Four Nights in Rome

We arrived in Rome Ciampino at 9-ish am on Friday, 18th September 2009. We had a pre-booked limo from here. I would recommend them. We paid EUR 44 for a Mercedes E220 from Ciampino to the city center, which is cheaper than many other company's saloon (charges from EUR 60). It's only slightly more expensive than taking the buses/metro combo. Plus soooooo much more convenient. No need to LUG your luggage around....especially when you have loads and travelling with kids. We could load 2 large suitcases and 3 trolley hand-luggage in the boot of the car. 

We stayed in an apartment near the Colosseum (about 700 m) which was pretty convenient...especially the washer/dryer. Yes. I did washing!  There were restaurants and supermarket nearby for our meals. Yes. We cooked. Metro station about 500 m away if we wanna go further afield. Apparently, this area is NOT very desirable....Only found that out after we came back. But we all thought the area looked pretty decent. Didn't see any vagrants nor beggars....but lots of nuns though. Maybe that's why we could get a 2-bedroom apartment for EUR 110 a night? 

The weather in Rome was HOT. Hot as in T-shirts and shorts-type. H did give me a heads-up on the weather. Whilst I did pack T-shirts and shorts for the boys, I didn't do the same for myself. I thought I could tolerate the heat in my jeans and short-sleeved tops. Boy! Was I wrong. Soooooo hot. 

First place we visited was of course Colosseum....since it is so near. H and S2 actually went there 3 times! Once was to get the NIGHT view. But we only went INSIDE once. We bought Roma Passes (EUR 23 each. No discounts for kids) for all four of us. It allows FREE visit to the first two museums/archaeological site, discounts for subsequent sites and 3 days of transport within Rome. 

As the entry tickets to Colosseum is one of the most expensive, we used our Roma Passes here. The key advantage of having the pass is NOT having to queue at the normal ticket queue. We could just breeze past the loooooooooooooong line, swipe our passes and through the turnstiles. Speaking of queues, I HIGHLY recommend buying your Vatican Museum tickets ONLINE. The queues to enter the Vatican Museum is really really really crazily long. No joke. Thank goodness that we did buy our tickets online. It's a little bit more expensive but certainly worth it. When we were there, the queue to enter was literally snaking round the walls towards the entrance to St. Peters. It IS LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. That day, it was also drizzling. So can you imagine if you have to queue in the rain? Again, we bypassed the queue to a separate line into the Vatican Museums. I'm sure it would be at least TWO hours if we were to join the regular queue!!!

Anyway, here are some photos...

Colosseum

Our Shadows on the cobblestones by The Colosseum

(Nice? I am of course the one with the BIG handbag)

The Hole on the Roof of the Pantheon at Piazza Rotunda

Trevi Fountain @ Night

As you know, Angels & Demons (the movie) was just released NOT too long ago. Naturally, I wanted to go round to the places featured in the movie. Think we covered most of the sites except the Santa Maria Vittoria.  We did go to Piazza del Popolo...but didn't go into the Santa Maria del Popolo church to view the Chigi Chapel. The boys were all kinda restless by then...including the BIG boy, and was like going "Hurry UP lah!".  Even when we went to Piazza Navona,  H was like "Hurry Up. Nothing to see here!"Aduh!

We did manage to cover most key attractions in Rome including the Palatine Hill, Foro Romano, Spanish Steps, the "Wedding Cake" and those you see here. 

St. Peter's Square and Basilica

We did go down to the grottos where the popes were buried. Though I am not a Christian, somehow when we were standing in front of Pope John Paul II's crypt, with the very sad touching music, I started to tear. Anyway, we were at the Vatican City on a Sunday. Initially, we wanted to wait for the current Pope to come out and bless the people. But found out that he doesn't really "come out" and it's all done via video camera and giant screens. Thus, decided not to wait and give it a miss. When I was last in the Vatican City with H (many many years ago), Pope John Paul II did come out and blessed the crowd at the square. You could see him at the window...tiny but at least in real flesh. 

We headed out to Castel Sant Angelo. We used our Roma Passes here again. As this is not that popular, there weren't separate queues. Queues weren't long when we went. 

Castel Sant Angelo

The view at the top of the Castel is pretty good. Can see quite far afield. There's a bar/restaurant with great views. Naturally, we sat and had drinks. The boys had a field day here. Whilst H and I were enjoying our Frascati, the boys were doing their own exploring.... so much so that they became our "guides" to show us the frescos. They even guided an old English Couple up to the Fresco rooms when they couldn't find their way. 

We went to the Vatican Museums on Monday, 21st. And eventhough it was a Monday, queues were looooooooooooooong. With H, he was just interested to go and see ONE particular painting in the Sistene Chapel. So once we entered, we were like chasing train to reach the Sistene Chapel. Think we were like a tornado whirring through the halls of the Vatican Museum..... whizzing past the Rafael rooms even! We weren't allowed to take photographs in the Sistene Chapel....think the flash might spoil the frescos?

We really spent very little time in the Vatican Museum. I told H that if I had queued like everybody else, I would INSIST that we stay inside the Museum for at least 5 hours. Don't care whether I am admiring the masterpieces or sleeping in there.

Beautiful Ceilings in The Vatican Museum

Spiral Staircase at the Vatican Museum

H bought a book at the museum library that illustrates and explains the paintings in the Sistene Chapel. Only when we got home, he started reading it and then remarked "Aiya. Miss this one. Miss that one. Aiya....". Aiya here. Aiya there. Also too late liow...

Four nights is indeed enough for us. Again, we took a limo from the same company to the airport for our flight back to London. Will write about London in a separate post.