Cruisin' . . . on the River Thames

Included in our hop on/hop off bus tour was a Thames River tour. I think this tour was pretty good, especially because the guide (as long as you could hear him) was relatively knowledgable and entertaining. Sometimes on these river cruises, you just cruise and after a while it gets kind of boring (take the Hudson River Cruise in NYC... a yawnfest). But this was about the right amount of time and the conductor was (self?) educated.

London Eye

I've heard that it's a money maker for British Airways. It cost them a lot of money upfront, but they charge almost 20 pounds ($35-$40) to ride it. I'm sure if it weren't for the Eye, BA would be near bankruptcy???

Big Ben and the British Parliament Building

Millenium Bridge

A pedestrian bridge, more commonly known as the "Wobbly Bridge," by many Londoners. It was built to celebrate the millenial celebration.

Enjoying the sunshine in London

City Bus Tour and the Tower of London

Tower Bridge, what a sight to behold

The yeomen's quarters at the Tower of London

In case you didn't know what town we were visiting
(click on the photo for a larger version).

Walking the grounds at the Tower of London

I think Aileen misplaced her camera case here? But fortunately the staff at the Tower were able to locate it for her. Whew!

Tower Bridge, London

Poor girl freezing her bum off

Picture war!

Aileen being Aileen

Tower Bridge (background)

British Pub Culture

So when in London, we obviously HAD to try a few different pubs. The new thing is a gastro(nomic) pub, which is a pub that specializes in food.

Hmmnh, I wonder if our photographer is a little tipsy? Anyway, this was a great pub, I think this particular pub is one of those more historic places that has been around for a LONG a** time. (I forget the name of it now, but I'm sure it's listed on Aileen's London website.)

Cheers! One for the folks!

I wish Americans were as laid back about drinking as the Europeans are. But I must admit, I think the Europeans are starting to institute some of the more "American" standards -- like "last call" -- which I think encourages binge drinking. Hmmnh, strange. Pubs are open to everyone, so they tended to close early, as we found out when we kept looking for a place to just chill. That is one thing when you're visiting a place as a tourist vs. living there as a local. London's cool.

Trying hard to fight jet lag

I think Aileen was the most successful in fighting jet lag (well, her flight was the shortest). Alix had the longest flight (something crazy -- longer than 20+ hours?). Here we have some photos documenting the jetlag. We obviously don't mind trying to catch the others falling asleep. Alix and Aileen during the Thames River Cruise

Aileen and her shades -- you know why Aileen had the shades on... uh, huh

I think I've given into sleep. In the lobby of the B&B in London.

Alix, during our train ride into London (upon arrival)

High Tea at the Wolseley

We decided to do a very "British" thing... well I'll dispute how British tea is, because I'm sure they absconded the tea thing from the Chinese, and then started putting milk in from the Indians... anyway, making it into a prim and proper thing probably is a British institution. Aileen did her research and we had a great tea at the Wolseley -- their scones were out of this world. Yum, delish, still craving those!

Here's Alix showing off all the delicacies included in our tea menu. I believe we had a selection of scones, finger sandwiches, and desserts. I loved the scones! They were melt-in-your mouth wonderful, especially with the clotted cream (never had had that before -- wondering how that is any different from regular butter!) -- but still F'n good!

London - February 2008

Waiting for the Changing of the Guard

"Blah, blah, blah"

We were really tired...

... and over it (the Changing of the Guard)

(although we still wanted to take photos, eh?)

Alix and Aileen

Quan sisters trying to fight fatigue

We spent a few days in London this past February. After a few days in London, Aileen and I jetted off to Rome and Alix went to visit Barcelona (where another Quan sister lives). The first day, we checked into our B&B and checked the Changing of the Guard.

Arriverderci Roma

The lift we never took -- ?? for Hotel Paba, Rome.

We stayed at Hotel Paba post tour. I enjoyed the hotel more than the hotel we stayed in during the Rick Steves portion. After departing our tour, we walked to our hotel with luggage in tow (yes, we walked) -- it took us about 30 minutes, we stuck to the main streets. It wasn't so bad -- fortunately, my mom is pretty good about walking and dealing with the streets and traffic and has a good sense of direction (we also walked to the train station from our stay at Hotel Paba, which was a brist 20 minute walk?). Anyway, after finding Hotel Paba we were welcomed by a friendly staff.

It's not to say that the people at Nardizzi weren't friendly, well, I don't think they totally were, but I think they rely too much on the Rick Steves name and brand. Anyway, at first I was a little worried that our room at Paba was going to be located right near the front desk and that we were going to hear all the noise of people checking in and out throughout the night, but after the first night all my worries went away.

The old lady who runs Paba used to run the hotel with her husband, I have read from other online posts. But, I guess her husband has hence passed, and now she runs it on her own. She lives in the building and will give you a number to call just in case you have an emergency. She totally makes you feel like you are part of the family: she serves you breakfast until 1 p.m. in your room, gives you slippers, and when we told her that we would leave early to catch our departing flight back to SFO... she told us to grab breakfast on our own. She was so nice and accomodating, that even now I'm still writing all this positive praise about her. I only wish her place was more centrally located -- like near the Pantheon. It'd be perfect!

Stopping for a pose!

One of my favorite gelateria shoppes in Rome. Dolce Vita Gelateria!

They don't have a website, so I'm going to include their details right here:

La Dolce Vita, Via Cavour, 30600184 Roma (RM), Italy
+39 06 69380110‎

At WANTED restaurant

The owner at Paba Hotel recommended Wanted to us, so we walked to it after strolling around in the city. We desired something with seafood, and Wanted fit the bill! It had tasty baby fried calamari -- I still think about it to this day! I have never had anything like that. Yummmy Yummmy!

Michelangelo's Moses in

St. Peter in Chain's Church

This is a rather famous church, I think we tried to find it several times -- and the first time it was closed for the afternoon siesta. The Moses is rather imposing and marvelous.

This is the last post for our trip to Italy in the summer of 2007 -- wow, now more than a year (almost 1.5 years) later.

Rome 2007 on our own

Bocca della Verita' Fountain

The fountain was created by Carlo Bizzoccheri in 1715 by the order of Pope Clement XI. It has a large mixtilinear basin. The basin contains the fanciful rock on which two travertine tritons with crossed rise. The tritons hold two joint shells. This fountain was inspired by the Bernini fountain on the Barberini square. The fountain is the baroque masterstroke surrounded by the severe atmosphere and in the past it was abandoned and empty. (Info from Roma-0-matic.com)

"Ti Amo" graffiti on the Scalea del Tamburino (Steps of Tamburino) --
see this Youtube video - other people showing how high up the steps go!

View of Rome from Janiculum Park (this park is popular with Romans on their Sundays). We walked here from our stroll into Trastevere.

Colosseum at night

Ancient and Modern

This was an Armani installation. During the summer, there is a series of outdoor summer concerts known as Roma Estate. I think they were going to hold a fashion show here -- how cool, only in Rome.

End of the Rick Steves 2007 Trip! Ciao Rome!

Lorrie Andrade and my mom in the Vatican

My mom and Lorrie stopped listening to the Vatican museum tour guide after a while. He was too much -- pseudo-intellectual. So they just planted themselves down and enjoyed what beauty the Vatican had to offer them. Fortunately, our regular guide (Karin), was pretty cool and took our input pretty well.

Rome (and Paris) has a lot of bridges decorated like this. I love them. Most of them are located near the Vatican, of course. Something to do with the Catholic church and all that money!

It was amazing to see the real life version of this. I think I have a print of this, but only of one section, hanging somewhere (I think in my parents' bathroom). Pretty cool.

Tanya, Jill (this girl, also a school teacher, took notes on everything. She made everyone feel stupid or lazy I swear. I mean, yes, you are on vacation, but she was a constant learner and questioner -- good for her... but there is something to be said about Jill. I wonder if she typed up her notes?), Karin (our Rick Steves guide), and me

Our last night in Rome - we had dinner at this new age style restaurant. The dessert, if I remember correctly, was one of those freeze dried type things. I think he must be a student of that famous Spanish guy -- perhaps? Anyway, it was an interesting concept.

Here we are with the Scheibes. They were great pals during the trip. Kathy (the mom) and Tanya (the daughter) are from Oregon.

The end of the Rick Steves Trip!

Ciao!