Birds in flight

For more than 15 years, the view from our bedroom window, as I lay on our bed, was that of a pristine sky which was ocassionally graced by the flight of birds. Since last year, that view is now marred by a high-rise building. Sigh! But I'm glad the birds still circle the remaining space near our home. I wish I had a better of documenting this aside from my amateurish attempt using my mobile phone camera but it will just have to do for now.

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.

Paris 4

Bercy Village

                                                    Charles de Gaulle airport restroom

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.

Hongkong in September 2011

From Paris, the 3 of us got off at Hongkong (Para, mama!) for 3 days just to break our long trip. Tito planed in from Manila to meet us. We didn't do anything new except for the Avenue of the Stars. Fun!

Paris 2: The Louvre

The Louvre

Paris 1

Lucerne, Switzerland

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

Powie in Madrid

August 2011

Days in the Diocese (Coria-Caceres)

Samu't-Saring Saigon

Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, is a busy city reconstructed from the ruins of the Vietnam War. It look progressive, if the measure of progress is the gazillions of motorbikes racing across (not really, they slow down for scared pedestrians like me) the city!