Vienna

I had a terrible jetlag, so it is 230am right now and I am wide awake. Might as well documenting my thoughts of the recent holiday before time and memories fade away...

Next up is Vienna, a well developed city. It feels wealthier, especially off our train which departed from Venice, which is another expensive city. The city is clean, I spotted the main sights around the compact area which I had researched throughout my trip.

Breakfast onboard the OBB train

Resting at OBB Lounge

In essence we spent the day around the Stephendom, travelling from Schwedenplatz U-Bahn (the metro stop), strolling towards south passing Fleichmarkt, Stephansplatz, around the Vienna Opera house and finally Karlsplatz. The St Stephens cathedral is of course majestic, but what I can remember is the stop for horse-carriage next to it. We also wander around the shopping street, and found Petersplatz where the magnificent St Peters church was a highlight.

Domkirche St. Stephan

Graben

Hotdog stand or Vienna's hotdog (Würstelstand)

In front of St. Peter's Church

The Baroque interior of the Church

We then stroll to the and Albertina where we stop to rest at the junction near the famous Sacher Hotel. Through a kirschy time-travel exhibition that depicts the old Vienna from Roman time. It looks interesting for history-buff we had the time.

We passed the large public square Heldenplatz where the old imperial Palace was.

Public square & gardens in front of the old imperial Hofburg Palace, with imposing statues

Heldenplatz

 Crossed to the east for Vienna Opera House (Wiener Staatsoper), arriving at Ringstrassen area.

There is tourist information centre where we rest, while Henry and Mom hunted some photo at Sacher hotel.

Velvet sofa at Cafe Museum

Sacher torte

Apfelstudel with vanilla sauce (divine)

Original "Wiener Schnitzel"
golden brown breaded veal cutlet, parsley potatoes, lettuce and cranberry sauce

Viennese mixed sausage platter
four kinds of different, typical Viennese sausages,
onion mustard, horseradish, gherkin and rye bread

The desserts bar

Omigosh

We then capped our trip via a superb lunch at Cafe Museum, a smart cafe on Operngasse with replicas of original Adolf Loos decor, a former hangout for Klimt, Schiele & others. It opened in 1899; although their desserts selection is very tempting, we selected Vienna's speciality. My favorite is the original Wiener Schnitzel (made of veal not pork) and Apple strudel (Apfelstrudel).

Karlsplatz

 

Paris

Why is Paris always have this unique flair in the air. The weather and atmosphere seems dramatic, and chic when I stroll around the city. We are back to Singapore right now, landed 7am this morning, and after a quick check at luggage services, we quickly take taxi home to rest before my office hour. The 3-day in Paris passed quickly. We use the first day to stroll around the city and has the one experience of tourist cheat over the ticket - infuriating. Other than the upsetting experience in Paris (which seems like everyone we know had experience in Paris) we enjoyed our final leg of the journey...

Arrival at Paris Gare Du Nord station

Department store, closes on Sunday... (boo)

Classic Hotel Du Ville

The following morning we went to explore Paris by ourselves, nearby La Marais neighbourhood

Breakfast with a croissant at a budget cafe around Pompidou Centre

Church (Paroisse Saint Eustache) that is adjacent to Jardin Nelson Mandela.
The nearby site is under construction, also the RER interchange for Les Halles-Chatelet

The Bourses

Louvre Pyramid

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Musee D'Orsay

Pont Royal

Mini bug at Palais Bourbon

Lunch at Le Saint Germain

outstanding Pave du Thon (seared tuna steak)

big plate of mussels dish (very good as well)

third dish we ordered was Pork Medallion

Eiffel view from Esplanade des Invalides

Musee Rodin

Walking along Invalides

Invalides

Afterwards we took bus 89 back to our accomodation which was at Le Marais. That is a good bus touring around the city passing famous sights (preciously the direction we were walking earlier in the morning!). A bus ticket costs 2 Euro on board of the bus, if you bought in advance from ticket machines, the generic ticket (which can be used for bus,train,tram, or metro) costs 1.90 each or 14.40 in a pack of 10.

the next morning Carousel near Place du Concorde

Champ-Élysées

Arc du Triomphe

We then continued to shopping at Outlet area La Vallee, which is at the end of rail RER A, the last station just before Disneyland Paris. A couple of very good brand at good deal, we shopped at Tumi and Gucci.

At night we went straight to sunset at Basilica.

Amsterdam

This morning we are getting ready to explore Paris again, day 2. It was mentally exhausting yesterday with high maintenance parents after 18-day holiday (too long for self-planning) but I will keep up. Yesterday after a brief breakfast at the AirBNB house at Rue de Rosiers, Le Marais district, we stroll around to Hotel De Ville, the modern art museum George Pompidou, then proceed to Louvre, passing Jardin Nelson Mandela (a beautiful square garden with majestic church and the circular building of Bourses), then stroll across Seine river thru Pont Royal to Musee D'Orsay and Boulevard St. Germaine. We waited for Henry to catch up on a bench near La Defense, the boulevard was almost deserted on a Sunday and the fact is that it was a long weekend with the Feast of Assumption today on Monday Aug 15. We finished after a lunch at St Germaine Café (a great lunch with superb tuna steak and vegetable side, pork medallion, and a huge mussel dish) then stroll under a hot summer sun across Invalides and Eiffel Tower at Jardine.

Well I was planning to post about Amsterdam. We arrived after an overnight train from Prague, we caught the train at Duisburg after a long-transit which we spent on a café over croissant and caffe. We arrived around noon under a rainy and wet weather. The place we stayed is over 10-mins bus ride on bus 21 / tram 10 at Van Bossestraat road at Westerwerk neighbood to the west of the canal. We had lunch at Café Restaurant Amsterdam at the old gas station, now a stylish concept, where we had a taste of Amsterdam bitterballen and etc. We then walk around the city, I like Amsterdam. The city is orderly with lots of biker and relaxed, friendly, but efficient attitude.

Amsterdam Central train station

I Amsterdam sign Museumplein

Windmill

Lunch at Café Loetje Museumplein, Loetje burger veal croquettes

And Steak Bali

Cheese wheels at Albert Cuyp street market

Posing near Heineken Brewery

Belgium

We arrived for a short stay in Belgium, Brussels. Enroute, we travelled through the city from our arrival on ICE International train which departed at 7:50am from Amsterdam, reaching Brussels Noord close to 11. We then checked in at Crowne Plaza hotel that is formerly Le Palace hotel. It's opposite a garden called Botanique and just a stroll away from subway Rogier and a mall with Carrefour at the basement.

A really tasty lunch yesterday at Nuetnigenough. It's a place with really tasty and budget-price with high quality meal. We were curious about it's bipolar review on Yelp, people either hate it or love it, and apparently the place is famous for its beer selection. We had a tasty Confit duck with foie gras and a bed of potato mash (delicious and part of its recommendation) at Euro 21. We also had highly regarded beef stew (bro likes that) and Veal meatballs, both served with sides either Belgium fries (tasty!!) or potato vegetable puree (very comforting and yummy). I can't stay enough great things about this happy meal. In total we spend around 55.60 including a class of draft beer Rador from Dupont brewery served very cold.

Grand Budapest Hotel

Watched the magnificent Grand Budapest Hotel, the Wes Anderson's 2014 movie that is artistically fascinating with great cast like M. Gustave by Ralph Fiennes and Zero, the trusted lobby boy by Tony Revolori, and their adventure. Lovely, eye candy to watch, delightful in its wittiness, and entertaining.

I watched it during my short flight on Thai Airways TG404 to Bangkok, and continued that during my Saturday morning.

My top 10 goals for Europe

Stay in convent in Italy

Dine in Michelin-star restaurant

Montmatre at night in Paris

UNESCO Heritage sites

Colosseum in Italy at night

Gelato in Rome

Amarone vineyard near Venice

Biking near windmill village nearby Amsterdam

Mass in Vatican city

Expresso at Italian caffe

Gondola ride in Venice

Visit David at Accademia Firenze

Island hopping around Venice Isola

Dawn in Prague along Charles Bridge

Pilgrimage

Going to Rome and Vatican always hold a special meaning for a Catholic. I went through the virtual tour of Scavi tour, which is the tour on the underground passage to where St. Peter tomb where his body was laid to rest after his prosecution and the bedrock of the St Peter's Altar in the Vatican city.

It was really moving to feel the emotion and spiritual grief of his sacrifice and his faith at the same time. You can access the virtual tour in the Vatican's site here.

My race certificate

My Performance Series, Coney Island e-certificate is here... 10km 1hour and 34 mins. Not a record to be proud off... but still it is 11km according to mapmyrun :-)

My race certificate

Europe Plan

Planning Europe trip, and dragging Pa and Mom along with the planning. I have booked leave on Aug 1 thru Aug 16, so what's left right now is just the itinerary for the 18-days. We are not short of places to go, but we need to prioritize since it's my parents' first trip to Europe.

We have decided so far to skip Spain, Portugal, and Greece (sadly, but I vetoed the removal of Prague)!

We'll cover Singapore - Rome (2 nights) - Pisa/Florence - Venice (3 nights) - Salzburg/Vienna - Prague (3 nights) - Amsterdam (3 nights)- Brussels/Bruges - Paris (3 nights) - London plus interland travels. Red means travel day, Overnight

July 29 Friday night (SQ 366) 1:20 Singapore time - arriving Rome 07:55

Day 1 Rome check-in (2 nights), Colosseum, Italian dinner

Day 2 Vatican City

Day 3 Rome to Florence. (1 night)
Roma - Firenze 1:30 by Eurorail and Firenze - Venezia 


Day 4 Pisa, and Venice check-in (2 nights)
Train from Florence to Venice starts at 830am, taking 2 hours to reach Venezia St Lucia station.

Day 5 Venice

Day 6 Venice full day. Taking night train en-route to Prague via Vienna or Salzburg: 3 choices Thello (link) overnight train from Paris to Venice/Milan or Bernina Express (link) or ETR610 EuroCity train (link)

(1) Overnight train
Direct EuroNight sleeper train called the Venezia-Vienna Express leaves Venice Santa Lucia on the banks of the Grand Canal at 20:57, arriving at Vienna Hauptbahnhof at 07:55 next morning.

Thello serves Paris to Venice, Verona or Milan starts at €35 one-way in 6-berth couchettes, €55 in 4-berth couchettes, €152 in a 2-bed sleeper.

(2) Bernina Express
Morning Venice via Milan Centrale - Tirano - Chur - Zurich
Zurich to Chur costs CHF 38 (about £28) each way in 2nd class, CHF 63 (£47) in 1st class.  Fixed price, no reservation necessary, can be bought at the station.

Chur to Tirano by Bernina Express costs CHF 58 (£43) in 2nd class, CHF 96 (£71) in 1st class for the basic ticket, plus a reservation fee for the Bernina Express of CHF 9 (£7) in winter, CHF 12 (£9) in summer.  Reservation is required for the Bernina Express itself, although other trains on the same route do not require reservations.

Tirano to Milan by Trenord regional train costs €11.50 (£9) in 2nd class or around €17.50 (£14) in 1st class.  Fixed price, no reservation necessary, can easily be bought at the station. Check times at www.trenord.it.

• take one of the direct EuroCity trains from Cologne & Koblenz along the scenic Rhine Valley past the famous Lorelei Rock to Chur, from €39 booked at www.bahn.de.  

(3) One daily direct EuroCity train from Venice to Brig (change for Zermatt) and Geneva, leaving Venice Santa Lucia around 16:20 and arriving Geneva around 23:21

Day 7 Vienna, Prague (3 nights)
Overnight spending day in Vienna, taking afternoon train to Prague check-in
Prague: Sandeman' tour http://www.newpraguetours.com/daily-tours/new-prague-free-tour.html

Day 8 Prague
Nomadic Matt's travel blog for 4-days in Prague.

Day 9 Prague

Day 10 Prague check-out and taking sleeper train from Prague to Cologne
The City Night Line sleeper train Phoenix leaves Prague Hlavni every night at 18:27 and Dresden at 20:53, arriving at Duisburg Hbf at 06:09 and Cologne Hbf at 06:56 next morning.
Cologne to Prague or vice versa by City Night Line sleeper train starts at €43.50 in a seat, €60 with a couchette in a 5-berth compartment, €105 with a bed in a 2-bed sleeper, €135 with a bed in a 2-bed deluxe sleeper (all per person per bed), or from €145 with a bed in a single-bed sleeper.

For Amsterdam, get off in Duisburg and take the 07:12 InterCity train from Duisburg Hbf to Amsterdam Centraal arriving at 09:34.
Amsterdam or Brussels to Cologne or vice versa starts at €19 in 2nd class or €39 in 1st class.

Tu, 09.08.2016, 18:27
Praha hl.n. - Köln Hbf for 3 persons incl surcharge Euro 237

Day 11 Cologne (1 night)

Day 12 Amsterdam (2 nights)
Cologne to Amsterdam 3hrs train. Checkin

Day 13 Amsterdam

Day 14 Brussels / Bruges
Arrive in Paris for check-in 3 nights

Day 15 Paris

Day 16 Paris

Day 17 Paris

Day 18 London
London to Paris by Eurostar starts at £45 one-way or £69 return in 2nd class or from £110 one-way, £159 return in 1st class.

Day 19 London back to Singapore (SQ 317 11:25 arrive Singapore 07:30)

Microsoft CEO

A wonderful video about Satya Nadella, current Microsoft CEO's rule of success. Satya internally in the company maintain a very active discussion group, through Yammer, where various topics were discussed. The forum is not moderated, we know from various comments being posted, either sensitive or non-sensical. A monthly forum that I never missed is, Satya's monthly CEO Connection, where he addressed tough questions posted by employees in Open Q&A forum. The 1+ hour session normally starts with a community topic, followed by his openings, sometimes joined by execs from various groups such as Terry Myerson or Brad Smith, or the recent ones by Kathleen Hogan, head of HR and Brad Smith, President of Legal and External Affairs.

Proud of the company.

Japanese Healthy cooking

Ever since I had started running, I am also starting to watch my diet. For training season, I am following the 10k training plan by Hal Higdon, but also this women's running blog. Hal Higdon's plan is world-renowned, however I found it too systematic to be pragmatic. Coupling this with the women's plan, that is more specific, I found it easier to chart my distance, speed, time spent on the gym.

My goal is 10k training for the first 2 runs of The Performance Series, (1) in Coney Island on May 1st, and (2) in Jurong Lake on June 28th.

My diet comprises of simple soup-based and I am hooked with simple Japanese miso soup.

This is the recipe I follow from Japanese Cooking 101 in YouTube.

For Dashi stock, which is the base soup for all Japanese cooking, I used non-MSG packed powder that I bought from Meidiya supermarket, plus bonito flakes bought from Daiso.

Next, Daiso stock is used as base for miso soup. Miso is made of fermented soybean, and has two main types White miso and Red miso (Aka-miso). Generally the darker the color, the more intense and saltier the flavor.

Recipe
4 cups Dashi stock.
4 tablespoon of Miso paste (1 tbsp to 1 cup ratio)
Soft Tofu. Cut to tiny squares.
A handful of seaweed
2 stalk of spring onions.


Preparation
5 - 10 mins
Boil Dashi stock with ingredients that need boiling. Such as diakon (white radish), mushroom, or vegetables.
Bring down from boiling point.
Mix in tofu softly.
Add seaweed.
Stir in miso, using streamer to avoid disturbing tofu.
Warm the soup.
Just before serving, add the spring onion that's been diced.
Serve warm with rice.

HK Actual Itinerary

Day 0 March 3 (Thu)

• Landed in HK around 12am. Long immigration queue.
• Took the last Airport bus A11 direction Causeway Bay at 1230am (actual 30 mins)

Day 1 March 4 (Fri)
Big Buddha and Lantau Island

• Breakfast at Hotel Holiday Inn Express Causeway Bay
• Set off at 930am, towards Tung Chung MTR station: City Gate, Lantau Island.
• Took NP360 Crystal Cabin at 1030am  after a long queue.
• Big Buddha, and Vegetarian lunch at Po Lin Monastery, and followed by Wisdom Path
• Shopping @ Citygate Outlets and supermarket. The brand names were having big sale (Armani, Samsonite, Brooks Brothers, Tommy) - better than Singapore, not as good as USA.
• Alight at Central
• Dinner at Mak's Noodle at Wellington Street
• Journey at Mid-level Central and escalators with beautiful scenery of HK Night life and Lan Kwai Fong
• Bus 23 back to Causeway Bay Sogo
• Times Square

Day 2 March 5 (Sat)
TST Kowloon and Sham Shui Po https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sham_Shui_Po

• Set off at 10am, took bus 961 towards Tsim Tsa Tsui
• Arrived at Shan Shui Po, flea market sightseeing at Pei Ho Street and Apliu
• Brunch at General dim sum (very local)
• Wong Tai Sin temple (Bus 2F passing dense housing estate)
• Street seeing at Nathan Road (Bus 3C passing busy Nathan Road and Mongkok, Jordan, and TST area)
• Dinner at Tai Ping Koon Restaurant 太平館餐廳 changed to HK Cafe Kai Kee  
• Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade
• Star Ferry to Wan Chai (great view of HK bay)

Day 3 March 6 (Sun)
Ocean Park

• Set off at 830am, Tung Chung then bus 629 towards Ocean Park (arrived 930)
• Krisflyer 12% discount at ticket counter (you have to ask)
• Lunch at theme park fare (corn on cob and spare ribs)
• Dinner at Tim Ho Wan @Fortress Hill, North Point (super tasty)
• Food souvenir shopping at Kee Wah Bakery Wan Chai branch (pineapple tarts, Phoenix rolls, wintermelon pastries) 

Day 4 March 7 (Mon)
SQ857 Flight on 905am. Bus A11 from Elizabeth House at 545, reach airport 625am

Wishlist for next time
- Breakfast @ Lin Heung Tea house
- Breakfast @ Australia Dairy Company
- Lei Yue Mun (seafood)
- Dinner @ Yat Lok Roast Goose, Yat Lok (一樂食館), Central.
- The place at Wellington street opposite Mak's Tsim Chai Kee
- Breakfast @ Capital Cafe, Wan Chai (opens at 7am). 華星冰室
- Cafe at Wan Chai area...
- Cafe de Coral
- Dinner @ TST Speing Deer or Good Satay / Sun Kee Pork Cheek
- Jenny Bakery

Appreciation to Singapore Airlines crew

A good service and experience is hard to such but the appreciation leave deep understanding. I thus wrote a letter for a great service experience I had today on my flight SQ857 from Hong Kong back to Singapore. Thank you to the crew. It is the people matter.

Hello I would like to compliment Singapore Airlines staff members, the in-flight crew, as well as ground crew in HK for my flight earlier today SQ857 returning from HKG to Singapore on 7th of March. 

There was some mishaps with my pre-order shopping items and the SIA attended and resolved my items with graciousness, high customer service attitude and consideration that save me much hassle of later follow-up. First of all I would like to compliment SQ857 flight In-flight supervisor, a lovely lady in burgundy kebaya, who was very gracious and attentive. She took the leadership of the situation, frequently checked on issue, and dispatched her staff effectively. She also took the matter at hand and resolved it swiftly by giving me the missing items from my pre-order. I sincerely appreciate that since the items were bought and paid for since December, and the disconnection happens because of missing information and lack of follow up from Krisshop. I also compliment the gentleman at the gate 22 in Hong Kong airport who attended to me and even liased with onboard member during pre-boarding time. 

I had flown SIA for years for business and leisure. During my trips there were inconsistent minor service (such as forgotten green tea order during service), this crew in general were pretty good but the 2 individuals exemplify the Singapore Airlines brand with excellence. And with that, restore my faith as a Singapore on the Singapore Airlines brand. Please pass my compliments to the management team and in particular the outstanding individuals whom interacted with me today.

Thank you.