Thursday, June 23, 2005

Roma!! Ancient Rome before my eyes...

I used to wonder how life in ancient rome would be like everytime i read books about the roman empire, its emperors, or watched gladiator for that matter. So i was at my touristy best again, snapping pictures left and right trying to capture as much of it as possible. And to start off here's a symbol of ancient roman might- the colosseum


The mighty colloseum in Rome. It has the same seating capacity as Bukit Jalil stadium...70,000 people. Posted by Hello



Build in rememberence of all the Christians who were matryed by Emperor Nero. Posted by Hello



A view inside the colosseum. With me in it, of course :P Posted by Hello



The arch of Constantine. Emperor Constantine. No, not that comic book character. Build to celebrate some victory. Quite a few around Rome. Posted by Hello




The Roman Forum. Words fail me when i look at the size of the ruins that are left.  Posted by Hello



Victor Emmanuel II Monument. Under that giant statue in the middle is the tomb of the unknown soldier. Its guarded but troops so forget about taking pictures with it. But anyways, its there as a tribute to all the italian soldiers who died in world war 1 and were unable to receive a proper burial. Posted by Hello



Steps leading up to Capitoline Hill in both directions. On the left is a church, and on the right is some musuems.  Posted by Hello



The Spanish steps. Shortly after taking this picture, it started raining cows and buffalloes and wouldn't stop for an hour. Posted by Hello




Casa D S'Angelo - Castle of the angel. Story goes that Rome was once suffering from a terrible plague throughout the city. The pope lead a procession(or something like that) to pray to God to ask for the plague to be lifted off the city. People then saw and angel coming down to the roof of the castle and sheating his sword, as a sign that grace had been granted to the city. Interesting indeed. Posted by Hello



The baths of caracala. Looks fascinating from the outside but a real dissapointment. Ranks 2nd worst behind Pisa as the bogeys of the trip. Posted by Hello


I guess no trip to Rome will be complete without a visit to the Vatican. I wouldn't forgive myself if i did. (Although in truth i missed a free entry into the sistine chapel and the vatican musuem due to a slight oversight about the opening times of the two places...blearrggghh!). So here's a little bit of the Vatican City



View from atop the Vatican, St Peter's Basilica. Right in the middle is an Eygptian Obelisk. The statues at the bottom of the picture are atatues of Jesus and the 12 disciples. Posted by Hello



Inside St Peter's. My jaw was gaping open for the 2 hours that i was walking inside. I closed it after that for the sake of decency. Posted by Hello



A small portion of the ceiling in the cathedral. Posted by Hello



I wish i could add some commentary to this picture but i really cant remember what is it. Its in the cathedral though...ehehe...sowieee. Posted by Hello



A guard outside the vatican. Interestingly enough, to qualify as a guard for the pope, you need to be swiss, catholic, male and some other stuff. You get to wear nice uniform though =) Posted by Hello


Okies....that was rome in pictures. Took many more shots, but not all of them came out well, so i decided not to put them up (Mainly due to the fact that it would be a pain to put up all 300 pictures!). Venice, Florence, Pisa and Pompeii are here too, so scroll down and take a look see. Thanks for visiting folks! Will upload pics of Sabah soon!

The Lost City of Pompeii

Many years ago when i was a kid i used to watch National Georgraphic and hear about this city. Well I walked through it until my legs were sore, and its a absolute fantastica place (forgive the attempt in italian). Anyways here's some pics to go along.



The lost city of Pompeii. Now not so lost due the millions of tourists invading it everday. Posted by Hello



2000 years ago this city was buried when nearby Mt Vesuvius decided to spit molten lava on it. 2000 years later its again buried by the human stampede up ahead. But anyways those 3 stones you see in the middle of the road is a zebra crossing. People use it to walk across streets (like duh!), and it being elevated means that people dont get their feet dirty crossing the road. Canggih hor?? Also acts as a natural speed bump. Maybe the government should consider building this. Posted by Hello



The Pompeiian Forum with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.  Posted by Hello



The face of death. Poor guy, died in a horrifying way, and now his corpse is an exhibit for people to see. hehe...snap snap anyways. Posted by Hello



The garden of a rich man who live in pompeii. Man,i want a nice big garden like that with roman columns next time! Posted by Hello



Just about the only guys living in Pompeii nowadays. Posted by Hello



Nicely preserved frescos on the wall of a house in Pompeii.  Posted by Hello



This is a Pompeiian version of a fast food take out. Thats the stove you are looking at. We were debating the possibility of that being wash basins but acheological experts believe otherwise. Oh well... Posted by Hello



Impressive isnt it? Apparently the place has very good acoustics, and if you stand at the bottom and speak normally people all the way up at the back will be able to hear you clearly. I was so busy taking pictures i forgot to do that. Dang! Posted by Hello

After a long day's walking,



Sorry guys...i just HAD to do this...muahahaha Posted by Hello

Pompeii Rocks!