Spaghetti Bolognese?

The reason why I love Bologna apart from the fact that they have H&M (they have the new Madonna line, yes I am shallow), is that it is such a nice cross between Florence and Siena. In terms of size, style, level of 'touristiness' etc.

Florence is beautiful, but too touristy at times. Siena is a great place to live in but too small. So Bologna is a nice hybrid of the two. Tons of brick-walled buildings and churches. Plenty of cute shops. May not be the top choice for many people when they head to Italy for a vacation, but still worth a visit! Recommended! I Approve!

More pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.it/eileenleeyl/Bologna

New Pics Up!

New pics...

Pisa
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/eileenleeyl/Pisa

Florence
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/eileenleeyl/Firenze

More pics of Bologna to be posted soon..

Ciao! Watashiwa Eileen des!

Would you ever imagine speaking Italian to a Japanese? Or for that matter, hear a Japanese speak Italian?

My Japanese classmates are the sweetest and cutest things ever (that is, of course, apart from my bf), though it cracks me up when they go 'si (yes)'!like they would go 'hai'! while adding in that additional head nod. Or having these Japanese dolls go 'oooooohhhhhhhh' or 'arrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhh' wide-eyed.

So des neh, I am also picking up Japanese from these kawaiis. Yeah hopefully I will be able to pick up two languages by then :)

Tetrapak Vino, Anyone?

In Italy, the cost for a bottle of vino could come lesser than a bottle of Coca Cola.

Cost for a bottle of Coke (1 litre): 1.3 euros

Cost for a bottle of vino (1 litre): 1 euro

But I am most tickled by something I saw at the supermarket. Wine in tetrapak! Some came in smaller packs with straws if you ever want to get someone drunk quick. From wine corks to bottlecaps and now tetrapak, what next? Wine dispenser machines perhaps?

A (hungry) Singaporean girl in Italy

What's a Singaporean girl to do if she misses local food back home so much?

She will go to the lengths of spending bloody 7 sing dollars on a bottle of chilli sauce (read: tiny) from a chinese restaurant, 5 sing dollars on a bag of green beans (read: small) and 5 sing dollars on a bottle of oyster sauce (read: pathetic). Afterwhich, try frying noodles chinese style with italian mee and voila, you get char kway teow (actually taglietella), char peng (actually risotto) and chay been hoon (italian capellini). I guess they call it fusion?

Molto Freddo. Croak.

I'm freezing my ass off in Italy.

It has been exceptionally cold here since the start of this week. It's not helping when you have a temperamental heater at home. In Italian, to say that it's very cold, we say 'molto freddo'. My boyfriend thinks that 'freddo' sounds like the name of a pet frog. So cute.

A different piece of Italy

Naples - the 3rd largest city in Italy after Rome and Milan, is like no other.

Experience chaos, trash, pizzas for one euro, excellent gelato, loud Chinese restaurants, crazy traffic, fumes, horns, crowds, you get the picture. Apparently Naples, like Sicily, has heavy Mafia influences and can be pretty dangerous. Apart from losing a pair of sunglasses, I am back in one piece.

Now, everywhere else just seems boring.

Naples - birth place of the wildly popular pizza!