23 Days in Europe - Strolling Along The Rialto!

Holy Cow! @_@ Almost 2 months of neglect...Oh my poor blog, what have I done to you? Well to start my September month off. I'm jumping right back into providing stock images of Europe. And in this post it's all about Venice! ^_^

Ah my favorite city in the world. Magic, mystery, romance, not to mention Carnivale parties.
It's a city that has fully integrated the canal system to this lifestyle. There are no cars or street roads here. It's all water taxis to get you where you want to go.



We headed off to some of Venice's famous areas

Saint Mark's Square:




And the Rialto Bridge:






Wandering around the city makes it easy to get lost! Especially if you don't have a trusty map like we did...-_- But you find fascinating old nooks and alley ways even old antique stores that we wouldn't find in the tourist areas.






No Pictures! But I just can't help sneaking a snap shot of these wonderful Carnivale masks!
I admit I have an obsession with them...even brainstorming ideas to paint a series of themes based on them.






Exhausted be the end of the day? Hardly!




Until the next adventure in Europe…


Click on the “30 Days in Europe” link to follow our travels around Europe.


Photos are free to take as stock images. Crediting is appreciated!

24 Days in Europe – When in Rome Do What the Romans Do

I’m getting right back to my 30 days in Europe tour. Things have been a little hectic lately but I update eventually. ^_^

“When in Rome Do What the Romans Do.” Ok so it’s not the most original saying, but you can’t help but say it when you’re hitting the ancient cosmopolitan streets of Roma. It’s where Emperor Augustus reign supreme and was once the capital of the most powerful empire on earth. It’s no exaggeration when people say history comes alive.

We headed off immediately to see the Colosseum. It’s the one pit stop you never want to miss. This area is probably the most preserved spot of Ancient Rome around. Surrounding the Colosseum is the Roman Forum, with ruins of temples and aristocratic houses from ancient times. It’s one of the most busy tourist areas besides the Spanish Steps.






Next off we rushed down to visit “La Boca della Verita” or “The Mouth of Truth”. Located in a little church called the Santa Maria Cosmedin near the Tiber River, it is the famous statue where a person sticks there hand into the mouth. If you tell a lie it will bite off your hand, if you tell truths your hand escapes unscathed. Well that’s supposedly how the myth goes. But this was also the famous statue where Audrey Hepburn (my favorite actress) filmed one of her famous romantic scene in “Roman Holiday” with Gregory Peck. As a fan, this was something I couldn’t miss!






Next off we hopped on the metro to the Vatican, home of the Pope and wandered inside to see the ornate décor of the church. My favorite sculpture Michelangelo’s “Pieta” stood behind a bullet proof glass, which was put there because of an incident when a crazed man broke off a finger of the Madonna. Talk about art abuse!

FYI: Catch the Pope giving morning mass on Wednesday. Unfortunately we didn’t go on a Wednesday.








We stopped for a bit for some gelato. (My motto is, you can never get enough gelato) We found a cool gelato shop called “Old Bridge Gelateria” where the gelato is cheaper then anywhere else in Italy and they’re not stingy on giving you an extra scoop! It’s located right across the street from the Vatican Museum.







We made a brief visit to the Spanish Steps and immediately ran away from the sheer chaos of the area. BE WARNED! It’s very crowded! I don't even wanna know what's it's like during tourist season. After that we made off to the Trevi Fountain. Toss a coin in there and make a wish!






We had only a day in Rome. Our feet were exhausted, but we made it to many of the sites we planned on going. (My advice, don’t stop, not even for lunch. You’ll probably be too distracted with all the sightseeing anyway). One day is hardly enough to see Rome, but I say that for every city...

To finish off the day, we sat down for some Italian pasta! YUM!





Until the next adventure in Europe…


Click on the “30 Days in Europe” link to follow our travels around Europe.


Photos are free to take as stock images. Crediting is appreciated!

25 Days in Europe – Florence the Hyping Art Scene

It's that time again...

I've not continued on with my 30 Days in Europe posts for 2 weeks, Whoazers! Well for the first day of May I'm posting double the pics for your enjoyment. I really think Inspiration steams from culture and other art and these Europe photos are at the forefront of where my inspiration come from. So I want to share these with you as well!


Florence! Or as they say in Italian “Firenze!” Like Siena the city is filled with red brick rooftops as far as the eye could see. It’s also the motherland of Renaissance art. Much of the 14th and 15th Century architecture is still very much intact. We started the day exploring the city with a free tour provided by our hostel Archi Rossi. Our tour guide is a Florence native and showed us places that I’ve never even been to during my first trip here! From Medieval Fortresses to Bottecelli Paintings, we soaked in the Florentine culture and realize why this was the hot spot for all things creative. The city is surrounded by the Tuscany scenery and split in half by the Arno River. We took our break and headed for Florence's Santa Trinita Gelateria shop. Needless to say that I went crazy for Gelato ice cream, (my excuse was you’re only in Italy for so long…)





After the tour was finished we headed off to the Pitti Palace Museum, home of the Medici family and patrons of the arts. Like all European palaces, they were ornate, grand, and highly decorative. But I find the Italians had a flare for bold colors and design, whereas the French was light and airy. We walked through markets near the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and found street artists drawing famous works of art on the ground with nothing but colored chalk in their hands. Everyone stopped in their tracks at the sight of 3 artists sitting side by side drawing like a kid in the playground.





Nearby was Florence’s Dumo or catherdral. Every town and city in Italy has one. Florence’s is the largest dome made out of brick in the world and still standing as if was build yesterday! We climb up the 400 Steps, it’s quite a feat I know but the view on the dome is worth it! The painted interior ceiling is a masterpiece as I tried to take pictures without that bullet proof glass in the way. Our day passed by so quick it was evening by the time we got out.




Florence…An awesome city with rich history is one of my top must sees!

Until the next adventure in Europe…




Click on the “30 Days in Europe” link to follow our travels around Europe.


Photos are free to take as stock images. Crediting is appreciated!

26 Days in Europe – The Tuscany Charm

***To all of Italy in regards of the earthquake that occurred on April 6th. Prayers go out to those who have been injured and to the families who have lost loved ones. We hope that we can bring the city devastated by it back to it's original state***



Siena is one of those marveled towns of Italy that seem like the Middle Ages never died. Actually most of Italy is pretty much like that. You’re surrounded by stone buildings and red brick houses, vibrating rich colors as far as the eye could see. Hardly anything in Italy is modernized which truly makes history come to life. It’s hard to choose a town that is the best but I have to say Siena has a special place in my heart.

Just 2 hours away from Florence we traveled by train then by bus, catching up with fellow tourists as they also arrived to soak in the sights. It was a bit of a dreary day but that didn’t stop us as we headed off to see the Siena cathedral or as they call all their churches, the Dumo. Out of all the Dumos in Italy Siena is by far the most beautiful there is. A massive structure with a black and white strip bell tower; it’s one of the most unique churches in Italy. The interior itself is also something to behold. You’re surrounded by so much decorative detail it’ll make your eyes water. From paintings, to statues, to mosaics, it’s really a must see in person.

I could go on and on but I won’t bore you to tears. For the most part, Siena is a day trip outside the city of Florence. Little nooks and alleyways add a lot of charm to the town. It’s easy to get lost and end up in someone’s doorstep but it’s small enough that you’ll easily find your way back again. We caught up with some local students that were just getting out from school, casually walking and joking in Italian with their buddies. You can tell they all have a playful and fun charisma about them. Art exchange student sat on the near by steps sketching away the landscape. We followed them and ended up in the Piazza Del Campo, which is the town square. It’s one of the main attractions of the town that has a huge circular opening, where you see tourist and locals alike taking it easy and sitting on the ground eating gelato. And that’s how we ended our visit, plop down on the ground, eating gelato!





Till next post…let these images inspire your creative process!


Click on the “30 Days in Europe” link to follow our travels around Europe.


Photos are free to take as stock images. Crediting is appreciated!

27 Days in Europe – Journeying the International Route…Italy Here We Come!

Needless to say we had a blessed 3 day touring of one of Europe’s most fashion forward and avant-garde cities, Paris. Now it’s time to pack our bags and head out to a city where the Renaissance movement thrived. You guessed it, Florence, Italy.

We’re traveling European style with first class seats on France’s SNF train. The total travel time of 12 hours! (With a pit stop transfer in Milan, Italy.) It does make your mind boggle on the amount of sitting we had to do, crossing countries. But it was a very pleasant experience overall, mostly due to the fact that our seats had leg room and we dozed off 90% of the time. We found it funny that the train staff miraculously changed from French to Italian right between borders. We wondered where the French staff was hiding. Maybe the Italians stuffed them in the closet? Languages suddenly switched and we found ourselves having to quickly skim our Italian dictionaries. Saying “Grazie” instead of “Merci” Luckily nowadays the universal language is English. We traveled from 7 AM – 7 PM and we were pretty tired by the end of our leg. Dropped in our amazing hostel and plopped on the bed. Next day is where the real fun begins!

How were two broke youngsters able to get their hands on first class seats you may ask? Well it was all thanks to this drawing and Eurail.com’s travel contest on Facebook, which enable me to win two first class train tickets of unlimited train travel for 15 days. I’m forever grateful to Eurail. I was pretty shocked that I even won something at all, but it was one of those "meant to be" moments. The topic post of that particular contest was “Which European Nationality Should You Have and Why?” There were all sorts of crazy answers, mines wasn’t any different saved my drawing which was the only leg up I had, using art to my advantage. I wanted to be an Italian Renaissance artist...a particular fantasy of mines, Hehe. There were awesome posts of people making their own youtube videos even. 5 of us were chosen and as they say the most eye-catching and original posts won. ^_^

FYI: If you’re ever heading off to Europe you can try your luck at winning Eurail passes by entering in their contest here: Eurail Facebook under discussions (Contest theme change monthly)

Another FYI: We stayed at this amazing hostel in Florence, Italy that I highly recommend to any traveler: Hostel Archi Rossi
(Don’t let the movie “Hostel” scare you. Hostels are a great budget alternative to more expensive hotel chains, a lot of the times even better! They’ve got friendly staff, free breakfast, free internet, free city tour everyday, and a private room at half the price from a standard hotel in Europe. Their walls are artfully decorated with murals. It’s catered mostly to backpackers, but family friendly as well. 5 minutes walk away from the city’s train station. With its price, I rate it 5 stars!)




Click on the “30 Days in Europe” link to follow our travels around Europe.


Europe Photos are free to take as stock images. Crediting is appreciated!