Triangle and dome

I still haven't had the time to walk through SM City North EDSA's Sky Garden, but I did pass near enough to take a photo of this triangular rainbow sculpture with the amphitheater's dome in the background. Not surprisingly, the amphitheater is called the Sky Dome. And I just thought of something: What do you call a rainbow when it's not bow-shaped? :)



UPDATE: The artist, Joel Ferraris, has informed me that the title of this sculpture is "Prism 24."

Read the fine print

My husband and I always thought that La Maison was a French restaurant. It isn't.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

Where to?

This curved footbridge leads from the Araneta Coliseum, but for the life of me I can't remember where it leads to. Probably to Farmers Plaza, the mall behind me, but don't rely on that or you might get lost. The sad part is, I know I've walked through that footbridge several times in the past. Sigh. The green glass structure to the left of the coliseum is another mall, Gateway.

Woven light

Kabisera ni Dencio's, a restaurant at Bonifacio High Street, is a showcase not just of Filipino food but also of Filipino furniture and handicrafts. Even the lanterns on the walls, made largely out of textured resin, have a touch of Philippine handicraft with its freeform natural wicker weave.

Metal monstrosity

When our typhoon season rolls in, some of the more responsible outdoor advertising companies roll down the large tarpaulin billboards found all over Metro Manila. Too many have fallen in the past and brought down power cables, destroyed property and caused car accidents. Of course, the empty metal frames make for an awful city skyline, but then I think that's true of most advertising billboards in general.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our interesting world.

Mobile clinic

I see mobile clinics like this only on two types of occasions. They go to large companies with health care benefits for their employees for scheduled annual physical examinations—more convenient than having employees go to clinics and hospitals and taking the whole day off for it. And they're also hired for big events with lots of people in venues without their own clinics. They're usually stationed in the parking lot, like this one was.

Spanish Dramatist or Filipino Saint

This ornate white fountain stands in Plaza Calderón de la Barca in front of the Binondo Church in Manila's Chinatown. The plaza is named after Pedro Calderón de la Barca, a Spanish dramatist of the 17th century whose play La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream) continues to be reinterpreted and staged until today. This tiny space is also known as Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz, after the first Filipino saint who happens to be from Binondo.

Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.

It was modern in the 60s

Beside the main building of Quezon City Hall stands this squat, oddly-shaped building with a relief featuring Manuel L. Quezon, some Quezon City landmarks, and the industries and products for which the city was known at the time the hall was built. The main building was severely damaged by a fire in the 1980s and renovated extensively, but this unusual structure has remained unchanged since the 1960s. (It also looks like it hasn't been washed since then, but I digress.) I believe its architectural style is now called Mid-Century Modern. I've lived in Quezon City all my life, but I still don't know what's in there.

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Just another reminder to all CDP bloggers to vote for the September theme! And are you ready with your photo for August 1? The theme is Night, and as I love night shots, I'm definitely looking forward to blog hopping on that day.

Strange fusion

The kids that run Pino restaurant have a knack for creating dishes that sound strange when you read the descriptions in the menu but taste absolutely heavenly. This is one of them. Cheese sticks with nori (seaweed) wrapped in wonton wrappers, deep fried and served with strawberry sauce and nori relish. Pino's Nori Cheesesticks is supposed to be an appetizer but I can eat all eight finger-sized pieces for dinner.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

30th

The Very Reverend Adolfo Nicolás is the current Superior General of the Society of Jesus, the largest male religious order in the Roman Catholic Church. He is only the thirtieth Superior General in the order's 469-year history (St. Ignatius of Loyola being the first) and was elected to the position on January 19, 2008. Fr. Nicolás is Spanish but he has spent more than half of his 73 years in Asia, mostly in Japan but also for about ten years in Manila. The headquarters of the Jesuits is in Rome so Fr. Nicolás is now based there, but he returned to Manila for several days last week to visit the Philippine Jesuits. He gave the keynote address during the Jesuit Basic Education Congress hosted by the Ateneo de Manila University and, though I'm not involved directly in academics, I was lucky enough to have been able to attend his talk. In case any of you are interested in the "Issues and Challenges in Jesuit Education Today," a three-part video of Fr. Nicolás' talk is available here, here and here. But only if you use Internet Explorer—I use Firefox and it can't even detect what kind of plug-in is needed to watch it.

2.4 meters

Fort Santiago in Intramuros was established by the Spanish conquistadores in 1571 but the original fort was made out of wood. The stone walls were erected only between 1589–1592. The walls are 2.4 meters (8 feet) thick and 6.7 meters (22 feet) high. The main entrance, which stands behind the moat I posted last month, is 12 meters (40 feet) high. The large coat of arms just above the arch is the Pillars of Hercules version of the abbreviated coat of arms of the Spanish monarchy at the time. (Comparing it to the illustrations in the Wikipedia entry, I think the sculptor made some errors though.) Philip II was king of Spain at the time of the conquest, which is why the islands were called Las Islas Filipinas.

Scale

I like the contrast of the huge cranes of North Harbor in the background and the small sailboats docked at the Manila Yacht Club in the foreground in this Manila Bay scene.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Bejeweled

Another Filipiniana dress from the exhibit that I caught at the SM City North mall. The butterfly sleeves, simpler neckline and contoured bodice identify this as a terno. Traditional dresses such as the terno and Maria Clara are still worn by Filipino women nowadays, but usually only during formal occasions. However, this is also the first time I've seen a terno's sleeves made completely out of beads and golden ornaments. This fantastic creation is the work of David Ocampo.

Relaxing rooftop

This rooftop swimming pool is probably the most charming spot in the entire Bayview Park Hotel. The rooms are nothing extraordinary, there's only one café, the business center and gym close at 5:00 p.m., and the lobby doesn't even have armchairs so guests could at least sit while waiting their turn at the check-in counter. But Bayview Park does have several things going for it: compared to other hotels along Roxas Boulevard (which runs parallel to Manila Bay), it's very inexpensive (especially when booked through Agoda); it's one of the stops of the colorful hop-on-hop-off jeepneys; and it's right across the U.S. Embassy.

Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.