Sneaked a pix of Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel when i really shouldn't have...
ITALY on the whole
Likes
Beautiful place blessed with great weather, food and wine! Awesome place if you like stories about the ancient Romans, Crusades, Renaissance art. Super interesting to "bag" and "sunglass" watch ( it is after all home of some of the top luxury brands) . The shoes are gorgeous too and if you are into expensive shoes.. this is the place to buy them. They are far cheaper in Italy than in Singapore or China.
Dislikes
Super duper grumpy service especially when reserving seats at the train station and even at the airport. Hey! Is it that hard to gimme 2 seats side by side??
How expensive it is to sit down for breakfast.
FLORENCE
Replica of Michelangelo's David
Likes
1.The food! Cheap ( compared to other cities we went) and good. Average for a Primi plate ( pasta) is about 5-10 Euros. Randomly picked restaurants served amazing food. Even touristy restaurants served great food! It's all rustic meals - nothing fancy. The restaurants themselves weren't fancy. But every meal was unbelievably plate-licking good. I actually looked forward to meal times!
2. It's maze-like streets. So confusing but fun to stumble on something new each time! There are interesting bakeries and markets waiting around each corner.
3. The outlet shopping - a friend told me about The Mall - an outlet for Gucci, Tod's, Hogan, Ferragamo, Zegna, Burberry, Armani etc... It's 50mins bus ride from the Florence central railway station. It's really pretty, set in the tuscan countryside with plenty of hills, vineyards surrounding it. Gucci was about 60% off . Many other between 30%-50% discount. but of course, these are the previous season's goods. Still... a very good buy.
Dislikes
I don't think there was anything I disliked about Florence. It was a very easy going, slow paced city with great stuff to eat. Hmm... my only quibble would be that everything closed so early.. at 7 or 7.30pm each day.
ROME
Likes
1. The history and the many many ruins! I can see why this is called the Eternal City. Some things have been around for thousands of years and it pretty much feels as if it'll look the same if we go back 10 years later.
2. The architecture - I don't know anything about archit
ecture but there so many fascinating old houses to look at.
3. The vibe of the city - its a big city with very old world charm. I enjoyed being able to walk to most places even if some of the walks took us 40mins... but there's always something surprising to see along the way.
4. Seeing the incredible wealth of the Vatican city. I mean, it's not just a spiritual place. It's got a very rich collection of art and each piece gives you a tiny glimpse into what the world was like in the different centuries. I loved that! Though of course... I know nothing about art. And staring at ceilings gave me a very very nasty neck- ache.
Dislikes
1. It's a tourist town with tourist prices and sometimes food can be a bit iffy if you're close to the tourist sites. Restaurants have "cover charge" !!
2. Having to queue a long while for anything. Gelato ( cos there's no system of queuing and how the hell do you compete with someone twice your height and double your loudness when trying to get the gelato guy to serve you first??), to get into the Vatican Museum ( that took like... 45mins?)
There were hardly any gypsies in Rome. Dan said that more than 10 years ago, he really had to watch out for pickpockets and gypsy kids. These days, you see more Armani-clad policemen than gypsies at the sites.
VENICE
Likes
1. The quaintness of the whole island - you can really see the christian, byzantian and Middle Eastern influences on this city of Marco Polo's. There's a certain sense of bygone wealth and opulence. You see it most clearly in St Mark's Basilica where the wealth of the church is embedded in the church walls itself. The ceiling literally glitters with gold mosaic!
2. The abundance of seafood. Clams and mussel dishes here ROCK! They are so delish I felt like licking the plates clean. Thank goodness for the bread to mop up the sauce. Not free of course... each restaurant charges anywhere between 1- 3 euros per person for the bread basket.
3. The gorgeous world famous glass from Murano island. I only bought one little ring and beads. Figured its easier to carry than 6 glasses in a set. Didn't stop by Murano though since we weren't gonna buy glassware. The prices can set off a heart attack.
4. Burano island for the colorful houses. They came in forest green, robin blue, turquoise, vermillion, egg yellow... Reminds me of an Old Nippon paint advertisement. There's less tourists and the island's quite a nice place to wander.
Dislikes
1. The crowds. Rome was crowded but least it's a big city. venice is a small island with A LOT of people crammed on it
2. The price of stuff - the Merchants of Venice made less than 20 euros from me, not a pound of flesh ( can't help being corny). Every shop has got beautiful things but every shop is heart stoppingly expensive. Oh but there are great little sunglass outlets with last season's Missoni shades going for 59 euros. The gondola rides were also super-ex so we didn't get a ride on it as romantic as it's touted to be!
MILAN
The flagship Prada shop... looks small outside.. Inside, shop extends to the basement
Likes
1. It's fashion central! Home to Prada, MiuMiu, Armani & Trussardi...What's there not to like??Just kidding... It's a great place to people watch. Most people ( except tourists) are dressed to the nines and they look very well put together. There are also plenty of glam restaurants to dine in if you want to see and be seen, and spend a ridiculous amount of money on tiny food portions. e.g. the trussardi cafe, gucci cafe, cavalli cafe...
2. The fancy food shops... There are quite a few that we set out to look for... and returned empty handed because they were super duper expensive. But it's fun to poke around a fancy grocer and examining the weird and wonderful foods it sells... But seriously, 7 euros for some fancified salt is WAY too much to spend. We shopped mostly at markets which were a whole different level of fun and excitement.
3. The concept of Apertivo. It's the concept of free tapas with drinks during happy hours (6-9pm) . The thing is , some places offer free flow of snacks and some of these " snacks" are more than enough to make a meal!. We went to a fab place called Obika that served most drinks + cocktails for 8euros and stuffed you with grilled peppers, parma ham, salami, pasta with pesto, some form of lasagna, mozzarella cheese salad. The drinks had a mighty kick to them too! Not the watered down stuff that you sometimes get in BJ.
4. You never quite know where you'll find a nice bar or restaurant where the owners are actually really friendly. We walked through some dodgy looking places to get to recommended places in our Lonely Planet guide. Most of them were well worth the walk.
Dislikes
1. How the merchants of Milan beckon you with their seductive wares... and when you are tempted to look, you discover that that really pretty Prada bag will set you back 1200 euros AFTER tax... or how those gorgeous riding boots are.... 395Euros. Ouch. Even outlet shops are expensive. And the outlets are like jumble shops. Not as glam at those in Florence or Venice.
2. It's more of a modern city with less stuff to see and stuff worth seeing are pricey... we didn't make it to see Da Vinci's Last Supper because just seeing this one painting will set us back 7Euros each. That buys me a plate of pasta at a very local shop.
3. Main point is, Milan is expensive. Food costs more here and it's not necessarily nice. You can't randomly pick one and expect nice food. Even stuff at the market costs more than the other 3 cities!
I really hope to go back to Italy again. I threw one miserable 1 cent into the Trevi Fountain in Rome ( euro is expensive lah) .. Should have thrown a few more to increase my chances of coming back!!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment