Europe 2nd Trip - Rome, Italy (Day 6)

30th Oct 2013, Wednesday, Sunny

Borghese Gallery

Today, we are going to see the Borghese Gallery and the reservation made to enter the gallery was on 11 am. So i got to wake up a bit later, and the breakfast was delivered at around 7.30 am. The same breakfast was served, but we got 3 additional pastry that we bought last night. Out of 3, only the tiramisu tasted better..hahaha....After the breakfast, we just rested in the room until the time was ripe to make our way down to the gallery. Then we went to take the metro down to the station near the gallery, then we still need to walk a 10 to 15 mins distance to the Borghese Gardens. As we were walking to the gardens, we saw the road cleaning truck and it was like mini size too. And i asked the stupid question by saying that even the cleaning truck was mini size in Italy. My friend just suan mi saying that the roads in Italy were small, so their vehicles need to be small too. If too big, how to drive around? -_-"...When we reached the garden, it was very big, so we took a stroll slowly while making our way to the gallery.It was so nice to walk in the park, as it was windy and wasn't hot. There was even a playground, i just ran towards to the swing to play for awhile... ^_^..... After this, we continued our way up to the gallery. Once we reached the gallery, it was still early before we can enter. So we walked outside the gallery and waited for the time to be up. There was a choo choo train too, to let people take around the park and there was even security officers riding horses patrolling around. Finally, it's time to go in the gallery, we went and deposited our bags and got the audio guide, then we made our way to the entrance. But we still need to wait for like 10 mins, cos the staff were still asking the people from the earlier slot to leave the gallery before we can enter.

Apollo & Daphne (Taken from Web)

The gallery has a large private collection of arts by Cardinal Scipione Borghese and has 2-storey high of paintings and sculptures. Photography was not allowed in the gallery, but it really had a few highlight paintings and sculptures worth to take a look. The gallery was so big and we were limited to 2 hours in the gallery....Didn't managed to finish the whole audio guide too....left a part behind when the announcement came to inform that the time is up (sadz.....). There was even 1 structure that was displayed on the wall....It was showing Marcus Curtius throwing himself into a chasm. On the 1st room we went into, up at the corner of the ceiling, the paintings was painted like 3D (as in you thought they were sculptures up in the ceiling, but actually they were all paintings which painted to look like 3D). After that, we went in rooms after rooms, there were a few highlighted sculptures to see. One of the highlights was Pauline Bonaparte, it was a beautiful lady sitting on a couch and the whole sculpture looked like it was real. You can even see the folds of the cloth and how the couch was pressed when the lady was laid on it. Another main highlight was the sculpture of Apollo and Daphne. It was very interesting when listening to the explanation from the audio guide, and you can see how Daphne was going to be transform into a tree by seeing her feet and hands as branches as she tried to flee from Apollo. 

Rape of Proserpina (Postcard)

The next one i like was the sculpture of Rape of Proserpina. You can actually see the firm grip of Pluto (powerful god of Underworld) on Proserpina (daughter of Ceres). It was so beautiful looking at all the sculptures. There was a sculpture on David, which was by Gian Lorenzo Bernini too but it was a smaller version (The super big version is at Galleria dell'Accademia, in Florence). There were also famous paintings displayed inside, like The Last Supper (by Jacopo Bassano), Deposition (by Raphael), Sacred and Profane Love (by Titian), and many more.

Time was up and we had to leave the gallery after 2 hours, then we went back down to return the audio guides and collected our bags. We got some postcards showing the masterpieces at the shop and then we had sandwiches for lunch at the cafe there, don't know why i can't even finish the sandwich....so big piece...-_-".....After the lunch, we made our way down to Colosseum. We took a super long way to the metro station, there were shops along the way too but they were all closed. We reached the Colosseum at around 2 plus and there was a lot of visitors too. Then we headed in to see the interior. As usual, 1 friend went off on her own to listen to Rick Steve's audio guide and mi and the other friend went ahead on our own without audio guide. Mi and my other friend were just snapping photos away of Colosseum, it was so nice to look at and the sky was very blue today too.

Colosseum (From inside)

It was a really big amphitheater and this was once where naval games and gladiators fighting held. But too bad, only this was what left after devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers...How nice would it be if the whole place was still intact (Maybe still can hold some events there). After walking the whole round of Colosseum, we made our way opposite to go to the Roman Forum. Just outside the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine was there but half of it was under maintenance. But when we reached there, it was already closed but there was a side road where we can walk up and take a peek on the ruins of Forum. So we walked up to that road till we reached a small church. We just went in to take a rest. After the rest, we headed downhill as we need to go have dinner and get ready for our segway tour. Just about we reached the gate of the road, one of my friend tripped onto the gate stopper and landed my other friend a '熊掌' (bear slap) on her back...hahhaaa...so funny, the one got hit was ouching her way and even sent messages to our another friend (in Singapore) to complain. She was complaining it was painful...hahhaa....we all had a good laughter at that time but luckily, all was well, no fall no injuries (the road was made of stones, not so friendly) except a '熊掌'.

Theatre of Marcellus

After the laugh, we tried to make our way down to the tour agency for our segway tour. As we ended up arriving early there, we told the guide we are going for our dinner first. The guide was very friendly and he was ok with it. He even asked us to take our time. From the street of the agency, there was a square where there were a lot of restaurants. So we ended up with 1 that sells sandwiches and pastry, as to get a quick bite (named Clubkave). I had a sad dry ham and cheese sandwich, it wasn't very nice and it was quite dry. So I didn't finished it. After dinner, we went toilet and made our way back to the agency. It turned out we were the only 3 person on the tour, so the guide told us to leave our bags in his office and after he locked his office, he took us to the tree where he parked the segway. One of my friends had been very nervous on riding the segway, as she only rode it once. So the guide told her to keep calm and stay close to him, he will take care of her...hohohoo....After a 5 mins warm-up, we were off to start our tour, so the guide told us to stay in a single line, the guide as first person and i as the last person. And so we started our 3 hour ride, riding on the segways, we had fun riding from places to places around Rome city. One of my friend had her camera len cap dropped while riding and she even hit on an expensive brand motorbike and fell off from her segway (After that, she got a big blue-back bruise on her knee). After that, it was a smooth ride until the end of the tour. Some of the places we went were places we went on Monday and during the day, but just this time we had some explanation and story-telling from the guide. We had some group photos taken around the places too. At 1 point, when we were crossing the road, there was a car dashing out from the traffic light and i was crossing the road. Luckily, i crossed the road fast enough before the car came near mi. It was fun riding the segway around Rome and seeing the city in night view. The guide also brought us to a higher level, so that we can see Rome city from the top, and from far, the dome of St Peter's Basilica was seen clearly. And he also told us how pizza margherita came about and it resembled the Italian flag (it was amazing how the pizza was only with just 3 ingredients: red (tomato), green (basil), and white (mozzarella) and it can taste so good).

Trevi Fountain

On our way back, the guide showed us a fountain which was named Fontana delleTartarughe (also known as The Turtle Fountain). There were turtles on top of the fountain, like crawling in the water and there were dolphins too, at the lower part of the fountain. The guide told us that the one of the turtles was being stolen and so the other turtles was being replaced by copies now..haha...After this, we went back to the agency which ended our tour. We had a friendly chat with the guide and took photos with him too. After this, we decided to make our way down to Trevi Fountain (which i am glad that i went, although i was super tired).  On the way, we passed some souvenir shops and one of my friends got a gelato (euro $2.50) and we also got a crepe (euro $4,50) from Blue Ice. As usual, there were a lot of people when we reached there. I tried to take as much photos as possible on the Fountain, and then just sat down and looked at it. It was so big and grand, it really looked very beautiful. You can hear the water gushing down the fountain and it just feels so good sitting there looking at it. We even went down and tossed a coin into the fountain (A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, they are destined to return to Rome. To do: You need to take the coin in your right hand and toss over your left shoulder into the fountain). But i think i threw it over my right shoulder....so guessed might not be able to return Rome again...hahahaa......After the tossing, we went off to head back to our hotel, halfway, we passed by a McDonald's and we went in and got a Happy Meal (because of the Minion Toys). Then we went to the bus stop and waited for almost an hour for the bus to come. Finally, the bus came and we can go back to the hotel to rest for the day. Phew.....

Places missed to visit:

Spanish Steps

Roman Forum

Pantheon

Hotel Stayed:

Target Inn

Places Visited:
Borghese Gallery
Colosseum
Arch of Constantine
Roman Forum
Trevi Fountain (Italian: Fontana di Trevi)

Europe 2nd Trip - Rome, Italy (Day 4)

28th Oct 2013, Monday, Sunny

Today is the last day in Naples and we are going back to Rome for a 3 days' stay. We woke up at around 6 plus and got ready for the day. We packed our luggage and went upstairs for our breakfast (Still love the croissant and the triangular pantry there - it was known as sfogliatelle...... ^_^....nice nice). After the wonderful breakfast, we made our way back to our room and collected our luggage, later went down to do the check-out. Then we got the hotel staff to help us get us a cab to drive us down to the train station. After 5 to 10 mins, the cab arrived and we said goodbye to the hotel staff (who were all very helpful and pleasant during our stay).

Our Queue Number

When we arrived at the train station, we went to the tickets reservation office to make our train reservation. It was a group of people waiting in the queue too..luckily it wasn't as crowded as in Rome. But we were targeting for the next coming train, so i was left to wait in the office and my friends went to the platform with our luggage first (so once i am done with the reservations, we can just board the train). After a 10 mins wait, i finally got my turn and got the reservations done. I rushed out the platform and caught with my friends and we boarded the train. It was a 1 hour plus ride to Rome. So we just rested on the train while the train left Naples to Rome. We reached Rome train station at 11 plus (we wanted to deposit our luggage at the train station first, but the queue was super long) and then we got on a cab to head down to the hotel (it was like 5 mins ride from the station to hotel). The hotel name is Target Inn and the lift is inside a cage, where you need to open the cage and then go into the lift and the door is with spring, which it will spring back at you. Anyway, the lift is not big too, and so we need to go up separately due to our luggage. Then we deposited our luggage at the hotel as it was still early for check in. After that, we made our way down to see the catacombs. We had to take the metro down and then changed to the bus...oh god, the metro and the bus really took a long time to come. We took the bus to go along the Appian way, and the road was still with rocks and the road was quite small, there wasn't any road for pedestrians to walk with the cars zooming by.

San Sebastiano Catacombs

Finally, we reached the place to see the catacombs, which is along Appian Way. There were 2 catacombs places there, the one we wanted to go is not opened yet, so we went to the smaller one - San Sebastiano Catacombs. We made it for the English guided tour, so we went down to see. It was quite small and dark, and saw some coffins spaces and graves inside. The guide was speaking too fast and the accent was a bit hard to understand..but can still make out some of the things she was explaining. Then she showed us the grave of Sebastian which was later moved away to St. Peter's Basilica. Later we were also shown that there were 3 rooms that were dug further deep in, these can be used for generations to generations if the area were bought. Then she explained on the vases used as urn and the paintings on the ground and the walls. Then she showed us the dinning place inside and told us that the church which was built by Constantine on top of the catacombs. After this, the whole tour is done, which lasted us like 15 to 20 mins inside. The tour ended in the basilica where we were allowed to take photos around, but there was going to be a funeral going on soon, so we were allowed like 5 mins or so walking around. After this, we went to the souvenir shop where we got some postcards and stamps to send back home.

Twin Churches of Rome

After this, we rested for awhile on a bench outside...stupid shoulders aching.....Then we took the bus down to the other catacombs (which is bigger) - Catacombs of San Callisto. When we reached there, the English guided tour is about to start. One of my friend went ahead and bought her ticket first, the other friend doesn't want to go in so i stayed outside with her while we waited for the friend who went in. While waiting, we walked around the catacombs, there was a path towards some private houses. So we just strolled along that road and enjoyed the breeze and blue sky and white clouds...saw some geese at one of the houses too, i went up to try to take some photos of them while my friend was busy texting on her phone...hohoho...We had some chocolate too while waiting, we waited at least half an hour or more, then my friend appeared again. After the wait, we made our way back to the metro station, where we saw the ruins building on Palatine Hill. After that, we took the metro to the start for Doice Vita Stroll and Heart of Rome Walk. But the starting point for Heart of Rome walk was further, so we went ahead with Doice Vita Stroll. When we came out of the metro station, it was just a normal street and when we turned behind a shop, we saw the Piazza del Popolo, it was so grand...really made you 'wow' there....it was so spectacular! There was an Egyptian obelisk standing in the center of the Piazza, and it was brought over from Egypt. And nearby the obelisk, was a fountain with some lion-like statues. But some kids were just sitting on the statues and riding them around. On the far end of both sides of the Piazza, were Fontana del Nettuno and another statue (not sure what is is....). And you can see the twin churches (Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto) standing in front of the Piazza.

Crucifixion of St. Peter (Taken from web)

At the side before we made our way to the Piazza, there stood the church of Santa Maria Del Popolo. It was quite a big church and there were a lot of beautiful paintings inside, and there were 2 great paintings (by an Italian painter - Caravaggio) hidden inside the church, which required to insert coin just to on the light to see them and no photo-taking is allowed. The 2 masterpieces were Crucifixion of St. Peter & Conversion of Saul (St. Paul). We stayed inside for a while, then there was a guy who inserted the coin to light up the 2 masterpieces chamber. Once the coin was inserted, everyone just rushed into the chamber to see the 2 masterpieces. It was super cool...the paintings were so real (almost can see the image popping out)....After the amazing viewing of the 2 grand masterpieces, we headed out to walk over the the Piazza and onto the streets of Rome. There were a lot of shops for shopping and the buses which were going around the streets were small type and it looked cute..hahhaa.....There was even a Ferrari shop around there....(saw a Ferrari F1 car in italy...kekeke).....After some shopping around, we were hungry and then we decided to go down to a 200 years old restaurant - L'Enoteca Antica di Via della Croce.

Tiramisu

The place has a nice ambiance and there was paintings on the walls too. We ordered a lamb shank, spaghetti, cheese platter, cod fish dish and tiramisu as the dessert. The food was nice, i like the lamb shank, the fried potato (as the side) and the cod fish. Most of all, i love the tiramisu!! We ordered their creme brulee at first but they run out of it. So we ordered tiramisu instead, and it was a good choice. I almost wanted to lick the whole plate but cannot...hehehe....but i was using my spoon to lick the remaining.... :P.....It was soooooo nice!!! I had a happy dinner there...hahahaa....and it costs us euro $75 (including the tax and tip). After dinner, we went to the opposite shop which was selling chocolates and gelato. There was a table showing their beautiful packages too, and one of our friend was already snapping her camera away on their food. Mi and my other friend felt kind of bad if we don't buy something from them and the staff was already asking us what do we want to get. So we went ahead and got a small cone of peppermint ice cream. It wasn't so good as expected and it costs euro $2.50 for a single scoop, it was just ok. After this, we continued our way down to the Victor Emmanuel Monument. It was a short walk down the streets, when we reached, we were standing on the opposite of the street, looking at the monument. And in the center, it was a big roundabout for the cars....But it was quite dark when we arrived and i can't see the statues on top of the Emmanuel. It also holds the tomb of the unknown soldier, who was chosen from the among 11 unknown remains from WWI war.

Roman Ancient Forum (Night View)

After the viewing of the Emmanuel, we made our way down to continue the walk.We walked past to a church which doesn't look so grand from the outside (Santa Maria in Aracoeli) with a very high stairs, besides it, was the stairs up to Capitoline Hill. By the time we walked until here, we were all tired from the walking and we still had to climb the stairs up..hohoho.....There were 2 great big statues standing on top of the both sides of the stairs...and opposite the Capitoline hill is the Theatre of Marcellus (which we later knew about during our segway tour) and it was the first amphitheater built before the Colosseum. Anyway, we climbed up the stairs to the Piazza del Campidoglio. My friends took a break on top of the stairs while i went in to explore around. Inside there, stood the statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius and the statue of She-wolf with the twin brothers, Romulus and Remus (which both were explained by our segway guide too). We were unable to find the grand staircase, which was mentioned in Rick Steve's book. After a short stay there, we made our way down to the bus stop, but the bus we wanted doesn't come and while waiting, we saw 2 tour groups coming and went up to Capitoline Hill too and they seem like doesn't come back down. One of my friend doesn't want to give up looking for the grand staircase, so we went up again. This time, we walked further into the square and at the right side of the Piazza, there was a road downhill (it just looks like a normal road that is going downhill, who will expect at side of the road.....) it would turned out to be the view of the Roman Ancient Forum. It was lighted with few lights, but it was beautiful in the night too (although i will prefer to take the photos of it during the daytime).....

After taking some photos there, we made our way back to the bus stop and stood there and waited for at least an hour for the bus back to hotel. We were so happy the bus came, and were able to go back to the hotel to rest after a long day of walking (we were in need of water this day too....all run out of water...hahhaa).

Hotel Stayed:
Target Inn

Places Visited:
San Sebastiano Catacombs
Catacombs of San Callisto
Piazza del Popolo
Church of Santa Maria Del Popolo
Victor Emmanuel Monument
Capitoline Hill
Roman Ancient Forum