Lake Como (7 Oct 2006)

On our first weekend here, we visited Lake Como, a 1.5 hrs drive from Milan. It is a famous lake known for its beautiful scenery and quaint little towns at the northern part of Italy. Do not regard the term "lake" here to our Jurong Lake. This Lake Como is don't know how many times bigger than Singapore!

We drove along the lake from Lecco, a town on the south-eastern part of the lake and passed by Bellagio and then to Como town. The scenery was indeed beautiful. It is not something which can be captured on film and be able to feel that kind of emotions when you looked at the pictures again. It is the whole atmosphere of the houses, villas and churches on the slopes of the valley and some built on the lake itself. After driving for a few kilometers, you will chance upon another town, and another town with all the necessary shop like a pharmacy, restaurant, and so on. The best part of it is that you can see the houses and towns over at the other side of the lake.

Throughout the whole trip, I am pondering... How did they manage to build those houses on the valleys? It's not just a few houses, it's like thousands of them from the bottom of the valley to the top of it and there is only one road up and it is a winding and narrow road. When it first started constructing the town, wouldn't there be traffic jams? And how did they transport those cranes up the valleys? How do these people go to work? Wouldn't there be traffic congestion if everybody drives to work every morning? Although cars are cheap in Italy, how about those who cannot afford a car? I barely see any public buses going there. Grow their own food? Nah, I see very few vegetation plots around. And where do the children go to school? I saw school buses along the way but I don't see any schools around. Does that mean that all these children have to travel 1-2 hours everyday downhill to the cities to study? So many questions on my mind. I hope I can get to know a local staying on the valley and have an interview with him.

We came across this interesting Hotel Belvedere at Bellagio. This town is sited on the promontory overlooking the three arms of the lake. (Lake Como is shaped like an inverted 'Y') They have rooms on the ground floors that have windows that stretches from the height of the knee to the ceiling. The wondow looks out to the vast lake and valley on the other side of the lake and... the bed is placed just at the window! Can you imagine waking up every morning to be greeted with such a stunning view? I think this is the best spot especially for honeymooners to have a break from all those hectic city tours. I wished my honeymoon suite will have a view as nice as this. *wink*

Venice & Verona (14 Oct 2006 - 15 Oct 2006)

Venice - a city on water and is sinking each year. In time to come, it may become like a historical site where it is remembered as the vibrant city that stood proudly on water for centuries.

The drive to Venice was pretty simple. This time we did not spend hours getting lost b'cos it's A4 highway all the way from Vimercate to Venice. We parked our cars on the mainland near Mestre train station and took a train into Venice. It is a car-less city; the only form of transport is your trustworthy pair of legs or a gondola (their famous boat). The city is very small... you can visit the whole of Venice within a day. It is actually like Sentosa but more compact. It's amazing that it is so tiny yet such a famous city in the world.

The gondola is a symbol of Venice. The boatman is dressed a typical Venician boatman uniform and sometimes in a square-topped hat. If you are lucky, the boatman may provide some entertainment by singing as he rowed away. It cost $45 euro for a trip around Venice on gondola but I was afraid of getting seasick hence skipped the idea. The houses in Venice are one of a kind. It actually reminds me of the story, Ali Baba & the forty thieves. The entrances to their homes are not a compound but merely a door that opens up to a staircase and leads to individual apartments. They are like a maze - narrow streets with colorful shop-houses and shops selling Venician masks.


Speaking of those masks, I fell in love with their exquisiteness and how they can create so many fanciful designs, some even with feathers! I wish I can bring home one of them and put them in my house but I doubt my luggage has enough space for that. Suddenly I felt so "arty-farty" that I bought 4 small masks, the size of my palm though.

Saint Marco square is also another highlight of Venice. It has the biggest cathedral (called duomo in Italian) with a rich history. The place is filled with tourists and pigeons! I wonder do people avoid the place when there is the bird-flu epidemic. The duomo, like other duomos in Italy, has many paintings and sculptures each painstakingly done up by famous artists.

On our way back from Venice, we passed by the town of Verona. It is a small town famous for the setting of "Romeo & Juliet" play. All of a sudden, the recollection of Shakespeare's stories during my secondary school days emerged. "... In the city of Verona, house of Juliet Capulet..."... I did not know that Romeo and Juliet were Italians! One of the streets stands the balcony of Juliet which Romeo tried to sneak in every night. Now it has become a tourist attraction. There is also a bronze statue of Juliet below her balcony. It is believed that if you touched her right breast, you will be lucky in love. Her left breast has now become silver instead of the original bronze-color after all the sweat from the tourists' hands. Poor Juliet.

Interlaken @ Switzerland (21 Oct 2006 - 22 Oct 2006)

Interlaken - a small town between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz in Bern Oberland. It is popular probably due to its accessibilities to many of the famous alps nearby.

We set off at 6:30am by car from Cosmo Residence. We took about 6 hours to get there, 2 hours longer than what other people experienced. Haha! We got lost in Milan main town for about an hour or so... The map which I had was so small that I did not know the route we are planning to take does not intercept each other. People said once you drive inside Milan, you will be like a lost child. How true it is. After searching for the nearest highway, we managed to exit Milan. From the map, the 1-hour search covered only 5% of Milan! We even drove onto the tram road which was illegal. How scary can it get!

After getting out from Milan, we took about another 45min to reach the Swiss custom. Need to pay 40 swiss franks for a pass to use their highway. The immigration did not check our passports though. Once we entered Switzerland, we were bewildered by the views of snow-capped mountains and small cottages at the foot of the mountains. Cameras began snapping away. It was highway all the way until we reach the SustenPass. It was a pass through a few of the mountains, Yes, it was literally crossing the mountainS. The roads are treacherous. It was nothing like Genting or Cameron Highlands. Comparatively, the latters were like babies to a mother. With our 1.2 litres FIAT PUNTO, it was no surprise that it took us 2 hours to cross the 40km of mountainous roads. The view there is breathtaking with the occasional waterfalls, plateaus of water and valleys.

After crossing this range of mountains, we heaved a sigh of relief when we reached the bottom of the mountains. We continued "wa-ing" at the sceneries for an hour or so before we arrived in Interlaken, where we will be lodging for the night. As it was still early for check-in, we went check out the surroundings and to admire the serenity of the town. Then we head to the nearby supermarket to buy chocolates! Actually, they are not that cheap as what some people said. Maybe they have more varieties from the Lindt choc range and slightly cheaper than in Singapore that's all.

Time for check-in at 4pm. The hostel, Backpacker Villa was great! It was way off better than the one we stayed during our Venice trip. We had a 7-beds mixed dormitory with attached bathroom and, a balcony! The view at the balcony was really what I had always hoped for. Mountains! Snow-capped too mind you! The hostel is very self-sufficient. When they know that we will not be in time for the all-you-can-eat breakfast in the next morning, they gave us each a token to buy hot drinks and a bagel for breakfast. How sweet of them. I highly recommend this place - www.villa.ch.

Off we head to Darlingen to view one of the 2 lake, Lake Thun between Interlaken (hence the name). The other one is Lake Brienz which we had seen on our way to Interlaken. The town has many small cottages, just like those I had imagined in Hansel & Gretal's story. The Swiss also placed a lot of attention on their house decorations, all those little ornaments on their window panes. So cute!!

Dinner was at this authentic Italian restaurant just down the street from the hostel. Their local specialties are the fondue (cheese, olive oil, chocolate) and the rosti. I had wanted to try on the rosti but the menu shows beef fillet with herbal butter and I could not resist it. I have not had steak for the past 3 weeks and I am going crazy! The meat was tender and the presentation was great. Later, we had the chocolate fondue to dessert. It was nothing fascinating - a ceramic bowl with melted chocolate and a small plate of typical fruits like bananas, strawberries, peach, grapes, apples & pears. I don't really the chocolate cos it is slightly bitter. Why cant they melt those toberone chocolates instead?

The highlight of this Swiss trip is the Jungfraujoch mountain that we went the next day. It was named "Top of Europe" although it is not the highest mountain in the Swiss Alps but cos it has the highest train station stop in Europe. The train cost 100 euro to get up the mountain. The journey up the mountainous region was a sight to behold. Cottages at the foot of the hill became like houses in the Monopoly boardgame. There are snow-capped mountains everywhere and I don't even know which mountains are which. But I know it when I reach Jungfraujoch. The air got thinner and I saw a wide spread of snow. I was dying to feel and touch the snow. However, the feeling was not as overwhelming as I expected, probably cos it was still autumn and the snow had became compacted ice. It was not like those I had imagined where once I stepped foot on it, my whole boots will be stucked in the snow. The ground is like a skating rink just that it is a -4 degree rink. It's amazing that I don't feel at all -4 degree, all thanks to my thermal top. I was merely wearing a thermal top with jacket and jeans. On our way back to Interlaken, the train stopped by Grindlewald where the main attraction there is the Eiger Mountain. It is just a tourist town, smaller than Interlaken with lots of Japanese visitors.

It was overall a good experience given that I had always wanted to feel the coldness and admire the snow-capped mountains in Switzerland. It also convinced me that Switzerland is more than just a chocolate country.

Ciao!

Ciao! Been ages since I have written. I am in Milan, Italy now on business trip for the past 3 weeks. Another 8 weeks more to go! Gosh, do I miss Singapore! The prawn soup noodles from Newton, the garlic butter crabs and honey pork ribs from Defu Lane, the fish head curry from Banana Leaf and "cui kuey" and of course Superboy!!! Sob sob!

To be specific, I am in the town of Vimercate in Milan. Before I came here, my image of the Milan is full of glam and people wearing trench coats carrying poodles, modeling around the town with huge sunglasses covering 3/4 of their faces. But I was so wrong. Maybe this scenario only applies to the centre of the central Milan where all the posh boutiques are. The first time I went inside central Milan was to get the permit of stay from their police station. The roads there are terrible. We would never had made our way back to the apartment if we were not taking a cab. And one horrible thing is there are very few cabs in Milan. Hey! Milan, the main fashion city, where are all the cabs? I haven't been to the heart of Milan yet but this Saturday I will be going to check out those big boy boutiques in town and to see those aspiring designer shops and to watch the Milan Darby match at San Siro stadium. I am so excited!

Alright, to elaborate more of my life here for the past 3 weeks... basically, I look forward to dinner at night in my apartment where the few of us will be cooking Chinese dishes everyday. Of course, the week will begin with planning for shop trips to nearby cities or countries for the weekend. Work is so light... I don't consider myself working at all. Lunch here is free in their cafeteria. Their food is not too bad but it is so crowded cos the thousand-over strength of employees eats there cos it is a ulu place and you can hardly walk anywhere for a decent meals unless you drive. Fortunately, my apartment is comfortable. It is a 5-star service apartment where you have chambermaid cleaning up for you everyday. The bed is comfortable and the view is good. We can see the Swiss Alps from our windows. Milan is actually about an hour's drive to Switzerland. So far, I have been to Lake Como, Venice and Verona. I will write more on my trips in the later entries.

Time to pack up and go home!