US, South Dakota: Badlands National Park

| Christie

There is a time when one will go backpacking, there is a way where one will go biking, but here is the time when one needs a car, as long North American roads require.

Heading South through North Dakota happened in a blink of the eye. The friendliest (Dakota is the native Sioux word for “friend/ally”) highways with almost no traffic gave us the chance to reach our first way point very soon: Badlands National Park. Not that the lands we’ve seen in the first 2 days of our trip were any better (chuckle!), but I can’t really say that the prairies, or rather the Great Plains, were very appealing. The Great Plains cover most of North and South Dakota, and the endless plains, hills, shrubs and grass that you can see all over can make you think if these areas are really inhabited. But yes, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, as we could see hundreds of herds of cattle with alternating fields with rolls of hay; so we figured out people are still living in these places (I guess only the brave ones), even though we very rarely saw anyone.

dakota-1 Continue reading →

CA: Happy Thanksgiving from Southern Ontario!

| Christie

When talking about favourite colour, or favourite season, fall in Canada might be the top of discussion. Everyone is happy when the hot and humid days of summer are gone, and no one notices when the days get shorter, and nights longer. Fresh air brings in a fresh feeling, and a nice sunlight leads us to new trails. While crisp mornings bring in the most colourful foliage, the warm sunshine during these days let us explore and enjoy the country roads.

p6 Continue reading →

IT: Pompeii vs Herculaneum – Which one is better?

| Christie

If you have ever had a dilemma while visiting Italy and pondered what is better to visit, between these 2 sites, then you were not alone: Pompeii or Herculaneum? Herculaneum or Pompeii? And here is my answer, if there is any at all.

Pompeii, located in Campania region, is mainly known for the ruins of the ancient Roman town with the same name. A roman colony for about 160 years before the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius from 79 AD left many traces about the roman life, as well as other inscriptions by previous conquerors in the area. With its great position very close to the Gulf of Naples, Pompeii became a very important and large city, it is estimated Continue reading →

Don’t miss them..

| Christie

I was having this collage of sunsets on my desktop for awhile, and holding them close to me every day. For me, these are not only places, these are dear memories as well. But the inspiration came one day through Alison (and one of her beautiful sunset photos), and suddenly I thought to share my little collection with you. Dear reader, I hope you will also enjoy!

Varadero, Cuba Continue reading →

IT, Mount Vesuvius: Best time to visit

| Christie

“To go or not to go” was the question for many undecided people. But not for us. How can we not visit the only active volcano on the Europe mainland?

Driving from Cinque Terre to Pompeii was without any major event. If one is not used to drive in Italy yet, now is the time. Once we passed Rome area towards South, we had a nice surprise to find a very low toll on the highway, but instead we found many roads under construction.

Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano with many eruptions over time, but it is best known for its eruption in 79 AD, when the Roman cities Pompeii and Ercolano (Herculaneum by its ancient name) were totally destroyed.

Mt Vesuvius Continue reading →

IT, Florence: Firenze pass – Santa Maria Novella – Santa Croce- Accademia Gallery – Uffizi Gallery – Ponte Vecchio

| Christie

“Italy is the garden of Europe

Tuscany is the garden of Italy

Florence is the flower of Tuscany”

Falling in love first time is about charm, attraction, fascination, obsession, purity, innocence. But falling in love a second time for the same city, same places, same sky – or maybe different – or just with different eyes but same heart (or same heart but different eyes?) is much more than I can describe in these few words, I probably will never be able to..

“God was the first sculptor. He made the first figure: man.”

David Continue reading →

IT, Rome: The Colloseum – Roman Forum – Piazza Navona – Terme di Caracalla – Via Appia Antica – St Sebastian Catacombs

| Christie

As Virgiliu said “it’s the most beautiful thing”, Aristide named it “the capital of all nations”; Atheneu made a “summary of the world”, Ptolemeu the sofist called it “The city of all cities”, most of the people named it “The Eternal city”.

In a lifetime, the human being is continuously trying to find its own purpose on this Earth. Very few of us can truly say they found their own purpose in this life. Our own hobbies, various jobs we go through, the books we read, the places we visit are the real proof we keep looking for something until a moment.

This is how I felt when I found my steps taking me through Rome, feeling like I was born again. I could see how the modern life, present at every corner, blends with the ancient ruins, making me think where we come from, and what we look for. I perceived that almost 3000 past years means almost nothing. I realized how fleeting the life is, I knew there was no time to heal, but then  it was the time for me to see, feel, and touch the beginning of this world, to feel how the birth of this civilization became contemporary with us, how we came out of a modern world in the midst of creation. Continue reading →

IT, Cinque Terre: Italian Riviera – A glance over Cinque Terre: Monterosso al Mare – Vernazza – Corniglia – Manarola – Riomaggiore

| Christie

Forgotten in an overcrowded train might be the paradox of the day. But I didn’t care, I was just happy that I got a window seat before the last station. I still had a lot until the day’s destination, but the train had come to an unexpected stop. I thought that it could be hard to pass through the next tunnel, or maybe other trains were due since ours was late from the beginning. Whatever the reason would be, I was still happy that our wagon stopped outside of the tunnel, about 50 m above the sea. I could see the seashore below the cliff and I was wondering how much work and effort has been done for this railroad: half the route is through the mountain and the other half is strong bridges at the edge of the cliff.

Bridge Continue reading →

IT, Florence: The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flowers – Climbing the Dome

| Christie

Visiting a church after another church gave me the possibility to discover or rather to rediscover the sacral dimension of our humble existence in this world. This was a unique chance one can’t have pretty often in a life.

If the first 2 churches visited in Florence were big, impressive, majestic and representative in their own way for the renascence period, going to The Cathedral, named in honor of Santa Maria del Fiore was a real surprise. The simplicity was stunning, the size was incredulous, the richness of the outside decorations had nothing in common with the indoors modesty.

Cathedral outside Continue reading →