Thursday, July 27, 2006
Rome (7th - 9th July)
Photo album: Rome, Italy (7th - 9th July)
Finally got down to blogging about our Europe trip! Dun think I'll be any free-er than now once work starts. Shall not be uploading much photos as there are really too many and I'm just too lazy. Haha. Europe has been really great! And contrary to what dozens of people had told me, I din have to like totally survive on dry bread when I was there. In fact, we had pretty good meals!! Love the pasta in Italy. Yums! Haha how can I, after all, a foodie, not have good food!! Lols. Haha and because of that, we have, sad to say, bursted our budget. Haha but oh well, money can be earned :) All the good food we had was even out by the amount of walking we did each day. Have never walked so much in my life! Heh in my birks somemore. But it was okie due to the training I got back in sg by shopping! Muahaha. Heeded the wrong advice and brought jeans and sport shoes which I end up not wearing much (it's darn hot and dry! but really cooling when the wind blows. weird huh.) , other than travelling between cities.
Rome has got to be my favourite city out of the 6 that we visited. Rem not to visit Rome first before the rest! The city was really pretty that the rest just paled in comparison. Everything was a sight in itself. It was pretty interesting to see the ancient ruins and the modern part of Rome all merged into a single landscape.
Ohyup and we were there with the Italians when they won the world cup!! Heh they were like simply celebrating like mad in the streets after the match. Haha I was so scared when we walked back to our hostel in the middle of it all! Yikes. And we actually watched the match at this Chinese restaurant. Weird right?? Haha we had a craving for Chinese food (already! on the 3rd day) and ended up watching there.
One thing - the streets were like extremely dirty. And the cars by the street looks like they have never been washed for months! Goodness. Dirty beetles and mini coopers. Such a pity for the car! There were also loads of people queueing outside the fashion boutiques of Gucci, Dior and what not on the 1st day of the Italian sale. Even before they open for the day! We were so heng to catch it right. But everything's super branded and ex!! So no shou huo for me. :) For Rome that is!
Ohoh! And we saw Jamie from hall on our 2nd day! We were so glad to see a familiar face! What a coincidence huh! :) Heh we end up walking around together and were supposed to meet on the 3rd day to go Vatican tog but we overslept :( Sighs I still feel so bad about it.
Sights
We visted most if not all the touristy places. The Colosseum, San Giovanni, Trevi Fountain, Piazza del Popolo, Palatine Hill, Spanish Steps, Vatican City, Jewish Getto, Pantheon, Castel Sant Angelo etcetcetc. Dan Brown's Angels and Demons made what we saw a lot more interesting!! As it covered most of the major sights in Rome. Thanks mr! It was also the first time I see Ryan so hooked to a novel!! (and not a comic!!) A rare sight indeed!
There's like probably a million churches, fountains, and archs in Rome, or rather in Italy. There were like everywhere we went till I lost count. It was a pity that we din get to see the Vatican Museum as it was close and din get to see the Pope. Hmm we thought we were able to since it was a Sunday. Bleah. Stupid website gave us the wrong info! Haha but Jamie was saying the scenario of the Pope appearing to give a talk resembles a cuckoo clock. Heh so funny. No offence here!! Hee.
We were also glad that we managed to avoid queueing at the Vatican by innocently just walking into the St Peter's Bascilica once we first reached. There wasnt a queue when we reached and we had totally no idea what it was. Lols. Gawd the queue was superbly long after we came out!!
Our hostel
We stayed in Hotel Tokyo, located in the dodgy Termini area, opp the train station. Lots of scary ppl lurking around the train station, as if waiting to snatch your bag anytime. Jamie witnessed a snatch thief at work the day before we met her, making us more fearful than ever. Thank gawd nth unfortunate happened to us! But staying near the Termini station has its benefits too! It was super convenient and there was a 24hr supermarket near us. Haha we keep hunting for a supermarket once we reach any city. So that we can buy plain water! Lols. Quite funny. Okie, back to the hostel. It was pretty okie I guess. Clean and simple. Nothing much but we had sort of a communication breakdown with the ppl manning the hostel. Cos we speak minimal Italian and they speak minimal English! Reminds me of the time in Japan when Cindy and I had to bi shou hua jiao. Haha but we watched the WC 3rd place match with the guy manning the hostel in his room. Heh quite fun yahs.
Food
Oh yes, this had got to be the most important section of them all! Haha. The gelato was totally superb in Rome!! We ate it like everyday. Two of the best places were definetely the famous San Crispino (it was love at first bite!)
...and Gelateria Della Palma which carried tons of flavours. Serious!! Check them out!!
And I totally love the pasta in Italy.. and I'm not sick of it despite eating it for many meals. Bleah, no wonder I din lose weight... Here was our 1st meal in Rome! Yummy linguine all'astice (pasta in lobster sauce) whose sauce tasted a lot like crab bisque.
I Buoni Amici (Via Aleardo Aleardi 4)
And our 1st alfresco dining...
Yes I ordered carbonara... which is practically the only pasta I order in Singapore. Heh couldnt help it. I like their version though. More peppery than the one I usually it. Yums! Pepper is a nice alternative since they dun exactly have chilli here. I like dearie's gnocchi too! Heh it's actually potato dumpling in some spicy sauce. Yums! Tried Italian beer too and it was a lot more smoother than the ones I drank before. It tasted quite okie, haha that's good for a beer-hater like me! We also had many other meals in pizzerias where you just point and they'll cut a piece of the humongous piece they have on display, heat it up and they serve it to you. Tasted better than it looked I guess. But their pizzas usually get a tad bit too salty. They even have it in supermarkets.
To end off my post on Rome, here's a really pretty picture I took while walking back to the Colosseum to catch the its night view.
Looks so wallpaper-material right! :)
Labels: Europe
