Of Scammers and Pickpockets

When we were in Europe, we had a lot of warnings from our tour guide, Mel. She warned us against pickpockets that have taken an alarming rise in popular tourist spots as of late, True enough, we encountered a few but my boyfriend and I took a lot of caution the entire time.

1. Eiffel Tower
In Paris, especially around the Eiffel Tower, there were many women holding onto young children, and they will walk up to you and ask you to sign something as a "donation" but once you do, they make you give them money and say you've already signed it so you can't say no. One of the ladies from our tour said no to them, but instead of leaving, the woman and the child took food from her (we were having a picnic on the grass next to the Eiffel) and when the lady from our tour told them they couldn't do that, they asked "why not?"icily.

2. Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur
Also, in Montmatre, we ourselves encountered those scam artistes who try to do the "bracelet trick". What they do is forcefully grab your arm and force a friendship bracelet onto your wrist and because its those thread ones, it is difficult to remove after it has been pulled tight. Then the scammer will force you to pay them for it and it will be difficult for you to remove it and say you don't want it. So there at the staircase to the top, we saw a group of dark-skinned and big sized men waiting. I don't know why we didn't go the other way because there were two stairways leading to the top to the church. We saw them harassing a bunch of girls before us but we went for it anyway. We were separated from the tour because we went to get souvenirs. So as we were passing, the men tried talking to my BF asking him where he's from and he made a grab for his arm! luckily my bf and I managed to pull away without being forced to wear their stupid bracelet.

3. Rome's Metro
As all of the hotels we stayed at, our hotel in Rome was far away from the main sights and we had to travel a bit to get to the touristy spots. The Metro experience in Rome was by far the creepiest. For starters we were almost shut OUT of the Metro the first time we tried it. Thankfully my BF forcefully held the doors open for the 3 of us left-behind girls to hop in,or I wouldn't know what would've happened. The Metro in Rome is really dangerous and shady, because it is filled with pickpockets and scammers. I don't mean to generalize it but its true. One of the tour members took a photo of the railway and there happened to be a French man on the other side. He got really angry because he thought he was taking a picture of HIM and he shouted that he wasn't even doing anything, why is he taking his photo? It was a good thing he was on the other side of the rail.

photo taken from Google

The tube in Rome is not clean and it is heavily vandalized- which I thought was pretty cool. They had spray paint all over the tubes, both inside and out.

Okay, pickpocket story.
The stairways leading to the tube is known to have a lot of girls carrying babies in their arms. These are the girls you should be cautious about. Make sure your bags are always zipped and that you have nothing in your pockets. Alas- one of the eldest members from our tour did not was unfortunate and was pick pocketed on our way to the Colosseum. He had his wallet in his backpack and a group of young girls managed to take his wallet and hopped out the tube seconds before the doors shut. The scary part was that the poor man had no clue until one of the tube passengers told him that the girls that hopped out just took his wallet, He hopped out of the Metro too but he was never able to retrieve his belongings. When I asked him how he was later, he said "things like these make you want you to do things you never thought you would want to do" and I thought that was deep. But thankfully he was able to call his children back home in Australia to cancel his credit cards. Good thing he still had his passport safe.

If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to sit in the Rome Metro ever again because it is not an experience I want ever again. The Paris one too, because the Paris metro is really shady too and smells suspiciously like piss.

Travel safe,guys! x

Roman Roamings

Ciao, Roma!

Aside from the States, Rome was one of the most read-about and focused-about in films for me, ever since I was a child. Two of the earliest Rome featured films I remember are the Lizzie McGuire movie and When in Rome. Haha I was a big dork and a super fan of Mary Kate and Ashley. 

I remember being really enthralled by the old architecture and the culture from what I saw in the screen. Not sure if I mentioned this before but I really appreciate ancient architecture, religion, culture and traditions. That was why Rome was a huge highlight for me during the Europe Tour. Rome and Vatican City. 

We took a Colosseum walking Tour, which was totally worth it. The lady who took us was really good and comical, she would do skits of her own interpretations of what happened back in the 80AD era.

She talked us through on the gruesome history that took place in the Colosseum, and how it used to be covered in marble which has since been stolen before it was deemed a protected area. As you all know, the Colosseum was used as an amphitheater for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles and classical mythological skits. It was basically a place of entertainment. The Colosseum could sit up to 50,000 to a whopping 80,000 people. Also, the seats were allocated based on your financial status so the more important you were, the better seat you got. Civilians would sit at the bottom.

 It was quite the revelation to be standing there and looking down and what terrible things have harvested right there all those time ago. I can't even imagine all the blood that have been shed there- from animals and humans.

Also, it was very hot in Rome when we were there in September. It was sunny as hell and it was the hottest place we visited on our Europe Tour.

My boyfriend and us soaking the hot sun rays in the Colosseum

Do you know what this building is affectionately known as?

The Wedding Cake building because it somewhat looks like one with all the different tiers :p

Okay, the building is really called the Altare della Patria, also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. It is a monument built in honor to Victor Emmanuel, who is the first king of unified Italy. 

After that, we were lead to...

the Pantheon!

An excerpt from roman.info reads:

The Roman Pantheon is the most preserved and influential building of ancient Rome. It is a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods of pagan Rome. As the brick stamps on the side of the building reveal it was built and dedicated between A.D 118 and 125. 

The famous dome of the Pantheon. The Pantheon dome remains the single largest, unreinforced concrete dome in the entire world!

The famous artist and architect of the High Renaissance, Raphael was buried here in the Pantheon. He is buried next to his fiance, Maria Bibbiena. Whats a little controversial is that she was his fiance for 6 years but he put off marrying her because he well, had a side chick until it was too late and she died.

The Pantheon houses 3 tombs, two of which belong to Victor Emmanuel and Umberto I.

Behind us here is the tomb of Umberto I, the successor of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of unified Italy

There are better pictures here http://stephendanko.com/blog/15203

Not entirely sure of the name of this fountain

 The famous Trevi Fountain was under renovation when we were there. I didn't even bother taking photos because the fountain was completely drained out and fenced. Fendi sponsored the complete renovation of the Fountain.

We did however, get to see the Spanish Steps, which I believe is under renovation now as I type this.

Here you can see the Fontana della Barcaccia, which means "Fountain of the Ugly Boat".

I guess its thoughtful of the Italians to monument an ugly boat. Haha.

 An excerpt from Wikipedia:

The Spanish Steps (Italian: Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between thePiazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top.

The monumental staiway has 135 steps. We took it because we had to wait for our bus at the top of the stairs. Lots of Indian sellers selling bottles of water and selfie sticks there.

Started from the bottom, now we hurrr?

So casually and elegantly #photobombed!!

Gosh-- my chronology is all messed up.. We actually had a walking tour of the Roman Forum before we went to the Pantheon and Spanish Steps. In fact, I believe they were 2 different days. Sorry- memory failing me already.

To my left was the Roman Forum!

Don't know why but I barely have any photos of the Roman Forum tour? Probably due to the fact that it was all just ruins and a single picture couldn't depict what marvel it was. It was really good history to know. It was a whole city there before it got ruined into ruins. If you saw it in a nutshell with no narration, it would just be a big flat land with run down ruins. 

We had free time from the tour (YAS!) so 6 of us (4 friends we made on the tour :)) walked around and randomly walked onto a restaurant that we decided to try. We had no expectations because it was just a random restaurant but the food turned out to be oh-so-GOOD! I'm so glad we took the dive and went in!

The risotto at the back- was the first I've had and ladies and gentlemen, boy has it set a high standard for all the risottos that I am gonna eat after that! We had risotto again at Venice but it was NOT good. Risotto in Brunei? Not good too. :( *sulk

Of course, you have pizza in Italy.

Of course, you have gelato in Italy.

I remember having plenty because gelato in Italy was yum!!! The best was probably from Florence :)

Oh Rome, how I miss you and I want to come back to you so bad! 

xx