Day 10-12 Rome to KL

30th July

Still the same day..

From Florence, started journey to ROME (last destination).

Stopped for lunch and this is what I had..
Again.. Chicken & potatoes.
Reached Rome late in the evening then headed to the hotel.
Didn't join the tour for their optional dinner.
We chose to find ourselves more delicious food,
and we found this Chinese restaurant nearby.
Of course the food aren't as tasty compared to Malaysia, but no complaints!

31st July

Had breakfast at the hotel, as usual. Joined the optional tour to visit the famous places in Rome.
First up, Vatican Museum..

The main entrance.
It was really big inside w/ plenty things.
At some parts we weren't allowed to take pictures.
Oh ya, while we were touring around the museum with our guide,
there was an old man from another tour who suffered from stroke.
It was such a panicky situation - his family members were screaming for help.
Thankfully, the first aiders came in time to save him. Hmm..
Anyway, below are some pictures I manage to capture while in the museum.

Enjoy ;)
Okay, this is an interesting one.
All those are breasts if you're wondering.
It's a symbol of feminine specially built for one famous woman warrior of Rome.

All these from either the ceiling or the walls of the museum.
Impressive right?
Painted by Michel Angelo's followers if I'm not wrong.

Observe these 2 pictures carefully..
I don't know bout you but when I saw this I thought they looked like carvings.

But they aren't. They're paintings actually.

And this picture scared the hell out of me!
In the Mona Lisa painting, only her eyes follows you, right?
But this one, the whole body (of that guy in the middle) does!
When I was at one end, the body was facing me..
And when I reached the other end of the painting, it was facing me..
AGAIN!

After finished touring the Vatican Musuem, we went to..

SISTINE CHAPEL, the official residence of the Pope.
They took 14 years to clean the place and 9 years to paint it.
Most of it was painted by Michel Angelo.
It's really really beautiful, no pictures were allowed though.
There's one part of the place that was all covered with curtains..
Painted curtains that is..
And I, being so stupid actually tried to pull them!
So it either shows I'm stupid or that the painting looked so REAL.
I'd think the second one made more sense. ;)

Next up, Vatican City..

This is the stairs the Pope uses.

Next up, St. Peter's Basilica,
biggest church in the world.

The entrance.

The guide told us before we entered that there are NO paintings in this church.
Pictures from inside the church :

The dome, very high up.
And can you imagine that it isn't painted..
Instead, it is small pieces of mosaic tiles patiently stuck bit by bit up there.

This as well..
100% made of mosaic tiles.
Unless you look very closely, or you won't even realise that they are actually pieces of tiles..
Because it is so perfect that you can't even see any gaps in between.

By the way, any Catholic can marry there, FOC.
And they have 2 mummified popes in there as well.
Bro said I should respect and not take any picture of that though it's allowed.
So I just listened to him. ;)
Outside the church, you'll see the Vatican City.
The holy land for Christians.

When I went, the Pope was out of the city or else I would have gotten a chance to see him.

Swiss Guards.

Vatican City.

Made from mosaic tiles..
They can actually make you one with your face..
But that'll need a long time.

The following destination : Catacombe

It's some underground thing where people are buried.
The one I went to has 120,000 people buried in there.
Feels like a haunted house when I was in there.
Dark, cold & spooky.

Lunch after that.
I decided to try something different rather than the same old drumstick.
So I ordered this..

And the moral of the story was : Don't try to be adventurous!
I had a hard time finishing that, even the guide laughed at me.

Colosseum was next.
Yup, the one we studied in History.

Had to pay 12 Euros in order to get in so we didn't.
Cause the guide told us it's almost empty in there.

The weather was killing at that time. Bout 38 degrees or more.
After seeing the Colosseum, they brought us back to the hotel.
We all needed some REST!

***
In the evening, again we didn't join the optional tour which includes dinner and trip to Trevi Fountain. We had dinner by ourselves and later headed to the Trevi Fountain.

I overheard one aunty from the tour said :
'Look at those boys.. The last day only want to start talking to each other'

Haha.

TREVI FOUNTAIN, everybody.
If you guys are TVB fans, then remember the pilot series?
I forgot the title.. But I remember Flora Chan was in it.
They came to this place to make their wishes.

Of course, I made mine too.

Make a wish, then toss a coin over your left shoulder.
That's what everyone does and it's believed to work.
I'm hoping it does cause I really want my wish to come true.
It would mean a lot to me. ;)

When you see this sign around Rome,
then you will definitely see THIS (below)

The Italian ice-cream, Gelato.

3 generations eating gelato :)

They sell fake goods too.

Walked around then to the...

SPANISH STEPS.
Back to the hotel after that.

1st August

Last breakfast at Rome.
I was very glad cause I've been eating this same kind of breakfast for the past 2 weeks!

Time to leave..
With our hilarious tour guide who was also very helpful throughout the trip..
Luigi Saba!

@ Rome airport..
She's from our tour as well but sadly I've forgotten her name.
Can't blame me, her name is too long!

***
Flew to Dubai, then KL and then PENANG!

THE END.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Day 7-9 : Switzerland & Italy

28th July

Welcome to Lucerne, Switzerland!

After Paris, we went by bus to Switz. I don't really remember how long it took but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a short time. But anyhow, we managed to reach Switz safely around evening and before checking in to the hotel, they brought us to some places first.

I have forgotten the name of this place.
It's really nice though; peaceful w/ green surroundings.
And it was built to commemorate the soldiers who had died for their country.
So it's something like Tugu Negara I suppose.
Theirs have the names of the people though, only those whom their families contributed money in building this.

***
Then, we went to this famous shopping place in Lucerne.
They sell mainly watches, chocolates, cuckoo clocks and jewelry.
And 3 best words to describe the things there :
Branded, exorbitant and unaffordable.
Did buy some chocolates though. Mum wanted to buy me a cuckoo clock too..
Refused it cause to me it was too expensive.

They gave us about 2 hours there.
After walking out of most of the shops empty-handedly, we decided to walk around instead.

Love the variety of flowers they have..
At about 8, they drove us back to our hotels.
While on the way, the tour guide kept telling us..
''The hotel is a little bit old and modest you see. So don't expect too much from it. Cause we hadn't really got much choice. Most of the hotels were fully booked *laughs & worried at the same time*''

Upon arrival at the hotel, I was like OH UH. Seriously.
HOTEL STEGHOF.
Old lift, the ones where you've to open the door yourself and can only fit 3 ppl..
Room w/ neither air-cond nor fan..
& lights which were probably 40 years old.
Overall, it just looked very old.
But anyway, I survived the night of course.
Very anxious for the next morning cause we were going to Stanserhorn!

29th July

Before going up to the mountain, we joined another cruise first.

Clear, huh? The water I mean.
One thing really cool is that you can just on the taps and start drinking the water.
Imagine doing that in M'sia.. I think you'll need the toilet immediately.

Pictures below are taken during the cruise..

Spectacular view backed up by the cold winds.. Perfect..
Enjoyed this cruise most among all.
And I prefer seeing all these than those historical buildings.
What bout you?
Cause WP and Nana prefer those buildings. Haha.

& that's Jesus Christ, said to be protecting this Lake of Lucerne.

Uncle Jim & Aunt Wendy; nice and friendly people from the tour.

The end of the cruise.
Next up Stanserhorn!

While waiting for the train to come..
It's something like the one in Penang Hill.

*Toot Tooot*
Wanted the front seat but one small boy ran so quickly, he got it.

On the way up..
After reaching one stop, we had to take the cable car next.
It has been a long time since I've been on a cable car so I was really excited!

Views from the cable car..

& soon we were all at STANSERHORN.
Not a very famous one I think but nevertheless,
TOTALLY SPLENDID up there.

Climbed to a higher place for better view.
Could have climbed even further up but there wasn't enough time.

Really really loved that place!
I definitely wanna go again.
So after spending nearly 2 hours there, it was time to LEAVE ;(

By cable car..

& then train.. Just like how we came up.

Started our journey to ITALY soon after that.
The last country before going back to Malaysia. Lol.

While on the way, the bus stopped for us to have lunch.

Looks nice right? I bet its very sweet.
One thing about the food there is either its too sweet or too salty.

& this is what I had for lunch.
Chicken plus potatoes; safest choice of all.
As far as I remember, that drumstick was about RM 30. *shakes head

Bro's.. He's always the one trying those weird-looking stuffs.
Only weird-looking to me that is. Cause I can see the people there, too loves all these.

***
FLORENCE, ITALY
We were there by evening. Our tour guide said while on the way to the hotel,
'This hotel will definitely make up for the one yesterday'
True enough, it did. Best hotel throughout my trip. Had dinner at the hotel and it was time to call it a day.

This light caught my attention mainly cause it was made of plastic.
As in the normal plastic bags we use.

& this piece of 'art' which was displayed at the lobby is 100% pure rubbish.

I find this very creative.
Countries flags painted on heads.
Okay, stop looking/searching like I did.
There's no Malaysia flag there.

Mother & son.. How sweeet.

DINNER TIME!
It was a 3 course meal.

Their so called appetizer,
which I thought was already sufficient to call it a meal.
Next, the main course.

And lastly, dessert.
Mum misinterpret this picture to be a toilet bowl.

After the very filling dinner, we went back to the room and started our talking session..

Then of course, it was time to SLEEP!

30th July

Out to see the Florence.

Took our group photo w/ the entire tour at this place.
But we didn't buy it cause they sold it at 10 Euros (RM 50) for one photo.

This is either Michel Angelo or his masterpiece.
Not sure which.

Pizza for sale!

Streets of Florence.

One of the 70 churches in Florence we were gonna visit,
where Michel Angelo's and Galileo Galilei's remains were burried.

Inside the church..

Michel Angelo, a Florentine who moved to Rome.
When he died, they decided they should bring him back to where he came from.

Galileo Galilei, famous scientist.

Danti (pronounced Dante).. If I'm not wrong, a poet?

I forgot who's this..

After finishing the tour at the church, the tour brought us around Florence.

Wedding ceremony taking place at one of the churches.

And all the above are the famous sculptures in Florence.
Very nicely carved and well maintained.
Some were vandalised though, by Italians themselves according to our guide.


And that's about it from Florence.
Next up, ROME then balik kampung...