The first thing we noticed abt Rome was that it didn't feel like Rome at all. The Wen sisters thought it felt like Malaysia, the airport was like Malaysia’s, the roads were like Malaysia’s, the architecture was like Malaysia's and much to my disappointment, there were no statues of naked men abt. My friend had told me much abt these statues so I was rather looking forward to them.
When we reached the hotel, we finally saw our first statue, that of two horses nuzzling. I have no idea why there are statues of nuzzling horses in the hotel. After we made our way across the sacred floor and dumped our luggage in our rooms (horror of horrors my first roomie was Wk!), our tour guide hustled us off to lunch, which was in a Chinese restaurant. The owner greeted us in Chinese, the décor was as though we were in china and the food was typical Chinese cuisine. It was all rather strange, since I’ve only ever ate Chinese food at wedding dinners and with relatives, so with the six of us all seated at one table I feel as though we were one bizarre multi-racial family. But the food was not too bad, the conversation was great, and I really began to fully appreciate the company I’d be keeping for the next 14 days.
After lunch, we went to Vatican city, and when I caught a glimpse of something ancient-like beyond the imposing fortress, I thought, ‘now that’s more like it’. It was pretty cool cos the bus went into this long winding road to an underground tunnel so it feels as though we were on a roller coaster ride but the walls are castle-like.
At my first glimpse of St. Peter’s Basilica, I was just blown away. It was so majestic and beautiful. Greek columns, statues of apostles on the roof, all carved out of stone, it was everything I’ve always wanted to see. I was so moved that I’ve got goosebumps, and I turn to my friends and they had the same features of awe on their faces.
We saw the window which the Pope always appear from, the chimney which the all-important smoke come out from and even know where is the Pope’s room. And then we entered the church itself and oh my gosh, no words can describe it. It was so beautiful it was poignant. I almost teared there and then. Colourful frescoes cover every inch of the walls and roof, angels and apostles stare down at you from above, the altar was intricately designed and that sculpture of Jesus lying on the lap of Mary, that touched a chord in my heart.
Inside St. Peter's Basilica
The beautiful roof
So naturally, we went crazy, running here and there, snapping so many photos that I used up 1.5 rolls of film there. I almost wished I could be a nun and spend the rest of my life at the Basilica. I left the place feeling that my $5000 was well-spent.
Next, we went to the Colosseum which was another dream come true for me. Then we went to the Trevi fountain. It was full of greek gods and beautiful fountains. We threw a coin over our left shoulder, and legend has it that if you do that, you’d return to Rome. The more cheapo of us threw 5 cent coins (no need to guess who these people are). ‘These people’ specially brought 5 cent coins all the way from Singapore specifically for this purpose. After making certain that we’re coming back, we ventured off on our own to find the Pantheon. I thought the exterior was beautiful, it was another building based on greek architecture (in case you haven’t guessed, I’m fascinated with all things greek), the interior was rather normal but for the hole in the roof which was the only source of light for the whole place.
The hole in the roof
After I found out that the floor is sloping and that there are holes at the sides to drain water if it rains, I made the fatal error of saying this: “This is so interesting, I want to see it rain.�(I can actually hear you guys groaning as you read this).
And well, after 5minutes of departing the Pantheon, it rained and everybody blamed it on me and my mouth, which I’m sure others would agree with me that it was entirely of no fault of mine (Now I can hear indignant shrieks coming from you).
All I can say is that, that marked the start of a freaky series of coincidences that would follow us throughout the length of our tour. Look out for them as I blog. Prizes will be awarded to the person who can guess the number of freaky coincidences (yes, I insist on calling them that and nothing else) correctly.
After suffering through a bout of admonishment and a lot of ‘go back and see your rain fall’, we got lost finding the Spanish Steps, which I felt, wasn’t very deserving of us to get lost for it. But all is not lost as we had heavenly gelato. It was really good and now everytime I see the horribly expensive gelato in Singapore I’ll feel like buying one.
Then we went off for a Chinese dinner and it was back to the hotel for my night with Wk.
No comments:
Post a Comment