Chasing Good.

Europe 2012- Venice (& Verona), Italy.

Monday, July 23, 2012

♥ 11:08 pm

(Oops I totally missed out Munich so that'll come later. Heh.) So, the trip from Munich to Verona was kinda tough. Dad had to rush back for Grandma's funeral, but given that it was too expensive for the rest of us to fly back (and technically we can't cos we still had stuff in London), we continued the rest of our trip with that dark cloud of Grandma's passing over our heads.

The trip from Munich to Verona was ok. The train ride was long, as usual. The journey took us from Germany, and into Austria (via Innsbruck), and then into Italy. 6 hours later we arrived and after getting a tad lost, we found our way to our accommodation by mid-afternoon.

Mum, sis and I decided to take a walk around the area. There wasn't much actually, cos' our hotel is somewhat along a major road, something almost like an expressway. We wanted to head up to a castle which we could see from our hotel, and maybe find the pizzeria which was supposed to be on the way up to the castle. But we couldn't find it, and given that the road was sorta quiet and not safe for walking, we turned back and headed further from our hotel and landed up in a little town, Montorio.

We saw some little shrines just at the entrance of Monterio, and then had some pizza in a takeaway joint. We were lucky to meet an angmoh who spoke English (and Italian), which helped us in making our order, considering we were adapting to yet another new language during our holiday. We proceeded nearby for ice-cream (duh) and sometime then, little kids that saw us seemed rather bewildered and amused, probably cos' they've not yet seen an Asian. Haha. Even some store owners seemed to want a picture with us, but of course we didn't get what they meant with their hand gestures, and neither we were interested then too.

The next day we took the train to Venice, which is about 1 hour away. It was crowded especially since it was a Sunday. The place is rather amazing though, despite the throngs of people! Love the classic Italian (or some would prefer me to say, Venetian) architecture and the numerous canals and waterways that make up and charactericizes the city. Without a map in hand, we walked quite aimlessly, eventually landing up in a local restaurant where we enjoyed local Italian pasta and lasagna (at a more expensive price, cos' we dined in -.-) and expensive Coke. We headed to St Marco Basilica & St Marco Piazza, which were quite magnificent. There was also the Grand Canal, Palazzo Ducale, Torre dell'Orologio, Ponte degli Scalzi (Scalzi Bridge)...probably loads more but there's too many and, well, sometimes its hard to match picture to name of attraction. There was also some boat-rowing festival going on, lotsa touts selling fake branded goods and weird toys and leather bags (African-looking people sold fake branded bags, Latino-looking people sold weird toys and Asians, specifically, Chinese, sold leather bags). The 3 of us shopped the most in Venice, buying lotsa souvenirs (Venetian masks and accessories for myself), and Italian Murano glass pendants and knick knack for others at home. In short, it was quite a fulfilling day around a very historic city (:

(pictures to come soon, it's a bit late now and I've got work tmr. Maybe just a few teasers :D)

In Montorio, Italy. Love the colour of Italian houses. Sometimes they look a little run-down, but apart from giving it character, those that don't look run-down actually have a warm terracotta colour like this.

Carbonara! @ErnestSim. Haha.

A canal...

Not sure of this too. Help me someone? :D

A cute painting on display in some shop!

A typical souvenir/arts shop in Venice.

How much is that doggy...in the window! Woof woof!

Italian buildings! Pretty right!

Not sure where this is HMMM. Haha.

St Marco's Piazza.

Campanile di San Marco @ Piazza San Marco

St Marco Basilica

St Marco's Piazza

Torre dell'Orologio

Those mosaic things on the top of the churches. This was on the St Marco Basilica I think.

Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco. There was this loud thud that shocked all the pigeons, so they started flying all over. Having been poop-ed on earlier in the day, my sis and I were kinda freaked out. Haha.

Photoshoot along one of the canals!

Down a typical alley in Venice.

My favourite photo of Venice. I took it, and that's unedited :D

Another narrow alley.

A whole display of Venetian masks in all shapes and sizes and designs.

Homemade Italian Tiramisu I got at a street-food joint that sold pizza. This Tiramisu was niceeeeeeeeee.

We did miss out on the historic Ponte di Rialto (Rialto). Also, without a map, I'm not too sure where we went to, I just know we probably passed by a lot of attractions (:

Europe 2012- Prague & Dresden.

Monday, July 16, 2012

♥ 11:12 pm

So after Berlin, the family headed to Prague. As with inter-city train rides, I believe this one took 6 hours as well. The interesting thing about Czech trains (and some Italian ones too), is that, the trains are quite similar to the ones you see on the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter movies! It's like a mini-cabin, 6 people squished into it, with a sliding door and some curtains to cover the windows. Heh.

Despite the interesting trains, the ride wasn't so great- we were travelling on a weekend and the train was packed, with many travellers having made reservations for their seats. The family didn't, so we had to split up- the parents went to the first-class cabin which they were entitled to, while my sis and I squeezed into a cabin with a grumpy old man and some others......there was much relief once the grumpy old man alighted the train, and the train ride the rest of the way was a lot more relaxing with great views of rock mountains and winding rivers (:

We reached Prague towards mid-afternoon, found our accommodation (which was a good deal), and walked around nearby. Dinner was at the hotel's restaurant- the food was good and quite Czech-ish, and at a very reasonable price for generous portions (: Beer was cheap too! And Dad said it was good (:

The next day we crossed the German border again and headed to the scenic yet touristy town-city of Dresden. We visited the Frauenkirche, which is a beautiful Lutheran church which is used for church services only once a month (I think), but more commonly used for concerts. Although it is disappointing that the severe lack of churchgoers in Europe means that the such a church is less able to be used for its original intended purpose, it seems more pragmatic that the city finds a new use for it, especially in an area that Dresden is quite well-known for- a strong classical music orchestra to perform concerts. No pictures were allowed in the church as a mark of respect, but boy was the church very magnificent and grandeur. As we walked further into the city, we also passed by the Neumarkt (which is actually where the Frauenkirche is), Semper Opera House, crossed Augustusbruke (i.e. a bridge!) that bring you across the Elbe River, (hence going from the older part of Dresden into the newer part of Dresden), and then crossed back, passed by the Katholische Hofkirche (Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony, but now better known as Cathedral of the Holy Trinity), visited the Zwinger Palace (which had a great courtyard with fountains and many many beautiful statues all over the place) etc. It was quite a lot of walking and it was definitely tiring by time the end of the day came, but it's also the place where I first got my foot tan from the sun (:

The following day in Prague was also another marvel in its own right. Prague, as many have said, is simply, beautiful. I know I've said that about almost everywhere in Europe that I've blogged about so far :P Prague is sorta more run-down than other cities we visited, but I guess it is precisely this reason that Prague has such character and personality, just like its people. The highlight of Prague is the Prague Castle. Sitting atop a hill, we chose not to take the tram up (in part cos' we didn't know how to......Czech is a hard language to decipher and they don't speak as much English as Europeans in other countries like Germany), so we climbed the steep, rocky slope up. We had to cross another popular attraction- the Charles Bridge- and find our way through the Lesser Quarter (which is at the Prague-Castle-end of the Charles Bridge) en route to the Prague Castle. As with many bridges in Europe, the Charles Bridge was lined with statues too, and these statues had seemingly strong Czech style to it, in comparison to those we saw in the Zwinger Castle in Dresden. And while we got slightly lost and tired on the way up, the view upon reaching the top is worth the aching feet, sweat and complaints- it was gorgeous. The almost bird's eye view of the city was breathtaking, to say the least.

The St Vitus Cathedral, which was the former Czech King's private chapel, was awesome, just like the Frauenkirche in Dresden. Stained-glass filled lots of the interior of the soot-covered Roman Catholic church, and those kind of stained-glass really put the little stained-glass that we see in Singapore to shame. Later on, we toured more of the Prague Castle, took a couple pictures, before we headed down slope, had the Czech version of doughnuts (it's sorta in the shape of a tube, cos' the dough is wrapped round a wooden barrel and baked in a stone oven), and headed down to the main city centre in search for other attractions.

We visited the Jewish enclave in town- Jeruzalemska, as the locals call it- which culminates in a brightly coloured building with the Jewish style architecture the Star of David. We also passed by the Lobowicz Palace (near the St Vitus Cathedral), Prague National Museum, the State Opera (which is next to the Prague National Museum, and Dad was very tempted to catch an opera there cos' it's cheap!), and made a second trip back to Lesser Quarter in attempt to find the Infant Jesus of Prague. And our effort paid off when we managed to attend weekday mass, receive a special blessing from the Indian Parish priest who spoke to us. We took a tram ride up around the hill that goes to the back of the Prague Castle- saw a rainbow that formed with the a top-view of the city of Prague......that was a good end to a tiring day in one of the most beautiful cities of Europe.

During the day we had some nice Czech-version-of-Bruchetta. Dinner again was at the restaurant at our hotel, and this time, I had beer. The little sister ordered still water, and one glass of the costs more than my glass of beer! So, truly, beer is cheaper than water in Prague!

And to end the night, we watched the Czech version of The Voice, where the contestants sang English songs. Gosh. Stick with the US version! :P Lastly, if there's one thing I regret not doing in Prague, is not going to enough attractions, like the Astronomical Clock, or Old Town square. Then again, one day in beautiful Prague, is not enough.