D4 Rome, fa freddo fuori, Baby!

12/16 Sunny with under-estimated chilly wind
Rome

Baby, fa freddo fuori!  In our mind, Italy means warm, stable mediterranean weather in the winter. We were happy that we finally came to the Mediterranean region and the weather must be warmer, just like Taiwan. We arrived Rome at 11am, the sun was shinny and gave us a big smile in comparison of the cold rain in Paris. The temperature today was +2 degree, and it’s cold, really cold. About our imagination, were absolutely wrong.

However, Rome is a dream city for many girls thanks to the famous movie by Audrey Hepburn. To Asians, stereotype of Italy is a passionate, warm country with many gangsters, motorlysts and heart-breakers. The first impression of the country is a fierce Mafia threatened the peaceful city except for one person, his mother. I asked my Italien friends, they only admit the weather part.

Random picture of Rome

We decided to visit the most important sight of Rome on the first day of visiting. The Colosseum, or the big rounded theater located in the southern parto of the city. We were amazed by the giantic scale of the building, it used to contained over 40 thousand of people at the same time.

Colosseum

The ticket cost us 16.5E for entrance and audio guide, we took Mandarin version of course. The guide asked us follow 6 spots of particular place and listen to the explanation. But I couldn’t find where are the spots and got lost in the building. It was okay because the colosseum is rounded so that I could anything from anywhere, plus occassionally imagine myself.

Different views of Colosseum

I saw a cross in the middle of the platform, the guide explained that the last Roman emporer started to believe in Christianity so that he stopped the severe beast-fighting or gladiator-fighting.

Cross

We met the other Taiwanese girl at the last moment. Her name is Catherine, also came from France and she’s studying her master in Paris. We spent the rest of the day together.

4 Taiwanese

Our next sight is the famous Fontana di Trevi, the wishing pool. The traditional way to make a wish, holding 2 coins in both of your hands, then think about your dream or wish in simple English, the Italien god wouldn’t understand british accent, and throw the coin in your right hand thtough the left shoulder.

I wished all my relatives keep safe and sound.

The night in Rome was even colder, we walked almost the whole city then find a place to rest. There’s some special Happy Hour promotion of Italien restaurant: Order a cocktail or wine for 9E and you can have buffet with sandwiches or appetitzer.

Buffet

We went back to our lovely hotel next to the train station. Surfing the Internet or uploading photos. Great night, waiting for adventure of tomorrow.