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Catacombs & Sightseeing in Rome

30 Sep 08: Finally, some kind soul told me that this place is called Cappuccini. I googled about it and I am pretty sure that the full name is Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini.

Hi Friends! This is one of the 3 posts that is submitted for the nomination of Best Photo Blog category by OMY Singapore Blog Awards. I must hereby THANK the panel of judges from OMY’s editorial team for selecting TravelerFolio.com as one of the top ten finalists in the Photo Blog category.

Please leave your comment in this post if you like it.

A more relaxing sightseeing day for us, after the mad cow rush the day before. It was very hot, seemed hotter than Singapore, on 29 May. It’s always good to start Europe first from the South like Italy, as it is warmer; then move to colder regions so that by the time, those colder regions should be nearer to Summer and turn warmer.

We visited the Catacombs, which are the underground burial places under Rome. It was a mind boggling experience, seeing human bones being arranged artistically with shivers down the spine.

I only saw scenes of skeletons in an upright position while watching some adventurous Hollywood movies, never did I expect that I could see these kind of bizarre bone displays right in front of my eyes!

These bones are all arranged artistically above us! Frankly speaking, it was rather eerie to walk through the catacombs, as there were not many people around us too. And a little secret here, no one is allowed to take photos of these bones, so the photos were not very clear as I snapped them quietly.

The cylindrical Castel Sant’Angelo (Castle St. Angelo) used to be a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. There were some peddlers selling fake branded bags like Prada nearby. ~The Illuminati Lair in Angels & Demons by Dan Brown!

Ponte Sant’Angelo, the mesmerising Roman bridge with an artistic reflection in the placid water. The tinted photos were taken with my shades as the photo filter.

Walking along the street, we passed by this bizzare looking garden with many headless sculptures, pillars, etc.

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Basilica of Saint Mary Major) is an ancient Catholic basilica of Rome, located on the summit of the Esquiline Hill and is considered by many to be the second most beautiful church beside St. Peter’s in Rome.

Restoration work on the floor being done by skillful hands.

San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains) is a basilica famous for housing Michelangelo’s statue Moses and the relic of the chains that bound Saint Peter while imprisoned in Jerusalem.

A Pyramid in Rome? Yup, the Pyramid of Cestius, located near Porta San Paolo, a gate that looks like a castle.

Porta San Paolo, the castle-like gate.

San Paolo Fuori le Mura (Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls), a patriarchal basilica dedicated to Saint Paul, near the site of his tomb. It is one of the four churches considered to be the great basilicas of Rome. The three others are St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Peter’s.

Rome is not built in a day; we combed it in a day! [part 1]

Rome is not built in a day; we combed it in a day! [part 2]

Rome is a fine city… we got fined!!!

Posted by eunice Posted in Europe, Italy, Rome Comments (47)

The Paradise behind our resort in Austria

Hi Friends! This is one of the 3 posts that is submitted for the nomination of Best Photo Blog category by OMY Singapore Blog Awards. I must hereby THANK the panel of judges from OMY’s editorial team for selecting TravelerFolio.com as one of the top ten finalists in the Photo Blog category.

Please leave your comment in this post if you like it.

Rest and Relax day for us. We set out for our hiking at Untertal, a beautiful alpine path behind our ski resort in Schladming, Austria (Osterreich) that leads to the highest waterfall in the region.

Photos of Austrian alps.

Really like this stream that passes through the alps. The water is so clear.

Awesome views in the fascinating alpine setting! The awe-inspiring alps framed us into beautiful pictures. The sceneries along the way to Untertal were beautifully beyond words that touched our hearts.

Nice little houses nestled in the Austrian alps, within the sight of snow-capped mountain range and a soft flowing stream, what more can one ask?

Might as well get ourselves featured in the “postcard”!

We were surrounded by snow-capped mountains, yet on a sunny day in the alps!

When fairytale comes alive… you become one of the characters in the story.

It was quite a long walk, about two hours before we reached Untertal. There was a sign board that showed it would take another 7km to the waterfall area. Goodness! We were unaware of that at the start of the hike. Think it would take us at another three hours to walk up to the waterfall. And we had nature calling already; not going to settle the call in the wild alpine path! We turned back.

Sighting of a small waterfall before Untertal. A little bonus here.

Ponies returning to the shade after sunbathing in the grassland.

We were stunned for a while on the narrow path when a herd of sheep were approaching us; but we managed to cross their path without much hindrance.

The mesmerizing scenery made me wonder if I was walking into a postcard!

We were turning back. Do these Austria countryside pictures look like images in fairytale story books that we once read in our childhood?

Again, up the slopes and walked the bends back to the resort. It was tiring!

The little peaceful town of Schladming below our resort. During our resort stay on the mountain, we had to walk more than 1km around the bends to the train station at the town.

Our self-cooked simple Spaghetti lunch, with mashed potatoes and sausages.

Read Vienna, the city of music! All posts on backpacking Austria.

Next day: To Munich, Germany!

Posted by eunice Posted in Austria, Europe, Schladming Comments (18)

Backpacking Europe

We backpacked around Europe in May 2003 for about a month. It was Spring, nice weather, less touristy, better rates and longer opening hours for sightseeing. We visited France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and Italy.

We flew with Qantas, from Singapore to Paris. The air ticket was really a good bargain in 2003 – S$780 in total, a direct and open-jaw ticket, returning from Rome. We managed to grab this bargain in March, days just before the US-led war on Iraq and when the deadly SARS epidemic started sweeping Asia.

When we were waiting to board our flight, most of the Caucasian passengers who transited in Singapore were wearing face masks. At that time, a total of 201 probable cases of SARS and 722 suspect cases had been reported in Singapore (CDC report). We were pretty worried that we might not be able to enter Paris smoothly.

Next: Romantic Paris!

Posted by eunice Posted in Europe Comments (0)

Romantic Paris

After about 13 hours of direct flight from Singapore, we finally touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport. We were a bit disorientated at first, and there were so many people at the airport. We went through the immigration custom very smoothly without any problem linked to the SARS issue from our country. However, we were quite worried as our passports were not stamped at the custom. We clarified this at the information counter and were relieved that it was not mandatory for that.

Paris is beautiful beyond words, with nice alleyways between the fine, elegant old buildings. Our backpacks were very heavy. We headed directly to AIJ, an international hostel providing bare-bones accommodation; but most importantly, it is located in the city centre and walking distance to Bastille district and Ledru Rollin Metro Station.

We checked in at AIJ Hostel around 10am but it was still early to get our room. We left our backpacks in a storage room with other people’s backpacks. Rather concerned with the safety of our belongings, we used a chain to secure our backpacks together and padlocked the chain.

We walked to Bastille. It was like a marketplace with many people.

We visited the Carnavalet museum (Musée Carnavalet in French) in the Marais district, free admission. This museum is devoted to the history of Paris from its origins to recent times. The architecture of the building is in renaissance style. It has many reconstituted palace rooms and a collection of paintings.

Saw this artefact depicting the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.

Lunch time. We walked to a peaceful and refreshing garden in The Place des Vosges that lies at the heart of Marais district. There were many people lying on the soft short grass; some were reading and some were just relaxing under the blue sky. We bought some kebab sandwiches from a nearby Turkish stall and had picnic at the garden. We were rather prudent in spending Euro dollars (in 2003, it was S$1.98 = 1 euro) so we tried to share food and buy out meals.

Notre-Dame & Hôtel de Ville!

Posted by eunice Posted in Europe, France, Paris Comments (0)

Notre-Dame & Hôtel de Ville

Notre-Dame de Paris, a Catholic cathedral located on the Cité island surrounded by the Seine river. It is one of the masterpieces of Gothic art in Western Europe dated back in the 13th century, with stunning stained glasses and a huge interior. The Walt Disney movie “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” has given it quite a lot of publicity too!

At the opposite side of Notre-Dame is Hôtel de Ville (means “city hall”). It is a magnificent building housing the City of Paris’s administration, but the square in front of the building was once the main site for all sorts of executions! OMG!

Surprisingly, we met a lot of friendly people in the city (we often hear tourists recounting their unhappy experience with the stuck-ups in Paris). However, it seemed that the Black officers at the Metro Stations were rather sulky.

It is easy to travel around in Paris, except that we have to change trains many times and it can be quite confusing to tourists. It was the first time we saw buskers boarding the train to play music inside.

Back to AIJ hostel, we checked in our dorm. It was a very simple room with two double-decker beds that were not very comfortable. In the middle of the night, we were shaken by someone who opened our door! He opened it slightly and closed it shortly. We think it should be the housekeeper, but he should have a record on how many people staying in the dorm.

Louvre Museum, the World Famous!

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Louvre Museum, the World Famous

We were early birds queuing up at the entrance to Louvre Museum on Sunday morning, the first Sunday of the month and it was free admission to all!

Louvre holds some of the world’s most famous works of art. It is so big and fascinating! It houses antiques, paintings, sculptures and royal treasures from all over the world.

The world famous Mona Lisa painting is actually a relatively small painting as compared to paintings that are a lot larger in Louvre. Apparently, Mona is encased in a bullet proof box. Under tight security, all we could see from a distance among the crowd, was her renowned enigmatic expression, smiling wanly through the yellowing varnish glass.

And the Mummy is still so beautifully wrapped up!

Venus de Milo – the Greek goddess of love and beauty – is so charming! She is so glamourous despite having missing arms! And she certainly steals the limelight and deserves everyone’s admiration.

Liberty Leading the People commemorates the French revolution of 1830. A woman personifying Liberty leads the people forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the flag in one hand and brandishing a bayonetted musket with the other.

Wondering how the huge pillars were transported from Egypt in olden times.

Filling up our stomach at a cafe in Louvre.

Parisians really know how to enjoy life, relaxing under the warm sun and sipping cups of coffees and wines.

The central courtyard of the museum is occupied by the Louvre Pyramid, which serves as the main entrance to the museum. It is a glass pyramid designed by a Chinese-American architect.