The Italian Splendour Part 5...

Day 5....
After 2 hectic days  in crowded yet very romantic City of Venice, we proceeded to Florence or Firenze in the heart of Tuscany region. My first visit to this city was way back in early 2001 when I took an excursion for a day tour to Florence during a conference session in Barga, Province of Lucca, Tuscany. The group (consists of multinationals) was so eager and excited to see "David"......and had prebooked tickets into the Accadamia. When I asked them what's the excitement was all about.....they asked me in disbelief..."You don't know "David"????? Later did I know that it was a white marble statue which is one of the best masterpiece ever created by  Michelangelo....

 

Ponte Vecchio

Like any other popular Italian cities, Florence is packed with tourist from every corner and sometimes I really couldn't stand the crowd. Around the city, you may find many artists sitting down and do the sketching and painting capturing the beauty of the city's Italian Renaissance architecture on canvas..... Florence is also famous for leather products whereby you can find many shops selling  high quality Italian leather handbags, jackets, belts, shoes etc. Your trip to Florence is not complete without any of the leather goods to take home .....

Ponte Vecchio

It is very easy for you to get lost inside the city. As for me, I did get lost on my way back to the hotel all the time since every other streets were very similar to me. At night, you can enjoy the beauty of Florence strolling along the river looking at Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Florence that survived the WW2. The bridge also housed fine jewellery stores....


Day 6......

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Leaning Tower of Pisa

We reached our final destination of this vacation.....City Of Pisa. Being the sole attraction here, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was crowded with tourist. Being one of the seven wonders of the world (now not in the list anymore??)..... looking at the leaning tower was really awesome... to capture the beauty of this structure, without the crowds...... I made the decision to come back at night. True enough my imagination was right..... the whole complex was completely empty and  I was free to take photos without any disturbance form anybody...... The marble structure really glows against the dark night.....

After took enough photos of the leaning tower, we drove back all the way to Rome and took our flight back to Kuala Lumpur. The whole 7 days Italian Splendour was truly amazing but tiring as well.....

Winter Wonderland - Haute Savoie Region - Part 2

 Winter Wonderland - Haute Savoie Region - Part 2

The next day, we headed to Geneva for sight-seeing and shopping activity. It took only an hour drive for us to reach Geneva from Annecy. Passing through the border, we drove towards Lausanne and turn into Lake Geneva or Lac Leman driving along-side the lake and headed to its centre. We parked our cars at the Mont Blanc parking area (underground) and started our strolling by the lake near the high water fountain (land mark for Geneva). Along the lake, there are many high -end boutiques that carry luxurious labels such as Rolex, Chopard, LV, Patek Philippe etc along with famous jewelers  ……. Nice to kill your time for window shopping though….

Lake Geneva or Lac Le Man

To shop at Manor, a departmental store is a must whenever you come to Geneva. Here, you can find all sort of Swiss chocolates of various brands, sizes and packaging at discounted prices to bring home some of the best of Swiss has to offer. Most of us bought kilos of chocolate here to bring back as gifts to friend and loved ones….. Again, coming over during the winter season also enable us to enjoy hefty discounts on most of the brands for Swiss watches…50% discount! The temptation was too high for me not to grab one of my favorite chronograph watch from Certina. One thing that everybody should know about Geneva is that there are too many pick-pockets around. I have been warned of this years back and keep telling our group to be extra careful when you pull out your purse or wallet. One of us was pick-pocketed during queuing up to pay the goods inside one of the departmental store despite my early warnings on this issue …… so please be careful whenever you’re in Geneva!!! After hours of shopping and sight-seeing, we called it a day and proceeded back to Annecy.

Day 4,

All of us were eager on the much awaited trip to Mont Blanc today. Even though the weather wasn’t look so good when we departed from Annecy, we were hoping that it will somehow change course when we arrive at Chamonix Mont Blanc later during the day. As usual, we skipped the highway and chose the scenic route instead. The route passed through a few small ski resorts where we stopped and let the kids to play sledges again. They just could not have enough of the fun in Manigod that almost everybody were too excited to play again here. However, without clear blue sky and sun-shine, the weather was too much for us and it was completely unbearable. But not to the kids though….

After the previous night heavy snow showers throughout the region, the snow was powdery and felt really smooth. This has transformed the wood area into a magical winter wonderland that I’ve always dream of. We proceeded back to Chamonix Mont Blanc and passed by Megeve, another ski resort that is really posh for the rich and famous. I read about this on the article in Going Places on the way back home, perhaps I would stop by in my next trip to Haute Savoie region in May 2012 to see what it has to offer!!! Our arrival at Chamonix Mont Blanc was greeted by the heavy snow fall that did not allow us to be outside but inside the souvenir shops most of the time!!! From one to another, we were busy surveying the lowest price for the fridge magnets to kill the time and hoped for the snowing to stop. All of us were frustrated since we could hardly take any photos here during the snow and later decided to go back to our nice, hot and cozy holiday cottage and called it a day.

Day 5,

Our initial plan for today was to go to Interlaken, Switzerland where we will proceed to either Grindelwald or Jungfraujoch. However, our group has decided not to go to Switzerland but instead we planned to cross into Italy. The weather condition in the morning didn’t show any improvement compared to the day earlier. We just hoped that the weather will be on our side so that we could enjoy our diversion.

 In order to cross into Italy, the shortest route is to take the highway towards Chamonix Mont Blanc and then driving through Mont Blanc tunnel into Italy. The tunnel runs about 11.3 km long deep inside Mont Blanc and plays a very important role in connecting France and northern region of Italy. For EUR48 for return trips, we were allowed to utilize the return ticket within 7 days. We noticed that the authority has put up stringent safety measures and procedures to the motorist especially the truckers using the tunnel to avoid any incident/accidents after a terrible disaster that took place a few years back.   With a maximum speed limit of 70 km per hour and distance of about 400m from each vehicle, the journey inside the tunnel took almost half and hour long!

Entrance into Mont Blanc Tunnel

Upon coming out at the other end of the tunnel, we were practically inside Italy as we passed the check-points. The view over this point was truly amazing as we could look down at the town of Courmayeur and the entire valley.  With quite a bit of sun-shine, all of  enjoyed taking some photographs until the snow started to fall again. With  Mont Blanc or “Monte Bianco” ( In Italian meaning the white mountain) as its backdrop, Courmayeur is well-known as one of the top destination for winter sports and activities in Italy. Even though the landscape looks familiar just like its French counterpart, the architecture is distinctively different from them especially the roof tiles which are mostly made of slates.

After we shopped for souvenirs at Courmayeur, we proceeded to Aosta and passed through smaller towns along the way. At this time, you can really see the difference between France and Italy whereby for the later, the town appeared to be more rustic in character. After we did some shopping in Aosta, we took the highway back towards Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc). The highway passed through a few long tunnels before arriving at Courmayeur and then passed the border into Mont Blanc tunnel heading back to Chamonix Mont Blanc. Along the way back to Annecy, it was still snowing until we reached our accommodation. It was really a tiring day for all of us but a satisfied one after adding up of another country ie Italy in our travel itinerary.