Fontana de Trevi

Located at Tridente district, one of Rome's more surprising sights, easy to stumble upon by accident - the huge and magnificent Fontana de Trevi (Trevi Fountain) was completed in the 17th century. It is the most beautiful fountain I'd ever seen.

Picture taken at 18mm, ISO 100, F22 and 30 secs exposure - the surrounding was packed by tourist and it was really hard to find a spot to set up the tripod.

The theatrical design incorporated the entire Neoclassical facade of Palazzo Poli as the background and containing a figure of Nepture in the centre.

No way to set up tripod in front of the fountain. Picture taken hand held at 18mm, ISO 800, F3.5, 1/5 sec exposure. The A100 built-in anti-shake works perfectly well and the noise level at ISO 800 is not too bad!

People surrounding the fountain - 18mm, ISO 400, F3.5, 1/4 sec exposure.

There's a rooted tradition - if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain before you leave the city it'll bring good luck and ensure your return.

The Colosseum Part II

The interior of the Colosseum - the arena. HDR technique is used as the sunlight was too strong to capture the details on the top part of the picture.

The substructures beneath the arena (hypogeum) provided space for the mechanism by which scenery and other apparatus was hoisted into the arena and lifting caged animals to the surface for release. It makes me want to watch the Gladiator starring Russell Crowe again.

It could probably hold more than 50,000 spectators.

View of the Arch of Constantine from Colosseum.

It's hard to imagine how it was built nearly 2,000 years ago.

One of my favourite picture taken inside the building. It was near evening when most visitors have left.

I appreciated the moment of quietness where no tourists can be seen in a clean picture.

Back to the real world, the area outside Colosseum is crowded with tour groups, souvenir stalls and noisy Roman 'gladiators' who keep persuading tourists to take pictures with them.

It's Italy, they have super cool Alfa Romeo 159 as police cars! (As Malaysian have the not-so-cool Waja). I like new Alfa's head lamps! FYI Carabinieri are the military police in Italy.

The Arch of Constantine, the triumphal arch which was erected in AD 315 and located right next to the Colosseum.

What is a triumph? The original triumph was once stipulated that you have to kill 5,000 of the enemy in a victory to bring a war to an end.

A couple taking the wedding photos around the area.

Another view from lower Palatine Hill.

See the moon?

The journey in Rome has just begun.

I wandered around the area until late and took this picture at 35mm, ISO 80, F22, 30 secs exposure.

The Colosseum

Anyone who goes to Rome can't miss The Colosseum - the emblem of Rome, and the largest amphitheatre ever built by the Romans.

It's located right in the middle of the city, Colosseo station on metro blue line.

It's one of the most colorful train I'd seen among the Europe metro/underground, covered with graffiti arts.

Exterior view of one of the best preserved section.

One of the many pictures I took at the Colosseum, processed in HDR.

San Pietro In Vincoli

When I was on my way heading towards the Colosseum, I saw a steps on the road side and few artists working on the piazza, as I have plenty of time I decided to climb up to the top and have a look if there's anything nice.

Like any other cities, Rome can't escape from the youth creativity.

Rome is a place where you must bring at least one travel guide book so that you won't miss anything. I'm sure I'll miss San Pietro In Vincoli if I walk pass the building which looks so ordinary without a guide book.

I was actually quite tired of visiting all the churches in the Europe even though all of them got great interiors and unless you spend reading a bit of history about the church it's pointless to visit thousands of those.

I've shoot many pictures on these guardian angels and the green spots appeared on every picture. I'm not sure whether was it just optical effect or something else...

The church was built to house an important relic, the chains ("vincoli") that held Saint Peter when he was in Jerusalem and those that held him in Rome, which miraculously joined together.

I thought that's the only highlight of the church so I decided to continue my journey else where. Well, I'm that kind of person who most time only read 30% of an article and think I've done enough. When I saw some people surrounding the statues on the right hand side of the altar I pulled out the guide book and read the bottom part which I did not finish earlier.

It is Moses carved by Michelangelo for the tomb of Pope Julius II. This is the famous unfinished masterpiece of Michelangelo which occupied him on and off much of his career and eventually he reluctantly gave it up to paint the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which I visited later.

It is a bit commercialised though, the light around the tomb will only lit up when someone put in coins to activate it. I waited for some other people to contribute so that I can take the pictures under decent lighting.

Santa Maria Maggiore

Located near to Stazione Termini, Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the city's great basilicas, the largest in Rome dedicated to Virgin Mary.

I thought this is the front view but apparently it's not. Not many people on the street as the temperature reached 42.5 degree Celcius.

It has one of the Rome's best preserved Byzantine interiors, and the ceiling is quite impressive.

The confessio, and some nice mosaic works on the altar.

The kneeling statue of Pius IX under the confessio.

The front view of the basilica.

Back from Rome

It was a great vacation, a great break in Italy for 4 days.

The kiasu me's preparation before the trip.

I flew to Ancona, east coast of Italy on my first day and spend the other 3 days in Rome.

The great view of the Mount Alps from the plane.

Obviously I didn't read enough before booking my trip. I only read the lines in The Rough Guide to Rome when I was on the coach to Rome. It says "If you can, you should avoid visiting Rome in July and August, when the weather is hot and sticky, and those Romans that don't make their living exclusively from the tourist industry have left town; many business are closed."

Thinking that I am from the tropical country with summer all year long, I was quite sure that it will not be an issue to me, until I arrived in the city, stepped out from the coach...

I felt the heat immediately, it was an absolutely insane 42.5 degree Celcius on my first day in Rome!

Luckily you get to see these beautiful water fountains everywhere in the city, which carry the natural mineral water from miles away. It did save my days in Rome indeed.

A lot of walking in Rome, now I totally agreed with the famous idiom "Rome wasn't built in one day" that I've been listening since I was a small boy. I have to walk because there are so many interesting places every few steps away and I don't want to miss it.

Measured on map, I've covered 20km in the city by foot on the second day itself, double of my one day walking record set in Paris last year. Furthermore this round I was carrying my camera bag with 4 lenses at all time. My shoulders and foots are still aching now. I think I need one full week to fully recover.

Taken 700 pictures during this trip. Hopefully it won't takes me too long to process it.