Wednesday, December 24, 2003

The Italian Job

Well, I haven’t been updating my blog here for the past 10 days or so cos I was away from the academic world, roaming around in Italy, satisfying my wanderlust. It has been a well-deserved break for me after those never-ending readings and essays and lab reports and psychological experiments and questionnaires and Freud and Piaget and Skinner and Pavlov and so on and so on… So, here’s to recap what I did and what happened for the past 10 days in case I forget. I tend to have a very poor short-term memory now. Tsk tsk… I can’t remember things photographically as I used to do in AHS and Hwa Chong. What has happened to my brain after two and a half years of NS? I did brain scans a couple of weeks ago and my brain seems perfectly normal. “Memory is the thing people forget with”, as Alexander Chase said wittily. So, I’ll just let nature take its course bah… Anyway, everything has to deteriorate and come to an end and die and disappear from the surface of this Earth eventually. Maybe that’s why I started this blog, so that I’m able to look back at what happened so that I will not forget things and events easily. I actually had a personal diary at the beginning of this year but damn it, I forgot to bring it with me to London and hence, I’m blogging away here. Don’t mind me being direct here if you are reading this, I’m a very direct person in case you didn’t realise and I can be sarcastic if I want to, so please pardon me if I somehow manage to offend you in one way or another unintentionally. Most often than not, I do not. Anyway, this is my personal space. You are welcomed to rebut and argue with me. You have the right to stop reading at any point of time anyway. Well, our society has always tried to be very liberal and democratic… haha

Dec 14th - 21st Birthday in Milan

The figure 21 has somewhat lost its meaning to me anymore. It isn’t as significant as compared to perhaps 10 years ago when I was still an ignorant 11-year-old kid. Attended numerous and countless birthday parties this year before I left for London. Some are good friends, some are not so close friends and some are just what I view them as acquaintances. Some people celebrated in a grand way, having parties in hotels, having birthday chalets; others preferred to have a small group gathering in their cosy neighbourhood house. No matter what, 21 seems to be a big thing, like what Ms Owyong said before in her email, “Well, this is a rather significant year in your lives - most of you will be turning 21 this year. You'll be entitled to voting, drinking and watching R(A) shows. Congratulations on your newfound independence! Use your rights wisely though!”

Yah, with 21 comes a lot of responsibilities. And maybe that’s why I dun like to grow up. I rather be the Little Prince forever and ever and be carefree and free from worries ever and ever.

So I chose to have a quiet day on my 21st birthday, leaving for Milan - a place that I never have been before but have heard so much about it - its catwalks and fashion and designer brands and Versace and Gucci and Prada and D & G and Armani and what not. But that wasn’t what Milan was all about and what it has to offer only. All human beings always have the bad habit of stereotyping (don’t deny it, this is an indisputable fact). They ignore other more important aspects and are only concerned about pragmatic and realistic stuff that will make them more glamorous and gorgeous on the appearance. People forget about Milan’s Castello Sforzesco, its magnificent cathedral, its opera and so on and so forth.

Anyway, it was a quiet day - my flatmate Sharon and her friend Elsa gave me a mini cute Tiramisu cake from Harrods after midnight before we set off for the flight to Bergamo airport at 640am. Five of us (Meow Nar, Clarisa, me and Wen Long and Shu Hua) spent a day in central Milan, enjoying the sunshine and its warmth that we are deprived of in England. The golden sun-set view from the top of the central cathedral was breathtaking. And oh yah, we had dinner at this Chinese restaurant where they played Chinese songs by Sun Yan Zi and Na Ying and so on. And we were all astonished by the cover charges of 2 euros per person that we had to pay while eating inside the restaurant. And yah, most Italian restaurants charge cover charges.

Dec 15th to 16th - Florence

We left Wen Long and Shu Hua and set off to Florence in the morning. This is one of my two favourite places in Italy out of the whole trip… The other one is Venice. Being the cradle of the Renaissance, Florence is the “proverbial chocolate cake”, is “immediately captivating” and “you will need at least four or five days to do Florence any justice at all,” as described by Lonely Planet. And yah, we spent only 2 days in Florence, which is somewhat enough for us. It is really beautiful and hopefully my pictures will somewhat portray Florence accurately and will do its beauty some justice. You just have to see Florence for yourself. And the Uffizi Gallery is wonderful though it costs 8.50 euros but the art can be a bit too much in 2 hours and we were somewhat poisoned by an overdose of paintings, sculptures and other artworks. The only regret was the 6 euros we spent on admission to this Boboli Gardens which has virtually nothing.

Dec 17th to 18th - Rome

Rome is a dirty, frustrating, chaotic city. I don’t quite like it as compared to Florence and Venice. Pickpockets and the Mafia are especially active. A friend’s friend on a separate trip lost his wallet to a pickpocket at the Metro station. But it is still beautiful in its own way. No matter what, it’s still the capital city of Italy, and its ruins and architecture and history are intriguing, and the Vatican City is splendid too. We completed touring the whole of Rome in one single day which is a considerable feat for us, taking into account Rome’s vastness. More descriptions in my photo gallery coming up in a few days time.

Dec 19th - Pompeii (and the chaotic Naples as well)

Pompeii is a place that is so rich in history and so famous and well known that it is Italy’s most popular tourist attraction. Mount Vesuvius (from afar) is simply gorgeous as well. You deserve a tight slap if you have never heard of Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius and its history.

Dec 20th to 22nd - Venice

I remembered the song “威尼斯的泪” by 永邦 instantly.

And I am dazzled by it the moment I set foot on it. The feeling is indescribable. “Perhaps no other city in the world has inspired the many superlatives heaped upon Venice by writers and travellers through the centuries,” as described by Lonely Planet somewhat illustrates how I feel about Venice’s romance and pulchritude.

The weather was good for the 1st and 3rd days in Venice. It rained on the 2nd day, and the whole city was fogged and we were shivery cold. The water buses were on strike on the first 2 days too, which compelled us to discover the city by walking.

And we had the cheapest gelato (ice cream) in Venice - only 80 cents. =p

And I’m quite sick of pizzas, spaghetti and pasta now.

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