anyways, off we went! the six of us: me, fiona, yi lyn, soo fen, shu yin and kelvin.
10/9/08
it was cold at preswick airport. the wind was so strong it blew off someone's cap. i forgot who. yi lyn? anyway, to go to preswick, take the train. it's cheaper - 3.10 pounds if you can show your ticket booking. we took the bus, so it cost us 5 pounds. boarding the plane was fun! we actually had to walk out onto the hangar and climb up the plane ourselves. i like this better than walking through the corridor which joins straight to the inside of the plane, like those we experienced on our way to glasgow from malaysia. somehow, climbing up ourselves made it seem more real! like.. i'm boarding a plane!;p yi lyn wanted to take a picture of her climbing up the steps and waving to the scowling crowd waiting below, but well.. just imagine the scowling waiting crowd.. it's no wonder it didn't become a reality.
when we reached Bergamo airport, Milan, for the first time, i felt kinda lost. we didn't know any italian, everyone was boarding a bus, we were trying to walk to the airport but was stopped by an airport official who could only wave and gesture and give us the gist that we were supposed to board the bus. the italians are not honest also. be careful! they tried to cheat our money when buying bus tickets. their trick is that they won't give you back the correct change. so if you just walk away, it's your loss.
also, DON'T EVER THINK OF SLEEPIN IN AN AIRPORT ANYMORE, WHATEVER YOU DO! it was so bad! there were no more seats. everyone was sleeping on the floor at whatever corner or along the walls. so we set up camp outside the information counter. we had to sleep on the cold, hard, dirty floor facing the main entrance. in the middle of the night, i suddenly heard some roaring, opened up my eyes and saw a man driving some car pulling lots of trollies COMING STRAIGHT AT US! good thing he turned at the last moment. i think he must be an expert in doing this. but actually, i think we had it ok, coz at least the airport stayed open. some others had to sleep outside the airport in france when the airport closed, huddling in cardboard like beggars. the weather is so cold!
11/9/08
we took the morning train to milan town centre (milano centrale). here we met jason's gang, the first coursemates we saw in italy. then our first stop was to visit Duomo di Milano, the cathedral church of Milan. it was very impressive.. until we procceeded to all the other cathedrals in italy, until we were so immune to them. after all, a church is a church right? and sculptures are everywhere. and so are paintings. but anyway, i digress. let me continue. duomo had lots of intricate carvings on all walls. and pigeons are everywhere! good thing i had to take meningitis jab before leaving malaysia.
up close, you can see that the wall is totally covered with carvings of miniature figurines. some i could recognise from bible stories. some.. well, maybe they are catholic saints? i have no idea.
after exploring the duomo, we got lost trying to find our way to the bone church. but no worries, we can cam whore anywhere!^^ this was taken when we were lost going round and round duomo. next time, we should just bring a compass.
we accidentally stumbled onto this very nice information counter, where we could finally take our first group photo.^^
from there, we got directions to go to eat the famous panzerotti in milan. this piece costs 2.30 euros. it consists of a pocket of dough filled with tomato and mozzarella. i just found out that the shop we ate at was founded by the founder himself, Agostino Luini, who brought panzerotti to Milan.
In the end, we did manage to find the bone church "San Bernardino alle Ossa". the walls were entirely covered with bones and skulls. these were even used as ornaments to adorn pillars. the bones were from the good and the bad, with some skulls from people who were beheaded, the reason being that the cemetery next door became full, hence a room was built to hold the bones in 1210, forming the present-day ossuary chapel. then in 1269, the rest of the church was built. still, i find it kinda freaky. who would have a church filled with bones?? isn't it eerie??
we chilled in milano centrale after that. earlier we read that milano centrale itself was a site of attraction. but sadly, most of it was under construction. and had been for the last couple of years.
what a waste of time. me and shu yin even went exploring outside the station, but there's nothing worth seeing. such a let down after hearing that milan was the shopping heaven and so on.
12/9/08
Venice!
i found out that it's actually a waste of money to buy the venice map. 1, the hostel provides them. 2, the roads can't be found anyway. 3, just follow the street signs to the common tourist attractions and you won't get lost.
i really liked venice. it was full of tiny canals and bridges, not forgetting gondolas, water taxis.. and nice lamp posts! hence starts my latest craze in photography.;p
we stumbled upon this tiny shop called "majere" (top) selling bread, pastries and gelato! what's more, the gelato here is nice, yummy and cheap! only 1 euro for a scoop with cone. plus, they understand sign language, so there's no need to hold my paper in one hand trying to read out the italian phrase for "one scoop with cone". after that shop, we saw another shop selling nice cheap bread. well, we thought it was cheap then - 1 euro for 1 bun. that was until we discovered McD in florence. wow.. that was McD burger with MEAT for 1 euro. by then, we had discovered our carnivorous side after days of eating bread and pizza. but then again, i'm getting ahead of myself. stop! freeze! rewind..
we made our way to the Rialto bridge, and saw this sign on our way. i was quite baffled bout this actually, coz before going to italy, we were told that bomba means "bomb" in italy and hence should never leave our mouth lest we are locked up under suspicion of being terrorists. strangely, they are advertising fruit bombs? hmm.. this is the rialto market.
this is us making our way through all the small alleys. somehow, venice may seem run down to some, but to me, the little alleys with their brick walls and tunnels make the city seem more quaint to me. i love it when they hang flowers from their balcony. sadly, these can't be seen in this picture.
this is a souvenir shop at the foot of rialto bridge. that area is totally chock-full of souvenir shops! masks are seen everywhere, along with glass products. this is because venice is famous for producing their very own murano glass. their glass is a little different from glass from other places due to some difference in the elements in it.
these gondolas were "parked" by the rialto bridge...
we managed to reach Basilica San Marco early enough so that the queue wasn't toooo long yet. we were supposed to reach earlier, but you know what happens when everyone gets caught up buying souvenirs. Saint Mark's Basilica is the most famous cathedral in Venice, and was originally the chapel of Venetian rulers. there seems to be a lot of history behind the building, stones, mosaics etc. but since we knew nothing much, weren't following any tour, and didn't manage to eavesdrop on other tour groups, it was quite wasted.
even so, we had to line up for a while... but we were busy taking pictures while we were at it. so no time was wasted.=]
looking from the basilica towards the sea, you can see the to pillars - Leone di San Marco and S Teodoro. the lion is the mascot for venice, coz in the ninth century, according to legend, some people from venice stole the remains of St. Mark the Apostle from his tomb in Egypt by hiding his body among pork. when they reached the sea, there was a great storm, but S. Mark supposedly appeared to the captain to warn him against wrecking the ship amongst hidden rocks. In the end, the graverobbers managed to reach venice safely and hand their cargo over to the Dodge. ever since then, St. Mark became venice's patron saint, with his symbol - a winged lion - becoming the logo of the venetian republic. (look out for the lamp posts hidden amidst my pictures. hee.. my latest obsession!^^)
there were also gondolas by the sea side. i love this picture! in the distance, on the island, the church San Giorgio Maggiore can be seen.
next, we went to Doge's Palace/Palazzo Ducale, another must-see. it was the seat of the doge and home to venice's various offices of state for almost a thousand years. the ticket of 13 euros included 2 museums and the whole palace. pity we didn't manage to get to see the secret passages of the palace. you had to pay extra if you wanted to see that.
this is the golden staircase, where the roof is made from gold.
we took another group photo with quite a lot of difficulty, since we didn't trust anyone to take it for us, and people kept walking past when we set the timer. anyhow, thanks to kelvin's patience and expertise, it was done!
as usual, our "favourite" spot for photo-taking was none other than the jail. the jail here really looked dirty and disgusting. the jails in edinburgh were much cleaner, in fact, they were just locked rooms. i think the prison cells here are what i always imagined them to be.. dark, cold, disgusting.
the bridge of sighs.. seems to be under construction though. we walked through it on the way to the prison. it is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. it connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the doge's palace. since the view from the bridge was the last view of venice the convicts saw before their imprisonment, the prisoners would sigh at their final view of the beautiful venice before being taken down to their cells.
we met hung jen and her bf in venice~ our second P106 reunion.
after that, we wandered around and stumbled on modern art using LAVA.
after that, it suddenly poured. so we had to take shelter in a building holding a violin exhibition. they even showed a little of how they make violins.
Following that, we stumbled upon the Architect's universe full of modern art and architeturial stuff. the best thing was that there were free toilets there! during the entire trip, toilets were the hardest to find - if you don't want to pay extra. and we had our very own WC seeker who located the locations of all the WC in italy for us.;p
we crossed the bridge to Dorsoduro, with the intension of taking pictures OUTSIDE the Peggy Guggenheim Collection of modern art. saw this cute little 'robot' outside.
Finally, we chilled in Piazza San Marco, waiting for the sun to set. saw this cute little girl chasing the pigeons.
the cafes also had performers playing music. it was altogether very nice. makes you feel so removed from all the clutter and pollution of the world, and enclosed within this tiny magical world where the pace is laid back, peaceful.. with soft strains of music in the background.
in the evening, the basilica bathed in the light from the setting sun was another sight to behold.
that goes for St Mark's Campanile too. the campanile is the bell tower of St Mark's basilica where people climb up for a view of the whole venice.
we didn't climb up, since we had already spent all our money on souvenirs. so, we just chilled at its base. some guy tried to coerce kelvin into buying roses for us gals, but to no avail. when that failed, he tried to convince us to buy it for kelvin pulak. as if that would ever happen. haha..
we had no money to sit the gondola at night, so we planned our trip carefully to go for our own tour of the grand canal on a vaporretti/water ferry. we sat in front, so we could feel the breeze and see the magnificent night view of venice. this is called the 'poor man's gondola'. of everything bout venice, i liked this the best! we could see the buildings lighted up, with people barbecueing by the water. we also saw the rialto bridge (bottom). somehow i just wonder, venice has all this vast stretches of paths/buildings alongside the water with totally no railings.. how do they keep their kids away from the water edge??
when we were going back, we saw this band performing in front of the train station. it seems they are from glasgow. what irony.
13/9/08
on our second day in venice, we went island hopping. but first, we had to wait for the boat to arrive. the genius that i am, for the sake of saving money, actually bought 3Litres of mineral water from Major with the intention of lugging it around the whole day. regret man.
first, we went to Murano, where all the glass were made. there was a demo where the showed us how they made glass products.
after that, we were ushered to their shop where we really saw glass in all its splendour. i never imagined that glass could be used so creatively. they practically had all kinds of stuff made from glass in all colours and textures you could imagine. of course, the price was beyond the imaginable too.
next up was Burano, the island famous for lace.. and their multi-coloured buildings. they even sold some kind of biscuit in the shape of the grand canal. we managed to try the free samples, then cabut lari before the person could bug us about buying.;p
lastly, was Torcello, the oldest region of venice. we had to walk 15 minutes to the town centre from the jetty just so that we could wait 10 minutes outside the famous cathedral for yi lyn to go to toilet, then walk another 15 minutes under the pouring rain to the jetty. and although i can't believe it, we were the last to board. what a waste of my leg energy. well, actually i think there's lots to see there, but need to pay. and who wants to pay for 10 minutes of touring? next time, seriously, if ever anyone wanna go island hopping, don't buy the tour package. just buy an all-day vaporretti ticket explore yourself. the price is about the same anyway. the only thing you might miss is watching the fellow make glass. but then that was kinda interesting also. hmm..
when we reached the main island again, we were kinda stuck coz the rain was too heavy. we had to eat our lunch in the park, standing - since the chairs were all wet, huddled under umbrellas. then, we had to walk around in the rain in slushing shoes. when we finally found shelter, it was friggin cold. just imagine glasgow wind blowing together with malaysia thunderstorm. anyways, on our way home from venice main island, we stumbled across this shop selling super cheap murano glass products. once again, i learnt that the cheapest souvenirs are always the furthest from the main attractions. when we reached home, we had to wash our socks, dry everything up by hanging them or positioning them strategically in front of the lone standing fan in our room. we almost froze in the middle of the night too, since we left the balcony doors wide open in hopes that our clothes would be frozen dry.
14/9/08
Early in the morning, we took the train to Florence.. Kelvin tied up his still partially damp shoes to his rucksack and dumped the whole bag behind his seat, since that space only had one seat, plus lots of empty space. pity the man seating there. coz his stinking shoes smelled so bad even yi lyn who was sitting across the aisle could smell it (and was wondering where the smell came from). the poor fellow was periodically sleeping and bending over covering his nose. the cities were getting less and less safe. Kelvin actually saw a thief in action. sort of. we chilled in a piazza near our hostel for a while..
later on that day, we made our way to the Uffizi Gallery, but didn't go in, coz we thought the price was too high. still, the outside of the building was full of statues. it seems florence is famous for its statues. the whole italy is famous for art.
we spent most of our day in the Boboli Gardens. the ticket also covered several museums, and 2 gardens. it was quite fun. lots of opportunity to cam whore too!^^ the paintings were so lifelike that i didn't know where it was a painting which looked too 3D or whether it really was built 3D. i also saw a double painting. it was a painting of a father. but when reflected on mirror, you saw the daughter instead. there were also lots of intricate ivory carvings, splendid and sparkling jewellery, a museum of olden costumes, and also a medicine and science museum.
on our way back, we stopped by at the famous bridge - Ponte Vecchio. the view was magnificent.
dinner was at a self-service restaurant on our way back to our hostel. i think it served the cheapest food in the whole of italy. we never found another place with that price for those food after that. i ate lasagna. it seems the pizza was good too.
15/9/08
After a nice heavy breakfast at the hotel (so that we can save money on lunch, since breakfast provided), we made our way to Pisa. this was the first time we had to run after a train. then we got fined coz we didn't validate our ticket. actually it could have been worst. coz we were charged only 5 euros for group as all 6 tickets were in one, so we were only charged once. some friends, we later learnt, were charged 45 euros per person by the bus, but were able to bargain it down to 18 per person in the end.
we kinda got lost trying to find the leaning tower of Pisa. however, in the process, we met this nice chinese girl, Scarlet, who was touring alone. she was actually from Leeds, originating from china. she taught us a lot of stuff, since she had traveled quite a lot. she also recommended the website www.go2eu.com where you could find out all sorts of stuff bout traveling in europe. pity it's all in mandarin though.
the tower was really leaning!! it is situated next to a church in the shape of a cross. and on the other side of the church is the baptistry, where legend foretold that undergraduates who went near it would never ever graduate. scary.. anyway, we didn't go into any, we did have to walk past it with knocking knees though.
when we were walking past the pisa tower, we saw a lot of people making taichi poses on the grassy area in front of the tower. although we laughed at them, pretty soon we were joining them. the product?? creative pictures!=P
we couldn't make it back to the florence market in time, which was a pity, coz the market was famous for nice and cheap food with a history of god knows how many years. however, we went to the duomo (yup, there's another duomo), and the campanile (yup, yet another campanile.. i think they recycle the names)...
went pass uffizi again... the statue on the left is Hercules chopping off medusa's head, while the one on the right is a fake "david".
we finally managed to find the famous gelato shop in florence - vivoli, but it was CLOSED! groan.. then we saw this church St. Crose, where Galileo Galilei and Michaelangelo's remains were kept, but it was closed too!! sigh..
then finally, after a long, winding, TIRING walk, we prepared to climb the Michaelangelo hill to see the nice sunset at the Piazza Michaelangelo at the top. behold the stairs~
finally, huffing and puffing, we reached the top. we found the place famous for panini (playbar) at the top of the hill, but sadly, it was closed. again! sigh.. never go to florence on any mondays.. the view was seriously nice though. really worth the climb. but maybe, next time, take the bus. haha..
we met a nice old man who kept telling us to climb up higher to some church where the view was even better. at our first meeting, we just smiled. but then, just as we were leaving, we bumped into him again. he practically took us up himself, even though he was so old already.
he pointed out the castle where Galileo Galilei used to live when he wanted to study the stars, and also a church designed by michaelangelo which was 1500 years old. he also told us that pinocchio was born in florence. no wonder i saw so many shops selling wooden pinocchio's along the street. pity i didn't buy any souvenir for that, since that evening was already our last evening in florence.
the old man, Piero, took us up to an old church built in 1018. it was built FROM green and white marble (even the duomo is only LINED with marble, not built from it). the picture at the top was also made from real gold, hence it was still shiny after so many years. the author of pinocchio was buried in this church.
and the view was simply magnificent.
Piero sang some italian folk song bout jasmine for us too, when we were leaving. he said his granny used to sing that to him. on our way down, he showed us a garden where each red cross volunteer who died during world war I & II was burried, with 1 cypress tree for 1 nurse.
we went to try some real florentine dishes at Tranvai, a restaurant Piero recommended. we had some trouble locating the restaurant though. luckily for us, yi lyn, who wasn't wearing her glasses and couldn't see the shit in front of her and thus stepped on it, managed to see the Tranvai sign.;p so we have to thank her for our nice meal. hehe..
the people there were nice. they even bought our bigletti tickets for us so that we could take the bus home after the meal.
even the toilets were nicely decorated and clean.
our food, starting from top left moving clockwise:
Ribollita (florentine soup), Pappa al Pomodoro (another soup), Penne alla Chiantigiana, Bagcala' Porri E Patate (fish), Gnocchi al Pohe Bas, Risotto alle Verdure (rice).
along with italy's very own TIRAMISU! this was really super nice.
all in.. everything came to 20 euros! but that was the only meal we ate at a restaurant, so well..
16/9/08
we moved on to rome, with our friendly pink friend accompanying us on the train as always.;p
we saw this church, S Mary of Angels and Martyrs, which looked like it was carved out from rock. inside, the dome was made from purple and blue stained glass, letting rainbows of light stream through. the church was partly designed by michaelangelo, and had a complicated meridian line running through it as well.
we wanted to enter the Monumento Nazionale Vittorio Emanuelle II, but it was closed. without us realizing it, it was already 5pm.
Rome is funny in the sense that apart from sculptures and statues, they have hieroglifs carvings too.
finally, we climbed up capitolin hill, which overlooked the palatino hill.
dinner was the most horrible ever eaten in italy. 5 euros for canteen-like microwaved food! ugh.. so totally not worth it. and don't even start converting to malaysian ringgit.
17/9/08
early morning, we went to line up at the colosseum. the colosseum is the largest amphitheatre ever built in the roman empire and is one of the greatest works of roman architecture and roman engineering. it was used for gladiatorial games as well as public spectacles, including mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and even dramas based on classical mythology. but it was a cruel place where about 500,000 people and over a million wild animals died in the colosseum games. still, it remains an iconic symbol of the Imperial Rome.
the view from the seat of the king, where he had full view of the whole arena.
crosses stand in several points around the arena in memory of the martyrs who died there.
after the colosseum, we went to the Palatino Hill, where people used to live there since 1000BC. the ruins of the palaces can still be seen.
after that, we went to see the spagna steps, which was built by the spanish. here, we met hui yin and min tian.
next up was the Fontana di Trevi, the largest and most ambitious of the baroque fountains of rome. according to legend, throw a coin into the fountain and you will return to rome. two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce. too bad.. we were too broke to part with any of our coins.
When we went to the Pantheon, we were lucky enough to see a male choir sing there. for once, we got to hear for ourselves the live version of the songs that you can hear from the catholic churches. the pantheon was originally built as a temple to all gods of ancient rome. but since the 7th century, the pantheon has been used as a catholic church, and is currently the oldest standing domed structure in rome.
it was our last dinner in rome, yet we chose to eat chinese food! seriously, by that time, i was sick of bread and pizzas already. the food was nice, but a little expensive.
clockwise from top left: we tried curry fried rice, chicken fried rice, steamed dumplings and sweet and sour pork ribs (ku lou yok).
18/9/08
we deposited our luggage at the rome train station (roma termini, the largest so far), and headed off to vatican city. there's a student price of only 8 euros, so remember to bring your student card. toilets were clean, nice and FREE!
we visited the museum - Musei Vaticani...
tried to be creative...
met up with another huge group from our course...
and tried to squeeze through the whole mob of people to have a look at the sistine chapel. we had to walk a long way though, and through the walk, we were guided through a few museums.. even one museum for maps.. interesting.. after a while, i lost count. i just wanted to get out of there, but couldn't since we had to walk one way and finish the whole tour. i was walking around with my eyes glazed.. sort of like after half a day in sungai wang.
we weren't allowed to take pictures in there too. so i plucked this picture from www.cedcc.psu.edu/.../
after that, we went to Basilica St Peter. it seems peter the apostle became the first pope.. hmm. interesting yet strange, coz never heard of that before. his tomb is even down there together with all the other popes.
the swiss guards looked very cool too.
we chilled in Piazza St Peter too..
after that, we walked to a castle and a famous bridge near piazza navona...
at piazza navona, i ate the best best gelato ever! 1.50 euro for 2 scoops, but no cone. super duper nice! i tried chocolate and pistachio. the kiwi was not bad too, very refreshing and fruity.
in italy, their sinks are unique in the sense that water rarely comes by turning on the tap. mostly, it's automatic. so i was trying to figure out where the sensor was, to no avail. to know the secret.. look down..
and the difference between italy and malaysia? in malaysia, we patch up holes in our walls with cement. in italy, they purposely punch holes into their walls. i guess it makes it look more quaint.
piazza navona is full of paintings. the whole street is full of them! and they are nice, but expensive. the price varies on the size, plus how you bargain.
we took the night train to milan. it was so totally not comfortable. at that moment, i suddenly missed bergamo's airport floor. first our carriage was invaded by two asian boys who didn't speak english and wanted to hog what was rightly ours. then in the middle of the night there was some crazy guy running around, shouting, opening people's doors. and a lot of our friends got bitten by some bugs there too. surprisingly but thankfully, i wasn't bitten at all.
19/9/08
we had some time to spend in bergamo before our flight. bergamo was seriously cold, but the view was sooo nice! from the train station, we could look ahead towards the town (citta alta) and see rolling mountains ahead. the trees were also turning autumn colours, rows and rows of them. we took the funicular to Castello di San Vigilio, a really picturesque and old castle. it's so totally not modern, just what i was looking for. the walls were made roughly from bricks. the stairs were made from bricks are winding and narrow. moreover, here and there there were tiny slits in the walls where the people in the past shot arrows out to protect their castle.
time was up way too fast. pretty soon, we were flying back to glasgow. i managed to get a window seat for the first time. the view was truly awesome. pity it was blocked somewhat by the wings.
when i reached glasgow.. first thing i did was.. eat meat and rice!! i felt so starved for 10 days. this is when china express comes in handy - mushroom & beef fried rice for 3.90 pounds.
the next day, i could cook my own fried rice and finally sit at my favourite place in my room - in front of the laptop - and just... chill... it's so good to be back!~
but as always.. when i look at my purchases, they seem so few to account for the 10 days in italy. anyhow, my wallet couldn't have allowed for more. so here it is...
souvenirs from milan and venice . . .
from florence and pisa . . .
and from rome . . .
only too late i realised that the wooden souvenirs from florence were actually very unique and cheap. but i couldn't very well fly back to get them. sigh.. so i feel very lucky that during a french fair in glasgow last weekend.. they sold the exact same thing!! for a slightly cheaper price compared to italy. i feel so blessed. ;p
hope you enjoyed your tour of italy! from my perspective anyways. please correct me if i missed out something or got it wrong. total expenditure... around 550 pounds. gosh.. i'm gonna have to eat bread and water for one whole month! joking..
so.. hmm.. where should we go next?;p
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