Rome

Better to see something than hear about it a million times goes an Asian proverb. As a student, I was so enthralled by history. My mind stacks up the chronology, events, places,iconic places and every chapter gets into life in my imaginary world. A good teacher coupled with self interest in the subject made every class worthwhile and jaw-droppingly beautiful while most of my classmates labelled it as a boring subject. Thanks to the history lessons, Rome was the front runner in my travel bucket list ! Not sure whether it is for the genealogy of great emperors or it traces back to early days of civilization, its engineering marvels or it houses one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The more I heard about it, I couldn't wait to get there ! I had to wait for the right time, like they say 'Rome wasn't built in a day !' But sometimes, we never know what stroke of luck lies around the corner. One such opportunity came during my visit to Germany for official purpose. With fortunate set of events and like-minded colleagues ,we ended up choosing Rome as part of our weekend trip.

We traveled to Rome from Munich via Euro rail and one of the best choice we made to commute to the most beautiful historic city. Leaving aside the tiresome journey, locating accommodation with the help of 'not much' friendly faces and almost pick-pocketed, I found the city more than enchanting as I imagined it to be.

Mode of transport - More of walking and Bus tours.

Travelling on the roman roads were exciting experience engendering us to recognize the full worth of roman engineering and maintenance. And no wonder, through this firm paved road they ruled most part of the ancient world. Amazing isn't it ?

Guided tours - No ! We had a map and despite couple of misleading by locals who showed us the wrong directions and smirked behind, we managed to reach the places with our heads high. Hail to the city ! All roads leads to Rome !!

Here goes the list of places....

Colosseum

I remember Colosseum as long as I remembered Rome ! The thoughts of gladiators, Chariots and roman game from the historical roman empire filled my mind. Standing right in that amphitheater brought me jitters imagining the notorious games and the blood soaked sand where hundreds of gladiators fought for their life, pride and freedom.

Piazza Venezia  

The Piazza venezia at central part of the Rome is the busiest part of the Rome I ever saw. With captivating roman architectures and statues, your shutterbug never stops clicking the scenic monuments. We clicked couple of pictures with the street performers dressed as roman soldiers outside the Victor Emmanuel II monument, a huge marble monument that dominates the piazza venezia. Climbing the stairs of it, we couldn't help but wonder at various statues representing the roman pride and values designed by renowned artists.

Victor Emmanuel II

The base of it harbors a museum housing the best kept history and memorabilia of unification of Italy. Further up is the panoramic terrace, a breath taking view of the city and you definitely feel proud to have a look at the best of the best attractions(including Colosseum). And adding a cherry on top, this monument prides itself for its location on the capitol hill, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome. We caught up with some more unforgettable views and a short break at the cafe located at the intermediate terrace after our most tiresome walk of the day !

The glass elevator that takes you to terrace 

 View from the terrace

Trevi Fountain

The most beautiful fountain in Rome that celebrates the beauty of water like no other fountain in the world. It is a fantastic work of art with a sculpture of Oceanus, the god of waters. There was lot of coins nestled in the water logged area of the fountain. Curious to see people throwing coins over the shoulder into the water, we got to know from the locals that there is a long-standing tradition of throwing coins at the fountain by the visitors. It is believed that throwing one coin represents 'Return to Rome, two coins represents finding love and three represents marriage. Well, I threw two and I instantly fell in love with Trevi :)

Vatican

It was a Sunday afternoon on our second day of the trip when we reached Vatican right on time for the mass. Fortunate to see Pope Benedict XVI at that time. Passing through the security scanners, uniformed guards, bishops and priests from different parts of the world and the cheering crowd got us all excited. The pope appeared from the window of a papal apartment and greeted the crowd in different languages. At the end, he delivered his apostolic blessings. Also, there were giant video displays everywhere to get a good view of Pope.

Pope's Angelus address at St.Peter's Basilica

Besides the spiritual experience, I was stunned by what this most smallest country in the world has offered to us - An implausible renaissance architecture.

And there are some of the other things we visited at the nick of the moment despite our time crunch.

Arch of Constantine 

Castel Sant'Angelo

Fontana del Tritone

A street performer

Not to mention the much known fact about Italian food, we never missed to taste the must try Italian specialties. And my favourite being classic roman Pasta and Italian gelato!

We quickly did some shopping and grabbed some souvenirs and left the city with lots of special memories. 

A history lover or not, you will definitely fall for this place. No words can describe the city's appeal that casts a spell on every visitor. I wanted to go back again to see the city in different light, explore and take much more of it. If you ever get a chance to visit the historic city, watch the sunrise and sunset at Colosseum, grab a cup of Italian coffee, get mesmerized with the architecture, get lost in time and get lost intentionally to experience what it is like walking on the roman roads and see how every wrong turn will lead you back to Colosseum (the heart of the city), lose yourself to the city and believe me it will never let you down !