Salvador Dali is one of my favourite painters, not only for his surrealism and imagination, but it’s so much fun to look at his paintings. Talk about tricking your mind – he definitely succeeds in doing that. Swans Reflecting Elephants is a classic optical illusion. You’re looking at 3 swans on a lake, but their …
When in Rome, one of the best places to get an idea of what an ancient Roman stadium looked like in its hey-day is the Circus Maximus (Circo Massimo.) Today, it’s a recreational park used for concerts, performances, and celebrations. It sits in the shadows of the Palatine Hill, holding onto a thousand secrets of …
There are plenty of places to visit in Bangkok and exploring on foot is a great way to experience them. Of course, you could take a taxi, bus or skytrain, but you’d miss all that the lively streets of the city have to offer. Plus, you’ll find some interesting things along the way. I’ve lived …
These days, one of my favourite pastimes is to visit any of the hundreds of art galleries, here in Bangkok. I mean there are literally hundreds and I have not even begun to scrape the surface because I always end up at my favourite; The Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre or BACC as we like …
I had this title written down for ages, but it wasn’t until I went to Chiang Rai in June that I finally got round to thinking about it and it wasn’t hard to find something that inspired me. The countryside in the north of Thailand is just beautiful and, living in Bangkok, I sometimes forget …
I can’t believe how time flies sometimes, especially when you’re having fun, but here we were, our last day in Rome, it had come round so quickly, but we had seen a lot in the short time we had been there. On our last day, we decided to take the metro to Circo Massimo, not …
Today we’re taking the metro to Flaminio and starting off our day at Piazza del Popolo, a circular square with three fountains. On the north side is a gate called the Porto del Popolo, once the beginning of Via Flaminia, an important ancient Roman road which led to the north of Italy. Piazza del Popolo …
We arrived back in Rome and decided we would go out for dinner in the city. Usually, we just ate near the hotel, but this evening we decided we were going to take the metro and find a restaurant near the Trevi Fountain. We came out of the metro station onto Piazza Barberini, with its …
We left Rome on the Friday morning, after buying train tickets from the most unhelpful, unfriendly person. I really think she is in the wrong job to be serving customers. A smile is all it takes! Undeterred, we had a while to wait, so we had coffee and watched people hurrying through the station from …
From the Colosseum, the Roman Forum is seconds away, so I walked towards the entrance only to be met by a really long queue. The ticket for the Colosseum includes the Roman Forum, but by this time it was late morning and the crowds had started to arrive. I noticed a pathway to my left …
Only the second day in Rome and it felt like we’d done so much already. Today we’re off to the Colosseum, a huge oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city. Emperor Vespasian started the massive feat in 72 AD, but it was Titus who completed the job in 80 AD with Domitian making modifications …
We found ourselves in Piazza Navona, a lovely little square full of life with street artists, selling their paintings, imposing churches and palaces, and inviting cafes and restaurants all around. It didn’t take us long to choose a restaurant with a ring-side view of everything that was going on. Piazza Navona is an oval-shaped square …