Day 28 – Rome, Italy

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July 18 (2pm) – July 20 (10am), 2016 | Via Lorenzo Valla, 25, 00152 Roma, Italy | +39 333 866 8441

2 nights total ₱14,701. Host – Valentino Rossi

1.5 hours high speed train from Florence to Rome: 7.5k php/4 pax

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Last 2 days in Italy!! To be sad or not to be sad, that is the question. Maybe if Ate were with us the whole journey we wouldn’t be as eager to go home. But as it is, 2 weeks is far too long to be apart, we miss each other every second of every minute of every day. We are really #teamclingy

Last haul for our million-and-one luggages. All of us are under strict orders from Kap: NO MORE SHOPPING. Well except for Babyson who is becoming as difficult & as picky as his Ate when it comes to choosing an item. 10 oras sa tindahan walang magustuhan, #betchabygollywow! So may allowance pa sya for 1 or 2 more items. Ewan ko lang kung saan pa niya isisiksik hehe.

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Sa totoo lang, si Kap ang pinakamaraming hakot. But when I say that in jest, balik naman nya sakin.. Sweetheart, isang bag mo lang naman yung buong laman ng maletang nabili ko. May katuwiran, Lol!

Said goodbye to my niece quickly after another hurried Mcdo breakfast at the station. Destination: Roma! So far our experience with pickpockets in Milan, Venice & Florence has been null. We’re praying for God’s guidance & protection as we visit Rome as well. Mas ma-tao na daw sa Rome & more gypsies. So ingat pa more with our belongings.

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Checked in our apartment past noon. I must say Ate is getting the hang of this airbnb thingy. Expert na sya at finding nice lodgings for us. This one had an elevator, air-conditioning units, and spacious bedrooms. Yahoo! \m/

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Grabbed a quick lunch in front of the Colosseum. Kap’s had enough of the pizza & pasta situation so as a compromise, chicken sya! win-win, wouldn’t you say?

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Then off to some serious sight-seeing with what short time we have left..

The Roman Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built.

Although partially ruined because of damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is still an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions and has also links to the Roman Catholic Church.

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Gelato stop across to cool us off after that tour. Mas matindi pa yata ang init sa Roma kesa sa Pinas, no kidding!

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The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Pietro Bracci. Standing 26.3 metres (86 ft) high and 49.15 metres (161.3 ft) wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.

An estimated 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day. The money has been used to subsidise a supermarket for Rome’s needy; however, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain. It is illegal to steal coins from the Trevi Fountain. Coins are purportedly meant to be thrown using the right hand over the left shoulder.

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The Spanish Steps are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top.

The monumental stairway has 135 steps. At the top the stairway ramp up the Pincio is the Pincian Hill. From the top of the steps the Villa Medici can be reached.

During Christmas time a 19th-century crib is displayed on the first landing of the staircase. During May, part of the steps are covered by pots of azaleas. In modern times the Spanish Steps have included a small cut-flower market. The steps are not a place for eating lunch, being forbidden by Roman urban regulations, but they are usually crowded with people.

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The Pantheon from GreekΠάνθεονmeaning “every god”, is a building in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier building commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD).

The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a cofferedconcretedome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon’s dome is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome and is  is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings.

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Bernini’s Fountain. Rome’s love affair with fountains goes back to antiquity. The city today can boast a collection of public fountains that has no parallel to any other city in the world! In Baroque Rome, fountains were seen as a reflection of the generosity associated with papal families.

The play of water over marble, no matter how humble the design, provided local Romans with entertainments and a much needed, secure supply of water which could easily be carried home. The popes saw this art form as an excellent PR exercise and exploited the concept to the advantage of their standing with the local people.

Pope, Innocent X Pamphilj (reigned 1644-1655) eventually commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sculpt Rome’s greatest achievement in this genre, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, located in Piazza Navona, the ancient stadium of the Emperor Domitian and the site of the Pamphilj family palace.

As early as 1647 Innocent had decided to erect an obelisk as a central ornament for the piazza in tandem with a fountain, as he methodically cleaned up and beautified what was one of Rome’s most squalid neighbourhoods!

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The Capuchin Crypt is a small space comprising several tiny chapels located beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini on the Via Veneto near Piazza Barberini in Rome, Italy.

It contains the skeletal remains of 3,700 bodies believed to be Capuchin friars buried by their order. The Catholic order insists that the display is not meant to be macabre, but a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on Earth and our own mortality.

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And that ends our 1 of 2 days in Rome. Ay may pahabola pa, Hard Rock Cafe pa nga pala for Kap’s souvenir shirt. Talagang sinasadya pa to the ends of the earth, hay! Loko ka Honey, suotin mo yang mga pinagbibibili mo ha. Grabeng kalyo ang inaabot ko kakahanap nyan!

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As usual, chinese dinner to cap off our day. Ni hindi na nga ako umaangal, it’s already a given. 😛 Mas magugulat pa ako kung hindi kami mag-chinese food! 😛

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I must say, we accomplished A LOT today considering we only had less than half a day to visit so many places. So much that our soles got blisters from all that walking, just to cross off everything (well almost!) on Ate’s list for Roma. Wagi! \m/

Tomorrow, our last whole day in Italy, then back to home sweet home & Ate! <3 Abangan where our wandering feet (and Ate’s list) will take us. 😉