Saturday, 24 May 2008

Rome Day 2-3rd May 2008

Ah! Felt a bit lazy in the morning... Woke up, went for breakfast and headed straight to the famous Vatican City. When we arrived, I only have one reaction. "WTF?" The queue was super duper long..... The exterior of the Vatican City is somewhat similar to the Tang Dynasty in Singapore if you guys still remember this attraction. The queue went one round the walls of the Vatican City. It's scary!! Hmm, rebellious as I was, naughty as I usually am, I decided to Cut *****. haha.. I brought Yvonne right to the front and ahem..... Did some naughty things...... I know it's kinda bad to do that but sometimes you just have to work smart. We are not the only ones that do that. A lot others were doing that. When I first arrived in Europe, I obeyed the rules. I queued. But what happen? When it was Ben & Jerry's Free Cone day and we went queuing, people just kept cutting queues in front of us. So I adapt and pick up their culture. I follow suit.
Metro Stations in Rome~~
See the Queue outside the Vatican City

We managed to get in within like 20 minutes. I bet the rest will have to wait at least 3 hours. :) It's a lot about the Roman Times, the Egyptian Mummy era, a lot of history going on in this place! It's a museum to be exact. :) However, we didn't do any guided tour because these supposingly qualified tour guides are just out to rip you off. The entrance ticket was 14 EUR for an adult but if you were to do the tour, you pay 30 EUR which is twice the price. Yes, you have to pay for their services but I rather read up on my own and save that 16 EUR for better purposes. Plus, I'd the ISIC Student card and I paid 8 EUR for the entrance only. :)

Egyptian Times..
Mummified Woman.
Inside the walls of the Vatican City
Just a typical artefact in Roman Times
Hallway of the Vatican City.. Large paintings dominated the hallway....
A typical Altar... Isn't it beautiful? It's the Renaissance style design...

Triumph! Google this historical statue. You will find out more.. Animal Gods. Apparently, there's a lot of influence from Greek Mythology.


Yvonne's not interested in any of those stuff so I was the one reading the footnotes, trying to follow the story... By noon, we were done and tada~ Lunch (pizza!) and headed next to St. Peter's Basilica. Like I mention before, I've seen a million basilicas, churches, cathedrals in Europe and none of them really appeals to me anymore. However, each time I see them, I still feel they are awesome! The square in front of the Basilica is amazingly HUGE! I salute the Romans! How did they manage to make ROME such a beautiful placE????!?!

More of Vatican City.. All the paintings done..


That's the ceiling of the Museum.
Painting of the Colosseum today..
Personally I like this painting. It's the St Peter's Piazza behind.... BEAUTIFUL~
The stairs down to the exits. Italians are talented architects and designers aren't they?

But anyway, once again, time for queues again. This time, it was hard to do mischievous stuff so we obediently follow suit. Imagine you've to queue to get into a Basilica. Isn't that a big joke? Actually, it's because of the security checks that were being conducted. I understand why it is necessary because who knows some TERRO**** might decide to strike and destroy all these beautiful historical preservations? It took exactly 45 mins before we finally reach the Entrance of the Basilica and guess what? The security said I was in skirt so I can't enter. WTH? So ended up I waited by myself outside while Yvonne went in to explore. Sad as I was, I convinced myself I must not surrender to this bad luck of mine that struck the very first day!

St Peter's Piazza.
Surroundings..
St Peter's Basilica in the background~
From different angles~

Catch the whole video thingy...

Yeah indeed, it turned for the better half an hour later!! The guards changed and when Yvonne was out to meet me and leave, the new guard let me in. Apparently, there's strictly one entrance and exit and he forbade us to exit by the entrance gate. He couldn't communicate in English too well so I tried to explain to him why I couldn't go to the exit because of my dressing. We stared at each other for quite some time and he say actually he would allow me to enter so he LET ME IN!! Actually, we have been staring at each other for 15 minutes before yvonne was out. It's like I was standing by myself right there and he seems like he wanted to strike some conversations with me but I think language is our barrier. Anyway, he's quite cute. :)

So I managed to get into the Basilica. Indeed, it's super HUGE and GRAND. Every single stone and brick in that Basilica carries some meaning. If you want to see the Pope, you need to visit on certain days though. :) What is the Basilica about? The burial ground of St Peter, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus... The tombs of many past Popes are in this Basilica as well.

Inside the Basilica...
Pope Statue
The 2nd day was probably the longest day of our time in Rome. We went to a million heritage sites. We spent 5 hours in total at just the Vatican City and St Peter's Basilica. We headed to Castle Sant Angelo next. The thing about Rome is there are a lot of those illegal black street hawkers who attempt to sell you some pirated LV.Gucci.Prada bags and sunglasses etc. Along our way, we saw a whole stretch of them standing by the road. I would compare it to Geylang at night just that sexes are switched and the services and products they sell are completely different. Guess what we saw? Police arriving and these people running for their lives! It was hilarious seeing them pack and run as fast as they could. Of course, I am not making fun of them. The scene itself is just so funny... I saw this unlucky guy though. He didn't realise the police had arrived and he continued to pester the tourists. So he was "NABBED" and PULLED right into the policecar with all his bags, sunglasses, jewellery still in his hands... Poor Guy~~ Seeing their fellow being caught, the expressions on those uncaught blacks were saddening. I guess they must be saying their prayers to GOD that they escaped.

The Dome-like structure from afar!
Castle Sant Angelo is boring. :(

Going up..
Various Views from the Castle...

Ponte Sant Angelo (Bridge)

Panoramic View from Castle Tower



The Castle tower from below... Where all the above pictures are produced. haha.. All the "Nothing-to-do" pIctures...


Castle Sant Angelo from Ponte Sant Angelo~
Reminds me of Charles Bridge where you see all the statues on the bridge...
In the evening, headed to Piazza Navona followed by the famous Trevi Fountain..... :) These two places landed me in a state where I felt I was loss for words if I had to tell someone about it...

Let's talk about P.Navona first. It's just a huge square with tons of fountains and of course lots of street vendors doing portraits. It's beautiful ~~ I wanted to get one too but it's way too expensive. It's 40 EUR. I thought to myself, this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That's how I can remember how I looked like when I was in Italy in 2008 at the age of 21. :)After much struggle, I still didn't do it :( Anyway, it feels great to be there. I love the scene... Though we weren't doing anything much, just walking around felt awesome.... Even now as I recall it, I'd still smile.

We were trying to get the person beside us with the Camera to let us take a picture. Who knows the supposed photographer that we asked for help captured this image. HILARIOUS.

This is very very hilarious. You guys must watch it till the end!!


Want your portrait?
Drawing in progress....
Look at what these Italians can do~~
10-year old boy playing the violin as a means of survival.
Trevi Fountain is just.....beyond description......You have to be there yourself and look at it honestly... There were so many people, couples young and old alike, families, solo travellers etc at the fountain. We figured out that it will look more beautiful at night with the lights that's why we decided to go there at night. However, getting good pictures was a difficult task. Like Colosseum, it's another attraction which I HIGHLY recommend everyone to go at least once in their lifetime. But rumours are that everyone will go to Trevi Fountain more than once. Why? Because wishes made at the fountain will come true for sure and you will have to head back for thanksgiving... :) I made my wish of course but whether it will come true, I am not certain. Wait till it comes true and I will let you know.. :)
TREVI FOUNTAIN!
Yvonne and I trying to get a good background or rather picture of the Trevi Fountain


See the amount of people hanging around there!!
Amazing Video~


People playing music by the streets of the Trevi Fountain. Time check: 21:45 hours.

We spent exactly 12 hours out from the hostel that day.... So instead of walking back, we took a bus back... haha.. But our day didn't end just yet. After a hot shower, headed down to the bar and met new friends once again... At around 1.30a.m, we headed to this piazza in Rome which is famous for its night scene. The amount of people you see will freak you off.... Everyone was idling around, either with musical instruments like harmonica, guitar etc or beers. Of course, you can get "drugs" there too! haha...No doubt it was an eye-opener for me... But don't ever try going there by yourself without any locals. I can't guarantee your safety. :)

The Pantheon which I missed out...

Ciaoz~ Bella Rome~

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