Italy and Malta Trip (Day 4): Rome

The last morning at Hotel Olimpia. Out of the three hotels we stayed at during our trip, Hotel Olimpia was my favourite. Their breakfast was wonderful and and I love how grand everything looked.

After checking out, we took a train to Rome and arrived a little later than expected. No more canals and isolated streets. Rome was crowded and full of buses.

Checked in at Augusta Lucilla Palace. The room was obviously much smaller than the one we had at Hotel Olimpia, but we were in the capital after all. 

We headed back to Roma Termini and had lunch at Mercato Centrale, or more commonly known to Singaporeans as the food court. I had a burger and some fries, while John had ramen. It looked and tasted so good that we went back and I had ramen for dinner that night! Yum. Then, we journeyed to Romeow Cat Cafe!

There were colouring books and colour pencils on the table. Some university students (I think) later entered the cafe and started colouring in some of the books. I guess it makes sense to relieve one's stress by visiting a relaxing cat cafe and seek solace in art. We ordered a beverage each but we did not know that his drink would come with biscuits and mine with nachos. Since we just filled our stomachs, we could not finish these snacks!

If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain... (It rained a lot the next day, but I'll save that for the next post)

Like most cats in cat cafes, the cats were not that friendly and most of them were just chilling in their own boxes, beds or cat trees.

Having been to cat cafes in Singapore and Australia, my boyfriend and I were veteran cat cafe visitors. I have also been to cat cafes in Taiwan and South Korea. Although the staff did not brief us on the dos and don'ts regarding the cats, the rules are the same everywhere. Don't disturb or irritate the cats, don't carry the cats, and absolutely no flash photography is permitted. 

By the time we entered the National Roman Museum, it was dark! Sadly, we did not have enough time to look at all the exhibits. Both of us were impressed by how there were never-ending rows of artefacts. There were countless statues of Greek gods, emperors, soldiers and commoners. The artworks displayed depicted religious scenes, myths, battles, and animals. 

Unfortunately, we had to whiz past most of the exhibits. We stayed until the museum was about to close. By then, all we could do was just glance around. We poked our heads into the basement and briefly looked at the coin collection there before heading out. 

Back at the hotel, my boyfriend and I watched Ed Sheeran perform on television and played with the adjustable bed. We were just fiddling around with the remote control for the television and we found another one that was for the bed! It was so fun to control the bed and it reminded me of the night I had to stay in the isolation ward at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital last year. The doctors thought that I had tuberculosis when I actually had pneumonia. But that's another story for another time.