Went on Carlos Celdran's walking tour of Intramuros this morning with Jeanne, Abby, Kate, and Aragorn. We met at McDo Philcoa at about 7:15 am, and arrived at Intramuros about an hour early for the call time of 9 am, so we had time to do some wandering around on our own, walking along the walls, taking pictures, basically acting like shameless tourists, which we were, I suppose. Managed to find our way to Fort Santiago in time, and a little while after we arrived, the tour commenced.
The tour itinerary consisted of Fort Santiago, the San Agustin Church (and museum), and Casa Manila. At various stops along the way, our good host provided funny, insightful commentary on the history of the walled city (or, perhaps the better term would be a compressed, at times rapid-fire, version of the history), which made the places we visited take on resonance and meaning.
All in all, it was a fun and worthwhile tour. If only all field trips were like this! Highly recommended. Details of this and his other tours (Binondo, Corregidor...) at his blog (the link above).
Afterwards, we rested our feet a bit and had lunch. Some vague notions of going to see a movie or bowling at Sta. Lucia East or somewhere appeared; somehow, some time later, we ended up having ridden all three train lines to arrive at Trinoma (or the Landmark foodcourt to be precise). Oh, indecisive commuting.
Found ourselves staying there until 6 pm, discussing the many Ex Libris things that needed discussing. For those keeping track, we had been together at this point for some eleven hours, making our clumsy way around the metro. (I admit I was too tired at the time to realize this.)
Great day, but I really must get some sleep soon. Training for work begins tomorrow! (7 pm to 4 am at Makati, argh. I thought the job was in Libis? Ngh. I'm not with Jeanne and her sister, to boot, their "wave" was assigned the 3 pm to 12 mn shift at Libis. Planning to try to fix the situation, if at all possible. Come on, universe, don't do this to me, please?)
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