Rome : Unexpectedly Lucky

Ep.36

“A good idea is about 10% and implementation and hard work, and luck is 90%.” - Guy Kawasaki.

FCO – Rome, Italy.

18^th-19^th February 2012.

Me @ Colosseum

Stand by block is the most hated time for being a cabin crew. It was like you will never know what will happen in the next minute. To be simply put, your life is in the thin line of the phone. I got a week stand by block in the middle of February. The first day, they (crew control, those responsible to make our schedule) called me to inform that I may finish my stand by time at 3 pm and resume my stand by at 2.30 am -12 pm. WHAT? Excuse me? I have to wake up all night long? Well, that’s ok, nothing much I can do. I took a bath before I slept at 8 pm and woke up at 2.30 am, made my bun, and then I slept again… The phone rang at 5 am sharp! Telling me that they got a duty for me to do CX 293 to ROME!! Lucky ME! I consider myself to be lucky all the time now. Rome, Italy, here Shella come to you.

isn't it look like snowing?

The minute I came into the briefing room, I found out that the whole set of crew were call on stand by. And (another “lucky me” time) I found out that another Indonesian crew from my batch was also called for the flight, Nadia. Yeah! It was a delayed flight, which has to be departed 12 hours earlier. As expected, our stay in Rome would be 12 hours shorter, the allowance should be less, and the passenger would be very “happy” due to the delay. But, never mind, it’s still Rome anyway. I was thankful already. God is soooo good to me! (four thumbs up up up). 11-12 hours flight to Rome, I worked in different galley with Nadia. We’re actually never involved in any conversation before, but nationality sure is a big factor here. We planned our itinerary on board, during the rest period. As the passengers were mostly slept (maybe due to exhaustion of delay), we’re came to an agreement already regarding our short trip.

my quatro formagi penne

Our targets were among others: Vatican City, Colosseum, Pantheon, Fontana de Trevi, Piazza Venezia, and the rest would be decided on the way of our trip. We arrived at the hotel at 6 pm. We snatch the city map and the shuttle bus schedule from the hotel and made a quick decision: we would take the 7.30 bus to the city, right away, no wasting time, every single minutes counts (that was how excited are we?). It took around 40 minutes from the hotel the city. It dropped us, according to the map, near Piazza Venezia already and it was actually near Colosseum as well. But since we haven’t figured out which direction of the map is, we went by instinct. Anyway, our goal that night was only to have a nice dinner and may be some walk. We walk to our left and we saw a building, shaped and modeled just like Colosseum, round, with many arches, but Colosseum, where those gladiators fought, should be much more bigger. Nadia and I were questioning about the building, yet, we took pictures before we discussed about the building itself.

Teatro Marcello

Piazza Venezia

We stopped by a little café right in the corner of the street. It was called Antico Caffee del Teatro Marcello. Aaaaa--- so the building named Teatro Marcello after all. Nadia went in to look for a table for two, it was not hard as it was late already (considering it was Europe, where most shop closes early), and whether I still stuck in front of the café to buy some magnet souvenirs. Italia means Pasta! I love Pizza and Pasta verry berry much! I could eat the whole round pizza all by myself, but not that late at night! I ordered myself a cup of (most definitely) hot chocolate (EUR 4.5), and Nadia ordered a cup of tea (EUR 4) and a portion of lasagna (EUR 9). I got a spoonful of the lasagna and it melted away just like an ice cream on my tongue. SUPERB! It wasT delicious, probably the best I have aver had. We talked about our plan for the next day and Nadia just reminded me that the next day was Sunday, and it would be nice if we could go to the Vatican City to visit the Pope. As Nadia is a Catholic, visit Vatican would mean more than just a tour for her, as for me, most of my cousins are also Catholic (I wonder why my family is Christians anyway among the Catholics relatives) and I have the same interest to visit the Vatican city as much as Nadia.

EUR Magliana

We finished our café time around 9 pm and walked back to the pick up point for the shuttle bus. Along the way we still took more and more pictures of Rome (and us). Ha-ha. Arrived at the hotel, we went to our own room and rested, as tomorrow would be a looooonnggggg day. The next day started when Nadia and I called each other room, asking whether we’re ready or not. We got to the lobby and found out an unmistakable coincidence; we wore an “almost-the-same” coat. Same color and almost same model. We asked the concierge about the best way to get a hop on and hop off bus tour and he explained that would be easiest to find it around the place of interest. We asked him the best way to get ourselves to Colosseum, and he explained to us very clearly that we have to take the hotel shuttle bus to EUR Magliana Station, take the subway to Colosseo Station (EUR 2.5) and there we should find our way. And this time for the real Colosseum, not the Teatro Marcello. Haha!

Me, Nadia and The Gladiator

The Colosseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions.

Ruins.

My heart beat so fast as I saw one of the Seven Wonders of the World in front of my eyes. It was massive in size, beyond beautiful in architectural, great structure. Oh those arches! Took me minutes to awed by it greatness. Enough of the “stunned” moment. Nadia and me start to use our weapon: Camera! Click! Click! Click! Nadia even taught me how to use one of iPhone apps in order to take panoramic view. It was such a nice apps (two thumbs up). it was 7° C and as it was not too windy, the cold was still bearable. The sun shined up in the sky and our coat color was just made us stands out from the crowd. We came across two Gladiators and took picture with them. They asked for money afterwards, but yeah equals the experience.

Gelati!

Arco di Constantino

Just few meters from the Colosseum, we could see the Arco di Constantino. An archway, like a gate with Roman structure and sculptures on it. Beautiful. Rome is such an old city where architectural and ruins were appreciated, well that’s what I thought. My parents used to say, “Rome is just about ruins, stones, and naked statuettes everywhere”. Well that might me a point, but please do see beyond what is visible before your eyes. The truth and the historical value of those ruins, stones, broke down buildings, and naked statuettes are priceless. We then went to a stall, which sells drinks, gelatis and snacks. People might think that we were quite insane to eat ice cream on the icy day. Never mind, it’s Rome anyway! No point if we didn’t try the gelati ice cream. The little story here was that we bought 2 gelati for EUR 3 each and I gave a EUR 20 bill to pay. The clerk just gave me EUR 4 for the change. I asked for my other EUR 10 and he said I paid EUR 10. What? LUCKY! I asked Nadia to take my picture while I was ordering the gelati and in that particular picture, there was me handed out the EUR 20 bill to the clerk. Cheating on us? In your dream! He finally gave me back my EUR 10 and asked us to leave after we showed him the picture. Anyway, the gelati tasted soooooooooo damn delicious and we were planned to buy another one on our way home later.

Piazza di Spagna

We bought a hop on hop off bus ticket for EUR 16 each near the Colosseun (the concierge was right!), and the bus gave us a tour around the city. We passed the Circo Massimo, a very large mansion with wide-open field. It says it survived through several burning and destruction, after all it was not completely destroy anyway. We also came across a park with white corals and fountain in the middle. (Ah! Roman loves fountain, they put at least one fountain in the middle of every piazza). It look completely like we’re in a snowy area, but we’re not. The sky started to turn cloudy, it seemed that the rain could fall in any minutes. Does rain stops us? No way! Another stop that we took from the hop on and hop off bus is at the Isola Tiberina. It was a castle, or I may say a mansion, that was located in the middle of the lake. There was a bridge connected to the Island in the middle of the lake, a private bridge. We decided not to enter the mansion, coz we want to get to the Vatican before 12 noon, if we could.

St. Peter Square, Vatican City.

The Pope Mass

We arrived at the Vatican City at around 12.45 pm. not much late than our schedule, which is good. By the time we came, the famous St. Peter Square has been crowded by people, lucky that we wore red coat, that we could easily identify each other in the crowd. The open space which lies before the St. Peter Basilica was redesigned by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1656 to 1667, under the direction of Pope Alexander VII, as an appropriate forecourt, designed "so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing, either from the middle of the façade of the church or from a window in the Vatican Palace". When we arrived, Nadia couldn’t hold her admiration towards the site. It was said that Vatican City is a country inside a country and the comparison is like a stamp inside a soccer field. To be able to stand there in the middle of St. Peter Square, while the Pope is holding a mass inside the Basilica on Sunday is a pure blessing from God.

Music Chariot @ Piazza Navona

As we watched the Pope mass from the big screen, just like all other people around the world (could identify by the flags that they brought) that came into the square, Nadia and I (who was not eager to get caught in the middle of people current going out from the mass, proceed to the exit first. Nadia bought a Holy Family (Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus) little statuette in one of the souvenirs shop around the square. We wanted to look for the hop on hop off bus picks up point as we found out that the road was completely closed. A middle-aged lady came to us and explained that the road closed due to the Pope will came out from one of the window and blesses all the people in the square. We thanked her and ran back to the square. It was once in a lifetime opportunity to be blessed by the Pope on Sunday in Vatican City. What could I asked more? Such a perfect luck did I had.

Piazza Venezia

On our way to Piazza Venezia, we came across the Piazza Navona, where we also met our other luck. There was an art festival on the Piazza. Many kids wearing costumes, street performers, even music chariot. But the cloud couldn’t hold anymore. It started to raining, Nadia and Me decided to went into one of the restaurant in the Piazza in order to have our lunch (too excited that we haven’t eat anything since morning) and to wait for the rain to stop. The restaurant called Roman Specialities, with two hot men hostesses in front of the restaurant (to be honest all man in Rome are gorgeous!). We ordered 1 medium Pizza, 1 Quatro formaggi Penne (my favorite sauce of pasta, which consists 4 different type of cheeses), and 2 cups of tea for EUR 130. I guess it was my love towards cheese and chocolate that made me even more fat and fat now. We shared the Pizza and Pasta. The taste was inexplicable, perfect. I can assure that it was the best pasta and pizza I have ever tasted in my life. Nadia and I were just spending our lunch in silence, just made sound of “mmmm yummy..oh my God this is delicious”. We want to cherish every single second that those food came into our taste bud. Finished with the lunch, we waited for the rain to stop and once it stopped, we continue our trip.

Pantheon Dome

Pantheon

We went to Piazza Vanezia as planned and the rain started to mock us again. We bought a EUR 5 umbrella for each of us (the most expensive I have ever bought). And still we managed to take pictures without the umbrella in it (means, we bear the rain for seconds). After hundreds of picture and let ourselves enjoyed the view, we moved to the next destination, Pantheon. The Pantheon, taken from a Greek word meaning "to every god", is a building in Rome commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome. It was use as a tomb for famous people such as the first king of Italy and also some famous architect. The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. For a tomb, it was perfectly beautifully made and well constructed. It was not as big as I expected at the first, especially when we came inside. The most interesting part is the ceiling of Pantheon , which called Pantheon dome. The Pantheon dome. The coffers for the concrete dome were poured in molds, probably on the temporary scaffolding; the oculus admits the only light. It was nearly 5 pm when we started to walked towards the famous Fontana di Trevi.

Toss the Coin

There were no worries needed for those who look for souvenir in Rome. They got plenty, almost every 10 steps on the road. The road to the Fontana di Trevi was rather tricky, we found a dead end and have to walk back several time. It seemed that the hop on hop off bus dropped us in not quite good spot. After approximately 30 minutes walk, we finally found Fontana di Trevi. Fontana di Trevi is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy. Standing 26 metres high and 20 metres wide,it is the largest fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. It was believed that when you make a wish and toss a coin over your left shoulder, your wish would be granted by God. I tossed my first coin accidentally over my right shoulder and I tossed the second one across my left. My wish? Secret! It was so crowded at the fountain that I almost lost my temper. It was such a hard wok for us to take a good picture with those many people around. Anyway, we spent less minutes there compared to the time we spent to look for it. Haha!

Fontana della Barcaccia

What a happy face!

Having most of our checklist done, we moved toward the Piazza di Spagna. The Piazza di Spagna or Spanish Square is connected to a French church (Trinità dei Monti) on top of the hill via a long staircase, known as the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti or Spanish Steps. At the foot of the Spanish Steps is the Fontana della Barcaccia, a sober fountain commissioned by Pope Urban VIII. We took some pictures here and there and still spare some time to watch the street performers act and finally conclude our trip. Felt that we still have enough time before the shuttle bus to the hotel from Teatro Marcello picked us, we did a detour to Colosseum. The night view of Colosseum gave a different atmosphere. It was romantic. Lights were beautifully set onto those arches of the building that seemed to hold so much stories behind, hundreds, even thousands years ago. Ah! on our way back to the pick up point we also made a stop at Aracoeli church.

Hot Chocolate + Whiped Cream

We came stopped by a small cake shop to grab cups of (again) hot chocolate (EUR 5, with whipped cream), while waiting for the shuttle bus to pick us up. When we board our shuttle bus back to the hotel we met some of our seniors, they were just finished their own trip. We fell asleep along the way until we reached the hotel.  Ah! we finally bought our second gelati on our way to Teartro Marcello. When the next day came, we have to operate back to HK already. It was such a short time, what I’m quite sure that we really nailed it, maximizes it to the fullest extent. Next time I will make sure I visit Venezia, Pompeii Ruins and Pisa Tower.

 

Masquerade

During the flight back we faced a medical situation where one of the passengers got a heart attack. Lucky again, there was a cardiologist on board. How lucky he was? He was finally recovered and we arrived safely to HK. This lucky trip of mine was so memorable due to a very lucky factors along the way. Not to mention that this flight killed the rest of my stand by block. Not to mention how Nadia explained to me about the Angel and Demons novels by Dan Brown along our trip. It was such a great trip. Rome, you left something inside my heart. I hope my wish at Fontana di Trevi will come true one day!

“God must have calculated how 24 hours per day could be used to the fullest extent by human being. That is how thoughtful our God is.” – Me.