" The choices that we make in our LIFE indeed determines the kind of results that we experience & the quality of the LIFE that we live "
1) Italy - world's highest death toll in coronavirus outbreak (12,000+) since Feb 21 2020 & accounts for more than a third of all the global fatalities, hardest hit country in the world, many of the deaths were elderly people & in nursery homes, 3 weeks knockdown to extend to Easter season in April 2020, Lombardy, which contains Italy's financial capital Milan, accounts for almost 60% of the total deaths in Italy & some 40% of cases (101,739 cases in total); Global deaths now rise to 42,000 +; Pope praying for better times ! A big salute & cheer to all the front liners & health care workers doing their utmost to save lives !
I had so far made 5 free & easy visits to Central Europe between 2009 to 2014 & 1 package tour to Eastern Europe (May 2018); the most recent one was a package tour to Balkan states in March 2019. Three of my round the Europe (30 days) visits covered an extended visit to Italy ie May 2010, May 2011 & May 2014. The cities I visited were Ancona, Florence, Pisa, Rimini, Rome, Vatican City & Venice. In May 2014, I took a bus from Rimini & visited San Marino, one of the smallest countries in the world ! After the Rimini / San Marino visit, I took a train from Rimini to Ancona port for a ferry crossing to Split, Croatia & visited the following Balkan states ie Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Romania & Moldova. In May 2011, I visited Florence, Pisa & Venice & in 2010, I visited Rome & Vatican City !
 |
| Rimini, Italy (2014) |
 |
| Ancona, Italy (2014) |
 |
Ferry crossing from Ancona port
Italy > Split, Croatia (2014) |
 |
| San Marino (2014) |
 |
| Florence, Italy (2011) |
 |
| Venice, Italy (2011) |
 |
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Italy (2011) |
 |
| Coliseum, Rome, Italy (2010) |
 |
| Vatican City (2010) |
2) Spain - 2nd highest global death, number of patients in intensive care surpassed the national capacity of some 4,400 beds forcing health care workers to decide whom to treat first; economic costs of the crisis continued to mount, total 95,923 cases (March 27 2020) & deaths 8,464 + & increasing day to day !
My first visit to Spain was in May 2011 & the subsequent year ie May 2012. My 3rd visit to Spain was in May 2014. The cities I visited were Algeciras, Barcelona, Cordoba, Granada Madrid, Seville & Toledo.
 |
| Barcelona, Spain (2014) |
 |
| Toledo, Spain (2012) |
 |
| Cordoba, Spain (2012) |
 |
| Madrid, Spain (2012) |
 |
| Alcazar Palace, Seville, Spain (2012) |
 |
| Algeciras, Spain (2012) |
 |
La Alhambra, Granada
Spain (2012) |
It was in May 2012 that I devoted more of my time to see a greater Spain starting from Madrid & then to various cities ie Toledo, Seville, Algericas, Tarifa, Granada & Cordoba; also in the same year, I took the opportunity to visit Lisbon & Sintra of Portugal from Madrid, Spain.
 |
| Lisbon, Portugal (2012) |
 |
| Sintra, Portugal (2012) |
In May 2012, I took a ferry from Tarifa, Southern Spain & extended my visit to Fez, Morocco; also my overnight stay in Algeciras allowed me to make a visit to Gibraltar, a British colony.
 |
| Tarifa, Spain (2012) |
 |
| Fez, Morocco (2012) |
 |
| Gibraltar (2012) |
It was in May 2011, I made my 1st visit to Barcelona, Spain ! My Good Old Days of yesteryear ! But I am no football fan of Barcelona Club !
 |
| Casa Mila, Barcelona, Spain (2011) |
3) France - coronavirus first detected on Jan 24 2020, coronavirus deaths now passed 4,000, 5th highest (April 1 2020) in global deaths, lockdown extended to April 15 2020, total cases 56,989 !
My 1st visit to France was in May 2009 when I made my first maiden & solo free & easy visit to Central Europe, Russia, Mongolia & China (45 days) flying Air Asia, a low cost airline from my home country, Malaysia ! My wife & brother in law joined me on a free & easy trip in may 2012 & after my Paris visit, I extended my stay & visited Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Gibraltar & returned to Paris for my returning flight home ! Plenty of excitement & challenges along the way ! My last visit to Paris, France was in May 2014 & focused my visit to Balkan states !
 |
| Paris, France (2009) |
 |
Paris, France (2012)
My wife's 1st visit to Europe |
 |
| Paris, France (2014) |
 |
| Nice, France (2014) |
 |
| Cannes, France (2014) |
In May 2014, while in Cannes, I took a town bus & visited Monte Carlo, Monaco !
 |
| Monte Carlo, Monaco (2014) |
4) Germany - total 77,981 cases (April 1 2020) but has the lowest death rate in the world ie 931 ! reason for low death rate due to widespread testings & one of the few countries to develop a reliable method of test as early as January when the 1st coronavirus was detected in January 26 2020!
In my 2nd free & easy trip to Northern Europe in May 2010, I visited Berlin, Germany. In May 2014, after my Balkan states visit, on my way back to Paris, I took the opportunity to visit Munich, Germany. My last visit to Germany (Frankfurt & Fussen) was in late May 2017 when my wife & myself joined a package tour to Eastern Europe covering Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia & Austria (14 days).
 |
| Berlin Wall, Germany (2010) |
 |
| Munich, Germany (2014) |
 |
| Nuremberg, Germany (2017) |
 |
| Frankfurt, Germany (2017) |
 |
| Fussen, Germany (2017) |
No comments:
Post a Comment