Rome Italy Jan'15

A great trip to start the new year.. It had been so long since the last time I was in Europe! 

It is almost turning out as an annual trip- went Bali in Dec 2012 and Jan 2014. But I still feel a great sense of pride as I walk towards the aircraft knowing that yq is in the cockpit. The only tinge of sadness is that we had to leave jx behind- it's only her first week at school.. 

I hate overnight flights. And this is exactly one. Flew off after 1am and had an excruciating 13hr flight where i hardly slept. Reached Sheraton around 9am Rome time.. 

Started the day with a walk in the heart of town and with Marcello Theatre.. 

Walked along little cobbled streets (which is so Europe) and had lunch at a quaint little place called Vinando.. Food was ok although not great .. 

Walked across to take a look at the Altar of the Fatherland..

Visited piazza navona, where there are 3 fountains with an artist's square with caricatures drawings.. 

 And isn't this typical window sill so beautiful? 

Next up is the Panteon- one of the main sights of Rome. 

Near the Panteon is a famous gelato shop- and what's Italy without gelato right? There are many such stores scattered around but this is probably the biggest and crowded one I have seen. 

With a gelato in hand, we strolled towards the Spanish steps. Loads of tourists here because right behind this fountain is the shopping street of all the famous Italian branded stores! 

We then proceeded to the Trevis Fountain- was hugely disappointed to see that it was under maintenance! It was my most anticipated sight because it was where 飞上云霄2 scenes were shot and it would have looked breath taking:(taken from the web)

Next up... Is the very iconic Colosseum.. It was a far walk from the city centre so we took a train from the Spanish steps to get there. 

Right beside the colosseum was the Roman forum. Entry tickets of 12 euro were required to enter the interior of both places thus we only captured the grandeur from outside. It would have been a day's worth of hiking as the compound is huge. 

We managed to cover all the above sights between 12 to 5pm including lunch. Good walking shoes needed. We were terribly lucky - weather was perfect about 15 degrees.. 

More random ruins which were scattered around the city..

Had time to spare before we took the shuttle bus back at 530pm so we sat down for hot chocolate at picturesque riverside - a great way to end the Rome-ing day with my date.

For Italian fare, as per all European food, it's not exactly cheap but as pasta is also not cheap in Singapore- comparatively its pretty affordable here, about 10- 15 euro per serving. Meals usually come with bread baskets so it's still filling.   I was looking out very much for tortellini but the places we visited only has ravioli so I had 2 meals of it- once at our hotel cafe :

And 2nd meal of ravioli was on day 2, after our Vatican City trip. We trudged to this little restaurant in Rome slightly off city centre called Roma Sparita. It was recommended by one of the captains and had good reviews with its Italian dishes online: