Forgetfullness...

Salam..

I certainly has been dormant from blogging for a quite some time.. I guess I don't really have anything interesting to write on.. My dear husband has made the entry about our vacation in Barcelona.. I did enjoy it very much.. I wish for more of the great holidays to come..

Nothing much has happened since.. We both has been quite busy with work since.. It has been tough for me.. It's a busy job & lots of expectations comes with it.. It is challenging, both physically & mentally.. Work starts at 8 every morning & continues to 6 or 7 pm in the evening.. If I'm lucky,I'll get some break for lunch.. or tea sometimes.. most of the time, I took a break just for prayers.. Even when we were postcall,it was just the same story.. and there will always be an assignment for us for the night.. recent journal or guidelines to be read.. sometimes,i do feel really exhausted.. not to mention yet,on calls & house chores.. this week,I've been taking turns with my dear husband doing calls.. Tues,he was oncall.. Wed,he was postcall & I was oncall.. thurs,I was postcall.. friday,he was oncall again.. and today, I'm all alone again.. next wed,we'll both be oncall! despite being busy & having a hectic life, I do feel empty.. drained.. I'm not really enjoying what I'm doing.. sometimes,I do enjoy it but most of the time,I just feel empty... and I can't denied asking myself,is this what I really want to do for the rest of my life??

***

Last night I had the weirdest dream.. I dreamt about my daughter.. She came back to meet me.. She was beautiful & she was talking to me.. I remembered asking her does she remembered me,and she does remember me.. but she doesn't remember ayah.. I was crying in front of her & for some reasons,I kept apologising to her.. I suddenly woke up & found myself weeping.. I didn't wake my husband & I didn't even tell him about the dream.. I do miss my babies..

***

"On no soul doth Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray: ) “Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith.”

Tafsir Al-Baqarah (verse 286)

Last night,a close friend reminded us about this verse from the Holy Quran.. How easy we feel stressed.. hopeless.. But we often forgot that Allah won't chose us unless He knows that we're able for it.. even we ourselves are unaware of our true capabilities.. We often reacted the wrong way for each time we're tested either through our behaviours, our thoughts or our emotions.. but the great thing is that as long as we're still breathing,we're always given the chance to seek forgiveness from Allah.. He,to whom we seek guidance & strength throughout the journey of our life..

O Allah,please forgive me of the times that I'd lost hope & forgot.. Please forgive me of my wrongdoings.. And please guide me for each step that I take..

To our friend,thank you for the reminder..

Burnin' Up

Salam..

In all fairness, I have not a clue of what I will be blogging on tonight.. I am severely exhausted, mentally drained and grievously emotionally retarded at the moment.. Event the narcissistic 'unsub' in Criminal Minds on television could not startle me..

Maybe this is one of the signs of when a doctor (like myself) is burned up.. I hope not.. I hope this is just literally pure physical and mental exhaustion after a run of serious 32-hour work.. Even with a short period of sleep/rest time, many of my colleagues would agree that the fact that we needed to be at the tip of our toes and literally be just at the other end of the phone makes us too drained of every little juice of energy we have..

I have always have this worry that it may come to a point when a doctor feels that he works no more than just fulfilling his career ambitions and as a day job, not as what he intended it initially - to help others..

Hopefully, it never happens to me..

Salam..

The Week That Was..

Salam..

Oh, dear.. What happened to this blog? It has been over a week since the last entry.. And that was when Zuhaili got his SPM results and the straight-A student was breaking news of the nation..

In all fairness, nothing much has happened over that period, that neither being extravagantly busy nor being extraordinarily lazy would serve reason for not writing an entry.. Maybe because I just got blind-sided by other things that blogging passed me by..

Aqilah Turned Four

Last weekend, we attended a very sweet and nice birthday party.. It was for Aqilah, daughter of Uncle and Kak Agee, who turned four last weekend.. The day turned out to be bright and sunny and we were served with a Cinderella and a Princess's Castle cakes.. Of course, for all viewers there, it was Kung Fu Panda on the big screen.. Uncle also had the bouncing castle in the backyard for the kids.. It was a big event and a memorable one, certainly for Aqilah.. Indeed, Joe is still too young to appreciate if a party was thrown for him.. But, all in due time, Joe..

This weekend, we did not do anything major.. Certainly watched the Irish rugby team broke record and emerged triumphant in the RBS Six Nations - Champions and Grand Slam! Of course, my celebration was dampened by some degree after Manchester United was humiliated by a 0-2 lost to Fulham and two sending offs! Also of note, Chelsea lost but inevitable Liverpool crushed Aston Villa 5-0..

And one achievement this week for me and Ina was that we managed to send in our photo album for printing.. I made the Barcelona vacation and Ina made the Scotland trip album.. She has already started the London trip from last year.. Maybe we will start our own collection of albums of our vacations and events.. I should get myself a digital SLR camera.. Hmm, how about that for my 'surprise present'..

Oh, well.. As of now, the tiny Sony will do..

Salam..

Too Clever?

Salam..

It is the time of the year when the telephone never stops ringing, certainly at my parents' place and the homes of our extended family members.. I cannot speak this as an agreed generality.. Some of you may think ringing phones are not a matter of exciting interest, but this ringing phone at this time means something different to our family..

If some of you have noticed, the results of the Malaysian Examination Certificate, or more commonly known as SPM back home, was just published earlier today.. It may have just hit the newsstands and will be aired in the 8-o'clock news shortly.. And since we have a, quite boastfully saying, huge family - with my mom having 13 siblings, all married, and approximately 60 cousins of mine - it is such a time when these results of big exams, be it UPSR, SPM or PMR, make a big impact to us all.. Most of my mom's siblings and some of the in-laws were and still are in the education system, be it teachers, principals, lecturers and professors.. And that said, these exams and their results somewhat stands as a podium for the "Annual Inter-Family Competition".. Of course, the competition is the unsaid strive to perform better and be noticed and 'glorified' when the results come.. For some subconscious reason, it is a matter of family pride and reputation, so to speak..


As for my family, we have marked for ourselves such a standard that it becomes a sibling 'rivalry' as much as it is sibling motivation.. I marked my path through UPSR, PMR and SPM with nothing less than A's.. And Erin and Intan followed suit.. And because of that, the pressure is just immense.. And even sadder is that these 'marks' are becoming a 'must-achieve' target! And I hate to be in my siblings' position..

But it is always nice to know that whatever our results are, we are who we are and who we want to be and our family accepts us as who we define ourselves as..

Peer Pressure

Today, in the local newspaper, another 'genius' broke the record.. Scoring 20A's in the SPM! No parent wouldn't be proud.. In fact, most parents might just 'advertise' this phenomenon nationwide!

This phenomenon of nationwide peer-pressure is not something new, certainly not in Malaysia.. In 2004, a female student broke the news with 17 A1's, and she became the first teenage public-exam trend-setter.. And it only gets better! In 2006, another girl re-wrote the record with 18 A's, and further in 2007 a young boy scored 21A's (19A1's).. Today, another genius marked the newspapers with 20 A's (19A1's)..

I stand tallest with envy and astonishment at the fact that they achieved such credentials.. I feel inferior and ashamed that my parents did not have the chance to be proud of me with those results..

But at the end of the day I forward this very question to all of you and the geniuses :

What will you do with all the A's?

It may sound rhetoric.. In fact, it may sound offensive to some ears.. When I was at school level, I was a good student, I studied hard and with utmost dedication, I played sports and socialise, I was not a geek, neither was I a jock.. But I had something clear in my mind - I wanted to be a doctor.. And I did everything needed to get me there.. And I did get there after school, went into college, ultimately overseas in one of the most prestigious college in the world and graduated.. I did enough to get me there, because I know where I wanted to be..

I fear my next lines would be so offensive that people may stop reading this blog..

Sometimes I feel and somewhat convinced that, despite the multiple A's, we assume these teenagers are multi-talented, super-achievers.. That no matter in what well they are thrown into, they will climb their way out..

I, for one, feel that they have now so much on their plates that the real challenge now becomes to pick which one to digest first.. And the pressure is vast! I believe that some people see a full plate as 'maximising your options', but I regret to say that my stand is with 'no clear ambition and self-doubt'.. Anything they pick will determine their path and, needless to say, the path is wide open with their A's backing them up.. But, it is the matter of choosing the correct one, the wise decision.. With 20A's, you could be a doctor or an engineer or a businessman or a lawyer or a secretary or a janitor or a fishmonger.. But which one is YOU?

Well, that was just me being argumentative and harsh..

I dedicate this entry to my dear brother, Zuhaili, with my utmost congratulations with his results.. I know you want to do Medicine and I will support your ambition all the way.. You have now a brother and three sisters already doctors and we are here for you for advice and support.. I know that you have determined this ambition even before the exams started, and that is how I know the motivation you need to get to it..

Well done!

Salam..

Career Pathway

Salam..

Yet again, I visit this blog page and create another entry.. It seems that my stagnant brain has just eclipsed my sanity and thus dreadfully flood me with blogging ideas, which by the end of this read, you will realise that you have probably wasted some precious time.. I forward my most sincere apology in advance..

However, despite my disturbed judgment and still-mildly-preserved executive cerebral function, I have come to a rather interesting issue, mainly for fellow doctors reading this blog.. I will try to maintain non-discriminating arguments for non-doctor companions.. This is the issue of Career Pathway, as nicely-mentioned at the title..

Dreams and Ambitions

Ever since these ten small toes walked into a school, there is a certain mind-set and 'target' that has been embedded in the mind.. Some kids call it dreams, others call it ambition, a small portion call it motivation.. As for me, I might have fallen into all those three groups.. You may reason that you were in one of the groups, but I assure you, the selection into any of those particular compartments did not deem any significance now, that you are at the level of comprehending and arguing this blog entry..

Let me explain..

This 'certain mind-set and target' is not a genetically-driven thought, nor it is environmentally-nurtured spirit.. Rather, depending on the family and parental factor (hence, genetic) and the upbringing and the cluster of nurture (hence, environmental), it is actually a combined and complementing outcome..

Some children 'dream' about being a doctor, or a pianist, or a business executive, or even the Secretary of the United Nations.. Does this dream make him less a motivated person? The answer is 'No'.. As a matter of truthful fact, these dreams are the ones pushing and giving the reason for a child to go to school, to enjoy counting in Maths class, to memorise the notes from nursery rhymes.. That deep inside his mind, these are the baby-steps he needs to walk the entire stairwell towards being his dream person.. Just because he does not share his dreams with his parents, does not mean he does not have one.. Do not, at any particular time, believe that children only have nightmares when the only ones they share are the nightmares..

Some other children are exposed with the word 'ambition' at a very early stage.. No reason to be alarmed at the expression I am relaying with the first sentence.. It is not wrong to expose such big and ambitious word to a child, nor would I say I promote the practice.. From the limited deduction of mine through my minuscule experience in life, I noticed that education-oriented parents tend to use such word to their children.. What it means is that, on top of the dreams that these children have, the nurturing and supportive air in the home environment strengthens the dream.. It enhances the belief within the subconscious territory that the dreams are achievable and attainable.. And within the first few days at school, teachers participate with the parents holding the baton of boosting the belief within the children.. As a material result, we see these children's enthusiasm when they play-act their 'future' role in life..

A small group of children fall into the category of having, what we adults call, 'self-motivation'.. Compared to dreams and ambitions, self-motivation is not a default construct within children's mind.. My proof is self-explanatory when we often see mothers yell and yell for their children to finish their homework! Mankind only develop the capability to self-motivate later in life, usually around the teenage period.. Some children develop this quality quicker than others, especially seen in children entering and spending their teenage lifespan in a boarding school.. The simple reason being the competitiveness of peer-pressure and the cumulative force of individual dream and personal ambition towards, what possibly is, a same goal - good grades..

Translation

But how do all these - dreams, ambitions, motivation - translate to career pathways?

As far as the sane mind concerns, every child, after all these three compartments are thoroughly and fastidiously explored, they develop several major characters which we call intelligence, dexterity and self-confidence.. These are then the characters which we see the children, now eagerly entering adult life, carry and define themselves with.. And these are the characters we collectively label the children with as Personality..

Personality is the definition of a person, who after such tremendous journey through childhood, teenage life and then adulthood, having seen and learned and experienced different tasks and obstacles, and taken all of those in a briefcase named ME! And this Me is the one, along the way, made major and life-changing decisions, which will further define the person.. It all sounds so much like a vicious circle but the reality is this is LIFE..

To cut long story short, one of the life-changing decisions that has to be made is the decision about and around the career.. As for many of us, our initial childhood dream, consolidated by clear ambition statement and further emphasised and driven by motivation, has brought us to where we are today - a professional in what we do.. Despite having gone through all of the hassle and difficulties and having already achieved our ambition, we are now faced with another challenge - carrying our careers to the next desired level..

A doctor now faces the challenge of climbing the ladder through different trainings to achieve specialty consultantship, an accountant now faces the difficulties of paving the path to achieve a level of similar equivalence to a medical consultant, a businessman now faces the hardship of expanding the business to regional, national or even worldwide recognition.. We see this as a challenge, yet the truth is that the path has already been laid out for us by our colleagues before us.. The main challenge is to appreciate and decide which path to take, not how to take it.. And that is the Career Pathway Challenge..

I will not dwell further into the matter of how to choose which path.. The utmost take-home-message for all my readers is, and indeed for my own self, we should not be alarmed, nor be casual of the fact that we are facing such 'turmoil' of holding the steering of life.. Rather, we should take a moment and, possibly a small step back, evaluate all the valid options and available opportunities.. And backed with all the dreams, ambitions, motivation, further driven by intelligence, dexterity and confidence, and coated and strengthened by our own self-developed, self-built personality, we should be able to come up with the best decision for us and our career..

As for me, lastly, I have not made up my mind as yet to what specialty I will spend the rest of my career practising.. Although, despite that, I do know what I will be in five years' time.. Small baby-steps towards a huge trophy.. May Allah help me and grant me strength to walk the path I choose, with His guidance and faith in Him..

Salam..

Defining Love

Salam..

This is another not-so-ordinary entry in this blog.. Nonetheless, humour me with this article and sing along with the lyrics mimicking the translation of how bored I am during this period of, what should be, break from my career life, or formally called 'annual leave'.. Despite my grimacing and sour complaining, I have to say, the first week of the break was remarkably tremendous.. Needless to say, it was the extended honeymoon and vacation to Barcelona.. Fellow readers can experience our stories and visits from our recent entries entitled 'Barcelona'..

Very well, there is a reason why this entry will stray away from the norm.. Unlike the ever-active mind of Ina's, despite being slightly dormant on the blogging side, she always has a story to tell.. On the other hand, my head is a can full of supercharged, highly flammable worms, which with the tiniest of catalyst in any direction, could explode with non-functional, erratic, burst of irrelevant ideas! Now, who keeps the can lid? The certain answer is Ina, my buffer and my phone line to the real world.. How she bears holding me is beyond explanation.. And I thank her for that.. One of the millions of reasons why I love her so much..

Lately, one theme seems to surface almost unexpectedly.. The theme of 'Love'.. I am not a big blog-reader myself, sadly but truthfully admitting, but the several ones that I have read recently had this topic as a discussion matter or an experience-based entry.. It has come to my attention, hence the catalyst for my worms, that probably the word and its definition have become virtually loosely-used over time.. And indeed, over and over again.. Well, let us go back to roots and basics.. Let us indulge ourselves to the truthful meaning of the word 'Love' and be reminded what it means to us all and to humanity as a whole..

Dictionary Definition

1. A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness

2. A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair, the emotion of romance

3. A person who is the object of deep or intense affection or attraction, beloved

These are some of dictionary definition of 'Love'.. In fact, all of them, and even if you search any other dictionary in any language, the definition of 'Love' is technically an attempt to define a feeling of fond affection.. Now, catch this - Even the most philosophical and linguistic attempt of defining 'Love' seems so far from the (I'm at lost of words!) intended description.. Not to mention, the 'meaning of love' varies from one person to the other..

Having seen and agreed on such basic level, that we all feel love and define love in our own separate way, despite the common theme of 'affection', I (for myself) have come to a general, yet arguably my best, conclusion that 'Love' is not definable in ANY word.. No offence to linguists and philosophers, and to writers and speakers who make a living from books and seminars on the 'basics of loving' under the name-tag of 'interpersonal relationship experts/advisors'.. As for me, despite my own stand that love is not definable by word, I do not envy those people who make their living through this theme.. In fact, I envy those linguists and philosophers who, with great detail and intellect, serve their lives to define and redefine the true meaning of this very special and heavenly feeling.. I envy those writers, authors and speakers who, with great charm and enthusiasm, devote their lives to help others understanding and practising this divine passion..



I wonder if my fellow readers are still in doubt of my stand, or even possibly disagree, that no word can define 'Love'.. If you disagree, then I would be so grateful to hear your definition of 'Love' that YOU feel adequate to your heart, that you feel will undoubtedly and wholly encompass your feelings in a sentence.. In fact, I may well challenge you to it!

The glorification of this feeling is such of a magnitude that, and hence my proof, great people began not to define 'Love', but attempt to materialise 'Love' in sentence and phrases, in the form of quotes and poetry..

Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle..
(Crystal Middlemas)

You know you are in love, when you see the world in her eyes,
and her eyes everywhere in the world..
(David Levesque)

These are among the thousands and millions of quotes of mankind attempting to put in words the emotions of 'Love'.. Not to say that they fail to impress, but even so, with such meticulous choice of wordings, the quotes and poems still feel unable to grasp even the shadows of the true meanings of 'Love'.. I could list quotes after quotes, and poems after poems, of 'Love', but I feel it will never suffice to reach the feeling one is experiencing of it..

To dear fellow Muslim brothers and sisters, I have no reservations to remind you that the only way that we would ever define 'Love' is until we have a whole grasp and grip to these very words..

"None of you becomes a believer until I am dearer to him
than his children, his parents and all mankind.."
(As reported by Bukhari and Muslim)

"Tidak sempurna iman seseorang kamu sehinggalah dia sanggup menjadikan aku lebih dikasihi daripada dirinya, anaknya, hartanya dan manusia seluruhnya.."

And it is only after then that we will be able to fulfill the love for our loved ones in our hearts, when we know and realise the most basics and integral reason for loving another person - Loving in the name of Allah (God).. In fact, I cannot stress this enough.. It is actually and spiritually the confidence of love for God and from God that completes the feeling of love to other people - to your parents, your brothers and sisters, your wife and children.. That is the ultimate basis of truest love, unrestrained by doubt or fear, unintimidated or stirred by monetary inadequacy or difficult conflicts..

Conclusion

I have relentlessly laid the most arguable word of all time, 'Love', in a plate for you to debate among yourselves, with your spouse, and more importantly (for me) to debate the theme within yourself.. It may be a heavy enough push to urge you to have a think about this generic theme.. But I insist on attempting that.. Hopefully, by the end of your own debate session (either with yourself or with others), you will feel rejoiced and refreshed with your own new meaning and definition of this lovely feeling..

As for me, my definition and, indeed, materialisation of love is as simple as three letters...

INA

Salam..

Friendly Visit

Salam..

Since coming back from Barcelona, it felt like there was no story to tell.. Certainly after the eventful trip to Spain.. Over the last few days, not that many have passed, despite my constant digging into my brain of what would I write in this blog, nothing came natural and, probably, meaningful to share.. So, be that the case, the blog became dormant..

Friday was the day we flew back from dreamland vacation Barcelona to 'reality-check'-land Limerick.. We started the day early, with the wake-up call at 6am, checked out at 6.45am and the booked taxi came straight away and we were off to Estacio Nord.. A couple of snaps of pictures and we boarded the bus to Girona Airport.. We checked in early and had our breakfast at the airport.. I was not much into the early breakfast mood, especially the one that had 'vacation over' marked on the plate! But we had a glance of the morning sun making its way into Spain over the mountains.. It was so picturesque, that it was impossible to miss the opportunity for a picture.. Despite the tired body after the 'hectic' vacation, we managed to stay 'alive' for the next few hours until we boarded the plane.. Oh, by the way, James Stodart was on the same flight too.. I'm sure he and his wife enjoyed every minute of their stay in Barcelona, just as we did..

The next few hours was practically a blur.. We took the liberty of dozing off on the plane.. But, here's the nice mathematical part of it.. The flight from Barcelona to Shannon took about three hours.. But because the time-zone difference, even after we slept for the whole three hours on the plane, at arrival in Shannon, we still saved one hour of our day! Now, that's useful maths!

Clonmelian Visit

Today, we had a visit from our friends.. Aini is now working in Clonmel, where Erin used to work as an intern, and her husband, on the other hand, is still studying in the UK.. This weekend was their vacation, I guess, that they went up to Cliffs of Moher.. On the way back, they stopped by and had dinner at our place.. Simple dinner - chicken curry, fried eggs and sambal belacan..

And, we had the chance to get acquainted with the five-month-old Muhammad Naimullah.. Surprisingly, his mom calls him Mamat, which was not a name I thought would even make the list of call names, not for him anyway.. Either way, Mamat was comfortable with me and Ina, despite it was our first time with him.. He didn't cry, well, not until later that evening when bedtime was due.. Big round eyes, pink rosy cheeks and such cute smile..

After dinner, some tea and a family photograph, they were off back to Clonmel.. It was a visit probably due since the last time Ina met Aini was when they both lived and worked in Letterkenny, way back in end of 2007.. Much has happened since, proven by the baby boy who visited Auntie Ina for the first time.. Maybe someday Ina can tell Mamat that she and his mom had lived and worked together too..

Naim and me - just look at the eyes!

Ust Nisar, Aini and Naim, Ina and me

Ina will be back to work tomorrow.. I, on the other flip of the coin, will have another week of holiday.. Still, there are some things that I need to do in this coming week.. Maybe I can off-load Ina from some of the house chores as well.. I will keep you readers updated..

Salam..

Barcelona (Day 4, March 5) : Catalan Walks

Salam..

This is the fourth episode of our Barcelona adventure series.. It may well be the last episode as we will be leaving for Limerick tomorrow morning, and I don't think tomorrow counts as another visit day.. Anyway, the title for this entry is "Catalan Walks", not for the reason that we took the Barcelona Walks, but merely because we explored the few places that we had missed by bus, mainly by walking.. Today was a pretty quiet and leisure day, far from the tight schedule of bus timetables..

Also, last night we noticed that one of our friends, Julia, was spending her holidays here in Barcelona too, and to make it even more surprising, she was staying in the same hotel as us! It was unfortunate that we did not even bump into each other during our stay here..

Leisure Day

The morning kicked off with a nice bright ray of sunshine flooding Placa Catalunya.. We strolled down La Rambla trying to decide where to have our breakfast.. It took us a while before realising that I wanted something different than the servings in La Poma.. But even after almost the length of the boulevard, we could not find a decent breakfast menu.. Hence we walked back up to La Poma and had our breakfast there - for the third day in a row!

Our first stop for the day was the Gran Teatre del Liceu.. This majestic and magnificent theatre served as a brilliant stage for artistes from all around the world.. Despite suffering major damages after two fire episodes, the restoration was perfect to rebuild the theatre and preserve its character and identity.. Unfortunate for us, the Main Theatre hall was out-of-limits for cameras, hence no picture for us to prove our visit.. Needless to say, it was spectacular inside! The one-hour guided tour was worth it..

Ina with our tour guide before the Gran Teatre del Liceu tour

What it would look inside the Main Theatre

We then made our way to Palau Guell, the home (palace) of Eusebi Guell.. Again, Guell took Gaudi as his architect to build his house.. Unfortunately, the place was under major restoration, so the only place we could visit at the building were the main entrance and the basement.. We barely spent half an hour there..

Palau Guell

The one place we re-visited was the Monument a Colom, the monument with Christopher Colombus, which was erected in 1888 at the foot of La Rambla.. One reason we re-visited the monument was to climb the tower and enjoy the view from 60-meter height.. The bright sky was great to allow us to enjoy the magnificent view from the top.. However, the windy day did make the tower sway a bit that a small inch of me did feel somewhat stirred! Nonetheless, the view from the height was awesome..

La Rambla - viewed from the top of Monument a Colom

We journeyed further and visited Palau de la Musica Catalana, somewhere up in the Barri Gotic district.. Again, misfortune struck when the tickets for the guided tour was sold out.. So, only few pictures outside the building and we headed back to Placa de Catalunya.. We spend some time playing with the birds at the plaza before having lunch at a restaurant at La Rambla..

Outside Palau de la Musical Catalana

Bird-feeding at Placa de Catalanya

Seafood Dinner

After some rest in our hotel room, we were out again and this time made our way to the IMAX Cinema where we watched Gigantes Del Oceano (Monsters of the Ocean), a 3D National Geographic movie.. After an hour, we walked and spent some time at the port and managed to catch a view of Barcelona at sunset.. The wind was gusty and made it slightly chilly.. It was the perfect view, with the port very calm at the end of the day..

Sunset at Port Vell

We had dinner at El Rey de la Gamba, a seafood restaurant.. We ordered a mixed seafood grill called Parillada, but we were suggested to take half of that and add half of Cigalas (crayfish).. We agreed and we were served with a very large portion of magnificent seafood that we could not finish it in the end! We took a taxi back to our hotel and packed for home..

Seafood dinner

Barcelona has surpassed all expectations and very well notched the definition of 'Holiday'.. I would recommend Barcelona highly as a Europe tour site and spend at least four to five days to fully enjoy the city.. As for me, I enjoyed every bit of my stay and I hope Ina did too.. She certainly looks like she did..

Adeu-siau! Hasta la vista, Barcelona!

Salam..

Barcelona (Day 3, March 4) : Red Line

Salam..

I am back with the next installment of our Catalan city tour.. Day 3 started earlier for us.. For some reason, despite the busy second day and, quite honestly, tiring, my sleep was broken at least three times during the night.. Maybe the excitement of enjoying my vacation in Spain has sunk in and revving my engines inside..

Dawn at Placa de Catalunya

The morning started off with our breakfast at La Poma again, and again Ina's hope to have half-boiled egg was stunted by the hard-boiled egg at the crack of the first egg she took.. Sigh.. After breakfast, we headed towards our starting point Placa de Catalunya, but this time from the opposite side of the park, to board the Red Line roof-top bus.. The morning was perfect, with the sun coming out and inviting everybody's shade to make appearance..

Gaudi

Our first stop was the three buildings by the great Gaudi, the Manzana de la Discordia (Block of Discord) - Casa Lleo Morera, Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo.. It was Casa Batllo that was open to visitors and we made no delay to be among the first to be awed and astonished by Gaudi's magnificent work.. Subhanallah, true genius was the man, gifted and granted with a sense of beauty unfamiliar to mankind.. The ocean-based building represents a majestic feature of how nature can be reanimated in the form of a structural build..

Ina in front Casa Batllo

Casa Batllo rooftop

After Casa Batllo, we went to Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family).. This is another of Gaudi's work.. He started this project at the age of 40, but unfortunately never made it to see the completion.. In fact, even until today, this cathedral is still incomplete! A worker of the cathedral once asked Gaudi when will the cathedral be finished.. Gaudi answered, "Don't you worry, my friend.. My client is not in any hurry.. God has all the time in the world.." Well, talk about working without datelines! No wonder even to this day, after more than 100 years later, the cathedral is still surrounded by cranes and scaffolding! We did not explore the inside of the cathedral as we were informed that a portion of the tickets sold will be donated to the fund for the cathedral's building..

From there, we marched towards Parc Guell, a failed garden-city attempt.. Eusebi Guell had viewed garden-cities in London and had an ambition to bring the idea to Barcelona.. However, he was snubbed by the wealthy locals and the initial plan of an estate with 60 houses with recreational areas collapsed even under the great hands of Gaudi.. The estate was later bought by the city and turned into a tourist attraction.. Despite the 'failure', Gaudi still managed to put lively ideas into the construction of the estate and his artistic work was again materialised in Parc Guell..

Parc Guell roof

After our visit to Parc Guell, we boarded the bus again and continued our journey to our next destination, Tibidabo.. Tibidabo is the name of the mountain at the north side of Barcelona and at the top lies the Parc d'Atraccions.. We stopped at the foot of Mount Tibidabo and took a bus up the hill to Placa del Doctor Andreu, from which we took a funicular (cable car) to the top.. Our initial hope was to hike the hill on the Tramvia Blau, but unfortunate for us the tram was not in service at this time of the year, hence the reason taking the bus.. At the top, again our hopes were crushed when we were told that the Parc d'Atraccion was closed, plus the weather then turned sour with rain pouring down.. The temperature dropped and it was worse at the top of the mountain.. We didn't spend long up there and headed back to the foot of the hill and had our lunch before taking another ride towards Camp Nou..

Funicular up Mount Tibidabo

Barca! Barca! Barca!

We passed CosmoCaixa, Sarria, Monestir de Pedralbes and Palau Reial-Pavellons Guell before reaching the home ground of Barcelona FC.. Needless to say, the visit to Camp Nou was a memorable one.. We took the stadium and museum tour, which started off with a 3-D welcoming movie.. We explored the stadium to the extend that we were in the dressing room, by the pitchside, in the dugout, inside the VIP box, inside the commentary box and in the conference room! Later, we feasted on the extravagant history of Barcelona FC in the museum.. Before we left, we got ourselves some souvenirs from the megastore beside the stadium..

Camp Nou : Mes Que Un Club (More Than Just A Club)

Our journey on the Red Line finished when we took the bus and ended our journey back at Placa de Catalunya around 7pm.. We headed back to our hotel and I showered before going out again for dinner at Rajah Restaurant, just at a corner off the main street La Ramblas.. We were quite surprised to find that this restaurant did serve halal food! Mixed grill and parathas were our servings for the night.. We ended our day around 8pm with some doughnut and coffee..

The Red Line was yet another great adventure and experience around Barcelona city.. Tomorrow is another day for us to visit the last few places and maybe pack some souvenirs.. We will keep you updated with our journey.. Adeu-siau!

Salam..

Barcelona (Day 2, March 3) : Blue Line Tour

Salam..

Day 2 of our Catalan city tour started off quite late.. We only left our hotel at around 10am.. The morning was not particularly cold, but the breeze was chill enough that later I had to buy a sweater to warm myself.. Other than that, the sky was not too bright too, but not too gloomy as well to affect the pictures.. Just slightly on the cloudy side.. All in due time, the story will unveil..

Blue Line

We started off with a quick stroll down La Ramblas, finding ourselves a cosy restaurant for our buffet breakfast.. In all fairness, it was quite cheap.. We spent 20euros for the buffet - scrambled eggs, toasts, coffee, tea, juice and Ina got herself a hard-boiled egg which she had thought to be a half-boiled one.. We noticed that people here don't do 'coffee-to-go' mornings, like in English or Irish cities.. Hence, it was also quite hard for us to find hot drinks to take away..

We headed back towards Placa de Catalunya and boarded the Barcelona Bus Turistic (the Barcelone Bus Tour), just like the popular open-top double-decker bus in most major cities in the world.. Needless to say, we never board the lower deck!

Headed northbound, we passed the great Gaudi's magnificent work of art - the Casa Lleo Morera, Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo.. These buildings are in such a class of their own that they stand out even amidst the tall modern buildings around them.. We did not stop there but continued our journey onwards and stopped at Casa Mila, or La Pedrera, another work by Gaudi.. Oh, by the way, Antoni Gaudi i Cornet (1852-1926) was a genius architect who brought modernism into the eyes of Barcelona and Spain..

We spent over an hour inside Casa Mila, amazed by the majestic and meticulous work of this man.. We took loads of photos, including one picture of us which was taken by a fellow visitor.. This particular photo pictures us sitting in a nice cosy couch in the late apartment, of which no visitor should sit on! How lucky were we to get that picture just in time before we were told that! In our defence, there was no panel saying "Do Not Sit"..

Casa Mila from outside

At the entrance of Casa Mila

The 'forbidden' picture in Casa Mila living room

Casa Mila rooftop - more work by Gaudi

After Casa Mila, we passed several places but we did not stop, including the Estacio de Sants (Barcelona's main train station).. Our next stop was Placa de Espanya, where we took more pictures and it was there I realised the breeze was getting on to me.. I had to find myself a jacket.. I did not bring my big jacket as I knew it would have made me roasted in them.. But not having a long-sleeve shirt was another option all to unwell too.. We walked down Creu Coberta - a long market road.. I managed to find a Puma sweater just nice for comfort and not too expensive.. In fact, most of the products that we have seen here are way cheaper than back in Ireland.. And with a 20% discount, that Puma jacket was mine!

We boarded the bus again.. We passed CaixaForum, Poble Espanyol, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Anella Olimpica, Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic and Teatre Grec.. All of these places were in Montjuic, or the Jewish Mountain, where once this place was the home of a Jewish community with their own temple.. Estadi Olimpic is the stadium which hosted the 1992 Olympic.. This was the event that changed the face of Montjuic and Barcelona as a whole.. Today, this stadium is the home ground of a local football club..

Cable Car Craze

We had a light lunch of sandwich and coffee at Teatre Grec, an art museum.. After that, we took the cable car Teleferic de Montjuic and headed towards the Castell de Montjuic.. The ride was short but undoubtedly with fascinating view, to see the Barcelona laying peacefully from a distance and the sea further to one side.. At the top, we spent half an hour being fascinated and awed by the view..

From there, we headed towards Miramar, where we took another cable car moving down the hill of Montjuic and flying over the main roads by the port towards Torre de Jaume I.. Unfortunate for us, the ride was only up to Torre de Jaume I, which was practically halfway of the length of the cable car line.. The reason was the Torre de St Sebastia was closed.. Otherwise, we would have journeyed across and over the port and sea, stopping at the opposite side of the port itself!

Teleferic cable car and Ina inside the car (Montjuic)

On board the next cable car down Montjuic - Barcelona in the background

From Torre de Jaume I, we walked back towards Port Vell, passed the World Trade Centre and the Colom-Museu Maritim and back at the foot of La Ramblas.. We walked upward the boulevard and decided to have our dinner early.. We had our tapas again and filled ourselves with seven different dishes!

Our early dinner was not without reason.. We had planned to take the bus again to view the city at night.. After a quick break at our hotel room, we boarded the last bus for the day and headed down the Blue Line route again.. The majestic view of Barcelona under the lights of sky was just indescribable.. At the top of Montjuic, the castle at the tip of Mount Tibidabo lit up like a magical shrine..

The other half of the Blue Line route that we did not take during the day we finished tonight.. We passed Port Olimpic (the Olympic Village, which served home to the athletes in 1992), Parc de la Ciutadella-Zoo, Pla de Palau, Catedral and Barri Gotic.. After all that, we arrived back at Placa de Catalunya where we started.. We got ourselves some coffee from a nearby Starbucks and headed back to our hotel..

Placa de Espanya at night

Subhanallah, the view of the city is just breathtaking..

Tomorrow, Red Line! Adeu-siau!

Salam..

Barcelona (Day 1, March 2) : Arrival & La Rambla

Salam..

Welcome to the special edition of our series of tour of Barcelona.. This week, both myself and Ina are taking our annual leave and we decided to have our extended honeymoon to Spain.. I will try to relive our Spanish experience in words as best as I can.. Enjoy the read and let your imagination take you with us in our journey in this magical Catalan city!

The morning in Limerick never felt any warmer than this.. We started off very early taking a cab to Shannon Airport, all around 4.45am.. Our flight was scheduled at 6.45, so we had enough time to travel across the city..We checked in and, to my surprise, we saw Dr James Stodart, the new Palliative Care consultant, whom I came to know very well in the last few months too.. All to surprising too that he was spending his break in Barcelona! Despite my best attempt to avoid formality, I kept addressing him as 'Dr Stodart' and repeatedly he asked me to call him James!


Ola, Barcelona!

We arrived at the Costa Brava Girona Airport still with the sun making its way through the morning.. We took a bus straight to Estacio d'Autobusos Barcelona Nord, one of the four main bus stations in Barcelona.. We did not wait long to grab a taxi to Placa de Catalunya where our hotel was located.. It was such a great day, and only made better to realize our hotel was in the middle of all the action and literally within walking distance to La Ramblas, the Grafton-like avenue in the centre of Barcelona..

After checking-in, we went to the plaza in front of the hotel and started snapping pictures.. The statues and architectures around the park were so impressive, like taking a walk down medieval Barcelona when modernism just started.. The plaza centre was filled with an enormous flock of birds, mainly pigeons.. Two small stalls also sell cheap seeds for visitors to buy and feed the birds..

Placa de Catalunya

Next stop, we walked down La Rambla, breathing the splendid atmosphere of multi-function avenue - with stalls selling souvenirs, man-statues, florists and pet-sellers and even artists painting further down the lane.. It was all so brilliant.. We also stopped by at the Mercat de la Boqueira, Barcelona's central market.. The fruits were fresh and cheap all very well displayed for excited tourists! Ina bought some fresh fruits while I got myself some caramelised cashews and salted pistachios.. Then, we walked all the way down to the Monument a Colom, with a statue of Christopher Colombus at the top pointing at the sea.. We walked along the pier and saw Las Golondrinas, a boat that later on took us around Port Vell and toured the near side of the sea all the way to Port Olimpic, the home of the Olympians in 1992..

Mercat de la Boqueira

Port Vell pier

After the boat ride, we explored the pier further and visited MareMagnum, a new addition to the Barcelona shopping scene.. Behind that, we ended up at the L'Aquarium, where without any hesitations, we entered and spent the evening with fishes and octopuses and lobsters..


That night we had our first ever tapas and paella dinner at Micky's.. Now, in all fairness, we didn't know exactly where to have our dinner, hence we tried at the first sight of option available.. It was not the greatest Spanish food we had tasted but it was enough for us to know what exactly tapas and paellas were.. I had some paella vegetale (vegetable paella) while Ina took in seafood paella.. We took some tapas as well - squid, mussels and salad.. Generally, tapas are small portions of meal, be it vegetable salad, seafood or even chips or potatoes.. The great thing about tapas are we can mix and match and choose our own combinations.. On the other hand, paellas are really tomato-base rice, and depending on what the 'extras' are, you get yourself a seafood paella, vegetable paella or other kinds of paella..

Dining the Catalan way - Paellas and tapas

The first day was such a great start for us newcomers to Spain.. We had a magnificent welcoming greet from the Catalan capital and we were so much looking forward for the next few days of our stay here.. Be sure to stay tuned!

Salam..