We visited four cities: Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. Each city has unique architecture.

Milan is casual and fresh, with light white or champagne-colored small buildings paired with small wrought-iron balconies and flowers and plants on the balcony windowsills. Different buildings are connected to each other and only separate when they meet the street, giving people a sense of distinct neighborhoods.

The architecture of Venice is relatively simple, with colorful buildings separated by clear water and connected by small bridges.

Florence is my favorite among these. The entire city is built in a broad basin, flat and dense. The buildings are generally high, four or five-story stone buildings; the doors are all very grand, with large wooden doors three or four meters high.

Standing on the top of Giotto’s Bell Tower and looking out at the whole city, what you see is a unified and neat style, with no boundaries between history and modernity. It’s as if all the construction of this camp was completed in the Middle Ages, and the flowing water is The people who live here and the supporting transportation.

There are so many treasures left over from the Renaissance. When you walk by, you feel like you are seeing Michelangelo pounding stones, half of the statue of David is exposed; you feel like you are seeing Leonardo da Vinci immersed in a canvas. , the kind face of the Virgin Mary and the church as the background have delicately appeared in the line draft.

What is curious is that there are air conditioners in seemingly ancient buildings, but no external air conditioners have been seen on the streets, whether in apartments, restaurants or museums. Also, there are no white-collar workers commuting here. Perhaps this city is too artistic and there is no need for white-collar workers.

Rome is full of traces of the combination of ancient and modern times. Next to the Colosseum more than 2,000 years ago is the subway exit.

The ancient Roman Colosseum was built with the evacuation of people in mind, and 50,000 people could enter the venue within 30 minutes without being crowded. It is the blueprint for modern stadiums; it was able to design a basement with a complex structure and the width of the aisles. , the intensity of light, and the implantation of elevators can help people drive away beasts. It's just that the original intention of this Colosseum was too cruel, which aroused a strong interest in that period of history.

Like China, Italy also drives on the right. A Chinese driver's license can also be used in Italy. You can rent a car by asking an agency to get a translation and international notarization.

The main car rental companies include Hertz, Golden Car, etc., and they have branches at the airport. The car model is a bit older, and it defaults to manual transmission. Please check carefully when placing an order. The rental fee is about 2-3 times that in China, which is more than 400 per day.

The expressway feels like it was built for more than 50 years, and some guardrails are crooked. Compared with the exquisite churches that have been built for hundreds of years, the level of maintenance of the expressway is much worse.

However, everyone is very orderly when driving on the highway. Although some road sections only have two lanes, and although there are many large trucks and buses, everyone basically only uses the passing lane when overtaking, and then returns to the lane after passing. to the carriageway. The speed is also very fast, 140 yards is considered a medium speed. There are quite a few curves. After turning left and then turning right, novices said they felt as if they were driving a racing car.

The streets in the city are not wide, especially in Florence. Many streets can only accommodate one car wide. Therefore, the main means of transportation are small cars. The streets are full of hatchbacks, motorcycles, Smart and even one-seat cars. It is rare to see sedans. I almost never hear the sound of car horns on the road. Both cars and buses will give way to pedestrians. I feel that on the road, the pedestrians on the zebra crossing are the boss, and they can go straight across the road without giving a signal to the oncoming cars. Motorcycle drivers are also very domineering, often racing on the road with their thundering motors.

One day I just drove to Rome and faced the continuous hilly road. I was afraid that the car would stall when driving a manual transmission. When I was nervous, I forgot to give way to a motorcycle that turned out halfway. As a result, the motorcycle The female driver of the car immediately drove in front of me and gave me the middle finger. My companion said that life is incomplete without being compared to someone's middle finger.

My biggest impression when I first arrived in Milan was that there were so many beauties! The genes are so good.

In terms of body shape, girls are basically over 1.7 meters tall, and their leg length accounts for 70% by visual inspection. Who said Europeans and Americans like thick legs? In short, the beauties I see who show off their legs confidently are all straight, thin and well-proportioned, with no protruding muscles in their calves, and their buttocks are just right. In terms of facial features, they are small and delicate, with smooth little faces, big eyes, curled eyelashes and a three-dimensional bridge of the nose. It feels like everyone can become a star in China.

Boys are all quite tall, with long legs and thin calves. All the little babies are so cute.

In short, when I see them, I feel that we Asians are losing at the starting line...

But they neglect maintenance, and the best-looking age is from birth to 20s. . Further up, the loss of collagen combined with a pointed nose bridge, deep sunken eye sockets, and a face full of wrinkles or beards makes you not too old.

People who look the same as me may actually be almost 10 years younger than me; people who are actually the same age as me may look almost 10 years older than me. At this point, Asians win. Look at those frozen age goddesses Song Hye Kyo and Kim Tae Hee. They haven’t aged since they turned 25.

Women on the street, whether they are girls or grandmas, like to wear suspenders and deep V, regardless of whether their breasts are saggy... Underwear, they either wear very thin black straps or have no shoulders. Some even went into battle without any underwear. As for bottoms, girls basically wear denim hot pants, and grandmas wear long skirts.

The sun in Italy is so strong that your skin will obviously feel burned as soon as you are exposed to the sun. I wonder if they will wear sunscreen when going out on the street, but the only visible physical sun protection is sunglasses. They wear long sleeves, hats and umbrellas, and they are not seen reapplying sunscreen on the streets. There are always large spots on their exposed backs. I wonder if they know that powerful ultraviolet rays will not only give them a wheat-colored skin, but also cause the collagen in the skin to lose elasticity and become hard and brittle, causing rapid aging, but maybe they don't care.

Italian people are very good. Whether they are waiters in restaurants, hotels, small shops, citizens, police, or information desks, they can basically speak English. It’s just a matter of the accent or the vocabulary.

Once at a street information desk in Rome, the staff just finished speaking English to us, then spoke French to the next person, and then communicated with a colleague in Italian, seamlessly switching between the three languages.

I’m tired of eating pizza and pasta, as well as steaks and various hams. The taste is on the strong side, greasy and salty. In addition to being excited for the first day or two, the smell of ham makes me feel fishy, ??the sight of cheese makes me want to vomit, and the bread is so hard that it can tear my gums. If you want to eat vegetables, it will either be a very raw and bitter salad, or an overcooked puree. On the last day, I really wanted to eat instant noodles. There are so many kinds of Chinese delicacies that I never get tired of them.

Before I came here, I had been hearing rumors that Europe was very chaotic, so before I even arrived, I imagined that my luggage would be snatched away by bikers as soon as I left the airport.

In fact, the situation is much better than I imagined. I even feel it is better than many Chinese cities. There are soldiers with guns patrolling scenic spots and airports, and my capable companions have checked the guide. Some scenic spots will have people taking advantage of them. If you don't pay attention, they force you to get colorful ropes or feed corn to the pigeons, and then ask you for money. Just don't get too close to them. At other times, it is like a normal tourist city, with enthusiastic citizens, a large number of tourists, and thieves. But as long as you pay a little attention, you can avoid being stolen. In terms of robbery, I think it is not so exaggerated in places with many people.

One day on the bus, a middle-aged man covered his hands with his clothes and approached my companion, preparing to open the bag she was carrying on her side. He was noticed by her companion and quickly moved away. The thief did not succeed and it was quick. Got off the bus.

It’s summer, the days are the longest, and the sun doesn’t set until 9 o’clock every day. We two girls almost always returned to our place after 10:30, and one day in Florence we didn’t come back until 11:30. When we walked from the busy scenic area to the dark and deserted neighborhood, I felt a little scared, but nothing happened and we arrived safely. Just like going home late at night in China, perhaps the more fear is caused by yourself.

Because many bags and shoes are produced in Europe, the price of the same goods at the counter here is much cheaper than elsewhere. In addition, there is a tax rebate when leaving Europe, so the price will be much more cost-effective. It’s even worse when there’s a discount.

It is said that Italy’s tax refund rate is very high in Europe. You can get a tax refund of 10-20 euros for a one-time purchase of 150 euros or more in the same store. The tax refund rate for bags, accessories, and cosmetics is generally around 12, so The same bag is about 30-60 cheaper than in Hong Kong or the United States.

There are several companies in Italy that handle tax refunds. The largest one is Global Blue, which has the most service points. When shopping, the store will help you fill out the tax refund application form of the tax refund company. You need to provide your passport. With the application form, you can first stamp the Refund stamp with a time stamp at the tax refund company office in the city, and then go to the tax refund company at the airport. There is no need to wait in a huge queue at the processing point, only a shorter and faster queue. The refund method can be cash, credit card or Alipay (Global Blue company only). If you choose cash, some handling fees will be charged. If you choose a credit card, it will arrive within 5 working days.

Airport tax refund can only be processed up to 4 hours before the flight departure time. There is no use if you go too early.

The prices of ordinary goods and services are about two to n times those in China! A bottle of mineral water costs 12 RMB; a 15-minute taxi ride costs 70 to 80 RMB; a casual meal, a decent meal, costs 300 to 400 RMB per person; a small but not star-rated hotel costs 1 day Thousands of dollars; a two-bedroom apartment, one thousand and five dollars a night.

In short, except for luxury goods, which are cheaper than elsewhere, everything else is extremely expensive.

I feel that everyone in the Renaissance lived too full a life and had too much control. In addition to reading poetry and books and understanding various allusions in the scriptures, he can also carve and paint them lifelike, and the size of sculptures and paintings can vary from three to four meters; he can also design architectural drawings, and he can also make them Build an unparalleled and magnificent church, taking into account both load-bearing practicality and artistic beauty.

Leonardo da Vinci painted "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper" when he was just an amateur painter. He left not many paintings. The Uffizi Museum in Florence displays many of his manuscripts. The painting is three to four meters tall. It feels like in order to paint a character, a city has been designed in the background. Even the church in the painting is very detailed. , there are also many murals and sculptures. But most of Leonardo da Vinci's time was spent on scientific research, covering astronomy, biology, anatomy, engineering and mechanical design. He designed propellers, ball bearings, sketched aircraft, bicycles and parachutes, and also He has dissected more than thirty corpses, knows the structure of the human body like the back of his hand, and can also play the piano. How he can be so versatile makes people doubt the potential of human beings.

At my age, Michelangelo already had a masterpiece of sculpture called Pietà...

In comparison, it took me a few days to write a travelogue. Zhou...

It is not uncommon to meet someone eating alone in a restaurant in Florence, or meet a young girl catching a flight at the Milan airport. I feel that traveling alone is so natural.

So, just go if you want. The world is so big, even if you don’t have a companion, you should go and see it.