When in Rome

This city is a home for beautiful buildings and delicious foods. I'm so glad that this is our last destination before we went back home. Rome is perfect for sightseeing, strolling down the street without rushing and of course munching it's delicate cuisine. Compared to Barcelona, Madrid and Paris, Rome is the quitest and the smallest, yet the prettiest. There's not so many people on the street, less MRT as people would prefer go around the city by bus, vespa or by foot and it's super quiet at night. You won't find parties nor festivities at night except on weekend. 

So, below are my list of must visit places in Rome;

1. Vatican City: breathtakingly beautiful and magical, you will need one full day to explore every corner of this city. Go upstairs to the dome to get full view of the city. Don't forget to bring passport, wear covered clothes (Vatican is a sacred place, thus shorts, minis, sleeveless or sheer clothes are forbidden), wear comfortable flats, not only this place is huge, but to be able to reach to the top of the dome you will need to climb those never ending narrow stairs and bring mineral water so you won't get dehydrated as the heat is such a killer (and don't forget the stairs please).

2. Trevi Fountain: the fountain is pretty but cramped with tourists, don't forget to throw a coin to it's pond as according to Roman myth, one who throw a coin into Trevi's will be coming back again soon =)

My favorite of Trevi is it's rows of cute little restos, gift shops and ice cream corners. Do try their famous gelato and pasta, best!

3. Campo de Mari: a place to enjoy great pizza and wine whilst got serenade by local musicians. I love the concept of open air eateries, plus Rome's weather is as pretty as it's city.

4. Pantheon: a famous temple surrounded by another open air gastronomical spots. Perfect place to enjoy your lazy day sipping wine and tasting some Roman's dessert.

5. Testaccio: recommended by locals to go here for a nightlife, most clubs here are packed with youngsters (and super duper good looking hunks) on the weekend. But don't expect to find any boisterousness on weekdays, you'll get yourselves dissapointed as nothing's open.

6. Colloseum: for me the Colloseum is the most impressive building of Roman empire. Bulit of concretes and stones, this amphitheatre is the largest and greatest work of Roman architecture. It's super huge so expect a one full day tour and wear comfortable clothes and shoes.

Autumn in Paris

Trendy, edgy and pretty. Famous landmarks, historical museums, scrumptious desserts, super chic cafes, luxurious boutiques. I could see myself living in this city, really. There's an interesting mixture that I really love about Paris, winning combination of old and new, posh and modest at the same time, all perfectly blend.

I might not experienced Paris at it's best, since it's cold, dark, gloomy and drizzly during my visit, but still the city didn't lose it's magic.

We stayed for 3 nights at Prince Albert Opera Hotel in Opera, 9th Arrondissement. This area's perfect for shopping galore. Here you can find those belle-epoque department stores and elegant shopping galleries. Galeries Lafayette and Le Printemps are around, along with other flashy high end boutiques.

After 8 days of giggly promenade, it was good for me and Lila to meet other familiar faces. We're glad that our long time friend, Tita and her family were in town. Spent the day throwing some euros for a bit of Paris de luxe, the family then invited us to a dinner at Baan Boran (43 Rue de Montpensier near Palais Royal), a nice Thai resto owned by a dear friend of them. Great place and good food with reasonable price too. Finished with the meals, we then off to Avenue des Champs Elysees for Lido! It was my very first time so I got bedazzled by it's sparkly costumes and make ups. What a show to close the night! 

We're thanking the Latief's family for all their kindness and generosity. terima kasih :)

LIDO!

On the next day, we took the Hop On Hop Off double decker bus (36 euro for 2 days) to discover all those tourist destinations. Le Louvre, Notredame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower, Musee d'Orsay, Arc de Triomphe, all done in one day. At night, we got accompanied with Viga, an Indonesian currently taking her master of arts in Paris. Both me and Lila was attacked by hideous cough, it was embarrassing! So I personally was craving for some hot soup to soothe my throat. Not only took us to a Japanese restaurant-where I finally can have the miso and ramen-at Rue St. Anne, Viga also brought a cough syrup for us. She's a savior! Right after dinner, we're then exploring Parisian night by foot, taking round two in embracing the beauty of Louvre, Eiffel and Notredame. Priceless.

INDONESIA!

So we decided to wake up a bit late and rest a bit longer after the long walk a night before. We then went for shopping at Champs Elysees and tried Parisian fast food, Quick, for lunch. In the afternoon, we moved in to the second place to stay in Paris, a hostel in Latin Quarter area near Sorbonne University named Young & Happy Hostel (in which I'm not happy at all with it). I actually love this area better than Opera. Narrow and hilly cobblestones, small local cafes, street musicians, students rushing for their class, older people strolling down the street with their dog and bunch of young folks wandering around. This area is perfect for younger people as it's very crowded and lively til dawn. But, I really not impressed with the hostel; dirty toilets and bathroom, super low room ceiling, cold and stone-hard bread served daily for breakfast, no wifi and the worst is it's narrow and circly never ending stairs. We chose to stayed outside until midnight and went back to the hostel when we're really dead tired so we can go straight to sleep.

Anyway, another friend of us,Tania, picked us up at night and took us for a dinner at Le Seraphine Restaurant in Odeon. Tried out some Parisian cuisine this time and loved it! Nice and cozy resto, good food and above it all got accompanied by great friends. Life is good.

My love for Paris has grow stronger when we were visiting Le Marais. Famous as the gay district and home for the Jews, this area is very edgy and eclectic. Filled with local cafes, bars and boutiques, I also found hidden gem in here, my sanctuary place called Free P Star. A two storeys vintage shop with huge selection of leathers and lavish fur coats  Then there goes Kiliwatch, RAG, Hippy Market, Allison & Sasha and Episode, to name a few of my favorite second hand stores in Le Marais. 

Oh! and when you're in Marais, don't forget to stop by to L'As du Fallafel which serve the best fallafel in town (according to the New York Times) and it is surely taste so good.

Our last day in the city was closed by visiting the Sacre Cour and Le Mur Des J' Taime in Montmarte. Another interesting district in north Paris where the famous La vie En Rose, Amelie and Moulin Rouge was filmed. 

I have tremendous love for this city, blinded by it's beauty. Still have plenty places to visit in my bucket list. Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris Catacombs, Canal St Martin, Bastille, Rue Oberkampf and Palace of Versailes. 

Until we meet again Paris, hope it's pretty soon in a better weather.. A Bientot ;)