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Upon my visit back home to Indonesia in the midst of sadness after losing my father I did meet friends. Some of those friends were my fellow Indonesian food blogger whom I never even met before. In Surabaya I met mbak Rachmah, mbak Lia, mbak Tjita, Ces , May and Deetha. Deetha was actully living in Semarang, but she came especially to Surabaya to meet me, ohh how sweet. I also accidentally met Widya, Bu Fat and Riana in Surabaya while I was browsing in a baking supply shop and they were giving baking lesson at the very shop. Then in Jakarta I met Yulia (complete with Kintan and Kinar), Yuli, mbak Ienas, mbak Vania (complete with Patrick and Patricia). Back to Bali I also met the very founder of KBB mbak Arfi (complete with the whole family), then I also briefly met Angel (the lapis legit was really good tapi huaa poto kita nggak sengaja ke delete di harddisk). Though we never met but it was like we have known for years, maybe that’s because we shared the same passion and though we never seen each other face to face but we did interact online whether it’s through our blog, chat or facebook. Oh not forgetting that there was also Haley from Solo whom I didn’t meet because obviously I didn’t go to Solo but she sent me a package of traditional krupuk from her city, terimakasih ya jeng.
Now all their faces are not just merely pretty food pictures they have taken or the beautifully written blog post they have written but they were real person I met in real world. I was honored to have met them in person all the talented Indonesian homemaker, baker, food photographer. I was also touched by all the gestures that my fellow food blogger have made, the effort to spare their time to accompany me, hopefully we would meet again some other time. Who knows it could be in Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali or even in Holland. ^_^
Photo Courtesy of Rachmah Setyawati
@Surabaya With Mbak Rachmah, Deetha and Ces.
@Jakarta With Mbak Ienas, Yuli, Mbak Vania, Yulia and Baby Kinar.
@Bali With Ben, Mbak Arfi, Sarah and Mbak Lenny Pande.
@Surabaya With Tasya, Mae, Ces, My Aunt and who’s that guy on the right 😉
@Surabaya Mbak Rachmah, Mbak Lia, Mbak Tjita
@Surabaya With Riana and Bu Fat.
@Surabaya With Bu Fat and Widya
The quiet side of Florence. The city is quite big but not all of places are full with people. Only tourists area were crowded.
 That’s Florence Duomo as seen from Piazza Della SS Annunziata. The statue in the back is Grand Duke Ferdinand I…now whoever he was..
 And this is the famous David by Michelangelo. This one is the original one and you could find him in Galleria dell’Accademia. My guide book said I should book the ticket in advance to avoid long queue, but I didn’t do that and yes there were queue but was not as bad as the guide said. It was not allowed to take picture inside of the museum but you don’t call someone a paparazzi for nothing. As for me amateur paparazzi. 😛
Not everyday passed by in Italy without Italian Ice Cream. As it was so hot, humid and we had to walk long distance everyday to reach all the touristic area. But beware where you buy yours as prices vary especially in crowded area. Better have a good look around and see the price on the wall if you don’t want to get nasty surprise.
This is Piazza della Segnoria, the centre of Florence. You can find cafes and street musician here. In the back is an open museum, where you could go inside and look for free. Here you can find the fake David statue in front of Palazzo Vecchio.
 Our camping under the olive tree. That was the first time I ever seen Olive tree. It was a quiet nice camping in olive garden. The facilities were just the same like others but no free electricity except you have those huge extension plug because that’s what they have outside. But instead they have locker for charging your digicam, mobile etc. So for 1 euro you can charge an item for 12 hours.
 Our dinner that night. Instant mashed potato modified with saus sambal biar rasanya lebih nendang hihi, canned peas and carrot, and canned knack worst. Easy peasy camping food 😛
 This is Florence city as seen from the Piazza Michelangelo . The big dome is Florence Duomo, the biggest cathedral in Florence. Stunning isn’t it.
 More to the left of the duomo is this view. The first bridge that you can see there is Ponte Vecchio. Is one of it’s kind because there are not many left since German bombed other bridges in WW II. Why it’s special because they use it for shopping arcade. Now it’s full with gold shop, also one of Florence’s speciality. But in the olden days it was full with butcher selling meat and by the end of the day they just throw away the leftover meat down the river…Euh…
 This is Piazza Michelangelo, it’s really close by our camping site. It’s situated up the hill so you can see the whole Florence from this place. It’s actually not far from the city, only 20mins walk. Going to the city is ok as it’s going down the hill BUT going back is a challenge because then you have to go up the hill…. :S
And this is Venice, beautiful isn’t it. This is situated at Venice’s Grand Canal, the biggest canal in Venice. Mind you Venice is built from 117 islands so the city looks like as if it’s floating on the sea which is really pretty 🙂Really nothing like it in any other places in the world.
Yes this is the famous Gondola but didn’t have the chance to experience it because it is so damn expensive; 80-100euro/40 mins. Well you can fill the gondola up to 6 persons but there were only the two of us so no romantic gondola rides along the canals 😛
 Can u see there where those buildings stand. It’s right besides the water no space left!! It’s crazy yet astonishing at the same time.
We had dinner at this restaurant by the canal, what was the name of the restaurant, had to look up the name later. But it was close by to Rialto bridge. It wasn’t not that expensive as we thought it would be, of course you have to watch where you eat in Italy as this is not a cheap country. It was less than 50euro for 2 persons including drinks and it was 3 course meals.
Venice by night nearby Rialto bridge. This is the right time to get gondola rides as it is more romantic but also more expensive lol. Will never forget the charm of Venice with it’s beach, beautiful city, lots of pretty old buildings. When will I see you again?? Maybe when we win the lottery then we can go back for gondola rides 😛
 I love these…ready made cake and bread. Easy for breakfast on the go. And they had many different variations in Italy.
 I bought these in a sort of foo boutique, Peckish. They were pricey I remember. But I couldn’t resist myself.
 Automatic machine for pasta. So picture this, you are hungry but you don’t have enough money to eat at the restaurant or enough time. You head to this machine. Put 5 euro in…wait for some minutes….tada tada…hot pasta is ready.
 First time I’ve seen olives when they are still raw..of course I try to taste it..blah…it was not nice..a bit bitter…
 In the back l to r; A revolutionary invention from ferrero… biscuit with nuttela chocolate spread as dipping and es thee (that’s what they call ice tea), cantuccini or Italian biscotti, Italian spirit we bought as a gift for Peter’s father and of course Italian olive oil. In the front are also something I never seen anywhere else. It’s sort of ice cream, all you have to do is freeze it in the freezer and voila ice cream. Haven’t taste them yet..report will follow soon.
 Found hundreds kind of pasta and of course couldn’t buy them all!!! Here are some that I bought; Winnie the pooh pasta, Scooby doo pasta, Rice pasta, P***s pasta 😉 also there were really really tiny winy star shape pasta, carburator pasta, wheel pasta and Famous Italian Building’s pasta.
 Non food related finding were some magnets of course, some Murano glass work; earrings, pendant and glass candies, a set of necklace and earrings as a gift for Peter’s mother.
Day 2, another 600km to go before Venice. We drove through Austria (Insbruk). What I liked along the way from was the castle. There were so many castles along the way, I lost count of them. And most of them stand graciously up the hill 🙂 I wonder how did it feel to live there and how did they manage to build such a castle in a such a difficult height.
But what I didn’t really like along the way was we had to pay highway fare in Austria and Italy. Unlike in Holland and Germany where the highway fare is included in the tax.
 Along the Alpen’s hill were also lots and lots of grape’s garden. I guess it is for making wine since Italian wine is quiet popular esp. Chianti and Prosecco kind. The gardens are neatly laid under the hill like a terrace. So if in Indonesia we can find rice terrace here in Italy we can see grape’s terrace.
 The view along the way was also breath taking. The high mountains Alps with all the cute little village lined up neatly on it’s hill. I felt out of this world because I have never seen anything like that. But as cute as it was I don’t think I could survive if I had to live there :s in a village esp. remote one…..
 Our first dinner was this ready made pasta package. So what we had to do was boiled some water, poured the pasta in and it’s ready in 5 mins. It’s similar like our instant noodles.
And this was our camping site in Venice, Joker Camping Village. It wasn’t really our first pick but since our first pick was full, yes it was high season and we didn’t bother to book the place 🙁 I would say for a 4 star camping village this place is a bit tad expensive (35 euro for a night for 2 adults with a car and a tent) and very lack of hospitality esp. from an old lady at the receptionist. She was grumpy, talking in a high pitch and wouldn’t give any full information about stuff that we asked. And the camping place was not very green, a bit dusty also. The grass was dying out, I know that it is situated on the beach but come on….keep up the grass for the business will ya!!
But of course there are some plus point. They had a swimmimg pool that guest can use for free. But of course we didn’t have time to use the swimming pool since we were busy roaming around the city centre the whole day long. Another plus point that they had a common freezer for guest to use. So if you need to re-freeze your ice packs for your coolbox you can use it there for free. We used it to cool our drinks at night so ot would be nice for the day after. Other plus point that in every camping place there was an electric socket that guest could use to recharge digital camera or if you have an electric coolbox you could switch it there also. As for showers thank God they didn’t use coin system so you could shower as long as you like. Then again as for hyegine I would give them ok sign because I have seen worst later.
And the best part is this private beach of the camping site. It’s just 100m walk to the back of the camping site. Of course it was really crowded with people trying to get a tan but what surprised me that the water was warm just llike in Bali 🙂
This is the camping site; Campingplatz Obermenzing. It’s nearby the highway so it was easy to reach. Plus: cheap price; 17 euro per night for 2 adults with a tent and a car, the camping site it’s so green with lots of trees. Minus: they still used coin system for shower meaning 1 coin (1 euro) for 6 minutes hot shower.
 Our tent at the camping site in Munchen, Germany. It is about 800km from Gouda and we drove for around 8 hours from 10am – 6pm. Of course with a lots of stops in between for eating, coffee, toilet 😉
Finally we are back home after 10 days on the road. It was good to be away but it is always better to go home 🙂
Quick recap from our holiday. As you can see from the image below is our route for 10 days.
Day 1, 4th August 2008 : Gouda, Netherlands – Munchen, Germany
Day 2, 5th August 2008 : Munchen, Germany – Venice, Italy
Day 3-4, 6-7th August 2008 : Sightseeing in Venice
Day 5, 8th August 2008 : Venice, Italy – Florence, Italy also a little bit sightseeing in Florence
Day 6, 9th August 2008 : Sightseeing in Florence
Day 7, 10th August 2008 : Florence, Italy – Milan, Italy. Stopped by for sightseeing in Pisa
Day 8, 11st August 2008 : Sightseeing in Milan
Day 9, 12nd August 2008 : Milan, Italy – Munchen, Germany. Stopped by for sightseeing in
Verona
Day 10, 13rd August 2008 : Munchen, Germany – Gouda, Netherlands
The plus of Italy:
– Nice food of course esp. Italian Ice Cream (gelati).
– Nice weather though sometimes tend to be too hot :s
– Lots of interesting places to see (esp. if you like history of art, middle ages, renaissance etc).
– Cheaper benzine price from Netherlands 😀
The minus of Italy:
– NOT very friendly people on earth, tend to be grumpy 🙁 in the whole holidays only met 2 nice Italians.
– Some stuff can be really expensive in Italy esp. in tourist area ie; 20 euro for a 24 hours public transport ticket in Venice.
Will post more for pictures etc.
 Capek juga oui…so we are going on holiday. It won’t be long only for approx 2 weeks 🙂 See you guys with holiday story 😀
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Awards
My First Award, Thank You!
Whittycute Foodie Event
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