Journey To North: Laoag-Pagudpud-Vigan Trip 2012 Part 3

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Happy Halloween everyone! I am uploading this part because I thought it appropriate since there were some spooky instances during our visit in Vigan. Hope you like my post. Enjoy!

Vigan- the place I've been wanting to go to for the longest time- happily crossing it off my bucket list.

After that, we went to the Marcos Museum. We first entered his mausoleum where I did get goosebumps- it was hella creepy that I had nightmares that night. When I first entered the mausoleum, it was very cold because aside from the aircon and the freezer that keeps the body of Mr. Marcos in condition, the weather was humid. Added to the very cold temperature is the creepy background music of monks singing some latin songs. That night I had nightmare that I was trying to wake my mom up only to discover that she was a mannequin and that song started playing again in my dreams. Another nightmare was that the armoire that was standing in front of my bed suddenly became a coffin and I started to scream but no sound came out of my mouth. When I finally had enough of nightmares, my father and I switched beds.

Another creepy thing happened in the Marcos house, this one happened to my mom. We were looking at the displays when a very cold air passed by and just disappeared. It was like someone very cold passed by. This is why she wanted to leave asap.

The man is a genius, he was the only one in the history who almost got a perfect score in the Philippine Bar Exam but due to controversies-his grade was deliberated and cut down to 92%.

A famous (almost anecdotal) incident in the history of the Philippine bar examinations supposedly happened in 1939 when Ferdinand Marcos topped the examinations with almost perfect score of 98.5%. However, after some deliberation on his grade (and after undergoing an oral examination before the supreme court, the result of which is impressive), the supreme court justices decide to prune down his grade to 92.35% to mitigate the effect of insinuations that he cheated on the said examinations.wikipedia

Kuya Arnel

The skies cleared up a bit and we dropped by Paoay Church-one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen. It was just something out of postcards. The church is a combination of  Baroque, Gothic and Oriental design. It was also said that they found some prehistoric human skeleton was found here. Check this site for more details.

A glimpse of the church buttresses- it has 24 - I forgot the parts of the church all I can remember is the nave, 
it's supposed to be the part that these buttresses supports.

After that I slept inside the van until we arrive in Vigan. The rain was pouring so we decided to eat first at Cafe Leona and then it was fortunate that after we ate, the rain stopped and I was very happy to explore Calle Crisologo for souvenirs and old houses.

Out of all the buildings- this one is my favorite and it happens to be the only one not used. I wonder if this building is really in bad shape.  I'm not an architect but I do remember some of the things I learned in my Humanities class about early architecture, if this building really dates back to about 1800s or earlier- it is impressive that a building of this size had survived. I keep asking Kuya Arnel if knows what this building is but he doesn't know. 

Antiques- a lady asked my mom if she collects antiques and my mom said she doesn't- the lady tried to convince her to start collecting. I'm glad for the distraction as I wandered deeper into the store and managed to snap a few pictures of antique statues- reminds me of those in Filipino horror movies.

We then proceeded to Syquia Mansion. The house was the dowry of Dona Alicia. She is the wife of former President Elpedio Quirino and daughter of one of the wealthiest Chinese Merchant who immigrated to Philippines at that time.

I love this painting- very uncommon. I asked the caretaker where this painting was from, he said it was a gift to the former President.

Upon Entrance, an old locomotive is parked. A stable was also present. The caretaker even asked if we wanted to view the stables but my mother declined coz it seems like we were imposing to much- nosy tourists.

This is a "peephole" that rich people usually install in their houses so that they can see their visitors. Of course, they can also see them before they decide whether or not they want to entertain them.

another peephole under the table :-) boy-they must have many unwanted visitors.

This jar is very special to the family because it was a gift from China's last Emperor Henry Pu Yi, it has his seal at the bottom but sadly no pictures of the seal are allowed.

Receiving area , hanged on the wall is a replica of Juan Luna's Spoliarium.

Say Cheese! Us having our picture taken next to Dona Alicia's portrait

 The master's bedroom

House of Mirrors- almost at every corner there is a big mirror, don't know if this is because of Feng Shui or just because they like mirrors-failed to ask the caretaker about it. Upon research, having mirrors is  apparently a status symbol.

Victoria-when Dona Alicia died, their daughter became the First Lady.

Interesting enough are the paintings on the wall

This one is my favorite out of all the paintings- it reminded me of that chapter from Noli Me Tangere, Suyoan sa Azotea.

and finally the azotea- I wonder if  Jose Rizal ever visited this place.

To be continued