DAY 11 MUNICH

I had a very long sleep last night coz it was so comfortable and I feel good and relaxing whenever I stay in Michele's home! I don't need to worry about anything and I'm glad that I come to Munich again this year!!

Michele and Kristin has to work so after shower and breakfast, we went to the supermarket to buy some sausages and snacks as souvenirs. We like the salami a lot!! It's so cheap in Germany!! But we couldn't buy too much coz we still have to carry our luggages and visit 2 more cities in Italy.

We went to the city centre and then shopped around. It's shopping day!! I bought some clothes, shoes and sun glasses. Time usually runs fast when I go shopping!! Comparing with the shops in Italy, Munich is a bit more expensive than Italy!!


We didn't do any sightseeing today coz we only wanted to shop around. Also we visited some tourist attractions already last year so we didn't need to rush to do anything in Munich. We just relaxed ourselves!!

We came home in the evening, Kristin was home already and she was preparing the dinner for us. We had to took the night train at 9pm from Munich to Florence. Kristin and Michele were so nice to make dinner for us again before we left!! :)

The pasta was so delicious!! I liked it a lot!! Really wanna learn how to make good pasta sauce!! Do Italian born to cook? :D

After dinner, we had to get ready and leave. We only stayed few days in Munich but it was very happy to have fun with Michele and Kristin again. Michele said that he would go to Singapore and Hong Kong again!! I hope so!!

Michele sent us to the train station and then he even helped us to carry our luggages to the carriage. It was a bit sad to say goodbye but I'm sure we will see again soon (if he comes to Hong Kong)!!

The last stop of this train was Rome but we got off in Florence. It was an overnight train and it took us 9 hours from Munich to Rome!! We didn't book the sleeping carriage and we had to find something to do coz we had to take shift to keep our eyes on our luggages!! We shared the carriage with other 4 strangers!

DAY 10 MUNICH

I woke up at around 10am and I got hangover. I really drank too much yesterday!! But I was still fine and not too sick.

We had brunch at home, Kristin prepared a lot of food and she still remembers that we likd foie gras!! Elka came over to Michele's home and we had food together. She would to to Oktoberfest again in the evening coz her friends had reserved tables there and it would be the last day of the Oktoberfest.

Michele joked that we could go if we want. Of course we could go but we said we would worry about him coz he had to work on the next day.

Then in the afternoon we had a walk in a garden. The weather was so nice and it was good to have a walk outside.

Many people just sat outside and had food and beer. European really enjoys sunbathing!! I like the warm sun but just don't like to get tanned.

We had a ride on the boat on the lake. It was very relaxing and fun!! I enjoyed a lot!! I know it would be tiring to ride so I didn't try. I preferred just sitting on the boat and enjoy the breeze and the nice view.

There is nothing much to do on Sundays coz the shops and even the supermarkets are closed on Sunday. I just don't understand that and I think it's hard for me to get used to it!!

After walking around the park, we went back home and then Michele asked us if we would like him driving us with his bike. I told him I wanted to drive his bike more but he knew that I don't have license LOL It was my first time to be ridden on the bike!! It was very exciting!!

Michele didn't drive too fast, only 60-70 km/hr but I could feel the speed!! The wind was hitting my face and I felt so cold!! Other than that it was really fun and exciting!! I liked it a lot!! Really hope that I could drive a bike one day!! Michele said he could drive me to highway next time if I had proper clothes. He even said he had driven 200km/hr once!!

Then we went back home, Michele made the pizza for us. There were a lot of ingredients such as hams, salami, tuna, cheese... etc... I thought it would be difficult to make a pizza but it looked easy!! Kristin made some salad as well. I liked both pizza and salad!! They were delicious!! :)

DAY 9 MUNICH

I woke up at 6.30am this morning coz Michele said we had to go to Oktoberfest very early. We had to depart home at 8am. I thought he was joking coz last year we didn't go there so early. Kristin didn't come with us coz she has baby and she can't drink and smoke.

We arrived at the tent at around 8.30am and Michele said it was a bit late coz there were many people waiting outside the tents already!! I was a bit surprised!! The tents were opened at 9am to 11pm and becoz it was the last weekend of Oktoberfest, so many people go there on Saturday.



It was so cold with rain, a big contrast with last year!! Last year was very hot!! It was freezing to wait outside the tent!!

We met Michele's friend Elka outside the tent and then we got in at 9am. We ordered 1L beer mixed with lemonade and some bread for breakfast. It was strange for me to drink beer in the early morning!! Michele said Beer mixed with lemonade wasn't beer and he only counted it as half liter of beer on our bet (I didn't expect that!! I thought it counted as one liter!)

Then later Michele's other friend Toby came and we ordered some white sausages (Munchner WeiBwurste). It tasted very good!! I liked it very much!! Michele said it was a traditional sausages in Munich as breakfast. People eat a lot in the Oktoberfest and then they won't get drunk easily.

Inside the tent it wasn't as hot as I expected. Last year it was very hot but this year was cool. This tent was smaller comparing with last year but the atmosphere was still good. They had live which was started at 12pm and people danced and sing when the live band started.

I drank 1L beer mixed with lemonade and 3L of beer!! Amazing!! I drank more than last year!! But of course I didn't have clear mind after drinking that much beer. I hardly remember what I did in the afternoon. I only remember we talked a lot and took some pics. At around 4pm we changed to another table coz our table was reserved. We met some young lads and we talked to them and drink again.

We went back home at around 9pm but I can't remember how we went home. Michele and Connie told me that we went home by taxi from the train station. And we had food at Burger King before going home. They told me that I did something silly but I don't believe it!! Michele said he won the bet and he made fun on me that I couldn't drink at all!! Shit!! I really did drink 4L in total!! What I can say is German beer is too strong!!

DAY 8 VICENZA / MUNICH

I woke up at 7am, took and shower and packed my luggage, we were leaving Vicenza to Munich!! We needed to take 6 hours train from Vicenza to Munich.

The train passed Austria and surprising it was snowing there!! I couldn't believe it snowed so early!! I was a bit excited to see the snow but I couldn't get outside to feel it!!

We hadn't seen Michele and Kristin for a year! It is good to see them again!! Dirk is still in Singapore so we couldn't meet him!! It would be fun to see them all together!!

When we arrived Munich, it was 4.30pm. Michele was already waiting us at the platform. He gave us a warm hug and it reminded me the trip of last year!! Michele didn't change much but he has a big tummy now :D He drove us from the train station to him home. When he carried my luggage, he asked me again why my luggage was so heavy!! How do I know?!

Kristin was waiting us at home, it was nice to see her!! We had a good news from Michele & Kristin, they will be parents in May!! That's great!! I'm so happy for them!! Michele prefers to have a bog but Kristin prefers to have a girl!! I think no matter boy or girl, it would be a cute baby!! I wanna see their baby!!

I can't imagine if Michele would be a dad coz he is still a big kid!! Eventhough he said he would be a serious dad :D

Michele and Kristin took us to go to the theme park of Oktoberfest. There were some rides and last year we didn't have chance to go there. It looked amazing at night!! Michele is scared of height so he didn't want to go for the rides but he asked us to have a try!! Thought it looked exciting, we didn't try any rides finally.

Munich was very cold comparing with Paris and Italy. It was freezing outside!! Kristin bought us 2 Oktoberfest cakes and we hung them on our necks!! So cool!! Michele said it was tourist sutff but I think it was cute!! :D

Then it was dinner time! We wanted to eat Bavarian food so Michele drove us to look for the restaurant. But most of them were full coz during Oktoberfest, there are many tourists and restaurants are usually full.

Finally we found a restaurant and we had to wait for a while. Kristin helped me to order the food coz there were only German on the menu. I don't know what my food was, it was kinda pork + pasta and it was very delicious!!

I drank some beer and I told Michele that I wouldn't get drunk like last year but he didn't believe me. Then we had a bet that the next day when we go to Oktoberfest, I can drink 4 Liters of beer without getting durnk. Kristin said she could drink around 3 Liters. Well we have a whole day to drink and my plan is to eat more and drink slowly!!

DAY 7 VENICE

I woke up at around 9am today and then took a shower and made some breakfast at Massimo's home. He has gone to work when I woke up but he prepared some juice for us. And he said we could eat anything from the fridge. So we used the baguette, salami, tomato and cheese to make our breakfast.



Then we walked to the train station and took the train to Venice. When we arrived there it was nearly 2.15pm. We didn't have much time to see and visit Venice coz we only had few hours. We had to go back to Vicenza before 8pm coz we were going to join Massimo for dinner at his friend's home.

Venice was a very beautiful city and I liked it very much!! We took the ferry to St. Marco Square and we shopped around. The glasses, accssories, masks and other souvenirs were so beautiful and lovely!! We bought a lot of things again :D

I wish I could spend more time in Venice, it was very relaxing to walk around there. I think it is a very romantic and lovely city!! Hopefully I can go there again soon!!

Gondola is the symbol of Venice, but it's very expensive to have a ride!! Someone told me it costed 100Euro per hour!!

We went back to Vicenza at around 7pm and then Massimo drove us to this friend's home for dinner. Massimo's friend Stephanie went back to Italy from Frankfurt for vacation so they had dinner gathering together.

Massimo's friend is living in an apartment but it was very big!! Most of them can't speak English very well so Massimo and Stephanie had to translate for us.

Hiw friends cooked a lot of food, such as tomato pasta, rabbit with potatoes, mozzarella and some dessert. The pastat was very good!! The sauce was made by Massimo.

It was my first time to try rabbit!! I usually don't like to try strange things but I'm travelling to other country, I should try all the things!! The rabbit was quite good but it tasted a bit like chicken for me. I know French and Italian like eating rabbit a lot but it sounds a bit strange!! I'm glad that I had a try!! For sure I don't think I can find rabbit easily in Hong Kong!!

Thanks for Massimo to buy the Mozzarella for me!! It is my favourite!!! Very delicious and I ate a lot :D

We drank some different kinda wine but most of them were strong!! Massimo said Italian wine was the best!! Hahaha I asked what about French wine, he said, "It was ok!" Interesting!! I'm not expert of wine so I just drink what it tastes good!! :D

We went back home at around 12am and then we chichatted for a while and went to bed.

DAY 6 MILAN / VICENZA

We took morning train from Milan to Vicenza. When we arrived there it was around 13.30. Massimo was at home and he drove a car to pick us up at the train station.

Massimo’s house is very big!! He had 2nd floor and a basement. It is a very lovely home! Massimo went back to work in the afternoon and then we walked to the city center to have sightseeing.

Vicenza isn’t a place that most of the tourist would plan to go. We couldn’t find a place to stay in Venice so we chose to stay in Vicenza instead. It is a small peaceful town and buildings look nice. Comparing with Milan, people seems nicer. Also I think there are more things to see than in Milan!! At least I took more pics here :D

We spent half day to visit Vicenza coz it wasn’t so big. Then we went shopping again. The things in Vicenza was a bit cheaper, we bought a lot of things again!!

At night, Massimo drove us and his friends to Pavoda to join a dinner gathering. From Vicenza to Pavoda is 1 hour and more, it was kinda long way. Massimo’s colleague Laurer is a very sweet girl and she was very easy to talk to. We became friends easily and we talked about everything.

When we arrived Pavoda, it was around 9.30pm. We went to a nice restaurant and it was full of people. We couldn’t even find a seat. So we stood in front of a bar table and Massimo ordered us some special Italian drink and some cheese and hams. I don't know all the name of the cheese but some were very good and some were too stron. Overall I liked them a lot!!

After dinner, Massimo drove us back home and it was almost 12.30am. I was so tired and I fell aslepp in his car coz I didn't sleep much during this trip.

When we were back home, Massimo asked if we liked to drink some wine. Actually before going out for dinner, we drank some white wine already, it was very sweet and tasty!! I liked that a lot!! Massimo is a wine and food expert. He let us to taste all his wine and alcohol, I was a bit tipsy for drinking too much wine. I liked that white wine a lot but I couldn't buy it and carry to Hong Kong coz my luggage was so full and also I wouldn't like to carry the wine for the rest of my trip!!

Beside tasing wine, Massimo made some toast for us. He put some pork's fat and herbs on the toasts, it was quite good!!

DAY 5 PARIS / MILAN

The sky was still dark when we arrived the Beauvais Tille Airport at around 6am. We took Ryanair, the airticket was cheap so the airport was small as well. We took an hour bus and we were extremely sleepy.

My luggage was so darn HEAVY!! Everytime when I go travel, I complain about it but finally I still bring a lot of things. This time was really crazy experience!! I knew Ryanair has limitation for the weight of each luggage, I thought it was 20kg but it was only 15kg!! Shit!! When they weighted my luggage, it was 26.5kg!! WTF!! They asked me to take out my stuff to hand carry to the flight or I could choose to pay extra 30Euro for 1kg!!

Of course I didn't want to pay and I got no choice! Imagine how hard it is to take out 10kg from my luggage!! If I could do that, I wouldn't have brought so many things!! All are my necessaries!!

I took out my big bag, put most of my clothes and jeans into it. I had to throw away something such as a bottle of bath gel, a pair of slippers and some cream and lotion. I also had to wear some clothes and Connie helped me as well. Finally the weight of my luggage was down to 16.6kg and it was passed!!

When we arrived Milan, it was nearly 10.30am, I put all my stuff back into the luggage and then took the bus to Milan main train station. Before we planned to go to the outlet in Foxtown (the border between Italy and Switzerland) but unfortunately we didn't have much time so we skipped it.

I called Stephano and told him that we would arrive earlier and then we took the metro to the LODI T.I.B.B station. He was sleeping when I called him but he still waited us at the metro station and we walked back to his home and dropped down our luggages.

We then went out to visit Milan, the weather wasn't so good. It rained a bit in the morning but overall it was cloudy for the rest of the day. There were nothing much to see in Milan, we visited the Duomo, shopped around and bought a lot of things again.

There were a lot of piegons in this square, when we were taking pics, a guy came over me and put some wheat on my hand. Then it attracted a lot of piegons! They grabbed my hand and ate the wheat, i was so scared!! I didn't like it much!! But after that, this guy asked me the money of the wheat, I didn't want to pay!! He asked me for 10Euro! WTF!! I bargained with him and finally I still had to pay 2Euro >.<

We went back to Stephano's home in the evening, put down our stuff and then we had dinner at a pizza shop near by his home. The pizza wasn't so good coz it was only a fast food restaurant. The dough was too thick and oily.

After that we went back to Stephano's home, took a shower and he took us to a club for party. Unfortunately there were not many people and it wasn't crowded at all!! I guess maybe becoz it was weekday. There were live band show but the atmosphere wasn't so good. Stephano then took us to another club but it was quite the same, empty inside!!

Finally we headed back home coz there were nothing much we could do. It was quite disappointing coz I thought the nightlife in Milan would be very fun and great!! Stephano said it would be many people during weekends and we were just not the right time there. What a shame!!

I think there is nothing much to see in Milan and it's a place to shop around rather than sightseeing!