Showing posts with label traveling in Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traveling in Europe. Show all posts

WW: One Cloudy Day at Paris, the City of Lights


While enjoying your #stayathome #workfromhome #studyfromhome period, I took the liberty to dig up my external hard disk and boy..  I have tons of unpublished photos from my previous journey. 

Well, I do miss traveling.
Terribly.
But for now, I fully enjoy staying at home because I know I'm saving my self, as well as the lives of my loved ones, my family and the community. 

I cannot deny that I was quite frustrated to see, to read and to hear so many sad news here and there. I am trying to follow all the latest updates on the issue of COVID - 19, be it at home or abroad, and to do my best to contribute, by donating some fund to certain movements and platforms as well as to those around me who need assistance. Simple things like ordering food online, buying your fresh veggies from the traditional vendors who still need to go out and sell things to survive, giving free food and basic staples to those who need them, and staying at home as well as obeying the prevailing regulations will certainly help. So let's be kind and considerate. We all in this together and we all can fight it together.



Anyway, I randomly chose this Paris visit folder back in spring 2018.
Spring is here so I thought it's appropriate to celebrate it by publishing series of spring photos. In some place, spring is not only identical with blooming flowers, but also with rain.


I stayed for two days for meetings and I got a chance to see Paris in between.
Coming here for about 5 times, I never get bored (at all) with this City of Lights.
Even when rain came pouring down the whole day, I insisted to see its ageless beauty under the grey sky. 

Here are some photos I took on that cloudy-then-rainy day.
I took the metro and sopped at Trocadero and walked at the surrounding areas. In the evening, we made a round-a-bout drive along the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed its blinding lights.

Isn't she the prettiest?

Trocadero..

In gold..

cloud and rain did not stop people from flocking around

at dusk..

I just didn't want to move..

The metro is very handy

 And when the night came..






Tell me ...  do you think Paris still looks glamorous even under the pouring rain 
and gloomy sky?


Join us on (almost) Wordless Wednesday by clicking HERE and enjoy the link party 

WW: Happy Transit at London, United Kingdom

Paddington Station
Welcome to Paddington Station
This is a late post and I have to admit, I was super happy making a decision to have a little happy transit at London.
Yup, LONDON.

The last time I visited this lovely city was back in 2009, right after new year.

It was early morning at winter
Remember when I had to travel to Tromsø, Norway and Brussels, Belgium, for works? SO heading back home, we decided to stop at London,
And although it was only around 11 hours, we managed to take tubes around London and head to Bicester Village to grab some factory - outlet stuff.
Truly a happy transit :).
Let's see how happy I was.

We took the train to go to Bicester Village and some tubes before arriving at the intercity station
 We stopped at Baywater, Marylebone, dan Paddington stations in order to go to Bicester Village. I should have brought my Paddington Bear and taken picture with it at the Paddington station..


My Elmo and me.

The tunnel is quite deep underground and it's lovely and clean indeed.


We bought our ticket to Bicester Village and directly hopped on for a 45-minute journey to the Factory Outlet. 


Is that X-men symbols :p?  For sure I love it because it's purple!
And Bicester Village in so lovely!

Hop on...

Welcome to Bicester Village


I want this pueple Gucci bag :)

How about you? Do you like transit too?
Do you usually go outside of the airport and explore the city?

Join us on (almost) Wordless Wednesday and have fun with the link party.

WW: The Beauty of Tromso, Paris From the North

Paris from the North

More photos from Tromsø, Paris from the North.

This time, I will share more snaps of the city!
And the city of Tromsø is very manageable. 
Too bad it was snowing heavily so that the reads were mostly icy and slippery.
Some of them are taken at night or during the dusk, which starts quiet early at 2.30 PM.
As I used my smartphone, some photos might not be as brilliant as I want it to be.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Welcome to Tromsø



Snow welcoming us at Tromsø

the reindeers..

the Church..

ready for the holiday season

The milky way..

My breakfast...delicious smoked salmons, turkey ball, scrambled eggs and baked beans.

markedsplassen...

Let's go shopping..


by the fjord..I love all the colorful homes







 So, how do you like the city?
Which part is your favorite?
Do you love winter wonderland like this?





Join us on (almost) Wordless Wednesday and have fun with the link party.


Welcome to Tromsø, Paris from the North

Welcome to Tromsø, Paris of the North!

Welcome to Tromsø

It feels like a dream when the plane finally landed at Tromsø, the northern part of Norway.


Together with my Director and one of my closest colleagues at the office, we attended the bilateral meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway. And as they also hosted the Asia - Europe Meeting on human rights education and training in Tromsø, the bilateral meeting was held in Tromsø as well.

And what a lovely city Tromsø is!

the ship by the fjord..

We flew through Istanbul and Oslo to reach this lovely city dubbed as Paris of the North.
It was quite a long journey as we transited here and there.
But once we arrived and saw the beauty of Tromsø, it all worth the journey!

Tromsø warmly welcomed us with piles of snow.
Can you imagine the beautiful snowy rain at minus 6 degree Celsius approximately welcoming us with Indonesian 35-degree-Celsius-all-year-long fatigue bodies?
Well.. good thing we were quite ready and wore our winter clothes and boots :).
Otherwise we would be drop dead frozen.

The church right in front of our hotel.

The first agenda we had as we arrived in Tromsø was dinner.
Yes, what beats lovely dinner in a cold, cold place!

Look at the view!


Our big delegation..
The restaurant is called Du Verden.
It was our and Norwegian delegation coming and enjoying dinner in one of the best restaurants in the city. As it was probably more than 20 of us, we spent quite a long time waiting for the food LOL.
I loved the creamy mushroom soup and the baked fish they served.
And the dessert? Heaven!

My fave!

love the fish and the gratin

wanna have some dessert?

Plus, the restaurant was located by the fjord, so we really enjoyed the wonderful scenery outside of the window of our tables.
Lovely indeed.

Our bilateral meeting

Then the following day we had the full half - day meeting, followed by the ASEM seminar opening in the afternoon.
There were a wide range of issues being discussed and we really had a productive discussion.
Many deliverables and proposed programs were being put forward and I am excited to continue our cooperation in so many fields.


Again, as we met and discussed so many important topics on human rights, the snow solemnly fell outside and we could clearly see it from our wide-windowed room.
So serene!


We were also priveledge to have the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway to come and join us at the closing session of the meeting. She's so young yet very intelligent.



The minister at the closing session..

After the meeting, we all went back to our hotel and got ready for the Northern Lights hunting.
Yeees...we were hunting for that famous aurorra.
In the middle of the winter night!

Solemn night before aurorra hunting

And later I will share some practical tips for hunting Northern Lights in Tromso, Norway.
Just stick around and stay with me and My Purple World, okay.
And incase you haven't checked my WW post on Northern Lights in Tromsø, check out Northern Lights Hunting at Tromsø, Norway.

Lucky us!

Do you like snow too?
Where do you see snow for the first time?
Do you always get well-prepared for winter time?

Cheers and see you in the next adventure!