Rome (25 Nov 2006 - 26 Nov 2006)

There's a saying that goes "if you haven't been to Rome, you haven't been to Italy." Right, so I must proudly say I have came to Italy.

I covered most of the main attractions in Rome in just 2 days. We did tons of walking but not as much as what I did in Australia with Superboy though but it got me pretty tired; must be the age catching up on me. Anyway, the domestic flight was delayed for 30mins at Milan and we arrived at our hostel "Yellow" at midnight. The hostel was still very much alive at midnight! The reception area is like a drinking place, reminded me of this pub-like cafe I went in Liang Seah Street. After lying out our linen, I was pretty fast asleep despite the howling and laughter from the dorms across ours at 2am.

We started off the morning walking towards the Colosseum. Along our way, we past by some of the attractions seen on the tourist map; places like the Piazza Repubblica and many cathedrals. Before we went Rome, we would get very excited whenever we see buildings with dome but in Rome, it was domes-overdosed! Saw a basketball court on my way there and the ground was covered with fallen dried leaves. Think it made a good picture so took a snap of it with me in it of course. :) Missed playing basketball... feel so unhealthy now... miss Superboy when I see something related to basketball... wanna watch NBA during my honeymoon... ok, I am talking nonsense now. :p

Finally saw the famous Colosseum. It was not as massive as I had imagined. It did not give me that 'wow' feeling. Maybe I have seen too much of such structures that I was not awestruck by it. Nevertheless, took picture of this much talked-about place of interest. Oh ya, the Colosseum is also an excellent spot for pickpockets. Heard so much stories about the "art of Italian pickpockets" and we actually met with a group of them! 2 women carrying BABIES and a small, crumpled cardboard, suddenly came up to my colleague who was walking behind me and started walking in circles. I thought they were beggars but my colleague who managed to escape their grasp, told me they were trying to unzip her bag and using the cardboard to block it. A passerby saw it and told them off and they backed off. Er... when you see someone trying to steal in public, do you merely tell them off? I think I will shout "thief!" and naturally the pickpocket will run away right? But here, after their unsuccessful attempt, they went back to their "territory" (the staircase leading to the Colosseum) and await the next prey. *roll my eyes* I have photo to show it. See below. On the left of the picture are the pickpockets showcasing their Italian Job.

The other attractions I visited include the Pantheon (some cathedral that is known for its design which has a hole at its roof - duhz... how "ingenious"), Castello Sant' Angelo and how can I forget the Trevi Fountain! The place is soooo crowded with people! It is not a musical fountain but it is magical enough to attract such a huge group of people, either posing photos, relaxing by the fountain or throwing coins into the water! They say, if you throw 1 coin into the fountain, you will return to Italy; if you throw 2 coins, you will meet a handsome Italian guy; if you throw 3, you will marry the Italian guy. So guess how many did I throw? *wink* ... I don't want to return to Italy nor do I wanna marry an Italian. Meeting one handsome one is kinda difficult here I realized so see whether does this myth work or not lor? ;)

The next day we went to the Vatican City. It is another country of its own because it does not fall into the Italian rule. Think the Pope has all the say in this so called country. There was no immigration though. We visited the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum. The queue for the museum was terrible! We queued for like 2 hours before we got in. I like the Sistine Chapel but too bad we were kinda rushing for time hence there was no time to slowly appreciate the paintings on the walls and the ceilings. Not a part of the ceiling is empty without any paintings on it. And it is painted on the ceilings mind you, not those which you hang onto the ceilings. Our objective is to see the famous Michelangelo painting - the one with the hands of God and Human touching each other (See below). It is amongst other paintings on the ceiling; if you do not know it is so famous, you probably will not notice it.

St Peter's Basilica was filled with thousands of people when we arrived there because the Pope is giving his speech while looking out of a room on top of the Basilica. There were people carrying banners like in a soccer match like that. In Vatican City, everywhere you also have to queue up. We queued up to get into the St Peter's and we saw the tombs of all the previous Popes. There was even a security screening before we enter the basilica. It was huge inside and the ceilings are also painted. Most probably they are also painted by either Michelangelo, Leonardo or Raphael (Not Ninja Turtle lah!).

My friend, Arthur

My friend Arthur passed away two weeks ago. I received the news on a cold and windy day in Italy on my mobile and email. Enedfea has been trying to contact me all morning but my mobile was off. When I on it after lunch, a couple of sms from Superboy and Enedfea came beeping in.

1st sms from Superboy: Pls call Enedfea, she got something to tell you.

2nd sms from Enedfea: If it is convenient, pls call me.

At the same time, I was logging in to my email and two emails from Superboy. Very seldom he will email me nowadays...

1st email: Dear, pls call Enedfea if you see this email.

2nd email: Dear, I think I have to tell you this bad news... Arthur passed away this morning...

I blinked my eyes to make sure I read the sentence correctly. Which Arthur was he talking about? I know 2 Arthurs and the one that both Enedfea and Superboy could most likely be referring to is the Arthur, my mahjong and supper kaki back in my uni days. I was momentarily stunned for a second and exclaimed "huh?!" so loudly that everyone turned to stare at me. I grabbed the telephone on the table and began dialling Enedfea's number. I need confirmation. I need to know is it the Arthur whom I often had late night ICQ with many years ago.

Me: Hello.... what happened?...

Enedfea: Arthur passed away this morning.....

Me: (pause) Which Arthur...?

Enedfea: (pause) Arthur, our SA bball senior...

Me: What happened?.... Was it an accident?

Enedfea: Nobody knows. We will be going to his wake tomorrow.

And the rest of the conversaton was difficult to continue. I can feel tears welling up my eyes. Many questions ringing in my head. Did he passed away suddenly just like this guy from my uni whose heart stopped out of the blue while on the phone with his friend discussing on the subject which we would be having an exam on in Suntec that afternoon? Or did he have some critical illness which he did not mention to anyone? Did he meet with an accident?

I rushed to the toilet and tears began rolling down. I was still browsing through his Friendster account the day before. I had not look through his Friendster for like a long, long time. Was even surprise to see that his status has changed from "Single" to "In A Relationship". The last time I met Arthur was sometime last year and we had Japanese dinner at this hotel he recommended. It was a short dinner, just some catching up with each other. He was looking good, slimmed down a lot from the previous time I saw him. Was worried that he was still suffering from the break-up with his long time girlfriend... but seeing the cheerfulness in his face, I was glad that he has moved on and was also doing very well in his job as some Account Consultant. He told me he was into this gaming thingy and had made some friends in Hong Kong and he would be going Hong Kong to meet up with them. He told me he is happy with his job but he will eventually start his own business or something and make his first million by age 30. Usually, when people tell me such things about making the first million, I will just listen half-heartedly; but with Arthur, I was confident he could do it. He has a happy family and is smart - no need to study also can get distinction for his Honours and Masters. Why does this has to happen to him?

The next day, Superboy forwarded me a newspaper article which described about an accident occurring on Turf Club Road at 3.30am. The car hit against the divider and crashed into a wall and bursted into flames. When I saw that sentence, it hurted me so much. Did his car malfunction? Was he dozing off while driving? Then I realised that driving is actually such a dangerous thing. It is like a time bomb. And God had cruelly pulled off the time bomb that Arthur is holding onto.....

Seravalle Shopping Trip (18 Nov 2006)

Went to this place called Serravalle, about 1.5hrs drive south from Milan. I think Serravalle means designer factory outlet, just like the Habour Town in Brisbane. Our colleagues told us that the traffic jam started outside the expressway! So, we reached there at 10am (their opening hour) to beat the crowd. But the traffic is smooth that day probably the day they went, it was sales on top of the outlet price. Anyway, it was a big low-raised building of shops, unlike Takashimaya and Marina Square though.

Started off with a cup of coffee at a cafe like the Italians before we started our rummage. The first shop I went into was Prada and without hesitation, I bought a wallet which cost only 100 euro and plus the tax refund, I think it only cost like 90 euro! Along Prada, there are D&G, Versace, Ferragamo but nothing caught my fancy. Also bought a small dinner bag from GUESS for only 25 euro! Haha! Nevermind people saying GUESS bags are not trendy... to me what is important is the confidence of the person carrying it and whether do that person has the status to carry the bag.

Next, there were the Levi's, CK, Diesel and GUESS stores. At first, I was about to give up after trying on about 3 pairs of jeans from Levi's cos they were too loose at the hips. Then on this small corner were the slim cut which most ang mo woman cant wear probably and I found my jeans which cost only 30 euro! Wanted to buy a pair of jeans for Superboy but jeans need to be tried on to see whether is the cut suitable or not. Saw a polo tee but left only the XL sizes and 90% of the tops are long sleeved tee shirts or sweat shirts. When I was about to pay, I spotted this short sleeved lady tee hanging amongst all the long sleeved blouses and quickly grabbed it. In the end, when I went home, I realized the cashier charged me only 1.50 euro instead of 11.50 euro for the top! Haha!! Bought a tee from GUESS, also like the last black piece of size S hanging there. It's a good thing that the ang mo women are mostly big size.

There was this big NIKE and ADIDAS store but mostly it is selling winter clothing. It cost like only 50 euro for a set of very nice track suit. But too bad Singapore is a humid and sunny country. Nevertheless, I found this ADIDAS green top with a small cherry logo on the left side of the top! It was the one and only tee with such a design lying on the rack in the whole shop! This is my favourite buy from Serravalle. Combed the whole of NIKE store twice to find something to buy but to no avail. The bags are pretty neat but luggage space is an issue hence I left NIKE empty handed. Can you dig it? Sigh!

Then we came to the chocolate shop that sells Lindt products and everyone are like rushing for the Pick and Pack. At first I don't want to buy any more chocolate but seeing the mad rush inside, I also picked up 2 empty bags and began to select one choc from each variety and ended up paying about 10 euro for like 20 small chocs?

This Seravalle trip was supposed to be a shopping trip for Superboy's things but I regret to say I could only manage to buy him 2 tee shirts only... L There are simply no short sleeved tops and Superboy has high expectations of the garments he wears; cannot be too loose, color cannot be too bright, neckline cannot be too high, sleeves cannot be too long, etc. Not my fault!

About An Asshole

I am so fucking pissed off by this horrible asshole at work. He is the worst male creature on Earth I'd ever known in my entire life! He behaves just like a woman on menopause or PMS. A selfish idiot and ungentlemanly. He is not those type who will extend his help to woman. On our way here to Italy, he is supposed to help this HR personel carry this box of pineapple tarts on board for the Italian counterparts here but I was the one who ended up carrying for him! Before we came here, our boss stated clearly that the 4 of us will be sharing 2 laptops but now it seems that he is the only one solely using it! If I were to be using the laptop on his table, he will show a kind of CB face. What the fuck!? We are supposed to be sharing the laptop. It is company's belonging, not his! But if I were to rebut him, he will definitely ask me to carry the laptop all the way. He is just this kind of CB person. His wife is not any good either. At the airport, I went over to say hi but his wife just gives me a dumb face. So fucking rude!

I had worked with him a couple of times and he gets on my nerves, right to the root! I thought it was a blessing that I don't have to work with him anymore but now in Italy and he is here too! Remember my 1st few blog entry about this scandalous couple at work? This CB is the guy and the other girl is also a CB person who thinks she is damn hot. KNN. It's no wonder he stays alone in Australia when he is studying. This kind of people has no friend. He is a crane driver-mechanic in NS. Lo bo kind, no wonder his character sucks! I always believe NS mould a person but of course if they are those lo bo types, then there is nothing much to mould. Mould until mud also like shit!

And one of the disgusting things he does is he keeps digging his CB nose and he never wash his hands one lor! Dig and dig and dig with everyone in the room. Dig in the office, dig at home, dig while driving. I wonder at home, after he digs his nose, where else does his fingers dig after that. Wah lanz eh, I feel like asking him to stop or at least use a tissue paper lor. He is disgusting both on the outside as well on the inside. Yucks! I hope he fall down on a puddle of shit and die and nobody will know he is dead cos he just blends in so homogeneously with shit. Bloody bastard!

Monte Carlo (5 Nov 2006 - 6 Nov 2006)

We drove for almost 6 hours to reach Monaco, the most famous part of the city being Monte Carlo. We traveled along the highway to Genova and then took the scenic drive along the coastline starting from Imperial, San Remo and a few other towns which I had forgotten. The view along the road trip was beautiful. I don’t know why but I have a thing for scenic route with houses on hilly slopes and blue sea.

We passed the Italy-France border on the hill top route and reached Mentone, the 1st town in France. The architecture in France is neater than in Italy and you can no longer see those typical rounded balcony as in Italy. Enter into France, all the signboards began to change into words starting with "Le ...", "De ...".

Drove for about a short distance, we finally arrived in Monte Carlo, the city where all the rich people reside. I have only one word to describe it- OVER-RATED. I had imagine it to be like the Las Vegas of the States with all the flamboyant cars, mansions on hilltops, glimmering lights on buildings and handsome men lying on sun deck chairs on their yachts. There were only a handful of Ferraris, Carreras, SLKs, Z4s, Bentleys, Aston Martins, Rolls Royces and only one Lamborghini. It was unlike what I was told - everywhere you turn to, you will see a flashy car zooming past. I only see a number of them parked outside the Monte Carlo casino and the glamorous Hotel de Paris (We were staying in this hostel called Hotel de France... but it was heaven and hell!).

Nothing interests me there. Maybe another highlight of the place is the Formula 1 route. Nothing special though; no signboards to say this is the F1 track if you are not aware of it. It is just a normal stretch of road along the sea where you can see yachts with female names painted on them. Wish I had a yacht naming after me... How about Maiden Janice? Haha!

Bergamo (1 Nov 2006)

It is a public holiday in Italy today and we went for a short trip to this town nearby called Bergamo. I was told that the sunset in Bergamo is fantastic.

Bergamo has an upper town and a lower town; the upper town being the older one is on the hill while the lower town is more bustling with high-rise building. We reached the place around noon but most of the shops were closed probably due to the public holiday. Hence, we had a hard time searching for a place to eat. There was a small flea market though and the things were mostly handicrafts or antiques-like teacups and what-nots.

After roaming the town for a while, we took the funicular up to the upper town and the place is totally different from its sibling downhill. It is a medieval town with very ancient buildings and it has a fort overlooking the town below. The view is er... not that "wow", a bit like Mount Faber in Singapore. Ha!

We walked towards the castle on the highest part of the hill hoping to see something that will take my breath away. We climbed like hundred over steps to the entrance of the castle and it literally took my breath away. We were late by half an hour to the opening hours of the castle! We hurried back down to the direction of the sunset for the much anticipated sight but it was a disappointment. The sun was not very bright in the first place and when it sets, it did not emit those red and purplish rays of dusk.

Overall, it is not a place which I would recommend to go though unless you have no other better place to spend the day then perhaps you can go feel the contrast of the upper and lower town and wait for sunset to see if you are lucky enough to witness the so-called fantastic sunset of Bergamo.

Cliques

We all form cliques wherever we are - at the playground when we were little kids, in school where we have sit together for breaks, at work which whom we have lunch with. Why do individuals inevitably form groups? Usually we form cliques of the common interest, goal or likes and dislikes. Cliques are something like culture. It is a powerful strength. They do the same things, talk about the same things and behave in the same manner.

In my workplace, my lunch "kakis" consisted of people with average age of 33. They are mostly married, experienced engineers and I am the most junior of them all. There is another group of young engineers which consist of people my age but I don't join them for lunch. The topics they discussed are lame and the jokes they attempt to make are pathetic. I prefer more constructive discussion like investment plans or upcoming new estate projects, not insincere talk and boring topics like where I went during the weekends. The type of people who put me off are those who always try to say something really exciting (or seemingly) and then ends it there, to keep you in what they hope to be suspense and then shake their head and mutter with a grin "nothing". These groups of people whom I avoid are those whom I regard as having immature thinking. Call me old or snobbish, I simply cannot stand having a conversation with such people. They are pretentious; one look and I know that they are definitely not one you can regard as friends.

Before I came to Italy for work, my clique warned me of people who take extra bread-sticks home from the company cafeteria because they wanna save on breakfast. Our company provides free bread and break-sticks as something extra to munch after lunch but they are not meant for bringing home. Boy, were they right! This group of people whom I hang out with, (with no other choice) did exactly the same thing! The lunch is already free and yet they still want to steal bread home? I am dumbfounded.

Another thing that pissed me off is there are people who like to imitate your way of talking or dressing. "Attack of the copycats!" I don't know why but I have a very strong sensor for such copycats. Since young, I came across people who would buy the same wallet, tee-shirt, slippers as soon as I bought the previous week. There are also those who copied by saying the same type of lingual which I had "invented" a few days back! It used to bother me but someone told me to think of it as a compliment. Yes, we all look up magazines to see what the latest fabs are and may rush to buy that newly launched bag showcased by Elle mag. These are not the kind of copycats which I am talking about. I am referring to those who are outright copying you. If I were a model and people wears the same sun shades as me, I will feel proud but I am a bloody plain Jane and... gasp! It is like stealing your ideas for a big project!

Right here in Italy, the few girls I came Italy with just did the copycat stance!!! I told them I wanna buy a pair of boots when I arrived on the 1st week and asked them to look out for me. I bought a pair on the 1st week and wore it out during the weekends. The following week, I hear one of them say she wants to get a pair of boots and slowly, now all of them got themselves a pair of boots! Maybe if I were to be in Singapore, I will just complain to Superboy and think they are pathetic but I am all alone in a foreign land and the least I want is someone wanting to "challenge" me. They even intend to bring the boots back to Singapore to wear?! They must be out of their mind wearing boots in the hot and humid weather like Singapore. I am gonna throw mine away on my last day here. I hope their feet rot wearing them.

Milan (28 Oct)

Finally went to the heart of Milan city this week despite staying in the region of Milan for almost 1 month. The mention of Milan makes me think of glamorous fashion, young aspiring designers and hot-bod models sashaying down in Armani, Prada, Hugo Boss and so on. Indeed, designer's shops are everywhere but I don't see any models though. Sidewalk cafes are also apparent and flashy cars are parked along the narrow streets. It is so common to see people carrying a Gucci or a LV bag along the streets. I want to buy one (or maybe two) of those too!

Alighted at the Duomo metro station and was greeted by the famous Duomu de Milano. It was said the building has 137 spires each with a different design in it. Although I am not really into art but I can't help but appreciate the hard work put into carving out each individual statue. We climbed up the duomo to admire more of its beauty from the rooftop.

Next to the duomo is Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, a famous shopping mall that houses some of the big boys in the fashion industry. It is not well-known because of the shops but more on the sculptures and paintings on the walls and the layout of the arcade. Superboy said amazing race introduced the place. (sidetrack: I miss watching amazing race... sob sob!) We spent so much time snapping pictures of the place that we have no time to enter the shops to do any purchase. I will return on another day to do some shopping myself.


Another anticipated itinery of the day is the Milan Derby match at San Siro stadium. Yes, you heard it. I will get to see international stars like Paulo Maldini and Kaka! I thought that such a famous stadium should be nicely maintained with bright and clean seats but it was not what I had expected. The seats are so dirty with burnt marks caused by cigarette buds. But one good thing is that the spectator seats are sheltered. You can really feel you are NOT in Singapore stadium with the enthusiasts cheering SO loud even 2 hours before the match! It is like a shouting competition between the two groups of supporters. We were seated on the top few rows because all were already sold out! Now I understand why cos they probably bought the tickets in bulks of thousands. There are a lot, a lot of banners and horns and they are also putting fire flares. At times they appeared to be so rowdy that you are afraid you may hear a gunshot from afar anytime. However, I must really give it to them for being so united. They even chartered buses to watch the match can? The match ended in 3-4 with Inter Milan emerging as the victor.

Actually, we left 10 mins before the match ended because the "home" team, AC Milan (in fact both of them share the same stadium) was losing 2-4 and we are afraid that there may be fights happening and we are like one of the few Asians... On our way down, we heard a thunderous roar and we had missed a goal from the home team. It was an exciting match with Inter Milan leading 3-0 in the 1st half and a red card for one of Inter's player for excessive celebration of a goal. The atmosphere was terribly good but I will not attend another match there again because it is like an opium house in there! They smoke like nobody's business and I can barely breathe!!! I almost died of air sitting there.