Me doing the cool online check in and our short haul plane!
Once we concluded our stint in London, it was time to move on to our next destination - Italy! The land of nice nice pasta! As it was considered a short haul regional flight, the airport was Gatwick instead of Heathrow. The Gatwick airport can be easily reached by a shuttle bus service Easybus, which can save you tons of money instead of taking a cab.
We got to stay in a really nice hotel Quirinale. We simply took a shuttle bus service from the airport which dropped us right outside the hotel lobby. Checking in, we found a really nice vintage looking room with clean toilet! That's my best gauge for a good hotel! It was also within walking distance to the subway which makes travelling really simple and easy.
Ahh... Italian fare, how much I miss it! We walked into a random restaurant and tried out their "tourist menu" It was enough to feed two Asians even though we were starving, and all for a pretty reasonable price so we weren't complaining. Although it wouldn't be the best you can get, but I would say just for a simple dinner it would suffice.
The beginning of day two in Rome! We wake up to an early day where we go to the Roman ruins!
So our Roma pass entitled us to unlimited subway rides as well as rides on some of the buses. Rome is pretty small, so it was really easy to get around. If you had the perserverance, making your way around on foot would be very possible. But since we were lazy, we just took a bus from our hotel near the metro Republica, to somewhere near Museo Sacracio delle Bandiere. From there, we walked the length of the road south east along the Imperial Forums to the Colosseum.
Sights along the long route...
The Imperial Forums is like a huge park. The Roma pass allows entry into the Forums as well as the Colosseum. However if you do need to buy tickets, you can always avoid the epic long queue at Colosseum by opting to get your tickets at the Forums.
Inside the Forums where we see ruins only interesting to Kerwyn...
Temple of Saturn if I'm not wrong... It's just amazing some are still standing!
They have this beautiful hilltop garden where we took a short break and more pictures!
View of the Colosseum from the edge of the Imperial Forums
As it was winter, the daylight was short and their operating hours were even shorter. As we were going in they were an hour to closing so we had to scurry around and absorb whatever we could and take as many pictures. I'm not an expert on Roman history so you would have to go and appreciate whatever there is in the Colosseum that so many people come far and wide to see!
The Holy Door in St Peter which opens once every 50 years. Touched it for good luck!
As Vatican city was considered as a sovereign state, we were actually crossing borders without our passports in this picture!
A wonderful dinner (with beer!) to conclude our last night in Rome!
A must eat is their gelato, still missing it today...
We also popped by Campo de Fiori at night to witness it's transformation from a market to a pub/restaurant haunt. That's me drinking from one of the many ancient freshwater drinking fountains still working today. It's safe so no worries! Drinking takes a little bit of skill though.
Spanish steps is really crowded at night, so we couldn't snap a nice picture here. Nevertheless we had a really nice evening walk down the streets of Rome.
A lovely Tiramisu to finish up our stay in Rome. Our next stop would be the highly romantic Venice!
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