Venice
I flew to Venice from London Gatwick airport. So i had to travel up to Leeds, take a bus to London Victoria Station and then another bus to the airport. I arrived at the airport around midnight as my flight was early in the morning. Upon reaching we searched for seats to sleep on, yes we were going to sleep in the terminal. I only managed to doze of for about half an hour or so, after that i trotted to McD's for some coffee. So much for sleeping. Bah!
At 7.00 a.m. we were off to Venice! At one point of the flight, the view from the top was beautiful!Breathtaking!!Superb!Marvelous!! See for yourself:
Spectacular, no? Soon after this, we reached Venice. I was quick to notice that there was lots of er...water. Streets are narrow, loads of tourists, water water water. Oh, and the gondola rides are very expensive!!
But it'll be nice for couples or a big family holidaying together. I'll just be satisfied with the waterbus for now. *sigh*
Oh, there were loads of pizza, pasta and ice-cream shops. Managed to find a shop that sells very cheap pizzas (they were huge!) and ice-creams of all flavours.
This costs Є3 which has 6 scoops of different ices! Damn shiok man. It was hot in Italy so ice-creams are a staple diet. We ate ice-cream like, alomost everyday!
In Venice, we visited a popular part called San Marco. The main attractions are there. There were loads of people around the area. We visited the Basilica San Marco and went up the Campanile (tower).
When there's tourist, there's a lot of souvenir shops. In Venice, they were selling loads of masks (those u can wear, keychain form, and those u can pin on) and jester hats!
That's all about Venice: water, gondolas, masks, water, jester hats, water, Basilica, water, tourists, water and more water.
Pisa
In Pisa, there's only 1 thing to look forward to. Yes, the leaning tower. The sole purpose we went there is to go up the tower. It costs є15 to go up the tower and you can only go up in groups at every half hour.
Presenting the Leaning Tower of Pisa @ Torre Pendente. It leans to one side, which means the steps up the tower are slanted as well. The steps were kinda slippery (made of marble?) + slanted to one side + me wearing slippery slippers = scary climb up + even more scarier climb down. On the way back down, i could feel my legs turning into jelly. Note to others: wear shoes with good soles. The leaning tower was located at Piazza Del Duomo, which also has famous landmarks like the Cathedral and Baptistry. But i didn't go into those two, due to time constraint.
If you go to Italy, and you noticed a lot of people using branded watches and bags such as LV and Gucci, don't be fooled! There were many Africans? selling fake goods at the roadside. Saw a lot of them in Pisa.
Rome
All roads lead to Rome! A must go if you're in Italy. If you don't, then go Italy for what?!
We went to Rome on a train. Now, it's my first time coming across this kinda trains that have seperate carriages, you know, like those in Harry Potter. There are 6 seats in each compartment. Reminds me of the movie 'Eurotrip' where the Italian man goes 'scusi, 'scusi. Ok, enough about the train.
The first stop? Vatican Museum. The queue was veryyyyyyyyy long. All around the perimeter of the museum. So what did we do? Jump queue! Haha. *ahem* Which is very very bad. You should not do that. I feel so guilty.........not. If you guys read, Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons' it's very informative. Now i know what landmarks, paintings, etc are important and their historical background. So, we went into the museum, saw loads of paintings, sculptures, etc. The museum also leads to the Sistine Chapel. Which is a small....er...chapel. Not suppose to take pictures inside. But we managed to sneakily take some.
Ta-da! The most famous painting there. After going through the Sistine Chapel, it's back into the museum. Just walking idly around and then went on straight to St. Peter's Square.
Here's a night shot of St. Peter's Basilica. It didn't take long for us to get into Vatican City, only passed through metal detectors, then passed guards who check your outfit. Yes people, there is a dress code to enter the city. As a sign of respect, you're suppose to wear shirts/blouses with sleeves and pants/skirts which are below the knee. Else the Swiss guards will use their swords and poke it up ur a**. Ok, so i made that up. I only saw 2 guards in their full glory (blue and gold striped tunic). Others were in dark blue tunics.
We went into the Basilica, which was huge! And also climbed up the dome (320 steps!!) and saw the Popes' tombs.
Next stop was the Colosseum and Palatine Hill (the Roman Forum is there). Here's a night shot:
Nice leh? We also went to the Spanish Steps (not decorated, disappointing), the Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain.
This is Trevi fountain. Beautiful! People are suppose to throw a coin over their shoulders/heads with their backs facing the fountain. If it goes in, means you'll visit the fountain again. It was easy to get the coin in, though. Hmmm...
Ok, that's it for Italy. My last trip for now. Will be going back to Malaysia in a few days. Can't wait!
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