Italy Day 6 - 26 Nov 08
Naples, Paestum

We decided to come here because of the best-preserved and most complete Doric temples.

It is a Greek colony dedicated to god Poseidon. However, the town was abandoned after a malaria epidemic.

We arrived at the very ulu site! Up to now, I think we two are really adventurous. The train station at Paestum is abandoned and the walk into the ruins is also far and we did not see other souls walking with us throughout the 15-minute walk. Luckily, we did see some cars.

Temple of Neptune (actually dedicated to Apollo)

Basilica - Temple of Hera

It was initially tought that this building is a basilica (public building) where justice and public transactions were carried out. Later, scholars argued that the columns that separated this bulding into two was because it was dedicated to two gods - Zeus and Hera. However, most believed it was devoted solely to Hera.

The museum that we did not visit - overkill in Florence!

Temple of Ceres or Athena

As we could take quite good shots from far, we did not pay 10 euros to get into the sight and go near the temples. We noticed that we could not enter the temples anyway so that the authorities could still preserve them in good condition and not allow us to trample anyway we like and offend the gods. We save euro for shopping later and took pictures and ate gelato instead!

It was a good trip. We had good weather and a little adventure. The secluded area also offered some respite. Yeah!

However, we did not check the train schedule when we arrived and safely assumed that trains come every hour (this is according to guidebook). In the end, we had to wait for our train for close to 2 hours probably due to lunch time. Not fun to wait at such a quiet station.

Our hostel at Naples! Nice place with the old type of lift again.

Owner of the hostel gave us a nice walking route around Naples and we followed his advice. Here is a place that sells Christmas decoration, very much like Concourse.

We were hoping for a free dinner from this Jap guy staying at our hostel. He actually bought lotsa food from the supermart to cook a sumptous meal. But we waited in vain.

Italy Day 5 - 25 Nov 08
Pisa

This is for those who went during the high season. No queue heh!

The much needed breakfast!

The train station at Pisa. We thought that the journey was going to be long and almost wanted to take a bus. Fortunately, we did not know how to get a bus ticket and we ended up walking to the Leaning Tower. The walk was lovely! Check out the beautiful pics!



Met an old friend for dinner recently and she commented that she could finally undersstand why painters could paint the sky so blue.

Nothing was done to edit the pictures. So postcard huh?


Sunny day. Nice weather. It's a "feel good" day!



The striking colours cheers you up!

Can you spot the leaning tower and the baptistery?

Even the baptistery looks crooked!


Shots taken while waiting for our climb. We were only allowed to climb, stay and descend Pisa within 30 minutes. This is how they control crowd. Only when the group has cleared the tower, another new group will ascend.


These are the structures used to hold the tower. It has gone through years of restoration.

The view from above.

I love Pisa for its colourful buildings. Chirpy and bright!

A tower on each of our heads!

I guess I do not enjoy crowds at all. I felt at peace when I was there. The greenery and the bold colours lifted my spirits.

A must visit gelato shop recommended by Let's Go. Heavenly!

Hah. After so many hours of train rides, I also finished the book by the late Critchton (not sure of the spelling). Time to lighten my backpack too since I still preferred his classic science fiction - Jurassic Park!

Love this December Holiday. Went overseas, met up with old friends and I have also just finished a second book. Cheers! Another target - catch up with Heroes Season 3 and American's Next Top Model. Cheong ah