Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Exploring Athens Part 2 (Acropolis)

The Acropolis of Athens overlooks the city of Athens. As you wander around the city, all you have to do is to look up and you will see the Acropolis up on the hill. It is a beautiful structure even from afar. We got to visit the site and luckily on the day where it was the World Museum Day where entry was free :)

Warning: Photo Heavy Post

Acropolis

Travelogue: Trip to Scandinavia - Stockholm: Gamla Stan

The first country that we started our Scandinavia trip in was in Sweden, famous for being the home country of Ikea. Would I be seeing Ikea shops everywhere in the country? We flew into Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden.  Just joking. One of the main reason we visited Stockholm was to visit my friend from back in my University days.What impressed us about Stockholm is how beautiful, clean but yet funky and stylish. It provides a lot of attractions and places for tourists to check out.

Stockholm

Travelogue: Trip to Italy Part 2b - Pompeii & Herculaneum - Pompeii

After spending the morning at Herculaneum, we headed towards Pompeii via the Circumvesuvian railway and alight at Pompei Scavi Station. The entrance to Pompeii is about 50m away from the station. Many people gets confused regarding the name, the ancient site is known as Pompeii while the modern town that stands there now is called Pompei.

Pompeii

Travelogue: Trip to Siem Reap - Day 2 : Small Circuit (Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei)

After a great night sleep, our 2nd day started with a lovely breakfast brought to our room by the staff at Hotel Be. You get to choose from a menu the day before, and it was brought upstairs to us. You can either have it at the little dining area or upstairs at the terrace.

We had arranged with Ara to pick us up around 9am to start our temple tour in Siem Reap. She had arranged our own private tuk tuk for our entire stay. If you are not familar with the tuk tuk or it's also known as an auto rickshaw, it is a modified mode of transport found in several parts of the world where using a small motorbike, you can transport up to 2 to 4 people depending on the tuk tuk.

Our own Tuk Tuk

Travelogue: Trip to the East Coast USA for Fall Foliage - Visiting Woodstock, Vermont

The idyllic village of Woodstock, situated on U.S. 4 between Rutland and White River Junction, attracts many visitors with its old-world beauty. So we decided to visit it when we were in Vermont.

Woodstock, Vermont was the winner of the 1997 National Contest conducted by the Ladies Home Journal magazine as the "Prettiest Town in America", it was chosen as the community with the most beauty, charm and character. And when you get there, you will agree with them for choosing this town as the prettiest.


Warning: Photo heavy post

Pretty Woodstock

Travelogue: Trip to Scandinavia: An Overview

One of the main item on my bucket list was to see the Northern lights. I've written about it on a previous post . The husband and I went to Tromso in Norway to see it but we weren't going to fly all the way to Norway just to do that. For the trip, we took a 2 week trip and went to visit the other Scandinavian cities along the way. I have friends in Stockholm and Helsinki. Since we have never been to that part of the world, it was the great excuse to visit.

Snow everywhere!

Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Exploring Athens Part 1

Greece is an amazing place to visit, whether if you are a history buff, you will be spoilt for choice here with the vast length of history that Greece was part of. It is the birthplace of Western civilisation. Perhaps no nation in Europe can boast of a more ancient history than Greece. Greece's antiquity dates back to 3000 BC when the powerful Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations flourished here. The evolution of powerful city-states, especially Athens and Sparta, between 800 and 500BC produced the classical age of Athens which was the high point of the Grecian civilization.

The Acropolis 

Travelogue: Trip to the East Coast USA for Fall Foliage - Quechee Gorge in Vermont

Day 4 in Vermont started with us driving towards Quechee Gorge near Hartford. The falls is known as "Vermont's Little Grand Canyon. After visiting the falls, you can always check out the quaint little town of Hartford.

Quechee Gorge 

Travelogue: Trip to Siem Reap - Day 1

Last year for our 10th Wedding Anniversary, we planned quite a few celebratory trips since we love travelling. Rather than spending it on gifts and such, we decided to go for a few trips during the year. So in the end we went to Italy, Siem Reap, Greece and East Coast of USA. Quite a bit of travelling around the world. I was a happy happy bunny :)

Angkok Wat is one of those places I have on my must visit list. It took quite a bit of convincing on my part to get the husband to go with me to Siem Reap. He doesn't really like visiting what you call the Third World countries. He is more at home in developed countries and also remember that he only thrives in temperate countries due to his narrow zone of temperature range where he will not melt. When I finally managed to get him to agree to go to Siem Reap, I immediately went ahead to book our tickets during the week of our Anniversary.

Angkor Wat 

Travelogue: Trip to Italy Part 2a - Pompeii & Herculaneum - Herculaneum the other Pompeii

Sorrento is a town that features beautiful architecture and beautiful landscape. Another great thing about Sorrento is one can use it as a base to visit the other surrounding attractions. As it is on the Circumvesuviana rail system it is easily reached from Naples and an ideal base for visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum. Ferries regularly commute between Sorrento for Capri, making Sorrento an ideal base for exploring that island as well.

So the next day, we took the rail to see the famous Pompeii, not to be mistaken for the modern Italian of Pompei. Pompeii,  UNESCO World Heritage Site, was destroyed and buried under ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Pompeii remained preserved and undiscovered till 1749 after being lost for nearly 1700 years. Since then, Pompeii, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, has fascinated 2.5 million visitors every year. This time capsule provides amazing details and insight into life in the city back in AD 79, is a must visit if you are in the area.

Warning: Photo heavy post

Herculaneum

Travelogue: Trip to Greece - Overview

Our trip to Greece was a last minute decision as I spotted an irrefusable bargain on Qatar Airways. This trip was squeezed in between on the other trips we planned last year for our 10th Wedding Anniversay Year. We went to Siem Reap in early May, a week later I went to Tokyo when the husband went on his business trip, followed by the trip to Greece in late May. Not forgetting we went to Italy for a 2 week trip in late feb/early march. I was a happy bunny with all those travelling :)

Travelogue: Trip to Italy Part 1 - Sorrento

Our 2 week Italy holiday started with us flying into Rome. We had bought Italy rail passes for the both of us. We went with the Italy Flexi pass for 2 First class saver adults for 7 days which cost us 460 Euros. For their intercity trains, you always have to make a seat reservation prior to your trip which is free of charge. You can find machines in any major train stations and do it from there.

Warning: Photo heavy post

Coastline in Sorrento

Travelogue: Trip to the East Coast USA for Fall Foliage - Day 3 in Vermont

We started Day 3 of our East Coast Road trip leaving our overnight stop at North Conway and headed towards the White Mountain National Park. Originally, we had wanted to hear to Mount Washington and Crawford Notch National Park. However, earlier in the month, the area was hit by Hurricane Irene which resulted in storm damage. Thus some roads were closed, and we ended up going to the White Mountain Area heading towards Vermont. The autumn foliage scenery along the way was spectacular. The colours of the trees ranged from light yellow to deep orange. Truly breathtaking.

On the road in White Mountains National Park

Travelogue: Trip to Italy - An Overview

Last year, the husband and I decided to take a 2 week long trip to Italy. The last time we were in Italy, was in Venice back in 2007. It was also the first country we took a trip to as a couple, so it was definitely time to return to country famous for their food, wine, great art, Gelato, culture and history, the list is endless.

We have been to Italy a few times before. First was when we rented a lovely villa in Tuscany for a week and drove around to explore the area. The next was a short weekend trip to Venice. We thought this trip, we would explore more in depth. We selected all the places that Italy is famous for and then checked if we could fit them all in 2 weeks.

Images of Italy

Travelogue: Trip to the East Coast USA for Fall Foliage - Day 1 & 2 in New Hampshire

Everyone has their list of places they want to travel to or things you dream to see - your wish list. To see the northern lights was one of those on my list. The other 'hot' item on my list is to see the autumn foliage in New England, USA. This phenomenon happens during autumn when the green leaves of deciduous tress found in many temperate regions turn to many different shades of yellow, orange and red. In some areas of Canada and the United States, it is a busy tourist area where people come from all over the world to witness this amazing sight. One of the busiest areas to view the trees is in New England, on the northeast coast of USA. It comprises of six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. For our trip, we only had 2 weeks, so we concentrated on New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts.

Fall colours taken in Seoul, Korea. Hoping to see more like that in New England