There are street names but no street signs, the bus maps are close to useless and the tourist information is no help at all. We had to ask for directions along the WHOLE way. Eventually for the last few stops we resorted to taxis to get from landmark to landmark. Just can’t be bothered saving anymore, we only have one day to see everything.
Colosseum. Many “gladiators” outside provoking us for photos.
Some people could not get in because they were “dressed inappropriately”. The smarter ones brought scarfs and sarungs.
Pantheon. The span is at least 20 metres, built 380 A.D. I think. Civil and Structural engineers, there’s no keystone in the middle. Architects, there’s no glazing for the 2 metres gap, what about the rain? Now Go Figure!!
Fontana di Trevi. I saw some people fully dipping their heads in, and others drinking from it. Ewww…
Spanish Steps. At night lots of people just hang out here, other than that, nothing special.
Oh yea, I also managed to bump into the Italian stage for Live 8 at the Ancient Auditorium.
Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello … and rest of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all come from this place.
David’s butt, a less famous view but just as finely sculpted by Michaelangelo.
The famous Ponte Vecchio, rows of shops on a bridge. What’s with the squatting motif beside a river?
The Duomo, impossible to grab a snapshot of the entire building.
By the weirdest coincedence, we met someone from UNSW! She was standing two persons behind us while queuing for David. Junyi and Jeff were stunned staring at each other for 5 seconds.
Funny bit is she decided to tour Italy only a few days ago, but to meet of all cities in Italy, in such a big place as Florence, to be in the same queue, two people apart, at the same time, is just …
Despite our limited budget, we decided to make an exception for this city to splurge a little on dinner! I noticed a rather nice restaurant next to the laundrymart, so we dropped in.
Man, I wish I have a “Gastronomique Encyclopaedia” or something. My limited stomach vocabulary could only recognise two items, “degustation” and ” foie gras”. Since it was only €25, I decided to go for it.
Now, you have to understand that Jeff is a vegetarian (only food that does not involve killing).
Talking to the waitress in a mix of broken French and English, we finally managed to communicate that Jeff cannot have “meat”, she repeatedly pointed to foie gras on the menu and said “no meat no meat”. Jeff, being a bit of a kiasu (a “low risk-er” for you aussies) decides to follow the advice of the waitress, and ordered the same dish as me.
Besides that one-off incident, I have a very good impression of this city. Full of life and character, must return! But next time, with my Gastronomique Encyclopaedia !!!
Typical Lyon street, lined with restaurants.
Art class at the square, most of the kids look like they don’t want to be there though …
Castle like church on the hill
Wish I could use one of these without looking like a snail …
The Versailles Palace is located pretty far off from Paris itself, not to mention our hostel. Halfway we got confused with the platform signs and nearly got to the point of complete panic. The moment we figured our metro map out, our train flew past us. Took us a good run to the other end of the platform. I think this was the point where I hurt my right knee.
After all that chaos, we still did not manage to go in the palace (closed on Mondays). By the way, the gardens are HUGE, maybe 3-4 kilometres long !!
There’s just too much to see, I now understand the need for monthly membership. We went to the famous ones, like the Aphrodite (Venus de Milo), Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike), Slave Boy by Michaelangelo, Code of Hammmurabi…
Our first architectural pilgrimage is pretty amazing, considering it was finished in 1977. There was no water in the surrounding pools + fountains, which is bummer because that was something I was looking forward to see in real life.
a young capricious bloke with a penchant for the strange, unknown, and exotic. Here lies the journals of my worldly travels, as I trot around the globe in search of adventure!
