Rome : Day 2

We were very relieved since the public transport had started to operate back on the second day. From our hostel, we needed to take bus to the nearest Metro Station. After that, we had to ride the metro to Roma Termini. We were quite dumbfounded when we reached the Anagnina Metro Station (the nearest station from our hostel). We did not know where to buy the tickets and the station was really big. Again, luckily we met a really kind lady. She offered to show us the way to the ticket machine. It was amazing how she could speak basic English. Most of Italians that we met could not speak English.

Taking the metro saved us a lot of Euros as it only costed about 6 bucks for the daily pass. Happy faces riding the metro. Weeeee~

Then, we had our breakfast at a halal fast food restaurant, Kin's Crunchy Chicken. I could not hold my excitement when we were there. The fried chickens were so yummy-licious! It tasted a bit like KFC. Sedaaaaaap sangat! The workers were so nice, they gave us a plate of free fried chickens. I almost cried with happiness. Over! :p So, you people MUST come here. The price was affordable since each meal would be below 10 euro.

The key to travelling is, you need a happy tummy for sight-seeing. We were all very 'energized' after having our breakfast. We were practically jumping up and down upon reaching the Colosseum. It was surreal how we finally got to visit the Colosseum. Seeing it with our own eyes gave off a totally different feeling than seeing it in paintings and on television. I am sure everyone knows about this place. I learned this in History some time ago. It is the largest amphitheater in the world. There is also history behind it but I will let you google it yourself. :p 

To enter Colosseum, you will need tickets. You have to queue an endless line if you were to buy it there. So, it is best if you buy it online. You can save your time queuing all day and the tickets are much cheaper too! 

I also discovered a really interesting function in my camera. I did not know what it is called. But you get to choose what color you wanted to be in the pictures. That explained why lots of pictures after that had this effect. We even held a mini photo shoot using this effect. Excited kids we were. ^^

The tickets that we purchased included the entrance to the Colosseum as well as the Palatino which is just a few steps away from the Colosseum. I never heard of it before till I went to Rome. Basically, I did not know anything about it. And so without knowing anything, we embark on the endless journey inside the Palatino. It was soooooo big and full of beautiful buildings. No matter how far we walked, we still had not reach the end. Literally endless. :( My feet screamed with every step I took. I could feel sweats dripping down my forehead as the sun was scorching hot. Cewah dramatic la sikit kan.

Lastly, we headed to the Vatican City. It was quite far from the two places that we had to take the metro. An interesting fact about Vatican City is, it is an independent state! We met an Indonesian lady and had a chat with her. She said the interior of the church was really beautiful and highly-recommended us to go see it. But by the time we arrived it was already closed. We voiced to her our worry since there were lots of pickpockets in Italy and we were really anxious. Then, she said something that left a really deep impression on me. I need to quote her!

'Kalau kita orangnya baik, maka ketemunya orang yang baik kayak kalian. Kita harus positif''

I was so touched by her words. Later that day, I spoke in Indonesian till night. :') I wish I could write more but my memory is failing me considering the fact that it has been 2 months since my summer holiday.In the next entry, I will write about Florence and Venice. If I am in the mood, I will also blog about my spring break to Manchester and Liverpool.  I really hope it will be helpful if you are to travel to those places. :)

Rome : Day 1

Hey!

I am going to write about the summer break this time. As mentioned afore, me and my lolles went for a holiday in Italy and Paris. Lolles is the name of our group which consist of Enon, Shaffy, Sazzy, Sihah, Nadia and Syira. Sihah came up with that name. I know it sounds like a candy or something but I like it anyway. Sadly, Nadia and Sazzy didn't join us. Our trip started from the 3rd June till the 10th. We only got one week to cover all the places! And one week of vacation is never enough I tell you. But we got no other choices, some of us already booked the flight ticket to Malaysia on the 13th June.

The airfare was quite expensive. It costed us nearly 100 euros. We could have gotten it for a cheaper price but we were all busy with study, exams and such. So, we end up purchasing the ticket quite last minute. Our first destination was Rome! And here we gooooo.

Day 1
The flight took about 3 hours but seriously it felt like forever! We really looked forward to it. Who would not? Our exams lasted for a month and we deserved some time off studying.

This was taken outside the airport. We were waiting for the taxi to pick us up and drop us to our hostel. When we first arrived we were a bit taken aback because all the signboards were in Italian. And the locals there could not converse in English. It was like cats and dogs, speaking different languages. We would ask questions in English and they would reply in Italian. But they were so nice, despite the language barrier, they still insisted in explaining to us.

We tried to hail a cab but to no avail. When we called the taxi service, they did not understand English. Luckily, we met these two very generous Italians. They helped us get a taxi. Usually the mode of transport in Rome are through buses or metro. Unfortunately for us, that particular day we arrived there all public transports were on strike. That was why we needed to take taxis to go the Rome City. It was quite pricey since we need to travel a long distance. It costed us 50 euro per taxi for one way journey. Oh money. :(  Click here (this is a video from Najla's keek ). Mostly our conversations with the locals are like this. :p

The hostel where we stayed in provide us maps for the city. All the places of attractions were within walking distance once we have reached the city. 

The first place we went was the Spanish Steps. It was featured in the movie Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn. You would also see this often in other movies. Though we were very excited, we still did not make it to the top. There were too many stairs! Nobody ain't got time to climb the stairs. There were still other places to go.

We had our lunch at Luna Caprese, a halal restaurant. They served the best pizza I tell you! Seriously. I am not a fan of pizzas, but I approve this one. There were also other choices such as kebabs and wraps. But, if you do come here you need to try the pizza. 

After filling our tummies with the scrumptious pizza, we made our way to the VERY famous Trevi Fountain or also known as Fontana di Trevi. It is said that if we throw coins into here, we will come to Rome again. I really wanted to throw the coins. It is not like I believe it but once I was there, why not throw a penny or two,right? But, it was really crowded with tourists. The people were starting to look like ants to me. You would bump into people every step you take. Coming closer to the fountain would be a hard thing to do, so I just forget what I intended on doing.

After that, we went to the Pantheon. It is one of the oldest building in Rome. I did not know much about Pantheon but what I know, the architecture of the building is pretty. It is said that the Pantheon's design is the most influential in Europe. You would see buildings with this kind of design in universities and public libraries.

To wrap up our first day, we went to eat ice creams or Italians would refer it as gelato. If you go to Italy, eating gelato is a must! I am not really into sweet things. However, the gelato taste different from the usual ice creams. It is more..creamy? It also contains less fats! Yay for that. My personal favourite flavor would be the Fragola (Strawberry). Hmmmm yummy!

After so long.

Hey hey hey!

 Lemme count how many months has it been since my last post. Haha. I know I promise to keep on writing but each time I made a promise, I will do the opposite. I will have to blame twitter for that. I love writing. I sure do. My passion for writing is sincere but hey uolls we got twitter. It is like a mini-blog. So, everything that is supposed to be on this blog are there. Damn you twitter! I cannot tweet as much as I did, because it is too public there and also because of the character limits. But, worry not, here i am, yet again. I am gonna blog as much as I want. I still have 2 months of holidays. Yeay!

Few days ago, Ainun told me that flowers has started blossoming  in the yards in front of our house. Guess what flower is it? It is LAVENDER! Oh my god. It is my favourite flowers. I was literally screaming in front of my laptop reading Ainun's tweet. Now, I cannot wait to go back to Ireland. I really hope by that time, the lavenders are still there. Autumn is supposed to be in September right? This really worries me a lot.  Please don't wilt yet! :(

This is the picture Ainun had sent me! Pretty isn't it?

And no, this isn't Lavender. This was taken at some park somewhere in Paris. Acah-acah Lavender. :p

I hope my memory will not fail me because my next post, I plan to blog about our trip to Italy and Paris. So that one day, when I am older I can read about that again and remember those fun moments I had there. Hehe. :) Oh btw, we are two weeks into Ramadan now. Alhamdulillah. :))