For the Shopaholics & Foodies.

Put yourselves in the shoes of a child in a themepark. No, not any themepark. Disneyland. Try to imagine his awe finding himself amongst the characters he saw on TV, the excitement as he watches fireworks erupting into fiery streaks of red and gold into the air during the parade.

Serravalle ignites the very same excitement and awe - but for shopaholics.

The place is practically a themepark for shoppers, complete with directory and signboards. It's a Factory Outlet like no other, where branded goods are sold with at least a fraction off the original price.

Dunno what kind of magical cap that is but even at the super super discounted price, it's ridiculously expensive.

If you ever drop by Italy and want to shop, although the stores in Milan & Rome whisper to you seductively to go over to them, be strong! At least till you get to Serravalle. ;)

 
With our purchases. :D

However, if you really don't get the chance to pay a visit to Serravalle, branded goods in Europe is already cheaper by leaps and bounds in comparison to Malaysia so you might just want to bring empty luggage. :P

Shopping aside, the food in Italy was sporadic hits & misses. Some were honest-to-God amazing, some were pathetically flavorless, and others were just strange.

The first meal we received in Italy. They eat spaghetti as appetizer. :O


Meat, pasta, and wine. ;)


Squid ink pasta was delicious! And there's a random shot of the restaurant in this collage because I thought that Italiannes did a pretty good job of replicating the Italian feel.




The lasagna was so good I ate two of it! Heh. And as for the Twix.. it's just remarkable that something so loved can't be found in Malaysia.  

The Ritter Sport Bianco Crisp chocolate on the bottom right is amazing.. *salivates* And so was everything else in this picture!  



Pasta was meh, fish was amazing, and that unassuming little glass contains the most wonderful sherbet-like icy dessert IN THE WOOOORRRRLDDDDD.

Pizza, cake, risotto, and chicken..

Ah, what I would do to return to Italy with its multiple course meals..


The first pic in this collage is their mutant tomatoes which look like pumpkins..
The second pic is of their mutant gigantic strawberries which are mutantly gigantic..
And the third pic is of their mutant red lettuce.

HA.

No, that's a lie. The third pic are of flowers but after seeing the first two mutants, wasn't my caption for the third pic somewhat convincing? :P

And this is focaccia, which is much like sticky plain bread except a million times better. It's a delicacy of Genova. (MUST TRY!!)

But of course, a visit to Italy is not complete without a visit to The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

And of course, the signature pose.

Taking the shot is a LOT harder than it looks, especially with a photographer who would rather buy souvenirs than repeatedly snap similar pictures. :P

Aihh, off by a bit.


Yikes, off the mark again!

COMPLETELY OFF!

Hey.. but wait.

PUSHCEPTION!!!    

Pisa's soft ground is the reason why the tower is leaning. According to Roberto, even the trees don't grow perpendicular to the ground.

Roberto!

Straight?

You'd think that modern technology would be able to straighten this tower & everything else in Pisa but even if it could, our guide insisted that no one would want to do that because people would no longer want to go to Pisa. :( #sadbuttrue

Genoa, on the other hand, is someplace I would love to revisit if I could. It's a beautifully quaint seaport town with buildings which somehow remind me of the Weasleys' house.

Pictures would explain it best.

They enter their houses through the roof!

Talk about urban congestion!

A rare patch of green.


Does anyone else wanna complain about not having enough space? :P

On that note, this blog will finally say goodbye to Italy!

Ohh, muffle those signs of relief! -.- I can here them from over here!