To capture my adventurous life and for me to stay connected. Can't promise that the posts will always be entertaining but i'll try my best to capture my memories in an interesting way
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
back from Zurich!
so i no longer arrived in klagenfurt at wee hours of the night. Today it was 6:48am, via the train to wien.. same one that i took in early june.
The sleeping ride to villach was not that great considering the couple and the two older ladies won't shut up and the ventilation sucked again.
Good thing was the windows to the train at least opened so that i didn't suffocate
going to shower and change now and get to work early today :)
should be fun.
will post about zurich later
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
roma, italia....
ROMA, ITALIA
Friday June 29, 2007
Trip to
So having stayed a bit later at work today, knowing that I wont’ be coming in on Monday, I went home and made food, took a nap and woke up just in time for the train ride. This week, as I felt better about walking in the dark to the train station, I took my normal route. It was not that bad, and the train was actually 15 minutes late. I was actually getting a sleeper in a 3 bed ladies room on train. It was rather nice since I was getting in with an elder lady and a younger girl at the same stop. I was assigned the bed at the very top so it had much more privacy. They were travelling to
Saturday June 30, 2007
At about 9:30am, I arrived at the eternal city. After strapping my backpack and all my belongings securely onto myself, I stepped into the Stationze Termini. It was actually a huge station, attached to a very modern mall, which I was surprised about since there were so many stories of it being very “sketchy” (like
Taking an about 10-15 minute walk (since I’m still scared of the busses and pickpockets), I finally arrived at the Colosseum, the emblem of
The underground maze area where they built elevators and gates for animals and slaves were also very impressive. And then, the guides (well other people’s guides) said that it was most impressive when they flooded the underground area to create a type of water arena for sea battles and stuff. There were staircases that led to nowhere, because of the wear and tear and damages from the natural disaster and some of the outer tier has fallen off. (earthquakes)
I was completely in awe and wanted to stay there and just absorb the history for a long time. After visiting the Colosseum, I was waved over by a gladiator person and took a picture with him. It was OK, but the thing that pissed me off was that they don’t tell you there’s a charge until afterwards. The guy was trying to get me to pay him 5 euros.. but I knew in
Navigating through the ruins, I walked up the staircases to the capitolini Hill and went to the Capitoline museum (musei capitolini). The piazza surrounded by three buildings was designed by Michaelangelo and housed a collection of sculpture and art. What I liked most about it was actually the collection of ancient rocks with inscription of it about Roman lifestyle that was housed at the underground passage way that connected the two buildings. It was just fascinating for me to learn about lifestyle of ancient people.
After the Capitoline museum visit, I went up the monument building for Vittorio Emmanuel at the Piazza Venezia. It was a war memorial building made of white marbles that resembles a wedding cake (my friend also called it Italian typewriter). It was a very nice building, very strong presence and has bronze horses pulling chariots at the top that is 12 m long (the horse alone). Truly impressive. The view of central
After my visit to Piazza venezia, I walked up via de corso and visited the famous Trevi Fountain. It was so crowded mid day, and after getting a gelato, I sat there and just looked at the fountain. It was very nice. Apparently the materials again was taken from the Colosseum and the fountain was built in the Baroque style at the end point of their famous aqueducts. Of course, I threw my share of coins into the fountain, so that means I’ll be returning to
Anyways, what fascinated me was how tucked away this attraction is, it was surrounded by streets (narrow ones) and gelato and cafes. No open piazzas nothing. I then walked up the via corso some more in search of the famous high end shopping street that leads to the Spanish steps. Walking by stores like Burberry, Armani, Ferragamo, Valentino, Versace, Prada, Gucci,
After the Spanish Steps, I walked down another hill (lots of hills in
Met a guy from
The Night tour operated by Odyssey tour was one of panoramic one. It was a bit pricey considering we didn’t really stop anywhere except at the trevi fountain (which I saw already) and the tour guide spoke in English german and French (which was a bit confusing, although I should be able to understand if not all, then at least 2) There was quite a bit of information, and we did see the colosseum, palatine hill, circus maximus, castel s tangelo, st peters went up the hill of ginnocoli (near vatican) at night, which I wouldn’t be able to do if I was walking and travelling alone.
It was a good 2 hour bus trip, haven’t been on a bus for awhile, so it was an interesting experience. I was so exhausted by the end of the night that I went right to bed with some really rowdy neighbour next door. Good thing the room was not too hot.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Since I’ve seen quite a bit of things on Saturday, I decided that one way or another I will go shopping. And because I was afraid of the crowd and things that could happen at the flea market, I decided to take the free shuttle to castel romano, the
When I got back to
So we ended up in a very nice piazza where there were street musicians, mimes, and you name it. At an open café, we had a nice dinner, and me also a traditional Italian tiramisu (sooo yummy). After dinner, we decided to wander for a bit, and saw the piazza navona at night time and also the pantheon. They were heading to
A bunch of guys from
Monday July 2, 2007
As per the advice of my new friends from the hostel, I woke up bright and early on Monday and took the metro to Ottaviano station and walked towards the entrance to the
Anyways, at about 10:10am, I got into the line ups to get security screening, then another one to get tickets inside the Vatican museum, and then it was another line up to feed your ticket through. After lots of line ups and picking up a guide book, I began my visit in the museum with the largest and most expensive collection in the world. Touring through the Egyptian collection (it was soo good, loved it), the etrusian (went through I it quickly), greek busts (of Sophocles, Aristotle (I forgot his name at the time) plato, etc)) and then more sculptures and paintings. Finally through the room of the tapestries (wasn’t that interesting) and the room of the maps (loved it) and then Ralphaels room (loved loved it, with his paintings of poetry, knowledge theology and justice) and into the famous Sistine Chapel (flooded with people) and stared at the last judgement, the ceiling depicting the story of genesis and all kinds of pictures of the pope on the side by Michaelangelo.
I spent about 2 -3 hours inside the museum before coming out to yet another line at St Peters (the line at this point to the museum is just as long as before if not longer). Went through the basilica and it was so just wonderfully built. Designed by Bernini and the dome was later added on by Michaelangelo. It was beautiful. The design was like two arms and embraces any visitors that come in to visit, and in return accepting all of mankind! Statues that are about the height of a person lined the piazza, they are of saints and of other important biblical people. I went right to the line to get up to the cupola. Met two girls from somewhere in the
We came back down right into the Cathedral, it was massive, and because there was no sun, I couldn’t experience the light rays shining through which was a bummer. There was all kinds of niche and chapels dedicated to important popes and memorials for other things. A treasury was also available for visit. There were preserved bodies of popes and also the memorial in the center where St Peter’s remains rested. One of the more cool statues that caught my eyes actually had a goddess stepping on the globe, and from one of the guides, apparently she was stepping right on
Anyways, I also went to touch St Peter’s feet like everyone else did to be blessed J After that I decided to take a walk back and try to catch the Pantheon to wrap up my visit at
Apparenlty I was also told that the cylinder built up of alternating trapezoid and semicircular niches and supporting beams and pillars inspired bernini’s design at St peter’s bascillica.
Anyways, it was good, and I went back to the hostel, met a girl from
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Rome!! half way point-!
oh also to come home to a working laptop!! pls pls!!!