Rome: City of Ancient Ruins!

The last day of our trip in Prague, we just spent breakfast at the lovely IF cafe (ordering another cake of course!). We then embark our journey to Italy by taking the uber to the Prague airport, took on Ryan Air which this time they checked the size of our carry on! I must say, after living and traveling in Europe for the past 2.5 years, taking Ryan air, this has never happened to me until now! While my carry on was safe (I need to take out some stuff from the luggage so that it won't have a 'belly' and therefore passed the 'standard'), my friend was unlucky. Her luggage although having much less width, it was thicker, and that required her to pay extra 55 euro! See, for you Indonesians, Ryan Air is kinda the Lion Air of Indonesia in Europe... except... it's worse! Take it from someone (ME) who travels a lot with budget airlines (both in Indonesia and in Europe - I don't know whether I should be proud of this or sad.. hahahahha) and I guess my friend now experienced it first hand.

Nevertheless, after a speedy flight (from 3 hours schedule, it became 1.5 hours flight - dunno why, but I won't complain), that Saturday, we arrived in Rome, at the budget airport... which looks.. budget... Hahha.. and it was raining quite heavily. We directly go and buy our public transport ticket to the city. We took the public transport bus to the nearest Metro station, took the Metro, and just wait until we arrived at the Metro station nearby our Airbnb. Overall, it was easy peasy. From Metro station, we need to walk 7 minutes while dragging our carry on till we find the building which frankly speaking was too good to be true for our accommodation hahha. My friend was in disbelief to see as we entered the apartment building (it was.. pretty fancy... I must say), I just stared mesmerized on the beautiful staircase, but we took the elevator of course hahha. We meet our lovely host who explained to us the city of Rome, transport, and plenty of "Piazza" (or Square).

After putting our stuff, we continue our journey by taking the bus only to be confused where.. to buy the bus ticket? Since our previous transport ticket is only valid for 100 minutes, that time was already pass the time. I suddenly was reminded of my time in Bergamo (Italy) few years ago, where I was also confused where to buy the ticket. (You can't buy it inside the bus). So we just get in the bus... enjoy it until we change into the tram (which also.. has no place to buy the ticket...). And oh by the way, in the middle of the journey 2 German grannies get into the bus and one was complaining the horrible public transport hahha. I must admit after living in northern Europe, I am spoiled by the good public transport system.. In Rome, even the signage is CONFUSING! And this is coming from a graphic designer... People, design MATTERS!!!! For Example: when we want to change into trams, the direction where the tram we're suppose to take actually was written into the other direction.... (I immediately can empathize the German Oma)... And.. Dunno why, but the google maps in Rome somehow isn't really functioning that well (it keeps changing it's direction even though you're not moving your phone, or yourself)... So, after having internal battle, and doing some soul searching, defying common sense, we eventually arrived in Trastevere, one of the night life area in Rome.

We decided to go to Trastevere since it was pretty late already, and to put it bluntly.. we want FOOD. Hahha, so after foot searching for some restos in that area while going through the pouring rain, we found one and ate there. It was 6 PM, and for us Indonesian, that dinner time LOL, and the restaurant was pretty quiet, so here's to having the resto for ourselves (raising imaginary wine glass and Salute! :P). I ordered Pizza, traumatized for eating bland tasteless pasta in Italian restaurant in Europe, I picked a safe choice hence the Pizza.. (My Indo tongue is used to plenty of spices). My friend on the other hand opted for a kind of pasta while having her 'secret' additional spice in her bag, just in case if the food is indeed bland. (thank you Bon Cabe). And hold and behold, the food came... Pizza was okay, but the pasta. . . . Let's just say that with the help of the secret spice, what was once a cheesy pasta, had now turned into MSG Indonesian instant noodle. Since putting extra spices can be seen offensive I think in Rome, we did it carefully while the waiter wasn't looking. ;)

The area Trastevere was indeed alive at night. Apparently the Italian's dinner time seems to start pass 7.30, hahha. No wonder there were no people when we ate, and by the time we left the resto, there were plenty of people. We walked around the area, visited the church near the piazza which from the outside looked kinda.. meh.. but once we get inside, we were left speechless.. (so, lesson to not judge a building from its facade). That night ended up well I guess even though it started pretty rocky. The amazing interior decor of the church gave us hope of what to expect of Rome. :)

We then search for places to buy the transport ticket. As much as I am a cheapskate, I guess the German influence in me start screaming to obey the law. So after doing some research, we found that to buy tickets, one can only find it in Metro station and sometimes perhaps somewhere in the city. So we searched for a Metro, bought the 48 hours ticket, and then we saw an organic market fair nearby the Colosseum, went around there, bought some fruits and a juice then we back to our Airbnb. On the way home, as we were waiting for the bus.. which didn't came according to the schedule listed in gmaps, when it came... It just passed us... Both me and my friend were seriously confused, after much thinking and deciding to take metro or not (the public transport is not 24 hours), we decided to just wait to the next bus while witnessing the local policemen (They're HOT!) dealing with some guys (pickpockets I think). We later figure out that if you want to get in the bus, you have to put out your hand like calling a taxi! (*Indo alert: Man, dah kayak mo manggil kopaja aje di Indo ckckck.. pake nge-tem segala aishhh....*). That day, we knew.. public transport in Rome - even Jakarta's better... (coming from Indonesians).

At home, I washed my shoe which was drenched wet from puddles of water and rain, (gosh, it was disgusting) before taking shower myself. Afterwards, me and my friends did some researched into how to get into the Colosseum, Palatine hills, and the Vaticans. I found out that we actually came to Rome at a good time which was the first Sunday in the month - meaning: entrance to the Colosseum and Palatine hills are FREE! (yess you heard me, FREE! otherwise you'll need to pay at least 12 euro). The Vaticans however is free on the last Sunday of the month, so no free for Vatican hehe..

After reading tons of info, and confirming that it's free to enter the Colosseum on that Sunday, it says that you're not able to book tickets online, you need to come and lined up. So we did exactly that the next day. We woke up rather early around 7ish, and at 8 we went there, we arrived 30 min before the entrance open and the line was quite long already. There were A LOT of people offering you to skip the line, they said that you'll be waiting 3 hours in line. I chose to obey my instinct and just queued up. Personally I think we went at perfect time. It wasn't really too early that you have to stand quite long, but also not too late that the line already snaked up too long. In the end, we stood in line for an hour before getting to enter the magnificent piece of ancient architecture.

How was it? It was HUGE! Honestly, I didn't expect it to be this huge! Knowing that this is a place where Christian history, Roman history, lots of deaths happening... In a paradoxical way, you got to admire how a massive entertainment building from the first century could actually host even water battle! Like seriously, the arena could be filled with water and boats can float there... Gotta admire their engineering skill and imagination as well. Tips for traveling: while waiting in line to get into the building, why not read the history of Colosseum online? no need for tour guide eh? :P (Plus having a former architect student as your traveling partner is really handy for these attraction). We circled the inside of Colosseum, explored the first floor and then the second floor, the basement wasn't opened I think, then we went out.

Afterwards, we went nearby to Palatine hill and Roman forum. This was even more ginormous. This area of Roman ruins are just hugeeeeeeeeeee... like, HUGE!!! We walked inside there exploring the Roman forum, seeing the old Roman columns, etc. after finishing half of Roman forum, we decided to go exploring the left area i.e. the Palatine hill. I can't even say it, it was like endless walk roaming around ancient palaces, the walk was a hike and definitely quite challenging! If you love archeology, old architecture and walking, yep.. definitely go for it! Bringing children or old people will definitely be tricky. Just when you think that the path you went through was over or end, it's not. We saw what was once a Pedagogy, a palace, bathroomssss (on the highest place of the building, why???) and many more. I was amazed by the size, the details, the architecture, the artworks, and moreover the fact that it still lasted till today. I guess not only was my feet tired of the size, but my mind was simultaneously overwhelmed. They truly are crazy rich Romans! After going down the hill, we visit the fountain garden, the went to the other half of Roman forum (the right side), and then... it rained again... (we forgot to bring our umbrella yeayyy!!), we went out from the area with walking even more - really, when you think that it's over, it is NOT the end yet!

We went out (this time really outside), saw the amazing army museum (the exterior is just breathtaking really!) and since we're starving, we walked to an amazing pasta place. I found the place from google trip - nice budget friendly place - it recommended Maccheroni Express, with 4.5 stars and 5-6 euro pasta per portion!!! The place was rather small, and the chef is both cooking, serving and the cashier hahaha. So, unlike the asian street food where the cook is using almost super human speed in doing the dish, in Italy I think people take their time in cooking the food. The pasta was not only cheap, but also very good (and organic, if you're into that)!! So good that we went back the next day for dinner LOL.

After lunch, we want to go to Trevi fountain and then Pantheon, so we walked a little bit to a nearby bus stop... (we're too tired to walk hahhaa). While waiting for the bus.. (at this point we surely need to understand that waiting for bus = 60% it ain't coming), we met a very nice Italian grandma. She has a very nice bob hair cut (very stylish!). So we chatted, she came to us because seeing we're waiting for the bus, she thought perhaps she could also take the bus. Apparently this old grandma was 81 years old, able to speak 3 languages fluently, worked for the UN (FAO) for 38 years (or so), and then another 19 years of volunteering. (Jaw drop..) She later walked us to the direction of Trevi fountain (our bus came 15 min after we started walking, the granny actually point out "that's our bus!" hahha). Then at a corner, she turned to us and said: "....I will tell you, the best Ice Cream place in the city!" (I love this grandma, she definitely understand my head). She later even walked with us the place, and eventually bought us the ice cream! (the ice cream guy know the lady already to the point he prep her order even without her saying what she wants). After buying the ice cream, we parted our ways. I honestly forgot her name, but... she's sooooooo sweeetttttt. The ice cream was De-li-ci-ous by the way.

We walked till the fountain - which I thought was small... but once again, the Romans like to make it HUGE! -  took a pic in the midst of tonsss of tourist (the amount of tourist there is just A LOT!), and continue walking. We went passed a lot of Piazza, passing a building with hugeeee Romans columns as its facade before we got to the Pantheon.
We walked a little bit then encountered a building where people are lining up like snake. But the line move really fast though. The entrance to the Pantheon is free, so we quickly got into the line and before you know it, we're inside the buidling with a circle hole on top that aged back to Before Christ. According to my friend, this building is an architecture wonder, how could people back in the time figure out to build a building with a hole on top, and it still stays intact?

After admiring the old building, I started feeling unwell. The whole day has had weird weather. It was very sunny in the morning when we were in the Colosseum, and then as we were walking the half right of Roman Forum, it started to rain... 30 min later, it was pouring heavily! Forgeting our umbrella means, I needed to deal with the rain water dropping directly on me... and then not long after, the rain stopped and come the sunshine again + a little bit wind. All of this is definitely a good formula to get sick, which I kinda... did --'. So from there, we walk a bit to the direction of Castela Sant Angelo, passing tons of Piazza, another church, another old buildings, (I guess we're definitely in the 'old town' part of Rome), while searching for hotels hahha... Why hotels you ask? because if you want places with nice clean toilets, you go into a hotel :P. We found one hotel after crossing the river (the river in Rome is pretty tiny in comparison to the Seine, Rhine, Danube, or even the one in Prague). So from the castle that was designed by Michaelangelo (hence the name), we walked to a hotel named after him, only to find that the first floor is nothing. Not wanting to risk being embarrassed of asking for toilet hahha, we went to a nearby cafe and sat there (used the toilet as well of course, which was... unclean). At this point, I have a horrible headache already, my feet felt horrible, overall.. I felt disgusting source of sickness --'. We sat down for rest (our walk that day was unbelievably lonnnngggg), enjoying Canolis. Drank hot tea for me (sick person need remedies), cocktail for my friend (apparently she was people watching as saw tons of Italian are drinking this fancy cocktail in the middle of the day). Half an hour later, we're ready to resume our adventure, thanks to Camomile tea.. really.

We crossed the river, going back to the other side. My friend found a cute place to eat that serve a dish which is kind of when pizza and pie got married and have children... It is located near the Piazza de Poppolo. Apparently an Italian street food, Piaceri Di Puglia (4.7 stars on google), the place actually sell tons of food. Me and my friend each pick one 'pizza' and eat it in peace... Cheap and delicious is always the recipe of happiness in my dictionary. From there, we walk to the nearest Metro station (cause buses in Italy are like ghost) and ride back home.

  

Just need to put this pretty we-fie :P