ITALY

Our Italian trip is another blog altogether. We had made it into an Italian pilgrimage, meaning it was subsidised! We just made a little writeup on it on our return to ISS :-)

There were eight Filipinos on that trip and two of our friends, Any from Indonesia and Gillian from Trinidad and Tobago.

We went for that trip from 27 December 2000 to 2 January 2001. First stop was Milan but then I went to Venice w/ Gillian. When we came back to Milan, we boarded a train overnight to Rome. Spent three days there, including the end of 2000 where loads of tourists went to St Peter's Basilica to pass thru the Jubilee Door. We also had to toe a very long queue (2hrs) for the Vatican Museums, where the Sistine Chapel paintings could be viewed. We learned that the museums are free to the public every last Sunday of the month. But boy, to get to the Sistine Chapel paintings of Michelangelo is a really long detour!

My classmate Any (from Indonesia) and I also dropped by FAO in Rome 'cause my mentor, Mam Ching was a visiting researcher there. But she wasn't there, she went to the US for Christmas so I only left my present for her, beer mug (w/ matching Heineken can for good measure) at her office table. Then we went to the rooftop and saw Rome in all its glory! To die for site daw yun.

Then Any and I had lunch at the Avenue facing the Colosseum. That was really awesome! Near the Colosseo is the Piazza Venezia and we also made pictures there.

We spent the New Year's Eve at St Peter's Square where we drank wine that was called Viva Il Papa "Long Live the Pope" after listening to his New Year message to the City and to the World. Then we spent the night at the train station. Wow, it was full of people! Early in the morning, we were alrdy allowed to board the train so we immediately got in and slept. The next thing I saw when I woke up were the hills of Tuscany, we were travelling towards Firenze (Florence) where we had a very short stopover. I love Florence, who doesn't? It is the site of the Renaissance. Most of all, in Florence we were able to have rice at the Chinese restaurant after surviving on all kinds of pasta in Italy for the past few days. I can't say I complain coz I had the best-tasting pizza in Venice!

From Florence we took a train to Milan and from there another overnight trip again back to the Netherlands. When I arrived in the Hague, I saw that I had a package from my sister from Taiwan. It was really awesome, she sent me a CD player and boxes of chocolates!

And that's what transpired of our Christmas study recess. I made sure to bring reading materials on the trip. Hehe, just for comfort, so I won't feel guilty that I went on a trip when I was supposed to be studying. Student life talaga!