Italy 13 - 19th Oct

Italiano~~!!!
Yeap we set off to Venice, Florence, Pisa and Rome on the most unlucky day of the year! We had so much free time waiting for flights and transits, we begun playing HEARTS. yes hearts again! dunno why the Queen of Spades is now affectionately called Ah-Ma. Poor Yinghao kena the ah ma so many times, there were even times he shot himself (apparently no beginner's luck).

VENICE -- 14th Oct, Sat

We finally arrived Venice on the Saturday morning.. checked into our campsite (not so good experience with Amsterdam's one...) and we basically only had half a day left in Venice. We spent most of our time eating Gelato (FANTASTIC! Well worth our one euro), getting lost in the shaddy streets about 1 metre in width, walking past the St. Marco Square (which apparently didnt leave a lasting impression for me.. i promptly forgot that its the one featured on the cover of my travel guide). We had our pizzas and paninis by the steps of a fountain, listening to a flutist, pretty nice atmosphere! At night we went grocery shopping... and bought some really cheap wine back. Well of coz u cant expect much of cheap wine.. tastes a bit like plastic and ribena (speaking of which i miss very much!) Funny thing is we started playing Hearts again at night.. and Chee Wee was sure to be the loser ( and so i assumed) i said whoever is the loser will have to finish the sucky wine! Dunno why i so suay, kena bombed by Ah ma so many times... and i ended up drinking the damn bad wine. Should have never said those words. Had to go toilet twice in the middle of the night.

FLORENCE -- 15th Oct, Sun

We took the early train out of Venice and checked into the Eurostudent Hostel. The location is not too bad, but we were given an attic room with 5 beds. Quite a nice room though, just that we only spent 5 hrs in that room. We visited the Duomo, Piazza Della Signoria (where fake David is) and i bought a fake Fendi bag!! Who says Italy is strict on Fakes? Rubbish, its like another Siew Sui Street in China. We spent some time resting in the Loggia d. Signoria, where loads of nice marble sculptures were placed in an open hall. Juliana started sketching the Hercules fighting the Centuar, whereas Cheewee volunteered to do the back view of it. Hmms. I'll show u guys the drawing next time, think the pic will be banned by Singapore goverment (which Juliana will speak of it again later in Rome). Oh and did i mention that i have cravings for GAO LAK? YES they have it in Italy. Yah obviously not good, but we had it anyway.

Pisa -- 16th Oct, Mon

We had to take an extremely early train to Pisa, to aviod the long queues etc. We were even the first few to go up the tower! Pretty cool sight, just that its 12 euros for a trip less than 30mins. Climbing up already took me 15 mins by the way. I got dizzy from the spirals and not to mention i have a bit of vertigo... the 7th and 8th storeys are def not for the faint hearted. Ok lah not so bad lah.. im just talking rubbish. Pisa is really small, just the tower, cathedral, musuem... yah.

Rome -- 17th - 19th Oct, Tues - Thurs

We went on to RomA~ How can anyone not go there? Checked in and had an early nights rest. Must wake up early for Vatican City! heard the queue is HORRIBLE. We left early around 7 am and Weicheng became a pickpocket's prey on the metro. Its quite amazing huh? So fast got hit by pickpockets. No worries, we are seasoned travellers, we hold on to our valuables like gold. It wasnt long before we heard of the metro crash ard 930 am (we just entered vatican city i think, after queuing for 1.5hrs). soon we see everyone's parents calling them... quite scary ah? Luckily we came to see the Vatican city early! Vatican City and the St. Peter's basilica was not bad.. but the trip up to the Dom was again VERY SCARY. WahS its like 320 steps after the elevator ( yah imagine us going up without the elevator just to save 4 euros). I think travelling on budget does make u fitter. Going to the top of the Dom was like going up a slanted Pisa, imagine contorted spiral steps to the curvature of the Dom. We also saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum etc. Haha it was also at the Colossuem that Juliana exclaimed that the Singapore government wants Yinghao to wash his hands (i forgot what he touched). Hilarious mans. Very nice place, i will post up pics later!