florence city walk

we had the most substantial breakfast ever in florence. the meals were awesome. great food, well prepared!! so, i love my stay here. but mind you, florence is a boring and quiet city. but i got to try the best gelato, so called the best in italy, so what... damn expensive! i miss the old-school ais krim batang we used to hav back home. very nice!!! and only 10sen sebatang.

duomo of st. mary of the flower. din notice it's a quaint building until i see this picture. paiseh.

dunno-what duomo. there is a lot old but nice duomos in florence.

inside one of the duomos.

michelangelo's sculpture, the david!!

me and bearbear at palazzo vecchio wiv the david and his kukujiao in background. famous lorr!!

ponte vecchio, an old bridge built across the arno river.

the old bridge again, standing in front of ferragamo. fuyohh!!

gold and jewelry stores along the ponte vecchio. mama likes this street.

bearbear at palazzo pitti.

i told you, florence is such a boring place. so we went back to sleep, you stay tuned for the next venezia trip updates. ciao!!

firenze

so after a two-day stay in rome we moved on to florence by eurostar!! saw a funny and talkative chinese young boy who was fidgeting in his seat, seemed afraid of missing his stop. he looked funny. but it's not that funny anyway cuz he spoke little english and he travelled alone fr china to italy to get a job here. btw, on a total irrelevant note, this guy came fr my late grandpa's kampung wth. no wonder papa talked to him like catching up wiv an old fren. his biggest dream was to be a shoe retailer in italy, dun play-play.

after settling down at the hotel, we went for food hunting again. pama always complained of feeling hungry so we had lunch at a chinese restaurant. then took a bus to the leaning tower of pisa. this tower is a bell tower of the cathedral next to it. i dunno wth we hav to be here. maybe for its popularity as one of the new seven wonders. it actually goes defying gravity since dunno how many hundred years ago.

pisa, dunno leaned at how many degrees.

bearbear at piazza del duomo. duomo means cathedral in italian, the tower is just beside this duomo.

bearbear at pisa.

ok lah, standard illusory pose in pisa. pushing this tilting tower back up.

i hav shown enough the pics of bearbear and pama. so this is the leaning me wiv the leaning tower.

you are given ONLY 30mins to climb up this building wiv 20 or 30 ppl at one go. not more than that, otherwise this tower is gonna topple. *choy, touchwood*

close-up of the tower.

mama at second floor. this lady was lazy to climb stairs. so she din get to the top.

papa at the top of pisa.

us, overlooking the city of pisa.

going down, say byebye. slippy steps. i tell you, this old building has cooling effect. you wont feel stuffy going up and down!!

ancient rome again

so we were back to rome again after a holy visit at vatican city.

rome is a city of fountains and squares. bearbear at piazza del popolo.

if you are a hongkong tvb fan, this trevi fountain must be very familiar to you. some scenes of the series, triumph in the skies *chong shang yunxiao* starring flora chan and dunno wth were filmed here. i met one rude and pushy italian man while bargained for some souvenir items. he was muttering sthg in italian language, dunno wth he said. but i can assure you it was sthg bad cuz he asked whether im chinese or japanese. does nationality or race matter anyway?? thank god i dun understand. so dodgy!! and i din give him a deal. i think i dun like italy!!

trevi fountain is always full of people.

legend has it that if you toss a coin over your shoulder, you will return to rome one day. let's see if this works!! *i said, the more you throw, the higher chance you will come back.*

see, im so hypocrite!! dun like italy but still threw a coin into the fountain, wishing myself to come back here again. im so helplessly, hopelessly in love wiv italian designer bags...

him, at trevi fountain.

piazza del campidoglio. is spanish steps at the back of this building?

the roman forums.

at capitoline hill.

pama facing piazza venezia. i got bored of dunno wth fountain.

piece of mind: stay away fr those ancient places if you dun like sejarah. you can opt to hav coffee or go on a shopping spree. you'll get tax deductions!! gucci, prada, salvotore ferragamo, and many more brands are always on sales. i love sejarah. or should i say, i used to love sejarah. so i couldnt help myself tapping into the history of julius caesar, renaissance, whatever lah... so deeply, deeply!! i came, i saw, i CABUT...

vatican the holy see

i was dumb. a real dumb. bearbear told me to get off at ottaviano stop. but being doubtful, i insisted to go to cipro musei vaticani. this sounds more vaticani, doesnt it? so then we had a long walk fr the metro stop to vatican city. it wasnt tiring and mama wasnt grumpy. instead she managed to stop at a sundry shop and bought some italian mangos. but still, moral of the story is to listen to those who hav done homework. dun ever pandai-pandai.

here is an insider tip in italy: beware of pickpockets. i was nearly a victim. you know, the train was crowded. so me and bearbear were standing quite far fr each other. then there were two gals holding shawls, came towards me. one of them looked at me and gave me a friendly smile. she was just standing rite in front of me. but suddenly, i just couldnt figure out what struck my mind. i remembered the story sis told me when she was in italy. gypsies. pickpocket. whatever. my quick response was to check my bag, hold it tight. the next thing i realised, the bag zipper was opened!! but due to my prompt action, the pickpocket attempt failed. i should give all the credits to my cleverness, smartness, and alertness... whatever!!

vatican city fortress - the great wall.

museum visit. we hav had enough!!

fountain at st. peter's piazza.

st. peter's piazza.

italy wasnt that cold. i can even ber-pose.

st. peter's piazza.

ready to go into st. peter basilica.

st. peter basilica.

sacred visit. statue of st. peter. many pilgrims come and touch/kiss this statue.

visit finished. going back to rome.

ciao italia

we were flying on ryanair fr paris beauvais to rome ciampino. spent our first day at colosseum. only colosseum ok!! cuz this building is huge, and we explored every corner of it. remember brad pitt in troy or russell crowe of gladiator? yes? no? no? yes? i need not to explain more. here are the pics:

at the arch of constantine.

in front of the colosseum.

inside the colosseum. papa reminiscing about the places that my late grandpa visited. grandpa loved italy.

and me, immersing myself into the imaginary kingdom of troy. met brad pitt wth.

mama in papa's jacket, like a dwarf. ok, im mean!!

this guy said i dun make a good photographer. ya meh? im in denial.

is this front view? i supposed. main entrance.

roma termini.

bearbear holding a glass of red wine. dun you think he looks sexy?

before mama got drunk. this is complimentary dinner with red wine fr our hotel. since then, pama dun like pasta anymore esp cheese penne pasta.

romantic paris

we were staying at le montclair montmarte hostel. so the second day in paris went like this :

planned to take a metro to arc de triomphe, early morning after breakfast. but its easier to get there via bus. the french we met were helpful. and lucky us, youths aged 18-25 are entitled to entry fees discounts!! so it was cheap for me and bearbear. got the discount by showing them our passports!

took a pic rite after we came out fr tunnel.

at top of arc de triomphe. cant really see the eiffel tower, the day was too cloudy.

champs-elysees.

musee du louvre. this museum is damn big. walk till you drop.

monalisa is smiling at you. *i think she looks sad*

me walking down the street at the lourve.

took a rest after a long walk.

paris is a city of romance and you'd simply feel it everywhere!! papa said, paris makes the most impressive city out of so many places he has been to. hahahaha!! whatever-lah...

next destination: roma italia...