Apart from Venice, the next Italian city that I found myself falling for is the art, historical and cultural capital of Italy, Florence. One of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site, Florence is the capital city of Tuscany region in the central Italy, and it is much adorable than and a far cry from the rest of Italian cities with its rich historical and cultural heritage. Florence is known as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance with its strong influence in ancient Italian art and architecture. Two of the greatest sculptors in Renaissance era, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vince, were born in here.

Florence is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world with River Arno splits Florence into new and historic sections of the city. Spending at least a few days and staying in one of the luxury villa in Florence is surely a great idea to enjoy your vacation here. When we first arrived at its main rail station of Santa Maria Novella (SMN), and walked out from the station, we were already in the heart of historic Florence. All within walking distance, city attractions could be easily explored one after another. Among them, the Duomo Cathedral is definitely the dominant icon, being the highest building in Florence. Climbing up its 460 steps of spiral staircase to the tower top, we had the best panoramic view of the Florence cityscape. Next up would be the Accademia Gallery. I was more than willing to queue up for 45 minute just to get in there. Why? Because the original David, the greatest sculpture done by my favorite sculptor Michelangelo, was housed inside there!

By sitting at one of the many open air cafes at Piazza Della Signoria, not far from the Duomo, travelers not only could see many of those famous sculptures around the square, they can also do some people watching (which was in fact a local culture). A replica statue of David could also be found here.

For my wife who loves leather bags and wallets, San Lorenzo open market is a ‘must-go’ market. We spent hours in there to buy some of those high quality local leather products such as shoes, bags, wallet that preciously made in Firenze.

In the evening, we walked along the River Arno, the main river of florence and Tuscany. We came to the Vecchio Bridge, the oldest and most famous bridge that spanning across the River Arno. There are shops selling jewelries, arts and souvenirs. In the evening under the setting sun, it just looked marvelous in yellow colour.

When the night fell, we took a bus up to the hill top at Piazzale Michelangelo. It is the best viewpoint to Florence city skyline. I set up my DSLR onto a tripod and shot endlessly! Another replica of the David statue could also be found at the Piazzale. Check out other the frugal ways to explore Florence during weekend.

Florence is also the starting location for visiting other highland cities of Tuscany, such as Sienna and wine producing area such as Chianti for the Chianti Classico wine. If you are a wine lover like me, staying in one of the Tuscany villa and hopping the vineyard after vineyard for some wine tasting can surely let your hair down.

In fact, Florence offers much more than that. The local foods always make my mouth water! I couldn’t help but to try the local cow stripes, gelato, as well as the local Florence steak dinner, with a glass of Italian Chianti Classico wine as well as some breads with local Extra Virgin Olive Oil. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel guide to Italy

Happy New Year 2012! Towards the end of year 2011, it would be great for me to recap some of my exciting travel experiences that happened during the year. This year is a fantastic year for me, not only was I able to realise my 2 travel plans set early this year to visit Europe again and Beijing for the first time, but I also managed to add a new photo collection album for Hong Kong Christmas travel and revisited 3 popular travel destinations in Malaysia. Let’s see what are those exciting experiences I have had during the year.

1. February 2011 – We went to Penang again after our previous visit 4 years ago. This time I brought my new Nikon D7000 that I bought in November 2010, and captured some exciting travel photos in various attractions in Penang such as the Kek Lok Si temple. Jean and I also tried some of the top Penang local foods that we always fancy about;
   
2. May, 2011 – Jean and I flew to Europe for and second time in 12 months. We visited some other top travel destinations in Western, Central and Northern Europe, namely Barcelona, Switzerland, Berlin, Copenhagen, Brussel and London. It was also my first ever visit to Switzerland and Copenhagen, where both have the freshest air and the cleanest water in Europe;
   
3. August, 2011 – We visited another 2 hot tourist spots in Malaysia, Cameron Highland and Pangkor Island. From cool mountain environment up on Cameron down to the sea level with hot climate on Pangkor Island;
   
4. September, 2011 – A short trip to Ipoh again, mainly for those authentic and delicious local foods in Ipoh;
   
5. October – November, 2011 – My first ever visit to Beijing and second ever travel to China, after my Shanghai trip 3 years ago. A bit of the disappointment, being late of Autumn, Great Wall of China was covered with thick fog that hindered me from capturing its magnificent Autumn view. However, we still managed to explore the greatest accent Chinese architecture of the Forbidden City and tried most of the mouth watering Beijing local foods especially the Beijing Roast Duck;
   
6. 25th December, 2011 – Jean and Chloe went for their Christmas holiday in Hong Kong. With my old Lumix FZ28, Jean managed to take many great travel photos of those hot spots in Hong Kong, included Hong Kong Disneyland and the panoramic view of Hong Kong from the TaiPingShanDing mountain top.
   

A fruitful year in terms of travel for us. Having said that, I had also realised some of my photography wishes over the past year, including the acquire of my new Nikkor 10-24mm Ultra Wide Angle lens. I wish my coming year 2012 would also be another great year of travel and photography. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel blog

Finally here is my story on Venice, which I traveled to during my Europe tour a year ago. One of the city that I love most in Italy is definitely Venice. Venice is an island compo consisting of 118 small islands separating each other by canals. It is sited along Adriatic Sea in Northeast Italy. Not unexpectedly, it is also the most valuable island in Italy, as researches has revealed that Venice is sinking by 5mm each year and by the Year 2050, most parts of Venice would be underwater! In fact, many parts of the city are already sunken into water and long been vacant. When I was there last summer, St. Marco Square, the most tourists frequented landmarks in Venice, was partly flooded in the morning during high tide.

After our trip to Amsterdam, we took the budget Transavia flight to Treviso Airport near Venice. From there, one of the many coaches waiting in front of the airport took us to the Venice Island. We arrived at Piazzale Roma, the only bus station on the island and also the last stop for all road vehicles. After which the whole island is pedestrians only.

How should I describe Venice? Being one of the UNESCO World Heritage city, I was stunned and amazed by the beautiful scenic view of the city when I first visited the island. The whole city is surrounded by sea and splitted by canals. It is a pedestrian only city with the main mean of transportation being all by water way. It is also an old city with most of the great architectures being constructed centuries ago!

We then walked for 15 minutes through the alleys from Santa Croce to the Campo San Polo to meet our hotel agent, and from there she brought us to the apartment I booked in San Polo district. Of course, travelers can also catch a vaporetti (water bus) at the station next to the bus stand and travel by canal to Rialto Bridge water station then walk to the Campo San Polo, which costs €6.50 per trip.

After checking in and settled down, we started our tour around the island, visited the 5 places to visit in Venice. Tourist attractions are mainly concentrated along the main waterway, Grand Canal of Venice.

We first flocked to Rialto Bridge, then to St. Marco Square, San Marco Basilica and Bridge of Sigh in San Marco district. Make sure you bring enough memory SD cards and snap, snap and snap as many photos as you can in Venice. The sky is so blue and clear, the sunlight is so bright and beautiful and your photos would all turn out fantastic and wall paper alike! Though the sun was hot, I could always cool me down by eating Gelato after Gelato!! Each scoop of gelato costs only €1!

We had coffee at outdoor seating of the famous “Florian coffee bar” in the square, listening to live violin music and witnessing the sunset lighting in front of the historical St. Marco Basilica is a real enchanting experience.

At the same time, pigeons were gathering in the square and pigeon feeding is another fun activities going on there.

At night, we had our pizza dinner at one of the restaurant before we hit the road again at night for some fascinating night photo shots.

On the next morning, we decided to walk off the beaten track and explore the residential area of Venice in Cannaregio district. From Rialto Bridge, we walked towards the Santa Lucia train station, admiring the other significant canal of Venice, the Cannaregio Canal.

But I like to explore further into the local lifestyle, by walking further in, away from the tourists spots without the worry of getting lost. There are always signboard showing me the direction back to Rialto Bridge or St. Marco square. Drinking coffee and eating home made pizza with Venetians in any of the local cafe definitely exciting and rewarding.

From the station, we walked back to Santa Croce and San Polo, with another purpose. We clocked the time needed to walk from station to our apartment, so we could assume the same time as needed for us to walk to the train station on next morning to catch our Trenitalia train to Florence!

At night, we cooked ourselves a simple but authentic Italian pizza and pasta which bought frozen from the nearby minimarket.

Click to view full resolution travel photos that I took in Venice via Flickr.

Travel tips1: Venice island is a small but complicated city in layout. Make sure you buy a copy of the beautifully printed map from the Tourism Info Centre for €2 to tour around the island without getting lost in the way.

Travel tips2: Venice island is made up of uneven, not always leveled cobble stoned alleys and bridges, which are slippery when raining. Be extra careful when walking around to avoid accidents happened. You should consider buying a travel insurance, such as the InsureandGo travel insurance so you can travel with total peace of mind.

I love the romantic setting all over Venice especially the Gondola ride along the Grand Canal which definitely will make your stay in Venice a memorable honeymoon trip! The environment there will make you fall in love with whoever travel partner you brought along! So, be careful who your are going to Venice with!

Whoever been there before would definitely go back for more. I’m certainly one of them… – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel guide to Europe

I’m flying off to Europe tomorrow! It would be my Europe Travel MkII, a photo travel trip, for 18 days, from London, Barcelona, Luzern, Interlaken, Berlin, Copenhagen and Brussel. It is also my photo project trip to capture the best photos for my entry to Travel Photographer Of The Year 2011! All transportation and accommodations from city to city have been booked. All booking documentations have been compiled and packed. My Air Asia flight to London and Ryanair flight to Gerona (Barcelona) have also been checked-in online.

What about my luggage? Since I’m an advocate for traveling light, Jean and I are bringing only 4 pieces of luggages with us. 2 of them are hold luggage with all our clothing and my Jusino tripod. Jean is also carrying a daypack with my AO522 Netbook and I’m carrying my Lowepro Inverse 100AW beltpack with all my camera equipments which include my Nikon D7000, Tamron SP10-24mm UWA lens, Nikkor 18-105 zoom and 35mm prime.

Here are a few of my photos taken on my central Europe travel exactly a year ago in May.

I have great passion and aspiration on travel photography and I’m still striving to shoot the best image of my portfolio. My Europe travel mkII this year would be a great chance for me. Yahoo’s 10-Days forecast on the weather this coming 2 weeks has been encouraging. I would be shooting photos under bright sun for most of the period of my travel. This simply means that I can hope for best colours in my images with good light! I can also use my LEICA rules to capture best images!

Internet connection on my Europe trip is going to be intermittent as I would be traveling around, but I will try my best to update this blog as frequent as possible with some updates on my photo travel trip. So keep watching this space! See ya! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel blog

One of the most exciting destination in my Europe travel last year, Amsterdam has actually a lot more on offer than its famous red light district. It was the last city to be included into my last Spring Europe travel itinerary. We went there merely for the blooming season of tulips in the nearby city of Lisse and Amsterdam was actually our starting base for the day trip. But after 1 day 1 night we spent in this capital city of Netherland, I personally felt that we should have stayed at least 3 days in Amsterdam. Why? Please read on…

Still remember when I talked about the fast and comfortable Thalys train that took us to Amsterdam from Paris in 3 hours? It was really a fantastic start of our Amsterdam travel. We left Paris at 8AM and reached Amsterdam’s Central Station at 11AM. It was a lovely sunny day in Amsterdam with temperature in the region of 12-15°C, which was perfect for tulips viewing.

Don’t be fooled by the rainy scene in above photo which was actually taken on the next morning when we were about to leave Amsterdam. I cut and pasted here merely to show what you would see once you step out of the station. We were in quite a hurry to leave the station since our day trip to Keukenhof Tulips garden departs at  1:30PM, so we needed to check into our apartment in Nieuwendijk area fairly quickly and come back out again to Damrak, albeit not very far away from each other. This is how I normally book my accommodation on travel, just to make sure we stay near to where we arrive at, or where we depart from.

This is another photo being cut and pasted here from what I took in the next rainy morning. This is the Nieuwendijk area or the famous shopping street in Amsterdam city centre. We came here to check in but soon realised our apartment was in another place! Fortunately, it was not too far away in Red Light District, minutes away from Damrak street.

In fact, out of my expectation, our apartment exact location was even better with a very nice view to the canal, next to the red light district. Facing us, the cafes across the canal, are actually 2 of the famous smoking coffee shops for tourists and celebrities called Green House and City Hall. Don’t be confused with cafes selling coffees and cakes, coffee shops in Amsterdam are meant for those smoking joints selling soft drugs such as grass, cannabis or marijuana, choose from a menu! Under Dutch drug law, coffee shops are allowed to sell a maximum of 5g of cannabis per person to their customers. OMG!

As you can see from the above photo, our rented apartment is just above the another famous smoking bar, Rock Planet, on the 1st floor of the building in Oudezijds Voorburgwal 246. I didn’t shoot any photos inside the apartment but what I can say the apartment is brilliant for the money with fully equipped kitchen and 3 large and clean rooms. We hoped we could stay there for more nights!

We didn’t stay long in the apartment as we were catching our next bus to Keukenhof Tulips garden. We walked back to Damstraat. The streets were so busy with tourists and there are many shops and restaurants along the streets. Watch out also those bicycles on the road!

After the long Winter time, people are rushing out for the sunshine in Spring.

From Damstraat we came to the National Monument square. I was kind of excited when I saw the monument. According to my maps in hand, Royal Palace of Amsterdam is right behind the monument at the Dam Square. I grabbed my camera and walked quickly trying to snap this gorgeous architecture! Hold on a second. Where is the palace? Oh my god! What happened to it?

The Royal Palace was covered! It was still under renovation!

Disappointingly, I snapped the surrounding feature in the Dam Square instead…. Luckily, they are equally interesting!

Then I found this guy, playing around a wooden long horn, the same musical instrument I saw in Eumundi market in Sunshine coast.

This was classic! A tree man who only moved and played around a crystal ball in his arms when coins being dropped into his bowl by any donor. When he stopped, the crystal ball stayed on his arm!

On top of bicycles, we had to watch out trams passing by also. Look at these tram tracks on the main road of Damrak…

Damrak is the main road of Amsterdam to connect its Central rail station to Amsterdam city centre. All kinds of transportation use this road… including this No.113 ‘motorcar’!?

There is also wide pedestrian avenue along the Damrak, with restaurants, hotels, cinemas and casinos operating here.

One of the local snacks in Amsterdam is this special frites, french fries with mayonnaise topping. Look at the crowds! Let’s try it ladies!

Souvenir shops can be found here also! What would you buy from Netherland as a gift to your girlfriends? A pair of clogs or wooden shoes apparently.

What about a gift for your boyfriends? Let’s try to carry one of these cheese home! Don’t quote me on this if your customs stop you.

Lindbergh travel agency was our Day Trip organiser to Keukenhof Tulips Garden. All of us joined the trip so there are 5 boarding passes in my hand.

Once on board, the tour guide also distributed our entrance tickets to the garden. €14 per adult.

After about an hour, we reached the small town of Lisse where is the centre of tulip flowers cultivation. Tulip fields could be seen everywhere. Dutch really likes to cycle… same with Danish I heard. So I will sure rent a bicycle in Copenhagen this coming May!

This is our excursion coach of Linderburgh. We spent 2 and a half hours in the garden.

A beautiful tulips garden must not be missed if you are visiting Netherland in spring between March and May. This is when the tulips blooming. I have written a separate and dedicated post on Keukenhof Tulips Garden and another post featuring many more photos in the tulips garden.

The coach sent us back to Damrak after the day trip in the evening. We strolled back to Dam Square for our dinner. No, sorry, we didn’t dine out in Amsterdam. We have been told by the hostel receptionist that there is a supermarket around Dam Square where we could get some stuffs back to cook ourselves dinner.

We followed the same way back along Damrak but this time we were at the opposite side, so I could snap some photos on those slanting and tilted buildings beside canals as seen above.

There was another Vlaamse Frites kiosk in Damrak. It was equally crowded as the one called Manneken Pis frites we tried earlier. They really like fries!

So there we reached Dam Square again. It was this ambitious street performer singing in the square. He even has his own recorded album CDs!

Have you been to Madame Tussaud, the world’s renown wax museum? Originally in Marylebone Road, London, Madame Tussaud can also be found in Hong Kong and here in Dam Square, Amsterdam, as seen above.

And the supermarket  we were looking for is just behind it. It is called the Albert Heijn supermarket. I forgot to take some photos inside as we were too busy hunting for our dinner’s ingredients! Price is cheap and with full varieties. We bought pastas, steaks, minced meat, frozen pizzas, and even chilled fired rice! Oh gosh! We missed fried rice! We then went back to cook in our apartment and had our great time chatting, watching TV and I was checking emails for the first time since I was away from home a week ago.

When night drew in, we went out again. Where else to go? We headed down to the next street, where the Red Light District is! Famous for its sex orientated businesses, Red Light District has so many shops along both sides of the canal including sex shops, adult cinemas, brothels, restaurants, gay bars, sex museum and off course those red colour lit windows. Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam. Sexy prostitutes in eye-popping underwear posing behind those red colour lit windows to attract customers. Whoever interested may approach them to negotiate price. Once agreed, he may walk in for the ‘business’.

If compared to what I had seen 13 years ago when I first came here, those girls behind the windows now are much, much more sexy and attractive, and there are now less girls from Indonesian or Thailand… an eye-popping experience. Don’t let Jean reads this please…

Taking photos to those red lit windows is prohibited. So I didn’t take the risk and no photos could be shared here. I took the surrounding scenes instead… Frankly speaking, this looks like a church, but I’m not sure if it is a church. Just like the colour combination of the scene and took this photo.

Crowds started drawing in later at night. There are many pubs and hotels in this alleyway next to the canal.

Kebab house could also be found here. Not to mention those ‘coffee shops’!

>> Click HERE to view all photos in full resolution via Flickr

Sorry, we didn’t give any business to those sexy girls, but we did enjoy our ‘night excursion’ in the Red Light District. After all, we went back to where we stayed and had a few pints at Rock Planet downstair. They played really good rock songs from our age such as ACDC and Guns n Roses! A great night out in Amsterdam!

In the next morning, we woke up to have our own breakfast. We spent times in the apartment until check out. At noon, we left Amsterdam for its Schiphol airport. from Amsterdam, we were going to fly to Venice! Until next time… – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog