Pink and Undecided: mercure hotel

Europe Trip Day 11 Part 2 (Rome)

Hi y'all!

See, i keep my promise, not keeping you another month to the next entry for my Europe trip diary *LOL*. Let's proceed! We just left Vatican City on the last entry, next destination's Trevi Fountain!

But before we went there, we had a little tour around Rome (inside the bus haha) to see some other places first. Like i said on the previous post, i've lost my scrap of information (the tour's itinerary lah) so... i can't remember much *LOL*, all i remembered was the Colosseum. Again, being me, all i know about Colosseum was mostly from films and novels. And not even The Gladiator type, all i can think about was the movie Jumper. LOL.

We were like... We're not going in??? Coz Colosseum's like one of the most important landmark in Rome, right. Then Kikie got a little defensive *sigh, i wonder why he's so defensive*, telling us that there's no tour package, no matter how expensive, will have a schedule to bring their members inside the Colosseum. I dunno, if you will ever read this Kikie, but if you do then take this as a constructive criticism : stop taking everything personally. People will always ask question, people will always whine, there's no need for you to get offended and reply in a non-friendly manner. It's kinda your job to keep your cool and answer nicely. Just explain that Colosseum's massive, and it's not possible to fit it into a tour schedule, and that we can go there by ourselves one day when we're on a non-tour package trip. Easy, isn't it?

Anyway, the guide did offered us to get off the bus (quite faraway from the Colosseum, i must add), run to take pictures with the Colosseum as the background, and run back to the bus, like... within five minutes. Sounded ridiculous so we all flatly refused lah *LOL*. I did snap quite a lot of pictures of it *sadly the best ones were shot by hunny, what's new :p...*. Let me show y'all mine first (all taken from inside the bus lah hor, please excuse the glares...)

Eh, the pictures were taken from before we reached Colosseum, so there were other places as well (i am able to somewhat write some of the names with the help of Mr. Google and Wiki!)

Castel Sant'Angelo or Castle of the Holy Angel

Tiber River

Look a bit like Seine in Paris, but less pretty and well-maintained

Altera della Patria or Vittorio Emanuel II Monument

Roman Forum

Arch of Constantine

Kikie had an interesting story about this place, but for the love of God i cannot recall it. Something about it used to be a place for human sacrifice or something? And nowadays it's just in the middle of the street, surrounded by modern life

Pictures of Roman Forums above were taken by my hunny with his Samsung as usual, now it's my own pictures' turn. I do combine pictures taken by him and i later, it's just more complete and harmonious that way. We passed by Colosseum then Roman Forum then back to Colosseum, in case you're confused why the pictures i put went back and forth.

Finally, the infamous Colosseum

That's all the pictures i got for Colesseum and friends. Some other pictures :

Of the street of Rome

And Italian Restaurant, that L looked at longingly hahahaha

Someday i will be back!

L was fussing about Belgian beers and how we should've had some, and Kikie kept on promising her to have beer sometime-that never really happened (we had a drink in Switzerland but only hunny actually had beer and we had very watered down tequilas instead) in the end i think L reached her breaking point that she went and bought a pack of beer for all five of us (including Kikie) and forced me to finish a can by myself. WTF. I DON'T DRINK BEERS!

And it's a HUGE can too OMG!

See how miserable i was???

Needless to say i was quite high and very very warm, or more like HOT that i started to sweat OMG WTH. She won't let me off as well, telling me to drink it up and not to waste anything zzzz. Damn L.

Anyway, i just consulted my notes in my BB and remembered why we were quite late and flustered that morning, apparently having toubles waking hunny up was some other day (every morning became all mixed up, you see...), we were scrambling around for some other reason. He left his backpack in the bus (after being reminded over and over again of thieves and stuffs, and how we should never leave any important belongings in the bus), and other than his gadgets (which kept me awake all night worrying if it might get stolen during the night), our toothbrushes were there too.

So i had to use my fingers (squirt some toothpaste on it) to "brush" my teeth in the morning. And he had to stalk the bus driver (who's staying at the same room as us, but you cannot bug him the night before because once the working hour's up he refused to help out in any way. Missed Mr. Luboz immediately *LOL*) until he showed up at the bus so we can brush our teeth WTH.

Moving on! We went to Trevi Fountain next! Loving the street leading to Trevi, and of course the charming little souvenir stores along the way. Look what we found!

Geppetto!!! Okay, not really. But he was making Pinocchios!

And before we even got the chance to ogle at the beautiful Trevi Fountain (honestly, i dunno what i was thinking, but i was expecting a tiny, single bird-bath type of fountain! WTH), Kikie dragged us to what he called, a super famous gelateria (again, i hear voices of Minions screaming "GELATOOOO" in my head) with super awesome gelatos.

Yeah, i think hunny was more excited about the gelato than the fountain itself

I guess it was good, but i had hard time remembering so i guess it wasn't phenomenal for me? LOL all ice creams tends to taste the same for me

All the pickpockets warnings gets to him, definitely *LOL*, look at the way he carries his bag

Okay, now time to bombard you with pictures from the Trevi Fountain itself!

I took this outside of the gelateria while waiting for hunny to get the gelato, you can hardly even see the water from this angle *LOL*

Nor this one, it was just too damn crowdeddd arghhh

Like what you might already know, one should throw coins over their shoulder (one to make sure you will return to Rome one day, and another one for good luck, that's what the tour guide told us anyway. But he also told us that our Rupiah coins won't work...) into the fountain. My picture was... far from flattering, but for memories sake..

Me, looking idiotic. That's why i'm keeping the picture small

Nicer pic, taken by moi. One from the left shoulder...

And one from the right

Taken from my BB, i guess low resolution pictures are always more forgiving *LOL*

Dunno where hunny snapped this, but it must be around Trevi *i think*, we did took a very very long walk to the bus later on

We were given some time to enjoy Trevi (and the gelato), but i was itching to go back to the store we passed by earlier (but obvi no time to stop because we must follow the group first to be given informations, right..), coz i saw this uber cute Roman soldier costume for kids! I just had to get it (mommies problem) hahaha.

Hihihihi... isn't he CUTEEEE (again, biased mummy, please indulge!)??? He did look more like an Ancient Chinese (baby) soldier than a Roman one, but what to do??? The set was pretty expensive really (for people like use who are used to China made stuffs with dirt cheap prices), it was about EUR 18 maybe? But it was so well made and detailed, it was worth it. Nice plus? It wasn't made in China, it's made in Italy okay hahaha.

Also, like i said in my earlier Italy posts, i was dying for those simple leather bands with "I love Rome" kind of things splayed on it, that everybody kept on stopping me to buy ("You'll get a dozen in China for the price of one, aren't we planning to go to China soon?", etc), but i caved. After all, i wanted the one with ROME on it and not Beijing or Shanghai or whatever!

It was... EUR 3 for 2?

Was also attracted to this glass bracelet, it stated Murano glass on the pouch (yeah, i just realized now, after spending a few minutes googling for the name Murano. WTF. Always happens to me. I originally didn't even know if this was really the same Murano glass jewelry, but it stated there so it should be, right?). I guess Italian hand made jewelries industry really suffered a hit since all of those China made stuffs invaded Europe? Because i saw signs saying that they are selling genuine Italian made stuffs and went on explaining it's 100% hand made so it's much more of a high quality and therefore more expensive than those replicas made in China.

It was pretty expensive too, EUR 10 or 12? Not the price i would normally pay for a costume jewelry. But it was very pretty (and comes with a luxe velvet pouch, i am all about packaging you know...), and i was always the kind that goes "who knows when i'm going to be there next time? Shouldn't i have a token of the places i've been?". No wonder my walk in closet's really on the verge of bursting, eh?

Here are some pictures we snapped while shopping.

I love taking this kind of pics, one that shows the alley and the environment surrounding the place

L browsing for something to buy for her little girl

I urged her to get one of those cute tiny backpacks

One of those charming *and colorful* little store

L and her new purchase. Did she rock it? LOL

Had to wait for quite a while *which later on, created a rift. You know, it's the last day, everybody's tired and sensitive... Quite a lot of people got angry over this. Not four of us, certainly* for some aunties who waited for their photos being developed (instant pictures). Some of the members (and Kikie) got mad because they took super long, way after the designated time limit, while the aunties (especially the one whose photograph finished late, even though she was the first who took take pictures while the rest followed but because of some technical problems, hers finished last) got mad because Kikie didn't even wait for their explanation and just kept on blaming them.

Trevi Fountain views from our waiting spot

The reason why Kikie was freaking out was because we had a dinner reservation at a local Italian restaurant, and i guess it's different than in Asia when restaurants usually are a lot more lenient and flexible with reservation time, i can't blame him for being worried if the dinner reservation might be invalid if we're late.

But the problem was... After being hurried like crazy (plus quite a few scolding), when we reached the restaurant... We had to wait FOREVER between courses. It got so bad that Kikie and a few of the members had to help prep the food so it can be served faster. That's because our bus' coming anytime soon and it can't park around the restaurant, so as soon as the bus arrived we had to board it. That caused a lot more unhappiness for the members (especially the ones that were being scolded earlier). In the end, if the food flows steadily, we won't be pressed for time anyway.

I can understand their point of view too, of course. After all you paid millions and millions for the trip, and not to be scolded for being a little late (especially if it's not entirely your fault), and then being threatened about the dinner reservation-which made US wait forever for the food instead of the other way round (the way Kikie made it sound to be), so... yeah... *LOL*.

(Did i mention that we had to walk (and hike a little bit since the road was quite uphill at some spots) for quite a distance to get to the bus? Yeah, i was actually sweating *i think that was the first time i ever sweat in Europe, it was at the very least cool everywhere we went to at that time* and panting, plus you should remember my high heeled booties *LOL*, it didn't help. But as usual, we prefer to embrace the moment, i mean... When else can i claim to be walking around at the street of Rome? I was really THERE (instead of just sitting in a bus, being transported around), if you know what i mean. I guess the long walk totally over-tires the senior citizens that they became even more cranky though)

While me and hunny, we just enjoyed our dinner (L too, not Eek obvi, you can't really expect him to enjoy anything without cursing and complaning, can you now?) and be our bubbly selves hahaha. It was a themed restaurant, ancient Rome style. You're greeted by a Roman soldier right from the front door. The picture below is a touristy instant picture that i later snapped with my digicam (coz i obvi dunno how to scan it even though i do own a scanner, i just can't be bothered).

Those pictures also caused some problems *LOLOLOL* (i guess when people are tired and sensitive, everything can turn into a big problem), because Kikie told us earlier that they would snap pictures of you with the "soldier" in the entrance but it's digital so you'd get to choose whether or not you want the pics, if you want it then you can purchase it, otherwise they'd delete the file.

But at the end of the meal, the person in charge of the photo simply handed out ready pictures instead and he asked for EUR, i really don't remember much, but was it EUR 5? That enraged a lot of the members, they thought the photogs were playing dirty, because this way they kinda twisted your hands to buy the pics (or otherwise they'd destroy it? Or maybe just use it as a display? I personally don't see it as a problem, but i can imagine a lot of the older people would. I know my mum was never happy to know that our pictures were being destroyed, some superstitious thingy).

We didn't get out picture in Montparnasse (coz it was FUGLY), but this one turned out okay! The older people made us all hand back the pictures because they were bargaining it down to EUR 3 or 2 *LOLOL* so they were hoping that if everybody handed their pictures back the photogs would back down. That didn't happen *LOL*. Since we did not have any touristy instant pictures at all so far, hunny and i decided to get the picture anyway, and a few others followed. To be honest, it was a bit embarrassing hahahaha.

The Restaurant. It was called.. Papa Rex?

Super tired looking L, the raccoon eyes were mostly from her melted eyeliner hahaha

Eek was cooking instant noodles *LOL*, Kikie was helping serving the members and hunny was checking out the menu coz he wanted to order risotto!

Like i said earlier, it was a theme restaurant, and they had some traditional singers belting their hearts out, i think there was a guest who's celebrating his/her birthday.

Waiting for the food to be served, we found a spot to cam-whore.

It's quite a cutely decorated restaurant, don't you think?

Now, onto the food. It was okay mostly, nothing TOO special. But the portion...

Huge pizza, for one!

Seriously, when the waiter began serving the pizza (which is the first course, a bit weird...), i totally thought they would put one or two for each table, but NO! They were actually serving one round pizza for each person! It was very thin, but still... I don't know many Indonesian that can eat one whole pizza by him/herself!

Yeah, yeah we're dramatic people. And of course we had to milk every dramatic scene to the max.

Yeah, the pizza was twice the size of my head, and you expect me to finish it?

LOL. Various dramatic expressions from us. I think i looked the most normal among all hahahah, and as usual, hunny was the craziest-looking.The pizza was okay, a little too bland for my liking (and i prefer bland tasting food than the overly salty/sweet ones!), but then again we often joked that our (Indonesian) tastebuds were all spoilt already because of the crazy amount of spices we used in our everyday food, so any less spices, we'd say it's bland and tasteles..

Love this! The fish was yummy and the veggies were fresh

We had a three course meal, but like i said, hunny wanted to order Risotto some more. Normally i'd scold him, because i couldn't eat even half of the pizza and he also didn't finish his pizza i don't think (we stacked the extra pizzas into a box, there were like 6 or 7 layers of pizza in the end *LOL*, gave them to the driver or something-i dunno), but since it was the last opportunity for him to have an authentic risotto, in its ORIGINAL place, i let him.

Sadly the risotto was nowhere near as good as the superb one we had in Milan. It was way too watery and the risotto-rice (i know it's actually a pasta, but they looked so much like rice) was hard and tasted a bit undercooked.

Dessert!

As usual, i had to use the ladies room *like every few hours at least*, it was located at the basement (that is also a dining area), and the decor there was even more unique but we were rushing and i didn't grab my camera, so hunny only snapped this :

Very tired looking me-taken at the stairs leading to the basement area

Then we rushed to the waiting bus to check in to our last hotel in Europe, it was Mercure (i think, am pretty sure though). The hotel was okay, nothing special but i'll take it any day after the horrific Galilei Hotel!

That's all for Day 11 (that ended up with me being upset with hunny because he treated my brand new Benetton bag roughly and completely misshapen it forcing it into the luggage all the while grumbling and complaining that "It doesn't fit it doesn't fit" WTF, i never saw anyone more useless in packing), don't miss our last day in Europe (that would mostly show us in airports, but there would be hauls as well-i did most shopping in airports than anywhere else i think!) that i can hopefully write soon!

Toodles and have a great weekend!