Vacanze Romane - the Romantic City of Rome

Twilight at Villa Borghese

 I established Oppa and Gaby as a couple whilst taking an innocent photo of them against the golden background of the setting sun at Villa Borghese, they looked like a happy, sweet couple together, so I was inspired to use them as models in my 'honeymooning couple' series. Despite asserting any display of affection was me imposing my retarded imagination onto them, their hand-holding in Naples required no persuasion on my part.

By the moon-lit Napolese beach

Birthday in the Eternal City

Greece - Athens and Santorini

My European travellings resumed last week, after a crazy 31 hours spent in transit. I went from Shanghai to Amsterdam to Copenhagen to Paris then finally my final destination Athens.

Athens has a long history, but there are not a lot of sites to see: history may take a long time to read and digest but you can only tour ruins for so long. I liked the Akropolis and the Parthenon perched on top, the Temple to the Olympian Zeus and the Panathenaic Stadium (the site of the first modern Olympics). Also somewhat interesting was the pond in the middle of the National Gardens which contain many many turtles.

The Akropolis, the symbol of Athens and of this nation

Temple to the Olympian Zeus, with the Akropolis in the background

 I thought it was interesting that there were so many dogs sleeping in the sun. What a life!!

Santorini was an 8hr ferry ride away. I suppose when I say Santorini, people immediately conjure up that famous image in their mind of beautiful white houses with blue windows and doors built onto the cliff-side facing the Aegean Sea. But that scenary was not so ubiquitous as I had expected. Only a few places look like that, the rest (and the majority) of Santorini was mostly countryside? It's a very small island, most roads do not have names, and right now is their low season when everyone goes home and almost nothing is open. Even Oia,, one of the places with the abovementioned views, was a ghost town! 

But Oia was just as the travel shows had depicted: beautiful. The houses are all so cute,  they have funky, unconventional shapes and the colour arrangment had to the sensention that you've jumped straight into a fairytale (or cartoon). Even the paths have not escaped the meticulous attention of designers. 

Interesting facts (and travel tips) about Oia: 

• there are no street or path names here, good luck finding anything.
• there are a lot of cats, in addition to dogs, and they also use donkeys to carry heavy things on the steps. So many animals make for treacherous walking, so keep an eye on where you step! ;)
• there is a look out point that gives the best views of the houses and the best place to take photos. It is at the far end of town, close to the Post Office. The place is set among the houses but jutts out both physically and to the eye as it is made very rustically of ugly brown rocks (it looks like a ruin amongst the houses)

Oia

The sunset at Oia is reputed to be beautiful

Other beautiful sites of Santorini:

White-Black-Red beach

Many roads in Santorini are along the cliffs, sometimes they are windy and steep, but invariably, your eyes will be blessed with beautiful views of the ocean and small off-shore islands

Flying high

My European adventure took an Asian detour for Christmas and New Year. The trip from Copenhagen to Shanghai was both the most UNsmooth and the best flight I've ever taken. On the day I flew Copenhagen experienced a huge snow storm that blanketed the city in snow, causing massive delays and cancellations for all forms of transport. My friend Marcin missed his flight home because his train to Copenhagen was delayed, then didn't come, then he had to take a substitute bus which stopped servicing mid-way and he had to take more substitutes... Something complicated and convoluted like that. When he enquired at the SAS desk for a ticket home, they told him it would cost him 10,000DKK - that's double the price of my ticket to Shanghai!, and he was only flying to Poland! In the end he was able to buy a reasonably priced ticket but that departed from Sweden (luckily, that was only a 45 min bus ride away from CPH).

My flight to Amsterdam also did not escape bad fate, even though we were allowed to board the plane on schedule, we didn't take off until two hours later, after the runway had been cleared of snow and our plane underwent de-icing (a new concept to me, how cool, they spray peachy coloured salt(?) on the plane). Consequently I miss my connecting flight to Shanghai. Happily though, I was rebooked in another flight just 4hrs after mine IN BUSINESS CLASS. I was so lucky, because I think I got the last seat in business class, even though I was not the first person in line to rebook. There just happened to be someone serving me when they found out a glitch in the system, and I was promoted to first in line.

Business class was so comfortable, I was served a 3 course dinner, slept horizontally and was given a Dutch souvenir. The 10hr flight was too short!!

So ultimately I'm very happy for the snow storm. Unplanned and unexpected, someone who saw me off at the airport, then I was able to fly 10 hours in the most comfortable way possible.

Shanghai...yea...it is not the purpose of this blog. Suffice to say that I relaxed at home and ventured out to banquet with relatives on many nights.

Why do all good things come to an end?

Farewell Århus, my beloved Danish home

And before we knew it, the end was upon us. We planned to finish it off with a bang, hence my last days in Århus were emotionally charged and packed with partying.

Our official party was held immediately following my last exam. I was so sleep deprived from studying that I had to take time outs from the party to take some power naps. Our organiser also arranged for activities apart from our usual drinking, like writing farewell messages to each other (that took a long time, because there were 12 of us, it was like writing for school) and a game of giving Xmas presents to each other. The party was not as fun as I had expected, I would have prefered it if we just sat around the table and talked and drank. But...yea it was not interactive enough, perhaps.

Us

Cassie showing off her sexy Xmas present

Our favourite game: ugly bugly

Cute Naho-chan playing with a tripod

Cassie's 口头禅 and farewell message to everyone

Amy, Heeyul and Marcin were surprised with birthday cakes. Amy cried, but Marcin doesn't seem too pleased?

Drunk and exhausted, we crashed anywhere we could in Marcin's room at 5:30am.  here's photos of the sleeping beauties.

This one is a snoring beauty ^^

After the party, I felt so sad to be leaving Århus and my new friends. I feel as if I've just settled down into a social circle, and now I must uproot once again and leave. In a way, the temporary nature of exchange is almost cruel: to put us in a foreign environment where we are forced to make new friends, then tearing us apart just when we have become accustomed to the new bonds of friendship formed.

My last night in Århus and first time in a proper restaurant. We also celebrated Heeyul's official birthday, Marcin and I baked him another surprise cake, bought him some funky undies and a birthday card made for girls (Marcin and I have strange senses of humour).

The Polish cheesecake with coconut sprinkles

Birthday boy

Cute Hyeri baby!!

copying Hyeri ^^