Thursday 21 November 2013

EUROPE TRIP // VENICE [Day 5 & 6] - Water Taxi, Gondola Ride, Glass Blowing, Murano Glass, Fake Pandora

HEY GUYS
I'm finally FINALLY blogging about Venice! Best part of the trip really no doubt on that. It's definitely a MUST GO if you ever travel to Europe.
I'll visit that place again someday if i could. Some people have said that Venice is predicted to be completely submerged in 60-80 years which is really sad. There'll probably be floods in years to come so if you want to go to Venice book your air ticket now??

Speaking of travelling to Europe, people always joke about how they're going to a far away country by train but this dude made it real by travelling from Singapore to Europe by train / ferry and i think it's fucking cool. I'll really go on to try something like this someday! Even though it will take around 17 days if you dont make any stops, you get to see so much more. And it's really like an adventure? http://woodlandstowoking.wordpress.com/route-and-ticket-cost/
Ritche says we'll go when we retire or something HAHA. When we really have all the time in the world.

Anyway once we reached Venice, it was already evening time like 5pm so we had to hurry on the water taxi before it got dark!
That's a picture of the water taxi. It brought us across Venice (from the outskirts to San Marco [kinda like a town centre]) to see the different sights before our evening gondola ride! The gondola ride didn't bring us very far as it's really slow and so the route is really short but it was still an amazing experience.
So please don't take the gondola ride hoping to see the whole of Venice it's not possible.


"Polizia", Police boats!


This is their form of public transportation! The yellow sheltered area is where they wait for the boat.
I really have no idea what this is called. If you're taking a bus it's called a bus stop so this is a boat stop? LOL




Such a beautiful place :(


That is the gondola with a man always standing at the back of the boat rowing it.
 If you noticed, he's wearing a striped shirt and that's actually their uniform HAHA super cute!
Oh and apparently this is the place where they filmed The Tourist (2010) with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. I don't think i've watched that movie yet and i think i should.





Once you reach San Marco you'll see many shops selling hand painted masks of different kinds like clown, skull, vendetta, cat, phantom and pinocchio. Also, murano glass which is handmade glass, made into necklaces, earrings and beads for bracelets! Just like those you see in Pandora. And i must say, murano glass is really beautiful. There's always so many tiny details within the small glass piece with so many different colours within. I really don't know how they managed to do that.
You don't have to buy it immediately because you'll see this sold everywhere in Venice (and even some other parts of Italy as well). More pictures of that on the following day when we went for many hours of shopping!



Finally got on the gondola! There are actually 6 seats on the boat, and some of the seats are really weirdly arranged but you cannot move away from your allocated seat cause the guy actually placed you there to balance up the weight on the boat.
Even though the gondola is really slow, it's the only boat that goes through those small alleys unlike the water taxi so i think it's really worth the experience!







Musicians on the other gondola also from our tour group! I think it's meant for the couple having their honeymoon.
If anyone ever says that Venice is the most romantic place in the world, please agree with them.


It got really dark and i couldnt see anything when the boat went under bridges so i took a picture with flash. Didn't notice anything weird until i saw what i captured LOL the gondola guy actually posed for the picture HAHAHA. Damn cute.



Look at the locals/tourists stopping by the bridge to look at the gondolas. I sure don't think i'll stop by any overhead bridge in Singapore to stare at the expressway. 



Many many paintings sold on the street but please don't be like me and take a picture of the stall cause you'll probably get scolded for it LOL.
I just took the chance since the person was busy and we were just passing by.



Made our way back to the hotel as it was dinner time already. I was already so in love with Venice even though it was only 2 hours spent there.
I was so damn excited for the following day when we got to explore Venice ourselves during our free time!

That's ritche's father, the one with a heart shaped sticker on his back. Guess who would have done such a thing?
HAHAHA who else other than his (annoying) son.



Our hotel room with the whole turquoise theme that i thought was really cute. This hotel was a million times better than the one in Switzerland i was so thankful.
One thing about following tour groups, is that you really don't know what to expect at all. One day you get a crappy hotel and the next day you get such a cosy one?



Dinner was really really good. Don't have a nice picture of it cause it's taken using my handphone but it was so yummy i just had to post the crappy photos.

Beef lasagne


Veal meat which comes from a young calf, so it's more tender and tastier than beef


Did i forget to mention how each course took so fucking long to come wtf. The whole meal took like almost 2 hours cause we were sitting there more than half the time waiting for food to be served??? I could have had more sleep omg.

Anyway the following morning was already the start of our day 6! I was so excited i woke up too early HAHA.
Top from www.stylehacks.net





Ritche's morning face is damn funny HAHAHAHAH just look at that.



Breakfast was really sad as always


That's my share....and the croissant wasn't even mine LOL
I was already getting used to the whole very-sad-breakfast-everyday thing by then.
The tour group would ask you to go and have breakfast at like 7am but they'll only board the bus like 45 minutes later when Ritche and i honestly need only less than 5 minutes for breakfast. Don't know why we bothered following all their stupid timings???




Happy and ready to see more of Venice!




OOTD
Floral Sleeve Top from StyleHacks
Baroque Pants from StyleHacks
Mint Coat from Taipei
Gradient Heels from Paris
Bracelets from Bangkok



HAHAHAHAHAH another funny shot of Ritche. He kept asking me to delete it since we were in Venice and until now he's still asking me not to post it on my blog but i'm sorry this is too funny i just had to do it LOLOL.
He looks like a child? I don't even know how this smile came about HAHAH.



While making our way to San Marco!





This is definitely one of my favourite photos









Mosaics (small pieces of glass pieced together) on the building



Photos taken while making our way to the glass blowing demonstration, showing how murano glass comes about!
The other day when i was at katong 112 there was this shop selling glass necklaces and accessories and they are actually giving glass blowing classes!
I thought that was pretty cool but i have no idea how many people would actually sign up for that. It's a lot of hard work and patience altogether.
I mean like everything would require hard work and patience but Singaporeans would be interested to sign up for such things? That would be surprising.




I need to tell you, that the subsequent images all happen within seconds and the glass piece is done just like that.
I was there just spamming photos since it was so fast lol.
He did 2 pieces, the first one a vase and the second one was a horse!







Making handles for the vase


He was just turning and turning the vase and before i knew it,it was already done?



On to the second piece






Amazing or what?


We were then brought into a room and no photography was allowed in there. The guy was knocking the thin glass cup against the table and all of us were so fucking shocked. I swear the coloured glass was so thin you could see through it LOL. Really need such glassware in my house next time.

After the glass blowing demonstration we were off for our free time and shopping!


I really loved the glass balloons :/


Just look at the details on that skull mask




Very fake looking pinocchios haha. There are really nice and real looking ones in Florence! You'll see it in the next post :)

Ritche: I want one in my room!!!


Murano beads that really look like pandora beads! Not that cheap anyway it's like 3 beads for 20euros ($34 SGD) but the price range varies a lot between shops




450euros ($765 SGD) just for the chess pieces and 425euros ($722.50 SGD) just for the chess board. I've never seen a chess board this expensive...







Found a Gucci shop at a totally random corner of Venice and so Ritche has a new belt and his mother has a new bag!





Got hungry after awhile and so we went to get some food!
If you look closely, you'll see that there are 2 prices for everything. It's still pretty weird to me but the first pricing is for take away, and the more expensive one is if you dine in. So you're just paying for a seat lol.


Bellini cocktail that originated in Venice is a must to try! It was really really good (unlike Singapore Sling LOL).
Just so you know, Singapore Sling is created by a man from China, and it's a Southeast Asian drink not Singaporean wtf. What a misleading name.




I really have no idea why they put napkins below our food LOL it just got stuck beneath our bread and it was such a pain to remove it oh well.



"Pandora the Gondola" wtf is it meant to rhyme or something...
On this trip i entered shops like Gucci, Prada, Burberry, and Pandora for the very first time in my life LOL very suaku i know. I'm not brand conscious so i don't bother to do so in Singapore.These shops really blend in with all the normal shops along the streets and it feels very normal to walk in them.
It's so unlike those in Singapore with people in suits opening the door for you and all the staff staring and judging.


Wish i could get all of it sigh but they all cost a few hundreds





Gelato in Venice! Pistachio and hazelnut ~


Hard Rock Venice



Even more masks! Wish i had the vendetta one too



The skullllll. If you wore this for halloween it'll be so cool omg.





Snacking along the way


Ritche with his "what do you want from me" face while his mom was talking to him HAHAHA





Told him to siam cause he was at the corner of the photo then he did this. What an annoying prick right? HAHA love you la don't glare at me.


I was honestly very sad and reluctant to leave Venice sigh and time passed by too quickly. We had to make our way to Florence already!




Bought limited edition Lindt chocolates and we have had the cheesecake, nougat and cookies and cream.
It was damn good and i really can't wait to try the flavour that sounds the best, caramel brownie holy shit.


There you go that's my fake pandora bracelet filled with murano beads! Picked all of them myself and arranged by Ritche hehe.
I think it's pretty nice! I tried arranging it myself and it really turned out like crap.seems like i have no talent for such things lol. I have just 1 more bead to this collection that i got from Rome hehe. I also got a few necklaces, earrings and masks. Will show all of my buys on the very last Europe post!


Ritche and i just turned 7 months 2 days ago. Scary how time flies. I can't believe i've spent more than half of the year 2013 with him already. 
AND 2 days ago, was exactly a year since my last IB paper, which means i've graduated for a year already? I think that is fucking unbelievable? 
And the blog, IS EXACTLY A YEAR OLD on that day as well? 

I still remember the reason why i created the blog and i'll always stay true to it. I never thought people would be interested to read what i have to say when it first started off cause it was a lot more like a diary and my say on what the screwed up school has done to me. I wonder what triggered people to actually come and read it now?
Whatever that it is, I just wanted to share how i feel and i love doing so in this space i have. I've spent so many hours on it i don't even know why sometimes.
It seems like the taipei free and easy trip is the most popular post and people who are intending to travel to taipei actually used the directions i've given. 
I know cause i've received emails and comments. I feel that it's amazing how i can share my small piece of information with people who actually need it. 

Now i really really just wonder, how people feel after they read what i have to say after every post?
I dont think there's any way to find out but i wish i could though. :(

Sometimes, i just visit other blogs cause i've got nothing better to do. And some blogs are really boring. I just hope i dont fall under that category LOL. My blog posts are always so lengthy and wordy i don't know who actually reads every word. I always questioned myself while blogging?

Anyway i should be blogging about more updates in the next post before the one on Florence.There are just too too too many photos piling up to share LOL.
Till next time!

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