Vacanze Romane - reflections of the holiday

UGH >.< I'm actually back in Australia already. During the trip I was always too busy or not bothered to record my travellings, and to a large extent, I was just not inspired to write anything. Even now it's taking a lot of internal strength to think of something to write. But I like finality, and I want finish writing about my travellings, even if it won't be a rivetting read, I suppose it's mostly for me anyway, to read and relive my adventures.

So to pick up where I left off, I finish telling my story in Rome. 

My two favourite places were the Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere and the Villa Borghese Gardens, both places I had never heard of prior to arriving in Rome. The church was just a really unassuming place in terms of exterior and neighbourhood, but inside was a really beautiful surprise. Maybe it was the unexpected factor that elevated the Basicilica. The heart shaped garden offered a beautiful panorama of the Eternal City, it's also good to just change environment for an afternoon, take a break from all the cultural site-seeing that is the rest of Rome.

The ceiling of the Basilica

Group photo at the Basilica (check out the wall in the background!!)

The view from Villa Borghese, very good place to go for a panorama of Rome. This was also the site of one of the scenes from the Eat Pray Love trailer.

A disappointment was gelatos. I don't understand what the big deal about them is. They're just like ice cream I get in a tub at the supermarket in semi-melted form. Yet Rome, being the crass touristy place that all popular tourist destinations are, there are at least two gelato stores on every road (that same obsession with gelato was not shared in any other Italian city), which makes Rome appear like the home of gelato. Another gay point was how most stores just carry uninspiring, typical flavours like chocolate and vanilla... So...why spend more money on something you can get at a fraction of the price in a supermarket? Having said all that, I ate way more than my fair share of gelatos in Rome, and can recommend two places: Giolitti and Gelateria del Teatro (the latter has some really funky flavours). I also went to the place Elizabeth Gilbert raves about in Eat Pray Love but was greatly disappointed by the ice cream and the available flavours.

Having a gelato by The Trevi Fountain (I hear this is what reliving the Roman Holiday experience)

Ohh~ one of the best moments of my ENTIRE journey occurred in Rome. It was actually after we left and came back from Sicily to stayed in Rome for one night. At the time Hyeri (a girl I had met on exchange) was also in Rome, and she came to visit us. Even though our plane arrived at 11:30pm and we got to the hostel way past midnight, she still came. I was euphoric when the clerk at the desk said one of our friends had enquired about us just half an hour before we arrived, then deeply touched when she came another half an hour later to check again (and simultaneously excited, I screamed when the clerk came knocking at our door). She told us she had been wandering around Termini Station waiting for us* until a drunken man started following her and asking her to come on an 'adventure' with him.

*The magnitude of her actions should be considered in the context that it was cold and once again this was past midnight in an area I would not consider safe for a young girl to be hanging out alone.

Hyeri baby!!