Roman Holidays Part Tre

Vatican City! Frankly speaking, I didnt even realise it was in Italy until I started my research. Saw my wife's friend's photos about the queue and I knew we were not going to q. Vatican city remains a very sacred and distant place to me as I have not even thought of going there. This Summer, we did it. 

We made full use of our Roman pass to travel to Vatican and I explained to my wife that we needed not to queue not becos of the Roma Pass but my "excellent org skills". I was a bit worried when I saw the long q and there was no "bypass lane". Nonetheless, we walked pass the long queue and BINGO - we bypassed straight to the entrance. I could not imagine how to stand under the hot summer heats. Very excited to enter the Vatican museum but this time we were more experienced in viewing the paintings. Something I learnt this trip was about "fresh coat paintings" - frescos if I understood from my wife correctly. There were many great artworks and even sculptures - though I could not remember most of them except the ceiling painting - "The Last Judgement" at Sistine Chapel. We were also lucky to be able to take a sit and admire the arts in the Chapel. Even someone not artistic like me also marveled at the works. "WOW". One amusing thing that I recently copycat was to say "Silence, Please" as the guards in the Chapel were reminding the crowd.

The spiral staircase was another interesting area for photo taking. This time, I too lazy to bring my wide angle. So, managed to get some good angles only, not perfect wide angle shot.  Initially I wanted to ask my wife to proceed down to the ground floor and for me to take a pic. However, I was afraid that she might not like the "art" since she would be too tiny to be seen in the photo. She used to say that the artistic wedding photos were those that the couple could not even recog that they were in the photos after donkey years. Hee, better dun take. 

We got ourselves in a bit of a mini mess at the Museum canteen.  The drink got stuck in the vending machine and we were pissed off. My dear checked with the staff and they asked us to check with the canteen vendor.  Usually the smartie, my wife asked me to take a photo to claim. A very unique collection of my Rome collection and my wife specifically asked me not to delete this photo.

Could not rem the taste of the drink as we were in piss off mode. At this moment, we also needed to hunt for a red background statue and this got us in tiring aimless hunt. I told myself I should have listened to my wife carefully and stop at that "statue" even though it might not be there. After the "macho man in red background" hunting, my wife was convinced and I also learnt to take care in listening to her and dun dismiss immediately. Learning. Hee.

Of Cos, we must have a vatican postcard! Actually, I could sense that my wife thought it was no big deal sending a postcard at Vatican city - when her friend told her it was "Vatican City" post card. I guess she wasnt aware that it was a small country and the history behind at that time. Hee. 

Post cards posting seems to be part of my travel itinerary and I would look out for post office in map. Just that at times when we could not find a post box, I always feel insecure to ask the receptionist to post for us. Dunno why. 

Roman holidays Part Due

I seldom blog about guesthouse. Daphne Trevi was the B&B that we stayed in Rome. It was on a road called Avignon* which was a place that we liked alot in France. It was on a cobblestone path - JJ said it was of history. I recalled some of these stoney paths in Colosseum were difficult to walk and JJ, the smartie as usual, shared that they were used by horses and chariots - well, make sense!

It was quite a romantic path and finding it was not difficult as I have penned down the way on a mini notebook. The impression of Daphne Trevi was good. JJ liked the place as it was part of a real Italian apartment. Our backyard view was shared with other locals. A very interesting feel and we started to feel and taste living the Roman way. As I was not very good in understanding instructions, I asked my wife to listen 100% to the instructions on how to enter/exit Daphne Trevi.  

The toilet was clean and filled with a lot of toilet rolls. Something caught our attention was the additional "toilet bowl" besides the usual bowl. We've been to France, Germany and London but this was the first time we saw this. We were trying to figure out how it was used for. My wife said it was for me (well, I dun think so though). But we too lazy to ask or surf the net. This was called bidet after we surfed the net back in Milano. It was for both males and females. Indeed, we found the "toilet" facilities very interesting in Rome. We overheard from some travellers that they had difficulties finding the flush - yup, some were designed to be on top, at the edge and they were quite unconventional. There was once when I didnt notice the flush would be activated only when we stepped on the device at the bottom. 

One reason why I chose Daphne Trevi was it was near Trevi Fountain - a place that I wanted to go for a long time. I saw the "replicate" before in Korea and really wanted to see the real one. Was also thinking that we could walk there on foot anytime if we wanted. We could even throw the first coin on the day.

The breakfast spread was good. We were always the first ones to eat and the breakfast corner was just outsides our room - very convenient. We liked the muesli, the ham and fruits. On one day, we nearly finished the ham and we noticed that they cut the ham into smaller portion instead of leaving it in circles. JJ said this served as rations for all the guests. JJ liked to eat flakes and muesli in yogurt while I liked them in milk.  Though when I tried them in yogurt, they did taste nice but I refused to "succumb" to this new way of eating. Frankly, it was quite nice especially when you ate with strawberry yogurt and muesli - yummy.  Must confess. 

Roman Holidays Part Uno

第一次去意大利，感觉已经很兴奋。八月的意大利，应该会热吧。就是这样，我们还是去。JJ was down with flu on flight to Italy Milano, so I have to stay awake and take good care of her. It was the first time that we slept on arrival at our guesthouse in Rome - in fact we have been zzing from plane to train and to guesthouse. Ignoring the pre-plan itinerary, I decided to let my wife have a good rest. It was more important to let her recover and then we could roam more subsequently.

Day 1 in Rome really started on Day 2. We did our map reading and then started our journey to Spanish Steps (where the shopping centre was near). Purposely planned this way so that we would not be "baked" so early under the hot summer sun. The Spanish Steps were nice, and the fountain caught my attention. Was a bit worried even to try to taste the water so initially we agreed to "wet" our lips - I thot that would at least provide some safety precaution in case. I got a sensitive tummy after a mini food poisoning incident in HK.  It was very hot and we took cover in the buildings' shadow. JJ told me the origin of the name "Spanish Steps" and though I didnt read properly, I still acted that I also knew - just that my wife could decipher when I "acted smart".  We did some windows shopping in the "Orchard Road" of Rome - boutiques and branded goods. Frankly, I seldom touchbased with branded goods, not even in Paris. This time I was thinking that Italy was a fashion city and really have to immerse in "designer clothes" mood. In this way, my wife said I really visited or demanded to visit most of the branded shops in Rome. 

We also wanted to do the "Roman" way - having espresso in cafe. We saw this elegant cafe known as Caffe Greco so we went in to take some cakes and kopi O.  It was then that we realised that the food was not cheap. There were also paintings and the waiters were very well-dressed in tuxedo.  Even the toilets were nice and the "toilet auntie" well-dressed. A surf on the internet revealed that this cafe was Rome's poshest kopi bar since 1760! The speciality was paradisi made with lemon and orange - Not sure if our orange cake was the one or not. But it was still a very RomanTIC experience.  A place for us to rest our tired feet and cool down.

Something that we learnt while roaming was that Pinocchio was in fact ITALIAN! yup, this really surprised us. We saw so many pinos until we convinced ourselves that he had italian citizenship. Well, one consequence from this discovery was I had to pose in a Pino shot.  Guess this served as a sweet Pino memory in our Rome adventure. Along our way, I started to recall the story and my wife did "challenge" me if I could rem the story. Frankly, the most vivid part was the nose and somehow he got swallowed by a whale.  And finally he became a real boy. I would remind my wife next time to highlight to our kids that Pino was Italian during the story-telling. Hee.