Meanderings Abroad – Page 14 – Creative Meanderings

Italy: Day 2 – Vatican City & Rome

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Apr 092011

Our second day started off relaxingly with a long breakfast and chatting as we planned out our day. It was our only real full day to see the rest of what was to be seen in Rome. Thus, there was no time to waste!

We managed the bus 810 straight to Vatican City, where we joined the throngs of tourists in St. Peter’s Square to take pictures and follow the smoothly moving line to get into the Basilica. While I have only an intellectual interest in Catholicism, my mama grew up in the religion, so I was curiously asking her questions. It’s quite an impressive sight to see.

As we neared the Basilica, I was somehow convinced to climb the 551 steps to the top of the Cupola (and back down!) to see the grand views of Rome and the Square below. Despite the sore legs and knees in the following days, it was worth the climb (though one might be willing to fork over the extra 10Euros to skip the first 236 steps).

Back on the ground, we toured St Peter’s Basilica, which was quite amazing.

Then, we headed towards the Vatican museum, which lets you in to see the Sistine Chapel and garden area. Words cannot describe the art to be seen. It makes one wonder where did all that talent go or is it still out there, but hidden?

Though already a full day, we still had a few more spots to see before we could say our visit to Rome was complete. So, after a pizza stop, we headed off to see the Pantheon. Though we got a little turned around, which was quite easy to do in this city, we managed to find it. The inside was closed, unfortunately, for mass, but the outside was impressive in itself.

After that, we made our final stop to see the Trevi Fountain. I often wish that I could just live the life of an artist and create such beauty as the marble carvings or paintings, but alas I would never make it! Instead, I must blog in hopes of someday making my millions with my words. ;D

Thus, ended our very brief tour of Rome. One could really spend a few days here and still have plenty to see, but there’s so much more of Italy to be seen and we were booked for our train to Florence in the morning.

*The following post will be a link to ALL of the photos taken in Rome and the Vatican City* 😀

Next up – Florence and Tuscany….

-T

Italy: Day 1 – Rome

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Apr 092011

Originally, my mama and I had planned to do this Italy trip as her 60th birthday adventure. However, my university decided to change the vacation dates to two weeks earlier and though we couldn’t celebrate her 60th there, we were still able to enjoy our Italian adventure!

Coming from opposite sides of the world, we met up in Rome with Giorgio there to take us to our B&B-style accommodations at Abitazione Pigneto. It was a cute apartment with the rooms rented out and a common area for breakfast, the Internet or a chat with whomever was there. The location was a bit outside of the center and catching bus 81 or 810 to return at night was infrequent at times causing one to question the benefits of cost over convenience. Ultimately, though it was a nice place to stay and always interesting to see different parts of a city.

As for Rome…where does one begin?

First, it is a good idea to purchase a Roma Pass before starting your visit to sites. You can purchase them at train stations or information centers if you want to wait until you arrive. For 25Euros, you get free entry into two museums or archaeological sites and reduced prices for others over three days. You may also take public transportation freely. The booklet includes a map and information about places to visit. Considering that just to get into the Colosseum costs about that, it’s definitely worth the purchase.

As we had only about two days to see the sights, we wasted no time after settling in to hit the streets and see what we could see. The first stop was a small church of San Giovanni. The inside of these churches are amazing!

Then, we continued along to catch the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill where there were ruins of buildings with amazing architecture. All were very breath-taking and for me, put Egypt to shame despite my awe of the size of the temples there.

From jet lag, traveling and such, we were pretty wiped out after trying to take in all of this. So, we headed back to the hotel to rest up before taking in a late dinner (sadly no pictures of the first meal in Italy!).

Vatican City coming up….

-T

P.S. All pics of the various cities will be posted after all the trip information. 🙂 (There are a lot….)

Summer 2010: Part VII

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Sep 122010

The final part of my summer brought me back full circle to New York City. Wanting a bit of a touristy experience in the City, I decided to get a hotel in the midtown area instead of troubling friends to stay with them. Also, I was still wanting to mentally refresh, so it was a good way to go.

Sadly, most of my friends from the City have moved away, but I was still able to visit with a few friends while I was there. Also, I finally made it up to The Cloisters – a part of the Metropolitan Museum. It was absolutely beautiful and it’s a shame I never made it up there before. The old building and the artwork was lovely to see. Mostly the grounds and view of the river made the visit more peaceful.

Most of my days were spent in Central Park hanging out. However, I did spend a couple of boring periods in the Teachers College library trying to do some research for my dissertation proposal. I had to take advantage of the opportunity, after all! Plus, it was a nice reminder of what it feels like to be in an academic environment and just how much I truly loved my TC experience. So, it served to motivate me again to get to studying. 🙂

Also, as I always try to do when I’m in the City, I went to see a show. This time, I went to see “In the Heights”, which was absolutely wonderful. It made me laugh and cry. Though I would have liked to have seen a proper play, there was nothing I wanted to spend money on, and I’m really glad I got to see the musical instead. It’s going on tour and will be in Portland in October, so everyone should go see it (I think)!

So, my summer holidays are now at an end as are my updates on the traveling. Coming up will be some book reviews as I was a busy reading machine this summer – not the academic readings I should have been doing, but OH WELL! 😛

Pics next.

More to come,

-T

Summer 2010: Part VI

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Sep 122010

With just about a week left of summer holiday in the States, I wanted some time on my own to mentally prepare to return to work, study and life in Abu Dhabi. So, I went to visit a friend whom I had met in AD before he got transferred back to work in LA.

He was kind enough to let me stay at his place, conveniently located a block away from Venice Beach, for a few days. However, due to his busy work schedule, I didn’t get to see him much. This was actually perfect for me as I had time to finish up some research work, write a bit and just relax on my own.

We did go out one night to a bar nearby where they had a live jazz band and a dj who mixed along with the band offering an interesting fusion of music styles. I also got to enjoy another cart-food special of Korean/Mexican mix. This time I had a kimchi quesadilla. Yum!

Also, I went out my last night with a friend I met in Peru the second time I visited. We hadn’t met up since then, but had a nice dinner and he drove me up the coast to Malibu and a nice quiet lounge bar along the coast.

It was a really nice visit and fit the term – a vacation after vacation! (Thanks guys for the lovely time!)

Only a few pics of Venice Beach here…

More to come,

-T

Summer 2010: Part V

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Sep 122010

My Oregon visit was divided by a visit by R and our cruise to Alaska.

It was the first time for R to visit the Pacific Northwest and he was greatly spoiled by the fantastic weather we had during his time there. We visited downtown Portland, went rafting down the Deschutes and ate at his favorite restaurant in Clackamas – Elmer’s. 😀

We drove up to Seattle and stayed with a college friend for one night. We also met up with another colleague from AD who showed us around downtown Seattle for a few hours before we headed off on our cruise.

Not knowing what to expect after our last cruise experience, we were pleasantly surprised right away at the much calmer atmosphere of the Sapphire Princess. Most of the people were older and fewer children were present. Also, there was less hype onboard, which allowed us to relax and enjoy the ship without chaos or chagrin. Although the weather wasn’t great after the first day, the sights were beautiful. Our stops were at Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and then Victoria, BC. It was better to stop more frequently throughout the cruise and we had a good time overall. It’d be nice to go again to the more northern areas and when the weather is better. Still, I’m glad I got to see Alaska and the glaciers before they melt away….

Pics on the way!

More to come,

-T

Summer 2010: Part IV

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Sep 122010

In recent years I’ve not spent much more than a week or 10 days at home. Last year, it was a mere 5 days before I headed elsewhere. This year with such a long break and my focus on being State-side, I was able to spend much more time at home. In total, I was there for about 4 weeks.

It was awesome to have so much time with my family and to see a few friends, though I kept quiet with seeing friends this time around. I was content to hang out a lot with my family. We saw “South Pacific” as a family and had a vacation at the Oregon Coast for a few days. I floated down the river with my dad and his BFF, met up with a few friends including seeing my friend perform with his new band and relaxed a ton! It was the first time in a number of years that I felt like it was home sweet home.

Pics coming…

More to come,

-T

Summer 2010: Part III

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Sep 122010

From Chicago, I continued my US tour by visiting R’s home for a few days. It was lovely to meet his mom, who is very sweet and friendly. We had a good time eating, talking and using the pool. It’s a quiet little world in South Jersey, but it was much greener and spread out than I had expected. I guess it’s true that North Jersey gives Jersey it’s bad name, because it was really nice in the south part.

After a few days, we headed to Florida a few days before our Western Caribbean cruise. Since neither of us had been to the Florida Keys, we decided to rent a car and check it out. We stayed in Key Largo and then drove down to Key West. It was a really beautiful drive in our red Mustang. We also enjoyed some good eats there – we love our food! 😀

Thankfully, the pre-cruise trip put us in a good mood to carry us through the shocking experience of the cruise. It was our first cruise and though we had looked into it a great deal, we were not prepared for what we faced. Carnival was said to be more of a party-boat company, but it should be described as a floating-Disneyland! Too much happiness, too much over the top, too much EVERYTHING! Also, unfortunately, after our first stop in Cozumel, I got terribly sick and say the Grand Caymans from the room and barely took in what little there was to see of Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We questioned whether there would be any further cruising after this summer, but kept up hopes for the upcoming Alaska cruise to be better….

All-in-all, the end of the mostly East Coast visit of the States was pleasant and I began looking forward to some time at home.

Pics are up next!

More to come…

-T

Summer 2010: Part II

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Aug 032010

From Baltimore, I headed back to the City for a few days and spent some time with a few friends. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but in order to meet up with other grad school friends, I headed to Chicago for a few days.

Chicago was different than I expected as it’s a big city, but with quite a lot of space. The buildings are amazing architecturally and despite the tall buildings, there’s a lot of open sky space. We saw the Bean, of course and different parts of the city. I was most impressed with being able to ride bikes along Lake Michigan and enjoy the beach just a short ride away. It’s a great city – if only the winters weren’t so cold…. I would consider living there in the summertime, though. 😀

It was nice to catch up with friends again after four years since we graduated. Thanks to Karly and Arun for letting us crash at their place!

Pics below:

More to come…

-T

Summer 2010: Part I

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Aug 022010

Usually my summer travels take me to some place in the world, but this year I thought it would be the year that I visit/catch up with friends and family State-side. With such a long holiday (sorry to brag), it was a cheaper option to stay domestic in the States than to try to traipse around the world. Plus, it’s nice to just take it a bit easier!

So, I started my traveling with New York City for just a night. My wonderful cousin let me stay the night with her before I headed down to visit some grad school friends in Baltimore and one night out in DC.

Here are the pics from that:

More to come soon…

-T

Sri Lanka: Day 4

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Jun 242010

Our last day in Sri Lanka was spent trying not to get too car sick as we wound our way down the mountain with a few stops for photo shoots, at record-speeds and trying not to have a heart attack watching as Anton swerved in and out of lanes passing trucks and cars on a barely-callable two-lane road.

18-Jun-2010 21:48, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

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18-Jun-2010 21:59, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

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18-Jun-2010 22:32, 7.4, 11.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100

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Still, we had a few highlights, such as the stop at Sifani’s again to pick up my jewelry. The photos I’ve taken do not do the jewelry true justice, but you can get the idea. The plan was to get in and get out. C jinxed it when we walked in and said, “I’m not going to buy anything…”! haha. As they were putting the final touches (lengthening the chain on the necklace) to my pieces, I wandered again – definitely NOT thinking to buy anything.

24-Jun-2010 01:48, 8.4, 18.9mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

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24-Jun-2010 01:44, 8.4, 18.9mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

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24-Jun-2010 01:44, 8.4, 18.9mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

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But, the truth was that I had been thinking about the blue sapphire. I mean, it would be a shame to be in Sri Lanka and to go home without one having bought other semi-precious stone items. Still, I wasn’t sure. I again looked at rings – why am I fascinated with rings???? I found a simple oval-shaped one that looked interesting, but I wasn’t totally in love with it. Then, the salesman brought me a new Sifani-designed setting with a light sapphire in it. I just didn’t like the stone as much since the darker (medium) blue was much better to my eye. At one point I had four different rings I was looking at. One was a princess-cut (square) medium blue sapphire with a nicely cut setting. Everyone said it was a unique cut and I could get it for a good price…. What to do????

24-Jun-2010 01:47, 8.4, 18.9mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

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Plus, they threw in an extra ring for free – so I chose a green stone…. 😀

24-Jun-2010 01:47, 8.4, 18.9mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100

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Sri Lanka is known for its blue sapphires and gems. What's a girl to do? The necklace and earrings were all part of one necklace, but they made it into this set especially for me…19-Jun-2010 12:49, 3.3, 6.3mm, 0.1 sec, ISO 200

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So, all my jewelry for LIFE is taken care of…well, now I’m contemplating a few more pieces to my collection, but simple simple is the theme. hahahahahah.

Anyway, we AGAIN took longer than expected (even C ended up with more jewelry…), but still arrived at the airport with a few hours to kill. Thankfully, the airport was small and no major temptations were to be found there aside from a few touristy/gifts to be purchased. Phew.

In sum up, the trip was great. C was an awesome traveling companion – good for laughs, chats and shopping. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, though they’ve got a bit of work to do to truly be a desired tourist destination. Starting with NOT asking the following question-statements:
1. You are from?
2. You look Asian…?
3. First time in Sri Lanka?
4. How long staying – 1 week/2weeks?
5. How is Sri Lanka?

True, they are being curious, friendly, etc. and I know I am a rather sensitive person to questions like this, but still it got a wee bit tiring after four full days of it.

Still, I would return to see the beaches as I’ve heard they are amazing. So, ends my brief trip to Sri Lanka!

18-Jun-2010 22:15, 6.6, 6.3mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100

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More to come with summer travels…

-T

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