Manila tour..appreciating what this city has to offer (1st Round)

We dream of going to foreign places far from home. We want to experience what those lands have to offer. No problem with that. But have you explored your own country first? With all its diverse cultures and influences and the offerings all around the islands everywhere. If not, that's a shame, you're missing a lot. Try it out first, it's a lot of fun and full of discoveries. That's why I love going around the city. :)

So here's the lowdown for this day..Marie and I planned to make a Manila trip and it was one of the itineraries that we thought about. But on this day, our original plan was to see the Andulucia Galleon at the port area but however, because of bad timing and a huge number of people still in line waiting to be entered into the premises, we weren't able to see it because they closed already for the day. They did not anticipate the volume of people who wanted to come and see the replica of the ship that used to sail different countries for trading, etc during the time of 'kopong-kopong'. Too bad.

We did not want to be affected by this so instead I suggested how about if we do a semi-Manila tour. We just go to whatever we can cover in like 2 hours before the sun sets. And we did just that. Let me share our pics.

Marie and I inside the trike coming from the port area going to Manila Cathedral

beautiful Manila Cathedral

La Pieta inside the cathedral

 Monument for the Filipino victims of World War 2

San Agustin Church (unfortunately was closed for the day already)

i like the uniforms, you guys at the back :)

feeling like I was at Vigan

Baluarte de San Andres (loved the tambay time here..so relaxing..so near yet so far the crazy cries of Manila)

one of the very few pics of us together coz it's either I take her pic or vice versa..that was the drill. Behind us is the Manila Bulletin office which is located in a very old building too

so wanted to go inside but we have to catch the sunset

my last picture with Rizal's monument was like 20 years ago..glad to have a newer one taken 

i guess when nights falls, these grounds would be filled with lots of people especially couples :D

love the pic..just in time when the traffic lights went red

on-board our ride going to Baywalk..the Calesa

our ride..Rocky the horsey..thanks! P100 for both of us

I love sunset pics! 

lights on already!

fountain at the rajah sulayman plaza

rajah sulayman statue..if your aching muscles are screaming for relief but you're on a tight budget, you can get cheap massages here

dinner time! whew! tired but happy

ready to take our orders, manong?

our choices

the finished product..which were delicious!yum!

happy and contented girls

So despite the disappointment at the initial part of this day, we still did great. We came home super tired from all the walking but very happy and contented with our semi-Manila trip. And we appreciated what this city had to offer that a lot of us just takes for granted. We will continue the full trip very very soon. :)