The aunties and the uncles have been nothing but welcoming and helpful towards both my mum and I. They will call often to ask if everything’s OK, arrange trip to Bicester (highlight!), arrange meals and even on my last day, they were with me *sob sob*.
First of all, praise God mum was able to arrive in Heathrow despite the volcanic ash crisis. Thank God we were able to continue all our travels without hiccups.
Based in London, it was easy to travel around Europe. I was thinking where should I bring mum when she’s down. I really wanted to go to Barcelona, Madrid (KAKA!) and Milan, then again, I thought maybe mum would appreciate Venice and the French Riviera more.
Mum's time in London, I did manage to bring her jalan-jalan and see most of the sights but if you see the pictures she took, you'll see 1000 species of floras. I found out that Eva's mum love flowers too... hrm...
There's 2 airport in Venice - Trevisio and Marco Polo. Preferably you stop in Marco Polo but Ryan Air stops only in Trevisio (about 1 hours bus ride (ATVO Bus €5) to Venice's Piazzala Roma). From Pizzala Roma, you'll take the ferry bus (vaporetti) to Piazza San Marco... we stayed in a hotel just 3 minutes from Piazza San Marco, Villa Igea. Nice hotel, very convenient location and very good breakfast.
Food in Venice are priced averagely €10. We tried a variety of pasta whilst in Venice. Mum said the only pasta she's eaten is Spaghetti Bolognese. Not only mum, I myself have not been too adventurous when it comes to Pasta. In Venice, personally I think it's important to pay a bit more and stay near St. Mark's square. There's no taxi in Venice ie when you're lost, you're on your own... esp at night. But Venice is very safe. Mum and I got lost on our 1st day and we walked and walked deeper into the maze of Venetian buildings. By 7pm, no water taxi or Gondolas were working, so it's only Bus No. 11 that will take you home.
Venice is all about its canals, bridges, palaces and gondolas. It has about 400 bridges (famous one is Realto Bridge)... famous people from there, you might know... Giacomo Casanova, a Venetian so famous as a womanizer that his name is synonymous with the art of seduction.
Although I did not travel extensively, I must say I've never been to a place quite like Venice. The atmosphere, the walkway, the sceneries, the sight of churches and canals all in 1... indeed, it is truly an experience so unique. I am quite happy mum actually liked Venice, she woke up early in the morning to walk around and take pictures etc.
Near Venice, there's the Murano Island. It is famous for its glass-making. In 1200s, all the glass makers in Venice were forced to move to Murano Island, due to the risk of fire. Murano glass makers were prominent figures in the city. I don't know if it's still like this today, maybe not but they are still very highly regarded. If you stay at certain hotels, like ours, there will be a water taxi service bringing you to Murano Island (20 minutes away) catered by a particular Murano factory. They bring you there in style hoping you'll part with your $$$ buying their products and send you back via water ferry! I must say the Murano glass products are really really beautiful. I was almost tempted to max my card...
I find that I like Italians most, comparison to other Europeans. I think mum too. I like their language, their food, their persona and their warmth. As for Venice, it was really refreshing to not see cars and traffic.
The first night, mum and I walked along the promenade and it was very nice and relaxing and scenic. Why Promenade Des Anglais (Walkway of the English)? Because back in the days, English aristocrats spent their winters there due to the 300 days of sun! Nice is also one of the earliest human settlement.The next day, we enlisted for a tour around the riviera and found out we're the only 2! We had the guide all for ourselves! A private tour would have cost close to a thousand euros! Silvio was our guide for the day and he is... guess what? Italian! He speaks Italian, French, Portugese, Spanish, Russian and English. What a mouthful. He's a wonderful guide, he knows a lot and he's very friendly and we felt very at ease during our tour. Because there were only the 2 of us, he was a bit more unconventional and brought us to many other sites. We went to Grasse (world's capital of perfume), Antibes (Picasso spent quite sometime there and port of some of the super super yatchs), Cannes (no intro needed after the recent Cannes Films Festival), Gourdon & Tourettes (magnificent feudal and medieval villages), St Paul De Vence (art haven and haven of the famous but I did not see any on that day).
At Grasse, we were enjoying Fragonard... one of the 3 major perfumeries (Molinard & Galimard. Grasse was known as the world's capital of perfume for the very reason that it produces 2 thirds of France's perfumeries and many 'noses' trained and spent time in Grasse. Noses are people who create 'parfum' and they are less than 10 in the world today. So you can guess they are very well paid.
At Antibes, we visited Port Vauban, the largest yatching harbour in Europe. This old port was the heart of the ancient Greek city of Antipolis and its history includes Ligurians, Romans and Crusaders stop on their way to the Holy Land. We saw Tatoosh, a superyatch owned by Microsoft's Paul Allen and another yatch with no name, owned by Roman Abramovich as many would know as owner of Chelsea FC. and many more super yatchs just screaming "$$ laundering"... tsk tsk tsk... I'm just saying...
Mum just loved Gourdon and Tourettes, I can just see her expressions! She just loved the ancient villages with beautiful provencal houses with FLOWERS everywhere! We had our lunch at Gourdon - at a picturesque restaurant overlooking the valley! The view was breathtaking.
We spent the day in Monaco the next day. You see pictures of the royal family everywhere. What I expected to see in Monaco, I saw. The Monte Carlo casino, lush floras, port view of super yatchs, super luxurious hotels, lamborghinis and ferraris and bugatis, formula one grand prix etc etc. First half of the day we were wet! So we spent the whole morning in a cafe.
I love South of France and most of all, I love my company.
1 comments:
where's gon's pic?
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