My last day in Rome... Time was clearly envious of me.
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| View from the breakfast dining room on the 6th floor |
Anyways, it was turning out to be yet another gorgeous day.
Alhamdulillah.
A few days before I hopped on the plane to the Eternal City, I was very watchful of the weather forecast. The
WeatherBug app on my phone even predicted rain for my entire stay. Thank God that wasn't the case. It did rain for about 30 minutes though when I was dropping off my race bib at the hotel on Friday, but that was pretty much it. Not even close to the downpours that we have back home.
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| 16th March's forecast: Lots of rain! |
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| 17th March: That's better! |
Since I still had some time before checkout, I took the metro to Vatican to snap few photos in
Piazza San Pietro (St Peter's square).
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| Piazza San Pietro |
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| The Swiss Guard (if I'm not wrong) |
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| This was the view that we had when we were running towards the Piazza yesterday. |
I then walked towards
Palazzo di Giustizia (The Hall of Justice) and stopped at
Castel Sant'Angelo at mid-point.
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| Castel Sant'Angelo |
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| Palazzo di Giustizia |
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| View of the Basilica from across the Tiber |
It was then time to head back to hotel, passing by
Pantheon and
Trevi. Yet again? I really can't help it.
Centro storico is very walkable. That's how one gets to
Piazza Barberini... at least for me :)
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| The route that I took |
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| Can't refrain myself but to post this :D |
It was a good thing that I did decide to walk by
Trevi because the fountain was being cleaned. You won't get to see it any other day. I didn't stay long enough to find out what they would do with all of the coins being thrown in by the well-wishers. Does this mean that their wishes won't be answered? :D
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| Where did all the water go? |
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| There goes all of the coins |
It was time to check out, take the train to the airport and bid "Arrivederci a Roma".
There's another reason I am so thankful to God. Nothing untoward happened during my stay in Roma. When I was planning for my Rome itinerary, I couldn't help but to read stories after stories about tourists' unpleasant experiences in Rome, especially thievery. Well-known publications such as Lonely Planet and Frommer's also placed similar cautionary advice in their guidebooks.
..." the famed 64 [bus], known for its high incidences of pickpocketing and perverted behavior, is best avoided altogether" - Frommer's
Colleagues and friends alike provided me with first- and second-hand accounts on similar issue. Yikes!
I remember an Italian ex-colleague told me that he was taking the monorail (when he came to KL on business in 2005) that he would keep his hands on his wallet, which was routine for him. Of course I told him that pickpockets and snatch thefts do happen in KL. And sometimes people could get mugged at knife-point. He jokingly replied by saying - At least they asked for your wallet. I was like, Oo-kayy, if you look it at that way. :D
(Nonetheless, these things are serious matters. Although at times it is out of our hands, we should at least take precautionary actions)
Okay, that's it. One down, and 5 more legs to go. London is next...
Wah ... sob sob for Rome. Envy you with the holidays! You should stay longer to do London marathon too lol
ReplyDeletedoing a little of Tom Hanks, eh... been tracking the Holy Grail?
ReplyDelete@Yim: How I wish *lol* Also, London's slots were all taken up just like that.
ReplyDelete@Syah: Not really. But I did go to Louvre and my friend showed me Rosslyn chapel in Edinburgh :)
bestnya!!! :) can't wait to see the rest of your trip (and maybe another familiar face) ;)
ReplyDeletejeles tahap gaban heheeh .. glad u had a good time :)
ReplyDelete