Vatican City

Day 3

We started the day off quite early,taking Linea A to the Ottaviano station from Termini. Our focus for the day’s trip is the Vatican City, basically a city state in Rome. The line to Museo Vaticano, which houses the famous Sistine Chapel was insanely long, so we figured we should do the St. Peter’s Basilica first. We entered from the left arm (as the columns that surrounded the elliptical center of piazza were deemed “the maternal arms of Mother Church”), and was immediately dumbstruck by the magnitude of the architectural site. The sky was crystal blue, and the whole Piazza San Pietro and the Basilica looked magnificent coated in the warm rays of the sun. Needless to say, we were thrilled to be in this center of the catholic universe.

The interior of the St Peter’s Basilica was simply breathtaking, and one could only imagine the amount of effort and resources that had been poured into building this wonder. From this point onwards, not many churches could solicit more “wows” from us, since we had already seen one of the greatest.

We proceeded to visit the Museo Vaticano, only to discover the line was not any shorter than what we had seen earlier. In fact, it was a whole lot longer than what we expected. We spent a good hour waiting in the line, doing nothing much but chatting and trying to fight the cold. When we finally entered the museum, we were dazzled by the seemingly never-ending halls saturated with artworks and treasures of inestimable value. As impressive as they were, they could only pale in comparison to the legendary ceiling by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel (at least that’s what we are made to believe, I don’t really see how much better that ceiling is compared to the others, since I’m no art major). It was strictly prohibited to take photos in the chapel, but well, those excited tourists did not quite have the mood to adhere to the rule; flashes can be seen frequently despite angry warnings from the officers there.

Once we emerged from the historic maze, we soon found ourselves back in St Peter’s Basilica, albeit in a different level. We decided to do the unthinkable – to climb the stairs up to the dome, with my stupid laptop bag which started to seem more and more like the Ring in Lord of the Rings. All our efforts were eventually paid off though, as we got the chance to view the entire Rome from the top of the dome.

We started heading back to our hostel, but not before visiting a couple more places: Fontana di Trevi (yes, again to see the night view)– Quirinale – San Cario Quattro Fontane. Needless to say, it was a tiring day, and I got my first gelato in Rome (pistachio flavor) to reward my heroic display for not passing out in the middle of the trip :P

Group photo in front of the basilica

San Pietro Piazza behind

Hallelujah!!!

Close up view (not of me, of the altar or whatever that is)

One of those insane ceilings

View of the square from the top of the dome

Rome (pt 1)

Day 1

We reached Rome Ciampiano Airport at about 5pm. After retrieving our checked in baggage, we boarded a bus which took us to Agnagnina, the nearest Metro subway station. From there we went to Termini, which is the transportation hub of Rome. The subway system in Rome is worse than New York’s; not only is it dirty, it actually stinks. Once we reached Termini, we followed the instructions given by the hostel’s website and boarded bus 310 to our hostel. Unfortunately for us, we alighted from the bus too early and ended up having to walk to our hostel in the dark. Luckily we managed to somehow find the hostel. To our relief, to receptionist speaks English, and we were promptly checked in even though we didn’t have enough cash to pay for our dues. We were assigned to a 6 bedroom room with a French couple already occupying two of the beds.

Once we had everything settled down, we headed out again to Termini for dinner. The food there was quite cheap, we had kebab for less than 3 euros. Since the night was still young, we went to Piazza de Repubblica, which is within walking distance from Termini. There is an impressive looking fountain right at the center of the piazza, and the Santa Maria degli Angeli is just right opposite the fountain. Since everything was already closed, we just took a couple of photos before going back to our hostel.

Day 2

We had breakfast provided by the hostel, which was really nothing much but bread and cereal. From Termini, we took Linea B to the Colosseo stop, which was right in front of the Colosseum. I was left without words when I first saw the colossal Colosseo; I actually could not believe that I was there, standing in front of the magnificent building that I’ve seen so many times in postcards or pictures. The line towards the entrance was long, but I couldn’t complain as I needed the time to let the fact set in: I’m in Rome!!!

After Colosseum, we went to the nearby Palatino and Forum Romanum, which was basically a vast site of what used to be the central area of ancient Rome. One could only imagine how majestic the ancient city would look like standing there surrounded by those gigantic slabs of marbles, huge columns and arcs, and ruins of once imposing structures.

We proceeded to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, a monstrous monument dedicated to the first king who of a unified Italy. From there we went to the first grand church of many more to come – the Ara Coeli. Again I was awestruck as it was the first time that I observed such opulence in a catholic church; the interior was basically splattered with ornaments, paintings, and sculptures that could leave any casual observer dizzy and humbled. Since this was the first church of all in our trip, we were quite appreciative of the architecture and all, but eventually that feeling turned into a dreaded sense of déjà-vu. Ask Shermern about it, who in the end wouldn’t even want to enter anything vaguely resembling a catholic church.

As night falls, we made our way to probably the most famous fountain in the world: Fontana di Trevi. The fountain was so packed with tourists, presumably not to admire the art behind the fountain but to perform the famous coin-throwing ritual. I did my part to contribute to the estimated 3000 euros thrown into the fountain daily.

Places that we have visited the same day includes:

Palatino – Circo Massimo – Arco di Giano – Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II – Ara Coeli – Foro Traiano – Fontana di Trevi – Fontana del Tritone

Somebody said this looked fake :(

Overlooking the Colosseum from the Palatine Hill

The Roman Forum

What a waste....they're renovating the facade!!!

Fontana di Trevi

(More to come, stay tuned...)

Winter 2008

Suddenly it's already 2008, and as much as I do not like to believe it, I'm turning 23 is just a mere three months. Since my blogging has already halted for quite a while, let me start from where I left.

There was a winter storm in mid December which brought about a tremendous amount of snow accumulation. Since I was not in my mood to study for my finals (it was the finals study week), I took some photos of the surrounding of my apartment before the scene turned unsightly due to man-made disruptions (snowplower, snow-angle makers etc). This is one of the better photos:



Compare and contrast that to another photo which I've taken less than two months ago:

Interesting huh? Makes us appreciate the wonder and beauty of nature...