Italy Day 1: Rome-The Land Of Pizza! Eat Eat Eat...
After some 13 hours on the plane, we finally landed at the Leonardo Da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport.. as we descended the flight of stairs to the awaiting shuttle bus, Justin commented 'Wah! This is my first time leh'. Oh.. the privilege of being a Gen Z kid! Then, as the immigration officer was looking through our passports, a lady barged in and said very loudly for the whole arrival hall to hear 'Aunty cannot find chop! Just now you chop my passport but aunty cannot find! Where you chop ah?'. WAH LAO EH!!! Can it get any more Singlish than THAT?!! I guess we were all a bit disorientated and distracted by that incident, cos Jimmy got into the LEFT side of cab and sat in the driver's seat until the cabbie came over. Although we didn't understand what he exclaimed in Italian, we certainly understood his animated hand gestures.. ha ha! He brought us for a bumpy round-about-tour of Rome city.. and we're not quite sure why he turned on the meter since it's supposed to be a flat rate of €40.00 to the city.. regardless of destination or distance. Maybe he was hoping we're ignorant enough for him to pull a fast one on us?
We stayed at reasonably-priced 'quaint' walk-up Hotel Colors which had all the basics despite its size.. hair dryer.. LCD TV (Have you ever watched 'The Simpsons' in Italian? The best thing was football.. of cos!).. safe.. fridge (with 3 bottles complimentary mineral water which costs €2.00 each to buy from the street vendors.. pretty much the same as a glass of red wine).. and inclusive of breakfast and FREE internet (an unexpected bonus)! We had our first meal of pizza.. sold by weight (€1.20 per 100g).. ham and romaine lettuce piadina (wrap).. chicken panini (sandwich or burger).. and topped it off with chocolate.. tiramisu.. coconut.. mango gelato! A yummy feast indeed!
We stayed at reasonably-priced 'quaint' walk-up Hotel Colors which had all the basics despite its size.. hair dryer.. LCD TV (Have you ever watched 'The Simpsons' in Italian? The best thing was football.. of cos!).. safe.. fridge (with 3 bottles complimentary mineral water which costs €2.00 each to buy from the street vendors.. pretty much the same as a glass of red wine).. and inclusive of breakfast and FREE internet (an unexpected bonus)! We had our first meal of pizza.. sold by weight (€1.20 per 100g).. ham and romaine lettuce piadina (wrap).. chicken panini (sandwich or burger).. and topped it off with chocolate.. tiramisu.. coconut.. mango gelato! A yummy feast indeed!
Then we made our way to Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square).. admired the facade of the church and the famous obelisk right in the middle.. purchased the Roma Pass for €25 (inclusive of admission to 2 museums and unlimited rides on public transport.. trains, trams or buses).. before venturing to the Castel Sant' Angelo Museum which housed many paintings of Giuseppe Garibaldi (a famous Italian military and political figure). It reminded me of the Medieval times and the austerity of it all, inspired me to sing 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' in the hallways.. it was SURREAL!!! Ha ha ha! We had coffee and pastries on the roof top terrace.. what a beautiful view!
Later in the evening, we met up with an Chee Keong, an old friend who is living in Italy and he mentioned the few obvious things which we've also noticed since our arrival:
- Italians smoke a lot and almost everywhere
- They bring their dogs into the stores.. restaurants.. even train stations and many are dressed for the winter in furry little coats, complete with hats
- They drive their small Swatch cars very dangerously.. zipping behind and in front of pedestrians and squeeze into tight spaces
- You gotta garner sufficient courage before putting one foot on the zebra crossings
- Roasted chestnuts are sold on the streets for €5 per bag
We had a scrumptious dinner at Trattoria Vatican Giggi.. lasagna.. spaghetti carbonara (which is non-creamy) and with grey of Giggi (bacon, olive oil and parmesan cheese).. scaloppine (pan-fried pork slices) served with rucola (a peppery salad green).. omelet zucchine.. and melanzane alla parmigiana (baked egg plant). Upon witnessing Justin finish a plate of lasagna AND spaghetti all by himself.. I couldn't possibly imagine how difficult it was to feed him as a baby? On the way back to the hotel, we had to drop by the pharmacy to buy lip balm and disposable shavers.. 'Si!' It was having someone who spoke the language.. ha ha!
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