Rome Part 2: Better With Family

Day 17 (20 May 2025)

Today, we left Venice for Rome. Took the vaporetto to the train station and here's one last look at the Grand Canal.

 

 

Andre bought a sandwich to eat on the train since it's a long 3-hour ride.

 

 

It feels great to return to Rome. Our hotel is the same as the one we stayed in our first leg of Rome, Parlamento Boutique Hotel, but we got a more modern room this time. 

  

 

We went to the supermarket and just a side note: there are so many kinds of pastas that I've never heard of before!

 

A woman on a mission, I went to Ditta G Poggi. This is an old art store that I chanced upon in my earlier leg in Rome. I returned, determined to make a purchase. My home is already overflowing with art supplies but the thought of buying art materials from a cultural city like Rome was just too much to resist. 🎨

 

 

Ditta G Poggi is not a large shop but it has all kinds of art materials crammed in every nook and cranny. Pigments galore! It seems like people in Italy buy pigments a lot. Either that or art shops just like to carry them.🤷 

I wanted to get something I couldn’t get back in Singapore and saw this toned drawing pad that wasn't too expensive - E7 for an A4 pad of 40 sheets. Never heard of this brand – Musa Belle Arti but it’s made in Italy and is a pretty tan colour. II like the thought of drawing on something that was lying in an Italian art shop waiting for a Raphael to walk by. 😁
 

But today was special not because we went to see any major attraction but because we were meeting up with Lesley-Anne and Joel (dotter and son-in-law)! They've just arrived in Rome for their honeymoon and the start of their itinerary coincided with our ending. It's so nice (and a little surreal) to meet up with family halfway across the world. We had dinner together. Food was ok but not great. The company was best 😍

 

 

Then we walked to Two Sizes, a dessert place which has gone viral on social media for their tiramisu. We tried 3 different flavours - classic, pistachio and caramel. Surprise surprise, the caramel turned out to be the best! 

 

We then took a stroll together, first to Piazza Navona.

 

 

 

 

Then to the Pantheon. 

 

 

 

Then to Trevi Fountain. The attractions are night are simply magical. The lights glow on the white marble and make them look even more ethereal than in the daytime.  

 

Rome is so very special, there's no city like it. There's just something otherworldly to walk amidst 2,000-year-old ancient relics that stand beside 15th C Renaissance buildings and modern day ones. 

As our holiday comes to a close, Andre and I agree that Rome and Venice are our favourite cities in Italy. They're both clean, safe and the people are friendly. Though they're so different, they both exude a distinctive vibe that draws you in and makes you feel like you're part of a very special world. That's the best kind of travel experience 💙