18 Aug Day of closed attractions.

Today is our last day jn Rome. Decided to go to Domus Romane Palazzo Valentini. We rushed to ... as it closes at 1pm only to find out that they do not offer English tours today. What luck we have again. So I guess the pantheon was the next better attraction since we were round the corner. Found some Cheap lunch nearby at Dakota Caffe (via del seminario 111) Try the Dakota special - chicken burger.
 Headed to the pantheon to look see look see. Nothing much... Good to go but not a must. Walked around the area and got ice cream from Fridgerium again. Luckily we went to piazza navona yesterday in the evening. When we went there today, the sun was just blasting down relentlessly. Oh yea talking bout the weather, it was crazy ass hot today! Like a friggin 36 degrees. Even the morning wind that blew through our room was a tad bit hotter than usual. But was so hottttttttt!

Didnt do much today actually. Walked to Castel Sant'Angelo to look see look see before heading to the Vatican Museum. Upon reaching there we found out that the last entry as at 4pm. like wtf! they didnt even mention it on their website! So there we were depressed that we couldn't see the sistine chapel after the 2nd attempt sitting on the steps outside the Vatican Museum. Guess the only thing that could redeem the day was good food. Pizzarium (via della Meloria 43) did that job with super dope pizza. literally food sex man. although it was 7 euros it was totally worth it!Baby of chef Gabriele Bonci, it offered a wide array of superbly digestible flufffy base and crisp crust topped by intensely flavour some toppings! Had fish with bleu cheese, cod fish with carpaccio, cod fish with tomato and some stuff, beef heart and chicken and some other dope stuff. All of which were excellent. If we weren't on a budget, we would have continued eating and eating there. 

Looks like tonight will be an early night as we're leaving for florence tmr. ciaos!

Video log (dont mind the angst videos)

Note:
Anyway for the Roma Pass, its not necessary but a convenient pass to get. Suggested roma pass  waived attractions: Colosso and Castel Sant'Angelo. With the pass you will then get discounted rates at other attractions (which arent so worth it) after the first 2 free entries. Unlimited rides on the city's public transport makes it even more convenient.

Colonna Traiana

Chisea di Sant’Ignazio (beautiful interior)

Deco of Dakota Caffe

Penis!

Pantheon!

Street leading up to Castel Sant'Angelo

35 Degrees outside and its important to hydrate yourselves with liang teh

The Closed Vatican Museum 

Sulking outside

Saved by some dope pizza at the Pizzarium

17 Aug. Gladiators and Artisans

Its 0150 and i just started my entry. falling asleep already. Today was the day we visited the Colosso and explored ancient rome. But as always, we had to start with some food. Had brunch at a nearby diner. Not only did it suck so badly, it was pretty expansive. 

Today we had a go on the metro. haha it made us kinda malu because we didnt know the roma pass was chip embedded and could just tap through to enter the metro. i mean like who would think a piece of thicker paper would have a chip inside! 

Exiting Colosso station, the Colosseum greeted us with a BOOM! It was this massive structure just outside the metro station and boy the weather was hot! Entrance to the colosseum snaked out from inside to the outside. Thanks to the roma pass, we were able to by pass all of it (probably 1hr+) to enter immediately. Audio guide went for 5.50 euros (no student rate wtf and they didnt accept my ISIC card as a valid Identification card) and i felt it was good to give an overview of the history and the different significance of the various parts of the colosseum. 

Walking down Via Del Fori Imperiali, we walked passed Foro Romano (Roman forums, were actually just huge ass ruins) to Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II. Its this gigantic building with great skyline views of rome. You can literally see the poping domes and obelisks around town! Searching for food which were all off for vacation, ended up at Campo De Flori and found Camoi de Flori, a bakery that sold cheap pastry and pizza slices!  Do try Pizza Bianca & Rossa there. Searching for our as usual closed food sources, we ventured into the alleys of Ancient Rome and Centro Storico, where artisans and quaint little shops lined the cobblestoned road. It somewhat reminds me of a nicer version of our Haji lane. Stumbled upon Yogurteria Creperia l'Angolo dell'Artista (Largo dei Librari, 86), a Yogurt place which apparently only sold sobe and gelato. Sobe was extremely refreshing after a long day of walking under the hot sun. a medium cup goes for 2.50 Euros. 

Vernon, constantly on a food hunt, found Frigidarium (Via Del Governo Vecchio 112), a super cheap gelato place which had 2 flavors for 2 Euros but wait for it...., it offered cream or chocolate coating. and omg its like those kind of magnum choc coating. food orgasm i tell you. Alley after alley, it offered this nice italian touch of alfresco dining and small shops which made you want to continue walking, which we did till we reached Piazza Navona. It was this big square which housed 3 fountains with many different symbolic meanings. Buskers and artists added colour to the place. haha, we spent our time there taking many random shots and videos (imagine us dancing in the middle of the square) oblivious to the surround stares and thought we could start collecting busking money too heh. Shearn even got his first fan demonstrating to him how to do a proper dance move.

Navigating through the now dinner crowd (omg i still dont know why dinner starts at 8 here) we found ourselves at the Trevali Fountain Di Trevi. IT WAS a SQUEEZE FEST there! filled with soooo many people that one couldn't really appreciate the fountain. Like i said, do as the romans do, which was to throw a coin into the fountain. According to tradition, throwing the 1 coin ensures your return to the Eternal City. Throwing the 2nd coin in  would make you fall in love with an italian while a third will have you marrying him/her. By now, it was completely nightfall and the small lanes were lined with alfresco dining sets and accordion/sax players which added to the mood. Went to the spanish steps to see see and finally set down for dinner at Antica Enoteca (Via della Croce 76). Finally had Cacio e pepe, pasta with ew cheese and olive oil. Im still craving for meal actually. 

After our meal with toad feeling high from his 7% beer, going back was the most viable option and trying to find the MA 5 bus stop (replacement bus service for the track maintenance for the metro) led us further, reaching Piazza del Popolo. okay omg i'm falling asleep writing this. shall go sleep! Ciaos!

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Video log playlist

Colosso!

Arch of Constatine

Some Sobe to Cool us down

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II

View from the Momento

Awesome Gelato!

Fontana del Moro

Buskers ( can you see how he does it?)

Shearn posing at Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of 4 rivers)

Fontana del Nettuno. Neptune fighting a beast

Clusterfuck @ Trevi Fountain

Nice little streets of rome

Spanish Steps

a builing within a building? Galleria Alberto Sordi

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

okay Vatican City is amazing. I think you can spend several days there. We already spent half a day at St Peter's Basilica and i wonder how much time we would spend there if the Vatican Museum was opened. Might go down another day to catch the Sistine Chapel which we couldn't visit due to the unexpected closure of the museum. 

Queuing to enter the Basilica was pretty fast even with the long snaking queue all the way onto St Peter's Square so dont bother buying the express pass for 13 Eu. Ladies should avoid wearing sleeveless and pants too high above the knee if not you'll be denied entry unless you buy a scarf at a rip off price. One could only feel the sense of how small he is when standing infront of the Basilica and even so when he enters. Filled with tons of history and symbolic meaning, i would recommend getting the audio guide. It has 2 audio jacks so i guess it can be shared by 2 which was what we did. (15 Eu, 5 Eu Student). Within the basilica you will be able to access some museum (not the vatican museum) and the Vatican Grottos ( you can find pope bean there hehe). I was quite amazed by the amount of work put into the structures and the artwork everywhere. Even the ceilings were laced with intricate artwork which will make you wonder how long it took to complete it. Rays of lights streaked through the several dome windows illuminate different areas at different time of the days. After the long tour round the Basilica (2hrs+ if you use the audio guide) you can try the climb up the dome which might be challenging to some for 5 Euros, 7 if you want to use the lift to the halfway point. I think the 5 Euros was quite worth it as the route brings you up long spiral steps to the inner side of the dome where glazed with mosaics and a view of the basilica from inside. Next you will go through a claustrophobic stairwell to the outer dome where you get a beautiful 360 deg view of rome and from there you can really appreciate the architecture of the vatican city. Kinda wasted that my camera batt died halfway :(

I really think that we came at the wrong period. Most of the lonely planet recommended food places were all closed for vacation! We wasted lots of time hunting these food places down but they were all closed. Also, Italians restaurants serve an early lunch and only start their dinner after 8 leaving the streets rather empty with most shops closed in the afternoon. Kind of disappointed after our much deserved ice cream break was shattered because the shop was closed. (Old Bridge, 5 Viale dei Bastioni di Michelangelo) and found out that our ideal dinner place, Osteria dell’Angelo (Via Giovanni Bettelo, 24). 

Took the bus back to the terimni and headed to TIM to get our pre-paid sim card. 20 Euros for 1 mth of unlimited data and 20 bucks worth of value. Service was slow and horrible like most of the places in italy. Slacked in our hotel to wait out for good dinner but all those places were CLOSED FOR VACATION TILL SEPT. W T F! settled for some salty pasta at Via Giovanni Bettelo, 24 which we initially thought was good cos there was a accordion playing but NOT RECOMMENDED!

Felt super sleepy after dinner but found an awesome gelato place which helped us clear the saltiness left on our toungues. Ended up at  Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and what else was there to do at a closed monument with a tripod and a camera! LIGHT TRAILLLLLLs! 

Kinda over the jetlagg but by 1am i was totally wonked out. Hope tmr will be a good foodie day!

 outside Dolce Maniera bakery + BEER!

Nutella Pastry! 50c

 St Peter's Square

 Infront of St Peter's Basilica

 Ray of light through the dome

 View from the dome

View from inside the dom

The dome that we were on

JUMP SHOT at the square!


Pope Bean at the Vatican Grottos


Dinner: Rigatoni alla Gricia for 10 Euros

 Light Trails outside Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

CLOSED RESTAURANTS WE WANTED TO GO!

Breakfast

So after doing all our force prep and stuff we finally headed out to hunt for some breakfast.

The termini (Roma termini is the main transport station in Rome) was quite a mess. The stretch of metro line from termini to ottaviano was closed and was replaced by a local bus. We were greeted by gypsies camping at the metro. Lost was the apt word to describe what we were feeling then. Signs to the bus disappeared after awhile, we had no idea how to use our Roma pass and no available information centers in the train station. Like whutttttt! Okay so after wondering around and asking we managed to find out some stuff. Transport in Rome is none like back home. Buses and trains can be hopped on and see Heng suay that you meet a conductor which checks your ticket.

Reaching our location, we found one of our ideal food choice to be closed till sept. nuuuu. But found a nice quaint cafe (Settembrini cafe Via L. Settembrini 21). We initially got a shock when we walked I'm because it looked super Atas. But the prices were pretty reasonable! The waitress was also super helpful translating the Italian menu to us. Had the piadins pollo (chicken wrap) and good cappuccino !

Cacio e Pepe on Vacation

Piadina Pollo 2 Euros

16 Aug

Wow. Thanks to the jet lag, everyone was up by 630. The temp in Rome is rather cold in night dropping to the low 20s. It's quite cool that they have a morning wake up call by the church in the form of a 2min bell chime. So the plan today is first to find good roman coffee and head to the Vatican city!

Good morning TOAD

How messy our place is getting....

greetings from Rome

okay. i cant believe i'm actually here. IN FREAKING ROME! and the weather is o m g HOT!. 32deg?! whats this! haha. we arrived at Fiumicino International Airport from Dubai on da A380. Must say that it was one of the more interesting flights i've taken. Interesting views from the middle east desert plains, red sea, pyramids and the river nile! after lunch, we headed out for tea which ended up to be our dinner. pizza + beer for 7 euros led us to think that the portion would be reasonable small but it came out to be the size of a timbre pizza! and plus italian beer! like what shearn said, think of it as prata with cheese and tomato. haha okay im feeling fking jet lagged. gonna stop here for now. just look at the pictures and try to visualize haha 

Pyramids!

Outside Roma Termini

GELATOOOOO