rome-ing

ok, ok, this is kinda required and im very tired so dont hope for anything too complete. i do have pics to fill in the gaps but i still have yet to reduce the size of the pix for easier viewinng

anywayz... here we go..

we started off int he airport, like most trips. there was an unbearably long line for the plane we were gonna take(which was a flight to dubai, probably because it was the first flight of three that went to rome and i guess we all know why everyones on their way there.

the plane ride was great, ralph told us that the plane was one of the newer ones and it was good too, we were gonna need every kind of luxury to last through 12hrs worth of sitting in a chair. I waded through 2movies, 2ep of drewcarey, 1cut phantomoftheopera and 2 meals. Airline food wasnt so bad after all, what they lacked in quality, they took up in quantity. The highlight of the trip was the view, manila never looked so small to me, the whole city was just a bunch of lights and hiways, with casino filipino being the only thing recognizable from the air.

at dubai we had to burn 4hrs waiting for the connecting flight to milan, we looked around and took pictures of the airport. it was actaullly more of a mall than an airport coz of all the decorations. while waiting for the connecting flight, i found out some of my sisters moisturizer spilled... it was disgusting in my bag for awhile, but it was worth it for the laughs.

the flight to milan was uneventful, more movies and this time we were in the aisle seat so no views either. there were 3 of us and the aisle seats were made up of 4. i was the one the ended up beside the other passenger, he wasnt so bad except that he was really big and he laughed a lot, although that wasnt so bad either since iw as laughing along with him, we were actually watching the same thing most of the time. and yeah, we were stuffed with food the whole trip.

we waited awhile in milan for the 3rd and last flight to rome, we spent the time talking to this priest that was stationed in papua new guinea talking about etymology and the upcoming marriage of prince charles. we eventually got on the plane and found out the wait took so long coz of a mix up on which gate we were supposed to wait at. the palne ride was also uneventful, except for ralph actaully lying on the seat since we can take up the whole 4 aisle seats(the passenger beside me was only heading for milan).

at rome, we were welcomed by ralphs father and we breezed through customs. at luggage pickup we found out that macky's luggage was still somewhere in dubai. he wasn't too bothered though since the staff there seemed to have a procedure for lost baggage and assured us we'll get the luggage in a day. macky will get $50 for everyday his luggage is delayed... actually he was supposed to get 70euro but ralph checked in the luggage under his name.. we still dont know if the delayed luggage will be covered by the insurance.

we took a car driven by ralphs mom to their house in via cologne, we rested a bit there and gethered up one nights worth of clothes and scooted on over to the phil. embassy to stash our stuff. we were in hurry to get to the chapel of santa maria del popolo where a mass for filipinos was going to start.

GMA was there and i managed to get a pic, as well as shots of the chapel. did i mention that it was friggin cold? it really was and i was unlucky enough to wear only a shirt and my least warmest jacket on that trip. i ate a pizza that had a fried egg in it in a quaint little ristorante and had dessert at this gelati at san crispino, noted to serve the best gelati in rome.

yeah, the honey gelati was to die for... i plan to get another before we left. and we were lucky enough that the guy in the store was filipino, he treated us to gelati. we scooted on over to the trevvi fountain, shivering on our way there. i borrowed some filipino coins from macky(since using euros there would be an absolute waste) and wished. we got our pictures taken by this really nice japanese girl.

we then went on over to the phil. emabassy stationed near vatican city to spend the night. we had to forget about grabbing our bags coz we didnt have much time. we had to wade through crowds of sleeping bags and polish people hoping to get first seats in the mass to be held for the pope tomorrow morning.

after an hour of wading, we eventually got to the embassy and slept on the carpet immediately, the whole lack of sleep thing catching up.

the enxt morning, we woke up pretty early to the sight of mobs of people crowding around vatican city. we jumped in and got stuck for 4hrs in the crowd. by about 7.30, we got into the vatican city with out yellow tickets. we found a seat somewhere near the altar(good enough to have a clear shot of the coffin) and waited for the mass to start.

the mass itself was beautiful, it was tedious but the latin singing managed to wake me up through most of it. we got to see the coffin of the pope and luckily i still had battery for the shots. somewhere in between, we saw john carey and valentinothe designer. we also saw jessica soho who interviewed us a bit on how we were enjoying our trip.

after the mass we went to another ristoranti for breakfast of antipasti and some pasta and went on over home to sleep sleep sleep dinner sleep sleep. and finally got here, cleaning up emails and stuff.

wow, will post more when more stuff happens. later!