We just came back from Italy yesterday. We went to Rome, Florence, Tuscany area, Venice and then spent several days in Luzern, Switzerland before flying back from Zurich. We were exhausted (physically and also moneywise) after this two weeks trip especially with a toddler but we really enjoyed it. I think we were being too ambitious when we planned the trip. All three of us learned a lot from this trip especially Meredith. Meredith learned about 20 new words during this trip (probably being stimulated by all the new things we encountered during trip and being around us 24 hours everday. I took a lot of pictures, so I will attempt to select a few pictures for each cities we visited. Here are some photos of Rome at night. Overall, Rome (and the Italy) is very charming but with some rough edges at the same time. In fact, the chaos in the street and level of cleanliness reminds me of Malaysia.
The Spainish Steps. This is where all the tourists came to sit and people watch. There are a lot of illegal peddlers hawking fake hand bags (Prada, Guccis etc...) and even cold beer all over Rome. We sat around at the Spainish steps for quite a while. Every 45 minutes or so, the police will come by and all the hawkers will roll up their mats displaying fake handbags and run away to the next street. Five minutes later, they all came back and unroll their mats on the same spot. The fake goods are not entirely cheap either. But business is good and a lot of American tourists have never been to Petaling street or Hong Kong, so they don't know how much good fake goods should costs. Law enforcement in Italy in this regard is pretty lax or sporadic. It's just like VCD hawkers and the police in Malaysia.
View of St. Peter Basilica from the top of Spainish Steps.
The Spainish Steps. This is where all the tourists came to sit and people watch. There are a lot of illegal peddlers hawking fake hand bags (Prada, Guccis etc...) and even cold beer all over Rome. We sat around at the Spainish steps for quite a while. Every 45 minutes or so, the police will come by and all the hawkers will roll up their mats displaying fake handbags and run away to the next street. Five minutes later, they all came back and unroll their mats on the same spot. The fake goods are not entirely cheap either. But business is good and a lot of American tourists have never been to Petaling street or Hong Kong, so they don't know how much good fake goods should costs. Law enforcement in Italy in this regard is pretty lax or sporadic. It's just like VCD hawkers and the police in Malaysia.
View of St. Peter Basilica from the top of Spainish Steps.Meredith drinks from the fountain in Vatican city. A lot of water fountain in Rome are supplied from ancient Roman aquaducts and is safe for drinking.
The Pantheon. This is nice. It is a temple to worship all 30,000 of Roman Gods. "Pan_ theos" or all the gods. Worship them all under one roof.
The Pantheon. This is nice. It is a temple to worship all 30,000 of Roman Gods. "Pan_ theos" or all the gods. Worship them all under one roof.
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