Into Lovely Homes and Jazzy Art Galleries

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how much I think about Mazatlan as our third home country. And then I saw a poster at the El Cid Country Club advertising an Annual Tour of Mazatlan Homes sponsored by the Damas Trabajandos for the “A Drop in the Ocean” cause. What if we upped our investment and bought a home in this city? I reasoned that, even if we do not, the tour would give us excellent ideas about how to decorate our new Viewpoint home base with a Mexican theme. There were seven homes on the tour but these are the five I liked. Two of them I really, really liked.

Casa Maria Cortez

the second floor garden at Casa Maria Cortez

I was immediately enamored by this home. The color yellow is everywhere, unifying the home and brightening the look. The main house has the living room, dining room, kitchen, and a portico. There are also three bedrooms on the upper floor. A two-story casita with an upper and lower bedroom has a beautiful garden area on the second floor that joins the two houses. Also connecting the two houses on the ground level is a swimming pool. With lots of space filled with plants, flowers, and greens, the entire compound feels very open and refreshing. Big décor pieces are flushed into huge windows. The beautiful owner, Maria, operates a popular restaurant across the street.

courtyard, Casa Constitution

Casa Constitucion

Angelina, the owner of the second house, also owns a restaurant named after her. She didn't have a name for her house but, when I pressed her, she said, "Call it Casa Constitucion." The one-story main house has the portico, the kitchen, dining, bar, and master’s bedroom. Built in the 1850s, it feels old Spanish. A small courtyard is in front with lots of greens and a central fountain. The lot is fairly small and the newer yellow casita has one bedroom on the ground and two on the second.

the Catedral Spires
from the Casa Las Campanas

Casa de Las Campanas

We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the third home so I only have photos of the garden and porticos. Also built in the 1850s, it feels a lot like a house museum. With many antique fixtures, furniture and décor, American owners Greg and Renee enthusiastically talked about the distinctive features of their home, especially those that the previous owner was able to obtain from Bel Mar, the original Malecon Hotel when they did an update.  The living room, the playroom, the dining room, the kitchen, and the bedrooms are on one floor laid out as an L-shape. There is a two-level courtyard: the upper level with a garden and a central fountain and the lower level with a patio/bar and a small swimming pool. The property is called Casa de Las Campanas. The Mazatlan Catedral’s spires can be seen from the garden and you can hear the bells that begin to chime at 5 am.

dining room, Casa Delaney

Casa Delaney

This property is owned by Kim and Tom Delaney who decided to retire in beautiful Mazatlan just a few years ago. It sits on the area called El Rebajo which means a recess. The original hill was cut-off to create a beautiful raised residential space for the now multi-colored homes (see headline photo). This house is the one with the yellow façade. The entrance opens to a sitting room and a spacious living room that leads to a dining room, split level, that then leads to the kitchen. Between the dining room and the living room are stairs to the family room and two bedrooms upstairs. The dining room looks out to a small garden while the kitchen leads to the bar/patio and a good-sized blue swimming pool at the back.

Casa Guzman

what you see when you walk into Casa Guzman

As they say, “Save the best for last.” The Casa Guzman is on the highest point of Mazatlan, beside the  Observatorio Historico de Mazatlan which is being converted into a museum, atop Cerro del Vigia. So we had to change to smaller buses since the big bus would not be able to climb the winding uphill road. And this house wowed us all. It has a 360-degree view of the city of Mazatlan/ and all the waters around it, It overlooks the El Faro Lighthouse which is the highest operating lighthouse in the world sitting atop the opposite hill, Cerro del Creston, and the twin Mexican “icebergs” so called because they are white with bird poop. More than 17,000 square feet in three levels, new sections are still being built (the renovations started a couple of years ago). The main level has the receiving area, a formal living area, a den, a dining /family area, and a large kitchen that all open to the majestic views. The lower level has a family room, a cellar, and another social area that opens to a garden. There you will find a modern infinity pool and a cedar fire pit area for relaxing. The garden continues on to a play area for the young couple Karla and Amado’s children. The upper floor with the bedrooms was not open for us to see, however. This gorgeous home is elegantly laid out, decorated with stunning art pieces, and built with classy high ceilings.

fire pit, infinity pool, and jacuzzi at Casa Guzman

Dorey and her "Mazatlan Doors"

We took the opportunity to visit the Old Observatory beside it for more photos of the views. This house (and the first) gave rise to the following question: “Should we settle into a beautiful home and forego our wandering life?” After some talk, we decided not just yet or maybe not ever. We could never afford this last one and, even if we are able to buy something like the first, both of us do not really like maintaining a house. All-inclusive vacation and resort community are perfect for us.

Jazzy Art Galleries

But we got lots of ideas for decorating our little Viewpoint home base. At the Casa de Las Campanas was a wall full of Spanish masks. They may be perfect for the space above our bed headboard. If we find at least six pieces we love, we will string them together. Actually, we also got a lot of ideas from the Art Walk in Centro Hispanico that happens every first Friday of the month. We were able to visit around ten of the fifty galleries and stopped only because we had found an art piece that we fell for at the Beau Pres Gallery. It is a collection of sixteen photographs of beautiful Mazatlan doors set in two door panels each with eight frames. Since we have a car, we can easily bring it home! Next year, we will go to more galleries. And we may again tour a new set of homes. It’s not only fun but also enriching.

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Paris, Lovelier with Someone You Love Who Loves You, Too

I had been to Paris a long time ago. It was a business trip. I was alone. Everything I did was perfunctory.  And it was understandable. At the time, I had no love in my life, long been separated from my husband who had replaced me with a younger woman. I had been father and mother to my three children for many years until I migrated to America and met Bill. So when he told me he had not been to the City of Love, I was excited to show it to him. After celebrating our tenth anniversary in August this year, we included it on our month-long October vacation in Europe.

Arc de Triomphe

Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe

We started our week with a memorable eggs benedict breakfast, Parisian-style, and chaud chocolat at the landmark Laduree on the Champs-Elysees. My friend Yogi from our University of the Philippines Corps of Sponsor days met us there. She even gifted us with those famous French macaroons people line up for at this legendary French luxury bakery and sweets maker. Yogi, a crowned Binibining Pilipinas-International, still radiates beauty, especially because she makes Paris her home for six months a year. After breakfast, she took our photo at the nearby Arc de Triomphe, copied the world over as a symbol of military success (even if it was not). 

Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur 

Then she took us to Montmartre, the Hill of Martyrs, with a foggy, mysterious, and romantic view of the city. At the top of the hill stands the gleaming Sacre Coeur, both a political and cultural monument. It was built as a national penance for the defeat of France in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and the socialist Paris Commune of 1871. After all, Montmartre has been known as the city’s most rebellious neighborhood. The Cathedral was publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ.

Down Montmartre

Walking down the hill, she showed us the Artist’s Village, where painters were busy having breakfast, painting some scenes of gay Pareee, and selling their finished canvasses. At the foot of the hill, we wandered into the Moulin Rouge, the famous arisian cabaret, another world model for eventful nightlife. Hopping into the Metro once again, our last stop was at the Galleries Lafayette, the mammoth luxury department store whose domed roof and high floors are richly decorated and whose rooftop gave us our first view of the Eiffel Tower. Before parting, we had snacks at the Galleries’ Food Court.

Moulin Rouge

The Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Yogi taught us how to navigate the Metro and from that first day on, we ventured on our own. We spent a wonderful afternoon around the Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Mars, constructed as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair. It has become one of the most recognizable structures in the world and the most-visited paid monument with more than 7 million people a year ascending it. The ticket to the summit was sold out and Bill convinced me to just walk around the 324-foot landmark from the Trocadero to the Peace Wall. Our photos will show you how much we loved this lovely afternoon, walking hand in hand and stopping for the Eiffel’s different angles for romantic poses to remember our union by.

The Louvre

The next morning was a visit to the Museum de Louvre which was originally built as the Louvre Castle in the late 12th to the 13th century under Philip II. When Louis X!V built the Palace of Versailles in the 17^th century, he transferred the royal household there and the Louvre became the depository of the nation’s masterpieces. It would have been a massive undertaking to tour this, the world's largest art museum, and we opted to romanticize about the grounds and its distinctive modern entrance and its fountains instead. That in itself took so much time that we had to have a French brunch at a Brasserie in front of the Louvre immediately after.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Then we made our way to the Notre Dame de Paris, crossing the River Seine from its right to its left bank. The Cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. The rib vault and the flying buttress, the beautiful rose windows, and the many sculptural decorations set it apart from earlier Romanesque architecture. Built in the 12^th century and completed in the 13^th, much of its religious décor was damaged during the French revolution but interest in the building was revived soon after Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame was published. It is now the most visited monument in Paris with 12 million eager to witness its beauty every year.

Around Notre Dame

Hotel de Ville

The day was so wonderfully romantic that we finished it with an early cheese and beef fondue dinner at the Latin Quarter. After this satisfying meal, we chanced upon an old and seemingly uncared for Cathedral of St. Servin with its unique buttresses behind the altar, yes, behind. Then we did some shopping for souvenir items, finding my now oft-used inexpensive but elegant red shawl. Before going home, we also passed by the Hotel de Ville. It is not a hotel. It is the richly decorated City Hall

Musee d'Orsay

Musee d’Orsay

We devoted an entire day to tour the famous Musee d’Orsay, romantically housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art from 1848 to 1914, especially the largest collection of impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. We spent hours there and could easily have spent even more time, alternately admiring the beautiful masterpieces and dreaming about how to launch my own journey to painting.

Les Invalides

Les Invalides

Then we walked to the Les Invalides, just to make sure we got a photo of the largest and most glittering dome in all of Paris. We saw a glimpse of it when we were walking around the Eiffel Tower. It is the roof over Napoleon’s tomb at the Musee de l’Armee, the military museum of France. It helped us complete our view of the history of France with this tribute to the general who was supposed to build the French empire. But we were not in the mood for touring another large museum, not on the same day.  

Le Mur de Je t’aime

Instead, we trooped to the Le Mur de Je t’aime, the Wall of I Love You, a 40 square meter wall in the Jehan Rictus garden square in Montmartre, Paris, France. It is composed of 612 tiles of enameled lava, on which the phrase 'I love you' is written 311 times in 250 languages. Of course, the Tagalog “Iniibig Kita” is there just like its English version, “I Love You”! We found out that the station Abesses on Line 12 is just between Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge. We could have visited it on our first day with Yogi! But it completed our circle and neatly wrapped our Parisian gift box of romance.

the Love Wall

Vincennes

Royal Regency at Vincennes

Where we stayed contributed to all the good feelings we had in the city. We had been upgraded to a one-bedroom apartment at the Royal Regency in Vincennes, at the end of Line 1 of the Metro. It is part of our Diamond Resorts timeshare collection. It was about 350 square meters, including a patio, complete with a kitchen, a dining area, a living area, a bedroom, a bath suite, an enclosed toilet suite, and a foyer. Every Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday, there is a market around the city suburb’s own Hotel de Ville. The old Chateau de Vincennes is the city’s claim to fame. Around our neighborhood are a boulangerie, a U Express grocer, a pharmacie, an affiliate gym, and even an old cemetery.

We have never returned to any place we visited. With little time left on this earth, we always opt for a new place to visit except for Mazatlan which we have made a second home. But we want to return to Paris, maybe for another major Anniversary like our 15^th  in 2023. And I bet it would be even lovelier the third time around!

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4 Small Towns in Germany, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein that Are Truly Off-the-Beaten-Path

What makes a place off-the-beaten-path? Is it the small population, a less developed economy, little infrastructure or all of these combined, rendering it unattractive to the general tourist? Or, because of all these things, the relative inaccessibility makes it literally off-the-beaten-path? The most fitting description, I think, is that it is a place whose true worth is yet to be discovered by many. Such is the secret behind these three towns we visited from our base that is also off-the-beaten-path.

Oberstaufen, Germany

cemetery at Steilbus in Oberstaufen

the church in downtown Oberstaufen

We chose Oberstaufen because it is one of the resorts offered by Diamond Resorts International, one of our timeshares, midway between Innsbruck and Paris. A haven for hikers in summer and skiers in winter, Oberstaufen is only 2,595 feet in average elevation but it has the unique topography of undulating hills that create bowls of lush greenery punctuated by clusters of homes and a small and quaint downtown area for just over 7,000 residents.

We stayed in a Mondi-Holiday Hotel, a frequently awarded resort chain. Our chalet is a one-bedroom unit that felt very much like home so, unlike Innsbruck, I was motivated to shop at the local grocer and cook some hot meals. We also spent a lot of time at the Wellness Center for fitness routines, spa therapies (dry or infrared sauna, steam or dampfbath), and swims at heated pools and tubs. There are also table tennis, billiards, and bowling facilities. We loved the great Italian restaurant on site, too. From this lovely base, we discovered three other off-the-beaten-path towns in three day-trips.

St. Gallen, Switzerland

all red at the Red Square in St. Gallen

balconies in St. Gallen

It took us about two hours on the train to get to St. Gallen, Switzerland, close to the border. We had very low expectations. Basically, we just wanted to tick off Switzerland as another country we had visited together. On the way to the Old Town, a few blocks that were all carpeted red greeted us. It was called Red Square!

At the Old Town Center, the Tourist Information Center told us that there are 111 balconies that adorn the buildings around the city of over 75,000. We chanced upon six of them just around the Old Town. And then they told us the entire Abbey of St. Gallen is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Abbey's Cathedral is gorgeous but it is the Abbey Library that will take your breath away. It put us back in pre-medieval times when books were treated like gold. The ceiling is one of a kind, not just painted, but a three-dimensional work of art. The shelves are of heavy wood and they open up to reveal more secrets behind. And the lovely old floor had to be protected by soft cloth booties we had to wear!  St. Gallen was from Ireland, a true cultural and spiritual leader in the 900s. He was credited with spreading his influence into the heathen Germany of the time.

the great Abbey Library of St. Gallen

sculptures at the Old Town Walk in Vaduz

Vaduz, Lichtenstein

The capital of Lichentenstein has just under 6,000 in population. In fact, the whole country has only 35,000 people! It is the 6^th smallest country in the world. Vaduz has a lively tourist industry, however, despite being one of the very few capital cities in the world without an airport or railway station. We reached it by boarding a train to Feldkirch, Austria and then getting on Bus 11 to Vaduz totaling two and a half hours travel time.

The Old Town Square is a pedestrian area walkable in just a couple of hours, from the Cathedral on one end to the Government Building, the gorgeous Parliament edifice, and the Rathaus (City Hall) at the other end. The whole walk is strewn with interesting sculptures that will capture your fancy, including giant ladies’ strappy shoes. The ruler of the country, a young prince, lives up in the castle on the hill that looks over the entire city. Just outside the tourist area, we found an excellent restaurant patronized by Lichtensteiners. We found out that their cuisine is a great mix of German and French.

Uberlingen, Germany

windows of Hotel Ludwig

many views of Bodensee

On our return trip from Vaduz, we missed the bus going to Mondi-Holiday and got stranded at the bus station for an hour. That’s where we met Dieter and Inge. The following day we saw them again when we went to Steibus, a cluster of homes up the hill across from downtown. The windows of the Hotel Ludwig in town are quite artsy and unique. Just behind the hotel is a Wonmobile (RV) campground. Well, it turned out that the couple owned a unit at the building across from the park. They invited us in for drinks and pretzels. During the merriment that ensued, despite Bill’s broken German and Dieter’s broken English, and Inge’s and my inability to participate often, they invited us to their home in Uberlingen.

The next day was our last in Germany and we had planned on packing and going to the Wellness Center again. Instead, we accepted the invitation and took a two-hour train ride to where Dieter and Inge live.  Uberlingen is on the northern shore of Lake Constance or Bodensee (see headline photo). With a population of 22,000, it is the second largest, after Friedrichshafen, in the Bodensee district. The lake is huge and the city is a resort town that has attracted many retirees and tourists. A lot of preparations are being done for the 2020 Garden Show.

part of the Old Wall of Uberlingen

the basilica among the vineyards on Bodensee

Dieter and Inge treated us to brunch of German sausages, liverwurst, several kinds of cheese, and bread at their lovely maisonette overlooking the lake. Then they walked us through the City Garden up to the Gazebo where we had a great view of the city and the lake. We continued walking to see the oldest section of town, including parts of the Wall that protected the city when the Swedish invaded. It is a good thing that much of the city was spared during those wars. Then Dieter took one of his Jaguars and drove us up a hill to the beautiful Basilica among the vineyards. And that was not the end of it because he drove us up another hill to the Meersburg Castle. From both these vantage points there are even more beautiful views of Bodensee, the grand lake. 

There are many treasures one can find in places that are truly off-the-beaten-path. And sometimes those gems even include lovely people with whom language barriers cannot pose even the tiniest hindrance. 

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Innsbruck, the Tyrolean Capital of the Austrian Alps: Lovely Down to Every Small Detail

That is a pretty huge claim to make but let me tell you why.

The Loveliness of Nature

As soon as our bus approached a valley sandwiched between the Karwendel Alps to the north and the Patscherkofel Series to the south, I couldn’t stop clicking my camera. The Tyrolean region from the Austrian side (probably also from the Italian), is a picture-perfect area. Purplish mountains, greenish meadows, colorful villages, feeding animals, and bright blue skies make for idyllic scenery, especially in fall.

view from our hotel

windows and treatments, five in Old Town and one in Axams

Right at the foothills in Axams, a suburb of Innsbruck, the Austrian capital of the region, is the Alpine Hotel Schlosselhoff, one of the resorts affiliated with one of our timeshares, Diamond Resorts International. It was our home in Austria for seven days. From our deck, we viewed cattle, sheep, and horses grazing on bright green grass. There were rustic cabins and blazing autumnal trees. This October was blessed with unusually gorgeous weather, the high 60s to low 70s, sunny and with no winds.

The Loveliness of the Architecture and History

We were given free passes to buses that run every fifteen minutes and take about thirty minutes to and from the Hauptbahnhof (Main Rail station). Another fifteen minutes of walking took us to Old Town Innsbruck. Yes, here in Europe I didn’t mind walking. I loved the architecture of the buildings so much I couldn’t stop taking photos of the windows and treatments that are so beautiful, lovely down to every small detail. The colors seemed to be coordinated, too. Even in the suburb Axams, they were the same, only they were painted and not sculpted.

Triumphal Arch, left, and Maria Teresa Square, right

And the loveliness went up even to a higher level at Old Town Innsbruck. First to appear during our walk from the Main Rail Station is the Triumphal Arch, reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Then the Old Town Square with the statue of Maria Teresa spreads out with colorful buildings on both sides. If you walk towards the Inn River, you will get the spectacular sight of colorful buildings reflected on the water and with the mountains as a backdrop (see headline photo).

Goldenes Dachl, left, and Maximillian's Cenotaph, right

Towards the other side is the iconic Goldenes Dachl, built in 1500 for the wedding of 
Emperor Maximilian I. It glitters with 2,657 fire-gilded copper tiles.  It is over this balcony where the couple stood in front of adoring crowds to observe many events. Just around the corner is the heart of the Imperial Palace now an astonishing museum. Beside it is the St. James Cathedral which was under renovation. The Court Church was most interesting, containing Maximillian’s Cenotaph surrounded by his Black Men. He designed and commissioned this tomb even before his death.

The Loveliness of Modern Day Innsbruck

the Hungerburgbahn Terminal at Hungerburg

Just beyond all this history stands the LandesTheater, the Tyrolean State Theater, in bright yellow and the present-day Congress, a very modern red building, practically across each other. Across the Congress and beside the Theater is the Hofgarten, ten hectares of a green oasis. About a five-minute walk after these sites is the Hungerburgbahn hybrid funicular railway ride which takes you up to the midpoint village up the mountains of Hungerburg. There you have a lovely aerial view of Innsbruck. Gondolas for eight can take you to the top.

aerial view from Hungerburg

crystal stairs at the downtown Swarowski store

Nature has also so endowed Innsbruck that the city had been chosen to host many international competitions for winter sports like the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, the 1984 and 1988 Winter Paralympics, and the first Winter Youth Olympics in 2012. It was just too bad we didn’t have enough time to visit the Olympic facilities, especially the towering Bergisel Ski Jump.

The Loveliness of the Crystals

At Old Town Innsbruck, we were fascinated by a Swarowski store replete with exhibits of crystalline ladies’ dresses, bejeweled everyday things like cereals and soda cans, stairs in shimmering silver, and pieces of jewelry and souvenirs on sale! We hungered for more and so we took a trip to the Swarowski KystalWellten or Crystal World where millions of crystals are used to create monumental exhibits, both indoors and outdoors.

entrance to the Gift Shop

Indoors you go through room after room, each with different themes. We were fascinated by the Dome, the Holograms of Peace, Ready to Love, Icons of the World, Emotional Transformations, and many, many more. It is good that photography without flash is allowed. At the end of all the rooms is the gift shop which had more displays of bejeweled ladies’ gowns and other crystalline home décor carrying the brand name. The entrance to the shop is a tunnel of mesmerizing lights. And outdoors, you will find the amazing Jewel Monster and the glittering Cloud Forest.   

Cloud Forest

As you can see, it is easy to see why I fell in love with Innsbruck!

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