The Art Precinct - St Kilda Road

With the sun shining and at 17 degree,
we set off  on our Sunday outing
to the

Art Precinct at St Kilda Road... 

a short tram ride away

Its  the Sunday Market

 Most of the stalls display local arts and crafts; handmade leather bags, water color paintings, costumes jewelleries ....and unique foodstuff...

Chooh La La

Praline nuts packed in recycleable designer bags

 Too tempting.........so we ended up first with 1 small bag of Macadamia nuts @ $8

then went back for another bag of medium $15

(yummy)

Post

Its been a long time since I have to post a letter!!  With the advance in technology we do not need post office as much as we used to. Today we stay in touch via the various social medias like FB, twitters, emails where we are kept aware of the happenings ........ very much so with our smart phones.

I remembered those days where my friends and I used to wait for postmen like as if they were our best friends....not any more.... and writing and posting letters are our only way of communication - most of our family cannot afford the telephone and mobiles were unheard of.

So when I have to post some stuff to a friend, it was a pretty strange feeling walking into the post office....

\

And its not cheap to use the posting services....

Those days of 15cents for a sealed letter and a 10cents for an unsealed one were definitely a thing of the past.. too good to last!!

Manneken-Pis

Manneken-Pis (Flemish) 
simple translation as "little pee man"

 Before I see the actual statue of Manneken-Pis, 

I imagine it to be life-size but look ... this is how big he is........

Located close to the Grand Place on rue de l'Etuve31 (Lievevrouwbroerstraat 31, 1000 Brussels, Belgium) he stands at just 61cm (24 inches).  The peeing boy is a tiny bronze fountain statue.

There are many tales as to why this bronze statue was erected and celebrated so ernestly.  The daring one is where the boy was a spy during the seige of the city.  He literally put out a ploy to bomb the city by urinating on the explosives!!  Many stories such as this has put Menneken-Pis a firm place in the city of Brussels.

The Belgians dressed him up on every possible occasions and he has 600 costumes to his name....his wardrobe ranges from Santa claus to national costumes of many countries around the world. 

Atomium Square de l'Atomium, Brussels 102m (1956)

What is it?  An alien spaceship; a UFO; a giant metal spider; a gigantic metal structure built in the shape of human DNA?

Its 102 metres high with 9 interconnected spheres (it represent an elementary iron crystal enlarged 165 billion times.  This structure was the creation of the engineer Andre Waterkeyn.

Neither tower nor pyramid; its cubic and spherical; an architectural, futuristic sculpture!!  It is actually an exhibition centre and a museum.  It signifies a symbol of its kind in the world and eludes no classification.The Atomium was the main pavilion of the World Fair of Brussels in 1958 also called Expo 58.

The Atomium was not supposed to survive the 1958 World Fair but its popularity and success made its landmark and symbol of Brussels first then internationally.

Diane Hennebert in 2008 aptly describe the Atomium as follows:-

The story of the Atomium is, above all, one of love, the love that the Belgians have for an extraordinary structure symbolising a frame of mind that wittily combines aesthetic daring with technical mastery. The appearance of the Atomium is unusual and unforgettable. It has a rare quality of lifting everyone’s spirits and firing their imagination.

The Eiffel Tower - the magic of light

Eiffel Tower is a monument you would want to experience first hand; its impossible to describe the feelings upon seeing it, upon entering and ascending it.....

Eiffel Tower is France's symbol in the world, the showcase of Paris, today has welcome almost 7 millions a year (75% foreigners) making it the most visited monument that one has to pay for in the world.

Since the 1980s, the monument has regularly been renovated, restored and adapted for an ever-growing public. 

 "The first sighting"

 "The Close-up Look"

"Looking Up"

 "Inside - Under Eiffel"

 "The Ticket Office"

Adult entrance by lift Euro8.50

by stairs Euro5.00

Built by Gustave Eiffel (it took 2 years 2 months 5days to build)  for the 1889 Exposition Universelle to celebrate 100th year anniversary of French Revolution, the tower was intended to last only 20 years but today it is still standing strong; it has so far received 250 million visitors.

I am proud to be part of the 250 millions!!

(13 April 2013)

Like all towering building (though an extraordinary one this is), it allows us to see and be seen boasting a spectacular ascent by its ancient lift and a panoramic view of the city, a glittering beacon in the skies of Paris

Eiffel Tower by Night

The  Eiffel Tower also represents the magic of light

The Story Behind the Singapore $1 Coin

First time I heard the story about this coin is the reason why it is hexagonal. For the purpose of Fengshui. Mr Lee KY consulted a fengshui expert in 1990 as to how to bring prosperity to the country (in that context) and was told that every Singaporean must carry a "pakua" with them at all time.  It will be a tall order as not all are believers.  So there came this brilliant idea of making the $1 coin into the shape of a "pakau". Now everyone who lives in Singapore will have at one time or the other have a "pakua" with them. Old man is happy.

Now in 1997 Singapore hit a bad patch in the economy and here comes the fengshui expert again; the back of the coin (1990) shows a sad face -- thus

And a new coin was minted..............thus

Now Singapore is smiling again......their dollar is strong and its a "smiley"

I being a believer of fengshui (though not fanatically - I only stick to the logical ones), I had been carrying a Spore $1 myself for many years too, so this new knowledge prompted me to take a closer look at my own coin....phews its a "smiley" face one luckily!!

BUT upon closer look (look may deceive), it is actually a round coin made to look like its hexagonal; so now are we being mislead?   Is it not feasible to make a hexagon-shaped coin?  Does the "made to look" as good as real shape?   I leave this to the great old man...he is the smarter one!!

Jail House Rock

This is not planned but look how we attire ourselves to the gardens!!!

This is better still..............

the Jail House Rock Band with our leader attired in black

 or 

are we just a new breed of freedom fighters!?!?! 

We do have our fun out in the sun

and occassionally such photos do kick start our laughters.

Now you know for sure how fun filled are mornings are !!

And this is not all....... after the walk, its fruit galore at Ah Kok's fruit stall

and.....

"drum roll please" ..... 

we go for a sumptous breakfast - the highlight of our day!!

(photos courtesy from LO)

A White Tree?

Found a tree wrapped all white on Elizabeth Street ..with flowers at the base... one would think someone died here.....

 

But .......

 read the message on the tree...........it claims that the 30-year old plane tree has been senselessly poisoned to death.....its talking about tree vandalism....

More supporters came ......

more soft toys, photo frames, wreaths and messages posted on the poor dead tree!!

Different between Mist & Haze

This is definitely haze...............

 And this is mist.......

Playing Tourist in Melbourne

After spending one and a half hours on the Melbourne free tourist bus,

 my dear friend Suan and I ended up at the Brunetti at Swanston Street for a cuppa....

with rum n raisin cheese cake to go.....

See who came to join us for coffee or rather for a pinch of our food?

This bus ride was different.  In addition to the recorded history lessons we gained, the bus driver; a 40+ mother narrated the current affairs of Melbourne in between the recordings....updating us continuously.  She is brilliant and believe it or not she graduated from the Melbourne U....with an almost master degree.....