My review of Chan Brothers’ 14D11N Best of Italy, Switzerland, Paris and Amsterdam tour package – Day 2
Hotel: Ardeatina Park Hotel
Like how the tour guide had warned us, the breakfast at the hotel was not fantastic. He said to expect this for the entire trip, though ‘breakfast will improve when we are at Amsterdam’. We were offered some tasteless scrambled eggs, stale croissants with some ham and cheese.
We departed the hotel in the morning and set off for our first stop- Colosseum! We met the local tour guide outside the Colosseum who led us into the grand and beautiful building. There was a short briefing session on the history of the Colosseum and we were given about 30mins to explore and take some photos on our own.
We had to move on to our second location after this. The downside to travelling on a tour package is you cannot decide how long you wish to spend at a location and may have to skip some attractions. For me, I would have loved to pop by the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, however this was not included in the package.
We traveled to our second pitstop which was about 15 minutes drive away – Spanish Steps and Via Condotti. We were given about 40mins to explore the area on our own. The place was packed with tourists. My mom and I sat down at the Spanish Steps with a pack of chestnuts to enjoy the warm sunshine. Our stomachs were growling by then. Thankfully, we were brought for lunch at a Chinese place following the pitstop.
After lunch, we boarded the bus and headed for Vatican City. The guide had explained that it was more advisable to enter Vatican City in the afternoon that day as we expected the locals to attend mass that morning. There was still a long queue when we got there, we had to wait in line under the sun for about 50mins to undergo the security checks to get into St Peter’s Basilica.
St Peter’s Basilica did not disappoint, it was enchanting. The local guide explained the various murals and sculptures. We spent about 30 minutes inside the building. I wanted to climb up the dome but did not have sufficient time to do this.
We left Vatican City and headed to Trevi Fountain next. I was excited to see Trevi Fountain after seeing it in all those romance movies. The Fountain was pretty alright, but it was very crowded. You had to squeeze through the crowds to get in front to the fountain to make your wish. We were given about 20 mins to take some photos and grab a gelato from the nearby stalls.
We were then brought to a quiet and quaint little restaurant for dinner (included as part of the tour package). We were served roasted chicken and pizza which were a little bland for the Singaporean tongue.
We headed back to the hotel after dinner.
staleprose 
I was there 🙂
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