Travel The World

For all Roman Catholics, visiting the Vatican City is a must when you're in Rome. We first went inside the Vatican Museum for a guided tour, which is the best idea I guess, because we don't have to queue to get in since our guide already bought tickets for us. The line is so long that it would take you hours to get in without reservations. The entrance we took is from the Court of Pigna. The first thing you'll notice is the giant pine cone from 1st or 2nd century, and the giant golden orb that is more like modern art. Next room is the gallery of Roman sculptures. Marble, metal, and different type of rocks made up these sculptures of different themes. Then the map room with wonderful ceiling art that I can't stop taking pictures of and the tapestry room. The Sistine Chapel! The chapel is smaller than I expected but the art work definitely made up for it! I was amazed by the intricate designs of the marble and of course, the frescoes!!! There were Events fr...

Upon arrival in Rome, we had dinner before checking in the hotel. Most of us had spaghetti with black sauce (it's squid ink). Not so bad, just a little salty. We rest for the night to prepare for our long city tour the next day. We met our very nice local guide near the Colosseo. We walked towards the ruins, took some pictures around the area and bought some rosaries. Too bad, we don't have enough time to go inside the Colosseum, there are lots of people going in. There are also Romans dressed in gladiator costumes walking around for people to take pictuers with, but course in exchange for a little pay (I'm just not sure how much, we didn't take pictures with them). Next is our chance to make our wishes come true, Trevi Fountain! =P It is said to be the largest and most ambitious baroque fountain in Rome. There's so many people around the fountain that it's impossible to take a really good shot with only you in the picture. As for the wish, our gu...

On with our Italian tour, next destination - Pisa! It's around lunch time when we reached Tuscany so it's pretty hot (I got sunburned!). We took a long bus (more like two buses connected to each other) to get to Pisa, my first time to see such vehicle! =S Upon arrival, you'll notice at once all the people posing and you know they're trying to either push or catch the leaning tower. =D It's actually kinda funny to look at but you'd still want to do it! LOL! =P It's undeniable that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is the most popular landmark in the Square of Miracles, but looking around you can still other magnificent architectures around the square. Like the Cathedral or what they call the "Duomo" and the Baptistry. We had lunch at a small pizzeria stand, I had a mini pizza and ice cream! Yummy yummy pistachio ice cream! ^^ After lunch, took some more pictures, then to our next destination, Rome!

Next destination, Venice! One of the most beautiful cities of our tour, Venice, Italy (if only it weren't so hot when we got there). We took a boat to get to the Island and we were welcomed by these picturesque view that are truly works of art! A guide met us at St. Mark's Square where he introduced us to the place. Around the square we saw the Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Campanile (bell tower), St. Mark's Clock in the Clock Tower and the Basilica. We had a tour inside St. Mark's Basilica and saw the wonderful mosaic designs made of gold, bronze and a great variety of stones. Then we went in the Murano glass shop. We watch a glass blowing demonstration and off to look around at the exquisite pieces of work. My friend wasn't able to stop herself from buying 2 pieces of glass fish and boat for the display case in our office. It cost her more than 50,000.00 Pesos and an additional 5-7 kilograms of weight. =S It's now time for the Gondola ride! ...

We're heading to Austria from Switzerland. But we passed through the Principality of Liechtenstein first to have lunch. I had my most expensive glass of water in Liechtenstein, 3 Euros for a glass of tap water, whew! I'll just charge that to experience! At least now I know not to freely ask for a glass of water there. When we arrived in Austria, we're a little bit too late because all the shops just closed up. We weren't able to see the shops so we just walked around. You can also see the Swiss Alps in all sides of Innsbruck. I love the weather, not too cold and very comfortable. The next day, we went to visit the Swarovski shop, bought some jewelries and admired the amazing work of art in their gallery.

After the clock demonstration in Black Forest, we crossed the border to Switzerland! Our first stop, Rhine Falls! It's the largest plain waterfalls of Europe. There was a drizzle when we got there so we have to carry our umbrellas around while watching the beauty of the falls. Then we went straight to our hotel, checked in and had dinner. At night, we decided to walk around the city, looking at the shopping areas to get familiar for our shopping trip the next day! =) Next day, the most exciting part of my whole Europe trip has finally come, I'm going to see real snow! (It's probably nothing to those who live in countries with winter, but for those like me who live in a tropical country, this is a rare chance and I'm so excited! =P) We went up Mt. Titlis by riding 3 types of cable cars - 1st is the 6 seater cable car, on the next level is the "train car" which fits around 35 people inside, and finally to the top is the Rotair - the rotating cable c...

After our tour in Netherlands, we go straight to Cologne to spend the night in Germany! Out hotel was like in the deepest darkest part of the city (it doesn’t look like a city anymore =S), and we’re talking about horror movies in the dark bus on our way there, cool huh?! XD The next day we went straight to Boppard to take the Rhine River Cruise to St. Goar. The Germany cruise is probably the best cruise we had in this trip! Cool breeze, very nice boat, and the scenery is fantastic! You can see the castles, ruins, old-style houses and villages all around. After the cruise, we checked in a hotel in Heidelberg. The next day, we had our Heidelberg city tour. On our way to Switzerland, we stopped by Black Forest for a cuckoo clock demonstration. They have clocks of different designs and sizes with amazing hand work! Still cold here, loved it! =D

I noticed that I might have interchanged some events in my previous blog entries, my memory is fuzzy and I think I’m seriously in need of memory plus now! =P Anyways, they all happened, but it just might not be in correct order, sorry! =X Time to tour Amsterdam ! 1 st is the Tulip Farm! For all flower lovers out there, this place is a must go. They have the most beautiful tulips I’ve ever seen, in different colors, sizes and variants. I’ve never seen such wide array of tulips in my whole life! The weather is a bit cold but I’m loving it. Perfect for the flowers to bloom and stay fresh. We didn’t have enough time to really enjoy the whole place bec. there’s so much to see but it’s still worth it!We also visited the diamond polishing house. Netherlands is very proud of their perfect cut diamonds. I’ve learned bits of info on the kinds of diamonds and how much they’re worth, but I still wouldn’t be able to spot a fake diamond though, haha! XD Then we went on a canal cruise ...

Have you ever tried having breakfast in France , lunch in Belgium , and dinner in Netherlands all in the same day? Well, I have! (yabang! Hahaha! XD) That’s exactly what we did on our 3rd day (Apr 27) in Europe , three different countries in one day! You might think that we would’ve been dead tired bec. of the long travel so we should’ve jumped into our beds and sleep when we arrived at our hotel in Amsterdam right?  But no, we didn’t do that, we just have to use up all our remaining energy to the last drop don’t we?! =P Read on and you’ll know… ^^ Sadly, it’s time to leave Paris . We still have so many places to see but we need to move on (maybe I’ll have my honeymoon in Paris , hmmm… that would be nice… “yobo, you better be rich!” LOL! =P). We reached Brussels before lunch time. Of course we visited first the Mannekin Pis which is the most popular landmark in Brussels . Through all the small alleys, it’s there in the corner of a street (which is a surpri...

I only remember bits and pieces of our trip here and there (thanks to my ever so present memory gap =P) but I’ll try my best! Our flight was around 12:30am on April 25, yeah it was midnight but I don’t think any of us are sleepy at all! Everybody’s looking forward to the trip but it was a totally different story once we’re up there in the air, LOL! It was an 8 hours flight and very uncomfortable but we slept nonetheless. We arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in the afternoon and the weather is not as cold as I expected, I love it! (If only we can have that kind of weather here in the Philippines… =S) We stopped at a local supermarket in Paris to buy some water (Evian is so cheap in France! It looks so sosy drinking Evian here, but there, nah! =P) Then to the hotel we go! Holiday Inn was ok, one of the two hotels in the entire trip that have coffee in the room (the other is NH in Netherlands). We had dinner at a chinese restaurant (feels like we’re back in binondo, lol! An...