Italia - part 1!

Maybe it's the Commonwealth connection, but the beauty of not needing a visa to enter Europe is great. At least that was what I was thinking until my arrival in Rome which changed my opinion on this. But then again, I can still blame the Italian immigration for incompetence, stupidity, and just plain uncooperative and un-informative. Pick any adjectives along these words and I'm sure it fits their description beautifully. At least I managed to get through and in after some "checking" done by them... That is another story altogether which will not be featured in here. But now I've made my way to Paris after spending about 10days in Elba Island and Florence, which makes better post that the previous incident!

And what an eventful trip it was! Upon arriving close to 11pm in Florence from Rome on Friday the 20th, I was taken straight to Marc's place, only to drop my bags and then go downstairs to the pub where I met the lovely people he hangs out with. Granted, due to the status change in our relationship there was quite a list of people whom I had to meet, but never would I have expected the honours to began the night I arrived... They even came in a car to the station (after Marc had left on foot!) to pick me up when they heard that he was meeting me. Let's say that he was just as surprised at the enthusiasm as I was.


That aside, the next day we left very early in the morning to catch the 7.30am train. I just keep racking in the travel miles!! In the space of two days I had done Tokyo-Beijing-Rome-Florence (which ended up taking close to 24 hours) and now to Piombino, where we later took the boat (or ship seeing that it was so huge!) to Cavo on Elba Island* to spend the weekend there; a weekend getaway that Marc had planned for us and kept as a surprise. It was an amazing weekend. The sun, the sea, the food, and of course, the great company! It was indeed a big change from Japan. I had a tan and "rosy cheeks" by the time we left on Sunday.

Elba Island taken from the boat


Marc and I on the boat/ship

* Elba Island is famous as the place where Napoleon was exiled. It is near Corsica, where he was born. Now we'll have to visit Corsica too to complete the Napoleon "tour" ^_^