Our flight was at 10ish, but because we stayed at Treviso, we needed to get up as early as possible to get to Marcopolo airport. It's hellish to get train at such wee hour. Lesson learnt. The train, though according to the trenitalia website and schedule at the board at the station showed xxx time, they never showed up! In the end we wasted so much time and finally, fortunate for us there's a shuttle bus that went to Marcopolo! Phewwwww! It cost us 7 Euro each.
We arrived just in time. The queue for RyanAir was long but at least it's fast moving. As many of you will have probably known, traveling by RyanAir means leaving no loophole for them to dig out money from you. Make sure that your luggages aren't too big or too heavy (please refer to the baggage size requirement) and also no extra carry-on at all. Umbrella? Forget it! They're real strict that even before we boarded into the plane, they carried out the measurement thing again to measure everyone's carry-on. So if u're thinking u can run away from the check-in desk, it doesn't guarantee u anything really.
The pilot was very funny... I still remember how he told the passengers to turn off everything electrical, including "sexy toys"... heeheehee. It's pretty good flight we had, which took us about 2 hours or so to reach Brussels Charleroi airport.
Arriving in Brussels, the first thing that greeted us was the super cold weather! I was clearly not prepared for that. We packed really light, so expect no warm jacket in there! So i had to wrap myself with literally everything from my baggage, which resulted me into an indescribable piece of sh*t. Haha. We took the shuttle bus Charleroi to go to Brussels Midi station. The bus ticket cost us 13 Euro each and took us probably 1 hour. But well it's a pretty decent ride.
Fortunately we stayed nearby the Brussels Midi station so we only had to walk from there to our rented apartment. On our way, we bought Liege waffle along the way from a vendor machine and had it to fill our stomach a bit.
Our apartment was an amazing place, really. It's a loft that's greatly taken care of. We stayed with one of the hosts, Peter and he's really such a friendly guy. He made us tea the moment we just arrived. We chitchat at his little garden and then we made a move out to the city. First stop: THE FRITES! I was kind of skeptical when they said the Belgian fries was something i MUST try. I mean, come on, how could it ever be so different? We paid 3.5 Euro and our perspective towards Frites/fries just changed! :D
And then of course we went to the Grand Place area... visited the Chocolate museum (ticket cost 5.5 Euro each), watched the buskers on the street (they're seriously amazing performers!), saw the Mannekin Piss, tasted the escargot soup (OMG I MISS THIS SO MUCH), rented the bike...
I miss Brussels, I really do. It's really unique and pretty in its own way. Let these pictures tell the story, ok?
For dinner, we had another round of Chinese food that cost 17 Euro for us both. Really just couldn't resist it! :D and then went on to try the real deal Belgian beer. Belgian beer is more sour than normal beer, still prefer the normal one though :) It cost us 7 Euro for both to have the beers.
And then we went back to Grand Place and I bought some pralines from Neuhaus. The real deal. Ahhh... :)
Monday, September 12, 2011
Day 8 - 6th August 2011 - Venice
On the third day, we decided to visit Burano an island which is famous for lace-making. I personally really like lace, that's why the trip to Burano uplifted my mood a little bit. We also visited the lace museum which cost us 5 euro each to enter. Not much to elaborate about, but I love lace! Hahaha. I love seeing how they're made. So pretty...
After that, we visited Giardini for the second part of Biennale we hadn't visited. Compared to Arsenale, Giardini was much more happening and exciting! There were halls dedicated to each country... I remember seeing the ATM that played really loud (and horrible) music when you accessed to it. There's a pipe organ on top of it that linked the activities altogether. Quite awesome, it really drew people to withdraw or do any kind of transactions there.
In the evening, we went back to Treviso and did what the local people do! Having tramezzini and spritz by the street. :) We had this awesome anchovy cheese tramezzini that really lingered in our minds... then we went for the real dinner. I was craving so badly for Vongole, so we just stopped by the first restaurant we saw that had it. It's yummy! So there ends our story in Venice.
After that, we visited Giardini for the second part of Biennale we hadn't visited. Compared to Arsenale, Giardini was much more happening and exciting! There were halls dedicated to each country... I remember seeing the ATM that played really loud (and horrible) music when you accessed to it. There's a pipe organ on top of it that linked the activities altogether. Quite awesome, it really drew people to withdraw or do any kind of transactions there.
In the evening, we went back to Treviso and did what the local people do! Having tramezzini and spritz by the street. :) We had this awesome anchovy cheese tramezzini that really lingered in our minds... then we went for the real dinner. I was craving so badly for Vongole, so we just stopped by the first restaurant we saw that had it. It's yummy! So there ends our story in Venice.
Day 7 - 5th August 2011 - Venice
In the morning, we only strolled around Treviso. To be honest, I love this small town. Even right in the middle of the city we could see something beautiful as this...
Also the fact that people could walk together with dogs going in and out shops is just amazing... i really want to live here. Shortly after, we departed by the boat to visit Venice again, this time for the La Biennale. For people who are familiar with the art industry, this is one of the most prestigious exhibitions in the world that one can't miss. Okay, perhaps a little bit of overhype there. It cost us 20 Euro per ticket to enter and it's valid to enter the Arsenale and Giardini. We went to Arsenale first, which was a let down for me.
But I love seeing how turqoise the color of the water was in Venice. Around the exhibition place, the water activity was quiet. That's when I could savour the tranquility of the turqoise Venice water and watch cute hunks topless blasting out music loudly from their private boats. ;)
At night, we went out for a hearty Italian dinner with all the friends. Closed with a gelato dessert. Much love.
Also the fact that people could walk together with dogs going in and out shops is just amazing... i really want to live here. Shortly after, we departed by the boat to visit Venice again, this time for the La Biennale. For people who are familiar with the art industry, this is one of the most prestigious exhibitions in the world that one can't miss. Okay, perhaps a little bit of overhype there. It cost us 20 Euro per ticket to enter and it's valid to enter the Arsenale and Giardini. We went to Arsenale first, which was a let down for me.
But I love seeing how turqoise the color of the water was in Venice. Around the exhibition place, the water activity was quiet. That's when I could savour the tranquility of the turqoise Venice water and watch cute hunks topless blasting out music loudly from their private boats. ;)
At night, we went out for a hearty Italian dinner with all the friends. Closed with a gelato dessert. Much love.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Day 6 - 4th August 2011 - Venice
Our trained reached Treviso station at about 6.30am. The reason why we stopped at Treviso is because the place of our friends where we stayed at was in Treviso and not exactly in Venice. If you're staying in Venice, the train should take you to Santa Lucia.
He came to pick us up, we had simple Italian breakfast then headed out to Venice. The train tickets cost 5 Euro for both of us. Perhaps already familiar to you, in Venice, it's time to get lost! But before that, you can head straightaway to the ticket office to purchase your boat ticket. We stayed around 3 nights there and we got the 48-hour tickets which cost us 56 euro for 2 tickets. Basically with this ticket, you can go to every island surrounding Venice, like Murano, Burano, etc...
Our first stop was of course the San Marco and then the Bridge of Sighs (which was a shame when we went there. The whole bridge was covered with advertisement. BIG SIGHS). And then we headed out to Murano, the island which is famous for its glass production. We had lunch at a trattoria which cost us both 40 Euro... We had lots of pastas, wines and fresh fish! Yums!
To be honest I didn't really enjoy Venice that much. First of all it's very hot over there and plus the big flood of tourists! Argh... So I'll just let pictures tell you the story...
At night time, we went out for a wine tasting event which our friends' father invited us to. It's fabulous! We had almost bottomless supplies of wine and hams!! The wines are all very wonderful and cheap too. Truly one moment not to forget about.
He came to pick us up, we had simple Italian breakfast then headed out to Venice. The train tickets cost 5 Euro for both of us. Perhaps already familiar to you, in Venice, it's time to get lost! But before that, you can head straightaway to the ticket office to purchase your boat ticket. We stayed around 3 nights there and we got the 48-hour tickets which cost us 56 euro for 2 tickets. Basically with this ticket, you can go to every island surrounding Venice, like Murano, Burano, etc...
Our first stop was of course the San Marco and then the Bridge of Sighs (which was a shame when we went there. The whole bridge was covered with advertisement. BIG SIGHS). And then we headed out to Murano, the island which is famous for its glass production. We had lunch at a trattoria which cost us both 40 Euro... We had lots of pastas, wines and fresh fish! Yums!
To be honest I didn't really enjoy Venice that much. First of all it's very hot over there and plus the big flood of tourists! Argh... So I'll just let pictures tell you the story...
At night time, we went out for a wine tasting event which our friends' father invited us to. It's fabulous! We had almost bottomless supplies of wine and hams!! The wines are all very wonderful and cheap too. Truly one moment not to forget about.
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