2007 Art Major's Italy TripFriday May 18th 2007 1:32 am (S'pore time)On the plane and feeling nauseous as usual. Survived take off by taking a nap but the turbulence now is not making things any better. My travel group consists of myself, Grace, Karyen and Caleb.
He seemed a little apprehensive of us three girls but sitting next to him on the flight kinda made him a little more comfortable. My luggage came up to 14.1 kg but as expected, the notorious light packer theo crammed everything into his back pack which weighed only 7kg.. even for Chiang Mai he brought the least. I rmbr Ms Flo was more then amazed haha.
I think my mum misses me a lot. Can see it when she sent me off. Hope my parents know how much I'm grateful to them for letting me go on this trip.
British Airways has good and bad points. Its seats are more cramped then SQ's but the food is slightly better. Funny how I jump right back into the travel routine even though it's been a while..
Trevi Fountain here I come!
My group and ben trying to make the word Italy ^^
Friday May 18th 11:20am (S'pore time)Less then an hour till we're landing in Heathrow. I so can't wait to land. I can't see how my bro loves air travel. Thank God for good ol' cup noodles to get me through the flight. I think it's the smell of recycled air that makes me sick. Caleb seems to suffering as much as I am. He spent a good deal of the flight with his hoodie over his face lol ^^
Karyen studies her Italian phrases religiously hoping to snare some Italian hottie ^^. Grace munches on her croissant. I need fresh air!!!
Transit in Heathrow:
During the flight:
We don't know what this is but we're gessing it's the Alps. It was pretty impressive at any rate...
Saturday May 19th 2007 5:14pm (Italy time)Yesterday was fun. Touched down in Milan at around 10 am and met our bus driver Alphonso. Headed of to have lunch at a quaint little pizzeria.
I think everyone was shocked by the fact that pasta we ate was only the appetizer and not the main dish *giggles*. Shows how little we eat ^^
Headed off to visit the castle and the city square in the heart of Milan.
Milan is just so full of shopping and fashion but sadly we had no part of it as we only had a day there.
The duomo is heavenly. We climbed to the top and we saw a nazi war movie being filmed below. Complete with POWs lol.
Got back on the bus and drove to Venice for the night. We were held up for goodness knows how long at the transit office due to missing papers. I was surprised that our spirits remained so high in the face of no dinner and the possibility of being stuck there for the night. Managed to get through and have supper at a restaurant. Dinner in Italy is mainly the pasta appetiser and then a second course of a meat and salad followed by a small dessert. After dinner I was going to wash my hands but I couldn’t find the water lever. By the time I did ( it was a pedal on the damn floor how was I supposed to know?!?!?) , Karyen and Caleb were the only ones waiting for me. We ran out into the street only to discover that the bus had left without us!!!
I tell you at that point we were all panicking but fortunately we saw the bus coming back for us further down the street. WHEW! Grace looked at all of us sheepishly cus she forgot to tell the others we were missing. -.-"" the hotel was nothing spectacular but it was comfortable. I was rooming with Karyen and Tiffany. I slept like a log but I woke up with a nose like a running tap. It was fricking cold so yeah.. *sneezes*
Had a full breakfast today and set off to see Venice. I have one word (ok three since jono said so) OMG! Venice is way cool (for someone seeing it for the first time). I actually went on a gondola ride! Ok it was 20€ but I think it was worth it since it’s likely I’ll only ever do it once. I haggle well ^^
Had a bite to eat and bought all my souvenirs there (I don’t usually buy for ppl but a few asked so I have no choice) so that was a load of my chest. Gondolas DO NOT sing while they row since none of them can sing anyway ^^
Us: Do you sing?
Our gondolier: Not unless your ears want to die.. *smirks*
Grace was quite funny. The guide motioned toward a hotel facing the sea and was advertising the age and originality of the buliding
Guide: This builing is the MOST expensive hotel in venice and it's guests are treated to its original decor and design. It's been kept the way it used to be when it was first built!
Grace: Does that mean no aircon?
hehehe
Visited a glass blowing workshop. Man the guy is pro. His hands move so quick.
On the way to Florence now. The weather has been heavenly so far. I could have this weather everyday. The road to Florence is just littered with hills mountains and more hills. It’s really beautiful.
Wednesday May 22nd 2007 7:39am (Italy time)The last two days were hot. The 20th was spent in Florence where we did a walking tour and visited the Uffizi. No pictures were allowed inside so =P ohwell.
Ehem golden ratio ^^
Managed to stop by the famous gelateria which my family and I went to the last time. The gelato is GOOD! Much better then any of the others that I've tasted on the entire trip. Went to see the statue of David at the Acedemia. A few of the girls taking shade while waiting to enter. It was bloody hot that day as you can see *swt*
Managed to sneak a shot of the real David.. not a good one though darn..
Ended the day by visiting the flea market at the Piazza de San Lorenzo where I bought a few more stuff. Wasn’t feeling all the well that day so I suppose I didn’t manage to fully appreciate the works in the Uffizi. Boarded the bus to Tuscany and stopped by the road for a photo-op
ME! *grin*
Yesterday was spent in Tuscany in San Gimiagno. Stopped by along the way at at wine shop where most of the others clambered to purchase wine. A few people drank quite a bit and ended up a little if not slightly tipsy on the rest of the way to San Gimiagno. I tasted a few wines but they all seemed a little premature. I did however get a free bottle of olive oil which was given to Ms Ching and in turn passed to me.. *oh glee!* my dad will love it haha.
The weather in Tuscany was not as punishing as Florence although the view was breathtaking. We did a short walking tour then were left to our own devices. A group of us visited the churches and the numerous frescoes.
Had lunch and more gelato (oh boy =P)
I bought a miniature katana for my brother. I kinda got sick of all the speculation as to whether we were allowed to bring in such things so I decided to go ahead and do my own little experiment. I think if it does get through, there will be quite a number of people who will finally be able to buy back some of the weapons they've always wanted to.
One observation I've made is that Italy sells alcohol like we sell candy. It's everywhere. One of the gas stations we stopped at for a road rest sold coloured bottles of fruit liquor on a shelf in every one's reach. Of course there was another mad clamber to purchase it. A few bottles got consumed in the hotel rooms that night.. oh boy.. Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant.. whew a break from pasta, pasta and more pasta..
Domonic and Timothy have wierd sleeping positions =P (blackmail time! *eeeevil laugh*)
Wednesday May 22nd 2007 3:50pm (Italy time)Today was our first in Rome. Our guide is so cute. She's a 62 year old lady but she still does guiding. Feisty one too.
Started off with a visit to the colosseum. Nothing beats viewing it in real life.
Took a bus into the city centre and stopped by the Trevi Fountain! At least my wish came true, I did come back again. Threw a coin in for my family as well.. too bad they couldn't be here with me.
Had lunch and our guide bought beer! Woah for a 62 year old she sure does drink! Went to see the Pantheon, the one we majors call 'the god’s toilet' due to the giant oculus on the roof of the dome.
Went to visit the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican city among other things.
I find that they make the Sistine Chapel look longer in photo. The tour of Rome ended in the Spanish Square where everyone dispersed for shopping. I think one day is not enough to cover Rome. We practically did a drive-by tour of most of the monuments.. like 'there lies such-and-such and there is the monument by so-and-so' and zip!, past we go.
This is one of the those pictures where only a few understand the significance hehe.. "The Group"
Friday May 24th 2007 8:30am (Italy)Went to Pompeii yesterday. Gosh it’s cool. It’s so easy to get lost in the maze of ruins.
One of those beware of dogs signs.. hee ^^
The Main Amphitheatre
Jumping shot in the Amphitheatre yay!
Behind the square is a view of Mount Vesuvius. It was pretty hazy on the way in to Pompeii, and we soon found out why....
because contrary to popular belief, it DOES rain in Pompeii! We all got caught in a massive downpour toward the end of the tour. Just as well we took lots of photos. The food is killer expensive. It’s not even daylight robbery.., its 24-HOUR robbery! Robbed at day and night. They even wanted to charge me 1.50€ per night to rent a converter plug! But anyway, the lunch at Pompeii cost some of us 20€. Man! Luckily, me and a few others did a little extra exploring and came across a sandwich bar at the end of the cafeteria. So our lunch cost under 10€.
The dinner that night was a little better then most our nights. However Jonathan ended up with lump of cheese on his plate for dinner because he couldn’t eat the beef in the second course haha.
Spent the night playing scrabble again with Ms Ching&Ben&Leroy but this time I stayed back to play cards with the rest of the guys. I learnt a new game too, Speed! We had a lot of fun playing scrabble while making fun of Mr Yang’s t-shirt which was “Shit happens: Religions around the world”
A few frequently used ones:
Catholic: If Shit Happens I Deserve It!
Protestant: Shit Won’t Happen If I Work Harder..
Buddhism: Shit Happens Over and Over Again
Rastafarianism: Let’s Smoke This Shit!
Ms Ching found Jonathan to be quite cute because he’s so small and throughout this trip, everything on him has been bigger then him. His bag, his camera and even the pizza he has at lunch is bigger then him ^^. He’s especially funny when he gambles with us while wearing his fanny pack and swearing like a truck driver and being beng. A bookie in the making haha!
Today is our last day. We'll be visiting the catacombs which I feel is a little too depressing to be on the last day of the trip. Freezing cold inside but outside the grounds are lovely.
I’ve spent around 100€ so far.. Hey not bad! And I didn’t even stinge on souvenirs and food...
A few couples coming out of hiding on this trip though.. hehe.. quite interesting... this trip is so much more effective then Bonding Day don’t you think? ;D
2007 Art Major's Italy Tripunforgettable
6:24 PM
_____une fille, une etudiante et une amie
He seemed a little apprehensive of us three girls but sitting next to him on the flight kinda made him a little more comfortable. My luggage came up to 14.1 kg but as expected, the notorious light packer theo crammed everything into his back pack which weighed only 7kg.. even for Chiang Mai he brought the least. I rmbr Ms Flo was more then amazed haha.
Karyen studies her Italian phrases religiously hoping to snare some Italian hottie ^^. Grace munches on her croissant. I need fresh air!!! 
