Paris-Italy: 29 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Venice
Venice had been enjoyable but it would not be a place I would choose to live in. =X Venice was a love-hate. More love than hate. On good weathered days, the venice streets were a charmer. The river edges and the many little bridges connecting streets to streets were interesting and pretty to walk through. Looking at the venice map itself was an art; same for the water bus map. By the second day, we had been able to easily walk from the hostel to San Marco Square and back. Charmer, interesting and actually nice to walk in, if you know where you're going. On bad weathered days, specifically rain with wet shoes, soggy socks and cold, the Venice streets were quite a maze. Having the most uncomfortable walking foot wear and getting to dead ends and river edges were quite frustrating. Only comfort was from the snuggling under the umbrella.
Our hostel, Ca Contirini, was located at the S.Samuele water bus station at the edge of San Marco. Although it was not exactly at the busiest streets, it was close to the water bus station, which meant less dragging of luggage. =Z
Venice's water buses came as ferry boats and water taxis came as speedboats. Although the water buses took a long time to travel from point to point, it had been enjoyable sitting in them and moving through the river (the Grand Canal). Only thing was figuring out the routes and the schedules, of which, both of us always had different understanding of whenever we wanted to go to places. Is it #2 towards San Marco or #2 the other way round? #N?
In Venice, we had spent our most expensive meal of the entire trip- £95 on risotto, fish soup (with lots of squids, mussels and fish) and grilled sea bass. Good food had been costing us a bomb to our pockets, warmth to our stomachs and happiness to our cheeks.

Paris-Italy: 29 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

-1 oC. Florence.

The train ride from Rome to Florence (Firenze) took us about 1.5 hours on the Eurostar. Took the 2nd class cabin and was slightly frustrated with small compartments provided for our baggages. :X We arrived in Florence 5 plus in the evening and were greeted by freezing weather. Knew Florence would be cold but just not expecting it to be that cold. :Z That was why we chose to spend our first Florence night in the room with take away pizza and Parma ham+melon appetizer. Eat-in dinner with movie and warmth from the heater.

Hotel Ester was a one-star hotel but locations wise, I would say that it was two thumbs up. Took us only a short drag of the luggage across the streets from the train station. The room was huge with a queen size, a single and an ensuite private toilet. Not the most fanciful place but it was clean enough for 2 nights. No breakfast provided though.

Our Florence exploration started only on our second day. The very first awesome place we stumbled upon was the local market which had a stall selling stewed beef and tribes. There, perfect brunch with a glass of red wine each. Our first Florence meal. How nice.

Florence was beautiful. Frankly speaking, I prefered Florence to Rome. The renaissance feel of this city was charming. Though it had been the same cobble stoned grounds, I preferred walking the Florence streets. Walking along the river was nice. Really wish we had planned more Florence time.

Gelato ice cream was almost staple by now. With tripadvisors' reviews, we had dinner at a restaurant that billed us €86 for dinner. €86 worth of fantastic food- beef slices, pasta, starters and a perfect mandarin creme brûlée. So yummy and so expensive!! :Z But I'm convinced it was well paid for.

Leaving Florence was a slight pinch knowing that there was much more to explore. We had not gone to the Uffuzzi gallery. Sniff. :(

Paris-Italy: 27 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

12 oC. Rome.

That morning we headed for Rome was a rush. RER B, the train that connected us to the Orly Airport from Paris, was not connected during that hour of the morning. At 8am, we were still at the Gare Du Nord figuring out an alternative route to catch our 10.25am flight. In normal circumstances, 8am would have been more than enough time. However, given the previous held up at CDG and the ever so often hold ups from train break downs and strikes, it seemed pretty risky still getting stuck in Paris at that time. By train, it would have taken us an hour to reach and 8am with no trains would have meant we were so screwed. Luckily for us, and Alv's quick fingers on the iPhone, he found a connecting Orlybus that took us directly to the terminal and within a much shorter time than the train. So by 8.40am, we were at Orly and in time.

Our B&B in Rome, Rome Accommodations, was excellent, location and service wise. The room was really nice with brick ceilings and the front desk lady was nice. Breakfast was served to the bedroom- cereals, bread, yoghurt, hot coffee, hot milk and croissant. Fresh towels were given and bed was made daily. It was really nice and comfortable.

The first place we headed for in Rome was the Colosseum. And from there, we walked to the other parts of what was remaining of the once Roman Empire. With every few steps on the cobbled stoned floor, there were artifacts and remains from the old city that were mostly sculptures and roman wordings. Pretty. The basilicas in Rome were different from those in Paris. They were mostly done up with sculptures and paintings. Detailed, intricate ones. The most memorable one was the one at the Vatican city-the basilica and the Sistine chapel. Both of these were of a different league to the Notre Dame and the Sacré Coeur. Walking into the Vatican museum was like walking the Louvre. Pity our lack of time to spend in it.

When in Rome, do what the Romans do. So we ate Gelato ice creams in front of the Trevi Fountain (finally) in the cold and ate pizzas (Pizza Ciro) and pasta. The pasta shop in particular gave us such a good impression that we had to have it as our last meal in Rome. Chewy spaghetti.

2 nights in Rome and lots of cobbled stone walking and Rome Metros. Metro in Rome looks better than Paris' in terms of cleanliness and Italian service staff were so much better.

For now, I think I'm pretty done with Rome.

Paris-Italy: 26 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Paris-Italy: 25 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Christmas eve started off with a visit to the Basilica Sacre-Coeur, another of many pretty churches in Paris. There were just too much details to these buildings that cannot be explained. This had a different feel to the Notre Dame, which I personally preferred. We walked round the basilica and then took a walk round the Artists Square at Montmarte. So tempted to buy a few pieces back home with us. Only thing was, we had no home-sweet-home to hang them up, yet. The rest of the day was spent shopping for things that were not mine before heading to a friend's place for home cooked Christmas Eve dinner. It was fabulous having christmas eve dinner among fellow Singaporean friends even though we were all in a foreign country. Christmas eve dinner consisted of lots of cheese, wine, roasted rotisserie and home cooked food. It was nice and warm.

However, the best part of Christmas eve had to be the visit to the Notre Dame and the Christmas mass. There was a snake queue forming outside the Notre Dame for the entrance but we managed to sneak ourselves in through the exit door. It was awesome watching everything happen in the cathedral even though there was not a word that I had understood. Christmas carols, mass, not quite a white christmas and a lack of that cup of hot chocolate, but it had been good to be finally true.

So, Merry Christmas! It is now 3.17am in Paris and I have just finished cleaning up while the Elephant is sound asleep. Getting up in 2 hours and we'll be off to start on Phase IV: Italy. What better place to be at on Christmas Day itself than the Vatican City? =)

Paris-Italy: 23 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Day started early with checking out and setting off for Normandy at 8am. Finally,Normandy.

It took us about 3 hours to get to coast from Saint Malo, after getting lost and after having a petrol drought crisis mid way. We started off the Normandy trail at Pointe Du Hoc and I think it was a great start off point. At Pointe Du Hoc, we saw the many, many bomb craters that were left behind during the war. I was taken aback for a moment because I was not expecting to see that many of them. Both of us were solemn and overwhelmed for a while and had shed a couple of tears just seeing everything in real, imagining what it could have been like for them then. We love watching war movies and seeing them in front of us was a little overwhelming. We then moved on to the Pointe Du Hoc museum briefly to find it closed before driving on to the Omaha Beach, a war grave and the Musée Du Débarquement. The Musée Du Débarquement had very interesting exhibits and a short film that illustrated the first landing at Normandy. It was even more meaningful to see artifacts at this actual first landing site. 6 June 1944.

Normandy had a special meaning to me because my parents had been telling me about Normandy and Umipom from the movie The Longest Day (their first movie together) since I was young. We've watched the movie at least once together and had come across numerous "Normandy" ever since in war movies. Thus, it had been more than enjoyable to be able to go to the Normandy beaches with Alv. It was like a childhood tale brought to life and being put in front of me.

Mid afternoon, we drove a struggling 3 hours back to Paris to return the car. Long distance driving had been tiring for my only driver. =( It was worse when we entered Paris city because the Parisian drivers, cyclists and pedestrians were maniacs. At the roundabout at Arc De Triomphe, cars were criss-crossing each other like crazy in all directions as though there were no traffic rules. Drove us both into cold sweats just trying to watch out for sudden bikers zooming diagonally from behind. =Z We ended the long day with awesome local French food of French onion soup, duck breast and steak at Au Virage Lepic restaurant and right now, a good night's sleep to welcome Christmas Eve in Paris tomorrow. It's 2am on Christmas Eve.

Paris-Italy: 22 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

7.48pm and stuck in a jam which could have been 10 min from rottiserie dinner :( and with a pseudo racer.

Picked up a Citroen C1 from CDG airport yesterday before we headed straight to Saint Malo on a 5 hours drive. Traffic in Paris was a nightmare with rougue drivers every where and jam at peak hour 7pm. Traffic signs were confusing initially, which was why Alv drove on an opposite road during a left turn. That was pretty scary because the moment he joined back the other cars on the correct direction, a queue of oncoming cars zoomed past. =Z We had reached Saint Malo 5 struggling hours later at 12am to Alpha Ocean Hotel for the next two nights. Even though I couldn't see the beach then, I could smell the sea that was just to the left of the hotel- the English Channel. Woke up to breakfast on the balcony and to the smell of beach. It was nice.

For the first part of the 3rd phase of our trip (1st phase: Paris, 2nd: Chamonix, 3rd: western France, 4th: Italy), we drove up to a sea port town called Cancale for seafood lunch. There were stalls selling fresh oysters at cheap prices by the dozens and there was a pool of dead oyster shells covering the beach. :X People buy the oysters by the boxes. Lunch at 60€ consisted of a seafood platter, a bucket of wined mussels, white wine and desserts. The seafood platter made for one was huge. I had my 2nd and 3rd oysters in my life, my first taste of the swirly shells, which I don't know if they were the chut chuts, the la las or the gong gongs in our terms. I also had the most number of mussels in one sitting. They were really good, except the oysters which confused me with a love-hate a bit. After lunch, we headed for Mont Saint Michel. This was a walled medieval town on an island and was a severe tourist slaughter house , prices wise. Our toilet trip cost 0.40€ each. :Z Mont Saint Michel was beautiful though. Too bad we arrived late and couldn't get inside the cathedral.

The day ended with a drive to San Malo city centre for dinner. Stoned brick walls, stoned brick ground and pretty streets. By the time we finished pizza and pork ribs (fabulous ribs!), we were only looking forward to sleep.

Paris-Italy: 20 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

3.15pm
0 oC. 今天下大雪. Heavy snow cause a change of ski slopes for today. We didnt go to Le Tour like the other groups. It's also the end of snowboarding for me after the collision from morning made the knee injury worse. :( Think I have scared everybody and myself. Alv is really good with the board now though, but I think we really need doctors for our old and new injuries.

It's cute watching the club enfants on their skis.

Paris-Italy: 19 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

8.39pm
-5 oC and snowboarding. We had paid 50 euros for lessons through 4 days and we had been amazing with the snow boards for our first day. We fell like crazy on the snow but it had been really fun, although we did had down time during the day- his injured ankle got stressed up again and I pulled something on my left knee during a fall while having one foot loose and one foot to the board face down, causing a torsion on the joint.

Boards. Are. Heavy.
Period.

Can't walk down the stairs very well now. =Z But, it had been wonderful looking at Mont Blanc from the ski lifts. Mont Blanc was beautiful.

Dinner was fabulous and French cooks have so much pride in their food. Appetizers then mains then desserts, don't skip the rules.

Paris-Italy: 18 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Chamonix Mont Blanc is grey and white and snow falls like a Singapore December storm.

Paris-Italy: 18 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

10.30am
"Due to national strikes by security companies, departing flights have been delayed."
That's CDG airport for you. =X

Paris-Italy: 17 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Saturday is 10 euros Louvre day and school day for Alv. Today marks the end of his course, lessons wise, and it will be holidays tomorrow onwards. (Though Alv is working on a paper at his friend's now, 10.47pm. =X)

18 Dec, Chamonix Mont Blanc!

Hot Parisian firemen wear red short shorts in winter, do chin ups using the pipes and pole slide down in style. And for that truthful "Woah" and sudden pause across the street after noticing hot red shorts while on the way to the Udon shop for dinner, I was given a head knock and head rub with his knuckles. But..but..but..red is hot!

Paris-Italy: 16 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

From my morning walk around the block:
Laundry costs 3.90euros for 50 min and dryer costs 1euro for 10 min,
10 Champignons and 3 onions costs 2 euros,

500 g of tiny oranges costs me 1 euro and 2 mangoes cost me 1 euro,

Baguette is 0.95 cents.

All these are ingredients for dinner tonight.

In Paris, even the vege sellers are nicely made up looking pretty.

Paris-Italy: 15 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Underground clubbing on Wednesday night the Parisian way and walk along River Seine on Thursday. I've learnt that raw beef can be eaten and it is are called Tar Tare.

Paris-Italy: 13 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Paris is pretty. Parisian girls are pretty and Parisian buildings are charming. Paris so far is of the Eiffel Tower, the Musee D'orsay and the river cruise along River Seine last night, in which I fell asleep in. Everything is pretty. The walk along River Seine is pretty, the fallen maple leaves are pretty, the stoned walkways on the streets are pretty. I love the idea of living in an apartment on a quiet street and watching the locals clean up their wet market after a busy morning. Baguette sold opposite the apartment costs €0.95 and it tastes good.

Tonight, we took a walk through a Christmas market at La Defense, comparative to our CNY markets but quieter. And we went for a show at Ledru Rollin called 'How to be a Parisian in an hour.' Had a good laugh.

"Have you noticed how Parisians always look depressed on the Metro and how they always give a pfftt?" Well, now I noticed.

Paris-Italy: 12 Dec (12 Dec 2011- 2 Jan 2012)

Outbound on Emirates, Sin-Dubai-Paris and a total of 14 hours flight. Sitting at Gate 202 in Dubai at 6.20am waiting for time to pass till the next flight at 8am. Its says on the directions map, that it takes 25min to walk to the end from where I am now, which is half the length of this terminal. =X And only a few words come to mind as I look upon Dubai from the flight: sand, brown, equidistant orange lights. It is pretty in its way but I am just amazed how it is really mostly sand. My first stop in a semi-desert land and my first flight with Emirates. Just one week back, my flight on SQ was one full of pencil-drawn chinese. Today, it is mostly crayon-drawn people. Pencil-drawn and crayon-drawn, if you know what I mean.

My cup of Starbucks Toffee Nut Latte costs me USD$9. Argh!

Eastern Europe Road Trip!