rosebudkisses: Travelogue Part V: Day 11

On Day 11 morning (or should I say, wee hours - 3 am) we pulled ourselves up, finish packing up our luggage, and said goodbye to Cats PJs :'( Considered taking a cab to the airport since it was so dead early, and our flight is at 7am. However, we decided not to because getting to the airport via the metro was really convenient from our hostel. So we decided to be all garang and take the train, and surprisingly, the station wasn't all empty like we'd expect a 4am train station to be! And of course, we got to the airport on a pretty smooth ride. Last goodbye to Berlin, I loved you so!

It was time to leave Berlin, but to somewhere exciting, and a city I've always wanted to visit - Venice, Italy. Reached Venice at around 9 in the morning, and took a bus to our destination,

It was drizzling a bit but we were all excited and I couldn't wait to see how beautiful Venice is :) The only problem is that we had to lug our luggages past the bridge with plenty of staircase and find our hotel. Thankfully, our hotel is located very near to the main station, so it was easy to identify and locate! Checked in our luggages, and off we go!

What we saw when we came out of our hotel - vibrant culture (catering to tourist eyes)

Venetian costumes, so extravagant and eye catching

Hoodies up because of the drizzle! The difference with rain in Europe and rain in Singapore is that the former is always thin rain that doesn't get you really wet even after a long while, while the latter will almost always get you drenched in minutes. Haha!

I honestly think that Venice is so beautiful. The buildings, the water, the canals, the bridges. It is only regrettable that we did not have a wonderful experience in this city because it is filled largely of tourists, and tourist-hungry merchants who soiled the entire authenticity of the Venetian culture. Now, the 'authentic' version of Venice holiday is one that has switched its entire focus to cater to tourists' desires and needs, almost lost its magic.

We were trying to snap a photo with the Gondolas that were floating by!

That's me, taking a touristy shot with the Gondola that just passed by. In the background, you can see many other tourists. Millions of tourists.

But when you take the human-scape out of the picture, you'll find the beautiful Venice landscape once again. So beautiful.

Rain rain go away

And we've suddenly got sunshine to brighten up the gloomy day!

At the piazza!

We had lunch at one of the random restaurants and it was the WORST meal in our entire Europe trip. We blame it on the commodification of culture that tourism brought about, such that everything is just about the money money money. yucks.

Never miss photo taking opportunities when the sun is out!

More beautiful pictures of Venice landscape:

Hehe, we walked a full circle around Venice, and then back to our hotel for a mid day break!! Rested for a while before heading out again,

Took the water bus to Murano Island!

R was exhausted he just fell asleep on the boat like that and I just had to snap a photo.

Reached the island, and it was a lot more quiet! Me likes it. But there really isn't much things to do there.

Of course, we had to watch glass blowing at Murano!

He was really quick in shaping of the glass!

After that, we lingered for a short while, and back to the main island. Haha ~contemplative~

After the traumatic experience we had during lunch, I had no mood to eat out for dinner. And so we went to the supermarket and shopped for some food to eat. HAHA saw these and bought them. Because of the language barrier, we had no idea if these were cooked or not.... and only when we got back to the hotel we realized that they were so cold ._. woops hahaha. Attempted to eat them but some were really disgusting cold. so... throw. HAHA

Thankfully, we bought baguette and cheese. YUM TUMS. Me likes it. But it felt a little lonely and sad eating bread and cheese in our hotel room on a holiday lolol. I was also telling R that I missed milo, coz they didn't have milo in Europe. Then R magic-ed out milo! He still had some milo packets teehee and it was awesome. :D Slept the night away and the next day we're going somewhere awesome!

Our first class train from Venice to Florence. Where we then have to catch another train from Florence to La Spezia. So so glad we didn't miss our trains, only had 20 minutes connection time! Hehe Italy train adventure, success!

Not long after, we arrived at La Spezia Centrale station and our host was there to pick us up to his apartment! :D Saved us from lugging all our luggages teehee. After settling all our luggages, off we go for another day out! Travelling to Cinque Terre ;)

All excited! Good Sunny day :D

Yay Cinque Terre! :D

R being cracky :B hehe

The first village we visited was Manorola!

Hiked up these steep steps *sweats*

The sea looks ah-maze-zing. I couldn't stop praising how beautiful these villages are!!

And this was R's second visit to Cinque Terre so he knew where to bring me up to gorgeous view :)

I love how the sea has so many different layers of colours.

I'd love to stay here :) Such a relaxing atmosphere!

Look at the sea, stunning.

And a 3 scoops gelato cone = bliss.

Off to Corniglia - the second village we visited! Where we took a bus uphill, bringing us to more gorgeous scenery.

Also found a grocery shop. Decided to buy an orange and some bananas! HAHA we are so random like that.

Teehee small eyes because the sun was way too bright :3

Decided to head to Vernazza (the third village we visited) for our dinner!

Lunch at a restaurant by the coast, and we certainly knew what we had to order - Seafood!

These prawns and cod fish were so so fresh *salivates*

After dinner we had to make our way to the station to catch the train to our fourth village (Monterrosso) but the pajiao me saw the timings wrongly *.* and so we missed our train. The train service at Cinque Terre is specific, and missing one means waiting for another hour or so, oopsie doopsie. So we decided to just go and hang out around Vernazza while waiting for our next train, and this mistake turned out really beautiful in the end, catching sunset together at Vernazza :')

Fooling around at a playground (?) HEHE R looking ecstatic and like a kid.

Climbed up a bit for a bird's eye view of the village we got stranded in :)

And some more self-timed photos :D

Oh, glorious sun is about to disappear, such a beautiful scene. :')

And it was time to head to Monterrosso!

With the skies darkened a little, gorgeous sky :)

And so peaceful ain't it.

Huge rock with a brave photographer right there ^^

I just love the combination of the rows of lamp-posts and the almost darkening skies. :D

Then we headed back to La Spezia and our apartment for the night!

The next day morning, we went out on a boat trip to portovenere! An island we didn't intend to go, but because of our host's recommendation, we decided to head over and visited it! And it was certainly worth it, :))