I have never slept for more than four hours straight on a plane before. Never! Never on flights to and from Sydney. I'm usually always awake, with maybe 30 minutes of sleep. It must've been the fact that we were flying business class from Bangkok to Rome. We flew in a brand-spanking new Boeing 777 Thai Airlines' FIRST CLASS from KL to Bangkok, which was like heaven. Pity I don't truly know what heaven is like, but you get the cliche, right? Imagine here: open spaces, chairs that recline into a bed, large LCD screens at a comfortable viewing distance, extra friendly airhosts, awesome and interesting meals on the menu to select from and large pillows. On the flight from Bangkok to Rome, I couldn't wait to fall into a deep slumber, which I did in the first of the 10 hours.

We arrived early the next morning at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport. Hot, is all I can say about the weather. It was all quite a culture shock to me. Cars were driven on the opposite side of the road (The Italians drive on the right side, compared to M'sians on the left!). There were FIATS everywhere - taxis were square/box-like Fiats. The drivers - let's say I appreciate M'sian drivers on the roads alot more - were just as, and some more than reckless compared to us in Malaysia. On the way to the hotel in Via Veneto (via translates to street in Italian), I observed Rome with a huge appreciation of its beautifully preserved history and culture. The architecture of every building was magnificient. There were ruins after ruins scattered throughout the city. Around every corner and bend, you were bound to see something interesting - a fountain, a face sculpured on a wall, a large fort, an angel sitting on a tall obelisk. History is everywhere in Rome.


The first day was spent walking the streets of Rome. We first had a very expensive breakfast at a Cafe nearby our hotel. The Euro dollar is too expensive. It's one Euro to four ringgit and fifty sen. From that meal on, I reminded myself to be cautious of how much I spent on food in Italy. We walked down to see Fontana di Trevi, also known as the Trevi Fountain.

The Trevi Fountain is famous for the belief that if you throw a coin into the fountain with your back to it, you would be guaranteed a return to Rome. We also had our very first ice-cream gelato there!



We walked down to the Roman Forum after that. The forum was this huge area full of remnants of ancient Roman buildings. It was spectacular! Bizzare beyond anyone's imagination. It was like walking through my history book, as lame as that may sound.


To think these buildings have pieces that have lasted for centuries... I was in complete awe during our walk around the forum. I really felt like I was in a dream, that I kept rubbing my eyes after every sight of ruin.

The most outstanding highlight of the forum was the majestic Colloseum. This iconic piece of history had the most paralysing effect on me. It was far beyond imagination. I couldn't believe i was actually standing face to face with the great Colloseum, where blood was shed for the entertainment of the Romans during that period.


Queuing up for entry was a bitch though. We waited in life for half an hour, standing. We blew our money off on a tour to cut the line - it was a big mistake. For one, the wait for the tour guide was just as long as staying in line to take your own tour around the Colloseum. And two, the tour guide seriously sucked. So we abandoned her 20 minutes into her talk about why we should know the history of the Colloseum.


The inside of the Colloseum was out of this world. I couldn't believe I was walking in it, for real. There were some pieces of marble on the floor we walked on from the ancient times. The Colloseum was mainly marble flooring, but they removed it much much later and used the marble in the Vatican city.

The Roman Forum ate the last bars of energy left in me. I was still on M'sian time, and I suffered some kind of jetlag. The sun was glaring at us and the crowds were getting larger and larger. We had lunch and returned to our hotel rooms. It was far too hot for us to manage. We napped for a while and had dinner at nine. We had our very first Italian dinner at a place called Ristorante Giovanni. It couldn't have been any more Italian that that.

To be continued...
Cheers
or Ciao tutti!