The Uffizi

Walking down the fashion street of Florence, I couldn't help but notice the number and variety of stores. There were lots of stylish brands such as Burberry, Chanel and even the American jewelry icon Tiffany and Co ! We stopped at Piazza Vecchio to take some pictures before we went into the Uffizi art gallery. Here was a duplicate of David, the statue that Michelangelo had sculpted. It was also where the original David had stood before being moved to the Galleria Academia. There was also a huge and elegant fountain with a big statue in the middle of it. It was the fountain of Neptune, and Neptune was the statue in the middle. It was carved out of marble and had expressive and impressive sculptures. Then there was a little courtyard with duplicates of famous statues in it too. I couldn't wait to see the originals.

The Uffizi was huge. Enormous. We bought our audio guides and headed into the first room, a corridor with lots of statues and small paintings. This whole complex had been owned by the Medici family back in the old days. Now it was a gallery.

We wandered into room after room, and all of them had fantastic paintings. But my favorites were The Birth of Venus and Primavera. Both by Botticelli. The Birth of Venus is the famous scene of Venus, the goddess of beauty, standing in a shell, emerging from the sea. Primavera, (Spring) is a colourful scene with lush vegetation. Venus stands in the middle surrounded by Flora and the Graces. Also included is Mercury who, it is claimed is modeled on the painter himself. It was just so... Charming.

After hours and hours of admiring the beautiful paintings and sculptures, we had finally completed all of the 51 rooms of the U shaped gallery. We headed out of this amazing place and started exploring Florence.

The narrow streets were filled with cafes whose aromas drifted out and soaked me in desire. We stopped for dinner, we had been in the gallery until six, at a little cafe that overlooked Piazza Vecchio where I ordered a steak and mixed salad. It was cooked beautifully and just melted in my mouth. Exactly how I wanted it. And of course, ice cream to finish off the beautiful meal.

Our day had finally ended and we went back to the hotel. I prepared for bed, and tucked into sleep.

Uffizi Courtyard

Yummy Dessert!

The Birth of Venus

Primavera

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Venice...

San Marco Square was really a sight to be seen. Although I had seen it before here in Venice, it still threw me off guard when I saw it. The 19th century style buildings that surrounded it were just filled with a subtle charm, and the cobbled floor was just beautiful. The music coming out of the cafes was jazzy and classic, so it also was a very casual place. I really loved it.

Carrying my bag of bread, I picked a spot on the paved floor where there were lots of birds. This would be so much fun. I knelt down with a handful of bread and lots of pidgeons started hopping around, eager to have lunch. I chuckled softly to myself, delighted. The birds seemed to be enjoying themselves too.

I decided to try standing up. I very slowly and very carefully stood up. For a very short millisecond, the birds were confused as to where their lunch had gone. Then two birds flew up to my outstretched hands and started pecking greedily at the bread. I started laughing. They were just so cute! I was loving this.

After all the bread had finished, we headed to the watchtower. The view from the top of the tower was sixty metres high. I was sure the view would be magical.

Since you couldn't use the stairs, we had to take the elevator. We went into it, the doors shut, and we started zooming upward.

The metal doors opened, and I gasped. It WAS magical. I could see all of Venice. The buildings, the canals, the little stalls, everything. The sky was so clear that I could almost see space! The people walking around were like little ants! It was sooooooooo pretty...

We looked out from the tower in every direction. It was truly magnificent. It wad time too go down, so we waited for the elevator. The elevator opened, and we stepped inside. The doors closed, and the ground started racing towards us.

We walked to the clock tower, a beautiful, majestic tower with a blue and gold clock. On top of this clock was a bell which would ring every hour, hit by two statues of extreme intricacy. It told the sun clock and a lunar clock, telling the zodiac, real time and the high tide and low tide. It was like something out of Wonderland.

The day was coming to sunset, and we walked to the Rialto Bridge, the most famous bridge in Venice. It was over the Grand Canal and gondolas rippled under it. It was lined with shops and was made of stone. We walked across it leisurely and decided to take one of the gondolas. I was feeling pleasant.

The gondola ride was officially THE most relaxing thing I had ever done in my life. We paddled slowly along, and admired the divine architecture of Venice. We saw the house that Marco Polo was born in, and the house that Casanova was born in as well. We saw the fish market which it has been used in the movie 'The Tourist' and all the bridges too. The gondola was long and the wood was carved like they did for the blue bloods. The chairs were lushly covered with blood red velvet, along with gold seams. It was so posh. The gondolier was just like the gondoliers in the movies! Stripy shirt, black berets, black pants, black shoes. I felt like I had jumped into one of those black and white films from the eighties. I felt special.

It was finally time to go 'home' and rest. I got ready for bed, and as my head hit the pillow, I fell to sleep.

View from our hotel roof where we had breakfast everyday


The Saint Marco Clock Tower


Grand Canal of Venice


On a gondola about to go under Rialto Bridge


Rialto Bridge


View from the top of Venice watch tower

Doge's Palace

Visiting the magnificent Doge's Palace was our agenda in the afternoon and, although we all felt a bit weary from all of the walking, our energy was renewed as we approached the palace entrance.

The Doge's palace was a huge, imposing building of Renaissance and Gothic style. We bought our tickets and walked in.

Inside the beautiful building was a gigantic courtyard. Two of the walls were in the Renaissance style, and the other two were Gothic. There were two large basins in the centre, and at the rear of it, to the right, was a marble staircase. Featured at the top of  staircase on either side was a statue of Neptune, and one of Mars.

We went up the stairs to the loggia on the first floor. It overlooked the courtyard. We spent some time up here, admiring the lovely views of the courtyard.

Finally, we went up to the second floor. This was the floor of the Doge's living quarters and the court's rooms. It was a pity that no photo nor video was allowed.  We went into the living quarters first. They were barely furnished, because, after each Doge had died, his heir would take most of the furniture out.  The rooms still had striking wallpaper, rich tapestries and, whatever of it there was, the furniture was also quite grand.

All the rooms in the living quarters had fireplaces.  Elegant ones too. Marble, with lots of carvings. There were lots of rooms, but my favorite was the Map Room.  The wallpaper in this room was actually maps of the known world, and in the centre of the enormous room were two huge globes of the world. Cool......

We went to see the court rooms. These rooms were MASSIVE!  Really.  Huge, airy, able to accommodate one thousand and five hundred people.  Really big.  There was a breeze floating in too, so the rooms were cool.  Gold furnishings, lots of paintings, in fact, there was even a room, where around it it had the paintings of all of the Doges of the past. However, where one the Doges should have been featured there was just a black scroll. This was because that Doge had committed treason and it had been decreed that his image should never be shown but his treasonous act should not be forgotten.  Wow.

Next came MY favourite part of the palace, the dungeons.  We walked down into them, and let the mysteries unfold.

We walked across the Bridge of Sighs, connecting the court room in the palace to the prison next door.  The bridge was so named because it connected the court rooms to the prison above a canal, the prisoners could glimpse their last view of the outside world as they walked across and sigh, knowing they couldn't escape. How sad...

The prison was HUGE! So many cells! There were carvings on the walls, that had actually been carved by the prisoners hundreds of years before. You could walk into a few of them, and wonder at the feeling of dread in the place. All grey. It would be cool here in the summer. But freezing in winter. Poor prisoners..

Finally, our visit to the place ended. I had loved it. Truly great!

The Doge's courtyard


Marble staircase with statues of Neptune and Mars


Courtyard of Doge's Palace


The gilded ceiling above the Goldern Staircase


Prisoners last view from the Bridge of Sighs


The prison cell


Prisoners carvings on the wall


My column pose

Glass Island

The boat bounced up and down on the deep blue water. I could now see Murano, the island of glass. We were heading to Murano in a private speed boat to see how they made the world famous Murano Glassware. I was ecstatic.

Glass making fascinated me. The process was rather complex. First, you would mix silica sand, soda ash, limestone and lead together and melt it at 1200 degrees Celsius. The Murano factory showed us how to make a glass vase using glassblowing method. Glassblowing is the art of forming a hollow glass object out of a ball of molten glass using a hollow tube and by gently blowing air down it. This ‘bubble’ is then formed and shaped using tools and molds before it cools. I might have made the process sound very simple but it actually involves many many repetitive work of working the flexible hot glass in and out the furnace at a very fast and skillful speed. A Murano glassware artisan normally starts his full time apprenticeship at about 9 or 10 years old and generally needs at least 7 years before he can graduate.

After watching this amazing performance of art, we headed to the glass gallery. This gallery housed glass sculptures from fifty of the best glass artists in the world. Joseph, the Sales Manager, our private tour guide, showed us the amazing works of art. They were just so beautiful. There were fish, and turtles, giraffes, elephants, vases, plates, and all sorts of abstract designs, and just sooooooooo many others. They all had gold, or coloring inside. We noticed a giraffe that had 24k gold leafs inside it. It was indeed very beautiful and my mum was thinking about buying it.

We followed Joseph and headed downstairs to look at more glass products made by the artists in this factory. I saw a lot of pendants that I liked. My parents went back upstairs to look at the giraffe, and I stayed downstairs to look at pendants.

I decided to get a few pendants, and my dad decided to surprise my mum by buying her the most beautiful giraffe in the shop. My dad had the statue engraved "For Nicole", what a beautiful, loving gesture...That's so my Dad.

I was extremely happy with my purchases. Three of the four pendants were heart shapes with various pink, purple and blue designs. The other one was a rectangle with a pink and blue designs. I really liked them.

Finally, our Murano adventure had ended, and we were on the speedboat back to the Danieli. I had enjoyed it very much. I would never forget it.

Speedboat to Murano


Murano Island


Tour Guide explaining how Murano Glassware is made


The Giraffe dad bought mum


My Murano glass pendants

The Mask

Venetians loved masks. The two things that Venice was famous for were, of course, Murano glass and their mysterious looking masks. In the little stalls outside our hotels, the operator sold keychains, glass jewelry, aprons and masks. There were lots of them! Pink, purple, blue and green, red, yellow, black and orange! Glitter and paint, cardboard and wood! I stared at the masks for ages...

San Marco square was beautiful. Just beautiful. There was the Doges's castle, San Marco basilica, the clock tower and the watch tower. Not to mention hundreds of pidgeons. There were also stalls selling the odd trinkets on the cobbled floor too. It looked very nice.

We headed out of the square and began to explore the shopping roads of Venice. You know how I said there were lots of mask stalls? Well, I now saw that there were hundreds and hundreds of mask stores here. I flitted gleefully in and out of them, marveling at the masks that mesmerised me. They looked so charming and delicate! Mmmmmm......

My parents went into a glassware store but I saw a mask store next door that looked much more interesting. While waiting for my parents, I went into the mask store. I experimented with all the masks! By the time that my parents came out to get me, I had glitter all over my face! It had been a lot of fun, though. I'd really enjoyed it.

The Mask I bought!

San Marco Basilica

San Marco basilica was just amazing. If I could use two words to describe it, they would be opulent and ornate. The Byzantine roof was arched with gold and detailed paintings of various religious figures decorated the bright gold structure. Precious marble columns and statues were placed around the grand basilica. At the rear end of the basilica was the masterpiece of it. It was sculpted of wood, gilded by gold. The paintings on it depicted Jesus, surrounded by four Evangelists, and then that surrounded by the Apostles, Bishops and Archangels. On the sides of that were storyboards about St. Mark. On the top of this was the story of the Crucifixion. And, throughout the work were over 2000 precious and semiprecious stones. Pretty..............

We wandered through the basilica to the Treasury. The Treasury was a collection of luxurious artifacts throughout the history of the world. Pots and paintings, jars and statues. In fact, there were even bones of the priests. It was really cool.

We went to the upper level of the basilica. This part of the basilica was an art gallery. There were lots of pictures depicting the Virgin and Child, the Apostles and of course Jesus. They were all very detailed and very good.

Finally, we had finished at the basilica. We stepped outside and continued exploring Venice.

The Gold Chalice - it was as huge as an urn...


More gold to house the bone of Saint Pietro


Jewel Masterpiece of San Marco Basilica - lots of gold and previous stones!


The original St. Mark's sculpted horses from 1204


On the balcony of San Marco Basilica

The Danieli

I stepped out of the revolving door and was met by a lavish and exquisite main lobby. It was decorated with pink marble columns and an elegant rich red carpet. It had a bar and a piano was playing to entertain the guests. The guests were scattered around lazily just relaxing in the luxurious embroidered chairs. The Danieli was great.

The marble staircase had a statue of Cupid on the foot of it. It was carpeted with a posh deep maroon carpet. It was decorated with various flower arrangements and cabinets with Venetian glass, since, after all, Venice is famous for it's glass.

We walked down the lush and imposing hallway till we reached our room. My mum opened the door with the really charming key. My jaw rocketed down at an inhuman speed. It was really opulent! It was only now that I remembered two things. Firstly, that the Danieli was one of the best hotels in Venice, and, secondly, that this was the hotel that Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp had stayed in during their performance in the movie The Tourist. So, now I realized why every thing was sooooooooo posh.

The room was very ornate. It had a lavishly embroidered closet on one side of the room, coloured green and red, and on the other side of the room, an old fashioned but still elegant desk, with windows that had absolutely fantastic views of the Bacino San Marco by either side. In the centre of the room was a huge, soft, downy bed with a luxuriously patterned bedhead, also green and red. With the decoration and the service provided in the room, I felt very special and very important.

Our 4-day stay in Hotel Danieli at Venice coincided with the 2011 Venice Film Festival. There were lots of movie stars and directors in the hotel. I was hoping to see Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Robert Pattinson, Johnny Depp or Madonna. However, celebrities spotting luck wasn't on my side. On the other hand, my mum, a big fan of Hong Kong films was very excited as she saw and met many famous Hong Kong movie stars and directors every day.

It was hard to say good bye to the glamorous Hotel Danieli at the end of our stay. But... I'm sure I will be back!

Danieli Hotel - We arrived by boat


Reception Entrance


Comfy bed! Unfortunately mine was the small one next to it...


Sitting on the windowsill enjoying the lagoon view


With Mum's idols from Hong Kong! Sean Lau & Amy Kwok

Heritage City

I stood up and we headed out onto the streets of Verona. The now familiar scene of the Arena in the square was really a sight to be seen.  The Arena  is the iconic symbol of Verona.  Built in the 1st century BC, making it more than 2000 years old.  It was enormous and I could imagine the chariot races and gladiator combat that once took place thousands of years ago.  I felt really privileged to be here.

We walked to the City Sightseeing Verona bus stop of the square and waited for the bus to come.   We had decided to do a hop on - hop off tourist bus in Verona.   That way, we could get lots of information and history about Verona and secondly, we could choose the sights we want to spend more time at.

I was handed a pair of earphones and then I was leaded to the top level by my mum. We settled into a pair of seats and plugged the earphones in.  First there was a bit of information about the bus company, and then the actual information started flooding in.

I had learned so much in an hour!  There was the fact that Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona, and that Shakespeare wasn't the first to write it.   I learned that Verona was the intersection of four important roads back in the ancient days.  I learned that Verona used to be ruled by the Austrians and Napoleon.  I learned that Verona has a lot of military strongholds.  I learned a lot of stuff.

We saw a lot of Veronese architecture.  Verona is a very old city and in fact, because of it's historical significance, Verona has been heritage listed by UNESCO in 2000.  The buildings are very old fashioned.  They are three or four stories and are very narrow.   A lot of them are painted orange too.  Really beautiful.

We got off at one of the stops and walked down that road.  We reached Juliet and Romeo's balcony.  It was PACKED!  People EVERYWHERE.  We went into the building that led up to the balcony and bought our tickets.  I  couldn't believe it when I realized I was standing on the balcony.  I felt so relaxed and tranquil.  I  had never known that Juliet and Romeo had been real!  I always thought there were pure fictional characters made up by Shakespeare.   Shakespeare wrote the story based on the stories passed on by Venetian traders. Amazing.

We walked down the street and crossed the bridge.  We had decided that we wanted to see the ruins of the ancient Roman Amphitheater.  I was a little bit intimidated by it.  Sure, it was a ruin, but it was  very big.  There were also statues in it.  We looked at them for a long time.  I imagined how the Romans used to just take this place for granted, but how we nowadays really admire it.  It really made me appreciate it.

Next, we decided to head to the  Castellovecchio.  It was a castle used back in the ancient days.  We wandered into it and started meandering around.  It was very beautiful.  The red brick made it look imposing and intimidating, but the graceful and gentle green gardens gave it an elegant and peaceful look.  We walked onto the bridge that led out of it and took hundreds of pictures.  I  even climbed up to the second level and posed. Awesome!

Finally, twilight was creeping in from behind the trees and secured its place. We reached the hotel and prepared for bed. We settled in, and sleep engulfed us in a soft embrace.

During the 2 days in Verona, we saw lots of historical sites like The Renaissance Duomo, Old Bridges, Piazza Brà, City Wall, Tomb of Juliet and others.  I really enjoyed Verona and I would recommend this heritage city to any traveler to Italy!

The almighty Arena!



It's tradition to rub Juliet's breast for good luck!


The Roman Ruin



Castello Sforzesco



On the bridge of Castello Sforzesco


The Old Bridge


The Renaissance Duomo


Torre Lamberti

Aida

"Yes, it is rumoured that Ethiopia dares once again,
Threaten our power in the valley of the Nile,
As well as at Thebes.
The truth from the messengers I soon will know."

The high priest, Ramphis, started off the opera, Aida, with a strong and pure Bass tone. I was amazed at how loud and how emotional his voice was. I settled into my chair and let Aida unfold.

Aida was just captivating.  This opera was about Radames, a young Captain of the Guard who was selected to lead the troops to stop the Ethiopian army and then free his beloved Aida, a slave who is actually an Ethiopian princess. On returning  to the palace with victory, the king rewards him with a betrothal to Amneris, his daughter. Amneris is overjoyed, as she is in love with him, but Radames does not return that love, for his heart belongs to Aida.

On the night of Radames's wedding, Aida and her father, who was captured in his defeat hide in the garden. Aida's father hides in the bushes while Aida meets Radames in the garden. Aida convinces him to flee to the desert with her, and Radames tells her his battle plans to defeat the Ethiopians. Aida's father leaps out of the bushes and is overjoyed.   Radames is shameful. At that moment, palace guards come and see Radames in love with Aida. They arrest him.

Amneris pleads with Radames to deny his love for Aida, but he refuses firmly. The high priest takes him to trial, where Radames confirms his love for Aida and is sentenced to be buried alive. He is taken to the tomb and is sealed in. He hopes Aida has reached a better place than he. Then Aida emerges from the darkness and they embrace passionately. They accept their fate and wander off into the darkness.

Their were tears in my eyes at that last scene.  It was just so beautiful.  The whole opera was beautiful.  I had seen many Broadway musicals before but this was my first Italian Opera experience.  I loved every bit of it.





At Verona Arena where the opera took place


Verona Arena has the biggest opera stage in the world


We weren't allowed to take any photo during the opera performance, so here are some scenes of the opera from the program.