Trieste, Italy

"La vita non è né brutta né bella, ma è originale!"   (Life is neither ugly nor beautiful, but it's original!)
Italo Svevo, "La coscienza di Zeno"

Trieste was the first town I visited in Italy.

Though it was a charming town to walk in, I took the train to Venice on my first day here. When I came back in the night with my friends, I was amazed how beautiful the town lit up as I had my first scoop of delicious chocolate gelato.
    On my fourth day here, I volunteered for a church cleanup at "Tempio Nazionale a Maria Madre E Regina" in Monte Grisa. Italy's country side is stunning. I need to move to Italy one day to fully grasp the history, the people and the language. There is only so much reading you can do before you get a full connection of the country. I noticed some of the older Italians spoke a different dialect. Being the curious person that I am, I google it to find out that in Trieste they also speak Triestine, a dialect of Venetian. In addition, there is a small Slovenian population here, with the border being so close to Trieste. Slovenia is another country I have in my bucket list to visit, sooner then later, I hope.
   When I was on top of the hills at Monte Grisa, I saw the "Castello di Miramare".  For a moment there, I felt like I was in a story book. Proud that I had taken the off beaten path for a day, I promised myself to do this more often in the future. Having a good blend of tourist attractions and off beaten paths to smaller towns. After cleaning, the priests invited us to an Italian lunch they had prepared for us to show us their appreciation.  Nothing beats a hands down home made Italian meal.

New York City

Follow my blog with Bloglovin I  love.... NYC!

"I am not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens."
Woody Allen

The first time I came to NYC in 1995, it was on

NewYear's Eve. My friend took me to a Jamaican neighborhood underground party and I had my first taste of Jamaica food. But a lot has change since then. I returned for fleet week as a sailor and got to experience my first Yankees and Boston Red Sox game, broadway show, ride up to the Empire State Building and a tour of ground zero.  I spent a lot of time giving tours to the civilians on our ship when I realized that I had to come back in the future and experience NYC in a longer visit. You could be here for a month and still not see everything. That's why I booked myself a reservation to Pink in the City Hostel for about 3 to 4 weeks in 2010 during the fall season. After that, I started coming back through out different seasons in the summer, winter and spring.  Since I only live 4 hours away, my $30.00 round trip tickets from megabus or greyhound has made it easier for the visits

Bahrain

Manama

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change" Charles Darwin

 I enjoyed a lot of the local dishes and a night out
with my friends at the Hard Rock Cafe. There was plenty of shopping to do at the Seef mall and open air flee markets which are often referred to as the "Souq". I got to barter prices at the souq and bought some mink blankets, a cook book I didn't understand, scarfs, and some artsy stuff from the locals. Right before my ship was leaving, I stock up with a good amount of snacks, spices and other things from the Carrefour since I wasn't going to see land for a while.

Bahamas

Bahamas

“I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free... Why am I so changed? I'm sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those hills.”  Emily Brontë,  Wuthering Heights

From snorkeling, kayaking to horse riding, Bahamas is

definitely a place I let my hair down to have fun and relax by the white sand beaches. Living in Florida for many years gave me the opportunity to hop on a cruise at a short moment notice. I enjoyed the eastern caribbean cruise, why? Because it felt like a vacation from a vacation. No worries of planning, reservations for a hotel or where to find food since everything was on the ship.

Xunantunich Mayan Ruins, Belize

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

Get your sunscreen, insect repellent spray, and

camera if you going to travel to the tropical country of Belize. There is so much to do here but I only had one day so I chose to see the Xunantunich Mayan Ruins. I took the tour bus from Belize City and found out that the ruins was minutes away from the Guatemala border. There was an earthquake the night before, how lucky of me not to be on top of the ruins. Yikes! The Xunantunich ruins, had a 130 foot tall pyramid and well maintained grounds. As I was taking pictures of the stone carvings, I was really impressed with the hieroglyphs.  Once I climbed  El Castillo, I was able to get a better view of the Guatemala border and its tropical surroundings.

Gibraltar the Rock

“Juventud divino tesoro
Ya te vas para no volver
Quando quiero llorar no lloro
Y a veces lloro sin querer”      Rubén Darío


I didn't know too much about Gibraltar except that it would be possible to hear Spanglish. My mother

use to forbid us to use Spanglish when we were younger so that we could developed each language naturally. Nonetheless, since it's something I could relate to, I thought it was pretty cool to hear the locals speak English, Spanish or Spanglish. I was also surprise how close Africa was from Europe via the ferry, 35 minutes!  Gibraltar was the first European country that I visited and a great way to introduce the history of British territories. England, I shall visit you one day, perhaps on my way back from Morocco, hopefully. Every ship that goes to the mediterranean must go through the Strait of Gibraltar. And like I mention before, you can also take a ferry to Morocco if you decide to go to Africa one day. This is definitely on my bucket list. Other then the history, the rock, caverns, tunnels and monkeys, I took advantage of a volunteer opportunity to clean up a cemetery and church with my friends and mingle with the locals as we ate all their food. Well almost, not really, the food part.