(im still uploading pics in this blog but i need time because im getting lazier. Anyway, my trip will all be in this post 
)
for ccc: thanks for the presie but i did not bring it with me. haha. feel so paiseh. my sis brought it home. 
for cme: i forgot to bring the 11sep letter with me when i travel. i wil go back on 16 sept to read the 11sep one. haha.
4 September 2009: London
[I’m writing my thoughts down in Microsoft word and this is pasted to the blog when I happen to have proper internet access. The time now is 10.35pm London time (7 hours behind Singapore time) but will continue again when im free.]
Basically, Im trying my best to adapt to the life in England. So, due to jetlag, we slept very early and wake up super early too, like slightly before 7am London timing? Im sleepy now again. Im also trying to get used to the prices I see here because its so much more than SGD.
We are very lucky to have Andy (Liming’s mother’s staff’s brother) to help in carrying our luggage, bringing us around for 2 whole days, treating us to the travel fare, drinks and food on the first day and lunch on the second day. We had our big luggage left in his house too so as to make our travelling to Europe more convenient.
Now I know what im scared of. To name, theres really a lot. Im scared of loneliness, airplanes, pick pocketing, walking out in the streets at night, getting lost, bathing, leaving my stuffs in the hostel when I went out to walk around and carrying my money around.
But seriously, I am really afraid of travelling because I always feel nauseous whenever i travel. I don’t like the wobbling of the airplanes. I feel so much like sitting in a pirate ship in a more dangerous way. I don’t normally feel that when i travel but now i do. Maybe because I am too dependent to travel with close friends instead?
Im also very amazed by what I see and note in London:-
- The buildings are definitely very different from those HDBs we see because they come in different shapes and sizes. They preserved their buildings and I see a lot of antiques. I love their buildings but I would never dare to stay alone in those big houses.
- Dogs are all around the streets. The locals love to bring their dogs out on the street to walk or shop. The dogs can even ride on the train for free!
- Singapore has the ‘Stand on the left’ rule on the escalator though its only being followed during peak hours or they simply doesn’t bother. However here in London, ‘Stand on the right’ is very common and they will ‘a-hem’ to you if you don’t do so or block their way.
- They have different kinds of trains and we sat the Underground tube very often. Its amazing because they have the open and close door buttons in the tube when you want to alight and the open button outside when you want to board. The announcer is also done manually by a guy stationed outside the train!
- London handphone shops sell cheap phones and everytime you renew their contract, you get to choose a new phone. That is why Andy had an iphone for free!
- Everything i saw is big! Big portion of food especially and big buildings!
- Everywhere we went, we see people dragging their luggage around. It is such a common sight but most of their central stations do not have lifts. So we had to drag and lift our luggage when we see escalators and stairs! Can you imagine how heavy it is to carry the 30kg luggage up? I cannot even lift the big luggage for more than 3 steps. Now we have some trouble transporting them to leeds and maybe back home. I want someone to come and visit me and maybe bring some of my stuffs back before I leave! (Irene you read this right? You know what to do? Haha.)
So much of my thoughts, i need to pave out our journey. Lets start from 3 September. We reached Heathrow Airport with Andy coming to fetch us over to our hotel by the underground tube. We really appreciated his help because we were too tired to even think properly and we followed him blindly. He started by introducing us to the whole day travel fare and how the underground tube works. Then, he uses his GPS in his iphone and found the Rosedene Hotel (Reception at Collin’s Hotel) for us which is near the Victoria Station.
Having a nice weather the same day, he offered to bring us around since we had the travel card which includes train, tube and bus. We walked a lot and I could only remember some of the tourists’ attractions like the London eye, Big Ben, houses of parliament, and river thames. He even brought us to buy our prepaid card which can be used in UK. He introduced the O2 card which is something like Singtel. We saw Vodafone too which works like M1 but i cannot remember why we chose O2 in the end. Now, this card is used predominantly to contact friends in UK. But till now, i haven even opened it and was thinking of using it only in leeds.
We took a lot pictures because we were very amazed by the buildings which are definitely different from those we see in Singapore. We were very very tired and hence, went back the Victoria place to have our dinner. Andy treated us and we shared the largest thin crust pizza where i could not even finish a slice of it because of the four meals on the flight. We went back to our room, bathed and all of us knocked out.
………………………………………………
The very next day morning, we went over to Cafe Camelo for breakfast since there is a 10% discount for us. The four of us shared a big breakfast and the waitress was very shocked. But, we could not even finish the meal and had to stuff everything down into our stomach.
We shopped a while at Victoria place ourselves so that i can find the book for Ben, get moisturizer, magnets and post card. We then met up with Andy at our hotel where we dragged our luggage all the way down from 4 storeys high. He is kind enough to help us load and unload our luggage at the train station. We went to his rented house. The streets are calm and peaceful and his house is big, with a backyard, kitchen, living room and rooms upstairs. We then left North Dulwich, a train station that does not need a travel card. It is actually good with him around because we get to visit not only the city but also the more rural area.
We headed over to London Bridge station where we walked and saw the huge Tower Bridge. Comparing it with the London Bridge we saw thereafter, we strongly believe London Bridge is plain. Nothing interesting about it.
Andy wanted to bring us to the Chinatown. But because i complained that my legs are tired, we took a London Black cab. We were all very shocked because we heard that it is expensive to cab in London! The price started at 2.20 pounds. I felt quite guilty about it but Andy paid for the cab fare and said that it is an experience for us since we were so reluctant to cab when we starts school. Why? Because London buses do not have surcharge at night and they still operates midnight.
We alighted and walked into Covent Garden where they had stalls like Singapore Pasa Malam (obviously nicer), then we went to Imperial China for Dim Sum lunch at Chinatown. The dim sum is only available from 12-5pm and from the way Andy speaks to them, we knew that he always come here for food, given that he stayed here for 12 years and he always have friends visiting him. We ordered a lot and had a sumptuous late lunch. Andy treated us again even though we knew that it cost a bomb to him.
He brought us to an exortic shop at Soho. I don’t think it is attractive since we are only standing outside, so we left after a while and proceeded to Harrods! A beautiful place where you can shop for souvenirs and everything! I did not get any because i was thinking i could get it when i go back to London during the school semester or towards the end of the exchange program.
Primark is the next location. But before entering, we went to another bookstore. With the help of Andy and the girls, we found the book but did not purchase it in the end because Nicole told me that Vivocity Page One sells the book cheaper. (Ben you read this?)
Then we hurried to Primark! And oh gosh, everything here is so freaking cheap! I left the shop telling the girls that ‘everything including clothes, shoes, accessories, jackets are soooo much cheaper than in Singapore and yet, im not buying any!’ Why? Because it is in London so we get to come back here and Leeds have Primark. Maybe just smaller and less variety.
Then i had Mcdonald Muffins for dinner! I bought 2 but i only ate one. Too full from the Dim Sum. I got some connection from KFC though which lasted only for a while. That is only enough for me to check my mails and pass the laptop to my friends because only one person can tap into the network at one time.
Back to bed and knock out.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=312460&id=517605626&ref=mf
5 September 2009: Venice
Early in the morning at 2am (London timing), we woke up, prepared and left for the Terravision Coach at 3am. Its dark but we recognised the route, thanks to Andy for bringing us around London for the previous two days. We took Ryanair travel (budget flight) to Italy. Checked in is troublesome and the person who is assumed to be new, made us re-queued for visa check where we do not need it since we are Singaporeans. In the end, we ran and rushed for the flight at London Stansted airport since it is the final call.
We reached Italy at around 10am (6 hours behind Singapore timing). All the four of us are very cautious about the surroundings since we were briefed to be extra careful here due to pickpockets and that they do not speak English. We took AVTO bus ride to Venezia and I do not have a good feeling about it because this trip is now all up to the four of us to explore and roam around. Venice is pretty as what i saw when i alighted from the bus. However, we had to purchase a map. Reading the map is a torture to us because everything on the map is not detailed enough and they do not have clear directional signage. Anyway, there are real lots of tourists here and everyone seems to be holding a map too.
When we found our Bax Pax Venice Guest House, I almost wanted to cry. I think the girls too. Its freaking ulu and there is no internet connection at all and there is only one power plug to charge all our stuffs. Our house is located in an alley and we had to climb the ulu stairs. Whats worse? They do not have keys to lock our room, only the main door and the house door. The lady even assured us that it is safe. So as to play safe, i used my laptop lock to lock my laptop inside the luggage itself, double locked the luggage, hid everything underneath the bed, and covered with blanket. But when we returned to the room at night, we realised someone came into the room and touched our belongings! My luggage number which i only did it once here to change all numbers to 000, i saw it to be my own luggage number opened! Everything else inside remains and my laptop is still around (relieved). We are now so scared that we had a last minute change of plan to move out of the house tml night instead of 5am in the morning (the day after tml) which we assumed to be dark (staircase, alley, road) and we will lost our way. We don’t even dare to bathe now. We will sleep in the airport. That’s our plan. We assumed the airport to be safer.
The next thing i don’t like about venice is that we have to spend a lot on water. Since the flight doesn’t allow more than 100ml in hand carry and super strict restriction during the checking (taking off belt, jackets, laptop and all metallic stuff- basically nothing left except our clothes), we do not bring along any drinkable water. The house here also does not provide kettle to boil water and we are not allowed to cook! We are now lacked of water, my lips are RED.
So what is nice about Venice? The very first thing we saw when we arrived was lots of dramatic masquerade masks, long rivers, and different kinds of bridges. It isn’t as nice and we deemed the place to be old. But when we started exploring San Macro, we realised Venice is beautiful on the other side- the Gondolas, Cathedral, pigeons, masks, and canal. The weather is really sunny over here around 3 to 4pm and gets really chilly when sun sets. I conclude that this is a romantic place for couples. And all the people who greeted us thought we are Japanese and started speaking Japanese to us! That’s so funny!
We had a rather expensive dinner because it comes with cover charge and we deemed that it is rather late to find another restaurant. I had spaghetti with fresh shrimps topped with garlic for dinner. I did not finish it because we sat on the outside and the wind kept my food cold towards the last bit.
Italians love to walk and basically, the only transport here is water taxi or gondola. So, the four girls walked, lost our way, walked, found beautiful places, walked and finally back to our house. We shall now block all our windows and doors, sleep with our money and locked our valuables. We feel so insecure right now. I felt so. How I wished my family members were here with me. I miss everyone!
6 September 2009: Venice
I woke up super early today again at like 740am? Maybe because we are sleeping real early nowadays since we do not dare to walk on the streets at night, especially with no guys around. We checked out the latest timing of AVTO coach ride back to Treviso Airport and we decided to move out of our house before the sun sets.
Today is a sunny day. Or rather, today is so much hotter than yesterday. And i still wore my cardigan to keep myself out of the tanned mark. So much so that now, we all brought our laptop along with us when we walked around the streets and ended up torturing our shoulders. I took less pictures and eat more. I am practically dehydrating so I treat myself to icecream, fruits, and Italian granita (smoothie). I love my all time favourite fruits! They are very sweet and the juice burst and flow nicely in the throat. And i realised, i craved for sour and sweet food everyday! Im so much happier that im getting used to the life down here.
We visited many places and we walked down the famous Rialto Bridge. We had wanted to catch the gondola race but couldn’t because it starts at 6pm and we are rushing to leave Venice. We very much wanted to see the race initially because the race is held only on the first Sunday of every month. But, we managed to take a picture of it and i doubt we could stand under the hot sun and squeeze with the thousands of tourists there.
We queued into the Cathedral this afternoon finally. It took us about an hour to reach the front and realised that its the EXIT! All the tourists including us were definitely angry so we learned to jump the queue. Kiasu Collen is into action once again by pushing and squeezing through the crowd. Fortunately, the queue was cut off right behind us again. I heard many people shouting back to the guards angrily. Anyway, the cathedral is a very grand and nice place. We only visited the ground level which is free. No pictures are to be taken though many tourists are still snapping non stop. The other 2 girls from church says that we must be sincere to this place so reluctantly, I dint take any pictures inside.
I finally bought a mask. I wanted to buy two- one for my sister and one for me. But i ended up getting only one mask which is supposedly intended for Irene because it isn’t cheap okie? So now, we have to share this dramatic masquerade mask (pink and gold). Its very pretty! The other girls spent more to get the same design mask as mine which is nicer and have gigantic feathers and a stick to hold on. I reckoned that the feathers will drop off by the time i reached Singapore and the stick is too troublesome for me to hand carry it. So now, i hope that the mask doesn’t crack when i go travelling.
We sat the Gondola too! It cost us almost 60 over Sing (30 euros) just to catch a 20 minutes ride! But its worth the experience. The river is calm and nice but the weather is still hot. And the thing is, the gondola cannot bring us to where we want to go, or maybe they can if we pay more. So we alighted at the same location from where we board.
I must agree that Venice is real beautiful but the house is disappointing. So much for wanting to stay in cheap accommodation, we had to push all tables and sofas to the door so that no one can even push our door in when we were sleeping in the night. We left the house and keys on the table. Its not a proper check-out and i admit that we sneaked out to catch the last coach to the airport. We had a cheap dinner before we left and the food is very nice! I ate the same food but with different price. This is what i call cheap and nice.
We saw the sun set on the way to the airport. It is pretty. It looks like a big rainbow diverging out to the sky upwards. But I fell asleep thereafter.
Now, the terrifying thing im doing right now is typing this in the airport. Internal airports have opening and closing hours. We were so afraid that the security will chase us out of the airport so Nicole and i went to search for accommodation within walking distance. We walked the wrong route and ended up in the carpark so we RAN back and walked beside the main road, which is eerier. Found the house, but it is real dark with no lights. It looks deserted. So we rushed back to the airport. Luckily, the security did not chase us out. We stayed here with a few other people who we assumed that they missed their flight too. Travelling again in Italy will be another ‘adventure’ for us. Hopefully our trip turns out safe.
7 September 2009: Rome
(Visited Flaminio → Piazza del Popolo → Spagna →Vittoria Emanuele metro →David’s flat)
Im slowly getting used to taking the flights now. Or maybe because i fell asleep even before the flight took off and woke up when it already landed? Everything goes smoothly from airport to the coach to the train. BUT! We could not find our hostel and ended walking up and down the streets to only find out that we are supposed to stay in another hostel so we were given the address for another accommodation. I learnt my lessons. NO MORE STAYING IN HOSTELS IF I AM GOING ON ANOTHER FREE AND EASY TRIP. This is a low budget trip, we tried to save but we still spent a lot. The girls are running out of money while im thinking of how can i keep my Euros when i don’t get to use them again i supposed.
We stayed near Vittorio metro. It has always got to do with Victoria or Victorrio. Anyway, i preferred this accommodation since it is walkable distance from Termini metro. But, 4 storeys up to our room! Dont feel like carrying my luggage anywhere else anymore.
Anyway, the sun here in Italy (Rome) is killing me. Im so tanned right now and my hand muscles are building due to lots of carrying of luggage up and down the stairs. I feel so ugly now, given that i had a big ulcer below and above my lips. And im quite disappointed in Rome now because of the dirty streets, hot sun and impatient drivers. I miss English speaking places!
Nevertheless, we got ourselves a map from a random hotel, bought travel tickets and started planning our routes for the next 3 days. We were too tired today so we ended up walking to Piazza del Popolo and down to Spagna to only climb 3 or 4 steps there. Before that, we went for cheap lunch and we all had risotto. But all of us could not finish it and i don’t like my lunch! In the end, I decided not to eat any dinner and went back to hostel.
I had a problem now. My Clinique facial foam is leaking like nobody business. I don’t think it will last me for 5 months! My bioterm moisturizer is also running out. Strapsils all gone and I realised i did not bring any food to chew on. I want milo packets, magee mee and some self made herbal tea! Shucks. I hate myself.
8 September 2009: Rome
(Visited Ottaviano metro →Piazza Risorgimento → Musei Vaticani → Basilica S.Pietro → Termini metro → David’s flat)
The aircon woke me up early. Its blowing me throughout the whole night and we don’t have the remote control to change the temperature. Daddy called and woke me up at like 7 plus too?
Anyway, we went for our free breakfast and unexpectedly, it is the same cheap restaurant that we went to for lunch the day before. The breakfast was simply sugar bread and lemon tea and it kept us quite full till afternoon.
Now in Italy, I noted some trends:-
- Even though Italian doesn’t speak English, most of the signs have English words beside it. If not, their 1st or 2nd syllabus is actually the same as English words. However, that’s only some. I learnt new words myself though like ‘Uscita’ is exit, ‘Entrata’ is entrance, ‘Bigliettteria’ is ticket, ‘Ristorante’ is restaurant, ‘Farmacia’ is pharmacy, ‘Grazia’ is thank you, ‘treni’ is train and ‘minuto’ is singular for minute while ‘minuti’ is plural.
- The road in Italy is very uneven and bumpy. I tend to trip over a few times. And the drivers are super impatient. No matter whether it is green or red light, they will drive through. If we stop for the car, the car will not stop for us. So the thing to do is not to stop for the car so that the car will stop for you. Got it? Also, the problem for pedestrians here is that they seldom have the button to push to wait for crossing the road. So, everytime you want to cross, just wait. It is safer to cross on green man than yellow man even though yellow man stays longer than green man.
- Weather is super hot in the day and chilly in the morning. I thought Singapore sun is bad but Italy is worse because you can hide in the shade or stay in shopping malls in Singapore but you cannot hide from the sun in Italy. It is more of open-spaced everywhere, probably because we spent most of the day at the tourist attraction places.
- Italy is known to have many pickpockets but I felt safer when we are at tourist attraction places and main road because there will be other tourists walking around too. Their streets and alleys are more dangerous because it is quieter and people looked at you when you passed them.
- Most or all the Italians working at the tourist spots speak English and maybe some Japanese? People here always think that we are from Japan and started ‘Konichiwa’ and ‘Arigato’ to us. One even thought we are Americans. Oh do we look like one? We met one who says ‘xie xie’ when i told him we are from Singapore. So does that mean that all Singaporeans speak Chinese only?
- Italy has water tap all over where the water flows continuously. The water is very cold too. Many of us just refilled our water from there to drink.
- It takes at least half an hour for the food to be served after we ordered. Maybe the Italians are used to it but we are not.
- Im actually very amazed by the super small cup Italians drank their Espresso from.
- Ambulance and police sirens sound alike or maybe they are alike? And the sirens can be heard ample times a day. So i wonder whether there are really lots of patients or that they wanted to abuse their sirens so as to overtake other vehicles. You know, they are impatient drivers.
Anyway, we visited Vatican today. The other 3 girls bought the STA student travel card in Singapore but i did not so i smuggled to buy the student ticket by combing all their 3 cards on top and my matric card below. It saved me half the price.
Vatican is a gigantic and gorgeous place. We spent almost the whole day there walking, snapping pictures, resting on chairs or benches we see. It is known that the Pope will stand in front of the window to pray every Tuesday, but we were not lucky enough to see it even though we went on the correct day. We walked a super long route to the chapel and we were told to be silent when the guard actually repeatedly shouted ‘shh.. silent please’ inside the chapel. So who is noisier?
We spent some time searching for post office to send out postcard too since we knew that they have the special service of buying, writing and sending out postcards in Vatican itself. I like the stamp. There is a Merlion and a house of parliament on the Vatican stamp to Singapore. The postman did not even search for the stamps so we assume that there are other Singaporean tourists before us. We walked to the outside too but we did not bother to queue to go into the St Peter church under the super hot sun. So we went around taking pictures and jump shots!
Our tour ended very early today so we explored Termini (Terminal) for our Trenitalia tickets to Florence and window shopped a bit while we walked back to our hostel. On the way, we passed by streets that looked like Chinatown because there are many Chinese shops and we heard shop owners speaking Chinese.
Knew what? We also found an International supermarket and bought fruits and drinks. Stuffs here are so much cheaper than anywhere else we saw. And the orange juice is so much cheaper than the one we bought at vending machine, thinking that it is already the cheapest we can find.
We had our lunch there near Vatican. As usual, we tried to search for the cheapest we can find. I felt so cheated for my money. I ordered bacon and tomato spaghetti only to realise the bacon is not around. Im not even sure whether the waitress served me the correct dish or is it just the plain spaghetti above on the menu. Somehow, i believed they served me the wrong dish but i did not dare to ask since i cant speak the Italian dish name that i ordered. It has been pasta and carbo for almost a week and im getting constipation. Hence, we saved and ate apple for dinner.
9 September 2009: Rome
(Visited Barberini metro → Fountana di Trevi → Pantheon → Palazzo Venezia → Monumento to a Vittorio Emanuele → Colonna Traiana → Campo de Fiori→ P.zza Navona → Vittoria Emanuele → David’s flat)
Woke up at 830am. Today’s weather is so much better. Its so much cooling. I had the exact same free breakfast before we started our walking tour.
Surprisingly, we walked to more places and ended our day very early at around 5plus. Perhaps because today’s tour is more of sight-seeing and pictures taking. I love the fountain in Italy. It seems to be their common thing here. But the main attraction today is the Trevi fountain and Pantheon. Campo de Fiori is the flower market but we came late so its rather quiet there.
I saw the construction of road today and i took a few pictures of it. It is something new i learn. First they knock the stone in and checked the height. I was wondering why the road is still so bumpy when they did measure the height of the stones. Maybe because everything is on a slope. Then, tar is sprayed at the gaps, followed by the *** (small stones. Forgot what is the name of it).
Anyway, we had super big portion of lunch today. We did not expect the portion to be so huge since its rather cheap before the service charge of 10%. So we had wine. I had the white draught wine ¼ litre which i did not expect the % to be that high. Afterall, i felt so tipsy and high and could not even stand properly. Gosh. I had to sustain till we finished all attractions we planned to go today.
For dinner, we decided on juice and peach because we were way too full during lunch and im sleepy. We went to another supermarket to grab some fruits, juice and yoghurt. A movie on ‘bedtime stories’ from Cheryl’s hard disk ends my day.
10 September 2009: Rome
(Visited Colosseom → Palatino → Termini → David’s flat)
I feel so dusty after the trip to Colosseom and Palatino. Theres dust and dirt flying everywhere and my shoes are dirtied. We saw a lot of ‘rocks’ and many dug out statues. We tried to figure out what we see and what everything is about ourselves since we did not bother to follow any tour or paid to get any audio guide. Somehow, we randomly got to make some sense out from the stadium, forum and gardens and pieced them out ourselves.
Today’s sun isn’t getting any better and it is once hot again. Now the four girls are very red with our tanned mark and i had ugly freckles on my shoulders. Pimples are popping out too. Im gonna wrapped myself up with clothes when i reached back to London or Leeds since its cooler or colder there so that i can wait for the tanned to fade. Yes. Hopefully.
We had some interesting incidents today. Four days stay in Rome is way too long for us since we always reached our hostel around 5plus in the evening. We are quite familiar with the places in Rome; or rather the tourist’s must-see spots such that there are people asking us how to purchase tickets from the ticketing machine. There is also a Singaporean Indian guy who recognises that we are from Singapore, another group of Singaporeans from NTU wanted us to take picture together with them (they are from china though and looked like professors) and a group of Taiwanese asking for directions to the Spanish steps. And surprisingly, we communicated very well with them and we looked more like local Italians helping and telling others what to do. LOL.
But I had a minor heart attack when this Gladiator pointed his sword into cheek when i was busy taking pictures. I screamed so loudly that everyone around me turned and looked at me like im some kind of creature. Luckily, he was only playing around and finding people to take pictures with him. He even thought that im some movie star from Singapore. That’s cool. Its probably due to my common dressing in Singapore plus my River Island shade.
Then we had shared dinner since we observed the portion before ordering. Dinner wasn’t really nice but managed to keep us full. Then we stupidly thought that we could re-use our travel ticket when we actually could not so we walked back to our hostel once again.
11 September 2009: Florence
(Visited Ponte Vechhio → Uffizi Gallery → Palazzo Vecchio → Piazza della Signoria → Bargello Museum → Chiesa di Santa Croce → back to Hostel Veronique)
We reached italy (Florence) by Trenitalia today! The train ride took us exactly 3 hours and we were too scared that people will put drugged gas and stole our belongings so we tried to keep awake. o well.. i fell asleep still and woke up stoning.
We got ourselves a free map and started finding our hostel. The part on finding hostel is always tiring because the walk seems to be never ending when we dragged our luggage along. Florence has double numbers and we got to know what is it about only when a helpful lady started explaining to us. Red number means shops while blue or black numbers mean houses. That’s cool. We found our hostel near city center and we love this place. There is finally wireless and we had been using it non stop since we returned in the evening. The security is also tight and there is lift! There is definitely whatever we want here except for the kettle for boiling.
We tried to roam around and it took us only a few hours to finish where we planned to go. Florence is small though. We snapped a lot of pictures outside instead since everything needs to be paid to go in. We had 2 icecreams today too! Since it is the second day in Italy, we shall splurge on food! Paris is left for shopping! I want to buy my cosmetics and personal products! yearning to go over now. hehs.
12 September 2009: Florence
(Visited Santa Maria del Fiore (cathedral) → Battistero di San Giovanni → Campanile di Giotto (bell tower) → Museo dell’Opera del Duomo → Basilica di San Lorenzo → Academy Gallery (original Michelangelo’s David) → Basilica di S.S. Annunziata → back to hostel Veronique)
The map makes Florence looks big when it is actually very small. We spent a lot time idling and resting since everywhere we walked, we are walking in circles and back to the same place. So we went to check out our coach for tml morning. We always spent more time finding coach, trains and our hostel. We found supermarket again and the stuff here is really cheap. Wine cost around 1 euro for a packet and 3 euros for a bottle! We bought a lot drinks and juices too!
Amazingly, we spent 8 euros today just to climb 463 steps in Duomo! Up and down is the same cramp stairways so i wonder what will happen in the event of fire because it is so cramped and im almost lacked of ventilation there. I took pictures of me before, during and after climbing the stairs. We are the only people panting and complaining while an old man in front of us turned and smiled to me when we pant loudly. They are really trained to climb and walked!
Since today is the last day in Italy, we tried to do as much things as we can like buying italy souveneirs and drank coffee! i know im allergic to it so i had Cafelatte instead. Hopefully a small amount wont kill.
Anyway, we had a wine party now. The girls are high. I tried to drink as slowly as possible though. haha! Excited for disneyland in paris but no more internet connection from tml onwards! Need to wait till 16 sept when i settled in leeds. 
13 September 2009: Paris
(Visited Eiffel Tower → Arc de Triomphe → Champs- Elysees Clemenceau → back to Auberge International Hostel for check in)
Well, we arrived on a Sunday and Paris shopping closes every Sunday. We spent quite some time searching for food and the supermarket is closed! So we visited Eiffel tower in the afternoon. We spent a lot of time waiting and queuing and waiting and queuing. Its a nice place at the summit but it was too crowded. There was even a Champagne bar up there. So cool!
To save time, we catch the Arc de Triomphe and window shopped a while before heading back to Eiffel tower. I found Lacoste but still could not find my tote and sling bag!
When we returned to Tour Eiffel, the tower glittered the moment the train reached the station. It glitters only once an hour and we managed to caught it! I had a video on it too! Its soooooo pretty! I want to come back again! And its the first time we girls stayed out till 10plus pm at night.
14 September 2009: Paris
(Visited Parcs Disneyland- Discoveryland → Fantasyland → Adventureland → Frontierland → Central Plaza for Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade → Main Street U.S.A. for shopping)
Down two Panadols and off we go to Disneyland! The ticket was a killer so we bought the cheapest entry to only one park and skipped Walt Disney Studios Park even though it is just 11 euros difference. We were lucky to buy the cheapest one because the park closes at 7pm and we do not have enough time to finish exploring. We did complete all the lands inside but we took quite some time queuing for the rides too. And we went on a non peak season Monday. Can you imagine yourself queuing for an hour or more on a Sunday holiday? We took just about 20-25 minutes and some only for 5 minutes!
This Disneyland isn’t as nice as what i thought it would be but still, we managed to catch most of the rides and we went for the parade. I even videoed it down with a lot of background noise where people were pushing, shouting and waving.
Then we girls spent the rest of our time shopping in Disneyland! I managed to get a thermo flask for myself! I was tempted to buy the Disneyland tee too but i did not. Hehs. Control!
15 September 2009: Paris
(Visited Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris → Chaussee d Antin La Fayette → Gare du Nord → St Pancras International → back to Clink Hostel for check in)
London is cold. It is raining when we are back so we decided to spend on a London Black cab though I am quite reluctant. The hostel does not looked bad afterall because i have a big bed to myself and it is quite happening here. There is also a bar but we were too lazy to get out of our rooms. I don’t like the shower either since it is a mixed shower room. The water is also so huge that it wet all my belongings and towel. Can you imagine a towel dripping with water?!
Anyway, we went to a post office again this morning. And when we are going to post our postcards, we saw this. We cant seem to figure out which one is ‘to other countries’ so we asked but the pronunciation still doesn’t matches any of these two so we observed how some others throw their letters into so we threw ours to the other one.
Since we do not have time to walk around to visit all tourists’ spots, we decided to take our time and see what we can do. We went to a beautiful cathedral and this is my first time seeing the praying session. People were singing in harmony and even though i do not understand what everything means, my hair stands and i just stood to watch.
I do not want to spend to climb another 400 over steps to see the inside of a cathedral anymore so we left for La Fayette! It is an expensive shopping mall where you can find all the LV, Gucci, Prada, Burberry, Agnes B, Lacoste, Longchamp, Tiffany and Co, etc inside. I am very tempted to buy the stuffs since it will be so much cheaper after VAT but I decided to come back another day when my korkor is here since VAT must be claimed within 3 months of purchase. Looking forward to it! I decided to get a Longchamp blue backpack for 58euros! Yes, backpack again because Singapore has a lot of fake Longchamp tote bag so getting a backpack is less common. And im still searching for my Lacoste sling and tote bag!
We had our lunch and dessert at La Fayette. The only cheapest food here is the minced steak so I bought it even though i do not eat beef in Singapore. This is the second time im trying beef outside Singapore! And the dessert tastes like cheese with yogurt and berries. It gets quite sick after a few mouths though.
Then, we sat Eurostar back to London where it goes down and cuts across into the sea! Well, I don’t know whether it is true because we were in the tunnel. We definitely tried all different kinds of transports during this trip- Gondola, London cab, tube, Ryanair, easyJet, Terravision coach, Trenitalia, Eurostar! We will sit the National Express tml!
16 September 2009: London; Leeds
We spent particulary the whole day waiting and travelling. Finally, im settled down in my room but there are so many registrations to be done tml. I need the supermarket and i need to wash all my clothes. Im dead tired.
