all roads lead to rome...
this is way long long overdue. but fm and i got too busy during the semester to actually complete the story of italy, and the first part of summer has just been too happening. heh. so here goes... if u dun mind. =)
recap: we decided to drop over in milan for a quick look. and took the evening train down to rome, just in time for the new year countdown festivities. the train reached at about 10pm, and we went searching for accommodation. walked ard the streets with our backpacks, asking all the hostels/ hotels. but many were full, not surprising since it was after all new years eve.
this indian-ish guy walked past us and saw that we were finding rms, so offered us a place at his place. after much bargaining, we got the place for a decent price. but when we saw the place, IT WAS ONE OF THE SKETCHIEST PLACES EVER!! take a look for urselves...
it had no good warm blanket, and even the sheets were kinda gross. and in the cold winter months, the place had no working heater. the shower was pathetically small and narrow, not too mention that the shower curtain was utterly gross! ewww, ewww, ewwww...
we speculate that this 'hostel' was illegal, for him to earn extra cash. and when we left our backpacks in the room, we had some suspicions that our bags would be stolen or ransacked thru, during this wonderful opportunity when everyone was out partying. phew.. thank goodness nothing of that sort happened...
anyway, we joined in the crowd for the countdown celebrations... too bad it was raining that day.. so it was kinda inconvenient, pple carrying umbrellas, wet streets, puddles... but nevertheless, crowded and chaotic. some youngsters drove thru the streets horning away and driving thru the puddles. after the countdown, there were also areas where people starting throwing their beer bottles, smashing them to the ground. it was.. interesting.
visited some of the attractions, such as...
the Forum Romanum, shown here is the remains of the Temple of Saturn on the left and Temple of Castor and Pollux on the right.
Piazza Venezia, a square just beside the Roman Forum. Behind us is the landmark dominating the Piazza, Il Vittoriano, a white marble monument dedicated to king Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy.
of course, the famous Colessum, one of the most impressive buildings of the Roman empire.
At the Vatican city:
St. Peter's basilica, the largest church in the world symbolizing christianity.
the beautiful view of Rome and St. Peter's square from the Dome observatory, which we climbed up via a long and spiraling staircase...
We were truly awed at some of the world's best paintings in the Vatican museums. oh so lifelike and beautiful they were indeed...
this was one of the most colorful and life-like paintings we saw. simply amazing.
The murals in the Raphael Rooms, the School of Athens, portraying Plato, Aristotle and other ancient philosophers engaging in philosophic inquiry.
of course, we ate the all-famous italian gelato very frequently thru the trip. This was the biggest one we ever had. A huge 5-scoop cone... mmmm... yummy!
part 2 of rome will be up soon... stay tuned!
recap: we decided to drop over in milan for a quick look. and took the evening train down to rome, just in time for the new year countdown festivities. the train reached at about 10pm, and we went searching for accommodation. walked ard the streets with our backpacks, asking all the hostels/ hotels. but many were full, not surprising since it was after all new years eve.
this indian-ish guy walked past us and saw that we were finding rms, so offered us a place at his place. after much bargaining, we got the place for a decent price. but when we saw the place, IT WAS ONE OF THE SKETCHIEST PLACES EVER!! take a look for urselves...
it had no good warm blanket, and even the sheets were kinda gross. and in the cold winter months, the place had no working heater. the shower was pathetically small and narrow, not too mention that the shower curtain was utterly gross! ewww, ewww, ewwww...
we speculate that this 'hostel' was illegal, for him to earn extra cash. and when we left our backpacks in the room, we had some suspicions that our bags would be stolen or ransacked thru, during this wonderful opportunity when everyone was out partying. phew.. thank goodness nothing of that sort happened...
anyway, we joined in the crowd for the countdown celebrations... too bad it was raining that day.. so it was kinda inconvenient, pple carrying umbrellas, wet streets, puddles... but nevertheless, crowded and chaotic. some youngsters drove thru the streets horning away and driving thru the puddles. after the countdown, there were also areas where people starting throwing their beer bottles, smashing them to the ground. it was.. interesting.
visited some of the attractions, such as...
the Forum Romanum, shown here is the remains of the Temple of Saturn on the left and Temple of Castor and Pollux on the right.
Piazza Venezia, a square just beside the Roman Forum. Behind us is the landmark dominating the Piazza, Il Vittoriano, a white marble monument dedicated to king Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy.
of course, the famous Colessum, one of the most impressive buildings of the Roman empire.
At the Vatican city:
St. Peter's basilica, the largest church in the world symbolizing christianity.
the beautiful view of Rome and St. Peter's square from the Dome observatory, which we climbed up via a long and spiraling staircase...
We were truly awed at some of the world's best paintings in the Vatican museums. oh so lifelike and beautiful they were indeed...
this was one of the most colorful and life-like paintings we saw. simply amazing.
The murals in the Raphael Rooms, the School of Athens, portraying Plato, Aristotle and other ancient philosophers engaging in philosophic inquiry.
of course, we ate the all-famous italian gelato very frequently thru the trip. This was the biggest one we ever had. A huge 5-scoop cone... mmmm... yummy!
part 2 of rome will be up soon... stay tuned!
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