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Exploring-ski Warsaw-ski

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* After checking-in our room and freshening up for a bit, we excitedly agreed to right away explore our first stop in the Honeymoon tour. For history buffs, like yours truly, Warsaw is significant in that it was a major World War II site (setting of many a movie involving Nazi atrocities and the Warsaw Ghetto) and later a major Cold War site (where the USSR's Warsaw Pact was founded). However, what I found was a city rapidly commercializing and growing thanks to its embrace of capitalism and a people sincerely enjoying their relatively newly-found freedom; very much polite, helpful and much friendlier than all other European countries that I had previously been in. * Stepping outside our hotel we immediately see Poland's tallest building, the imposing Palace of Culture and Science . A gift from the USSR to the people of Poland, the building is in the traditional "Stalinist" communist-style architecture, which means it is HUGE and completely dominates the

Honeymoon Honception!

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* A memorable honeymoon, as with a happy marriage, succeeds with a good mixture of compromise and win-win situations. For the writer, this amounts to going to places rich in history and culture (food, music and landmarks) where his inner historian/adventurer can be satisfied; and for his wife, this amounts to loads of shopping and picture-worthy sites. This was our first challenge as newlyweds, and we both jumped at the chance to tackle it head-on. * Grabbing one of my favorite books from the home library, we decided to work on a big chunk of our bucket list by crossing out Central and Eastern Europe, site of some of history's most important moments and wars, as well as the home of Europe's ancient Kingdoms (Polish, Magyar, Austro-Hungarian, Bavarian, Bohemian and Venetian) * Our honeymoon travels would take us from the World War II battleground of Warsaw , to the home of Polish Kings, Krakow , from fairy-tale  Budapest  to the majesty of Imperial Vienna , pas

The Wedding - Part 6 (Photobooth)

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It's no secret that our favorite place in the world is the mystical island of Santorini in Greece.  That is the reason why everything in our wedding was Greek-themed; from the colors, to the floral arrangement, the styling and the invitations.  Fortunately we met Jiggie and the guys from Team OSS , who were able to take it a step further and actually teleport our guests to the island, if but for a moment! These are the photographs that captured the experience. * The photo that started it all. (Santorini, 2013)

The Wedding - Part 5 (Reception)

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Last July 5, 2014, I married the love of my life.  These are the written chronicles of that beautiful day. After the beautiful church ceremony and the channeling of our inner models with the pictorial at Raffles Hotel, came my most awaited part, the reception. I was excited because I personally had a hand in organizing much of the food, entertainment and libations for the evening.  Hey man, if we're gonna throw a party like this once in our life, it might as well be the best party it can be! * Our reception was held at the  Blue Leaf Pavilion  in McKinley Hill, Taguig. Not only was the venue perfect with its proximity to the Church and hotel, wide open space and high ceiling, Blue Leaf also had ample parking slots, a nice garden area outside and extremely well-kept restrooms.

The Wedding - Part 4 (Portrait)

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Last July 5, 2014, I married the love of my life.  These are the written chronicles of that beautiful day. Being an only child, I find that trust is a very important word, seldom given and hardly earned. Indeed, I am a believer of the age old adage, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." and can only truly count in one hand, the people that I have full faith in. But with a master of his craft, like our photographer  Oly Ruiz , at the helm, there was immediate and total confidence, assurance, and certainty, and it was our great pleasure to watch this genius work his magic. These are the official portraits of that important day, courtesty of Mr. Metrophoto .