Date of Visit: 7 - 9 September 2011
As the saying goes: All roads lead to Rome, and indeed we have taken the road that lead us to this wonderful ancient city. Rome, or Roma, is a city full of historical relics. Everywhere you turn is a building that could be hundreds and thousands of years old.
Our accommodation is Casa Franca BnB, located right next to the San Pietro Train Station and 5 minutes walk away from the Vatican. The BnB has a balcony with a fantastic view of St. Peter's Basilica. Simply awesome. Breakfast is served on a cart, which we pushed to the balcony to enjoy with a stunning view!
Located at the republic plaza is a giant fountain, which has it's own history as well. Different emperor keep adding-on new stuff to make it bigger and grander. And at this plaza is also the Basilica St. Maria, which is the last work by Michelangelo. There's this giant pipe organ inside. Cool.
When in Rome, who can miss out the famous Colosseum? Once the stage of gladiators who fought for their lives, now it's an ancient ruin and seems to be falling apart. The events that were held at the Colosseum were actually pretty gruesome. It's an all day event, where they would first let animals/beast fight against one another, then they let people fight against fearsome beasts, and the climax is when 2 gladiators fight. Most of the time, nothing will come out alive of the stage. The only person who will perhaps walk out is the winner of the gladiator fight. The loser will have to plead for his life, and the emperor is the only one who can grant him that. But most of the time, the loser will be killed for the viewing pleasure of the 70,000 strong crowd.
Right next to the Colosseum is the ancient part of rome, with all the ancient ruins and buildings. The Arch of Constantine is perhaps one of the better preserved architectures. The rest of it are just ruins. In fact, people are still digging and uncovering new ruins. It is hard to imagine how the city may look like in the past, during the golden age. How there will be magnificent temples and buildings and courtyards.
(Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II)
Another interesting place is the Pantheon. Firstly it's free, thank goodness! Secondly there's a hole in the ceiling! But apparently it's built in such a way that the sunlight will shine a certain way during certain times of the year! hmmm...
This is the Castle of Angels. Frankly, the there're only 2 statues of angels inside, a large one on the top and another one that's in one of the roof openings. The pope used to live here in olden times, but no longer so. There's a secret linkway from the Castle to the Vatican, which is also one of the scene in the movie Angels and Demons. However, the castle does provide very good vantage point of the city.
On the last night, we visited the Trevi Fountain. It's a magnificent fountain that's centered on the god of all water, Oceanus. Legend has it that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you will be ensured to return to Rome again. Well, lets just hope my 5cent coin works :)
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