Firenze Frenzy!

The next leg of the journey is rather hectic. We were very ambitious in the planning. To really savour Florence I feel you need more than 2 nights here. We only had 2 nights.

First stop from Rome was Space Prada outlet in Montevarchi, a small town in the Tuscan picturesque hills. It was about 2 hours drive. But it was an easy drive with beautiful view of the Tuscan hills, fields and villages. 

There was a cafe at the outlet that served decent lunch there. But I had no time to waste so I ate take out pizza in the car, it was from Spizzico a fast food chain and surprisingly it was very edible.

The Space outlet was not as good as people described in tripadvisor and forums. Stuff was not as cheap as they said. Although still a lot cheaper than back home. Wallets were euro$250 and above. Miu miu Totes were euro 550 and above. Prada leather bags were euro 800 and above.

We went on to the The Mall, another outlet that carries more brands as I was after the Bottega outlet. 

It was about half hour drive away, also in the hills of Tuscany, The mall was in another small town Leccio.

Here, Gucci was worth a visit. Nice boutique, with friendly sales assistance ( did I mention handsome?) and lovely bargains. Wallets from euro 150 onwards for women.

Bottega outlet was pretty good too, maybe 30% off boutiques.

We also found Prada outlet there! So actually we could have skipped Space outlet and saved time. Still I was glad I went to Space as I found some really good deals that weren't available at the Mall.

Do google themall.it if you wish to know the full directory.

The mall closed at 7 pm daily. And in we went to Florence.

We were ravenous by the time we got into the apartment. So it was a perfect night to go for the famous Fiorentina Bistecca, that originated from Florence.0 Huge T-bone steak charred on the outside, juicy medium rare on the inside.

Our host recommended this place called la lampara. We though the name was funny. Thankfully the food was not. It was amazing. 

It was beautiful. Love at first sight I'd say,

Our apartment was literally steps away from the famous Il Duomo, the cathedral, and the bell tower. 

Probably, this cathedral was the first one I saw that was prettier outside than inside. However the paintings on the dome overhead kinda made

up for it. Until you look at it more carefully.

If you read Dan Brown's Inferno like I did before visiting Florence. You will be more excited when seeing these magnificent historical artworks. If you notice, the drawings depicted hell scenes, punishments for the 7 sins. Horrifying pictures of Satan and vivid imageries of sinners punished in hell in various cruel and gory ways. Not very slightly, but interesting nonetheless.

Around the cathedral, do look for another entrance to climb 436 narrow steps up the dome.

We didn't go up as It would be too ambitious to climb that many steps with a hyperactive toddler. 

But my friends who did, told us that the view was amazing from the top.

The Grotto's bell tower next to the cathedral is a pretty sight too. And again you may wish to climb it but not if you are with kids. 

I was pretty happy hanging out around il duomo.

The streets, the shops were charming.

However beware of unscrupulous leather goods seller.

I stepped into a shoes shop around San Lorenzo piazza called Martelli. Seeing that the prices were around Euro 20-40, I was excited yet apprehensive.

I asked the shop lady if the shoes were leather and if they were made in Italy. 

She said yes leather and yes they are made in Italy, just not in Florence.

I sniffed the shoes. synthetic. I peeped inside the shoes : Made in PRC.

Sigh. She just spoiled my perfect picture of Florence.

After looking at the other leather shops and comparing the prices. I figure I might as well pay a little more and get a branded one at the outlet. At least quality is not jeopardized.

San Lorenzo market was mentioned in many forums however I suspected that many of things there which are cheap were made in china. I didnt visit in the end. But we did have a nice time strolling along the small streets around duomo. 

We also found this interesting concept store. Fullstop.it. They make a range of bags and watches made of high grade rubber which can be mixed and matched. Pretty fun!

The three of us bought matching watches!

After basking in the Florentian charm, we realised we had to go back to the mall again. Shopping is never enough for us Singaporeans. Especially with such bargains. 

Our suitcases were bursting at the seams by this time. 

This is why driving a car is so convenient, we can go back to the outlet anytime we want haha.

We only came back to Florence after the mall was closed at 7.

We parked along the Arno river ( it was free) and ogled at the famous old bride ponte Vecchio. Also mentioned many times in Dan Brown's Inferno.

We picked a restaurant with great view of the bridge and compromised on the food quality. 

This bridge is famous as it is linked to the palazzo vecchio and there are shops built along the bridge. The shops used to be occupied by butchers but these days mostly by souvenier shops.

So that's all we had for Florence, we would come back for sure. Good food, bargain outlets nearby, pretty places to eat and ogle. What else would we need?

Reminds us a little of Sevilla, friendly little historical town, rich with history, good food and shopping :)

Ciao Florence. See you again next time.

Next, we were going to Pisa and take photo with what Sheldon exclaimed :"This building is not balanced !"

After an hour or so drive, we managed to find parking alongside the road near the tower and took a short walk to the tower of Pisa. Surprisingly there were quite a few Africans selling accesories and toys alongside the road we parked and of course they asked for a "fee" if we would like to park there. So we bought a little turtle toy for Sheldon in exchange for the car safety. That was a bummer. 

Anyway, there's really nothing in Pisa except for the tower and the cathedral and baptismal around it. So it was just a quick stop for us to take the super touristy picture of the leaning tower.

This is the only place that we are allowed to do really weird kicking or pushing poses while taking photoes. 

 

The place was packed with tourists and you have to buy tickets to go up the tower, to enter the baptismal and cathedral. We couldn't be bothered.

We just did the touristy thingy, took silly photoes, selfies, selfie videos, and then headed off for lunch.

Recommended on tripadvisor, we were glad we ate here. It was just a short walk along via Santa Maria : Osteria i Santi.

The grilled beef, the pasta with wild boar and the tiramisu were to die for. The cod was very decent too.

The town Pisa itself is not pretty. Nothing like Florence. So there's not much to see and a quick stop is enough.

On we went again, up north to the coastal towns in the province of Genoa. 

Stay tuned for stories of the beautiful Italian coastal towns and Unesco national parks of the 5 villages : Cinque Terre.

Digging Rome deeper

17-21st Oct- Rome

As one of the oldest cities in the world, base for the magnificent Roman Empire, Rome is rich with history.

That's part of the charm we felt too. Slowly we started finding her piazzas charming and the fountains beautiful and the streets filled with character.

And in between, you will find the various Roman ruins, the colosseum - what Sheldon lovingly calls the "broken old stadium" and all other old fascinating buildings that you would ferociously google after seeing them, such as pantheon.

Rome is vast, spread out and crowded. 

It can hot and dusty, laden with flies in the summer too.

To walk from one attraction to another can take sometime, 15 mins to half hour and to Vatican City at the other side of the River Tiber, even more time. You definitely need more than 3 days here to really see and feel Rome.

Looking unfriendly at first, you may just like it after 3 days.

The Italians are surprisingly unfriendly. I find the Spaniards way better.

They are no frills, no fuss people, efficient but unfriendly. At least so far that's what we felt.

And tourists tourists everywhere.

From European, Americans and Asians.

Plenty of them.

Having said that, the city itself has many picture worthy sites and charming walks. In fact plenty of that. Even along the bustling streets of Rome. 

Around Rome, I recommend walking as a mode of transport, plus taxi for the times you got too tired or too sweaty from walking. The metro is very crowded, didnt like it much. Or maybe it was a sunday. Anyway, not so kid friendly, many times there were no escalator or lift. Probably similar to London tube's old and dirty stations. Except with narrower walkways.

You may want to opt for the "hop on hop off" touristy double decker bus too, if you hate walking too much.

But driving in Rome is confusing and stressful, like Jakarta.

So on we walk... , too many pretty sites to go to. Piazza Venezia, Pantheon, Fountains, Roman forum, Colosseum, various old churches like Santa Maria Ara coeli and many others ..

And as they say, you've never really been to Rome if you didnt visit the Vatican City.

The Trevi fountain is world famous, but alas it was under renovation when we were there. So all the other fountains would have to do.

Take a break in between your conquests at one of their charming trattorias at one of the piazzas. There's always a piazza nearby an attraction.

If you want to do the typical singaporean thingy, go shopping for big brands, hunting for bargains, then head for Spanish steps, where all the big brand boutiques are, where you will see more Asians than Italians on the streets.

Well, the steps itself make for nice photoes.

If you are looking for a pretty little town just outside Rome to relax and breathe some air in between your tours of the bustling capital, head for the Pope's Summer palace at Castel Gandolfo. Just 40 mins drive away,

The Lake Albano nearby is breath taking and the village is charming.

At this point, I have already started liking Rome a little more. Almost like the charm of one of those bad boy thugs your mom warned you about, at the end of the day you just have to fall for the charm. However, soon you realise it was not right and the liking wont last.

Me and hubby decided that we won't come back to Rome, but we may go back to Barca. There's just something missing here. We didnt like it, then we liked it, then we had our moments then it ended and then we felt there are probably better places to go to.

Just like relationships with bad boys. haha

And very importanly for us, how about food? 

People talk about how touristy Rome is and how most of the restaurants are tourist traps. But so far none of the places we ate at were particularly bad. And some were particularly good.

Normally every restaurant would have a few dishes that hit and one of two that missed.

Unlike Barcelona, where the restaurant itself is ether a hit or a miss. Very risky!

We had some really really amazing foods in Spain and some really really disgusting food in Spain, especially Barcelona. 

We figured perhaps if is easier to get a pasta right than say a paella. *shrugs*

On our first night in Rome, we had dinner at one of the lovely piazzas- piazza Navona with 2 charming fountains.

At Tre Scalini, the lasagna and tortellini were amazing and I heard their tartuffo was legendary. I thought it was good, but perhaps not quite legendary.

Our lunch off Via Nazinale was amazing too, with fresh Sole grilled to perfection and the highlight was the onion soup (surprisingly tasty, creamy and not onion-ish at all) and the Carbonara - done the original style: no cream!

And our lunch around the Vatican City ( not inside ) had the best gnocchi i ever had but the Carbonara was a bit too eggy.

We love eating al fresco here, Mid October and the weather was around 20 with strong sun in the afternoon.

But after walking too much, the sweat gets unbearable, so we would take a cab back to the hotel to freshen up before going out again. 

Food was easy for Sheldon, pasta and pizza. And oh! Gelato everywhere! Gelato everyday!

Way easier than Spain.

But overall, I wouldn't recommend Rome for an easy trip with the kids. 

I would recommend leaving the little ones at home until they are big enough to not need the pram at all. Roads are uneven, often pebbly and narrow. 

I feel that Rome is like the Jakarta of Europe, from the airport to the streets. Crowded and messy, dirty and dusty, hot and stuffy in summer, however there are places to go to, you will have your moments and the food is good. 

Next, we are driving to Florence, stopping by Space outlet by Prada and The Mall outlet.. to go shopping mad!!

Most people take trains to Florence as the high speed train would take you there at half the time, compared to driving. But we intend to shop seriously and with a kid on board plus many many luggages, car is a must.

Beware that it is left side driving here. So make sure you drive at the right side of the road! haha

So will tell you more about Florence soon.

It is about 3 hours from Rome to Florence and the highway so far is convenient and easy.

Ciao!!

Worst airport experience welcomed us to Roma

17th October 2014

Buon Giorno!

Yay! We have landed at Leonardo Da Vinci airport, Rome, expecting great weather, comfort of a nice airport, where we can stretch our legs, get ready to see the beautiful Rome.

Alas! We were instead welcomed by an overcrowded airport thats horribly managed.

Being spoilt by Changi airport's amazing effectiveness does not help. The fact that we were expecting something better from an advanced European capital also didnt help.

It was the worst airport experience we ever had. Hot, dusty, crowded. We waited almost an hour for the immigration check, and the queue was unmanaged, overcrowded and messy.

Packed like sardines is appropriate description.

We also couldn't find the baggage claim belt because there was no main LCD panel indicating all the baggage claim information, We had to check one belt by one belt. And it was a long walk from the first belt to the last. And ours was the last! And again it was so crowded. I kept banging into people. I started to wonder if I were actually in some small Indon city airport. 

ok, enough about horrible airport.

Buon Giorno again!!

Now I am waiting for Italian brunch. Ravenous!!

 Perched on a hill, Gianicolo, we had brunch at a terrace with magnificent view of the city.

Loved the fact that all the sandwiches have mozzarella in it. Delicioso!

Next we visited the colossal colosseum!

Sheldon kept saying how broken the castle is haha. I must say it was really a gigantic piece of very important ancient ruins.

Apparently it used to look really majestic with beautiful marble slabs, decorations and sculptures of precious metals but these were stolen and reused elsewhere so we are with just rocky ruins.

It was crowded and also a big place to explore so we took an hour or more here. Pretty tiring but it was very memorable.

We then had dinner at this Tre Scalini at a pretty plaza Navona with 3 fountains.

Not Trevi but pretty all the same. The pasta and tartuffo were amazing.

And with that we ended the day. Sheldon was jetlagged and we were all exhausted.

So far we found Rome not the type of city thats easily likable or irresistibly charming like Barcelona.

But I have a feeling it's a city that needs time to be discovered, to be loved.

It certainly is a very crowded capital. Numerous population with narrow streets don't make a good combination.

Like falling in love slowly. I am excited to know what the next day will enfold for us.

Perth 2014

This post is overdue. Partly because I have been lazy, partly because I was busy with overcoming mood swings and discomfort of third trimester pregnancy, labour and also confinement period.

Being blessed by a second kid and a girl to boot, was simply amazing.

And Perth was our second baby moon (doc says no more travelling after perth til labour!) after Melbourne just barely a month before July.

Weather was cold and windy. It was winter.

We stayed a friend's place by the beach. What! Just by North beach where the surfers did their winter surf (crazy!), the view from the dining hall is breath taking.

We did almost similar things ( what would you do with a bouncing hyper active 3.5 yr old? Aquarium..parks..etc

So just a few new discoveries this time around.

First of all: amazing ribs.

At Hillary's, just a kiosk, the uncle who served us was the owner and he was proud to claim that his ribs are so sought after there are people who flew all the way from Singapore and HK just to eat his ribs.

Yes uncle, ok. Very nice:)

Spicy and tender and tasty. And so value for money. Need I say more.

We also found that the roast duck and HK BbQ downtown next to dragon palace is really good too!

We also bought this supposedly famous Apple strudel from Corica.

I was told it tasted like heaven.

Well I wouldn't know. But it was pretty darn good. Crisp apple, crunchy pastry and very light and irresistible cream.

What's even better? I took the strudel and enjoyed it with a bird's eye view from

King's Park

We also took a trip to fremantle again as we couldn't miss out on Kaili's fresh catch.

We simply love Perth and would like to go for yearly pilgrimage to this lovely place.

Fremantle was packed in the weekend, and the seafood was good as usual.

We ended he trip with our trip to Swam Valley again- stocking up on jarrah honey, nougat, etc.

Alas, it was a monday and we didnt know most shops close on Mondays so you guys better take note.

Thankfully Oggie's was open.

And it was so packed too, probably because there were not many places openned then.

It was so busy that hubby helped on the kitchen voluntarily. In return we for free ice cream though! 

Windarra honey shop was open too, 

Reluctantly, I also bought this eczema balm from the small little house-shop that the aunty kept raving on and on about.

I saw that the ingredients were jarrah honey, cinnamon and virgin coconut oil so I thought let's try for Sheldon ( whose eczema was still bothering him and us!)

Guess what, it worked. Best cream ever!

He rarely itches, redness almost disappeared and now he has pink cheeks but very little irritation.

Awesome trip. til next year.!:)

And in the meantime- it's Italy in October 2014!

Sadly have leave mei mei Leighton (my second baby) behind for 10 days with my mom. 

We are only taking the kor kor for this trip and she is only barely 2 months old by then. 

Rome- Vatican- Florence- Pisa- Cinque Terre- Portofino- Milan.

Stay tuned!