Sunday, September 09, 2007

Vivacious Venice...

The 2nd last stop of our Europa trip, after which we'll be heading back to jw's house in Sweden. Was really looking forward to Venice, because jw's frenz told him that it's the most romantic city in Europe. and also becos it's so unique to be in a city entirely on water. Of coz, we still kept singing Wei Ni Si De Lei the whole time... =p

We took a bus, then the vaporetto (aka their water taxis since there are no cars here) to our hotel, called Tintoretto, which was just beside the casino. Keke. Which we never went cos' the hotel staff told us you needed to dressed in shirt and tie and proper shoes to enter. Anyway, with our emergency travel docs, we successfully checked into the hotel. We actually liked the hotel room alot. Cos it was a surprisingly clean, comfy, and nicely designed room. Each of their 17 rooms had an unique design (yesh they only had 17 rooms!) and ours was a nice bluish, floral design. The toilet had no bathtub (our first hotel without a bathtub), but was very hygenic and that was all it mattered. =) Even our wardrobe had a lock and key for safety reasons. Keke. & oh, we could have breakfast everyday too. Yippie yay. To get to our room, we had to first walk into a super narrow lane which just fitted the width of my luggage, then using a magnetic card, we could unlock the front gate and climb the stairs. We had a gigantic key to open our room too. Heavy sia. But hey, the corridor (see right) outside our room was nicely lit and looked very clean doesn't it? I quite liked it. There were even sofas there for you to take a seat if you want. See the curtains there? Once jw hid behind there trying to give me a scare (ehhh we always try to scare each other and shout BOO), but he failed because OBVIOUSLY I could see his humanly figure behind the white curtains. Wahaha. But good try there. =p

We had a very peaceful and enjoyable first night in Venice. Had dinner at the restaurant at hotel Tintoretto. I ate carbonara and jw ate seafood pasta. It was unexpectedly delicious, even jw who doesn't dig into western food said it was yummy. Hee. Woooo. No wonder you must always try pasta when you get to Italy. It's just so finger-licking good!! Or maybe, we were just two starving souls after our flight and long bus ride. Wahaha. We took long to decide on whether to get wine or not, but since the pasta was so ex already, we settled for non-sparkling mineral water which cost 2euros. Hehe. There was a guy who was playing his violin behind us, & I realised busking is also allowed here. It was quite romantic. =) & as usual jw gave him some tips and a pat on his back. Keke. My friendly fiance. After dinner, we went for a stroll along the streets of Venice. It was quite quiet and peaceful, and not as happening as what I imagined. Well, but I had already read in Lonely Planets that clubbing was at a minimal level in Venice. Wahaha. Which means we won't really get to club during our whole Europa trip. How wasted, but well, we'll always get a next time. Ooooooo, we ate the yummy Gelato ice-cream here. keke. Maybe it's just an illusion, but eating Gelato here tasted much better than in Spore. Keke. Or perhaps it's the company and the venue that really matters at the end of the day. After dessert and shopping, we walked across a bridge to a pub for some beer. There was a live band there, who wasn't really impressive, but well, it was still an enjoyable moment. There were 2 doggies there, and this black one actually knew how to pick up the plastic cups with his mouth and take them to the kitchen. But hor, I think he usually ended up playing with them and ripping the cups till he spoilt everything. Hehe.

We spent the whole of our 2nd day shopping and taking pics. Hee. We bought alot of stuff at the 1euro shop, including a bag & crayons for xuanxuan, shorts for shanmei (jw's sis-in-law), seashell necklace for leela, hairpins and scrungee for my colleagues, prezzies for the badz gals. Oh, and jw bought me this 1euro purple shades, since mine was stolen. Purple!! I looked damn obiang in it. =p Moving on, I also bought earrings, a pendant for jiejie, & jw bought a set of venice shot glasses. Ohhhh, we also went to this baby clothing shop and bought lotsa stuff, ma chiam like we were shopping for our own BB, but neh, we were buying presents for whoever we could think of. Hehe. In Venice, I also bought my one and only bag throughout this trip. Cost 7.5euros but I reallie liked it. Keke. We were lucky to find a pair of earrings inside the bag too. Woohoo.

We slowly made our way to the most famous place in Venice, St Mark's Square. Boy oh boy, we saw hundreds and hundreds of pigeons the moment we stepped into the square. No joke. It was quite an overwhelming sight at first, though both of us felt that the Grand Place in Brussels was much more magnificent and pretty. Still, it was quite an experience to be here. We bought corn to feed the pigeons, and oh man, they left like tens of scratches on our forearms. Wahaha. But it was so FUN!! The piegons would land on our forearms, and some would even jump onto our shoulders and head. Keke. We tried to take alot of pics of us chasing after the pigeons so that they would all take off and fly together. Wahaha. I bet we took at least 50-60 pics here alone. Now you won't wonder how I can take 2000 pics within 10 days right. There was this special pigeon wif a green mark on his body that caught our attention, becos' everytime he flew onto our arms, he will peck at the corn and spit it out and not eat it. But when others land beside him, he will peck at them, fight with them, and force them to leave. FWAH. Fierce bird, and selfish bird who wants to be king. Kept following us too. Pity the rest who got injured by him. Guess it's also survival of the fittest in every animal kingdom.

We also took pics at Piazza San Marco, the tall tower with the greenish tip. Using a few fako photography taking skills, we took pics of me 'hugging' the tower and jw kissing it. Keke. Again, we were laughed at by other tourists. Haha. Also visited several statues/ sculptures/buildings/bridges in Venice. =) There was this bridge called the Bridge of Sigh. I wonder why.

We had a cheap cheap dinner that nite. Went to the supermarket to get two roast chickens, a pack of Nachos, a packet of juice, and Tadah, we headed back to our room for our dinner. Hee. Enjoyed the dinner while watching a beach volleyball competition on TV and jw kept complaining how lousy they were. Haha. Well well. I didn't think they were lousy. Wooo, did I mention we kept hearing Rihanna's Umbrella and seeing the MV here? I must have heard it at least 10 times, and the chorus kept ringing in my head, even when I bathed I heard it on TV. Haha. That nite we stayed in our hotel room all nite long, and that was when jw drew the pretty Paris drawings for moi. All within one nite, waha, while I was watching all the 'weird' shows they show on TV during late nites. So fascinating. =) Nua-ing and doing nothing overseas is actually a kind of bliss. Hehe.

The next day we checked out the gondolas. But fwah, they quoted us 120euros for a short 20min ride around the city waters. That's over S$240 lor. Sha ren fang huo. When we said no, the guy actually lowered the price to 80euros. But neh, we abandoned the idea eventually. & guess wad? We ended up taking the vaporetto for a long ride, covering almost a loop around Venice. It was bright and sunny, but nonetheless quite an enjoyable ride. Keke. =p Saw alot of gondolas passing us by. Well well, the rich pple vs the poorer ones. Hehe. But poor people can find happiness using means that don't need as much $$, right?

During our last nite in Venice, we actually spent hours taking pics of the various places we visited in Europe. How?? Haha. Using the magnets, travel books, brochures that we had with us. So basically we were replicating the pics. Hehe. & we had to 'co-operate' by having one of us taking the pic and the other trying to block out the light so that there's no reflection on the pic. Hehe. That was damn hard. We spent 2-3 hours doing that alone. =p How an unique experience on our last nite.

The next morning, we checked out of Tintoretto, all ready to make our way back to Sweden. & well, the next sad (& somehow fascinating) thing happened. Guess wad? I ACCIDENTALLY RE-FORMATTED THE CAMERA. Therefore deleting ALL the remaining pics taken during my Europa trip. In Barcelona and Venice. *clap clap clap* how can I be so li hai.. or rather, so silly as to do such an idiotic thing.. Wah kaoz.. Haiz.. Told jw not to leave me alone liaoz, so when he went to purchase the bus tix, my fingers got itchy and I started to look at my photos, & when some images were unidentified, I tot formatting might help and I actually clicked on it. COOL. Haha. Irreversible mistake. Made me cry this time round. Cried until I laughed. Because, I think I just did an amazingly silly but amusing act.

Well I guess it's fate. No pics for Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris. So, fair to have no pics for Barcelona and Venice as well. wahahahaha. Sorry jw.. I didn't mean it... but I know you don't blame me in the least. Sometimes I wonder why you like a silly gal like me...

Righty.. that concludes my europe trip.. =) every country had a write-up, so hope you enjoyed reading on our adventures and all the ups and downs we went through together..

Till the next trip.. Maybe europe again, or South Africa?? Hehe.. Can't wait for that moment to come..