Author: Yellow Duckie
•17:05
Apart from the brief encounter I had with Rome when I touch down about a week and half ago, I didn't realy get to see what Rome is like. The perfect picture I had in my head about Rome can simply be sum up in one word: Romantic. However, it wasn't the case when I arrived at Termini station from La Spezia. I was totally horrified by the rowdy crowd and the massive amount of humans in the underground.
After the horrific encounter of swimming amount the massive crowd, I have yet to overcome another torturous journey with my 20 kg back pack from the closest metro station to the hostel. According to the hostel staff, it's just a couple of blocks from metro station. Once again, I have discover that couple of blocks literally means about 1.5 to 2 km. So all these are not very romantic at all, this is when all the romance is gone and when reality kicks in. However, I am glad that apart from this, Rome did reveal the better side (the romantic side) of its charm to me.

Like many others who come to Rome, we intend to see what tourist see and do what tourist do: Be at the St Peter Square, find myself in the Vatican Museum, taking a photograph of the Colessuem with me by its side, fight for a spot at the Trevi fountain, stroll down the spanish steps...
Here are my list of favourite encounters in Roma:

1. Join the Pope for breakfast
I am not a fan of the Pope ( no offense to my Catholic friends) but the atmosphere of being amongst the crowd that fill the St Peter Square is overwhelming! I was completely shocked when I saw the crowd and was actually pretty glad that we made our way here. It's like being in a rock concert except that you will be listening to sermon being preached in a foreign language. The Pope made appearance to the public every wednesday and staying close to the barricades will give you the best view of the Pope when he goes about doing his entourage while waving blessing to his crowd in his white jeep.

2.Vatican Museum
A MUST SEE. This is something which I will not recomend you to miss, you will be astonished by the work of the artist and will leave you in the state of marvel. Be early to stand in line for the entrace ticket as you will be surprise that there isn't really an off peak season when if comes to visiting the Vatican Museum. It was literally the longest line I've ever been to.

3. Drop by at Villa Borghese

Although I am sick of art works by now, The Villa Borghese still managed to hold my attention with the marvelous scupltures and art works contained inside it. I think one of the things that caught me most was the mosaics. How they can add tone to the picture to make the picture more life-like shows me that the artist who worked on this has got amazing skills. This is the place where you can find alot of the mosaic works and extremely life-like scupltures.



4. Enjoy a cup of Gelato at Old Bridge
Via dei Bastioni (by the side of the Vatican City)
I am quite certain that this Gelato shop has been in existence from the ancient times, judging on its ancient appearance. No Matter what time of the day we passed by this place, it is always packed with people. The price is generally cheaper than alot of gelato shop and once, we were there sometime around 8pm, there were 2 cheeky guys serving behind the counter, for Euro 1.50 (2 scoops) we got a generous scooping of gelato, which definitely is more than 2 scoops plus cream for free!

5. Dine at Fabio's place
This place was recommended to us by Patrizia, my dear italian friend. Unfortunately I did not keep the address of this place to be shared here. The moment we arrived, I could see why she recommended us this place. Famous among the local, this place is hard to get in without a reservation, with that in mind we actually turn up pretty early to try our luck. Ordering itself was interesting, being the only non-italian speaking guest there, we pratically did not get to order much, in fact, we didn't really get to order. All Fabio asked was if we like fish or pasta. We said yes and he disappeared into the kitchen after recommending us the special pasta which his mum made and that we will definitely like it....it was heavenly!

6. Enjoy the night scene at the St Peter's Square and Colessuem
Can anywhere else be more romantic and captivating than these places? I'll let the picture do the detail description...


I admit that by the time I reach Rome, the excitement and thrill about being in Italy is gone and all I longed for is to carry the weather back with me and find myself cuddling in my bed...i miss my bed. We did not really get to venture all of Rome, I guess one has to make some room for our second visit. Although I didn't toss a coin over my shoulder at the Trevi fountain, I know that someday, I'll be back.

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1 comments:

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