Italy and Malta Trip (Day 5): Rome

Breakfasts at hotels are the best! It's good to wake up and look forward to breakfast. I usually skip breakfast at home but it's different overseas. I nearly couldn't find the milk for the cornflakes because the milk wasn't placed next to the cornflakes for some reason. In Venice, the jam wasn't placed next to the bread. Super weird. 

Time to visit all the huge tourist attractions in Rome. First up, the Colosseum! The largest amphitheatre ever built, construction of the Colosseum began in 72 AD and was completed in 80 AD.  

It was raining throughout the entire day. The leather jacket I wore was great since leather is water resistant or whatever, but at the same time, my leather jacket wasn't as thick as my winter coat. So when by the end of the day, I was cold and wet but thankfully, not that miserable. 

It was interesting to learn about executions ad bestias, which meant that the condemned would have to face wild beasts in the arena. And of course, there were gladiatorial combats. Participants were slaves or prisoners, or men seeking glory and fame. The Colosseum definitely inspired video games such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

This is a candid shot! I was trying to close my umbrella and pose for the camera. Anyway, over here, we could see the underground tunnels that held caged animals and other props. 

We headed to the Roman Forum, which was just next to the Colosseum. The forum was filled with ruins of important ancient buildings.

There were sculptures, temples, shrines and arches everywhere. However, at this point in our journey, the rain was pelting down on us like bullets and the path was getting muddy. There were puddles and miniature streams, so I felt like I ended up spending more time looking at the ground than I did looking at the ruins. Moreover, most of the signs in the Roman Forum were weathered and some words were hard to decipher.

Here's the Temple of Romulus (the one with the large green door) and the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. 

Many sought shelter from the rain at the ruins of the Temple of Caesar. To be more specific, they hid in the niche behind the stone wall that used to contain the altar of Julius Caesar. Apart from the ruins, I managed to capture the rods of rain and large puddles of water that constantly got in our way. Eventually, we made it out for the forum and stopped at a restaurant to get out of the rain and to have our lunch. 

After that, we took the train to the Spanish Steps!

This is Fontana della Barcaccia, or the Fountain of the Boat, which is located at the foot of the steps. It was completed in the 1600s and it is still so magnificent! 

Look at the pretty buildings and all those umbrellas.

Everyone was facing the opposite direction and posing with the steps, so to avoid getting random people in your shot, you could face the church instead! Or am I just a weirdo? Why are people not taking pictures of Piazza di Spagna?

We climbed to the top, crossed the road, and climbed up some more steps to reach the entrance of the church. Even though we didn't enter the church, I wanted to see its facade up close! Again, am I a weirdo? I think most tourists just took pictures of the Spanish Steps and left without bothering.

We strolled down the street and passed this monument called the Column of the Immaculate Conception.

Soon, we heard the sound of gushing water. Once we turned the corner, we caught our first glimpse of the Trevi Fountain! It was just a short walk from the Spanish Steps. I've always wanted to see the fountain so I was super excited! The Trevi Fountain is always featured in movies. It seems almost mandatory for film directors to show audiences this particular fountain whenever a protagonist visits Italy. 

I feel like the fountain was bigger than what I had expected and I could not capture the fountain in its entirety, so this was the best I could do! By this time, it was pouring. But there were still crowds of people around the fountain so it was difficult to take pictures too. Legend has it that coins should be thrown into the fountain for luck, love, and to ensure that one returns to Rome in future. I threw in a coin and later, I was glad to find out that the coins are collected and donated to charities that help the less fortunate. 

The last attraction we visited was the Pantheon. The former Roman temple had been converted into a Christian church, and it was our refuge from the rain that day.

Visitors moved around the majestic, circular room and admired the sculptures within. John and I sat in the rows of seats to rest and dry off a little. It had been an extremely long and wet day. The bottom part of my jeans were soaked and I felt icky because my socks stuck to my feet.

Okay, so apparently, we walked quite a distance away from the train station, and we needed to take a bus back to Roma Termini. I think we boarded bus 64, and little did I know that it was also called the Pickpocket Express. The bus was extremely crowded, probably more crowded than it usually was because of the bad weather, and we were packed like sardines. My boyfriend and I were standing in the bus where bodies were pressed against one another. To make matters worse, there were men offering me seats and I suspected that they were up to no good, so I kept refusing their offers.

The "icing on the cake" was probably when I felt a hand on my right pocket. Initially, I thought that someone was doing a really bad job trying to get molest me. I kept pushing my boyfriend in the other direction to try to get away from the weirdo who was touching the pocket of my denim jeans. Anyway, the pickpocket's attempt was in vain because there was nothing inside my right pocket. I think my phone was in my left pocket and I was grabbing onto it to make sure that it wouldn't go missing.

Finally, we made it out and popped into an Italian restaurant, Trattoria D'azeglio, on the way back to the hotel. I liked the salty fries there! Oh, I forgot to mention that it is the custom for Italians to drink wine at meals. However, my boyfriend does not like alcohol and I do not like most types of wine, so we ultimately did not do as the Romans do. At times, my boyfriend ordered soft drinks, and if it was a particularly cold day I would question his decisions.

How could we visit Italy and not have panna cotta? Mmm... I'm getting a little hungry just looking at these pictures!