JULY 24, 2013
GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE, MILAN
I had three hours to spare before my schedule for the Last Supper painting viewing. Getting lost in this grand mall that is grander than its high end goods was not such a bad idea. Finally found something new from the Bangladeshi toy vendors. Those indestructible smiling faces of gel balls were getting old.
I would have definitely bought them if my son can keep his toys in working condition after a day of playing with them.
My friend, Mig Socorro’s photo of the Duomo di Milano.
I am trying to finish a painting. It is in watercolor and the last time I made one was when I was a freshman in college and still a virgin. Hahah! I really hope this would turn out the way I wanted to because this is a suprise for someone who I love.
This is my excuse for not posting my travels for many days. I have not even posted my trip to Mahe Island and the day after tomorrow I will be flying back there again. Tsktsk. At least I managed to finish something this week. I finally finished the latest installment of the Percy Jackson series while I locked myself up in my very cozy room in London while feathery light snowflakes fall on trees, some of them landed on my window pane.
For the meantime, this would do.
This is my drama queen of a friend, Uno. My patient companion who showed me the best view of the Eiffel Tower.
The Bridge of Sighs, Venice.
So many legends about this bridge, most include the miserable fates of prisoners that were locked up in the prison cells by this bridge. But seriously, when you are in Venice the last you would want to plant in your mind is misery and misfortunes. Without contest, my favorite is the story that includes romance. Legend has it that lovers will have everlasting love and happiness if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the Bridge of Sighs. So if love potions and other tricks won’t work on your man, it won’t hurt to try this one. 😉
At the lowest temperature of 5°C, it’s a little chilly right now in Venice. The most valid reason to remember it when the sun shone like a proud and cheery Italian on a wonderful summer afternoon.
So let’s!
This post is an album from my September 11 layover last year.
Venice is definitely a city to be visited for its old buildings and history, but most importantly, it is a destination to go to fire up your snoozing passion, recharge a dying romance, be carefree, feel young again, even to gain a few pounds, or simply, to feel alive.
Indeed, while walking to the bus station, this is what I saw.
I wish to be like this endearing couple, still attached to each other while walking to a dinner date, when it’s my hair’s turn to become silver too.
I am lucky to have found my photographer in you, Miss Val.
Just one of the many bridges over the water that we had to climb that day.
Of course, with all the water surrounding Venice, the way to go when you get tired of walking and you want to get home or get to the Piazza di San Marco fast is by boat.
Couldn’t stop posing for my willing photographer.
A lovely lady gondolier.
For many Italians, it is business as usual.
THE ENCHANTING CHIESA SANTA MARIA DEGLI SCALZI or THE CHURCH OF THE BAREFOOT FRIARS standing right next to the railway station.
A late baroque style facade also known as the rococo architecture.
Fresco paintings on the ceiling.
A giant organ like in any other old Catholic churches.
It is easy to fall in love while walking in one of these streets.
During summer, the day is long and you will always have time to stop for PIZZA!!!
And ICE CREAM (gelato) too!!! Especially for gelato. 🙂
A neat cognac bottle to take home for our fathers.
Come, I’ll take you to a secret and special place. But promise you won’t tell.
Ecco! There is a line of sweet shops that never ends.
And when it ends, you will find the shops of Venetian souvenirs.
So hard to choose when they are all beautiful.
Alice Dixson and Regine Velasquez of the company. Hahah!
Twin necklaces of Venetian glass beads to remind us of this travel.
Pausing to admire the warm sun…and to rest our tired but happy little feet.
Then too soon, we gotta go. There is so much more to see. Our legs can take the wall later.
MORE OF VENICE IN BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS.
Found little Pinocchio and a friend.
Once upon a time, two loves swore to love each other until the day they die. So as a symbol of their eternal love, they walked up to this bridge and hanged a padlock and threw away the key to the water, so nobody else could hold the key to their hearts but each other.
AND MY FAVORITE PART OF EVERY TRIP HANDS DOWN–DINNER. 🙂
HAD OUR DINNER AT….Da Poggi!
When in France or Italy, I always ask for my melon prosciutto.
But when in doubt, have pasta. You can never go wrong with Italian pasta.
That’s our waiter posing at the back.
Burp!
And that was how all’s well ended well.
Until next time.
P. S. Thank you for sprinkling some of your magic dusts into my photos, Val. 🙂
I remember three years ago when I was never too tired to get out and explore the city no matter how long the flight was. I braved out the cold, risked going out alone, stayed awake for more than 30 hours—all for the sake of sight-seeing. My energy was inexhaustible. Passion, obsession almost, was firing up in every veins of my being just like a little child in a heavy sugar rush. Everything little thing excited me. The buildings, the metro stations, the trees—you name it! Now, I still feel the excitement. But half of the time, I just wanna have a nice dinner with the crew and roll in the fresh sheets of my hotel bed for the rest of the day.
It is so wrong to feel that way at the age of 26. What will happen when I get 30? Tsktsk.
——
I had Italian dinner with colleagues from Egypt and Lebanon in Milan. The restaurant looked so tiny from the outside but it led to a much bigger room in the basement that was filled with all kinds of wine bottles. Of course, I had pasta and coke slim in a really cute can.
The girls
We had to run back to the hotel because it was raining.
Another up close photo sessions before a very long, nice bath.
Entebbe, Uganda
This country has the laziest weather in the whole wide world. It feels like the tropics on an eternal cloudy day. It is just impossible for me to get active whenever I am in this country. We were surrounded by plants and trees everywhere. There was even a whole garden filled with mango trees. Having dinner was a little bit more romantic with a background of noisy frogs making all those mating calls in a nearby pond. The restaurant was quite a long walk from the guest rooms. While making my way to my dinner, I ran across this snail slowly trying to cross to the side of the road. Three hours later after my dinner, it still had a quarter of the road to go. I wanted to help the poor creature but it looked to funny and I was feeling a little evil. Hehehe.
My lovely bed. 🙂
TraveLing sets me FRee!!! 