My continual love for gelato!!!
The colossuem..its unimaginable how much blood was shed here..
Acting stupid with my cesear pose as hordes of buses passes me by..
I am guaranteed a return back to ROME after throwing a coin into the trevi fountain!
By the spanish steps..
In the audience of 12000 people from all over the world...that's the pope on stage blessing people
More of the "German Shepherd"
Loving the sunshine at the museum vatican park
The sistine chapel, the place where they elect the popes and the markings of church history!
The best eggplant pizza I have ever eaten..yum yum!
From the highest peak down into the St Peter's square
Amazing view down at St Peter's from the church cupola!
Its altogether 700 over stairs!!ahhhh!!! super breathless when I reached the top!
The holy spirit church where Saint Faustina was made saint by Pope John Paul
My last evening in Rome
I felt like I have just ended a relationship with Rome. Having been frozen to death in Milan due to the horrid weather and rain..I arrived in Rome still pretty distraught over the unhappy weather and brand new environment as I was off to find my hostel and figure my way around. As my previous post on "Roam Rome" says...God is going to path my way and he sure did. There is so much I saw and experienced within the 3 days so I will just summarize the exciting bits and you guys can meet me as I ratter on with more bites..hee!
First Day
After I have arrived in hostel, I calmed myself down from my heavy bagpack and started to venture out into the city. By then, it was already 2pm so I headed straight to the Vatican to get the papal tickets and I did!Yeah!Next, I took a leisure stroll around the Vatican and later to my hostel area for a walk. The streets was bustling with activities, I see pampered dogs and puppies everwhere, children in silly costumes, markets of cheap gloves, shoes, socks and outlets of pizza outlets. Later on I grabbed a sweet dessert from a cake shop by the bus stop and hopped on back to my hostel to prepare for the long day ahead of me the next day.
As it was peak hours when i board the bus, it was super duper packed. I was squashed like a sardine in a can. And that's when the most fatal thing happened!!! This middle age italian man kept smiling at me throughout the whole journey. I was super irritated by him and gave my most pissed off face yet he still continued eyeing me. Feeling super disgusted, I tried to keep my distance but there was no space for me to move even 5cm away, so I beared with the impending frustrations! Just then, I heard the bus door opened and before I could even blink my eye, i felt a pinch on my butt!!!! For heaven's sake, I was wearing jeans and I do not see what is so attractive of my back!!!ahhhhhhhhhhh..I shrieked really loudly in my heart because I was so embarrassed with that slap of humiliation right in my face!!!!
And guess what, this cheeky man just hopped off the bus and gave me a wave! I didnt have any appetite to eat my sweet loving dessert the whole night and went to sleep praying doubly hard for safety and no harm for my days ahead!!!
Second Day
Woke up really early for I was worried I did not have time to cover all tourist attractions within a day as I have decided to reserve my last day at the Vatican. So I hopped onto a bus and off I headed to Colosseum. How can i ever miss that ya? The weather was rainy and my mood was quite cranky from the molest the day before. I really prayed that the weather will turn better and soon I got into the queue and went up the stairs to the inside of the Colosseum. Wow! It just so weird and surreal standing in the place where I have seen it so often on postcards and documentaries. And soon, the clouds cleared and honestly I was really happy and was praising God for blessing me with the new hope of sunshine!!!!
After ah-ing and wow-ing over the building, the weather was brilliant! I skipped towards the ancient rome conservation area where you see colummns, archs and rocks from the past. I suddenly wished I was dressed in some drapery dress or something! Ha...I took tonnes of pictures and pleaded for the hordes of tourists gathered to help take more pictures! Following the map I got on hand, I headed to the fashion street at Corso Via del and decided to head to the trevi fountain, the Quirinale, the Trinita dei Monti(spanish steps), the pantheon, Plazza Navona, Campo de Flori and guess what I did them all in less than five hours! It was a super long walk from each sites..basically I travelled from the north to the south of Central Rome and gosh it was super amazing. In the midst of walking, I stopped by many shops for some shopping, stopped for a pizza or drink, stop to ask for more directions, stop to take pictures, stop to admire the sky, stop to admire the buildings, stop to admire the people! Ah its just super super fun and time passed really quickly. Before I knew it, it was already in th evening and I headed back to the hostel after a hearty meal! Phew..the day ended with smiles and safety!!
Third Day
Feeling really excited I will attend the papal audience this morning, I woke up really early and was out of the hostel by 8am! Never have I been so punctual and upbeat when I was back in Singapore..ahaha..When i reached the audience hall, the queue was already snaking with trains of people. And by the time I got seated, half of the 12,000 holding hall is half packed and that is only 9am in the morning!!!!Thankfully, I got a not too bad seat where i chatted with priests from Germany, Poland and lots of prayer groups who came specially for the audience with the Pope. Finally at 10.30am, the pope arrived! Everyone stood up to cheer for him! I could feel my heart beating really really fast!!! And soon he said a prayer, and all the cardinals of different countries got to the stage and said the reading of the day. The pope will then give his speech of blessings in a record breaking number of 7 languages!!!He could speak Italian, French, Spanish, German, Polish, English, Portugese!!!!Madnesss!!!I was super blown away and was so touched by the unity of everyone there.
People were raising their country flags and singing in the same tune to lots of beautiful melodies for the pope. He was really gentle as he clapped, nodded his head and cheered for everyone. By 12 pm, the event finally ended and everyone left the room so filled with emotions and for me, a wish to meet the Pope again! After a quick lunch, I walked down to the Vatican museum and on my way, there was the well known gypsies!!!There was this really haggered and scary looking lady carrying a baby in her arms with horrible smelling clothes. She kept on harping on everyone who walk by to give her money. And by the side of these gyspies were the really scary-looking black men all selling fake branded goods!! I held my bag so tightly it almost burst and scurried through the crowd like a mice! Phew..I sighed a huge relief after reaching the heavenly gates of the museum!
But that's not the end of my nightmare!!!As I swing into the queue to buy tickets, I realised I did not have enough cash in my wallet so instead of going to the toilet to dig out my money from my money belt, I tried to act smart!!!I dig my hands into my wallet belt, searched the zip and hastily pulled out my 50 euro! When I saw it, my face turned pale! No joke! I have accidentally tore my 50 euros into TWO pieces! I almost wanted to faint and die...Its $100 singapore dollars we are talking about!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
Really panicky, I tried to get my cool and walked to the ticket counter confidently while folding my torn note into one lump. I slided the note to the cashier and prayed he will accept it. When he took it, he opened it and flung the two pieces of notes back at me and yelled with his loudest voice!!I do not know what he was saying but I am very sure its vulgarities cuz everyone heard him. Oh man, I wished I had a hole to bury myself!!!Sobss...
I didnt cry but continued to explain myself and kept on piecing the two paper together as one. He was not convinced and I almost wanted to pee in my pants!!AHHHHHH!!But thank God, there was a really long queue behind me and seeing I wont bulge, he threw me my ticket and gave me my change of 32 euros(not torn!)
I walked away really shrunken cuz I felt really bad as I know its my fault but super relieved he accepted my notes in the end. Phew...I walked around the musuem and my mood was lifted up after seeing all the masterpieces of art works and also receiving a call from my family wishing me Happy Chinese New year!!
I will continue the next part of the story in the next post! look out for it!
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