European Wonder_220608-250608

European Wonder_250608_Ancient Verona & VENICE

Ciao to the room of Camping Roma.
The street of VeronaNice masks as we are reaching Venice soon!The balcony of Juliet's room It gives us luck if we touches 14th years old Juliet "boot"

Nice performance using the different water level to create music!

Water refilling place! Gelato ice-cream!!!

It was a super hot day (40°C). After breakfast, we took our coach and head north through Tuscany and over the Apennine mountains to Venice. Upon reaching Venice, we stopped over at ancient Verona - The place where Romeo and Juliet played out their tragic love affair. We had a walking tour and we saw Juliet's balcony. Also, we saw the sculpture of the 14 years old Juliet (Giulietta). I bought a pick cap and had gelato ice-cream. hehe.^^ It's very enjoying to eat ice-cream when it's a very hot day. Oh ya, I forget to mention the water over at Italy. haha. There are a lot of water filling tap around. Initially at FLORENCE, we thought the water coming out from the weird sculpture are for washing or other purposes. In the end, Blake told us to fill our water using those tap, we then understand why there are so many water tap with water flowing non-stop. Their purposes are to make sure people hydrate themselves in such hot weather. Interesting, isn't it? After the walking tour at Verona, we took our coach again and soon we reached Venice! =) We had dinner at Camping Alba D'oro. The americans have their night life at the bar again as the beer there were very cheap! lol. We, as usual, don't go to the bar, so we went back took bath and rest.

European Wonder_240608_ ROME

Vatican Museum

At the Victor Emmanuel Monument Spanish Steps

We are at Roman Forum!
The metro station of Rome

Colosseum :

It is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.

The wasted meal.I am here at Camping Village Roma

Today, we have the entire day for ourselves at ROME. At 7.30 a.m. after Breakfast, we took our coach to the nearest metro station. Most people went to visit the Vatican in the morning as it is an opportunity to see some of the finest works of art in the world - the paintings in the Sistine Chapel. Due to the limited cash we have, we decided not to visit, instead we went walking around taking pictures. Rome street is super big! Because we made a wrong turn and we ended up walking a very very big round seeing nothing but the walls of the Vatican Museums. -.- We then took a metro to Colosseo. At that moment, we have our "ling gan" - to shit! Well, it's hard to find toilet. So we went to a cafe. I think the service crews must be very surprised because our first question was not asking the price of the food, but the direction to the toilet! Lol. Well, after the release, we all felt comfortable! To credit the shop, we bought chips from them. ^^ We then proceeded to Colosseo. Kristie and I did Jump shot again. lol. I think the people around must be having a good time watching us jump. lol. After that, we took a walk around. We went to Roman Forum, places of the Italian Renaissance that have been left after the late 15th century, Italian Wars and the tomb of the unknown soldiers! The tomb of the unknown soldiers makes me recalled of the tomb of unknown soldiers in Paris, France. Not forgetting to drop by the Trevi Fountain again, it was super crowded with tourists! It is mentioned that a coin of 1 euro thrown to the fountain u will return to Rome, 2 coins thrown u will find ur love, 3 coins thrown u will marry an italian man. lol. After that, we went walking around the street. There are a lots of branded shop like Gucci, Louis Vulton, etc. It was too pricy for us to buy, only for our eyes to view. lol. We had Macdonald today. I ordered a meal that was not suitable for me to eat. Forcing it down, in the end I vomitted everything. Well, what a waste of money. I should have persisted to eat other stuffs instead. We then went to purchase postcard and find a shop that Gin Jin wanted to buy something from. It was an endless walk and it was simply impossible to find that shop. I was a little impatient, irritated and annoyed then, especially after a bad lunch, it has worsened my mood too. I just keep silent during the entire finding. Finally, we head back to the camping ROMA. We had Pasta and coffee cake made by the top deck chef at Camping Roma. Janet and I then went around taking photos at the Campsite before we bath and rest.

European Wonder_230608_FLORENCE & ROME

Camping GirasoleI am holding onto the key to the room. ^^The place where we had our breakfast

I am playing with the swing

Flume ArnoForever love?!? Ponte Vecchio Duomo CathedralUffizi Gallery

Santa Croce At Leonardo Leather, he is the encraver that day.

At Rome

Piazza Navona - The city square of RomeBehind me was the ancient Roman Forum. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization developed.Spanish Steps :

a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by Trinita dei Monti, the church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France, above. It is the longest and widest staircase in all Europe. It has 138 steps altogether. I think we went through it at least 3 times. lol.

We are at Pantheon -a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome

Janet and I at the Trevi Fountain

Victor Emmanuel Monument :

The enormous white marble monument at the Piazza Venezia was built as a tribute to the first King of a united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. The King itself is already 2m tall.

We have had a good breakfast in the restuarant of Camping Girasole. After the good meal, we set off to FLORENCE. We were each given a FLORENCE information sheet.

Basic Language: Grazie (Thank You); Ciao (hello/goodbye); Si (yes); No (no); Prego (u're welcome); Quanto costa? (How much?); Parla inglese? (Do u speak english?); etc

We had a walking tour with a local Italian guide. We saw the Ponte Vecchio Duomo Cathedral, Uffizi Gallery and Santa Croce - the burial place of Michelangelo. FLORENCE is famous for its shopping, of course. haha. We went for the leather demostration. There are really a lot of knowledge to learn to differentiate between a real and fake leather. Often, demostrator would just use a flame over the leather and mention that if the leather do not burnt, it is real leather. In fact, all these were wrong! Real leather must use our sense of touch. We must rub against the cloth and the leather to feel the friction caused by the uneven leather skin, that feel would then proved that it is real. I bought 2 leather wallet with their name encraved for both of my parents.
I thought of buying a bag for myself, but it was quite pricy for me to afford right. hai! I would want to come back some time again if I have the chance! The encraving took quite some time. And we were late once again. We grabbed some sandwiches as we headed back to bus. I had bus sickness again. -.- I ended up sleeping after one mouth bite of the sandwiches. Soon, we were on our way to Rome - The home of Vatican City, St. Peter's Cathedral and the Colosseum.! It was already afternoon time when we reached Rome. We had a walking tour around Rome before we headed to Camping Roma. The walking tour includes the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, the ancient Roman Forum, the massive Victor Emmanuel Monument, and the Colosseum. The place was very nice! ^^ But the weather was hot! -.- After the tour, we went to our camping Roma.

European Wonder_220608_ITALY-PISA & FLORENCE

Departing Switzerland! =(
TopDeck coach
The makan place!

The showering place! Saw the box? That is for u to insert the coin for the heater.

The laundry place.

Our sleepout room!

The street of PISA!The street of PISA!
Leaning Tower of PISA

Our starter - Spag Red Wine Main course - Pizza.

I still prefer the one i had in the pizza restuarant at Compeigne.

Dessert - Cookies and Cream gelato ice-cream Kristie's facial expression after the strong lemon shot!

We woke up early to get our backpack ready. We had our breakfast and then set off to our next stop, ITALY-Pisa, to visit the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. Leaving behind the mountains of Switaerland, we were on our way to ITALY. It was quite hot over there. As soon as we get down from the bus to visit the leaning tower, I can really feel the heat!

Some Background of Leaning Tower of Pisa:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the freestanding bell tower of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa's Piazza del Duomo after the cathedral and the baptistry. Although it was intended to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to southeast soon after the onset of the construction on 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. Height of the Tower is 55.86m from the ground on the lowest side and 56.70m on the highest side. The tower has 296 or 294 steps.

It was a pity that we do not have much time for Pisa if not I would have wanted to climb up the Leaning Tower. Blake said that the road tax here was super expensive. For a bus to wait at the carpark for 2 hours would cost almost 2k euros. Well, this is what attractions are for earning money, isn't it? haha. We did a few pose there with the Leaning Tower. hehe^^ After which, we were again on the bus, on our way to ITALY- Florence, the capital of Tuscany. It was another long ride due to the traffic jam on the road. *yawn* During the ride, Blake told us to beware of pickpocket in ITALY. He mentioned that there was a time when all the people on the bus went down for sightseeing. 2 thiefs came and took the baggages when Only the driver and the cook were left on the bus. Luckily, at that time the cook saw them, so as they transfered the bags on their van, the cook transfered them down from their van to the road. So one in, one out. Then in the end, those thiefs thought they have succeeded after the last bag was placed in the van without realising the cook was in there dropping off the last bag down on the road and they drove off taking the cook with them. -.- Eventually, nothing was lost. Thanks to the cook, who was back after the thiefs realised that their mission has failed. It was very funny and scary at the same time. Also, Blake mentioned to be wary of children on the street of ITALY. They are those highly skilled pickpockets. Well, it's time to take a nap again. lol. At 7 p.m, we reached Camping Girasole at FIGLIINE VALDARNO, ITALY. Janet and I were assigned a room while Gin Jin and Kristie were assigned to another room. After settling all our stuffs in the room, it's time for dinner again. lol. This time round was a really good meal! We had pasta as our cold dish and one entire pizza as the main dish and then followed by cookies and cream gelato ice-cream! It was super filling and sinful. -.- We had red wine too. After which, we went walking around. The TV was broadcasting the EURO cup live - Italy Vs Spain. It was a very special feeling to be able to get involved in cheering in a country that is having a match. All the Italians's eyes were glued to the screen as there was going to be a penalty kick between Spain and Italy. It was a super tense moment. In the end, Spain won with 5 kicks against Italy's 3 kicks. Besides, while watching the match, we each had a cup of shot. The alcohol was super strong and tasted quite awful. lol. After the match has ended, we headed back to bath and sleep.