Europe/UK Day 9 - Venezia

Sunday, August 17, 2008

We have another morning in Venice.

This guy made music out of those glasses of different sizes, and containing different amounts of water. It was beautiful. Too bad we couldn't afford the cd.


they have mambo and Souk here


i noticed the interesting reflection in the mirror, and realized that I was not alone.


tourist jam!


no matter where you walk.. somehow you will be led back to piazza san marco.


you see these guys selling handbags.. I wonder where they're from. are they from the same country, as those Eiffel tower miniature toting salesmen in Paris and Versailles?


this is the worst pasta i've ever eaten in my whole life. It sucks more than pasta mania. Cold and hard.


The gondoliers are damn skillful at maneuvering around these bends!


walked a distance beyond the academia bridge in search of Billa to buy their roast chicken (4euros, cheap). Had to ask a million people for directions.

There it is! a supermarket. I was picking up Ferrero gardens (which btw, is being sold at The Cocoa Tree, saw it in Carrefour at an overpriced S$17) when this man came up to me and talked to me.

Italian Man: "You like sweet stuff"
Me: "Yup"
Italian Man recommends me Lindt.

After some conversation about where I'm from, how long in Venice etc, we talk about the food and he offers to cook for me.

It was slightly freaky. Nice gesture, but yes still very freaky. I declined politely and said that I was leaving that afternoon, which luckily was true.. If this was in the movies, he would be a lot better looking (maybe like Benjamin Button in his younger years), and I would be a lot more adventurous, and could just go to his house and have a good romantic meal and check out his Venetian apartment and family or something and decide to stay in Venetian for good. hmm.

So he went off to do his grocery shopping and I did mine. I had to time myself properly not to meet him at the supermarket checkout so I ended up looking at some toiletries while he queued up. I hastily joined the other queue as he was paying at one of the counters.

Couldn't resist discreetly snapping what the person in front of me bought:

Turned out that I wasn't so discreet and the man behind me was like, wth did you do that for? I had to explain myself and he asked if I wanted to take a photo of his groceries which consisted of some mozzarella cheese. I regret declining him cos hey, I should have just taken a photo anyway since I had the chance right. But the dslr was with pb so I wasn't that much in a photo taking mood.

Paid up and walked out. Saw a familiar face sitting on a bench by the river. shit. It was the guy who wanted to cook for me. Have to entertain him again. He asked me again if I changed my mind.. Argh! Politely declined again and sped off.. all the while turning back to check if he was following me or something. If only it wasn't that freaky, I would have taken a photo of him.

On the way back to the apartments.. Packed up a bit and it was time to leave Venice.

Borrowed the backpacks from fred's friend and jy because we didn't wanna spend $270 on something we'd use just once. But after our Japan trip which was spent lugging 2 huge suitcases around, I'm starting to consider buying one. And it's impt to buy a good one which you can easily adjust to sit nicely on your hips. It looks huge but the good ones are pretty comfortable really and much more practical than heavy suitcases.

The buskers are really highly talented, and they even have cute costumes.

We headed off to take the Alilaguna Airport Taxi which is actually a boat of course, which brings you to the Airport in about, half an hour.

Europe/UK Day 8 - Venezia

Saturday, August 16, 2008

After spending a night's rest in the beautiful Venetian apartment, it's time to go explore. The best, and actually only way to see Venice is by getting lost in its charming little alleys. It's the only way because there are so many little alleys, twists and turns that it's impossible, or just a total waste of time to use a map. To orientate yourself, you there are these signs at each corner showing the general direction to reach the few famous places like Piazza San Marco, or Rialto Bridge and you just follow them. Or, you can follow the throngs of tourists.

Venice is simply breathtakingly beautiful. I couldn't stop photo snapping at every bend I took.

this is the alley where my apartment is. Once you descend from the stairs of the apartment, open that little door, you see shops opening, and loads of people walking about.


These are the signs you kinda follow to get to anywhere important. GPS can just go and die here.



ahh! Gondolas!


blues, greens, reds


Piazza San Marco

Oh, we had been warned about overpriced coffees at this place, although it is still a good experience to be able to enjoy a drink here. We warily went into the cafe and checked out the prices. Hey, they looked surprisingly ok. So we sat down and waited to be served.

killer pigeons


Turned out that the eat-in menu was way more expensive than the to-go one that we had studied earlier. We pretended to look at it a bit and ran.




Upon seeing this guy carrying so much on a trolley, did I realize that there are no cars on Venice and since people only get around on boats, these guys have to use trolleys..


Most of the stores here sell the same things at the same price. Some do have more special masks which they claim are Venetian made, and not made in china like the rest.


We finally found a little eatery. All cappucinos in France/Italy are fantastic. I wanna buy their coffee machines coffee powder and milk.


pizza for breakfast.

Next we popped into a little store to buy water.

loads of pastries.. I'm not a fan of sweet stuff like these so we didn't try any



colors everywhere!


Murano glass beads. Venice is famous for its glassware from the island of Murano which we can visit via boat.


when you walk the dark, quiet little alleys, you can see the Venetians taking a break or a smoke.








we found a supermarket near our apartment that sells water at 1/3 the price of the earlier grocery store



masks again


our first venetian gelato


this stall owner was rubbing his doggy's tummy. It was a superbly adorable sight.







camera showdown! Canon 450d vs Sony W70!


Towards Rialto!

I had to stop myself from buying these superbly cute Dali-inspired clocks which were too overpriced. But I've really never seen anything like these before. Wonder if they can be found in Singapore.

The Persistence of Memory by Salvadore Dali [Source: Wikipedia]



Shopping in the Disney store for our princess Joy


These are the cheapest form of food you can find in Italy. It's not as bad as it looks cos they actually heat it up for you. However all that flour everyday can get really boring.


a beautifully decorated gondola


they have BATA here! Somehow the Italian BATA seems much classier. You can really smell leather once you step in the store and the stuff are really quite fashionable.


You know you're headed in the right direction when you see the crowds.




Rialto Bridge





coconut



10 euro jerseys


1.50 euro fruit cups


pb bought one of these 8 euro silk ties


i loved this combination! too bad it was summer.


This man was serenading away and he did it with such gusto we had to tip him. Impressive.



Venetian paper shop


gay pride here too? Oh, turns out that the Italian PACE (pronounced pah-chay) flag has one more color than the gay pride flag we're used to seeing in the US.


I need a wide angle lens


Murano glass I suppose




We found lunch at a little cafe where I had my best pasta for the whole trip.

Our cafe Ai Bari, and our cheapo 2 euro wine that tasted like piss




pb wanted fish, and he got ikan bilis!



We walked and walked until we saw some Gondola rides being offered. Well, we simply have to try this. At the time of writing I've already selectively forgotten how much it cost. Ok, I haven't, it should be about S$200 for 45 min (although we were shortchanged and it only lasted 30 min)


Our er, gondola man. Is there a term for these guys? Anyways he says all of them are born in Venice.


face still flushed from the cheap wine




this guy cheat our money...

So anyway, we took the gondola ride in a very ulu area of Venice so there wasn't really much to see. My suggestion would be to take it in a better place, probably near San Marco Square so that you can see better stuff such as the Bridge of Sighs. Provided there aren't any traffic issues.

more pastries






even the graffiti is colorful in Venice


As we made our way back to our apartment, we see that guy who was playing with his doggie earlier on in the day, closing his stall and going home for the day.


beautiful pinks and greens


witnessed the sunset near San Marco square


big versus small




That's how they display their seafood

met another doggie while buying pizza. We bought the cheapest pizza which only had cheese and tomato. Tapao to not pay cover charge, and enjoy with our coke in the comforts of our apartment. But it was good, at least it was freshly made.