Merry Iggy Visits Germany

Merry Iggy accompanied Kayni on her Baltic trip. Merry Iggy and Kayni really enjoyed Germany and here are some postcards:

 Merry Iggy took a photo at the marker of the Berlin Wall. Actually, another girl got intrigued with Merry Iggy and she asked if she could take a photo of her as well.

 We strolled around the Brandenburg Gate.

We found the simple Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam very picturesque.

The Sanssouci Palace was quiet and suitable for an afternoon relaxation.

 Posing at Sanssouci Palace grounds.

 Enjoyed the Baltic breeze at the resort town of Warnemunde.

And, marveled at the Berlin Wall's history and art.

La Igorota en Donostia

Wander Iggy at Playa la Concha.

Hola from Donostia, more popularly known as the city of San Sebastian here in Spain. Also found in the Basque country, Donostia is the capital of Gipuzkoa (like Bilbao is the capital of Bizkaia). San Sebastian is known to be a summer destination of royalties in the past, having been part of  "La Belle Epoque". Today it boasts of being foodie heaven, having three of the top ten michelin star chefs in the world. We went there with two lists--one for the sights, and a rather longer one for the pintxos bars and restaurants we need to 'visit'. We have to *taste* for ourselves. 

La la la la...Concha, as the name suggests is shaped like a shell. 

we think the elves frequent this area when they decide whether fighting for Mordor is righteous. hehe.

View from *erm* below.  Don't you just love these type of coastlines? 

These hand rail designs date back to decades ago, they are said to be uniquely San Sebastian.

the haciendero/a vibes.

old town.

Pintxos crawl.  

After visiting two more pintxos bars and a superb dinner we have concluded that San Sebastian is indeed a place where food is taken seriously. Of course we could have just taken Anthony Bourdain's word for it, but it pays to double check. And boy does it taste delicious. 

Aguuur Donostia. Hasta luego!

Merry Iggy Meets Moominmamma From Finland

Merry Iggy was so excited to meet Moominmamma from Finland. Merry Iggy knows that Kayni loves to collect Hello Kitty and Moomin Valley stuff toys; the Moomin characters have been the hardest to find. So when Kayni finally found a store that sells Moomin products, she was so happy. Unfortunately, Kayni didn't have enough money to buy all the Moomin stuff toys, so we had to make a decision and chose Moominmamma to take home.

 Merry Iggy and Moominmamma chatting about where they've been and where they're going.

 Merry Iggy and Moominmamma are now safely at home in Maryland after two weeks of Scandinavian adventure.

Sandy Iggy's mosque-hoppping

If there's such a thing as mosque-hopping, Sandy Iggy just did that. "Hopping" though didn't mean that she went in any of these interesting structures. Right after getting out of Saint Joseph Church, there's a neighbor mosque in Kaniza corner.

The succeeding photos were taken in the next 15 minutes or so. And guess what? Those were like (just) 20% of what she managed to catch in such timeframe.

While it's not too obvious in other mosques, notice the megaphones in each which are instrumental to the five times call to prayer in a day. In Sandy Iggy's homeland, she remembers the church bell's ringing to signal a time of the day.

The last photo was taken at distant hour just to show how more appealing the mosques are at night. How strange that when something's abundant in our area, we tend to ignore it. Maybe, it's time to put an official album of the UAE mosques (there probably are hundreds in the Emirate of the Abu Dhabi alone!), all of the seven emirates. And of course, it's about time to send a postcard-like Sandy Iggy by the mosque shot to her lovely sisters. :)

miss iggy and panay's big bells

miss iggy's back at panay church in panay, capiz, in the phillipines!

this time she made it up the belfry. a climb of almost 70 steep steps, this was no little feat for this little iggy. behind her are people from the mindanao region admiring the 300-year old bells.

here she is with the biggest bell, made from 70 sacks of coins donated by the townspeople.

and inside the bell, where the current townspeople are still contributing to the bell's overall aesthetic.

for those who can't go up the belfry the church has installed a replica bell outside of the church. it doesn't offer the same experience as climbing up a steep and narrow staircase but it does offer a preview of panay's big bells.

it's been said that the louder the sound of a church's bells, the bigger its territory is. like old-school cellsites, these big bells serve an important role in sending signals to the townspeople that the church is in their country and awaiting their submission. wider clanging coverage means more land area and more prospective souls for recruitment. this is important when one takes into account that religion was used to colonize and enslave the Philippines for more than 300 years. and if these bells were made out of coins donated by the townspeople, miss iggy thinks this project was a very successful enterprise indeed!

miss iggy at the riverbank

miss iggy went to the riverside in pontevedra, capiz, panay island in the philippines to watch a fluvial parade of saints. upon reaching the riverbank she found only one saint ready to set sail. she thinks the other ones got scared of the rain.

she found this jeepney parked across the riverbank and the jeep's route reminded her of iggy sisterhood bloggers conniechiwa, who hails from pilar, and sreisaat, who hails from roxas city.

and beside saint isidore's boat, were these boats named after one of the iggy sisterhood bloggers.

metaphysical reunions are the best!