Italy, We Went

img_8614_1On Tuesday, October 9th, twenty three members of Our Lady Of The Lakes Choir, yes I sing in a choir, plus nineteen parishioners departed Miami International Airport on an overseas journey, via Alitalia Airlines at 4:15 PM bound for Italy. They woke us up at around 1:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, approximately 6:00AM in Italy, for breakfast and not long after that we landed in Rome.

Hooray, we arrived. Yeeehh!

It was hard to believe that we were actually in Italy after looking forward to this trip for more then a year. We had many pancakes scrambled eggs, sausage, orange juice breakfasts, count eight, garage sales and an Italian night dinner fundraiser to help us achieve our dream, but like troops, they came rushing supporting us all the way.

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Tickets

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Selling tickets

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Selling tickets

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Selling tickets

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Sausages – Breakfast

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Breakfast is ready

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An happy customer

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A smile from our choir members – Garage sale

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Garage sale

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Getting ready to serve dinner wearing apron, IKEA cloth and made by me – Italian Dinner.

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Setting up the tables – Italian dinner

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The team ready to serve – Italian Dinner

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An Italian Dinner

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An Italian Dinner – 7 Miles Bridge Band

 

Best Beaches and Small Islands For Travel in 2014

I usually don’t like to brag but when you see your country, yes, that’s where I am from, where I was born, a little tiny island in the middle of the ocean off the continent of Africa, being showcased by one of the biggest travel magazine in the world under the banner, Best beaches and small islands for travel in 2014, you have to give it props.

2014 is the International Year of Small Island Developing States: tiny, remote and environmentally vulnerable spots. Here are 10 that need you – and are glorious too!

Middle of the world but not middle of the road, the equator-hovering outcrops of São Tomé and Príncipe form Africa’s smallest, and perhaps least-known, state. Part of a chain of extinct volcanoes, they hide in the Gulf of Guinea, west of Gabon, which explains why so few tourists manage to find them. Those that do are richly rewarded, though: there are miles of sandy beaches trodden only by fishermen; a jungly interior with a 2024m peak to climb; turtles and humpbacks splashing in the waters; and hotels set in crumbly colonial plantation houses, which offer an atmospheric cool-breezed base.

The dry season is June to September, wet is from October to May; humpbacks visit the waters off São Tomé from July to October.”

Read more here: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/best-beaches-and-small-islands-for-travel-in-2014

Oh did I also say that we have one of the best chocolate in the world?

Claudio Corallo Chocolate website, enter here

1272463_10201829272751978_481782983_oCheck their website to where to buy.

A Penny For Her Thought

IMG_3840Ohhh how I would give her a penny for her thoughts!

The picture says it all. I wish I could puncture her soul, open the door to her closet of millions figurines and unmask it.

She seemed to be deep into her thoughts, way, way Up There, reflecting, driving the highway of the unknown thoughts and discovering, smiling at her surroundings. I don’t know where her mind was, what she was thinking but she appeared distant embroiled in a web of summaries.

Let’s face it, after perhaps, an intense laborious day, she looks tired but placid!

The picture was taken late at night, very late while in Macau, at a restaurant where a friend had taken us for dinner and after finishing fixing us the meal. They were winding down,  about to close when we literally barged in. I am pretty sure it was not appreciated it but they made sure one more meal was made.

It was not a five star restaurant, a state of the art come sit down and we offer you the moon nor a McDonald either. It was more like “while in Rome do what Romans do”, located in a corner somewhere, hidden from the prying eyes of hungry bulls, a mom and pop family owned but good well made home meal.

I confess, I was a little apprehensive about what was waiting for us behind the walls but to my amazement, the food was insanely good, the warmth with how we were treated superseded all my fears and I can honestly say that it was not your everyday restaurant but a crème de la crème traditional chinese food.