As the nickname denotes, been feeling lethargic since getting back from Italy. Was supposed to blog an entry on my parcel from Gracie, but my camera has been stolen during the Italy trip, amongst other misfortunes. Sorry Grace~ Will do that soon!
Was planning to spend the rest of my 3 weeks holidays leeching off Siewlian's accomodation in London, going to the British Museum, watch musicals, amongst many other stuffs. As the famous 18th century writer, Samuel Johnson said,"If you are tired of London, you are tired of life." There's a lot of London that I haven't explored. But still reeling from the series of adventure I had in Italy, just want to be rooted to my comfort zone in Heronbank. Probably I'll regret not cherishing this opportunity when I look back later, but it doesn't hurt to live for the now sometimes right?
Yeah, the trip to Italy had been quite trying. Started from Day 1, when the 40 mins shuttle bus from Ciampino Airport took 2 hours to get to Central Rome because the bus driver got lost. Being inclined to motion sickness, the 2 hours felt really tormenting. Watching Harry Potter with Hsien in the evening redeemed it a little though. Note: Italians eat salty popcorn only. Even when I was in USA and Thailand, they serve only salty popcorn. *sigh*
Day 2, I lost my camera at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. Remembered vividly the camera was in my bag, but it was gone when I searched for it. Good thing was that it was only the 2nd day, so there wasn't too many pictures taken. Walked along Via Nazionale in the evening, the main shopping street, and started seeing helicopters hoovering and police with shields. Was a bit scared 'cos of the language barrier and not knowing what was going on. Later we found out there was a demonstration nearby, but it didn't reach where we were. *phew*
Day 3 we went to the Colosseum and toured Ancient Rome ruins. Wanted to catch a bus to the Pantheon, but there was another road block due to peace demonstration. *SIGH*
Started limping on Day 4 due to bad support from the shoes. NEVER WEAR NEW SHOES TO TRIPS. We went to Florence and had to climb 462 steps up at the Duomo, fourth largest church in the world to catch a view of the city. That explains why I woke up in the middle of the night later, writhing in pain and couldn't leave my bed the next morning. (Dreamt that I woke up to my bed in Singapore - Mum came to Florence and brought me home *wails*)
Day 6 we got to Venice, it was really beautiful, and the sunny weather complimented the place too. Cheap and good fruits, plus very good accomodation, really made us feel so much better. Went into a souvenir shop that day and dropped a Murano glass paperweight and it broke (we suspect it broke earlier on) and was made to pay 35 euros (S$70) for it. All the scrimping and saving the past 5 days went down to drain. The paperweight could have been glued and given or kept for decorative purposes, except it had verses from the Koran and there was the Islam star engraved on it. Nearly stepped on a dead pigeon 40 steps after getting out of the shop.
Day 7 - as much as we didn't want to admit it, we were looking forward to going back to UK, to our comfort zone, so we left 3 hours ahead to the airport. Luckily we did, because we went to the wrong airport. Haha~! Didn't check the air tickets carefully, our fault. Tsk tsk. Had to take the shuttle bus back to Venice, and barely made it to the right airport (reached 1 hour 15 mins before departure time) if it hadn't been this Italian guy, Marko, who happened to be going to the airport too to pick his friend up. He was able to ask for concise directions for the bus and taxi from the bus terminal 'cos he spoke italian. (Duh!)
Just as we thought we're finally on our way back to the UK, the plane was delayed. Was supposed to reach London Luton Airport at 1145pm, but the plane was delayed for 1/2 hour, and Luton Airport had to close at 12midnight for runway repairs. We were directed to London Stansted Airport instead. (Equivalent of wanting to fly into Changi Airport but got to Johor) We had booked our coach tickets from Luton to Coventry; but there wasn't a shuttle bus provided by the airline to get us to Luton from Stansted. Furthermore, there was a lack of manpower at the custom, it took 45 minutes for us to get out. By then it was 1.15am, our coach was 1.55am, takes 45mins by coach to get to Luton. No choice, called Agnes to check when's the next coach from Stansted to Coventry. Next coach was at 2.30am, and it'd take 5 hours to get to Coventry (the journey takes 2 hours only, actually) Luckily we found a quicker way via transit in central London, but had to pay 11 pounds more on top of the ticket we bought. There was 1 hour waiting time at Central London though, and there wasn't a shelter, so Hsien and I hid in the telephone booth in the freezing temperature. We hugged each other when we finally got back to Herobank at 530am.
Haha~! Guess given more time, we'll be laughing at this trip in retrospect. Italy is pretty, very good gelato that puts Venezia in Singapore to shame, good seafood and rich history. Venice is absolutely wonderful, little wonder why people go there for honeymoon. Florence is more laid back, but doesn't lack in sophistication. It would be unjust to the country if we said we didn't enjoy our trip. But really tired now, glad I don't have to go Barcelona and Nice anymore. =) Pretty cynical tone in this entry, sorry about it, but can't help it. Well, WE SURVIVED!!!
Was planning to spend the rest of my 3 weeks holidays leeching off Siewlian's accomodation in London, going to the British Museum, watch musicals, amongst many other stuffs. As the famous 18th century writer, Samuel Johnson said,"If you are tired of London, you are tired of life." There's a lot of London that I haven't explored. But still reeling from the series of adventure I had in Italy, just want to be rooted to my comfort zone in Heronbank. Probably I'll regret not cherishing this opportunity when I look back later, but it doesn't hurt to live for the now sometimes right?
Yeah, the trip to Italy had been quite trying. Started from Day 1, when the 40 mins shuttle bus from Ciampino Airport took 2 hours to get to Central Rome because the bus driver got lost. Being inclined to motion sickness, the 2 hours felt really tormenting. Watching Harry Potter with Hsien in the evening redeemed it a little though. Note: Italians eat salty popcorn only. Even when I was in USA and Thailand, they serve only salty popcorn. *sigh*
Day 2, I lost my camera at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. Remembered vividly the camera was in my bag, but it was gone when I searched for it. Good thing was that it was only the 2nd day, so there wasn't too many pictures taken. Walked along Via Nazionale in the evening, the main shopping street, and started seeing helicopters hoovering and police with shields. Was a bit scared 'cos of the language barrier and not knowing what was going on. Later we found out there was a demonstration nearby, but it didn't reach where we were. *phew*
Day 3 we went to the Colosseum and toured Ancient Rome ruins. Wanted to catch a bus to the Pantheon, but there was another road block due to peace demonstration. *SIGH*
Started limping on Day 4 due to bad support from the shoes. NEVER WEAR NEW SHOES TO TRIPS. We went to Florence and had to climb 462 steps up at the Duomo, fourth largest church in the world to catch a view of the city. That explains why I woke up in the middle of the night later, writhing in pain and couldn't leave my bed the next morning. (Dreamt that I woke up to my bed in Singapore - Mum came to Florence and brought me home *wails*)
Day 6 we got to Venice, it was really beautiful, and the sunny weather complimented the place too. Cheap and good fruits, plus very good accomodation, really made us feel so much better. Went into a souvenir shop that day and dropped a Murano glass paperweight and it broke (we suspect it broke earlier on) and was made to pay 35 euros (S$70) for it. All the scrimping and saving the past 5 days went down to drain. The paperweight could have been glued and given or kept for decorative purposes, except it had verses from the Koran and there was the Islam star engraved on it. Nearly stepped on a dead pigeon 40 steps after getting out of the shop.
Day 7 - as much as we didn't want to admit it, we were looking forward to going back to UK, to our comfort zone, so we left 3 hours ahead to the airport. Luckily we did, because we went to the wrong airport. Haha~! Didn't check the air tickets carefully, our fault. Tsk tsk. Had to take the shuttle bus back to Venice, and barely made it to the right airport (reached 1 hour 15 mins before departure time) if it hadn't been this Italian guy, Marko, who happened to be going to the airport too to pick his friend up. He was able to ask for concise directions for the bus and taxi from the bus terminal 'cos he spoke italian. (Duh!)
Just as we thought we're finally on our way back to the UK, the plane was delayed. Was supposed to reach London Luton Airport at 1145pm, but the plane was delayed for 1/2 hour, and Luton Airport had to close at 12midnight for runway repairs. We were directed to London Stansted Airport instead. (Equivalent of wanting to fly into Changi Airport but got to Johor) We had booked our coach tickets from Luton to Coventry; but there wasn't a shuttle bus provided by the airline to get us to Luton from Stansted. Furthermore, there was a lack of manpower at the custom, it took 45 minutes for us to get out. By then it was 1.15am, our coach was 1.55am, takes 45mins by coach to get to Luton. No choice, called Agnes to check when's the next coach from Stansted to Coventry. Next coach was at 2.30am, and it'd take 5 hours to get to Coventry (the journey takes 2 hours only, actually) Luckily we found a quicker way via transit in central London, but had to pay 11 pounds more on top of the ticket we bought. There was 1 hour waiting time at Central London though, and there wasn't a shelter, so Hsien and I hid in the telephone booth in the freezing temperature. We hugged each other when we finally got back to Herobank at 530am.
Haha~! Guess given more time, we'll be laughing at this trip in retrospect. Italy is pretty, very good gelato that puts Venezia in Singapore to shame, good seafood and rich history. Venice is absolutely wonderful, little wonder why people go there for honeymoon. Florence is more laid back, but doesn't lack in sophistication. It would be unjust to the country if we said we didn't enjoy our trip. But really tired now, glad I don't have to go Barcelona and Nice anymore. =) Pretty cynical tone in this entry, sorry about it, but can't help it. Well, WE SURVIVED!!!
2 comments:
woah.. wat an adventure u had.. glad u're back in one piece..
Pity that Italy left such an indelible mark on you. But its ok! at least its a memorable trip :) :(
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