Venice, a.k.a Venezia St. Lucia

Venice is a beautiful city! Its just 2 and a half hours away from Milan and the moment you get down you realise there's water, bridges & boats everywhere.

No time to write more, but check out the pictures haha awesome place...
Wish you were here to see it for yourself =)


Me, Dennis, Charmaine & Guowei on the train to Venice

Peter & William were sitting just beside us


Besides the fancy sights, Venice is really a shopping destination

with lots of stores selling masks, jewellery and so much more!

This photo was taken outside the train station, nothing much to

say about this, but the impressive stuff will come later =)

Taxis anyone? Apparently they go by boat here...

I wonder whether these cool boats have a taxi-meter...

Probably dont have to worry about speeding/wearing your

seat belt in one of these either haha

I have no idea what this building is, but basically just know

that we're in Venice and all the buildings have fancy carvings, statues

and stuff to make all their european neighbours jealous =)

Ooh a gondola... you have to fork out 100euros for a ride

in one of these (its daylight robbery man!) Haha don't ride one of these

unless your gf/spouse demands it...  (j/k onli haha i'm not that cheapo)

then again you could bargain, we managed to get the price down to 80, 

but still costs like $80/6 per person so we decided to save it for later instead. 

Streets & restaurants, you'll pass by plenty of these

A view of one of the many channels in Venice

Ok so i was wrong and that building u see on the right does

indeed have a name... but right now its 10:40pm and i'm not gonna

take out my map of venice just to check it for you guys, so try

going to wikipedia instead k =)

Another gondola a.k.a loveboat 

A 30 mins ride on one of these could buy you half a

Prada/LV/Coach handbag(and a pretty decent one too!)

Pls pardon this random crappy shot =)

And this one too!

The waterfront & some bridge

Passed thru a small park on our way to a church called

Chiesa di Santa Maria

You'll see these everywhere throughout europe (and

probably other parts of the world), they're always a pretty

sight and they add colour to the greenery

Notice any differences/similiarities between these houses

and those in holland/germany/europe?

Seriously after travelling to different spots, they all still

kinda look the same in general...

We use our handphones while driving, 

dutch use them while cycling

venetians use them while paddling their boats*

Goodjob Nokia for producing something we cant live without =)

*at least they dun get summons, lucky punks...

Nice small bridge.. the bigger one's comin soon

Small alley + two ahmahs walking thru haha

This tap flows constantly, we were all wondering what it was for..

Was it for thirsty tourists?

To wash the dog poo off your shoe?

Maybe its a statement that venetians can afford to waste water since 

they're surrounded by it...

Well if you know the answer pls enlighten me =)

Well here's Chiesa di Santa Maria, its supposed to be an

important place but theres nothing much to see here.

It was interesting cos we visited around easter and there were

people holding palm leaves and walking around, probably to celebrate

the festival or something...

Shops & masks & fancy dresses

Venice is a gelato heaven, heard of Venezia in singapore?

Well, venezia is just another name for venice and i cant believe

i didnt know that until i was there!

Btw, gelatos cost onli 1euro here!! tahts 2bucks in singapore

This day alone i had like 3-4 gelatos, it was awesome man haha

Here are the authentic flavours, i went crazy here cos back

home i always couldn't bear to pay 5bucks for a tiny scoop

Venice is well known for its glassware and other trinkets

Tiny glass animals like these cost around 5-10 euros,

they make cute decorations but are really fragile...

It was a pity i didnt have proper luggage to store them in

otherwise i would definitely have bought some back

Guess what Grace? I bought you one of these masks =)

haha and charmaine was kind enuff to agree to personally "DHL" 

it back for you cos it would most certainly disintegrate if i packed it

inside my Deuter bag 

We went inside one of the stores and saw a lady making one of

these masks by herself, it was quite interesting watching her spraypaint

it. It involves a substantial amount of work & skill so people pay quite alot

for those rare and exquisite designs.

Here's the biggest and most famous bridge in Venice

called Ponte di Rialto, its lined with stores - well, what else

can you do in venice besides SPEND MONEY?

The view from atop this bridge, its really beautiful and i know

this picture doesnt do the place any justice... but well just watching 

the boats go by is a pretty good way to spend your afternoon/evening

Hi dudes back home =)

I was wishing i'd put on some weight but I don't seem to look

any different from when i was in S'pore... 3 more months to try!

Yup, the bridge from below, you can see all the tourists taking photos

on the bridge... the funny looking blue/green colour poles are gondola

pickup points

Gondolas in a small channel, it'll be a once-in-a-lifetime

experience riding one of these, and literally once-in-a-lifetime 

(unless you've got no better way to spend your euros) and also 

cos  its novelty wears off after the first ride haha

Piazza San Marco - or Plaza San Marco

Its biggest plaza and one of the "must visit" places in venice

This is the Basilica di San Marco, really unique design & architecture

We didnt go inside though... it must have been quite spectacular as well

Dennis taking a wide-angle shot of Charmaine & whatever's behind her

This is the Palazzo Ducale, a palace of sorts...

Two columns, not sure what's the significance...

Will leave the history/culture part for later when i grow

old enough to appreciate it (and afford the tour guide) haha

I thought this pic looked kinda cool with the clock advertisement

in the foreground and the nice clocktower in the background,

wish i had a DSLR though... bah its $1k++

Another view of the piazza

Some food we ordered at a restaurant/cafe beside the sea

Really ex... i think that ham & cheese thingy cost like 5 euros

Just across the short stretch of water is the S.Maria della Salute

Pictures would have been beautiful at night, but we had to leave 

early to catch the train back to Milan

Lol my hotel... i was just really boliaoz so i took the picture

and repositioned so that it cut off the extra I on the right of the L

Another shot of the basilica, this time u can see the murals and nice designs

Nice huh? well i just thank God for this opportunity to be

on exchange, plus my parents for being so supportive!

Thanks & Cya all soon =)