EUROTRIP 2008
ROME, 20, 21, 22 May 2008 - After an anticipated 11 hours flight from KLIA, finally we have arrived in Fiumicino Airport, Rome. My first impression was that he airport was like underused because the airport was not as busy as i have expected due to the fact that rome is one of the number one tourist destinations. then, i realize that we arrived at 0700 hrs local time.. hmm. its 6 hours difference here in Italy and getting your handphone to work isn't a problem since roaming service is provided by Malaysian phones oprerators with telecom companies abroad. There's no bus service from this airport to the city centre (according to the people asked at the airport) but there are train services just 5 minutes walk to the upper floor. the ticket costs 11 euros. As you hop on the train, it will take you along the countryside of Rome, with lots of red flowers and village houses until the panorama eventually takes you into the classical and modern city of Rome.
We arrived at Roma Stazione Termini at approx 10 am and the environment was quite hectic. As the tourguide for Rome together with Faiq, we decided to head straight to the hostel. Montestella Hostel is just a 10 minutes walk from the termini. Check in time is at 12 so, we have to put our luggage at the counter and spend the time to get to know Rome a little bit. We were divided into 3 groups of 4 and every group is free to go on their own way and get back to the hostel at 1145 am. The first day in Rome was quite devastating because it was raining all day long and we were all wet most of the time. The first thing to settle was the Roma Pass. We searched for the office at the termini untill the bus station outside but the office was just at the lane of train where we arrived from the airport this morning.. on the last lane(27 if i'm not mistaken).
Later on, we had lunch at a nearby pizza shop and have our first authentic italian pizza. I tried the anchovies which does not really satisfy my tastebud. My first encounter with pizza wasn't really a nice one but i'm sure the next time i won't pick pizza with anchovies topppings. at noon we went back to the hostel and chechked i. later in the evening we walked across town towards whatever structure that looks outstanding. we stumbled across the first huge majestic basillica on our way, St. Maria. Without any proper place to go, we decided to just walk around the streets of Rome and find some souvenirs and sight seeing whatever that comes across. As the sunshine starts to appear, drops of rain starts to tumble down again. the rain gets worse and as we walk through the rain, we found a nice little coffee shop, a suitable place to get away from the rain. Italy is also famous for their expresso, so trying coffee here is a must eventhough if you're not a coffee lover.
Souvenir shop is everywhere in Rome but there are some tips to get a cheap souvenir like keychain. first, you have to survey different shops because the price difference can be huge. there's this one souvenir shop along Via Cavour that offers cheap stuff, not really much difference in price but its quite worth if you convert 0.50 euro to RM. bargain is not really a way to get a cheaper price in Rome because shops here are quite hard to negotiate in terms of bargaining. however, there are places that you can bargain such as the souvenir stalls which are usually supervised by bangladeshi. there is a stall next to the arch beside the colosseo that sells very cheap keychain if you buy in bundle. i bought 10 keychain for 1.33 euro each, the cheapest in Rome that i founded.
