My review of Chan Brothers’ 14D11N Best of Italy, Switzerland, Paris and Amsterdam tour package – Day 5
Hotel: Holiday Inn Milan Nord-Zara
This morning, we set off from our hotel to Venice. The breakfast at Crowne Plaza Padova was better than that at the earlier hotels. I was thankful that warm eggs, mushrooms and potatos were served.
We headed to the quay to take the public ferry to Venice. The ferry trip to Venice was about 15 mins long. If possible, do get the window seats where you can snap pictures of the picturesque town from the boat (try not to block the view of other passengers though). The water city took my breathe away even before I step foot on it.
When in Venice, do as Venetians do and … take the gondola. Our first item on the list was the gondola ride which was listed as an optional tour in the tour package. I have no idea when my next visit to Venice will be and thus did not want to miss the gondola ride. I had earlier conducted my research before the trip and know that the usual gondola ride costs 80 Euros for 40 mins for 6 pax. However, the package that the Chan Brothers offered us was 30 Euro per pax for a 30-min ride, with the gondola carrying 6 passengers as well. I know this is a total ripoff but alas, I was not able to deviate from the arranged tour and paid the 30 Euros any way.
There were a couple of group members who opted out of this gondola ride. It’s an optional tour after all but what irked me was when the Singapore tour guide actually muttered under his breath that there were black sheep in the group. How courteous and professional.. not.
After the half-an-hour gondola ride, the Singapore tour guide brought us to the St. Mark’s Square. We queued to enter St. Mark’s Basilica which was very pretty. Do note that you are not allowed to carry backpacks into the Basilica, small handbags are permitted though. If you are travelling with a partner, you can solve this problem by taking turns to enter the Basilica while the other wait outside with the bags.
We were then ushered to a nearby glass-making store where we were given a short 5-min demonstration on glass-blowing before being herded into a tiny room where the salesperson tried to promote his glasswares. We spent about 40 mins in there.
We were given another 40 mins to explore the city on our own. This was rather disappointing for me for I would have appreciated more time to roam the place or grab a cuppa and people-watch. As lunch was not provided, we grabbed a quick sandwich for 5 Euros.
After leaving Venice, the Singapore tour guide made a detour and dropped us at a store selling branded bags and shoes. This was not part of the tour package but he recommended the store as it apparently sells apparels at a lower price. This was not the case as a tour member pointed out that she bought a bag that at a lower price at the official store the previous night. We spent about an hour at the store which annoyed me a little.
We were finally dropped at an Autogrill for our lunch. By then, we were ravenous. The food was not too bad.
We continued our journey towards Milan. During the bus journey, the Singapore tour guide told us upon reaching Milan, we should pamper ourselves and enjoy a good Italian meal instead of purchasing our comfort food- fastfood. Unfortunately, we arrived at Milan close to 7pm. The tour guide sang a different tune and told us to purchase McDonald’s for dinner instead as there are no shops near our hotel and we had to end our tour by 8pm.
It was a mad rush as we had to speed walk through Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, capture our mandatory shot in front of the beautiful Milan Duomo as well as purchase our dinner within an hour. I originally thought we could have reached Milan before the closing time of the Duomo so I can pay to climb up to the terraces to admire the lovely city (Admission fee: 9 Euros).
For dinner, we did grab our McDonald’s meals. However, I also managed to locate Luini to purchase the tasty panzerotti (online reviews said this place is a hit among the locals). The panzerotti is fried dough usually filled with tomato and mozzarella, the concept is similar to our curry puff.
After the mad rush, we were dropped off at our hotel-Holiday Inn Milan Nord-Zara, which was remote but nice, modern and clean.
Read here to find out about Day 6 of my journey!
staleprose 