AAAAND WE WERE OFF TO PISA!!
we arrived in pisa friday evening and took in the immensely different italian atmosphere. the airport seemed more congested, abit less orderly and the people, alot more good-looking! hahaha. forza italia!!
took bus #1 to our hostel-in-mind, madonna della acqua and realized we were QUITE outta the city centre when we arrived. nevertheless, the hospitable host, who insisted on learning how to pronounce every one of our names was really nice and he sorta put our minds at ease (and honestly it seemed there werent many more choices for us in the next 5 miles, anyways). realized however, the acqua in the name referred to a swampy, water thing beside the hostel which bred the ONLY and rather ferocious mosquitoes i had seen in europe so far.
so walking along the only road in front of our hostel, we took the only bus line there back to the city, in search of the heavenly risotto recommended in let's go. honestly, this was probably the best food let's go recommended, so don't trust the food recommendations in there, people! unless you're desp, like us haha.
next morning we set off early to the field of miracles, where the baptistero and catherdral share the leaning tower's glory. and YES me, ivina and jinteng fell into the touristy trap of posing as though we're pushing/supporting the tower. it's hard to resist when everyone around u is doing it!!
got on a bumpy, noisy but blissfully empty regional train to firenze.. thankfully, the train wasnt late!
i remember a sec 3/4 chi textbook with a chapter on florence.. and telling my friends i wanna go italy for my honeymoon after that.. and all i did in florence was to shop like crazy at the san lorenzo flea market HAHAHA. the leather goods there are not bad!
we walked around the city centre, watched VERY interesting buskers along the uffizi, ogled at michaelangelo's david ( i don't really know if it's the original one), crossed the ponte vecchio - the bridge w many shops on it, took many pics w the duomo.. and plodded our way around in search for this famed gelato as claimed by let's go. AGAIN, bad to rely on their recommendations. good gelato isnt hard to find in italy.. haha. metal tins and grey bananas :)
so sunday morning we set off for rome.. the magnificent capital of italia..
our arrival was rather marred by the very-packed-no-vacancy hostels and hot sun, which we sweated under, trying to find a roof to cover our heads with. in e end we did find a place to stay the night, at alessandro downtown. got a map from the hostel staff and a route to follow and off we went!
walking becomes a second nature to you when a) you wanna save money b) the hostel staff scares u about the metro and umm.. c) u wanna save more money. so we walked and walked and walked.. to roma termini, to piazza della republica, down along via nazionale, past the monument of vittorio emmanuel, along via fiori imperiali (where the ancient city comes to life), around the colosseum and via sacra, the oldest road in rome. the colosseum was closed by e time we arrived, so we walked back up via del corso, the street of tonnnnnnes of shops (but we were so tired we werent in the mood for that), to piazza del popolo for more gelato and onwards to fontana di trevi.
the fountain was wonderful! so crowded even at night.. all the statues (of i think zeus and other gods and goddesses) surrounding it carved in white marble.. and the rushing sound of water drowning the hustle and bustle of the city..
the next day we woke up bright and early to explore more of the eternal city.. followed the map religiously until we got to piazza navona, which housed the fountain of the four rivers, with a damn tall obelisk set in the centre.. unfortunately, the fountain was closed for maintenance coz its marble was getting damaged by the running water and whatnot.. so all we could see were small snatches of bernini's work through wired fences. but the buildings surrounding the piazza were breath-taking enough to erase some of the disappointment, standing pristine white against the blue sky.
the pantheon was our next stop.. the very ancient-looking building with a hole in its roof, called the oculus. the guard there informed us that the interior would never get wet even if it rained.. but we didnt really understand his explanation of HOW that happened. haha. the pantheon was actually converted into from a pagan church to a christian one as some roman emperor (constantine, i think) was trying to spread christianity around rome.. and it houses the tomb of the first king of rome, vittorio emmanuel, and the artist, raphael. it's actually quite quiet in there despite the crowds.
so we continued our stroll, perambulation, saunter, trudge, march, traipse, shlep (what a word!) around rome, got lost in vittorio emmanuel's monument, and ended up where we wanted to be on the first day.. inside of the colosseum!!
the queue was sooo super long and there was a mad rush for the 3pm guided tour coz it meant that u could cut the long queue. but us, being poor penny-pinching students on a budget trip, totally averted our eyes from the guide and even tried to use our german residence permit to get cheaper tickets (it was unsuccessful). i didnt think the trip into the colosseum was v well-worth the money spent.. but wells, it is THE colosseum. haha. maybe just too much ruins for the days.
the roman forum was full of ruins as well, and without a guide, it's REALLY hard to make out which ruin was what a few centuries ago. so usually we just guessed or relied on passing english-speaking guides and tiny signs. but we DID find our temple of saturn after a long long time.. haha yay!
our tired legs didnt manage to make it up palantine hill where a she-wolf, according to legend, suckled the founder of rome, romulus.. so we made our way back to our hostel for free, but worst-ever-tasted pasta which ivina thoroughly enjoyed.. haha.
more on italy! this photo-arranging, and entry-writing business is a TAD tiring for my taxpayer-exhausted mind. BUT! i will persevere!! haha. hope no one fell aslp reading..
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