Sunday, 21 February 2016 at 01:59 with ≡
2015 was a year of cray travels that I'm very happy to say that I played a huge part in planning, so I really want to share all my travelogues (if only just so I can look back at it and feel incredibly proud of myself) but there's so many it's hard to know where to start! So here's the last trip of 2015/first trip of 2016 - Italy with the family+family friends. It was a group of my fav 12 people and we spent about 2 weeks covering most of Italy (north of Rome)
So the trip started with an early flight from London Heathrow for sissypoo and I on Christmas Day (alitalia) and we met Papa & Mama Goh along with the other parents at the Fiumicino Airport (mama brought me so many snacks from SG I was so touched - my fav pandan swiss roll from Rich & Good + variety of Kuehs!) was honestly so happy to see (& receive hugs) from all these people that I miss
After getting a car to fetch us to our hotel (we stayed at Hotel California near Termini - it was okay/not bad, and the breakfasts were pretty standard) it was time for LUNCH bec we were cray starvin. It was Christmas Day so not much stuff was open, but thank goodness I did my research (yas stayed up till 4am the previous night just to make sure I was well-prepared) so we found this place about 15minutes walk from the hotel
Authentic Italian menu usually means you won't go very wrong! But also means you'll spend forever trying to decipher it HAHA. It also helped that I could understand most of basic Italian Food Language (ok basically I can read menus but I can't understand much else lol #lifeofafoodie)
Clam and Mussel Soup - this is slightly on the salty side, but everything is pretty fresh and fragrant
Ravioli! (in salsa rosa) The tomato sauce was bombzzz; the other families had never eaten ravioli before? And towards the end of the trip it became one of their fav new discoveries haha
This was the tonnarelli - essentially tomato pasta, but it just tasted so home-made and authentic. This tomato sauce was even more bombz I'm serious.
Riso alla crema di scampi - this was my FAV dish!!! Slightly on the salty side but it really had the rich broth of the scampi o man I need this NOW?
This is Ristorante Armande if anyone's interested! - not to be confused with the one near Pantheon which I hear is pretty good as well
Walked around the area a bit after lunch, and popped into a random church! Really love how Catholic is the dominant(?) religion here, so finding a church is not a problem for us at all. This is St Catherine (I think) near the piazza that you see in the first photo of this post.
Passing by Barberini on our way to the Spanish Steps - there's an osteria near here which looks pretty good! But we didn't have a chance to eat it
Pasta 101 in Italy
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| I was actually just testing out camera functions lol |
Gelato No. 1 in Italy - ok this was Awful and I knew it the minute I walked into the shop - it's touristy, overpriced and tastes awful, but everyone really needed somewhere to sit down ):
Finally made it to Trevi Fountain! This was super super crowded it was like the whole town was there just STARING AT THE FOUNTAIN like why would you do that?!!
But.... Gelato No.2!! It's SAN CRISPINO omg this was sooo much better! No one else felt up for more gelato but I insisted on getting so it was pistachio for me and pear sorbet for sissypoo (who is vegan! so if you're vegan and reading don't worry there r stuff for u) Pistachio was made from real fresh pistachio so you don't get the earthy roasted flavour that I like - grom's pistachio is better! But the Pear Sorbet is Stuff of Dreams like get it!! Sorbets in Italy aren't as icy and texture-less as normal ones - they're usually bordering on creamy and this pear one was not too sweet, tasted fruity like the fruit (lol what even) basically I can't describe it you have to eat it. Def one of my favourite flavours of the trip.
They have a few outlets! (we had this again near the pantheon it's just a street away from it - a lot of the other gelaterias I wanted to try were closed because it was christmas weekend so thank god for san crispino; we had chestnut and pear the next time. word of warning: try the flavours before you get it! generally no one will get upset if you just try a couple of flavours, and it beat getting flavours you actually don't even like) there's also a san crispino at the airport, but they didn't have pear so we didn't get it (which now I regret terribly)
Day 2! Met my fellow kiddos/m8s the night before (and had such a disastrous dinner because we just wanted to eat near our hotel - bad idea! A lot of places close to termini are very touristy - you'll know from all the touting) Day 2 itinerary was covering all the sightseeing essentials - colosseum, forum. The queues are an absolute nightmare but it's worth it if you're there for the first time
OOTD haha ft. my new hat - a christmas present from my aunt that the parents brought over for me!
Being absolute retards peeping into the holes in the walls HAHA I miss you guys
Ok now for the actually amazing colosseum. Thank god it was a rly beautiful sunny day i would have hated queuing to get in if it was cold!
#boybandtony this is a real album cover photo haha (if you haven't noticed I like to take portrait shots more than scenic shots of the sights - i'll ask sissypoo to throw some of those in tho - because our family has 3 cameras so what's the point of taking the same photos?!) and with portrait shots anywhere can be a photo op (:
Lunch nearby! Made some reservations online just in case. This was actually really near but not so near that it was touristy and awful, so we had a pretty good meal! Unfortunately by this point everyone just really wanted pizza but the restaurant unfortunately didn't have them available! ):
After much translation (kudos to the staff and many thanks to the people of the next table who helped us out and gave recs!)
ZUCCHINI FLOWER FRITTERS wow I have been dreaming of this since watching all the masterchef
Cacio e pepe - v traditional and authentic pasta dish so I really wanted to try - its essentially cheese and pepper. I thought it was okay, but it might be an acquired taste because the rest of the family wasn't that into it
Italian version of wanton soup haha
Here's the place! I'll dig up the name and edit this post LOL
Roman forum! This was so pretty and really impressive but tbh we were getting tired haha
Every time we pass by a gelateria (that I've read about - and there are 1000 that I've read about haha) must go in and try
This was chocolate sorbet and hazelnut I think! unfortunately I can't remember much of this it was probably good but yeah I had so many I lose track
The chocolate truffle at Tre Scalini! ok la it was ok wouldn't get it again cos $$ and I don't like chunky things in my ice cream hahaha
here's what it looks like with whipped cream! Tre Scalini is the original chocolate truffle ball its at Piazza Navona so you'll def see it
Finally getting some pizza at night! Walked quite some to find this place (its further down from the lunch place on the first day so its like a 20min walk from the hotel so I'm really thankful everyone was okay with it haha) I was determined to eat good pizza if I was going to eat any at all, so I found somewhere that was thankfully open and made reservations (bec 12 people cannot guarantee there are always seats, even though we are lucky vry very often)
So quaint! and the server was so friendly! Belatedly realised that this place is vegetarian (oops) and Papa was almost very upset (also bec papa likes thin crust more and the server explained that theirs was special bec it was slightly thicker)
This is pastorale! with the potatoes
Silvestre with the spinach
Napoli (with anchovies)
and our fam got a marinara bec sissypoo is vegan so no cheese! Ok these were actually REALLY GOOD and I was so thankful everyone (& Papa) really enjoyed it bec even though the crust is thicker it's not doughy like all the shitty pizzahut/dominoes (sry I don't like that kind of pizzas) it has the amazing wood-fired smell and it's still fluffy and crispy! the toppings were also pretty good - I remember the potato/spinach one being really interesting! Anchovies r gr8 if you like them, but they can be pretty salty. Sissypoo was happy w the one with just tomato sauce so I guess that tells you how amaze it was (:
DAY 3: Here's more san crispino - the pear and chestnut I was talking about! Our fambam always picks the best flavours because I'm thickskinned enough to ask for loads of samples hahaha
More sunny days so while everyone sat around drinking coffee (bec Pantheon not opened yet) sissypoo and I wandered around for a mini-shoot haha. There was a vegan gelato place/cafe next door! But shame they weren't open sighpie
Ok I couldn't be bothered to take more shots of the pantheon HAHA maybe sissypoo will help me out here???
Finally buying the roasted chestnuts we kept seeing on the streets haha they are not cheap but they are huge and they smell soooo good!! It was 15 for some price haha but I counted as he put it in and he only put in 13 so we went back to demand for 2 more HAHA o man I'm so embarrassing
That's Tre Scalini in the day time haha bec we came back to piazza navona just to see what it looks like in the day
And as usually when you pass by Grom you DIE DIE MUST GET HAHA this is chocolate sorbet, pistachio and mango sorbet! got all the sorbets bec Grom has more options (unfortunately we later found out that chocolate sorbet is non-vegan ): ) pistachio is def my fav flavour from Grom because its creamy, rich, and has the earthy nutty flavour o yum o I need more. Mango sorbet was also pretty good!!! Forgot how much I miss mango and like I said this is pretty creamy for a sorbet
Walked to Vatican City after that (do u spot St Peters Basilica???)
Lunch at Fa-bio! You don't really get food within Vatican so you gotta walk abit outside but a couple of the places I wanted were closed + we were slightly pressed for time! So I found this sandwich/wrap place! But unfortunately they didn't really have seating (for 12) so everyone wasn't too keen. I kind of insisted our fam eat here though haha and we were prepared to just take out and sit by the piazza to eat BUT miracles!! Just nice!! 4 seats!!
A lot of their stuff are vegan! So they even had tofu & seitan and all that (sissypoo r u proud of me!!)
artsy shot HAHA but papa and mama got the wrap that had ham and stuff and sissy and I got the one with the tofu
and then we had soup! Ok I can't remember what on earth we ate I just know it was pretty good for a healthy meal (yes I do eat healthy once in a while haha) and the owners were so nice about everything! kindly explained what was vegan and what was not + they had a mix up and thought we ordered an extra wrap and we were so sorry we were going to just take it since they made it already but they said it was alright and that they would just eat it up HAHA.
Banana acai soy smoothie bec sissy and I really wanted acai HAHA but this was a bit not cold enough oops
Jonno Ponno btw the pillars of St Peters
Seeing this was like such a DREAM!! (as a catholic) (but also felt that Vatican didn't feel so much like a holy ground as it was an ancient country that had all the same history and politics sigh)
The sides were so ridics empty I couldn't understand why everyone crowded at the centre to take photos lol
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| bec sissy and I were proud of our outfits and needed them 2 be seen |
Bought TIRAMISU back for dessert! (after having MASS AT ST PETERS BASILICA is this the dream or what) this tiramisu is from Pompi! Supposedly the best in Rome which I belatedly found out was near the Spanish Steps! Was quite upset at first but then found a sign near vatican!! so I dragged everyone there hahaha we got the original and the pistachio (: it's very soft - more so than the normal pistachios we get outside so it's very creamy and light and I liked it!! It's obviously pretty commercialised but its still good
Day 4: Early morning tour of the Vatican! (forgot to mention - we mostly walked from place to place cos we didn't really venture out of the old walls of rome, I really would've liked to - the food gets better and cheaper but we didn't really have the time, but we did take the bus/underground a few times: and basically you need to buy tickets and then validate it! esp for the buses bec if not you'll get fined! our friends got fined so we knew but you could always take the risk la but hey integrity)
markypoo all hansum and grown up
the tour guide was really informative and you could really tell she was very passionate about whatever she was talking about! But unfortunately me being me started to tune out towards the end but everyone else really enjoyed the tour so you could def go for that - it allows you to skip all the queues haha so i guess it's pretty worth it!)
Inside St Peters Basilica o man this was so so beautiful and we walked through a Holy Door for the first time!
So this is the end of our Rome trip bec we got our car aft the tour and drove off to explore Italy! I'll update this with more details about locations of food and stuff (and along with all the 10000 places I didn't get to try haha) but this takes so long I might take a break before I launch into the next part
Labels: december2015, italy, rome, travel, travelogue
