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Got 2 see what's out there!

a travel blog by garcia


this is it... we really are going. been 4 years coming. places to see, strangers to make friends with, families to reunite with, unfamiliar things to familirize with...

we're young, we're able, at the moment - we're not so much into material properties or becoming followers of TRUMP's school of thought...

we hope for this journey to teach us about other places, other people, etc...

we could very well be looking for something that's already right in front of our faces, but if it means that after this, we shall have actually noticed it, then it will all be worthwhile.
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Katrina's Ghost

New Orleans, United States


13 November 2007 Today,
after breakfast of hot home-made brewed coffee and krispy kreme (leftover from last night… and yes, we know what you’re thinking but we’re on holiday, so shush! Haha!), we were ready for our long drive to the State of Louisianna. Manong Tom & cousin Grace left a note on the bench to let us know they’d gone to pick the rental car up (to save Tundra the mileage, sensible). We played with Boolinzky while we waited. They came back with a brand new Grand Cherokee Jeep (it hasn’t even got a proper license plate).

They arrived, we hopped on board and before we knew it, we were passing ‘Beautiful Alabama’ already. We drove through Mobile City towards Mississippi, enjoying the view of the lengthy Mississippi river. From the car, it all looks like little patches of marshy grassland. In actual fact, the river is covered in reeds and seen on aerial view (from a plane or by google map), the river's massive snake-like path becomes more recognizable... Manong Tom is choir director of their home church; so naturally, we sang throughout the driving day. Inspired by the Mississippi river, he taught us to harmonize to a song with words that go "Michael rowed the boat ashore" or something... memory's not too good on this one.

After about 3 hours, we finally got our first sight of New Orleans’ skyline. Soon, we were in the city centre. Manong Tom parked by the main road so we could go for a walk around the city. New Orleans feels terribly empty despite several businesses obviously trying to get things going. It had a distinct smell… not just an old city smell but one that tells you no matter how oblivious you are of Katrina’s coming and going some time ago, that something terrible had happened to this city. Nevertheless, the point of traveling is taking in every bit of the experience – from the fine and posh to the nitty gritties. Therefore, we walked on. Manong Tom led us to the French Quarter. The buildings are still very much reminiscent of the city’s French colonization. We walked along Bourbon St which was famous for its Jazz players, mardi-gras parties, cabarets as well as all sorts of cheap (in all the word’s connotations) entertainment. All in all, New Orleans was for us an eye opener. Where have all the people gone? Nobody knows, apparently. Such is the power of nature to dictate the course that human beings and all of civilization run through.

It’s been a long day but not a dull one. We learned a lot today: about the lives of other human beings; the speculated future of a devastated city; about the characters of our host couple – whom we are coming to respect even more each day; and about ourselves in the midst of all this traveling.

Tomorrow is going to be sort of a rest day. Cousin Grace has an engineering conference to go to (of which she is the presiding officer… well done! Proud of you!). Manong Tom has some appointments to go to so he will be dropping us off for a walk around the local mall.




permalink written by  garcia on November 16, 2007 from New Orleans, United States
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
tagged Katrina

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more about pensacola

Charlotte, United States


We are writing this entry on our way to the UK... hope it gets done before we land on London grounds so we can move on to new stuff...

The following are photographs from our day trip to Destin – a prime beach city to the East of Pensacola, Florida. On the way, we passed by Panama City Beach which is famous for being a favourite of college students on Spring Breaks. Apparently, the residents are not very keen on these crowd of spring breakers because of the havoc they sometimes cause.

Manong Tom being a Navy Veteran meant a visit to the US National Naval Museum in town. Driving to the place, we learned about the vast land area that the US Navy holds possession of, and not just some piece of land. It’ a spread of coastal land with beautiful sugar white beaches much like Pensacola beach. In the museum, Kanootz & Cousin Grace went on a Blue Angels simulator ride.They seem to have enjoyed that.Joia’s favourite in the museum is the part where they exhibited homes and actual living conditions during the war times. Our visit was also quite special in that there was some kind of naval ceremony going on at the time. There were bunches of naval choir singers singing beautifully, and Joia watched a US Naval flag ceremony while Kanootz explored some more battle ships and fighter planes.

The following day – Sabbath, we couldn’t go to church as the nearest one is about 30 - 45 minutes away and we knew Manong Tom & Cousin Grace were busy with preparations for their fund raising later in the evening. Cuz Grace leads a youth group and they organized some party to raise funds so some needy families could have a proper thanksgiving meal this coming week. We spent the day walking around their 4 acre property to collect leaves, twigs, berries and dry grass to decorate some hats for their harvest party.

After the walk, we gathered the hats, the stuff we collected, along with some glue & strings and we sat by the pool under the warm sun shine. We spent the rest of the day singing our favorite praise songs, chatting about our home church and the people there and just having a quiet restful day altogether.

In the evening, we helped decorate their church hall. The party was a success! Many people bought more tickets from the front door. All in all, they were able to raise money for 6 families at the least (their goal was to raise only for 1 family). We were very impressed with how their community – though small it may be, all came together to support their youth. There really was a spirit of unity in there. It was a tiring evening but a really rewarding one, especially for Cousin Grace. We were very proud of her that night. To celebrate and congratulate her, Manong Tom shouted us to some more Krispy Kreme later that night. We must have eaten 2 dozens between the 4 of us, and then took home some more. The donut store had a somewhat theatrical setting so customers could see how the donuts are made from start to finish. Exciting! Haha!

Sunday was parting time again. We hate saying goodbye… we really suck at it! Even saying goodbye to Boolinzky and the other cats, and the goats and the dogs was very very difficult. Still, saying farewell to Manong Tom & Cuz Grace at the airport was much more unbearable. Especially, knowing how very well looked after we have been by them and then to go from here to London, it meant we had to go back to skimping as we’re about to live back on our own means again – and we really haven’t much. Waaaaa! But such is the life of travelers, and we willingly bear it... Pensacola has been a very very unexpected surprise to us and a very very pleasant experience that we will always go back to – at least in our minds, until we can afford to go visit again.



permalink written by  garcia on November 18, 2007 from Charlotte, United States
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
tagged Thanksgiving

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London Calling! ring!!! ring!!!

London, United Kingdom


we're knackered!... but had to get going. Checking in at Pensacola for connecting flight to London's Gatwick was - ehm, a hassle... we're getting quite used to this. somehow our bookings are either faulty, unpaid or simply difficult. at this point, we question what the use was for paying service fees to the travel agency. Already we are bracing ourselves for more hassles when we board the plane to the UK at Charlotte airport. At Charlotte airport, the ladies at the boarding gate scanned Joia's NZ passport through and through - looking for visas.Kanootz' Philippine passport is apparently okay. ??? he has a visa (which we applied and waited for 1 month). We keep telling them, NZ passport holders do not need entry visa. Anyway, finally, some guy who knew his job finally came along and let us through. ZZZZZZZZZ we tried to get as much sleep as we could in the plane... well, 'cause we had no choice. to watch tv or movie, have to buy an earphone. we miss the perks of flying AirNZ, sob!

Our plane landed in Gatwick on 19 November at 9:00 London time. We basically remember nothing much except how confused and giddy we were. Our only goal that day was get to Silvertown where Etap hotel was. At 90UKpounds(NZ$270), taxi was not an option! We spent nearly 2 hours at the airport before we finally figured out that the best transport to our hotel was via train. Joia was teary eyed by the time we boarded the 'correct' train. 1 whole hour of train ride meant we only got to the hotel by mid day. we were starving. On our way to the hotel door, some stranger stopped us, asking for 2ukpounds. we said we didn't have any. he argued we just didn't want to give him any. for goodness sake! we just wanna go rest now. we told him to come to the hotel reception with us. there, he was now asking for 10pounds.?#@! Joia gave him only 2lbs as it was all we had, fortunately. We took the lift to room 322. We unpacked a little. We fetched some bread and croissants from the petrol station nearby and had them for lunch. took a shower. crashed to bed.

time to get up... huh? 2pm! not the same day. following. we slept from 5pm of the 19th to 2pm of the 20th. This was definitely a hall-of-famer! In a hurry, we groomed up for our first official day, rather evening in London City. We took the DLR train which was 5 minutes away from the hotel. then we took another train to Central London. Hey, we just noticed how superb London Underground is. To say it's a far cry from NY's subway is an understatement. In contrast to NY's subway, London tube is CLEAN! very clean! we like clean! we miss clean! You can actually breathe and sit in it, and even enjoy the ride no matter how long.

we exited the tube through Oxford Circus. From here, we began exploring the city. The weather was really nippy by now but we were too hungry to even care about the cold. we just wanted to get some decent warm food. we found this sandwich shop called EAT. we found out later there's lots of EATs in London. Excellent! After some bite, we walked along trying to locate Langham of London where we were to catch our tour bus tomorrow. It turns out it's just 5 minutes walk from EAT. Yay! Now we won't get lost.From Langham place, we took a u-turn towards Picadilly Circus. We just learned 'Circus' in London means a big 'roundabout'! Haha! Lots of prime shops for (window only) shopping. Eye candy for Joia. By chance, they were lighting up Oxford Street that night. We were looking for a handy shoulder bag for Joia at Lacoste when the shop assistant told us about the event. We ended up staying out in the streets that evening.

We bought a slab of pizza each from some Italian restaurant (with an Irish-looking chef) and kept walking around Picadilly Circus until we found ourselves in Leicester Square where we found a cheap Internet cafe. 1pound/hour or buy a drink and stay for their wifi. Goodie! means we can keep blogging. can't seem to live without internet these days.

time to go back to hotel. 11pm... we were worried that some guy was gonna follow us again on our way home from the pontoon dock station. Thank God, there were other people from the train walking in same direction as we were. The evening was so full on... but we didn't expect any less anyway. It feels like San Francisco again (except a lot cleaner, they have great big machines constantly scrubbing their cobbled streets)... we're complete strangers to the city. no one to look out for us. Really really thankful to God for our guardian angels!


permalink written by  garcia on November 20, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?

London, United Kingdom


... I've been up to London... didn't visit the Queen...

By now, we are starting to feel the stress of flying and being constantly on the move. Although, we are happy about our decision to forget about hostels (thanks to our hostel experience in SFO) for now, and stay in a cheap but clean hotel instead, it doesn’t exactly help that it had to be so far away from the city centre to be affordable. So, to avoid more stress, we booked to join coach tours for the next two days. Today, a London Day City tour with an evening cruise along the River Thames. Tomorrow, we go for a day tour outside of London through the same tour company.Still jet lagged, we only snoozed off at 03:00 hours in the early morning. Then, we had to get up as early as 06:00 hours to make it to Langham Hotel at 08:00 where the coach was picking us up. We had breakfast at EAT again, scrambled egg panini. Not bad.

The bus was 20 minutes late! Grrrr! Hmpf! Grrrr! We waited in front of the hotel. We learned later that the Langham hotel’s cheapest room is at UK350 pounds per night! What?!!! What kind of people stay in places like this? I also noticed that they had quite a few Filipino employees.

Finally, the shuttle arrived and it took us to Victoria Coach Station where we boarded our tour bus. Our blue-badge tour guide’s name is Richard. Man, he liked to talk. We realized later, we were the only ones listening to him; everyone else had their speakers off. Oh well, at least he kept us entertained. We certainly appreciated the information spoon-feeding as we're too lazy to read up about the places.


The tour started with a visit to the Tower of London, with a view of the Tower Bridge. Kenneth enjoyed the interactive exhibits at the White Tower museum. Joia was almost dizzied by all the bejeweled stuff in the Crown Jewel House. Oh, please do keep the postcards we sent you particularly the ones from the Tower of London/Crown Jewels for possible collection when we get back… haha! It’s just that we didn’t buy any souvenir.

From there, we drove to Buckingham Palace just in time for the finale of the changing of the guards. It was perfect timing! We didn’t get to see the whole process but we didn’t want to anyway, as apparently the middle bit is quite boring. There were Croatians in their football colours everywhere that day. We learned later that England was playing Croatia that night. England lost. They were very sore.

From Buckingham Palace, we were brought to an English pub for lunch – as promised. There we got chatting with the other people in the tour group. One very friendly young lady was called Julie. She’s French, 26, very well traveled; her boyfriend’s English so she took a job with Evan Evans to be able to live in the UK. She’s trying out the company’s products/services before she commences work. Sensible! There was a Filipino lady and her American husband from Connecticut; they were nice and down to earth. Then there’s this Filipino retiree couple, super YABANG! “O, yu shud bisit us in Merilend, we hab 3 extra rums becos ol our children are propeshonals and hab their own houses.” We were saying ‘Wow, you did very well then! But inside, Joia was grinding her teeth. ’Hmpf! Just the kinds of people that make one realize just how easy it is to stereotype Filipinos. Not good!

Anyway, after lunch, we drove to Westminster Abbey. By this time, the tour was getting a bit too overloaded. Too many tombs, even Charles Darwin’s was there. ???? Doesn’t make sense ‘cause the Abbey is a church building. We did like the section where the ‘Quire’ (Old English for Choir) sits. Although there was no singing at the time, we can imagine how lovely it would have been.


We then ended the day with the beautiful evening cruise along the River Thames. We didn’t have enough time to go for a ride on the London Eye, but we were quite content with just being at the foot of it. The cruise captain was funny. He kept making us wave to the people on every bridge we passed. We were fortunate that just before the cruise ended, a big barge was approaching the Tower Bridge which meant it had to open up. What a sight!

We didn’t really realize just how tired and stressed up we actually were until the tour finished and we were on our own. We walked around Picadilly Circus trying to locate the Internet Café we found last night. It was very frustrating; we were already hungry and tired but had to prioritize it so we could book our plane to Turin. This was yet another hall-of-famer, in a bad way, as this was our lowest point. We had a really big fight… which we won’t go about into too much detail, as you probably don’t want to hear about it anyway. The thing is, we expected and prepared ourselves for far worse situations than this. We knew there were going to be tough times. We’re still quite thankful and very proud to say, we are still very married and in love! Yippee!

Hope you enjoyed our London City tour. God bless you all!

permalink written by  garcia on November 22, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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London aside...

Bath, United Kingdom


We’re really terribly behind with our blog now. We’re writing this entry from Turin and there is a lot more to blog about. So let us just post these photos for you and then tell you a little bit about them... or more if our memories decide to work well

Basically, we rejoined the tour company for a day trip outside of London. We chose the Windsor-Stonehenge-Bath route. We have no regrets. It was hassle free, pleasant and cruising... We even got some much needed sleep. Sweet!

The coach driver was a lady named Pat. She wore a silver fern pin and greeted every single passenger, asked them where they’re from, and on learning we live in NZ, she said Kia Ora… lovely lady! Our tour guide was dear old Richard again. We’re a bigger number today, approximately twice as much as yesterday.

First stop was Windsor castle. We had to climb up a bridge and into a railway station – which was very very pretty and quiet. Somewhere along the railway station you can get a lovely sight of the entire castle. The town itself is very quaint with its cobbled streets and tiny little shops in buildings that are probably as old as the castle.

To get into the castle grounds, you have to go through security as rigorous as those in airports. After fetching our humungous audio guides - which we only listened to for the first 3 stops, we marched along the top of the castle wall for a little orientation before our guide leaves us to ourselves. Here, we got a lovely picture of the ‘public school’ (which means elite school) which William and Harry attended.

The castle interior is just as one would imagine. Overwhelmingly regal, everything seems to be lined with gold. All the ceilings are painted with beautiful murals and the walls decorated with royal portraits by some of the most famous painters / artists of the past. There was a very PINK room. Joia liked that one. Then there’s the throne room where people who get invited gets to have an audience with the queen. It’s like in that movie Ever After where the stepmother and step sisters were summoned to appear before the king and queen.
After a while inside the castle, we were glad to be out the door and into the sunshine again. It gets to you, if you’re like us, uncomfortable in and overwhelmed by all that regality. It’s nice and all but okay, so? It’s enough to say we’ve seen all that.

Walking back into the assembly point, we finally found each other again after getting lost in all the castles chambers. But also, this castle guard / beefeater (or something) found us. He was so funny. He insisted we took a photo together with him. Then he offered to take a photo of us – wasn’t a very good shot but nevertheless, the lovely gesture more than makes up for it.

Next stop was Stonehenge. The site was pretty much the same as what one would see in travel brochures and travel shows. Visitors basically go in through the reception point and through a tunnel under the road, then out the other side where the rocks are. Here, the Filipino mother and son tourists finally approached us for a photo. It took them a while… haha! They thought we were Vietnamese. The son, who works in London, was complaining about the weather. We said we didn’t expect much of the UK weather, that way we don’t get too depressed by gray clouds.
Probably the most interesting thing about Stonehenge is that as one walks around the circular formation, every now and then, one would hear – rather, feel a really large explosion which actually shakes the ground with pressure enough to make you pop the inside of your ears. We learned later that there is an Army training ground close to the site. Now, it makes sense.

Last stop: Bath. This was a lovely finale for the day. Bath is a very beautiful city.

The stately homes and gardens make you feel as if you’re in a different era. They even have shops lined up on top of a bridge.

Apparently, some famous Hollywood people have got themselves properties in some of its exclusive areas. The actual Roman baths are an interesting artifact. One can really get lost in time inside the complex.

The exit end leads you into the city center. The sun slowly darkening the parish church’s façade, people walking their dogs, quaint little shops of all sorts, a busker playing delightful music on his large xylophone… It was blissful!



Alas, the day must come to an end. The drive back home was peaceful. We thanked God for another safe day of travels. It was time to pack up again, thankfully, we did not have any problems boarding our plane from Heathrow to Milan – because we booked this flight online ourselves. Onwards to Europa!


permalink written by  garcia on November 22, 2007 from Bath, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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niente dire [lost for words]... literally!

Milano, Italy


23 November 2007

Our flight from London Heathrow to Milan Linate cost us 120UKpounds. Not bad really, considering we only booked the other day. This was our first time to book online on our own. It was unbelievably easy! This was also one of our easiest check-ins ever. Thank God!

I don’t know about Kanootz but as soon as we boarded the plane, I already started to feel nervous about the language issue. I wasn’t sure how we’d find our way from the airport to Milan Stazioni Centrale… ‘pero bahala na si Lord!”. In Linate airport, we found a shuttle bus that took us to the train station for 5Euro/e. Thankfully, all I had to say was “Buon Giorno! Due biglietti, per favore.” Relief!

At 30 minutes length, the bus ride to the central station was almost like an orientation tour of Milan. It went all around the city, past the Duomo. Cool! Not a bad ride at all! The only thing is, I wasn’t quite sure whether I liked what I was seeing or not. We read somewhere that unless one has a healthy heap of credit cards (for high-end shopping) and a keen liking for the nightlife, then Milan isn’t the place. Well, we have neither.

Upon reaching the train station, I was even more nervous as it meant we had to buy our tickets to Turin. Somehow, my prayers were heard and we quickly made friends with a lady in a black overall tunic. Her name was Zara. She was on the same plane, and also Turin-bound. I was a bit cautious, and even more so upon learning she was originally from Somali. But she had such a kind face and was willing to help us out. So, I said to the Lord, I will take away my prejudices, and will trust Him with our safety.

It was raining that evening. Milan’s central station was dark, damp, smokey, and sorry to say but... dirty. We waited for our train for 1 hour. Zara even insisted to buy us some cold drinks. Anyway, after an hour of secondary-smoking, the information board finally told us to go to our boarding gate. The train was even more DREADFUL! The ticket did not indicate which carriage / seats we were supposed to get. So, we picked one at random. Being a Friday evening (workers from Turin head home for the weekend), it was packed! We didn’t realize this. So, 2 great big backpacks in tow, we squeezed and squashed in / with all sorts of people and all sorts of smells. I could tell that Kanootz’ patience is running out (it must be really bad then, and it isn’t just me). Without prior seating reservations, we ended up sitting on the corridor pull-downs. This meant that within the 2-hour trip, we had to get up every 5 or so minutes to let people through. I tried to convince Kanootz (actually, myself more than him) that it’s okay, it’s not that bad. Truth was I couldn’t tell him that all this discomfort was already making me miss home terribly. In retrospect, first class tickets would have saved us more.

At least, I told myself, in 2 hours or so, we’ll be in the company of Kanootz’ family. At least, we were heading towards more familiar people, although in an unfamiliar place…


permalink written by  garcia on November 23, 2007 from Milano, Italy
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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garcias reunited...

Turin, Italy


As we write this entry, we are both sat in front of the TV, Kanootz busy flicking the remote control for any decent channel, and Joia commenting on the shows… we both are having a laugh because Kanootz has just made an interesting comment about late-night Italian TV programmes. ‘Angel vs. Devil’ he says about the channels. One channel would be advertising lewd services/products and the next will be a Gospel music concert. Flick it again and you know what you’re going to get. They even feel the need to have these so-called models advertise home furniture and grocery stores! Anyway… we’ll write as we recollect.

23 November 2007… Kheli wagged classes that evening to fetch us from Torino’s Porta Nuova station. We didn’t think he would mind, so we didn’t apologize. Wink! Well, the photos didn’t lie… he is TALL. He had to bend down to give us both a typical Italian hug…

Sick of dragging our backpacks in and out of buses and trains, we hailed a taxi to take us to our home for the next 7-8 weeks. Kheli seems apologetic about the apartment, mentioning that it’s like Manila. The truth is, for a metropolitan dwelling, this 2 bedroom apartment isn’t bad for 3 people. And anyway, it’s so conveniently located. 5 minutes away by foot is a shopping mall, and beside it is a first-class gourmet food market called EATALY. Then around the corner is the local flea market – open everyday till 4pm. Then there’s another (albeit smaller) shopping mall right in front of the apartment building, and a grocery store behind it. Bus stops are also right in front of and behind the apartment. To go to the central shopping area is one bus ride away. The only downfall (and quite a major one, considering we’ll be here for a considerable amount of time) is that we can’t seem to find an SDA church nearby. No surprises there… this is Italy.

We told kheli not to tell anybody of our actual arrival date/time, to surprise the rest of them. It was so funny, kholeen rang later in the evening for kheli to meet her at the local grocery shop. kenneth went instead... she said she kept looking and thought she knew the guy next to him... then the next morning, when kanootz' mum & dad got home from work, kanootz opened the door for them. Minja (mom) & Pim (Dad) were... uhm... crying. It has been close to 7 years since they saw each other. sob! sob! drama della famiglia!

Anyway, to give you all a little background on the city of Turin…

Turin or Torino (Italian) is the regional capital of Piemonte. It is encircled by the Alps and host to the rivers Po, Dora, Stura and Sangone. It has a vast area of parks and gardens, therefore considered one of the greenest cities in Europe… although of course in the winter, it looks much as one would expect of a continental city – GRAY.

Just as well, during the winter months, the city’s piazzas and streets are illuminated by art and fantasy, poetry and social themes, words and numbers, canvases and carpets, flowers and wheels, thus making the winter and Christmas atmosphere more magical. Luci d’Artista [Artists’ Lights] is a major ‘open-air’ museum project which started in 1998 and the only event of its kind in the world. Of course, there’s no use describing all these in words… so we took photos for all to see:

This first one is called ‘Palle di Neve’ [Snow Balls] by a lady named Enrica Borghi. If you take a closer look, you’ll see that the snow-white balls are actually made up of several (used) plastic bottles cut in half, the necks stuck into a polystyrene ball and the bodies hot-fringed with scissors to form a rose with transparent petals. A light bulb is inserted into each of these so that when placed side-by-side, the artificial flowers become luminescent crystals in a giant snowflake.
Next one is called ‘Tappeto Volante’ [Flying Carpet] by Parisian Daniel Buren. It is an unusual “gazebo” that supports a tightly-knit mesh of steel cables to which red and white or blue and white cube lanterns are attached and illuminated at night. It’s in Piazza Palazzo di Citta, Close to what is apparently the biggest open market in Europa.


A favourite one, is by Carmelo Giammello (apparently a well-known name in the world of contemporary arts), which he calls ‘Planetario’. An invisible net hanging over Via Roma supports many different illuminated shapes representing various constellations: the Plough, Little Bear, Orion, etc. The other smaller lights are the thousands of stars that crowd the universe. It really is amazing...‘Luì e l’arte di andare nel bosco’ by Luigi Mainolfi is a colourful narration of a local fable about a crazy guy who managed to find the children who were lost in the woods... This lighting work on the façade of the Porta Palazzo market is called “Amare Le Differenze” [Love Difference/Diversity]. The artist envisioned his work to bring love wherever there is tension due to diversity. And quite fittingly, Porto Palazzo is the citta’s area with the highest concentration of various ethnic, religious and cultural groups.

It’s a beautiful city to stroll at night. Reminds us of Fiestas back when we were younger, except the bridges, building architecture and cobbled streets definitely make you know you’re in Europa. There’s even this musical fountain. It’s mesmerizing to watch… just watch out for dog poops on the grass. Haha!



More photos of/in Turin:




On our first weekend, Kanootz’ family took us up to Basillicatta di Superga, a gig beautiful domed structure perched on the very highest hill of the city and historical home to the Royal Savoys.

As beautiful as it was, the Superga was no match to what was surrounding it, what no human being could ever make / build – the magnificent Montagne Alpine! What a sight! You could really stare at it all day. So sorry that the photos can never get anywhere close to the actual experience of being surrounded by it.

Ate (Filipino for big sister) Kholeen also took us around the shopping center. Jane would have loved all the shoe shops over here! Joia is salivating over stilettos and boots of all kinds! Fortunately for Kanootz, Jane has sent some money for Joia to have the pleasure of shopping for a few pairs in her behalf.

It’s been a bit tougher for us when it comes to exploring independently. Joia’s Italian… SUCKS! Boohoohoo! So we wait till the evenings and weekends when Kanootz’ Dad gets off work so he can take us around by car. Don’t worry, we do use most of the free day times productively – by SLEEPING! Or in Joia’s case, sewing (a hobby she’s just taken up after a crash course from Kanootz) new curtains for Kholeen and Kheli’s rooms and kitchen. Also, she’s been busy gift-wrapping tiny little presents for Kholeen to give out to her hubby’s family here in Turin (there’s more than a battalion of them!!!).

Slowly, we are getting familiar with bus routes, actually coming out of the grocery shop with shopping bags, etc. Still, it’s a lot better when Kholeen comes out with us. Like one time, she took us to Veneria Reale – a Reggia located outside the Turin City Center where the Royal Savoys’ 17th century palace and gardens are located and newly restored. It was so funny… we got there so late because we stopped to window-shop at nearly every single boutique we passed by. We were so late; it was dark when we got there, and anyway, it was close on Mondays. Oh, but it was so much fun! We even got to enjoy some hot chocolate drink in one of the boutique cafés / cioccolatterie. The people here claim that chocolate is from the Torinese and not from the Swiss. Does Ferrero or Caffarel ring any bells? Well, these are Torinese chocolate and confectionery companies. Oh, and we should mention that a hot chocolate drink here is not hot water with a spoonful of chocolate powder… rather, it’s half-a-cup of melted chocolate blocks (latte/nero… milk/dark) and half-a-cup of whipped crème! By golly, our diabetic genes had a temporary feast!
Anyway… we‘ll blog some more tomorrow… cause Joia’s found ‘The Purpose-Driven Life’ on Kheli’s desk the other day, and it looks like a good read...




permalink written by  garcia on November 30, 2007 from Turin, Italy
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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grisini e nutella

Torino, Italy


We spent the whole day in Sestriere Ski fields, an hour’s drive from the city center. The small car couldn’t take the whole family, so Ate Kholeen and Kuya Veingie took the bus instead. The drive to the ‘Montagne’ (mountains) was incredibly scenic. It’s a little bit like New Zealand, except the road signs are either in Italian or French. Now and then, we pass by castle ruins, or medieval-looking structures atop steep hills, or frozen rivers and creeks.

The ride was almost perfect: we’re with Kanootz’ family, enjoying pleasant conversation with them; we are surrounded by all these magnificent snow-capped mountains; we’re all warm and snug in our down jackets; we’re snacking with grissini dipped in Nutella. That covers our senses of hearing, sight, touch, and taste… the only thing is that, something is really bothering my sense of smell. I keep sniffing at everything, and even at everybody, trying to find that unpleasant smell… only to find out, it was ME! I’ve borrowed Ate Khols’ warm boots for the ride up. What she hasn’t told me is that she’d stepped on DOG POOP the night before and hasn’t washed those boots!

The laughter in the car almost deafened me. Papang (dad), found a café (Café Des Alpes) nearby for a pit stop. Fortunately, there was a water fountain beside some lump of snow in front of the cafe. Kanootz and Kheli took a boot each while I changed into my snow boots (borrowed from Lola Edna – my mother’s midwife when she gave birth to her first child – that’s me).


When we got to the main ski fields, we met up w/ Ate Khols and Kuya Veingie. We walked around the town a little bit and agreed that we should all have lunch first before we hit the slopes.


We found this little ‘ristorante’ amongst the tiny boutique shops and let ourselves in. The food was average, but as they say, it’s not about the food but the company. By now, I’m also starting to learn that what I’ve read sometime ago about how restaurant / cafes in Italy treat ‘Filipinos’ isn’t always true. At least in this part of Italy, and at least in this particular restaurant, we were treated respectfully and hospitably.



After lunch, Kanootz & Kheli rented snow boards while Ate Khols got us a pair of toboggans. Papang didn’t seem very interested in any physical activity. He headed back to the parking lot for a snooze soon after lunch. Mamang (Mom) on the other hand was so much fun! She tirelessly climbed and slid up and down the slopes, even racing with the boys.



Well, for myself, I was perfectly content with just being in wonder of what was around me. Sometimes, I think it’s all a grandiose dream. Now I know that God really does give us more than we could ever ask for. All this was way beyond my childhood aspirations. For a little sickly girl from a tiny rice-farming village in the middle of Southeast Asia, what can I say, except that “life is beautiful”!



And whilst the miracle of snow remains an awe-inspiring experience for me, it was the might and magnitude of the snow-capped mountains that really showed me just how enormous the Earth is and reminded me that we are all but a speck of dust in God’s infinite universe. Still, Job (7:17) exclaims, ‘for what is man that you make so much of him? That you give him so much attention… o watcher of men?’ It really is incredible to know that the same God who made all this beauty and the whole universe in all its vastness knows every single one of us by name!



permalink written by  garcia on December 2, 2007 from Torino, Italy
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Roma in a Day (5 Euro... each!)

Rome, Italy


We met up with Ate Khols first and then Kheli at Torino’s Parta Nuova station after his evening classes to catch our train to Rome. Travelling time is 8 hours. There were two other passengers in our cabin but because there were more of us than them, it wasn’t that awkward for us. Well, it would have been (not ‘would of been’ – Joia gets terribly annoyed when native English speakers make this very common grammatical error!) a perfectly pleasant train ride… for even at night, the silhouettes of the Riviera, and the Tuscan hills are delightfully serene… the only thing is that the train’s heating system turned out to be faulty. It was scorching! We had already switched our woolens with cottons. It was still super hot. We could have kept the windows open except it meant we had to listen to the train’s terrible rumbles all night. Both heat and noise were unbearable! We tried distracting ourselves by playing UNO. Finally, we reached our stop: Roma Ostense at 6:30 am. This meant ½ hour of waiting for the ‘bigliatteria’ to open. There was a distinct smell inside the terminal - similar to the smell of New York’s trains in the early mornings. We don’t really know how to say this in a politically appropriate manner… all we know is that along the corners of the terminal walls, there were several souls sleeping in dirty blankets with their bundles of belongings close to them. By now, we’re no longer as naïve as to think that people in such living conditions only exist in the 3rd world. We’d seen them in San Francisco, in New York, in London, in Milan…

The weather was threatening to turn bad, so we hurried down to the underground metro station. Well, Roma’s underground transportation was not a very pleasant experience. It’s covered in graffiti inside and out. The carriages smell. It’s a harsh contrast to Torino’s brand new (and yet unfinished) English-speaking underground metro. Our first stop was the Colosseo, except we got lost, so we didn’t really get there. It was raining but still so neat, to be ‘Roaming Roma’ in the early morning when there aren’t any crowds and we had the city all to ourselves. Piazza del Campidoglio was our very first scenic stop, and although the Musei Capitollini’s facade was all covered up for renovation, it was still worth bringing our cameras out (in the rain). We were walking pass Piazza Venezia when our phone rang. It’s our Roman host, Samantha (Kuya Veingie’s cousin). We agreed to meet up with her by the Fontana di Trevi. Again, it was so pleasant to be there and not have to fight the crowds for a decent view of one of the most famous and artistically significant fountains in the world. Ever ‘mapamahiin’ (superstitious), Ate Kholeen threw a coin in – although this was already her 2nd visit to Rome.

As a tour guide, Samantha walks like someone from NZ – FAST! Soon, we found ourselves in the middle of Piazza di Spagna where one finds the famous Spanish steps. Although it didn’t seem to be such a big climb, the gigantic Mercedes Benz poster at the very top was more than enough commercialism to put us off the climb. And anyway, we couldn’t wait to get away from all those umbrella vendors who kept nagging us despite seeing that we already had umbrellas and were even wearing rain coats!

Then, Samantha led us to Piazza del Popolo. By now, our tummies were rumbling, so we didn’t really get to appreciate the piazza as much as we ought to. We did take some photos but we were already thinking ‘pizza, pizza, pizza’. Samantha ignored our rants and instead got us to climb up the Pincio Hill beside the piazza. When we got to the top, we realized that no slab of pizza could ever compete with the 270-degree ‘bella vista’ of Rome.

From there, we walked for another hour – in search of McDonald’s! We found one – smack in front of the Pantheon, no less! By now, Rome is starting to get crowded. It didn’t help that there was only 1 functioning toilet in McDonald’s and you have to cue down a skinny spiral stair case. But when you gotta go, you know you gotta go! After our well-deserved burgers and patatini (fries), we tried to get inside the Pantheon. We reached as far as the doorway and got a shot of the domed light-dispersing ceiling when we agreed that the thickness of the crowd was way beyond us.

We then headed for the Colosseo, and this time, we made sure we got there. We stopped at the stalls for a bit to buy ourselves some souvenir. If you’re thinking that the ‘5 Euro… each’ title is about the souvenirs, well, you’re wrong. It’s about this photograph with these costumed posers in front of the ancient stadium built in 72 AD. After failing to entice us by words, they took Kanootz & Kheli by the hand, and Joia – forgetting that she’d been warned about this on the Lonely Planet website – also joined them. Then they suggested that the boys also took photos of Kholeen and Samantha with them.



After that, the woman said ‘5 Euro… each’. What???!!! Kanootz and Kheli were so angry… in fact, Kheli was fuming. For one who was born and raised in Rome, Samantha seems very shocked. She’s obviously not very familiar with tourist traps. We ended up giving them 9 Euro in total instead of 25. It was all we had. They were still harassing us with the payments and the man was already trying to catch another group to victimize. Joia yelled out ‘Don’t, they charge 5 Euro each!’ in front of the woman. She didn’t say anything. We’re glad the other group listened. Kheli was still very irritated and unhappy. He said he’d never been robbed ever in his entire life – especially not in as silly manner as this. Well, oh well… it could have been worse.

From here we followed the path leading to the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill where one finds the remains of what was considered the political, religious, and social centre of the ancient Roman world. Kheli was still very upset but because he likes being photographed, he forces a smile each time we engage the camera in front of him.

The walkway was muddy and tight, and by now, our feet and legs are throbbing. But we can’t just stop, there’s so much more to see and do. Just as well, there was a bus stop nearby for the ride to the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele which is our gateway to Piazza San Pietro and nearby Castel Sant’Angelo.



At the bus stop, Samantha decided that we should first go to Castel Sant’Angelo. So we did. We took some photos along the River Tevere with the Castel right behind us… in front of Castel Sant’Angelo were more souvenir shops, and while Kholeen and Joia were busy choosing postcards...

Samantha casually tells everyone ‘Guarda, di la’ (Look, there)… meters away from us was a very familiar sight – albeit we’d never actually seen before: Piazza San Pietro. The Vatican. The walk towards Basilica di San Pietro was longer than we thought. Still, one has to admit that Bernini did well in laying out these four rows of colonnades. Our feet were already blistered – Roma’s cobbled streets weren’t exactly the feet-friendliest. But we were there so we thought, a bit of cueing and we’ll get to see what’s in the walls of the smallest sovereign nation in the world. We weren’t going to pay for any entrance fees so it meant we only got as close as the Basilica’s giant doors. The place is actually smaller than we thought. It always looked so big on the TV. Even the fountain is average sized. There was a poorly-looking sort of giant Christmas tree in the middle of the piazza.

Finally, we headed for Roma Termini to meet up with Samantha’s dad, Mariano, who works in a pizzeria in Roma. He’d been waiting for us an hour. Glad he wasn’t a grumpy guy. After the introductions inside their 6-seater van, we’d fallen asleep and only woke up when we stopped to fetch Samantha’s much younger twin sisters from their babysitter. By now, there were 8 persons in the van. Of course, this was Roma. The children were, let’s say, lively, so no more sleeping. Then after an hour drive out of the city and uphill, we reached our host home. ‘Intayon!’ (Ilocano for ‘let’s go!’) says Mariano who is a native Roman. At their home, Kuya Veingie’s Aunt (Samantha’s Mom) and other younger sister were waiting to meet us. Mariano’s sister and nephew were also staying there temporarily. It was a very full house, but a happy one.

(More memories of Rome:)




After dinner, we brought out our UNO cards, for one round – we thought. But everyone, even Signor Mariano wanted turns so the game went on and on. Samantha’s mom must have noticed how tired we were (we haven’t slept since 40 hours ago!) and told her family to let us go to bed already. Kanootz & Joia shared the top bunk, then kheli underneath us, then ate khols on the other one while Samantha's bed was on the far end of the room. This one wasn't a forced sleep at all... we really were tired and sleep-deprived. and wake up time was 5am to catch a lift w/ signor mariano to Roma Termini...


permalink written by  garcia on December 8, 2007 from Rome, Italy
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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Under my umbrella, ella, ella... (Pisa in 4 hours)

Pisa, Italy


After saying our parting words and gratitudes to Signor Mariano, we went into the Roma Termini for some hot drinks frist, and then our tickets. It took little to convince ate Kholeen that Pisa was a necessary stop. Guess she always wanted to see it too, but when you live here in Italy, it can wait... for this time. We were early for our train so it was easy boarding in. Kanootz even got the chance to nose about when the train engine was being connected to the carriages.

Thank goodness, we shared the carriage with pleasent passengers and mind you, this one's heating was just right. After 2.5 hours, we were in Pisa Centrale where we had the chance to buy some souvenir and more postcards. More umbrella vendors in here... Kheli tells us, they change merchandise according to the weather...From there we caught the Linea Rossa pulman which took us to the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles).

Before we write any further, we'd like to express disappointment about our photographs. We're a bit bummed because first, it was pouring that day! And then wind chill factor if we remember properly was about 0 deg C. This meant that Niko (our little Nikon S200 point-&-shoot) was the only one on duty. On days like this, Nikky (Nikon D80) gets too shy. Also, the weather sort of dampened the colour of what is supposed to be white marble lined Pisa Cathedral. Still, theye were our personal shots so to us, they're better than any other.

When we got to the Cathedral site, basically, everything is as it is in photos. As one would expect, there were countless souvenir stalls lining the walls of the city. Kanootz & Kheli found a shirt they liked in here which they couldn't resist. The rain and the cold were such a challenge but never enough to stop us from doing what we came here for - take photos! It was actually quite funny 'cause none of our trick poses worked.

We got so hungry and tried to find some place to eat outside the cathedral grounds. Kheli's preference was Chinese. We also liked the thought of warm fried rice and hot chicken soup. The last thing we'd think of eating in this kind of weather was cold sandwich / tough bread. We waled along narrow streets and almost lost hope when we met a Filipino mother and daughter who directed us to a decent one. It was quiet and clean... and @ 35E for 4 starved travellers, not bad.

Then we walked back to the bus stop to catch the same bus to the terminal. Along the way, we managed to take a couple of shots of the beautiful buildings lining the Arno River. Our train ride back to Turin was easy and restful, thank God.

Anyway, a bit about Pisa:

Pisa was a bustling maritime city in the medieval era, rivalling Genova & Venice. Perhaps Pisa's greatest claim to fame is being the birthplace & home of the Renaisssance genius Galileo Galilei who also taught at the city's historic university. The Leaning Tower of Pisa - the cathedral's belfry, is what we'd say a beautiful architectural accident - thus, the name Campo dei Miracoli. next up, Paris...




permalink written by  garcia on December 10, 2007 from Pisa, Italy
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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dated for 8 years, married for nearly 4 years, no littlies yet, understandably bored and seeking new adventures... therefore, we go.

young married couple. both born in the same small rice-farming village in the northern Philippines. presently residing in beautiful New Zealand. guy (Kanootz)...

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