Aplaya Laiya

I was 11 years old when I first set foot here. To get here then, we had to travel through unpaved roads and we ended up with dust-covered hair when we got here. There were no resorts, no huts for rent, no garbage, no vendors - just beautiful, pristine sand and clear waters. It was first time in any beach and glad to be back where I started my life-long romance with the sand and the sea.

Mayflower madness

Got carried away by the beauty (and bargain price) of white roses and got dozens of them. They're all over the house now!

Chandeliers by Madeleine Boulesteix

http://www.madeleineboulesteix.co.uk/index.html
Fabulous chandeliers! I wish I could find the time to try to make one of my own.

Eva Cassidy - Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Heavenly music in Lucerne

The choir is singing the entrance hymn in a mass we attended in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Sa Ugoy ng Duyan

Sung by Jonathan Badon

Music and lyrics by Philippine National Artists Lucio San Pedro & Levi Celerio

This version is faithful to the original music and lyrics.

Noel Cabangon, Cookie Chua, Bukas Palad - Paghahandog

This song is one of my favorite mass songs. This version is utterly soul-stirring!

Paris 3: Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur Basilica

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica (French: Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, pronounced [sakʁe kœʁ]), is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. Sacré-Cœur is a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for the supposed excesses of the Second Empire and socialist Paris Commune of 1871 crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ.

The Sacré-Cœur Basilica was designed by Paul Abadie. Construction began in 1875 and was finished in 1914. It was consecrated after the end of World War I in 1919.

Stay With Me (Theme from "The Cardinal")

A soothing balm for tired souls...

Paris 2: The Louvre

The Louvre

Paris 1

Where in the world is Liechstenstein?

The Principality of Liechtenstein (Listeni/ˈlɪktənstaɪn/ lik-tən-styn) is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. Liechtenstein has the second highest gross domestic product per person in the world and has the world's lowest external debt.

Liechtenstein is the smallest yet the richest (by measure of GDP per capita) German-speaking country in the world and the only country to lie entirely within the Alps. It is the only predominantly German-speaking country not to share a common border with Germany and the only predominantly German-speaking nation to have a monarch. It is known as a principality as it is a constitutional monarchy headed by a prince. The country has a strong financial sector located in the capital, Vaduz, and has been identified as a tax haven.

Venezia

Firenze!

Florence, Italy

Tower Power

Postcard Rome

Castel Gandolfo, Italy

Castel Gandolfo (Italian pronunciation: [kaˈstɛl ɡanˈdɔlfo],[1] Latin: Castrum Gandulphi, colloquially Castello in the Castelli Romani dialects) is a small Italian town or comune in Lazio that occupies a height overlooking Lake Albano about 15 miles south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills. It is best known as the summer residence of the Pope.

The resort community includes almost the whole coastline of Lake Albano that is surrounded by many summer residences, villas and cottages built during the seventeenth century.

Assisi, Italy

Roma, on our own

August 24-28, 2011

Post-WYD Madrid