Day 18: We had our breakfast at around 8am, facing the luxuriant garden at the veranda but, as it was pouring, we had it indoor. We checked out of the hotel at about 9am and drove our way to The Mall, a factory outlet tucked at the outskirt of Florence. It was about 2 hours drive from Siena. We drove along the Chianti region in our tiny Nissan March. But, the rain was intermittent and thus, the view was not as captivating as it'd have been if it was a drive ...

Day 17: We had breakfast at about 630am. Some of our tour mates were catching the same coach with us at 7am to the airport (We picked up our rented car at the airport). Time flew and a week had gone by and they were all going back to their respective countries. We had another week of holidaying but we'd slow down the pace of travelling substantially; partly to have ample time to enjoy the sightseeing, the food and whatnot but mostly, because of the fatigue that ...

Day 16: Today, after breakfast, we set off at 8am to the City of Vantican. Trafalgar tour arranged for us to enter the Vantican museum at 830am and it was a good thing to start the tour early before the multitudes of people came. Imagine that when we finished the tour in the Vatican city and while walking out, we saw that the queue was approximately 400m long. I wondered if half a day would be wasted just by being in the queue. The most impressive of all was...

Day 15 (a.m. in Florence and p.m. in Rome) We started in the morning at 8am. A local tour guide was assigned to us to take us for a walking tour around the city of Florence. We started with the Accademia museum where the famous statue of David by Michelangelo stood. There were many pieces of unfinished work by Michelangelo and they were called the "Prisoners of art". Michelangelo was indeed arguably the best marble sculptor in his times. To perfect his work,...

Day 14 (a.m. in Venice and p.m. in Florence): We started our day at 730am. After breakfast, we set off on a boat which took us to St. Zacchary's pier. Then, we walked a couple of minutes and arrived at the place for the Murano glass blowing demonstration. It was rather fascinating; the making of the vase and sculpture looked seemingly effortless. Then, the guy gave a talk to sell their products but they were priced exorbitantly. We browsed a little and left ...