GoshJosh02's Xanga

5. Singapore

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 03:51:17 GMT

So, the quick decline of Xanga (and blogging, in general) in my realm of friends is quite alarming. It's as if people have like... real jobs and real lives, now. But don't worry, I've still got my priorities straight. Since my last update.... (six months ago), a lot of life changes and experiences have occurred. Here's the first of five top big 'experiences' for 2007.

5. For my last spring break, ever, I went to visit my brother in Singapore. The city-state is infamous for it's strict government, but props to public canings, because it was also one heck of a clean metropolis. Here's a quick photographic rundown of my time there.

The Esplanade. Abe and I saw Rachael Yamagata at this concert hall. It's one of Singapore's most distinct and recognizable sites...

...Partly because it's modeled after one of Singapore's most famous fruits -

The Durian Fruit. The fruit is actually banned from the subways because when it's cracked open, it smells like a rotting armpit. Yum-oh.

I also got to hang out with Abe's friends from church. That's April and Andy, below.

We ate at this Indian Restaurant. It was an amazing meal up until the end, when I saw a huge mouse hop across the floor. I started to gag a little, so I went to the bathroom. When I opened the door, I discovered a bloody pad in the toilet.

And, what would a Josh Sung trip be without a multitude of touristy ventures - ranging from...

...a trip to the much over-rated Singapore Aquarium

to the kid-oriented Night Safari. I would have more pictures from the zoo, but there was no flash photography allowed. However, had I broken the rules like the person I googled this picture from, you would see me nervously standing next to this...

...a bat, like the one above, that was LITERALLY the size of cat. A cat with wings hanging upside down.

Towards the end of my break, Abe and I flew to Cambodia, home of the famous Angkor Wat temples, and even more importantly, the home of Maddox Jolie-Pitt.

Although there were no Angelina sightings, here's a montage of some pictures Abe took while we were in the temples of Siem Riep.

These ruins used to be the center of Hindu and Buddhist religion (depending on who was in power at the time). But now, they're more famously known as the ruins that Angelina Jolie skimped around in in Tomb Raider 2.

We also visited the Minefield Museum, a sobering look at the continuing destruction caused by the Khmer Rouge communist regime only a few decades ago.

Overall, the trip to Singapore and Cambodia was definitely a sweet experience, and a great way to spend my last Spring Break!

Paris! Partie Quatre

Mon, 21 May 2007 03:32:01 GMT

And finally, six months later, my Europe update concludes. Here is my last top three for Paris.

-Top Three Disappointments-

Now, I thought Paris was an amazing city, but spending ten days there, you're bound to run into some disappointments. Here are some of the major ones...

St. Chappelle

When John and I went to this church (which Rick Steve's gave his highest rating), I was expecting something grand along the lines of Notre Dame. Instead, what we found was this small building, awkwardly placed right in the middle of the Supreme Court building.

The church is famous for its gothic architecture, as well as its stained glass windows, that scale to the ceilings of the church. It also used to house the supposed Crown of Thorns that Jesus wore at the crucifixion (The church was only one-third of the cost that it took to obtain this crown). Here are some snapshots.

Impressive right? Ehh, not really. The stained glass was beautiful - but due to renovations, the fact that half of the church borders another building, and some cloudy weather, it was incredibly dark and difficult to depict the biblical narrative.

Plus, the *supposed* crown of thorns was relocated to Notre Dame, and can't even be seen at the St. Chappelle anymore.
Moulin Rouge

This once thriving center for the Bohemian lifestyle is now just a glorified strip club - 'glorified' because its around $125 for the dinner and show to see ladies shake their boom booms. I think I'd rather just rent the movie and pocket the $125.
Sacre Coeur

This basilica is located at a pretty high elevation, in the area that the French film, Amelie, was filmed.

It's infamous for its street hagglers who pretend to want to be your friend, tie these friendship bracelets around your wrist, then demand a hefty sum of money. John and I thought it as pretty obvious what they were doing, and were telling Red's friends how naive someone has to be to fall for it... in which case, Red's friends flashed their friendship bracelet-adorned wrists at us. Aw-kward.

The church is equally famous for its sweeping panoramic view of the city. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty crappy the day we went, and the view was pretty drab.

It would probably be more impressive on a nice day, but crappy weather and the long trek it took us to get there pushes this sight onto my list of disappointments.

And finally, what would a concluding update about my trip to Europe be,
without a Top 3 on places I would want to check out in the future!

-Top Three Places to See-

Disneyland Paris.

The amusement park was a quick trip outside of Paris, and I definitely had plenty of time to check it out. Unfortunately, nobody else really thought it was that appealing. I mean, c'mon, how can you resist a French-ified version of Mickey and Minnie? Maybe Abe will go with me, if I visit him in Paris in the winter.
Amsterdam

We ran into the same problems with Amsterdam as with Disneyland Paris. Nobody wanted to go. But I mean, how can you say "No" to legalized marijuana, prostitution, and canals, galore? Maybe another time.
Greece

This country really wasn't on my radar, but my cousin is going to be STINTing there next year, so it gives me a huge incentive to head back to Europe and visit!

Any other suggestions on what to do, the next time I take a visit back to Europe?

Paris! Partie Trois.

Mon, 14 May 2007 20:11:14 GMT

Here is another update, as my summaries of Europe begin to wind down.

-Top Three Foods-

Being on a budget, my highlights for food are pretty sad in Paris. Forget the five-course meal at some snooty French restaurant, here are my top three foods to get by on a college student's budget in Paris.

Here's John, Red, and I flashing our quiches for the camera.

These became our morning staple, and would usually have to tide us over until dinner (Our idea of 'budget eating' was dangerously close to becoming an anorexic's dream diet).
Bread and Cheese.

After John left and while Red was in class, my budget eating became even more frugal. I started just buying a baguette and some brie cheese at the local bakery and grocery store beneath Red's apartment. But don't pity me just yet... I mean, no one can argue with spending only $1.50 for breakfast and lunch.
Rollifornia

Red prided himself on discovering this restaurant, which was a few blocks down from his apartment. The owners knew him by name, and he was unabashedly a walking advertisement for this place. It was a little pricey, but when you're only spending around $2 for breakfast and lunch, you can splurge a little at night, right?

This place served sushi-esque food. The "esque" is thrown in there, because it doesn't really serve your typical sushi fare. Instead, the menu included items like bulgogi rolls and avoided serving any raw fish items. Even though it would have made more sense to check out a French bistro, I thought this place was probably one of the better eateries in our trip to the Paris area.

-Top Three Things that I have a Deeper Appreciation for-

Photography.

Towards the end of my time in Paris, I had pretty much exhausted all the major tourist sights and attractions. So, to fill my time, I began to explore the various arrondissements (that's French for 'districts'... so cultured, I know).

While doing that, I accidentally stumbled across a branch of the Jeu de Paume (the contemporary art museum in Paris ), that was having an exhibition of photography by Joel Meyerowitz. I had originally planned on going to the main museum, but it was closed for renovation, so I was excited to have stumbled across the sister site.

Here are some photos of his photos. I know... ironic, right? Some I took at the gallery, while others I found online.

I know very little about photography, but I really enjoyed this exhibition. His photos of people really captured distinct feelings and messages, while his photos of random scenes create this surreal, idealized environment. I think it would be really fun to make a living off of simply being aware of these 'picture' moments. I did a little research on Joel Meyerowitz and found out that he was the only photographer allowed in after the 9/11 attacks to photograph Ground Zero. In other words, he's a pretty big deal.

After the Jeu de Paume, I saw some signs for another photography exhibit that was free at Hotel de Ville (Paris' City Hall). The exhibition was of Robert Doisneau, a famous French photographer, who captured random moments of Parisian life. Here's probably his most famous.
Architecture.

Now, Red is a crazy architect major, so we were bound to get a crash course on some architecture around Paris. Here are some sights that Red highlighted to us.

Some snapshots of the National Library, from the bridge over the Seine. Red had to study this site for one of his class projects, so he brought us here to get a glimpse of it. The Library consists of an underground portion (like the Undergrad at the UofI, as well as four L-shaped towers, which are supposed to imitate open books.

The former American Center, turned French Museum of Cinema. It's designed by Frank Gehry, of Seattle's Experience Music Project eyesore, and Chicago's Millennium Park pavilion fame.

The Musee du Quai Branly. Designed by another famous architect, Jean Nouvel. One of Red's teachers played a major role in the development of this project. The museum is supposed to collect non-Western artifacts and exhibits, and the architecture attempts to create this pre-historic feel.

Almost as much fun as seeing all these buildings was attempting to be architecture snobs, like Red. John and I would pretend to know a lot about all the sites that we were seeing. "Notice the subtle gothic influences on the Eiffel Tower. You can tell the architect was heavily influenced by modern thought as well as structures from the Mesozoic Era."

It was pretty fun, until we ran out of 'influences' to list off (we could only think of Gothic and Modern), and maybe annoyed Red a little, when he started yelling at us heathens to stop.
Red.

And I not only have a deeper appreciation for Red for putting up with our architecture blasphemy, but also for balancing John and my visit to Paris, along with some huge projects, on top of his sister and her friend visiting, all in the same time frame.

You could tell Red had a lot of stress to deal with.

To get a glimpse of all the shenanigans that Red had to deal with, here are a few shots of us out with Red's sister and her friend, and some of Red's architecture buddies.

Top left: A shot of the street where the bars were located. Top Right: Red and I, showing off our manly drinks. Bottom: Red, Dana, Jami, and I.

After a few more drinks, Red's architecture friends got a little too into it. Here's the progression.

They start dancing to the local band playing, and this old guy decides to join in.

Red's really sweet friend, Shera, maybe had one too many drinks, and starts getting a little too flirtatious with the old, creepy (and disturbingly sweaty) guy.

And the night ends with us cutting out early, and escorting Shera back home. Unfortunately, a mix of inhibition-reducing alcohol and Shera's small bladder resulted in...

...Shera going number one behind a set of trashcans in the middle of the street. You can tell she had a really full bladder.

All in all, it was a pretty entertaining night, and the entire trip gave me a glimpse of all the wild things that Red is put through.

Paris! Partie Deux.

Sat, 12 May 2007 05:50:37 GMT

Beyond the museums, we also had plenty of time to check out some major monuments and sights. Here's a run down of my favorites.

- Top Five Favorite Monuments & Sights -

Eiffel Tower

Obviously, right? What would a trip to Paris be without scaling to the top of this giant "eyesore"? It was built for the World's Fair back in the late 1800s, and it was rumored to be so poorly received that the architect killed himself (Mr. Wikipedia says: Not true). Here are a few snapshots from the Eiffel Tower, when we visited it at night.

John, me, and Red's freshly-picked nostrils.

Red chose to chill at the bottom and eat Parisian hot dogs, while John and I headed up.

John and I, at the top. You may be wondering "How do I also get lasers to shoot out of my right nostril?" Well, the trick is to be so cold that you're unable to hold your hand still for more than a few milli-seconds. This can be obtained by escalating 1,000 feet above ground, then exposing yourself to 100 mph winds and a huge temperature drop of 30 degrees, in the middle of the winter. Voila!

Despite the frigidness, it was pretty cool to experience a bird's-eye view of Paris at night.
Arc de Triomphe

John had to get back to work, so he cut out of Paris earlier than I did. On his last day, we headed to the Arc to get a panoramic view of the city. Unfortunately, the weather was abysmal, so I went back the next day on my own, during the sunset. No 'ghetto pan' like for the Orangerie, but here are some shots of the Arc from the one really clear day that I had in Paris.

There's something about sunsets that turn pretty mediocre snapshots into really amazing pictures.
Notre Dame Cathedral

The cathedral was pretty amazing. Although, after going to St. Paul's in London and St. Peter's in Rome, it was hard to be too impressed by the building. However, John and I were still able find ways to entertain ourselves.

Here's us a few blocks away from the church.

Here's John running through a gathering of pigeons.

We seem to have an odd obsession with pigeons. The original attempt was to snap the picture as the birds were fluttering every which way, but the end result just makes John look like he's about to drop kick a pigeon.

This is the main door of Notre Dame. It depicts Christ as Judge, determining those who go to Heaven and those who go to Hell. But, what was more important was...

...John and I had a few good laughs banging on the door yelling "SANCTUARY!" We were pretty entertained by this, until a priest opened up the door and invited us in. Then, it was just a little bit awkward.

Here are a few shots inside.
Deportation Memorial

This memorial was dedicated to all the French citizens forced into concentration camps during World War II. It was a pretty moving sight, that really involved the casual observer. You enter it by descending a long flight of stairs, to arrive at this open area, with high, looming walls and spiked bars, acting like a cage.

The idea is to bring you into the environment that the Jews would have been in - trapped, and only able to see the skies above.

Next, you take a few more steps down into this narrow room. In it, they have a tomb of the unknown deportee, as well as a hall of 200,000 individual lights...

..."Dedicated to the living memory of the 200,000 French Deportees sleeping in the night and the fog, exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps."

As you walk out, the sign overhead reads...

..."Forgive, but never forget." It was a pretty sobering experience, and brings you back to the reality that these atrocities occurred just a little more than a half-century ago.
Versailles Palace

And finally, Versailles Palace - former home of the Sun King, Louis XIV, but more importantly, the on-sight location for the filming of Sofia Coppola's poorly received Marie Antoinette. To think, I was able to wander the same halls that Kirsten Dunst wandered. Wow.

Red is studying abroad for the entire year in Versailles, and his school is actually located in the former palace stables, located right across the street from this landmark. John and I stayed with him while we were visiting, and commuted into the city during the day. However, his apartment is literally a ten-minute walk from the palace grounds. Pretty cool.

I'll avoid boring you with the history lessons, and just let you skim through the multitude of random pictures I took of the palace and gardens.

Paris! Partie Un.

Fri, 11 May 2007 05:06:39 GMT

So, my last week of college is pretty much wrapping-up. I feel like I should probably update on all the shenanigans going down in my final days here at UofI, but I am adamant about finishing up my Europe update. I guess I'll be forever relegated to updating this Xanga, a few months late.

Anyways, after four packed days in Rome, we headed out early in the morning to make our way into Paris. We took another early morning flight on RyanAir, and arrived in Beauvais, a small town about an hour outside of Paris (It was a lot cheaper to fly through here, then directly into the city). However, being such a small airport, security was pretty lax. John and I walked in, without anyone checking our passports or stamping us in. Ahh, sooo different than the United States. After an hour shuttle ride, we finally met up with our friend, Red, in...

- PARIS -

Paris was definitely my favorite city in our trip to Europe, probably because I spent 10 days exploring and absorbing the full spectrum of Western culture. Since there is so much to cover, we'll do Top Fives this time around.

- Top Five Museums -

Obviously, Paris has its share of amazing museums. I bought a three-day museum pass and am pretty certain that I got full use of it. Here's a breakdown of my favorites.

The Louvre.

Of course, what would a trip to Paris be without a visit to the ever expansive Louvre, more importantly known as one of the critical settings of The DaVinci Code? The former royal palace houses art from antiquity to the mid-1800s. We spent a solid three hours there, and only covered one of the three major wings! Here are some shots from our trip to the Louvre

Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take pictures of the paintings, so all I've got to show you are snapshots of the glass pyramid and statues.

However, had I been highly unethical, I would have had some of these snapshots (bootlegged care of Google Images)

One really cool thing about having all these artworks in one museum is that you can see the evolution of art over the centuries. In this case...

You can see the growth from these stoic figures, to something really idealized, to statues that are really emotive and more 'real'.
Musee d'Orsay

The Orsay picks up where the Louvre left off, capturing art from the mid-1800s on. This was probably my favorite museum - going from the conservative art that we found in the Louvre, to realism, and holding the largest collection of impressionist paintings in the world.
Musee de l'Orangerie

The Orangerie houses continues with more impressionist paintings. Most of the art housed here is pretty mediocre. However, the part that really puts this museum on the list is its huge collection of Monet's water lilies studies. These paintings literally wrap around the entire room.

Ghetto Panoramic.

You're also able to get close up to these painting, and see the detail of each brush stroke and color.
Musee Rodin

The Rodin Museum collects many of Auguste Rodin's major works. I never really thought that much for sculpture, but seeing it up close, I get why these pieces are so famous - they really emote feeling and presence. Here are some snapshots of my favorites -

Clockwise, from upper-left: The Gates of Hell. It's pretty intense, and from it, inspired a lot of Rodin's most famous works; Me, contemplating The Thinker; The Kiss. I think this is my personal favorite; and the Three Shades.

Almost as impressive as his works is the drama of Rodin's life. Apparently, Rodin had a young mistress, who also served as his apprentice. Rodin eventually ended the affair, refusing to leave his wife. The mistress, Camille Claudel, sculpted The Age of Maturity, the work below...

...which depicts an old man, walking away in the arms of an older woman, with a young girl grasping on to his hand. Talk about a blatantly obvious meaning. Now tell me this doesn't sound like a 19th century episode of Grey's Anatomy!
Centre Pompidou

Paris's major modern art museum. The building itself was a little confusing. First off - all of the internal steel structure is exposed. Second, the center not only contains a museum, but it also a theatre, library, and cultural center. I was thoroughly confused for a good half hour, trying to figure out where the actual museum was.

Anyways, after finding it, I thought the museum was pretty cool. There were a few Warhol and Lichtenstein pieces that I recognized. Some that I was really impressed by. But to be honest, some modern art is a little over my head sometimes (or maybe it's just too pretentious), so I'll just leave you wth some pictures that I took.

So, I know this update was a little heavy on the art and weak on the entertainment value - but you can't go to Paris without getting a glimpse of the vast works there. The most interesting aspect to going to all these museums was the development of this cultural medium. Going from the Louvre, and then checking out all these random modern art museums, it really struck me how it's all connected, and building off each other. Pretty neat.

Roma! Parte Tre.

Thu, 10 May 2007 06:31:06 GMT

For the first three days that we were in Rome, John and I pretty much covered the spectrum of all things touristy. We hit up the monuments, saw most of the major fountains, and even took in a few museums. So, after pretty much exhausting all the sights, we went off the beaten path a little, and did some still-touristy, but less obvious-touristy things (if that makes sense) on our last day. Here's my...

- Top Three Random Attractions -

We started out our final day with one focus in mind - to get to Ostia Antica (think, the Poor Man's Pompeii), which is about an hour train ride outside of Rome. However, on our way out there, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience some Rome randomness.

On our train ride out to Ostia Antica, we had to make a transfer from the city Metro line, to a train which would take us the remaining way towards the coast. When we were at our transfer, we took a brief detour to check out the oh-so-tacky Pyramid of Gaius Cestius.

Wahh wahhh. Some rich Roman official had this monument built as his tomb, in an attempt to capture the glory of the Egyptian burial sites. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but this tombstone was a pretty bland attraction and a huge eyesore.

It would have been a pretty worthless detour from our trip to Ostia Antica had it not been for the ever-creepy Protestant Cemetary.

So the question is, what's so special about this cemetary? Well, for those literary junkies, it's the burial sight of Percy Shelley and John Keats, famous English poets (thanks Wikipedia). But John and I could care less about poets.

Instead, we were there to see...

...the CATS! Talk about the creepiest thing ever. Some lady has established a cat hospice to take care of these 'companions to the dead'. The cemetary is literally oozing with dozens of cats, prowling around... *shudder*.

John and I got into the discussion of who would be that dedicated to take care of these cats? The first image that popped into our heads when we thought of the caretaker....

The second image?

Too easy.
So after our quick excursion, we got back on the train and headed towards Ostia Antica. The city used to be a thriving port town, then became a ghost town when the capital was relocated, and eventually was buried under mud. A few centuries later and some millions-of-dollars worth of excavation and you've got an ultimate day-trip tourist attraction on your hands. Here are a few snapshots of what John and I explored for the day.

Another fun animal encounter occurred while we were taking a break in the amphitheatre. John and I were snacking on some trail mix, when I got the fun idea to feed handfuls to some hungry pigeons in our vicinity. I then thought it would be even more fun to throw them in John's vicinity, to bait them to fly towards him. I thought it was a pretty fun game until...

Vanne thought it would be even more fun to throw the trail mix in my area, luring the pigeons towards me. I started to freak out (I had a bad pigeon-pooping-in-my-hair experience in 8th grade....), and the fun game of 'bait the big birds' quickly ended.

Overall, Ostia Antia is actually pretty cool. It's open for anyone to wander around. You're able to scale buildings as you please, verge off the main roads, and even pick out parts of the priceless floor mosaics as souvenirs. (Kidding about that last part). After we were done with the sight, we headed to the coast to check it out, and eventually ended up back in the city.
But while we were still in the outskirts of Rome, we took a quick sidetrip to St. Paul's Outside the Walls Church.

Now, we checked out a lot grander churches in our trip to Europe, but we wanted to get a glimpse of this one, because supposedly, Paul the Apostle was buried here...

...well, everything but his head. (He was decapitated a few miles away). We figured it'd be something extra spiritual to write home about, and make our worldly travels a little less worldly. In the front of the church, they have the ground opened up, and lights shining into a deep hole where Paul is buried. We tried to get a few snapshots of the body (Is that disrespectful?), but we couldn't get it at a good angle.

So that pretty much wraps up our time spent in Rome. Below are a few more pictures of our adventures, that didn't make any of my top threes, but are still worthwhile shots.

Going clockwise, from the upper left: A statue on Capitol Hill Square; St. Peter's at night; columns curving around St. Peter's Square; John and I; Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain, under construction; the Pantheon, at night; The Discus Thrower at the National Museum; fountain at the beach near Ostia; and John making a wish at Trevi Fountain.

Roma! Parte Due.

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:11:54 GMT

Rome has the full spectrum of sights to see. Here's a rundown of my favorites.

-Top Three Favorite Sights-

Vatican City was by far my highlight of our trip to Rome. We got there around early afternoon, choosing to sleep-in that morning. By the time we got there, we found a line wrapping around the outer wall - extending back for a mile. Fortunately, the line moved pretty fast, and we were inside after about an hour spent waiting and staring down this old line-cutting couple. The main parts of Vatican City are the museum and St. Peter's Basilica.

For my first favorite sight, I'll talk about Vatican Museum. We started off at the museum, taking an audio tour, which really added another layer to our understanding of the museum. It highlighted many of the major artifacts of the museum's collection. Here are some snapshots of some of what we saw in the museum.

It was kind of ironic to see all these busts of Zeus and Apollo, side-by-side with tapestries of Jesus's resurrection. But after awhile, as amazing as all these classic figures were, you couldn't help but think all these rare pieces of art....

...were just glorified mannequins with dangling Linuses.

After a bit of wandering, we eventually found our way to the highlight of the Museum - the Sistine Chapel. Painted by Michelangelo, the ceiling captures biblical narrative in the form of paintings. The audio tour pointed out the fact that back when, this was how the gospel was communicated. People couldn't read the Bible for themselves, so they looked to the ceiling to understand the gospel. Now they just serve as opportunities for John to break the 'No Photos' rule (aww, pirated memories).

The picture on the left depicts the ceiling. The picture on the right shows a later painting of Michelangelo, depicting Jesus' return and judgment.
After the museum, we strolled down to St. Peter's Basilica to find another ridiculously long line, with just as many ridiculous line-cutters. Out of all the churches we visited, St. Peter's was definitely the most awe-inspiring, sheerly based on its enormity. Here are some pics we took while waiting outside, and wandering around inside.

Of course, they had one of these signs, to ensure people were dressed appropriately.

Fortunately for us, that day, I had chosen to wear jeans and a t-shirt instead of my original outfit of a pink tanktop and bike shorts matching set. It's an even better thing that Holly wasn't with us, because I'm pretty sure she would have chosen to wear her yellow, low-cut, short ho-fessional skirt that day, and gotten us booted.

While wandering around in the church, we ran across a few interesting statues. One was a statue by Michelangelo of Mary holding the dead body of Jesus. It was incredibly moving...

...to both recognize the pain of Christ's death, but also the peace in recognizing God's amazing plan.

In stark contrast, we also saw a statue of Peter, with a line of people waiting for a chance to kiss or rub his feet. It was disheartening to see how people were treating this figure like some good luck charm. I feel like this is a far cry from what Peter would have desired.

In the picture on the right, you can see how his feet have been worn down by the rubbing and kissing over time.

After trekking through the church for a bit, we got in line to scale the largest dome in the world. Although we weren't anticipating having to wait another hour to reach the top, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. We took the elevator and scaled 323 steps to reach the top (about 400 feet above ground) right as the sun was setting.

And of course, when you're escalating a dome with awkwardly-shaped stairwells, you need to take the obligatory claustrophobe, the-earth-is-shaking pictures.

Fortunately, my nostrils are clean - otherwise it could have been a pretty awkward picture.

Overall, Vatican City was great sans the ridiculously long lines and the obnoxious line-cutters.
And finally, what would a trip to Rome be without visiting the remaining ruins of Roman civilization? On our third day in Rome, John and I spent a good part of it wandering through the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. We arrived at the Colosseum to find an abnormally long line wrapping around the building. Fortunately for us, we had Mr. Steves with us to give us some good pointers - we cut the one-hour wait line by buying tickets at a ticket booth a few blocks away.

Here's a compilation of some of the pictures we took.

Going clockwise, from top left: The Colosseum, John and I, doors to the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the Temple of Saturn, Palatine Hill, and the Arch of Titus.

All the names started to blend together after awhile, and it pretty much became me and John pretending to be tour guides, pointing out random stones laying around to one another, and making up their history. "This is where live tigers ate sinful little babies back in the 600 B.C., but more importantly, this is also where Russell Crowe battled live tigers in the Academy Award-winning movie, The Gladiator." "Ahhh."

As cool as it was to imagine what this place would have looked like back when, there really were no intact buildings - everything physical of the great Roman empire has pretty much eroded away except for some stone pillars here and there. It really brings home the reality that we are a speck in the grand scheme of eternity.

Roma! Parte Una.

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:00:15 GMT

I'm back from Singapore - and after a weeklong period of jetlag, my body is finally back on track... sort of. Anyways, I figure, what better way to take a break from CPA studying, then to update about Rome.

So, the day after Wicked, John and I woke up around 4AM to catch our plane from London to Rome. We found some cheap plane tickets through RyanAir, which is a discount airline that services major cities throughout Europe. But, when they claim themselves as a 'no-frills' airline...

...they really mean 'no-frills'. There aren't any in-flight snacks (unless you're willing to pay a hefty price for a half can of soda), the seats don't recline, and there aren't even little pouches on the backs of the seat to put magazines (or a barf bag). In fact, in our descent, one of the people sitting in front of us threw-up on the back of the seat... if only he had a barf bag.

But, a two-hour flight later, we arrived in...

- ROME -

Rome had more of the distinctly 'European' feel to it then London did. The streets were narrower, the buildings older, and the people ruder (I despise line-cutters!). Here are a few of my Top Three lists for Rome.

- Top Three Foods -

Of course, what would a visit to Italy be without indulging in some gelato. And by indulging, I mean, gorging. Here are some of the favorite samplings -
- I'm enjoying some strawberry and white chocolate gelato in front of one of the oldest and most famous gelaterias in Rome.
- Here's John and me indulging on some 'tartufo,' which means something similar to Death by Chocolate - its really rich chocolate gelato, coated in an even richer chocolate shell, topped with heavy whipped cream.
  
  John and I had to take a break afterwards because we literally felt our hearts slow down from our arteries clogging. Yum-Oh.
- And finally, here is me enjoying ginger-cinnamon and chocolate gelato from a gelato place, San Crispino, that the New York Times rated as one of the best places for gelato. It was great. I learned that the only thing I love more than gelato is....
  
  ...taking pictures of myself eating gelato.
On our first night, I decided to try what Holly deemed one of Rome's specialties, spaghetti carbonara. I've enjoyed the Americanized version, that is essentially fettucine alfredo with bacon in it (I know - my eating habits are just begging for a heart attack at age 26). But, I guess the Roman version is essentially pasta with ham and egg yolk mixed in. And you know what? Let's just say Holly is no Rick Steves.

Here's me, forcing a smile... and the rest of this pasta down. Spaghetti carbonara is a definite thumbs down in my book.
And finally, what would a trip to Rome be without getting its most famous restaurant's Roman-style pizza. While John and I were in Europe, we had a long-running, pretty obscure joke about how European cuisine was really random, and they would just crack eggs on our food and serve it. Well, we discovered that Pizzeria Baffeto's specialty pizza involves a variety of ingredients.... one of which was...

...a CRACKED egg, just dollopped in the middle of the pizza. Fortunately, John and I had enough sense not to order it. (I bootlegged the above picture.... Ahh, artificial memories!), but we did enjoy our pizzas in a really packed atmosphere. You know you haven't had the full European experience until you sit shoulder-to-shoulder with an uncomfortably-affectionate lesbian couple.

I guess Italian culture is all about eating dinner at 9 or later - and for the grandpas like me and Vanne, it was a little rough on us (especially when we put off lunch to save money). However, Rome was definitely the place to go to satisfy your sweet tooth.

London! Part Two

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 04:00:14 GMT

- Top Three Attractions -

We pretty much covered all the major tourist attractions in London, and trekked about the length of the city, twice over. (Twenty points to Abe for putting up with John's and my obnoxious touristy personalities).
Here are my favorites.

The Tower of London

It used to be the former residence of royalty and a prison to hold and torture prisoners, but now it is home to the Crown Jewels (a little tacky), Beefeaters (they used to be the elite prison guards...

...and now they're just really witty tour guides)

and these chicken-sized ravens...

...who are free to roam around the entire tower pr emises. These birds are huge, and I was really paranoid one of them would fly into my hair and start pecking my eyes out. Supposedly, there's an old
superstition that if the ravens were to ever leave the Tower premises, the monarchy would fall - so the King, back when, decided that there should always be a caretaker to ensure that this remained true.
Tate Modern Art Museum

It's London's main museum for modern art (which was originally built as a power station), and it was really interesting. It had a full spectrum of modern and contemporary art, ranging from early impressionist sketches to surrealist paintings to a yearly-changing interactive display in the seven-storey tall Turbine Hall. This year's exhibition is an array of slides by Carsten Holler entitled 'Test Site', which is supposed to 'involve' the audience in the art.

And by 'involve', I mean jettison sliders down at dangerously fast speeds. Fun, right?

From the Tate Modern, you can also get a glimpse of...

...St. Paul's Cathedral, the second largest dome in the world, and Millennium Bridge.
And finally...

The British Museum

The museum houses artifacts from pretty much every ancient civilization. And I'm certain all these artifacts would have much more significance, had we actually known what they were. But I mean, it was probably just as much fun to get our oily fingers all over them, to ensure future generations would not be able to appreciate it. Zing. Here are some snapshots of some of the more interesting artifacts...

The Rosetta Stone

A Moai statue...

...And the obligatory mocking pose.

An Egyptian mummy...

...or what happens when you don't use moisturizer.

And the library where Karl Marx supposedly wrote the Communist Manifesto.

- Top Three Experiences -

Now, most of you know how I love over-the-top emotional worship music, and what better place to get that then at Hillsong London. We woke up early New Year's Eve and went to the Sunday service, which meets at the Dominion Theatre. As expected, they had some really...

make-you-want-to-lift-your-hands praise songs, and some seeker-friendly sermons. What I was not expecting was for the sermon to last for, what seemed like, two hours. It was kind of a lot of time spent emphasizing one really simple point, but hey, there is a price to pay for quality emotion-led worship.

As much as I poke fun at the worship, it was really great to see a packed theater of people desiring to worship God. It was a stark contrast from the evensongs that we attended at Westminster and St. Paul's. I felt like the services at these churches were lifeless, even though...

... these buildings were probably some of the most beautiful man-made structures I've ever been in.
We celebrated New Year's with what seemed like all of London, down at the London Eye. The London Eye is the world's largest ferris wheel, and from it, you can see all of London. For New Year's, the city sets offfireworks from and around the ferris wheel.

Some video of the last seconds of 2006, and the first few seconds of 2007. You can hear Big Ben chiming in the background.

It was an exciting way to start off 2007, but the hordes of people made getting back to our hotel a bit of a hassle. We literally spent two hours emerging from the mass crowds of people. Drunk people kept grinding up against me, and I *probably* uncompassionately began elbowing them off of me.
Finally, to top off our London experience, Abe had the great idea of getting tickets to see a musical in the West End. Even though the British Pound is worth twice as much as the US Dollar, tickets for musicals in London still end up being a little cheaper than they are in the States, and the quality of the performances is supposedly pretty comparable.

We ended up seeing...

...'Wicked' at the Apollo Theatre. It was really good.

That pretty much concluded our trip to London. It was a great way to start off our trip to London, and ease us into the ways of the European world.

London! Part One

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:34:46 GMT

So, I'm currently in Singapore, visiting my brother. I'm spending my mornings being an incredibly diligent student by studying for the CPA, and spending my afternoons being an obnoxious American tourist. However, there are those down times, and I fill that time by updating on a long overdue post about John's and my trip to Europe this past winter break. Our first destination?

- LONDON -

Our trip started with around an 8-hour flight to London, of which I spent the last three hours cashed out. I awoke to John's camera flashing as he took some pictures of the sunset over the Atlantic. Now, being in that awkward stage of being half awake and half asleep, I was little disoriented. So, as I look out the window, I see these masses, and ask John - "Oh... is that Ireland?"

John responds, "No. Those are clouds."

And on that note, our Europe trip truly began!

We arrived in the land of Harry Potter, fish and chips, and the exorbitantly strong British pound, around noon. We met up with my brother, who came to London to meet up with us. From the time we arrived to the time we left, we became strict adherents to the words of Mr. Rick Steves, a la his travel guide to all the major sites in Europe.

Here's a rundown of highlights, in the means that I know best: Top Three's -

- Top Three Foods -

The first night we were there, I decided it was long time for my first alcoholic beverage, and what better drink then a Belgian lager, right? This is me, after my first sip.

Mmm. So delicious.
I also figured, being in London, we should taste some traditional English cuisine. We checked out this one restaurant which Rick Steves recommended as a good "mushy peas" kind of place. I had no clue what "mushy peas," meant, but I figured, if Rick recommends it, it has to be a good place for a New Year's Eve meal.

So I guess when Rick Steves said 'mushy peas,' it was a pretty literal term.

What a sad last meal for 2006. (Note to self: Avoid restaurants that are completely empty on one of the busiest eat-out days of the year, whose patrons don't even finish their meals, and whose ketchup is made with cinnamon and induces uncontrollable gagging). Negative points for Rick on that one.
And finally, on our last full day in London, we grabbed lunch at Yo!Sushi in the Harvey Nichols department store. Yo!Sushi is this franchise of Japanese restaurants in London, that sends around sushi on these conveyor belts that wind all around the restaurant. You pick the pieces that you want, and inappropriately finger all the pieces you don't.

Here's me, my brother, and his friend, Amanda, enjoying some sushi.

I thought the conveyor belt was so interesting, until my mom informed me that that's how a lot of places do it. Wah wahhh.

On the whole, London and food: not so great for the college student's wallet and not so good for the stomach. Stay tuned... I'll update soon with more London highlights.