Parc Guell

It was a cold spell in Barcelona, though you'd never guess from the pictures. Morning temperatures reached a low of 3-4 deg Celsius. After beefing ourselves on hot churrios and chocolate, we took a metro and walked 1.5km up to Parc Guell :0.
It was worth it, with breathtaking views of the Mediteranean and the fantastically strange architecture typical of Gaudi.

A typical gingerbread house.

Hui Min visits

Hui Min, a friend and former colleague of June's visits us for a few days. Russell was thrilled to see a new visitor in the house (you can check out his reactions in youtube.com). After warming up to her, we went for churrios and chocolate on Sunday morning, before heading to Picasso museum.

After that, June and Hui Min continued touring Barcelona and I brought Russell home for his nap and bath. Followed by Mexican dinner in Gracia.

Back home

I bought the same Holland tee shirt as Russell, and we decided to take a photo before washing it.

Russell enjoying the spring sunshine on the terrace, espanyol style.

Superstar Russell

We had just finished a dim sum lunch along Leidsplein, another foodies street in Amsterdam. It was a good lunch, with authentic dim sum and the har kow was great.
And then a Tommy Hilfiger crew approached us and wanted to video Russell for a local Dutch advertisement on kids growing up. So we placed Russell along the streets and the fashion shoot started. He attracted quite a crowd, and Russell played up to it, throwing flying kisses and smiling for the camera. Only regrets was that I did not video the event.
Quite fun, though.

At dinner, we had local Dutch food like cured paling (eel) and stampot (a local winter specialty). This was followed up with a soak in the tub for Russell.

2nd day in Amsterdam

It's our 2nd day here and in our morning walk, we stumbled onto this cozy little cafe by the river. We popped in and were delighted to try local Dutch pastries (which were sweet and yummy). Russ also had a good time, eating his croissant. We liked it so much, we returned for breakfast the following day.

Next stop was the van Gogh museum. June enjoyed it quite a lot, can't say the same for Russell as he was screaming occasionally. But once we reached the park outside, the Museumplein, he was better behaved. Better in the relative, of course....

Next, we took a walk down Albert Cuyp street, a mile long pasar malam. We had to try the 'Viet Name Loempia', which are actually french fries, topped with curry or mayo sauce. It was good, but Russell missed out on it, as he was taking a nap in the backpack.

A walk in Amsterdam

After we disembarked from the canal boat, we took a stroll along the canals. Amsterdam is quite different from Barcelona, and the architecture, layout and feel is unique and refreshing. The canals are truly romantic, especially at night.

Here we are at Rembrandtplein, a popular dining and strolling area. It wasn't too crowded yet, but lots of eateries here. We then took a walk to our restaurant for dinner, the Sampurna, for ristaffel dinner. It was right in front of the flower market, and the food was good (european standard). Of course, being us, we walloped the food even before taking photos, so nothing to add here, except the food was good.

Afternoon outing

Serving the prince....wearing Russell's shoes in the ornate armchair of our hotel room. We went to the Pancake Bakery first for lunch, which served great pancakes with fantastic combos, eg bacon & cheese; spinach with brie. Russell loved the pancakes and ate quite a large amount. Next, we went to Anne Frank House, which was to commemorate a Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis in this house during WW II but was finally betrayed. Quite a sad story and a sombre reminder of the terrible deeds done during WW II. At least, Germany owned up to their wrongdoings, unlike Japan, who refused to own up to their deeds and even now, keep trying to gloss over their misdeeds.

After that, we went for a canal cruise. Russell is probably slightly disoriented and started behaving strangely. He was giggling a lot and kept struggling with me, trying to climb out of the boat and into the water. It was driving me wild.

Here is a photo of him in his 'off' mood. He looks really cute here, but he was a real bundle to handle during the canal ride.

To Hotel Estherea

We took a short walk from the tram station to our hotel, which is a canal hotel, situated next to the river Singel. It was a great location, right next to Dam Square and a street from the Spuistraat (the main restaurant stretch). We got a good deal for it, as we booked waay ahead of time.

A view of the entrance of the hotel. It doesn't look very special from out here, but inside was fantastic, very good service and very homey feeling. They had free cakes, cookies, coffee, tea and chocolate in the lobby. This was fantastic especially after you return from a walk from the cool outside.

And there is a large marine fishtank in the lobby as well, and Russell was enthralled by it.

Once we reached the hotel, it was nap time and at 2pm, we were ready to go out.

To Amsterdam!

It was Monday (12 March 2007) and it's our short trip to Amsterdam. We took a budget flight to Amsterdam and thank the Lord, it was not a full flight and we managed to get an extra seat for Russell. We woke up at 4am and on board the flight, it was already 9am and Russell is a little tired. Here he is entertaining himself in the plane.

After we landed, we took a train shuttle from the airport to the city. It was really easy and comfortable, especially most instructions were in English. I was going through the map, and Russell was very helpful.

At the city, we switched to a tram to our hotel. It was all very budget-y, and very easy as well.

The tram had all the future stops posted and so, no confusion at all. Amsterdam is very fuss-free and efficient. Their airport was probably the most efficient and well laid out (after Singapore :) ). And I understand why Rotterdam is the largest port in the world. All in all, very impressed with Holland.

At the petting station of the zoo

This is probably where most of the kids converge to in the zoo - the petting station. Here Russell is taking photo next to a small pony.

And next to a large donkey.

Russell finally overcoming his apprehension and started petting the animals. Next time, we'll bring carrots for him to feed the animals.

Russ' antics

It was Saturday and we've just bought freshly baked french loaf for lunch, with our roast chicken. Russell loves the smell and taste of freshly baked bread...who doesn't. While we weren't looking, he took the entire loaf and started nibbling on the end. Quite a sight.

And Sunday was zoo time again, clearly he's enjoying the zoo a lot. Especially with the good weather. This is the weekend before our Amsterdam trip.