Rome

Rome was my final destination. I arrived there at 11 p.m. I was worried that I could catch a metro to my hostel. On the train, I met an middle-aged Asian from U.S. and talked with him, but as soon as the train arrived, I rushed out and ran to the metro station with some coins in my hand to buy a ticket quickly. As a result, I could make the last train, but if I missed it, I might walk to the hostel, because I didn't have much money and know how much was the taxi fare to my hostel, neither.

Vatican

In the next morning, I went to Vatican, the thirtieth country I had visited. On my way, I dropped by a money exchange, but they took an incredibly high commission. I remembered I was also taken a high commission in Venice, too. I thought they should have shown their commission rate at front. In Piazza di San Pietro, there was a long waiting line to pass throgh the security gate for St. Peter's Basilika. I was stopped at the gate, because I was wearing shortpants. They told me to lower my pants to hide my knees. After I passed the gate, I raised my pants again and entered the basilica. Then I was warned again to lower the pants. The basilica was huge, but I don't like gorgeous religious buildings so much, because they have nothing to do with religious devotion, although tourists may be interested in them as architectures.

Trevi Fountain

After I walked out of Vatican, I visited Trevi Fountain. To put it exactly, the nearest tourist attraction I knew happened to be Trevi. I passed by Castel Sant Angelo. I had seen the castle in the movie Roman Holiday, but I didn't remember at that time. In Piazza Navona, I stopped by a souvenir shop to check where I should have visited. LP guide didn't have a lot of picutures. So that was a good way to know where was attractive. Near the Piazza, I found Pantheon. It must have been an important building, but not important building for me. After five minite walk from there, I finally arrived Trevi Fountain!! It was larger and more impressive than I imagined. It was so hot that I put my legs into the fountain like kids did, which was forbidden and so I was warned. Then I left a coin and left. After that I walked for a while and reached Piazza Spagna. It was allowed to wash hands and legs in the boat-shaped fountain and to drink water. On Spanish Steps, I took a rest for a minute, but nobody asked me to be a model... Then I walked to Piazz de Popolo and ate lunch at a open-air cafe beyond the square. The service was terrible and, additionaly, they took cover charge.

Colosseum

The next destination was the Colosseum, which was the icon of Rome. I didn't mean to borrow an audioguide handset, but because I took a fast line, I had to do. The ruin was marvelous, but I thought I didn't need the audioguide. After walking around the ruin, all of a sudden, I got a trouble. I realized my wallet was missing from my poket. I looked for it for a while and luckily found it, but I thought I should have been more careful. Next, I visited Roman Forum whose entrace was quite difficult to find, because everybody dropped by there after visiting the Colosseum. The forum was OK, but I was aready tired of ruins at that time.

Piazza di Spagna

When I went back to the hostel, I was hungry. So I went shopping in the close supermarket and tried to cook in the kitchen, but I couldn't find pans there... Flankly speaking, in general, European Backpackers hostels were more inconvenient than Oceanian ones. There were no washing machines and driers, no TV lounge, and no fully equipped kitchens in European hostels and that was usual. Or was that because I stayed in cheap hostels? I felt I would never come back to Europe with a backpack again.

The next day was the last day in Rome. Once again, I checked all the places I should have visited and remembered the Mouth of Truth. I looked for it on my map, but I couldn't find it. Actually, it is situated in Santa Maria in Cosmedin. However, nobody wouldn't have visited the church without it. In the church, two Korean girls approached me and asked me to take a picture in front of the mouth shutter. I coundn't take a good picture of them, but they took a perfect picture of me. Anyway, I left the church and headed for Musei Capitorini, which was the oldest museum in the world. At the entrace, I found the price was raised to 8 euros. I didn't know what it housed, but it looked boring. So I left there. At the back of the museum, I found a fountain to take a rest. There were a lot of people putting their legs in the fountain and so I immersed my legs, too. It was very comfortable, but, suddenly, all the others left the fountain. I understood why, as a policeman approached and warned me. In fact, the fountain was a part of Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I was not interested in these kind of monuments, but I decided to take a walk around the building for a minute, because I had nothing else to do. While I was travelling around Australia, I saw a lot of war remembrances like that. I guessed it cost a lot to maintain the grand building, but they must be important to make us remember war experiences. After a short rest and a simple meal on a rock beyond the next street, I tried Piazza della Repubblica, because it was close to the train station where I catch a train to Leonardo da Vinci Airport. It was beautiful, and probably more beautiful at night, but I was too tired to stay there even a minute.

Roman Forum

Come to think of it, I should have spent less days in Rome and more days in Naples. There were a lot of attractions in Rome, but they were all within walking distance. On the other hand, The attractions of Naples were scattered in the suburbs.

Roman Forum

Tomb of the Unkown Soldier

Panthenon

Vatican

Colosseum

Colosseum

Colosseum 2

Colosseum

The Mouth of Truth

Palazzo Nuovo

Statue in St. Peter's Basilica

Leonard Da Vinci Airport