22-Apr-2011 Florence, Tuscany

21-Apr.  It was already past 6 in the evening when we left Rome, going to Florence (or Firenze in Italian; Florentia in ancient times).  Our hotel was walking  distance to the station.  Hehe! Mon ran over somebody's foot on the way to the hotel.  Ooops!  

Our hotel  -- like my granny's old house, with 'antique' furnitures inside :-) ... it's comfy though.

Had dinner in a Chinese restaurant for a change.  For a few days, we hadn't had rice and asian dishes, we kind of missed it a bit. 

It's a few hours before Good Friday.  We did Visita Iglesia until 1a.m., spending a few minutes inside to pray and give thanks to our Creator.  Justin said to his Dad , "When are we going to stop?  Maybe, Mum is 'mana' to Lolo!  She always loves walking!"    Well, I uttered, "It's nearly Good Friday... yet we're out on a holiday.  This is our penitence."

We were in Italy, not surprised to see a number of people, visiting churches this lenten season, though it's already midnight.   The churches were still open, one of them was with a group of parishioners  praying and singing.

Highlights:

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella - This dominican church is situated opposite the main railway station - Firenze S.M.N.

Basilica di San Lorenzo -  in romanesque style, one of the largest and oldest churches in Florence.  Behind the altar was a door leading to a domed room, with extra ordinary paintings around the walls and ceilings.  Cameras were not allowed inside.

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore -  in Gothic style built in over six centuries.  It is also known as the Florence Cathedral (Duomo).  

Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistry of St John) - situated accross the Florence Cathedral; an octagonal baptistry - signifying 6 days of creation + 1 day of rest + 1 day of re-creation through the Sacrament of Baptism.

Pictures of two churches we had visited (can't remember the name; these were also situated in the city.)

Palazzo della Vecchio ('old palace') (originally called as Palazzo della Signoria) - This is the town hall of Florence overlooking Piazza della Signoria.  We stopped over to take some photos and at the same withdrew cash from the nearby ATM.

Opposite Palazzo della Vecchio was Loggia della Signoria (also known as Loggia dei Lanzi).  It was built between 1376 and 1382 and houses a number of Rennaissance and Roman sculptures and statues.  Among them are the bronze statue of Perseus- holding Medusa's head, the Abduction / Rape of the Sabine Virgins, Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus, etc.

Ponte Vecchio - a medieval bridge over the Arno River...  Known with its goldsmith shops.  This was our last stop... Headed back to the hotel... a bit nervous at times... trying to avoid drunk on the streets...  and at the same time avoiding streets with hardly any people.  We arrived safely in the hotel, tired but it's worth it.  I probably lost a few pounds, so did Mon.

22-Apr.  Still at Florence, before checking out, we spent hours looking for a hotel at Venice via internet. Most of them are already fully booked.  We thought we're just wasting our time finding for a place to stay there, so we had decided to just skip Venice. We could always come back... Next time, maybe.   Plan B, we would go to Milan after our trip to Pisa and see if we could buy a ticket there back to Zurich Switzerland.  If not, we would find a place/hotel to stay for a night at Milan.  We checked out and asked the hotel staff to keep our luggage.

We walked around, hoping to see the Galeria dell'Accademia to see the original statue of 'David' by Michelangelo.  

Our first stop was Basilica di San Marco.  Mon went inside.  I was wearing shorts so I don't think they'd let me in if I did go.    

T'was a very very long queue at the Galleria dell'Accademia.  This time, we didn't attempt to queue up. 

We kept on walking and reached the Street market near Basilica di San Lorenzo.  We bought Justin a new jacket and I bought 2 scarves.   We're not able to enjoyed it much though... with Justin - keeping on reminding us how the time was wasted staying in the market.  "Hmmp!  Give him what he wants!"  We decided to go back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and go.

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21-Apr-2011 Maundy Thursday at The Vatican

D'Rocios visit to the smallest state in the world -  The VATICAN.

We couldn't believe it!!!  It would be a long wait to queue up to enter the Vatican Museum... about a million people (hehe, just kidding maybe few a thousands coming from the different parts of the planet)...   We would be staying for a night at Florence and we didn't want to stay in Rome longer.   We decided to join the queue hesitantly... We’re wonderin, with the rate the queue was moving, we might not be able to go to St Peter’s Basilica which was also our destination for the day. Just when we needed it...  A miracle suddenly appeared from nowhere!!! A lady approached us and asked if we want to join the group tour, so we can skip the long queue...  All we needed was go to their office and book the ticket for the 3 of us.  We probably wouldn't if we don't badly need it ... we thought it would be worth to try if we want to visit the Sistine Chapel at Vatican before leaving Rome.

Eur91.00 for the 3 of us.  We joined the other ‘English-speaking’ tourists,  who like us, had found the ‘redemption’.  We followed the guide to this special line dedicated for those with group booking  (passed the long queue, "sorry guys") and started (free and easy) the very long journey inside the Vatican Museum to the Sistine Chapel.

Highlights:



Entrance/Long queue at Vatican Museum



Museo Vaticano.   It was grand...  artistic... very rich in history.  We walked for hours from one museum to another, always anticipating the entrance of Sistine Chapel.   There were so many sections inside, all of them are quite interesting...  most of them with very intricate ceilings,  gallery of paintings, sculptures, maps and tapestries in 15th and 17th centuries with religious images that took years for the artists to finish... We couldn't imagine how the people in ancient times, with hardly any technology, can produce so many collection of fine artworks, such as those found inside the Vatican Museum...  



Spiral Stairs at Vatican Museum



We literally been to a number of rooms/sections... We can hardly remember all the names ... To name a few are the Room of the Immaculate Conception, Room of Raphael Stanze, Egyptian Museum, Classical Greek and Roman antiques and scuptures, gallery of the many statues of animals and a lot more. 

Inside was a real beauty that I didn't realize immediately that my dress was starting to fall... I just had it tied in one of my shoulder.  Thank God!!! I have a long sleeve with me and I noticed it before it fall.  I went to the ladies room close to the Room of Immaculate Conception... tied it again... and this time, I made sure that it's really secure!!!  Haaayyy!    

Sistine Chapel

 Sistine Chapel.  We were already dead tired by the time we arrived at this chapel, made famous by Michelangelo’s ceiling painting ‘the creation of Adam’. A lot of people were also inside the chapel, all looking upward, marvelling at this famous artwork. By the way, cameras were not allowed...  We stayed there for about 15 mins... Managed to get a few shots from outside, pass the exit.... before munching a quick lunch at the cafeteria.  Thanks to Canon's prime lens :-)

The Carriage Museum.  The museum contains a collection of carriages and automobiles used by popes and cardinals... from Gala Berlin to automobiles. 



St Peter's Square and St Peter's Basilica



Piazza San Pietro (St Peter's Square).  It is an open space located in front of the St Peter's Basilica.  In the centre of the square is the Egyptian obelisk brought to Rome in 37 B.C. by Emperor Caligola.  On top of the obelisk is a bronze globe. We initially thought that it contains St Peter's ashes  but later read that the people in the Middle Ages believed that the one preserved in there was Julius Caesar's ashes... which is also not true.



Walls separating Vatican from Rome.



From what we read, the collonade around St Peter's square is composed of 284 columns and 88 pillars in a quadruple row, seen as 1 row from a precise point  of the square, closed to the obelisk, indicated by a stone.  I am still asking Mon, which of them are pillars.  The colonnade symbolises 'gathering of Christianity'.

Basilica Papale di San Pietro (Papal Basilica of St Peter).  There was a long queue.  Justin wanted us to get movin' to Florence, as holiday time is running out and he really wanted to go to Venice the following day.  Ramon wanted to go inside the St Peter's Basilica.  Finally (Justin was probably not too happy about it),  we decided to join the long queue.   

 It is believed that St Peter was crucified in the same place where the basilica was built during Nero's great Christian persecution in 64A.D.  It is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites and said to have the largest interior of any Christian church in the world.  

Appropriate dress is required to enter... Mini skirts, shorts and singlets are not allowed, though the guards were very kind, allowing some teenagers wearing shorts, to enter the church provided they cover their legs with scarves or jerseys or any piece of cloth they may have.  The facade was designed by Carlo Moderno.  And the dome was designed by the great Michelangelo.  He died before the basilica was completed.  Inside were preserved bodies of some of the popes... We were debating if they're real bodies or just images/sculptures, as they looked wax to me, though the fingers looked real.  'Confirmed that they're  real... only their face was covered with mask/wax.

The Grand Avenue of Vatican from
Peter's Square

 The Grand Avenue of Vatican - Via Crucis.  Fourteen life-size stations line the wide sidewalk of the Via della Conciliazione.  By the way, Via della Conciliazione is under Rome's jurisdiction (not Vatican).  It is considered the largest stations of the cross in the world (at the time of writing). 

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20-Apr-2011 'Roaming' in Rome

Colloseum

At 7 a.m., the conductor knocked letting us know that we'd be arriving at Rome in half an hour.  We quickly brushed our teeth, washed our face... then got off at Roma Termini... 

... What? Eur1.00 per person to enter the toilet?!  We thought it was only at Milan.  Lucky, we always have a Euro in our wallet.  There was a time at Milan when I saw a mum of a young kid arguing with the 'toilet guards' for not letting her in as she only had one Euro, not enough for her and the kid.  I could only understand the word bambino, but I think she was arguing that she'd be let in, for the young boy need to have a company inside.  She's just making an excuse... I knew that as  the 3 of them, including her husband was trying to get in for just Eur1.00 that they had inserted... Hehehe I'm too nosy, eh :-)

Anyway, back at Rome Terminal, we stopped by a coffee shop and Mon bought a 'Latte'... Yeah, same scene as last night in a restaurant at Milan.   When he got his order, he told me, "They gave me milk again!!!."  Well, 'Latte" is an Italian word.. and it literally means 'milk'.   No wonder, he always gets milk, everytime he ordered one. 

Feelin' certified 'nomads'... with no shower yet and still wearing the same clothes on, we just deposited our luggage and started 'roaming' in Rome.  We bought a map and unlimited daily pass for trains and buses.

Highlights:

We thought we'd start from a landmark we saw in the map somewhere at Eur Palasport.  We had a hard time finding it.  Been to Eur Palasport station - 'couldn't find it.  Jumped to the train going to the next station - Eur Fermi.  'Couldn't find it still... And and back again to Eur Palasport.  We found tha place ... but nothing special... probably one of the reason why we had a hard time finding it.   One thing that caught our attention were the trains travelling to Eur Fermi.  In 2 occassions, we had seen train full of grafitti.

Basilica Di San Paolo fuori Le Mura (St Paul Outside the Walls) .   It is one of those churches in Rome with very elegant and intricate design .   The church was erected over the tomb of St Paul. 

Pyramide - It is one of the best-preserved Ancient Buildings in Rome built about 18B.C.-12B.C., as a tomb for Caius Cestius, a magistrate and a member of one of the 4 great religious corporations in Rome. It is said that the tomb had been sealed when it was built, with no exterior entrance, hence not possible for visitors to access the interior.

Colosseo (Colloseum)  ...the Flavian Ampitheatre. This ancient building began under Emperor Vespasian in 72A.D. and finished under his son, Titus, in 80A.D.  It is probably the most famous Roman landmarks... lots of people, long queue to get inside, heaps of street sellers...

There were locals wearing costumes of Roman soldiers in ancient times.  For Eur5.00,  we had a bit of fun, posing for some photos with them.  

We rested for awhile.  We were under the tree, eating a gelato.  We imagined being in a funny movie when we saw a gorgeous Italian policewoman chasing a guy walking around, selling souvenirs to tourists.  The guy disappeared.   However, when the police walked away, he re-appeared again back to his business after a few minutes.   Ms. Gorgeous Policewoman came back and was a bit pissed off seeing the guy again.  She literally ran after him in the middle of the crowd.  We were all laughing.  I thought the policewoman was tall, slim and so pretty for her uniform :-)

Arch of Constantine

Next to the Colloseum is the Arch of Constantine, buit sometime in 315AD to commemorate the Victory of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, over his rival Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312AD.

We took a break 'roaming in Rome' to get our luggage from Roma Termini.  We checked in at Holiday Inn at Aurelia and took the hotel shuttle bus back to Rome to continue with our sightseeing. 





Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II . The monument was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi to celebrate the unity of Italy (1870).  It begun in 1855 and inaugurated in 1911.



Foro di Traiano



Palatine Hill



Foro di Traiano, Palatine Hill and Foro Romano are not far from Colloseo.  These are some of the many places in Rome where you can find the ancient ruins.

Foro Romano



The Capitol



Campidoglio (The Capitol).  This is designed by Michelangelo in 1534.  In the center is the statue of Marco Aurelio, the only surviving bronze equestrian statue among those that adorned Rome in ancient times.  



The Pantheon

Pantheon.   It is a wonder how this classic temple is still  intact until today.  This is a pagan temple hosting the tombs of the famous people like Raffaello and the kings of Italy.





Chiesa di Santa Maria Maddalena. A 17th century Baroque style church dedicated to Mary Magdalene.  It was completed in 1699, though the curved facade was completed 1735 in Rococo style. 

Next to the church were restaurants... It was a good walk ...esp with a busker entertaining passers-by with his accordion and those having dinner outside the resto.

Column of Marcus Aurelias at the centre of Piazza Colonna.  The column bears reliefs showing Marcus' campaign against the Sarmatians (174-176 A.D.) and Germanic tribes (169-173 A.D.).  It is said that inside the column was a staircase that leads to a platform at the top.  It used to have the statue of Marcus Aurelias and his wife Faustina.  The statue disappeared and now replaced with statue of St Paul. 

Fontana di Trevi.  ♫Three coins in a fountain, ♫Each one seeking happiness♫...It was already late and the place was still packed with people.  As per the info from the map, its popularity was due the legend that one's return to Rome is guaranteed by drinking its water and throwing a coin into its basin.  Well according to Mon, throwing a coin guarantees a return back to Rome, 2 coins for those who are seeking a partner and three coins for those who are seeking a divorce.   Justin threw 1 coin...

It was already late, we decided to go back to our hotel and took a bus... However, we saw St Peter's square on the way, so we hopped off the nearest bus stop instead.  

Just took a few photos... But later on, we thought that it's really getting late, we could still go  back tomorrow. 

Finally... and luckily, it didn't took us long to get a cab.

21.April. Passed by some of the other places in Rome after a visit to Vatican.

  

Castel Sant'Angelo.  Emperor Elius Adrianus wanted this as his tomb.  At the time of the Romans, the place was known as Mole Adriana . The place was later transformed into a forteress and then into a castle.  In the 13th century, Papal state took control over  this place and found to be the shelter for Popes during war.  

 



Ponte San Angelo, taken
in front of the Castle



Tevere (Tiber) River
 is the third longes river in Italy. 



Ponte San Angelo.  One of  remaining ancient Roman bridges completed in 134 A.D. by Emperor Adrian.  It is formerly known as Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius, meaning the Bridge of Hadrian.



Palazzo della Corte di Cassazione



Palazzo della Corte di Cassazione (also known as Palazzo di Giustizia).  The Palace of Justice was erected in 1888-1911.  It is the seat of the Supreme Court. Romans call the building; Palazzaccio" because of its huge dimensions and exaggerated decorations.

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