Cultural Extravagance in Florence (Tuscany, Italy)

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Sojourn in Motion: Inside Louvre

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I spent more than six hours just to explore and discover the treasures of our civilizations inside the most visited museum, Louvre in Paris, France. The museum has collected 35,000 of artworks from prominent men and women who did major contributions in shaping our society today.

It was a breathtaking journey inside this magnificent building that provided me the experience of a lifetime to see the diverse talents of style, creativity and ingenuity which showcase the different facets of our culture, spirituality, religion, beliefs, sexuality and lifestyle.

From the enigmatic smile of MonaLisa to the hypnotic look of Venus de Milo, indeed a very memorable and priceless moment awaits everyone.

Snapshots of my summer break in Rome and Florence

Some of the photos taken during my visit in Italy in June 2008. Highlights of the trip include the visit to Rome's finest tourist attractions: Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, Piazza Navona, The Colosseum, Roman Forum, St Peter's Square, Palatino, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) and many others.

In Florence, must-see places include: Piazza del Duomo, Campanile, The Baptistery, Piazza della Signoria, Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo, The Ponte Vecchio (busiest bridge market street), and Michelangelo's masterpiece, David (replica) in Piazza Signoria (fronting Bargello Museum), and the Galleria degli Uffizi. Unfortunately, I was not able to get inside the Leonardo da Vinci museum due to long queue of people! Well, there are always reasons why I have to go back to Florence and enjoy its art and culture.

Summer Break in Italy: Pre-departure

This is my first trip in 2008 after my Xmas vacation in Canada and the US.

As a prelude of my diary, just briefly explain my university life. I really need this break after so many things happening in my work and personal life, including my health condition – suffering from a shoulder pain which forced me to attend physiotherapy session for several occasions. I am struggling to move on with my research after several revisions of the techniques to be employed in my PhD research. After working on it for more than 2 years, it seems that it is endless negotiations with my supervisors on what to do for the rest of the remaining months of my program which is due in October. Hopefully, I will be approved for extension for 6 months, so I can submit my thesis by April 2009. With this 6-day trip to Italy could somehow unwind and revitalise my enthusiasm to write, have direct focus on what to do and move on to completion of my PhD program.

As a preparation for this trip, I have to secure the necessary requirements for the Italian visa or the Schengen visa (entry to EU members, except UK and Ireland). Generally, for non-EU citizens and living in Northern Ireland, the visa is issued in Edinburgh which takes 3 weeks to process via the Consulate General in Belfast. An appointment with the Consulate General to assess the application and will be forwarded to Edinburgh office.

The supporting documents for the visa applications are follows: valid passport, ID photo, confirmed flight and accommodation details, letter from the university and current bank statement.

There several choices to book the flight on-line from Belfast to Rome. The flights are offered by Easyjet, Ryanair, Bmi and Aer lengus. I chose Aer Lengus (Irish carrier) having a direct flight to Rome from Belfast International Airport. Ryanair is much cheaper but needs to depart from Dublin and it will requires me to have an Irish visa! Aer Lengus started their new hub (central office) in Belfast late last year after so many years of operation in Dublin. In terms of accommodation, I decided to book with Hostelworld.com and luckily I got affordable places to stay (both in Rome and Florence) for the whole duration of the trip. My flights and accommodations were sorted out prior to my visa application. Finally, I got my visa 2 days prior to my departure, after calling the Embassy for updates to ensure that I have it a day before my departure and granted with one entry and limited days to stay.

A memorable North American's holiday

At last I finally posted the final journal of my recent trip to Canada and the US.

I started packing up as early as possible to find out how much weight my bags could accommodate. This is not my first trip from abroad where I could carry back personal stuffs from my shopping spree and somewhat brings anxiety for paying the extra loads at the airport. Anyway, without using a weighing scale I am now experienced to assess my bag for not exceeding 25 kg. Surprisingly, as expected it is exceeded, but Im still optimistic that I could fit them all and pay nothing.

Basing from my past travels, I know that every passenger is allowed up to 50 pounds or up to 25 kg especially travelling from Asia to elsewhere. To have a peace of mind, I decided to call the Continental customer service and to verify the charges for excess. Amazingly, I found out that I am allowed two bags and 50 pounds each!

It was an emotional moment to say goodbye to my cousin's family particularly her two kids. I left the house 2 hours before my scheduled departure time from Pearson Airport and catch my connecting flight at Newark (Liberty airport). The day was cold dry and traces of snow are still visible along the roads. My cousin stayed for a while until I successfully checked-in my bags. It was a relief while carrying my hand carries and successfully passed the US immigration.

My flight arrive on-time at Newark and waited for less than two hours for my next flight for Belfast. To make my stay meaningful at the airport, I roamed around and took some photos of the airport and continued reading my Xmas bookcrossing exchange gift – Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters.

Quickly, I boarded the plane with the rest of Irish passengers which majority of them were come from their Florida's holiday. The flight was shaky and bumpy which brought my heart to beat faster! Thank God, the plane finally touched down at the International Airport of Belfast few minutes early as expected. While queuing in the immigration section, I was anxious to go home and sleep! But as soon as I handed my passport to the immigration officer, she searched all my visa stamps and I was surprised to hear from her "if I have encountered problems with the immigration". Well, I remember that I had one when I and my Indonesian friends went to Dublin last Sept 2006 and the bus that we were riding was stopped and unfortunately, we don’t have the Irish visa, we were not allowed to cross the border. I don’t want to explain what happened that day but, it was recorded in the system that I did something wrong which will be a problem every time I will travel in Europe. Anyway, I told her what happened and she finally handed my passport and let me to go!

Before meeting my friend outside the arrival area, I went to the Exchange money counter and asked to exchanged my Canadian dollars to English notes with the same rate when I left the airport three weeks ago which was good because the rate that day is lower than that of my departure. So, it was a good deal!

I met my friend outside the airport with smiling - recharged to face again my university work with new hope and enthusiasm to finish my PhD on time this year.

Oooh, it was a wonderful vacation I had in Canada and the US. I already miss my relatives and friends there! Visiting North Carolina, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal is something I will treasure while I am alive and kicking!

Day (2) Part 2/2: Catching-up with my cousin and her family

Last night was a busy day after coming from New Jersey in the morning. After I was picked up from the airport by my cousin's husband, we immediately proceeded to the house. My cousin and her parents were there, while her kids were still in the baby sitter's place. While waiting for the kids to arrive, I took the opportunity to have a long conversation with Lola (my cousin's mother) in the dining room. She prepared a Filipino style breakfast. We did discuss a lot of things – my family, about my plans in the future and whereabouts of our friends back in the Philippines. She was my former English teacher in high school and I took the opportunity to thank her personally for being strict in the class and somehow the discipline she instilled in us, personally helped me prepared in my undergrad program back in Manila.

It was a long and never-ending story of life and we laughed a lot remembering those happenings almost 22 years ago! Finally, the kids arrived and at first they were quite hesitant to approach me especially the girl, Andrea. On the other hand, Alex (little boy) was happy enough to sit besides me watching the High School Musical 2 film on dvd. Most of the time, Alex and Andrea will stand up and showed their prowess in dancing and singing, imitating the main cast of the film, Troy and Gabriella. I was really amused how these young kids entertained me (their Uncle) as their guest.

I was at ease playing with them and easily got their attention especially the little boy. Being a new friend, Alex asked me so many things, especially my Xmas presence for them! It seems that the boy is really excited to open his gift. I was successful not to tell them about the real identity of the gift until my cousin's sister arrived from work at the hospital. By the way, the sister has 2 grown up kids which were shy to extend their hands for a hand shake's welcome. After preparing my lunch, Lola is busy playing the cards, while the kids are still pre-occupied with their toys, including the drawings I made for them. Well, these drawings were requested by them with proper name for each drawing. At the end, the girl (Andrea) showed her anger and cried because I failed her not to draw a princess based on her specifications – long hair and opened hands! I also failed to write properly the name she wants for the princess which really triggered her to show here tantrums. Well, with that early stage of knowing them, I finally say that kids sometimes are demanding and making their parents' blood to rise!




When my cousin arrived from her office, she invited me to join her to go for shopping at Wal-Mart. The kids heard this and they were desperate to convince their mum to be with us, thinking that I will be leaving very soon. And because of my instant attachment to the kids, especially with Alex, my cousin convinced them to stay after a bubble warm bath, and not to worry that Uncle Rey will leave, but stay in the house for almost 3 weeks. Anyway, we finally left the house and it was freezing outside and the boulders of snow along the roads are still visible. We had our dinner at Harvey's first before going to Wal-mart. It was an excellent meal – friend chicken and rice (ala Kenny Roger's style). We talked about so many personal things and we just having a good time to share our stories after not seeing each other for almost 15 years.

As usual, visiting the store will guarantee a book purchase and this time I bought for my cousin to read, One More Day of Mitch Albom at 40% discount. I already read the book few months ago and it is highly recommended to everyone! I also volunteer to prepare a dessert (fudge) for the family tonight and hopefully some of them will be packed and consumed during my long travel to North Carolina tomorrow, Saturday (Day 5) to spend our Xmas day with close friends.

We arrived the house and the kids were already asleep. I did a quick shower and helped my cousin wrapped some gifts for her boss' two young kids and officemates. I went to bed almost past midnight with things ready for my first visit to the city centre of Toronto. I only slept 8 hours in the span of two days.

Day 2 (Dec 20) Part 1/2: Arrival to Pearson Airport (Toronto)

As I mentioned in my earlier journal, I did not able to get a seat for Toronto flight last night, but finally got booked one in the first flight today at 7am. I woke up at 430am and catched the shuttle bus from the hotel at 5am to the airport (New Liberty Airport). I proceeded to the security checkpoint. I dont know why, Im always being selected for the random inspection which is really time consuming! Every personal item contained in my handcarry bag was inspected by swiping a white filter paper to the item and the paper is being feed to the computer for examination for any dust or powder. They want to know if I have a metal implant in my body!

Before I left the airport last night, I asked the Continental customer service staff about the details of my bookings, including my luggage claim. I was told that it will be on the same flight with me and nothing to worry about. Well, this is true but my big bag was flewn to Toronto last night in good condition.

New Liberty Airport is a huge airport and takes a while to reach the designated gate of my flight. It is very ironic to find out that the gate indicated in the boarding pass was changed and then I have to went back where I had my inspection. First flight will always empty and only few people really book to wake up early, but with my experience, it is worth to be there early to avoid traffic along the road, less people queuing in the security points and it is not crowded inside the aircraft.

Leaving New Jersey in a clear sky is showing good condition above with less turbulence and preventing my ears to ache. I was able to continue reading the book of Sarah Waters. By the way, every time I travel abroad, the visit is not complete without grabbing a good read from a bookstore at the airport, so I bought a hardbound pocket book entitled Heroes, Saving Charlie (inspired from the TV series with the same title) to be added in book collections.

It took almost 2 hours to reach Pearson Airport. While approaching the airport, I could see the whiteness in the landscape of Toronto from top view after a snow storm over the weekend. The airport is not grand compare to New Liberty Airport, but the former's arrival area is like a mall's lobby but less people. Immigration inspection was easy and not much of questions regarding my itinerary. After 30 minutes of waiting, my cousin's husband arrived and I finally have a glimpse of the vicinity of the airport. It takes 15 minutes to reach my cousin's house (in Missisauga) and along the way, patches of snow can be seen along the road and roof's houses.



It was an emotional meeting with my cousin and her parents after 15 years of not seeing each other since we left our hometown. Her parents were my former high school teachers. Im tired and hungry and immediately they prepared my breakfast with Filipino food on the table! Im excited to meet my cousin's kids, ages 4 and 5. We are planning to make a Snowman as soon as they will arrive from school's Xmas party later today.

I realised that travelling during Xmas time especially going to America requires careful planning especially for connecting flights. I booked with Continental airlines for the reason of having cheaper flights during the season. I tried with Zoom.com but my preferred flights were already fully booked with no seats available, and while Air transat does not have flights in December from Belfast, otherwise fly via Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Next journal...shopping at the downtown area of Toronto!

Day 1 (Dec 19): Departure from Belfast for Toronto

Finally, after several trips abroad during the past years, I don’t have much difficulty in packing up my stuff despite the fact that I have other things to do one day prior to my departure. I had a meeting with my supervisors to discuss my 3rd revision of my research methodology and of course to plan my progress while I am away for almost 4 weeks. I sorted out whatever commitments I have while Im away from the university. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to revised my report as I promised to email it to my supervisors prior to my flight today. I have time to do it when I arrive Toronto. My supervisors can wait anyway, and I know they are busy with their admin tasks for the first term break.

I stayed in my friend's place in Belfast and did a final wrap-up of my 20-kg luggage, including a small bag and the back-pack for my laptop. I woke up in a relaxed feeling – ready to take on board with Continental Airlines (an American carrier). I did final run down of my personal things just to make sure that I carry everything that I need for my 4 weeks holiday.

Belfast International is quite far from the city where my friend's lives, or even if I will be coming from the place where I live near the university. I was little bit conscious of the traffic along the way, so we left as early as 830am for my 1115am flight. It was a smooth quiet journey to the airport with a chilly breeze of winter, while the Backstreet Boys' song, "As long as you love me" is playing over the car radio. It reminded of my participation in the final round of the singing competition in Brisbane (Australia), 4 years ago! It was fun though and of course I bought a DVD copy of that event just to remind me of my interest in music…up to now Im still dreaming to have a record deal and be in the top chart someday (joke only)!

I said good bye to my friend and extended my arms for my warmest hugs and Xmas greetings. He will be coming back to pick me up again on Jan 08 from Toronto. He is really a kindest person on earth and who will always there to extend his help for people who are in need. Unfortunately, I only handed a personalised Xmas card last night to him, and say, "surprise, surprise!" He was puzzled of what I was saying…Anyway, I bought my gifts from Amazon and be delivered to his place before Xmas day! I hope he will enjoy watching the film which I want to watch it as well when I come back. It is very convenient to purchase on-line (like Amazon) using vouchers or gift certificates, without really bothering to disclose my credit card details.

Back to my trip, I checked-in and presented all my travel documents. It is a surprise for me again, even with my complete documents to be interrogated by the ground steward about my itinerary and other identification cards to prove that Im a legal traveller with permanent address in the UK, and without any "equipment of destruction" in my bags! Well, being an American airline, Continental is strict to ensuring its passengers safety and convenient journey, which every carrier wants to do. The airline is also strict in terms of the number of hand-carry bags which I was forced to check-in my other small bag without any extra cost since I still maintain the 23kg (50 lbs) maximum allowable weight per passenger.

Since the bank notes in Northern Ireland are not recognised abroad, I already got some English notes (Bank of England) from my bank (Ulster Bank) day before my departure. I did not withdraw much of my budget for my travel, considering that my bursary (allowance) from the university is not yet deposited in my account. I don’t want to spend beyond my savings, even though that I have much of the overdraft from the bank. Anyway, I was happy to find out that my allowance was deposited today which prompted me again to withdraw and changed it to Canadian dollars at the airport. I have cash now far, far below from the maximum amount allowed to be carried abroad especially in the US.

Being satisfied with the dollar-pound conversion, I immediately walked towards the coffee shop inside the departure area. As usual not having a breakfast, I had my hot choco, banana and bread (with walnut on top. While sipping my hot drink, the teller of the shop approached me and handed a palm organizer for a quick customer survey. It is cool doing it electronically, not the traditional paper format survey. Quickly, I was able to expressed by positive evaluation about the food and service of the shop.

It is time now to go inside the boarding area for the final examination of my hand carry. There was not much of interrogation in the immigration area, except that all my stuff inside my back-pack were inspected individually and being swiped with a thin filter paper and being examined in the computer if there are dusts or powders from any "equipment of destruction" or illegal drugs. It took several minutes and finally the old staff was happy to tell me that everything is fine and he briefly told me that his son lives in Toronto! Frankly, I was impatient to do this thorough inspection which I did not encounter in my previous travels. Well, on the other hand, being an optimistic Archer, I am comforting myself to undergo this inspection to my own safety.

Finally, I boarded the plane and accidentally, I met someone from my university who happened to be on the same PhD programme with mine and who is going back to Canada (her permanent residence) for the Xmas holiday. The plane was supposed to take-off at 1115am, but due to the mechanical problem, we finally left the airport one hour late of the scheduled departure time. I seated comfortably with my laptop, while listening the music from my iPod. The aircraft does not have an individual monitor for the in-flight programmes but I was not really bothered about it because I will busy writing this journal and later I will start reading a book, Tripping the Velvet by Sarah Waters – a gift from a member of the bookcrossing club during my Xmas dinner.

While writing the first part of this journal, I had also my on-board lunch! It was a lovely meal… 3:08pm (UK time). Expected arrival to Newark Airport (New Jersey) is around 2pm (US time) on the same day I left Belfast.



…Unexpected happened that the aircraft touched down at 3pm, one hour late from the original schedule. Having said that, I missed my connecting flight to Toronto and rebooked for the next flights as "standby" or chance passenger. I waited for 5 hours and I was not successfull to get a seat in the flights. To make my story short, I was stranded in New Jersey (US) and while writing this last paragraph of my journal, I will be staying for almost 6 hours at Howard Johnson Hotel (www.howardjohnson.com) with free dinner and breakfast vouchers. The hotel is just few minutes from the airport via Airtrain service and using the hotel shuttle bus. Well, my tiredness and disappointment were gone when I found out that the hotel has a free wireless service, and this is the reason why I was able to write this section and successfully posted the entire journal in my travel blog. Hopefully, I have 4 hours to sleep to catch up with the first flight at 7am.

Location, location, location...

As I mentioned in my introductory message, I will feature a location which I visited recently or few years back.

In addition, a photo will be posted just below the introductory message which is not directly related to the article that I posted on that particular day, week or month. The photo will be featured as the "location trivia" for that month, depending on the response from my readers, unless otherwise I will post a message to set the deadline for that photo.

On the other hand, the trivia photo will be featured again in my succeeding write-up. It will briefly highlight the salient attractions of the place and my personal description of it.

Your answer will be sent trhru the green guestbook/comment box below the photo or just above the write-up which will be directed to my email address.

It is a refreshing feeling to have the time and space to relax and enjoy places around us. Exploring these locations is a priceless moment and be treasured as the time passes by. Again, welcome to my E-world of travelling. Mabuhay!