Had a really low-key birthday, which was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want any presents, or any parties. Mister was the first person wishing me “Happy Birthday”, as he has been doing so for the past 8 years. We spent a really quiet day at home, and then we took my mother-in-law, who had been visiting us since Christmas, to our favorite Taiwanese restaurant for a delicious home made dinner – a perfect way to wrap up my day.
My birthday wishes have been the same: health, propensity and joy. This year, I have two more wishes (am I a bit greedy??!!) In particular, I hope for a different career path. It is more of an action item than just a wish, so I will have to be a lot more aggressive in my job search as a good job doesn’t always find you on its own.
Christmas and New Years are such a special time of year here in the USA. The increasing frenzy of shopping and decorating that begins after Thanksgiving reaches its climax just at Christmas. I especially love the lights that begin to appear at the beginning of December each year and the expectation of seeing family and friends again.
This was our last day in Rome for this trip, and we had a hard time trying to decide where we should go, as there are so many places we hadn’t yet seen. Well, debating back and forth, we finally narrowed it down to three main spots: Catacombs, Via Appia Antica (Appian Way) and Trastevere.
Catacombs
Fontana dell'Acqua Felice
The main attraction for this fountain is this larger than life Moses. As soon as it was unveiled, people immediately compared it to Michelangelo’s Moses in San Pietro in Vincoli and gave it pretty harsh criticism, due to the incorrect body proportion; even Moses himself would be frowning at being depicted so awkwardly.
Reported by Mister.
It was a night like most other nights. In the evening we had put our Christmas tree in its stand, adorned it with lights and trimmed it with ornaments: something we have done every year at about this time. Nothing marked this yearly ritual as unusual. There were no broken ornaments portending ill, no hitherto unseen anomalies in the tree’s structure that would indicate future aberrant behavior. True, one of the strings of lights failed to work properly after it had been stretched on the tree so we had to make a midnight run to the all-night Walgreen’s to buy a replacement set. All in all, it was a normal evening that extended well into the night. By the time we were finished it was approaching 1:00 a.m. Inspired by our kaleidoscopically colored tree, and being quite tired we decided to sleep on the floor bathed in the soft luminous glow of the Christmas lights. Using an assortment of pillows, cushions, and blankets, we created a warm and cozy nest adjacent to our Christmas tree and crept wearily under the covers to get some rest before having to get up to endure another week of work.
Saw this from a fellow blogger (http://hercafe.yam.com/blog/u8601049/), very interesting!
Albert Einstein wrote this riddle early 1900's. He said that 98% of the world population would not be able to solve it. Are you in the top 2% of intelligent people in the world? Solve the riddle and find out.
Castel Sant’ Angelo
Castel Sant’ Angelo was the fortress of the popes built in the Middle Ages. It was a terrible dungeon and a place for public executions. This was the place where the final act of the opera Tosca takes place – Cavaradossi, Tosca’s lover was shot and killed, and Tosca jumped off the castle and fell into the Tiber River. The whole scene happened on the roof right by the gigantic statue of the Archangel Michael. Once we looked at the whole surroundings, we concluded that it was impossible for Tosca to fall into the water as the castle was not that close to the river, but it was more dramatic that way for Tosca to fall into the river than to smash onto the ground.
Our morning tour to the Vatican museum ended at a gift shop on the street leading to the Basilica of St. Peter’s. A visit to Rome would not be complete without seeing the Basilica of St. Peter’s, so we left the group right away and started walking towards St. Peter’s. In addition to once again being amazed by the marvel of one of the most impressive architectures in the world, we had a goal – we were going to get up to the cupola to get a bird’s eye view of this ancient city. We didn’t get to do it last time, so we were not going to miss it again.
As I was walking along the street, I noticed some familiar language in front of a building. It was “Embassy of the Republic of China at the Holy See.” I looked up, and there was the flag. What a surprise!! It was a really good feeling as I hadn’t see our flag for years, and I didn’t anticipate seeing it here, even though I did know The Vatican City is one of the very few countries with whom Taiwan has official political relations. I had to have Mister take a picture of me in front of the sign.
When we booked the hotel and airline, we also picked an excursion to go on a guided tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. We actually went on a similar tour when we were there 5 years ago, but it is absolutely necessary to have a tour guide to guide through all the treasures and history, as it is so vast and overpowering for anyone who tries to discover on his/her own in a few hours.
We had a hearty breakfast at the hotel (without extra charge), and were picked up by the tour company right at the hotel – which was really nice, as we didn’t have to try to find our way there in the early morning.
Piazza del Campidoglio
Piazza del Campidoglio, designed by the great Michelangelo, is considered one of the most elegant piazzas in Europe by many. He created the splendid access ramp (where I am standing in the picture above), new facades for some of the pre-existing buildings, and added the Palazzo Nuovo on the left. Standing in the middle of this trapezoidal shape square, I sensed harmony and balance.
The plane landed in Fiumicino airport, 20 miles southeast of Rome, around 7 am local time, Nov. 22 (Rome is 6:00 hours ahead of the East coast U.S.A., and 7 hours behind Taiwan). It was sprinkling on and off, with the sun trying to break through the clouds.
It took a long time for us to get to the hotel as the pick up service was not just for us; it was for a full busload of tourists from all over the world. We had to wait for all of the people to be collected and dropped of at various hotels, and we had to travel through the busy traffic of the city center. Mister and I were absolutely pooped by the time we got to the hotel, which was almost noon, so we took a two-hour nap. We didn’t start our first outing until 2 pm.
While most people in contemporary America spend the Thanksgiving holiday eating turkey and sitting in front of the television watching footballs, we have been going to Europe during Thanksgiving week for the past 5 years. Aside from the first year when we took a 9-day honeymoon escorted tour to Italy, from Venice, through Florence, to Rome, we have picked just one city and toured around on our own. We spent the 2nd and 3rd Thanksgiving in Paris, and the 4th in Vienna.
Thanksgiving is actually a good time to travel to Europe as the main tourist season is over and prices are lower than in the summer. The weather is usually not yet so cold as to be uncomfortable and because of the long holiday weekend, we can spend enough time to actually start to get to know a city without using too many vacation days.
We went to see Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC two Saturdays ago. I can still hear the music and see the performance in my head weeks later. What a powerful opera!!
Even though this was the second time, I enjoyed it so much more than the first performance. Attending Mister’s lecture really helped me appreciate this opera. Mister provided so much information on the background of the plot, the significance of the opera in music history, insights to the composer Puccini’s vision, interpretation of the musical composition and character development. Everyone at the lecture thoroughly enjoyed it and felt very prepared for the actual performance.
From Mister:
Wow! Just imagine, five and four years of fun already! What will you do this year on your birthday? Do you remember your birthday last year? I bet your mother does. Do you think your parents might give you a pet elephant as a birthday present this year? Wouldn’t that be fun? You could train the elephant to carry your books to school for you and when you get tired of walking, the elephant could carry you. But it might get sort of crowded in your house with an elephant sleeping in your bedroom. And what would you do if the elephant got scared at night and wanted to sleep in your bed with you? Do you think there would be room in your bed for an elephant?
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