Milano - Italy's Fashion Capital

There's nothing much to do in Milan except shop...shop...and shop. Clothings, accessories and stuff...from famous labels to cheap printed tees. This is a pretty good spot to shop. Streets are wide with spacious walkways, cozy cafes are spread across the street on every corner or so. A paradise for shoppers. Classy one too.

Most of the designer labels are not on sale. For the rest of the 'mid-class' labels...you can get a pretty good discount on their range of clothes, both for men and women. I managed to get a pair of jeans and shirt from quite a well known label for only €35. Had a cuppa at Gucci Cafe (can't afford Gucci, so might as well have a cup of coffee instead...not cheap though...5euro for a cappucino) and then Burger King for dinner before I head back to Venice.


The Duomo-under restoration

Prada

LV

Cucci and Gucci Cafe

Covered shopping with a touch of Renaissance

Milan's Shopping 'Mall'

Map of Milan

These are the stuff I got from Milan < €50

Life's ever changing journey

It's been a month now. Somehow days seems to have outgrown me. I'm homesick. Europe though...in most people's eyes...it's somewhere they'd like to be...somewhere far away from home for asians like myself. I came here with that feeling too...full of anticipation...full of curiosity...and all sorts of mixed feelings abound me.

After a month, I seem to have grown weary of all these and more. Life wasn't as interesting...though I have no regrets coming over here...I just wished that this trip wouldnt be a long one. I'm looking forward to spend more time back home...or at least somewhere in Asia...where I wont be stared at on the streets like an alien...though it's quite common to see others like us on the streets anyway. I wonder if they too were studied by these foreign eyes...probing our very detail...looking for a third arm that we've mysteriously tucked behind our backs perhaps?

I havent been able to write much lately...at least I haven't been writing like what I used to...I think. Perhaps its due to my busy weekend trips or maybe its because I've grown weary of writing too. I don't know.

Tonight I have some time to spend, I've just paid 2.95euro for an hour of internet access at my lobby...so I might as well spend some time...trying to actually write something here.

It's the weekend again. Almost 12am now...as i wrote these lines. In 8 hours...I'm leaving for my 4th weekend trip. This time...to Milan...Italy's fashion capital. I'm still kinda tired from last week's Rome. I guess I better spend more time resting...instead of goin places...part of the reason, I decided to take it easy this week...goin to Milan for a daytrip...then i can rest on Sunday. Hopefully I'll start next week...rejuvenated.

It's 6am now in Malaysia...guess everyone would still be asleep back home. On a Saturday morning...I am just wondering if it's a cold morning or perhaps a warm one...will it rain today? or is the weather good?

Roma - The Vatican Capital

A midnight 'InterContinental' (IC) runs from Venice to Rome, I board this with a sleeping deck ticket. One which costs me about €105 for a return trip. A pretty expensive ticket I'd say.

I arrived at the Roma Tiburtina station just at the outskirts of this roman capital at dawn. Catching the Metro Line B (Rome's Subway) to the city took 15mins or so. This is a big city.

My first stop...the 'country' within Rome...Vatican.

Piazza San Pietro...is by far much larger than what I've expected. The two fountains and Bernini's obelisk in between...its truly amazing. This place is huge. At the heat of the summer, these two fountains did served to cool me down a little even by just looking at it. Summer is not a good time to come visit. At least not for those who hates the heat.

Saint Peter's Basillica. The ascension on those narrow winding stairs were tiring but it's all worth it when you get to the top. You can catch a glimpse of the Vatican City and much of the piazza below from here. The descent though, almost took my life.

Then came the Colosseo (Colosseum). Through these recent years, there have been quite a number of box offices that made their names illustrating this grand structure. I was rather disappointed when I got in...there wasn't much to see on the inside. Rubbles, dirt...and restoration work everywhere.

The Pantheon. The oldest standing building on earth. Dedicated to the Pagan gods and goddesses is one of my favourite. An EYE on the roof, a perfect sphere in a rectangular...it's truly awesome.

I signed up for a night excursion and visited The Trevi fountain, The Fountain of Four Rivers and The Roman Forum. For €21, it was a very informative tour. I did not finish my Angels and Demons before, I had it saved for this trip. Now, I can finish the whole book with a better 'view' on things.

Rome is fascinating but packed with tourists and kinda messy. A lil too hot on the down side too. Again, I can only choose a few pics to post. Too many of them.




Piazza San Pietro





Saint Peter's




Colosseo

Fountain of Four Rivers

Pantheon

The Forum

Verona - Juliet of Romeo

A mere two hours journey from Venice by train. The guide i borrowed from a friend only took 3 pages to describe this town...so you know roughly how much attention you would wanna pay to this town. A day trip would be sufficient.

A small bustling town. This place has nothing that strikes my fancy except for the fact that it was the town which Shakespeare's greatest love story took place.

I got off the train at slightly past 11. Went opposite the 'stazione' to the bus company's office to get my bus ticket (Yes, in most parts of Italy...you have to buy your bus ticket at the 'Tabacchi'-tabacco dealer, the bus company's counter or your hotel reception, before you board. They usually don't sell you tickets on the bus).

A huge banner was hung to the left of the counter. A city tour. For €15, a tour bus will take you across this small town to those famous spots around the city with an english speaking guide. With the summer heat (Yes, its really summer now...it's now 32degrees at noon) and the potential headache of locating those hotspots around the town on a foreign map...this is a pretty good deal.

The bus whizzes through the narrow streets of the town. Stopping only for a short while at significant places for us tourists to snap our pictures then moving on to the next.


The 1.5 hour city tour ride

Breathtaking view from a hill

The Green Wall

Lay your mark on Juliet's walls

Juliet has a video guide of her house

The crowd outside Juliet's

Posing with Juliet

Juliet's famous balcony looks...ordinary

Where Juliet slept

Juliet's Living Hall

Write an email to Juliet

The bazaar at the centre of town

Venezia - Festa del Redentore

Last Saturday was the 3rd Saturday in the month of July...thats when the Venetian celebrates this event with colourful display of fireworks.

One hour of non-stop display of spectacular fireworks. Pausing only for a few seconds each round to make room for storms of applause from thousands of spectators who gathered around and on the 'Canal Grande'. This is truly a sight to behold. It's all worth the 4-hour long wait. I had arrived at Venice by bus as early as 5pm. As I took my time strolling the winding streets of Venice, shopping...and window shopping along the way...I took the liberty of sampling their local kebab and treat myself to yet another gelato.

By 7pm, I've got myself a pretty nifty spot by the banks overlooking the river where the fireworks will take place. One thing about this spot which I do not quite like is the huge crane right by the side, which blocks most of my view. But at 7pm, most of the good spots have already been taken up. By 9pm...there wasn't any room for anyone to squeeze in at all. On the river there were hundreds if not thousands of boats and gondolas anchored, waiting for the show to start at 11:30pm.

Old folks preparing for the party on their boat.

The snacks
..the red wine
..the cola
..the long wait

The crowd at 7:30pm

The crowd at 9:30pm

The crane.

The return of the 'knocking' bird

I shifted from a hotel to a serviced apartment two days ago. This is a much more spacious place as compared to my previous hotel room. (This is an apartment, after all) A one room apartment. I kinda like the window or roof, i would say...as its a piece of glass that substitute a part of the roof. There's one in the living room, one in my bedroom and a smaller one in my bathroom.

Yesterday morning, I was waken up by a bird that kept knocking on the glass in my bedroom. The sun was bright as usual (I left the shade up the night before-a mistake), it's only 5am...as i squint my eyes to look at my watch placed on the night stool, right beside my bed. The bird was making alot of noise. It took me quite some time to ignore it... and to fall asleep again.

This morning, the same old bird came by my window again. And at 5am...I was awaken...yet again! by the same bird...or at least I think it's the same one. A morning call, one which I do not welcome. Although this time my shades were down from last nite, there's still a faint light which escaped from the gaps of the window. At least today, the light wasn't that blinding. Again, I needed 15mins or so to get over that annoying sound...and doze off again. Later, I woke up at 7:00am feeling rather tired. I hope the bird won't come by again tomorrow...for it's a weekend and i really need a good and long sleep.



The living room's cozy and all...hmmm...but rather simple.




The opening beside the cupboard - where the bird likes to hangout.




From the 'seat'...you can 'relieve' your other need of star-gazing too.




The lobby - where you can get wireless internet for €2.95 an hour