Rome Trip (5):Vatican

The trip to Rome would not be complete without going and see the Vatican City. One of the smallest countries in the world, the city has been the center for Roman Catholics.

We did not go inside the city, only the outer part where lies the Saint Peter's Square. Masses are held every Wednesdays and Sundays. We went around 8.30 am amidst the morning rain, the free ticket to attend the mass with the pope is already no more. So we could only join the mass from the outside.

Unfortunately, we could not visit Sistine Chapel, within Vatican Museum, since it was a public holiday. We did not realize that until we went there.

It was good though to be able to enter St Peter Basilica in the afternoon. It is really a huge church.

And the view from the top of the basilica was awesome. It was tiring to go all the way up, but it was worth it.

Rome Trip (4): Day Scenes

Some more pictures are there from the buildings we visited during the day. The first is the back view from San Maria Maggiore church. Second is inside the Tomb of an Unknown Soldier. It's pretty big, I am just small compared to the pillars. Last image is on the Spanish Steps. It looks really beautiful during sunset. So many people were there so it's rather crowded

Rome Trip (3): Night Scenes

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. At this time I'm quite lazy to write so here they are. We roam around rome at night as well, until past midnight. I think we had too much energy and excitement.

The first picture is piazza republica, one of the bigger piazza (squares) in rome. The second one is Trevi Fountain, the lighting effect sure is nice. Below is the tomb of an unknown soldier. This monument is probably built to commemorate the soldiers died in the war.

Rome Trip (2): The Colosseum

The first site that we visited was the colosseum. This gigantic structure is said to be the largest of all amphitehaters in the roman empire.

The queue was pretty long with all the tourists around since morning. I was a little disappointed when we managed to get in because it has become more of a ruins now. I actually prefer the Arena in Verona, because it is more of a complete structure than this.

It took us 11 euros per head to get in or 6 for european union people, lucky them. Inside, people just walk around the structure. When we came, there were some exhibition going on about this epic of Iliad. Not much of a tourist attraction.

Another one, just beside the colosseum, was the Roman Forum, this site is just like colosseum, has become not more of an archeological sites of ruins from the roman empire.

Rome Trip (1)

After a few weeks of planning, we finally manage to go to Italy's capital, Rome, the eternal city. This is after around 8 hours of travel from Trento by Train.

The night train (espresso) is surprisingly comfortable, although we didn't opt for the sleeping compartment, the normal compartment can be used for sleeping with some adjustment to the chair. The only drawback is that it can be pretty cold in the early morning.

We arrived at 6 am in the morning, had breakfast then put our stuff in the youth hostel.
The room has 8-bedrooms and since we had 13 people, occupying one room fully for us and another room shared with other people. The hostel itself is conveniently located near the main terminal, priced at euro 13.50 per bed per night.

We bought the daily ticket for public transport, which we used only twice a day. Central rome is full of tourist sites. Most of the sites there is located near to each other, perhaps a 10 or 15 minutes walk will take you from one site to another. So we did a lot of walking around rome.

One Litre of Tears

I was watching this series sometimes back. Apart from the cute actress, I like the way it portrays human struggle. A sad story indeed, but not despair. It is based on a true story which happened around 20 years back.

The story is about a highschool girl, Aya, which is diagnosed with a disabling disease. The disease affects her brain and will gradually limit her motoric functions. Most of the story deals with how she tries to cope with it as it worsened each day.

As a human we deal with limitations. Everybody might have one or two. Some people have more and some other less. Some physical, some emotional, some other conditions. These limitations show that we are only human ( one of the OST title for the series).

The more important point is how we deal with these struggles. Someday in heaven, there will be no more tears and pain, no more sadness and distress, as God promised. But until then, we need to hold on and never lose hope.

Cooking Chronicles (3): Satay

During my first month in Italy, I looked in vain for the peanut butter. Apparently Italians don't use peanut butter much for bread. After some time, thanks to the Thai Asian shop, I managed to find one.

Besides bread, peanut butter can be used to make the satay sauce. So I decided to give it a try.

Sauce: peanut butter, onion and water with a bit of oil . Just fry for a while. Adjust the thickness as you want it.

Meat: Turkey and pork meat cut into smaller pieces. Mix them with coconut milk ( or yoghurt). Fry some garlic with a bit of oil then put in the meat. Add lots of sweet soya sauce and fry until everything dried up.

Valley of the Sun

Two weeks back we went for a hiking, the place chosen was Marileva, within the Trentino region. We went from the height of 900 m up to to 1400 m.

The place was fresh and green, with river flowing from the top of the mountain. Also it was pretty steep sometimes. On the 1400m height, we could see the cloud below us in the valley just between this mountain and the other mountain across.

We went from there and aim to go to the nearby lake, but apparently it was too far. So we went back. We went back through the same path and it so happened that some guy approach us and said that we entered private property. After a friendly chat with the carabinieri, we went through other direction.

This was more difficult as we didn't really know which way to go and the sign was not clear. Fortunately, we met someone and managed to find a way down.

The walk downhill is tougher because it was steep and we should hold our steps most of the time. Finally after around 8 km of downhill walk, we reached the Valley of the Sun or Val di Sole. The scenery was beautiful. Green grasslands, mountains and rivers, just felt peaceful.

Colors of Autumn

Autumn would be the season with many colors. As the temperature drops, the trees are preparing to drop their leaves and change their color in the process.

The trees have different characteristics as well as resilience. Some may still be able to adapt to the cold climate. And so the colors produced would be different. Red, yellow, orange light green, brown. I have yet to see the trees with a blue leaves though.


The scene is good, but it started to get cold to go outside and take pictures. Maybe sometime soon we will need to wear the thick clothes.

Cooking Chronicles (2): Corn Soup

Corn soup has always been one of my favourite home made dish. The best ones come with shredded crab meat. But since it takes some effort to extract and shred the meat, I settled for wurstel, cheap and easy. In place of sugar I used honey since I bought too much and don't use it often.

Inggredients: garlic, oil, honey (6 teaspoon), eggs (2) , corn flour (2 tablespoon), canned corn (1 can), wurstel (2 big pieces).

First, mix the eggs with the honey and corn flour and a bit of water. Then heat the oil in the pot, low fire. Put garlic until the aroma is good. Then put the corn in and the wurstel ( I had put some water instead and a lot of smoke came out) . Only then put the mix and some water.

I needed to adjust the taste in the process, honey for sweetness, corn flour for thickness. After some time and everything starts to boil, take and serve.