We hopped on Eurostar today after lunch and head towards Firenze.  The trip took about 2 hours and the ride was quite pleasant given it was Eurostar first class.

We checked in the Monna Lisa hotel which itself was filled with many historical paintings and furniture, quite different from the hotels that I used to stay.  The city is very small and most of the attractions are within walking distance.  We strolled along to the Duomo which took us only about 10 mins.  Did some shopping and got a Gucci bag for Vivian.

Dinner was the highlight of the day as we went to the famous Cibero.  It was fine dining at its best and we look a bit out of place with shorts going in … well, we are tourists so probably being pardoned.  The dinner was beautiful and the appetizer of cheese pudding, the main course beef stew and the meringue dessert were all perfect!

Went to Vatican today and I had high expectations since I have read so much about it especially in Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons.  I could only say that I was not disappointed at all.  We joined a tour and skipped all the long queues and started in the Musuem Vatican.  It’s good to have a tour guide who can explained the background and taking us to the most important works.

What I found to be most impressive is the gallery of maps.  Not so much about the maps but really the ceiling which was filled with gold and artistic works.  Paintings by Raphael were very impressive and my favorite got to be The School of Athens or “Scuola di Atene” in Italian. 

The tour ended with a visit to the St. Peter’s Basilica and it was magnificent.  Once you have been here all other churches seemed so insignificant.  There were some sun rays when we went there passing through the top, making it even more attractive.  After the tour we planned to go to a recommended restaurant nearby but too bad it wont be opened until 8 pm.  Feeling tired, we went back to the hotel and had dinner nearby.

It was 36 Celcius and felt like 40 when we spent our first day in Rome, visiting Colosseo and fourm. We spent almost 3 hours under the sun but it was worth a visit. The Colosseo was much larger than I thought and we joined a tour being able to learn more about the site.

we then head back to the hotel area which was located near the train terminal for lunch and took a shower before going to visit the Fontana trevia and Patheon. Pretty impressive architetures! We also had probably the best gelato in town.

At night we had dinner near via Condotti (of course after doing some shopping when I got my first Prada wallet) at a place called De Gino.

it was a very tiring first day but very enjoyable. Looking forward to visit the Vatican and St Peters Basilica tomorrow.

22 July 2007

Arrive London at about 545 am and arranged a taxi to Canary Wharf to meet up Rex and Melody. The transportation took about 45 min and cost us GBP50! If you think that is expensive wait till you get a normal taxi from the taxi rank which will be about GBP100! At least we got a Volvo and the driver wears a suit and tie.

Went to Portobello market for breakfast. 2 croissant and coffee cost us about GBP12 which was about HK$190!! Not that many shops opened on Sun so prob going on a Sat will be better.

We then head to Camden Market and did a bit of walking through antique shops. Did more walking to seven dials and Tottenham Court Road. Although sale was going on but things were still expensive. Went back home for a movie and then had a light dinner at west India Quay. The beer selection was awesome especially Korenburg Blanc 1664.

Decided to call it a day.

So the Anya Hindmarch ‘I’m not a plastic bag’ is finally available in HK.  The bag retails for GBP5 and sold out immediately back in UK.  The idea was to encourage people to be environmental friendly and use this bag instead of plastic bag.

My question is … why make it in limited edition?  Why not encourage more people to use it with more supply.

People start lining up in Causeway Bay HK around 2 pm on 5 JULY.  By the time I got back to office before 9 am on 6 JULY, there was already so many people waiting:

Here’s an bird’s eye view:

Imagine how better this world could be if these people spent their effort in doing something ‘green’ instead of waiting here in line over night.