Roma - The Vatican Capital

A midnight 'InterContinental' (IC) runs from Venice to Rome, I board this with a sleeping deck ticket. One which costs me about €105 for a return trip. A pretty expensive ticket I'd say.

I arrived at the Roma Tiburtina station just at the outskirts of this roman capital at dawn. Catching the Metro Line B (Rome's Subway) to the city took 15mins or so. This is a big city.

My first stop...the 'country' within Rome...Vatican.

Piazza San Pietro...is by far much larger than what I've expected. The two fountains and Bernini's obelisk in between...its truly amazing. This place is huge. At the heat of the summer, these two fountains did served to cool me down a little even by just looking at it. Summer is not a good time to come visit. At least not for those who hates the heat.

Saint Peter's Basillica. The ascension on those narrow winding stairs were tiring but it's all worth it when you get to the top. You can catch a glimpse of the Vatican City and much of the piazza below from here. The descent though, almost took my life.

Then came the Colosseo (Colosseum). Through these recent years, there have been quite a number of box offices that made their names illustrating this grand structure. I was rather disappointed when I got in...there wasn't much to see on the inside. Rubbles, dirt...and restoration work everywhere.

The Pantheon. The oldest standing building on earth. Dedicated to the Pagan gods and goddesses is one of my favourite. An EYE on the roof, a perfect sphere in a rectangular...it's truly awesome.

I signed up for a night excursion and visited The Trevi fountain, The Fountain of Four Rivers and The Roman Forum. For €21, it was a very informative tour. I did not finish my Angels and Demons before, I had it saved for this trip. Now, I can finish the whole book with a better 'view' on things.

Rome is fascinating but packed with tourists and kinda messy. A lil too hot on the down side too. Again, I can only choose a few pics to post. Too many of them.




Piazza San Pietro





Saint Peter's




Colosseo

Fountain of Four Rivers

Pantheon

The Forum