Thursday, March 31, 2011

Rome (Part 2)

Let's continue with number 4 to 7 of die die must visit places in Rome....

(4) Vatican Museums

Address - Viale Vaticano

Transport -
Ottaviano-San Pietro Website - www.vatican.va
Phone - 06 698 84 947

Price - €14

Hours - entry 9am-4pm & closing 6pm Mon-Sat


Visiting the Vatican Museums requires strength, stamina and patience. You’ll need to be on top of your game to endure the inevitable queues – if not for a ticket then for the security checks – and enjoy what is undoubtedly one of the world’s great museum complexes.
This massive 5.5-hectare complex consists of two palaces. On the inside are three courtyards: the Cortile della Pigna, the Cortile della Biblioteca, and, to the south, the Cortile del Belvedere.

You’ll never manage to explore the whole complex in one go – you’d need several hours just for the highlights – so it pays to be selective. There are several suggested itineraries, or you can go it alone and make up your own route. On the whole, exhibits are not well labelled so you might find it useful to hire an audioguide (€7) or buy the Guide to the Vatican Museums and City (€10).


this place reminds me of the show "Da Vinci Code".... maybe i will read the book again before i leave so that the experience in and around the museum will be more fun and exciting ....it damn super easy for me to be in my self imagined world of being part of the made up mystery lo.... hahahaha.... and if i din remember wrongly.... think there's some suggested tour itinerary based on the book de.... 




(5) Trevi Fountain

Address - Piazza di Trevi

Transport -
Via del Tritone
The Trevi Fountain is Rome’s largest and most famous fountain. The flamboyant baroque ensemble was designed by Nicola Salvi in 1732 and depicts Neptune’s chariot being led by Tritons with sea horses – one wild, one docile – representing the moods of the sea. The water comes from the aqua virgo, a 1st-century-BC underground aqueduct, and the name Trevi refers to the three roads that converge at the fountain.

The famous custom is to throw a coin into the fountain, thus ensuring your return to the Eternal City. According to the same tradition if you throw in a second coin you’ll fall in love with an Italian, while a third will have you marrying him or her. And in case you were wondering, the €3000 or so that is thrown away on an average day is hoovered up and donated to charity.

(which means i can only throw one coin lo.... cos i will definitely want to travel europe again...cos it will mean i (most likely mr ang) have the extra extra cash to spare again....hahahaha...and i dun wanna fall in love with an italian man and definitely not married one unless mr ang wants to migrate to italy and change his nationality lo.... hahahaha)



(6) Campo de’ Fiori


Address - Parione Centro Storicho

Transport - Corso Vittorio Emanuele II

Noisy and colourful, ‘Il Campo’ is a major focus of Roman life: by day it hosts a much-loved market, while at night it turns into a raucous open-air pub. For centuries, it was the site of public executions, and in 1600 the philosophising monk Giordano Bruno, immortalised in Ettore Ferrari’s sinister statue, was burned at the stake here for heresy.

Many of the streets surrounding Il Campo are named after the artisans who traditionally occupied them: Via dei Cappellari (hatters), Via dei Baullari (trunk makers) and Via dei Chiavari (key makers). Via dei Giubbonari (jacket makers) is still full of clothing shops.

Tourist review: great experience, spend the afternoon looking through stalls of jewellry, clothing, and antiques.Can bargain with vendors for prices, although they arent generally too high to begin with (although it depends on the vendor). Everything from leather rings, fake purses, to old keys, to old postcards, records, dishes, to flip flops and jeans. Sunday is the best day to go.



(7) Piazza del Popolo

Address - Tridente nr Piazza Del Popolo

Transport - Flaminio


For centuries the sight of public executions, this elegant neoclassical piazza is a superb people-watching spot. It was originally laid out in 1538 to provide a grandiose entrance to the city – at the time, and for centuries before, it was the main northern gateway into the city. In the centre, the 36m-high Egyptian obelisk was moved here from the Circo Massimo in the mid-16th century. To the east are the Pincio Hill Gardens.

Tourist Review: Piazza Del Popolo was absolutely breathtaking, definitely one of the most beautiful piazzas we saw in Rome! We were there at dusk and walked around the lively square, enjoying the buzz of the people and the music playing in the streets, it was awesome - and SO "Rome"! We climbed the stairs at the far end of the piazza (in the opposite direction of the restaurants and shops), you'll see them next to a brick building, it's a relatively narrow staircase so don't miss it! Up those stairs, and a few others after that we found an amazing spot overlooking the Roman rooftops, the Piazza and the incredible sunset. There was a cute gelato cart up there so we grabbed an ice cream each and sat on a ledge and watched the sunset over the rooftops of these ornate Roman buildings - it was simply surreal! I'd head up there about 5ish to catch the full experience and then wander back down to the Piazza Del Popolo and stroll through the vibrant streets, fun restaurants and down to the beautiful Spanish Stairs!

we have a total of 3.5 days in rome.... one full day will be in Vatican Museums (i think)...leaving us with 2.5 days for the rest of the places.... somehow i feel that i can cover all of them within one day lo..... hahahaha.... cos i will just be a touch and go tourist.... see the place, pose in front of the most impt status or icon or dome or structure, take a nice photo to indicate "I WAS HERE" then we can move on liao... cos i doubt i will 舍得 to pay for all the audioguides which are freaking expensive la... so i think i will just make up my own stories for each of the places we are gonna visit....

Rome

Completed part 2 of my homework - finding out the places to visit in Rome... total of 7 die die must visit places.... share with u the top 3 first.... all info from lonely planet (heavily reduced content) ...else very tedious to read la.... and pictures from anywhere and everywhere in the net.... hahaha....


(1) Pantheon
Address - Piazza della Rotonda
Transport - Largo di Torre Argentina
Phone - 06 683 00 230
Price - admission free, audioguide €4
Hours - 8.30am-7.30pm Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm Sun

It's a 2000-year-old temple, now a church. It is in its current form and dates to around AD 120. It was dedicated to the classical gods – hence the name Pantheon, a derivation of the Greek words pan (all) and theos (god) – but in AD 608 it was consecrated as a Christian church.

We will be able to see the tomb of Raphael, kings Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I in there. The dome of this church was the largest in the world until the 15th century and is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome ever built. Its harmonious appearance is due to a precisely calibrated symmetry – the diameter is exactly equal to the Pantheon’s interior height of 43.3m. Light enters through the oculus, an 8.7m opening in the dome that also served as a symbolic connection between the temple and the gods. Rainwater enters but drains away through 22 almost-invisible holes in the sloping marble floor.



(2) St Peter’s Basilica
Address - Piazza San Pietro
Transport - Ottaviano-San Pietro
Website - www.vatican.va
Phone - 06 698 83 731
Price - admission free, audioguides €5
Hours - 7am-7pm Apr-Sep
It's Italy’s biggest, richest and most spectacular church. A monument to centuries of artistic genius. On peak days it can attract more than 20, 000 visitors. If you want to get in remember to dress appropriately – that means no shorts, miniskirts or bare shoulders.

The first basilica was built by Constantine in the 4th century. Standing on the site of Nero’s stadium, the Ager Vaticanus, where St Peter is said to have been buried, it was consecrated in AD 326. It took more than 150 years to complete the new basilica.

Free English-language guided tours of the basilica are run from the Vatican tourist office, the Centro Servizi Pellegrini e Turisti ), at 9.45am on Tuesday and Thursday and at 2.15pm every afternoon between Monday and Friday.



(3) Colosseum
Address - Piazza del Colosseo
Transport - Colosseo
Website - www.pierreci.it
Phone - 06 399 67 700
Price - admission incl Palatino & Roman Forum, €13.50, audioguides €4.50, videoguides €5.50
Hours - 8.30am-6.15pm Apr-Aug
English guides for individuals 10.15 am, 11.15 am, 12.30 pm, 3pm, 4.15 pm, 5.15pm. http://www.ticketclic.it/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm,
buy & print tickets online



Labelled the most thrilling of Rome’s ancient sights. It was here that gladiators met in mortal combat, and condemned prisoners faced wild beasts, in front of baying, bloodthirsty crowds.

Two thousand years on and it is Italy’s top tourist attraction, which means lengthy queues and long waits.

Built by Vespasian (r AD 69–79) in the grounds of Nero’s vast Domus Aurea complex, the Colosseum was inaugurated in AD 80. To mark the occasion, Vespasian’s son and successor Titus (r AD 79–81) staged games that lasted 100 days and nights, during which some 5000 animals were slaughtered. Trajan (r 98–117) later topped this, holding a marathon 117-day killing spree involving 9000 gladiators and 10, 000 animals.

The name Colosseum, when introduced in medieval times, was not a reference to its size but to the Colosso di Nerone, a giant statue of Nero that stood nearby. The outer walls have three levels of arches, articulated by Ionic, Doric and Corinthian columns. They were originally covered in travertine, and marble statues once filled the niches on the 2nd and 3rd storeys. The upper level had supports for 240 masts that held up a canvas awning over the arena. The 80 entrance arches, known as vomitoria, allowed the spectators to enter and be seated in a matter of minutes. The interior was divided into the arena, cavea and podium. The arena had a wooden floor covered in sand to prevent the combatants from slipping and to soak up the blood. It could also be flooded for mock sea battles. Trapdoors led down to underground chambers beneath the arena floor. Animals in cages and sets for the various battles were hoisted onto the arena by a complex system of pulleys.

The cavea, for spectator seating, was divided into three tiers: magistrates and senior officials sat in the lowest tier, wealthy citizens in the middle and the plebs in the highest tier. Women (except for vestal virgins) were relegated to the cheapest sections at the top. The podium, a broad terrace in front of the tiers of seats, was reserved for emperors, senators and VIPs.

With the fall of the Roman empire in the 6th century, the Colosseum was abandoned and gradually became overgrown. In the Middle Ages it became a fortress, occupied by two of the city’s warrior families, the Frangipani and the Annibaldi. It was later used as a quarry for travertine and marble for Palazzo Venezia, Palazzo Barberini and Palazzo Cancelleria, among other buildings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rome is all about buildings and structures and more buildings and structures and of cos the rich history.... will I be able to fully appreciate it??? even if i will i will be able to appreciate it on the first few days, will i still be able to appreciate them on the 3rd and the 4th day???? or will i just say silly things like, " this dome looks like the dome we visited just now what... can we stop walking so much to just look at domes and churches... =(....

out of the top 3 places to visit in rome as stated above... i am more interested in no. 3 - Colosseum, would love to stand in the arena (if it's possible) and imagine how a gladiators, amidst the 9000 of them will feel like being surround by 5000-10000 ferocious animals.... oh mine, i think i m sick in the brain lo.....hahahaha....

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Accomodation in Rome

Mr Ang had settled our tickets by end jan and happily passed the baton of holiday planning to me... and it took me 2 months to get started.... and that's because Ting Yang who will be honeymooning in Europe at around the same time had booked everything liao... that got me panick alittle and decided to get my ass moving else Mr Ang and I would really have to pitch tent, stay in cheezy motels or to spend a bomb on accomodation liao...

Anyway, accomodation in Rome is so freaking expensive.... we are not even looking at hotel lo... they have something call bed and breadfast stay... more like a home owned apartment kind of thing when u have a masterbedroom for the night and i found out that breakfast may or may not be included.... =(

Somehow, there are different prices from the different booking websites.... we gotten a room for 4 nights at 300 euro from booking.com....the same room costs 320 euro at venere.com....so... really need to do homework one... crossing our fingers that we managed to get the cheapest rate for our room bah...

We will be staying at: Dreaming Roma B&B
Address : Via Principe Amedeo 47, Rome, 00185, Italy
Phone : +39064814481
Enquiry call from singapore : 800-1205159 (English)

It's a 2 minute walk from Termini Station (which i have the impression that it's the main and central train station in rome and accessible to all the touristy places)... breakfast is at an additional charge at 5 euro per head, aircon will be charged as well...luckily tempertaure in rome during that period is 14 - 25°C, free wifi (Yippy), also need to pay 2 euro per head per night as city tax...

Reviews from the various websites all gave very good ratings...so crossing our fingers once more....

gotten this photo from the net....hope it's the exact thing or at least something close

Monday, March 28, 2011

uniforms

Uniforms

was back in woodlands home packing all my belongings last sunday... managed to squeeze everything that i wanna bring into home sweet home into 7 large toyogo boxes.... threw away 2 bags of things which include my old uniforms.... has been keeping these uniforms as memories all these years but see no point to it anymore but 又不舍得 to just dump them away like that....so took a photo of each of them and purposely create a blog entry to keep them as part of my memory... =)




P4 - 6 @ Marymount Convent School


was a transferred student from Ang Mo Kio Primary .... think transferred over during sept in P1.... my dad had begged the nuns there for a vacancy for months and finally they agreed.... think they cannot tahan my dad's perseverance....hahahaha.... love their black shoes cos dun need wash school shoes at all... =) ... think mummy had threw away my P1-3 uniform le... =(



Sec 2 - 4 @ Riverside Secondary School (RSS)

once again, a transferred student from Holy Innocent High School (HIHS) during Jan of sec 2 life... we shifted from Yio Chu Kang to Woodlands during dec of sec 1 and within 2 weeks of sec 2, i was late for 5 times... principal of HIHS had no choice but to write a letter to RSS's principal to ask them to take me in...

was really glad that i went to RSS, finally mixing with ppl that are more like me...no likey those arrogant ones in HIHS... =P ... i din even bother to keep their uniform lo... hahaha...


anyway, this piece of uniform is consider 古董 okay.... the school changed its uniform to a sailor moon type 6 - 7 years ago liao....
found any similarity between the 2 uniforms above????????? one is green graph paper and the other one is blue graph paper lo... wahahaha....


JC 1 -2 @ Catholic Junior College



Council Tee...designed by our council vp, derrick.... the first ever collared t shirt in the school and we were damn proud of it.... =) ....




i did have a set of CJ uniform too....but somehow its colour faded and it looked damn hideous....

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Reno Updates

Reno Updates
shelves in the tuition room for all my games, story books, magazines and craft materials




the door that opens up to our.....



storeroom...located in our tuition room... =)




doors to all the bedrooms




toilet in the master bedroom



my tic-tat-toe wardrobe





dinning chair aka mahjong chair.... leather one oh...comfy comfy....






living room lights.... no fancy lights in our house cos according to our 风水师,
we can only purchase round or square lights and hanging lights are a definite no no no....




铁门 and 大门





our king size max coil bed...




our super reflective coffee table that can do a 360 degree turn




our sofa....





in this colour...

home sweet home is 七七八八 done liao.... left the kitchen cabinet, tv console and Mr Ang's study table.... =).... the whole house is quite spacious and i m really really looking forward to move in.... maybe in another 1 to 2 week's time????

Friday, March 18, 2011

A story that made me cry...

A story that made me cry...


yes, i know... i do cry so super easily... so nothing new... =P
was in the bridesforum and ventured into "matters of the heart"... shocked and surprised (actually not really la) that so many (ex) husbands had strayed or is still straying...


one of the forumer posted this story below... deleted some parts which are too 啰嗦 and added in my thoughts (in blue) too...


他突然说:“我們离婚吧,我愛上別人了,對不起。”


我长长吐了一口气:“一切就按你的意思辦吧。有人能將你這個祸害从我身边领走,我真是感激不尽。”
他惊讶的看着我。


“你把我看得轻如鸿毛,就別指望自己还是我心中的泰山。”
(i agree ... cheaters should be treated like dirt... should feel happy that they are being removed from our life...)


他主动说起那个女孩,她朝气蓬勃,跟她在一起,他有被点燃的感觉。“她很天真,一点小事也能让她感到满足,跟她去購物,抽奖得了一块香皂;帶她去吃北京饺子;送她一只20元的电子表,給她买一個土渣兒餅.. ....她都会欣喜若狂。跟她在一起,我很放松,我可以抽烟抽的屋子裡一股烟味,我可以玩通宵麻將,跟朋友拼酒......和她在一起,我感觉心跳加速,幹什么都充滿力量”他陶醉在自己的幸福里。
(so 不要脸 to say all these infront of the wife lo...it's like adding salt to her wound...what he expect the wife to say??? congrats??? you found the right girl???)


“从此以后,我不再是你的黃脸婆,不再是你不用支付工资的佣人。我可以节省为你烫衣服煮饭的时间來打扮自己;我可以不再担心你抽烟伤了肺,喝酒伤了肝;是啊,離婚,真是太好了!


我沒有天真单纯过吗?我沒有年轻美丽过吗?只是隔了十几年的婚姻,我却被明显貼上了旧爱的标签。我没有欣喜若狂过吗? 我把你以往送的一只铜戒指、一本书、一枚书签视若珍宝。我也十分爱過,可是走进婚姻,在爱你的同时,也得分出一分爱来爱你的爸妈,又得分一份來爱我们的孩子。
(so super agree with this paragraph.... women really do change in a marriage... but can we don't change??? how can any woman still be super chirpy and got the energy to act cute after working and doing household chores and looking after the kiddos??? try imagining a 30-40 years old woman being extremely excited over a yummilious cookie...provided the hubby (of 10 or more years) buys it for her in the first place lo)


离吧,离了看你得意多久,你十分爱她是吧?她也十分爱你是吧?走在一起后,像我们一样一起生活几十年,看你还会不会见到她就心跳加速,她现在能给你的都是十年前我给过你的,你就折腾去吧!等你折腾夠了就会发現,你只是把我們走过的路又重复走了一遍而已。 ”
(this story is so true and so real...most guys are just looking for the thrill in a relationship...once the thrill is no longer there, they tend to stray to experience the thrill in another relationship... worse when there are so many many temptations out there...so i told Mr Ang... dear dear, you just stay home and be full time tuition teacher like me k??? .... i m protecting u from all the temptation leh.... oopx)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Legalised Money Lender

Legalised Money Lender


the first 'O $ pay $' poststick pasted on our door...a few days before CNY...







the second one....a few days after the first one...

Mr Ang called them one by one to explain the situation and found out that they belong to the same legal money lending company ... lucky lo...



3rd one was printed on pink paper... forgot where we threw it liao... but really look like some govt warning letter or pink reminder slip from telcom... hahaha... but the continuous harassment irritates Mr Ang so much that he went to the police and ICA to lodge a report


then we decided to put up a notice warning these people not to paste things on our door.... afraid that they might damage our new door with all the double sided tape lo... worse if they decided to use super glue....




the 4th one...received it yesterday.... as we had warn them not to paste things on our door... they rolled it up and slot it through our grill.... hahaha....


still bold, underline and in red wordings... "not paid a single cent", "behaviour will not be tolerated" and in fine print at the bottom

(This is computer generated, no signature is required)

find it super funny lo...hahaha....

anyway Mr Ang was super irritated.... he vented his anger on the envelope below.... hahaha.... his handwriting is super atrocious lo .... think my class (P1 kiddos) can write better than him lo....oopx.... hahahah.... if i assess Mr Ang's handwriting based on the rubrics we had for my kids for Term 1 handwriting... think he will be the only 1 in my class to fail lo...

let me explain why.... hahahaha....

first, he mixed up his capital and small letters (PersoN, Add)... so 1 out of 4 marks

second, incorrect letter formation (look at his letter P, d, g) ... another 1 out of 4 marks

third, punctuation (no full stop after the first sentence and too many exclamation mark for the second sentence)... so another 1 out of 4 marks

fourth, not writing within the lines (his letters are all floating-as in not in a straight line de)....so another 1 out of 4 marks

fifth, spacing between words... think this is the only one that is consistent... so 4 out of 4 marks....


total 8 out of 20....wahahahaha..... but i still love u all the same... ;P

Thursday, March 10, 2011

ceramics class @ art symposium

Ceramics Class @ Art Symposium


went to huamin primary to attend its art symposium... got lost on the way there... okay, let's skip that part... hahahaha.... what's new right???....

the most interesting segment is the hands-on workshop... always enjoy art workshops.... =) ...especially when it's in the afternoon.... hahahaha....



instructor demonstrating how to make a hummingbird...their school so good lo... has so much funds to engage in house instructors...



the slab of clay and working tools given to me


my hummingbird in the process....


with wings



nested on a stand


another reason why i love going for art courses is because i can 'steal' ideas which i can incorporate into my art syllabus.... =) ... i m really not a creative art teacher who can come up with my own idea... i m just one teacher who is willing to spend the time and effort to craft out the syllabus from the pupils' and the untrained art teachers' point of view

Sunday, March 6, 2011

MY KENteen

MarcusYing KENteen

made a trip to Singapore Polytechnic Food Court 3 to give our late support to Ken's (Xin Ying's hubby) western food stall "MY KENTEEN".... as i had prata with Mr Ang at 9 plus, i ordered a chef salad and a plate of cheese fries only while vivian ordered a grilled fish fillet set with soup...



the beautifully designed signage.... the most expensive dish is only $5.50... most are $4... i would say super good deal la cos personally prepared by Chef Ken wor.... he was formally working for restaurants at big and famous hotels one... dun play play hor!!!







me, vivian, xinying and marcus
marcus is so super super cute lo... when i gave him the ang bao, he refused to let go of it...he was so happy when he finally removed the ang bao from my grip lo... hahaha... and he tried to insert one of the $2 notes that i gave him into the chocolate vending machine.... such a smart boy....









a very happy vivian with our food... served personally by the 老板娘







me with the yummilicious lunch.... look at the cheese fries...super generous amount of cheese lo....

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Day 8 Blog Challenge - Short Term Goal for the month

Day 8 Blog Challenge - Short Term Goal for the month

i wanna my home sweet home's renovation to be completed by end of this month cos 5th April onwards is 清明... which means if i dun moved into home sweet home by 5th April, i will need to wait till 5th May then can move in liao... can die from squeezing in the same single bed as Mr Ang every night lo....

as of now, the toilets' floor and wall tiles are up, kitchen wall tiles are up, kitchen entrance has been hacked (my kitchen and living room look even bigger now), kitchen stove and sink are up and tmr, the workers will install the toilet bowls and basins liao.... =) ... the electricians will start work pretty soon and painting can commence immediately after that...

air con will be installed next monday and 八叔 will then take measurement for the master bedroom cupboard and tatatata....my house will be ready liao.... woohoo.... so
exciting.....

mr ang and i have been checking out the status of our flat every other night with the help of a small small torchlight.... hahaha.... that's y there's no in the process photo as of now.... =).... cant wait for the house to be completed ....