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Rome, the Eternal City and home of the Vatican City, St Peter's Cathedral, and the Colosseum.
We wasted no time in setting off for a walking tour when we reached Rome. We were introduced to Rome's metro system as we will be on our own most of the time this time round. So we went up the train and started our walking tour at Piazza del Popolo. This is where the twin churches of Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto are. Totally identical! After a short introduction by Dan, we were then led quickly to the next item on the walking menu, Piazza di Spagna, where the Spanish steps is located.
There is this helluva long flight of steps where you can't really see the top when you're at the bottom. The steps is really a happening and crowded place. Lotsa locals and tourist alike are sitting on the step doing just about anything. And below the steps is a whole line of luxury shops from Tiffany to Gucci to Ferragamo.
After Dan's short description of the place, we had a few moments to ourselves to take photos and check the place out. We then made our way up the long flight of steps to the top! The view is pretty nice from up there. We then moved swiftly to the famous Fontana di Trevi, or Trevi Fountain as we know it.
This fountain in my opinion is the most beautiful fountain I have ever seen.The statues are magnificent and the water is clean and clear. And the place was really crowded as well. Tourists from all over swarmed the place and I had to use all of my "squeezing-thru-the crowd" skills I picked up in clubs to find myself a nice spot to take some photos.
Piazza Navona is up next. Here you can see 3 fountains with Statues of Neptune as the main theme in this square. This large square is home to a lot of painters and artists plying their trade there.
Continuing our journey, we arrived at the ancient Roman Forum. These ruins as well as the other ruins that we've come across really inspired me to find out more about the history of the ancient Roman Empire. Even though these ruin are in tatters, you can still feel its past glory attached to it. Ruins in Rome are a pretty common sight though and I think there are still more to be discovered.
Victor Emmanuel Monument came really as a surprise simply because it was huge! Its like you have to stand the whole street away just to be able to fit the whole place into your camera. But well, I expect nothing less to commemorate Italy's first ever king. However, we did not get to visit the place though as we hurriedly moved on to the place where everyone is eagerly awaiting to go to, The Colosseum!
We were led to a scenic spot outside the Colosseum where we were able to capture pretty nice shots of the place. And to our pleasant surprise, the place lit up and so we managed to get to see the night view of it as well, cool! Everyone was like:" We are definitely coming back tomorrow!". The walking tour ended here and we all headed back to camp for a good rest.
We have pretty much the whole of the day in Rome to ourselves the following day after breakfast. We were brought to The Vatican City early in the morning. The queue there was already very long though, by the time we got there. So me and Mike decided to give it a miss so we could cover more of the other places. Most of the group decided to join the wait and visit the place though.
We found our way to Stadio Olimpico, home of AS Roma. A nice stadium and we manage to find our way into the stadium to take some photos before we got chased out by the staffs. Apparently it wasn't supposed to be open to the public. Well, we did what we came for so its ok! Some other guys who also went later on didn't even get close to going in.
Then we did some shopping around the shops in Via Condotti, near the foot of the Spanish steps. Great range of luxury shops to explore. It is certainly fun checking out branded stuffs.
Then we made our way to the Colosseum and met with the rest of the group there. Things were not good as rain started pouring. But still we braved the rain with 5 euros umbrellas from some random umbrella peddlers. Into the Colosseum we went and it was indeed magnificent beyond words. You really wish you could go back in time to the Roman Empire era to feel the atmosphere of the place. The architecture is impressive on the inside. We really took our time inside to explore the place and take tons of shots as well.
We then went back to the Trevi fountain and last some last minute shopping and exploring before we head back to camp for dinner and a well deserved rest.
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