Noel & Via

The title comes from lyrics of the Olympics soundtrack when it was held here in Barcelona in 1996, thereabouts.

We were exhausted when we got to our hotel, NH Calderon. We slept all the way to dinner in our wonderful hotel. It was very clean and comfortable and was at a special rate in Rambla Catalunya, where most of the bars are in Barcelona. It normally costs 220Euro a night!!! We just looked around a bit then slept in late the next day, trying to recoup from our train fiasco.

Posted by Via at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We managed to go around Sevilla one last time since our train ride was scheduled for the afternoon. Our suprise stop was the museum inside the Plaza del Toro. I originally wanted to watch a bullfight, but after seeing it on TV I'm glad I didn't. But being in the stadium was breath taking... not to mention hot.

Posted by Noel at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

We started packing after a lazy breakfast, around 11am. When our hotel room’s phone rang, we suddenly hit fast forward on our packing as it was reception reminding me that
we had to leave our room by 12noon. Since our train ride wasn’t until 6pm that night, I had thought that we could pack leisurely and leave our hotel by around 4pm. Standard checking out time totally slipped my mind!

We still had time to spare after we left our luggage with front desk, so we went around after we had lunch at our favorite La Leyenda, our hotel’s bar. We feasted on our favorites: Brucheta de langostino con arroz cremoso (mine- the prawns in the entry on the 27th) and Solomillo de ternera en su jugo con setas y suave de patatas (Noel’s- this is like beef tenderloin with mushrooms and potatoes) We went to see the Guadalquivir River and took in a short tour of the Museo del Plaza de Toros. It was something to be in that huge ring, imagining the roaring people, but the sweltering heat and bleeding animals are things I do not look forward to, especially together. (Noel and I caught a bullfight on TV, and I couldn’t finish looking what with the bull bleeding to death but still running with 4 spears stuck in his back.)

We made it to our first train station, Atocha, (yes, we had to go back to Madrid from Sevilla as our travel agent couldn’t find straight train rides) in plenty of time. This time the ride wasn’t as comfortable as it was on the AVE coming to Sevilla. Our coach was packed with little children! They were very cute, but they also cried a lot. Poor Noel had to endure constant pounding on the back of his seat. There were 2 little girls. One was like an angel with golden curls and she was really talkative, the other was like a pixie, with her curly brown hair cropped short. She kept bounding up and down the aisles of the train. Then there were 3 little handsome boys, seemingly little versions of Ralph Fiennes or Prince William. All were dressed in the same adorable blue pin-striped jumpers with white shirts and tiny white moccasins. One of them seemed to have a crush on the little blonde.
The ride on this train was bumpier though, and I think that added to the anxiety of the kids because they were all crying together at one point. I was ready to cry myself when they showed no signs of being consoled.

Towards the tail-end of our trip, the children were less agitated as they were all offered caramelos (candy) by the train attendant. The little pixie was taking a survey at this point which was really so comical as she was doing it very seriously. “No tienes reloj.” She told the woman in the row before me. “No tienes reloj.” She told me next, very matter-of-factly. “Pero, tengo.” And I pointed to my watch, her Mommy beside her agreeing. “Y tu, tienes reloj?” I asked her in turn. To which she very simply replied, “No.” In a tone that sounded like she was shrugging her tiny shoulders. Then she skipped happily away again. Children are so wonderfully surprising like that. 

Then our real marathon began, as the train we needed to get on to make it to Barcelona was in the Chamartin Station. And heavens, Chamartin was about a good hour away from Atocha! (Noel says it was only ½ an hour) You can imagine how our taxi driver flew us there just in time. This train bound for Barcelona, left about an hour after our first train arrived in Atocha Station from Sevilla. Noel was already so angry with me because he says he doesn’t like being rushed. But it’s a good thing we didn’t take our time as there was quite a line for the lift for people with lots of luggage. And we had lots of luggage.

Posted by Via at 03:30 AM | Permalink

We made it to the train just to be subject to the shock of our very bones- very tired bones!!! We knew that we would have beds that night as the train ride was 9 hours from Sevilla to Barcelona and that we were going to be with another couple in the same room. We just didn’t know how tiny the quarters were going to be, and that we were going to be sharing with a nun who wasn’t allowed to sleep in the same quarters as a man! Sure enough, when we took a second look at our ticket, it said “LADY”. This meant it was for the women’s section, which we were not aware of from the very beginning. Poor Noel had to lug the suitcases back out of the train, as the train personnel was about as useful as jellyfish are to beach-goers.

The folks at the tickets section of the train station were extremely helpful. One of them told Noel he should have worn a skirt and fake boobs so that he’d look like a woman. “Quiero llorar.” I told him. He replied with very wise words: “No lloras mujer! Hay cosas mas importante y mas peor.” And then we were directed to the train station’s hotel, right across called Hotel Chamartin where we had to pay 90 Euro for our one night stay!

We were surprised to find that we were booked in a suite, and were so grateful for warm showers. It was midnight by the time we had dinner and we had to be up early the next day, in time for the ticket sales to open at 630am. We had to purchase a whole new set of tickets to go to Barcelona. A whole long had already formed as early as 6am!

Posted by Via at 01:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

After a short trip to a mall, We went on to Plaza España in Sevilla. I can't believe we almost skipped this tourist attraction. The plaza was quiet tho. No tourists in site. It was a quick visit but we loved it anyway. We then walked back and stopped for dinner at a place that served Paellador, some sort of prepacked paella. The food wasn't great but the walk was.

Posted by Noel at 07:33 AM | Permalink

We hit our first mall (other than the well-known El Corte Ingles, which is like our Rustan's back home) in Sevilla. It's called Nervion Plaza in Calle Luis Morales. It had the usual brand names like Mango, Benetton, and a few other Spanish brands. One thing that really shocked us was the logo of one of the women's clothing stores was a flower exactly like the logo of Kamiseta! Even their collection was similar. I wonder if the owners are aware of this.

Since the mall was rather far from where our hotel was, we had to take the cab this time. Lunch was at a fastfood joint which wasn't bad- called Cerveceria Gambrinus Sevilla.

We took a walk to Plaza España at night. it was quite grand. Weather was crisp and other people were strolling around, some with their pets. One dog wouldn't let go of his leash that his owner started lifting him off the ground with it! When that didn't work, he was swinging him around like a bolo. But the doggie still held fast. What grip! Dinner was farther down, not-so-great paella in the Catedral area.

Posted by Via at 03:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I cannot describe the grandeur of La Alhambra, the Moorish architecture that is a UNESCO World Heritage tourist attraction, visited by some 6,000 – 8,000 people daily! Just wait for Noel to post the photos.

Bought some products made of olive oil today at our pitstop souvenir shop and “los servicios” from our day trip to Granada from Sevilla. “Eres Espanola?” The saleslady asked me. When I shook my head no, she proceeded: “Eres Ingles?” When I finally told her I was Filipina, she said my Spanish was good. That really made my day because I feel my Spanish is pretty rusty.

Then our adventure highlight for the day, nasiraan yung bus namin! Good thing we were already near the Sevilla hotels. We sat on the sidewalk and baked in the sun some more. At least we were chatting away with our fellow Filipino, newfound friend, Toni. We met her at our tour of La Alhambra in Granada. We had lunch together at this pricey place recommended by our tour guide called Paco Martin in Granada. She was on her way to an 8-hour bus ride to Portugal and recommended the Melia chain of hotels to us via Viajes Halcon. According to her, a 5-star hotel comes out to about Euro 90 a night which is very reasonable.

We ended our day with a lovely al fresco dinner at our hotel’s bar. The beef carpaccio Noel had and my prawns with creamy sour risotto were all excellent! We capped the night with hot chocolate, as it’s getting quite chilly here in Sevilla already. Plan to send out some postcards tomorrow.

Posted by Via at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

A day trip to Granada started out early. It was surprisingly cold that morning. The La Alhambra is a mix of moorish and christian architecture. It is more like a town than a castle. Although we breezed thru it we were in a tour group. That took a lot out of us. Whew!

Posted by Noel at 07:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A day around the town. We went to some of the tourist spots like the Cathedral with the La Giralda tower (shown here) and the Real Alcazar castle. We enjoyed this leisurely day and ended with a fine dinner at La Leynda, the hotel's cafeteria. Hotel Bequer was the best choice. It is walking distance from the tourist attractions and shopping areas. The food is excellent.

Posted by Noel at 07:20 AM | Permalink

Just call it Sleepy Sevilla. Seems like we came at the wrong time. Everyone is on vaction including some of the restaurants. We ended up eating in El Buzo, beside the Plaza del Torro. Very expensive seafood, but good. We've been looking for seafood. Seville proved to have better food than we had so far.

Posted by Noel at 07:05 AM | Permalink

Thanks to nick we were able to rent a big Citroen sedan and I was able to drive in the highways of spain. The street signs are terrible. We got lost trying to find the highway but it was straight on to Avila from there. Aside from the Plaza and the grand stone castle walls that surrounded the city, there was nothing else to see in Avila. So we decided to stopover Segovia on the way back.

This was much better. The tight roads didn't stop us from getting inside the Alcazar Castle. Nick, Gretchen and I climed 140 steps to get to the top. It was a view but I think I am getting old for tight tower staircases (it was so tight that we had to stop everytime there was someone on the way down. Then we had dinner beside the magnificent Aquaduct (where mitch, johnsy and nick left their 20 peso bill.) A trivia I learned was that these aquaducts were made without cement holding them together, the architecture was so precise that the pressure of the rocks hold them together.

Posted by Noel at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Palacio Real is located in the heart of Madrid. It is where royalites used to live, and some parts are still used by the present day monarchs. Most of it is now used as a museum. It is grand and magnificent. It had paintings from the famous painters of spain, Goya and Velazquez, in its grandoise rooms. It was quite a view.

Posted by Noel at 09:31 PM | Permalink

After waking up late from the party last night. Gretchen, Via and I had a brunch and headed to Museo del Prado. We saw paintings by Goya and Velasquez among others. It was grand. We then met up with Nick and walked to other landmarks in Madrid. One notable landmark was the Columbus memorial where we took shots under a magnificent fountain (shown here)

Posted by Noel at 08:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here are the pictures from the that night I was telling you about. I actually forgot this guy's name, he just came up to one of the girls in our group and joined our party. Apparently this is a normal thing here in madrid. People are very very friendly.

Posted by Noel at 07:50 AM | Permalink

We met Gretch at the Madrid Aeropuerto last Monday, August 21 at around 11am. We smashed ourselves into one cab and proceeded to our Tryp Menfis Hotel along Gran Via. We struggled with the heavy hotel
doors and our baggage which kept falling all over the place. We were too exhausted from laughing to care though.

Lunch was at a quaint little bar called Le something, sadly I forgot. Noel had scrumptious angulas con gambas, Gretch had 4 apperetivos that she could choose herself from the bar, and I had some bacalao called Al Pil Pil. It was swimming in some type of creamy sauce. It wasn’t too much of a hit.

We went back to our hotel for a much needed siesta, for Nic was picking us up for a night out on the town, Madrileño style.  We met Nic’s friends Pocholo and Mayte for dinner; afterwhich we hit our first bar where we met some more of Nic’s friends. We then proceeded to our next stop, called La Zarzamora. We were just getting warmed up to the Spanish music here when we were invited to move to yet another bar. We had to wait for the rain to stop first though, so Gretch, Nic, Mayte, Noel and I stayed by the doorway.

I whipped out my cell from my bag as I thought I felt it vibrate. I lifted it up to the sky, and squinted since it was so dark inside the bar. The Spanish guy talking to Nic, turned to me and said: “Eso es un mobil.” (As if, it came from my bag!) To which I replied: “No tengo mensajes.” “Te voy a mandar ahora.” Mystery boy (Nic thought he looked about 15!) offered. He had a friend with him who was asking us to teach him some Filipino, and they asked if we were waiting for our friends. I explained we were with our friends already and I pointed to my husband as well. To which he replied: “I understand.” Backed away, and started talking to Nic again. We moved onto our final bar for that night, O’ Connell’s.

“Todo! Todo! Todo!” Was all I could hear with matching pounding on the table while I tried to down my flaming Lamborghini. (This was a man from the bar who wasn’t even part of our group). I burnt 2 straws in the process, as I was not drinking the blue Curacao, Bailey’s and kahlua concoction fast enough. We went in pairs to the bar, as was suggested by Poch, our master of ceremonies that night.

Nicola and I were teary-eyed after we emptied our glasses. I could feel it burning down my throat and my insides were topsy-turvy soon after. I remember saying out loud that my head was so big and that everyone was moving so slowly. We ended the night jumping up and arms around one another, in a circle.

The next day Gretch and I woke up with awful hang-overs, and our own stories to tell.
The funniest thing was the photo Noel had with this guy at the bar. We were all screaming and laughing: “Who’s this????”

Posted by Via at 06:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After a long flight to Madrid, with a short stopover in the Zurich airport, we are finally here. And finally after 2 days we have time to sit down in an internet cafe and log our thoughts.

The first night was very tiring. We slept for a while after lunch and then met up with Nick, our kabarkada who has been in Spain for more than a year, and went on to what would be a long and fun night.

After dinner at a restaurant, apparently owned by a filipino and with filipino waiters, we headed to a bar that played a lot of loud Marc Anthony music. Then we were off to O´Connels where our new filipino friends offered us a Flaming Lamborgini. I had 2 shots. And we were totally wrecked. The night ended with all of us jumping up and down at the live band´s music.

Day 2 was spent going brunch, visiting Museo del Prado and Parque Retiro. Walking almost all the time made our toes ache. We had plans for the night but we had to give it up and just sleep in our room. The weather here by the way isn´t as hot as it was. We are so glad that the heatwave seem to be going away. In fact we experienced some light rainfall the other day.

Posted by Noel at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Just after we were told that we were 20kilos overweight at the NAIA airport, I was discussing with my Dad our possible options when I lost my balance and knocked over my 2 red handcarries. They toppled forward onto an unsuspecting man. He shrieked: "Oh shit!" as this blur of red made his eyes enlarge similar to saucers!!! I apologized profusely of course to which he very nicely replied: "No problem, I was just so shocked." I was afraid I might've given him a heart attack. Lucky for me, he was nice.

So my Mom and Dad had to rush to the airport after we had decided to unpack what we could. We stuffed them into plastic bags to be able to give up one other suitcase. I felt like I was in an episode of Survivor when Noel asked me: "Choose 1." And he was pointing to 3 pairs of pants, each one a different color, and each equally a necessity, I had originally thought. After a gasp, I amazed myself at how quickly I settled for your ever-reliable basic blue jeans.

Here we are trying out the wireless connection at Changi airport. Our flight to Madrid is delayed by 1 hour, so we'll be taking off at 12MN instead. More time to mill around and take leisurely breaths. Ok, my minutes are almost up. Ciao!

Posted by Via at 12:02 AM | Permalink

Our flight has been "Re-timed" to 12mn. So we are here in Changi airport and as I suspected it has a wireless internet connection. Thank God we decided to get an IBM Thinkpad T40 with integrated wifi connection (intel centrino technology) Thanks Che!

Our flight has been sweet so far. We got to catch "Finding Nemo" in the planes personal entertainment system. Looks like more hi-tech innovations to come. Ok, I have to go before our 30min prepaid time is up.

Posted by Noel at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For once, I find myself groping for the right words. Many thank yous are in order for our dear parents, we know this move hasn't been easy on you. But thank you for supporting us all throughout.

Thanks Mama for taking on my list of habilins and for reminding me of many things I might need, for taking us on our winter shopping spree and our wonderful seafood dinners. To Dud for letting us use one of your cars when the CRV was sold and for understanding why we need to make this move for now. We love you Momma and Dud!!!!

To our sweet Abuelita, muchisimas gracias otra vez! :) To dear Tita Cay, I was really touched with the handmade Swarovski bracelets you made. Sorry, but Cosi made one of them lose with her naughty legs! Tita Lit, Tito Smit and Tovit, for all the rah-rahs and the fantastic surprise! To Tito Chit and Tanel for the use of Apols to bring us to the airport today. Tita Nin, don't worry, di babaho si Noel at gaganda pa ako!

Camu, you know we were so moved with your thoughtful music compilation! :) Fran, we will take with us our memories of our hanging out esp. our Taken marathon (which didn't last hehe), I'm glad you're busy with lots of your own stuff now. Email me often k? :)

To Mommy Vicki, you've always been my other Mom! :) I too, shall miss our long talks but we'll see you again very, very soon with lots of new adventures to share for sure. Thank you, thank you for everything! We'll take good care of one another.

Posted by Via at 01:16 PM | Permalink

All our bags are packed and we are ready to go...
We are on our way to the airport later after lunch, just had to do some harrassing last minute packing and looking for documents. I'm glad we are about to end the frazed packing and start on our long journey. I am actually starting to get excited.

Our itenerary, Manila to Madrid (with stopovers in Singapore and Zurich) a total of 18+ hours. Nay! God bless us. And I would like to apologize in advance to all our avid readers that we may not be having updates until we get an internet connection.

Special thanks to our parents for being there and helping us through this whole trip. We love you. Thanks also to Tita Lit, Tito Smit, Tita Cay and Abuelita for the support. To those who sent me text messages, thank you for the kind words... now stop texting kasi mahal na hehe. To everyone in the despedidas, we really feel loved. To amer (allan abaca), for helping me with my suit from Marks and Spencer.

We will still keep our numbers (globe to globe roaming just costs P1 per text from the philippines) and our email addresses. We will try to update often and will be online most of the time thru MSN or Yahoo messenger. See you guys soon.

Posted by Noel at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Noel's done a great job of doing a postcard type lay-out of our most recent photos. :) From the despedida at Valley where Tita Nin wouldn't stop hogging the microphone, the wonderful food and catching up with our barkada at Aids' house, the high turn-out of our dear IBM friends who made it all the way to Makati and who treated us to lunch at Di' Mark's to our sumptuous banquet at Westin's Alfiere last night courtesy of our wonderful Mommy Vicki!

Everything was just so well-documented! So many special people wishing us well on this next big adventure in our lives. It was almost as if we were having a wedding again! :) May God bless you all and keep you safe always! We are so blessed to belong to this circle. We really feel all the love guys!!! We love you all! I better stop na before I get really emotional.

Posted by Via at 10:34 PM | Permalink

Noel and I are on a movie spree as we know access to movies won't be as easy in Ivrea and they'll all be dubbed in Italian! :( Though that might be funny too! We saw The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which I thoroughly enjoyed. Captain Nemo was my favorite, but Dorian Gray came as a close second. I think it was mostly because Stuart Townsend did such an excellent portrayal. And Frannie and I love him! Mental note to tell Maics to watch this movie as she likes him too. Right Maics? :) We saw the Fil-Am movie The Debut also and it is a must-see especially for Pinoys that have lived in the States or are living there now. It's a riot!! All the funny Pinoy things like the huge fork and spoon hung on the wall or the bastos (lewd) barrel man are in there. You don't have to be Pinoy thought to appreciate it, it's a nice thing for foreigners to watch too. :) We're going try to catch Finding Nemo today too. :)

Posted by Via at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We woke up quite early yesterday to be at the health clinic, Healthway, for our annual physical check-up. We arrived there at about 815am, and already, there was a queue. We tried out a new clinic this year c/o of our HMO which is Pryce Care. There are too many windows to go to and several visits to the cashier for signing off. (Which reminds me, I can finally call them for our results today) Not to mention the long periods of waiting and the nurses and doctor scrambling for the patient files and medical equipment. The one that was really funny to me was the color-blindness book test where you have to identify the numbers written amongst colored dots. The numbers themselves are formed by another set of colored dots! I felt it was a waste of time. Our old clinic, Patient First, proved to be more efficient, as we were finished with all our lab tests and doctor's consultation in about 2.5 hours!

The doctor discovered that I have a throat infection so I'm taking antibiotics now and Noel was given Hydrite for his upset stomach (2 weeks old already) and anti-histamine for his persistent dry cough. I really hope she knows her stuff because she kept leaving the room because she forgot something like her eye chart, color-blindness book, etc. I was trying very hard not to scream. It's wonderful to write "DONE" though beside Item no. 32 in my Master Checklist for our big move, which is to have our annual physical! YAY!

Posted by Via at 10:43 AM | Permalink

The highlight of this dinner wasn't that it was our despedida. It was the heavy rains that poured late in the afternoon that caused flood and traffic. Most people came late but we were glad that they came anyway. Thank you for all the support and the kind words. We will surely miss these family gatherings. See you guys in December

note: click on image to view gallery

Posted by Noel at 09:47 PM | Permalink

A reunion lunch at Di'Marks in Greebelt 3 and dessert at Bizu with Via's ex-officemates from IBM.

note: click on the image to view gallery

Posted by Noel at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A merienda cena was held at Victoria House, Valley Golf. A despedida for us. It started with singing and ended early after dinner. The menu: lengua, diablo, do-it-yourself fresh lumpia with soup and salad. Of course I can only wish that I had eaten more since my tummy had been stricken with LBM again. Oh well.

The party was so fun that my mom didn't wanna leave yet and wanted to sing some more :)

Posted by Noel at 04:16 PM | Permalink

Aids, Cris and Pat held a despedida at Aids' house last saturday. There was Cris' famous salpicao, and of course the always present Charlie's Pritchon. Sarap!! As for the people, almost everyone was there. There were different groups and circles of friends but it was all fun. Thanks guys.

note: click on the image above to view more pictures

Posted by Noel at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After settling in here in paranaque for a week, it seems like the perfect transition between our old lifestyle to the coming one. Here we do almost everything in one room, work and sleep. We are slowly getting used to having no car and no major malls accessible. I get bored in the middle of the day and want to go to the nearest starbucks but can't.

As I've heard from the students at my future school, the Institute is situated in a provincial town north of Italy. English isn't spoken there. There is no starbucks (but of course, Italians have better cafes) There are no major malls accessible, no cinemas. Civilization is 2 hours away by train (Milan) And we will do almost everything in one room, work, eat and sleep.

Posted by Noel at 12:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday we celebrated our Tita Angel's birthday- what a night it was! Terry's was our own that evening and wonderful food kept coming out of the kitchen- the mixed seafood, fabada and wonderful cheese and cold cuts were extremely mouthwatering! Things started to liven up when Abuelita (my Lola) was escorted to a beautiful German piano that dated back to the 1800's. (1820 to be exact) And long candles were lit for extra effect. She played beautiful Mozart and we all cheered with delight.

Then when Juan Carlos, the chef and owner of that culinary haven, took over the keys, that's when the real fun began. Tito Chit turned into a flamenco dancer/matador, stomping one foot on the ground in flamenco fashion while simultaneously holding out a bright red blazer that ironically belong to El Toro himself, este herself, Tita Nin- hehe! Everyone was in stitches and roaring at this point, perhaps also because we were heady with the red wine already. :)
The kids also had their turn at the piano, with Juan Carlos as their guide.

Dessert was an indescribably dreamy chocolate something with caramel drizzle on top that seriously melted in your mouth. Tea and coffee were also being served. I couldn't help but tell Noel how much we would miss our crazy caboodle in the weeks to come. But that did not stop me from telling "El Toro" that the next party (our upcoming despedida) was a lunch in Tagaytay for her, but in Valley Golf 6pm merienda-cena for the rest of the family. Hehehe! :)
I love our crazy family!!!

Posted by Via at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow! Finally after a week of preparation and moving, we got to sleep in late. What a luxury. Its beginning to be more comfortable and homey here in our room in Paranaque. We have restored the scent of our room. We even have setup a small office across our bed. I wonder if this is how big our room in Italy will be. Of course there are still some unfinished projects that hound me. But today was a good and restful day.

Posted by Noel at 10:54 AM | Permalink