Christmas is in the air

Christmas is in the air..............

Are you ready to celebrate it with your love ones??

Christmas tree in Milan Italy

Christmas tree and decoration in Rome Italy and The Holy See Vatican

Christmas tree and decoration in Geneva and Bluche Switzerland

Christmas tree and decoration in Copenhagen Denmark

Christmas tree and decoration in Athens Greece

Christmas tree and decoration in Miami USA

Christmas tree and decoration in Tokyo Japan

Christmas Tree and decoration in Taipei Taiwan

Christmas tree and decoration in Singapore

An alluring voice

An alluring voice!!

I am madly in love with Lifehouse!!

First time

Whatever it takes

True friendship

I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of friendship lately.

We all deal with different people by our sides at different times in our lives. And how many of them do you refer them as "a friend"??

Would it be possible that we talk about the value of friendship without knowing what it really stands for??

If you did google "the definition of friendship", you probably would find hundreds of them.

Of course, different people have different definitions of friendship. For some, it's unconditional love. For others, it's companionship.

Here is the one I found interesting:

The Greek Philosopher Aristotle said, "What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."

I think a friend is the individual who shares similar interests and strong attachment with affection, love, respect, trust and loads of fun!!

People said " sometimes we put the walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down". And the ones who distinguished themselves. They are true friends.

They are the kind that say they'll be there, then they are, and amaze you with how devoted they are!!

They are the kind that you don't have to say much, they know what you think and how you feel

They are the kind who wouldn't mind washing up beside you, dusting beside you, reading the back half of the paper while you read the front!!

They are the kind who share tears, laughter and secrets with you. And they risk the relationship to tell the truth.

They are the kind who won't think twice to help, when you are in trouble.

True friends can endure even long distances. They find a way of being in touch despite busy schedules. True friendship grows better with time!!

Long lasting friendship does not happen in one day. It takes time to develop and needs efforts to make it work!!

I'd like to take the chance to tell all my friends how much I appreciate and treasure your friendships!! We may not have a lot of chances to meet up often, but I know our friendships remain constant!!

"Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world. We all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us. Nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends" I quote from thinkexist.com.

The music speaks....

I don't know if you would have chance to see this, I certainly hope you would....

This time, let the music speaks for me.....

Hanging by a moment - Lifehouse

Everything - Lifehouse

Non Siamo Soli

Non Siamo Soli (We are not alone) by Eros Ramazzotti ft. Ricky Martin. Enjoy!!

Eros: E' la voglia di cambiare la realtà, Che mi fa sentire ancora vivo E cercherò tutti quelli come me Che hanno ancora un sogno in più...un sogno in più

Ricky: Dentro un libro che nessuno ha scritto mai, Leggo le istruzione della vita, Anche se so che poi non le seguirò, Farò ciò che sento...

Rit. Eros: Oltre le distanze, noi non siamo soli Figli della stessa umanità Anime viaggianti in cerca di ideali, Il coraggio non ci mancherà Supera I confini di qualunque ideologia, l'emozione che ci unisce in una grande idea Un altro mondo possibile c'è E lo cerco anch'io e lo voglio anch'io come te...

Ricky: Nelle pagine lasciate in bianco noi, Diamo spazio a tutti I nostri sogni

Eros: nessuno mai il futuro ruberà, Dalle nostre mani...

Rit. Eros & Ricky: Oltre le distanze, noi non siamo soli Senza più certezze e verità Anime confuse, cuori prigionieri Con la stessa idea di libertà...libertà

Eros & Ricky: Oltre le distanze, non siamo soli L'incertezza non ci fermerà

Eros: Supera I confini, non conosce geografia l'emozione che ci unisce in una grande idea

Ricky: Oltre le distanze noi non siamo soli, sempre in cerca della verità

Eros: Anime viaggianti, cuori prigionieri, con la stessa idea di libertà Un altro mondo possibile c'è e lo sto cercando insieme a te

Eros: Anch'io con te

Ricky: Insieme a me

Eros: E tu con me...

Grotto of Rome's Founders Revealed

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS Grotto of Rome's Founders Revealed http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071120-rome-grotto.html November 20, 2007—Colorful mosaics spiral across the vaulted ceiling of a grotto that was unveiled today as the likely place where ancient Romans believed that a she-wolf suckled their city's legendary founders. In January archaeologists announced that the sacred cave, known as the Lupercale, had been found during excavations of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine, a 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) hill in the center of Rome. According to Roman myth, a female wolf nursed the abandoned twins Romulus and Remus in the Lupercale. The grown brothers are said to have founded the Eternal City at the site on April 21, 753 B.C. Since the grotto's discovery, experts have been examining it with remote sensing devices, because they fear that a full dig might cause the already fragile cave to collapse, the Associated Press reported. So far the team estimates that the domed sanctuary is 26 feet (8 meters) high with a 24-foot (7-meter) diameter. At a news conference today the team released images of the grotto—including the undated photo above—taken with a probe. The images show the cave's richly detailed mosaics made of marble and seashells. The center of the ceiling features a depiction of a white eagle, the symbol of the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus. The first-century-B.C. emperor is thought to have restored the sacred site in a bid to improve his power by linking himself with Rome's mystical founders. "The Lupercale must have had an important role in Augustus' policies," Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the site, told the AP. "He saw himself as a new Romulus." Archaeologists also announced that teams would soon start to search for the grotto's original entrance, believed to be at the bottom of the Palatine, in the hopes of safely accessing the cave. —Victoria Jaggard AP Photo/Italian Culture Ministry, HO

Big girls don't cry!

Here is a song for big girls and for the ones who love big girls..........

Fergie - Big girls don't cry

La Da Da Da Da

The smell of your skin lingers on me now

You're probably on your flight back to your home town

I need some shelter of my own protection baby

To be with myself and Center,

Clarity, Peace, Serenity

I hope you know, I hope you know

That this has nothing to do with you

It's personal, myself and I

We've got some straightening out to do

And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket

But I've got to get a move on with my life

It's time to be a big girl now

And big girls don't cry

Don't cry

Don't cry

Don't cry

The path that I'm walking

I must go alone

I must take the baby steps 'til I'm full grown, full grown

Fairytales don't always have a happy ending, do they?

And I foresee the dark ahead if I stay

I hope you know, I hope you know

That this has nothing to do with you

It's personal, myself and I

We've got some straightening out to do

And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket

But I've got to get a move on with my life

It's time to be a big girl now

And big girls don't cry

Like the little school mate in the school yard

We'll play jacks and UNO cards

I'll be your best friend and you'll be mine Valentine

Yes you can hold my hand if you want to

'Cause I want to hold yours too

We'll be playmates and lovers and share our secret worlds

But it's time for me to go home

It's getting late, dark outside

I need to be with myself and Center,

Clarity, Peace, Serenity

I hope you know, I hope you know

That this has nothing to do with you

It's personal, myself and I

We've got some straightening out to do

And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket

But I've got to get a move on with my life

It's time to be a big girl now

And big girls don't cry

Don't cry

Don't cry

Don't cry

La Da Da Da Da Da

The Swiss firefighter rap

What do you know about Switzerland??? UBS?? Credit Suisse?? Chocolate?? Cheese fondue??? Swatch?? Cows?? After the creative and brilliant tourism ad - "Your alternative" (if you haven't seen it, check on my posts of 8th Sept), Now Swiss has another creative ad - The Swiss firefighter rap. The rap is telling people that you should call "118" only for a fire emergency. "118" is not the number for directory assistance/information (1818). And you should write the number "118" on your underwear, so you won't make a mistake!!!

One of them (in black coat) looks like Jason Biggs ( Jim Levenstein in American pie movie).

Too sexy to fly????

A girl got thrown off an airplane for skimpy outfit??!! When I saw this news online and the picture of the outfit Kyla Ebbert wore on the day she took the flight, it must be the most ridiculous thing I ever heard about airline companies have done.

On the news, a Southwest agent said " We don't have a problem with it if she's covered up in all the right spots. We don't have a dress code."

Excuse me?! I really don't see any problem from the outfit she wore. And If you don't have a dress code, you have no right to throw a passenger off the flight over her outfit when she covered all the right spots.

If it was a problem, then she should have been told when she booked the ticket, when she checked-in or at any moment while wating at the gate!! Why only after she was on board???

And the Southwest Airlines has a statement saying " When a concern is brought to our Employees' attention, we address that situation directly with the Customer(s) involved in a discreet and professional manner."

They called it professional manner, when they humiliated their customer in front of other pessengers??!!

Acutally, there are many ways for airlines to solve the problem and for Kyla Ebbert to understand their concern and cooperate without feeing humiliated. This is so called "win-win" situation.

At the time, the cabin crew obviously didn't see the whole picture and the solution with realy discreet and professional manner!!

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Thrown off plane for outfit deemed too skimpy Woman shows off threads Southwest almost grounded her for wearing

By Mike Celizic

TODAYShow.com contributor

Updated: 10:55 a.m. ET Sept. 7, 2007

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20638479/?GT1=10357

It doesn’t take much to get thrown off an airplane these days, as Kyla Ebbert found out when a Southwest Airlines employee told her she was too bare for the air. Two months later, she’s still trying to figure out what was wrong with her outfit.

In an exclusive appearance Friday on TODAY, Ebbert modeled the outfit she says she wore on the flight in question. It consisted of a snug-fitting white top with a scoop neck that stopped just short of showing cleavage.

Over the shirt was a green sweater that buttoned underneath her bosom. It was finished with high-heeled sandals and a white denim mini-skirt with a fashionably frayed hem.

It was a lot more clothing than the 23-year-old college student wears on her job as a Hooters waitress. Her mother, Michele Ebbert, said she would have told her daughter if the outfit was inappropriate.

“But her outfit is fine, Michele Ebbert told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer. “She looks like every other college girl in San Diego.”

Not according to a Southwest employee identified only as “Keith,” who approached Ebbert after she had taken her seat on the plane and was listening to the flight attendants go through their pre-departure routine.

He asked her to step off of the plane and when they were in the jetway, he told her that her clothing was inappropriate and asked her to change her clothes.

“He told me, ‘I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to take a later flight. You’re dressed inappropriately. This is a family airline. You’re dressed too provocative to fly on this flight,’ ” she told Lauer.

“I said, ‘What part of it, the shirt, the skirt? Which part?’ “ Ebbert continued, recounting her conversation with Keith about her outfit. “And he said, ‘The whole thing.’“ I said, ‘I didn’t bring any luggage with me. I don’t have anything to change into. What can I do to make sure I can get onto that flight?’ I had a doctor’s appointment. I had to be there.”

“He said ‘You can go to the gift shop and you can buy something to wear there. Until then, you’re not flying on this flight,’ ” Ebbert said.

A compromise was finally reached when Ebbert promised to pull up her top, which wasn’t showing cleavage to begin with, and pull down her tiny skirt.

Ebbert went back onto the plane and to her seat, feeling that every eye on the plane was staring at her.

“I was humiliated. I was embarrassed. They all heard him lecturing me,” she said.

She asked for a blanket, covered her legs, and cried quietly all the way to Tucson. When she got off the plane, she called her mother.

“She was just devastated,” Michele told Lauer. “She said, ‘Mom, I can’t believe what just happened to me.’ She was. She said ‘I didn’t want to make a scene. I didn’t want to draw attention. I just sat there crying.’ ”

No apology When Michele saw a picture her daughter emailed from her cell phone, she couldn’t believe what had happened. She also thought to herself, “Oh, no. They don’t do this and get away with it.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune called Southwest Airlines and asked if the airline had a dress code. Could, for example, a woman board wearing a bikini top?

The newspaper on Tuesday quoted the Southwest agent it spoke with as saying, “We don't have a problem with it if she's covered up in all the right spots. We don't have a dress code.”

The Ebberts had not gone public with the story, which happened two months ago, asking only for an apology from the airline. But none was forthcoming.

In response to a TODAY Show query, the airline sent the following statement: "Southwest Airlines was responding to a concern about Ms. Ebbert's revealing attire on the flight that day. As a compromise, we asked her to adjust her clothing to be less revealing, she complied, and she traveled as scheduled. When a concern is brought to our Employees' attention, we address that situation directly with the Customer(s) involved in a discreet and professional manner.

Fortunately, as an airline that carries approximately 96 million Customers a year, these situations are extremely rare."

The Ebberts have engaged an attorney, Martin Reed, to help them decide what to do next.

Asked if he will file suit, Reed told Lauer, “We’ve not made that decision, yet. We’re considering all the facts and all the circumstances.”

“Initially, I just wanted an apology,” Kyla told Lauer. “At this point, just some acknowledgement that they were wrong. That would be better.”

What really tops the whole story off is that Ebbert wore the same outfit on the return flight to San Diego later that day. A female flight attendant also took note of it, according to Ebbert.

“I was complimented by the stewardess on my return flight,” she said.

It's not what you think..........................

It's really not what you think...................

1973 - James Blunt

A new released Single from James Blunt!! SEXY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your alternative.....

A Brilliant and hilarious Swiss tourism ad for 2006. You go Switzerland!! Girls, I know you will love this video!!

Negramaro - Estate

My favorite song from my favorite Italian group!! Lo amo questa canzone tanto!!

Negramaro - Parlami d'amore

This is my favorite Italian group - Negramaro. You just have to love them!! Siete bravi Negramaro!!!

In Rome, a New Ritual on an Old Bridge

In Rome, a New Ritual on an Old Bridge

By IAN FISHER

Published: August 6, 2007 on The New York Time

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/europe/06rome.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Built in 206 B.C., Ponte Milvio is Rome's oldest bridge. Locks with lovers’ names on a Rome bridge are a new rite, with some unusual results.

ROME, Aug. 5 — Love, in all its splendor and mess, found a fit expression on Rome’s oldest bridge last year. Inspired by a best-selling book, then the movie version, young couples wrote their names on a padlock. They chained their locks around lampposts on Ponte Milvio. Then they symbolically cut off escape by tossing the keys into the wine-dark Tiber below. But reality quickly set in, as it often does after passion. Thousands of locks and chains piled up. The lamps atop two light posts crumbled under the weight. Neighbors complained of vandalism. Politicians who tried to solve the problem were accused — and this is bad in Italy — of being anti-love.

Late last month, a solution was put into place. City officials set up six sets of steel posts with chains on the bridge, so now lovers can declare themselves without damage to the infrastructure. And so this city of monuments has just created another one, if at a cost: tossing a key off Ponte Milvio, some Italians complain, may soon be as touristy as flipping a coin into the Trevi Fountain.

“It’s less romantic,” said Costantino Boccuni, 28, a soldier who had just affixed a lock to one of the new spots to declare his love for his wife of six years, Daniela, 26. “It was more beautiful before. It was more original.”

“Now, it’s more like a fashion,” he said.

But still, as Rome’s distinctly lovely light faded into evening, they did it. And in the few days since the new posts went up, dozens of new love locks have been sealed shut on Ponte Milvio, in a perfect world, forever. (Though in practice, the city will periodically prune the locks just as they sweep the coins from the Trevi Fountain.) People are also being encouraged to use a Web site, http://www.lucchettipontemilvio.com/, where they can create virtual padlocks.

The story of how Ponte Milvio, north of Rome’s center, became the city’s symbol of love follows a particularly Italian script blending history, myth, truly ludicrous political posturing and the unexpected.

Built in 206 B.C., the bridge attracted lovers long ago. Tacitus, the first-century Roman historian and statesman, reported that even in his time it was “famous for its nocturnal attractions.” Emperor Nero, Tacitus said, visited the bridge “for his debaucheries.” (It is also the place where in 312, Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius. He became the first emperor to convert to Christianity, which to many Italians stands against the sort of love often found on Ponte Milvio.)

Last year, the writer Federico Moccia created the second installment of a story of young Romans called “I Want You.” Like many affairs, his hero’s starts with a lie: he convinces a potential girlfriend of an invented legend in which lovers wrap a lock and a chain around the third lamppost on the bridge’s northern side, lock it and throw the key into the Tiber.

“And then?” the girl asks.

“We’ll never leave each other,” he says, with no shame.

Mr. Moccia, 44, said he dreamed up the ritual. “I liked the idea of tying locks to love because it is more solid, tangible,” he said. The book sold 1.1 million copies, then the movie came out and soon life began imitating art.

Mr. Moccia said he was stunned when locks and chains appeared on the bridge, though he tied the craze to a lingering malaise in Italy, which is growing old, producing fewer babies and suffering from an economy that often keeps young people unemployed and living with their parents into their 30s.

“It is a precise sign of our times — there is a lack of dreaming,” he said. “We only hear bad news. There is no longer the smile of who we see from afar or near the dream. And that gesture of the lock on the bridge, of the feeling of the iron closing, it’s a promise. It’s beautiful.”

Soon beauty turned to menace. Lovers came from all over Italy, joined by some tourists. The ancient bridge, which also attracts not only lovers but drinkers and no small number of pot smokers, began to be covered in lovers’ graffiti, along with the overwhelming number of chains. This spring, the city cracked down.

Inevitably, politics intruded. In this nation’s long battle between left and right, right-wing parties accused the leftist mayor, Walter Veltroni, with a crime far worse than corruption.

“The left is against lovers,” one rightist city official, Marco Clarke, charged in February.

Fighting words. An artful compromise clearly needed finding. Thus the posts and chains.

Lovers can affix their locks directly to them (which seemed to be the case on two recent, very pleasant evenings on the bridge). Or if they insist on chaining them to the lampposts, the locks will periodically be moved to the posts and chains.

“We have used good sense, meaning we realize that it is about a primary and innocent feeling,” said Silvio Di Francia, a city official responsible for solving the problem. “However, if all the historic bridges had locks we would have a problem with the maintenance.”

So the tradition continues, if with some reservations about compromising on love. Some young Roman said that even before the new posts, the ritual had lost its appeal and gotten touristy. Indeed, two vendors sell locks on the spot for one to five euros. Families pose for cellphone photos.

“I would be embarrassed,” said Michael P., a 22-year-old who withheld his last name because he was smoking marijuana. “It’s a question of dignity. If I want to express love, I will express it in my way.”

But Gianluca and Federica recently declared their love with a lock, as did Ricky and Francy, Piti and Piti, and several Mirkoses with suspiciously similar handwriting. Anna and Philip Colletti, from Montreal, marked their 25th anniversary with a lock. Their children told them about it.

“Twenty-five years of marriage — it might freak out these young couples,” Ms. Colletti said.

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****P.S.

1) lucchettipontemilvio.com is only in Italian. It won't be too difficult to guess the meanings, even if you don't understand Italian. Or you could simply use the free online traslator (freetranslation.com). Just remember lucchetto ( lucchetti, plural) means padlock.

2) Love padlocks were pioneered by youngsters in Florence, who hang them near a statue of the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini at the Ponte Vecchio - the famous bridge over the River Arno. They then throw the key into the Arno. And now it's instituted a 50 Euro fine for the young lovers indulging in the custom.

3) In Guam ( an island of US territory in the Western Pacific Ocean), there is a place called " Two Lover's Point" where you could create your love padlock, without the 50 Euro fine!! ( http://www.twoloverspoint.com/ )

Guam Two Lover's point

4) Although it does sound romantic, have you thought how it would affect the environment, when you throw the key into the Tiber River, Arno River or the Pacific Ocean??

The island of Greece - Santorini (2)

The happy life ever is definitely possible in Santorini.

You be the judge, if the island of Greece - Santorini is worth for a visit!!

The island of Greece - Santorini (1)

A few friends asked me about Santorini lately. It has been a while. I can’t really recall the details when I was traveling in Santorini. But I never forget the magnificent views. I would definitely say it's one of the coolest places I've ever visited. Santorini, one of the most popular European holiday destinations. It's a small group of volcanic islands located in South Aegean Sea. It has been said that the sunset of Santorini is one of the best in the world. The breathtaking views from the cliffs perched village Fira, Oia and the famous red beach would make it an unforgettable journey. Santorini is listed in the 1000 places you “must” visit before you die. And there’re reasons for it. You be the judge, if the island of Greece - Santorini is worth for a visit!! PS. Some of the pictures are taken by a cool friend of mine, Rocco. Thank you for the amazing pictures. You definitely have a better sense in photo taking than I have!!