r o m e

Rome!! Roma Termini's their main train station.. The only good thing about the hostel we stayed at, is that it's near Roma Termini... Everything else about it was terrible -- tiny place with old rooms and the grimiest tinist kitchen and plumbing that was spoilt for 2 of the 5 days we were there.. And that's not all! Big warning: Don't spoil your Rome trip by staying at Backpackers' Hostel! Unfortunately, it's run by a company that has a group of hostels which are all of similar sad standards but have different names, so good luck trying to find good and cheap accomodation at HostelWorld or whatever that doesn't come under them!

First up: the Colosseum! It's seriously as good as what you hear of it!

That's where they keep the animals and slaves underground..

Spectators sit all around the sides, it was a thing of status to have a seat in the colosseum..

Roman roads that have survived the years...

Maximillian Circus... Where there was horse-chariot racing during Roman times..

The Roman Forum! From above, the ruins look like models or toys.. But actually they're seriously gigantic! That's why you can hardly make out the people on the ground in the photos, although it's sprawling with tourists haha...

Beautiful beautiful ruins!

The stone podium that Marc-Antony is supposed to have made his speech from (after the death of Julius Caesar)...

Towering arches...

The flame that's not supposed to go out...

They've got some really short tiny-looking buses!

The Pantheon! It's deceivingly small in this photo, had to stand far far back before being able to catch most of it in my photo... These Romans don't seem to have a sense of size -- everything's so gigantic!

The domed-ceiling of the Pantheon..

One of the many many churches we visited in Rome... They're seriously amazing, the paintings and sculptures and ornate decorations along the walls and on the ceilings.. They're almost like tiny museums of their own..

The fountain of Trevi (or was it Tivoli? oops) which was the last stop for our 1st day in Rome..

Refreshing stop... Especially with Italian Gelato!

Went to Vatican City the next day.. Had to queue for quite some time before finally entering the Vatican Museum... It's got quite a bit of Egyptian stuff, surprisingly...

Plenty of notable and impressive sculptures too...

Having our sandwich-lunch in the gardens of the Vatican Museum, resting our museum-feet...

One of the famous ones -- School of Athens.. They're really beautiful..

Finally reached Sistine Chapel after a long long walk... The Last Judgement..

Had to risk being shot deadly glances and bellowed to stop taking photos, in order to photograph the above 2 photos haha... We're allowed to take photos everywhere in the museum, but they're so strict about none in the Sistine Chapel.. No idea why.. Maybe it's just to force everyone to buy postcards etc of the works of art in the Sistine Chapel...

No more photos after this point, cos my camera ran out of memory haha... And haven't got the photos from Tse Siang yet..

We practically spent an entire day in the Vatican Museum, but it's really worth it... Went visiting other sights in Rome the next day and the rest of Vatican City the day after.. Having roamed Rome so much, we managed to sniff out a rather cozy restaurant with a 5-course meal for 15 euros, which we treated ourselves to on the last night.. =P Food's relatively ex in Rome too.. We'd been making sandwiches for lunch and cooking pasta for dinner... On the last day, which happened to be a Sunday, we went for mass in the St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City!

Generally, Rome's packed with stuff to see, plenty of beautiful impressive things, though you might get a little saturated with churches.. But wouldn't choose to live in that city, it's far too messy and crowded for my liking..