TravelswithCharie

The Bellagio Las Vegas celebrates Chinese Lunar New Year with a floral display of thousand of plants and flowers showcasing the “eye of the tiger” (2022 is the year of the tiger). An 8000 pound bronze tiger is at the center of the display amidst an explosion of colors. A golden money tree symbolizing good fortune dazzles to the right of the tiger.  In the Chinese zodiac calendar, the tiger represents strength, wisdom and bravery. Bromeliads add a touch of the tropics to the garden. This vignette represents a knickknack peddler. Notice the pomegranate fruits above the umbrella. The lotus is a symbol of rebirth and regeneration just as the new year brings renewed energy for a fresh start. Children fishing beside a pagoda. What an inviting tea house with a koi pond and carefully selected flora! This enormous flower is a mosaic made from crushed petals and pink roses. The “Eye of the Tiger” will be on display until March 5, 2022. The Spring display follows a week later on March 12th. The f

Bernadith Barrientos in Geiranger, Norway Where and when was your first trip outside of your home country?  Taipei was my first destination outside the Philippines. It was in 2018, a year full of blessings for me. I can say it was the best year I’ve had. I got the chance to travel with friends in Taipei. I feel very lucky and blessed to be able to see, explore and enjoy some of the tourist attractions in Taipei like Shifen waterfalls, Taipei National Palace Museum, Taipei 101 and their famous Sky Lantern.  What is it about traveling that appeals to you the most? Beautiful scenery, immersing myself in a country’s culture, experiencing new things and gaining new friends while traveling appeals to me the most. Whenever I am in a new place, I take it as an opportunity to explore an entirely different side of myself. Blending with locals is one of the most satisfying feelings.  How has working in the cruise industry helped you achieve your travel goals? Working in the cruise industry was re

Golden Room The old international airport of Costa Rica is now the new home of the Museum of Costa Rican Art. The Golden Room used to be the diplomatic lounge. Murals of the history of Costa Rica from pre-Columbian period to the 1940s adorn the walls. Luis Féron Parizot, a French artist, carved the bas reliefs in stucco and painted them in bronze. A section of the murals in the Golden Room shows Christopher Columbus among the indigenous  people of Costa Rica. Que Clavo! Luis Tenorio Rosales, 2010, acrylic on canvas One of the most evocative works of art at the museum is this painting of the crucifixion.  Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica This elegant theater in the Neo-Classical style was built courtesy of the tax levied on coffee. Thanks to the farmers who toiled in the fields this venue for the performance arts was completed in 1897.  The Flutist, Jorge Jimenez de Heredia In front of the National Theater is this beautiful marble statue of a flutist which was originally created for the Ba

Dr. Reysa Alenzuela at Loket Castle in Czechia   Where and when was your first trip outside your home country? It was in 2004, I went to Hongkong and nearby provinces of southeast China i.e. Guandong, Guangzhou and Schenzhen. During that time, Filipinos didn’t travel as much as we did a decade later. I was relying on the travel agency and joining the bus tour. But since I was a first timer, that was the most I could get for an experience. As expected, the bus tour brought us to those jade museums where we ended up buying unnecessary things. I remember we were also brought to a factory of leather products. That was my first vicarious experience of a different culture - the tour guide told us about legends of the five goats in Guangzhou, how people love tea in China. It was the first time I bargained by only using a calculator. That was pretty much a superficial experience but my love for travel grew from there. I became curious about different cultures. What is it about traveling tha

Semi circular chest plate, gold, 700 A.D., South Pacific The Pre-Colombian Gold Museum is one of three museums created in the 1950s by the Central Bank of Costa Rica from the original History and Numismatic Museum to promote “meaningful and relevant connections with the material and human dimensions” of Costa Rican cultural heritage. The Gold Museum is in an underground vault in the center of San Jose. How gold jewelry was worn by the indigenous people of Costa Rica Various chest plates and pendants 1. Semi circular convex chest plate 2. Round zoomorphic and geometrical chest plate from 700 - 1500A.D., hammered     gold with  four cones protruding from the plate, worn by high ranking  individuals,        South Pacific 3. Pendants  4. Plain round chest plate Collar and buckle with embossed decoration Crab rattle, 700 A.D. to 1559 A.D., South Pacific Anthropo-zoomorphic pendant The use of animal or avimorphic pendants has a symbolic meaning to the wearer. These pendants may represent the

Michael Alfred V. Ignacio Where and when was your first trip outside of your home country? My first trip outside of the Philippines, alone, was when I left for Spain to take up my masters degree, back in 2002. I resigned from my work in San Miguel Corporation in Manila to pursue my degree in international business at the Universidad de Alicante in the Valencia region. Looking back, I actually do not know if I would be as brave now to do the same thing all over again. I enrolled in a course where the medium of instruction was purely in Spanish, armed with only my high school Spanish from St. Pius X Seminary and my own self-study a few months before I left for Spain. For the first two months, I could barely understand a word of what the professors where saying in class with their dizzyingly fast Castilian Spanish, and I thought I would fail my subjects ... until I realized, even my classmates from Latin America also had about the same challenges in comprehending the professors. After abo