Mdina/Rabat Area

Okay, let's continue with the Malta trip photos, shall we? Before I started, though, I'd like to say that because there were four of us, we decided to use the Airport Transfer facility to get to our hotel. After we arrived, we found the Airport Transfer desk easily, so we booked the two-way transfers right away. Then we were told to wait outside (there was another Airport Transfer desk near the waiting area outside). Unfortunately, we had to wait for over 30 minutes (after 30 minutes, I came back to the desk to complain and even then we still had to wait some more) as apparently there weren't anybody else (yet) leaving to the same direction. The other four or five groups (who stayed in a different area) could leave the airport within 15 minutes already. Thankfully it was already over 8 pm, so it wasn't scorching hot to wait outside, but we were worried that MIL would've been way too tired already. 

R2 and I both agree that the airport transfer in Malta wasn't as effective as the one we used in Budapest. However, at least we didn't have to wait too long for our car back to the airport (only 10 minutes after the appointed time). Oh yeah, we paid €10 per person for the two-way airport transfer. 

Okay, now on to the photos. One day we decided to go to Mdina/Rabat area. We actually decided to go there the day before, BUT turned out the bus going there only left every hour. Although there were three different bus who go to that direction at different times (every hour for each of them), but still when we missed the first bus, we had to wait for a long time. That's why we decided to go elsewhere that day and we made sure we were in time to catch the first bus to Mdina the next day. We were a bit worried that there would be no seats left as the journey would take around 70 minutes. Luckily for us, though, there were plenty of seats. Phew!

Actually, even for shorter distances, a lot of bus drivers in Malta were a bit crazy whenever they hit the brake to stop their buses and it was tough for MIL who has bad legs. One time the bus was totally full, so we had to stand up. A woman with her son were sitting on the front seats and she immediately got up to give MIL her seat and she had to stand up for the rest of the journey (30 minutes). Very thankful for passengers like her! 

When it was time for us to leave Mdina, we were SO lucky that when we got to the bus stop, 20 seconds later a bus arrived and again we found seats. :-D After all, it was such a hot day and we were tired already. Since we didn't buy any bus card, we had to pay €2 bus fare per person for each trip.

Here are some photos taken in Mdina/Rabat area. We went to a church, a museum, and a catacomb (which was rather tricky to find) since we bought the Combo Ticket.

The lovely church floor tile.

The next few photos were taken from the museum. 

The giant squid and my hand. OK, OK, to be fair, my hand is more like a kiddo's hand in size (probably a 10-year-old kid LOL), but the squid is close to 1 metre long.

The photo below was taken in St. Paul's Catacomb. In some places it was so dark that R2 had to use his mobile's light to guide the way. The steps in some parts were rather tricky/slippery as well, so we had to be careful. It was a fascinating place, though.

 One of the many colourful windows/doors in Malta.

Last photo: a funny toilet notice we found somewhere. Mind you, the toilets were quite low, especially for men he he he...

Sgp Trip: BreakOut Escape Game + Alive Museum + Spa

Okay, let me now continue sharing about our Singapore trip. A few days prior to our trip, I booked two tickets for Alive Museum at Suntec City Mall because they were offering a discount. The original price was 25 SGD/person, but I paid 20 SGD/person. 

Here's the link to the museum: Alive Museum

There's a similar 3D Museum in Sentosa Island, but I figured going to one would be enough. At least in the website it was stated that it'd take approximately 1,5 hours, so we wanted to use the rest of our time to do other things.

Here are some fun photos that we took. Unfortunately it was a bit dark inside at some parts, but you get the idea. Thankfully the place was rather empty, so we could take time posing and laughing he he...

The last day in Singapore, we didn't know what else to do before our evening massage session, but the night before, I browsed through tripadvisor to find out what kind of activities we could do and this BreakOut Escape Game was listed as number two, so I booked a spot online (didn't have to use credit card to book, only an email address). As was stated in tripadvisor, it was a little tough to find the place, but at least there were some information desks in Chinatown, so we kept asking for direction until we found the place. The price per person was 22 SGD for the weekend. 

When we arrived there, we were given some locks and puzzles to solve and one of them was a kind of Rubik's cube, though it was in a different form. Hubby tried it and he solved it in no time. The game master told us that he tried it for 5 minutes and then gave up. He also added that hubby was the fourth person who managed to solve it since January (when they started opening up the place).

Here's the link to the site: BreakOut Escape Game

Here's the bus stop right in front of the place (the place is located on the second floor). 

Here's a photo of us after we failed to escape LOL LOL!!!!

Yep, unfortunately we failed. We chose the "Forever Young" scenario (go to the site to read the intro). Basically speaking we had to enter a room where we had to find clues and solve the puzzles to find the key that enabled us to get out of the place, but we ran out of time already, even though we did ask the game master for some clues during that time (there was no limit, we just needed to press the button to get clues from the game master). There was also a spare key hidden in the room in case someone had a panic attack or something like that, so they could grab the key and use it to get out of the room. 

What we loved about it was that at the end of the game, the game master asked us if we wanted him to show us how to escape or not (if we wanted to try again, we'd get a discount). Because we lived too far away, we opted to be shown how to solve the whole thing. It was really done in a clever way, I must say, but I can't say anything much here because I don't want to ruin the fun for anyone who wants to try it out he he he he he...but I think it was worth trying, though I feel that it'd be more fun to do it with more people. After all, the suggested number of players is 4-8. All in all, it's highly recommended and I'd love to try this kind of game again next time, because next time we'll know better ha ha ha...

By the way, before I forgot, we had a massage session at the spa near our hotel. I recommend the spa because the massage was great PLUS they forbid any kind of illegal offers (no triple price offers), so we felt safe and secure. I booked the session the day before for the both of us. They had a couple's room and I spent about 43 Euros per person for a 1,5-hour massage.

It's called Tang Dynasty Massage & Spa.

Vienna Trip: Prater

We arrived in Vienna on Sat evening, so we went out right away to find some food 'coz we were starving already. On Sunday because I thought other places may have been closed, we opted to go to the Prater. We were thinking of going to Madame Tussaud's Museum as well as the Giant Ferris Wheel. You can click the link to see the full info on Prater. 

Here we were in front of Prater:

We bought a combo ticket for Madame Tussaud and The Ferris Wheel (cheaper than buying the tickets separately). And inside Madame Tussaud's Museum we took lots of pics, but I'm gonna share some only here...  Me with Hitchcock. When I stepped on the bathtub, I heard a woman's scream and some more sound effects (you know, like in the movie), so it helped me pose like that ha ha....

Me and Kate Winslet:

Was trying to look for Leo's wallet HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Me and Thomas Muster:

R2 and Audrey:

R2 and Einstein. See the machine on the left back of the photo? It quizzes your knowledge by asking you questions (multiple choices) he he...We tried one part (10 questions) and we got 6 right out of 10 he he...

Don't wonder why he looked SO happy. She's his all-time fave actress (in terms of beauty, that is). :-D

And then we went to Ferris Wheel right across the museum (apparently we had to change the tickets we got from Madame Tussaud's Museum before we could queue to get into the Ferris Wheel). We had to scan the barcode part on the new tickets to the scanning machine in order to get in. And inside the place there were old Ferris Wheel carts and inside the carts they put miniatures of different scenes of the Ferris Wheel. Here's a view of one of the carts:

After we looked around at different miniatures in different old carts, we had to queue to be taken pics by their photographer (the scene was like we were inside one of the red Ferris Wheel carts, overlooking Vienna). It wasn't compulsory to buy the pics, but naturally many people did opt to buy a pic or two. They took 4 pics of us with different poses and we bought one for €9.80 (I'll scan the pic later). Then we had to go out and queue to get inside the Ferris Wheel. They also had this kind of dining cart where you could have a nice dinner, but we didn't try that he he...

Here's a pic of R2 inside the cart. I find it a bit annoying that there were two benches in the middle of the cart so it was hard to move around to take pics from different angles 'coz there were so many people PLUS the benches!!! GRRRR!!! But anyway....the cart swayed slightly while going up there, but thankfully not too much - otherwise I would be afraid of getting motion sickness ha ha...

Yep, it was a cloudy day and after going up the Ferris Wheel, it rained lightly but non-stop for a few hours at least and the weather got colder. Here's one view from up the cart:

Another view:

Another view...the building with the red top on the right is the entrance to Madame Tussaud's Museum.

OK, that's all for now and I'll share more pics later. :-D