Milan and Verona

Hi all...finally got to upload some photos from my trip in Milan and Verona.

Well, in short, I think Italy has become one of my new favourite European country..hehe, for now, I still want to go to Split, Croatia and Scilly!! Well...haha the list never ends. I also want to travel more with my wife!

Anyway....Milano is definitely one of the most fashion, trendy, chic city that I have been. I also had the chance to see the wall painting of Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper. Impressive really. No photos there though. Huge.

Verona is a really nice mix of history and modernisation. Small but cute. It will be a tough choice to decide to go north for the Jan/Feb fashion sale (hehe for my wife) or to head south to Rome and Venice. Perhaps we will manage all. Haha...life...

Some changes to the blog, apparently, blogger has a new beta version, a move to corporate blogging with your Google account. For some reason, I can't seem to upload on my usual server, so I am linking from Flickr for this post.

Ok..photo time! Say spaghetti, gorgonzola, cannoleni and cheeze !



This is the main Duomo cathedral in Milano. Really impressive, albeit the untimely re-touch up of the exterior. At least I still could climb to the roof terrace! See photo below







Part of the whole Duomo square. This is one of the entrances to the golden fashion streets. Almost every lady here was carrying a LV, Gucci or Prada!!



Inside this covered shopping paradise! Maybe you can spot the Prada shop. This is just the begining....



Somehow, there was a certain character of this city that I liked.



This was my first photo of Verona. About 90 mins away from Milan by train. This was a really good day trip, away from the capital. And so I thought I was geting away from the fashion...hehe Anyway, I discovered a couple of interesting sights here.



This is the Arena. Third largest of its kind, open air amphitheatre. This looks like the one in Rome.





Quite cool eh. It's a city living in a city.



View from the top of the city.



The fashion continues...I really liked the shops, the walkways and cute cafes. Had lunch in a tucked away traditional pizza place. Hmmm....









No historical city goes without a number of bridges and castles. It was nice to walk around in the morning.



How many of you know that Julliet lives in Verona? A nice surprise to find this. Anyway, there was a shooting of a scene in the play "Romeo and Julliet" and here you see the Julliet...haha



A statue of Julliet and the famous window.



An unique art of its own. I found on two walls of her house, declarations of love in the form of letters, notes, sticky stuffs...hehe...but it's cool I think.



On a closer look you find...

Out of Action in Action

Ok folks, going to be out of action for the next two weeks. Work calls.

Leaving for Bonn, Germany tomorrow and back this Thursday. Then away in Milan, Italy for at least a week till the 27th Nov !!

Oyster-in-Action

Miss U much!!!

Time please pass

Suddenly, I want time to pass quickly and for Christmas to come...

Cumulate Draw

Today, I chanced upon this useful tool.

A web-based drawing tool that allows you to make quick images and complicate flow-charts if you need to. Allows you to also export to mmd/fmd, jpeg, png, svg and pdf.  Just the right thing for me this morning as I had to make a rough sketch of how a part of our website will be revamped.

Conclusion: It did serve my needs today. Will send my schematic to the web designer now.

Check it out at this link

Or draw directly !

Happy Halloween

Now and then, I keep missing to check back on the SavageChickens. Heehee really funny at times

Nice feeling today

Well.......somehow today I had a nice fuzzy feeling about my wedding plans for next year...hehe

And I found that Flickr has a really nice way of displaying photos as a mosaic.

Check this out on this link.

Gmail Space

This is really useful and finally I found this after I have started using my gmail account.


Gspace is an extension of the Firefox browser that allows you to use your Gmail Space (2 GB) for file storage. It acts as a
remote machine. You can transfer files between your hard drive and
gmail. Your gmail account looks like a FTP host and you can upload and
download your files. After you install, you get an option called
"GSpace" in your "tools" menu clicking on which opens the window for
transfer of files/folders.


Works great for storing/sharing files with your friends. Also very good
for backup of photos and music files, actually any kind of file.

Download here

For all the cool bloggers out there!

Omg...this is one of those moments where you discover something really useful and you just have to share it. This is a pot of gold..haha...anyway, if it is really gold, I am going to keep it to myself...kekeke

Anyway........check this out if you are a blogger. Firstly, you have to be using the latest version of FireFox 2.0 (sorry for those diehard I.E people). Go download Performancing for Firefox. This is a full featured blog editor that sits right in your Firefox browser and let you post to your blog easily. You can drag and drop formatted text from
the page you happen to be browsing, and take notes as well as post to
your blog. (I just cut and pasted this text and drag to drop the image below, for eg)



Ok....you have been teased. Click this link : https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1730/

Damm its cold today again.

powered by performancing firefox

The Bright Side

Thanks Kum....

Yay! Life does get better when you decide to walk on the Bright Side. I just received a letter from the IND acknowledging their receipt of my application! Damm...of cos they have to receive it, I sent it by courier two weeks ago! Haha..oh well............I shouldn't complain. Its like for another example, I am getting my Internet connection up next week!!..Woohoo...u think? I waited two months for the installation!

So....as the song goes, don't worry be happy.

Why am I not blogging?

Every day I go onto my own site. Every time I click on my Sites of Recent Interest. I check LifeHackers, I read BoingBoing. I read Table of Malcontents and Monkeybites on WiredBlogs. Now and then, when I see Penguin online, I go check her blog, leading to Vorlacks, my brudder in China and his stories - Pretty much are unpublished and below the cone of trust. I am happy that Kum is doing up his house.

But I do not know what to write. It has been 12 days since she has left for Singapore. Everyone that I met asked me where is she and to everyone I say, I am hoping that she will be back by Christmas. Hope.

I have sent the application forms for her residence to the IND. The Evil IND we say here. What to do? Wait and Why.

11 days ago, the key to my bike chain broke. I made a new key and it didn't turn the lock. I used the IKEA plier and the new key broke. That cost me 3 Euros. Well heck, I can just walk. For two thursdays, I went to a different bike shop in town. Shops open late only on thursdays here. They told me I need to go to the Police. Yesterday I went to the Police. The lady told me that they cannot do anything and would not want to see my breaking my chain, all cos I had no papers to prove that I bought the bike. I looked at the metal saw in the shop. Well heck again, I spent another 3.50 euros on a new key. It worked and I cycled to work today.

I have moved. Last night my neighbour's girlfriend's ex-husband threw a stone at my window. He wanted me to go over and wake her up cos she might be on sleeping pills. A loud and long "fight and tumble" session followed onsuite. The next morning, they were all celebrating my neighbour's birthday.

I have no Internet at my place now. I am doing Overtime everyday for 12 days. On weekends, I go to office to webcam with her. How much time do you spend with your love ones? Spend more.

So why am I not blogging? Perhaps I have no mood.

Anyway, the distance is long and last night I dreamt that I was running home. Dreams and hopes. What to do? So I guess I blogged again.

"...all good things must come to an end so that better things can follow..." I believe.

Brazil Honeymoon Mosaic Art

A YouTube about Singapore

Hehe...this is really funny. Especially if you have been away from home for a while...Hahaha

Geneva Weekend

We were in Geneva over the weekend!

Well, weather is always not very good in this city of watches...perhaps thats why the symbolic "monument" is a fountain on Lake Geneva...haha

Anyway, we did managed to take some photos amidst the rain.

There will be a need to be always back in Geneva...:)

Photos from Rio, Buzios and Paraty!!

Finally....managed to copy my ftp program on my memory stick and now we are uploading the photos on the blog! Woohoo....*waits patiently on the 256k connection*

Hehe, we actually took 519 photos up till now.....the below photos show some of the places that we have been. I shall try to explain a little as we go along...



This is the Petrapolis bus station. Reminds me of the JB Larkin Bus Terminal..haha..



There is a Hong Kong Pastry shop here! We were really surprised at this because the Petrapolis is an ancient city tucked away up the mountains off North Inland from Rio. Anyway, the chinese waiter was really helpful and got us on the right bus to town.



The Cathedral. Hmmm, apparently the Royal Family rests in peace here. There is even a space reserved for the surviving grandson and wife. He is 65 this year...





One of the Museums. Cannot remember the name...something like the royal palace..





The Museum Imperial.



An artistic shot by my wife...hehe..





Now we are at the base station of the Corcovado. THE place to be but also THE place not to be when its raining heavily...Damm...we got the latter. Stood at the top of the summit for almost 4hrs and got only 1 good shot and all clouds. Well...some things are not meant to be...





This is the cogtrain up the summit. In fact, I was suprised to know that this train is swiss-made and thus, the sister railway to the one in Interlaken, up Jungfrau. I was there! Next time must bring my wife....or else...suffer the wrath of...



The One and Only.



And ME freezing in flip flops..





What it should have been! Life goes on...



Great! Now we are at Buzios! 4hrs away by coach, east of Rio. Well, we think this place had been almost over-rated. Beaches were wonderful but the only thing worth coming here for. Had a nice grilled fish by the beach and the rest were pretty much touristy. BTW, this photo shows where we were staying - Pousade Conrais E Conhais



Pretty wife! I love you...:)



Waves were amazing!





Hmmm don´t stare at my wife! Hehe



Waves



Hmmm don´t wonder. Its me.







Paraty!! We love this place! This is a photo of where we stayed - Pousade do Forte. This place is highly recommended! Had the most amazing and value for money schooner trip for 5hrs, among the various beaches and islands in the bay of Paraty. Met a couple of interesting people, among them, our new found `godfather` and `godmother`. They were also having their honeymoon, celebrating 50 years of marriage!



Baby on hammock



A typical Portuguese colonial house.



This place is rather unique, with its cobblestones roads, no cars are allowed to enter this UNESCO declared heritage town. A place with a rich history of being an important port and city along the gold trail. Also represents and serves traditional paraty cacao alcohol. More information on www.paraty.com.br



Old house by the pier.



This is taken on the Schooner.



Typical, almost symbolic view of the Paraty town.



Check out the number of people onboard. This was the other boat that went together with us.



One of the beaches that we stopped over for a swim.



Hehe, I think I need to train up for my wedding dinner next year...hahaha





Also taken onboard.



Quite amazing banana desserts we had here. Banana de Terre. Recommended for its starters and desserts. Fish for main course was nice though a little dry for taste.



Interestingly, there is a wide array of pushcart desserts! Pauline´s favourite!! Hehe...heaven for a sweet tooth...I also like it. The night scene here is also unbelivable. So many food stalls..so little stomach space...







Cute and chic souvenir place. If you are looking for handmade, handpainted authentic paraty wooden boats, this is the place to get them. We got a few fridge magnets here. We both loved this shop...hehe, to add, they have a nice inhouse pet catty..







Phew! Thus ends the photoblog tour of our last 8 days after Congress!!

Ok, got to rush to eat my Yakisoba noodles at the open square now!! Until later...ciao!