italy
The Vatican City. A place people visit in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the Pope, a country within another country, a place guarded by the best (but friendly!) of swiss guards dressed in the oddest attire. Most importantly, the place with the most beautiful church.
There was no reason to skip out on The Vatican City especially since it was my FIRST time in Rome and Italy.
During our 25-day long winter trip last winter, the final stop for Jerald and I was Rome, and as expected, we carved out a day to visit the famous Vatican City.
I've always known that the Vatican was famous for its art and the cathedral, but more so for being super crowded. Fortunately, as it was winter, Italy was generally less populated than it would be in the summer.
In order to avoid the long queuing and taking into account the various opening hours, we decided to hit up the Vatican Museum first.
I cannot begin to explain how MASSIVE the museum is. From sculptures to tapestry, art, ceramics, mummies, everything, it was there. I have always though the V&A was incredibly huge, but the Vatican Museums are so overwhelming, I felt like I was in a maze and merely following the signs as to where to head next. To be honest there was just too much information for me to absorb everything in one day. Nevertheless, it provided a nice glimpse into the history and culture of the Vatican.
Not to mention, the interior is just spectacular. Extremely detailed, lots of gold plating, incredible.
After a couple of hours in the Museum, we realised that we were spending way too much time there, and had to make it to the church, and dome (we were intending to find a remake of a photo we saw online of the vatican domes) before sun down, so we headed out to the main area and queued to get into the church - it was free!
WHAT I WORE(P.S. If you've been following my winter trip, you'll probably have realised i've worn this coat to death! But i'm not anymore, because SPRING HAS SPRUNG in London, and I cannot be happier. I've missed the sun so so much! Even though the weather still gets a little cray occasionally, well, its the UK.)
Shirt: H&M
Boots: Timberland
Gloves: H&M
Jeggings/Jeans: Prim ark
Coat: Coldwear.sg
The good thing about traveling with another person is that he/she can queue while you go round taking pictures. In this case, its always Jerald queuing and by the time we are suppose to "swap over" he would already be near the front of the line (oops!).
This is definitely one little thing that I used to overlook, but have now come to appreciate after several solo-travel trips!
Anyway, after queuing for about 20 minutes or so, we entered the church and man, was it incredible. Honestly, ROME HAS THE BEST CHURCHES. But the one in the Vatican: WOW.
There are no words to describe how HUGE and gorgeous it is. I feel every time I stepped in to a church (during our winter trip), it was one up from the previous, and since the church in the Vatican was the last of the whole lot, it definitely means something - I have yet to visit another church and be blown away ever since that day.
Honestly, I don't think my picture does it any justice. Writing it now, I have vivid pictorial memories of the place. These pictures were just ONE part of the church. Can you sense how i'm trying so desperately to convey how impressive it was with all the capitals going on?
The Sistine Chapel was another place that we visited, however it was SO crowded - unlike the other areas of the vatican - and photos weren't allowed. But trust me, the details and the artwork on the walls, the ceilings, basically everywhere in the sistine chapel, was VERY impressive.
Eventually, we manage to make it up to the dome (with a bit of running and panting - I remember nearly fainting because I sprained my ankles and I was having a fever that day) before the closing time. We were one of the last few people who made it before they stopped selling tickets up to the dome.
Despite the heaving, climbing, the lack of breath, and the awkward slanted walking positions because the walls of the dome was curved, the view when we stepped out was perfect and we were treated to an amazing sunset. We manage to get a nice aerial view of the Vatican, some parts of Rome, and got to watch the sun slowly creep beneath the horizon.
The sky was so colourful with its pinks, orange and purples. Every time I witness a beautiful sunset, i get a warm fuzzy feeling inside, and just think to myself "the world is such an incredible place, God did a wonderful job creating it!"
As expected, we were one of the last few to leave the top. We stayed as long as we could, and by along as we could, I mean until the security started chasing us down. With a sunset like this, who would want to leave?
By the time we got down from the roof (my sprained ankle meant it took a while), the sky was dark and the Vatican was lit up in warm yellow and orange lights.
We arrived at the Vatican City early in the morning, and spent probably more than 10 hours in the area before heading back. Some have said that The Vatican City is underwhelming and too damn crowded, but lucky for us, there were lesser tourists in the winter, which meant that the lines are shorter and we could visit the church, the museums and the dome (with a bit of rushing around) all in that same day.
To be honest, we were not expecting to be able to see it all as we thought the lines would take forever, so our main aim was to catch the sunset over the domes of the vatican - a little unusual, but you have to agree that it does result in beautiful sunset photos - but i'm so glad time was kind to us that day.
Plus, its not everyday in winter that you get to witness a nice colourful sunset, so that was an added bonus! In spite of my sprained ankle, fever, and short of breath, it was all worth it.
A Day in the Vatican
11 May 2015 Vatican City
The Colosseum in Rome, Italy. Does this place even need an introduction? I think I could just slap on a few pictures in this post, and the pictures can speak for themselves. The famous arena that was once home the gladiatorial games, is - and I can assure you - as grand, and impressive as it is on pictures.
Visiting the Colosseum is not something you pass up when you're in Rome. Even if it takes you 2hours to queue to get in. I don't think we queued for that long because we were there at 10 in the morning. But, if you can, and are planning to visit Rome, just get your tickets online in advance.
When you say the word "Colosseum" an image of its aerial view comes into mind. The huge spiral structure ending off with a slanted crack like angle on one side. Everyone has that same image in mind. So did I.
Being at the actual Colosseum, I was really taken aback by its sheer size. Not to mention, I'm minute as a human, so the whole thing was just unfathomable. I felt like an ant in a human's house! But my favourite part of the whole experience, was walking through the colosseum and peeking through the different "windows" to see the different parts of the nearby ruins from the colosseum.
It is nice to see the colosseum from the inside and get a different view of its architecture.
Honestly if you wanted to see every part of the colosseum including the lowest floor, it would take a really long time. It perimeter already takes quite a bit of time to get around! It is indeed a stunning piece of structure.
Walking around the colosseum got me wondering, how did people manage to watch the games from so high up on the third level? I mean, we could see people, but they were tiny! Drawing comparisons to watching musicals, I don't enjoy watching musicals from the circle seats or higher up in the viewing gallery. I cannot imagine squinting to watch the games in such a MASSIVE arena. I wouldn't even be able to make out anything that is going on, then again, I guess since they didn't have live telecast back in the day, this was the best they've got. How times have changed!
Sometimes I wish they have a simulation of how a gladiatorial games would be like back in the day, I'm always so intrigued and fascinated by how things were done in the past, even if I wouldn't be able to see anything, i'd pay to go! Ah, I get it, now I know why people went.
The Colosseum
2 April 2015 Colosseum, Piazza del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Roma, Italy
All my life, I've always somehow associated Rome with ONLY the Roman Ruins, and of course the Colosseum. No idea why that was the case, but my limited knowledge and exposure to anything European, more specifically, of Rome, meant that apart from the Trevi Fountain (from Lizzie McGuire) that was pretty much all I knew about the Romans (and of course that they had amazing churches). Seeing pictures of the different Ruins online, I just though they were random pieces of land preserved for tourists, to show people a part of the Roman history and time when they were in power (several centuries BC!!!). It was only when I was there, right IN the area that I realised how MASSIVE the entire plot of land was.
After visiting the Colosseum, we thought it was only natural that we head over to the archeological site and visit all the different roman ruins listed on the map. We were pretty much just walking around aimlessly because the site is so huge, and because ruins looked pretty much similar, we were just... kind of lost. I couldn't comprehend how people could spend only "a maximum of 2 hours" in the area.
The interesting thing with the roman ruins was the fact that they disintegrate in all sorts of ways, so much so it seemed as though some one deliberately destroyed it in a certain way. As though someone went "Come on lets just leave a few columns standing, keep the Roman Forum, and just well, demolish everything else."
We were planning to walk to the Roman Forum, and somehow ended up walking else where, up some random flight of cobbled stairs, and to a point with an aerial view of the entire site. From a higher level above ground, you really get to see a different view of the ancient ruins, as well as everything else in its vicinity.
I don't remember the name of this place that we were at, but the view was great. We didn't stay for long because a flock of birds came (seagulls perhaps? and 3 HUGE Crows) and since I'm not a huge fan of birds, I ran away.
From the bird's eye view - literally! - I thought that the whole plot of land was considered to be the Roman Ruins which included the roman forum, up to where I stood. I could be wrong, but when Jerald and I were somewhere above ground level, we were walking around stones and what looked to be like demolished buildings, I honestly thought EVERYTHING was just ruins.
And then, I saw something that really confused me. There were workers repairing what looked to be part of the roman ruins. Why? What for? Aren't they suppose to be RUINED?
That made me wonder if everything else were "repaired" as well. But of course we walked off and wandered in the general direction towards the actual Roman Forum, stopping along the way for some outfit shots! It was one of those days where the sun was bright, but the temperature wasn't too high, basically-perfect Italian weather. In fact, after walking for a couple of hours, I didn't need my coat at all!
WHAT I WOREAfter roaming around for a little bit, we came across garden with rabbits and whole bunch of orange trees. Of course we weren't the only ones interested in the oranges. There were probably about 30 others trying to knock/pluck one or two off each orange tree. The cool thing was, there were wooden sticks lying around and people were using them to hit the oranges off the tree! At that point, Jerald and I figured we still had time before the sun began to set, so we joined in with the fun. I've never plucked anything off a tree in my life, nor seen an orange tree for that matter (result of growing up in a cosmopolitan city!) so I was jumping up and down, indulging in my inner child.
Striped Top: H&M Men
Scarf: Primark
Bag: Thrifted
Boots: Timberland
I even made Jerald use his selfie stick to hit some of them oranges down.
After what seemed like an eternity of jumping and whacking, we pulled down 2 oranges! One of the guys we saw climbed up the tree, and was just plucking oranges and throwing them to his partner, my 2 oranges didn't feel like an achievement. It was so amusing! Anyway, I somehow thought the oranges would be sweet and ripe (how stupid!) but obviously, since we brutally plucked thenm off a tree, they weren't, and these pretty oranges were the most sour ones I've ever had in my life!
Following that failed attempt at securing a delicious fruit, we went on and FINALLY found our way down to the Roman Forum.
The view from the ground is so different from above. You could see all the different shapes of stones, and debris, I felt like I could be filming a scene from Lion King right at that moment.
Apart from that, I was just very intrigued by the different ruins and HOW the fact that the Roman Forum was still standing. EVER SINCE 7TH CENTURY BC (If I'm not wrong!)
Beside the different ruins, there were descriptions of what they used to be in the past. Different architecture buildings that were built near the Roman Forum, and how the area used to be heart of Ancient Rome.
Naturally, we roamed around the area till the sun went down and we got chased out. I don't think I read everything or went to each and every part of the site, but it was a very memorable day with various events that happened all whilst we were trying to find our way to the Roman Forum. I still have trouble imagining how things used to be in Ancient Rome. Of course with pictures on the web I have an idea of what it was like. But seeing this plot of land in the form of ruins, it does take quite a bit of imagination to think of how people use to live in the past. Not impossible, just a lot of story telling to myself in my head - something I kind of enjoy, truth be told!
Outfit Diary: ROME-ing Around Ruins
30 March 2015
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