Italy and Malta Trip (Day 7): Goodbye Italy and Hello Malta!

It was our last day in Rome but flights from Rome to Valletta are only one and a half hours long, so we still had time for one more museum! Coincidentally, we also spent about an hour and a half at the Museum of the Liberation of Rome. The museum is located at the very same building which the SS used to hold and torture Italians who resisted Nazi rule during WWII.

The building seems small but there were a couple of floors to explore, as well as numerous exhibits and rooms. Although most of the words were in Italian, we were provided with an audio guide.

In the above picture, there this exhibit next to the picture of a tank in the streets. It contained a message that a resistance fighter by the name of Ignazio Vian had carved into bread, and his message was "Courage, Mamma". (Bread reminds me of the film I had to watch for class: Rome, Open City) 

Of course, resistance fighters were arrested, interrogated, tortured and killed. Before their deaths, many prisoners scratched out messages and left graffiti on the walls of their cells. There was a prisoner who counted the number of days he was imprisoned for, and another who wrote long paragraphs of Italian words. (I wish I could read them!) 

According to the audio guide, there was a prisoner who believed that the traitor who betrayed them was the one nicknamed "rabbit".

This is a reproduction of the jail cards of the Jews who were killed during the Ardeatine massacre or Fossa Ardeatine massacre on 24 March 1944.

On 4 June 1944, Nazis who were fleeing Rome massacred more prisoners. Most of the prisoners were identified except for one. Finally, in 2009, the last man was identified as a British officer. On the left of the exhibit, there is a picture of the memorial that they added for him.

Just a picture of the buildings nearby! I learnt a lot from this museum and I think that it was worth the visit.

We had breakfast at a random cafe (and lunch at a different restaurant) before heading to the airport.

Our train tickets!

It's nice to look at the black departure board and feel this sense of anticipation, wondering what the next destination has in store for you.

When we reached Malta, someone was sent to drive us to the hotel. By the time we checked in at Hotel Osborne, the sky was already dark.

The lobby! Okay, so I think that the best hotel, out of the three hotels that we stayed in during our trip, was the Hotel Olimpia in Venice! But my boyfriend preferred Osborne Hotel. 

The hotel in Rome was the smallest, and that's to be expected since, well, it's Rome. So our larger room at Osborne Hotel was a welcome change!

Time for dinner at a random restaurant! I ordered meat that I didn't like again. (I have to stop doing that)

After dinner, we took our time to explore our surroundings and to familiarise ourselves with the streets of Valletta! 

I really wish to go back to Malta! But I wouldn't visit the country in winter again. I'd like to take a dip in the ocean in summer.

That's all for day 7! Malta is amazing, so please stay tuned!

Italy and Malta Trip (Day 6): Rome

Finally! We arrived at the Vatican City! This picture was taken after we had breakfast at our hotel. We then had to take the train and avoid all the people who were trying to sell us tours or supposedly discounted tickets. Then, we had to navigate our way through a sea of people at the entrance before finally getting to the first few exhibits at the actual museum. 

Every single room in the Vatican was grand. There were so many galleries and so many things to look at that it was all a blur! I think we visited the Art Gallery first, where there was a huge amount of religious art being displayed everywhere. After that, we went to the Ancient Egyptian exhibit. The room with the mummy and the sarcophagus was so ridiculously packed with tourists. All I could do was to snap a few pictures here and there. There were canopic jars, hieroglyphs carved into stone, and cat figurines of course. Spotted a statue of Anubis and also one of Sekhmet in this semicircular room where all the larger statues were kept.  

We had to walk down so many corridors and each looked just as majestic as the next. The corridors never seemed to end and we did not have time for all the exhibits! We came across the Hall of Animals, which was supposed to make up a stone zoo. There were huge Roman sculptures in every corner. 

There was this hall that was filled with ancient maps and it was interesting to see how the world was viewed by people in the past! I feel like we could have spent the entire day here but the walking was really killing me and we needed to get some lunch. I think it is impossible to fully explore every single part of the museum in just a single day.

We popped into a Chinese restaurant called "Ni Hao" that sold Japanese food (so I guess it's just an Asian restaurant?) and I ordered a meal that came with soup, sashimi, sushi, rice and chicken, all for under 10 euros I think! Basically, Asian restaurants are just way cheaper.

Obviously, we had to take some pictures at St. Peter's Square!

So beautiful! The columns remind me of the scene in Disney's Hercules, you know? The scene when Hercules does not know his strength and he accidentally causes all the columns are the marketplace to collapse like dominoes. That scene was probably based on the columns at St. Peter's Square.

In front of St. Peter's Basilica!

Okay, I just had to try and fit all the columns into the a panoramic picture.

There were some Christmas decorations on display behind us.

After this, we headed to Largo di Torre Argentina, a square that used to house four temples and a theatre, but all that's left are remains.

The main attraction for us was actually the cat sanctuary! We walked around and spotted a cat. After that, we found the entrance quite easily.

After going down a flight of steps, you'd see a little entrance. The shelter is located under a busy road, so the first thing I noticed when I stepped in was all the noise and vibrations of cars above us. But the cats are totally fine with it!

Some of them were sleeping soundly next to the objects that were displayed for purchase. They are used to the presence of admirers and visitors too! 

Just like any other respectable shelter, the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary takes care of cats of all kinds. There were fluffy cats and regal-looking cats, but there were also cats who were missing an eye, and cats who suffered from other physical disabilities. But it didn't matter because all of the cats were so sweet!

One of the ladies who worked there told us stories about the cats! There was a cat in particular who was knocked down by a car and had some health issues, but it was extremely friendly and it kept approaching us! I could not take a clear picture of it since it kept moving around. Ugh, so cute!

I bet this fluffy one was adopted shortly after our visit!

There's also this programme that the shelter runs called "Distant Adoption". Basically, you can be a sponsor of one of these cats if you make a monthly donation, and the shelter will give you updates on the cat you have "adopted"! We found it a little too costly (we are poor) but I think it's a great idea.

In the end, before we left, we bought a black tote bag. There were many other items on sale too, and you can buy these items to support the sanctuary. (If you don't, you'd be judged by the cats there) 

Next stop: Piazza Navona. I wish I could've taken a beautiful picture of this place in the day as well! People were just hanging out at the square and the ambiance was really nice. The grand building in the picture above is Sant'Agnese in Agone, a 17th century church. It's near the Fountain of the Four Rivers. (also pictured above)

I think that this is Fontana del Moro, the fountain located at the south end of the square.

Fountain of Neptune is located at the north end. There were also horse-drawn carriages in the square.

After looking around, we boarded a bus down to Trastevere. My boyfriend wanted to bring me to an Italian restaurant to try the best carbonara in Italy, but apparently, he did not know that you needed to make a reservation beforehand. (Research fail!) The waiter at the restaurant claimed that they were fully booked, although from the outside, the place seemed almost empty. It was rather strange.

Anyway, it didn't matter in the end because we just strolled down the streets and popped into Ristorante da Augustea, a random restaurant we found. I didn't like the pork that I had ordered because I found it too chewy for my liking, but the potatoes were nice. 

My boyfriend thought the meat was yummy, so he was willing to trade me his delicious carbonara! (The perks of having a wonderful boyfriend) I should've just ordered this in the first place. It's okay though, ordering the meat was still worth it because of the potatoes. 

(I know it's taking me forever to blog about this trip but I'm just so busy with work. I'm trying my best to blog whenever I can and hopefully I'll finish blogging about this trip before the year ends!)

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!