Sirmione, Milan, and Florence: neutered

neutered

Sirmione, Milan, and Florence

Apr 30, 2007 02:10

What am I doing? I don't know.

Our bus driver was kind enough to drive us to a little town called Sirmione. It wasn't in our itinerary, but our tour leader, Mr. Obet (a Filipino), told us that we should see it. Nandun daw yung bahay ni Maria Callas, heh. And true enough, it was preeeettyyyy. I mean, look!

The Scaliger Castle. I bet this is where all the rich folks from Verona vacated in the ancient times.

Ducks were all around the castle and the lake.

This is Lago di Garda. PRETTY. I wish I lived here.

This is one of their little gardens. Quaint and charming.

Soaps

Another nice garden and at the back of this garden are swimming pools. It's cold, but I guess they have some heating system there.

I'm guessing that this is an antiques store. My mom bought some nice brass chimes here for our house in La Union.

Oh yeah, that place is like a gelato CAPITAL! There were mountains and mountains of gelato... I miss it already. And it looks so pretty too!

This ain't at some sit-down restaurant.

This is at the Autogrill. It's like a stopover at their autostradas (expressways) and they're scattered everywhere in Italy and France. It's like those big convenience stores at gas stations. I LOVE AUTOGRILL. They sell everything from mints to meals to CDs to salamis. At syempre nandyan ang favorite nating lahat, ang W.C. (wash closet/banyo).

Ciao, Milan!

Castello Sforzesco. This used to be a barracks for soldiers but is now a museum containing works of artists, ceramics, and armory. When I first visited Italy, I remember going up there, exploring the museum. This time though, we didn't have the chance because we were pressed for time.

Ganda no? Ako kasi ang kumuha, hehe.

Oh, yes. There they are, sunbathing.

La Scala. One of the world's most famous opera houses. Tinitignan ko nga kung may shows pa eh. Meron naman, some obscure singer, but it doesn't help if your hotel is like 30 minutes out of town at the freakin' expressway. Buzzkill.

The chic Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery. Prada, Louis Vuitton, Swarovski, Tod's, and probably a Patek Philippe somewhere in there. Nagbayad daw talaga ng malaki ang McDo diyan para lang makapuwesto diyan.

Inside the gallery, there's this mosaic that'll grant your wish if you spin three times on your heel. I didn't do it.

The Duomo, one of the famous landmarks of Milan and one of Italy's biggest cathedrals. Eh, it was under restoration, thus the distracting scaffolds.

Not an engraving, tis a painting. I wonder how it would go if I asked someone to paint something like that for my future house. "Can you paint like, um, an engraving so that I can fake out my guests at dinner and I'll be all, 'hey, guess if that's a painting or NOT!'" Instant icebreaker.

Crap picture but just wanted to show the immensity of the cathedral.

Dear God: Please give me a Nikon or Canon pro camera already.

Yeah, look at my little cousins so eager to get the photo done.

This is one of my favorite Europe photos. I just love the kid's reaction when her mom tried to spray water on, er, anyone. When I took it, then reviewed it, I smiled fondly.

This is Florence already. Here is Basilica della Santissima Annunziata. This was where a painting of annunciation was finished by an angel, supposedly.

Crap picture, but it's really a beautiful church.

Ospedale degli Innocenti. This was a children's orphanage but is now a daycare and children's hospital. I also heard that this was supposed to be a headquarters of UNICEF? Correct me if I'm wrong.

The object of interest here is the building on the right. It's a hotel called, Loggiato dei Serviti. Historic residences siya. If you stay here, it'll cost about 70 euros a night, at the very least.

The resplendent Santa Maria del Fiore... which again is ruined by the scaffolds and my crap camera which has no wide lens. This flower-shaped cathedral is mostly decorated with tapestries.

The baptistry of Santa Maria del Fiore. The "gold" doors you see here is called the Gates of Paradise. The real gold doors are at a museum nearby and what's interesting about these gold doors is that every slab of gold that was sculpted was meant for the perspective of the person standing just in front of the doors. Which means that when you look up, the sculptures at the upper door will be as clear as the ones on your eye level.

Inside Santa Maria del Fiore.

Went to the Piazza della Signoria where the above building (Palazzo Vecchio) is situated. This is where the Uffizi, the most important museum in Italy, says our tour guide, is located as well. The Uffizi used to be the office of the Medicis, a family of money lenders and one of the first family capitalists.

The replica of the statue of David. The original is at the Academia. Reportedly, the lines are long, so yup, we're not going to line up for that just yet.

Ate a salami sandwich with spicy eggplant and I have to say that the odd combination of salamis and eggplant was very flavorful. It's something that I would highly recommend. I ate it here:

Pisa!

The baptistry. To go inside, I would have to pay 7 or so euros which... nah, pass.

Duomo

Eh di ano pa, Leaning Tower of Pisa. Which was the first state prison daw. Eek.

Upon the very first opportunity, we started snapping away, posing nutty poses. Everybody's doing crazy poses anyway. It was a little embarrassing at first pero hello, may mga nakigaya ding mga foreigners, haha!