Marina’s Bloggariffic

I was at my in law’s place when I noticed a geography book on the table. Flipping it open, I saw various map and was trying to spot Capri - A place where Cart and I visited some years ago.

Somewhere in the corner, my eyes were drawn to a large lake on the left. Not too far away from Rome.

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As the trip to Capri took us about 5 hours, I asked Cart how long it would take to go to Lake Bracciano. Little did I expect that Cart actually suggest that we would go there! Hence, last monday, being a holiday in Rome due to the Patrons Santi Pietro e Paolo, Cart and I went to lake Bracciano.

It took about less than an hour to reach there. And already I was amazed to see this in front of me!

A castle?! Truth be told, I didnt google or did any research about Bracciano, hence my surprise. Cart didnt seem very surprised that I was surprised though. He told me that in every region in Italy, there were sure to be a castle. For me, I was already starting to see Cave of the Golden Rose in front of me.

We took a short walk towards the castle. The housing area looked quite charming with the slopes making the staircases look uneven. I quite like the old look and feel of the area.

We stopped by this small family run restaurant to have a quick lunch where I had a nice plate of Pasta alla Pescatora which is made up of various type of seafood in tomato sauce. I quite liked it.

I’m not going to put Cart’s Pasta with Truffles cos I don’t fancy how it tastes

At length, we headed to Castle Odeschalchi which was just a few minutes away by foot. The gates were closed and we realised that we needed to have a ticket to have a guided tour inside the castle.

It was such a beautiful place. Can you imagine the kings and queens walking up and down this path? And the view of the lake was fantastic! Cart was marvelling at how the rich always knew where to pick a good spot.

Postcard and picnic perfect

It was interesting going through the castle, totally feeling the medieval vibe of the place. I liked looking at the furnitures on display that were actually used during those times. The only thing is that guests were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle which quite disappointed me. What’s wrong with taking pictures? Even the Sistine Chapel lets you take pictures inside, even if its not all of the places.

Anyirritatedhow, the guide was retelling about the history of the castle, and there was one that was extremely memorable to me.

She showed us a bedroom where Lady Isabella slept. It was said that she had many lovers. And after a night of passion, she would lead them to a room nearby and then push him down a well, full of spikes and blades.

Yikes!

And not before too long, the tour was over and we were lead out and the door promptly shut.

I wish the tour wasnt so rushed

In any case, Cart and I went back to the car and headed to the lake next. It was just a few minutes drive away. If it looked quite lovely in the map, it looks even lovelier seen in real life.

There were a number of people suntanning and taking a dip in the water. A number were boating and playing with water rides. It kind of reminded me when I was a kid when I lived in Jurong. Lakeside was full of water rides. Whatever happened to them?

Its so peaceful. Even with the amount of people there, it was very tranquil just to have the wind in my face and looking at the smooth waves on the water, which by the way, is interestingly clear!

I wonder what makes it that way and hugged Cartcart since Braccia means hug in Italian. (By the way, out of context, this is a nice site to make Abbracci cookies)

After the walk along the promenade, Cart and I decided to stop by for a gelato and that’s when I spotted this

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes got married here?! I was in the castle where Tomkat got married? Freaking heck, why didn’t the guide tell me this?!

Bleargh!

It was Cart’s birthday last friday.

It was also the first time that we spent his birthday together in 4 years. Hence it was a special day indeed for the both of us. While I was in Singapore, I used to work in a school and it was rather cumbersome for me to be taking leave during a school day. I remember how Cart would pout and sulk when I told him that I would not be able to make it for his birthday previously

We decided to head to Potpourri in Garbatella which is a some minutes away from home.

On a totally unrelated note, I find it interesting that the road looked wet, but when we went closer, its gone!

We first went here with a group of friends some months ago, and though I thought the food wasn’t that extraordinary, I was looking forward to satisfying my meat cravings.

And no, I am not pregnant, its just that there were not that many places where I could eat halal meat. And there are days when I feel the need to eat burgers, lamb chops, and all sorts of MEAT!

Garbatella is an interesting place for me. For one thing, the style of the buildings are a lot different from the ones you’d see in central Rome.

A house in Garbatella

The buildings are quite charming. The doors and windows were smaller and the floors were not as tall. It was as if, it was a large sized doll house. I would have liked to take more pictures of the houses, but it was dinner time and almost everyone was at home. I could see them peering at me through the windows wondering what the heck I was doing

And after a short walk, we soon we entered Potpourri, the restaurant. As it was friday evening, it was a lot livelier than when we first went here. Being summer, there were a number of people having dinner at the terrace.

For appetizers, Cart had the falafel while I had the Baccalà. A baccalà is salted codfish which is deep fried in batter.

I didn’t realise how freshly fried the food were that I burned the roof of my tongue when I bit in my appetizers. Ouch! But they were really really good.

And for our mains, Cart had the Vegetable Couscous

This was so flavourful to me. Though it looks like curry, it not. The taste is milder than curry but it was just as wonderful, the mix of potatoes, eggplants, carrots, chickpeas, the seasonings, the saffron. It was so tasty that Cart had a second helping.

I had the Kebab. The first time that I had this I was a little puzzled as usually we’d eat kebabs rolled up in a pita bread. Here, the bread was separate in a basket. While I was not too impressed with the kebab the first time that I was there, I absolutely loved the kebab that evening. It was not as oily, the meat was tender and juicy and had a generous amount of tomato and spices. Even by the time I was full, I stuffed myself to finish it. Didn’t want to waste it!

It was just wonderful! And I enjoyed my dinner tremendously. I cant wait to come here again!

Feeling completely stuffed, Cart and I decided to walk around Garbatella to ease the overeating feeling. Moreover, its an interesting place to see, you’d see murals such as these

I like the message at the end of this wall, it said, “you are not alone”

To what I know of, Garbatella is an area where many supported the left party. Hence, the political murals scattered all around. In fact, we stumbled upon an abandoned left party headquarters. It all seemed very Che Guevara to me.

Also, there is a tv drama in Italy called, I Cesaroni. I used to like the series as it showcased a plentiful of Rome’s sceneries. I had fun trying to spot out the different locations in the scenes. Nowadays they don’t use so much of the sceneries, hence I’m not such a big fan of it anymore - moreoever I didnt fancy the storyline nor the characters

Regardless, the show was based in Garbatella. And here are Lynn, Xiangwen and I, posing at the school as shown in I Cesaroni back in March.

Cart and I walked up to the cafe as featured in the show and that’s where we noticed this interesting poster.

At first glance, it looks like a political poster. But upon closer examination, the man in the poster is actually an actor in the show. This is some sort of a viral poster! However, for some reason, the website in the poster doesnt seem to work. I wonder if I should register the domain and refer it to this blog?

What a really interesting place Garbatella is. I should come here again, maybe in daylight the next time

Check out the streetview below!

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Ps : Happy birthday Cartcart!

The post about Angels and Demons gives me the inspiration to blog about one of Rome’s spot to see - the Piazza Navona.

I am not an expert of Rome, so I’ll try to describe it the way that I see it. But there is a plentiful of interesting things to see here. Usually, Cart and I would usually take the tram. Trying to drive and find parking in the city is a maddening, frustrating chore.

Taking the tram, by itself is an interesting experience. Each journey costs one euro regardless of how long or short it is. You could buy a ticket from the dispenser inside and you’d need to get it validated with the machine next to it. And grab a seat and enjoy the view. Sometimes you’d spot interesting scenes like this here :

Personally, I think the pants are too large for the groom :P

And when you are at your destination, you’d need to press a button or the exit doors will not open. The doors aren’t automatic. The first time that I used the tram, I was so alarmed that the doors wouldn’t open that I panicked! I didn’t want to be stuck there!

Anyways, you stop at Via Di Torre Argentina where one of the first things that you will see is an ancient Roman Ruins where Ceasar was murdered. It is also famous for its Cat Sanctuary.

There are heaps of cats here. It appears as if cats are very special in Rome. I wonder if I’d have a kitten any time soon (looks at Cart)

If you walk a little bit further, you’d see a statue covered with paper. This is called the Pasquino.

What is interesting about the pieces of paper is that written on it is complains about the pope and the government. In the old days, it was probably dangerous to speak out openly. Hence it became a “talking statue” to express dissatisfaction. Could this be the inspiration for “the head” in Art Attack?

Moving further along for a few minutes, you’d see the pantheon.

It is impressively big. My guess is that you could stack at least 50 people on their heads before they could even reach the top of the ceiling. Not that anyone would do that, of course.

What’s interesting to me about the Pantheon is that on the top, is a dome. And there is a hole in the middle of it. I’m not sure why the reason for that is. But it makes me amazed at how well preserved the pantheon is, despite the risk of rain splashing in.

And moving along the way, you might find a few interesting things :

Don’t lie to me Pinocchio!

Jerrick and I stumbled upon this little shop selling all sorts of wooden things! He’s a little creeped out by Pinocchio. But I thought it was charming. And I’m probably slow, but I only realised that Pinocchio is an Italian Fairy Tale only recently … doh!

Also, I stumbled upon this statue!

Totally Thief, the Dark Project. I couldn’t even go past level 3. Its too challenging creepy for me.

And at length, Piazza Navona!

Its easily distinguishable because there are always loads of people here. There are restaurants all around the area and there are also a couple of people selling toys and flowers. You’d have to be careful though, since they can be very persistent in selling their stuff. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you might find interesting buskers, like this dude over here. Check out his eyebrows! You might want to click on High Quality to see it clearer.

Next time I spot him, I’d take a 360 degree video ala the matrix!

For me, one of the memorable thing about Piazza Navona is that there are a number of talented artists there.

I like looking at the different artworks, especially the caricatures that the artists drew, on the spot. As I loved caricatures, I had a caricature of Cart and I done one time. He drew Cart nicely, but dude, it looks nothing like me!

I’m sorry but white people totally cannot draw Asians properly

Regardless, Piazza Navona is an interesting place to be. I’ve been told that in the old days, the area will be closed and flooded and there were boat races going on. How they did that, I have no idea. Seems a daunting task to put that amount of water in the area with the technology that they had at the time.

Maybe this is why Neptune has that horrified expression on his face. He’s totally like, “Dude, not again!”

And that concludes today’s road trip.

Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa

Oh, and check it out on street view in Google! Its pretty interesting to see. When is street view coming for Singapore huh?

If you enjoyed this post, check out :

• A day in Circo Massimo
• Tony’s Gelateria - Possibly the best ice cream in Rome

For the first couple of months that I was in Rome, it feels as if I stepped back into time in Singapore. This is because of how old the houses here looked like. Cart tells me that, unlike in Singapore, very few houses, if any at all are demolished after 20 years.

Below is a picture of Viale Ignazio Silone, which is about 10 minutes drive from our home. The first time I was here, I was struck at how similar it reminded me of the places where I used to roam. Either I was delirious, or this really looked like Bukit Timah during the early 80’s.

Cart and I live in an apartment just off the fringes of the ring. Its a typical neighbourhood. And just like my childhood house, Its rare to see houses beyond 10 stories in Rome. Vehicles park right in front of the houses.

Its an intersting neighbourhood. Beside our apartment is a church where every weekend, there will be bells ringing and a congregation will be during its mass. And a few minutes of walking away, there is a little park and a pond where ducks will be swimming. Its relaxing to see them as well as families picnicing here.

One of the thing which I notice immediately is that unlike a Singaporean HDB flat, strangers would not be able to enter freely into the housing corridor. This is because of the gate below. Visitors need to press the buzzer to talk to the owner and the owner decides to let them in or not.

Hence this was one of the few features that dissipated my fear of being murdered in a foreign country where I could not speak the language. Just a bit

Walk up the stairs and this is our house!

And just for fun, quite like the virtual tour of our secondlife home, here is a quick tour of our real life home :

What do you think?

If you liked this post, you might enjoy :

• The priceless memories of living in Singapore
• Tour of our Secondlife home

Sidenote :

A couple of my friends are competing in some competition - Check it out!

• Do vote for Nadnut and Honeymeow in the GI Challenge
• And not forgetting DK and Krisandro in the OMY Blog Awards

All the best guys!

Cart and I were watching Angels and Demons yesterday evening. Though I couldn’t comprehend the movie in its entirety since it was dubbed in Italian, I found it interesting nevertheless. Even if there were many parts which I found completely incredible.

For example, the fact that the lead character, Professor Langdon is able to move around central Rome in less than an hour is completely amazing! Anyone who has been in Rome knows of how bad the traffic is here. It intensifies as you go nearer the touristy spots.

Look at the amount of people at the Spanish Steps

And it will be like winning the lottery if you ever get to park directly in front of your destination since trying to find parking in Rome is extremely challenging. Its not uncommon for a Roman to drive around the neighbourhood for about 15 mins and more, just trying to find parking.

So much so that the people here does double parking sometimes

There was one particular scene where one of the kidnapped Cardinal gets bound in weights and dropped into the fountain in Piazza Navona. In the movie, it seemed that the fountain was very deep.

This is the famous fountain in Piazza Navona

In real life, its quite hard to drown anyone in there. The area is extremely crowded with people and only authorized vehicles can pass through. Moreover, the fountain is about knee deep in water. All you have to do is to stand up.

I am very amused.

Obi Wan on the other hand, is not amused

With every new chapter in life, is a good opportunity for a fresh start. So I’ll start a new, as if this is the first entry in my blog.

Hai!

No, I dont pose like an Asian

My name is Marina. I enjoy the arts, music and a whole multitude of things. I also enjoy exploring new places. As a kid, I had an extremely inquisitive mind and sometimes get myself into trouble by exploring and wandering on my own by getting lost.

Online, I am known as rinaz. Its nothing extraordinary actually, its just a short form for marina’s. Even the cartoon representation of me came out as a fluke, drawing on Macromedia (or is it Adobe now?) Flash on a bored weekend.

Anyway, I am a Singaporean and have been living there most of my life. And life was pretty much ordinary and idyllic. During the weekdays I would go to work and after that meet my good friends, Juli, Hema and Geri every now and then.

It was only till a few years ago when things started to be a little more exciting. After my exhillarating trip to Thailand, I decided to take up my riding license. I started to blog and I explored various 3D communities.

It just opened up my world.

I passed my riding test and acquired a scooter after that. I fell in love with riding my scooter. I experienced places in Singapore that I wouldn’t normally go to - even those which I never realised existed! Whoever knew that there was a goat farm in urban Singapore?

With the blogging and the online community as well as the motoring community, I met people that I enjoyed being with both online and in real life. It was a great feeling, to be a part of something.

Life is pretty good.

I met Cartcart on Secondlife. We fell in love and after a whirlwind long distance romance, exactly four years after we tied the knot online, we got married for real.

A week after that, I migrated to Italy, to live with Cart.

The first few weeks was probably the hardest. It was winter and cold and deary. A huge shock for me, living on the equator for most my life. I didnt speak the language. Save for Cart’s family and friends, I didn’t know anyone here. I felt extremely lonely.

I could not even do the things I used to enjoy doing anymore. Like scootering. And I feel like I’m missing out on a lot back in Singapore. To be completely honest, every now and then, I get depressed.

Its leaving a whole life behind. Something that you’re familiar with, that you’ve nurtured for years. Its an entire culture shock when I arrived in Italy. And the awareness made me feel very very small. I feel like a nobody here.

But I’m trying to be more positive. And I’ve been trying my best to assimilate to the culture and people here. The first 5 months, I undertook the Italian language course. I still suck at speaking Italian, but its a first step.

Me and my multinational classmates in Italian language class

And thanks to facebook, I found a few interesting events that I could go to and meet some people. I even found some Singaporeans here in Rome. Can you believe that?

Here are two of the very lovely ladies with Dea.

After all, its a choice that I made, right? Rome isn’t made in a day, and as such, I shouldnt expect to rebuild my life in a snap. It takes time. And effort. Its not easy. But I just have to have faith.

If you’ve always wondered why there are loud drummings going on outside your window, usually Sundays, chances are you are hearing a Malay Wedding precession.

This is when the groom is arriving to the bride’s place. He is accompanied by friends and relatives as well as a group of kompang drummers. Together they make their presence known by the loud drumming.

The groom tries to approach the bride, but the bride’s family doesn’t make it easy for the groom to pass though! Just take a look at this video :

Very noisy right?

What this post, this is the final instalment of the wedding series.

Take a peek at the previous posts :

• Part 1 - The ROMM Interview
• Part 2 - The Marriage Guidance Course
• Part 3 - The Solemnization
• Part 4 - The Wedding Dinner

If anyone is interested, here are contacts for some of the people involved with the wedding. I’m not paid for plugging, but I think that they did a good job

• Cupcakes by Izah’s Kitchen
• Pelamin by Kamaria Wedding House : 8290 3249
• Mak Andam by Kak Lili : 9046 7740

Also huge thanks to friends and family and everyone who helped out! There are just too many! And especially to you, mak. I miss you

With one chapter is closed, and a new chapter starts

Sidenote : Thanks for the plug, Sha!