Up front and center

I show up early for Easter Sunday mass. What's early? Try 8AM for a 10:30 mass. It didn't help I was out eating hotdogs and having beers literally the morning before. I had about 5 hours of sleep. But hey, I could sleep later. =) This was the Pope! The leader of the Roman Catholic Church with about 1 billion members!
Plus, it was the Pope's first Easter mass and I wasn't going to have sleep come in the way of witnessing history.

Thinking I was all early, I find that people are already in line. Hard core people I tell ya. And guess what. Chanting and Singing yet again. Simply amazes me. I felt like I was in a soccer game. It's freaking 8AM in the morning people! But yet, people seem so happy.

At this point I'm Mr. Social and I start chatting the couple behind me. (Traveling alone you have this hunger to speak to people.) They were an older couple from Dublin. We do the fun bit of exchanging stories and all that.

As you can see from my position in line, I probably will get decent seats. Yeah, I'm not in the front, but I'll probably do pretty well when they open the gates.
Then all of a sudden, a bunch of guards show up and move the steel gates around and move them in such a way that they are creating an entrance right in front of me!

5 min later. BAM! They open a gate right in front of me! You can't even believe what happens next. Everyone goes crazy and starts running towards the open seats! Pandemonium I tell ya! People get pushed, some people fall on the ground, people start sprinting and go crazy! Guards tell everyone to calm down. Its sad but this one lady tripped and fell because she was trying to run around a guy in a wheelchair!! Not joke! I'll admit, I chuckled a bit when it happened.

I made a run for it myself and I ended up with the seat you see below.



Anyway, once I find my seat its about 2.5 hours before the mass starts. Luckily I brought some breakfast. But what does one do for 2.5 hours anyway?

Trust me, it actually flew by. Why? Because for some odd reason, I got this reputation of being the photographer! People would come up to my area and take pics of St. Peter's with the Alter and everything and I just so happen to be standing on the aisle where people would stand. Thus, an easy target. I guess because when I did take the picture I would act all professional and kneel down, take my time, tell people to move to the left and right just so I could frame it right. Then one of the guards would point to me everytime they would ask him to take a picture!

Anyway, the mass was beautiful and I got great shots. Including one of the Pope below:



I got to hear his message from the Papal Balcony with his Easter "Urbi et Orbi" or "To the City and To the World" Speech and of course the Pope's blessing.

Below is also a glimpse of all the people behind me:



Overall a great experience and something I'll never forget. That and I experienced my "April Fool's" joke. A story best left to be told in person. =)

Sightseeing Tools and Hot Dogs in Italy

After some experience in taking these weekend trips to various European cities I like to take at least two guides with me. First, the Lonely Planet Guide. This contains a lot of in depth information about city and I love the itineraries it suggests. It also has a section on walking tours. The walking tours are great because it takes you though a city and usually covers key sightseeing points. Second, I use the Top 10 Eyewitness Travel Guide. This is perfect since its thin enough that you can put it in your backpocket. It's a perfect sightseeing companion because it highlights the Top 10 of everything for that city: Sights, Eats, Bars/Clubs, etc. It ends up being a TODO list of places to eat and sights to see!



I picked up my tickets for the Saturday Easter Vigil mass and Easter Sunday mass, and I headed over to the Trevi Fountain and throw a coin over my shoulder into the fountain. Legend says that if you toss a coin into the fountain over your shoulder, you will one day return to Rome. So why not! I asked a couple people to take my picture with the fountain, but unfortunately its hard to find good photographers. People wouldn't take a picture of the whole fountain, but instead take a picture of me and the ground, completely missing the whole fountain. The happened not only once, but twice. I gave up and did one of those things where I take a picture of myself extending my arm making me look like a complete idiot because I did this like 10 times because I wasn't aiming right.


Armed with my Lonely Planet and Eyewitness Guide I spend most of the day taking two walking tours from the Lonely Planet Guide until my organized "Ancient Rome" tour with Icon Tours in the late afternoon. After two organized tours covering the Vatican and Ancient Rome, two walking tours on my own, I had a good feel for the city. Yes there was a lot to see in Rome, but after spending two full days sightseeing, I felt pretty good since I still have a full day and a half left.

I headed back to St. Peter's Square for the Saturday Easter Vigil Mass in the Basilica. The mass wasn't until 10PM, but at 7:30 there was a long line that started from the right colonnade that just passed the left colonnade! Unbelievable. I felt pretty good because I had a ticket. Apparently the doors would open at around 9PM, so I would be standing in line for a long time. Because of this, it kind of forces you to get to know people that you are standing in line with. Fortunately for me, I had a couple of Americans right behind me. Sure enough conversation starts and we all exchange stories. We even end up sitting together for the mass.

When the opened the gates, there was a mad rush to get seats. I could see from a distance, people started running for the Basilica. It was crazy. People were yelling and screaming in excitement to get the best seats possible! I can't describe it in words.. it was something you had to see.

The mass was in Italian and Latin so I had no idea what was being said, but it sounded cool! I had a book so I followed along throughout the mass. There was a point where they turned off all the lights inside the basilica and everyone was holding candles. That was quite interesting. My view of the Pope is below:



After the mass, the Pope proceeded down the main aisle and the singing and chanting started again. Everyone rushed to catch a glimpse of the pope, standing on chairs trying to take a picture. People called out his name trying to get his attention, camera flashes everywhere.

The Pope was a rockstar.

Hotdogs
I didn't catch dinner unfortunately and I was so hungry. I hang out with the Americans in St. Peter's Square and eventually we head over to a late night hot dog stand. We grab some hot dogs and beers and just hang out. Unreal. It was 2AM in Rome, what was now Easter Sunday. I was having a hot dog and a beer with a bunch of Americans that I had just met at a beautiful Easter Vigil mass with the Pope. Who would have guessed. And if you're curious, the hot dog was pretty good!

Greatest Achievements of Mankind.

Rome was definitely one of the cities that I wanted to hit when I moved over here. At first I was quite hesitant in going because I was going by myself. But looking back, it was probably one of the better decisions I've made. =)

Why?

1. Seeing the Pope during Easter weekend.
2. Benefits of meeting new people when traveling alone.
3. What better way to take advantage of a four day weekend than to see a city like Rome!

The thing with traveling alone is that you are in complete control of your itinerary. You can wake up as early as you want or sleep in. You can have everything planned to the minute, or just go with the flow. Not only that, two things happen.

1. You seem more approachable.
2. You tend to be more social.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind traveling with others. It's nice to be with someone when it comes to discovering and sightseeing a new city. But traveling alone does come with its perks.

Did I see everything I wanted to see in Rome? Yes, I'd say so. Did I see everything? Of course not. Would I go back? Definitely.

I started Friday with an early visit to Galleria Borghese. I got to see Bernini's Apollo and Daphne and David, Canova's Paulina Bonaparte, and The Deposition by Raphael. Then I signed up for the Vatican City museum Tour through Icon Tours, who were very good. The tour ended at the Sistine Chapel and I probably spent about an hour and a half just admiring the work of the various artists and of course the ceiling by Michelangelo. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures! (Something about Fuji Film owning the copyrights since they paid millions in restoration and exchange for payment then wanted copyrights to the paintings) The Sistine Chapel is definitely a must see in one's lifetime. The Last Judgment fresco by Michelangelo I probably admired for at least a half hour. It amazes me how one man, who originally was just a sculptor could paint such a masterpiece.


I then headed over to St. Peter's Square where Pope Benedict XVI was holding Good Friday Mass. You can see my perspective from the picture. So many people. It was unbelievable how many people filled up St. Peter's Basilica.



If you've ever been there, you can understand how big this Basilica is. I think it can fit about 60,000 people!

I make it out to the Colloseum at night for another papal event with the Stations of the Cross with the Pope.


Again, packed. So many people. I started to realise how much fanfare and love there was for this Pope. It's like he was a rockstar. I could not have imagined how it was like when JPII was alive.

That Friday night the Pope spoke in Italian and I wish I understood what he was saying. People would applause loudly for what it seemed like every 5 minutes. People would chant and sing in Italian, even chanting his name in unison. It was an experience that is hard to describe into words on how this Pope affected so many people with his presence. And this was just the first night.

Roma Part I

Unbelievable. Unreal. Sometimes almost a dream. Probably one of the most amazing experiences in my life. Definitely top 10 in my lifetime. Probably top 3 since I moved here to London.

That and I had 2nd row seats for the Easter Mass with the Pope. That was cool.
Traveling alone was not a regret at all and I met some cool people along the way that we've even exchanged contact info!

Pics and story tidbits to come!

When in Rome..

First thing that comes to mind when I hear the phrase, "When in Rome.." (do as the Romans do) I think of Will Ferrell in Anchorman when he thinks he is using the phrase properly, but he really doesn't! =)

So I'm off to Rome for a nice long Easter weekend. Fortunately we have "Easter Monday" off so I'll be able to enjoy most of the weekend and some of Monday in Italy. What's different about this trip than any of the other weekend trips is that I'm going on this one alone. No coworkers, no close friends, just me. So it should be interesting, especially when it comes to taking pictures. Then again, it should be interesting in all aspects actually.. Dinner, nightlife, and sightseeing. I can't simply count on other people to plan and pick where to eat and go, its all on me. I'll probably sign up for some guided tours so I can just sit back and enjoy the sights while someone describes what I'm looking at. Can't wait to see the sights and Easter Mass in St. Peter's square should be quite interesting!

Anyway, Happy Easter!

The art of mixing drinks.

An old friend is in town that use to live in London so I had an "orientation" of some of the cool, perhaps sometimes posh places in the west end. What is interesting is that these places are very "hidden" and far from the beaten path. What's interesting too is that he showed me a lounge that he's been to that was for "members only." This lounge had this little peep slot in the door, perhaps used to reveal the secret password for the night? =) But the "members only" lounge didn't have any bright lights or signs, just simply a black door that would normally go unnoticed to the naked eye.

We hit one lounge, called Annex 3, owned by the same people as LoungeLover, another lounge I've blogged about before. What is interesting about this place is the cocktail menu. So many drinks to choose from with so many different ingredients. Some ingredients included coriander, ginger, passion fruit, and even wasabi!

After catching some cheap eats at Chinatown, the end of the night took us to a very posh restaurant/lounge called Hakkasan. After walking into a dark alley and finding it in some hidden corner, the décor was very impressive. Huge selection of expensive drinks and all the bartenders had this same elegantchoreographedd routine of preparing drinks. It was almost like watching a chemistry experiment because they would put an average of 6-7 ingredients into each drink, mix it up, and taste it to see if their experiment went right. I'd definitely take people back to this place. Also, I'm going to have to watch the movie About a Boy again because apparently this restaurant was used in one of the scenes!

At the end of the night I had this sad realization that I spent 10 times more on drinks than I did on food. Now that I think about it, all the drinks I had that night were all more expensive than the plate of food I had in Chinatown. Only in London.

Eat a dick.

Back in university my roommates and I would have this running joke:

Roommate: Hey man, you hungry?

Me: Yeah man, I'm freakin' starving

Roommate: Really? You should go eat a dick.

It never got old. So far in my life, I can honestly say that I've never eaten a dick. Until now.

Let's review British cuisine:

1. Yorkshire Pudding (yet to try)
2. Shepherd's Pie (yet to try)
3. Gammon Steak with Egg (Gammon is ham) - tried this last week.
4. Bangers and Mash (yes)
5. Fish and Chips (yes)

But there is also desserts or "puddings" as well. One of which is:



Yes, indeed. Spotted Dick. For the first time I've had spotted dick.

The past few times I have gone grocery shopping, I noticed people would buy spotted dick. I was hesitant at first to buy dick, but I figured, why not? What could I loose in buying dick? Spotted dick that is. So I took the risk and bought spotted dick for the first time. I only wanted to buy one spotted dick, but each package came with two spotted dicks.

After having a nice steak I decided to have some spotted dick. I read the directions and I had to heat it up because its good to have it warm and moist before you eat it. And why not? I didn't want to have a cold spotted dick. After heating it up, you have to take a knife and cut it out of its package. So I took the knife and cut out the spotted dick and put it on the plate.



Hmmm.. not bad. But unfortunately, the spotted dick had too many spots! I didn't like how it had too many raisins! So I can honestly say that I didn't enjoy the spotted dick! So where did this funny name come from? You can check here! In any case, its always fun to try something new!

Taste of Spain Part VI, Seville Part II - Tapas Capital of the World?

After hitting two very good tapas places in Barcelona, dinner in Seville had its expectations. At least for me. If you type "Tapas capital of the world" in Google I'm pretty sure the first few hits will land on pages that talk about Seville, Spain.
I think one of the guide books labeled it as "one of the tapas capitals" in Spain.

It was our last night in Seville and the goal was to do a "Tapas Crawl." Very similar to a "Bar Crawl", a tapas crawl involved going to multiple tapas bars and trying different tapas. We were rookies at this and didn't know what to expect. How hard could it be? The concierge recommended a strip of places to hit so it wasn't going to be hard at all. It was going to be pretty exciting.

We go to the area where there is a strip of tapas bars only to find that most of them were closed! Perhaps because it was a Tuesday night? We would approach a restaurant and ask:

"Tapas?" (in a very curious and hopeful way)

This question would turn to be more curious and more hopeful as the night would go on because most of the places weren't serving tapas. Most if ot all were serving rationes (full plates). The Tapas Capital of the World wasn't living up to its reputation.

After having a quick paella, we hit a bar that we originally passed up. It wasn't an Emilios or Ibericos back home, and it didn't look as good as the first two places we hit in Barcelona. Plus, we had to order from the bar! What kind of concept is that!
Little did we know we were slowly learning.

We talked to the bartender who spoke perfect English and recommended an area called "La Alameda" which he described as a strip of bars that had a lot of nightlife and tapas. It was a little out of the main city center, perhaps a 15 min cab ride, but it was going to be worth it. Tapas Capital of the World, here we come!

We arrive and its what we expected. Strip of bars, a lot of people hanging out outside, this was the place. We walk down the strip and hit the first trendy place we see. We look at the menu... no tapas.

After a quick drink, we hop to another place. Again, a dive bar and not fancy at all.. you literally walk up to this little window and ordered. Luckily there were indeed tapas! Nothing close to previously places we've been too at all.. but tapas nonetheless...Then I slowly realised...

We were in a crawl for "bar food." Tapas places back home and even the couple places in Barcelona spoiled me. They served it in such a more elegant way than you wouldn't think of it as "bar food." But really, tapas are simply small portions of food that accompany your alcohol. I mean its one of those things you know, but really didn't hit me until Seville. Thus, the best way to order tapas... is from the bar!

A lesson we took to Madrid.

To be continued...

Cufflinks and Pink Shirts

One of the first things I noticed moving here was that British like to dress up. Well, let me rephrase that. The guys in IT would dress up more than the IT guys in Chicago. Perhaps its the whole culture thing about being proper but everyone would wear "trousers" and "shirts" and look really "smart." The first thing I noticed is that the guys would wear really nice shirts with cufflinks.

The only time I ever wear cufflinks is when I'm wearing a tux. I honestly didn't own any shirts that need cufflinks.

Until recently. I finally bought a "double cuff" or "French cuff" shirt from Thomas Pink. And yes, it was pink. Pink stripes actually.

There wasn't a better time to wear the shirt with a very important meeting to start off the week. Not only that, but it was the first day in my "new role." The timing couldn't have been better.

After my meeting and a couple hours of walking around and schmoozing with coworkers I noticed a trend. There was something different.

You ever talk to someone and they don't look you straight in the eye, but rather other parts of your body? I mean, they start looking at you straight in the eye, but then their eyes wander off, to lets say that big zit on your forehead, or your hair because you haven't cut it, or perhaps you have and it just basically looks like crap. Or if you are talking to a beautiful women and you stare at her.. oh nevermind..

Anyway, I found that happening when I was wearing my pink shirt and French cuffs. Maybe its because I hardly dress up like that? Maybe it was the pink shirt? It seemed to me, at least, that everyone was staring at my French cuffs and cufflinks. At first I thought it was just me with the first couple of people I was talking too, but then it was a recurring theme throughout the day.

I started to get paranoid because I was afraid that I put my cufflinks on wrong. So I looked at my other colleague's cufflinks and tried to stare at his wrists to see how he had put them on. I had to do this discretely. Why? Because its wierd looking at people's wrists!

I look at his cufflinks then I looked at mine. I was really getting self-conscious. I think its because it was one of the first times I wore it without getting dressed up in a tux. Then I slowly convinced myself. How in the hell is it possible to put on cufflinks the wrong way!

Then at the end of the day, one of my colleagues went up to me and pointed out that I did indeed put them on wrong. How embarrassing.

Finally.

What an unbelievable night. A night I'll never forget. I didn't think I could get so lucky to meet someone like her. She was totally out of my league. At least that's what I thought. Until we talked. We totally clicked the whole night. I guess after all this waiting and being single it was just a matter of time for it to happen. After just 7 months things are finally falling into place. And then I meet her. Who would have thought. A woman with a british accent too. She can talk all she wants and I could listen to her all night. But it wasn't just like that. It was more. We were totally connecting and it was just one of those things were time stands still and everything around you doesn't even matter. Everyone around us knew we were totally clicking and left us alone. I forgot how this feeling felt and it feels good to find it again. So this is how it feels like when people say "you just know." Because I think I finally "know" how that feels. This is totally something I've never felt before. Or maybe its because its been so long that I've felt this way. What's interesting was the mental connection that complimented the physical. Unbelievable. I wish you guys could be here so I can tell you all of this in person.

I didn't want to rush things but it just kind of happened. I wish I could post more details, but it sure was steamy! And we were totally sober too! My close friends, more details are on my Good Stuff blog. I'll call each and every one of you soon.