Friday, November 30, 2007
i'm back! sadly.
ITALY WAS AWESOME.
everything was beautiful!
the sights..
the food..
the people!
Italy prob has the world's most beautiful ppl!
plus the italian accent is ultra sexy (:
from the way they snap "
PRONTO" when answering the phone, to odering their cappucino.
NAPLOLI (NAPLES):
-saw an old old castle. really cool.
-drank the best latte macchiato.
-almost crashed into a car..
italian roads are so narrow but all the drivers think they are in the grand prix!
-chased pigeons in a wide open square
-went window shopping in a few of the narrow shopping lanes
-visited the ruins of pompei and saw MT. VERSUVIUS in the background.
the coolest things there were the preserved 'plaster humans'
archaelogist unearthed the ruins and found that the bodies of the villagers trapped under solidyfied lava have decomposed leaving hollow cavities. they filled these cavities with liquid plaster which took the form of the twisted contorted villagers. the anguished expressions on their face were so gripping and intense..
-saw a plant called ericaceae!
-drove past the bay of naples during sunset. absolutely breathtaking.
CAPRI ISLANDS:
-famous for their
limoncello (lemon vodka) it's actually more sour than lemon itself. definitely something to try if u want a kick.
-ate lemon chocolate. ((: yummy.
-went up a tall rocky mountain to what the locals called "
mamma mia points"
(mamma mia locally translates into oh my god.)
the view from these points were excepional! but if u fell..
-took a chairlift tot he top of the mountain. the view of the island was amazing.
ROMA (ROME): my favourite place
-went to Vatican City and to Saint Peter's Basilica.
-I have no words to describe it. every little detail is so beautiful, so intricate, so i-dno-what-to-say.
-all the paintings on the wall are not paintings. their actually mosaics if u take a closer look. small squares of marble of a dizzying variety of shades pieced together to form what looks like one beautiful painting.
-passed
fiume tevere a large river that ran through the west of rome
-visited the colloseum.
btw, colloseum was derived from the word colossol for obvious reasons. see my pictures.
-also saw
Circo Massimo a large track where horse racing used to take place in the olden days,
and
Arco di Constantino (Arch of Constantine)
-and of course, we visited
Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain).
the white marble was so radiant in the sunlight.
-walked to the Pantheon There were more people looking upwards at the round dome-shaped ceiling than at raphael's tomb haha.
oh! in italy michaelangelo is pronounced as mee-ka-ang-che-lo cause they say michaelangelo is a ninja turtle (along with raphael and leonardo)
-by then it was evening and we had to make our way back to the trevi fountin to meet the tour grp so we couldn't visit the spanish steps. ))))):
-no worries, i will definitely go back one day.
the trevi fountain in the evening was as beautiful as it was in the day, it exudes a sort of calming glow. i sat there with my parents for an hour.
FIRENZE (FLORENCE)
-saw a large large TOWERING church but no where as large as St Peter's Basilica. decorated in green white and red marble with lots and lots of statues. green represented peace, hope, charity. white represented purity, red represented love.
-inside the church i saw this weird clock which showed only 23 hours and reverses it's direction each day.. i think.. i was busy taking pic so i wasn't really listening.. :p
-opposite the church was a building with two immense and very grand looking doors. Each one with 5 gold panels depicting different events in the bible.
-on to
Piazza Della Signoria, there were at least 10 statues here. out of which was a replica of David, one of michaelangelo's most famous creations. also the statue of Perseus behading Medusa, The Rape of the Sabines (it actually looks really graceful), fountain of Neptune, and a monument to Cosimo I.
PISA:
-short trip here.. i only saw the leaning tower of Pisa. (: many funny japanese tourist taking pictures here- angling themselves and poising so they looked like they were pushing the tower. hahaha
VENIZIA (VENICE)
-it was raining heavily that day venice was flooded in the morning
-thankfully i went there in the evening and the floods had subsided.
btw venice is sinking at quite a drastic rate i forgot the exact value, but it won't be there for long so hurry visit it!
-saw the bridge of sighs. a bridge btwn the court and the prisoned. So if somone was sentenced (usually a death sentence) they had to cross this bridge over to the prison. on an opposite bridge, the family of the accused will be there to wave and say gdbye, but they are unable to see him. The accused can only peek thru 2 windows along the bridge to see his family for the last time.
-moved on to St/ Marks Square here there was the St Marks church, built during the gothc era,
the Doge's Palace which was pink and white (verona colous), the Sansovinian Library
-and of course the beautiful clock tower with the golden lion.
-I was really upset that day cause we were unable to ride the gondola due to the rainy weather, uggh. btw, all the gondolas are black. yep, they were painted black to commemorate those who died during the plague.
MILANO (MILANO):
- the second rome. there was a mini colloseum. don't be fooled, it's still quite big.
-any woman's shopping paradise
prada
armani
dior
united colours of benetton
coccocinelle
etc..
-visited the balcony of Romeo and Juliet, really pretty the tunnel leading to there was covered in graffitti by visiting couples (lots of heart shapes and "love forever")
-visited another wide square (i forgot the name)
lots of ornate buildings.. carvings.. statues.. yea. and this can be seen ALL ACROSS ITALY. LITERALLY EVERYWHERE is beautiful and detailed.. even apartments and shophouses!
-i had the best cup of coffee i've ever tasted here!! a cappuccino freshly brewed from the gaggia machine- the harley davidson of all coffee machines (according to The Food Of Love)
-climed to the rooftops of the Duomo another large towering church built during the gothic era.
-spilling with detail and carvings everywhere. spires, statues, beautiful stained glass windows that cast lovely colours around the inside of the church during the day.
-just the front surface of the church alone has 3,500 square metres of surface area, 12 spires, 47 bas-reliefs (i dno wads this), 192 statues!
-we stayed on the rooftop for most of the sunset, and we could see the suare below and the buildings around it. extremely beautiful.
-then we went window shopping cause prada and armani wasn't really my kind of thing. i only bought one shirt from this cute store called pimkie. and my mom bought a designer bag, all leather and had her initials embossed in gold. cool.
FOOD!:
haha.. haven't forgotten to mention this.. probably one of the most incredible experiences u can gain in italy..
spaghetti, tortellini, farfelli, rigatoni, gnocchi... all different tastes and textures.
bolognaise, cabonara, aglio olio, and this green sauce.. all wonderful.
lasagna was yummy.
roasted veal is also quite common there, but their veal isn't the kind of thick juicy steak we are accustomed to, it was very thin but still equally juicy and full of flavour.
PIZZA! yummy yummy yummy! oh but it's very diff from pizza hut or canadian pizza where the pizza is covered in toppings. italian pizza has very few toppings but the cheese and tomato base itself is enough to make u buy more. crust comes in all sizes from super thin to abt 3-4 cm thick!
desert was sinful- TIRAMISU, bluberry and chocolate struddle, and gelato EVERYWHERE!
coffee-
deliciouso! it was heavenly. if u enter a restaurant and u see a gaggia machine, be sure to try as much coffee as possible there.
I ate much more than i mentioned here. :p may have indulged a bit too much.. i gained one kg!
i made 3 wishes at the trevi fountain, one of which was that i will return to rome. (: I think i definitely will.
i haven't uploaded the photos but as soon as i do, i'll update this post and i'll put the link here.
watch out for it ((:
Y2:47 PM
Saturday, November 17, 2007
ok the past few days have been really hectic with celebrations from walking laborious hours thru malls to chilling out and watching movies or playing x box football (ITALIA!)
didn't really have the time to blog :ppp
plus this post will be a rather inadequate expression of all the emotions i feel right now.
eitherway..
OH YEA BABY! O LEVELS ARE OVER!! :DD
but that means i will have to start packing for holiday and looking at my cupboard makes my head spin. wth am i suppose to pack for a place that's 5deg c?
ghost whisperer finale tonight!!!! ((((:
i feel happy tho i alrdy noe wads gna happen.
what i don't feel happy about is that my 10 years in st nicks have officially ended )':
and i won't be able to see all my beloved dillys and friends everyday anymore. )': )':
but hopefully we'll keep in touch yea?
Y8:54 AM
