Happy Valentine's Day

I received cauliFLOWERS on Valentine's Day! It started off as a joke, but apparently people really dig it. Got 80 likes on my personal Facebook for this picture.

Well, personally flowers die, cauliflowers are a dish.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Vday too!

Exploring the Vatican City

Took a leisurely 30-minute walk from our apartment to the Vatican City. En route we passed the Castle of Angels which looked every bit as majestic as it sounded.

Rome city centre is separated from the Vatican City by the Tiber River. There are several bridges you can choose to cross to 'the other side' but the landscape at every bridge is equally beautiful. 

Finally we arrived! Perhaps we were quite early, plus January is kinda low-peak season for Italy, so the queues were practically non-existent. The only long queue was the one getting into St. Peter's Basilica - but that was because of security checks. Entrance to St. Peter's is free.

Before we went to Rome, we were actually thinking a lot about whether we should book Vatican tours online - there are tons. After going, I'd say if you're not really interested to hear the stories behind the architecture/works and are satisfied just walking around at your own pace and admiring works which stand out for you - tours are not necessary especially in low-peak season.

We decided to go straight for the dome at St. Peter's so we could get a bird's eye view of Rome. It costs 5 Euros to go up by stairs alone (500+ steps). You can also choose to pay 2 Euros extra per person to take an elevator up halfway (and climb 300+ steps). Of course we chose the latter LOL.

It was a leisurely but tiring climb as the passageways were so small and narrow! I really cannot imagine climbing up in summer time with hoards of people in front and behind you!

Finally we made it!

Pity about the graffiti everywhere.

Having a break before we climb down again.

Of course the next stop is inside St. Peter's Basilica. Majestic, grand, ohmygod how did they do this hundreds of years ago - I guess these are thoughts that will pop up in your mind. When we got back to Singapore we actually re-watched Angels and Demons hehe, and we were like Hey we were there! We ate there! We saw that!

To round off the day, of course we had to stop by the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. We had actually bought fast pass tickets for 25 Euros each, but quickly found out it was an unnecessary step as there were no queues at all -_- Normal tickets cost 16 Euros for entrance to the museum. However I can imagine in summer when the tourists are out, getting a fast pass or "cut-the-queue" tickets would really be useful.

The museum itself (not including all the art pieces) I think is a work of art. Every single detail from the windows to the floors to the ceilings are decked out by the classical masters. I'm the first to profess I'm not exactly an arts buff, but you really wonder at the extremities of human creativity when you step into this sacred space.

No photos allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but of course we were looking out for the Creation of Adam the moment we stepped in haha (photo from wikipedia).

All Roads Lead to Rome

Took a little detour from Amsterdam to Rome after our company's annual meetings. We chose Rome for a couple of reason, 1)we've never been to Italy, 2) it's comparably warmer to the rest of Europe this time of year and 3) I wanted to gorge myself crazy on pizza and pasta.

We stayed near the Pantheon at Delsi Suites - literally steps away from the busy square! Even though the buzz was downstairs, the accommodation was really peaceful and quiet and the location was excellent! It's literally a 10-20 minutes' walk to other attractions, and a 30 minutes' walk to the Vatican City. Yes, Rome is a super walkable city, we did not step into a tram or bus or train the whole 5 days we were there.

Here are some of the nice sights we caught - the sky was super blue and nice! Photographer's dream! The architecture and sculptures everywhere really made me understand why people say Rome is like a living museum. 

The entire trip was really smooth and relaxing, a pity we fell sick after snowfall in Amsterdam but we still managed to walk the routes and enjoy gelato and sunshine. I really did not know what to expect, so I only set one objective - which was to eat REAL Italian food. Hence all the googling and getting restaurant tips from my Roman colleagues which I really appreciated.

You would think you can walk into any random and get good pasta, I beg to differ. The only time I did not follow a recommendation did not turn out very well indeed *oops*.  One big tip I learnt as well was to have a back-up list of restaurants whenever you visit an area. More than once the restaurant we wanted to visit was closed (when it wasn't supposed to be!) and we had to seek alternatives. Boohoo thankfully 90% of our meals were good!

In Rome we also started each morning with a nutella (they love nutella!) croissant and a cappuccino, and then have interspersing cups of coffee at coffee bars throughout the day.