Paris & Florence

In a bustling internet cafe in the main bus/train station in Florence, Santa Maria Novella, struggling with unfamiliar keyboard and with a CD burner that's frustratingly long to burn.

Might as well start from Paris.

Took a train via belgium to Paris, and checked in at this rather ulu budget hotel - the nearest stop is at the end of the metro line. but its ok coz metro is pretty fast. like any city, paris is easy to navigate. Went to eiffel Tower 3 times in 3 days, took numerous photos. Actually the best day was when the 2 girls went to disneyland. I woke up slightly later, had a relaxed breakfast, went to see the historical sights i read about, and took my time getting the right settings for photos.

Heh, guess cat is right... I àm quite a different person from anyone else... so being alone is enjoyable. I feel more freedom, no need to wait for anyone, no stress of anyone waiting for me... i can get a cup of coffee whenever i want, linger as long as i want. But i guess its different when ppl are more significant.

Unfortunately, cant rem much abt paris liao. hahhah... just that the ppl are mostly nice, although there are some idiots who will give u a hard time if you dun speak french, and surprisingly theyàre all in the tourism/service line. 1 ticket seller shouted at a poor jap girl because she cldnt speak french OR english... and she gave us a difficult time as well. Another one was a usher at the eiffel tower. I asked her about ticketing and she said, in perfect english, "i'm sorry i don't speak english." stupid bitch... who u think u're going to kid?

Anyway, Paris does have many many wonderful monuments, easy transportation and it's still a living city, more locals than tourists, unlike Florence. Most ppl are nice too, and i managed to learn a bit of French. It's a damn cool language lor... If i go back, i wanna learn... hahah. Pity things are damn expensive here... S$8 for a cup of coffee!!

Saw: Eiffel Tower, Napolean's Tomb, Mona Lisa, Bastille, Obelisk of Luxor, Arc de Triomphe, etc etc etc.

Florence:

it's so damn irritating to burn CDs when the whole interface is in italian.

we couldn't get the train we wanted out of Paris so we had to take an earlier one. which is good since Paris is so expensive. The night train was ok - we shared a 6 bed cabin with 2 canadians, the girl was frenly but the guy wasn't. Later, they bickered abt where to get off. I was supposed to take the top most bunk (3rd from bottom), and i jokingly objected, then the 2 girls decided the top was fun and took the top 2 instead. they shdnt take me so seriously sometimes. but oh well.. on top was safer, so I didnt kick up a fuss. but on top does seem quite fun.

The hostel we got in Florence actually kena piping system problem, and sent us an email which i didnt check. Heng i had called to change the booking to 1 day earlier when in Paris, and all the guy said was yes yes ok ok, so he cldnt back down on us liao. So he explained on this 1st night, we wld sleep here, 2nd and 3rd night wld move somewhere else.

All doors that open to the streets in Florence are HUGE - at least 2 storeys high. looks grand but coz the buildings are old, inside is actually quite shabby. our dorm had 6 beds from different sources, all squeezed together in the room with minimal space for moving, and no lockers were provided. kinda in secure, and there was no lock on the dorm room door, nor the toilet. the guy changed the sheets of the bed while we watched... the room was messy and littered by the previous guests. i didnt trust the sheets so i slept in my sleeping bag that night.

We met Zo's fren and her frens, a group of 9 who were told upon reaching that they didn't hv a place to stay after that night, coz the hostel had to be closed for repairs and Florence was full of tourists. So they had to travel off to somewhere else. heng we change dates and called the hostel 1st!

We are REALLY lucky due to the change in itinerary - we reached on Italy's national day, public holidays mean all museums are free! so we spent 3 hrs queueing at 2 museums - 1 held Michaelanglo's David, the other had an exhibit solely on Leonardo da Vinci. fascinating, but too many museums + too little sleep = brain over load. I stumbled thru the final quarter of the da Vinci exhibit, down all the hallways to find the 2 girls waiting for me near the exit.

The next day, which was yesterday, we took a break from all the museums. After moving our bags to a new place, which wasnt ready yet, we went to the hill side over looking Florence - magnificent views of the city and the mountains beyond - the city is in a valley. The view of red roofs, grassland, farmland and distant peaks under clear blue skies is damn tok kong! too bad no time to climb the hill crests... had a nice dinner on the hill top, bought cheap groceries, and visited a small cosy church. Just outside the crowded city but very very different, much more real - more locals less tourists.



Getting really damn frustated at burning italian CDs.


Met a beautiful italian girl near the church, with a gray haired father. She caught my eye and smiled sweetly but shyly, and pretended not to notice. She hestitantly walked to the church steps and sat down, and played with her hands. Her father saw me smiling at her, and smiled back at me as well, to which i asked if i could take her picture. As soon as the shutter clicked he said "500 euro." and we both laughed. To my question, he replied that she was 2 years old.

Today we slept in late, and went to the other hill side to take more photos. then went around look for internet cafes until we decided on this one. so now still frustratingly trying to burn CDs.

BTW, we're making use of the honesty system in buses to go around florence for free. here u buy tickets in advance and then get them stamped in machines on the bus, which are front, middle, and back. of coz we always board from the back, and stamp the already-stamped-2-3-times tickets away from the driver. we are so evil... maybe this slow CD burning is my retribution from Florence.

Lesson learnt: dont take so many photos! (yah rite)

Another lesson learnt: i am seriously addicted to coffee. before i get it for the day, i can be cranky towards the girls and confused about streets and inattentive to wat ppl say. i guess no hope liao... hahhaha