Travel~ Travel~ Rome - 2nd May 2008

On the 2nd morning, we made our way back to Heathrow terminal 5 and boarded another BA plane to Rome. I had fond memories of Rome after my 1st visit more than 10 years ago, I remember myself being very attracted to the Roman architecture, to the Italian fashion and to the Italian people, especially the Italian men. (Oops! Hubby is going to be so jealous reading this!)

2nd May marked the start of our 8-day tour with Trafalgar Tours. (Remember I ever mentioned that it wasn't the best way to travel?) We arrived too early for the hotel transfer time at 3:30pm, so we had a couple of hours to roam around the airport and I found that Hello Kitty is also popular here! Yippee!

We were finally picked up and transferred to our hotel, arriving at around 4:30pm for a briefing by our Tour Director who was actually quite professional. (We later found out that he has been in this job for 15 years.)

We joined the optional excursion for a night drive-through tour in the city center of Rome and visited the famous Trevi Fountains, the Pantheon and had our dinner at the charming Piazza Navona. Rome being Rome, was still impressive to me although I was not as amazed as I was when I first visited.

Not a very good picture of the Trevi Fountain but just see how crowded it was!

It was so crowded at the Trevi Fountain that hubby and I had to literally squeeze our way through to find an opening to throw our coins in. The correct way to throw the coin according to our guide was to hold the coin in the right hand and throw it over the left shoulder with the back facing the fountain water. And the legend goes: "Throw 1 coin to visit Rome again, throw 2 coins to find a lover and throw 3 coins to stay with your lover in Rome happily ever after." I had always thrown only 1 coin in my previous visits and I did go back, so I think the legend is true. So if you want to find an Italian lover and live in Rome ever after, remember to throw in 3 coins!

The Pantheon's magnificent concrete dome with an "oculus" - the Great Eye.

The Pantheon was built in 125 AD, making it the oldest still standing domed structure in Rome. (1883 years old!!!) The diameter of the dome and the height to the oculus is said to be exactly the same at 43.3 metres or 142ft. The oculus which is an opening at the top of the dome admits sunlight to light up the interior of the Pantheon and also for cooling/ventilation purposes. And it was explained to us that when it rains, water will be drained away relatively fast as the internal floor of the Pantheon is concave outwards. Amazing!

The cafe where we had our first Italian dinner at Piazza Navona.

Finally we arrived at Piazza Navona for an hour of free time to have dinner. We had a seafood pasta and a mushroom and cheese pizza at one of the cafes facing out to the square. The food was great, the best Italian food we both have had so far. The waiter who attended to us was rather suave and charming in the unique Italian too, speaking a little English. The only disappointment that night came from the street musician who was performing near our table.

First night in Rome was romantic and good until bathing time back in our hotel. There was a big tub in our bathroom but before the tub is half filled, hot water system ran out and we didn't have hot water to shower until the next morning! The Romans do not like hot baths?

Travel~ Travel~ London Food

PAUL's range of delicious pastry

I had forgotten to mention about the food we had in London in my previous post, so I'm filling in here before I start my post on Rome.

During our morning walk, I was desperately looking for Starbucks as I needed my morning cafe latte badly. It wasn't difficult, Starbucks was everywhere. However, I found this charming looking cafeteria a couple of shops away from Starbucks and decided that I would try something different. They had a wonderful selection of danish pastry and their cafe latte was GREAT! Better than Starbucks, I must say. They should come open shops in Hong Kong or Singapore.

Fish & Chips

For lunch we tried some traditional English cuisine at a local English pub and restaurant near our hotel at Earls Court. It wasn't a place recommended to us but we found that the food was rather delicious.

Chicken Curry

Can anyone tell me why Chicken Curry which is obviously an Indian cuisine is served at the local English pub?

Travel~ Travel~ London-1st May 2008

I remember that I haven't post anything about our tour to Europe yet, so I think I'd better start now before I totally forget about it. Anyway, it was just a couple of weeks ago...It wasn't the best way to travel really, we would have opted to travel differently if we could get more days off wordbut...I'm not going to lament about the situation here, it's not worth it.

We flew into London on 1st May arriving at the infamous Terminal 5 but we didn't have any check-in luggage, so we were safe. It was hubby's 1st trip out of Asia-Pacific and I was all excited for him. I'm not sure if I was excited for him or I was just plain excited for myself being with him on another of his "first time". You know what I mean? Maybe only the ladies will understand?

Anyhow, I was happy and excited about the trip and it was a fine morning. By around 8am, we made our way successfully to Earls Court on the Piccadilly Line and went straight to base2stay. (It was a hotel recommended by good friend S to try it out for her, we were actually her guinea pigs! Fortunately for us, the hotel was great. I especially liked their beds and pillows.) It was too early to check-in, so we left our bags and head out for a walk nearby. The staff at the hotel was very friendly and professional, promising to call us if there was a room available earlier than the official check-in time of 2pm. And she really did call us at around 11:00am! By that time we were enjoying our morning stroll in Hyde Park and Kensington Park so much that we decided we wanted to walk some more and so we didn't go back to the hotel until after lunch.

We loved the greenery, the pretty blossoms, the fresh air and the many happy dogs strolling freely with their owners. There were big dogs, small dogs, private horses, police horses, pigeons and wild squirrels totally not shy to grab bits of food from passerby. By the pond, happy children were feeding the ducks, swans and geese. It was really a wonderful morning for us! Below are some photos taken from our stroll in the parks, enjoy~

Pigeons and squirrels taking bits of biscuits from passerby~

Those blue flowers were really pretty!

I haven't seen tulips so gorgeous!

Walk the dog and go horse-riding together? Life must be great!

Loved that pretty tree fully blossomed with pink flowers!

I could sit on that bench for the whole morning~

It was such a beautiful morning that we walked all the way to the Buckingham Palace and even caught a glimpse of the changing of guards. It was way too crowded and London being London, it started to rain...

The guards arriving on horses...so smart looking!

At night, we met up with hubby's primary school classmate who's working in London for dinner and drink. The meeting place? Piccadilly Circus! Apparently, there's where everybody arrange to meet in London when they go out.

Meeting place, the Statue of Eros.

Hello Kitty as Tourism Ambassador

HIP HIP HOORAY!

Hello Kitty is appointed as tourism ambassador for Hong Kong and China region!

I'm loving the cat more! :D

Addicted

Went for a girls' night out on Friday and came home addicted...no, it's not what you think...it was not THAT type of girls' night out. E and I met J to catch up on things with her (she left our Japanese company to join a US company) and we went for dinner at Little Sheep(小肥羊), my favourite restaurant. Apparently J is much happier at her new company and we were discussing about the differences in work culture between the two. E & I can only envy her and went on to lament our plight at the rigid system of the Japanese company. Later, E disclosed that her brother had opened a pet shop nearby so we went for a "look-see". The "look-see" became "hug and play" with one of the toy poodle puppy there and I fell helplessly in love....
Actually my 1st encounter with the toy poodle was about 3 years ago when hubby and I went to Taipei. There were many pet shops in Taipei around Shiling Night Market which sold mainly toy poodles, the tea-cup version and I have since decided that I want a toy poodle as a pet if I am ever going to have one. Hubby likes dogs too, we have been going to pet shops around Mongkok and Causeway Bay to view puppies since coming to Hong Kong but we didn't know any shops who would allow us to touch the puppies...E's brother's shop was different, I was allowed to carry and play with the puppy! The little fellow was so lovable! He was so small, I could carry him in one arm and i can feel him softly hugging my arm back. His fur was soft and chestnut brown. His eyes were black and shinny, his nose was black and moist, and he looked exactly like a teddy bear! I have not been able to stop thinking about him...
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS TOY POODLE ADDICTION?!

What kind of standard?

Soldiers clear rubble from a collapsed building a day after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the town of Mianzhu in Sichuan Province.

One building totally ruined while another just next to it virtually untouched. Notice that the glass windows are still intact! What kind of building standards did the collapsed building adhered to? This is really a good picture for posing questions to the authorities in China.

Everything happened for a cause?

People rush to rescue students at Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan City, about 100 kilometers from the epicenter
(Notice that the building next to the school is still intact?)

I have just returned from a 12-day trip to Europe with hubby and I was going to write about my trip but I really have no heart for that now...
On 12th May, we were flying across China on our return flight from London and approximately at the last 2 hours of our flight, our plane was diverted to Beijing because of the earthquake in Sichuan. So we spent a total of 16 hours on the flight instead of the original scheduled 12 hours. We were lamenting about our plight but didn't realise how devastating the earthquake was until we reached home and watched the news...I feel so sorry now. My heart goes out to those people who have lost their loved ones. I couldn't help crying when I saw the excruciating pain on the faces of mothers mourning for their children killed at the quake. It is too cruel to have so many people killed in so short a time. I can't help but ask why?
During our trip, we were listening to the news about the aftermath of the cyclone which hit Myanmar and how their stupid Generals were refusing international aid for fear of intrusions to their government. Because of the cyclone, Myanmar came into the limelight, everybody criticising their government, everybody concern about their people's plight and some even thinking if it's a good reason now to invade Myanmar, overthrow the government, save lives and reinstate democracy in the country.
Then now news of the earthquake in Sichuan has taken over and all focus has turned to China. Initially China was praised for her swift efforts in mobilising rescue troops to the affected areas, Premier Wen Jiabao arriving at the disastrous scenes just a few hours after the quake and how China allowing the media to broadcast openly, etc. etc....Now when the death toll of schoolchildren rises, China is facing tough questions on why their schools were so shoddily built while apparently nearby buildings were able to withstand the quake. I am really emotionally affected by news, by scenes of crying mothers who have lost their children, I cannot imagine myself in the same situation. I think I will either die too or go insane if I see my own children die...The photo on the papers yesterday(rescuers pulling out a pile of dead children under the debris) had too much impact on me, I can't wipe the image out of my mind. I thank God while I have my meals, I thank God that my children are well taken care of and my eyes will be swelled with tears...
What is the cause of this earthquake? Reviewing to the whole world how corrupted the Chinese government was? How apparently some government officials must have saved themselves some money while building the schools? Will things improve hereafter?