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Showing posts with label Rome. Show all posts

The Trevi Fountain.

I always liked fountains!

And this is the Trevi Fountain! We walked a lot to get here (walked all over Rome) and stayed there until sunset (9pm)

Sun is setting!

There were A LOT of people but I was trying my best to crop them out of my pic.

That's the end of Rome! Next post on Pisa and Florence! :)
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Near the Vatican!

Have you seen this castle before? I just googled because I forgot the name and it's called 

Castel Sant' Angelo

This Fortress was built as a mausoleum for the Emperor Hadrian (AD130-139), but it has also been a prison and a papal residence. It was used by former Popes who absconded there for protection in times of danger. There has been a covered passageway which still connects Castel Sant'Angelo to the Vatican.

Read more here!

You get to go to the top and see a bird's eye view of the surrounding areas. Truly beautiful! And it's pretty hard to walk around a castle with all that stone on the floor. I tripped a few times and I was wearing shoes!

Taken before we went into the castle.

Of course admission is not free but it's soo beautiful!





From the view above.

I just love Rome architecture.

and this is my prized shot! see the rays? That's the Vatican. God's watching over us all :)
Always liked going to castles because you get to see how they prepare for a war. :) Only started liking castles after Lord of the Rings so thanks to that :)

Drinking water again!

This is one of the squares the locals hang out at! It was evening and there was lots to see!

Performances and all!

Next post will be up tomorrow on the Trevi Fountain! It's gorgeous!
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Around the streets of Rome.e

Did you guys know that Bata is like their Charles & Keith in Europe?

I also tried this burger in Macs because it was the cheapest haha. Turned out to be quite yums. Chicken is more expensive there (we guessed) because a Mcchicken is soo ex there.

Some night shots I took!


can't decide which is the nicest.

HEHE. This was my breakfast spread in Rome. Wasn't too bad, but as the trip progressed we were treated to ham and scrambled eggs so this was alright :D


And a quick shot of me filling water from a fountain. IT IS CLEAN.


IMO the water from the Vatican tastes better than the other parts of Rome :X

Psychological? Haha. Next post will be on the Vatican, I'm sure you guys will be excited to see how gorgeous it is!
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Colosseum!

First advice. Never, take photos with a Gladiator at the Colosseum. They charge extravagant prices! My friends and I had to pay 20 EUROS PER PERSON for our photos. And I had another friend telling me that she paid 40 EUROS PER PHOTO and she took TWO PHOTOS so she paid 80 EUROS. That's ridiculous.

 Should've really killed him.

Anyway the queue for the Colosseum was kinda long. But we finally got to go in.


A pretty building.
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Arrive in Rome!

So we arrive in beautiful rome and we get cheated of our money on the first night. Great start.

The next day, after feeling a bit better from the prospect of claiming some money from insurance, we had quite a good breakfast which lifted my moods.

and i really felt happier!

swearing by lipstick now.

the architecture is just brilliant. wonder how many people and how long it took to build just ONE building. let alone one church. geez.

best thing about rome is that you don't have to spend money on clean water. sure you can't DRINK their TAP water but there are many fountains along the way and the locals are drinking from it. so we drank too.


the first basilica we entered. please note that you cannot wear sleeveless tops or shorts or berms or slippers to basilicas. no hats either. it's strictly rude and forbidden.

the outside

the inside.

every interior of every basilica is immaculately designed, carved and in marble. and always remember to look at the ceiling.

gorgeous right?

if you're catholic perhaps you'll appreciate this photo more :) it was also on the ceiling, at another part of the basilica.

 

 I am so amazed by the stained glass! I took quite a few stained glass shots, wondering if i should post them up here and bore you all.

this is the altar. how grand!!

he is facing a piece of the wooden cross that jesus was hung from.

the wooden cross is kept in here. can you see it?

if you'd like, say a quick prayer, now :)

say this vandalism which made me lol!

Beautiful right? :)

More blog posts about Rome soon! I haven't even shown you the Colosseum yet :P
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Hello from Rome!

In Rome now, in my hotel but the twitter cant' load and i can't reply to facebook status comments?? Facebook friends if you are reading this, i am reading all your replies okay!! Thanks for all your concern I am okay :)

Why would they ask if I am ok? Because I was politely robbed.

Wth does 'politely robbed' mean?? I hope that you guys read this and share it with your friends because it is very prevalent in European countries, this isn't the first time I've heard of it. Be aware!!

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It was 830pm in Rome, the sun had set, and it was dark apart from a few street lamps. My two friends and I had been travelling all day to get to Rome. We took the train from the Fiumicino Airport to the central station, and were dragging our luggages as we walked upslope to find our hotel.

We walked through a small road, surrounded left and right by buildings and parked cars. There was no one else on that quiet road. No one loitering around, or even walking by. We trudged on, hungry and tired, anxious to get to our hotel, take a quick shower, before grabbing dinner nearby.

Suddenly, an European guy appeared in front of us and asked if we spoke english, while holding a map. We replied that we did, and he asked us for directions to the Colosseum.

(On hindsight, the Colosseum is not open at night.)

He asked us where we were from, and said that he was from Greece.

(He was not from Greece.)

Anyway, being the friendly, trusting and naive people we are, we told him we're from Singapore and that we didn't know where the Colosseum was.

Next thing we knew, two men wearing navy blue windbreaker vests approached us from the back, shouted "POLICE!", flashed their passports at me, and asked my two male friends to empty their pockets to check for drugs/cigarettes.

Before I went to Europe, a friend already warned me that police will never ask you for anything on the streets. I immediately knew something was wrong, so I told my friends "Bu yao gei" in mandarin, which means "don't give" in english. Plus, passports?! No way was I buying that. My only regret is not remembering the names I saw on the passport because they flashed it so quickly.

Unfortunately, they didn't hear me due to the shock of the moment. You know, when you're in a state of shock and your brain just switches off and lets you be commanded.

I knew we were trapped. They had cornered us with our backs against the wall, facing us square. They were big sized, strong men. I thought of an escape route but it'll be impossible with our luggages, and if they had a gun, well that would be even worse. The only way out was... to accept it and hope they didn't hurt us.

They asked for our wallets, took our money out, and when they returned it to us, they folded the notes in half to make it look like it was the same amount. In fact, they took half or 3/4 of my notes. EUR 250.

I knew that they had been watching us from afar, perhaps from the apartments above. After they 'returned' our wallets to us, they asked where we were going and said that our hotel was just up ahead. The two 'policemen' walked us til the end of the street, but before we reached the junction, pointed up ahead and walked in two different directions.

The policemen split up.

By then, I was feeling absolutely terrible, and the first thing I did when we checked in was to ask the reception if the police patrolled this area checking your wallets and etc, and he said there was no such thing.

I immediately took out my wallet, and counted my money. EUR 250 gone just like that. They took some from my friends too, but the bulk of the loss was from me.

We checked in, I sat on my bed, and cried.

I was so distressed I didn't even want to eat dinner, even though I was starving. I just lost money did I look like I was about to spend what little I had left??

One of my friends made instant noodles so I had a little bit, then I told my parents about it. They recommended looking through my insurance policy and check if I could claim! AND I COULD!!!

It was only after knowing that my insurance covered loss of money that I could actually go to sleep.

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The first thing we did the next morning was to head to a police station to make a police report. While waiting, we talked to the other people who were also at the police station. Turns out we were all tourists who were pick pocketed at the train station or had their stuff stolen somewhere. We shared our experiences so that we could be more careful, since we take safety for granted in our own country.

When it was finally our turn, the police said that our scenario was common, and that these people were romanian. They even had a photo list of suspects! They showed us some pictures but our tricksters were not even on that list!!

We made an appointment with the police officer to walkthrough the entire trickery on the same street, and he pointed out that there was a security camera on the next street, which was why the tricksters separated and stopped walking us to our hotel. These people were pros.

Think we all knew that it was close to impossible to catch the people who did this to us, but the police told us that they'll contact us if they had any leads.

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I wanted to gain new perspectives in life frmo this trip, grow up and be more independent. On the first night, I get conned robbed. I'll say, it's a good start.
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