we're off to Milan today! our last destination before we fly back to SIN, glorious land of chee kueh and ba chor mee, and in time to catch the SG50 national day celebrations!
this is my daily breakfast prepared by Catherine, owner of the airbnb apartment, for the past 3 days.
there's a choice of either a Sweet or Savory Italian style breakfast. on the day we arrived, AL told her that we'll have one sweet and one savory breakkie. a sweet breakkie turned out to be just some sweet biscuits, while the savory consists of cheeses, cold cuts and salad. one look an I know that both are not things that my Chinese ah lao will eat, with the sweet one being the 'lesser evil'.
when I first started doing meal presentation for airline clients, I had no idea that ang mohs eat cold breakfast? I mean shouldn't breakfast be of piping hot stuff like chee kueh??
anw, so back to our Venice leg of honeymoon.
this is our dinner from day 0 in Venice. Catrina recommended a few restaurants, one of it being Estro. this place serves canapΓ©s and main courses, and a huge selection of wines. I choose a seafood soup (with lime and ginger), while AL, unusually adventurous, chose a fish canapΓ© platter.
WHICH HE ONLY ATE THE POTATOES. HAHAHAHAHA.
in the end, I finished off his fish platter for him as well, δΈθ¦ζ΅ͺθ΄Ή! and he ordered another burger, which was what I thought he would order in the first place. and of course, everything was washed off with a bottle of red wine πππ
first thing next morning (day 1 in venice, day 12 of trip) we went to buy our train tickets to Milan (no more ε°θ car!)
earlier on at the airport (after returning the car), we bought a venice museum pass (~28 euros valid 1 yr) and transport pass (29.90 euros, 72 hrs). turned out we only used the pass to enter Doge's Palace (no need to queue some more) and we didn't visit any other attractions. I think we've had too much of paintings and sculptures etc.
I would recommend getting the transport pass though. it allows unlimited traveling on the water buses, in a 72hr duration. we got the pass at a cheaper rate as we're considered 'youth' (as long as you're below age 29). I think asiana generally look younger, the aunty who sold us the pass didn't bother checking our passports.
a water bus stop. by right you're supposed to tap before entering the floating platform, but no one really does that. some platforms at tourist spots have a gentry, so you'll still need to get your tickets anyway. INTEGRITY!!
along the grand canal. this place reminds me of Amsterdam!
en route to San Marc's square, and the Doge's palace.
initially we thought that Doge is the name of a rich dude who built a palace. turned out that Doge is the name for the Venetian's elected 'president'. quite cool, cos I'm not really into the monarchy system, having a ruling party to rule over a place, no chance for others to take over π
ε₯½εδΈ½ ahhh! the largest hall in the palace, with all the intricated carvings and paintings on the ceiling. imagine having your wedding banquet there! π±
St Marc's basilica. this church looks small from the outside (compared to St Peter's in Rome), but the interior is so beautiful! the ceiling is completely covered with mosaic art, mostly in gold!
secretly snapped some photos. the churches here in Italy are quite strict. dresses and berms must be knee length, and shoulders cannot be revealed. photos are generally not allowed too (out of respect I think), but for this basilica people still continued snapping away as the rule is not really enforced.
beautifully mosaic flooring as well!
St Marc's square. we could have gone into the museum next to the square using our card, but considering that we only have 2 days in Venice and that we've seen enough art, we skipped the museum as well.
all the ling ling long longs being sold in Venice. so many souvenir shops around! we bought a face mask fridge magnet (for our non existent new house). the murano glass items are very nice, but we have no idea how to carry them
back to SIN.
lunch! ordered a calzone to try. all the carbs. translates to all the fats I need to lose upon returning to SIN.
will have a hard time weaning myself off carbs and cheese! πππ
the busy streets of Venice. think the busiest areas are next to the square. the branded shopping streets are around there too.
.
a friggin gondola ride costs 80 euros for 30 mins! before our trip craig has told me this too, and I asked him if the coxswain sang for him and his wife. and he told me at that rate, he better be singing! initially ah lao wanted to take the gondola ride too, but I thought the price is ridiculous, and that both of us had rowing background in school, so we should just skip that, and we did!
this is apparently the oldest casino in venice, a few centuries old! we initially wanted to pop in at night for a look see, but were too tired to do so. and I think there's some dress code (tux no less!) to adhere to.
when we were at Naples, ah lao was eyeing this Mont Blanc watch. I knew he had wanted a watch for the longest time. after all he doesn't spend much on branded goods for himself, and also what bags can guys buy? so a watch is a good item to purchase I guess. and our wedding is finally over so we're now not that tight financially.
at Naples the Mont Blanc store had a 20% discount for some items, but ah lao hasn't succumb to his desire and we left for Florence. at Florence, we popped into another Mont Blanc store but AAHHHH this store 沑ζ discount?? so ah lao was sorta stabbing himself already. I remembered Tiana, one of our tour guides in Rome, told us that the stores in Italy have different prices at different areas.
so we went to Florence outlets, and ah lao was then deliberating between a MB and a tag heuer watch. and he ηδΈ a TH watch at the outlet, which was going at about 3100 euros after all the tax refunds and discount. there and then he decided that he won't get a watch cos it's too expensive.
IN THE END AH LAO SUCCUMBED IN VENICE! at a TH store no less, means no discount! this translate to about 600sgd more expensive than the Florence outlet, for the exact same model he ηδΈ! I'm not sure what is the moral of this story. π
but I'm happy that he has gotten what he wants.
now should I get a Chanal classic flap??!
that night we went to catch a mini concerto. we had randomly chanced upon the concert hall and bought tickets for it, 34 euros each. not bad! 2 sets were played, and the violinists wore period costumes. my classical music training came into good use too!
next morning, day 13 of honeymoon. caught the venice sunrise from our apartment, at 5.30am!
morning was spent doing laundry, and lunch was at La Zucca (the pumpkin), recommended by Sola.
pumpkin soufflΓ© for starters. it has a tinge of cinnamon, topped with god knows what cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds. very nice indeed!
cathrina had also recommended this restaurant to us! quite popular as they were fully booked for dinners (for the next few days), so we settled for lunch.
zucchini and asparagus lasagna for me, broccoli to share, and ah lao's chicken with rice.
overall the food is delicious, but I would not specially come back for them.
after lunch we headed to Murano island, to see the shops selling Murano glass items. there's supposedly a Murano glass museum that we can go too with our card. there's another island called Burano, and there's a lace museum there which the card permits free entry. in the end, we spent 2 hours looking through the shops for watches and jewelry. till ah lao complained θι
Έ!
so that basically sums up our rather uneventful (as comparison) Venice leg of our honeymoon.
one last look… π
on our first class train ride to Milan!!!!
8.41pm: Milan is like the most boring of all the Italian cities we have been! turned out my friends were right, they all skipped Milan cos there's nothing much to do. so I guess it'll be mainly 2 days of shopping before going home! π
life bites 