Sunday, September 02, 2007
10th-13th August: Rome, Italy
my apologies to those who have been waiting and checking my website out.. but i took so many photos that it's really very time consuming to arrange everything and blog it all out. just uploading those photos took a very long time... because blogger is not very photoblogging-friendly.anyway here it goes.. our 4 days 3 nights trip in Rome! :)
Day 1
we had to take a train to Eindhoven train station in holland. then transfer to a bus to go to the airport. the five of us at the bus terminal...
inside the bus...
at Eindhoven airport
photo whoring in the airport's toilet
our flight was delayed... so free time=bridge time!! we all love bridge!! :)
on ryan air... it wasn't that fantastic actually, except that there was this guy on the same plane who looked quite cute... like michael scofield kind. haha.
their safety instructions are written on the seats itself! first time i've seen it!
we reached rome airport and had to take a airport transfer bus to reach the central.
ROMA... here we come!
we walked alot alot before we finally checked into our hostel. the place that we were supposed to move into was supposedly like 3 blocks away from what was stated on hostelworld and where we checked in. and according to the guy... it was supposed to be "a short walk" away. but of cuz, it wasn't that short, especially with all that we were carrying. and honestly, the roads of Rome are definitely NOT for rolling baggages. it was really bad. plus their lifts are almost non-existent.. staircase is the way to go for your bags man!!so after a rather long and tiring walk, we finally reached our 6 bed dorm hostel!
the 5 of us inside our hostel building.
the front door of our hostel building. its kinda nice cuz its really huge and looks quite ancient.
posing along the streets of Rome.
Rome, rome...
vandalism!
evening sights of Rome...
my first gelare ice cream in italy! it was only 1.70 euros and really huge! peppermint and chocolate. yummy!
so we walked around and after a rather long walk.. we went to the famous trevi fountain! it was really really crowded!! but it was still beautiful.. the place from the airplane hk drama serial, 冲上云霄! i was really looking forward to it!me at trevi!
that kinda ended the night and the next day was time for Vatican city!Day 2
here we are, vaticani!
just look at the queue.
it would have taken us like 4 hours if we were to queue to get in.. so anyway, because we had very limited time and alot of things to see in Rome, we decided to join this Vatican City tour which cost us 35 euros each (discount price for student) for entrance (no queue) and a guided tour. actually i was a bit relucant because this meant more than 70sgd! but it was really good to have a guide and i was of cuz more than happy to skip the disgusting queue!ticket in hand!
some very famous sculpture by michael angelo i think.. but this is a replicate because the fake one is too precious to be put out!
the duomo.. (or dome?) that the Pope stays.
inside vatican city...
as usual, look at the queue.
st peter's basilica. it was magnificent! so huge and nice... i just can't imagine how did people from the past manage to build it!! it's something that people wow at when they see it.. one of the must visit i think.
the originial very precious sculpture.
we ended out tour and walked around to take pictures of the other side of the vatican city.
then we continued to walk down to this castle thing. it was built in the past and there was supposedly this secret passageway underground that the Pope could run to in times of need. how unimaginable how people of the past could do that! anyway we didn't enter the castle because it was expensive (of cuz) so we just walked around and took pictures outside it.
we could see vatican city from the castle!
the full view of the whole castle!
more streets of Rome...
i see this car everywhere in Europe actually and i must say it was love at first sight when i saw it in Rome. i wished i could buy it back to Singapore to drive!! its called smartone i think... or something alone that line. it's really cute... and an additional bonus is.. it's a mercedez benz! haha.. or at least from the same company.
we walked further along to see... more ruins.
there was this other cute vehicle too... a bus! a small one to be exact. haha. it looks more than a van.. but well, its a small bus! its cute, aint it.
we continued walking to this other place.. the church with a hole on top. haha.
the hole inside the church!
more pictures of Rome...
then we headed to the spagna which is also one of the well known spots to see. it consists of alot of steps.. and the flowers there were supposed very beautiful.
anyway it was just crowded crowded and crowded.
so we sat along the steps (just like everyone else) because there wasn't much to do. found a good looking guy and we took a snapshot of him. haha.
anyhow, this almost concluded the day and we were very hungry! so we decided to have some pasta (which is the first course in the italian meal) for dinner! we had some really bad experiences on pizzas and decided we should get some good pastas instead since the ones in the restaurants cost as much as those in Singapore. we went to this restaurant near our hostel.at the restaurant... it was quite nice.
me with my salmon pasta! it was yummy.. but because it was al dente, i thought it was a bit too hard for my liking.
Day 3We decided to go visit the villas today and we had to take a train and change to a bus before we could go. it was kinda far from the city centre itself.
at the train station... i don't really like the trains because the stations itself are in really bad states... the escalators give out loud creaking sounds it feels as though its gonna stop any moment. plus its really dirty and all.. just really bad as compared to those in Singapore.
anyway, we first visited this villa adriano i think.. or was it the second one. i can't remember the names but this one was the one with the ruins. it used to be some villa of a king and so it was huge. the ruins were nice and it was slightly different from the usual kinda ruins that we saw... it was 12 euros which was expensive but well...
an overview of the whole villa
nice waters inside there....
the four girls...
me!! haha.
the ruins...
5 of us...
we felt a little bored after a while and it wasn't that crowded a place and i must say it was quite relaxing... so we started taking retarded shots. haha.
superman+smu jump shot.
shot taken at lunch...
then we went to another villa.. which was known for its beautiful garden. it costs like 9 or 11 euros.. can't remember.
it was... really really beautiful.
it was such a hot day.. but standing infront of this fountain was really cooling.
and so we stayed and slacked there for a while.
what can i say? a picture speaks a thousand words. the place is so beautiful!anyway, we still had time and decided to move on to.. the colosseum! haha. one of the new 7 wonders of the world! the ticket wasl ike 13 euros i think. rather expensive, as always.
presenting.. the colosseum!
the inside...
a macro shot of the breaks in it... how did they manage to build this in the past man!
picture of... our feet... standing on the colosseum ground..??!!
me @ colosseum! yeah!
a short video that we took...
the outside...
*muacks*
Day 4The entrance ticket to colosseum consisted of the palentino too, which was just beside it. it's...more ruins again as usual and we decided to visit it before we leave Rome
the water was clean and nice...!
it was overall... a very tiring walk... up, down and around... i don't know much about the story since we weren't on a guided tour but yeah.. just sightseeing.so anyway, we continued walking since it was the last day in Rome and we should not waste more time...
some building which i don't know what though.. haha.
and then we went to visit this pyramid which had some rich man buried underneath. it was supposedly built for him pleasures during the ancient times... quite disappointing when we saw it though.
so anyway, that concluded our Rome trip and we made our way to Florence. Overall, Rome was definitely one of the most tiring amongst the whole trip. i guess it was because Rome had the most stuff to see and since it was our first stop, we had more energy and rushed around everywhere. we woke up at like 7am almost everyday! the hostel was also the worst because the beds were really bad.. plus all the noise... it just made everything much worst because we couldn't rest well at night and we were just so tired.
but still, Rome was still beautiful even though everywhere was so touristy and so crowded. it's a good place to visit but definitely not for living! yay! i've finally been to... Rome, 罗马! :)
YuAn® spun on 2:05 AM.
