| Saturday, February 19, 2005 |
| eye candy |
So was there lots of eye candy? You bet! But then at the end of the day they’re just that – eye candy. Forgettable, unlike the one back home.
I do, however, remember a certain policeman at this truly magnificent church in Milan, which according to my itinerary is just called Duomo Cathedral. How unimaginative (I think our tour guide in Milan referred to it as the San Duomo Cathedral?) . But really. When you see it, it just hits you like a blast. As we were approaching it I saw part of it through a gap between two buildings, and suddenly realised what our tour guide meant when he said you’ll never forget it once you’ve seen it. It’s majestic and colossal and magnificent. I don’t mean this to offend anyone, but we also visited the St. Peter’s Cathedral in Vatican City, and that was awesome too, but nothing like this one. Even though it is neither as tall or big or as polished as St. Peter’s. We took a lift up to the top (That’s 6 euros per person, more then S$12, mind you!), and then climbed some more stairs to get even higher. When we were down on the ground we could see these little people upstairs, and then I was one of those little people myself.
Anyway, that’s beside the point! Lol. So I was leaning against this heavy wooden barricade that were lined alongside the pews separating them from the rest of the church, next to my parents who were sitting in the pews resting (though separated from them by the barricade, and too lazy to walk to the other side to get in). Then this gorgeous man comes smiling at me and moves the barricade aside so that now I could walk in to access the pews without having to go one big round. Maybe he wasn’t even that good-looking, his cap was casting a shadow on most of his face and it was dim and for some reason hazy inside. Most probably it was his smile and the kind act.
I also remember this guy who asked my mom to take a picture for him and his girlfriend/wife at Pisa. I was actually quite apprehensive at that time, it was only our second day in Italy and our guide constantly warned us to watch out for pickpockets and people standing too close and people who’d run away with your camera if you asked them to take a photo for you. But in this case since he was the one who asked first, I thought it’d be alright. Later we asked him to help take a photo as well. He didn’t run away with anything but a smile. =) And he was really cute too! Lol.
Then there was the tall man who sat beside my father on the bus in Helsinki (Finland) where we had to change flights. There was a really long interval between our Zurich (Switzerland)-Helsinki and Helsinki-Singapore (It’s actually Helsinki-Bangkok-Singapore…more on that later) so we went out into the city, and we had to take this bus from the airport out. The first thought that occurred to me when I saw him was, He has very kind eyes. Haha. Actually, he’s not the type you’d really call handsome (he was balding!), but he had really blue eyes. Very slender and long fingers too, knuckles pink from the cold. There was a quiet dignity in the way he carried himself, and I liked that. Ha. I like to note this kind of things about people.
Ok the last one isn’t counted. I just liked his air of dignity.
Then there was the waiter in Zermatt (Switzerland). We got into this crowded restaurant and waited for the longest time for the waitress to come. This was just after my first encounter with racism (that's for later) and Mom and I were a little upset. Then later Mom got angry and went all quiet because both me and Dad were telling her not to be anxious about the waitress taking a long time. Finally Dad asked this waiter, who at first said that we'd have to wait for the waitress. After the second time Dad asked him if he could take our order, he told us to wait a moment. After a while he came back and took our orders with a napkin. I ordered this thing called Spaghetti Cervino, which is cream, prawns and spinach. I love cream sauce. Mom ordered butterfried trout with rice while Dad's was chicken. I had a craving for soup, so I ordered tomato cream soap as well. What pleased me was that the waiter said, "Excellent" after I ordered my pasta. Haha.
Later we requested a change of seats to the non-smoking area and he arranged that for us as well. When the food came, it wasn't very nice at all, the spaghetti was too oily for me and the prawns were quite tasteless, though very crunchy and fresh. Dad pointed to the wrong thing and had to have deer fillet instead! When it first came, it was all red and bloody. What's more, they used red cabbage as a side and the whole thing looked rather gross. I tried some and it was really tough. Soon after the waiter came back and asked, "How is it?" Dad said it was too raw and he said he could take it back to the kitchen and cook it some more. I think they changed the rice and removed the red water from the cabbage. The fillet was still quite tough though.
The service was so good that I felt bad leaving so much food left on my plate. The same guy served us all the way. I think he's the head of the waiters or something, cos' he seemed to have this very decisive way of doing things. Authority. The other waiters (well only 2 others and the restaurant is huge) just looked harried and cheerless while he was all smiles. Oh and he called me 'lady', which is really nice. Like after he took my parents' orders he said, "And the lady?" Haha. He had this delightful accent. At this point I'm gonna digress a bit - our guide in Milan (in Italy you need to have some kind of license to take people around on tours and our guide didn't have it) - a woman, had a really delightful accent as well. Such that I found myself imitating her words, but now I can only remember the waiter's. Haha.
There was also the very funny and charming fellow at the place where they sold Murano glass in Venice. He had what I think is a beer belly but he was very well-dressed and funny. And he seemed eager to learn new Chinese words, which I see as being humble and earnest, which I find very appealing.
I think this last two stand out for their professionalism more than anything else. |
posted by esther @ 6:16 PM  |
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