skip to main |
skip to sidebar
ivina woke up this morning feeling under the weather.. but once she stepped into the roman catholic capital and tiniest country in the world, vatican city, all her unwell-ness was forgotten! it really is hard not to be impressed by the grandeur of the architecture in vatican city.
we listened to our friendly hostel staff and woke up bright and early to avoid the crowds at the vatican.. so despite missing our bus stop, we still made it to the vatican with a relatively short queue in front of us.
once you step into vatican city, the basillica greets you in its wide expanse, with a tall obelisk marking its centre and columns topped with statues encircling it. st peter's square is HUGE man! many many chairs there for mass held on sunday. vatican is so small (for a COUNTRY) that once u exit the square, you're in rome again! it just consists of the sistine chapel, the museums and st peter's square.
and we checked out the swiss guards there as well. haha, the one in my pic is quite shuai! anw their uniforms are atrocious la. can u imagine some guy sneaking into the museums to steal artwork and the swiss guards try to creep up on him to catch him in that conspicuous attire? the thief can spot them from a MILE away!!!
so anw, cute swiss guards aside, we got thru the security check and entered the church. it's sooo beautiful. u really have to take your time and walk along the aisles and check out all the intricacies of each chapel, michelangelo's pieta sculpture of Mary and Jesus, all the popes and their sculptures. There was a small mass going on when we went in and listening to them singing the hymns on such sacred ground just gave me goosebumps.
after letting ivina taking videos of the church and basilica until her memory card ran outta space, we split up to go to the sistine chapel, while the lovebir.. *cough* i mean, jinteng n mingrui went to castle sant angelo.
so we walked past the queue that had gathered to get into the church and laughed coz they werent early like us, nehnehnehnehnehneh (ok la it was probably just me who did that)! got out of st peter's square and back to rome where the queue for the sistine chaptel began. so we started queuing abt about 9am..
and queued.. rounded one corner, no entrance in sight..
queued some more.. rounded another corner.. still no entrance..
passed by this elderly lady who was begging for money. one side of her head was red and raw as though the skin n hair had come off.. hope someone got her to a doctor or sth. her money bowl was quite full, coz many of us were rather shocked by the sight of her scalp.
so anyways, we rounded at least 3 corners, queued for about 1.5 hours and saw countless signs pointing us to the direction of the sistine chapel, until we reached the entrance. got our student priced tickets to the vatician museums and followed MORE signs guiding us to the sistine chapel. i really felt like the sistine chapel was some sort of myth that people came up with and that it didnt actually exist coz we had to travel so far!!! like journey to the west.
we crossed rooms after rooms dedicated to various artists - raphael's room, etc etc - galleries after galleries of modern art and sculptures, occassionally eavesdropping on some tour guides talking about the history of a certain work. it's REALLY alot of rooms ok. sistine chapel became 传说中的 sistine chapel haha.
FINALLY arrived at the chapel. we werent allowed to take pics in there, although pple around us were trying their best to snatch a snap despite getting reprimanded by the security personnel there. haha. every 3 seconds, when the volume in the chapel began to rise, the security would shout 'quiet please!' and silence would befall the place. so in e end still quite noisy.
the last judgement was really amazing.. esp when u considered the fact that michelangelo painted the ceiling and all the murals on standing upright. imagine the stress on his neck when he painted the ceiling!
so rushing off from the vatican after spending an insufficient halfday there, we got on board a eurostar train (the first use of our eurail pass!) to venice. arrived about 7 plus and began our search for a hostel. the hostels in venice are usually more expensive coz it's such a touristy place.. but eventually we managed to get a one-star hotel, cheaper than our hostel-of-choice.
check out how the one-star hotel looked like (there's even the helpful ONE star on the signboard). haha.. we didnt actually stay here.. we stayed opp it, at its one-star sister hotel or something, but e hotel recep was here.
so we set off next morning after quite a nice stay in e first hotel room of our trip - e guys' room even had a tv! - to explore the calles and fondamentas of venice. it's really a city to get lost in.. and then take ur map and figure your way out. haha. managed to meander our way to piazza san marco, where it was a nice and wide expanse of space, a breather from the small alleys we made our way there from. there were more pigeons than people there i think.. and some young punks tried running towards the pigeons, making them all take flight and putting us in fear of pigeon droppings for a while, until they all settled down again.
it was very leisurely walking ard venice in the nice cool weather.. saw the gondoliers in their stripey tops and by their gondolas (too ex for us paupers), the ponte rialto, the grand canal, all the traghetti (small sampan-like boats) and jam-packed ferries bringing people around venice on its waterways.
venice also has ALOT ALOT of masks which were sold practically in every other shop.. the big ones are really intricate in detail and pretty! and they cost a bomb too. haha. too bad gerald didnt manage to find his teardrop one.
so after 2 free breakfasts at the cafe near the hostel, we left venice on the morning of the 19th on another regionale train to milan. after having quite a bit of luck in finding last-minute-vacant hostels, milan proved to be insurmountable. we checked with the very very helpful tourist information uncle and found out that due to this furniture trade fair thing in milan which has attracted like every businessman in europe, hotels AND hostels were full for the week. SIAN. byebye milanese duomo and ermm.. shopping haha.
so this is all we have to show for milan, the train station. haha. hurriedly made plans to leave italy for zurich, switzerland next. up north we go!
bagpack with neccessties for three weeks: check, ryanair cheapo-looking air ticket: check, empty water bottle: check, some.. erm.. body butter and nailclippers (haha): check, fully-charged and memory-filled cameras: check..
AAAAND WE WERE OFF TO PISA!!
we arrived in pisa friday evening and took in the immensely different italian atmosphere. the airport seemed more congested, abit less orderly and the people, alot more good-looking! hahaha. forza italia!!
took bus #1 to our hostel-in-mind, madonna della acqua and realized we were QUITE outta the city centre when we arrived. nevertheless, the hospitable host, who insisted on learning how to pronounce every one of our names was really nice and he sorta put our minds at ease (and honestly it seemed there werent many more choices for us in the next 5 miles, anyways). realized however, the acqua in the name referred to a swampy, water thing beside the hostel which bred the ONLY and rather ferocious mosquitoes i had seen in europe so far.
so walking along the only road in front of our hostel, we took the only bus line there back to the city, in search of the heavenly risotto recommended in let's go. honestly, this was probably the best food let's go recommended, so don't trust the food recommendations in there, people! unless you're desp, like us haha.
next morning we set off early to the field of miracles, where the baptistero and catherdral share the leaning tower's glory. and YES me, ivina and jinteng fell into the touristy trap of posing as though we're pushing/supporting the tower. it's hard to resist when everyone around u is doing it!!
got on a bumpy, noisy but blissfully empty regional train to firenze.. thankfully, the train wasnt late!
i remember a sec 3/4 chi textbook with a chapter on florence.. and telling my friends i wanna go italy for my honeymoon after that.. and all i did in florence was to shop like crazy at the san lorenzo flea market HAHAHA. the leather goods there are not bad!
we walked around the city centre, watched VERY interesting buskers along the uffizi, ogled at michaelangelo's david ( i don't really know if it's the original one), crossed the ponte vecchio - the bridge w many shops on it, took many pics w the duomo.. and plodded our way around in search for this famed gelato as claimed by let's go. AGAIN, bad to rely on their recommendations. good gelato isnt hard to find in italy.. haha. metal tins and grey bananas :)
so sunday morning we set off for rome.. the magnificent capital of italia..
our arrival was rather marred by the very-packed-no-vacancy hostels and hot sun, which we sweated under, trying to find a roof to cover our heads with. in e end we did find a place to stay the night, at alessandro downtown. got a map from the hostel staff and a route to follow and off we went!
walking becomes a second nature to you when a) you wanna save money b) the hostel staff scares u about the metro and umm.. c) u wanna save more money. so we walked and walked and walked.. to roma termini, to piazza della republica, down along via nazionale, past the monument of vittorio emmanuel, along via fiori imperiali (where the ancient city comes to life), around the colosseum and via sacra, the oldest road in rome. the colosseum was closed by e time we arrived, so we walked back up via del corso, the street of tonnnnnnes of shops (but we were so tired we werent in the mood for that), to piazza del popolo for more gelato and onwards to fontana di trevi.
the fountain was wonderful! so crowded even at night.. all the statues (of i think zeus and other gods and goddesses) surrounding it carved in white marble.. and the rushing sound of water drowning the hustle and bustle of the city..
the next day we woke up bright and early to explore more of the eternal city.. followed the map religiously until we got to piazza navona, which housed the fountain of the four rivers, with a damn tall obelisk set in the centre.. unfortunately, the fountain was closed for maintenance coz its marble was getting damaged by the running water and whatnot.. so all we could see were small snatches of bernini's work through wired fences. but the buildings surrounding the piazza were breath-taking enough to erase some of the disappointment, standing pristine white against the blue sky.
the pantheon was our next stop.. the very ancient-looking building with a hole in its roof, called the oculus. the guard there informed us that the interior would never get wet even if it rained.. but we didnt really understand his explanation of HOW that happened. haha. the pantheon was actually converted into from a pagan church to a christian one as some roman emperor (constantine, i think) was trying to spread christianity around rome.. and it houses the tomb of the first king of rome, vittorio emmanuel, and the artist, raphael. it's actually quite quiet in there despite the crowds.
so we continued our stroll, perambulation, saunter, trudge, march, traipse, shlep (what a word!) around rome, got lost in vittorio emmanuel's monument, and ended up where we wanted to be on the first day.. inside of the colosseum!!
the queue was sooo super long and there was a mad rush for the 3pm guided tour coz it meant that u could cut the long queue. but us, being poor penny-pinching students on a budget trip, totally averted our eyes from the guide and even tried to use our german residence permit to get cheaper tickets (it was unsuccessful). i didnt think the trip into the colosseum was v well-worth the money spent.. but wells, it is THE colosseum. haha. maybe just too much ruins for the days.
the roman forum was full of ruins as well, and without a guide, it's REALLY hard to make out which ruin was what a few centuries ago. so usually we just guessed or relied on passing english-speaking guides and tiny signs. but we DID find our temple of saturn after a long long time.. haha yay!
our tired legs didnt manage to make it up palantine hill where a she-wolf, according to legend, suckled the founder of rome, romulus.. so we made our way back to our hostel for free, but worst-ever-tasted pasta which ivina thoroughly enjoyed.. haha.
more on italy! this photo-arranging, and entry-writing business is a TAD tiring for my taxpayer-exhausted mind. BUT! i will persevere!! haha. hope no one fell aslp reading..
SURPRISE!!
haha im amazed we're still able to blog here! okays people (or maybe, person, haha), updates on our three-and-a-half-week-long western europe trip soon! :))) patience.
Ludwigsburg is one of the lesser-known (at least to us) towns in baden-wurttemburg, but the bored (and cheapo) us were so desperate for a place to go on a baden-wurttemburg ticket that after a few minutes of research on the internet, we just decided on this small town about 2 hours away. The necessities were present: a residenz, a castle by the lake and a huge garden. aaaaaannndd off we go!!
the town itself was quite happening on holy saturday.. maybe it was coz the easter festivities were in the air! weirdly enough, there was tall sculpture of a snake and some wood in the middle of the road.. so outta the blue! quite unexpected haha.
the residenz was appropriately huge with a museum and gallery and we even saw a couple taking wedding pics there!
walking further into the castle, we paid for this all-entry pass and waltzed into their sprawling expanse of gardens!! the garden concept is rather cool.. there were these easter decorations made of bread (yes, bread) and fake easter eggs, an aviary where there were flamingoes and peacocks, a greenhouse of pretty flowers, a small pond with yuan1 yang1 and a boat, a 4-seat ferris wheel for the young at heart, a carousel, a japanese garden, and get this, a fairy-tale themed garden!we walked to this tower and heard these 2 kids shouting like mad at the tower in german.. and we realized we were at e rapunzel tower! so cool! there was this long pigtail hanging from it, and when the kids shouted the german phrase which meant, 'rapunzel, let down ur hair!' the pigtail would lower.. haha so fun for the kids! we tried to shout but seeing that all four of us were non-native german speakers.. we decided pictures would do. 
and after the residenz, we set off for the favourite castle, which was built by the duke living in the residenz for his mistress!!! haha so convenient la! called it favourite somemore.. it was only a short walk away and the castle was even smaller than the bruchsal one! but it did look quite pretty against the blue sky. from there, we decided against ivina's less tiring judgement and made our way to the last castle, schloss monrepos on foot. it was about 1.5km away from the edge of favourite's grounds.. and god knows how far we walked from the castle to the edge. haha. anw inese was irrepressible! full of energy, that girl.. haha. and she survived on nuts! my gdness! okay, and a chicken burger, but still! she is amazing! walk and walk and not tired at all!
and so we arrived at schloss monrepos, by the lake, which ivina claimed was built for her, i forgot why. nice picture by the lake.. quite dark, peaceful and abit morose coz of the statue, for some reason. the lake doesnt actually look like this, it has too many rowers and peddlers on it, which makes this picture even more precious.
Post-exam cruise trip! woohoo!! our international liaison officer, a very nice lady called jutta walz, organized an trip for us exchange students, cruising along the neckar river from enchanting heidelberg to small town neckarsteinach. we woke up early good friday morning to board a train to heidelberg and got on the 11am boat to neckarsteinach.. along the way, jutta, who had studied at heidelberg university (one of the oldest unis in Germany, or the oldest, i think) introduced some of the buildings to us.
the cruise lasted for about 1.5 hours.. and the boat just slowly made its winding way through the neckar, passing thru 7- and 12-feet barges and small quaint towns by the river. slow and relaxing it was..
when we arrived at the small town of neckarsteinach, it was time for lunchhh! haha.. waited rather long for our pizzas and flammkuchens and galettes.. but it was quite good! so after our rather long lunch, we had about an hour or so to our ferry at 3.30pm, so we embarked on a walk to three of the four small fortresses along the river.. breath-taking scenery along the way!! we climbed up the tower of the 2nd rather ruined-looking fortress to even greater views of the neckar valley.. haha weirdly enough, some pics turned out to have bluer skies than others.. dunno why also.
more groups photos at the scenic riverside and entrance of one of the fortresses! and yeah, we climbed up those steps.. looks quite a journey from here. haha.
so we got on board the very crowded last boat of the day back to heidelberg and there were no photos to take since we were stuck in the dining area of the boat. haha. many many kids to see in there, though. angmoh babies are the cutest!! and they have the most amazing prams here.back in heidelberg, we went on a small climb to philosopher's way, which provided great great views of the neckar valley and heidelberg's ruined castle. we, or i, finally learnt that it was destroyed coz the tower containing explosives caught fire or sth, and that pretty much destroyed the castle. anyways the climb was a biiiiit tedious and we were slightly puffing our sunburnt faces away.. but the view was worth it!along the way, flowerbeds, dwarves and sounds of 'da bian, da bian, da bian!' dotted our walk into the sunset.. third trip to heidelberg for us but still an enjoyable one at that!
and this is the weekend keith came to visit. we set off on an ominously cloudy saturday morning (50% change of precipitation) to nearby heidelberg and its the enchanting old town. and i helped keith fulfil his wish of eating his favourite bratwurst. haha what is it with singpaoreans living in london and their love for german sausages? i guess we'll appreciate the german sausages only when we're out of germany for good.
so we took pictures with the wonderful ruin of a castle and walked and walked along the main street in search of various stuff like birkenstocks, bratwursts, pubs to watch soccer, ice cream (gdness, the nutella ice cream was heavenly) and dresses to fulfil the shopping-crazy girl in me. i think we must have walked along the street about 3-4 times in total. it is a LONG street, mind you. and i was quite beat at the end of the day.
sunday we made our way on a baden-wurttemberg ticket to stuttgart.. decided to go there since it is the 'capital' of our province ( or state or something.. ) and jinteng was mightily urging me to go there rather than karlsruhe. and it wasn't a wrong choice! haha. partly due to the weather i guess. it was sunny and clear and every stuttgarter was out strolling around the park even though the shops were all closed. had a taste of the crepes jinteng was always raving about and it was GOOOOOD.quite happy strolling around konigstrasse, the lake and castle area, and enjoying the spring sunshine. wonderful weekend altogether :)
