welcome to a milieu of roman antiquities, street cafes and pizza-making culture. this is a locale where la dolce vita, i.e. the sweet life, was once highly celebrated by its people, and fashion is second-nature to most of them, if not all. an interesting observation i had when i was there though was that most italians surprisingly don't speak good english. once, i had to gesticulate to the waiter, pointing frantically at my bladder and making a t-shape with my hands alternately. when they didn't get that too, i realised italians weren't that good at charades either.
some of them aren't exactly the friendly, vivacious sort too. if you are the smiley kind wherever you went like yours truly, then you'd feel you're no different from being in a loopy, one-man wonderland surrounded by the likes of mr. and mrs. grumps. they do not like to engage in idle prattle as well, so lose the chatty side of yourself once there. despite the linguistic fiasco and sometimes uncongenial people, rome was quite the fun experience, with the usual suspects benjamin, peiru and pierre in tow.
the reluctant porter, me, at changi airport, before departing.
on our way aboard the thai airways, ruz and me.
we arrived at fiumicino airport fifteen hours later, all jaded and lethargic. the tour bus picked us up and dropped us of at exedro hotel, one of rome's finest. we were put up in luxurious, exquisite suites with a balcony view (of nothingness), schlepped fifteen minutes around the hotel to get to our room, and even had a television set of notable brand. look it!
telly spells "loewe". how weird is that?
i surmised that you can't ask for much when you're in europe. such standards, even with the lack of basic amenities, like a water boiler or a proper (read: non-leaky) shower head, is widely considered normal by their rule of thumb. it's the company you live with that makes a difference though. and i gotta give props to ben for being a hell of a good roomie.
spotted: cookiedough checking into a room in rome.
another unknown individual trails closely by.
just ben, my roomie for the europe leg of the tour.
nice comfy queen-size looking bed that splits right in the middle.
bathroom shot.
our interval at the hotel was short-lived though. sooner than you can say fettucine a la porcino, we were whisked off to our very first destination on the itinerary by the tour. did i forget to mention that this was a company's incentive trip?
atop the tour bus, making our way to the colosseum.
everyone doing thumbs-up, the cookiedough way.
buying some memorabilia, or seemingly so. all an act, hah!
the arch of constantine (background)
more ancient ruins.
touring with the group was quite a blasé, snooze affair that we decided to take matters into our own hands. visiting the colosseum was an eye-opening spectacular for sure, but after visiting a couple more ruins and the likes of it, you kinda get the drift. the tour was getting as dry as a shriveled prune.
we started wandering off, visited ice-cream parlors, and enjoyed the serenity of coffee-drinking along the streets. we even bumped into a couple of my ex-classmates here in rome. what are the odds?!
a variety of ice cream flavors, but no cookiedough here though.
making a call back home to check on family.
no idea what ruz is doing back there.
a chance encounter with my ex-classmates.
a group photo with long-lost pals...
and a couple more. =]
the following day, fearing that the tour group's itinerary was no more interesting the the first day's, we opted to explore roma on our own and traipsed around the hotel's vicinity during the day. we dined at piazza navona in the evening, a city square that is well known for its restaurants and performance arts lining the streets.
the thing i have to gripe about though is the service rendered in italy, especially at bistros and restaurants. it is deplorable, at best. the staff can be quite an inattentive lot: you could wave at them for the longest time and still they are, or choose to be, unaware of your presence. at one time in a restaurant, the staff couldn't even tell a stained glass apart from a clean one even when it stood right in front of their faces.
all prepared to head out on day no. 2
painting the town red in my polize car.
ben spinning from great music for us.
chilling at a local bar after a sumptuous dinner.
day 3: itinerary on tour reads prada outlet in helvetica bold. this certainly piqued our curiousity, and we wanted to check out the long-fabled haven for ourselves first hand. unfortunately, exorbitant grandeur and me do not go hand in hand. i fashioned myself trawling the area no less than five minutes and i was out of there.
space outlet, where fashion mogul prada is housed.
when the final day bowed, we scrambled to our feet to finish unfinished business: sightseeing. afterall, after today, we would no longer be in rome. i could almost feel a drop of tear shaping up in the corner of my eye. no more la dolce vita. no more saying grazie in almost every context. no more aromatic coffee. no more huge servings of ice cream. no more early mornings. no more unsmiling folks. no more distrait service. no more cold, unappetizing food. no more boring ruins to visit. no more roma! someone throw some confetti!
one for the road
arrving at the spanish steps, the longest and widest steps in all of europe.
undecided, we called for a meeting where to hit next.
a couple of my ex-classmates decided to join us too.
fontana di trevi, better known as trevi fountain, of baroque influence.
the pantheon, apparently a temple for all ancient gods of rome.
i remember it fondly in dan brown's angels and demons.
all eyes on me, in the centre of a ring, just like a ______ (read above for clue).
we trekked all the way to the vatican, which by then, we almost keeled over.
swiss guards, employed by the pope at the vatican, guarding their posts.
amidst the hundreds of photos we ferociously snapped of ourselves, therein were a couple interesting subjects in the background that i managed to bring to focus. enjoy:
walking the with dog one leg up, or just doing yoga?
erm... a little too much junk in the trunk?
this woman should be arrested for appearing in that get-up in broad daylight.
all the way from china, and we could tell.
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