Darth Wey Tour Around the World: Europe Tour 1st to 13th Nov 2013

As any package tour, morning is always early. Typically average timing to move out is 8am, which means 6am morning call follow by 7am breakfast.

Call me weird but I just love waking up early and moving off on time, perhaps that's why I prefer package tour over free n easy.

Day 3 - 3 Nov 2013

Today planned itinerary will be from the hotel to Trochetto pier, where we will be taking a boat to Venice Island. Oh yes ! The lovely city in the water...hehehe... The tour manager said that the city is not sinking, it is actually the water raising.... Duh....

A - Hotel
B - Trochetto
C - Barberino - Factory Outlet
D - Florence

The dinner today will be at Certosa Restaurant (Florentine Steak), the most original flavour of steak. No such thing as medium rare, rare or medium well done, there is only the timing of the chef !

And tonight will be hotel The Gate in Florence, eh, the hotel don't tally lei....

Anyway, off to the city Venice, it is actually made up of 118 islands and the people there are known as "Venetians".

We will be crossing a long bridge over the main islands before taking boat into the heart of Venice.

Some pixs before the boat ride, oh yeah, it is mentioned that there will be shower today. However, it was assured by our tour manager that shower here typically last 5-15 mins while storm will be like hours.....

Our boat was the chartered type hence only our 14 members only, the typical water taxis will be for the public usage, as seen in the below pix.

Once we hit the Venice islands, shower began to start and showering us with our gracious visit to Venice, hehehe.... With "additional" water, of coz the water began to raise, they will come up from manholes, thru' the cracks in the the floors and overflow the city.....

When water is high, it will hit the knee area, these type of platforms can be found everywhere to allow people to stay dry....

The famous bridge of sighs

The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) is a bridge located in Venice, northern Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antoni Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge) and was built in 1602.

The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. In addition, little could be seen from inside the Bridge due to the stone grills covering the windows.

The prison

A local legend says that lovers will be granted eternal love and bliss if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the Bridge of Sighs as the bells of St Mark's Campanile toll.

Gondolas

One of the statue near our boat area

The pillars of the Doge Palace, note that each design is totally different from the other one.

The Doge's Palace (Italian: Palazzo Ducale) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice, northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the Republic of Venice, opening as a museum in 1923. Today, it is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.

St Mark's Basilica

The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark (officially known in Italian as the Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco and commonly known as Saint Mark's Basilica) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture. It lies at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco, adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace. Originally it was the chapel of the Doge, and has only been the city's cathedral since 1807, when it became the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, formerly at San Pietro di Castello.

For its opulent design, gold ground mosaics, and its status as a symbol of Venetian wealth and power, from the 11th century on the building has been known by the nickname Chiesa d'Oro (Church of gold).

Four Tetrarchs

In an attempt to stabilise the Roman Empire after the crisis of the third century, the Emperor Diocletian imposed a new Imperial office structure: a four co-emperor ruling plan called The Tetrarchy.

The famous porphyry statue of the Four Tetrarchs represents the interdependence of the four rulers. It was taken from Constantinople, during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and set into the south-west corner of the basilica (the above mentioned low tower) at the level of the Piazza San Marco.

Part of the missing foot of one of the figures was discovered in Istanbul (near the Bodrum Mosque) in the 1960s, where it is still on display, clarifying the original location of the work.

Piazza San Marco (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjatt͡sa san ˈmarko], often known in English as St Mark's Square), is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza" (la Piazza). All other urban spaces in the city (except the Piazzetta and the Piazzale Roma) are called "campi" (fields). The Piazzetta (the 'little Piazza') is an extension of the Piazza towards the lagoon in its south east corner. The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered together.

The left tall building is the Campanile, the right is the clock tower

St Mark's Campanile (Campanile di San Marco in Italian) is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city.

As Venice tends to be ponded (flooding), shoes that can fit over your existing shoes are sold for $10 Euro. The blue colored thing on feet is the ponding protector, hahaha. Actually we discussed and this could be a business in Singapore. Our 2 tour managers also gotten the ponding protector...hehe

The Square

The clock on the clock tower, see if you can spot the extra sign

The Piazzetta di San Marco is (strictly speaking) not part of the Piazza but an adjoining open space connecting the south side of the Piazza to the waterway of the lagoon. The Piazzetta lies between the Doge's Palace on the east and Jacopo Sansovino's Libreria which holds the Biblioteca Marciana on the west.

The Lion of Venice on the eastern (left in pix) column and St Theodore on the western (right in pix) column. The columns are now thought to have been erected about 1268, when the water was closer and they would have been on the edge of the lagoon, framing the entry to the city from the sea.

Public executions also took place between the columns. In all likelihood more homosexuals died between the "Columns of Justice" than anywhere else in Europe before Hitler. Homosexuals were burned alive between the columns until 1446, when the rite was changed so that victims were to be decapitated before their bodies were consigned to the fire.

Bridge towards the glass factory

We proceeded to the glass making factory which produces the Murano glass, one of the famous item in Venice. No photo taking of the products was allowed hence no glass pix except the making process as seen above.

After the factory, we proceed to take our gondola ride !!! Lucky the raised water level did not prevent our ride else it would be damn wasted.

Lizzy in the gondola

Me, oh yeah

Together, it is a 6 pax gondola

Our gondolier, I must say the job is damn skillful, one needs to bend and moved thru bridges and bridges. High water level will prevent the rides as one cannot passed thru the bridges.

Finally our ride took us to the Grand Canal and one can see the Rialto Bridge

The Rialto Bridge (Italian: Ponte di Rialto) is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.

Gondola Singing

Afterwhich is free and easy for around 1.5 hours I think...We went around hunting for a supermarket which Lizzy spotted during the gondola ride. The place is a maze and after some hunting, we found the place. Aqua or mineral water is cheap, around $0.30 Euros which amazed us as the normal price in shops is at $1.50 to $3 Euros.

Shopping shots....

The icons for Venice is the mask, all the strange and costume masks

The ristorante and our lunch, comes up to around $60 Euros, place recommended by our tour manager

Time to say goodbye to Venice as we head off Florence....This is payable, so is the factory outlet but due to time, the Barberino outlet will be skipped, FoxTown, another outlet will be replaced later.

Autogrill - Our favourite stops during the long haul

Factory outlet, alas.....

Lots of birds

By the time we reached Florence, it was around 5+pm...

Reached Florence and walking towards Florence Cathedral

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (English: Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) is the main church of Florence, Italy. Il Duomo di Firenze, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.

Façade of the cathedral, this neo-gothic façade in white, green and red marble forms a harmonious entity with the cathedral, Giotto's bell tower and the Baptistery.

The Baptistery

Lizzy's signature jump

Emilio De Fabris, the top most of the duomo

On top of the façade is a series of niches with the twelve Apostles with, in the middle, the Madonna with Child.

The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile. The three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major attraction to tourists visiting the region of Tuscany.

The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and until development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.

Piazza della Repubblica (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjattsa dɛlla reˈpubblika], Republic Square) is a city square in Florence

The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", Italian pronunciation: [ˈponte ˈvɛkkjo]) is a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers and souvenir sellers.

The bridge actually have another bridge built on-top of the original bridge, according to our tour manager, the ruler needs to move from his palace to the place of office via this bridge. As the initial tenants are butchers, the stench is unbearable hence he ordered the additional bridge to be built. Afterwhich all tenants were changed to jewellers and arts, and it was also known as the Golden bridge.

It is the only bridge that is not blown during WW2 because of an express order by Hilter.

The Uffizi Gallery (Italian: Galleria degli Uffizi, Italian pronunciation: [ˌɡalleˈria deʎʎi ufˈfittsi]) is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.

Piazza della Signoria is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the focal point of the origin and of the history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political hub of the city.It is the meeting place of Florentines as well as the numerous tourists, located near Ponte Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo and gateway to Uffizi Gallery.

The Palazzo Vecchio (Italian pronunciation: [paˈlattso ˈvɛkkjo] "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany.Overlooking the Piazza della Signoria with its copy of Michelangelo's David statue as well as the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi, it is one of the most significant public places in Italy.

David and Hercule guard the entrance to Plazzo Vecchio, which itself is a museum.

Courtyard with Putto with Dolphin by Verrocchio

The courtyard detailsp

Preparing to closup

Outside there are numerous statues.....

Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus

The Rape of Polyxena

Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus, The Rape of the Sabine Women.

The five marble female statues (three are identified as Matidia, Marciana and Agrippina Minor), Sabines and a statue of a barbarian prisoner Thusnelda from Roman times from the era of Trajan to Hadrian. Don't ask me which is which, I have no idea...hahaha

Perseus With the Head of Medusa was under renovation, alas...

Fountain of Neptune

The equestrian statue of Cosimo

Time to leave the place of statues and head out to dinner. The journey to the dinner place was pretty long due to a mis-guided GPS which cost us around 30 mins of delay....Talks about modern technology. Can't really blame anyone as there was a detour of the roads along the way hence it actually thrown our tour manager off-track as well.

Along the way can see a monastery

There was some performance by 3 italians, 1 on violin, one on harmonica and one singing, like those soprano style. They are actually promoting their album, by the time we reached the restaurant, it was pretty late and we were the last group.

The 3 jokers came by our group after the group they entertained left, one of the lady actually sang along with them, some also bought their album. When they came to us, the singer was like half-hearted already as we were busy finishing our food. In the end he sang one song then they left, saying they would be back which they never. Oh well, save our wallet from their album, strange they sang yellow submarine....

The food......Streak.....no source, just salt and pepper I think....Damn big piece and the center portion was just cooked but for some abit on the bloody side.....