Kit Cat Diaries -> 28 FEB

Guess what? Something came for me in the mail! And I've never even knew mail existed in the first place.

Ooh it's a card... ...kinda got a shock when I opened it, thought I was looking at a long lost twin.

Let's see what it says... ...some curly whirly stuff here... ...ah forget it I can't read. Can someone bring a translator in?

Oohh...it's from my parents...ooh...uh-uh...hmm...hey how did they know I was eating other people's food? Someone's ratting on me...shucks...

Under the Florence rain – Part Due

After the marvel of David at the Accademia, we spent the next day looking at more art, visiting the famous Uffizi (the only Italian museums in the Google Art Project) as well as the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio.

Today was the rainy portion of our Florence trip. We headed to Ponte Vecchio where we bought a nice card along the way and also got asked to signed a petition by 2 Italian girls outside the Uffizi. It was a little weird how it happened, we got asked to sign a petition against drugs and after signing they asked us if we would like to make a donation to their organization which helps drug addicts rehabilitate. Since there was no mention of a donation beforehand, we felt a bit weird that it was mentioned when we were signing the petition. In the end we did donate 5 Euros, but we both felt a bit uneasy about it. We did a Google search the next day and there was a post asking if it was a scam on Tripadvsior with some replies that is it a legit non profit organization but unclear about their activities. In any case, if you go to Florence and get approached by someone asking you to sign a petition, just be more aware.

Ponte Vecchio

After that incident, we walked on to the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio. Other than the normal exhibits, they also had a Damien Hirst exhibition ‘For the Love of God’. You could choose to just visit the Museo or also do Damien Hirst along with it.

The Damien Hirst exhibit was basically a human skull with loads of diamonds on it. Apparently it was the first time that the exhibit is on display for such a long time (there were prior exhibits in other places but for shorter periods) and they had some serious rules. From what I remembered,

Only 12 people can be in the room at any one time

Only to be viewed in a dark room with only the spotlight illuminating the skull (basically other than the skull you can barely see the person in front of you)

You are allowed to stay in the room for only 3 minutes

And so on…

Since it was winter, there was no queue to see the exhibit. After getting our tickets, we just walked right into the room. There were a few checks for our tickets but otherwise there was no wait to get into the room. I’m no art expert so I can’t say if it symbolizes the meaning of God or whatever he wanted it to symbolize but the diamonds are truly amazing and since the room was utterly dark, they were super sparkly. I thought it was quite disturbing that the real teeth were still on the skull, in any case its weird enough that he wanted to stick diamonds on the skull. The skull was seriously loaded with diamonds, on every single crevice, which was amazing and weird at the same time. For security reasons, they didn’t allow any photographs so you will just have to refer to the official website for pictures.

After Damien Hirst, we wandered around the museum looking at other pieces of art. The museum also serves as the Town Hall of Florence so if there are special events going on, some of the rooms will be closed and they will offer a discount on ticket prices. I thought it must be a bit strange going to work everyday in such a historical building which is full of important art but I guess with so many historical buildings around, they might as well make full use of them. There was one room in particular which I liked a lot, which showed some old maps of the world. It must have been a crazy task trying to plot all those countries in ancient times. I’m not sure how old those maps are exactly since there were no signs but they looked ancient enough.

After that, we took a break at Piazza della Signoria which was just outside Palazzo Vecchio. They had the replica of David as well as some other sculptures. I guess if you come in summer and don’t want to queue to see the real David, this may do as well.

After that it was onto the Uffizi. Again if you come in summer, its recommended to pre-book your tickets but once again we managed to stroll in and get tickets. There is some serious art here and since we are not serious art fiends, we ran straight to the rooms with the famous masterpieces. What I can remember seeing are

Botticelli’s Birth of the Venus and Allegory of Spring

Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation

Titian’s Venus of Urbino

Of course the lousy thing about visiting in winter is that they take the opportunity to do restoration and renovation, so we didn’t get to see room 18, which is supposed to be very lavish, or Rubens nudes in room 41 or Caravaggio’s works on the first floor. I guess all this just means we have to come back in summer in like 20 years time.

View from Ponte Vecchio at night

After the arty day, we ended it by going for dinner at this place CS found using Groupon Italy. As we had time to kill before dinner, we went to the Gucci shop to take a look see, apparently the label was started in Florence. As we are Asians the sales assistants were quite friendly to us though we obviously didn’t buy a single thing, haha… not sure if prices are a lot cheaper than Singapore but I guess they probably will be.

After the Gucci excursion, it was onto dinner at La Decima Musa (The Tenth Muse). We started with a beef carpaccio and fish balls. Yes, fish balls but not the usual "Fei Siong/Old Chang Kee" type back at home. Well, it was still minced, deep fried and served with sauce but look at the picture and you'll see why its different. Both dishes was interesting and delightful for us. Beef was so thinly sliced on top of a tasteful seasoned layer of cheese. Fish balls were light and fluffy which blended very well with the creamy sauce.

For Primi Piatti (first course) had Spaghetti Carbonara and Lasagna. Well cooked and baked just right. What was amazing to us is the amount of food in a standard 3 course Italian dinner. Each of our course individually would have been a main course for our stomaches. Knowing that we had steaks coming for our Secondi Piatti (second course) we decided not to finish the pastas and save space for the steaks. Steaks were wonderful for the eyes but unfortunately didn't have the same effect for the palettes. Some problems with the doneness. All in all, it was a nice, slow and enjoyable dinner with local wine from the region.

La Decima Musa

Fish balls?

Steak with mushroom sauce

Another interesting thing was that the restaurant allowed the guests to bring their dogs into the restaurant! This guy brought in his husky (I think that’s the breed, not very sure) and the dog just crawled under the tables! So weird! I spent half the dinner staring at the dog, haha…. And in any case, Italians seemed to love their dogs, we have seen dogs in shops, on the bus and even in hotels!

We took a nice walk after dinner back to our hotel. Florence was really quite safe to walk at night I must say, the streets are nicely lit up and there were enough people walking around to make you feel safe.

Next, part tre and then Tuscany!

Under the Florence rain – Part Uno

Well to be fair, it only rained the 2 days out of the 4 we were there but I thought it made a good title, hehe…

We arrived in Florence late at night after doing Pisa so the first night was uneventful. We did discover a laundromat near our hotel though so that was convenient. Me and my laundry issues, haha…

The next day was more interesting. We woke up and went down to…. the Galleria dell’Accademia (Academy Gallery) to check out Michelangelo’s David! Actually they have other sculptures by him there too but I think everyone is there to just look at David. Apparently, in summer the queues can get ridiculously long and they actually let you pre-book your tickets so as to guarantee chance to meet David. In any case, since it was winter, there was no crazy queue and we got to see David just by walking in. Only one lousy picture cos they don’t allow photos apparently.

David without Goliath

David was well, just amazing… Again I think it’s one of those things you have to go see for yourself. There are like a gazillion replicas out there but nothing beats seeing the real thing. Of course they now have a glass barricade in place cos apparently some crazy dude decided to throw himself at the statue and hammer away the toes so now you can only admire it at a distance. His face really does look different at different angles so I guess it shows how great an artist Michelangelo was. Apparently he preferred sculptures to paintings, so maybe that’s why David looks the way he does and why its so famous.

There were other sculptures by Michelangelo there too, so we also spent a bit of time looking at them. Those sculptures are ‘the four famous nonfiniti (“unfinished”) Slaves, or Prisoners’. Though they are unfinished, they also looked kind of completed to me.

After that we walked around a bit and stared at the other sculptures and paintings. One floor was closed though so there wasn’t really that much to see and we left to see… the Duomo!

The Duomo, which by the way we realized there’s one in every city in Italy, was apparently ‘the largest cathedral in its day’ and is ‘still the second longest church in Italy (behind St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican)’. Honestly, we thought the colors looked a bit un-church like (?), don’t you think?

The Duomo

Before we talk about the Duomo, let’s talk about the baptistery next to it. A baptistery (for those who are wondering) is well where the baptize takes place, why they have to build a separate building for it, I can’t remember. In any case, this particular baptistery was well known for its glided bronze doors which Michelangelo apparently hailed as ‘Gates of Paradise’. The ones on display were copies and I couldn’t find them at the museum where they were supposed to be. In any case, more on that museum later. The bronze doors were interesting as they depicted scenes of the Old Testament, I can’t really say if they are really ‘Gates of Paradise’ but they were interesting enough to look at.

Gates of Paradise as declared by Michelangelo

After that, into the Duomo we went. The inside was relatively empty (?) except for a few frescos in the dome. The dome is really the highlight of the Duomo, it was apparently the largest in the world in its time. There’s some technical explanation on how Filippo Brunelleschi constructed it, but my little brain didn’t really understand but it is a marvel to look at.

After the Dumo, we went to the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, which is the museum I mentioned above. I wanted to find those bronze doors but well I couldn’t. They also had an unfinished Pieta by Michelangelo on display so we spent quite a while staring at it. CS actually spent a really long time admiring it so I went off exploring the other bits of the museum.

Michelangelo's unfinished Pieta (we have to go see the completed one in Rome)

There was supposed to be some gates of St John the Baptist on display but they were being restored so I didn’t get to see them. The museum was interesting enough, they had a pretty good explanation on the evolution and construction of the Duomo but most of it was in Italian so I didn’t really get it. They also had a restoration room which was closed but looking through the glass door, it looked like a surgical room, hehe MH maybe you’ll like it. Pity the restorers weren’t working, it would have been interesting to see how they actually carry out their work.

After the museum, we decided to climb the Campanile di Giotto, aka bell tower. You could climb up both the bell tower and also the Brunelleschi’s Dome aka the Duomo’s dome but we thought the bell tower would be a better choice since

(a) you can take pictures of the dome from the bell tower,

(b) you need to pay to climb the dome and the bell tower and we didn’t want to pay for both

(c) we honestly cannot climb both, considering our age, haha…

The first thing we saw while getting the tickets was that ‘there is no lift (!)’, lol… The climb was well tiring, there were a few rest stops (I call them rest stops) so you can take pictures and catch your breath before continuing. Our decision to climb the bell tower was definitely the right one cos the dome looked ridiculously crowded even in winter. The sun was out though by the time we got to the top so pictures didn’t exactly looked good.

We had dinner at a little place recommend by our guidebook (Trattoria Le Mossacce, Via del Proconsolo 55r). We had fabulous stews, an interesting soup, good local wine (Chianti region) and beer (Birra Moretti). Finished the beer but wine was just too much. So that's part uno, part due will be up soon.

How we spent our Valentine's Day

While people were busy planning what to wear to knock out their date for Valentine's Day, we spent the day driving from Torino to Pisa and then from there to Florence.

Our romantic lunch of pasta at a servizio area

Since we were in Italy, we had to go to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Apparently, in summer the queue to climb up the tower can get crazy long and the guidebooks actually recommend that you pre-book your tickets to guarantee that you get to climb the tower, and you have to arrive at the specified time otherwise you won't get to do it. Thankfully for us, it is still winter so there were no crazy queues. After paying up and depositing our bags, there was still some time before our scheduled climb up the tower, so we went off to the Duomo where Galileo supposedly developed his pendulum theory.

Where Galileo supposedly got bored during Mass and developed his pendulum theory

After that, it was to climb up the Leaning Tower. The Tower itself is actually not that high, but because of the slant, it does get a bit dizzy climbing up, or at least I felt dizzy, CS was perfectly fine. The view from the top was quite good and we were lucky that the rain had stopped when we arrived and the sun was out.

View from the top of the Leaning Tower

There was a Taiwanese tour group at the top of the tower too and they were snapping pictures like crazy. Otherwise, there were only a handful of other tourists there, I can't imagine how crowded it will get during summer, I guess travelling when its cold has its perks.

We didn't exactly do the cliche shot of holding up the Tower but we did do a shot of me flicking it. I would say it is definitely one of those things you absolutely HAVE to do when you are in Italy as nothing beats seeing the Tower in real life.

The Flick.

The Tower and the Cup?

After that, it was onward to Florence and we ended it off with a dinner of pasta/ dinner. Definitely one of our more exciting Valentine's Day so far.

Close encounters with the D kind

Demonstration in Turin against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi about his latest sex scandal.

Kit Cat Diaries -> 16 FEB

This was what I was doing before skyping with my parents last night...erm, maybe not a good idea to show the photo I think they might freak out if they knew where I was zzzzing, can we keep this as an outtake please?

I can't stand to fly, I'm not that naive... ...lalalala... ...I'm more than a bird, I'm more than a plane, more than some pretty face beside the train... ...lala...lalala.

Chummy chummy...

I'm really into this cable-tie/toy thingy though I don't really play with it, my sister's crazy over it.

Tired of chasing, just hanging out.

You say Torino, I Say Turin

After Geneva, we headed down to Torino (Turin) in a bid to move to warmer weather. The drive down was pleasant, we took a break somewhere (don't ask me where) and there were a few truck drivers who were also just hanging out, listening to music and eating their lunch. CS took quite a few pictures while I just hopped around in a bid to stay warm.

Turin was a place that CS had been to before in his previous company and for those who know me, the little doll that hangs on my laptop bag was a present he bought me from Turin. I was really looking forward to Turin but when we finally arrived, I was a little disappointed actually cos it didn't look anything like what I had imagined. In any case, we arrived and checked in to our little hotel which was indeed a 'hidden gem' since it took us a while to locate it.

We spent a total of 3 nights in Turin and some of the more interesting ones were

1. A random church which we stumbled onto while looking for the Duomo di Torino. There was a service going on when we went in so no pictures. It was this really old church with frescos all over and it was exactly how I imagined a church will be like.

2. The Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) which is 'the second most important collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world, after the museum in Cairo'. As expected, there were many and I mean many artifacts on display and there was also a huge crowd in the museum. We rented an audio guide but I think they shifted some of the exhibits so it got a little jumbled up. The ground floor was the most impressive and it was quite amazing to see the various sculptures of the various kings and gods.

Some hieroglyphics (we can't remember, haha)

Cat sculptures which reminded us of kit cat

3. The Museo Nazionale del Cinema. I liked the museum, CS liked the ride up the panoramic lift, haha...

The building in which the museum is housed in, was originally intended to be a synagogue. However the costs got too high and the Jewish community decided to donate it to the city instead. When the structure was finally completed, it 'rose to a towering 167.5m, a record for the times'.

The museum was really quite comprehensive and also really nicely done up, it starts out by retracing the 'history of cinema from its origins, starting with a collection of pre-cinema devices and magic lanterns, with hands-on exhibits'. Some of the exhibits were quite cool others not so, but all in all it was a pretty interesting way to spend a few hours. The panoramic lift freaked me out a little cos it was totally made out of glass and there was no lift shaft so it seems as if the lift is just hanging on cables. The queue for the lift was pretty long too but we managed to get in after a while. The view wasn't that great though as it was a cloudy day but the ride was interesting. The museum also lifted its blinds at certain intervals to let light in, which was also quite cool.

Photos of movie stars

View from outside the Museum

4. Palazzo Reale or Royal Palace of Turin. This was the residence of the Savoy dynasty from the 17th century til the mid-1800s. We actually didn't plan to go there but we were having lunch just outside the place and decided to go check it out. The place was lavish as expected of a palace. There were 2 floors opened to visitors but the 2nd floor can only be entered as part of a guided tour and the tour was only available in Italian, nevertheless we decided to follow the tour anyway just to check out the 2nd floor. The people in the tour must have been wondering if we actually knew Italian, but in any case it was worth it. The rooms were a lot more interesting and it was weird how much they were into Chinese stuff, there was a whole room of Chinese lacquer and also Buddha figurines. No photos were allowed so we only have the ones CS took before we entered the 1st floor.

Other than museum hopping, we also walked around their main shopping area, ate some gelato and drank coffee. We also had one of our best dinners so far with a seriously good waiter at Villa Donato which was very near our hotel. CS had already posted pictures of our dinner so I won't be doing that again. Our waiter was this young Italian guy who took very good care of us, he was recommending dishes to us and kept checking on us to make sure everything was alright. The dishes he recommended were also fabulous and he also offered CS a complimentary drink at the end of the dinner.

All in all, Turin was rather enjoyable and I did enjoy it a lot. It may not be on the radar for most people visiting Italy but I do think it's worth a visit for a day or two.

Pastries at one of the famous cafes, Baratti & Milano

Random Pictures

Royal Palace in Torino

Villa Donato's take on Pizza

(Pizza slices tossed with rocket, tomatoes, mozzarella and Prosciutto)

Egyptian Museum in Torino

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Piazza dei Miracoli at Pisa

Carousel in Florence

View of Florence from the Campanile di Giotto

Kit Cat Diaries -> 14 FEB

Running, chasing, rolling, pouncing, swatting...

Ahm...maybe we did play a bit too much.

Wining and Dining

My update on our food journeys.

1. Chez Arno

Segny, France

13 Impasse du Vieux Bourg 01170 Ségny, France Segny France

Lovely little restaurant in a really small town.

Waitress couldn't speak English but was very welcoming and friendly. Had a few good laughs with her trying to understand the menu and in the end, the chef stepped out of his kitchen to tell us about his menu (first for us, anywhere in the world).

We started with the Rabbit Pate which was recommended by our hotel owner.

Never had rabbit before and enjoyed it. Complemented by slices of good French bread.

Rabbit pate with good ole French bread

The next 2 photos don't do the food much justice. I didn't have the patience to take a nice shot as the aroma was just too much to wait any longer to sink our teeth into it.

Veal with blue cheese sauce

Expected a pungent smell (as associated with blue cheese) from the sauce but was surprised with very flavorful grilled cheese aroma. Taste was just nice with the perfectly seared veal.

Veal with blue cheese

Beef steak with mushroom sauce

Perfectly medium well steak (not that the Chef gave me a choice, but maybe there is only one way to serve this steak).

Beef steak with mushroom sauce

Both served with potato gratin, brussel sprouts, carrots and a minced vegetable (texture like coconut but I suspect it could be fennel).

2. Roasted chicken place in Geneva

Roasted chicken with potatoes and salad

Food wasn't great in my opinion although place was recommend in guidebooks and hotel guides but I choose not to mention name or location.

The chicken flavor was lacking or completely overpowered by salt although roasting doneness and texture was good (meat was falling off the bone type).

Side dishes didn't complement and individually wasn't surprising, just normal.

I shall continue with more entries on our food adventure in Torino later on.

Had some pretty good dishes here.

Kit Cat Diaries -> 12 FEB

First few days out of my room.

You can see a lot of action from here, I like it.

Though sometimes I get a bit spooked by loud cars or dogs barking.

I also hang around here a lot.

Oh...hello.