We face such a dilemma here in Bishkek. Basically any destination in Asia and Europe is around $400 round trip right now. We spent so much time debating where to head for our Winter Break, joking about throwing a dart at a map to decide where to go. Exhausted of trying to pick, we settled on Italy – oh, the bother 😉 . Something about the thought of cold weather, Christmas bells, and a big plate of pasta next to endless glasses of wine called to us for Christmastime.
We flew into Rome and were there for 8 days, including over Christmas. The first days were magical. Crowds simply didn’t exist, and we wandered the city seeing almost nothing but locals. We got up one morning and just found ourselves at the Roman Forum and Coliseum without meaning to. The feeling of meandering and finding hidden gems in such a tourist-heavy city was charming.
After wandering the Forum, we showed up to a reserved tour of the Coliseum. We reserved through Coop Culture, and for 12 Euros each we skipped the line (well, there wasn’t a line, but it would have been an added benefit) and got to go underground and up to the third ring. After wandering the Forum trying to figure out what we were looking at, it was nice to have a little explanation too.
Every afternoon we found our way to a glass of wine and some bruschetta. Cafes lined the streets with outdoor seating, near fires or heat lamps to keep warm. If you found just the right seat in the sun, or near a fire, you could stay pleasantly warm for hours just sitting back and watching people pass.
One morning we woke up early to go for a run and catch the sunrise. On the way from the airport we had driven over a hill with sweeping views of the city, and we wanted to find it again. As we ran uphill and as the sky got lighter and lighter, we started to lose hope. We ran into a park when it was still dark, church bells singing through a foggy mist as we ran past other early risers. Still hoping to find the view, we ended up lost and fenced in. The park was gorgeous, but seemed to go on forever.
The sun had risen by the time we found a place to see. On one side of the hill, trees rolled on in and endless wave. It seemed so strange to me that we had started in the city and somehow found ourselves in what appeared to be a vast and endless forest. As we peeked through the fence on the other side of the hilltop, golden and glowing buildings in the distance. We didn’t find the sunrise view we were looking for, but ended up on a gorgeous run. Later we learned we had found our way to Villa Doria Pamphili, and caught a gorgeous early morning view of St. Peter’s Basilica.
We spent a day at the Vatican, going to the Museums and quickly giving up on taking in the overwhelming amount of gorgeous art. I was as impressed with the ceilings as with the art itself. We listened to a Rick Steve’s podcast for the Sistine Chapel, straining our eyes upwards until our necks started to hurt. With sore legs we left the Museum 6 hours after we had entered, confused about how time had taken so long when we saw so little.
In the evening we climbed the dome at St. Peter’s Basilica, a winding, small path leading up up up. We emerged at the base of the dome and walked around the edge. Although I’m not particularly afraid of heights, the arched ceiling leading right behind me left me feeling like I was being pushed forward, and I stayed back against the wall and far away from the fence with sweaty hands. After leaving the dome another set of stairs leads all the way to the top, the ceiling slanting inward as you climb ever higher to accommodate the shape of the dome. At the top, the golden light of sunset lit up the city.
By the time we the Basilica, the moon was out and we had a beautiful night view as we headed to dinner. We enjoyed the Christmas tree and the detailed nativity scene outside.
Our days in Rome were mostly filled with wandering and eating delicious food. The weather was a little chilly but perfect for feeling like Christmastime. Many times we felt like the only tourists in the city, something that I’d imagine rarely happens in Rome. I think this is why I loved it so much when so many others pick on the city.
Rome was everything I expected it to be. Perhaps it’s the countless movies or tourist blogs or recommendations from friends and family who have all traveled there telling me what to expect, but I expected to be underwhelmed. I wasn’t. The charm of finding ancient ruins on a walk in the morning or getting a capuccino in a crowded cafe is, I suppose, the cliche of the destination but also the charm; because it’s so exposed, part of it feels familiar even to a newcomer. And it is so delicious and beautiful that even though I realized it was cliche, I couldn’t help but love it.
The crowds didn’t come until after Christmas, when we were on our way to Venice.
Starting Point: Gupabal Station
We’ve been lucky enough to host so many different visitors while we’ve lived in Korea. 
Start: Digital Media City Station
The menu is full of coffee and tea concoctions and quite a few delicious-looking desserts. Coffee classes are also offered – if you’re fluent in Korean.
I suggest the maple latte. Normally I find flavoured lattes way too sweet, but the maple isn’t too cloying at all, and it’s a really unique flavor that I haven’t seen elsewhere. If you’re in Seoul head to Hoho Myoll for an hour or two, and sit back with a good drink and some people-watching.
This section took me almost 2 hours of focused running – well, other than the stops at the temples and the strange advertising photo shoot I was pulled into. A snack is definitely nice, but probably not necessary, especially since you can grab things near Seoul University. I had about 1L of water in my running pack, but there are springs and convenience stores along the way, so you can choose to bring just a hand bottle.
Biting into my second Melon Pop after an all-morning run ^^
For St. Patrick’s Day this year we headed into Seoul for the St. Patrick’s Day Festival hosted by the 
When we got to Sindorim a band was playing distinctly non-Irish songs, but it was still a good time. Pretty soon a Korean dance group, Tap Pung, came out to dance. They did a great job, but I especially loved the little girl in the group who could keep up with all of them.
After the dances we enjoyed a Guinness as we watched a few bands take stage and people-watched the crowd. Adorable children everywhere!
One of the bands, Bold Coast, was headed by an electric violinist. Their show was awesome but we were freezing after the sun set, so we headed out to dinner. I hope we get to catch up with them again in Seoul.
We didn’t end up making it to the hooley in Itaewon, but did stuff ourselves full of some great Thai food before heading home for the night.
Recently my school was invited to a professional development day, meaning we were all obligated to pick from a host of seminars to sit in for the day. I passed up the reading and writing related seminars for Urban Gardening and Mindfulness in the Classroom – both of which ended up being great choices.
The leaders of the program patiently answered all of our questions, sharing the creative ways they have used resources for the garden. Tires serve as raised planters for potatoes, and tires can be stacked to create more room as the potatoes grow. This garden is on a roof with a limited amount of soil on top, so they’ve had to work hard with fertilizer to create growable soil, but said it’s still not the best. They use signs (those huge signs in Korea strung up everywhere and then cut down and left to languish on the sidewalk) to prevent weeds instead of laying down plastic. Their garden was huge, but they gave us a lot of ideas for downsizing to start a garden of our own.
The Chadwick garden even tried their hand at raising bees, but both of the hives they tried failed. They surmised that his was due to a lack of flowers in the area – they are in a much more built-up, urban area than we are in Cheongna without nearly as many flowering plants. If this is the reason their hives failed, we might actually be able to make it work in Cheongna, if we were brave enough. They did mention that the bees in Korea are very mild, and they would even work with the bees without any protective gear, although they kept the hive separate from students in case of allergy issues.
While the beginning of our El Nido trip was rainy, the end of the week saw a brief respite in typhoons. It was beautiful even with the rain, but better with the sun.
This tour was much more mellow than the first one, and basically involved hanging out on different islands throughout the day. We stopped at one island then swung around a sea cave (to gaze at, and hear about the deadly poisonous sea snakes inhabiting the cave) before settling on another island for lunch.
Our guides started cooking lunch midmorning and continued grilling as our boat bounced from one island to the next. 
We snorkeled near the island and hung out in the sand while lunch was being prepared. A few of the people on the island were selling fresh coconuts so we went to buy a few. One of the girls with us joked that she would like some rum with her coconut, and the man selling said, “Really? Ok!” It turns out it was his birthday, and they were on the island to celebrate. he pulled out a bottle of rum and poured it into our coconuts, refusing to let us pay for them. For his birthday! 
And we enjoyed the amazing lunch they prepared for us.
After lunch we headed toward Snake Island and took a short hike to the top of the island for a view across. 
Our guides apologetically cut out the last stop in the tour because of the high waves and instead took us to a little island, the same island we stopped for lunch on our first tour, to laze about, snorkel, and play on the beach. 
We spent our first night at Artcafe, just down the street, having dinner and drinks.
The water was really choppy, and as he swam up to the little cave opening I could see what he meant about hitting our heads; every time the waves went out there was enough room to go through, but when the waves came back in the filled up the whole entrance.
The rest of our tour that day was a rainy one, with a stop for lunch on a little island beach and a swim in a turquoise lagoon; the rain couldn’t bother us because we were already soaked. The scenery was breathtaking regardless of the weather, and we floated around in our life vests snorkelling. I felt like a loser wearing a life vest but I also felt pretty lazy, so the life vest won out. 
The next day there was a torrential rainpour, so we sat at Artcafe drinking coffee and, later in the afternoon, rum and coke. Ryan and Carissa taught me how to play poker, so it was a pretty good use of a rainy day.
With the rain and washed out roads, it took over an hour to get there and we had to stop for the last part and tramp through the mud. Seeing the left-behind flip flops in the mud, we tramped through barefoot.
A small group arrived to surf, showing us up as we were leaving. We heard they had a lot of fun surfing. It did get warmer in the afternoon, but we headed back and got massages in town, accompanied by terribly wonderful 90s pop music.
One of our favorite hikes nearby is close to Gimpo airport and consists of a network of parks and easy trails around and up a small mountain. It’s a short 4 stops away on the train. Unfortunately when we got to the subway station we couldn’t convince Roo to get in her bag for the train ride – not surprising since we neglected to practice putting her in her bag since our last hike months ago. So with a change of plans we took a taxi to a mountain pretty close to us for a hike. 
The weather was surprisingly springy (what a mean trick for the end of January – we still have months) and we were happy for the respite from the cold and wind. As always, Roo and Ryan were bounding up the mountain while I slowly made my way up the steep hillside.
I also got ample evidence that selfie sticks are out of control here in Korea.
