Posts Tagged ‘Switzerland’

12 Sep

My European Trip Part 6 Lugano, Switzerland / Verona, ITALY

Posted by renxkyoko in European travel, European trip, Italy, my life, Random thoughts, Switzerland. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Hi, there ! Renxkyoko Iglesias here ! !

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I can say Venice is a hard act to follow.  Venice is  like a Hollywwod set, a movie backdrop  pre- created in the 10th century.  The place is simply amazing, a sight to behold. The downside though of  going to a beautiful place like Venice is that there are million others that share the same sentiment. And that means, we walked  shoulder to shoulder,  elbow to elbow with thousand other tourists on the  narrow streets of  Venice……. which made me just a tad uncomfortable, by the way. Well, in my neck of the woods, there are literally no pedestrians walking on the streets.

As I said on my previous post, I couldn’t recall the timeline. Did we go first to Venice, or to Lugano and Verona. Then I realized Lugano is in Switzerland,  an Italian -speaking city in Switzerland that borders Italy .  I’m sure now that  Verona was the first Italian city that we visited after Switzerland.  Well, I don’t think it matters which came first. So, anyway,  we stopped by Lugano  for a few hours, took a stroll along the beautiful lakeside promenade, then crossed into Italy and drove to Verona, medieval setting of William Shakespeare’s ” Romeo and Juliet, “, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

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. That is Lake Lugano. Yep, the scenery  did  look like we were   still in Switzerland.

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As always, it’s all about me.  tee hee   Oh my gosh…. the classic Ren pose. * palmface*

.I didn’t buy  burger at McDonald’s…… had a cup of iced tea so I could use the WC. The iced tea was in a champagne glass ! !

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.We stayed just 3 hours in Lugano. I really don’t know what Lugano is famous for, but then almost all of these places  in Switzerland  and Italy , large and small, are somehow famous for something.  Although here in Lugano, it seemed we were the only tourists around.

We left Lugano  , Switzerland for Verano, Italy.  As I mentioned above, Verano is the medieval setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Taming of the Shrew.  Shakespeare must have been impressed by Verona, and I’m not surprised.  It has both ancient and medieval atmosphere, and for some reason, I  prefer Verona over Venice.  Maybe Venice  is too touristy ?  Shops all over and thousands of people walking around…. in other words, too commercialized.  That’s what happened  at Boracay Island in the Philippines. It’s listed as one of the best beach in the world. Mom saw it when it was pristine and unexplored.  My own family even have a piece of property there. Our great grandma used to own the whole island, but then her children started selling off the property to big cor[orate hotels and businessmen. Now, my Mom rues the day  when relatives got too greedy.  It is still beautiful, but too commercialized. My parents had to fence off our property when  a big named hotel  conglomerate started building a hotel, ( Hyatt ), literally our  backyard neighbor. They might just  encroach on our property intentionally, then  say “Woops” and pressure us  to  sell  our  property , then we’d be left with nothing.  I can see that happening.  But I digress.

Above photo is the private beach at Boracay Island, Philippines….. At least there’s still a part of the island  that has not been sold off….

.That arch that you see at the end of the street is Porta Borsari, an ancient  remnant  Roman  structure and is now the entrance to the medieval market square Piazza delle Erbe.

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.An ancient Roman bathtub, discovered right in the middle of the road.

.The market square, Piazza delle Erbe

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.That’s Juliet’s designated balcony.  Romeo’s house is at # 4, a few houses down the road, and there’s a family  currently  living there. We do know they’re fictional characters, don’t we ?  The photo below is the statue of Juliet. There’s a legend that if you rub her breast, you’ll get lucky in love. So, I jumped up to the statue and rubbed her boobsie and wished  I’d soon meet my Fated One and  I wouldn’t turn into an old maiden. ( ^___^ )

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.That’s the wall of the entrance to Juliet’s courtyard. I wrote something there too. You know, I noticed another thing in Europe… graffiti is all over, like you won’t believe it.  ha ha ha….   I also wrote my name somewhere in Rome and  Madrid.  ” Ren was here, 7/11/2012 * hearts*  Grafitti writing is, I guess, cultural in Italy.  Even the ancient Romans  did it… Liunidus was here xx1x

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.I don’t know what’s with Italy and masks. It reminds me of  some period movies  where the characters wear elaborate gowns and masks and wigs.  Mom bought one too. I don’t really like stuff like this. I find them scary and creepy. Nor do I like clowns and dolls. ( although I did have a collection of  Barbie dolls and tons of Barbie dresses and outfits and I  remember  I  could  play the whole day alone dressing the dolls up )

.Creepy, huh.  Mom can’t decide whether to hang and display this somewhere or just keep it in the attic. …. the attic, Mom.

.The statue above is that of Dante Aleghieri, author of a great book Divine Comedy . He called Verona home, although he was born in Florence. He’s also the father of the Italian language. Why father of the Italian language. ? Well, writers then used Latin, instead of the language of the common people in Italy. Divine Comedy was the first  great book  written in Italian . Latin was the lingua franca of  the Roman citizens, but the rest of the country was Italian.   Maybe that’s the reason why Latin became a  dead language.  I wonder how different Italian is from Latin. It’s like Mandarin, the language of the Chinese royalty. In China, there are so many dialects, and believe it or not, even if they sound similar, they are actually different. My Mom had a Chinese friend who spoke Cantonese only , and couldn’t understand Mandarin.  Mandarin didn’t die because the study of this language became mandatory in China.    By the way, this area of Verona is also on the list of Living World Heritage.  That means, building of modern structure is not allowed. So, what we saw here was exactly what the Veronese saw hundreds of years ago. That’s really cool.

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.There’s a corpse there.

.There are 2 dead ones here too

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.Above is the Roman Arena. It is still functional… well, not for people to be eaten by lions,, but for operas and such.

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.The photo below is what they call The Wall. It’s a remnant of  an ancient  Roman walled city.  Eh. I made that up. I’m sure that’s like a fort to protect the inhabitants from invaders.

.The history of Italy is really  rich. We saw beautiful , well-preserved medieval buildings  and I can tell they were more beautiful back then.  But , to be honest,  I don’t think I ‘d want to live during medieval times. One word…… hygiene.  What did they use to brush their teeth? I’m sure majority of them had rotten teeth.  And I’m sure too they suffered so much  from toothache. Ugh.  Did they use soap?  How  often did they take a bath? In the morning, where did they go for their morning rituals? What did they use to clean up their butts? Paper? I highly doubt they had that much paper  to use. O_O ”  And for women with their monthlies……@__@ ”   I wonder what they used.  I read they didn’t wear underwears. ( I don’t  want to think about that. )   And childbirth……. Women were  just ripped apart giving birth.  Ugh !   It’s unbelievable what people had to go through for things we now take for granted.  I guess I’m over-thinking.

This is all for now. ROME is next.  Good day to all and PEACE.

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28 Aug

My European Trip Part 5 ,Venice, Italy

Posted by renxkyoko in European travel, European trip, my life, Random thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Hello, there ! !

This is Part 5 of  my European Trip.  ITALY !   Italy was definitely  a major destination. So, far, we ‘ve  stayed just 2 days in each country  ( England, Germany, Switzerland,  Holland, and one day in Belgium ) , but Italy was full 6 days.  I don’t know what that implies….. not that Italy  is  more beautiful or better  than the other countries we’ve already visited. . Not at all.  The reason is obviously the richness of Italy’s history that we can still see and appreciate to this day, from the ancient Roman Forum  and Coloseum to Medieval structures and  breathtaking architecture of  churches. Meanwhile……

The  scenery  from Switzerland  to Italy  was just  as  wonderful . We travelled  into mountain ranges  through numerous tunnels  that opened into more  breath-taking Alpine scenery as we descended from the cold  mountains to sunny Italy.  The change in topography  was even more stunning,   from undulating hills and  high mountain ranges of Switzerland to  beautiful valleys and green flatlands of Italy.

.I’m not sure but I think those are olive trees.

We arrived  in Venice  late afternoon, and checked in at Novotel Hotel,  but to be honest, I’m not sure about the timeline anymore. I go by the dresses I wear  in the pictures, but  they don’t coincide with the timeline.  Oh, well, it doesn’t matter, does it?  I guess I wore the same dress  in Venice and in Lugano/Florence.  O_O ”  Anyway,  we joined the Optional  Tour Venetian Night Out  + Dinner the night we arrived in Venice.  It was 65 Euro per person. (  $ 85 ).  The Venice that we know of and  are familiar with  is comprised of several small islands ( about a hundred ), the most famous of which is where the famous Piazza San Marco is situated.  Venice  is the only  car-less place in the world, and is also on the list of Living World Heritage.

.All dressed up and ready to go to dinner.

.We rode a ferry to go to the main island of San Marco.

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Now on terra firma. The guy in black pants and shirt was our tour director. ” Ruben, wait up ! ”

.That is Piazza San Marco ( St. Mark’s Square ). The buildings on the left  are the Doge Palace, and  the side entrance of St. Mark’s Basilica .

.That’s the building across from Doge Palace.  We had  coffee and pastries at the outdoor cafe the next day.

Basilica San Marco

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Ugh ! I  just noticed I have only one style of posing.  Legs close together, one straight, and the other just a little bent at the knees.  What the heck ! Hahaha ! ” What’s up with the pose, Ren? ”  It’s too girly.   Next time I pose for a picture, I’ll rearrange myself and pose like this……..

.Architectural details

.That ‘s a really narrow street, isn’t it ? All the streets in Venice are that narrow.  The pic above is the street of the restaurant  where we had dinner.

That’s where we had dinner… Ristorante Antico Pignolu

.Moi, cousin, Thalin, and aunt… mom was taking the picture.

.Shrimp Alfredo

. Goat cheese

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Steak that was a bit chewy

.Dessert was teramisu, then coffee after.  The steak was a disapoointment, but over-all , dinner was good. There were 3 bottles of wine on the table , and guess what, we drank the wine like it was water….  My aunt just had half a glass, so that was pretty much  like one bottle per person, lol.   I was careful not to fall into the water  as we boarded the ferry to take us back to the hotel.  We were happily tipsy. Thumbs up, Venice !

.The following day was  another tour of Venice for everyone. But, there was another Optional tour that we got…… GONDOLA SERENADE ! 40 Euro ( $52 ) By the way, I’ve been talking about Optional tours from the beginning, but have you ever wondered what the others who didn’t join were doing while the rest of us were on special tours?  For this one, the rest just  toured around on solid ground… maybe they enjoyed it more, I don’t know.  Well, we experienced that too in Switzerland.  While those who joined had fine typical Swiss dinner , we bought ours at the convenience store and hang out at the hotel’s outdoor cafe.

Anyways,  I expected the gondolier to sing a familiar Italian song,  * sings * “ O, Sole mio, la la la ….. ”  , but he didn’t sing that.  His booming voice  echoed through the narrow canals, and I wonder what the residents are thinking  everytime they hear a gondolier singing as he passes by… ” Damn tourists. ”

Boarding  area

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.Oh, hi there, Paolo ! * waves and makes a V sign *

After the fun gondola ride, we went   to a glass  factory to watch a demo  on glass – blowing.   .  They also sell expensive glass stuff there. I bought a pair of  earrings for  32 E, the least expensive item on display.  Just like in Amsterdam at a diamond factory, I think we were brought there to shop. One of our group ( she’s from the Philippines too but lives in Australia ) bought an 800 Euro  (  $ 1,025 ) glass jar, free shipping to Australia.  She and my mom have become good buddies during the trip.

.To be honest, that was quite a boring activity.  My father went to a glass blowing factory in Murano, which he says is the more famous site than the one in Venice. I don’t think so. I think Venitian glass is more well-known. He brought home a Murano glass unicorn, with the etched signature of the maker.  My mother tells me I broke a lot of stuff  when I was a kid, including that unicorn. ( ^_^)”

We had pizza for lunch, the first of so many pizzas that we consumed in Italy.  Pizzarias  were everywhere, and pastas too, so much , it made  me wonder if these were the only foods Italians eat. It got me  climbing the walls by third day and dreaming of  barbecued baby back ribs, sushi  and mushu pork.

.I did say I was going to compare American pizza and pasta with authentic Italian , didn’t I ?  I hope my Italian readers won’t get offended .( I do have quite a few readers from Italy ), but , to be honest, the pizzas and pastas here in the US are so much better.  Chicago deep dish pizza, anyone?  Of course , each to his her own taste. But compare the pizza I’m eating in the photo to this ——->

“ Go to Wal-Mart , Ren, and check out the frozen pizzas  section there. I assure you, they taste better. And  I recommend DiGiorno. ”  \(^__^)/

Awwww, my cousin is sooo cute !

.My outfit  * smiles *  ….. White hat with polka dot trimmings, wide sunglasses, long dress…. for some reason, it reminds me of what  1950’s  Audrey Hepburn  type  ladies wore strolling on the scenic promenades  of  C’ote d’ Azur. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wore that. * whispers*  By the way, one of my tourmates was actually nursing a broken heart when she joined the tour. Her boyfriend , who was supposed to go with her on this tour, dumped her 2 weeks before the scheduled departure. I don’t know which is more preferable, getting dumped before , or after.  It would suck, either way.  Aaaargh, as far as men go, deal with them tongue in cheek.   Oh, but I digress.

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.Above 2 photos are the entrances to the museum, I think.

Awesome architectural details…… It’s a pity we don’t do this stuff anymore. Modern sculpture is pure cr*p . What’s up with those pieces 0f iron welded together into an unrecognizable form and then call that art ?  I don’t appreciate what I don’t understamd. And,  there’s a reason why millions of people  travel across the  world to see Michaelangelo’s Pieta and David.

Do you know there’s no place in Venice where one can sit and rest, unless  you go to a restaurant and order something to eat ?

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Sorry  if I bored you with the tons of photos I posted here.  But I hope you’ll stay with me ’til the end of my tour. We ‘ve been to so many places in Italy. Florence, Assissi, Lugano, Rome, Verona, and The Vatican.

This is all for now. Good day and PEACE.