The concrete jungle

Another late rise, another day around the shopping centres this time in Orchard Road which has undergone (and is still undergoing) "rejuvenation" over the past couple of years as a lot of the buildings appear to have been modernised.

It remains however a road of glamour with all the high end retail shops in attendance but unlike Milan where these shops were understated Singapore puts them right in your face!

The following photo was taken outside the Prada store and as the saying goes "The Devil Wears Prada"

Having decried Orchard Rd I have to say that if you look other than at the buildings the street itself with the tree covered walkways is not unattractive

And so our 2015 adventure is coming quickly to an end as we fly out of Singapore for home late tomorrow evening. We have visited cities big and small in the UK, France, Italy, Croatia and here in Singapore each of which have had their own charm. We have seen buildings very old and modern, churches embellished with all the trappings and some decorated very simply. We have met people who have all been extremely helpful and friendly and have at no time have we felt unsafe. Some of the drivers on the road have been patient while others exhibit typical driving aggression.

Above all we have enjoyed ourselves!

 

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Disaster Averted

The bed enveloped us until around 10.00 as we recovered from the lack of sleep over the last 36 hours!

Our hotel room is on the 16th floor of the Carlton with a view passed Raffles Hotel down to Marina Bay and the harbour which is like a parking lot - ok the view is only a narrow one because of the building on the left, but it is a view!

The weather was rather overcast with light showers on and off during the day, hence the mist out on the harbour.

Today was relaxing in so far as we didn't venture far, in fact no more than 800m from the hotel, as there were 3 large shopping centres just around the corner.

Further along there was the Arab area (elsewhere there is Chinatown, Little India, etc.) which was very clean & tidy as well as less populated and dominated by the mosque. It was an interesting area and they were lucky enough to get some of our dollars.

As we left that area Sherry took a tumble as she missed a step and crashed to the concrete but thankfully nothing was broken or damaged so disaster averted. The positive if there is a positive out of an incident such as this was if she had have damaged anything it occurred right outside Raffles Hospital!

Our observation re Singapore is that the cost of things has significantly increased since we were here two years ago and seem to be more expensive when compared with costs that we had experienced in Europe on identical/similar items. We were taken aback when we went to the supermarket last night and saw the prices of food - as an example an apple, one single apple was SGD4.00 which equates approx to $NZ4.40. For the locals sake you would have to hope that salaries reflect these costs.

Singapore is currently celebrating its 50th birthday and the city is awash with the national flag and other signs of the occasion.

At Linate airport there was the above display of the Duomo made out of 100,000 Lego pieces and according to the placard perfectly to scale and with all detail.

 

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Not a problem

After spending too many hours at Linate airport, one of two in Milan and only 7kms from the city centre (and not very impressive one has to say) we boarded our flight for Frankfurt.

Just as the departure time approached the Captain announced that due to thunderstorms over the Swiss Alps we would not be departing for a while - there goes any hope of getting our connecting flight!

The flight pushed back 12 minutes late and arrived at Frankfurt 5 minutes after the scheduled time and then the quick steps started. The plane parked out on the tarmac and we had to get into a bus which took us to Terminal One and we then had to get to gate Z62 which was quite some distance, however firstly we had to go through Customs all the time our time was getting eaten up.

Using the travellators to best advantage we did well to get to the gate 45 minutes after landing and join the queue for boarding which had already started.

Some 12 hours later after a smoothish flight we arrived at Singapore, taxi'd to our hotel and now intend catching up on our lost sleep.

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We are but done

Today was our last full day in Milan and therefore Europe as we fly out tomorrow evening to Singapore.

Our intention for the day was to walk to an area in South Milan where there are some canals but due to a map reading error we ended up in the Castello Sforzesco area and we weren't unhappy with that.

The piazza outside the Duomo was a sea of people even at around 10.15 am as we passed by

as was Via Dante another retail strip

On this strip there were a few street artists none better than a man playing the bottles and we spent a little time listening to him before continuing on until we fronted the Castle

The Castello which dates from a rebuild in the 14th century and after restoration in the 19th century has been transformed into a museum centre and recreational venue and is regarded as one of Milan's & Lombardy's most significant monuments.

At the far end of the park behind the Castello is the Arco della Pace (above).

We returned back to the central area and ambled up the Corso Buenos Aires, supping on a water bottle to quench the thirst, back to our hotel.

We aren't sure what tomorrow will bring as we are relying on Lufthansa to get us through to Singapore via a connecting flight at Frankfurt. Our experience coming up wasn't good at Frankfurt as the stopover of 65 minutes was not enough time to get through the formalities and we missed our connection to London and our stopover tomorrow is the same length of time. So we will either get through to Singapore arriving late afternoon Tuesday Singapore time or have to spend a night in Frankfurt and get to Singapore on Wednesday afternoon. Time will tell but the fingers are crossed that it all works out.

The next blog will therefore be posted on ?????

 

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We ain't in Dubai...

...but with the gauge showing 42 degrees at 5.00pm it sure as hell felt like it and was the reason why we started to flag badly this afternoon.

The hotel is one street back from Corso Buenos Aires which is one of the main retail streets leading to Centro and has the majority of the middle to higher end fashion shops and jewellers, so this morning we spent time there as well as a local street market in the vicinity.

After lunch we walked into Centro very much keeping to whatever shade we could find passing some stately buildings

note the lack of symmetry in the lower arches

and Dolce & Gabbana on the edge of the High End fashion street mentioned yesterday. D&G actually spreads over 2 blocks and the store in this photo is at least three storeys in height

While Sherry spent her time in and around the shops I stood in front of the magnificent Duomo which dominates this area of town - it truely is an impressive structure

If you are wanting an idea of a start up business perhaps this will help

The day was spoilt however by the results of three football games, each a different code played in three different countries!

 

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Stressed...

....with a capital S!

After "sprinting" through to Milan this morning and off loading the bags in the hotel it was time to return the faithful 3008 to Sodexa located at Linate airport.

Set the GPS and off we went but things quickly went awry. The GPS was reporting about every 50 metres that we were in an unmapped zone, or was telling us to turn left or right in 20m or so when there was no such turn, the net result was that we had no idea where we were, where we were heading or more particularly how we were going to get there.

As you do when you are returning a vehicle you have rented or in our case leased you try to return it with as little juice in it as possible and I had calculated our needs but after a little while going round in the circles the vehicle was clearly reminding us we were very low on fuel.

As the steam rose in the vehicle we spotted a road sign for Linate and tried to follow it, but with Italians in vehicles behind leaning on their horns because of our slow driving as we searched for the next sign, we lost our way and ended up in a dead end street.

We came out of the street and I made an executive decision we would turn left and lo and behold we turned onto a motorway that took us to the airport.

Once there I needed to ask a taxi driver where Via Bacalla, being the drop off point was and with his directions quickly found it and pulled in with sweated brow and palms.

As I looked at the GPS unit the problem quickly became apparent - it was only picking up 3 satellites when I think a GPS needs somewhere near 8 satellite reads to be effective.

The guys who we handed the vehicle over to had a quick look around it and I signed it to their possession - the fact they missed a couple of grazes on the right hand side where I had brushed the vehicle up against a garage door in Vicenza and had the claim form already filled out was a bonus!

We got the bus back into Milan Central and took to the streets around Corso Vittorio Emmanuel and quickly ran into hordes of shoppers having their dose of retail therapy in some high class shops, the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel was particularly impressive

As we started to walk back to the hotel we went down Via Della Spiga being the fashion centre of Milan - there were not too many shoppers here, perhaps because a dress would set you back €2500 in one of the shops, but there were some impressive window displays

Some data re our travels - 5828kms, 5.62l/100kms, average of €1.46 per litre and €232.50 in tolls and vignettes.

 

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Picturesque

As mentioned yesterday today we went by ferry to Bellagio being at the junction of the two inverted legs of the Y that is Lake Como.

From Bellagio we went by hydrofoil to Como (anyone remember Aucklands hydrofoil?) and then to Lecco by bus.

One can only say that the scenery all around the lake is superb, water towered over by the massifs of the alps with villages wherever you looked

Bellagio was a very picturesque tourist spot with alleyways rising from the lakeside up the slopes, the alleyways being occupied by very classy retail shops (so I was reliably informed)

Luckily our stop there was short and before long we were on the hydrofoil for the trip to Como

In comparison to both Lecco and Bellagio, Como was distinctly ordinary - numerous standard fare shops mostly closed through the afternoon seista - though there was an interesting Romanseque style gate (Porta Torre, 1192) at the far end of the pedestrian zone

The bus trip back was not overly interesting being 80 mins over windy roads but we got home safely and enjoyed dinner at a restaurant on the lakefront.

I smiled when I received a message from home that the Poms had rolled the Aussies for 60 in the 4th Ashes test!!!!

 

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Last long haul to Lecco

Today we made our last significant drive being from Vicenza to Lecco, our final drive later in the week being a short sprint to Milan.

Like a lot of towns the drive into Lecco was uninspiring as was our walk into town but there was a nice surprise around the corner.

Lecco is a town in Lombardy on the southeastern shores of Lake Como. The lake is located at the foot of the Alps right up against the Swiss border. It is the third biggest (146km2), the deepest (410m), and the longest (170km of shore length) lake in Italy.

It's peculiar Y-shape was carved out of the mountains by a glacier, with Como being at the tip of one leg of the inverted Y and Lecco at the other.

Walking through the town you admire the alps rising steeply in the background and with the Viscontea Tower overlooking Piazza XX Settembre

...and then you exit through to the lake front where you are greeted by a picturesque sight

There are numerous churches that can be seen as well as sites associated with the author Manzoni but our time today was spent lakeside.

We were however privileged to see the World Hula Hoop champion, Antonio Stoppani immortalised in bronze.

Tomorrow we intend taking the boat to Bellagio at the junction of the two legs of the Y and then onto Como before returning to Lecco by bus in the evening.

 

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Palladio's Place

Last night as we returned to our digs after a meal I took the following snap on my phone of the sunset over Trieste harbour

We moved tent today to Vicenza, a town slightly north of Venice and not unsurprisingly as we had moved inland the temperature has risen into the mid 30s and the forecast for the places where we will be this week is for 35s+.
In much the same way as Barcelona has Gaudi, Vicenza has Palladio - Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) is widely considered to be the most influential individual in the history of architecture" and a large number of his works are here in Vicenza.

Teatro Olimpico

Basilica Palladiane

Palazzo Chiericati

There are numerous others but you get the picture

In the Chiericati there was a globe of the world created in 1640 which depicted Australia and when you think that the first European only landed on Australia in 1606 then word got around fast!
Like most European cities Vicenza is endowed with a plentiful supply of churches and perhaps the most memorable was Tempio Di Santa Corona with a rather different altar centrepiece

and a painting by Bellini which the gentleman at the door was very proud to advise us of ...

...as he was to tell us that Palladio designed the crypt!
Visits to a couple of museums completed our quick and dirty tour of Vicenza in the searing heat and it was a relief to get into the air conditioned hotel room late in the afternoon before we venture out again later for a meal.

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