Rome 2014

We spent 2 nights of our Europe trip in Rome! We have heard so much of beautiful Rome, it was a joy to be able to experience it first hand! A visit to Rome so often involves learning about the city's ancient past and Roman heritage, with its archaeological sites and landmarks being amongst the world's most impressive and important, offering a real insight into the events that took place here some 2,000 years ago!!

We dropped off our luggages and headed straight out to do some touristy stuff! (:

My sister is the best with maps. We relied on GPS for the whole trip and Zonia took good care of bringing us around! 

We went to the famous Fountain of Love, Trevi Fountain. It was spectacular!! There were so many people the time we were there, so it was hard to get good shots. 

And before we left, we all threw a coin!! The precise legend of the Trevi Fountain says you should stand with your back to the fountain and toss a coin over your left shoulder to guarantee a return trip to Rome!! Must throw!! (: 

I saw pictures of The Pantheon at night, if i were to visit Rome again, I would go back in the night cause the lit up Pantheon looks really grand!!

My parents with The Pantheon! The Pantheon in Rome has occupied its present location for nearly 2000 years. It was originally designed in 27 B.C. as a pagan temple for all twelve Roman deities; supernatural and immortal beings!

There were too many places to choose from for dinner. They all looked good and we settled for pizza and pasta! (:

Everything was good. In fact we haven't had a lousy pasta in Europe! I am a big fan of pasta, pizza and cheese. So I haven't got sick of them! :D

We walked a little more before heading back to the hotel for an early night for a long day of sightseeing the next morning. We were very lucky to be able to catch sunset in Rome!!!!!! It was beautiful, the skies were pink, blue and orange. No edits!!

Day 2 in Rome, let's go!! We took the tours for the day with Trafalgar cause transport would be a hassle if we were to go ourselves.

Started the morning tour with Michelangelo Square.

The Sistine Chapel is a large and renowned chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City. 

Sooooo beautiful!!! We walked with our heads lifted against the ceilings to appreciate Michelangelo's works!

St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilgrimage, for its liturgical functions. Because of its location in the Vatican, the Pope presides at a number of services throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Vatican Basilica, or in St. Peter's Square.

We broke up to settle for our own lunches. This was one of the shag moments cause we were only given an hour odd for lunch and assemble back to move on to the next place. 

More pizza again. This is margarita pizza. It's always the cheapest on the menu cause it's cause tomatoes and cheese but it's so good!!! My Mom, Zonia and I are just contented with this pizza.

And we ordered a Tortellini‎ to share. It's my first time trying stuffed pasta. Always afraid that the flour would be too thick. But this was good!!!

It was Colosseum after lunch! Seen so much, heard so much of Colosseum and couldn't believe it's my turn!! The skies were so beautiful, there wasn't a need to edit the photos!! 

Able to accommodate audiences of more than 50,000, the Colosseum staged many enormous events for more than 100 years, including classic chariot races, gladiator combats and fights with wild animals, which are known to have featured bears, lions, panthers and tigers. 

Earthquake damage paid its toll on the structure and it slowly fell into disrepair over the centuries to follow. In the 14th century, the site had become something of a quarry, with huge chunks of travertine being used to build the Palazzo Venezia. Soon after, Pope Benedict XIV decreed that the remains should become a sacred place, to pay tribute to the considerable blood shed here during the past battles.

After a long day of visiting, it was our free and easy time in the evening. We took a cab down to the factory outlet, McArthur Glen Designer Outlet, which was an hour away. Totally regretted going cause it was really far away, the cab was expensive and we got cheated on the way back to the hotel. We spent S$120 just on the cab fares to and fro! 

There wasn't much food choices at the factory outlet so we ended up with expensive Burger King. Fast food is not cheap in Rome. Whatever price we pay here in Singapore, it's the same price in Rome. That is before the conversion rate.

So here was what I got...

Some accessories from Ferragamo..

And my Ray Ban shades!! Finally!! It's cheaper than what we pay in Singapore by about S$50 and there is 20% VAT rebate if i didn't remember wrongly. 

Besides branded stuff, there is also a huge H&M. So I was saying we got cheated on the way back. So after a tiring hour of ride back to our hotel. Zonia took out a 50euro note to pay for the driver. Then the guy switched on the lights and showed that we only paid a 10euro note. The color of the notes were pretty similar so even though Zonia was sure that she paid 50euro, we passed him another 50euro note.

After we got back to the hotel, Zonia still insisted that she paid a 50euro at first and that she did not have any crumpled 10euro bill in her wallet from the beginning. She counted and recounted her money and we retabulated her spendings. So we concluded that we were cheated by the driver. The driver looked pretty crooked-looking and he had strong alcohol breath, but we were left with only taxi transport as all the other bus services were over. Cause he looked pretty crooked, we didn't dare to "offend" him by saying anything more. 

We then read online that many tourists got cheated the same way. These drivers are professionals in switching notes! So if you are heading there, please be very very careful. Especially at nights, get the driver to switch on the lights before you pay. And if you are certain you gave the right note, insist all the way. 

Everything about Rome was great, but this experience freaked us out quite a bit. And because of this incident, Rome is not one of the countries which Zonia likes and will visit again. So there, it's Rome for you.