When In Rome (4)...

After our tough workout at the St Peter Basilica, May-N decided we should go somewhere special for dinner. We, the oldies has no clue where we are heading; we just follow the leader ;)

A short bus ride, more probing with the handheld GPS; more walking on the dreaded cobblestones; this charming square suddenly appeared in front of us!

Click on the picture to see the charming square!

A sign board told me that the church at the square is the Basilica of St. Mary and the square in front constitute the heart of the district of Trastevere.

When In Rome (3)...

The Papal Basillica of Saint Peter, commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica is next door to the Vatican Museums.

According to Wikipedia:

"St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people.^[1] It is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world"^[2] and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom".

Religion aside, I was impressed. This I gotta see!

Waiting for the Pope! He is going to talk to this massive crowd in front of the Basilica.

When In Rome (2)...

The Collosseum took away a day of our Rome stay, the next day we got up at 7 am to visit the Vatican Museums. 
 

The weather was not as kind as yesterday, it was spitting down very lightly;
at 7.30 am scores of tourists are already lining up outside the gate!

When In Rome...

We (I, Le General, Ming-N, May-N and Lamont) woke up at 3 am to catch a "taxi van" at 4 to London Gatwick airport. Gatwick has the world's busiest single-use runway and this is where no frills EasyJet will take us to Rome.

Our plane landed at Rome Fiumicino at 9 am, according to Wikipedia; "Fiumicino is a town and comune in the province of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. It is famous for the presence of the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, the busiest airport in Italy and the fifth busiest in Europe." But where are the crowd? ;)

Third Day In London

This is our third day in London, so what do I think of this gigantic city that all my younger Kiwi friends are raving about?

"Naaaah!"...Sorry to disappoint all of you, it does not impress me at all!

London obviously are not make for older souls like us, especially if you have problem walking quickly! Everywhere you go, people are rushing; tense.. what kind of lifestyle you are having here? I miss good old Wellington!

May be we have been living in New Zealand for too long.

May be that is the reason why so many Poms move to our easy going Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud?

Oh Singapura!

Saturday 6 pm, Le General and I flew off to Auckland to catch our flight to Singapore. Because of my knee problem I requested for an aisle seat and was told by the Air New Zealand guy who handle our check thru that there are none left! And that is for a flight SIX hours away? I protested and was told to see SIA in Auckland!

When I explained my predicament to the smiling SIA lady in Auckland at 10 pm, she fixed my request in 2 minutes; without question! I am very disappointed with you Air New Zealand! Again! It is no accident that SIA is our preferred air line every time!

We flew off from Auckland at midnight and landed on the "Garden City" at 5 am local time. One hour ahead of schedule!

The last time we were at T3 (Terminal 3) it was just open, what an impressive terminal it is!

They even have our favorite breakfast of "roti kawin" and local coffee, 24/7! And the delicious fare is served by the famous Killiney Kopitiam in Singapore!

My Leica E-P2

What?? I can hear you scream... there is no such camera as a Leica E-P2! April 1st was 19 days ago!

The camera above is my "Leica E-P2", ha ha ha... it is actually a Olympus Pen E-P2 with a genuine Leica lens!

In my younger days with the papers, I used two Leica-M rangefinder cameras; I still have the M4-P and M6 Titan and FOUR lenses. Sad to say after adopting digital I have not touch my Leicas for years!

Legend has it that Leica lenses are the BEST in the world! At the present price of NZ$2-3,000 per lens, they better be!