more travelling!!

Heya!!
it’s time for part two of the travel update!!This time we joined our classmates who are studying in milan…the more the merrier!

Napoli

First stop was Napoli…went to Milan to meet up with our friends first and checked out their dorms too..heh…think their rooms were nice and cosy with great views too! Nice peeps made dinner and packed yummy sandwiches for our train ride too…*thanks!!*Then it was a looonngg overnight train ride before we reached.

First day was a visit to Pompeii…really big place…so plenty of walking…really gotta bring good shoes man cos all that walking of uneven paved stone road and gravel can really test your feet. At first when u see all the ruins it’s like.’whoa..cant imagine mount versuvius actually buried all this’..but after a while it gets a little tiring and everything starts to look the same…the plaster casts of the Pompeii residents are pretty freaky though..can see the expressions of agony captured in the casts..eesh.

Next day was a visit to the National Museum…plently of sculptures and statues..also mosaics from Pompeii which were impressive…huge images made with thousands of little tiles..wooh..oo and there’s also the so called ‘secret section’ that houses ancient porn..heeh…no la it’s jus that pple viewed sex differently at that time..and um…apparently sculptures of penises were in at that time…

And of course we had to try the pizzas there..after all pizzas were invented there!..tried some of the restaurant ones but the best ones were those sold along the streets..cheap and yummy! We even tried the ones from a shop that Bill Clinton patronized!... The local fried pizza stuffed with ricotta cheese was finger licking good...and cheap!! Also went for this subterranean tour of the underground tunnels that lie below the city..heh..the guys had quite a squeeze though some of the narrower parts...

Traffic in Napoli is one of a kind…even worse than torino…the drivers are always horning and traffic lights have no meaning for them…most of the time they dun even stop when the lights are red…scary.
And also remember to bring cards when u travel!! Can play tai di and bridge!! We played silly uno-‘beep beep’-tai di…damn funny and the hostel guy was really cheeky also cos he kept popping over to peek at our cards and all…Yea and gotta keep in mind that on Sundays…all the shops close!!! If u gotta buy stuff or stock up on food at the supermarket…do it on Saturday!

Rome

Only us three gers went to Roma….the others went back to Milan first. The roma termini (train station) was really modern..the nicest we’ve seen in italy so far….they even have customer care officers! But then again the ticketing offices still suck cos usually only 1 or 2 of the many counters will be open…and there will also be a long queue of pple…really inefficient.Our accommodation was at a camping village (they have places for pple to park their caravans and bungalows for bagpackers) and we got a little...um.. shed…quite nice but really cramp. The camp site was nice tho..the facilities all new and clean...and they have an on site bar/restaurant. It’s quite far off from the city area so gotta take a bus but heh as usual we get away with not buying tickets…heh.

The Vatican museum was suppose to be our first stop but you should have seen the queue when we got there…*gasp* stretched on and on man…bet it was even longer than any hello kitty queue! So we had to go on to plan b…bought gelato ( the pistachionut flavour from ‘old bridge gelato’ was superb!) and headed for San pietro. Btw the Vatican guards wear cute looking uniforms..um actually they could pass off as performers from a circus! Sent postcards back home from the Vatican post…visited the basilica which was impressive…and we actually met two of our classmates there!! Such a small world!! They’re on exchange in germany and were traveling too. So great to see them!!

We finally did go to the Vatican museum the next day..still had to wait about 1 hr in the line before we could get in (must be all the American and Spanish tourists that arrive by the busloads!). I thought the gallery of maps was more impressive than the Sistine chapel..took photos but they didn’t turn out very good. Esp the ones in the Sistine chapel..not suppose to take photos in there but all the Spanish peeps around me were taking so..heck..i just took as well but then my camera batt died on me…darn! Anyway walking through all these roman churches and museums usually means u have to adopt a ‘heads-up pose’…every inch of wall space, ceiling included, will be filled with paintings so u always got to bend your head back and walk. You get used to it after awhile… :p

And of course we visited the colosseum, roman forum, Trevi fountain ( where me and weiying tossed a coin into the fountain…suppose to ensure that u will return to rome one day..we’ll see..we’ll see..)…Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II…Pantheon..etc etc…all very near each other so very walkable. On the whole rome one of the more tourist friendly places…must be cos it’s one of the few popular Italian tourist spots.

Budapest

Weiying didn’t join us for the eastern Europe travel but we met up with the Milan pple again. Slept in a couchette for the first time in an overnight train…was expensive but at least we got a good rest. Besides they provide free mineral water ( fizzante tho…it’s bubbly water…yuck)..’wake up call’ in the morning by the conductor…and pastry and coffee in the morning.

Our hostel was very pretty!!...Doesn’t look like much on the outside but inside it’s a comfy cosy apartment that’s been converted into a hostel. Nice double deck beds…free internet access…a kitchen..toilet…perfect!Budapest doesn’t use euros so gotta change to forins ( Ft/Huf ). The money changers all have the same rates so dun have to compare.We decided we had quite enough of museums already so we just decided to sight see. The Buda palace and fishermen’s bastians looked like part of a fairy tale castle…and had a great view of the Danube river.

Also went to Margaret island which in the middle of the danube between buda and pest ( the 2 sides of the river ). It’s like a sports and recreation island…lots of people go there to relax and play sports…kayak in the river…cycle..blade..run…oo..and we saw this 3 guys playing Frisbee…they were damn good!!

Some of us decided to go for the thermals baths which Budapest is famous for. The building it’s in looks really grand..at first we thought it was some kind of museum! Had quite a bit of trouble trying to get in cos we didn’t understand the pricing system and the cashiers ah…cannot make it…each time we go to a different one they tell us a diff price…aiyo…In the end we got help from the agnes, the lady who runs the hostel, and we found out that you pay a fixed amount to get in…and when u come out u get a certain amount of refund according to how long you stay inside. So we paid 1900 forin…and stayed for the max time for max refund (2 hrs) and got 800 forin back when we came out.The bath was really shiok!!! Esp the outdoor pools…very nice setting…like some romanish bath. A good soak in relaxing warm water while the air around you is cold…ahhh..nice..

Think we ate a lot of meaty stuff while we were there to cos food is pretty cheap there. There were a lot of kebaps…which very yummy and also tried out some local food at a restaurant recommended by agnes. Not bad…ate so much till we almost died. I ordered some beef stew in red wine and got an entire plate of just meat…bleh..so had to order some rice to go along with it.

Sat on the oldest metro line in Europe too..! the metro station is very cute..the station is jus a small platform and it has like a country theme to it..have to get the photo from the milan pple so i can upload it for u guys to see.

Vienna

Really liked Vienna…was nice, clean, modern and yet still had a good mix of the old. There were also a lot of design related stuff there…visited the Museum Quartier ( they have a cool lomo shop there) and the MAK design museum which was also hosting a Peter Eisenman exhibition then. Quite interesting.

And how could we not go to watch the Viennese boys choir while we were there! Managed to catch the easter mass…we went for standing room so we didn’t have to pay. They sang really well but standing for 1 plus hour was damn tiring. Not to mention there was this American family with bratty whiny teens sitting next to us.argh. And the thing is…the choir was up on the balcony above us…so u can only hear them…and jus when we thought mass had ended and made our way our of the church…the boys came down for a one song appearance!...urgh!!

Went to visit this cemetery on the last day and had a hard time looking for beethovan and struass’s tomb. Walked round and round only to realize we walked right pass it on our way in..eesh.. but the cemetery there is like a big park..lots of people strolling around and the tombstone there are all like designer pieces…very fancy and ornate. Oo and we think we found Michael thornet’s family tomb too…he’s the guy who designed the chair that we recognize as the old sort of kopitiam chair today.

There’s actually quite a lot of shopping here too but because it was easter…all the shops were closed the 2nd and 3rd day we were there…darn!

Zurich

It was an unplanned trip cos we actually wanted to tag along with our friends to Davos cos they wanted to buy Freitag bags. But we forgot that our railpass only covers 3 countries! Sigh..in the end had to buy tickets from the conductor….at least he was nice enough to only make us buy tickets for the trip out of Zurich. Anyways Zurich is a pretty small place…can walk to most of the main attraction in a couple of hours. The building here are not ornate like what we see in the other countries…even the churches are plain looking. But it’s just a pleasant place to be in. very wholesome and organised city.
eeee...but when we sit down on the park benches to rest.. got weird guys who will sit down and chat with u and ask u weird stuff like...'are u a serious woman?' huh?...wassup?? in the end we decided to jus keep walking and not sit...oo..our poor feet...

yup.. and tt's it for another 2 weeks of travel...school has finally started but tt's not gonna stop this full-time traveller!!..heh... next up will probably be Florence, Pisa, Sweden and Copenhagen!...stay tuned!!