Chany's Eurotrip '97 Summary

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Amsterdam

Munich

Venice

Rome

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Nice

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Dates: 1997 Sept 24, 25, 26, 27

Roma, Italia

  • We arrived in Rome in the early evening of the 24th. The vultures were offering rooms for 85000 liras (expensive!). We declined and chose to walk around looking for a cheap hostel or hotel. Well, there was no rooms available, so we decided to sleep over in the train station. The vulture tried to scare us about sleeping in a train station.
  • We found a spot on the floor (against the wall) in the main lobby of the train station. Interesting enough, other travellers who were planning to spend the night at the station, set up camp 3 meters away next to us. I sensed that, by camping nearby, this was a way of "looking" out for each other (as we were all in the same predicament of being homeless for the night).
  • At 1 AM, the floor cleaner woke us up and wanted us out of the way so he could clean the floor. We moved on and found the station's waiting room, where we spent the rest of the night. Oh yeah, the waiting room smelled of bad B.O. (body odour)!
  • In the morning, we found a tourist information representative, who had a hostel room available for 25000 liras per night per person. We accepted; it was located next to the train station. Room rating: GOOD (2 nights) ... definitely better than sleeping on the train station floor (which we rate TOTALLY SUCKS)!
  • Visited the Colosseo (Coliseum) ..... the ruin of the stadium where gladiators and lions did the Christians, this was quite the site to behold.
  • We had an encounter with a gang of gypsy children attempting to "pick" our pockets. One of them would come up to us presenting an open newspaper to us. While being distracted by the newspaper, they planned to encircle us and grab what valuables we may have. Luckily, one of us knew of their techniques and we pushed them away.
  • We saw the ruins of the Foro Romano (Roman Forum), the nerve centre of the Roman Empire. Dating back to the time before the birth of Christ, this is where the Roman emperors ruled. It was really neat to see how time has ravaged the remains of what was once a great civilization. Click here to view the panorama of the ruins.
  • Visited Vatican City, home of the Pope. The Vatican Museum has a HUGE collection of religious art and artifacts. Of course, one saw the works of artists such as Boticelli, Raphael, Donatello, and Michealangelo (hmmm, that's almost all the Ninja Turtles!). It was here that I kinda got sick of looking at all that Rennaissance art (there must of been about a million renditions of the Madonna and the Bambino (ie Mother and baby Jesus). The Capella Sistina (Sistine Chapel) was interesting, crowded, and dark. We visited the Basilica di San Pietro (Saint Peters Basilica) .... it was a huge church; quite overwhelming. Michealangelo's sculpture of Mary and the body of Jesus is (behind bulletproof glass) at Saint Peters Basilica.
  • There are lots of street vendors; cheap t-shirts and fake designer bags/watches/belts.
  • We left Rome on the morning of the 27th for Florence, Italy.

For more info about Rome, visit the Lonely Planet's Destination Rome Web Page.

Due to our late arrival to Rome, we did not get a room the first night. Thus, our first night in Rome was spent in the Rome train station (the floor was hard, and the "smell" of other travellers was overwhelming). Somebody's getting a haircut from the barber of Roma.
The Rome Colosseo, the now crumbling showpiece of the Roman Empire. This strange looking statue was found in the Rome Colosseo.
Here we're sitting by a fountain in St. Peters Square. The home of the pope, St Peters Basilica, looms in the background. I found the ruins of an ancient chair and ottoman among the ruins of the Palatino.
There's not much left in the ruins of the Palatino. An archway leading out of the Palatino ruins.
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