Rome, Italy; 3 days in Manila, etc.
Been wanting to post for a long time but I’ve been quite busy lately. It’s been almost 3 weeks since I flew to Rome, Italy. I had such a great time in that wonderful city. I met up with bello Emanuele, who was my personal tour guide in Rome for that day. He was such a funny character, not to mention handsome, smart, and very, very, very cute. (Note: I was PAID to write that about him.) Hehe. But seriously, despite the annoying rain, I really had loads of fun in Rome. Special thanks to the self-proclaimed “most beautiful tour guide in the world” who was forced to walk a thousand miles around the city just to show me around. Hahaha.
My first stop was at La Bocca della Verita (The Mouth of Truth), which was believed to be a lie detector in the Middle Ages. Apparently, if you told a lie with one hand in the sculpture’s mouth, it would be bitten off. Too bad it doesn’t work anymore today!
I met up with Emanuele at the Fountain of Trevi. This was my 4th visit to the fountain, but my first time to see it during daytime. I always went there late at night before. This time, I came prepared. I brought with me some Peso coins from the Philippines to toss into the fountain because the value was so much less than the Euros. Wise! Haha!
Emanuele and I walked to the Spanish Steps, the longest and widest staircase in Europe, just a few minutes away from the Fountain of Trevi. We went up to the very top of the stairs but didn’t go inside the church anymore.
Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Old Boat) in Piazza di Spagna, just below the Spanish Steps.
At the Pantheon, a temple dedicated to all the gods of Ancient Rome, but was later converted into a church.
Piazza della Rotonda
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) in the middle of Piazza Navona (It’s surrounded by scaffolding, so you can’t really see the fountain.)
Cute picture with Emanuele and the umbrella, near the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune), in one end of the Piazza Navona
La Fontana del Moro (The Moor Fountain) at the other end of Piazza Navona
Piazza del Popolo with Emanuele (The raindrops on my camera’s lenses created a nice effect on the picture.)
For dinner, we had pizza and pasta (of course!), and because I am crazy, I made myself eat gelato for dessert even if it was so cold and raining outside. Like I said when I was in Milan recently, I just have to have my gelato when I’m in Italy, even in winter. Sometimes I’m just nuts. Anyway, after my Rome flight, I had 4 days off in Dubai. I could’ve gone home to Manila but I had to stay in Dubai to study for my annual SEP Recurrent Training, 2 days of numerous written exams, practical tests and classroom sessions. It’s so stressful. I hate Training College! But we have to do that every year to renew our flying licenses. Boo.
This was inside our Training College, at the end of the stressful 2 days of SEP Training. Whew! I’m so glad it’s overrr!
The following morning right after training, I had to fly to Birmingham, England. I didn’t even have enough time to catch my breath after my SEP! Behind me is the shop Selfridges in Bullring, Birmingham.
I had a few days off after Birmingham, so when I arrived in Dubai, I just went back to my flat to pack my things then headed back to the airport to catch a flight to Manila. I was so eager to go home. I only had 3 full days in Manila, but it’s ok since it was over the weekend and I’d get to see my friends. It’s the first time I ever went home for such a short period. The only time I did something similar was when I went home in August 2008 for like 3 and a half days because I didn’t want to miss Kamille’s 08.08.08 wedding. But at least now, flights to and from Manila are quite empty, so I don’t have to worry about getting bumped off.
Lunch with high school friends Aimee, Mabel, Angge in Greenhills
Baby Seth, Mabel, Angge, Aimee, me, Kamille
Dinner with Angela in Serendra; Migo, Angela, me in BHS
Migo, Angela, me, Enzo, Meggie, Nikki, Jigs celebrating Angela’s birthday in TGIF
With college friends for Karinne’s 4th birthday swimming party: Jabi, Pepe, me, Pat, Tini, Marjoe, Kat, JM
Crabs dinner with family at Claw Daddy right before heading to the airport to go back to Dubai: Dad, Mars, Mom, me
Back to work for me! Had to do a short turnaround then flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I love the Petronas Towers at night!
Back in Dubai, I dragged my sister Joann to go to the Dubai Mall. We already have countless pictures with the Burj Khalifa last month, but I took pictures again, just to compare the Burj Khalifa with the Petronas Towers. Petronas may not be the tallest tower anymore, but it’s much more stunning. The two are not even worth comparing. Haha.
I gotta scram. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Ciao! Ü
My first stop was at La Bocca della Verita (The Mouth of Truth), which was believed to be a lie detector in the Middle Ages. Apparently, if you told a lie with one hand in the sculpture’s mouth, it would be bitten off. Too bad it doesn’t work anymore today!
I met up with Emanuele at the Fountain of Trevi. This was my 4th visit to the fountain, but my first time to see it during daytime. I always went there late at night before. This time, I came prepared. I brought with me some Peso coins from the Philippines to toss into the fountain because the value was so much less than the Euros. Wise! Haha!
Emanuele and I walked to the Spanish Steps, the longest and widest staircase in Europe, just a few minutes away from the Fountain of Trevi. We went up to the very top of the stairs but didn’t go inside the church anymore.
Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Old Boat) in Piazza di Spagna, just below the Spanish Steps.
At the Pantheon, a temple dedicated to all the gods of Ancient Rome, but was later converted into a church.
Piazza della Rotonda
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) in the middle of Piazza Navona (It’s surrounded by scaffolding, so you can’t really see the fountain.)
Cute picture with Emanuele and the umbrella, near the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune), in one end of the Piazza Navona
La Fontana del Moro (The Moor Fountain) at the other end of Piazza Navona
Piazza del Popolo with Emanuele (The raindrops on my camera’s lenses created a nice effect on the picture.)
For dinner, we had pizza and pasta (of course!), and because I am crazy, I made myself eat gelato for dessert even if it was so cold and raining outside. Like I said when I was in Milan recently, I just have to have my gelato when I’m in Italy, even in winter. Sometimes I’m just nuts. Anyway, after my Rome flight, I had 4 days off in Dubai. I could’ve gone home to Manila but I had to stay in Dubai to study for my annual SEP Recurrent Training, 2 days of numerous written exams, practical tests and classroom sessions. It’s so stressful. I hate Training College! But we have to do that every year to renew our flying licenses. Boo.
This was inside our Training College, at the end of the stressful 2 days of SEP Training. Whew! I’m so glad it’s overrr!
The following morning right after training, I had to fly to Birmingham, England. I didn’t even have enough time to catch my breath after my SEP! Behind me is the shop Selfridges in Bullring, Birmingham.
I had a few days off after Birmingham, so when I arrived in Dubai, I just went back to my flat to pack my things then headed back to the airport to catch a flight to Manila. I was so eager to go home. I only had 3 full days in Manila, but it’s ok since it was over the weekend and I’d get to see my friends. It’s the first time I ever went home for such a short period. The only time I did something similar was when I went home in August 2008 for like 3 and a half days because I didn’t want to miss Kamille’s 08.08.08 wedding. But at least now, flights to and from Manila are quite empty, so I don’t have to worry about getting bumped off.
Lunch with high school friends Aimee, Mabel, Angge in Greenhills
Baby Seth, Mabel, Angge, Aimee, me, Kamille
Dinner with Angela in Serendra; Migo, Angela, me in BHS
Migo, Angela, me, Enzo, Meggie, Nikki, Jigs celebrating Angela’s birthday in TGIF
With college friends for Karinne’s 4th birthday swimming party: Jabi, Pepe, me, Pat, Tini, Marjoe, Kat, JM
Crabs dinner with family at Claw Daddy right before heading to the airport to go back to Dubai: Dad, Mars, Mom, me
Back to work for me! Had to do a short turnaround then flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I love the Petronas Towers at night!
Back in Dubai, I dragged my sister Joann to go to the Dubai Mall. We already have countless pictures with the Burj Khalifa last month, but I took pictures again, just to compare the Burj Khalifa with the Petronas Towers. Petronas may not be the tallest tower anymore, but it’s much more stunning. The two are not even worth comparing. Haha.
I gotta scram. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Ciao! Ü