Italia ci siamo!! (Part3)

Saturday 11/07/09


It was our last day in Venice. Seriously, tak puas bercuti kat Venice nie. Should have stayed longer *sigh*. We left early as we had to catch our train at 10.45am. Me and hubby did not get enough sleep last night bcoz Qistinna had rashes at some parts of her body (which we thought was heat rash). She couldn't sleep well. She cried a few times until she vomited. And then later Arianna was vomiting as well but i think she overdosed milk. So, there goes our sleep. ;)

We rode the water bus for the last time. So sedih okay.. We arrived at the train station a bit early, so we hung out near the station and walk around the station area. On another sour note our train was delayed for about 15minutes.

Submarine

On the train, we were hoping that d kids will be asleep as both of us were too sleepy to entertain them. But dua2 tue mata celik besar.. No sign of tiredness. Arianna was playing 'peek a boo' with other passengers, tapi bila orang tue tegur, malu2 kucing laks.. Aiyo, apada.. Qistinna was busy doing her own activity i.e talking, drink coke, playing with the bottle etc.. We took turn to sleep. D kids after 2 hours of journey, then only they slept. When Qistinna woke up from her sleep, we noticed that her face was red than before. We thought it was because her face was pressing hard againts the chair. An hour later, we realised that the rashes had become worse.

Qistinna before naik rash

The moment we arrived at Rome Termini Station we headed straight towards the pharmacy. I went inside with Qistinna and Abah. Others waited outside.

Oh my god, it was so difficult to communicate with the Italians as not many of them speak English. I asked the pharmacist for medicine/lotion for the rash. She didn't understand what I was saying until she saw Qistinna. Then only she showed me the lotion, but she was reluctant to give it to me. She comes out from the counter and go towards Qistinna and said something in Italian to me. Then suddenly she raised her voice and said something in a mix languange that Qistinna's condition is serious on top of which she was holding her hand against her waist and later started waving her hand like how our mother would be pissed off at us. And she was like lecturing me said that I should bring her to a hospital straightaway ..... Then she called another pharmacist and both of them spoke in Italian with each other and macam cakap something pasal me.

So we decided to bring Qistinna to a hospital after we check into our apartment. We took a cab to the hospital, and straight "pronto soccorso" aka emergency services. Even then when we arrived, there were numerous pronto soccorso around the hospital and mind you the compound was enormous. Finally after searching for about 20 minutes we found the paediatric pronto soccorso. As we entered the emergency services room, the first thought on both of our minds was, how do we explain her symptoms to the nurse....mula la kitaorng bergaru tangan badan to demonstrate.. hahaha..

The funny part of it all was when the nurse asked, "You speak english?''....but before that Joe had already asked "para ingles?"and she said no...hampeh tul.....We waited for about 1/2 hour before our turn came.... Inside the doctors room was another round of demonstrating as there were 2 doctors , a senior and junior doctor... The senior doctor memang no para ingles, while the yound doctor tue ada la speak broken english, luckily the doctor had a computer and used a Google translator...hahahha...memang klakar la part tue....True to our suspicion memang Qistinna ada allergic reaction to food but tak tau apa yg dia allergic tue...

The doctor gave her some medicine to consume and was told to wait for another 2 hours for observation to see if the rashes had gone away....While waiting for the doctor to see her again, she complained that she was hungry and wanted some food.... Joe set out and walked around 4-5 blocks but only to find that the shops were closed as it was already 7pm...Even the hospital cafe was closed..sigh...... After walking around for about an hour Joe returned empty handed and qistinna was furious.... Joe went out again but only as far as the garden at the hospital as he didn't know where else to look for food and waited out the time until the doctor called again so that they can release her and bring her back to the apartment where food was waiting for us.....

Joe msg me and said that he was going to check the Metro line nearby to see which route we need to take back to the apartment....as it turns out there was a food vending machine inside the station!!...Joe pun beli la air juice and potato chips and brought it back to us....When qistinna was eating the chips, the young doctor came out and shook his head and hands and said "no chips!!"...basically he said no junk food for the next couple of days... He released us and gave us some prescription for Qistinna to help with the allergies.......Took the metro and headed towards the main termini station as our apartment was nearby......

Fuhhh....what a day, looking back it was quite an experience for us...There were some moments where we didn't know whether to cry or to laugh....Nonetheless the experience will remain etched in our memories forever...should have taken a picture at the hospital, but we were to eager to head back to our apartment after a long and tiring day......Tomorrow our Rome odyssey begins!!

Italia ci siamo!! (Part2)

Friday 10/07/09


Our first pit stop for the day was San Marco Square. Its just 7mins away from our apartment. Since Qistinna yesterday showed sign that she malas nak jalan. Kejap kejap 'I'm tired', 'I'm tired' jer and berebut ngan adik nak duduk dlm stroller. So, we used d baby carrier to carry Arianna (nasib baik terfikir nak bawa). Bukan main suka si kenit tue dlm carrier. Hehe.. Owh, the weather? Very hot!! Of course its not as hot as Malaysia, but compare from where we came from, mmg panasla.


So we walked around San Marco. Looked through all the interesting shops. Most of it selling souvenirs. The square was huge and there were plethora of shops and restaurants. There were small stalls selling souvenirs in the middle too but i think they were overpriced. Dalam tengah round2 tue, boleh terserempak dgn Melayu.. :)

Then we went to HardRock Cafe (a must go place for all of the cities that we visit!). As usual bought t-shirts for both of us.

Aaahhh.. The Gondolas..

Then we rode on the water bus towards Rialto Market. I love going through the Grand Canal as the view was breathtaking.

Rialto Market, another tourist attraction, is the place where the locals get their fresh stocks of fish, seafood, veggies, fruits, etc.. It also has a dry market where there were plentiful of souvenir shops. As for souvenirs, if you ask me, here is slightly cheaper than San Marco as well as abundance of choice too.

Rialto Bridge

Rialto Market

Looking for nice souvenirs..

After spending couple of hours & couple of €€ as well, hehe, we decided to walk to San Marco. Of course we can take the water bus, but why not explore d place by walking, right?? It took us almost an hour ++ to walked back. Well of course there were lots of stopping due to tiredness + melayan kerenah dua budak kecik nie, and some window shopping.. ;)


Originally we wanted to go to Murano Island since we had time (although it was not in the itinerary). But we had to cancelled the plan since Abah got a headache and the last boat to Murano was 4.45pm (it was already 4.15pm at that time). Takut nnti pergi ke sana, takde boat nak balik je. So, Abah went back to apartment to get some rest and us went to explore nearby area.

OOooh, behind the San Marco there were lots of shopping alleys. Most of the branded boutique was here and resembled Sloane Street. I did go into Gucci & Prada, but sadly i didn't buy anything bcoz its expensive. I rather wait and buy during sale in the UK. Lagi murah & puas hati.

Look at this huge cruise ship..

We headed back to our apartment and rested our aching knees for a while. Then me, Joe n Qis went out again to enjoy d night view. Well not really night since its summer, so 8pm still cerah. Tak dapatla nak tunggu sampai gelap, penat eh..

Italia ci siamo!! (Part1)

Wohoo.. We've been waiting for this holiday for ages!! Finally the day has arrived!!

Please take note that this holiday event happened last month.

Thursday 09/07/09

We left our house as early as 3.00am. Our usual cab driver, Osman had already waited for us to take us to Stantead. Our flight was at 6.30am so we checked in and and waited to board the flight.

Arrived at Treviso Airport around 9.30am. We took shuttle bus from Treviso to Piazzale Roma Bus Station. During the journey we pass through Treviso Town and the Mainland. Dapatla tengok scenery. Around 11.30am we arrived our destination..

Buongiorno Venezia!!

Huhu.. Excitednya. Okay, now starts our interesting journey. Which way to go?? We followed the crowd and saw the sign that says Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Okay that is in our itinerary. So we followed the sign until we reached the canal and a bridge. Uh oh, bags, kids, stroller, bridge?? Owh we have to drag all our hand luggage as we do not know where to keep them. We can only check in our apartment at 3pm and it's still 3hrs away. So, kenala angkut everywhere.

We made our way towards dei Frari. Mind you there's so many small alleys/paths that are not in the map. Google map pun tak boleh harap sangat. And the road sign has worn off which made it more difficult to read. We stopped a few times to look at the map, last we all hentam saje jalan. Tak jumpa pun dei Frari. We decided to go to Santa Margharita instead, so that we can rest there after penat turun naik bridge.

Jual fruits and veggies pun dalam boat.. cool kan?

Venice is really a beautiful city. U cannot find similar place like Venice elsewhere as it is totally different. Lots of interesting shops along the small paths. The sight of the canals, bridges, gondolas.. Aaahhh, so beautiful and romantic!!

We managed to find a place to rest at Campo S.Margharita. Penatnye ya amat + with the hot weather lagi la cepat penat. This place is like a small village, with lots of local shops and restaurants. It is a University area. We saw some students doing some bullying to their juniors (i.e forced to sing, drink, throw water, etc). Its so cool to see these locals activities. We stayed there for about an hour, then we continued with our walk.

Since the place is near our check-in area, we tried our luck to check-in a bit early. Yesss, nasib baik diorg kasi.. Lega.. But still its a long way to go since our apartment is on the other side of Venice. We have an option whether to take water bus or to walk.. Of course we took the water bus. No way nak jalan kaki for 45mins with the bags..

We walked back to the bus station, find the water bus, buy tickets, off we go. Wooo... so beautiful. We were on the Grand Canal. Riding on the water bus along the Grand Canal. Oooo, feels so good. Water bus, gondolas were everywhere. People crossing the canals to get to the other side. Journey about 45mins, tapi rasa macam kejap jer..

Dalam water bus

One of the water bus stop

We reached at S.Marco-S.Zaccaria stop. We went straight to our apartment, dah nak patah belakang dah carry bebudak nie + stroller + bags. Lepak for awhile in the apartment, then we went out again. This time only me, hubby, qistinna & arianna. My parents nak rilex kat apartment, tak larat nak keluar. We hung out near S.Zaccaria, tak larat nak jalan jauh2. It was already 6.30pm and most of the stalls they were already packing to close. We tried the most famous food in Italy, which is gelato a.k.a ice-cream. Oohhh, its so yummy and sooo, dairy.. Delicious!! One of the tips that we got was, once you are in Italy, act like an Italian.. that is eat lots and lots of gelato. ;)





We snaped a few photos, then went back to apartment. Had some dinner and off to bed.