My Princess turns 3

My princess, Puteri Zareen Sofea turned 3 years old on 13th September 2007. This was her second birthday celebration in Egypt. It was also the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. Even, her Pak Ndak dropped by on his way back to Malaysia after his meeting in Syria.

Vacation in Europe

After months of planning, we were finally on our way to Europe for a 26 day vacation. Leaving Cairo on 28th of March, we landed at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris for 4 days stop over. From there we covered in total 7 countries, 17 different train rides, and not to mention tons of Euros spent. Summary of our trip:

Day 1: Arrived in Paris and explored the city.
Day 2: Trip to Disneyland by RER. Experienced the Parisian underground train system as well.
Day 3: It was raining the entire morning, so our City Tour was not worth the money. In the afternoon, we walked to Eiffel Tower and went up to the top floor for an amazing view of Paris. Then, continued walking to Champs Elysees for window shopping.
Day 4: Left Paris for Vienna. Took a 2-hour express train from Vienna to Wels. There, our friend Dali picked us up and stayed at his house.
Day 5: Chilled out at Dali's place.
Day 6: Took the morning express train from Wels to Vienna. Then we took another express train from Vienna to Budapest. Arrived at Budapest Keleti station in the afternoon and walked to our apartment for the next 5 days.
Day 7: Took a personal guided tour of Budapest city. We covered the Citadel, the castle area & the parliment building. In the afternoon, we explored the shopping area around Andrassy Street.
Day 8: Today, we visited the Heroes Square and then visited the Sissy Palace.
Day 9: Stayed at the apartment and prepared for early morning departure tomorrow.
Day 10: Left Budapest on a 7am train heading towards Vienna and then connecting train to Wels. In the afternoon we left for Imst (near Innsbruck). Arrived Imst in the evening and checked-in at our apartment for the next 3 nights. It was Easter holiday weekend.
Day 11: Drove to Munich, Germany. The first place we visited was the BMW museum in Olympic Park. Then, we headed to the main square (downtown) for lunch and shopping. After a short stroll in the English Park, we headed back to Imst.
Day 12: Today, we climbed a steep hill to visit the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. Now we know why they called King Ludwig II as the Mad King.
Day 13: We left Imst in the morning just in time to catch our next train to Prague (Praha), Czech Republic. We arrived late night in Prague and checked in to our apartment in Wenceslas Square.
Day 14: At 11am we joined a guided tour to the Prague Castle area, Charles Bridge and Old Town.
Day 15: Today we were fortunate to witness the process of making Bohemian crystals during our Glass Factory tour in Nizbor.
Day 16: We visited the Karlstejn Castle located about an hour away from Prague.
Day 17: We left Prague at 6am and headed back to Wels. In the afternoon, we drove to Salzburg (about an hour away) to visit the Festung Hohensalzburg and Mozart's birth house.
Day 18: We drove down about 2-hours to Vienna and our excursions include a visit to the Schonbrunn palace, Naschmarket, Demel Cafe, St. Stephen cathedral, Spanish Riding School and a city park.
Day 19: Relaxed at Dali house with a BBQ party in the evening with his Petronas colleagues.
Day 20: Started our 5-day Swiss trip by taking a train to Zurich from Wels. Arrived in Zurich after 6+ hours train ride. Explored the city on foot. Visited the most expensive real estate in the world, the Bahnhofstrasse street shopping area.
Day 21: Left Zurich at noon and headed for Luzern by train. From Luzern we took a Golden Pass panoramic train to Interlaken OST. From there, we changed train to get to Spiez. In Spiez we disembarked and took an Italian express train to Brig. From Brig we took a cogwheel train to Zermatt. Stayed in an apartment in Zermatt.
Day 22: We went up to Rothorn Paradise (3+km above sea level) to get the best view of Matterhorn.
Day 23: Took the Glacier Express train from Zermatt to Chur. The 6-hour panaromic train ride was fantastic. Arrived in Chur in the evening. Went shopping for watches.
Day 24: Left Chur for Wels by train from Chur to Sargans and then another train from Sargans to Wels.
Day 25: Busy packing our suitcases for our trip home tomorrow.
Day 26: Left Wels for Vienna and took an afternoon flight to Amsterdam. Spent some time in Amsterdam before flying back to Cairo.

Overall, it was a tiring trip with 2 kids and suitcases but we really enjoyed our vacation especially Paris, Prague and Switzerland.























More pictures here.

2007

Another year passed by, we are now in 2007. 1st January 2007 also marked our 4th Wedding Annivessary. With 2 kids at home, a romantic candle light dinner was out of question. Instead, we took a family vacation on a 5-days/4-nights Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan. All the photos are here.

It also means that we have another year to go in Egypt. Reen will also turn 3 this year, and Ziyad will be 1 in May. Time sure flies...

Hope 2007 will be a fruitful year and better than 2006 in all aspects.

Happy New Year!