italy

Lovely photos from italy:

Vatican
st peter's basilica//the ceiling inside which forms the dome//egyptian obelisk//a swiss guard! (he was too far for me to see if he was cute)

The Vatican was breath-taking. As a proud believer of the Catholic faith, I was awestruck by the buildings and all the images, statues and paintings inside. When I went into the prayer room to say a prayer, I broke down and cried because the feeling was so intense and I was so thankful that I had a chance to step into the Vatican. I thank the Lord (and of course my parents who paid for the trip) for this chance of a lifetime.

Rome
me and daddy at the colosseum//fountain of trevi//the pantheon//bernini's fountain of four rivers under maintenance at piazza navona (did a priest really die there that's why??)

I love the Eternal City of Rome for its ancient ruins and cobbled streets. It's amazing how you can actually track through the entire Dan Brown's Angels and Demons in Rome. Unfortunately I only read the book after I came back from Rome. Yes yes, Wendy is so slow... :(

Leaning Tower of Pisa


Florence
me and daddy with the lovely view of florence//statue of david//santa maria cathedral (it is so huge I couldn't take a picture of the whole church)//signoria square

Florence is a beautiful and picturesque city and its main highlights are the statue of david, the huge santa maria cathedral which is made purely of carrera marble and its signoria square which houses all its famous marble statues in the open air. Nothing much to shop though. It is only a small and cosy city.

Venice
the waterways of venice//doge's palace on st mark's square//me with TONS of pigeons on st mark's square//gondolas

and of course...
me, mummy and our cute gondola man :D

I LOVE VENICE. It is so so beautiful because of its unique waterways. Thankfully not as smelly as I thought it would be. St Mark's Square is full of pigeons and it was so so cute looking at little caucasian kids running around trying to feed them. It was just really funny that I watched 007 in the plane while coming back and the entire building in St Mark's just came crumbling down. I was like, "Hey, isn't this where I went?"

Verona
apparently, rubbing juliet's breast brings good luck.

Nothing much in Verona. It is merely overrated because of Romeo & Juliet and all you do is rub Juliet's breast for good luck and check out her house and pretend to be Juliet at her balcony where she cried her well-known "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo" in Act 2 Scene 2.


Milan
gothic cathedral



Well, obviously I didn't take that many photos here. I had a greater calling above. And the silly tour guide only gave us 1 and 1/2 hours to shop. Like HELLO? I need 1 and 1/2 hours to check out maximum 3 stores in Singapore, let alone Milan!!! So we only managed to go to Prada, LV and Zara (Which is so not worth going. Prices are the same as singapore. Don't waste time. Go H&M instead). The sales people in the luxury shops only serve one customer at every one time, which makes it SUPER SLOW. It is good service no doubt, but when you have a time limit of 90min, come on, that stupid customer is just admiring the bag and will take another 5 minutes staring at it. Just find my shoe size for me! When you come back I am sure she is still not done staring at the bag.
I also wanted to buy a genuine Italian jersey but guess where it is made in? Thailand. I love my boyfriend, but seriously, Thai-made Italian jerseys which cost SGD40 more in Italy than Singapore??? No thanks. And I checked. The Italian jerseys in Singapore are made in Turkey. hmm...

Lake Maggiore/Stresa
mummy and daddy//me with the boat captain//captain wendy//an island in the lake

This must be the most beautiful lake I have ever seen in my life. Doesn't that island look like some place where they would shoot fighting scenes in lord of the rings or star wars that sort?

I love Italy. If I had the chance to go again, I would go to Rome and Venice once more and MILAN to shop for an entire day. Luxury goods there are average SGD100 cheaper PLUS we as tourists get 12.5% tax refund, which is damn bloody a lot if your LV bag costs 500euro there and SGD1300 in Singapore.

Ok I am done with Italy. Will post the Swiss photos soon!