With the many places my sister and I have already gone to in our trip (Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Versailles, Lourdes, and Barcelona), our eyes were soooo full of the beautiful places, and yet, we were still ready for more. So after exploring the very charming Barcelona, it was once again time to pack our bags and ride a plane, this time going to Rome, Italy.

Going to Italy has always been one of my dreams, maybe partly because of my desire to see Pope John Paul II in person.  Add to that is that one of my most-read books is Angels & Demons, and I’ve always wondered what the places described in the book look like.

When we boarded the plane at El Prat in Barcelona to leave for Rome, I felt Italy welcoming us right off the hat as we saw them; yes, there they were, two very pretty Filipina stewardess smiling at us! What a joyful sight! And expectedly, being their kababayans, we enjoyed special treatment, like getting freebies and getting the occasional, “Ok lang kayo dyan?” I immediately felt the Italy leg going to a great start!

Anyway, when we arrived at Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Gel and I were so amazed to be in Rome that we let the other passengers off before us [partly also to have our pictures taken with the Filipina stewardess] and took our time getting off. We leisurely strolled the airport, taking pictures here and there every now and then. The end result, after 1 hour of picture-picture and pasyal-pasyal around the airport, we got lost and eventually exited the airport WITHOUT our luggage! Ayun naman kasi…kung saan saan pa nagpunta! We had to beg the [Italian] guard to let us back in because we still haven’t claimed our luggage. Our Italian was very raw and his English was raw, so I don’t know how we communicated!! But anyway, pleading must be a universal language, so the mataray na guard let us back in, but not without the smirk. We set off and ran to the luggage area and  saw that our bags were only two of  three left on the conveyor belt! Gel and I had stomach aches laughing our hearts out when we saw this! Grabe pala ang tagal namin! Good thing that my sister and I both had the patience and humor to look at this experience as a funny one! Imagine, it took us hours to reach our luggage! Instances like these give more excitement to an already exciting trip! He! He!

Anyway, on to Rome. Condensing our 3-day stay in Rome is no easy task, as I found Rome to be one of the richest places in terms of historical significance and grand places. In fact, we had such full-packed days touring everything we can, from sun up to sun down.

Here, I’m going to share with you what the things and places [and memories] Rome has to offer. Take the “walk” with me!

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