Destination: France & Italy
Duration: 15 Days 15 Nights (Sep 02~Sep 17, 2014)
Day 9: A Day of “Restoration” in Rome – the Eternal
City
Our train from Firenze SM Novella Train Station would be
departing at 6.50am thus we woke up extra early in the morning to walk there.
To our horror, the sky suddenly was pouring rains and we had to walk there with
umbrella and luggage under heavy downpour while dragging our luggage on the
uneven pavement. What a way to start the day... *sob*
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| Walking in the rain... |
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| Finally got on the train! |
We bought our train ticket online from trenitalia (link) about 2
months ago and managed to grab the Premium Seat ticket at EUR19/pax – same
price like the standard pre-order ticket. The premium coach has the same layout
as standard but with leather seat along with refreshments. We even got to
choose our own seat at 17C & 17D which are more private and convenience for
couple (no need to face to face or sit with strangers). It would take Frecciarossa
9501 around 2hours to reach Rome at 8.35am.
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| Premium Coach - Leather Seat |
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| Some Refreshments |
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| Here is the Seatmap for Premium Coach - grey bar between seats are table for face to face.. i prefer those in red rectangle for more private spaces |
Once we reached Roma Termini, we quickly bought the Roma
Pass for 48hours from Tourist Information Counter (Platform Level beside
platform 24). After that, we tried to locate Hotel Regina Giovanna at Via
Nazionale. Unfortunately it took us quite some time and extra walks since
Google Map apparently gotcha us to the wrong location! *facepalm* Lesson of the
day: Don’t trust Google Map 100%! We finally found the hotel at the end and checked in even
though it was not check-in time yet. The receptionist was extremely helpful and
friendly.
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| At Rome Tourist Information Counter |
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| Our Roma Pass |
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| In front of Roma Termini |
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| At Hotel Regina Giovanni |
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| Bathroom |
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| TV and surrounding |
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| In front of the Hotel - our only 3 stars hotel in our entire journey.. |
Once we’d settled down, we walked back to Roma Termini
again to take the Metro to Colosseo station with our Roma Pass. We were
starving by the time and quickly bought a salami pizza at the kiosk at Colosseo
Station and ate it while admiring Colosseo which happened to be right across
the road. The place was swarmed with tourists and we could see the line to
enter Colosseo was extremely long.
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| Republica Square there... |
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| It's Pizza time! |
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| Admiring the Colosseo while eating Pizza |
After the pizza, we walked towards Colosseo and noticed
at near the entrance that apparently Roma Pass holder could skip all the lines
and walked straight through! Hooray!!!! We quickly walked in bypassing the long
queue and right into the Colosseo. The inside of Colosseo was extremely crowded
as well but we managed to go up to the upper level to have a bird eye view of
the arena. The Colosseo was inaugurated in 80 A.D. and could hold up 70,000
spectators for Gladiators & wild animal hunts. Imagine GORE! BLOOD &
NAKED GUYS! Just Imagine Russell Crowe & Jaoquin “you vex me!!!” Phoenix in
“Gladiator”!!!
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| In front of Colosseo |
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| Skipping the line with Roma Pass |
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| Hmm.. some room? |
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| Some Alley! |
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| Sammy is happy! |
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| Let's go to the upper floor! |
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| To have a bird eye view |
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| And some picture! |
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| Is Sammy going to jump? |
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| The underground tunnels below the Colosseo |
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| Arch of Constantine from Colosseo |
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| Lots of People |
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| Let's just take a picture |
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| A Panoramic View inside the Colosseo |
After Colosseo, we walked to Piazza del Colosseo to take
a picture of Arch of Constantine which was dedicated to Constantine on some
important victory in 315 A.D. After that we simply continued to Palatine Hill
which houses lots of ruins of houses and church of San Bonaventura. We could
also see Circus Maximus which was famed for its chariot races (think Ben-Hur)
from Palantine Hill – however, it was quite a disappointment as it was simply a
rectangular shape land. Anyway it involved lots of walking thus remember to
wear comfortable shoes! Oh, remember umbrella as we were roasted alive there
even though summer was over.
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| Colosseo from the Piazza |
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| At the Arch of Constantine |
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| Going through the Arch of Titus |
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| It's a HOT HOT HOT day... |
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| Ruins |
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| Secret Tunnel? |
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| A Church on Palantine Hill |
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| Colosseo from Palantine Hill |
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| A Lone Tree on top of Palantine Hill |
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| At the Stadium |
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| Random Ruins.. |
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| Houses at the bottom? |
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| Circus Maximus?? |
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| Did i mention it's HOT? |
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| A view of the top of Palantine Hill |
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| LOST!!! |
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| Resting... |
We actually got lost after Palantine Hill following the
road sign – it seemed like it was pointing us to dead ends! Lots of confusing
people there… we finally found a small path which led us back to the Roman
Forum. Once we reached there, we finally understood why the road sign led us to
nowhere – there was a major restoration in the middle which cutoff main paths
which the road sign was pointing!
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| Going through Small path |
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| I think this is the main street? |
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| Restoration i guess |
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| Only can take picture from afar due to Restoration |
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| Let's walk the main street |
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| An old old gate.. |
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| Another temple? |
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| The Remaining Column |
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| Everything is in Ruins |
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| Palazzo Venezia at the back... |
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| A Panoramic View of Roman Forum |
After Roman Forum, we bought a sandwich outside the site
for a quick bite before walking to Piazza Venezia – the path directly reaching
the Piazza was close due to restoration thus we had to go through another path.
We took some pictures of Vittoriano Monument which was dedicated to the 1st
king of Italy. There was also Palazzo Venezia which looked amazing.
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| Random Sandwich from Random Kiosk |
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| The View Opposite Roman Forum |
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| Some Car Ride Functions from China |
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| Hmm.. i think this is a famous statue? |
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| The View of the Columns is actually much closer if taken from outside |
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| In Front of Palazzo Venezia |
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| Italian Flag Flying... |
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| At the front of Palazzo Venezia |
Our next destination was Pantheon at Piazza della Rotonda
which was located near churches & shops. We made a brief stop to buy some
gelato which we did not enjoy as it was too sweet. As usual, the Pantheon was
swarmed with tourists. The place provided last resting places for many important
personages. Fun Trivia: the diameter of the dome is equal to the height of the
building.
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| On the Way to the Pantheon |
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| Hmm... Magic? |
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| Random Gelato |
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| Everyone admiring the Pantheon |
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| Here it is... |
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| Inside the Pantheon |
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| A Panoramic View of the Interior |
We continued on foot to Piazza Navona which was built on
top of Domitian’s Stadium. There were the Seventeenth Century Baroque Church of
Sant’Agnese in Agone, and three sumptuous fountains: the Fountain of the Moor,
the Fountain of Neptune and the most important of all, Bernini’s Fountain of
the Four Rivers (the Nile, Ganges, Danube and Rio de la Plata).
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| On the way to Piazza Navona |
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| At Piazza Navona with Fountain of the Four Rivers |
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| Note the Church behind... |
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| Fountain of the Moor |
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| Here is the Church |
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| Fountain of Neptune |
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| Panoramic View of Piazza Navona |
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| Inside the Church of Sant' Angnese |
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| Surprisingly Beautiful huh? |
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| The Dome... |
We were really tired after all the walking thus we
stopped at Tre Scalini's café for their famous tartufo dessert (The “Tartufo” is a chocolate ice-cream
truffle whose flavours conjure memories of long ago. It is a classic dessert in
the Roman tradition but was created at Tre Scalini and is therefore
widely-known as the “Tartufo Tre Scalini”.) We ordered some sparkling wine
to go along with the tartufo and people watching at the same time. Nice
experience!
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| At Tre Scalini's Cafe with Sparkling Wine |
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| Tartufo Tre Scalini |
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| Yum Yum,,, |
Before the sky turned dark, we walked to Fontana di Trevi
in order to take a picture before and after dark. To our horror, it was under
RESTORATION too!!! WTF??!!!!! Instead of the amazing fountain, we got an
obstructed view of it full of scaffolding!!! I seriously wanted my money back
from the Italian government!!! *Bawling*
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| Walking back to Pantheon to get to Fontana di Trevi |
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| Random Building |
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| Look at the Doggie!!! |
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| Some Government Building |
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| There is a Demonstration!!! |
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| Yet another Random Building |
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| Tourist Street before Fontana di Trevi |
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| This is what i expect to see! |
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| This is what i see!!! UUUGGHHH!!!! |
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| All the Scoffolding |
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| Queuing to get near to the statue |
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| Hide & Seek? |
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| This is the Fontana di Trevi! |
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| Let's toss a coin as well! |
We were beyond disappointed thus we continued on to Hard
Rock Café to spend some money to release our frustration before jumping into
the metro to get back to Via Nazionale for our Hotel. *facepalm*
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| On the Way to Hard Rock Cafe |
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| Are we Lost? |
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| Here it is! |
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| Let's take a picture... |
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| Finally at Via Nationale... |
Our dinner was a random restaurant at the corner of Via
Nazionale which happened to be there when it was raining. As luck would have
it, the food was really delicious too! We ordered 500ml of red wine, cheese
pizza and seafood with potato gnocchi. Yummy!!! Thus this ended our 1st
day in the Eternal City. DARN RESTORATION!!!!!
AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| The Random Restaurant |
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| Some Red Wine... |
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| Seafood with Potato Gnocchi |
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| Cheesy Pizza |
Next Day (A Day in Vatican City - Queue, Queue & Queue!)
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