Day 2 in Rome! This is the kitchen of our airbnb. There is breakfast provided so we are helping ourselves to the coffee and bread before setting off. I appreciate hosts who make an effort to provide breakfast, or snacks in the kitchen at least. It really makes a difference in making us feel at home.
We exercised our second free museum entitlement at Musei Capitolini - if I recall correctly. It's the one close to the Roman Forum. Upon entering the museum we are greeted with another David in the courtyard.
This museum houses this famous sculpture called She-Wolf, basically the symbol of Rome! It is supposedly inspired by the founding of Rome. There's a whole backstory which I shan't dive deeper.
We found the balcony where you could see the Roman Forum from up high.
Hello again.
After spending a couple hours in the museum, we headed to Piazza del Popolo.
Santa Maria dei Miracoli.
Chanced upon this small butcher selling some pastry with a lonnng queue, so as typical kiasu Singaporeans we had to join in. It was okay, I don't remember it being mind blowing but I think by local standards this is probably their version of Oh Chang Kee curry puff or something!
Europe churches are so beautifully designed. It's like when you're worshipping and in the moment you look up towards the heavens and you literally see (a painting of) heaven. Haha.
The famous Spanish Steps which is overcrowded with tourists.
How it looks like from the top.
It really looks pretty normal - like a typical flight of stairs. I just it was made famous due to many references made to it in popular culture through songs and movies.
Slightly away from the steps you would find the high-end shopping street with Gucci and Prada and the like.
Gelato time! We got this from Giolitti, which is highly recommended on Tripadvisor. They have super a lot of flavors to choose from so knock yourself out.
We made our way to the Vatican City - a separate sovereign state within Rome ruled by the Pope. There are 557 citizens of the Vatican state, not including the Pope.
It was a Sunday so the museums/church were not opened. So it's really important to check the opening dates and time before visiting a city! We already planned to visit the following day (Monday) and a few days before I had bought tickets for the Vatican Museum, but we decided to pre-visit since we had time to spare + it was nice to see how it looked like at night.
Good decision to come on a day where everything was closed cos we could take pictures in a crowd-free environment! Plus it really looked enchanting at night,
Recognise this from the movie - Angels and Demons?
Castel Sant'Angelo with the sculpture of Michael the Archangel atop.
Our last dinner in Europe! A bittersweet one. We decided to "splurge" on some seafood since we had money left.
Next morning we woke bright and early. Our flight back to Singapore is later at night, so we had slightly more than half a day to enjoy.
As expected, the crowd was insane! I guess it was due to the backlog of those who couldn't visit on Sunday either. We queued for about 1 hour, cos we were unsuccessful in trying to cut the queue (oops heh), and in the end after resigning to join the end of the queue like honest people, we were being cut by so many others. (-.-")
Enjoy the spam cos St Peter's is GORGEOUS.
You have to cover up your shoulders and knees! So I prepared a cardigan to drape over my shoulders and made sure to wear a midi that ended below my knees.
Okay last one of the interior.
The exterior is beautiful as well!
Spot how long the queue goes in the background of the picture. It practically goes one big round around the square.
I didn't take picture of the queue at the Vatican Museum but we had to wait awhile also.
Finally in! I would say this place is definitely worthwhile to visit. Plus you get to go to the Sistine Chapel (strictly no pictures allowed there).
Beautiful courtyard in the museum.
Captured this view from within the museum on one of the balconies.
Love the spiral staircase at the end where you exit the museum!
Headed back to Castel Sant'Angelo, but we didn't have time to explore the inside. (It is also a museum.)
For our last meal in Europe we decided to try this restaurant we pass by the day before, There was such a long queue (at least 30 people!) outside it that we thought it really had to be good. When we went on a Monday afternoon, we got a seat immediately. We ordered the truffle pasta.
I think this was something like carbonara, and the one in the background is beef I think. Honestly I thought it was pretty normal. Maybe we ordered the wrong dish! Because there must be some reason why so many people wanted to dine there.
And that is it for our one month trip around Europe! Phew, after so long I managed to finish up everything. Soon I can start on Aussie.
Till then!
xx
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