Trip To Italy

We arrived in Venice to a beautiful Room .. thank goodness.. I'm really terrified of shitty hostels after our trip to Barcelona last year where the hostel electricity kept tripping while I was in the shower which had no windows a.k.a no natural lighting.

First night dinner was a great introduction to Italy. Small restaurant along the canel.. many americans (as we soon realised, Italy was swarming with american tourist)... a boat pulled up along the canel and some semi-drunken guy came on shore to eat.. promptly enticed a pair of Americans to go cruise with him on his boat with a bottle of wine.

After too much wine the night before, Jon woke me up at 8am.. we walked the streets of Venice only to discover most things were not opened.. after breakfast, we walked around a bit more..

Getting Bored.. this is the kind of pictures that result =p

By 12pm, we were seriously bored.



Famed Gondolas.. So they really looked posh and luxurious.. but at like 80 euro for 30 mins ride.. forget that.

More boring photos.

Anyway.. after lunch... we got really tired and realised Venice is actually quite boring. Ok I know this city is supposed to be beautiful and all, but I've never been those tourist that need to see everything.. n cafes seems to be swarming with tourist.. and i was jetlagged! so we went back to nap.. until 5pm. haha..

Dinner at a restaurant near our place.. with handwritten menus! Cool. The food turned out to be great.

We started watching a lot of euro cup while in italy.. it was our only form of entertainment at night ;)

With alot of orchestra performance at San Marco Square, I felt the need to be a bit more.. entertaining :)

Ok.. enough photos of Venice. Firstly, I was pretty bored. And it didn't help that on the day we were leaving, we took the water bus only to get caught for not having a ticket. 40 euros per person was enough to put me off. Of course the fact that it was our fault for not having tickets... but still! *Hmph*. =p.

Rented a car from Florence to roam the countryside..

and what a great idea that turned out to be! Beautiful chianti hills.

Our room in the tuscan countryside turned out to be really nice too.. B&B La Fiabla.. just opened in May.. Highly recommend it guys! the Hostess was really friendly..

I loved these trees for some reason. :).. They look so majestic yet mind their own business.. they down sprout all over the place into other tree's territory. They also line alot of those long rich looking driveways! I swore to buy a villa there someday and line MY driveway with these trees :)... of course I'm talking like 50 years down the road.. ok maybe 60..

Siena!

Can't really see from this photo but the place is sloping like mad.. tiring to walk man..

Anyway, Jon and I lost each other along some slope and I got mad at him cause I thot he left me alone. So sad. We had McDonalds for dinner that night because we were upset with each other. Well, at least we saved money on food for once.

Next day.. after our "anger" had diminished.. we drove to many towns.. :)
Stop #1: Radda. Small city, lots of wine tasting places called Enoteca.

Swimming Pool! ok, a bit suaku. But I love this .. the place overlooks lush green hills.. Wonder if I'll be able to get a summer vacation home like this in future =p

Gigantic Pizza which we had in Radda

We went to this town called Certaldo.. Bad Mistake. First we couldn't find the furnicular which takes you to the city @ the top of a hill.. and after a lot of sweating and walking and more sweating, we made it up to only to discover *gasp*.. NOTHING. We wanted to have a drink in a cafe and was promptly turned away because they "had no bar to only serve drinks. Only for lunch". Even when we went back to ask if we could have desserts.. it was a flat no. Jon and I suspected its because it was near their Siesta time and they didn't want us to prolong their working hours. Anyway, a misleading photo to show the "beautiful Certaldo!"

From Certaldo, we drove 45 mins to San Gimiagnano. The place was again, HILLY. So sweaty and tiring man these towns.

This town had alot of "museum of torture". Wondered wat the history was.. were they a prison city????? Anyway, loved this photo.. seemed to say "follow me, I will guide you towards light". Apt in a "prison-city" eh :)

That night, we had dinner at a restaurant near our B&B on our hostess recommendation. Jon finally got to have his florentine steak.. only to discover next morning that it was meant for two people to share. Haha.. he couldn't sleep that night... too full. Oh we had a bottle of Ruffino Chianto Classico 2005, great drink. Highly recommend it. Smooth, slightly dry but not too dry like most Chianti.

Next day, we went to Montalcino. This town was like 1.5 hours drive away.. not really scenic.. but totally worth it because of the cheap brunello! Ok, when I say cheap, it was like 20 euro a bottle and up.. and up.. and up. But considering a normal bottle outside in supermarkets usually cost at least SGD 80, I'll say it was totally worth it. If not for the fact that there is a 20kg luggage restriction and liquids cannot be hand carried, I would have bought more. As it is, we only bought one bottle for my dad. Had Caprese with the wine. Perfection.

And we're back to Siena for dinner...

another hand written menu. The waiter at this restaurant was really "wierd"... he didn't speak english, asked us if we spoke mandarin.. ask the chinese waitress to serve us.. she totally ignored him... he was also being a sarcastic ass.. guess they dun have a happy working relationship...

An australian mother and daughter pair came and sat across from us.. they had the same problem with the pnly-written-in-italian menu (thankfully jon n I by then already understood what is pomodora, arriabiata etc.. could order what we want i guess).. the waiter didn't know what they were asking and instead went something like this..

waiter: "ok. I know. You like cheese?"
mother: "no. "
waiter: "ok, cheese for you".
.....

sunset on our way back home :). Wished I had those kick ass camera that shows how beautiful the scenery really was

Roma...

First sight of our B&B... not good. dilapitated. At least inside turned out to be not bad.. except NO AIR CON. Die. 33 degrees celsius. :(

Rome turned out to be all about tourist. The weather was really hot too. But the buildings really were something. Huge.. Ruined.. but pretty stunning nonetheless. The sites were really far apart.. we bought tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus to tour the city but never really got off the bus because it was so hot!

Yeah, we shopped. Mostly for my mom's stuff.. things there were so expensive and I was so broke I didn't feel like shopping =p.

Anyway, that's kinda the end of my italy trip. :)

wow.. time flies.. its been such a long time since I've blog.. just felt like it for no real reason at all.. its 3.33am.. cool =p.. played squash and tennis today.. really shag.. met up with some old friends who haven't yet permanently relocated back to sunny island..

ok.. I'm bored and I'm not asleep.. why why whyyyyyyyy... dreading the end of the year because it means back to work!!

been working for more than 2 months now.. busy busy busy.. with work comes new set of skills but also new set of problems.. I've been quite lucky cause my working team is great.. with some minor hiccups that occur everywhere I guess :)

One think I've learnt is sometimes being so sensitive really no good.. work needs to be done no matter what right.. and sometimes I think someone very angry when he/she is not.. *sigh*.. so troublesome..

want to go for a drink.. now..

Grandpa's Birthday

Huge turnout @ my grandpa's place yesterday.. all the grandchildren turned up.. 2 brought their girlfriend/boyfriend to introduce to the family.. too bad the great grandchild in australia otherwise will be entire family reunion :)

ignore the obvious height difference.. the 4 rats reunite.. qiuyi bought her bf too.. our 1st time meeting him after so long :)

the grandchildren.. plus 2 grandchildren-in-law-to-be

the lone daughter with 6 daughter in laws

6 sons with one son in law

yup.. whole big big biggggggyyy family :)

today going to do some working clothes alteration and going to ACS to play squash with xiang.. so fun!!!!!!!