A Momento of My Rome Adventure

The day after our day out in Rome, everyone was a little more on edge with worry about the worsening volcanic ash situation in Northern Europe. Then Cathay Pacific announced they would be arranging a flight back to Hong Kong, and all non-EU residents were encouraged to board this flight. With much relief, I quickly signed up for this flight, and even managed to snag this little momento at the Rome airport :)

My very first Prada wallet!

I fell in love with the subtly contrasting pink interior and the lovely curves on the various compartments in the wallet. The numerous compartments were also a definite plus :)

Greatest Adventure of My Life! Part 8 - Trevi Fountain

Slowly savoring our gelatos, we made our way to the famous Trevi Fountain.

When I was last here ten years ago, the Trevi Fountain was under restoration, so it was such a treat to see it in its full glory here ... isn't it spectacularly beautiful? I had no idea how grand it was!

... and this is an actual person ... not a statue ... a busker sitting just off the Trevi Fountain ...

Another busker standing almost as still as the Statue of Liberty ... (but just as I snapped this pic, the wind changed direction, sending the white sleeve fluttering in front of the "statue")

Greatest Adventure of My Life! Part 7 - Gelato!

As we were walking towards another famous landmark in Rome, we went past this little place ... Il Gelato di San Crispino. We saw lots of ppl standing outside and figured it must be pretty famous - the writeup in The New York Times added loads of credibility too! So, we stopped by to get some ...

I had hazelnut and lemon ... I know I know ... what an odd combination! But I thought if the hazelnut was too sweet/creamy, the lemon sorbet would help tone it down. However, it really wasn't necessary. The hazelnut gelato was absolutely heavenly! So deliciously nutty and perfect in terms of sweetness and creaminess! I should've gotten a chocolate or pistachio to go with it instead of the lemon! Although the lemon sorbet was fantastic too ... oh dear ... I'm pining for another scoop even as I write this!

Greatest Adventure of My Life! Part 6 - Keats-Shelley Museum

During my last trip to Rome, I missed out on seeing the Keats-Shelley Memorial/Museum which is just beside the Spanish Steps, so this time when G wanted to see it cos she loved Keats' poetry, I went along ...

A view of the Spanish Steps from the room Keats died in ...

Here's G outside the museum with her new book - Bright Star - apparently there was a movie of the same title made about Keats and his love, Fanny ... now I have to go watch that!

Greatest Adventure of My Life! Part 5 - Lunch at a Trattoria

G and I took a lunch break at this Trattoria ...

Carbonara

Lasagne

Greatest Adventure of My Life! Part 4 - Spanish Steps & Via Condotti

After the Colosseum, we took the Metro to Spagna station to see the Spanish Steps and hopefully do some shopping nearby ...

Here are some sights near the Spanish Steps ...

The famous Spanish Steps!

(Looking at this picture now, it's funny how this couple's matching striped shirts simply blend into the steps :))

Nope ... this isn't the Trevi fountain ... it's just a fountain in front of the Spanish Steps ... the Italians really love their fountains! "Where" magazine says one can drink the water fm the many fountains and water features around the city ... hmm ...

The most famous shopping street in Rome: Via Condotti

Hermes!

Ferragamo!

An uber stylish Italian policeman! Wasn't it written somewhere that they are dressed by Armani? Talk about Italian chic!

Greatest Adventure of My Life! Part 3 - The Colosseum

After getting into my room at about 4.30am, and an hour of sleep later, I traipsed down to the lobby hoping for an update on what was going to happen to us. They informed us that London airspace was still closed and they were exploring options as to how to get us to London. In the meantime, they told us it was ok for us to take the courtesy bus into town as long as we left our contact details with them in case something came up. So, off I went to Rome with some new friends!

First stop: The Colosseum!

But before getting there, we made a few wrong turns and ended up here ... River Tivere ... beautiful!

Then we bumped into this group of stylish Italian girls who happened to be heading towards the Colosseum and pointed us in the right direction ...

We were all fascinated by the trees in Rome ... don't they look like giant bonsais?

My new friends and I (aka "The Volcano Girls"!) decided to take a tour for EUR15 - here, I need to give a shout out to G who so very kindly paid for all of us first as the rest of us weren't carrying any EUR, afterall, we had been expecting to land in London. She also bought me a bottle of water, which I still owe her for!

But back to our colosseum tour ... Included was a photo-taking session with these centurions!

Most of the pics were like these ...

Except for mine!

(This was just too hilarious not to post!)

Inside the colosseum ...

Part of the floor of the colosseum has been restored to give ppl an idea of what it looked like in the heyday ... with a wooden floor and sawdust scattered over it.

According to the guide, the most important ppl sat lower where the floor was made of marble, while the poorer ppl had to stand/sit higher up, where the "stands" were made of wood, which was really dangerous in the event of fire.

The emperor of Rome would sit where the cross is ...

And the gladiator would come out from this giant arch ...

View of the ruins opposite the colosseum ...

Specimens of the marble that was used on the lower part of the colosseum ...