Day 6: 9/12/08 (part 2)

We bid good bye to Italy and proceed towards Switzerland.. the travelling journey was a long one... it took us the whole day to reach Switzerland..

This is my second time visiting Switzerland.. been here in 2003 when i was Sec 3... that time was summer.. i haf been looking forward to visiting this mesmerizing place again and here i am.. but this time round its in winter... gonna haf a diff experience...

We reached Switzerland at around 6 plus in the evening... below are some of the pics i took along the way... finally we see snow!!! Italy was cold but wasnt snowing.. look at the thick layer of snow!! woah... such a nice scenic... the glories of nature surrounding the town..

I will let the photos do the talking...

We went to a authentic Switzerland restaurant for our dinner to haf our Swiss Fondue meal... First, its the appetizer which was the salad.. den we had 3 diff types of fondue.. the meat fondue.. cheese fondue and the chocolate fondue... was so looking forward to this meal...

The salad was great.. the meat fondue wasnt really nice.. coz the chicken chunks werent mariginated... u juz haf to place the chix chunks into boiling water.. den dip some of the sauces.. tts it.. well its fun doing so...

Next, was the cheese fondue.. we dipped pieces of bread into the cheese fondue.. wasnt really tt great too.. coz they added white wine into the cheese fondue.. dun really like this mixture.. and the smell of white wine was too choking.. (dunno who to appreciate wine... haha)

Next up was the long awaited choc fondue... wahaha... we have a platter of strawberries, bananas, apples, oranges and mashmellows... the hazelnut choc was thick.. and yummy..

Day 6: 9/12/08 (part 1)

This morning, we went to the famous Gothic Duomo and the 19th Century Victor Emmanuelle 11 Galleria and the esteemed La Scala Opera Hse. After which we had few hrs to embark on a shopping spree in the various signature boutiques like LV, Prada, Gucci, Ferragamo etc... Gucci stuff are made in Italy but across Europe, gucci bags are of the same price (but definitely cheaper than sg).. LV is more ex in Italy and is cheaper in Paris (where LV are produced.. hee).. lunch was at our own expenses, so we had it at the autogrill restaurant...

Here are some pics...







Well.. these 6 days marks the end of our tour in Italy.. next, we will proced to the most beautiful ctry... SWITZERLAND...

Day 5: 8/12/08

Early in the morning, we board a water taxi (boat) to the city of Venice, the romantic city... It was very cold and windy.. with a temperature of minus 4 degrees... Venice was flooded just last week due to the continuous downpour... The water level was indeed very high.. was almost reaching the brink.. no wonder it will flood..

We visited ST Mark's square, Doges Palace and St Mark's Basilica. We also visited the glass blowing factory where we are able to see richly colored Venetian glass made to world class standard.





We also hopped on the gondola ride.. which cost 30 Euro (60 bucks) per person.. but it was a great experience.. but kinda disappointed coz it wasnt like wat was protrayed on tv.. where they will sing love songs throughout the gondola ride etc..

We had sandwiches for our lunch at one of the cafes.. we tried tuna, sauage, chicken, ham and chesse sanwiches which was not too bad... jh and I had a hot coco drink, which is really very thick, kinda like drinking a choc fondue.. while dad and mum had their espresso...





This is such a lovely place... the photos did a good job in showing rite?? i onli uploaded afew here.. can check out my photo albums for more pics.. "i'm loving it"

By late afternoon, its time to bid goodbye to Venice... the water taxi back made me abit seasick... We hopped onto out coach to proceed to the fashion city of Italy- Milan... where we stayed at the Grand Hotel for a night b4 exploring Milan...

Day 4: 7/12/08

We travel towards Pisa, the historic university city, famous for its architectural beauty.. We toured the Leaning tower and the cathedral.. Look at the architecture of Pisa and you will realise it is actually slanting.. this is due to weathering and erosion over the years.. and that the pillars are unable to withstand these...

Although we had our breakfast at Arts museuo hotel in the morning, we still tried the saugage bread and chix cutlet bun from the caravan.. having some hot stuff during the chill weather is awesome!

Took some pics while proceeding to Venice, a fabulous city of canals, gondolas and beautiful places erected on an archipalego of islands and characterized by its canals... The journey from Pisa to Venice was long long long.. 8hrs!! gosh.. oh btw, we had lunch at the autogrill station..

Our hotel for the nite was Antony palace hotel.. the rooms are real big and cosy..

Day 3: 6/12/08

We had our western breakfast at Holiday Inn hotel.. they served the standard croissants, scrambled eggs, bacon, ham and cereal..

Drove past Tuscany region and along the way, we drove past the region of Chanti where famous Italian wines were produced to the staggering riches of Florence.

It was sunny yet cooling (am I contradicting? haha) We made a photo stop at Ponte Vechio, a historical bridge for superb view of the Arno River.

After which, we proceed to the old town of Tuscancy. For today, lunch wasnt included. While hunting for a place to dine, I took many photos of the shops.. Very appealling.. We had pizzas and pastas for lunch..Everything was so ex! the pizza wasnt fantastic.. was not hot at all and the pizza crust was hard! the pasts was alright. Can u imagine.. a cup of large coke cost 5 Euros ~ S$10.. gosh... Our lunch cost us more than 100 bucks.. and we had just one pasta, 3 small diff flavoured pizzas, a large coke and a coffee.. tts all for 100 bucks! G.O.S.H! their SOL is real high.. wonder how much will their salary be.. i suppose it would be at least thrice of us.. otw how could they survive?


After the dissapointing lunch, we visited the 3rd largest Cathedral.. the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. We also walked past the Door of Paradise.

Next, we tour the Piazza Signoria, the lordship square, unveiling sculptures done by famous Italian sculptors can be seen.

After dinner, we headed toward Arts Museo Hotel. We walked for many many hrs.. right from afternoon till evening.. luckily the weather was great. A cooling weather juz kept our mood good and made all the walkings fun.. (imagine I had to walk around in the afternoon with a temp of 30 degrees... tts maddness man)