The Roman Forum

It's easy to find all the tourists sites in Rome. They are pretty close together. Right after walking around Piazza Venezia, we found the Roman Forum. There is a lookout point to the site and you can just walk around it to see the ruins and take photos. It's really beautiful in person and I liked having the vantage point of being high up to take photos. 

I didn't see the point of paying for the entrance fee anymore so I just took my time looking at the ruins and snapping photos along the way. You can definitely buy the tickets to the Roman Forum and explore it together with the Colosseum. 

It's less crowded than the Colosseum but equally as stunning. And you keep walking around it, you will find the Colosseum in front.

Life Update 1.0

I can't believe summer is over! We are starting to get the cooler weather now. It's too soon!! But I can't complain too much because at least no snow yet but #winteriscoming for sure! 

But first, I will be going on vacation later next month!! I can't wait. I've been home for the past couple of months and I'm seriously getting itchy feet. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed my summer here in Toronto but adventure calls. And I would love to have a better time in Asia this time after my disaster trip at the beginning of this year. I need a re-do.

My blog got another makeover. I finally got a more clean and organized template. Thanks to my boyfriend for helping me install it. I'm all about improvements lately. I want to change a lot of things and I think I might drive someone crazy with all my ideas. Sorry. 

I also got interviewed by the Toronto Star for this article. I read a broad scope of blogs that I connect with. Religion does not matter to me. I even read blogs in Swedish because I love her pictures and writing (hi Sandra Beijer!).

Wishing you all a great week!

Check out these interesting links:
The Truth about Travel Blogging by Oneika
7 Career Mistakes even Savvy Women Make
Stop Taking Pride of Not Knowing Basic Sh*t 
The Travel Mistake I Keep Making by Brenna 

Community

I've had this blog since 2007. My blog name/template has changed and evolved over the years. But I started blogging way before 2007. I had a personal blog back then when I was young and oversharing. Over the years, I decided I didn't want to open my whole life story to the world due to privacy reasons and started this blog that's mainly focused on travel. 

I made a lot of friends (some who I met in person) over the years. Blogging is a community and it's fantastic! I love the sharing aspects of it. I love reading about opinions, recommendations, and life experiences. Every time I go on a trip, the first I do is read blog posts about my destination. I know I can read a guide book but I prefer real life narrative. I want to read about what you did, what you liked, what you didn't like, etc. I don't want a glossy version of it for profit. I just want to know a real live account. And bad experiences hasn't stopped me from visiting a destination (unless it's really super dangerous). I just try to be more cautious. 

I want to thank my fellow bloggers for sharing your experiences and photos to the world. I know sometimes you are probably not in the mood to write a blog posts but thank you for doing it. And to my fellow Instagram lovers! Thanks for letting me send you private messages with my questions.

It might not feel like you are making a difference but you are. You are educating other people with your ideas, experiences, and opinions.

And to whoever is reading my blog - thank you! Please say hi :)

Summer Part II

It has been a busy but fun summer! Lots of sunshine and friends visiting from various parts of the world. You can read about how I spent my first part of summer here.

I ended up going camping again. This time we went all the way west to Pinery Provincial Park. I was so happy to have found this place!!! It was heaven!!

I love love this Provincial Park. I love the sand dunes, no mosquitoes, and the sunsets of course! We saw the most glorious sunsets ever! The best one was on our last night. We made sure to come to the beach early to catch it from the beginning to end. It was very magical!

I loved the beach as well although it was rocky and the lake is very wavy!

 And nothing beats summer bbq outside with wood. It tastes x1000 better!

I also had a chance to go to the Toronto Beer Festival. It's always fun every year. I especially love sampling ciders and they had plenty this year. We are having a cider boom in Toronto! and I picked a few favourites from the samples I got.

Another event was the Feast of St. Lawrence Market. We got to dine outside the street and had the most delicious meals with wine pairings from Niagara region.

It was a really fun event and for a great cause!

I also went to the Craft Beer Festival at Steam Whistle. It's much smaller than the Beer Festival in terms of size but it was a lot of fun! Lots of food trucks and beer tents. They had less cider selections but I enjoyed it anyways.

And who can say no to ice cream? This one was from La Diperie. It's soft serve ice cream and you can dip it in chocolate, dark chocolate, etc. and add a whole lot of toppings as you wish! Lots of fun but plenty of calories.

My good friend Keiko came to visit us in Toronto! This is our second time meeting up this year. I have to post my Japan/Taiwan trip earlier this year. It's always so nice to see her!

I took her for lunch at St. Lawrence Market. The picture above is from Carousel Bakery. They serve a "breakfast special". It's basically peameal bacon with egg on a bun. It's SUPER delicious! I used to eat that for breakfast back in college. I got to show her around here and sample more delicious treats!

Nothing beats this view of the Toronto skyline!

A good friend of mine got married in Cambridge. This was their reception set-up. We dined al fresco! It was amazing! The food was great and my friends were the most laid back couple I know. It was perfect and fun! I danced all night and broke one of shoe. It was a very good night!

The next day after the wedding, we walked around Cambridge and had brunch with our friends. It was the perfect long weekend!

I can't really complain on how this summer has turned out except for the 3 weeks sore throat/cold I got at the end of August that still lingers on. But that was probably a good thing because it forced me to sleep more and rest.   

I hope you had a great summer! Now let's bring on Fall. 

Naples Guide

Naples is a foodie heaven! And I wish I had a bigger stomach to fit all the delicious food this city has to offer. Here are my food and shopping experiences in Naples. It's shorter than my Rome recommendations because we had an Airbnb apartment here and we made our own food to take advantage of the fresh produce from our nearby market.

Eat:

Pizzeria Concettina - (Via Arena della Sanità, 7 Bis, 80137 Napoli,) It was a crime not to come here especially when it was a short walk from our Airbnb apartment. Our Airbnb host also recommended this restaurant so we obviously followed his advice. A love the comfortable feel of this restaurant and they have the friendliest staff. Pizza was soo good! A true Neapolitan pizza. 

Pasticceria Poppella - (Via Arena della Sanità, 24, 80137 Napoli) Once again this was in our neighbourhood in Naples so we I took full advantage of it. Loved the Fiocchi di Neve, the so called snow balls (a fluffy pastry ball filled with delicious cream). It's the best! And everything else was great too!

Antica Pizzeria e Friggitoria di Matteo - (Via dei Tribunali, 94, 80138 Naples) Bill Clinton was here! Lol! We just happen to walk by here during lunch and people were lining up outside the street. We followed suit and got the tastiest fried dough and frittatine balls. So cheap and delicious! Worth the wait and elbowing :P

Il Basilico - (Via Santa Lucia 112, Naples) This was a bad judgement call because I was hangry. We ended up here for a late lunch. The food was so-so but the service was terrible and the restaurant added extra fees to our bill. Do not recommend this place as it is a tourist trap!!!

Bar Grazziela - (Procida Island) We went to Procida on a day trip and we sat outside of this restaurant admiring the view and eating the best seafood!

Shop:

Limone - (Piazza S. Gaetano, 72 - 80138, Napoli) If you want to buy limoncello then this is the place. You can sample the different limoncello's they make and also give you a tour of their factory. You will be educated on how they make their product and the ingredients they use. Great price and very friendly staff!

Luca Talarico - (Via Domenico Capitelli, 8 - 80134, Napoli) Handmade leather bags that goes back from 3 generations. Lovely shop and the owner/maker is very informative. Made inside the shop. You can actually see the owner making the bags by hand. Great prices too!

Naples National Archaeological Museum

After visiting Herculaneum, I wanted to also visit the Archaeological Museum. It was a 10 minute walk from our Air bnb apartment so it was a small effort to visit it. We visited later on the day so it was pretty empty.