220307: Rome

I was the earliest to wake up today. Zhi Xian decided to sleep in. I woke up Janice, we were the only 2 who wanna enter Colosseo (Italian for Colosseum). In fact, we made an appointment with Zonglun and Joyce to go Colosseo together. Meet at Colosseo Metro at 9am. We packed our stuff, and left our luggage there for the others to keep with the hotel. We left for the ticketing booth for coaches to Ciampino Airport. But we were too early, the booth was closed. Too bad. Passed by a café to pick up 3 croissants for 1.20 euros, pretty cheap.

We were slightly late by 10 minutes, because I was enjoying my cappuccino at Santa Maria Maggiore. Hee. And the couple was nowhere in sight. Waited till 9.30am, and we decided to go in ourselves. Haiz.

The Colosseo is indeed a majestic structure. The grounds of the stadium is actually a labyrinth, with cages and overgrowth all over. Janice is very fascinated by the labyrinth, but puzzled over a wooden stage at the side of the Colosseo. In actual fact, the labyrinth was covered up solely with wooden platform and then topped up with a layer of sand. Now, the sand and the wooden platform is gone, exposing the labyrinth to rain and shine and hence the overgrowth. Took quite some time to go around the stadium and take pictures, not too mention that there was a exhibition on Eros, otherwise known as Cupid. But before we went for the exhibition, we finally met up with Zonglun and Joyce. Almost fought with Zonglun, haha. Actually, they were also waiting in the Metro station from 9.15am onwards. All of us were blind enough not to see one another. What a laugh. Our appointment with the rest of the guys were almost up, couldn’t really spend a lot of time with them. Well, we’ll meet in London then.

We met the others at Piazza del Navona. Took a short walk to Campo dei fiori. Campo dei fiori is actually a market full of fresh foods. Well, not that it aroused much of my interest. Our destination after that was Trastevere. It’s more commonly known as the Jewish Ghetto in Rome. Guess what, I found a really nice pizza here! The pizza crust is made of fermented yeast, which means its fluffy like bread and taste real good! However, a lot of people don’t know about it, and hence it’s not in guides either. Walking in the ghetto is like going to a little Italian town, peaceful and quiet. Zhi Xian and Ivan got their lunch here, a pizza cocktail of 8 slices for 6 euros. Not bad, pretty much the Italian style of eating. From Trastevere, we took a walk up the hill northwards. And surprisingly, the view is terrific. In fact, the view from this hilltop proves that we need not climb St Peter’s Basilica’s dome. This is good enough. A view that showcases all of Rome. Wow.

The final part of our Italy trip has to be reserved for St Peter’s Basilica, especially when there are 3 Christians here. To enter St Peter’s Basilica, we had to squeeze in the crowded queue and fight to get in, almost literally. How big the Basilica is, I don’t think I have to mention too much. It has the longest nave in the world. The size of it is more or less explained. What differentiates this cathedral from all the rest in the world is its sculptures and the abundance of altars, tombs and sarcophagi. And all of those belong to the past Popes. There are even mortified bodies of a few popes placed there for Christians to worship. In a sense, I feel it’s somewhat gross. Whoever that has passed should be laid to rest in peace, and not be under the scrutiny of millions of people who visit the Basilica. I managed to sneak a glimpse at St Peter’s altar, which was supposedly built on his tomb. Never really get to see much, since there are so many people crowding around. Well, I guess this trip to Italy really overwhelmed me with Catholicism. And I see Christianity everywhere since coming to Europe. The lack of faith is my destiny I guess, despite being educated for close to 8 years in Christian schools.

210307: Vatican, Rome

Today was a destined Vatican day. We destined it to be. Haha. I guess gotta allocated a day solely for the smallest country in the world.

We reached Vatican in surprise. Why so? Because we got to see the Pope live. And hear him sing blesses for his people. Cool. But it also meant the place is damn crowded. And there the crowd was after the Pope dismissed the event. At the Mvsei Vaticani (Vatican museum). Anyway, we still queued and took us pretty long. Well, to see the treasures within the Vatican, one has to pay the price of time. And time is the most prized possession one ever has, for it depletes non-stop.

In the museum, we realized that only me and Zhian had ISIC (International Student Identity Card). The rest don’t. To use an old trick, we mixed LSE ID cards with ISICs to proof that all of us are students. And we got through. Woot. Actually ISIC is so very useful in Europe. I think I would wanna get it again next year. But not the NUS Extra.

We hurried along the museum. Pretty worried they will chased us out after sometime, according to Zhian. But whatever it is, I had to see the Egyptian museum. And I saw mummies. Unwrapped mummies. Feel sad for it. The worse thing is, while it is blatantly rotting in the glass box, the damn tourists are taking photos of it. I think Janice took some pictures too. Couldn’t be left to rest in peace. Haiz. Anyway, I found the sarcophagus of Imhotep. In case you are wondering why I mention him here, Imhotep is a genius architect in Egypt. And his brothers are all genius architects. In fact, there’s a suspicion that they are the very masterminds behind the construction of the Great Pyramid, though there isn’t much proof of it. For people who are wow-ed by Egyptian monuments, buildings and architecture, the Imhotep brothers are the ones to look out for. Highly respected by the Egyptian king.

We went on our way to the Sistine Chapel. A supposedly must-see in Vatican itself. To reach Sistine Chapel, we had to walk through rooms and rooms of paintings. Most of the rooms are in golden paints and certainly gives a sense of its grandness. Also, we get to pass through Raphael’s works. His works are certainly unique in themselves, but being a renaissance art fool, I regret that I’m not able to appreciate them as well as others. Finally in Sistine Chapel itself. It’s pretty dark, in a way intended to preserve the wall and ceiling paints from being de-colourised by white sunlight. Michelangelo certainly spent lotsa time here. Even peering at the ceiling arts strains my neck, not to mention painting them. And Michelangelo did not lie down to paint the ceiling works. He stood upright just as what we are doing to appreciate it. History has it that he never recovered from the damage to his eyes and neck. My goodness. His life is like another crusade, a fight for his lord in a different manner.

We didn’t get into St Peter’s Basilica. Too many people. And there’s one more day tomorrow. I guess we can do some finishing up of our visits tomorrow.

On our way back, we went to Piazza della Popolo. It’s a town square with an obelisk in the centre and surrounded by sphinxes. In a way, it’s a strange mix of Egyptian and Roman sculptures. In fact, it’s strange to see so many obelisks in Italy. Anyway, we climb up the hill beside the piazza, only to find a nice hilltop with a good view of the northern part of Rome.

Guess what, we met Zonglun and Joyce on our 2nd last day in Italy. We sat in a chapel to listen to a chorus sing, only to leave after it ended. And by coincidence, we met them. Actually we had known they will be in Florence and Rome, but there simply isn’t any available chance. Well, well, what do we have here? A romantic trip for a couple, isn’t it?

Our dinner was at Zio Ciro, the restaurant recommended to us by the American lady. Near Navona. And luckily, we found it just before it started to rain. And we had to say, the pizza is good. In fact, better than Baffeto. And they care to serve us with appetizers and drinks too, all for a price of 8 euros each. That’s approximately 1 euro more than our dinner at Baffeto, but a world of a difference. I guess Napoli pizzas just taste better.

200307: Rome

1st morning in Rome. Woke up to a good breakfast provided by Sleeping Beauty. No, Sleeping Beauty isn’t a person. It’s an agent specializing in leasing apartments to tourists like us. Their apartment has free and fast internet, personal fridges and not to mention, decoration worthy of 5 star hotels.

Our morning was greeted with a downpour. It’s not surprising though, only that this time round it’s a hailstorm. Hailstones flying from thousands of feet high come crashing down on vehicles and umbrellas. Lucky we are still in the apartment. Wait for the storm to stop before we move on.

After checking in Hotel Des Artisites which I think has the poorest service of all those I’ve stayed in Italy, we started out on our way to the Ancient City. On our way, we passed by Piazza della Repubblicca. Our 1st glimpse of how beautiful Fontana (fountains in Italian) can be. Our next amazement was the Monument of Vittorio Emanualle II, otherwise known as Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Not that we saw it face up, but the copper statues of winged Roman soldiers on a 4-horse carriage are the highest spectacular thing we see.

We 1st came to the forum. Spectacular ruins in my opinion. Mud brick buildings with pieces of marble here and there. It’s here that we had the 1st scare of Italy. Young women carrying babies tugging at our clothes and pickpocketing. I had to admit I was thrown off guard. But when I saw my wallet came off, I started fuming. While I can tolerate begging despite not approving of it (if you want bread, you should work for it), resorting to crimes is simply despicable. Still, I don’t think I’ll be coming back to Rome after this, I prefer small cities and town life.

The Tomb of Unknown Soldier is a grand monument. Crafted entirely of white marble on the outside, it’s sacred to Italians. However, it’s kind of a mixed feeling for me. Maybe I should talk about the background of this monument. It’s built in memory of the 1st king of Italy, Vittorio Emanualle II. To build this, the Italians actually robbed the surrounding ancient city structures of its marbles, stripping it of its marble coating and leaving it in its present state. Later, the monument was to be the tomb of an unknown soldier after World War I. To the Italians, the unknown soldier is a symbol representing the numerous unnamed soldiers who would never return to their homeland after sacrificing themselves to preserve peace and protect the innocent. Now that’s something good for recent history. But to sacrifice thousands of years of ancient history is another thing. The majesty of the ancient city of the Roman empire can’t be ignored, especially should they be in their glorious marble white state. In a way, I feel for it. A whole lot. It’s not something you can build again. The ancient Romans sacrificed numerous lives of slaves and years to build up that urban landscape only to be destroyed by their descendants. A sad tale no doubt. Ancient history vs recent history. For me, a mythology and archeology buff, I would have prefer the preservation of the ancient site. Well, it’s not up to me to say.

The ancient city itself emits a sad feeling. I can imagine how the Romans used to live there, having a close community and worshipping their highly revered emperor. A happy life. Then I can also feel their sadness and panic as they are invaded and destroyed. Somehow, ruins transport me back to the olden days. Back to when their structures are gloriously majestic. Haiz. Getting too emo.

Anyway, we were hit by hailstones again. At the colosseum. We did not go in though, there were too many people, we were too late, and of course the hailstones. In the end, we went to find the recommended place for pizzas, recommended by David and others. Called Baffeto, near Piazza della Navona. The pizza is not bad, what with the paper thin crust. I think the reason for eating it is it’s thin. A bit like roti prata in Italian sense. However, we met an American lady there who is working as a housing agent. And she doesn’t like the pizza. She recommended us another place instead, also near Navona called Zio Ciro. We should try it tomorrow.

Despite the freezing cold weather and the lack of warm clothing, we ate gelato. Yes, freezing cold weather with freezing cold gelato. It’s kind of mad I think. Even the shop manager was amused. So amused that he gave Ivan a free chocolate and nuts coated ice cream cone. Wow.

We passed by Fontana del Trevi on our way back. The famous Trevi fountain. Recommended to be seen at night. And it’s beautiful. What more with hailstones. Actually, once you’ve seen Trevi at night, there’s no point seeing it in daylight. And to tell the truth, I love Italian fountains. Mainly because they are the only remaining source of Roman mythology left in a Catholic city. And all the fountains depict Neptune (or Poseidon in Greek) and I think I’m very fascinated with mythology, whether Roman or Greek. Anyway, Roman mythology is Greek mythology romanised. Haha. But they do have certain added elements that the Greeks do not have. So in other words, they share a lot of common gods and goddesses but they are not the same. =)

190306: Florence - transit - Rome

Today’s supposed to be our train ride to Rome. Seriously there’s nothing much we did. However there’s something which I wanna share about Trenitalia, the national railway in Italy.

The train ticket that you’ve bought for the journey simply isn’t enough proof for your ride. It is usually valid for months. Hence, to validify your journey, you need to sort of punch the card for the date, time and starting point to be printed on the ticket itself.

We didn’t, and had to pay the price for it. 5 euros fine. Crap.

Anyway, Rome is much much more busier than Florence. And the apartment we rented is top quality. Probably the most recommended in my opinion. Sleeping Beauty on Hostelbookers.com

No words can describe it. you should just experience it yourself. =p

Another thing: Pizzas sold in supermarkets are much better than pizzas sold in Pizza Hut. Period.

180306: Florence

Another continuation of Florence’s good weather. Can’t believe our luck. I woke up to a good breakfast, Italian again. Whacked the breakfast jialat jialat, or so I thought. Still, I brought some snickers with me. Zhi Xian went for service at the duomo, so there’s just 4 of us left. Supposed to meet him on the northern end of the old bridge.

The morning walk along river of Firenze is simply great. We had not seen such a sun for a long long time, not while in London anyway. Reached the old bridge in a short while. Already, there are vendors selling imitations of Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Soon, Zhi Xian arrived and we crossed the bridge. The bridge’s uniqueness is the presence of buildings on it. As the oldest bridge in Florence, the tourism value had caused the rent of shops on the bridge to rise beyond normal rates. Nowadays, only goldsmiths set up shop there. Beyond the bridge, we decided to reach the hilltop where the fortress was located. 1st in line were the steps, 30 to 40 in all I guess. But that’s not the thrill. Beyond the steps, the streets leading up the hill were simply up sloping. In some places, the angle of elevation went beyond the norm of 5 degrees and we had to trudge up the slope literally. Trees blossoming in the spring lined along the streets, guarded by walls of 2 metre height. Flowers were everywhere, and gives a light hearted touch to the walk, no matter how physically stressed. It’s more like a hike anyway.

Reached the gate of the fortress. It’s opened. Apparently, there are quite some people in there. The entrance into the fortress was like that of a castle. Reminded me of Edinburgh and Warwick castle, where there were obvious horse and wheel tracks. Up in the fortress, the view rivals that from the duomo. The paranoma that spans the entire Firenze city is unbelievable. More importantly, as we walked to the back of the fortress, the landscape changed drastically. From the man-made horizon of straight lines to the random curves of nature, the greenery is a very good alternative to the urban scenes that we are used to. Gardens, forests, hills and even a hilltop castle provides every bit of difference in traveling experience. Fascinated by the castle, I even tried asking working personnel within the fortress about the castle. All I got was that it’s private property and is off bounds to the public. Damnit. What luck.

We lay on the daisy filled pitch on top of the fortress of a moment of the sweet sunshine. It seems as though time should just stop this second and last forever. The carpet feel of the grass and the warm sensation of the sun rays tell me this is close to paradise. But ultimately, we got bored. Tried to take jump shots of ourselves, even resorted to kicking shots. What a laugh. Anyway, we thought we should be on our way. There’s one whole stretch of ancient city walls that we’ve yet to explore.

At the end of the city walls, we climbed up another hundred of steps to reach Piazza del Michelangelo. It’s a tourist hot spot, no doubt. There’s loads of food vans and illegal imitation vendors hawking their stuff to tourists passing by. Here, the view is paranomic like that of the fortress. The only difference is that now we can see the fortress and the ancient city walls from afar. With the sun at an angle, it adds a touch of romance to the place. Then there’s the other statue of David here. It’s copper though, and after years of eroding in the rain, the entire sculpture is copper green. Throughout the journey till now, Janice had bore the front of jokes on statue of David. She is very fascinated by it, for it exemplifies ‘the perfect man’ or so to speak. Not that I would even care about any perfect woman anyway. Anyway, we would point the statue out to Janice every time we saw it, no matter how fake, how unreal or even how disgustingly the sculptors make out of the lower body. Well, just a joke. Janice, keep your cool ok?

170307: Florence

Woke up to a Florence morning. Zhi Xian was gone, went for a morning jog. After washing up, went down for breakfast. Italian breakfast is simply croissant, bread, and coffee. There’s cereal as well, and milk and chocolate. Almost English like. Simply put, Italian breakfast is simple, light and more suited to Asian style.

We walked along the river to the Uffizi. It’s the famous art gallery, comprised mainly of renaissance art and sculptures. Sculptures can be divided into pre- and post Constantinian, categorized by the covering up of groins for the sake of conservative Roman Catholic Church. Largely enjoyed the Roman mythological sculptures, and Christian art simply bored me to death. The queue into Uffizi is very long, and it took us 30 minutes to get in. No student price for us, how sad. We met some people from United States, and had a great chat with them. But culture wise, Uffizi is a good collection, though I’m more interested in roadside water colour paintings. Bought a black and white painting for Huijie for her birthday on the 19th, though I know I’ll give it to her only after Italy.

After Uffizi, it was plainly a walk to some catholic churches. In the Roman way of architecture, they built the churches with mud and bricks, after which they add on a layer of white marble with sculptures on the outside. Nice but kind of fake. We found a Catholic church with a Jewish Star of David, what a reminder of the roots of Christianity.

The duomo was next. In Florence, the duomo is a must-see for every tourist alike. Crowded as usual. However, it is said that the duomo here has the 3rd longest nave in the world, after Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican and Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London. Come to think of it, I’ve yet to visit Saint Paul’s Cathedral despite staying a bridge away. Need to make a reminder to visit before returning to Singapore. Seems like I’m immensely submerged in Christianity ever since I came to Europe. Anglican in UK, Catholic in Italy. Somehow, I may need a Buddhist monastery to complement my experience. And that seems way out of the topic here. Ok, back to the duomo. The duomo is somewhat similar to the one in Pisa, only grander, more detailed, and the most interesting thing is the presence of the sculptures of twelve apostles beside Madonna and infant Jesus. In case it’s not clear enough, Madonna is the name given to Virgin Mary, also known by the Italian name Maria. And it definitely is big. Catholic churches and cathedrals seems to be much much more elaborated in their architecture as compared to Anglican. And they focus a lot more on their ceilings and domes. Well, it’s renaissance art again, a cathedral full of them.

We decided to queue up for their service, since Janice, Zhi Xian and Ivan are Christians and none of them have been to a Catholic mass. But in the end, we realized our queue wasn’t for the service but for the climb up the dome instead. 6 euros and no student price as usual. Florence is unsympathetic to poor students like us. The climb up consists of 463 steps. What a nightmare. I still remember climbing stairs in Edinburgh castle and Warwick castle and doing it round and round a dome is simply different. Our path slants to the side and we had to constantly look out for our way, not to mention there’s no separate path for both entry and exit. Hence, we could be hustling along the steps for 10 minutes and suddenly stopping for some people to exit the dome. Quite a weird experience no doubt.

The top of the dome is unspeakable. Not that it’s bad, but I can find no words to describe what nice scenery we had up there. It’s simply a paranoma of the entire city. No doubt, the dome is the highest man-made point in Florence, and we had a good view over where we want to go next. More importantly, we saw that the south of the river seems very interesting with greenery and fortresses. Good for tomorrow I think. Actually, I’m more concerned with how dangerous it was for the builders of the past to build the duomo. Without the fence, the height is heart-stopping in itself. It’s even higher than the tower beside the duomo, which we made the right choice not to go. We probably would have regretted climbing up the tower anyway.

160307: Pisa, Florence

Never sleep at all. Janice came over at before midnight, and so did Joanne. Chatted till it was time to go, all the while packing our stuff.

Finally left for Liverpool Street after meeting Ivan and Zhian at Bankside lobby. It was a cool night, not really cold. Anyway, I was in my spring attire, cotton tee and a denim jacket, all ready for a good spring holiday. We walked there, only for Zhi Xian to arrive late. He overshot, but we were all in time for the coach. The trip to Stansted was pretty smooth though, unlike the other time I flew to Glasgow. Anyway, we overestimated the amount of time needed to clear security and customs. Had a good 90 minutes or so to burn before we could enter the gate.

Reached Pisa International Airport at around 9.45am, Italian time. It’s GMT +1, so had to adjust my watch for it. Weather very good, sunny and clear. Had the urge to take off my denim, but resisted it so as to make customs clearing easier. Haha. The customs officer wasn’t interested in us actually, barely chopped our passport. Had to start a treasure hunt within the passport to search for the stamp, only to find a little aeroplane that does not exactly tell you we got in through Pisa International. Their domestic affairs ministry seems to be sleeping on the security job.

The train to Pisa was dirt cheap, 1.10 euros to be exact. An hour’s ride, and we were walking out of the train station. The walk to the Leaning Tower was pretty painless, other than the outrageous traffic in Italy. It was soon a realisation that the traffic is atrocious everywhere in Italy. Anyway, the Tower is just like another monument, but now the creature is leaning on 1 side. The angle is pretty steep though, and we had our fun trying to ‘push’ the tower in our pictures. The climb up the tower cost 10+ euros, and looking around Pisa from the top of the tower wasn’t exactly that interesting as all of us unanimously agreed. Anyway, we paid 8 euros for a entrance ticket to enter 3 monuments around the tower instead. The cemetery, called Camposanto, seemed more interesting. While it’s a regret that it’s still undergoing restoration, it was our 1st glimpse of how widely used marble is in ancient Italy. I even had a picture with the statue of Fibonacci, the famous mathematician. Quite a surprise.

We decided to stop for lunch before going for the other 2 monuments. Zhi Xian and Ivan wanna twang, so me and the 2 girls went our way to buy lunch. Instead of getting lunch, we were enjoying the walk along the market set up within the city walls for tourists. Made me quite tempted to buy a Tower lamp, though it’s a little expensive at 20 euros. Ultimately I did get the lamp, but at 2 euros lesser. I managed to find a stall selling at a cheaper price. I also got a leaning mug, the mug leans like the Tower. Haha. Anyway, we got panini for lunch. 4 euros each. But they taste great! It’s unlike the panini we ate in London, and they stuff a lot more in there. Panini is plural for panino, which actually refers to Italian sandwiches in general.

Went to the Baptistery after lunch. It wasn’t impressive at 1st glance. The architecture was simple, white and doesn’t catch the eye. However, it was only when I climbed to the 2nd level that realisation hit me. Ouch. An old man went into the barricaded centre part of the baptistery, and started singing notes. That was it. He exposed us to the acoustics of the baptistery which it was famous for. In the guidebook, it says that a chorus singing in the baptistery can be heard 2km away. Wow. Talk about simple architecture and terrific audio technology.

The duomo was next. Duomo is the name Italians gave to cathedrals in general. Now this cathedral is very different from what I’ve seen in UK. Other than it being catholic, which means I see more of Madonna and infant Jesus, it’s full of renaissance art. Well, being the 1st cathedral I see in Italy, it’s architecturally better than a lot of cathedrals in England. Maybe because it’s catholic. Maybe because it’s not Anglican. I don’t know for sure. Other than that, the Field of Miracles, or Campo del Miracoli as the entire stretch of ancient city in Pisa is known as, has a very good pitch for Frisbee and I’m sure Chris Yeoh will love to layout there for a few thousand times. I have to give credit to Tuscany’s sunny weather, it provides a good start to a spring vacation.

The train ride to Florence was pretty much uneventful. However, we did find a very nice pizza place with good service somewhere near Piazza del Santa Maria Novella. And one thing to note, almost every church in Italy and particularly in Rome is named Santa Maria. Anyway, back to the pizza place. I can’t remember what’s its name, but pizzas generally cost about 6 euros. More importantly, there’s no service charge levied, though it might be recommended to tip for good service.