On The Road To Venice

IMG_4925Like a clock, right after going through customs, we were greeted by a representative of Peter’s Way Tours Inc, the agency that made all the arrangements, “Buongiorno, Benvenuti”. Yeehh, rejoice we are in Italy! “Grazie”, we replied all at ounce. Trust me, we had took classes, bought tapes so we could master that perfect italian; oops, yeah right, I mean the perfect Italian not to get lost and stay lost!

The gentleman checked all our names against his list, if the passports checked and handed us over our name tags. Surreal, I have been to a few countries in my lifetime but never in a pilgrimage and it did not feel “like a tourist” until I was had that badge on my neck. To say that we were intoxicated, ecstatic, euphoric to be there is understatement.

IMG_3185Hooray, we have arrived.

It was exciting, I mean, you say Italy and you hear fashion, well aside its history, exhilarating to walk through the terminal and experience Italian fashion from the get go.

The agency representative directed us to a waiting bus right outside of the terminal that took us to a different side of the airport and few minutes later, we were boarding another plane to Venice.

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.