Vatican City
A country within the capital of Italy, Rome. The world's smallest state and most sacred city, home to more than 1 billion Roman Catholics around the world. It has always been one of my most wished to visit places after reading Angels & Demons, as every place depicted in the novel appeared to be cool and mysterious. As always, reality and novel doesn't match at all. It was a hot sunny day, with numerous tourists forming a beeline to enter the famous St Peter's Basilica. I couldn't picture how the story can take place when it's so crowded. Probably at night is a better time to feel the mystery of the place. Bernini is really talented, the person who designed St Peter's square.
And on our way to take the Metro there, we accidentally identified a Sporean lady who's working in Belgium now and in Rome for holiday. Yeah and she spontaneously joined us for the day as she was alone. It is really hard to miss the distinct Sporean accent.
St Peter's Square, and the famous Bernini Fountain
The Swiss Guards, who refused requests for pics
It is the nicest basilica I have seen so far and I believe it is the most beautiful one in the world. It is really hard not to feel the sacredness inside.
Singaporeans together
It is really a pity we did not go to the Vatican Museum, therefore missing the Sistine Chapel. It is the place where the popes are elected. My next time probably. We then headed to the shopping street in the afternoon and window shopped throughout. Diesel, Zara, Gucci and whatever brands are all so ex even though some of them are from Italy. I can't believe it! Euros is killing me!
Finally an overnight train concludes our Italy trip. The pic below is our cabin. We made a fool of ourselves initially when we did not know how to make 6 beds appear. Then our smart JUMP figured it out and yeah, we had 6 beds to sleep. There is barely room to walk around, so everyone can only lie on their beds, which is not too bad for vertically challenged people like me since the leg room is just fine. It's definitely better than sitting. And we even had breakfast served in the morning. It is probably my 1st and last overnight train ride, a long 13 hrs from Rome to St Gallen.
