Scene 12 - 1st July
Although the setting of this scene is the Eternal City, Rome, we actually will be spending very little time in Rome, per se. Simple reason. Rome is far away from Geneva. Just to get to Rome, we have to take a train early in the morning from Geneva, travel through the Alps to Milan, where we will change train to complete the next leg of our journey to Rome.
So much for "All roads lead to Rome".
When I wake up we're nearly in Milan. So much for seeing the beautiful scenery of the Alps in the North on the way from Geneva to Milan. Apparently, though, there was beautiful scenery along the way.
Just that its impossible to see it from behind closed eyelids. When I actually do see something beautiful, I excitedly call out to the rest of my party; but clearly they had been seeing sights of that sort for the most part of the time I was sleeping. Shame.
There is nothing special about changing in Milan; apart from the fact that Hey! I've been to Milan. And there isn't really anything special about that. Apparently the cities to visit in Italy are Rome, Venice and Florence. So big deal.
On the plus side, on the way from Milan to Rome, we pass by Florence.
We have finally reached Rome after about half a day on train; at 3pm. Its not that the trains are slow - its just that the distances are huge. Half a day on the train probably could get you up to Thailand from Singapore. At least the southern part.
Nevertheless, I know basic instructions on how to get to the hostel, but don't have a map. At long last, we find the elusive information counter; whose operator is very helpful and gives Gobi a map.
During this major search for a map, which took the better part of half an hour, I had queued in the wrong queue once, and nearly (in my opinion) been a victim of a pickpocketing syndicate identical to that which hit my family those many years ago at this very station - Termini.
Fortunately acting stupid and blur and dumb helps a lot in this situation. When in Rome eh?
Haha that's a joke.
Anyway, we finally get down on the subway station (finding the subway station was in fact a challenge) Ottaviano to walk to our hostel. Ottaviano is, incidently the same station that people get down to see the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum and St Peter's Basillica. Shows you the centrality.
We know the address of the hostel; and so we are searching for the hostel. Before we know it we have passed by the hostel without realising it, so we double back and find this strange building that looks nothing like a hostel. Apparently its a commercial building and the hostel is on the 5th floor.
Super dodgy, it seems. Plus when we get in, the elevator is one of those rickety old fashioned types whose doors you need to close. Funny how we do not appreciate the simple pleasures of life like the automatic lift door.
So we walk up 5 floors of steps. Wouldn't actually have minded this walk; but considering that we are lugging around our huge backpacks and frontpacks, these steps are a little bothersome.
When we reach the top - the 5th floor where the hostel is located; we almost miss the hostel yet again. But there is a tiny very missable sign at the doorway suggesting that behind this door lies the Happy Days Hostel.
Everything changes when we get in.
The guy is really helpful; he tells us where to eat, where to buy food, gives us a couple of useful Rome maps as well as teaches us about the workings of the hostel. Which, as we had realised just a couple of moments earlier, doesn't work like most other hostels.
We dump our bags in the room - there is no key, but there is a lockable cabinet which has a giant hole. Just means that probably the stuff that we really cannot afford to lose; we have to bring along around Rome. Which, has been sold up till now as one of the most dangerous places on our itinerary. Perhaps with the exception of Prague.
Its not a big deal, though, because we all have taken excessive precautions to safeguard our belongings.
There is still daylight, and the best part is that there is not TOO much daylight. The sun is setting so I take the guys to see the Rome that I saw. Unfortunately, I don't know the story behind most of the places that are actually tourist attractions such as the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. All I know is that the former is a popular tourist destination and the latter is actually probably the most famous fountain in the world.
I'm not disappointed - these places are most definitely packed with tourists. A huge plus point of the Spanish Steps is that there are many sights there for Eugene. So much so that he doesn't even take a photo of the steps themselves. Fortunately, I do.
I honestly believe that Italian girls are very pretty. Gobi agrees as far as he wants a half Italian, half French girl who's athletic and works at CERN. I doubt he realises that he actually just described a female Jean Maillard.
Anyway, after that we make the small walk down to Barberini and then the Trevi Fountain. As I said earlier, I have no idea what the significance of the Trevi Fountain is, but I do know that its beautiful aesthetically. Unfortunately, aesthetic beauty counts for little among my travel companions; and honestly speaking isn't one of my highest priorities in life anyway.
We actually get lost on the way from the Trevi Fountain to St Maria Maggiore. Then I remember that the exact same thing happened the last time out. And we actually end up in the exact same place that my family had ended up in the last time we were in Rome.
I had figured that last on the itinerary for today would be St Maria Maggiore Basillica because it ought to be open longer than any place else. Turns out to be a really stupid assumption.
St Mary's is closed and we can't go in. Then I realised that perhaps churches do close. After all St Francis Xavier of S'goon Gardens closes at 10pm. It is 9pm now, even though the sun is still setting.
We sit along the steps of the Basillica waiting to see if either Lase or Eugene bursts into flames upon contact with the church grounds. Boringly, they don't.
On our way back, we stop by for ice cream. I remember from my previous trip to Rome that we had lived on Ice Cream and Pizza. So I finally satisfy my craving by going for a Gelato. It is quite dumb on a scorchingly hot summer day to wait till the sun had completely set before actually having a gelato; perhaps a possible rationalisation would be that we didn't want to have melted ice cream.
Its our first time in Gelato-ville; so naturally we take some time to decide. Apparently Italian Gelato Sellers don't like it when you take too long to decide what Ice Cream to have. I mean, we Singaporeans are very careful about what food we pick, so we take our time to decide what to have; but apparently the sentiment in Italy is "Its just ICE CREAM! Get on with it!". So as I go "Chocolate (my only certain choice), ehhhh........" the girl behind the counter interrupts me with "what's up doc?".
Best part: I don't realise what she had meant by that until very much later.
We finally make it back to our dodgy yet friendly Happy Days Hostel in one piece.
Scene 13 - 2nd July
I rank the most impressive attractions of Rome as follows: St Peter's, Trevi Fountain, and the Colloseum. Perhaps, purely for being such an old structure, the Colloseum is the attraction that most interests Lase. Also add into that consideration that I have never been inot the Colloseum.
The last time I was at Rome, we skipped the Colloseum Tour because there were 5 of us; and it was way too expensive. Now, there is only one of me that I am paying for, and the Euro has sunk to depths that are shockingly low; so technically it is much cheaper. Thank you Greece.
For Geographical reasons, as well as the fact that we had missed the St Mary Major's Basillica visit yesterday, our first stop today is St Giovanni Laterano (St John's Basillica). The choice was one of the three major basillicas that weren't St Pietro's, and we had 'visited' St Mary Major's; so St John's was the natural choice.
I had told them that we could afford to miss out on the churches of London i.e. St Paul's which had a 10GBP entrance fee. I'm proven right, just by virtue of St Giovanni Laterano, it seems.
A simple walk down a street from St Giovanni Laterano later, and we're looking at one of the most iconic monuments of Rome. The Pizzeria. And of course the Colloseum. The pizzeria's on the side are fiercely competing for business so we decide to go to one of them for our lunch.
We're hungry so we have to have pizza before the Colloseum. I actually find that with the free-falling Euro, lasagna is actually affordable, so I have that instead. Besides, Pizza was getting kinda boring.
After filling up our stomachs with the food; which we had to wait forever to come; we walk down to the Colloseum. Outside we see ticket touts selling tickets in plain sight of policemen; and inside we see a couple who had apparently just bought one of these tickets and were being refused entry into the Colloseum.
Luckily, when the ticket touts approached us to sell their wares, we had done the most sensible thing - act dumb. 2 Indians and a Chinese guy can easily act like they do not understand English, so its not too hard.
Unfortunately I do not have a photo of these ticket touts, just as I do not have a photo of the guy who attempted to pickpocket Eugene in Geneva or the guy who attempted (perhaps) to pick my pocket at Termini yesterday.
As for whether the visit to the Colloseum is worth it, I could just say that its probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not really worth a second visit. Unlike the Basillicas.
The English-speaking guide whom we paid an extra 4 Euros for wasn't really an English speaker; so understanding her wasn't the easiest thing in the world. I'll actually say that I only managed to get 80% of what she said. Ah well.
The colloseum ticket entitles us to visit the Roman forum opposite. Probably a marketing strategy - bundle pricing - since nobody actually would want to visit the Roman forum otherwise. Since we had paid for it, and being Asian (or Asian-inside) we try to find the entrance for the Roman forum.
After 15 min of walking we perhaps begin to realise why people don't visit the Roman forum - we couldn't find the entrance. We actually do successfully walk around it and in fact manage to find a church much like the millions of others in Rome.
Ultimately we give up on the Roman Forum because perhaps its already in ruins. To complete the Old Rome tour, we walk towards the Pantheon. Incidentally I know the story (partially) of the Pantheon. So along the way from the unknown church to the Pantheon I tell the story of how this ancient Roman temple had been converted into a Catholic Church quite early on; and hence is probably one of the oldest churches in the world, as well as being one of the best preserved ancient Roman buildings. I also tell a few other facts about the Pantheon such as it having a 'sun roof' as well as a huge dome (biggest in the world). I also re-explain the significance of the Dome as a representation of the Heaven's whole and unending coverage of the earth.\
When we do reach the Pantheon, its partially under renovation, but that's not a big deal because we still go in.
Chilling outside the Pantheon we hear news from a little eatery that Brazil has just lost to Holland. I cheer because I had been supporting the Dutch whereas Gobi had turned allegiance to join me in supporting the Dutch despite having started the tournament cheering on Brazil.
Gobi never believed me when I told him that European football could actually counter the Mat-Style South American Football. Perhaps he had been fooled into thinking that the English Soccer team actually played European football. Perhaps he had been fooled to think that the English Soccer team actually played any sort of style of soccer.
Nevertheless, when we get to the Piazza Venezia, which was the intended final stop on the itinerary, we notice a Brazillian flag. Clearly they haven't heard the news for the flag is flying at full mast.
I have a feeling that seeing Rome in such recent history has made it not a novel experience, and hence accounts of Rome will tend to be shorter, it seems. We'll see.
But so far, Rome trumps Paris. And Rome has improved tremendously from the last time I visited. If only I can remember when that was.
There is a girl from Sao Paulo who is dorm-mates with us.
But when I say, "Sorry about what happened..." she doesn't get it and I think she figures that I have done something horrible to something of hers or such. Ah well.
Scene 14 - 3rd July
For the past few days I've been selling myself as well as my travel mates on the idea of Tivoli and more importantly Villa D'Este. I had remembered that the last time I was in Italy, this was one of the things that I enjoyed most. And my family enjoyed it too. Plus it would be a great day away from Rome City Center with its business and its heat. Scorching heat, mind you.
I messaged home a few nights back and asked if it was a good idea; and I got a postive reply. Furthermore, my mum said that it would be a good idea to take a day tour there. Upon checking the price of the tour, it seemed way too much. Besides we would be paying for a guide that we didn't really need. Because there is me!
I ought to point out here that I am not the most qualified guide in the world. Perhaps Wiki is a better guide. Unfortunately, Wiki is not portable; and hence we have to make do with the below-par guide that is me.
I mean, I still could tell you that the Tivoli Gardens of Rome is a good distance out of Rome; perhaps a little less than an hour by train.
And that its real name is Villa D'Este. And that its near Hadrian's Villa. And that the view from it was magnificent.
Side note, we had wanted to go to Hadrian's Villa too, but I think that it was a little harder to book.
Also, and more importantly I could tell you that the fountains of the Tivoli Gardens (and there are almost too many of them) were powered solely by gravity.
(tilt your head cos i'm too lazy to change this... urgh..)
And that there are "illusion" paintings on the walls and ceilings of the Villa itself.
Chilling at the Gardens is peaceful and relaxing. There aren't many people there, unlike most of the other attractions of Rome or Paris where the queues to enter would be an attraction in themselves. Perhaps its got to do with the fact that it is so far out of town and most people wouldn't want to make the long trip down to Tivoli.
A few things I didn't know about the Tivoli Gardens.
1. You could have fun with the fountains
2. There are cooling rooms/caves behinds the Organ fountain. Basically these rooms are just shaded with a fountain. Heat absorbtion due to the evaporation of water then does a fabulous job in cooling the room. On a hot summers day in Rome, this room was a sanctuary and I would have stayed much longer in the room had I found it earlier and if there wasn't an "organ fountain recital" going on.
3. The organ fountain recital is SOO not worth waiting till 4.30pm and bravely putting ourselves at the mercy of the overcast sky for.
4. You can take wonderful shots of the fountains instead during that time.
The sky is overcast as we walk back from the Tivoli Gardens. We decide to make a break for the train station and brave the rain. The wind was almost ripping my cap off; and more than one umbrella along the way was turned inside out.
We cross this bridge. Note that the lady in front is using an umbrella. That's because its raining where she's at. Its not long before we are where she is; and are getting drenched in a thunderstorm. Eugene takes a shot of the river
even as he is getting drenched. His camera is water proof so its okay for him to risk the torrential rain. Still I'm not waterproof (well figuratively so) and we are all electrically conducting, so I urge him to run on faster till the next shelter.
We stop for shelter under a tree before we realise its a pretty stupid idea to stop under a tree during a thunderstorm. We have two raincoats; but we're pretty much already drenched so a raincoat is pretty much useless.
Nevertheless I think that we can stop at the next building so that I can properly put on my raincoat to protect my electronic equipment.
We do that; but it turns out that the next building that we stop by is the Railway Station.
Its still early on this Saturday night; we actually have energy after drying off our drenched selves. We have seen most of Rome which we had originally wanted to see, save St Peter's; so we decide to walk down to St Peter's to see it at night. We will be going there tomorrow, and hopefully I will be able to attend mass there too.
Scene 15 - 4th July
4th July! American Independence Day! The Americans who were staying with us came back very late last night, probably only Larsson slept straight through it. I wonder if any Singaporean would ever bother celebrating National Day by partying through the night on 8th August. Maybe in a couple of hundred years at best.
Today's plan, in any case, is to visit the Vatican City. The original plan was that I go for Mass at St Peter's while the rest visit the Sistine Chapel. It turns out that some of our dorm-mates (Canadian) told us a little about the Vatican Museum. It turns out that the Sistine Chapel is probably the only thing that we felt was worth seeing at the Museum; and considering that it was 15 Euros to enter, we realised that perhaps its just better to check out Wiki for pictures.
After all, we'd seen the Louvre.
When we reach St Peters, though, we realise that saving the Vatican for Sunday perhaps wasn't the best plan available. Firstly, its pretty crowded. By pretty crowded, I mean that the queue to enter was actually longer than that outside the Eiffel Tower. However, perhaps purely by virtue of the fact that there aren't any tickets to enter the Vatican, the queue to enter St Peter's clears relatively quickly.
Second problem: I had wanted to attend the mass at St Peters. But the queue we are standing in is not for the Basillica. It is for the cupola. So I decide to attend a later service, and go up the cupola first. I had earlier told Gobi, Lase and Eugene that if there was anything worth it at St Peter's, it was this. Of course, the church itself is amazing.
Up comes then the usual argument on why the Catholic Church as a religious organisation would be so elaborate and decorative about its churches. I state my opinion that perhaps being a church that is supposed to reflect the grandeur of Heaven and God, perhaps the best Man can do is build a gold ceiling or a couple of hundred statues and marble floors etc.
Anyway, that argument aside, we climb up the cupola. Gobi is fascinated because I think he didn't understand my warning about how the walls of the stairwell slant. The rest of the unfit travellers hadn't understood how much of a workout climbing up to the top would be. I knew; and I knew the view would be worth it.
However, the scorching heat of the sun just HAD to come to play again. The best view was found at the side of the church which happened to directly face the sun; so naturally nobody could afford to appreciate the beauty. Somehow one's perception of surrounding beauty is severely affected by the conditions one is in.
Once we finally take the long staircase down again, we try to get into the church. However, here comes the 3rd and final problem of visiting St Peter's on a Sunday - they closed up sections for the mass.
So the only way to see the inside of the church was, then, to attend an Italian Roman Catholic Mass. To me, of course, its not a problem at all, since I had already attended the French Roman Catholic Mass in Notre-Dame last week. On the other hand, Gobi and Eugene and Lase aren't Catholic but they attend the mass with me. Perhaps its worth their time because the mass was pretty special - I mean come on, mass at the Vatican. The choir is a guest choir from America and they do put up quite a show.
More importantly I get to show my travelmates what I wanted to show - the burial place of St Peter. Obviously, being the most sacred place in Roman Catholicism, its not possible to go down there. But its good to at least see where it is.
Pictures during the mass, of course is forbidden so there would be none to showcase here. On the other hand, pictures AFTER the mass...
Maybe they saw the light at the end of the day.
The sunshine would be very good for a shot like that; but its not good to walk around in. We run back to seek sanctuary at our Wifi-equipped hostel room. Unfortunately they're still cleaning the room. So I sit on the steps while Gobi and Eugene decide to play with the archaic elevator by repeatedly going up and down. After some time we all get bored doing what we were doing and start to play cards on the steps.
When the rooms are cleared, I'm just too tired to go out any further; while the others want to do some souvenir shopping. Finally a respite before Venice. This holiday is starting to get a wee bit taxing.
Onward to Venezia then.
Although the setting of this scene is the Eternal City, Rome, we actually will be spending very little time in Rome, per se. Simple reason. Rome is far away from Geneva. Just to get to Rome, we have to take a train early in the morning from Geneva, travel through the Alps to Milan, where we will change train to complete the next leg of our journey to Rome.
So much for "All roads lead to Rome".
When I wake up we're nearly in Milan. So much for seeing the beautiful scenery of the Alps in the North on the way from Geneva to Milan. Apparently, though, there was beautiful scenery along the way.
Just that its impossible to see it from behind closed eyelids. When I actually do see something beautiful, I excitedly call out to the rest of my party; but clearly they had been seeing sights of that sort for the most part of the time I was sleeping. Shame.
There is nothing special about changing in Milan; apart from the fact that Hey! I've been to Milan. And there isn't really anything special about that. Apparently the cities to visit in Italy are Rome, Venice and Florence. So big deal.
On the plus side, on the way from Milan to Rome, we pass by Florence.
We have finally reached Rome after about half a day on train; at 3pm. Its not that the trains are slow - its just that the distances are huge. Half a day on the train probably could get you up to Thailand from Singapore. At least the southern part.
Nevertheless, I know basic instructions on how to get to the hostel, but don't have a map. At long last, we find the elusive information counter; whose operator is very helpful and gives Gobi a map.
During this major search for a map, which took the better part of half an hour, I had queued in the wrong queue once, and nearly (in my opinion) been a victim of a pickpocketing syndicate identical to that which hit my family those many years ago at this very station - Termini.
Fortunately acting stupid and blur and dumb helps a lot in this situation. When in Rome eh?
Haha that's a joke.
Anyway, we finally get down on the subway station (finding the subway station was in fact a challenge) Ottaviano to walk to our hostel. Ottaviano is, incidently the same station that people get down to see the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum and St Peter's Basillica. Shows you the centrality.
We know the address of the hostel; and so we are searching for the hostel. Before we know it we have passed by the hostel without realising it, so we double back and find this strange building that looks nothing like a hostel. Apparently its a commercial building and the hostel is on the 5th floor.
Super dodgy, it seems. Plus when we get in, the elevator is one of those rickety old fashioned types whose doors you need to close. Funny how we do not appreciate the simple pleasures of life like the automatic lift door.
So we walk up 5 floors of steps. Wouldn't actually have minded this walk; but considering that we are lugging around our huge backpacks and frontpacks, these steps are a little bothersome.
When we reach the top - the 5th floor where the hostel is located; we almost miss the hostel yet again. But there is a tiny very missable sign at the doorway suggesting that behind this door lies the Happy Days Hostel.
Everything changes when we get in.
The guy is really helpful; he tells us where to eat, where to buy food, gives us a couple of useful Rome maps as well as teaches us about the workings of the hostel. Which, as we had realised just a couple of moments earlier, doesn't work like most other hostels.
We dump our bags in the room - there is no key, but there is a lockable cabinet which has a giant hole. Just means that probably the stuff that we really cannot afford to lose; we have to bring along around Rome. Which, has been sold up till now as one of the most dangerous places on our itinerary. Perhaps with the exception of Prague.
Its not a big deal, though, because we all have taken excessive precautions to safeguard our belongings.
There is still daylight, and the best part is that there is not TOO much daylight. The sun is setting so I take the guys to see the Rome that I saw. Unfortunately, I don't know the story behind most of the places that are actually tourist attractions such as the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. All I know is that the former is a popular tourist destination and the latter is actually probably the most famous fountain in the world.
I'm not disappointed - these places are most definitely packed with tourists. A huge plus point of the Spanish Steps is that there are many sights there for Eugene. So much so that he doesn't even take a photo of the steps themselves. Fortunately, I do.
I honestly believe that Italian girls are very pretty. Gobi agrees as far as he wants a half Italian, half French girl who's athletic and works at CERN. I doubt he realises that he actually just described a female Jean Maillard.
Anyway, after that we make the small walk down to Barberini and then the Trevi Fountain. As I said earlier, I have no idea what the significance of the Trevi Fountain is, but I do know that its beautiful aesthetically. Unfortunately, aesthetic beauty counts for little among my travel companions; and honestly speaking isn't one of my highest priorities in life anyway.
We actually get lost on the way from the Trevi Fountain to St Maria Maggiore. Then I remember that the exact same thing happened the last time out. And we actually end up in the exact same place that my family had ended up in the last time we were in Rome.
I had figured that last on the itinerary for today would be St Maria Maggiore Basillica because it ought to be open longer than any place else. Turns out to be a really stupid assumption.
St Mary's is closed and we can't go in. Then I realised that perhaps churches do close. After all St Francis Xavier of S'goon Gardens closes at 10pm. It is 9pm now, even though the sun is still setting.
We sit along the steps of the Basillica waiting to see if either Lase or Eugene bursts into flames upon contact with the church grounds. Boringly, they don't.
On our way back, we stop by for ice cream. I remember from my previous trip to Rome that we had lived on Ice Cream and Pizza. So I finally satisfy my craving by going for a Gelato. It is quite dumb on a scorchingly hot summer day to wait till the sun had completely set before actually having a gelato; perhaps a possible rationalisation would be that we didn't want to have melted ice cream.
Its our first time in Gelato-ville; so naturally we take some time to decide. Apparently Italian Gelato Sellers don't like it when you take too long to decide what Ice Cream to have. I mean, we Singaporeans are very careful about what food we pick, so we take our time to decide what to have; but apparently the sentiment in Italy is "Its just ICE CREAM! Get on with it!". So as I go "Chocolate (my only certain choice), ehhhh........" the girl behind the counter interrupts me with "what's up doc?".
Best part: I don't realise what she had meant by that until very much later.
We finally make it back to our dodgy yet friendly Happy Days Hostel in one piece.
Scene 13 - 2nd July
I rank the most impressive attractions of Rome as follows: St Peter's, Trevi Fountain, and the Colloseum. Perhaps, purely for being such an old structure, the Colloseum is the attraction that most interests Lase. Also add into that consideration that I have never been inot the Colloseum.
The last time I was at Rome, we skipped the Colloseum Tour because there were 5 of us; and it was way too expensive. Now, there is only one of me that I am paying for, and the Euro has sunk to depths that are shockingly low; so technically it is much cheaper. Thank you Greece.
For Geographical reasons, as well as the fact that we had missed the St Mary Major's Basillica visit yesterday, our first stop today is St Giovanni Laterano (St John's Basillica). The choice was one of the three major basillicas that weren't St Pietro's, and we had 'visited' St Mary Major's; so St John's was the natural choice.
I had told them that we could afford to miss out on the churches of London i.e. St Paul's which had a 10GBP entrance fee. I'm proven right, just by virtue of St Giovanni Laterano, it seems.
A simple walk down a street from St Giovanni Laterano later, and we're looking at one of the most iconic monuments of Rome. The Pizzeria. And of course the Colloseum. The pizzeria's on the side are fiercely competing for business so we decide to go to one of them for our lunch.
We're hungry so we have to have pizza before the Colloseum. I actually find that with the free-falling Euro, lasagna is actually affordable, so I have that instead. Besides, Pizza was getting kinda boring.
After filling up our stomachs with the food; which we had to wait forever to come; we walk down to the Colloseum. Outside we see ticket touts selling tickets in plain sight of policemen; and inside we see a couple who had apparently just bought one of these tickets and were being refused entry into the Colloseum.
Luckily, when the ticket touts approached us to sell their wares, we had done the most sensible thing - act dumb. 2 Indians and a Chinese guy can easily act like they do not understand English, so its not too hard.
Unfortunately I do not have a photo of these ticket touts, just as I do not have a photo of the guy who attempted to pickpocket Eugene in Geneva or the guy who attempted (perhaps) to pick my pocket at Termini yesterday.
As for whether the visit to the Colloseum is worth it, I could just say that its probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not really worth a second visit. Unlike the Basillicas.
The English-speaking guide whom we paid an extra 4 Euros for wasn't really an English speaker; so understanding her wasn't the easiest thing in the world. I'll actually say that I only managed to get 80% of what she said. Ah well.
The colloseum ticket entitles us to visit the Roman forum opposite. Probably a marketing strategy - bundle pricing - since nobody actually would want to visit the Roman forum otherwise. Since we had paid for it, and being Asian (or Asian-inside) we try to find the entrance for the Roman forum.
After 15 min of walking we perhaps begin to realise why people don't visit the Roman forum - we couldn't find the entrance. We actually do successfully walk around it and in fact manage to find a church much like the millions of others in Rome.
Ultimately we give up on the Roman Forum because perhaps its already in ruins. To complete the Old Rome tour, we walk towards the Pantheon. Incidentally I know the story (partially) of the Pantheon. So along the way from the unknown church to the Pantheon I tell the story of how this ancient Roman temple had been converted into a Catholic Church quite early on; and hence is probably one of the oldest churches in the world, as well as being one of the best preserved ancient Roman buildings. I also tell a few other facts about the Pantheon such as it having a 'sun roof' as well as a huge dome (biggest in the world). I also re-explain the significance of the Dome as a representation of the Heaven's whole and unending coverage of the earth.\
When we do reach the Pantheon, its partially under renovation, but that's not a big deal because we still go in.
Chilling outside the Pantheon we hear news from a little eatery that Brazil has just lost to Holland. I cheer because I had been supporting the Dutch whereas Gobi had turned allegiance to join me in supporting the Dutch despite having started the tournament cheering on Brazil.
Gobi never believed me when I told him that European football could actually counter the Mat-Style South American Football. Perhaps he had been fooled into thinking that the English Soccer team actually played European football. Perhaps he had been fooled to think that the English Soccer team actually played any sort of style of soccer.
Nevertheless, when we get to the Piazza Venezia, which was the intended final stop on the itinerary, we notice a Brazillian flag. Clearly they haven't heard the news for the flag is flying at full mast.
I have a feeling that seeing Rome in such recent history has made it not a novel experience, and hence accounts of Rome will tend to be shorter, it seems. We'll see.
But so far, Rome trumps Paris. And Rome has improved tremendously from the last time I visited. If only I can remember when that was.
There is a girl from Sao Paulo who is dorm-mates with us.
But when I say, "Sorry about what happened..." she doesn't get it and I think she figures that I have done something horrible to something of hers or such. Ah well.
Scene 14 - 3rd July
For the past few days I've been selling myself as well as my travel mates on the idea of Tivoli and more importantly Villa D'Este. I had remembered that the last time I was in Italy, this was one of the things that I enjoyed most. And my family enjoyed it too. Plus it would be a great day away from Rome City Center with its business and its heat. Scorching heat, mind you.
I messaged home a few nights back and asked if it was a good idea; and I got a postive reply. Furthermore, my mum said that it would be a good idea to take a day tour there. Upon checking the price of the tour, it seemed way too much. Besides we would be paying for a guide that we didn't really need. Because there is me!
I ought to point out here that I am not the most qualified guide in the world. Perhaps Wiki is a better guide. Unfortunately, Wiki is not portable; and hence we have to make do with the below-par guide that is me.
I mean, I still could tell you that the Tivoli Gardens of Rome is a good distance out of Rome; perhaps a little less than an hour by train.
And that its real name is Villa D'Este. And that its near Hadrian's Villa. And that the view from it was magnificent.
Side note, we had wanted to go to Hadrian's Villa too, but I think that it was a little harder to book.
Also, and more importantly I could tell you that the fountains of the Tivoli Gardens (and there are almost too many of them) were powered solely by gravity.
(tilt your head cos i'm too lazy to change this... urgh..)
And that there are "illusion" paintings on the walls and ceilings of the Villa itself.
Chilling at the Gardens is peaceful and relaxing. There aren't many people there, unlike most of the other attractions of Rome or Paris where the queues to enter would be an attraction in themselves. Perhaps its got to do with the fact that it is so far out of town and most people wouldn't want to make the long trip down to Tivoli.
A few things I didn't know about the Tivoli Gardens.
1. You could have fun with the fountains
2. There are cooling rooms/caves behinds the Organ fountain. Basically these rooms are just shaded with a fountain. Heat absorbtion due to the evaporation of water then does a fabulous job in cooling the room. On a hot summers day in Rome, this room was a sanctuary and I would have stayed much longer in the room had I found it earlier and if there wasn't an "organ fountain recital" going on.
3. The organ fountain recital is SOO not worth waiting till 4.30pm and bravely putting ourselves at the mercy of the overcast sky for.
4. You can take wonderful shots of the fountains instead during that time.
The sky is overcast as we walk back from the Tivoli Gardens. We decide to make a break for the train station and brave the rain. The wind was almost ripping my cap off; and more than one umbrella along the way was turned inside out.
We cross this bridge. Note that the lady in front is using an umbrella. That's because its raining where she's at. Its not long before we are where she is; and are getting drenched in a thunderstorm. Eugene takes a shot of the river
even as he is getting drenched. His camera is water proof so its okay for him to risk the torrential rain. Still I'm not waterproof (well figuratively so) and we are all electrically conducting, so I urge him to run on faster till the next shelter.
We stop for shelter under a tree before we realise its a pretty stupid idea to stop under a tree during a thunderstorm. We have two raincoats; but we're pretty much already drenched so a raincoat is pretty much useless.
Nevertheless I think that we can stop at the next building so that I can properly put on my raincoat to protect my electronic equipment.
We do that; but it turns out that the next building that we stop by is the Railway Station.
Its still early on this Saturday night; we actually have energy after drying off our drenched selves. We have seen most of Rome which we had originally wanted to see, save St Peter's; so we decide to walk down to St Peter's to see it at night. We will be going there tomorrow, and hopefully I will be able to attend mass there too.
Scene 15 - 4th July
4th July! American Independence Day! The Americans who were staying with us came back very late last night, probably only Larsson slept straight through it. I wonder if any Singaporean would ever bother celebrating National Day by partying through the night on 8th August. Maybe in a couple of hundred years at best.
Today's plan, in any case, is to visit the Vatican City. The original plan was that I go for Mass at St Peter's while the rest visit the Sistine Chapel. It turns out that some of our dorm-mates (Canadian) told us a little about the Vatican Museum. It turns out that the Sistine Chapel is probably the only thing that we felt was worth seeing at the Museum; and considering that it was 15 Euros to enter, we realised that perhaps its just better to check out Wiki for pictures.
After all, we'd seen the Louvre.
When we reach St Peters, though, we realise that saving the Vatican for Sunday perhaps wasn't the best plan available. Firstly, its pretty crowded. By pretty crowded, I mean that the queue to enter was actually longer than that outside the Eiffel Tower. However, perhaps purely by virtue of the fact that there aren't any tickets to enter the Vatican, the queue to enter St Peter's clears relatively quickly.
Second problem: I had wanted to attend the mass at St Peters. But the queue we are standing in is not for the Basillica. It is for the cupola. So I decide to attend a later service, and go up the cupola first. I had earlier told Gobi, Lase and Eugene that if there was anything worth it at St Peter's, it was this. Of course, the church itself is amazing.
Up comes then the usual argument on why the Catholic Church as a religious organisation would be so elaborate and decorative about its churches. I state my opinion that perhaps being a church that is supposed to reflect the grandeur of Heaven and God, perhaps the best Man can do is build a gold ceiling or a couple of hundred statues and marble floors etc.
Anyway, that argument aside, we climb up the cupola. Gobi is fascinated because I think he didn't understand my warning about how the walls of the stairwell slant. The rest of the unfit travellers hadn't understood how much of a workout climbing up to the top would be. I knew; and I knew the view would be worth it.
However, the scorching heat of the sun just HAD to come to play again. The best view was found at the side of the church which happened to directly face the sun; so naturally nobody could afford to appreciate the beauty. Somehow one's perception of surrounding beauty is severely affected by the conditions one is in.
Once we finally take the long staircase down again, we try to get into the church. However, here comes the 3rd and final problem of visiting St Peter's on a Sunday - they closed up sections for the mass.
So the only way to see the inside of the church was, then, to attend an Italian Roman Catholic Mass. To me, of course, its not a problem at all, since I had already attended the French Roman Catholic Mass in Notre-Dame last week. On the other hand, Gobi and Eugene and Lase aren't Catholic but they attend the mass with me. Perhaps its worth their time because the mass was pretty special - I mean come on, mass at the Vatican. The choir is a guest choir from America and they do put up quite a show.
More importantly I get to show my travelmates what I wanted to show - the burial place of St Peter. Obviously, being the most sacred place in Roman Catholicism, its not possible to go down there. But its good to at least see where it is.
Pictures during the mass, of course is forbidden so there would be none to showcase here. On the other hand, pictures AFTER the mass...
Maybe they saw the light at the end of the day.
The sunshine would be very good for a shot like that; but its not good to walk around in. We run back to seek sanctuary at our Wifi-equipped hostel room. Unfortunately they're still cleaning the room. So I sit on the steps while Gobi and Eugene decide to play with the archaic elevator by repeatedly going up and down. After some time we all get bored doing what we were doing and start to play cards on the steps.
When the rooms are cleared, I'm just too tired to go out any further; while the others want to do some souvenir shopping. Finally a respite before Venice. This holiday is starting to get a wee bit taxing.
Onward to Venezia then.
1 comment:
Wow ! brings back memories
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