this bit of reflection on the rest of italy is a week overdue actually. was busy bringing Jan's mom around, playing tour guide and all.
i should make it my real job maybe?!
quite enjoyed it...perhaps open my own agency, specially catering to taitai crowds; do a shopping 'tour d Paris' and then throw in a day trip to Milan. did exactly that with her mom. 12 hours overnight to Milan on the 8:20pm thursday train and back to Paris, another 12hours on the 11:35pm friday train.
it was a saver on hotel, to release more money into shopping... at the 5 storey Ferrari merchandise store for example....
REALLY; luxury ferrari, ferrari for children, ferrari for the (rabid) fan, ferrari sports-range, ferrari bookstore!!!! talk about propaganda.... the ferrari-colnalgo bike...ferrari-surfboard, ferrari-puma.....if Ferrari had a heaven, it would have resembled just that.

as for the delayed italy update, i think jan's blog has a good gallery for that and is pretty much fantastic already... http://lost-vagabond.livejournal.com
have a looksey if you want more rome, venice, bologna, florence and milan....also for a glimpse of the sort of sinful indulgences i have to come hme to whenever her practical is over...
when i return to Singapore, you will be allowed to bear witness with a pinch session of my spare tyres, developed from rich, french pattiserie...

all in all, italy was... phenomenal... every city was different, had its own character, flavour and style of pasta..hehe...(jan bought a tea towel that had the map of italy divided into pasta regions instead of city names...)

reading Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayer now... it certainly does not help to stop the pining for more of Italy.


i hope you get there one day too...to tread carefully through Roman ruins, run through the windy and cobbled streets of Florence, crack your head trying to get to the Basilica/museum just on the other side of the river when the gondola operators are on strike, watch Italian hunks scoot around in their Vespas and most memorably... gulp in the smell of baking pizza while shovelling into your mouth the richest, creamiest, best pistachio and hazelnut gelato.

festina tarde!!! (make haste slowly!!)

bongiorno!