Greetings from Mendrisio, Switzerland!

 *Foxtown, the factory outlet in Switzerland

 taklah murah..but!

 Lindt, as you have not seen it elsewhere

We walked from the station to Foxtown cos' taxis were hard to find

Destinies are from God.We never planned to cross borders but Nik was asking the lady at the reception ada ke factory outlet in Como.

Surprise, surprise, she said 20 mins away..but in Switzerland.Naik taxi 100 euros pergi balik.We were willing to do it.But Nik asked about trains.Mak  oii..one stop away about 5 mins to Chiasso, then change trains to Mendrisio (which is Switzerland already..kena bawak passport tapi kastam tak periksa pun..tapi satu mamat Afrika dah kena cekup.Maybe random).Naik train gini tak sampai 50 euros untuk 2 orang (pergi balik.So kita jimat 50 euros.Kali 4: RM200).

Then from the station, jalan kaki pi Fox Town, factory outlet yang jual semua branded items.Aiyooo...ini mmg rezeki ...

Fashion is a season behind so harga pun 30% off.Kita pun mcm org kaya beli Bally, Prada, silk scarf itu ini..and hey, Lindt chocs yang takda jual kat mana2..and I got to drink Lindt choc drink..mak oiii..choc pekat OK? (bukan serbuk chocolate).Ya Allah, terima kasih.Can I come this way again? :))

Mawar, betullah..I nak migrate tinggal kat Lake Como and buka B&B, jual nasi lemak.Org Turki dah kontrol kebab chain kat sini (halal).George Clooney mesti suka nasi lemak I.Haha.

Lake Como ni betul2 di tengah2 antara Milan dan Mendrisio.Sungguh convenient!

Lake Como

Two buskers on a street in Como

 Pindah hotel..this one right in the middle of Como

(bilik not as nice as Palace but location is superb)

 Lake Como in the morning from my Palace Hotel room



 artistic tak? The Duomo Cathedral at the Plaza,

kurun 13 atau 14 (medieval)..but typical of Gothic-Renaissance architecture, no?

 a corridor at the Palace

 Como busker

 at dinner this evening

 Como in the morn from my window

 didn't buy anything from the street market.Pekan Ahad Raub lagi interesting.Byk barang dari China

from my Palace window again

 Lake Como in the evening (my window view)

 part of the hotel we are at (it was a villa hundreds of years ago but no ghost, said the receptionist when I asked)

 The Palace Hotel (I like)

 Lake Como and half a moon

 A restaurant by luck (nak pi tempat lain, tutup.Dapat yang ini)

 fish. spaghetti, seafood and salato

 half a moon, cloud, mountain.And lake.

 cantik juga

 George Clooney ada villa kat Lake Como

 tenang

From the boat I was in

We took the fast train from Venice's closest train station to Milan (about 3 hours.Make sure you choose 1st class coach cos' selamat dan they serve drinks onboard).From there (Milan Centrale) we changed train to Como to get to our hotel by the lake (lake view!)

Lake Como ni over-rated I think..but Hollywood stars ramai ada villas kat sini.It has many lakes but the one hour tour we took tak la secantik Queenstown in NZ I thought..the only difference is..here it's easy life, not too commercialised.Slow moving.Relaxing again.But I still prefer Venice cos' my city tu got everything in one: shopping, canals, arts.

Besok we have more exciting activities but let it be a surprise as I pun terkejut sendiri. :)

Venice, home of the rich, famous and bad

Final entry on Venice, I promise. ;)

 Our hotel garden where we had breakfast.In the background is the home of Desdemona of Othello fame

 a nice and friendly boutique hotel.We will stay here again, InsyaAllah

 the home of Marco Polo

 Marco Polo's home, a close up

 Rumah berok mat yeh di Itali (Casanova)

 Rumah Antonio Vivaldi

I will miss the garden of my hotel in Venice

Venice, city of canals

Dayung

 a common scene in Venice

 water transport since so long

 it's so relaxing to be surrounded by water

 gondolas at work

 can't get enough of venice

 see how radiant I am on the water? ahaks

 my gondola man Giovanni

 Venice in the morning

 easy crawl.No traffic jam

city for lovers

Venice, city of masks

Folks, if you menyampah baca my Venice entries, I make no apology.:)
Entries on Venice are for me.Sorry, yah? I'd go on and on on this one.

 Tak sempat tengok tempat buat masks di Venice

 Remember Shakespeare?

Met this lady while I was shopping.Ahaks

Venice!

 Venice in the drizzle

 Italian design

 Design for the stomach: my ikan todak

I want to live in this city: artists everywhere

theatres, music, galleries...

Alhamdulillah despite such an inconvenient delay at Manchester, we arrived safely in Venice.Some tips for those who wish to travel this way:

1.If you were travelling on a budget flight, give some allowance for delays, etc.We were all nicely buckled up when the pilot said there was some technical prob.They tried to fix it (phuiyoo..ingat ni mesin rumput ke? Fix then start mowing? Ni nyawa, tau?)

For those who are tight with time: don't travel on low-cost flights.

I was so relieved when we were given a different flight.Even then, it didn't take off till 30 mins later.

But we made nice friends onboard..some people booked to travel on a cruise from Venice to Athens to Istanbul etc.

2. At Marco Polo airport, we took the water taxi to Saint Marco..the cheap one will take about 1.5 hours as it makes stops.Buy your tickets at the counter.To Saint Marco it'd be about 15 euros one way.If you take water taxi straight to Saint Marco it would be around 90 euros.But you'd get there in 20 mins.

Nak termuntah travel by water nih.But once at the Saint Marco area..ooo la la...all your low energy picks up again.This place is a beauty.Wait till you get to your hotel..ours has a nice Italian garden..and the best part is, you WALK in this city as you window shop through narrow alleys.Oh..I wish I had booked more days here.It's so...Italian.I think of Ben Jonson's plays as I breathe Venice.It's Jonson's immoral city in the 16th century.I have yet to find out but my hotel people are so nice..service at this hotel pun bagusss...(free internet for 3 days! 24/7)

Will update more as I discover Venice.

Post-dinner: met honeymooners from all over (the couple next to our dinner table were dentists from Melbourne on their honeymoon.Wife dia cantik and peramah..we were talking about our travels, then nearby couples..ada yang celebrating their anniversaries pun joined our 'loud' conversations.Haha.The far end couple from Perth menyampuk as dentist lady and I comparing notes on UK and Ozzie unis.Dentist tu pun ada PhD from an Oz uni.Nak tergelak pulak..macam balik kampong la pulak..geng2 Oz berkumpul kat Venice!)

I love this city..full of life and artistic expressions.

Altrincham's the best couple award

 Dropping by Yam's place to meet NZ alums: Din, Yam and hubby, Jono.

Thank you Yam!

...goes to Yam and Jono. :)

We arrived past 12 midnite at their place in Altrincham, Manchester.Yam dah tidur but Jono waited on us.Nik was so sleepy (from London to Sheffield then to Manchester) that we came this close to just sleeping in at the Travel Lodge.But dah janji nak menyusahkan Yam and Jono..

Tak sempat buat apa2 ..masuk2 rumah mereka terus tidur.Nice home.Very warm.

Pagi2 lagi Yam dah buat roti canai and asam pedas ikan pari.Hoiyoo..it pays to have generous friends like Yam and Juno (and Din).Our prayers for all of them.

Lepas tu Jono tlg temankan kita pi airport..pulang kereta and then dropped us off at Terminal 1.

Waiting for our flight now.See you soon!