Footprint

After a quick yummy breakfast of coffee, sour dough bread with creamy butter from the mountain and freshly made strawberry & banana juice, we donned our backpacks, kissed Anna Maria goodbye and headed to the Santa Maria Stazione 10 minutes walk from Le Mansarde. We boarded the train but not before the last minute drama of Bikram stressing cos he forgot where he put our keys. He thought he kept them in the our backpacks (which was locked!). He raced back to Le Mansarde to look for them, came back empty-handed. Then he attempted to pick the lock with the swiss knife to no avail. Next he tried my suggestion (the nail cutter, very lady-like). It worked, Hooray! We found the keys tucked safely in the camera bag which was inside his locked backpack. sigh...

3 hours later we arrived in Milano Centrale which was buzzing. We dropped our luggage in Left Luggage section then we took the Metro heading towards the city where the Duomo is. It was the grandest thing I have ever seen. It was white marble and majestic, etc, etc, etc. Similar to the Basilica San Marco of Venezia only grander and more gothic like. One thing that annoyed me the most was how persistent and in-your-face the bird seed sellers were. At one point, Bikram nearly shouted at one of them. We made a quick getaway to the left of the Duomo on to be met by the most beautiful mall ever. Inside there were your usual big Haute Couture names, but there was also McDonalds, which made Bikram very happy. The design of the building was so OTT, it was cheesy that it was fab.

We continued walking thru the mall, Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II (this guy is everywhere!). It was a lovely day, no raindrops or clouds in sight. It was lunch time so we headed down to Brek (LOL!) at the northern end of the Golden Quad. The Golden Quad is the complex where all the big designers setup their shops. We checked it out after lunch. Some of the window display are so chic. Its worth it to check them out. I wonder if there are any award you can win for your creativity in window display? I took loads of pics of them as well as the fashionable beautiful Milanese who were strolling around the similarly chic street. We were so immersed we lost track of time. It was 4 PM and our train to Como leaves at 4.25. Eeeeek!

Next thing we knew we were frantically searching our way back to Milano Centrale. Hopped on the Metro, got off at the wrong end of the exit at the Centrale stop. 4.10. Crossed the road frantically, Bikram raced to pick up our luggages while I searched for our platform. Found the platform, no. 17 to Zurich. 4.24. For sure we'll miss it. I sort of gave up and walked back to find Bikram. I saw him struggling with our bags so I waved frantically and yelling at him to run towards platform 17 (bear in mind we were at the other end of the platform, the Left Luggage office was near platform 1!). He started running, bless him. While he was running, I looked around for the validation machine. Found it! The I raced to the train. We kept on running for our lives. Felt like we were in Amazing Race. Made it to the door, the guy in the Trenitalia uniform sort of shoved us into the first carriage that we could reached. As soon as our feet was inside the train, it started moving. PPHHHIUUUHH! Never again.

Stressed and out of breath, we plonked our bums in our seats.

40 minutes later we arrived at a small train station Como San Giovanni. We bought bus tickets at the the Tabacchi. It was freezing when we got there. Bikram could not bear the thought of another minute waiting around and suggested that we took a taxi instead. But there was no taxi in sight anyway. So we waited to his dismay. The bus came about 15 minutes later. The instruction we received from Paul (the English artist we were staying with) was to buy tickets to Schignano, get on bus no.10 or 20. We caught bus no. 20 and the bus driver told us to change bus later on to Schignano from Argegno. When I asked him for more info (i.e what bus no we should catch from Argegno to get to Schignano), he didn't understand. God help us. It was getting dark and we were dog-tired and cold and the instruction was as clear as mud. Bikram looked positively peeved by now, that's not a good sign. I had no choice but to get on the bus and hope for the best.

The drive from Como was very hilly. Como is a little town a the base of Lake Como surrounded by the Swiss Alps. We saw lots of restaurants, hotels, Piazzas. So I thougth, hey this is alright, but then the further we went, the less commercial it became. The road was really narrow. You really dont want to be a bus driver in Como. Every now and again you see a little Tratorria, Hotel, etc. I was getting really worried at this stage. We had been in the bus for nearly 30 minutes now. And then we saw heaven as we were leaving Como...

The lake, the mountain, the sky, they are like one continuous line of picturesque beauty. It was breathtaking. I could not possibly describe what I saw due to my stupid limited vocab. All I can think of was, no wonder George Clooney bought a villa here!! Hehehe, me and my shallow thoughts. The water was so still, the clouds were low covering half of the mountains making it more mystical. There was no sun but the view were still visible, colouful rooftops perched along the lands surrounding the lake. Every now and again, we'd see a house on top of some hill and you wonder how on earth it got there? The road was winding and narrow. The drive was long. The bus driver would stop to let other cars from the other direction go thru. He tooted regularly to warn the others (you cant see the bus from the opposite direction as the road was windy).

Much to my dismay, we arrived at the center of the tiny village Argegno 45 mins later. Thank God we didn't take a taxi. The driver pointed to where we should catch the next bus that would take us to Schignano. I was still not sure whether we were supposed to there or not. The nice lady who sat next to me in the bus sort of took us under her wings and motion to us to follow her as she was going the same way. There were about 10 people waiting for the bus to Schignano. They knew one another. The The Nice Lady (NL) started chatting to another Old Lady (OL) and an Old Guy (OG).

I plucked up enough courage and went up to the small group and showed them Paul's address. I was worried that they were going to be snobby (as most Romans and Venezian were when they know you're a tourist)., and we always stuck up like a sore thumb. Boy, was I wrong. When I asked them if they know where that address was, they started trying to figure out where the house is. The OL asked me "Come Si Chiama?". Why on earth she wants to know my name for? But then I thought, this is a little village, everybody knows everybody, so I think she was asking the name of the people we were staying with. Bingo! I was right. As soon as I mentioned Paul's name, the penny dropped. They were ooh-aahing among themselves and started talking as if I understood. With the combination of our broken Italian and gut instincts between the 2 of us, we managed to get the jist of the conversation:

(OG): "The house is only 200 meters away and we could reached there on foot"
(OL): "No! Dont be stupid, you cant possible walk up there with our backpacks. Plus its raining!"
(NL): "Dont worry we can take bus with her to the house because the bus driver is here! (pointing to OG)
(OG): "Yeah, I will take you there, no problem. We just have to wait for bloody bus cos its late!"

Yeehaaa! Thank Goodness for friendly village people. I'm in love with this place already. Finally the bus arrived, OG took over the bus, we boarded the bus and sat behind OL & NL. As the bus started moving, everybody started singing a song in unison. aaaahhhh, village life, how lovely.... Cliche, but lovely.

The bus went to the direction where we came from. Then about 5 minutes after, it took a sharp right turn onto a steep road upwards. Then it stopped and then OG, OL, and NL pointed at the huge white house directly above us. Thats it, that's Paul's house. After tutti Grazies and Ciaos, we hopped off the bus, crossed the road, and started climbing the many many stairs upwards and buzzed in. Paul came down and greeted us from 3 flight of stairs above us. I have never been so happy in my life, because, one: we are here, and two: he's English! Yay yay yah! I mean I love Italian and their language, but at this point I would die for someone else to understand the things that came out of my mouth.

He lead us to our apartment, it was huge and cosy, with a well-stocked kitchen. He answered my first question straight away, Yes, George Clooney lived 2 miles from here. He has taken the liberty to put beer in the fridge (Aussies = drunken souls). Bless him. He then walked over and open the balcony door. My heart stopped beating for a second. We had the view of the lake and the mountain. Misty and Romantic. I dont think the thousand of pics that I took would speak better that if you see it with your own eyes. It was breathtakingly more than beautiful...

That night we slept with our windows open so we could see the view when we wake the next day

• singing*

Tanti auguri a te,
Tanti auguri a te,
Tanti aug-uri cara Baby
Tanti auguri a te.
Happy 30th Birtday Babe!

Enjoy the view..

Woke up early and headed down to Ponte de Rialto. The first Vaporetto (water taxi - remember.. there are no cars in Venice) just berthed and locals got off on the way to their work. You could tell that they were locals as they walked purposely (oh, and they smoked like a chimney, men and women alike). We set up out tripod and put the cam on self-timer to capture the bridge and the Grande Canal. After a few snaps, we continued on to Piazza San Marco to do the same thing. The air were clean and fresh (except when you intercept smokers). It was drizzling lightly. We got to the Piazza and it was magnificent without the crowd. Funnily enough, there were no pidgeons sighted either. Where do pidgeons sleep?

By the time we finished, it was almost 7.30 AM and my stomach started protesting and asking me to feed it. Anna Maria (the lady who owns Le Mansarde) promised us breakfast at 8 AM. So we fought our hunger and fend off hundreds of sweet smelling pattisserie to go back home only to be dissappointed as the size of the breakfast was dismal (see my entry on Day 1). There were cappucinos, freshly made apple and banana juice (yum!), a slice of panetone (Italian fruit cake), and a few homemade bite-sized choc meringues. Delicious but not enough. It still curbed our hunger though.

Anna Maria and her husband Stefano, have been running their 18th century palazzo as a B&B for 6 years now. She is a music teacher and currently learning to be a chef. Stefano works in a bank but he also actively involved in basketball as a referee. In our bedroom, there's a picture of him with Michael Jordan during the Olympics (not sure which Olympics). Anna Maria was born in this same house. And so was her mother and her grandmother. Isn't that amazing? We stayed in a bedroom in their pallazo itself but there's also a separate apartment next door and another room (they calle it the efficiency room? I think its a store room that they turned into a bedroom) below us. From outside, you dont see how huge this place was. Or perhaps its the clever use of space? They have 3 teenage children and all of them are living under the same roof. There were 7 of us all together!

After brekky, we set out to find myself warmer clothes so we headed down to Benetton and got myself a woolen sweater. Great. So now I dont look like that I am wearing my dad's clothes. By this time it was 10 AM and Venice was swarming with people. Anna Maria suggested that we hopped on a Vaporetto to go see the whole island. She said "Gondolas are for tourist" in her cute Italian snobbishness. In any case, we were't going to take a gondola anyway cos they're so pricey. We bought an all day ticket and board the vaporetto at the Rialto to cruise along the length of the Canal.

We passed the Accademia, San Marco (magnificent view from the water), Giardini, Arsenal (any relation to the UK Arsenal?), and finally the last stop, Lido. The whole journey took a good hour. We then had to head back to the stop nearest to our accomodation. Why oh why, I heard you say? Well, our cam's battery was flat (When will he learn that I am Mrs. Always Right?), we had to go home to pick up our little trusty digicam. That's why you dont see any pics below. Before we knew it, it was lunch time.

We wanted to check out a joint called Brek that Anna Maria recommended. Basically it was Italy's version of fast food. No burgers and fries sighted though! What you do is you line up with a tray, pick on any pasta or meat dish you want (there were about 5 pasta dish and 5 meat dish that day). It changes everyday, and they cook them right in front of your eyes. It didn't take long. Then at the next counter, you pick your salad / dressing / fruit / dessert / drink you wish to have with your hot meal. Then you pay at the cassa for whatever was on your tray. We had 2 bowls of pasta (mine was lasagna bolognese), a huge bowl of pasta (tuna, spanish onions, olives, boiled eggs, corn, bocconcini cheese. green and red cabbage with chilli olive oil as the dressing - the size was huge, enough for 3 people), bread roll, and a serve of tiramisu (divine!) And guess how much it cost? 16 Euro! Amazing.

After the satisfying lunch, we booked our train ticket for tomorrow's journey to Milan and then we hopped on the Vaporetto again (we had the all-day ticket remember?) This time we got off the Accademia but decided against visiting the Museum. We went for a wonder instead. It was a sunny day in Venice and we didnt want to waste it. Found this cute little shop in this quieter sisteria (suburb) of Venice that sells exquisite Venetian masks. We've been thinking about getting one but we're worried that if we do get one, how are we going to carry around in our backpack without ruining it? Lust got the better of us and Bikram bought one stunning looking mask with glittering gold and red colour and adorned with red feathers. It was a bit more expensive compared to the rest of the masks in the shop but I think its worth it. When else are we going to get an authentic Venetian mask? To hell with it. Its similar to this one.

Went back to the jetty and hopped on the vaporetto again hoping to explore our next stop, Lido. However, by this time the weather had turned ugly. Man, I thought its supposed to be spring time! This kind of unpredictable weather reminded me of home. So we headed home instead. It was nearly 3.30 and the vaporetto was jammed packed with people going home from work, etc. It was doing my head in! Some more I think the heavy lunch started to set in and I was having a major case of three-thirtyities. So we decided to get off at the Rialto stop instead of near home as I figured we needed the walk.

The next thing we knew, we were lost (again). We were pretty familiar with the sistieri where we're staying (Cannaregio). But now I didn't recognise anything that I saw. Bikram kept saying "Just go straight ahead". But the further we went, the more I realized that we were going away from Cannaregio. Finally, my lovely husband decided that it was time to ask someone (Thank God). We found out that we were somewhere in Costello, which is at the eastern end of the island. In other words, very far from where we're supposed to be. Costello's less touristy than Cannaregio and there were less shops (but when there was one, they were high-class shops). It was more residential compared to Cannaregio. Cobblestones, Calles and Fundamentas, old 15th century houses with modern tiles and flooring inside (we took a peek secretly whenever there were doors open), colourful walls, old little Pontes. Now and again you would walk though an open space - Piazza so & so. I could live here I think. Bikram said it would be so troublesome if you got lost when you're drunk. Hahah!

Reached home around 5. My legs were killing me by this time. All those little bridges and stairs. No wonder you dont see any fat people in Venice.

This jetlag business is starting to annoy me. This is the second day in a row that we crashed out after 4 pm! Woke at 10 pm. No point getting up now. Went back to sleep. Got awoken by our neighbours around 2 am. Crashed out again. Then finally decided to get up at 4 am, mainly because I was starving. We ate the cup-of noodles that we bought yesterday (Thank God), looked thru some photos, had a shower, packed up for Venice, and then now what? And then it hit me, since we still have sometime to kill, why not use this opportunity to go to the Spanish Step since we couldn't take any good pic yesterday?. By this time it was only 5.30 and our train to Venice was not til 7.

So we braved the cold and set ourselves to Spagna by taking the metro. Its only 4 stops away from where we stayed and the ticket only costed us 1 Euro. Brilliant! The Metro were cleaned and full of locals heading for work. Surprisingly some of them were quite chirpy and seemed quite happy to go to work that early in the morning when it was still pitch black outside. It only took us about 10 minutes to get to Spagna and before we know it, we were snapping the cam like nobody's business. The Spanish Step looked so romantic in the dark with no one around. Compare to yesterday this was heaven. I must say that I am becoming a fan of getting up really early for some snazzy photo op. Then it was time to head back to pick up our backpacks and catch our train to Venezia. We nearly missed the train. We made it though... just.

The train ride from Rome to Venice took about 4 hours. It was pissing down raining when we got there. Freezing cold. I wore Bikram's old sweater, his scarf, my flimsy cardigan and that's about it. I looked horrible! Anyway the place we staying was only a 10 minutes walk from St Lucia train station so we dropped our luggage there and head down for lunch. I wanted to look properly but Bikram started to get cracky coz he was hungry. So we went to this resto which was crearly a tourist trap. The food was horrible, no taste at all, and it costed 29 Euro. This time I didn't even dare to order any drinks, just a set menu of 11 Euro and that's it.

After lunch, we took a walk with no particular destination. We say everything Venetian, the masks, the gondolas, the bridges, the canals, the ancient colourful houses, etc. I got a beautiful Venetian lace fan for Mum from the market near Ponte (Bridge) Rialto. Bikram spoke his first sentence in Italian when he asked the vendor "Scuzi Senore, Dove Piazza San Marco, per favore?" Very cute! We ended up in Basilico di San Marco. It was beautiful. The square was full of pigeons. There were hundreds of them! We went inside to check it out but there were too many people. As usual I couldn't enjoy it. So we bailed out but not before made a promise to myself to come back here to take pics.

After that we just went wherever our feet took us. It is very easy to get lost in Venice. I love the fact that there is no car at all. I see grandparents walking their grandchildren, people having general conversation over a beer or a coffeee over nothing. The atmosphere were relaxing, even though the weather was crap. The one thing that surprise me is the amount of top-end shops there are here. Guess, Armani, Benetton, Max Mara. There are also many specialty shops selling antiques, beautiful Burano laces and Murano glasses, leather goods, interior design companies, aged old wines and spirits, etc. It is such a contrast with the ancient city itself to have all thes modern gadgets and gizmos right at your fingertips.

Every women and their daughters carry designer bags here. LV, Prada and Gucci are the most common ones. Every men and their sons has a big sunnies on their face. Even the gondola men. It looks a bit odd seeing them with their costume (black and white stripey shirt & black pants), their round gondola hats, and next thing you know, they went from being very traditional to metrosexual with their sunnies and their hi-tech mobile phones.

We came back to our B&B (Le Mansarde) around 5 pm. It was still raining. I was knackered by now and had a 3-hr snooze. Went out in search of food around 8. We wanted to get away from the touristy place and had a wonder instead. Stumbled upon this Trattoria, I think it was called Antica Moka? You couldn't see anything from outside, there is no menu either (Italian rest always put their menu outsided their door). We could here the noise of people chatting and the clanking of the cutlery. Once we were inside, it was full and I remember the smell. Mmmhhhh... So we parked our butt there and examined the small menu they had on the table. Venice is famous for their frutti di mare (seafood) dishes. So I picked antipasto Laguna (fresh shrimps, octopus, squids, and prawns in olive oil and lemon juice ---- YUM) for starter. Then as main we had Risotto di Scampi. Double YUM! One thing I notice about Italian food is that the serving is always small, not huge like back home. When you see it, you dont think that its going to be enough. But the size is actually just right for some weird reason. The food are also very simple to make. It only takes about 2-3 ingredients to make. Simple and healthy food.

With that in mind, we headed home. I think this was for the best, as Venice looked a bit scary at night..

Travellers's nightmare. Woke up at 1 am today. Eeek! Fell asleep again and woke up at 6 am. Got up and started really early. It's quite cold this morning. I had no choice but the wear the warmest thing that Bikram own. I had to wear his old fluffy grey sweater. I looked like I just had a fight with the neighbour's cat ... and the cat won.

We decided to check out the Rome's most famous fountain Fontana di Trevi. Didn't bother with the public transport as we're felling quite refreshed after our 14-hr sleep. For a landmark that famous, I must say it was not that easy to find. We got there around 7.30 and it was wonderful cos there's no one there. No tourists insight. But that also means the water fountain is shut for cleaning and maintenance. Never mind, it was still a great photo op.

Today we are going to check out the historical center (Centro Storico) around Rome. After Trevi, we walked to Villa Borghese. To tell you the truth, we were actually lost and ended up at Borghese. Our actual destination was actually Piazza Navona. When we got there, all the shops were just starting to open up. There are 3 fountains there but the main one (the one that I want to see, designed by artist Bernini) - Fountain of Four Rivers - Nile, Ganges, Danube and Plate) was closed off for restoration. Dang! But the baroque-style piazza (literaly: open space) was a cool place to take a breather and read about the history. The piazza was bulit in 86 AD. I am no history buff but if it can hook me, I reckon it can hook anybody in. If you're curious, read Dan Brown's book - Angels and Demons.

After Navona, we went to check out the best preserved ancient building in Rome, the Pantheon. It is 2000 years old. It is a temple dedicated the to Gods. Inside there are the tombs of kings Vittorio Emanuelle II and the artist Raphael. The structure is quite imposing with great columns supporting it. We stopped to have brekky (small brekky) around the corner from the Pantheon.

Walked back towards the direction of Trevi hoping that we can capture it with all the waterworks. But the crowd! Forget it. Headed down to Piazza di Spagna instead to check out the Spanish step. It seems that the shopping area on Via del Corso is quite popular with tourists and locals alike. I got myself a pair of leather glove (glee!). Got to Spanish step but again the size of the crowd was massive. It got the better of us again. It's nearly lunch time by now and we decided trace our way home. On our way, we took a detour via the most expensive road in Roma - Via Dei Condotti. Cartier, Bvlgari, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Dior, La Perla, Furla, Fendi, Gucci, Armani, YSL are just to name a few. And the well-dressed shop assistant (most were men), mmmmhhh, yummy.

Clearly we couldn't afford any of these items so we took as my pics as possible to compensate. Before we knew it it was 1 pm. Lunch time! Since we did very well with the walking, I decided that we deserved a break and head down to the no 1 Tratorria Rome has to offer. It's called Enotaria Corsi. It's a no-bullshit-family-run-low-key-cheapo-modest-resto. We ordered primo (entree) and secondo (main). Omg, the pomodoro tagliatelle and the minestrone are to die for! The much deserved satisfying meal costed us Euro 36 and no cover charge. It was great. Much better than yesterday. With our full stomach, we slowly made our way home. But not before we stopover to buy our train ticket to Venice for tomorrow!

I also want to say that the Romans are not the friendliest people on the planet. They are not unfriendly but I must say it is so hard to get a smile out of them. Lonely Planet described it very accurately I think.

Pure Roman's service is brusque, but not quite unfriendly.

Hello everyone! We finally made it safe to Rome after 21 hrs of flying. It was 8 am Sunday morning when we landed. We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. We could have taken the train but we would missed the stuff that we saw on the way in the taxi. Our accomodation is in the grubby Chinatown of Rome. The location is very central, its just behind Termini (Rome's main train station). We buzzed in and climbed the stairs (the apartment was on the 3rd floor) with our heavy backpacks. After a quick check in with Bin (Italian-speaking Chinese lady, very weird) and a quick shower, we set off to start our adventure. Bin gave us a map, which was very handy. We decided to head straight to the Termini to get some brekky.

Now the idea of breakfast in Italy is totally different to what an Aussie breakfast is. First of all, if you ask for a coffee in Italy, you get a cup of espresso, that's it. Apparently in some places, if you ask for a Latte, all you get is a glass of milk. You have to be very clear and say that you want a Cafe Latte or Cafe Americano or Cafe Macchiato if you want milk in your coffee. And with that the Italian usually have it with a small pastry (Brioche/Croissant, etc). But the size of the pastry are usually quite small compare to what we used to in Oz. The price? Very cheap. For a Cafe Latte and a brioche usually it will cost you 2 Euro. But that's if you have it standing up at the Bar (that's what Italian called a Cafe - a Bar). If you decided to sit down to enjoy your coffee and your pastry, that would cost you more. You all confused yet?

After the quicky brekky, we got on the Hop On Hop Off Rome tour bus outside Termini just to get our bearings of central Rome. The weather was quite cool & it was cloudy too. I forgot to pack my jacket from Oz. So here I am at the start of a very cool Spring in Italy, with no jacket. Very smart Kitty. All I got was a flimsy cardigan from Cotton On, that's my protection against the cold. Great. We got off near the Colloseum and started walking towards it. Finally the Sun came out. Phiuh.

We could see the massive structure from a distance, the closer we got to it, the more excited we were. Finally we can see what's all the fuss about. When we were finally there, I was in awe. How could this thing could still be standing til this day? It was massive, grand, awe-inspiring, whatever you want to call it. Bikram started clicking away with his camera. There were lots of people there, tourists, vendors, tour guides, men (and women) dressed as gladiators. It was really weird seeing them in their ancient costume and talking away on their mobile phones.

We were going to check out the inside of the Colloseum but when we saw the line, forget it. We had to do it some other time. We decided to wonder around instead, saw the Arco di Constantino, the Palatine Hill, the Roman Forums ruin. Now I am sure all these are of great importance, I just dont know what. You have to ask Bikram, he's the expert in the ancient Rome history. Because it was Sunday, the road Piazza del Colloseo were closed for traffic. Great photo op to capture the Colloseo in all its glory.

We kept walking and finally reached Piazza Venezia. The structure was massive and unmissable in its shiny white marble. It was built to honour Emanuelle Vittoria II. Apparently the Italians loathe this building. It was quite new (compare to the Colloseo and numerous ancient building around Rome). The Italians think that this building is ugly ass. I personally think its magnificent. Massive stairs leading up towards the statues. There policeman all around the place and as soon as anybody thought it was okay to take a rest by sitting down on the stairs, the polices would blow his whistle telling them to get up immediately. Later on I found out that underneath the stairs were the tombs of unknown soldiers who died defending Italy during the war.

It's nearly 2 pm by now and I think the jetlag started to set it. We sat down in a restaurant near the Palatine and ordered lunch. We ordered 2 plate of pasta & 2 cafe lattes. The pasta were not very good. And the bill came up to 33 Euro! And to top it all off, they took the liberty of taking 2 Euro as tips. Rip off! I know this is my first day in Italy but I know for a fact that for that much money, we could have something a lot tastier than that. The name of the restaurant is Stuzicio, beware everyone!

We started walking towards the Termini to go home. It was a good 1 hour walk and by this time my body was screaming for some sleep, my feet hurt, and I was cranky ass. When we finally arrived at our apartment, hustle ourself to the extremely small and old lift (coz I couldn't be bothered to take the stairs), we crashed. I know it is only 4 pm, but Buona Notte everyone, sweet dreams. Technically it 1 am in Melbourne now.