Viva L'Italia - The Capital Rome, Roma

If you remember, Rome was our first destination in Italy. But we only stayed shortly at the airport before we flied to Venice. After 8 days wandering around Italy, finally we went back to the capital of the country.

Roma.

Viva L'Italia - A Page of Naples, Napoli

We were scared by Naples at first, but maybe we didn't see the real inner part of the city.

Driving to Naples from Amalfi, the streets of Naples was a little bit in disorder to us. The apartment we booked was in a small lane near the port. The location was great, but the neighbor seemed unsafe. The buildings looked old (not in a good way) and poorly preserved. Few people walked outside. I knew that was because we arrived at night. So I thought it was okay. Besides, the inside of the apartment was acceptable.

My 30th Birthday

Thanks for all the birthday wishes from my friends. To my surprise, this year my family bought a birthday cake to celebrate my 30th birthday. We didn't do anything for my birthday in recent years. Maybe 30th birthday is more special. My nephew blew the candles out right after we sang the birthday song so I only made a birthday wish - to acquire Le Grand Diplôme of Le Cordon Bleu Paris one day. Probably, like most of my prveious birthday wishes, it won't come true. Anyway, even so, I think I am still a lucky guy to be content with everything I have at the moment. 

Viva L'Italia - Still My Heart's on the Isle of Capri

                                        Isle of Capri, by Al Bowlly
       
It was on a sunny morning we took a hydrofoil to Capri. Blue Italian sky led us to the the island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. I've heard that this is the island of romance. Oh, so it must be beautiful I thought. We were on our way to Capri, yet we didn't know it was really a romantic fantasy.

Viva L'Italia - Heavenly Amalfi Coast

   After a long long drive from Chianti, passing by Rome and Naples and through the mountains, we were finally approaching the Amalfi Coast, the place I wanted to visit most in Italy. It is chosen as 1 of  National Geography's 50 Places of a Lifetime. (Other places in Italy including Tuscany, Venice, and Vatican City) From Italian countrysides to the sea, the whole scenes changed a lot. But there was one thing in common - they were all amazing. (However, I wish the parking fee here could become cheaper.)

Viva L'Italia - Placid Tuscany, Toscana

  Airplane, boat, train, now it was time for car. According to my friends' opinion and internet information, traveling in Tuscany by car is more convenient. Therefore we rented a 7 seater van from HERTZ. I am not familiar with manual transmission vehicles at all. On the contrary, my aunt is one of the best drivers I know. So don't worry, with my aunt's driving skill, a Ford Galaxy, and Garmin GPS, we can go everywhere in Europe.

Viva L'Italia - A Day in Florence, Firenze

  Following the trip in Venice, we traveled to Florence by train. The ride on Eurostar was quite comfortable. Even though I forgot to validate the ticket before boarding, it proved that our ticket already had a valid date and seat reservation that didn't need further validation (in fact, before realizing that, I validated it by the yellow machine in Padova instead).

Eurostar, Venice to Florence

Viva L'Italia - Marvelous Venice, Venezia

 Venice was our first destination in Italy. After successfully acquiring a SIM card (with internet access for check-in on facebook, my favorite) from TIM in Rome Fiumicino Airport, we took the flight to Venice. It was very exhausting to fly all day long. However, everything was going well since we arrived in Venice, the City of Water.

Viva L'Italia - Good Morning, Holland

   We booked the flight of KLM which flew from Taipei to Rome via Amsterdam. It cost us about 40,000 NTW each. Previously, the flight had landed in Bangkok once to be fueled before it arrived in Amsterdam that resulted in the total flight time to more than 16 hours. Luckily, KLM has changed the flight to a direct non-stop one form Taipei to Amsterdam since this March. Therefore, it took us about 12 hours from Taiwan to Europe.

Viva L'Italia - The Beginning

   About one year ago, my aunt saw an advertisement of Longines featuring Aishwarya Rai, Chiling Lin, and Kate Winslet. She asked me where the advertisement was filmed. "Is that Greece?" she said. "No, I think it's Italy." I replied immediately because I had read the news about the advertisement. After a while, my aunt came to me again. "Is it possible you bring us to Italy for an individual travel next year?" she asked. I was surprised at what I heard. Italy? It's in Europe, very far away form Taiwan. Us? My aunt has four children, so us means at least 5 people. "Maybe." that was my answer.

Goals and Aspirations

    "As a family medicine doctor and son of a baker, I would like to devote myself to the study of culinary art to help my patients know how to eat healthily and savorily. Assisting people in need is always my life goal and responsibility. I have seen too many people suffering from metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus or hypertension being told to follow strict diet rules. Most of them eventually failed because they thought it made their life colorless, so they rather opted to sacrifice their health. I sincerely believe the training in Le Cordon Bleu Paris will allow me to improve those people’s tough situation. "

                                                                                                                                                                              Cecil

        - My "Goals and Aspirations"  of the application for The James Beard Foundation Scholarship

Those Days, When We Were in Kyoto

  In the end of Feburary this year, I went to Japan to visit my friend who has studied for PhD degree there since 4 years ago. That was my third time to travel in the Kansai area. Thanks to my friend Moz who gave me a great guide in Osaka and Kyoto again. I experienced taking a leisure stroll in the Kiyomizu Temple wearing traditional Japanese kimono, living in an "Onsen Hotel" named Hanaikada(花筏) in Arashiyama, and shopping in Shinsaibashi(心齋橋), Osaka. (In fact, I bought lots of condoms.) Even though there is no snow or cherry blossom scenes, the trip for me is still unforgettable.

Summer is Coming, and Summer is Gone

  The weather has been getting hotter and hotter in Taiwan since last week. It's March, but the high temperature makes everything looks like summer. There are tons of things I can list as the reasons why I have fondness of summer: swimming in the outdoor pool (I am not able to do that in cold winter days), wearing nice casual summer clothes to show your body (since I'm not tall, heavy winter clothes makes me clumsy), enjoying delicious watermelon, etc. However, in recent days, the weather has become cold again. Summer just showed his head for a short moment, and then he disappeared. According to the weather forecast, a cold air mess is approaching Taiwan and influences on the island most this weekend. After that, it will be hot again. Hopefully it won't get cold anymore. I want summer, I like summer, and I am ready for summer.

Cherry Blossom in Taiwan

   It's almost spring in Taiwan. Though it is still cold in the morning and the evening, the temperature is quite acceptable at noon. You can see signs of spring in Nature. The flowers begin to compete with each other with their beautiful look. People don't have to wear that much clothes. Last Saturday, my friend asked me if I would like to go to flower viewing in Hsinshe, Taichung (新社), where there are cherry blossom trees planted in some regions. "Yes," I told my friend. I thought the view of cherry blossom in Taiwan would never beat it is in Japan where I enjoyed the breathtaking cherry blossom scenery in Kyoto 2 years ago. However, flower viewing with different person is likely to give me another wonderful experience.

I Don't Know Nothing About Love

   Next Tuesday is Valentine's Day. Since I am single and have been single for a very long time, the holiday is always meaningless to me.

   This year, things are a little bit different. That's because I have a crush on someone recently. However, all I can say is that it's complicated, like one of the options of the relationship status on Facebook.

   And I think I still don't know nothing about love.

   Happy Valentine's Day.

Happy Chinese New Year

  It is Chinese New Year, the most important festival in the Chinese communities.

  This year, most people in Taiwan get a vacation of night days during Chinese New Year. For me, I can only be off  for 5 days. Nevertheless, it is long enough to me. I bought a ticket to India 2 months ago with a trip plan to visit Taj Mahal. I changed my mind 3 weeks ago to cancel the flight in order to accompany with my family, especially my grandmother because she is not at a good health status in recent years. It is better to me to celebrate the Chinese New Year with her, or I might have many opportunities to be with her in the future.

Taiwan Presidential Election 2012

   I should have written this post 2 weeks ago, but I was too lazy.

  Thanks to Google that created a lovely doodle about the election in Taiwan. Unfortunately, the candidates whom I rooted for didn't win the election. I seriously hope that we can have the first female president in Taiwan. However, it is okay for me that current president Ma is able to lead our country for another 4 years. The most imperative thing is that our land can be a better place without fear of the threat from China. 

Final Decision

I've made up my mind eventually. Le Cordon Bleu 2013 spring courses of the cuisine diploma, here I come.

Happy New Year

  It's 2012.

  I didn't go anywhere for the countdown on New Year's Eve. Instead, I went to bed early because I had to work on Sunday. However, I woke up at midnight as the sound of the fireworks came from the stadium nearby. I knew it's 2012.