SPOONFUL OF SUGAR: Roma Roma Italia

Monday, October 17, 2011

Roma Roma Italia

Shall I write about Rome now? I've been delaying my post and it has been 10 months since the Roma trip with Sheena and her mommy. But lost my laptop in March 2011, so I was a bit disheartened to write anything in my blog, ALL my precious pictures pun hilang bersama-sama laptop itu jua. Gone baby gone.

Tapi takpela. Maybe that laptop wasn't meant for me. God lent it to me so that I could do my dissertation in peace and now that I have gotten my Masters, He took it back. Maybe someone else who needs it the most bought my laptop for a cheaper price ke..who knows.. Redha je.

So, anyway, thank God for facebook, I still have some of my pictures. The best ones, because the best ones are selected to be put in FB kan? LOL.

Ok, here goes.

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I went for a very short trip, a last minute one as well, to Rome with Sheena and her mommy, during Christmas holiday and right before our graduation ceremony in December 2010. My parents could not attend my graduation, so they gave me permission (and some mools) to go to Rome. So, bought tickets from Ryanair and off we went. Ryanair wasn't the best flight. Bumpy rides all the way and it was pretty scary. I prefer Easyjet.

We went off as early as 2 am, we took a bus from Birmingham coach station to Stansted Airport in London. The journey to the airport was 2 hours. Our flight is at 7.30 am, so being really careful and me being 'all-panicky' sebab takot terlambat, we decided to arrived at the airport as early as possible. Arrived at Rome airport two hours later, hungry, took the coach to the main train station, Stazione di Termini and tadaaa.. sampai sudah. Our hotel was just in front of Termini. Very convenient. Pandai Sheena pilih.

So, we were hungry when we arrived. Checked-in to our hotel, washed up a bit and went straight down to find food. ITALIAN FOOD mamasitaaa! As I totally love love love italian cuisine, I was actually looking forward for any meal time throughout the whole 'adventure' in Rome.

1) The Food
I just love italian food. I've always dreamt about going to Italy and just eat eat eat and eat. All sorts of pastas and pizzas, assorted flavours of gelato and tiramisu, you name it you got it. I gained 10 freakin kilos kot. Ok, exaggerate sikit, but I did gained weight because it was winter at that time, so my appetite memang tengah menggila. Sheena and I went luna-bolognatic as we passed the side walk cafes and restaurants. If you ~~hate~~ dislike foodies, hang tok sah nak mai sini.

Different types of pizzas

Spinach ricotta cannelloni. Lip smacking

Cheese and tomato ravioli

Half-shaped pizza. The filling was spinash and cheese.

Some Italian tapas - All sorts of eggplant recipes..Yum!

Lasagna

All sort of pastas

Super rich super thick hot chocolate!

The famous Tiramisu

Gelatismooo

Aiyayai! Diet ke laut.

2) The Collosseum

We went to Colosseum right after lunch, later in the evening. We took the metro to Colosseum and walaa.. One of the seven wonders of the world was right before our eyes!

The Colosseum is probably the most famous trademark of Rome, as it is known as the greatest amphitheater of antiquity that was built 1920 years ago. The Colosseum is so huge that it could around 45,000 spectators. This is where the ancient Romans gathered to watch bloody combat between gladiators, and battles between men and wild animals. Imagine lions or tigers againts humans? *shudder* In the battle, it is also in the event where they threw people to the lions! During those times, to see big gigantic men being killed by animals was very entertaining to the ancient Romans.

Imagine this..a type of sport that has lion in it? I'll pass..

(Pic by Google Image)

Surreal..

From different angle..

We didn't go in, so posing kat luar je..

Aunty Jhan and moi..

One for the memory!

So, when we were there, we didn't do much pun because it was really cold and our energy drained out because of the journey that we had to endured from the UK. We took pictures, ate some Italian chestnut; bought it at a stall by the roadside and decided to head back to the hotel.

Pretty chestnuts. The taste was a bit bland comparing to the ones I've had from Malaysia's pasar malam.

3) The Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain

It was ok-ok aje, but our main focus was not the spanish steps or any historical artifacts/monuments there, but...the shopping streets located near the Spanish Steps. We were there not to buy, but only to cuci mata. Most of the designer goods there are a bit expensive than other major European cities. But suprisingly, Dior was a bit cheaper. Not that I bought any. The designer boutiques can be found at Via dei Condotti and Via Borgognona, the two connecting streets that provide all the haute couture such as Gucci, Prada, Bulgari, Ferragamo, Armani, Fendi and all the adik beradiks. Oh oh, if you like Toywatch, then I could say the price is way way cheaper than Malaysia and even UK because Toywatch is designed in Italy.

Tak dapat beli, posing pun jadi la.

The mighty Fendi

It was intresting to see LV's revolving steps in the boutique. We were a bit jakun (no surprise there!) but not jakun enough to get one for ourselves.

Last but not least for that night, the Trevi Fountain. There were so many people there during the night and we couldn't get a nice spot to sit. I was excited at first, but after seeing so many teenagers looting around the area, it was bit of ermm.. sore eyes. But we did what normally tourist do; took pics and threw some coins in the fountain. Ikut orang je. One friendly pakcik told us while we were there, if you throw coins in the fountain, you'll come back to Rome. So cute la pakcik.

Ingat hot la tu? Ahaha. The fountain was beautiful.

The fountain is just 15 minutes walk from the Spanish Steps, so it is best if you combine the visit altogether. Built in the 18th century, and it is -undoubtedly- the most famous fountain of all fountains in Rome. As according to the history, Trevi Fountain was built as an ending part of an Aqua Virgo, one of the eleventh Roman aqueduct there is since 19 B.C. Macam ala-ala empangan-ish; mainly from Salone Springs, which is 20km from Rome, and supplies water to Rome city centre including the fountain.

So thick and rich

We ended our night with a glass of thick hot chocolate. It's yummy but Milo lagi sedapplaaa.

4) Vatican City

Few days before I came to Rome, I purposely watched 'Angels and Demon' just because to get a glimpse of Rome and Vatican City. Just to provoke some excitement and arouse myself for this trip. So, we went to Vatican City, and... and it was nothing like the one I watched in the movie. I was too quick to judge at that time so we explored a bit more. We people-watched and walked around the ~~town~~ city. There were some funny-cute looking guards in their own ~~costumes~~ uniforms at every entrance of Vatican City. These guards serve as bodyguards known as 'Swiss guards/soldiers' and yeah this might make me sound like some jakun, but their uniforms are so cute.

The only photo I could get of the Swiss Guards.

We went around for a while hoping to see the Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Transfiguration and Leonardo da Vinci's St Jerome, but we couldn't because it was blocked for some renovation.