20 June: Street view in Milan

At the corner of the piazza is where Trussandi Restaurant is located.

The piazza where Leonard stood.

Tram on the street. Amazed by the complicated network of cables at the cross junction.

Window display in GAP shop at Milano.

20 June: Expo coming to Milan in 2015

The street between the two squares had flags of the various nation participating in the Expo neatly lined up along both sides. Hm... I could find flags from Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Holy See (just to name a few)... But, somehow the Singapore flag is missing. Hm....

20 June: Milan Cathedral, the Duomo

The majestic gothic landmark of Milan.

Look at the beautiful elaborated marble outfit. Wonderful details!

It's definitely more grand than the Notre dame in Paris.

On the other hand, the interior is definitely far much simpler and less elaborate. Still, those rose stained glass windows in Notre dame stands out!

20 June: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is the oldest shopping mall in the world that was electrically lit up!

Beautiful interior decorations where the Roman classic feel still lingers...

Had my gelato ice cream (€3 for small, 2 scoops) from the shop that started its business way back to the 1850s

20 June: Meeting Leonardo Da Vinci in Milan

Here, in Piazza Della Scala, stands my idol Leonardo Da Vinci, the genius!

Here are four panels that tells the Leonardo story

20 June: Fine dining in Milano

This is a 1-star Michelin restaurant, Il Ristorante Trussardi ala Scala beside the Teatro alla Scala. A 2-course meal that cost €50. The food was definitely good, but what really came with the price tag was the experience :)

That reminded me of the fine dining experience we (with SS) had in London about 7 years ago during the study trip :)

Lunch menu for the day.

Nice "plastic-taste" chips.

Starter bread of different kinds.

Suckling pig prepared in a non-oriental manner, the 'side dish' fig was tasty.

Dessert - chocolate pudding coated with coconut-flavoured mousse.

Roasted cashew nuts coated with chocolate/coca powder.

Caffe latte

19 June: Lunch in Venice

Had lunch in this restaurant that is well known for its squid-ink spaghetti. We also ordered a plate of squid-ink cuttlefish :) wow, that afternoon, we carried lots of ink in our stomach!

19 June: Gondola ride in Venice

It was a (roughly) 45 minute ride, going through the various water alleys in this place that is a network of more than 100 islands connected by bridges.

The ride was only confined to the tourist area around St Mark's square.
What's lacking: We didn't hear any singing from any of the gondola boat men :(

The traffic controller of the marine traffic in the older days in Venice

19 June: Venice in a nutshell

In that 5 hours in Venice, what we did was having a good lunch, visited a glass making workshop, a gondola ride, hopping into a couple of shops and a slow scroll along the pier area.

The Dodge Palace where the governor office was

The clock tower, which was a definite feature in any old town square

The Bridge of Sighs - one of the few in the world

Buildings lined up along the coastal area

The activity-filled inner alleys

18 June: Pisa - the Leaning Tower & two others

Pisa was the birth place of Galileo Galilei.

In the Duomo, Galileo was believed to have formulated his theory about the movement of a pendulum by watching the swinging of the incense lamp (not the present one) hanging from the ceiling of the nave.

The leaning tower of Pisa became famous due to its tilt caused by the softened soil on the ground it was built on. I guess, people are far more interested to come up with funny poses with the tower than learning about the place?

The three "musketeers" in Pisa:

Another interesting find - a unique clock at the row of old shop houses.