[Throwback] Rome, Italy

I wanted to visit Rome for two reasons. First, because it is a historically significant city with many incredible sights and tourist attractions. Second, because of the Vatican. Visiting Rome during the holidays meant that we could visit St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas day which felt like it would be an incredible experience.

In St. Peter's Square at the Vatican

I had a Lonely Planet book of Europe that I bought before I flew to Belgium and I used it to identify which sights we would visit. The film Angels and Demons hadn't come out yet when we visited Rome but it turns out we visited a lot of the places that were featured in the movie, including the Pantheon, Castel Sant'Angelo, and Piazza Navona.

Inside the Pantheon

We visited most of the Roman landmarks on our first full day there.

The Colosseum

While we did see a couple more places on our last day there, the focus was spending time at St. Peter's Basilica for the Christmas celebrations led by Pope John Paul II.

Christmas at the Vatican

Next post: Rome Landmarks

[Throwback] Europe Trip: Italy, Greece, and France

I had the great fortune to have a work assignment in Belgium over the winter months many years ago. I had an opportunity to go back home for the Christmas break but I asked my mom if she wanted to go around Europe during the holidays instead and she thought it would be a good idea. It was the first time I took my mom on an international trip (and many years later, I'm happy to say that it was certainly not the last). My mom had been to Europe before that so I decided to take her to some cities that she hadn't seen yet. This included Rome in Italy,

The Colosseum in Rome

Athens in Greece,

The Parthenon in Athens

and Lourdes in France.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

The logical way to visit Lourdes would be to go through Paris so we spent some time here as well.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

My mom flew to Brussels first since that was where I was assigned. Our itinerary:

Day 1: Travel from Brussels to Rome
Day 2: Rome
Day 3: Vatican
Day 4: Travel from Rome to Athens
Day 5: Athens
Day 6: Travel from Athens to Paris
Day 7: Paris, overnight train to Lourdes
Day 8: Lourdes, overnight train to Paris
Day 9: Return to Brussels via High Speed Train

Pope John Paul II at the Vatican

This trip lasted a little more than a week and we spent around 2-3 days in each city. I will be writing in greater detail about this amazing holiday in Europe over the next several posts.

Quarantine Stories Part 15

I finally bought a Smart TV. There were a few reasons why I decided to get one. First, my old one was already having problems. Which made sense since I've had it for almost 16 years and it would be on for several hours a day (especially during the pandemic). Second, while I had subscribed to HBO Go earlier this year and to Netflix more recently, I haven't been able to maximize these subscriptions because I don't really like watching shows on my laptop or on my phone. After some recommendations from friends, I decided to get an LG smart TV from Anson's. The cool thing about it is that it already has both the Netflix and the HBO Go apps so I just needed to log in.

The problem was that while my new TV had the same screen size as my old TV, it was a lot shorter (in terms of height). My old LCD TV had a tall stand while my new one doesn't. As such, when I would watch TV from my bed, I would have to kinda look down. That certainly wasn't ideal nor ergonomic. I felt I needed a riser on which to put my TV. The problem is that the legs of the TV were so far apart from each other and I couldn't find a TV or monitor riser long enough for it. I ended up getting two TV risers - one per leg of my TV. Since the two risers would go over the edge of my TV table if I put them side by side, I oriented them to be parallel with each other. It doesn't look all that great but at least the TV is at the right height now. (These monitor risers also had to be assembled. It was the first time in years that I had to do some handyman-type work, which I thought was cool.)

I still haven't quite gone through movies and series that I haven't seen yet because I want to be fully focused when I watch something new and I've been terribly busy and distracted lately. As such, I keep playing shows and movies I've watched before. I just finished my Suits marathon since I never got to finish this series. It was pretty nice getting reacquainted with Harvey, Mike, and the rest of the characters and I got reminded why I really loved this show during its nine-year run. I am taking some time off during the Christmas break so I hope I can go through my to-watch list then.

*****

In other news:

My new BPI credit card was compromised! Someone tried to make a purchase at a luxury store in in Europe worth around P31,000 but thankfully, that transaction was declined. I called BPI immediately after and they will now replace my card at no cost. It's a bit of a hassle but I'd rather have a more secure card.

The bad news: my washer-dryer, or specifically its drying functionality, broke down. I had to do quite a few laundry cycles without being able to dry my clothes (I had to hang them while damp inside my pad). The good news: the technician was able to fix it during his visit. I was worried that he would need to pull my washer-dryer out, leaving me with no good option to do my laundry for a week or so but thankfully, that wasn't the case. I'm really happy that the dryer is working properly now.

Hungarian Czardas

My grandfather (on my mom's side) was an amazingly talented violinist and pianist. When he was still alive, one of the pieces that he played the most was Hungarian Czardas by Vittorio Monti. My grandmother would sometimes wistfully tell me that she wished that we recorded my grandfather playing music when he was still alive. When she got a smartphone - her first one ever - and started understanding how to use social media and YouTube, I shared this video of German musician David Garrett playing Hungarian Czardas. I felt she would enjoy listening to a piece she was very familiar with. As it turned out, she did.

 

video uploaded in youtube by Picastrussa 

I'm glad I got to share this video with my grandmother because she has listened to this many times since. She has also become a fan of David Garrett and she has listened to many of his other recordings and performances online.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

I finished reading my second book of the year, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. And what a great book it is!

It tells the story of Alexander Rostov, a Russian count who, in the early 1920s, is accused of writing a poem with anti-Russian sentiment. As a result, he is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol Hotel in Moscow for the rest of his life. He is told that if he steps out of the Metropol, he will be shot on sight.

This beautifully written novel is filled with fascinating characters that the count meets throughout his forced stay in the hotel. These interactions result in a lot of intriguing and unexpected twists and turns. The scenes are described very vividly and I felt like I was transported to Russia and the Metropol hotel as I continued to read. I guess it helped that I had been to some of the places being described, such as the Kremlin, Red Square, and Arbat Street. I actually remember seeing the Metropol Hotel when I visited the Bolshoi Theatre.

I also loved the tone of the book. Despite the fact that a very politically-charged time and environment resulted in the count's house arrest, the story was (mostly) light and engaging, making the book very engaging yet easy to read (I found it easy to pick things up from where I left off whenever I stopped reading for a while). The ending of the book was especially riveting since I didn't see it coming at all!

This novel was given to me as a gift by my friends a few years ago for my birthday. They asked me for my wish list and I chose it because I had been to Russia and to Moscow so I felt I would end up connecting well with it (I did). It also seems to be pretty popular because when I posted about it on social media, I discovered that some of my friends have read it and they all agree that it's really good. In fact, one of them said it was one of her favorites! A Gentleman in Moscow is really highly recommended, even if you haven't been to Moscow or to Russia.

*****

EDITED: I can't believe it! I posted about this book on Instagram and Amor Towles, the author, liked my post! I'm so happy!

Travel Shows and Remembering Russia

A couple of weeks ago, my mom switched the channel to watch Executive Class and as luck would have it, the show was featuring Russia. In fact, when my mom switched the channel, host David Celdran was in Komsomolskaya station and I recognized it immediately (I even knew the name!). This episode focused on Moscow so naturally, we watched it because it reminded us of our trip to Russia many years ago. It was really interesting and nostalgic to see all these places my mom and I visited. My grandmother was watching with us and I would show her pictures I took of the places we were seeing on TV.

Komsomolskaya Metro Station in Moscow

Interestingly enough, two episodes of Executive Class were shown one after the other, and the second one featured on St. Petersburg. My mom would share things she remembered, like how the Amber Room in Catherine's Palace was looted and rebuilt and how someone was assassinated at the spot where the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built (it was Emperor Alexander II). David Celdran even went into the Eliseyev Emporium and I reminded my mom that we actually went into this place and that she bought a small bottle of vodka here. (She remembered it too!)

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg

Executive Class was followed by another travel-related show. My grandmother said she wanted to watch it but after several minutes, this show turned started to focused a lot more on the geology of the are and we became less interested. I decided to search for travel shows on Netflix so my grandmother could see something more to her liking. We ended up watching an episode of Magical Andes that featured Peru and Ecuador. We then watched the first episode of Joanna Lumley's Japan and it was really good.

Last weekend, we ended up doing the same thing. Executive Class featured Israel and once it was over, we watched a couple of episodes of Joanna Lumley's Trans-Siberian Adventure. Episode 1 featured Hong Kong and China and episode 2 featured Mongolia and Siberia.

It's really interesting that we ended up watching a few travel shows on Russia in the last few weeks while I am reading A Gentleman in Moscow. As I am almost done reading it, I will be writing about it next.

Sugar Rush

Over the last couple of months, I got to try some different cakes and desserts. Quite possibly the most fanciful one I had is this Celebrate Cake from BBakery, which was given to me as a gift by my board gaming friends. It's a light cake (possibly chiffon?) with cream and a very generous amount of different fruits. Most of the cake is are covered in gelatin, making it quite unique. It's like a posh version of crema de fruta and I certainly enjoyed it. Plus it looks amazing!

The Celebration Cake from BBakery

I also tried the Ube Chiffon Cake with Ube Halaya Filling from Butternut Bakery. I saw a stall of Butternut Bakery in SM Megamall a while back and it's been coming up in my social media ads for a while so I finally decided to order it. Thankfully, it tastes as good as it looks. Many people at home are big ube fans so this cake was a hit.

Ube Chiffon Cake from Butternut Bakery

I had been craving some kind of lemon or lime-based cake or pie (such as key lime or lemon meringue pie) since the pandemic started. I saw that Mary Grace now offers Limoni Santi, which is frozen lemon curd filling cream topping over a graham cracker crust. I really like this dessert. It's just the right amount of tartness and sweetness that makes you want to eat just one more forkful. I do think they changed the design of this dessert (the photo in the Mary Grace website looks different from the one I bought).

Limoni Santi from Mary Grace

I also tried cookies from Moloko Handcrafted Cookies. I decided to get a box of Brown Butter Choco Chip, a box of Cafe Con Dulcey, and a Limited Edition box which included two Madagascar and Macadamia cookies and two Pistachio Obsession cookies. I think I got to try the Madagascar and Macadamia and the Cafe Con Dulcey, both of which were pretty good. My mom tried the Pistachio Obsession and she said she really liked it. I do think these cookies are a bit on the expensive side - I think they in the Mo' Cookies price range but are smaller - but they do carry some unique flavors so I do think they are worth trying.

Moloko Cookies

Carlos Yulo, World Champion!

Congratulations, Carlos Yulo, for winning a gold and a silver at the Gymnastics World Championships!

Medal-winning performances from Carlos Yulo! 🏅🤸🏻‍♂️🇵🇭

Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo won a gold and silver medal in the Vault and Parallel Bars, respectively, at the 50th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.

📷: AFP/Philip Fong, Charly Triballeau pic.twitter.com/Ujf3qbprqS

— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) October 24, 2021

Carlos actually made it to the finals of three events: floor exercise, vault, and parallel bars. The floor exercise final was the first event and the entire Philippines had high hopes because he was the defending champion after winning this event in 2019. Unfortunately, lost a bit of control in one tumbling pass and he stepped out of bounds, incurring a significant penalty. The sad thing was that without that -0.3 penalty, he would have gotten the gold. Everyone was hoping that this miss wouldn't affect Yulo's mental state going into the finals of the other two events the next day. Thankfully, it didn't.

Carlos took gold on the vault with an average score of 14.916. The vault is also where he got his best result - 4th place - at the Tokyo Olympics. He got a 15.033 on his second vault, the highest score awarded to any fault during the finals.

WATCH: Carlos Yulo magnificently executes the Dragulescu vault in his second vault to put him in FIRST place with a score of 14.916 after four gymnasts @cnnphilippines

🎥 FIG/YouTube pic.twitter.com/Q2g9dcqmE6

— Pauline Verzosa (@PaulineVerzosa) October 24, 2021

He then followed it up with a silver medal at the parallel bars, where he achieved a score of 15.300. I know that Carlos was strong on the floor exercise and the vault because of his past successes there so it's pretty awesome to know that he is also a major contender on the parallel bars.

WATCH: Carlos Yulo’s masterful performance during the men’s parallel bars final where he earned a leading score of 15.300! 👏🏻🇵🇭 @cnnphilippines

🎥FIG/YouTube pic.twitter.com/gEpYmYdVmx

— Pauline Verzosa (@PaulineVerzosa) October 24, 2021

After the amazing results the Philippines achieved at the Tokyo Olympics, it's awesome that we continue to make a global mark in sports. Congratulations and thank you, Carlos!

An Incredible Performance for the Paralympics Hand-off from Tokyo to Paris

A friend of mine sent me this video and I was so captivated by it that I decided to share it here. Choreographed by Sadeck Waff, it was created and performed for the Paralympic hand-off from Tokyo 2020 to Paris 2024.

 

video uploaded on YouTube by Paris 2024

The video description indicates that this routine is performed by Sadeck Waff, Oxandre Peckeu, and 126 professional and amateur dancers who were cast by the Neodance Academy. Oxandre Peckeu is the young man who we see as the video opens and according to Openbionics, he is "the very first person in France to receive a 3D-printed multi-grip bionic Hero Arm." Also, in case you are interested in the music, it is Prologue by Woodkid.

Quarantine Stories Part 14

Major milestone: My family and I are now all fully vaccinated! Half of my family got vaccinated a while back but the other half were still unable to secure schedules with the LGU. Thankfully, my company provided vaccines for all employees. On top of that, they also gave all employees the opportunity to purchase vaccines for our families. We all just completed our second doses and while I had to bring my family all the way to Makati (that's where the vaccination center was located), I now feel a great sense of relief. We won't be complacent but it's such a blessing to be significantly more protected against Covid-19. This has to be the highlight of my year so far.

I also got to plant another GCash tree. I didn't really have a lot of green energy but an avocado tree became available and it required "only" 8,520g so I had enough energy to plant it. I have now planted three trees. Cool!

I also just noticed that the main screen of the GForest actually shows all the trees you've planted. Looks really cool!

Another thing I'm really happy about is that I now have an ergonomic chair at home. I've been working from home since Metro Manila was first placed under quarantine in March last year and my chair at home was not ideal to sit on for long periods of time. I was desperately in need of a better seat so when my company decided to sell some of our old but working furniture to employees, I decided to get an ergonomic chair. I got it earlier this week and I can really feel a difference. Since my chair has wheels, I purchased a floor mat from Lazada so that my chair wouldn't scratch the floor (I didn't want to wait for the 10/10 sale to get it haha).

I'm really late but I finally subscribed to Netflix. Part of the reason was because my grandmother was running out of things to watch on TV. Another reason is that sadly, Fox and Disney channels are no longer available on Skycable. I got a premium account and I set up my Netflix account on our Smart TV at home. My grandmother and I watched Unforgettable starring Sarah Geronimo. I really enjoyed this film. It was light and easy to watch. Since the lead characters were a young woman (Sarah) and her grandmother (Gina Pareno), it was quite appropriate because I was watching it with my own grandma. I also think dog lovers will appreciate this movie.

It's sad to lose the Fox Channels on Skycable because I watch them the most (including coverage of the tennis Grand Slam events on Fox Sports). Some consolation: Rock Entertainment is now showing the latest season of Law and Order SVU. This show has been one of my favorites for years now, and when I say years, I really do mean it since this show is now on its 23rd season. What makes it even more special is that Elliot Stabler (portrayed by Christopher Meloni) returned for some episodes in S22 and he's also a recurring character in the current season. I really love his partnership with Olivia Benson (played by Mariska Hargitay) so seeing them interact with each other after after a decade makes the show even more enjoyable.

[Throwback] Final Thoughts on my China Trip

Before I share my final thoughts, here's a summary of links of my China trip:

Vacation in China
Summer Palace and the Lama Temple
Great Wall of China and the Ming Tombs
Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City
Xi'an and the Terracotta Army
Final Thoughts on my China Trip

This visit to China was the first international trip I took with friends. It was also the first time I joined an organized tour. My friends organized everything so all I really had to do was show up (and pay of course).

I mentioned this briefly in one of my previous posts but on our third night in China, I got to watch a Beijing Opera. Everyone in the group was actually given a choice to watch either a Beijing Opera or a circus. I had seen circuses before so I thought the Beijing Opera would be a more unique experience. As I don't speak Mandarin, I didn't understand any of the words but somehow I could follow the story a bit. There were a lot of very well choreographed fight scenes that are reminiscent of great kung fu movies. Despite not understanding the songs/dialogue, it was still a great experience.

Beijing Opera

Aside from getting to see some amazing sights and visiting places that I had been wanting to see for a while, I also remember our awesome meal times as a group. I understand that in traditional Chinese meals, rice gets served last but since we were a group of Filipinos, we always requested the restaurants to serve the rice along with the rest of the food. One of the more interesting moments over lunch was that someone had the hilarious idea to do voice-over skits. Jason and Omar would engage in very funny conversations and Julie and I would act out whatever they were saying. It was so inane, everyone laughed a whole lot.

Evenings were spent hanging out in one of our rooms where we played cards and enjoyed each other's company. The card game of choice was Bridge. It got quite competitive because, well, a lot of us are very competitive haha but it was all in good fun.

Even if this I took this trip many years ago, I still remember a lot of what happened quite vividly. This walk down memory lane also prompted me to reach out to some of my friends from that group, providing a great opportunity for us to catch up. I'm really very fortunate and grateful that I had the chance to go on this amazing trip with friends.

[Throwback] Xi'an and the Terracotta Army

Our fifth tour day was spent in Xi'an, which is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. Despite spending the night in a train instead of in a hotel room, I felt fully energized and excited to see the Terracotta Army.

Terracotta Army

Before that, we visited Banpo Village. This is an archaeological site located near the Yellow River that dates back to the Neolithic period. Our tour guide took us to see excavations of settlements that were built several thousand years ago.

Banpo Village

Our next stop was the Xi'an Terracotta Warriors Museum. We passed by a workshop right next to it where you can find replicas of the original statues. I think you can buy souvenirs here too. Naturally, I had to take a photo.

Terracotta Workshop

Finally, it was time to see the Terracotta Army. The statues were discovered in 1974 by farmers when they were trying to dig a well. Chinese archaeologists continued the excavation and they uncovered thousands of sculptures. To ensure this amazing find would be protected, a museum was built over the dig site. It is believed that these warriors were buried along with Emperor Qin to protect him in the afterlife.

Visitors can also find sculptures of terracotta horses and chariots in the museum.

We spent a couple of hours at the museum before heading to our final stop, the Huaqing Hot Springs. According to Visit Our China, "it gets its fame for being the place where the romantic story of Emperor Tangxuanzong of Tang Dynasty (618-907) and his beloved Yang Guifei (or Concubine Yang) took place."

Huaqing Got Springs

I can understand why an imperial love story would unfold here. It really is quite beautiful.

This was the last place I visited since it was my final day in China. I flew back to Manila the next day.

Next: Final thoughts on my China trip

[Throwback] Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City

The Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City are all located close to each other in central Beijing so it made sense to visit all these sights on the same day.

Temple of Heaven

(Unfortunately, my digital camera had major battery issues in the middle of our trip. This was many years ago when digital camera technology was still not very advanced and a fully charged battery didn't last very long, especially when it was very cold. While I did bring my charger, I didn't have a plug adapter so I had to borrow someone else's. If they were using it, I couldn't charge my camera. And I think that's what happened on my third and fourth days. While our third day was mostly a free day so I didn't miss out on too many photo ops, our fourth day was quite packed and it kinda sucked that I didn't have a working camera. I ended up buying a disposable camera and I later converted the negatives into digital copies which are what you see in this post. As such, the quality of these photos isn't good.)

Entrance of the Temple of Heaven

Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven. According to wikipedia, "the complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for a good harvest." As such, the largest building at the temple is aptly called the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

Some other interesting structures include the Circular Mound Altar...

Circular Mound Altar

...and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. China Highlights provides a lot of very interesting information about these altars and structures so you might want to give this link a quick read.

Imperial Vault of Heaven

There's also a walkway at the center of the temple from the main gate to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. I remember our tour guide telling us that walking within that lane would bring good fortune. I think I stepped out of bounds at some point but I don't think I jinxed myself haha.

Another point of interest are the Seven Star Stones. I've read online that these stones are meant to symbolize the seven peaks of Mount Tai. There are actually eight stones there now; one was added after the first seven but its original name was not changed.

Seven Star Stones

After our visit to the Temple of Heaven, we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Many people know about Tiananmen Square because of the infamous massacre that happened in 1989. The square sits right in front of the main gate of the Forbidden City. I didn't take any photos of the square itself but I do remember it was terribly cold that day. I think it was "only" zero degrees Celsius but it was extremely windy. Since the square was a wide open space, we could definitely feel the full effects of the wind chill factor and that made the cold even more biting.

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is said to be the best-preserved imperial palace in China. It supposedly got its name because ordinary people were not allowed to enter. However, according to wikipedia, there seems to have been some confusion in the translation; in English, it's supposed to mean "the place where Celestial Emperor lives" instead of Forbidden.

There's a huge and interesting rock formation in the Imperial Gardens in the Forbidden City. Practically every visitor was having their photo taken here so I did too haha. 

In the late afternoon, we boarded an overnight train that would take us from Beijing to Xi'an.

Next post: Xi'an and the Terra Cotta Warriors

[Throwback] Great Wall of China and the Ming Tombs

Our second tour day took us to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs.

Great Wall of China

We started the day by visiting the Ming Tombs. This UNESCO World Heritage site is also known as the 13 Ming Tombs because 13 emperors from the Ming Dynasty are buried here.

Ming Tombs

I remember going into some of the tombs. I vaguely remember our tour guide telling us that there are some false tombs around the complex. I can't recall what the purpose of these were - was it to confuse possible intruders? - but I did have my photo taken in front of one of them. 

A false tomb entrance at the Ming Tombs

The afternoon was dedicated to the Great Wall of China. This was the part of my trip I was most excited about.

Highlight of my trip: visiting the Great Wall

The entire wall is almost 22,000 kilometers long so there are many sections that people can go to visit. I'm not sure which one we went to. But if memory serves me right, there were seven towers we could access, the last of which was at the peak of the mountain, and our tour guide encouraged us to go to walk all the way to the top. I can't be sure if all of us made our way to the last tower but I do know I was in a group of five that did.

On my way up the mountain

Since the wall goes up the slope of a mountain, it actually resembles steps. The physical activity of visiting all seven towers and going up the mountain made this Great Wall experience even more rewarding and memorable. The view from the peak was awesome and the sense of achievement made it even more enjoyable.

Lots of people heading up and down the Great Wall

It probably took about 1 1/2 to 2 hour to get to the end, mostly because we would always stop to appreciate the views and to take photos. It was only our second day and we had a lot more sights to see but I was really happy that I finally got to see the Great Wall.

View from the peak

Next post: Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City