Vatican City

Oct 9 (Sun): Monaco is the 2nd smallest country in the world...so which country tops it? Yes...it's Vatican City. Kinda weird how a small area surrounded by walls can be considered a country when it's actually in Rome. 

Our tour guide organized a tour for the museum and Sisteen Chapel that costs €40 and most of the tour mates went on that tour. I thought it was kinda pricey so decided not to follow and walked around myself instead. After all, I wouldn't be listening to the tour guide anyway. :p 

So many people queuing to get into the museum

It was still early when I got to Saint Peter's Square so there were still no crowds yet.

I had too much time so used my tripod to take some jumpshots around the square. Met a Canadian lady who was kind enough to offer to help me take picture and recommended some places for me to see around Rome. :) I didn't notice that I could have gone into the Basilica earlier when there were no queue but I was so busy camwhoring so the queue was already pretty long when I started queuing...blur me. =.=

Entrance to Saint Peter's Basilica was free but we had to queue coz everyone had to go through the security screening. The interior was very beautiful. :)

St Angelo Castle & gladiators. I still had the whole day to walk around Rome but decided to call it a day earlier coz I was too lazy to see other sights. :p

When In Rome

Happy Belated 20.10.2010! =) After traveling for one whole month, I'm finally HOME!! =) Drove back all the way from KL today and haven't done anything since I got back this evening. Lots of things to unpack and clear but I guess I'll just leave it for tomorrow. 

Oct 8 (Sat): Roma!!

Visited the capital of Italy...Rome...on our 2nd day in Italy. A very historical city and our tour guide was actually pretty good explaining lots of stories & history. :)

Stayed in a chalet at a camping village in Rome. All the chalets look like container but in fact it is quite cozy in there. We had a small living room and a kitchen...good coz we can finally cook. :) There were 2 rooms in each chalet and we had 2 New Zealanders as our 'chalet-mates'. :)

Had lunch at the campsite restaurant before heading to the city for our walking tour. 

As the saying goes, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'...yea we traveled on buses & metro just like the Romans...lol!! :p

Met our tour guide at the Spanish Steps.

Trevi Fountain...this fountain is famous coz it appeared on many shows. I didn't throw any coins into the fountain though. :p

The Pantheon...the interior was beautiful...it's used as a Roman Catholic church.

Randomly snapping pictures as we were walking...lotsa cars, motorbikes, people. Btw...Italians are quite ganas in driving...can compare with M'sians...lol!!

Piazza Venezia

All the ruins from ancient Roman at the Roman Forum. 

One of the greatest work of Roman architecture...The Colosseum. 

Had Margherita pizza & white wine for dinner before heading back to our chalet. 

Italy - Pisa & Florence

I'm in Manchester airport right now...only got 30 minutes to online so hopefully I can finish updating this post. :p Flight is at 9pm so I've still got few hours to kill.

Oct 7 (Fri): Pisa & Florence

So after spending 5 days in France...our next country was Italie!! Honestly, I don't really have much interest in history...so I wasn't paying attention to the tour guide for most of the places that we visited in Italy...just busy taking pictures...lol!!

First stop...The leaning tower of Pisa! Nothing much to see here...1 hour 'gao dim'!! :p

Second stop for the day...Firenze (Florence)!!! Only had a 2-hours walking tour here.

Wasn't listening to the tour guide so dunno the name of this building. :p

Random things along the way

This is pretty cool!!

Michaelangelo's David...lol!!

Sunset in Florence

Stayed in a cabin at a campsite in Florence for one night...not too bad but it was super small...haha! 

Dinner time!! Pasta+chicken+potato...as usual...welcome to Italy. :p

French Riviera

Oct 5 (Wed): Menton

Continued our journey down to southern France for some sun, sea, & sand. French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) is the whole stretch of coastal area in the southeast of France.  We stayed at a place called Menton, which was at the border of France and Italy (we were just 1km away from the border). Lucky us, weather was warm and sunny both days when we were there. The scenery was very beautiful and I was so busy taking pictures until I lost my watch on the beach. =.= 

Nice sceneries along the way to French Riviera

Thanks to Steve and Aunty for keeping us entertained all along our journey. =)

Reaching Menton. Our hotel was right next to the beach...pretty awesome...and our room was also facing the sea...ooolala!! =) 

Walked around our hotel on the first evening...lost my watch here. :( The girl in the bottom left pic was actually topless...it's so common to see people topless on the beaches here...lol!!

Camwhoring around the beach...and jumping everywhere as usual...more to come coz I've been jumping all across Europe...lol!!!

We've got a pretty good mix of sights on this trip...beaches, buildings...more to come. =)

Oct 6 (Thurs): Cannes, Nice, Monaco

Had a whole day free for us to explore French Riviera ourselves so we decided to go to 3 places...Cannes (known for its film festival), Nice (largest city in French Riviera), and Monaco (2nd smallest country in the world).

On the map, Menton is on the very east...moving west is Monaco...then Nice...then Cannes. So we decided to go to the further one first then travel back...so our route was Menton-Cannes-Nice-Monaco...pretty crazy coz we were rushing everywhere. =p

We could have taken a train to travel to all these places but some locals that we met told us that we could take the bus all the way to Cannes. So we boarded the bus at 9am without knowing that it would take us 4 hours to get to Cannes...omg! But it wasn't too bad after all coz we got some nice view along the way and it only cost us €2 for a 4 hour bus ride. :p

Nice sceneries of the coast from the bus

Finally arrived Cannes!! Lotsa yachts at the waterfront and nude people on the beach...lol!!   Walking around all the nice boats and saw PWC having an official conference on a cruise!!!

This is the place where Cannes Film Festival is held...saw lots of media companies there coz there was an event going on. Felt so out of place standing on that red carpet coz everyone was dressed up!!  

Spent about an hour in Cannes then quickly took a train back to Nice. We're travelling everywhere just like the locals...buses, trains...'hampalang' covered...lol!!

As the saying goes...it's always nice in Nice...very true indeed coz weather was good...and that's how I got tanned. There's a new town and an old town in Nice...we walked through the new town coz it was just like other cities and went straight to the beach.

Climbed all the way up a hill for this panoramic view of Nice...niceee!!!

View of the port from another side of the hill.

Took a bus back from Nice to Monaco. Principauté de Monaco is the most densely populated country in the world...coz it's so small! Monaco is famous for the Grand Prix and casinos. 

Felt so out of place near the casino coz I was just wearing flip flops...lol! Even the cabs use Mercedes!!

Was expecting to see more nice cars but that's all we saw.

Monte-Carlo Casino

Monte Carlo at night

Love this picture!! =)

Watched sunrise from our hotel before leaving French Riviera the next morning. =)

France - Pont du Gard

Oct 5 (Tues): Our 4th day in France. France is such a huge country that we had to spend 5 days visiting several different locations from Paris to southern France. 

Welcome to the Pont du Gard...famous for the ancient Roman aqueduct bridge.

This bridge is used to transport water...not human not cars. :)

Beautiful weather

More pictures on the bridge

Nice reflections...

And I decided to get my legs wet. :p 

This is the bridge that appears on the 5 Euros notes.