This is the Tempo Voltiano, a museum dedicated to the works of Allesandro Volta, a famous Italian physicist.

After lunch, we were dropped off at Milan’s Piazza del Duomo for the remainder of the day.

First stop, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. There are many shops here selling all kinds of stuff.

Designer handbags anyone?

And of course the Duomo di Milano.

Be wary though of swindlers who prowl the area around the cathedral. They try to hand you certain goods (friendship bracelets, bird feed, etc) and then force you to pay a bomb for it. More info here.

A close up shot of one of the cathedral’s doors. Check out the amount of detail on it.

And that basically wraps up my trip to Italy. Took a flight home the following day from the Malpensa Airport. I still got a few random photos and thoughts about the trip to share though so this won’t be the last of Italy you’re reading on my blog.

The city is located around the lake of the same name, Lake Lugano.

The scenery across the lake is quite stunning. In fact, I have this theory that every scenery in Switzerland looks epic.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just take a seat overlooking the lake with a good book?

An interesting pit stop in the tour I must say. Perhaps I will be back one day to explore more of Switzerland and photograph the Swiss Alps.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012! Due to some technical hiccups, I am overseas without access to my photos so I won’t be updating the blog in the next few weeks. Until then, see you in 2012!

Yes, this is supposedly the balcony where the famous “balcony scene” of the play Romeo and Juliet took place. For a nominal fee (which go towards the preservation of the building), one can climb up to the balcony.

Not very far from here is Piazza delle Erbe. It’s a marketplace of sorts where you can buy fruits, leather goods, etc. Heck, there was even a Nintendo 3DS booth there that day.

The fountain of Madonna Verona, also found in the piazza.

Wandering beyond the marketplace, I made my way to Piazza Bra to check out the Verona Arena. Historically, a Roman amphitheater, today the arena is used to hold concerts.

This is the Fountain of the Alps, found in a nice cosy garden in the piazza.

There were other interesting things to see at the piazza (like Verona’s city hall) but I didn’t have time to explore. The rest of the day was spent at the Franciacorta Outlet Village. It’s a collection of outlet shops all conveniently in one place. Shopping isn’t really my thing, so Day 5 wasn’t that exciting.

While I’ve merely spent a morning in Verona, I like what I saw. There is definitely more to see and experience in beautiful Verona. So here’s adding another city to my revisit list.

From the piazza I could see a cathedral in the distance on an island opposite from where I was. That was my destination for the day. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there but I just headed off in the direction that was most sensible.

As I made my way behind the piazza, I was greeted by the sight of hundreds of pigeons! I am not sure if it is legal to feed them (swore I saw a signboard forbidding it) but there were people doing it anyway.

I continued on my way hoping to find some connection to the island across. And indeed they were connected by a bridge. Not sure if there is a specific name for this bridge. Couldn’t find anything on Google.

I Gesuati

Along the way another interesting building caught my attention, the I Gesuati.

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

After a bit more walking, I finally reached my destination, the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.

The interior of the basilica overlooking the main altar. Spent some quiet time in the basilica before making my way back to meet up with the rest of the tour group.

Stopped along the way to take this shot (which is a personal favourite of mine). It’s funny how I only took notice of this scene on the way back. Sometimes we really need to take a second glance at things to appreciate it’s beauty.

The day ended with me feeling a sense of accomplishment as I shared the stories and photos I captured with my parents. It kinda inspired me to travel somewhere solo… though I haven’t picked up the balls (or have the money) to do that yet.

We had a short guided tour around Piazza San Marco before getting whisked to a shop that sells Murano glassware. No photos to show though since they did not allow photography in their premise. Boo…

The piazza gets more crowded with tourists as the day draws on.

And what’s a visit to Venice without a gondola ride? Seeing Venice from a gondola through the city’s narrow waterways was quite an experience indeed. To be perfectly honest, I was kind of dreading the whole thing because I can’t swim and was really paranoid about dropping my camera into the water. But, oh well, guess it didn’t turn out that bad. Haha.

Part 2 of my day at Venice will be up soon. Stay tuned!

One of the places I visited was the Piazza della Signoria. The square is home to many works of art (statues, sculptures, etc.) and is also connected to the Uffizi Gallery.

A statue of the Greek hero, Perseus holding  the head of Medusa. The workers were doing some maintenance and cleaning work on the bronze statue.

You can also see the Medici Lion sculptures in the same place. While photographing the sculptures, a friendly English couple approached me for a chat. They thought it was weird to see an Asian dude wearing a Manchester United jersey in this part of the world.

The Fountain of Neptune is also found at the square. Neptune is the Roman version of the Greek god Poseidon.

This is a statue of Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence in the 1500s.

Along the courtyard of the Uffizi Galery were some street artists. This one was dressed as Leonardo da Vinci.

Rich in culture and history, Florence is a great place to admire the works of many great artists from the Renaissance era. Given a chance, I would definitely love a revisit to Florence with more time to appreciate and photograph the many sculptures and statues around.

Lastly, a tribute to the workers who diligently maintain these works of art in top condition.

All in a day’s work, eh?

You can purchase tickets to enter and climb the leaning tower but I decided to give that a miss in favour of exploring the area more. Other historical monuments at the place include the Duomo (cathedral) of Pisa.

Another shot of the Duomo which is also a personal favourite of mine.

Had to leave by evening since the tour group was not spending a night in Pisa. My stay in Pisa may have been short but having seen the leaning tower with my very own eyes, I thought it was good enough… for now at least.

Touching down on the Fiumicino Airport in Rome, taking my first step and breath on European soil, I have to admit it felt rather unreal. It was my first time this far away from home. Yes, I am quite the kampung boy.

First stop the very next day, Vatican City. Unfortunately, I was too busy gawking at everything to be operating my camera.

This is the only shot I consider a keeper, the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica. Since I was in a tour group, time was extremely limited. Barely explored the city before I had to leave.

After that, off to one of the new 7 wonders of the world, the Colosseum.

But first, next to the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine.

I like the shot but that fence is really an eye sore. If only I could magically Photoshop them away…

This is the interior of the Colosseum.

One last shot the Colosseum before proceeding to our next stop of the day.

Another famous attraction of Rome, the Trevi Fountain. It is said that visitors who throw a coin into the fountain are ensured of a return to Rome. I did my share of coin throwing but I used a RM0.50 coin instead. Not sure if it works that way…

Our last stop was the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately, it started to rain heavily so I do not have any decent photos of the place. That pretty much concludes the first day of the trip.

Rome is a beautiful city. Unfortunately, visiting in a tour group meant time was extremely limited. There is so much more of Rome I wanted to see – Pantheon, Roman Forum, more of Vatican City, etc.

A revisit to the Eternal City is definitely on my bucket list now.

It was my first time travelling abroad and perhaps because of that, the excitement and memory of that night still feels very fresh and vivid in my mind. The journey was a 4 hour flight to Dubai for transit followed by another 4 hours to Italy. I took the chance to do some practice shots at the Dubai International Airport. Not much to see or do around the airport (except shopping).

And soon it was time to leave. First stop, the eternal city – Rome.