Photo album: Florence, Italy (13th - 14th July)
Florence!! Heh a city that I'm defintely coming back again. For the shopping of course. Lols. More on that later. We spent a total of 2 nights in Florence, but we went on a day trip to Pisa on the 1st day. Hmm the 2 days were pretty rushed. Wasted a lot of time on the train. Heh we also found out that for trains with no compulsory reservations, there was a certain number of seats that u can sit on without being chased away. Talking about trains, think our Eurorail pass was quite bo hua lehs. Cos a lot of the trains we took needed reservations. The most expensive we paid for was from Rome to Venice! 15eur each. Yikes. So taking domestic flights is definetely cheaper, hmm but of cos more inconvenient cos of the location of the airport. Hmm maybe next time just take train ba. But buy tix from the place instead. Yups. We wished we had more time in Florence really. Seems there's like a lot of nearby cities that we can visit.
Shopping
The shopping place recommended by Jiongting was The Mall. It's located at a super ulu part of Florence lahs. The outskirts I think. Really in the middle of nowhere. Had to take a 1hr bus ride there. And the ride was super bumpy. Dunnoe wth the driver was doing. Really felt like puking.
Oh but the stuff were really cheap! Err in a sense when you compare it to the original price. But not exactly totally affordable lahs. Saw a Tods bag that I like a lot!! But it's still 400 bucks lo. Yeah. Got a pair of shoes from Zegna for Ryan! Super nice. It was ard 120sgd. A good buy! Went to taka the other day to check how much they usually cost. Lols. The shoes were at least 500bucks? Haha. See also shuang. Dearie got me a pair of Gucci sunglasses! It's not the usual big ones lah - I look horrible in them. A simple one, but I got it cos of the crystal G at the side. Haha. 160sgd!! Ryan also got a Burberrys pink bag for his sis there and I bought a softtoy for my sis from the same store. Haha. So she chi right. Soft toy also must be branded. Lols. We had a lot of fun shopping there! The service was great and a feast for the eyes. :) Wanted to get a bag of some sort from there, but there wasnt any that I like. So sad. Oh yeah the Gucci and Zegna wallets were damn cheap lah! I mean how often do you get such a wallet for 150bucks right. But it's for guys lahs. Heehee. The girls one wasnt very nice. Heh will definetely come back when I'm richer!! Yikes, cant wait. Lols. Can just imagine me prancing around the store le. Lols.
Sights
The leaning tower of Pisa was really amazing!! It's really leaning!! There were loads of people trying to take the picture of them supporting the tower. Hiaks so funny. Good thing we had a good spot. :) Funnily, the reason why the tower is leaning was a mistake on the architect's part. And it wasnt on purpose or anything. It was originally supposed to be like a lighthouse as it was near the coast before all the land reclaimation was done. Heh the other architecture on the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) din really interest us much. We were too fascinated by the tower. Haha. Din expect myself to be so wow-ed by it.
Well anyway, we also visited the Duomo back in Florence. Climbed like 463 steps to the top of the dome!! Super tiring. Like morning exercise. Phew. Was super afraid when I was still at the interior of the dome, because the passage was rather narrow and there was only a piece of glass along the narrow passage. Yikes. But out in the open it was okie lah. Hmm we also walked past the River Arno, saw the only bridge Ponte Vecchio which was undestroyed by the WW2 bombings, caught a view of the duplicate of the statue of David in Piazza della Signoria. Din have the time to visit the Accademia or the Uffizi Gallery, which are apparently quite famous in Florence. Very off right. Haha. But we'll be back!
Our hostel
We stayed in Hotel Palazzuolo. The hostel was pretty decent. Big room, TV - though we dun understand anything on it, no subtitles also!, air-con, wash basin etc. Heh the old man at the counter keep trying us to make small talk with us. But we could barely understand him and he could barely understand us. Quite amusing. But he showed us pictures and recommended where we could go etc. Very warm service :) The location was near the station (actually all the hostels we stayed in were near the station lah, except for London!), nearer to the bus terminal SITA actually. Wouldn't mind staying there again :)
Food
Food in Florence is generally cheaper than Rome or Venice. My favourite meal was the one in Pisa. It serves traditional Italian food at a damn cheap price!! It was recommended in Lonely planet. And gosh we had a hard time finding the place. Asked this women where this road was, to find out that it was actually her restaurant that we were looking for!!
La Tana (Vicolo San Frediano 6)
We wanted to try the spaghetti al coniglio (pasta with rabbit), but it was out of stock! See how popular it is? Hais. But the dishes we tried were simply delightful! Plain as they may look, they were really delicious. The tiramisu was heavenly!! Mixed in appropriate amounts of everything good. Haha. And the roast beef was kinda unexpected. I thought it would be grilled and all. But it turned out the be cold slices of beef in wine. Very tasty! And I chose the pasta with my limited Italian food vocabulary. Haha. Turned out to be pasta wrapped with meat inside in cream sauce. It was sooooooo good!!
We also tried the traditonal lampredottos at the tripe stand at Piazza Cimatori! Haha which is actually cow's stomach in a bun. Haha. Doesn't sound very appealing right? But tasted quite unique yeah. We had seafood pasta again for dinner. Haha cant help ordering it over here because their seafood pasta is always so flavourful! The pasta honestly has the typical seafood taste. As usual, we always order one primi and one secondi to share in Italy. Cos the servings are so huge!
Heh the design of the milky heart on the surface is so pretty right!! I wonder how did they do it. We always have the need to have one cup of cappuccino a day!! Oh but the thing is the price is kinda different if you drink it off the counter or when you have it sitting down. That's so dumb. And the sugar they provide is in a huge bottle and you have to be really careful when you pour it in. Haha the first time we totally overdid it and it was damn sweet!
Florence was the last city we visited in Italy. Sighs blogging about it makes me miss Italy already!! I so wanna go back again. Must save up so that I can go back soon! Hehee. I remember throwing the coin into the Trevi Fountain back in Rome. Haha doing so means I'll have a speedy return to Rome! Woohoo.. Lols. Superstitious gen. The Italians were really a helpful and warm bunch of people. Determined to learn more Italian phrases before I go the next time! Heheehe.
Labels: Europe
