Salzburg

Spires dot the Salzburg skyline Sunset over Salzburg

Pheew! Where do I even begin to describe the trip? I think I have to reconsider what I wrote in our profile's blurb. No mistake here: Salzburg was pretty; the people, warm despite a stereotype of being a grumpy lot; the food, sweet; the weather, although rained on two mornings, was forgivable; the guesthouse, very hospitable and charming; and the cost, very much within our budget.

The problem here was Sophie. Yes, so sad to report that the little darling girl has begun to assert her independence and presence in a way that is not very agreeable to her parents. Parents who had very different ideas in mind on how to enjoy the 3-day sojourn in Salzburg. One wanted to explore the enchanting little shops in the historical UNESCO World Heritage town, savour Austrian cuisine, and complete her pilgrimage to the Sound of Music mecca. The other was in an unusally enthusiastic mood to photograph, and wanted nothing more than to disappear into the bushes, go prostrate along the tight alleyways and hang from the bridge across the Salzach River to capture that perfect angle for the scene that shouts "SALZBURG". Both torn between dumping the baby on the other and preserving the other's sanity, if anything, out of respect for the eve of their second wedding anniversary.

Domed ceiling of the Salzburg Dom

Back to Sophie. Perhaps it was the lethargy of being out the whole day (well, it's not like she sleeps a lot at home, anyways) or an overdose of stimuli, but she was absolutely difficult to pacify even with the usual sure-win tactics. Given that she had behaved a lot better in Rome, we can only put it down to teething (where?)and the "development of character". I can imagine the fury that the other 50 tourists in the Salzkammergut tour, or the two smartly-dressed diners at the Zum Mohren restaurant, or the woman who was trying to catch a quick nap on the Stansted Express felt. It's time for some disciplining when we get back. You're in big trouble, young lady.

Under the archway of foliage in Schloss Mirabell (Mirabell Gardens) where Julie Andrews and her seven charges skipped and sang part of "Do Re Mi" in The Sound of Music

Frayed nerves aside, we managed to take in quite a number of sights, most importantly, the Schrannenmarkt Farm Market (a local farmers' market held every Thursday), the Schloss Mirabell, Mozart's Birthplace, Salzburg Dom, Hohensalzburg Fortress (fantastic aerial view of Salzburg & surroundings), Hellbrunn Palace (I did get conned by one of its famous trick fountains but YL was too paranoid about the leeches and kept a good distance), Untersberg mountain range (where Julie Andrews famously twirled and sang "The hills are alive..."), and Wolfgangsee and St Gilgen out in the Salzkammergut, set admist Austria's famous lakes & mountains.

View of Salzburg's right bank from the Old Town

Gingerbread on sale at the Schrannenmarkt Farm Market

Interestingly, all our souveniers were food. From L to R: natural salt from the Salzkammergut region, animal-shaped marzipan, Mozart-kugel (famous Salzburg chocolate with a marzipan center), wild honey from Salzburg

As usual, http://photos.yahoo.com/csylwedding has more photos from the trip.

New cooker

Christine and Aileen bought at new cooker and we were invited to taste its maiden performance. It was delicious! Christine's baked pork, chicken & carrots were simply mouth-watering - I was literally gobbling them down - while Aileen, the master baker, made her specialty rock buns. She gave us the entire batch to take home, and while YL feebly protested, I was already dreaming of having them for breakfast, lunch, tea, and supper... We finished them in 2 days :)

E-Bay Fever

One of the things that we were most excited about when we arrived in London was to get into the thick of UK ebay action. The Singapore scene was sedate. YL beat me to it by setting up a UK account and bidding for a new stethoscope to replace the one that he had lost in Singapore ages ago. He finally has to be a real doctor. No lah, actually, he can no longer borrow one from the nurses who sayang-ed him so much in Singapore.

I've bagged a number of bargains recently; mostly items for Sophie. New mothers hardly shop for themselves. For instance, I bought a pretty pale pink Benetton jacket for 50p and a cute Next shift dress for 20p (both excluding shipping), both in used but very good conditions. I'm so proud of myself :)


So yes, that is what I have been busy with, if you must know, trawling the listings hour after hour looking for good deals. Everyone loves a bargain - that is why e-bay is so addictive. Here, and other places where the e-bay community is formidable, you get that adrenaline kick during the last few seconds of the auction, trying to out-bid each other while pulling your hair out deciding whether an extra pound will win the prize.

Gumming

Sophie and her favourite activity - gumming

What do you think of my style?

I just checked out Wei's blog and was utterly impressed by her honest writings. The initmate confessions and frank style are addictive in a voyeuristic way. But then again, that's the whole point of blogs, isn't it?

Pardon me, Wei, but given that I had known you since....well....since you were a baby, I was surprised that I had absolutely no idea you were so articulate. The grammar and spellings can be better, though - this is constructive criticism from Ah Che here ok...but then again, who cares! Only nerdy me, I guess.

Made me question whether I have been able to convey as much emotion as she had. I had always known that my style of writing is rather formal and somewhat distant - whether that is good or bad - but what do others really think?

So I turned to my only victim and cornered YL into giving me honest feedback during dinner, to which he replied, "err... err... but I don't know how to describe it..." in a small voice and a petrified look. After some convincing and offering him a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card, he gathered his courage, took a deep breath, and started to put into use his years of medical training & counselling patients to cobble together something vague that will satisfy the listener while telling them nothing much at all.

After burning a hole in his face with my stare, I decided that I would open up the verdict to anyone who has been reading my blog. It's always good to get feedback, right? But to be fair (to myself), this blog is more of a descriptive journal rather than a personal diary, so the level of honesty is somewhat compromised. In any case, I will keep rambling...

Sultan's Elephant

Swayed by Francis' infectious enthusiasm, we decided to track down a giant water-squirting elephant and a giant girl between Piccadilly and St James' Park last weekend. It was a mad scramble to follow the elephant all over central London.

Let's face it, short people like me usually lose out in these type of large crowded events. Good thing the elephant was 5-6 storeys tall. Sophie didn't seem to be impressed by it, but her Baba was lost in the crowd out front even before the elephant came into view.


After the scene at Picadilly Street, we hurried along together with hundreds of others, children & adults alike, towards St James' Park, Buckhingham Palace and the Horse Guards Parade for the finale of the story. Couldn't see much but the packed arena was a sight to behold. Sadly, admist the fervour, the plants had been trampled in many places in the park.

For those curious about what this is all about (basically a street art performance by France's Royal de Luxe), visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/features/sultans_elephant/.

Canal Festival

Montage of brightly painted doors of narrowboats

On the May Day Bank Holiday, we went to Little Venice near Paddington area to check out the Canalway Cavalcade. It is London's premier waterways event and they were celebrating the Inland Waterways Association's Diamond Jubilee. And so it was that we were introduced to a Britain that is blessed with a spider-web network of canals that criss-crossed the island, allowing one to boat, say, from London all the way up north to Wales or Scotland. Apparently, Birmingham itself has more canals than Venice in Italy.

Little Venice was very pretty that day, full of bright colourful narrowboats and barges moored along the canal. The food vendors, knick knack stalls, and a lively 3-person band lent an air of festivity to the place.

We took a 50-minute canal ride to Camden Lock, and enjoyed the slow, queit, therapeutic journey passing charming waterside houses, stone bridges and even the London Zoo. Thank you to Francis for sharing the information on the event!