l'Italia bella

It is often identified by the sobriquet “the eternal city” a place where you can smell history and get drunk in art and sculpture. Rome leaves you in awe with the sheer landscape it posses. Even the insipid hostel where we stayed might fit in as a vintage architectural masterpiece in any other city. Infact after spending four days in Rome I could easily give any other museum in the world an ’uh.. U poor urchin’ look!!.

Landed up in Vatican just in time for the midnight mass on 24th December and the St.Peter’s square is mighty impressive with the endless space and charming arches…Though was surprised that the square never filled up on Christmas eve. Even our church in Chettipuzha would be overflowing with faithful’s on such a big day..

piazza venezia..this mighty building towers over the rome landscape

The best part of day 1 was a quite expensive bottle of wine handed over to me by someone who had a pass to get inside the church. The Swiss guards infact don’t allow anyone in with any kind of beverage. As my friend and myself was pleasantly surprised with the ‘blessing’ from god we couldn’t help but recollecting a biblical incident of the almighty giving bread and wine to the needy.

for a few moments i was a gladiator..........

Next day we spend walking through the streets of Rome savoring the pizzas and ice creams that were being sold like hot cakes!!

There is a fountain in Rome called the Trevi fountain..Legend says that if you throw 3 coins in it you would marry an Italian…And the legend spread like wildfire among our group and all of a sudden we could see people scrambling for coins in their pockets…I have been threatened with dire consequences if the legend doesn’t turn out to be true…Lol!!!

Went to Pompeii and saw the ruins destroyed by the Vesuvius volcano. My friend was complaining that we couldn’t see the volcano explode when we reached the place..

Vatican museum is a priceless treasure house..A place where you can see the full splendour of Michael Angelo, Raphael and Bernini.You can easily spend ages in there if you want to admire each brush strokes that made those masterpieces.A blog entry in not enough to describe all I saw in Rome.

If Rome was chaotic in nature because of the crowds..Florence was graceful.Never wonder all the great artist da vinci…Michael angelo... were born here..Beautiful churches and even more beautiful frescoes painted inside..If rome is the museum Florence is where all the craftsmen work on the artifacts.. Shopping in Florence could be really pleasant if you have a few millions in your bank..Gucci,Versace,Dior,D&G just stand a glass wall apart seductively…I could hardly see anyone going in those shops..Leaning tower of Pisa was leaning more than I expected it to be..But what stuck me about the place was Pisa was a beautiful quite typical Italian town..

Had exotic sea food out there..Veggies in our group looked at us with awe when a few of us were busy dissecting a squid, which seemed to be quite alive due to absence of any garnishing.. Last leg was in Venice…Our group seemed to be quite out of place in the romantic city. I have never felt the absence of a girlfriend more than in Venice.

The trip was tiring but with lasting memories and desire to see more....Italy is indeed a paradise country..

Being onsite gives you the pleasure of indulging in luxuries like buying things you always dreamt..Photography is not my cup of tea..but the new cam i bought gave some quite good pics...

florence...the city is stunning at night........

Pisa is famous for the leaning tower..bought i loved the place for this........

this was taken in the grand canal in venice..

This cute kid never posed for the snap..


Pisa once again...

just outside the hotel in venice..I could have easily stepped into the water..

venice canals..chk out the gondola

the last sunset of the year in venice..