Italy - Rome

17th August 2014

First trip in Europe!!! Lc and I left Mannheim and took a train to Stuttgart to catch our flight. We booked Germanwings, which was significantly more expensive than Ryanair, which flies from the Frankfurt Hahn airport. We made the mistake of booking our accommodation before checking the flights, due to time constraints. Well, lesson learnt the hard way.

We arrived in Rome pretty late, and we checked in to our B&B, which was perfectly located in the city centre, yet on a relatively quiet street. The building was a typical Roman architecture, with a super cool lift! We had to close the doors manually, before the elevator could move up!

We quickly left to explore the city a bit before nightfall!

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

The Pizza Rustica has quite a good selection of ready-made pizzas. Good place for a cheap and fast meal. 

Cute car with a cool plate!

Super delicious looking cakes!!! So tempting

After a good walk, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant. Of course. Lc had a really good lasagne, the best ever he claims :P It was overflowing with meat and cheese. And I had a pasta. The spaghetti used was thick and hollow, called perciatelli I believe. It was not as soft as what we usually have in Singapore. I liked it but lc prefers softer noodles.

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18th August 2014

The next day, we headed to the Palatine Hill. Our B&B host advised us to go there first, before Colosseum, so that we did not have to queue for tickets. The place was huge, and there were a lot of things to see! It was such a hot day and Rome has no clouds! We were perspiring like crazy and I got so exhausted from the walking.

Flowers on the way~ 

That's the Roman Forum on the right.

We finally finished touring after 3 hours!! So tiring. We passed by the Palazza Nuovo, which was right beside the exit of Roman Forum.

We decided to go back and have a rest, before going to the Colosseum, as the sun was really scorching. We had lunch at Pizza Rustica. Pizza, pasta, lasagne, salad. Haha. Pretty cheap and decent taste!

Colosseum was super crowded, as expected. So thanks to our host, we could go in without queuing. Smart move!

After touring Colosseum, we just walked around a bit and went back to rest. Slackers XD We had a really good dinner. Best meal ever. As I was craving for meat, we had 2 plates of meat hahaha. The one on the right is really special, veal with bacon. Super tender and delicious! Strongly recommended.

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19th August 2014

Vatican city! It's definitely not as small as what I had imagined. Haha. St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) is actually quite big, and the whole place looked really grand. The queue for the church was super long, like one round around the square haha! Luckily the flow rate was quite high.

Spot the queueeee

Basilica di San Pietro

We had a good look inside the church. Did not go up to the cupola. We wanted to check out the Vatican museum, which is super huge with super a lot of displays, but the queue was freaking long, a 2-hr wait. Having no choice, we left and went to Ostia Antica. I bet not many people know this place. Lc came across it when doing research on Rome. It's an archaeological site that is pretty far from the city centre. That area used to be the harbour of ancient Rome. The entrance fee isn't very cheap, 11€. The place was huge!!! It was quite an interesting place to visit.

Oh the uncle staying above the station gave me a flower :D

There were a lot of these funny bugs with faces on their bodies! 

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20th August 2014

As the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome. Literally, it doesn't really matter which road you pick, but you'll always find something at the end of it, or even along it. Rome is pretty awesome! On to Foligno!