Flights of Fancy

Never seen advertising like this before...

2012-01-31T19:28:00.003-05:00

So sorry for the delay. As soon as I got back from Paris I got sick, then I had to fly across the country a couple of days later, then I was sick again and did not feel like doing anything except trying to get better.

Maison de Object was amazing. The show was incredible, I had never seen so many different types of designs in one place. There were literally hundreds of booths located in several halls across an area that had to be as big as a football field. One exhibit that caught my eye was this one below. I don’t even know what they were advertising, I just thought the presentation was beautiful.

These are live models. I love the way each of them match the backdrop.

Hope you like the pics!

10 things I was reminded of that I had forgotten.

2012-01-23T13:28:00.000-05:00

It has been 10 years since I lived in Paris, but I come here every year and never get tired of this city. I haven't been here in over a year and I have quickly been reminded about some of the things I had forgotten.

1. Dogs are everywhere. I was in a bakery and in front of me was a woman with her little poodle and the lady behind the counter was engaging the dog, actually talking to it! And I saw a man who had his dogs on a leash that connected the dogs at their torsos. So he had one leash handle but he was walking two dogs at a time. I had never seen that and he was walking too fast for me (see #4) to get out my camera and take a pic. French people love their dogs.

2. I forgot about the men who play their music on the Metro. It's not something soft and mellow, or anything remotely interesting. Most of the time it's an electric accordian that is super annoying.

3. I was taken aback by the African women I see that lighten their skin. If you go into Black hair shops you can see the lightening products. I mean, seriously? In 2012? They look very strange and as one of my friends said, "They look taupe." Taupe is not a good look for skin color and I think it's so sad these lovely African women feel they need lighter skin.

4.French people walk really fast. When I lived here I'm sure I walked as fast as they do but today when I was walking around I couldn't believe how many people were flying by me. I wasn't taking pictures or texting, I was just strolling. Frenchies remind me of New Yorkers in that respect, they have places to go and they want to get there now.

5.I miss the Metro. The sounds of the Metro are so soothing to me. I like to hear the screeching of the wheels as the Metro is moving (I'm being serious). I love being able to get anywhere in the city without having to drive. And it's a great place to people watch.

6. Some French people love to smoke. Thankfully smoking is banned in restaurants but I have seen more people walking around smoking than I have seen in a long time. And because it is cold here, when people go outside to smoke they keep on their coats so when they come back inside you smell the smoke all over them.

7. There are tons of homeless people.

8. Tipping the waiter is totally optional. I went to dinner last night and we tipped the waitress, she was so grateful I swear her smile was bigger than a Cheshire cat. She kept thanking us and the tip wasn't even that big. Many people will only leave a few Euros on a bill about 50 or 60 euros (about 65 to 75 dollars)

9. Public toilets are few and far between, and if you find one they aren't usually clean and they for sure don't smell nice. Many toilets have no air circulating at all, so when you close the door to the stall, there is no break between the door and the floor or ceiling. Sometimes you have to take a deep breathe and hold it while you handle your business. Or breathe thru your mouth. Either way you have to smell it or taste it. Yummy.

10. I didn't forget about all the walking but my feet did. I have walked so much over the past two days and my feet are killing me. And on top of that I'm staying with someone who lives on the 5th floor with no elevator so walking up and down stairs is a beast! Next time I come I will definitely get some inserts for my boots because seriously, my feet are angry with me!

Even though some of the things I had forgotten may not be, super positive, it just goes to show how the unpleasant things are quickly forgotten when the overall experience is a positive one. Living in Paris was a life-changing time for me and I am so happy I did it. I still find Paris and the people in it to be fascinating. There really isn't another place on earth with a vibe like Paris, and if you haven't been, I really hope you can soon!

Off to Paris...but first I must pack!

2012-01-21T15:59:00.001-05:00

So I'm going to Paris for a very quick trip. I'm leaving here today and will arrive Sunday am around 8:30am. I am going because a friend of mine got me a ticket to a very exclusive design and home show so I couldn't resist flying over (oh the beauty of flight benefits). I'm always surprised when people tell me they check a bag for a quick trip, or they pack tons of stuff. Here is what's in my bag:

3 shirts, 3 pairs of socks, one pair of jeans (I'm wearing a pair of black leggings),sleepwear,and house slippersThe plastic container is for my friend who asked me to bring her chocolate eclairs, and the bubble wrap is to wrap the alcohol a couple of people have asked me to bring back.

TRAVEL TIP: Always buy bubble wrap from home if you think you want to bring alcohol back. I normally wrap my bottles in my clothes but since I am not taking many, I need the wrap and it isn't always easy to find in a foreign country.

toiletries (all in plastic bags)

Gloves, ear muffs and hats. It's a little chilly in Paris right now.

Have you used these? They are called hot hands and can be found in any Walmart. They are little packets that once you open the packet, you have small, hot inserts for your gloves. It keeps your hands super warm.

This is my suitcase. This looks like a lot to me. Oh, I put my socks and personables in a small Eagle Creek holder.

This is my purse. I have my books, a few magazines, passport, and my headphones-plus my snacks (carrots, apples, nuts...yum) What do you bring when you travel?

Patio Sevillano

2012-01-13T08:08:00.002-05:00

I was able to see many cool things during my tenure as a Tour Manager for several different companies. One of those is the flamenco show at Patio Sevillano in Sevilla, Spain. You can have dinner and see an amazing Flamenco show. Did you know that Flamenco dancing was a way for women to communicate messages to men other than their husbands? Every move had a meaning so a woman could let her lover know what time to come by the house because her husband was going to be be gone.

This is Tortilla de Patata, a typical Spanish dish made of eggs and potatoes. Any Spanish child knows how to make this, it's as common in Spain as peanut butter and jelly is common in the U.S.

This dish was delicious. It was just enough to satisfy my hunger and I was able to be full without feeling like I had eaten too much.

I love the presentation of food in Spain, it seems to make food taste even better when it's presented in a lovely way.

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Just a bit of Valencia

2012-01-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

These were taken in Valencia, Spain. At the time I had the group from hell so I couldn't take too many pictures because I had to attend to all of their pressing issues (Roni, where is the bathroom? Roni, how much farther? Roni, when can we get back to the coach, my hip is hurting. Roni, there are so many people! This is too crowded.) You wouldn't believe how hard it was dealing with them. It would have been easier dealing with 36 three year olds. So, I took as many pics as I could between their constant complaints and looking for those in the group who decided to break off from the group and shop. Good times.

I like taking pictures of people doing everyday things in other countries. Hence the pics of garbage collectors.

I don't know what these people were doing and I couldn't stop and ask because I was with my group. But I thought the costumes were cool. This was a Sunday so it could have been some religious thing.

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Kind of stalkerish...

2012-01-02T09:40:00.000-05:00

I was looking through my blog and realized that I hardly posted any pics from my last trip to Spain! That's a shame. So, the next few posts will be all about one of my favorite places, Spain. I lived there back in the 90's so going there is always like going home again. Plus, Spanish is one of my three languages (hence the trilingual...) which always helps when I'm in the country.

As many of you know, I'm a Tour Director (Well, not anymore because I quit but when I took these shots I was working). I was in Cordoba with my group and as I was waiting for them to come back to the coach, I saw this couple taking their wedding pictures. I didn't want to seem like a stalker but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get these shots. I thought the bride looked amazing and with the backdrop of an ancient city like Cordoba, I'm sure their photos are incredible.

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I thought extensions were supposed to NOT be seen...

2011-12-31T09:04:00.000-05:00

So my job as a Tour Manager afforded me tons of opportunities. Sometimes I was able to see amazing things. And sometimes I saw things that I really couldn't believe. People never cease to amaze me and this woman's hair is proof of that. This woman was on my tour and everyday her hair was a hot mess. I wish I could have taken a shot of her from the front but that isn't allowed so you will have to imagine what she looked like.

Ok, so can you see her tracks? Tracks are what hold up the extensions, that is supposed to be hidden in your hair, not in view for everyone to see.

Is this a rat's nest or what?

Target is a relaxed store but really...

2011-12-29T01:05:00.000-05:00

So I was walking around my local Target (that's a very popular retail store here in America, for those of you that live outside the States) when I came across something I had never seen before. Check out this man.

Is he comfortable of what? I mean, I think he is taking things a bit too far. Yes, there is a chair there but IT'S ON DISPLAY! You are NOT supposed to sit in that! As I walked by him I couldn't believe he was just sitting there, chillin' and playing on his phone. I had to be a bit sneaky to get this pic cause I could hardly pull out my camera and start shooting. So, I stood at the end of a row and acted like I was looking at some comforters and curtains. I took my camera out and hung it over my purse (I did that inside the aisle so he wouldn't see me). Then with my right hand I examined various articles and with my left I took the pics. I took a few hoping that one of them would eventually get him in his full relaxing glory. This pic is taken from far away so I cropped it, I hope you can get the full image of what I saw today. Crazy, right???

And people think the South isn't racist...

2011-12-28T09:14:00.000-05:00

When I travel around the globe, I see historical sites all over the place. However, in the USA we don't have that many historical sites. Granted, we have them but they aren't as abundant as you might find in Europe which is normal since our country is so young. So whenever I see something that has a bit of history attached to it, I always stop and take note. I saw this as I was walking in Uptown Charlotte a couple of days ago.

However, when I did some research to find out who this man was, I couldn't believe it. This man was a confederate soldier who fought to have the South retain their way of life. Which means, if this man had his way, me and my family would still be picking cotton. However, one of the great things about being an American is that we have the freedom to do what we want, when we want and the powers that be deem it appropriate to have a small monument to this man. I'm sure some people see this as a wonderful tribute (because they have people here in the South that still have a ball that celebrates being a confederate). However, I think this is totally inappropriate and shouldn't be on the street. I understand our freedom to express ourselves the way we like but how can giving recognition to a man that was clearly a racist be something anyone can see as acceptable? Maybe some would disagree with me, but that is the beauty of our country. I am allowed to say what I want, because men like this were defeated. And for that I am grateful.

Chocolate and Vanilla...What a treat!

2011-12-22T21:46:00.000-05:00

So today I did something I hardly ever do...walk through a mall. I am not like most women, I actually hate shopping. But, I had to pick up a few things so to the mall I went. As I was walking to my favorite store I noticed a couple of shirtless men and I couldn't figure out why they didn't have their shirts on. I didn't really care, their bodies were insane so it was a nice little treat. Turns out it's a promotional thing for the store, called Hollister. I didn't care what it was for, it was just nice to see such amazing abs in the middle of the mall! If you wanna see some handsome men with great bodies, check out and see if there is a Hollister store near you so you can check out some fabulous abs! (oh, and the clothes inside the store as well).

Don't think this would sell in the States...

2011-12-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

I saw this in a grocery store in Paris. I was walking by and did a double take, I couldn't believe it. I know this word doesn't mean anything is France, but I couldn't believe I was seeing what I was seeing. Gotta love traveling, you see all kinds of things.

Uptown Charlotte...you never know what you'll see.

2011-12-18T08:18:00.000-05:00

In this crazy economy, I'm always amazed at the way people seem to be able to make money with their talent and by being resourceful. I was walking down Tryon in Uptown Charlotte and came across this jazz band playing outside of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Theatre. They timed their playing just when the afternoon performance of "The Nutcracker" was letting out so they literally had hundreds of people passing right in front of them. You couldn't help but stop and listen, they sounded so good. And the little boy was precious, I loved watching him cause he was really into it.

Some of the crowd that was watching.

The bucket they had was big and seemed to be pretty full, they had to make a killing from this audience. So many people were giving money...me included!

Didn't know London could be this empty...

2011-12-11T23:20:00.001-05:00

These shots were taken in the Kensington neighborhood of London. It was about 7am and as you can see everything was closed. Even still, I was surprised that the streets were so empty, it was pretty cool to be able to walk around when normally this street is filled with people.

Whenever I ride one of these buses I try to always sit on top all the way in the front. You get great views from that seat.

These two pics are of the Kensington Tube Station. Isn't it pretty?

Have you ever seen a yellow ambulance?

Good Morning!

2011-12-09T16:28:00.001-05:00

I had to be at work at the airport really early the morning I took this picture, and I was able to get this with my phone. Sometimes working at the airport I get to see incredible sunrises and sunsets. Enjoy.

Night shots of Sacre Couer...

2011-12-06T20:08:00.000-05:00

Paris is such a beautiful city, especially at night. I hope you like these shots.

Aaawwww....gotta love a couple strolling together in Paris!

Ok, the Eiffel Tower is no where near Sacre Couer so I zoomed way in to take this shot. Not bad, right?

Walking in London...

2011-12-05T18:11:00.001-05:00

I saw this as I was walking down the street in London. I had never seen a man carrying a woman's handbag before.

Check out what an ambulance looks like in London

I snapped these pics when I was in Harrods. Many Arabs flock to Harrods in the summer and shop their hearts out. Harrods is not a cheap store, it's actually one of the most expensive stores in London.

Look at the woman with her sneakers.

I always carry my camera in my purse, you never know what you might see.

Los Angeles Coastline

2011-12-01T08:06:00.001-05:00

I'm a native of Los Angeles and it is not one of my favorite places. I actually hate Los Angeles which is why I don't live there anymore. However, as we were on our way to breakfast one morning I couldn't help but stop and take pictures of the amazing view. It was so clear that you could actually see the buildings in downtown L.A. in one of the pics. The coast is from Palos Verdes all the way to Malibu and several cities in-between. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Toledo...but nothing to do with Ohio!

2011-11-29T07:20:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, I had surgery so of course I was focusing on that and getting better. I'm still recuperating but now I'm at the point where I want to start blogging again. These pics were taken when I was in Toledo, Spain. This city has been around for literally thousands of years, once being inhabited by The Romans. It's truly amazing to be able to walk down the street that Roman soldiers walked down so many centuries ago. Toledo is about 45 miles outside of Madrid. It's a nice day trip but be prepared because the streets are cobblestone and you will have to walk through the center of the city if you want to see it. Believe it or not, sword making is very popular in this city, and they make their swords by hand.

Toledo was once the capital of Spain, but in 1561 the capital was moved to Madrid.

Why does she want to talk about THIS???

2011-10-27T19:35:00.000-04:00

"Oh Roni...Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Whenever I hear that sentence I automatically brace myself because I know I am in for something that I really don't want to hear. This sentence was uttered by one of my guests as we were walking thru the winding streets of Sevilla, such a lovely Spanish city. Too bad my memories of this day are filled with this story.

"I was in the bathroom..."

and as she is talking I'm thinking to myself, seriously, what about your bathroom visit could possibly interest me?

...when all of a sudden I couldn't believe it. I had no idea I had so much inside of me. It came from no where!"

Seriously, all I want her to do is stop talking. I'm smiling as I'm looking at her but the voice in my head is screaming, STOP TALKING!!!

"I feel so bad, I hope the owner of the gift shop doesn't complain about the bathroom. I tried to clean it up as best I could but there was so much!"

Again, why is she telling me this? Why do I need to know about your explosive diarrhea? So I say,

"I'm sure no one will say anything. It's ok." and keep smiling and I try to walk away from her because at this point, my stomach is starting to turn and I'm not feeling well. I don't take to hearing about other people's bathroom adventures. When bathroom scenes come on in the movies, I always close my eyes and cover my ears, I just can't take it. And that's fiction. So imagine my horror when one of my guests tell me about their real life poop stories. G.R.O.S.S.

"Is there another bathroom in the cathedral? Because I really need to clean myself up better."

OH MY GOD! WHY IS SHE STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS????? Do you know how hard it is to maintain a smile while your insides are trying to make their way up to your throat?????? So I say,

"I will tell you where one is."

and again I try to walk away from her but she keeps wanting to tell me details of her bathroom adventure.

"I just don't know what happened. That has never happened to me before. I'm so embarrassed."

Obviously not enough because YOU ARE STILL TALKING TO ME ABOUT THIS!!! As a Tour Manager, you come across so many different conversations and situations but the ones dealing with defecation top the list as the worst. I have such a weak stomach. I can't even listen to my mom, who is a nurse, when she wants to tell me about what types of surgeries she saw earlier in the day. And a long time ago I was changing the diaper of one of my cousins and when I took his diaper off, I almost threw up. What was in his diaper should have been in a toilet, it was like a man's bowels. That was the last day I changed him. And I love him, I would die for him...but I would have let him walk around in a saggy diaper before I would have ever taken it off and change him again. So you see, listening to a grown woman, who I don't love and barely know, talking about her issues in the restroom, is the absolute last thing I wanted to hear. Thankfully she found a toilet and I'm assuming she was ok because I never asked her. I couldn't bare to hear about the clean up process. This job is a good one but sometimes the things you have to deal with just makes you shake your head and hold your stomach. Stay tuned, more to come...

Just a couple of shots of what I was enjoying before the boo boo lady interrupted me.

Great travel benefits but...

2011-10-21T12:14:00.000-04:00

Being a Tour Manager can be a very difficult thing. I deal with people on a daily basis and for the most part, people are nice. However, sometimes I get people on tour that really should never be allowed to be around others. This is what happened the other night at our welcome dinner in Sevilla:We are all in the dining room, I have 46 passengers on my tour. I see one of my passengers walking away from the buffet table looking very upset. She is really tall with gray hair and very pale skin and her face was red so I knew something was wrong. I walked up to her and said,

"What's wrong?"

She replied,

"EVERYTHING! THIS IS RIDICULOUS RONI, JUST RIDICULOUS!"

I asked her nicely,

"What's ridiculous? What is the matter?"

She said,

"THE BUFFET IS OUT OF CHICKEN. THEY ARE OUT OF BEEF. THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!"

and she stomps off to her table, sits down and proceeds to pout. I go over to her and say,

"Ma'am, there is food back out on the buffet. You can go back up and get some now."
Seriously, it was maybe 3 minutes after she had her tantrum. They had just temporarily ran out and they went back into the kitchen to get some more.
"NO! IT'S TOO LATE. IT'S TOO LATE. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. I CAN'T EAT, I'M TOO UPSET."
So, what do you think I did? I went back to the buffet, cut in front of everyone and filled up a plate with chicken, beef, and vegetables. I took it back over to her and put it down in front of her. Then she said,
"THEY WERE ALSO OUT OF POTATOES!
So I went and got her some potatoes and brought them back to her. Do you think she said thank you? You got it, you know she didn't. Heffa. What I thought was funny was that for someone who said she was too upset to eat, her plate sure was clean when I went back to check on her about 15 minutes later. But you haven't heard the best part. She wanted to take a bottle of wine back to her room and she took one off the table. The Maitre'd saw her and said she couldn't take it. She said she could. He went to grab it from her and she wouldn't let it go. They started having a tug-of-war over the bottle. Seriously. Finally the waiter got the bottle from her and put it on the table then walked away. As soon as he walked away she snatched the bottle and put it under her shirt and walked out of the dining room. This lady is 77. Classy. I have tons of stories to tell and I hope you enjoy them. Nothing I say is made up, everything actually happened. Welcome to the life of a Tour Manager on the road.

It's a closet to some...

2011-10-17T16:31:00.000-04:00

So if you travel to Europe, you need to be prepared for the fact that your hotel room will probably be much smaller than you are accustomed to. I am staying in a nice part of Madrid, not in the center but close enough to a metro and the bus to get me into the center of town in about 15 minutes. I think there are people that have closets the size of the room I am staying in but it's clean and has almost everything I need...except a clock and face towels In Spain, face towels are considered a personal item and you won't usually find them in hotels.

Normally TV is only in Spanish and you can't watch Hulu or netflix when you are overseas so keep that in mind if you are someone who likes to watch TV. And my bed is a twin, it isn't usually a double bed in a room for one person. Of course you can get a bigger bed but that will normally cost you more. More to come...

Ferrets and the Oregon Coast

2011-10-12T04:51:00.000-04:00

While driving down the Oregon Coast we stopped for a bathroom break. When everyone was out of the coach, I was talking to another guide and one of her guests come up to her and says,

"It was so ironic what just happened and pretty crazy!"

So we both listened to her story. She continues,

"Well, while we were driving I was couldn't recognize the music the driver was playing so I asked him and he said it was Enya."

Ok, nothing ironic about that. She continues,

"So then I was walking along the trail and I saw a guy walking his two ferrets and..."

So me and my friend looked at each other and without saying a word, we were both thinking,

"You see a guy walking ferrets on a leash and that isn't the crazy part?"

Oh, no. Not to her. So she says,

"When I asked him what his ferrets names were guess what was one of them? ENYA!"

and we are both laughing but not at what she thinks we are laughing at. It was just unbelievable that she wasn't at all phased by the fact he was walking ferrets on leashes. So I wanted to see who this was walking his ferrets. When I found him he told me that he walks them everyday and comes to the particular part of the coast we were on about 4 times a week because they love it. And he said he has a four story cage for them at his house. It takes all kinds...

Only in NYC

2011-10-11T15:02:00.000-04:00

I was walking back to my hotel and saw this. Who walks around Times Square when you just got married???? Crazy, right??? t

All of this before I even had my coffee...

2011-10-10T14:38:00.000-04:00

The life of a Tour Manager on the road can be filled with lots of interesting moments. I had one of those the other morning. Here is what happened.

"Open up."

followed by knocking is what I hear. It startled me because it was at 6:46am and I wasn't expecting anyone at my door. I immediately thought I had scheduled a bag pull but then after a couple of seconds I realized it was in the middle of the morning and my guests hadn't even arrived so scheduling a pick-up for their bags wasn't possible. I hear the knock again and then I hear,

"Let me in."

Mind you, I was supposed to sleep until 7:30am so I was pretty happy because that is late when you are on the road so hearing a man's voice outside of my door telling me to let him in caught me by surprise. I walked to the door, looked out of the key hole and saw a face I didn't recognize. I immediately could tell he was drunk and had the wrong room. So I said,

"You have the wrong room."

and thought that would get thru to him. Nope, it didn't. He kept knocking. Again, I said,

"Dude, you have the wrong room!"

and I got back in the bed. I really wanted to open the door and show him my Black face but seeing as how I was standing there with no clothes on (I was sleeping, remember?) I didn't think that would be such a good idea. Well, this fool just couldn't see that he was at the wrong room and he kept knocking and started knocking harder saying,

"My key won't fit. Let me in."

So by now I'm really pissed off that he has woken me up so I call security and tell them there is a strange man at my door that won't stop knocking. They apologize and immediately send someone up to my room. I went back to the door and he was gone. Good. About 10 minutes later I get a call from security saying,

"Ma'am, we are very sorry. We just wanted you to know that we got him. He was drunk and got his room confused with yours, he transposed the numbers but we got him now. He won't bother you again."

So, while I was happy they got the drunky from in front of my room, I was heated because even though this whole exchange was only about 10 minutes, I couldn't go back to sleep. Ugh. So irritated! Tour Managers always have crazy stories!!

Clam Chowder, anyone?

2011-09-25T11:40:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard of this place? It's called Mo's and it's in Newport, Oregon which is a small beautiful fishing town. It's a cute place, I would love to be able to spend a weekend here and really explore the surroundings. Whenever I go to Newport I always go to Mo's. It's a tourist attraction but they still have some of the best food around.

The clam chowder is served with a little pat of butter on top and they make their own bread. Amazing. AND they have Marion Berry pie. Yummy.

Only at an airport...

2011-09-19T15:53:00.000-04:00

So I'm at the airport and I wanted a drink. This was a difficult week so I wanted a drink to unwind. I sit at the bar and I'm sitting next to a Frenchman who is on Sykpe with his girlfriend. Well, he didn't know I spoke French, of course and I wasn't going to say anything but in the end I couldn't resist. I was helped to say something because to my right was a woman who was there with her husband and she said she would love to see the look on his face after he realized I spoke his language. So, he ordered some Calamari that looked really good so I asked him, in French, if they were good. You should have seen the look on his face! He was so embarrassed! He had been talking dirty and saying all kinds of things that I really wasn't trying to listen to but I heard anyway. I mean, he was right next to me. This is how the conversation went (in french)

Excuse me, are those calamari good?

Him,

O

oh my God! You speak French! I'm so embarrassed!

He couldn't stop laughing. Me,

no worries, I wasn't listening.

Ok, I was listening a bit because it was so funny that he thought no one understood his conversation. He was talking dirty to his wife!! Not really what you want to overhear at a bar but I couldn't go anywhere so...Then we talked for a bit and turns out we are both guides, we both had just finished work and he bought me another drink. So, at this point I have had several drinks and my plane ride will be nice and smooth. I let him have a few of my calamari because when mine were placed in front of me he said,

You have so much more than I did!

So I offered to share with him. The Calamari was delicious, the company was great and now I'm as happy as can be sitting and waiting for my flight. Lemon drops and speaking French were just what I needed!! You never know what can happen at an airport!

Difficult people

2011-09-17T09:59:00.000-04:00

How do you handle difficult people? I work as a Tour Manager for a wonderful company and I am currently dealing with a very difficult passenger. She has complained about everything from the beginning of this trip from the temperature on the coach to the type of perfume I wear. This was one of our discussions.I was having dinner the other night at the hotel. I was so happy because I was eating with another Tour Manager that I hadn't seen in a while so we were having a great time laughing and catching up. All of a sudden this evil force comes over to our table and this is the conversation."Roni, I am VERY upset."I look up and give her a nice smile but all I want to do it smack her because she is interrupting my dinner (and you know how much I love to eat). "Please tell me what's wrong." I say with all the niceness I can muster. "I need some clarification. Do we have our finale dinner on Saturday or Sunday?" "Saturday." She rolls her eyes and says, "But the info I received before the trip says Sunday." I try not to roll my eyes and say, "The booklet I gave you has the correct information in it." She says, "I didn't read that." I really try not to roll my eyes because why wouldn't you read the info I gave you about the trip you are on???? "Oh, I'm sorry. but the finale is Saturday." I say because we have to be polite at all times. "I've made plans with my family on saturday night! I can't change now!" She says looking at me. I really want to ask her what does she want me to do about it, especially in the middle of my dinner. She continues, "Why is the information I got incorrect?" I didn't know anything about this information, I had no idea the paperwork was wrong that she received. But somehow this is becoming my problem. So I go into problem solving mode. "Well, what time are you supposed to meet your family?" I ask. She looks at me and says, "You don't understand." I said, "I do, I'm just trying to figure out a way you can go to dinner and see your family. Maybe you can eat with us then have dessert with your family?" "I'm not doing that! I paid for the dinner, I have to go." And she keeps looking at me. My friend then chimes in and tries to explain why the welcome dinner is on Saturday and not Sunday. Her explanation was also shot down and the angry guest just keeps getting angrier. We keep going back and forth until she gets tired of bitching. We both know she just wants to vent but I'm still trying to figure out why she feels the need to do it during my dinner. I have been with them all day, can't I have an hour to enjoy the company of my friend without being bombarded with her negativity? What would you have done? Wait until you read the other discussion we had. This lady is a trip! Stay tuned, more craziness to come.

Not exactly what I wanted to see...

2011-09-16T10:38:00.000-04:00

This little critter greeted me as I checked into my hotel room last night. Not the kind of thing you want to see. I travel all the time and have stayed in hundreds of hotel rooms so I look in every corner and wipe down the room when I enter. However, even I was surprised when I pulled back the shower curtain and saw this. Has anything like this ever happened to you? I simply went to the front desk, showed them the picture I took and they sent someone in to totally bleach the bathroom. I was kind and polite and things got done. There is never any reason to get angry, I find that you get much better respect when you keep your cool. I'm not going to say where I am because I am working but I posted this so people can know that if they find dead bugs in their hotel room, they aren't alone.

If you get hungry in Seattle...

2011-09-12T01:40:00.000-04:00

Piroshky's is one of the best little places to eat in Pike's Market.

The line is always really long because the food is so good!

Everything is handmade on the premises, you can watch them prepare the food if you want. Most of the menu consists of some type of meat and/or veggie wrapped in delicious homemade bread.

If you are ever in Seattle, you would want to eat here. There are about 4 seats in the place so don't think you will be able to have a leisurely lunch there. But there is a very big picnic area not far (about 3 minutes on foot) where you can eat your Russian Piroshky while looking at the sea.

View From Above

2011-09-05T02:16:00.000-04:00

I took these with my phone on my way to the West Coast. I know it has been a while since I posted anything, I'm sorry for the delay. However, I'm back to traveling and over the next couple of months I will be in several different cities around the globe and I will document my travels in pictures. I'm not sure exactly where I was but I think I was over Washington when I took these.

Scarves...on trees??? YES! In Seattle, everything is possible.

2011-08-05T09:04:00.000-04:00

Seattle is fast becoming one of my favorite cities. There is so much to do, it's super clean and it's not nearly as hot as it has been here in the South. Plus, they have cool art all over the city that is manifested in several different ways. I was driving by this square and couldn't help but stop and take pics of this. Have you ever seen trees with scarves???? So cool. It was an outdoor exhibit, and I think it's brilliant.

This is a firefighter's memorial, the details in these sculptures is unbelievable.

Stay tuned...more to come!

Sound View Cafe

2011-08-04T19:58:00.000-04:00

This is a cute little restaurant in Pike's Place in Seattle. I love it because they sell breakfast all day and you can eat and look at a great view.

This sandwich was REALLY good. Pretty simple but delish and not that expensive. That's egg, cheese, tomatoes and lettuce.

They have a pretty good selection, and they have a tofu egg dish that is so good!!

If you are ever in Pike's Place, check this place out!!

Viansa Winery

2011-07-23T00:34:00.000-04:00

A perk of my job is that I get to do some pretty cool things and see places that I have never heard about. This winery is one of them. It's in Sonoma, California and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Plus, they served us appetizers along with our wine tasting. Gotta love that.

This was delish.

A grape cluster that will be used to make their wine.

Outside patio

Where I was sitting as I drank my wine. Yep, while I was on the clock. AND I was expected to drink with the group!

Isn't this a beautiful winery??

Carson Mansion

2011-07-19T01:01:00.000-04:00

The Carson Mansion is in Eureka, California. Ever heard of Eureka?? Well, there really isn't much there. No offense to anyone living in Eureka but there didn't seem to be much going on. However, Eureka is home to the Carson Mansion which is a masterpiece of victorian architecture. Construction started in 1884 and took one hundred men over two years to built. It is now a private men's club, called The Ignomar Club.

Unfortunately it was raining when I was there so the pics may be a bit dark. The pink house across the street was built for his daughter.

Now that's different...

2011-07-18T01:48:00.000-04:00

This is something I saw while driving around Seattle. I had never seen this before, have you? This was on the side of the road and I had no idea what all these containers were for. Then, I saw this guy open one up and put his bike in. Pretty interesting.

Face Rock

2011-07-14T06:34:00.000-04:00

Can you see the side view? If you look you can see the profile of a woman. Her head, her nose and her chin. This was taken on the coast of Oregon and I took it with my cell phone. I think this is just a beautiful peek at nature! Isn't it amazing what we can find in this country? I had never been to the Oregon coast before and I was pleasantly surprised.

Sorry for taking so long to post, I'll do better!!!

Paul Bunyan

2011-07-01T23:44:00.000-04:00

Have you seen these before? This is my first time seeing them in person but I've seen them on TV tons of times. This is in Klamath, California which is located way up in the Northern most part of Cali. It's right off the 101 highway and a corny but cool tourist trap.

Paul Bunyan speaks. Ok, obviously he doesn't really talk because he is wooden but there is a speaker somewhere that allows it to seem like he is speaking. It freaked all the kids out that were walking past, especially because they were able to have a conversation with this giant. Apparently there is a man sitting in a booth somewhere that can hear and see everything. It's entertaining.

Something different, right??

Sunset in Vermont

2011-06-30T23:06:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love a good sunset? This one is especially pretty as it sets behind the mountains. I took these just a few seconds from each other, it's amazing how the colors change across the sky. These were taken in Vermont...enjoy.

Snow...in July???

2011-06-29T23:31:00.000-04:00

So this is Mt. Hood in Oregon. If you're like me, you had no idea there was snow in July. Where I live right now it is blazing hot so it's really funny that I was standing at the base of a mountain in 40 degree weather, rushing to get into the lodge to drink some hot chocolate. This place was packed, tons of kids everywhere taking advantage of school being out. There is a resort here called Timberline Lodge that was built in 1937. You can stay in the hotel for a few days or just come and ski/snowboard for the day. If you just want to take in the view you can do that as well by riding up and down the chair lift. It takes 30 minutes to ride up and down or you can walk down which takes about 2 hours (but seriously, it's cold, why would you want to walk down?) It's a pretty amazing place, the mountain is fabulous so if seeing snow is your thing, you will love it here.

Skylon Tower

2011-06-17T21:14:00.000-04:00

If you are going to visit Niagara Falls, The Skylon Tower is a pretty amazing revolving restaurant. Yep, it revolves so you get a 360 degree view of the city. You get great views whether you eat lunch or dinner but lunch is less expensive. And if you go for dinner you have to eat a meal, you can't just have drinks or appetizers. I took these pics from our table, I hope you enjoy them.

Niagara on the Lake

2011-06-12T17:29:00.000-04:00

After we spent the day in Niagara Falls we ventured out the next day and went to Niagara on the Lake. It's a small community about 30 minutes from Niagara Falls. It looks like a Dutch town, especially with all the tulips. Thankfully it was a lovely day so we were able to walk around and really enjoy the scenery.

Maid in the Mist

2011-06-01T08:17:00.000-04:00

It was such a hot day we decided to go on Maid in the Mist. It's a boat that takes you up close and personal to the Falls. They give you these blue rain jackets that keep you nice and dry because if you don't have one on, you will get soaking wet.

It was amazing to get so close to the Falls. Just the sound alone is incredible because you can hear and see how powerful all of this water is. IF you are ever in Niagara Falls, I would recommend doing this. It was well worth it!

Niagara Falls

2011-05-29T23:17:00.000-04:00

Here are a few shots of my first day in Niagara Falls. The weather was perfect!

Breakfast with a view of the falls.

This was in the bathroom. I have no idea what the point of it was.

Can you figure out why this lady is sitting in this box? I still don't get it.

Doesn't this look like spools of thread?

Never seen wires this color before.

Can you see the Maid of the Mist in the water? I'll post pics of that tomorrow.

Vermont

2011-05-19T09:35:00.000-04:00

These were taken as we were traveling from Boston to Vermont. It was cold! Does it look cold?

This bridge was built in 1850. That is old for America.

Salem, Massachusetts

2011-05-18T07:50:00.000-04:00

After Boston we drove to Salem. I was surprised to see that Salem was so pretty because I thought it was nothing but a town filled with haunted mansions and witches. They do have a few museums and many shops dedicated to witches but I didn't go into any of those and there aren't any pictures of those. That isn't interesting to me. I took all these shots as I was walking around the city, truly amazed that it was so pretty. Hope you enjoy them.

This red line circles the downtown area of Salem, if you follow it you can get a tour of the historic buildings in town.

2011-05-09T01:24:00.000-04:00

I took most of these shots from a moving bus. Hope you enjoy them.

I loved this doorway. This type of intricate details aren't normally seen in American architecture.

More Boston

2011-05-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

Boston is even prettier than I thought it was going to be. For an American city, it is really old. For those of you that live in a city that has churches an buildings that are at least a thousand years old, I know you think I am crazy for going on about something that is only a couple of hundred years old but truly that is a big deal in America.

This is the narrowest home in Boston, measuring 10 feet wide. It was built in the late 1800's.

This is one of the boxes that are in this church. This church didn't have pews, they had boxes. Each family could purchase a box and the closest your box was to the front of the church the more expensive it was. If you could afford a box closer to the front that meant you were super rich. Boxes in the back were obviously cheaper. A box right in the front of the church would cost, in today's currency, $25,000.

Since people paid so much for their boxes, they were allowed to decorate them. This box was close to the front and these are the original decorations from the family that owned the box more than a hundred years ago.

This was Paul Revere's house.

You can follow this red path all around the city and you will be doing the Freedom Trail Tour.

This is the bar that the American TV show "Cheers" was based on. I tried to get a good pic of the yellow flag outside but see that truck in front? It was blocking my view. I walked in there but everyone didn't know my name (you will get that joke if you watched the show).

Until tomorrow!!

Dog tags

2011-05-03T22:03:00.000-04:00

I thought this was fitting to post today. As I was walking through the streets of Boston I passed this memorial. All of these dog tags represent soldiers killed while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, they keep adding more dog tags all the time. There are no names on each tag, they are each just simple reminders that death is a tragic consequence of war.

There is so much to see in Boston, and I have tons of pics to share but I am exhausted (rode from Boston to New Hampshire today) so I'll post more tomorrow. Thanks for checking out my blog!!

Boston

2011-05-02T23:10:00.000-04:00

I had to end a friendship last night. It was hard to do and very painful and because of that, I have been sad all day. I'm telling you this because I'm in Boston on a business trip and I've never been to Boston before but I almost missed appreciating the beauty of the city because I was so absorbed in my grief over my friend. I had to run into town to pick up something and I was about to hop back in a taxi when I realized, "Hey, you don't have to rush. Get out and walk and enjoy the sights." All that to say, I almost missed out on a great experience because I was so distracted by the past. I'm still sad, but I refuse to let it consume me. Hope you like these shots.

View from my hotel room

Hollywood

2011-04-02T00:25:00.000-04:00

What is a trip to L.A. without a stop in Hollywood? Ok, to be honest, I hardly ever go to Hollywood but since I had my nieces with me and this was their first time in Cali, we went up there. Hollywood is one of those places that if you live in Los Angeles, you never go there. There is nothing wrong with it, it's just a touristy place that visitors love and natives don't bother with.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre. This is where you will find many hand and footprints of stars. Most of the stars are from the 30's and 40's with a few from the last 20 years.

All kinds of interesting things walking around on Hollywood Blvd. People dress up, take pics with folks and people give them tips.

Helen Mirren is the latest star to be immortalized in cement.

This is where the stars enter during the oscars. On each pillar is written the name of the movie that won best film for each year from the start of the Oscars until today.

This is the heart of the Hollywood/Highland complex (that's what the building is called). There are stores and restaurants and a huge parking structure underneath.

Jimmy Kimmel is taped here. This line is for Brittney Spears, she was performing on his show.

They are always filming something and this was the crew for Wonder Woman, which will be on TV soon.

Really????

This is Muhammad Ali's star. His is the only one that isn't on the ground. The reason being because he is a Muslim and the name Muhammad is sacred for Muslims and can't be walked on. The only way he would agree to have a star on the Walk of Fame was to have it behind glass and not touched by feet.

Until tomorrow!!

Downtown L.A.

2011-03-30T12:14:00.001-04:00

Here are a few shots I took while driving home the other night. I'm not a big fan of Los Angeles but I thought these were pretty cool. Hope you enjoy!

Science Center Gala

2011-03-30T03:48:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I get to do some really cool things an the Science Center Gala is definitely at the top of that cool list. Every year the Science Center in Los Angeles debuts a new exhibit, and what better way to debut an exhibit that with a huge gala. This year the theme was all about California and the wine country located in Northern California. I hope you enjoy my pictorial documentation of the evening.

Outside of SC

Our entrance.

The check-in desk was right in front of the aquarium.

This is an aquarium that was built for the exhibit. If you have are ever in L.A. this is a place you would want to visit. So many interesting things to see!

This was the Lexus that was given away. You had to buy a raffle ticket in order to win.

She was letting everyone know about the silent auction. There were all kinds of people walking around in what is considered typical California gear, letting everyone know what was going on throughout the evening. I don't really know how this outfit was representing Cali but hey, she looked cute.

One view of the room. This is where we were able to sample tons of different food and wine. All of the wine came from wineries in Northern California. The restaurants were all located in the LA area and all of the head chefs from each participating restaurant were there.

This table housed all the items for the silent auction. The only thing I could afford to bid on was some jam that was shipped every couple of months but I still didn't bid high enough to get that!

The next few pics are of some of the food that was offered. It was SO GOOD.

The wine was flowing all night. AND it was great wine!!!

So many people! This was on our way to be seated for the main event.

More food.

This was something I had never heard of. We took fruit on a stick, slathered it with creamy chocolate then dipped it in...liquid nitrogen!!! I counted to 5 then took out the fruit and it was so cold the fruit had steam coming off of it. Amazing.

This was my fruit after it had been frozen. Delicious.

They were orange pickers. Those are real orange trees behind them.

Wall decorations as we walked down to dinner.

My first course...a beet salad. I love beets and these were especially yummy.

The stage where all festivities took place.

This is the view of the dining room from above. Can you see the vineyards above?

Another view of the dining area. They transformed the entrance way into an eating area.

This is the golden gate bridge. Hhmmm...wondering how I got this pic? This was actually a picture I took at the IMAX theatre that is attached to the museum. I just thought this was a cool view.

An arial view of Hearst Castle, also taken in the IMAX theater.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the Science Center Gala through my eyes. Thanks for checking out my blog!

Quepos

2011-02-23T19:08:00.000-05:00

Quepos is about a 45 minute ride from Esterillos. The only drawback to being in Costa Rica is that you really need a car if you want to explore other places. There are busses as we took a bus to get back home but we took a taxi into town.

This is the bus station. The busses are like tour busses but there is no air conditioning and I didn't see a bathroom on ours. The ride is pretty cheap, just a few dollars but the bus makes stops all the time so a 45 minute ride can take 2 hours.

I had some fresh coconut juice. I didn't like it. It tasted like something was missing.

Costa Ricans, (or Ticos, as they call themselves) love rice & beans. I have eaten that almost everyday since I've been in the country. They are delicious.

Downtown Quepos

Another view of the bus station, there is a little store there where I bought the coconut.

View from the bus on the way home.

A city block. The next pic I zoomed in in order to see the houses on the hill.

There is nothing really spectacular about this city, nothing I would ever have to go back to but it was cool seeing it.

Sunset in Costa Rica

2011-02-21T01:06:00.000-05:00

Well, since yesterday I posted the sunrise, it only seems appropriate to post a sunset today. Enjoy.

Sunrise in Costa Rica

2011-02-19T15:13:00.001-05:00

The first morning here I woke up very early. I had no concept of the time because there are no clocks in the house but I knew it was early because the sun was just rising. I took a walk down the beach and snapped a few shots. I hope you like them.

This is the place we rented. Can you see how far away it is? I was still walking into the ocean with the water by my ankles. The actual waves didn't start for ages.

This is such a beautiful area and I can't believe I get to be here. It is truly amazing. Until tomorrow...

Drive to the beach

2011-02-18T16:35:00.000-05:00

In order to get to the beach we had to drive about 6 hours. I am not really sure how long it took us because since we have been here I have been totally oblivious to the time. Here are a few parting shots of our resort. It's so fabulous it's ridiculous.

The resort doesn't have hotel rooms, they have individual bungalows.

This is where the water flows in for the hot springs. We tried to get in them the first night but the water was literally boiling so we quickly got out. The next night we got in and stayed about 20 minutes, it wasn't boiling but it was still super hot.

Here are a few things I saw as while driving to the beach that I thought were interesting. I hope you do as well.

We saw this and we all gasped a bit. Until we got closer and realized it was a dummy.

This was a really cute restaurant right by the fake zipliner.

This was fresh guava juice. Yummy.

Inside of the restaurant, isn't it cute???

Typical breakfast in Costa Rica. Very good.

This is how foggy it was driving up the hill. My mom was at the wheel and I was praying cause she doesn't know what it means to slow down.

This car was towing this wood and the wood wasn't tied down or anything. He was just coasting along but then some of the wood fell off. Oops.

More fog. My seatbelt was on tight and I was praying. Seriously, my mom thinks she's Mario Andretti.

Stay tuned...more to come!

Rainforest and a Volcano

2011-02-16T20:45:00.000-05:00

So, today we decided to go walking through the rainforest and see a volcano. (Pretty cool to be able to wake up and decide that). First we had to stop by the store to get some snacks and check out what we saw in front:

I've never seen a car, motorcycle, a tractor and a 4x4 at the same time.

And have you ever seen mayonnaise or jelly in these types of plastic containers?

As we made our way to the rainforest, we had to first make it past the bumpy road. Seriously, the road to get to Arenal Rainforest is one of the bumpiest roads you will ever travel on. I hope you can get a sense of how bad the roads are from these pics:

We finally reached Arenal Rainforest Reserve and Aerial Tram (www.arenalreserve.com) and decided to do the self-guided walk which lasts about 3 hours. TRAVEL TIP: If you do the walk, make sure to wear comfortable and durable shoes. Hiking boots are best but tennis shoes will work. They will get muddy as it rains constantly but the water feels good after walking for so long.

I have never been inside a rainforest before so this was really exciting. It was a perfect day for walking and the surroundings were amazing.

There are 5 hanging bridges you have to cross, and they wobble. And they are high. For those of you who are like me and don't like heights, this may be a challenge. Thankfully I made it across everyone but I walked very slowly and barely looked down.

This is what I saw when I dared to look down on one of the bridges. That is water beneath me. I didn't stop to really aim and focus, I was scared so I just kind of took the shot and kept it moving.

As we walked through the rainforest we heard this huge rush of water. I took this video so you could hear and see what we were able to experience:

After we finished our walk we went to the restaurant on top of the hill called chillout. It has an amazing view of the lake and the volcano. The food was pretty good, we were happy and you just can't complain about anything when you have a view of a massive volcano and a lake in front of you.

This is their version of a mojito. Pretty delish.

We made our way back to town and had an hour massage for...wait for it...25 dollars! It was pure heaven. After getting pampered for an hour we walked down to the ice cream shop and indulged in our sweet treat then made our way home.

The translation of the flavor is "Cactus Fruit".

It was a perfect day, and I hope you've enjoyed the ride. Stay tuned...more to come.

Costa Rica!!

2011-02-15T19:45:00.000-05:00

Well I'm with my family in Costa Rica and so far it is fabulous. We are in the Arenal volcano area which is about 3 1/2 hours from San Jose (where we flew in). TRAVEL TIP: We rented a car and just so you know, you HAVE to buy insurance and if your credit card company says you don't, that's absolutely not true. The insurance company is run by the government and there is only one company so you have no option but to buy the insurance. Check out your options before you decide to rent. There are busses that you can take to different parts of the country if you choose.

The drive to Arenal is up a windy road and there are no street lights so if you rent a car make sure you rent a 4x4. The roads aren't that great and you will be happy you have the 4x4. We got to our hotel in the middle of the night but we could tell it was fabulous. So when I woke up this morning, this is what I saw out the window:

I found this resort online for a ridiculously cheap price. Breakfast is included and the place is amazing. I don't really know if I can explain to you how beautiful it is, so I'll keep my words brief and just show you the pics.

This is lemon. Have you ever seen lemon with a green skin?

This was part of our breakfast. Rice and beans with eggs. It looks great, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't. The beans were dry and the eggs were blah but the delicious fruit made up for it. We had mango, papaya, watermelon and melon. And the coffee was SO GOOD.

Stay tuned...more to come!

Evening shots of the canals

2011-02-11T09:03:00.000-05:00

These are shots of the canal at dusk . I love this area and I think it's amazing, especially since it's not overly populated with tourists. If you are ever in Paris, I would highly recommend coming to this part of town. It's really easy to get to and a great place to sit and just take in all the beauty.

As we walked by this building I looked up and saw this ceiling. This is someone's apartment and I couldn't believe how ornate the ceiling was! Thank goodness the windows were open.

Hope you enjoyed them!

Louvre

2011-02-09T17:36:00.000-05:00

Here are some shots of the Louvre. It was overcast and gloomy but that didn't take away from the splendor of the Louvre. It's an amazing site.

The shot above and below are a courtyard that sits east of the pyramid that you normally see when you look at the Louvre. It's not very populated but the statues all around are magnificent.

People either seem to love or hate the glass pyramid. I think I have gotten accustomed to seeing it so now I like it.

Chez Papa

2011-02-08T06:42:00.001-05:00

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Paris (there are several of them around the city). It's called Chez Papa. They specialize in Southwestern French cuisine with Duck being the main item. They don't serve Chicken. It's great because it isn't a touristy spot. When you walk in there are lots of Frenchies which is always a good sign. They have the best salads you could ever eat. Check out some of the pics below.

You see how big this salad is? This is called "Super Papa".

There is duck, cheese, tomatoes, potatoes, gizzards (don't be grossed out by gizzards, they are delicious in this salad).

We ordered wine and it came in the little jug. Isn't it cute? You don't see that in the States. And the basket of bread was really fresh and soft (I hate crunchy bread).

I love how the light fixtures have Chez Papa written in them. And those are peppers hanging in the background. They are in every Chez Papa in the city.

If you are ever in Paris, you won't be disappointed with the place. SO GOOD!!!

Paris...of course!!

2011-02-07T20:47:00.001-05:00

Well, I had to go back to Paris for a few days so I took a few shots of the Eiffel Tower. I tried to get it from different angles so you could see the enormity and beauty of the structure. No matter how many times I see it, I am still amazed by its sheer beauty.

I'm sorry it has been a while, life got in the way but I'm going to do better. I've planned a trip to Central America and I will be leaving in about a week so you should have some cool stuff to read. Until then, I'll post daily with pics from Paris, my favorite home away from home.

Tara House

2011-01-21T22:39:00.001-05:00

I spent the morning at Tara House, which is the house that Gone With The Wind was modeled after. This is located in Jonesboro, Georgia, about an hour from Atlanta. It was very interesting going back in time and getting a small glimpse of what life was like in the 1800's. It was a very humbling experience to see what life was like and I am so thankful I was born free. Enjoy the pics.

Living room

Dining room

Living room where courting would take place.

When a girl was allowed to court, the father would light this candle, the "courting candle". When the candle got to the first black ring, that was the signal that the evening was over and the boy had to go home. I bought one of these for my niece and we will be using it.

The men would typically play cards and drink bourbon.

This was a chart of what a woman had to do in order to get ready everyday.

This is a spinning wheel. Most of the time the oldest daughter had to do the spinning for the whole family (spinning the wool for the clothes). Because spinning took such a long time, the daughter didn't have time to court. Hence, the older sister that didn't get married was referred to as a "Spinster".

Where the slaves sat and cleared the cotton.

See the cards? They typically didn't have numbers on them because apparently most men were illiterate and couldn't read the numbers.

These are calling cards. When people would go calling on other households, they would present the house slave who answered the door with their card. The slave would then take the card upstairs and give it to the girl/woman the guest wanted to see. If the woman/girl wasn't taking company at that moment, she would turn the left hand side of the card down which said she wasn't available. This because known as being turned down. That is where we get the saying, "She turned you down." Also, when a woman was new to the area, she would go calling on the neighbors. Her calling cards would have the names of all of her daughters and their ages on the front of her card so all of the eligible men would know who was in her household and come calling.

I love the way this is called "Tenant Cabin." Really??? This was a slave house, they were not tenants.

I don't think the slave quarters were this nice.

Kitchen. The kitchens were not attached to the houses because they could catch on fire easily and it was very hot in the summer and the slave owners didn't want the house to get overheated while the slaves were cooking.

Outhouse.

Dylan's Candy Bar

2011-01-11T15:52:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of this place? If you like candy, this is your Mecca. You will love this place because they have every piece of candy you could ever think of.

As you can see, the store is super cute and has so much variety. The place was packed when we were there, and this was a day after the blizzard. They also have party rooms on the third floor and an area on the bottom floor to taste and purchase fudge. If candy is your thing, you won't be disappointed in this place!!

Eataly

2011-01-10T17:25:00.000-05:00

There is a cool spot called Eataly (200 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010 (212) 229-2560 ‎) which was recommended to me by a friend. It's a unique place where you can have numerous Italian eating experiences, but all in the same spot. If you want meat, you have a meat restaurant. You can have pasta and pizza another eatery, and fish and veggies at another one; yet they are all housed inside one shell which is Eataly. There are tons of books, desserts, and Italian grocery products, and anything else you can think of that is related to Italian food. We ate in the fish section.

They serve the fish with the head. It was a little off putting to some of my family, but it was very good.

My family getting creative with the fish heads.

This appetizer was really good. Full of flavor.

Yummy!!

2011-01-08T07:16:00.000-05:00

On the the night after the blizzard we ventured out a bit and went sightseeing. It was so cold. Seriously, it was freezing. But, the snow had stopped falling and the wind wasn't blowing nearly as hard so it wasn't as bad as it was before.

Have you ever seen a NY freeway this empty??

I'm gonna do my best to post daily, I think I have enough for the next few days at least so please stay tuned and thank you for being patient with me!!

NYC-Day 2

2010-12-27T12:56:00.001-05:00

Well, we are officially in a blizzard. Streets are closed, the subway is barely working and things are pretty much shut down. I had every intention of walking around Brooklyn to enjoy a few sites but we walked outside and after about 5 minutes, we realized it was too windy to do anything. These are a few shots I took as we walked around the block. We are now cuddled and warm in the hotel room with food we bought from the Kosher Jewish store around the corner and have no plans on leaving any time soon. Enjoy the pics and hopefully I'll have more to share tomorrow.

This is the corner we walked to when we realized we weren't going to walk any further.

We are staying in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, this is the school bus. See the Hebrew on the side?

This is an intersection. Obviously no cars are driving today and the few that were had to drive about 5 miles an hour.

Can you see how deep the snow is? We had no choice but to walk through it, all sidewalks haven't been shoveled.

Hhhhmmm...I wonder if the owner of this car was able to go to work today???

Bike riding in the snow...fun!!

I tried to capture the snow blowing in the wind.

NYC!!

2010-12-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm in the Big Apple! And of course, I visit the weekend there is a huge blizzard. Seriously, I have never seen this much snow. I could only snap a few pics because it was snowing so hard, I was afraid to get my camera wet. Look at what it was like in Time Square:

We went into the Toys 'r' us store. This huge ferris wheel is in the store.

We ate hot dogs from the street vendor. 3 bucks a piece and so delish!

There is an M&M store in Time Square, look at all the different colors!!

This is in Serendipity, they are famous for their frozen hot chocolate.

When we left Serendipity the blizzard was in full effect.

I was actually walking backwards as I took this one. It was snowing like crazy and the wind was blowing so hard the only way to keep it out of our faces was to walk backwards.

And this is on our way back to the hotel. We had to walk from the subway which is only about 10 minutes but it felt like we walked for an hour.

I have a taxi driver story. When I first arrived at Penn Station I waited in line and finally hopped in the taxi. I gave him the address and he looked at me and said, "Do you know where it is?" I looked at him (and really tried not to sound irritated because I had just waited about 20 minutes while being snowed on) and said, "No, I don't." Then he asked, "Do you know where it's near?" and I asked, "Don't you have a GPS? Or someone you can call?" Now at this point, I should have gotten out of the car but it was snowing so hard and I couldn't be bothered to find another taxi.

He drove a little while longer, all the while talking about how he didn't know where it was and when I asked him if he was going to be able to find it, he said, "I don't know. Maybe I will, maybe I won't." I think he was trying to be funny but I wasn't really interested in jokes. So we continued for a while and he is continually acting like he doesn't know where to go. He stops and asks someone who tells him where to go and what street to turn on. Guess what he does??? Doesn't follow the directions and turns down a random street. When I asked him why he didn't do what the woman said he said, "She was on the phone, she just told me anything. This way is good." Do you think he was right? No, he wasn't. He got lost, made several wrong turns and then tried to put me out of the taxi because he didn't want to drive anymore. When I refused to get out until he took me to my hotel, he copped an attitude (mind you, it's snowing like crazy, it's freeing outside and he wants me to walk several blocks to my hotel. AS IF). We FINALLY got to my hotel and the meter was $20.50. Well, I knew I wasn't going to pay the whole fare because he had gotten lost and made several wrong turns. So, I told him I would pay $15.50. Well, he said he was gonna call the cops. I got out of the cab with the $15.50 in my hand. He grabbed me and I looked at him and said, "You better keep your hands off me. You want this money or not?" and handed him the fare. He then cussed me out and took off. Gotta love traveling in NYC!!

I'm freaking out

2010-12-17T22:51:00.000-05:00

So, I was about to post my pics of a snowy Paris only to find that my SD card is not working. I have no idea what happened, but one day I was able to look at my pics from it and now I keep getting an error message. I have SO MANY pictures on that SD card and I am really trying not to freak out. So, obviously I can't post any pictures today or a beautiful snowy Paris but hopefully when I take this SD card to camera store, they will be able to retrieve my pics. So sorry for the delay, hopefully I will get my pics and be able to show you how amazing Paris is in the wintertime.

Gotta get to Paris from the airport? No sweat!

2010-12-11T08:38:00.000-05:00

There are many different ways to get into the city center. When I al traveling sola and with only a carryon, I prefer to take the RER. The RER is a system of trains throughout Paris. They basically pick up where the Metro leaves off. When you get your bags and go thru the sliding doors, you will see a bunch of people standing in front of you, waiting for their friends and family. Once you go around them you will start seeing signs. No need to fear, they are easy to understand. This is the first one you will see:

So, you follow the sign and head downstairs. Not sure where to go now? No problem, just look on the wall and there is another sign:

And if you are still having doubts once you get to the shuttle area, there is another sign telling you exactly where you are.

Once you get on the shuttle, this is what it looks like inside.

When you get to the departure terminal, get in line to buy your RER ticket. There are Kiosks but you have to have a European card (the one with the chip and pin) in order to use them. I do think they take cash (euros only).

After you buy your ticket, you take your ticket, put it in and wait for it to pop out. Make sure you take your ticket and keep it as you might be asked to present it while on the RER. If you are heading into the center of Paris, you can stay on the RER until you get to Gare du Nord. But as you can see from the map below, there are many options, you have to just figure out where you need to get off.

You can get off the RER and get to the Metro or a bus. In order to do that you will need another ticket for the Metro. There are day passes, books of 10 and 20, or you can be like Parisians and get a metro pass with your own picture on it. You have to take your pics (you can take them in any Monoprix for 5 euros for 4 pics) then go to the station and have them process it for you.

It's really easy getting into town, the RER is a great alternative to taking a taxi. If you aren't pressed for time, the RER is wonderful. Just know that it is usually very crowded, but if you are leaving from the airport you should be able to get a seat. I hope this info was helpful to you!

After flying first, it's gonna be hard sitting back in coach!

2010-12-11T00:39:00.000-05:00

So, I had to fly to Paris a few days ago and thankfully I was able to upgrade to first class. Normally when I travel and I have to pay for it I'm sitting in the cheapest seat they have on the plane, I just want to get to my destination. But, since the opportunity presented itself to fly in Envoy class (which is what US Airways calls first class) I jumped at the chance.

When I first got on the plane, this is the seat that was waiting for me

I took this so you could see how roomy the seats were. I couldn't believe I was actually laying down in a plane. I also had a pillow and a blanket.

This is a Mimosa (combination orange juice and champagne) I was offered prior to takeoff. Yummy.

The wine selections. Of course I had a couple of glasses.

This was informing me of my meal options.

This was in my little pouch they gave me. Aren't the amenities cool? The toothbrush opened up and there was a little tiny tube of toothpaste.

This screen was pretty big. How can I watch TV without my personal headphones??

They gave me a pair! Ok, they give everyone a pair but aren't these nice? The sound was amazing.

This was my table, they draped it with a real tablecloth.

Wine from Argentina called Malbec served with warm nuts.

First course

Look at the tiny salt and pepper shaker! Wouldn't it be nice if there was real silverware in coach as well?

Main meal. This was the beef selection. It was very tasty, really not at all what you would expect from plane food. The only drawback is that it wasn't super hot. It wasn't cold, but it would have been better had it been hotter. I managed to eat it, you know a little coolness of my food won't stop me.

Dessert.

And last but not least, my breakfast. I wasn't even hungry but you know I managed to still eat this food.

Well, I hope you enjoyed first class thru my eyes, I had such a wonderful flight. I fought sleep for as long as I could because I didn't want to miss out on anything. I watch a couple of movies and a few TV shows, and I even watched a couple documentaries (well, the beginning of a couple, after a while I lost interest). If you ever get the chance to upgrade to business class, do it! You won't be disappointed.

Packing

2010-12-05T17:25:00.000-05:00

In about 30 minutes I will leave for a two day trip to Paris. I'm always amazed how much some people pack for very short trips. I only take a small carry on and a purse. Here is what my bags look like:

In my carry on I have the following:

toiletries
socks
two shirts
scarves
my camera
accessories for my outfits
vitamins (not a bottle, just the few I will need)
something to sleep in

That's it. I wear one pair of pants and if I need to I will wash them. Thankfully, I am staying somewhere with a washing machine but even if I didn't have that luxury, I would use the laundry mat, they are to be found in Paris.

It is going to be cold in Paris so I will wear my big down coat and my boots (I only take one pair of shoes) and I am set.

In my purse I have:

my toiletry items I will need on the plane in plastic bags
passport
wallet
book
puzzle book
kleenex
eye patch (I love those for trips)
small agenda
vicodin (hey, you never know when a pain might come on, you have to be prepared!)
BC Powder for headaches (which is the best for getting rid of headaches, in my opinion)
pecans (for a snack on the plane)
hand wipes

This works well for me and I am never stressed thru security, or on the plane because my carry-on always fits. I like travel to be easy and I find that by packing smart, I avoid so much drama. So, in order to keep it drama free, I must go and get dressed and get outta here! I'll post when I get back on Wednesday, I'll tell you how to get to Paris from the airport and a few other essentials you will need if you ever plan on visiting one of the greatest cities in the world.

Kensington Gardens

2010-11-27T08:49:00.001-05:00

With all the talk of the upcoming royal wedding (are you already sick of it like I am?), it got me to thinking about London and Princess Diana. Kensington Palace was where she lived, (at apartment 8 to be exact) and this is where her funeral procession started and ended at Westminster Abbey.

There are lots of pathways and trees throughout the park. People are relaxing, reading, running, and generally enjoying the surroundings.

The park is so big you need arrows in order to help you navigate where you want to go!

My hotel was right down the street from here so I would walk through the park and just take in all the loveliness of the greenery. I really love the way London is a huge bustling city then you can cut through a garden and it's like you have been transported to an oasis. If you ever make your way to London, make sure you a few of the gardens and parks on your list of things to do.

Motorcycles

2010-11-24T01:48:00.000-05:00

Hi there. I know it has been a while and I'm sorry for the delay. Here is something I saw on one of my recent trips to London and Paris. Have you ever seen a motorcycle with his backpack like this?

What about this motorcycle guy? See how his lap is covered? I had never seen that before so I thought maybe you hadn't either.

Kind of different, right? You know I love different!!!

The Biltmore House

2010-11-08T08:54:00.000-05:00

I've never seen a house this big and I especially didn't think I would find it in Asheville, North Carolina but that is where the Biltmore is located. It's actually the largest private home in America, with 34 bedrooms and 43 bathrooms, it took six years to construct and was finished Christmas Eve 1895.

From the entrance to the house is a three mile ride and it took a carriage 45 minutes to get to the house. To me the house looks like a gothic treasure. It's not my particular style but can you imagine living in something like this in the late 1800's? It has a bowling alley (a servant would stand at the end of it and rearrange the pins and roll back the balls), an indoor swimming pool, a separate pastry kitchen so the baked goods wouldn't be affected by the intense heat from the normal kitchen and a drying room so the clothes and sheets could be hung up, stored in cabinets length wise and dried. I'm sorry I don't have any pics of these rooms but there was a strict no picture policy and there was someone in every room making sure you didn't snap a pic.

This home was built by George Vanderbilt, one of the richest men in the 18 and
1900's. There are plenty of things to do on the property but they all cost. This isn't a cheap visit, so come prepared to spend lots of cash. The Biltmore is about 2 hours from Charlotte so you can do it as a day trip but if you would rather spend the night and make a weekend out of it, there are plenty of hotels around the property to choose from. There is also a hotel on property but they wouldn't tell me the rates, the concierge said, "Our rates change every single day so you have to check the website." Hhmmm...they change everyday??? I've never heard that before.

TRAVEL TIP: It's REALLY cold this time of year so if you go, make sure to bundle up because you can't enter the house until your scheduled time which is located on your very expensive ticket.

There is a restaurant that is located in what was once the stables. Apparently the stables had electricity and heat for the horses back in the day. The restaurant serves super fresh vegetables as they are grown on property.

Our food was delicious, I had a vegetarian burger and I could taste the fresh veggies in the patty.

Here are some pics of the drive around the property. The original property had 125,000 acres. I can't even wrap my mind around that land mass.

This sign says "Slow, Horse Crossing"

Stay tuned...more to come!

Breakfast...

2010-11-04T00:09:00.001-04:00

Ok, so you know by now that I LOVE to eat. However, France isn't really big on breakfast, at least the way we are accustomed to breakfast in America. But at this cafe, this is a wonderful way to start the day. I especially like the way they serve the coffee. See how the milk is in a separate server? It's pipping hot and you get to pick how much you want in your coffee. And the coffee is DELISH. The croissants are the best, you can get better ones at a boulangerie but they aren't bad. However, the cafe is right on a great corner where you can get a wonderful view of Parisian life as it passes by. Check out this couple, Frenchies are big on public affection.

Gotta love the French!!

My favorite restaurant

2010-11-03T23:49:00.000-04:00

When I'm in Paris, there is one restaurant that I always visit. In fact, for the past ten years I have been coming here and I get the same thing. The waitresses and the owner will come over and say in French, "You want the duck, right?" and the answer is always yes. In my opinion, it's the best duck (called magret de canard in French) I've ever had and for the past ten years, it has never been bad. They have tons of other dishes as well, and I have never sent anyone or taken anyone there that didn't love their meal. The restaurant is called Le Marche and it's located in the Marais. It's the cutest little restaurant that is set in a plaza that looks like it should be in a movie (it actually was in one of the Bourne movies).

Le Marche in Place St. Marche Catherine. Metro line 1 exit St. Paul. If you are ever in Paris, please check this place out, you won't be disappointed!

The family that argues together, stays together.

2010-10-26T17:48:00.000-04:00

Ok, first let me say, I really don't believe in arguing. I think it's a waste of time. However, this family didn't seem to feel the same way. I started snapping their picture because I liked the way they looked from behind. The mom in her all red (not really my style but it was interesting) and the dad and kid just looked cute.

Well, as I am walking behind them trying to get a good picture there was some kind of confrontation between the lady in red and a man who was working on a ladder. I don't know what it was because I wasn't directly behind them, I had to use my zoom to take their pics. Whatever it was, it made the woman and the worker have several minutes of heated words and I was able to capture the woman mid argument.

Can you see the little girl? She is sticking her tongue out at the man!! The dad wasn't saying much, I got the feeling he never said much because he let his wife argue and never said anything to the guy who wasn't being particularly gentlemanly. People can be so interesting!

Moving never looked like so much fun!

2010-10-25T08:26:00.000-04:00

So as we were making our way to my favorite cafe for breakfast, we came across movers. "What's the big deal?" you might be thinking but the way many Frenchies move is really interesting.

Since many of the buildings in Paris are hundreds of years old, most of them don't have elevators. So, how do you get a full apartment into or out of your flat if it's on an upper floor? You hire movers with these cool ladders to move for you.

They place the furniture on the ladder, strap it on real tight and secure, then move it up or down the ladder. It's something most Americans don't see (maybe New Yorkers have this system, but I'm not sure) so I thought it was interesting.

Have a good one!

Stylish Frenchies

2010-10-22T11:51:00.000-04:00

As you probably know by now, one thing I really enjoy is people watching. Frenchies are some of the best people to watch because they are always so stylish. I snapped most of these pics on the sly, I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask people if I could snap them so I was a little sneaky. Hope you enjoy.

I was on the bus and she looked really cute. I couldn't get her facing me so I hope you can see what I mean from the back.

I love her outfit. The red coat is fab.

I liked her bag and her shoes.

Her umbrella matches her jacket. I'm sure that wasn't on accident.

French women seem to always be put together.

Her gray ensemble was super cute, right down to the tights.

This was an older woman. You don't EVER see French women in sweats or tennis shoes. No matter what age, they are always classy.

I was in the metro, trying to be slick but she is looking right at the camera so maybe she knew what I was doing. Her outfit was too cute.

Are you impressed by their style?

Canals in Paris? Yes indeedy!

2010-10-22T09:57:00.000-04:00

After you've seen as many touristy spots as you can handle, please make visiting the canals of Paris a part of your day. There is an elegant, simplistic beauty about these canals. It's such a wonderful place to walk and enjoy the water.

There are shops and restaurants up and down the canals, so you can sit and have a coffee, eat, are shop...it's totally up to you. This is a kid's clothing store, they have the cutest (and a bit pricey) clothes inside. The shop is represented by all three colors (the shop is HUGE!).

A few more shots of the canals.

If you're wondering how to get there, the best way, in my opinion, is to get off at Metro Republique, cross over Boulevard Magenta towards Rue du Faubourg du Temple then turn left once you see the start of the canal. You can also go to Gare de L'est and keep walking East (you would walk with the station on your left hand side) until you reach the canal. You can cut through the little park which will lead you right to the canal.

As you can see, the canals are truly lovely and they have not been overrun by tourists so you can really walk and enjoy. It's very quiet, even with the cars that go by.

This family decided to stop and have an impromptu picnic on the steps.

If you're ever in Paris, I hope this post has persuaded you to visit the canals!

The best burger I've ever eaten.

2010-10-21T21:01:00.000-04:00

Ok, one thing I had never done was eat a burger in Paris. I mean, with so many wonderful choices of French cuisine, why in the world would I want a burger? Well, as I was walking down the street I started to get hungry. I sat down at this cute little cafe overlooking the canals (did you know there were canals in Paris? I'll talk about those tomorrow).

I sat down at one of the tables outside and as I was taking my seat there were two guys at the next table who were just getting their meal. I looked over and saw the burger and my mouth started watering. I didn't even look at the menu, I just told the waitress, "Je veux le meme chose." Which means, I want the same thing (sorry, I don't have a French computer so I can't add the necessary accents). This was my view as I waited.

Check out this guys shoes.

This is what the plate looks like. See how there are different compartments for the sauces? The fries were pretty good as well.

The BEST BURGER EVER. Doesn't it make your mouth water?

I have to say, this was amazing. I can't tell you why it was so good, I don't know what they did to it to make it so scrumptious but it was heaven in my mouth. It wasn't well done, it was medium with more emphasis on the pink. Something about the juice from the meat mixing with the melted cheese made for a delectable eating sensation. If you are ever in Paris, please go and have one of these burgers. You won't be disappointed.

2010-10-13T12:43:00.000-04:00

After spending a glorious two days in Rome (yeah, it was only 2 days but we got to see so much!) we headed to Paris. Before we left the States I found three tickets from Rome to Paris for about 30 dollars a piece. Yep, you read correctly, 30 bucks! I found the tickets on Ryanair which I knew was a reputable company so I wasn't worried. However, there were a few things I didn't know until the last minute so I here is some info for you.

1. You MUST print out your boarding passes before you get to the airport. They send you an email to let you know this but since I used an e-mail account I barely check, I didn't find this out until about 4 hours before our taxi was picking us up for the airport (seriously, it was midnight and I had to get into a taxi and find an Internet cafe so I could print our boarding passes. Have you ever tried to find an Internet cafe in Rome at midnight? I finally went to a fancy hotel that had Internet access and got the job done. The taxi cost me 20 euros and took me an hour to get everything done. All of this could have been prevented had I looked at my e-mail a few days earlier). If you don't print your your boarding pass you will have to pay 40 euro when you get to the ticket counter. In my opinion, that is a ridiculous amount to pay for a boarding pass.

2. You will probably have to pay to check your bag. As of September 2010, checking a bag cost 35 euro. You are allowed to take one personal item on the plane and that's it. Maybe it depends on who you have at the counter but we each had a carry-on bag and a backpack and we were told we had to check our carry-on. You have to then walk a few minutes to the other side of the airport (Rome Ciampino airport isn't a very big place so don't worry) and use one of the Kiosk machines to pay your fee. When you have your receipt, you then walk back to the counter to show that you have paid and then you will be allowed to go through security.

So, even with the 35 euro fee for a checked bag, the flight was still very reasonable. The plane took off and landed and that's all I care about. I don't need any frills, just land safely.

When you get to Paris you arrive at BVA and not CDG or Orly so you have to get a bus in order to get into town. That bus ride is about 15 euro and takes about an hour. You can pay with credit card or cash but I would recommend paying in cash because that line was super short while the credit card line was much longer. There are plenty of buses so you don't have to wait that long once you have your ticket. The ride was very comfortable and I slept most of the way. The bus drops you off not far from Metro line 1 (which is located in a mall) or you can hop in a taxi to get to where you need to go.

So, no pics today, just info but tomorrow will be about PARIS!!!

Graffiti...in Rome???

2010-10-12T16:54:00.000-04:00

I don't know why I am always surprised when I see graffiti in another country. It's not like America has a monopoly on it but it does always cause me to look twice. I guess because the buildings in Europe are usually so old and well preserved, I'm always amazed that someone doesn't respect the beauty enough to not deface it. Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about.

Even this truck can't escape the graffiti.

This guy is painting over the graffiti

Is there graffiti where you live???

Amazing what you can see when you look up!

2010-10-09T23:30:00.000-04:00

I find that when I travel to a different country, I am constantly looking up. Not because I am afraid of random bird droppings but because I am always amazed at the amount of different details there are in simple everyday things. Here are a few pics to show you what I'm talking about.

This was on an apartment building.

See the writing over the window? I have no idea what that means but it's not every day I see writing on a window.

I thought the detail on this statue was amazing. I felt like the draping was about to fall off his upper arm, it looked so real!

This was on the corner of a building. It would have been nice to know what the significance is of this. Everything is this city has a story.

Have you ever seen this many potters outside of a window?

Stay tuned, more to come!!

Sometimes you gotta improvise!

2010-10-05T07:52:00.000-04:00

So one thing I REALLY wanted to do while in Rome was to stick my hand in the mouth of the head on the wall. I know, I know, that probably sounds crazy but I couldn't remember the name of it and I had the image of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck doing just that in "Roman Holiday". Well, the actual name is Boca della Verita (Mouth of Truth) and it's a marble mask and supposedly if you put your hand in it and told lies, you wouldn't be able to withdraw your hand because it would be bitten off. Sort of a Roman lie detector, if you will. Well, unfortunately we got there late. But guess what happened on our way there...

We hopped in a taxi from the Colosseum and told the driver where we wanted to go (I showed him on the map before we got in). Half way into the ride one of my friends leaned over to me and said, "Why did he turn off the meter?" I looked and saw that there wasn't a meter running and I knew we were in for something interesting. Well, we got to La Bocca and the driver says, "20 euro." Well, we had taken a taxi the night before to the Trevi Fountain from the Colosseum and it cost 6 euro and that ride was much longer so we knew 20 was way too high. We told him that was too much and he said, "ok, ok. Give me 14". We started to get out of the taxi, explaining to him how much we paid last night and we went back and forth a bit then he got mad and started cussing at us in Italian. Well, I'm assuming it was cussing cause in English he said, "Suck my d***" And as I got out of the car I said, "No thank you." So we ended up getting a free taxi ride!

Anyway, as I said, when we got there it was closed so I had to improvise.

I know, I'm a nut. However, this was the closest thing I could get to what I really wanted to do! I couldn't get any closer because there was a big gate so this had to do. Gotta love traveling, you never know what will happen!

St. Peter's Square & Basilica

2010-10-03T07:37:00.000-04:00

So this is my first attempt with the panorama option on my camera. I figured this was the best place to try it out. When we couldn't get into the Vatican we walked around St. Peter's Square(or Piazza San Pietro for my Italian readers) and saw the Basilica. It's called St. Peter's Basilica/St. Peter's Square because Catholics believe this is the site where the apostle Peter was crucified and buried.

If you look at the top, those statues are saints and there are 140 saints in total. They were made between the 17th and 18th century. The dome on the Basilica was made by Michelangelo.

Used my super zoom feature. I have no idea which Saint this is.

Two nuns. I was surprised that they were Black. I just wasn't expecting to see Black nuns.

The Obelisk. I read that it dates from 13th century BC and 18th century BC and I don't know who is right. Either way, it's older than anything I normally get to see so I'm not concerned with dates, I'm just amazed it is still standing. The Obelisk originates from Egypt and was brought to Rome to stand in Nero's circus.

There are 284 columns in all that surround the square in a semi-circle pattern.

I hope you can see how big these things are. It was such an impressive sight!

Stay tuned, more to come!

Spanish Steps

2010-10-02T01:10:00.001-04:00

I've often wondered why some places become so famous and I wonder that about the Spanish Steps. I mean, they are cool steps but nothing that I found to be really different. Don't get me wrong, the view from above was wonderful but I don't really see what all the hype is about.

This is a zoomed in shot of the street directly in front of the Steps (and the pic right above this one).

One cool feature is the fountain at the bottom of the steps. There are so many fountains around Rome!!

One thing I didn't know was that people lived next to the Steps. Both of these are residences, the lighter one contains a museum as well. We saw a couple of people chillin' on their balconies (in homes not pictured) but I didn't want to take a picture because I couldn't get one without looking obvious.

Where you see the greenery is the balcony of the homes. I guess they still want to use their balconies but don't want to be stared at by a bunch of tourists.

Do you understand why the Spanish Steps are so famous?

Live and learn

2010-10-01T08:55:00.000-04:00

As we were making our way to the Vatican we got a little hungry and sat at a corner cafe. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food (because we thought since it was right around the corner from the Vatican, it would be touristy and pricey) but we were wrong on both counts. I had this sandwich that only cost me 2 euro and it was delicious. The bread was fresh, as were the egg and tomato. I also had a coffee (of course) and I think my whole bill was three euro fifty.

Don't you just love the name of the cafe? Ok, so it's not really the name but it's rare that I see anything with my name in it so hey, work with me.

Travel Tip: f you want to visit the Vatican, make a reservation online before you go. The line was literally around the block and it had to be a couple of hours wait. You can pay about 45 euro to have a private tour which allows you to cut the line but if you don't want to pay that, you will have to wait. When you make a reservation, you don't have to wait and you will then be able to see the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. Here is just a small part of the line. It went the whole length of that wall down this street and around the corner to the right. Ridiculous.

We didn't get in but it was cool just walking around and after we walked a bit we stopped at another cafe because I needed a coffee (did I tell you that I am addicted to coffee? Seriously, it's a daily necessity for me). Since the place we ate down the street was so cheap I didn't even think to ask how much a coffee would be here. Isn't the presentation lovely?

I got a large coffee and this is what all came with it. So guess how much this coffee cost me? EIGHT EURO FIFTY!!!!! When I went to pay and she said the price I said, "No, I just had one coffee" and she said, "Yes, one big coffee. 8.50". Oh boy, you know I didn't like that but it was my fault for ordering without looking at the menu. So, learn from my mistake. Don't ever order a coffee without looking at the menu or asking the price. How one cafe can be so much more than another one right down the street still amazes me.

Stay tuned, more to come!