Let's go shopping!

Despite the ongoing crisis, at this time of the year shops (at least in Italy) are flooded with people seeking some discounted items. Girls shop for clothes and accessories (I mean, come on, who doesn't need another lovely T-shirt or dress for the summer), boys quest for some fancy gadgets and gizmos... But if you're sick of seeing the same shops all the time, if you're tired of this unpleasant shop assistant at H&M but still don't feel like giving up on this wonderful brand and at the same time you want to go on a short holiday, Forbes gives you some ideas about the World's Shopping Capitals this summer. They examined 67 countries and come up with an indispensable list:

15. Beijing
14. Milan
13. Hong Kong
12. Hamburg (nine (!) major shopping malls, the Hanse Viertel Galerie Passage- Europe's longest shopping arcade is a particular favorite)
11. Singapore
10. Tokyo
9. Barcelona
8. Munich
7. Berlin The third city in Germany!)
6. Moscow (just look at the picture on the right of one of the malls...)
5. Madrid (the second Spanish city in Spain!!)
4. Dubai
3. New York (of course, note though it's the only American city to reach the top of the list)
2. Paris (no surprise)
1. London (as above)

So... did you already plan your holidays? : )

Pictures: Forbes

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Women & Vio, the fizzy milk.

I've been surfing the net in search for some spectacular news/novelties in the British broadsheets and look what I found on the Guardian and Times websites.

1. Did you know that women are getting more and more beautiful? According to the scientists the evolution is driving women to become prettier. What's interesting is that they also state that beautiful women have more children and a major part of them are female. Those daughters will become attractive as well and the pattern repeats. Therefore attractive parents are less likely to have sons. According to Gayle Brewer, a psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, said: “Men and women seek different things in their partners. “For women, looks are much less important in a man than his ability to look after her when she is pregnant and nursing, periods when women are vulnerable to predators. Historically this has meant rich men tend to have more wives and many children. So the pressure is on men to be successful.”

Wow.

Source: Times Online

2. Coca-Cola has just launched in the US a new drink which is a mixture of milk (yes, yes!), sparkling water, flavoured with fruit and sweetened with cane sugar! For new it has been introduced only in New York and costs £1.50 a bottle. One of Coke's copywriters claims it tastes "like a birthday party for a polar bear". It's called VIO and comes in 4 natural flavours: peach mango, berry, citrus and tropical colada and could be even marketed as a healthy nutritional drink (it has the same amount of sugar as the Diet Coke, i.e. 26g/bottle), with no artificial flavours, preservatives or sweeteners and offers 15% of daily calcium intake and antioxidant vitamin C. The producers promise that if it becomes a success in the US, it can be launched globally.

Knowing my love for milk (I always have my coffee with milk, have cornflakes with milk everyday for breakfast and eat 1-2 yoghurts a day) I'd be so curious to taste this drink! Well, and what do you think? I'm sure Sarah has already tried things like this in Japan... they're so much ahead in everything!

Source: Guardian

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My little "quasi" holidays (part 2)

So the holidays are over now. On Friday I came back from Rome. It was pretty hot there (about 30°C) but it wasn't impossible to do some sightseeing. In fact after 3.5 days of continuous walk in the city, I almost didn't walk at all this weekend (used the car to go everywhere), my feet were so sore!

Anyway, let's start from the beginning. First, last weekend we went to Piazza Armerina (famous for the mosaics) and Agrigento (famous for the amazing Greek temples which date back to V century B.C.)



On Saturday night we stayed in this hotel:



Then on Monday I worked and on Tuesday we went to Rome. I love this city even though I have never explored it in summer before and I do not recommend it! Lots of tourists, confusion, and hot weather do not contribute to a relaxing vacation. Nevertheless, I'm quite satisfied, we managed to see all the spots I had planned to see, and most of the tickets I booked online which saved a lot of time! Here are some pictures:

1. Spanish Steps



2. Fontana della Barcaccia



3. Fontana di Trevi



4. Vatican



5. Rome seen from the Dome



6. View from Colloseum



By the way, I wanted to let you know I removed the "word verification" when you post your comment, so I hope all the problems you have had on my blog are finished! : ) Let me know!

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My little "quasi" holidays (part 1)

I used "quasi" (amost) because I cannot entirely dedicate myself to pure pleasure, beach, sun and fun.. there are days I need to go to work but it's ok.

So it's been now 1 week since my parents came to Sicily. So far we have visited "must see" places like: Taormina, Etna, Noto, we took delicious pizza here, we went to a traditional sandwich stall where my Dad wanted to try the famous "carne di cavallo" (horse meat), which try as I may cannot say is disguting, just the opposite, it's mild and delicate, a bit sweeter than pork or veal... Anyway I tried it only once and will never again... I care too much about these beautiful animals... Talking of which, tonight I'm going to take my parents to see the horse races in one of the most spectacular and mordern hippodromes in Europe, it's called Ippodromo del Mediterraneo. Tomorrow we're heading off to Agrigento & Piazza Armerina then on Monday work again and on Tuesday we go to Rome for 3 days. On Friday my parents take a plane back home in Poland and I return to Sicily. That's the plan.

Here are some pics I took during the last days.

1. Isola bella in Taormina





2. Taormina center (my Mum in the 2 pic)







3. These are NOT real! Can you believe it??



4. French writing on an Italian wal... At least bizzare knowing Italians hate other languages, they refuse to learn any, they love Italian and think everyobody should speak it!



5. What was written on the bathroom door in one of the b&b's we spent a night... I don't know German but Ella, is the writing as hilarious as the one written in English? let me know!



6. Etna





7. Some of the delicious Italian dolci...

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Shame on me!!!

So first of all, I feel so bad about my negliegance with posting and commenting on your posts, guys... There's no giustification apart the simple and obvious one- I'm swamped with work... : ( Just a few days ago I've noticed that onJune 30, Ella has given me this wonderful award:


Here's the blog-award description

"This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Thank YOU so much!! Well, I haven't been much of a good friend lately :( I'm upset... I mean it's great I have this interesting job and my parents are here now, but I think I have become sth like blog-addicted and I react with depression without being able to "use" and "dose myself" the blog... I'm sure you all know what I mean : ) I'd like to pass this award to:

Al
Sarah

i.e. my first blog-friends (Ella you were also one of the first people who embraced me in this new blog world but I think I can't pass this award to you again.. can I?) You're all GREAT, girls!!! And really hope one day we'll have a chance to meet LIVE!

PS. Jordan has just informed me it's impossible to put comments on my blog. Do you have the same problem? She claims my blog is not letting her see the rest of the code box...What should I do??? Help!

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That was a night!

So as I said earlier, on Tuesday we had this amazing night- Tribute to Michael Jackson. Lots of students turned up! At first we watched the official concert-ceremony broadcast by CNN, I was so impressed by all the performances, cannot imagine what it was like to be actually there... I feel shivers down my spine just thinking about that! Later on, we played Michael's songs from YouTube with lyrics and we sang and danced to his music. Finally, my Tunisian colleague (who is a musician and an artist) asked his fellows from his band to come and they played Michael's greatest songs... It was fabulous... just take a look at the pics (me, in that T-shirt with pink elephant):

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A Big Day! Yay!

So today is the Big Day. Not because it's Friday but because finally after 2 years my parents come back to visit me in Sicily. I'm really delighted! They're staying for 2 weeks and unfortunately I'll have to go to work some of the days when they're here but it's ok. I hope they'll like what I've programmed.

We start directly tomorrow with visit at the Ortigia market where they'll be able to see things like:

Pictures taken from flickr

Then we'll proceed to Taormina and Etna during the weekend. Next week I still haven't planned anything particular, especially that I'll have to work Mon-Wed. The next weekend, though I'm planning on going to Agrigento and Piazza Armerina. At the end, we're going to Rome for 4 days since they have never visited this city before. I'll post the pics, I promise!!!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

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The Best Hotel...

Ladies and gentlemen, let me present you... THE BEST... HOTEL... IN THE WORLD...

According to Forbes it's Villa d'Este Cernobbio in Italy!!!

Pictures: jpmoser

The hotel is situated on the shores of the Como Lake (Northern Italy), and among the most famous guests in its history we can name: Giuseppe Verdi, Onassis and Maria Callas. Nowadays, with room rates averaging $1400 a night (top suites average $5000 per night), 70% of the clients are of American and English origin. Take a look at the official webiste. To my mind, the website is really bad and doesn't really encourage people to explore it, left alone making a reservation...

And here's my question to you: what are your personal criteria when choosing a B&B or a hotel? If you could, would you like spend a night at this hotel? Or would you prefer something much more modern and "fresh", like Nhow in Milan? Let me know, I'd like to know your tastes... : )

By the way, on Tuesday we're having a Tribute Night to Michael Jackson at my school. We're going to sing, watch and listen to King of Pop best songs. I hope to take some pictures from this unique event for you, guys! : )

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