Rome

Our bus reached Roma Tiburtina Terminal at 6am and we took a taxi to our hotel.

 We were required to check in at Hotel Del Corso and the bell boy will assist us to move our luggage to our Class House Residenza.

 

Class House Residenza

Via del Corso 119

 

The old fashioned lift.

Open the first door, slide the second door and press on the buttons. Lift will not move if both doors are not closed properly. Our room is on the second floor, walking down the stairs is actually faster than taking a lift.

Room 505

Our room comes with a balcony overlooking Via del Corso (the main street).

The weather is so hot that we hardly open the door. The dining area is just outside our room, so 6.30am onwards we will start hearing lots of noise coming from the pantry.

Newly renovated modern rooms with inferior finishes. Nicely design with lousy workmanship.

What a pity...

Piazza Colonna

Trevi Fountain

 Spanish Steps

We witnessed a guy successfully proposed here and everyone cheering for him.

Galleria Alberto Sordi

The only downtown shopping mall we seen in Rome.

Only a handful outlets with Zara and La Rinascente as main Tenant. A few shopping street in down town we like most: Via Condotti Via Frattina Via del Corso Via della Croce 

Pantheon

Built in 126AD, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. 2 Kings of Italy, Vittoria Emanuele II and Umberto I are buried in the Pantheon and so are Rapfael Sanzio.



 The Oculus (a central opening to the sky) is the main source of natural light in Pantheon.

 Porto Portese Market

Open on Sunday 7am- 2pm, Tram 8 to Ippolito Nievo stop.

We found some earrings at 1eur each, buy 6 for 5eur:)

Sandwich with steak and broccoli (3.5eur)

It's nice, at least it is freshly made and hot!

We'd bought sandwiches from some café, cold bread with tomatoes and salad that already turned bad.

 Piazza Navona

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountains of Four Rivers)

Piazza del Popolo

The piazza lies on the northern gate of Aurelian Walls. On the north side the square is dominated by the Porta del Popolo, which leads to the Via Flaminia. The Via Flaminia was built in 220 BC to connect Rome with the Adriatic coast and was one of the most important roads leading to Rome. Hence many travellers entered the city from the Via Flaminia, passing through Piazza del Popolo.

 

Behind the piazza is the "twin" churches of Santa Maria in Montesanto (left) and Santa Maria dei Miracoli (right).

Obelisk

Porta del Popolo

In 1562 pope Pius IV commissioned architect Nanni di Baccio Bigio to construct a large gate, the Porta Flaminia, to impress the pilgrims who entered the city via the Via Flaminia. In 1655, on the occasion of Queen Christina of Sweden's arrival in Rome, the inside of the gate was decorated by Bernini on pope Alexander VII's request. The gate was later renamed Porta del Popolo.

We walked over to Trastevere via Ponte Garibaldi and found there are some interesting tents along the river. There are some interesting restaurants and we had our dinner there.

Seafood Risotto

Tomatoes Truffles Gnocchi

Trastevere

This place is much happening than in downtown in the evening.

More youngsters, lots of pubs and café around.

Some shop is still open when we were there around 10+pm.

 Roma Termini

With 29 platforms, Roma Termini is one of the largest train station in Europe.

Colosseum

Pizza Ciro

Via della Mercede, 43

The first night we were too tired and ordered a pizza take away.



Pizza was not bad and we patronize the restaurant the next day.

Marinara Pizza (8eur)

pomodoro, mozzarella, grana, olio, basilico



This is delicious! Very big bowl.

 

Linguine alla Ciro (Mixed Seafood Linguine) 16eur

misto mare



We were there again third night in a row.

 

Pizza della Nonna

pomodorini, mozzarella, tonno, cipolla, grana, olio

The same dish we ordered but it looked differently.

GG's favorite. She can't help thinking of this.

View from our balcony.

 Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (Victor Emmanuel Monument)



Colonna Tralana

Foro Tralana

Santi Giovanni e Paolo

Colosseum We actually came a couple of times. They closed earlier than stated.

 

Palatino (Palantine Hill)

I'm waiting under the shade for GG, my whole leg is already covered with dust. The water turns black when I rinse it.

 





Foro Romano (Roman Forum)

Arco di Tito (Arch of Titus)

 

Laduree in Rome

 

Our damage in Rome Personally I like a local designer shop, Abit Art (Via Della Croce 46) and Klip (Via del Gambero 39). GG and I bought a bag and shoe at Angelo de Nepi (Via Frattina 2).

Ciro & Ciro Restaurant

This is a café version for Pizza Ciro, near Pantheon.  

Was recommended the Mixed Seafood with Fish Linguine (25eur)

Not as good as Pizza Ciro...



End result after one month in Italy......

We were wearing slippers through out the whole trip. Weather is dry, feet cracked a lot despite everyday applying cream and oil. The bleeding due to the cracks and not sure where the blister came from.

Our holiday ends in Rome.

 

#Tips:

Strengthen spinal core before coming if travelling without tour:) The walk is really tedious, the locals may be used to it but we may not. Their 5mins walk probably is our 15mins walk.

 

Book hotels and long distance trains in advance, the savings could be more than half of the usual price.  

 

Transportation: Standby alternative plans, we had few wrong information couple of times from the service staff. They will provide wrong information too. 

 

Avoid Summer, the weather is 38-40 degree when I was there. Some places couldn't even find a shade a hide. But there will be some discount on shopping on this period.

 

Shopping: Buy it if you like it, you may not see it again in other parts in Italy. Shopping: Check price properly. We had encounter few times... (For example, when asked the staff how much the sun screen is, he will scan and tell you 19eur. When make payment, the cashier will scan and tell you 20eur. It always will be higher when make payment, never encounter lower.)

Tax refund: Some shops work with 2 companies. Global blue is better, easier to claim refund in airport, credit card refund is faster. Premier is super slow (a Q of 3 person, period of 40mins). Credit card refund takes more than 2 months.
  

Supermarket is generally not big, so don't expect too much.

 

Fountain water is much nicer than tap water. 

 

No chance for heels.

 

Sunglass and sunscreen is a must, Sun ray is very strong.