Day 156 - The Taxi is here!

Ups... unexpected earliness!
Just want to post, it was delightful to return to Rome for one last day, and its regretful that I have to leave. I will post more once am settled back at home. The road has come to an end!
Ci vediarmo Roma!

Day 143 - Alo! from Oporto

Oporto, or Porto in local Portugese, is the second largest city in Portugal. As its name suggests the city used to be a shipping port in its heyday, as well as the hometown of port (the red wine). The city was mostly built around 14th century during the booms of the colonial era, hence its narrow winding roads that wraps around its many steep hills. From a distance, it seems that the buildings are stacked on top of one another. And here am I, perching atop one of oporto´s hilly peaks, enjoying the breeze of the Rio Douro (river):


Despite its aged, medeival setting, Oporto maintains an ultra-modern light rail systemin the form of nifty yellow trams that quietly glides across the city, and on its iconic Luis bridge (more photos when I get back to Rome or home). In the mean time, one of the best part of the city is the hostel at which I stayed. Oporto Poets Hostel, tucked in one of its steep alleys, is a charming little home for me to stay at. It has a garden with a vista to Oporto accross the river, and a tan hammock under a lemon tree:


While lounging around at night, the place features an ancient typewriter machine and free and fast internet to go on blogging! wheee! The photo uploads you see now is one of the rare moments where they are organic as they are, ungenetically modified with the usual PS inspired clickety clicks.

Day 136 - Going, going, going... Gone!

I've been away, clinging to the dear old Rome that I love and am going to leave soon *sniffels* I just said a lot of long-term goodbyes today. Soon it will be time to say goodbye to this blog too! (Zera: it's a season of goodbye-my-blog isn't it?) I'm going to pick up speed now and hop around Europe for the first time:

17th May - Siena
18th May - Roma / Valencia
19th May - Valencia
20th May - Valencia
21th May - Valencia
22th May - Barcelona
23th May - Barcelona
24th May - Oporto
25th May - Oporto
26th May - Brussels
27th May - Brussels
28th May - Copenhagen
29th May - Copenhagen
30th May - Bologna
31th May - Bologna
1st June - Bologna / Parma
2nd June - Cinque Terre
3rd June - Cinque Terre
4th June - Cinque Terre
5th June - Roma
6th June - Roma / Singapore
7th June - Singapore
8th June - Singapore / Jakarta

Who knows when I will post again... I might post post a ton of picture...or I might post none! until then!

Day 129 - Assisi

Exam days are not quite finished yet... but what's wrong with taking a 'micro-holiday'?


Assisi is supposedly 2 hours away from Rome by Eurostar. But by regional train, it takes me about 4 hours to reach the town! But that's not half-bad, considering the pastoral view of the blooming poppy fields from the train. I used to think that those pastiche paintings of red 'Tuscan' poppy fields that they sell at Navona is a bloody lie. But maybe not.


Also on the final lag of the train, I was lucky to meet Akiko. She was on a day trip by herself too, so we wind up hanging out together for the two days.


Assisi is a charming cream-white colored medieval town that hugged the hill. The Church of St. Francis is the main attraction of the town.


St. Francis is the patron saint of the town. On his deathbed, St. Francis thanked his donkey for carrying him throughout his life, and his donkey cried in tears. Maybe this is the tributary statue? Looks like Eeyore, eh.


Monks and nuns still live in this town too. In full costume.



But I wonder if they're authentic or if they're a part of the stage props for this tourist infested town. English speaking cafés and souvenir shops line up and down the street. The people seem happy and self-contented though!



Why not? They live in a lovely mythical town. The craftsmanship of the doors and windows of the homes are unique and individual, and each lonely alleys of the town leads to a calming view of the valley.


Oh! and we arrived on a festive day too! I did not see the ceremony, but people around town were dressed up medieval style. It makes me think that the town is a full-fledged giant Shakesperean stage.


Complete with cows mooing through the streets.

Day 127 - Exhibition Day!

Yayeeee! After a week of absence due to exam/presentation blog, am back blogging!!! Tonight was our Cornell University open house exhibition night:







(Up) I love Anna Rita! She is the our administrator for Cornell in Rome, and she cooks delicious Italian food for our events often, and holds cooking lessons for us too! Oooh... I should one day devote a post in her honor! (Down) Me and my photographs exhibition: it makes me happy! very very so!






Lester, Joy, Me and Jenny

Day 118 - Lazy Swiss

The Swiss embassy just went AWOL today.


No notice on website. No reasons cited.
Pathetic. Just when I thought that only third-world embassy takes capricious time offs. Oh, and not to mention, their embassy is a summer villa sits on a hill that sits on top of this gorgonzilla set of stairs...


...and this nothing compared to the 2 hours of getting lost going there, because there's no public transport nearby (yes, they're too rich!). An Italian man looked at me pitifully in the tram, and helped without me asking. He saw my doodle of a map and told me the right bus to take. "Scendere a piazza... e prenda l'autobus nova cento dieci..." Something like that.

That, and a couple of things along the way made the trip a nice one. The villa is located on an upper-class neighborhood, and I kept on smelling a whiff of jasmine freesia. The gardens behind this 4 meter wall must be pretty...


This is the Swiss Embassy's neighbor. It reminds me of Patrick Blanc's vertical garden project, the Mur Vegetal.

Then there's a house which has a blooming orange tree on their front yard. It was the first time I smelled orange blossoms. It was a shy and delicate floral scent, only with the slightest touch of mandarin, which they often exaggerate in the perfume version.


Oh. I forgot to explain. I went there to get a Swiss visa for traveling.
(Update) In the end I decided not to go to Switz- because I couldn't be bothered to go there again.

Day 115 - Solo Notte

Imagine the nights in the city, walking to Piazzola's haunting music, 'Oblivion' (The music will take a few second to load, then press play):





Sad, eh? Welcome to Rome, at midnight.
Coming from me, these photographs are a little cliché. Moody orange lights, lonely figures traversing the night, a glacé of sadness and ephemerality... It has similar themes with the one I worked with during the IB years in Melbourne. It seems that once I get the gist of it, I can continuously producing this genre of photographs. Yes, yes, an orchestra of loneliness (how ironic!). Speaking of Melbourne, these nights I kept on thinking: "I don't want to leave Rome... " just like how it was back then. Roma, ti amo.

Day 113 - The Modern Rome

The other side of the ancient Rome. Our architecture theory professor took us on a tour around the modern areas of Rome, the suburbs, the 1930s olympic sport complex, and the Renzo Piano's Parco della Musica. It was the Italian Liberation Holiday... so he took us for an extra long class that lasted for six hours. And what we saw was...










Lastly, hunky marble guys posing around the olympic tracks. Each of these marble statues represent a sport of both modern and ancient origin.

Day 108 - Donna e Agricoltura

Today is a nice and sunny day. Like most sunny day, I thought that something nice is bound to happen... and so it did!

I took these photographs last month at the Donna e Agricoltura (Women and Agriculture) market. It is a monthly market for agricultural products made by women owned businesses held at Piazza Trilussa. The products they sell are tourist oriented: black and white truffle sauces, specialty olive oils, organic honey, cured meat, cheese, wine, etc. It is a fun market to go to because there is a lot of food sampling, free music, and a festivesque atmosphere.





The photograph below was edited and printed for the photo class portraits series. The lady sells organic chocolate spreads (with specialty flavors such as chili, cinnamon, and no-milk) and gives away free tasty samplers.


At this month's market, I decided to give this photograph to the lady herself. I have no use of it, I thought, and she would appreciate it very much. I didn't expect anything but a thanks and a small talk, which would be nice since my Italian is getting to be very rustic. Random, awkward, strange... but hey, what's the harm in giving something to a stranger?

And so I went, on this nice golden afternoon. I gave it to her and she was surprised, happy, but in a nonchalant way. As a her thanks, she offered me one of the chocolate spread she is selling! I picked the chili chocolate and went because she seem to be busy. In the end I did not get the small talk I wanted, but, a jar of chocolate is really YUMMM!

Day 107 - Just Me

Can't you just see this being hung in a contemporary art museum and sold for $5'000 a piece? Imagine the title of the exhibition: "Two Face of a Mind." The description will go like so: "Two Face of a Mind is an exploration on biploarity and the ambiguous nature of..."


Beh...