Friday, December 4, 2009

Around & About ROMA (Rome)

Here comes the last and the best part of our Europe Trip. ROME!!!! We sort of left the best for last, traveling from Barcelona to Venice to Florence to Rome. Some tourists we met along the way (and people we know who’ve done similar trip) usually do the route the other way around….Rome to Florence to Venice and so forth. Whenever people ask us why we did our Euro route like we did….there wasn’t any reasoning……just the masterminds behind planning this trip thought that it would be nice to leave Rome last!

We took the train from Florence to Rome which took about 2 or 2.5 hours and cost us Euro 168 for 4 people. The train was again comfy and definitely very fast. Before I had a chance to doze off, we were already in Rome! We arrived at Tremini Station where we figured out what we needed to do to get to our Bed & Breakfast.

Everything in Rome (and Vatican City) is so spectacular, so breathtaking, so unreal!! Rome is definitely not built in one day! The architectures never fail to impress me. I never got tired of looking at the impressive buildings, monuments and remains of once very grand architecture built hundreds and thousands of years ago! Oh, not to mentioned those intricate and gorgeous artworks / masterpieces.

We spent 4 days, 3 nights in Rome and stayed at St. Peter’s Vacancy / Bed and Breakfast which we booked in advance through Expedia.com. After our experience in Florence, we were quite worried with what we’ll be getting ourselves into when we check in at the B&B. For a start, the address that Expedia.com provided was not accurate and that caused us to walk with heavy backpacks uphill, down hill, lost and confused!. We finally arrived at the B&B which was situated in a more residential area. Price was what we were quoted on Expedia. The place was also exactly like what we saw in the pictures and was quite tastefully decorated. The place is only 15 minutes walk from the Vatican City, 5 minutes walk from the San Pietro train station and there was even a convenient store right below it.

We initially planned to take the metro around the city, but ended up walking all around Rome when we figured out that it’s quite manageable to travel on foot. We spent about 12 hours a day walking…sometimes more, sometimes a little less. We are out by 9am, and get back to the B&B at about 9-10pm every night. Our legs were so sore and tired after each night but we had a great time, took tons of pictures and of course ate lots of yummy gelato. Attractions in Rome were surprisingly very affordable and many were FREE!! Food was also quite affordable as we were able to find delicious sandwiches and on the go food. I’ll post pictures and let them tell the story of my trip to Rome! =)

Too bad I did not throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain. It is believed that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you will be ensured to return to ROME! We sure left Rome with a heavy heart……our 10 day vacation came to an end too quickly!

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