, it was a rainy day which we had a hard time to move our luggage to the station. I was more than a little excited to catch the Eurostar to Brussels as most people mentioned about the nice experience of taking this high-speed rail link via Channel Tunnel.

Upon departure, each of us had been served with a cupcake. The Eurostar celebrated its 20th anniversary of providing the amazing international connections. Before filling my stomach with the tasty cupcake, let's capture it first. We arrived around 9.40am while our train's departure time was 10.50 am. We had sufficient time to get through the security, brief luggage scan and passport check and so on. 

Our tour to Brussels via Eurostar

High-speed Eurostar linked London and Brussels, and it took around 2 hours and 15 minutes. We reached the land of chocolates, beers and waffles at the local time 2.15pm.