For the last leg of our Europe Trip, we sure do walk a lot. We visited the Vatican on the last day in Rome. As mentioned, we pre-purchase the Vatican entrance ticket due to the infamous complaints that the queue is very long. We left our luggage at the hotel when we checked out. For lunch, I and Su manage to bring along the rice and chicken from yesterday as packed lunch. CB and Dila decided to buy from the vendors at Vatican.

We get to Vatican by using the Metro in Rome. We disembark at the nearest station to the Vatican. From here, we walk. Don’t worry, you won’t get lost since you only have to follow the crowd. Vatican is easily distinguish by the tall Vatican walls.

At the first sight of the wall, we can see the famous queue line. We proceed on the right lane, straight to the Vatican entrance where they indicate passage for E-ticket. Our queue doesn’t take long, about 5 minutes or so. Inside, our e-ticket was converted to the museum pass at the counter. Prior entering, there will be an X-ray scanner. Foods are off limits so we left our food at the counter to be picked up later.

First, we enter the Vatican museum. Queues are long here because we merged with everyone else, so be patient. It was so crowded. The musei is very big and some places, there is only one way traffic. So, you have to follow the crowds.

We are quite unlucky to be stucked behind a huge tour group that stopped at every map in the Map Room. By the way, map room is my favourite room in the Vatican. We see many artifacts from other civilization including a real mummy! We have splitted – CB went with Dila and Su and I are together. There is no chance of getting lost because each room at the Vatican musei will direct towards the Sistine Chapel.

I can summarized my experience in Vatican museum as being in a sardine can. Packed and crowded. There is no chance for you to stop to look at pieces a little longer. It was uncomfortable. We did not enjoy ourselves here as we enjoy being in the Lourve.

We finally regrouped and headed towards the Sistine Chapel. In here, there are no photographs allowed. Sistine Chapel is beautifully preserved. There is a lot of people lingering in here, I guess to rest their feet a little bit. We then go out of the musei and walked to the St Peter’s square. Basically Rome and Vatican are made famous by the book adaptation movie, Demons and Angels. I think there might be some service that morning because the square are filled with empty chairs. We intended to go inside the St Peter’s Basilica, but looking at the crowd and the long lasting line, we chickened out.

We basically go out the Vatican and seat under the tree to have some lunch. We then walked together and head back to our hotel. The owner was kind enough to keep our bags. We pick up the luggage and proceed to Roma Termini to board the airport bus. We know realize that this is the end of our magical trip. There were mixed feelings – we are tired, sad, accomplished and happy at the same time.

At Roma Termini, we went to the Terravision counter to buy the shuttle ticket to the Fiumicino Airport. In Rome, there is 2 airports – Fiumicino and Leonardo Da Vinci. Be careful when you buy tickets. We board the bus and head to the airport. After checking in, we manage to pray at the Multi-faith Prayer’s Room at the airport. We grabbed some snacks while waiting for our delayed flight to Paris.

After 3 hours flight – we sleep all the way due to exhaustion, we arrived at Orly. I called our hotel in Orly to pick us up. Kat sini la kitorang belajar guna public phone untuk dial local number. Setelah 2 kali cuba akhirnya Berjaya jugak.

 

Our bunk bed

The hotel’s shuttle was efficient. They have a big van and the hotel is just 15 minutes away (the hotel transfer is free). Checking in, the hotel was as depicted in the website. The decors are new, it was very spacious and very clean too! CB and Dila decided to sleep and packed in the morning while Su and I packed it that night. After packing, we sleep peacefully.

We have a full day for this 2 days. Today, we are having a self-walking tour starting from Colloseum to the Piazza Navona. As usual, Google Street is my BFF. I made my own map. We started the day by queueing for the Colloseo, thanks to the pre-paid ticket. Colloseo is build in the 70AD as part of the entertainment facilities for the Romans. It is most famous for its utilization as a stage for gladiators – they have a dungeon and underground pathway where they keep the animals for the gladiator’s battle before it was partially destroyed by the earthquake.

The Metro station of Colloseo is very close to the ancient site. There are a lot of gladiators hanging around the area for some paid photography session. We don’t take interest in them. It was a long queue even with the prepaid tickets. But when we get inside, the crowd subsides and we enter pretty much very easily. The area of Colloseum opened for the general public is the 1^st and 2^nd Floor. To access the underground, you need a special pass that can be purchased. We 1^st enter the 1^st floor to go around this great amphitheater. It was huge and below, we can see the structures or part of hypogeum of underground tunnels. Back on its glorious days, the arena and the underground tunnels were separated by a wooden floor.

It is amazing on how people in the ancient world are capable of building a place that can fit thousand of people. They do not have cranes or any other modern technology for this. It is interesting of how the decision on arches, beams, its own configuration affects the stability and durability of the amphitheater.

We did not take an audio guide, but we follow closely some tour groups to listen on some facts about the colloseum. It can be done for tour guide that ‘project’ their voice to the crowd instead of using a radio comm.

Okay, ini satu tips. Kalau nak follow kumpulan tour ni, janganlah obvious sangat pulak. Dalam tu ada banyak tour group. Sambil rehat, boleh la dengar explaination dari tour guide yang ada kat sekeliling kita.

On the 2^nd floor, there is some exhibition about the colloseum – the history, the tools, the methods etc. The view from up here is not bad either. The stairs of the colloseum is high, I mean one step is like the height from my feet to my knee. For me, it is good to read on the place you are going whether before or during the visit. Know the place, the basic history and treat it with awe and respect it deserves not just as an Instagram-worthy piece.

We then exited the Colloseum and passed the Arch of Constantine to go to the Roman Forum. Roman Forum entry is included with your colloseum tickets. Here, you can see the ruins of temples, buildings and basically some proof of civilization around the amphitheater. It is amazing to walk on the same road that existed thousand years ago. From uphill, you can see this is a city, with markets, temples, complex just like a city today.

We planned to stop the tour here and resume after lunch, but we eventually decided to go through everything and then go for lunch. So, I have to improvised without getting lost. This was bearable because the next place is Piazza Venezia, which home of the National Monument that can be seen from the Forum. I read somewhere there is a major road from colloseum to the piazza. Later I found out it was called Via dei Fori Imperiali. Via in Italian means road.

We followed the traffic and we arrived at Piazza Venezia. We went up to take a closer look of the National Monument. Guards was readily guarding the monument and the tomb. Then, we proceed to the walking tour. It is easy because the original plan actually starts at the Piazza.

Here, we will venture on the famous Via del Corso a.k.a the tourist road. This is an ancient main road that connects to all major attractions in Rome. First, we walked to the Pantheon. Along the way, we did find some ancient basilica which I later identified as San Marcello al Corso. An old building smack in the middle of shops.

Before reaching Pantheon, we decided that we will have lunch. So we enter a local tavern near the Pantheon and have lunch. This is our only experience in having pasta in Italy. Price was good, portion was very generous. I accidentally asked CB to ordered Salami – which is beef/pork based – we cannot eat those. You don’t know how sorry I am back then. Sorry CB!

Okay, ini kelakar. Masa order, CB nak sangat makan pizza tapi dia dah bosan makan margharitte pizza. Jadi, Nadia pun dengan selamba, eh makanlah salami. Rasanya salami ni dari salmon. Dia pun order. Sampai2 tengok rupanya salami ni daripada beef/pork. Alamak!!!!! Kesian CB tak makan. Kitorang share pasta dengan dia. Cerita ni, sampai balik Nadia kena bahan – sampai sekarang. Tapi betul OK, salami tu ada buat dari salmon. Haaa.

There were a lot of souvenir shops in the alley, we went in to buy some souvenirs. I bought the magnets and t-shirt for my Dad. We arrived at the Pantheon. There were modern gladiators outside coercing tourist for some photos. Since we have a pizza mishap earlier, CB packed the food and actually gave it out to the gladiators we met. Gladiators were happy and hungry too. We went inside the Pantheon and if you notice, every basilica or building in Rome will have the oculus. Oculus is the hole in the middle of the dome. It certainly give a mystic look added to the place.

Pantheon was a bit crowded and we didn’t spent too much time there. We continue our journey to the Piazza Navona, home of the famous Bernini’s Fountain of Four Rivers. Okay, I was heavily influenced by the Demons and Angels story. Okay? The fountain depicts four river Gods sculptures with an obelisk.

 Navigating through the streets of Rome is easy and it was pleasant. Piazza Navona is huge. We took photos of the fountain and Pamphili Place which is the Brazillian Embassy. Here, we venture out some food hunt – the famous Trescalini gelato. I have been reading everywhere that suggest this is the best place for gelato. I have been eating gelato since I arrived in Italy and I must say, it taste a bit better with trescalini.

We end our journey here. We walked for 20m and board the public bus to the metro station. I was being warned by several sites not to take the famous tourist bus – don’t remember what number, because it was the center of pickpocket. So, I comply and board a normal Roman day-to-day bus. We arrived at the hotel and rest for the noon.

At the evening, Dila convinces me to go to the Spanish Step for some window shopping. CB choose not to follow so she can rest at the hotel. So, me, Su and Dila ended up having our own little adventure. We have a stroll along the alleys and went in several shops. We even got to watch several street performances. In the end, no one buys anything and we went back to the hotel.

We checked out and carry our bag through the bridges in Venice. The highest one was opposite Santa Lucia. Flight of stairs is our enemy. We are travelling to the Ancient City of Rome, home of the Gladiators. We are travelling by the fast train! This train is called Frecciargento. We board the train and due to my dysfunction brain, I accidentally booked a side by side instead of a face to face seat.

They only checked your tickets half way through the journey. Just show the printed ticket. This train has many stops but we are travelling to the last stop which is Roma Termini. I slept most of the time during the 3 hours ride. The train travels for 530 km between 180-220km/h. There is an American couple seated in front of us. They disembarked at Firenze and came along a tall and handsome Italian guy who seats in front of me.

I was mesmerized and I blushed. My my my, what a gorgeous homme! Looking at the book he is reading, he is a medical student (he’s reading Anatomy book). Smart and handsome, a killer combo. Well, my needs for sleeping overpower the need to stare at his face. So I slept all the way. Until today, Su, CB and Dila wont stop picking on me because of this train guy. Oh come on, I deserve a train-fling-ish.

Hensemnya orang Itali ni. Nadia dengan Dila sibuk duk puji2 mamat ni dalam BM. Takkanlah nak langut muka dia je. Kantoi lah weh.

He disembarked at Tributina and we continued to Roma Termini. Arriving there, the first thing I did was buying the Metro pass for 3 days. It costs cheaper than Paris’s Metro. We board the train towards our B&B. Then, we met with our enemy- stairs. We found our hotel instantly and checked in. Our host was very kind that he provides a map with directions to every place. Our room was spacious for 4 people. But, the A/C was broken. Thank God it was Spring, not Summer.

We buy our lunch at the opposite block, a Halal place called Kin’s Fried Chicken. It was good. We managed to bring along instant white rice that we bought in Nice. After that, we went to the first place which is the amazing Trevi Fountain.

Yes, we are so lucky because right after we came home from Europe, there is a major restoration work on the famous fountain and travelers were left devastated. We travelled via train and walked to the fountain. There was crowd but we managed to go up front. The fountain was huge and it was beautiful. The sculpture are perfect!

This fountain has a myth where if you throw a coin inside, your wish for love will be granted. I did throw anything. Khurafaaaat wei, konon nak wish love untuk mamat train tadilah.  The weather that evening was nice for strolling. Throughout Rome streets, they were performers, illegal street vendors. From the fountain we head back to the Spanish steps, also nearby. Again, Google Street helps me for this walking tour.

A lot of people here at the Spanish steps. I am so sorry, I could not appreciate the steps because of the large crowds hanging around. We then proceed to a chateau on the hill behind the Metro Station. Unfortunately, we cannot get in due to a private function. Instead, we are so lucky that this spontaneous act actually bring us to a beautiful lookout point. From here, we can see Rome. I can even see the dome of several Basilica. I googled this place and it was called Villa Medici.

We then went back to the hotel with me eating the Kin’s Fried Chicken Again.