My Italy - Prelude

I studied Fine Arts for 2 years in the university besides my Engineering major. Textbooks in Western art history usually begins with the astonishing 200 years between 1400-1600 in Italy, what people commonly called the Italian Renaissance. 

I have only come across the important works of art briefly in the textbooks and I always wanted to see the masterpieces with my own eyes. My plan was to follow the development of art, which started in Italy, later spread all over Europe and reached its peak in Paris (A hint of my next destinations LOL).
 

Therefore, the coming travel journals may sound a little boring for those who have absolutely no interest in art. But it is important for me to write down what I learned during the 10 days, and to remind myself how much I used to enjoy art.

It may as well serve as a very simple art guide in Italy for those who are interested but never have the chance to learn more about art. I did my homework and I can show you only the interesting and essential facts :-)

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It was a 13-hour midnight flight and I would be reaching Milan at 8 am the next morning. For some reasons I couldn't sleep on the plane so I took some snapshots instead.

I sent this picture to my family during the trip and it took them 2 weeks to realize what was it.

At first I thought these were clouds, but quickly found out they were snowy mountains!

I only managed to see 2 sunrises during the entire trip. This one I saw on the plane was very beautiful, the second one I saw in Florence was beyond words.

As a side note I have requested low-fat-low-cholesterol meals for my flights. And they actually looked and tasted way better than regular in-flight meals! They replaced oily omelet with warm grilled chicken breast, hash brown with low fat mashed potatoes, and served with plentiful colourful fruits and vegetables. For those who are tired of regular airplane food and/or as health-conscious as I am, give it a try next time!

 

It was a 10-day trip in Italy and our plan was to start with Venice, then Florence, Rome, and finally Milan again. We were catching a 11:30 am train to Venice on the day we arrived at Milan. Before the ride we found a seat in a cafe called Bistrot Pasticceria. I ordered a sandwich filled with cream cheese, tomatoes and shrimp. The bread was so soft and the cheese was so rich it tasted almost like a savory cheesecake. Yum!

After that our adventure in Italy began.


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Travel tips: 

#1
Apparently Italians do not normally use skim milk to make coffees. I tried to order skim milk cappuccino several times but they looked at me as if I was ordering lemon cappuccino. So I eventually gave up trying. 

#2

As soon as we arrived at the Milan airport we got ourselves vodafone SIM card for EUR 20 with 1GB data. After activating the SIM card I kept receiving SMSs from vodafone, all in Italian. I'd suggest you DO NOT IGNORE THEM. I used google translate and found out they were activating a number of services. If you don't bother to find out which of them are free of charge, disable them all.  

Sydney Trip Finale

What's better than having giant cherry tomatoes for breakfast?

Hmm... How about grilled salmon, baked oysters and passion fruit Greek yogurt?

On my last day in Sydney, I decided to have breakfast in the Sydney Fish Market before heading back to the lodge and check-out. And I, again, hopped on a wrong bus and had to get off at the other side of the harbour. So I unintentionally gave myself the chance to walk over a huge cable-stayed bridge in a beautiful morning...

I was amazed to find out how many Australians ride a bike to work

Despite my mistake I got to the fish market at around 8:00 a.m..

Who could have guessed the fish market was in fact a fruit lover's paradise. And guess what I found? GIANT GOLDEN KIWIS!

OMG!!

A list of what I eventually had for breakfast (in chronological order):

- A box of giant cherry tomatoes

- A giant golden kiwi

- An apple

- 2 baked oysters

- A large piece of grilled salmon

- Passion fruit Greek yogurt

- Half a dragon fruit

After checking-out the lodge I decided to make my 3rd attempt to the Sea Life Aquarium. I hopped on a ferry to the Darling Harbour but was distracted halfway at the Cockatoo Island.

I learned about the Cockatoo Island when I researched about places to watch sunrise in Sydney. The page that I read suggested camping in Cockatoo Island, and I thought it was a joke.

No it was not! 

There were tents for real!

It was a small island no bigger than our Victoria Park in Hong Kong (I later Googled: Cockatoo Island measured 18 hectares, the Victoria Park 19 hectares). On one side of the island sitted around 50 tents facing the sea. On the other side stood several old factory buildings.

Driven by curiosity I decided to get a quick look inside the factories.  And there I saw.....

...a waterfall...

...houses with human face...

As I continued to explore, I felt almost like Alice in the wonderland

Of course it was an art exhibition, but there were no signs, no introduction and no posters telling you what you were about to see. The artists were doing a marvelous job using the old factory space to create a dimension that was so real, yet so unreal. As I did not expect to see anything extraordinary, it was amazing when art hit me in the most surprising way.

I spent around 2 hours in Cockatoo Island and after that I no longer wanted to go to the aquarium. I decided to visit the Art Museum instead, which was located inside the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens.

On my way to the museum

Entrance to the museum

I was impressed to find Picasso's and several very famous artists' works there.

Picasso granted this lucky (poor) lady the most amazing (boring) job in the world

A selection of contemporary works that I like

Sounded like a messed up woman like me

I stayed until the museum was closing and I had around an hour to sunset. Since Botanic Gardens was in fact connected to the Sydney Opera House. Despite I was not particularly interested, I thought there was no harm just to have a look.

If you ever wondered how the Opera House looks like from the behind, this was it.

Walking around all day carrying my baggage, I was exhausted when I finally reached the Opera House. I found myself a front row seat facing the harbour and watched the sky slowly changed colours.

If you ever realized I haven't mentioned what I had for lunch this day, it was because I didn't have anything. I went on with my journey with an empty stomach until around 7 pm when I eventually felt I have accomplished all my "missions" in Sydney.

How my AUD 3 dinner looked like

After dinner I randomly walked around the CBD and along the train stations until it was almost time to catch my flight back home.

I am going to end this entry and my first solo trip with something interesting I found outside Sydney's McDonald's

You get 543 kJ on every dollar you spend. Sounds like a great deal. But I am not sure if it's a turn-off or turn-on.

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[Updated on 21 May 2014]

So this is the end of my very first solo getaway. I have no idea, at that time, how this very trip gradually led to the drastic changes in my life. I was in Sydney from 19 to 23 Apr 2014, as I am now writing this post nearly a month after the trip, looking back, not too long ago, I am amazed how much I have changed, for better or worse.

"Life was like a box of chocolate. You never know what you're going to get" - Forrest Gump 

All I can say is, I kept drawing extra dark chocolates from my box since the trip. It was sour. It was sweet. And it left me with a very bitter aftertaste. Nevertheless, people still love dark chocolates.

After all, you can only live once. Nothing should stop you from exploring and experiencing life. My life journey has so far been full of surprises, happy and sad.  I wish you all good luck on your journeys too, my dear friends <3