Italian Job: From Milano to Roma

A travel, is not a travel, if it's not complemented with a run. It was finally our last day in Milan. And I started it off with no other better way than a run. Skipped it the day before due to the morning rush to fetch the rental car. As for the run, it was a good farewell run indeed. Ventured the run to the opposite end from our homestay, and I had a glimpse of the busy working Monday traffic in Milano. Busy, controlled traffic. A view that was never seen previously. 

The weather was perfect with clear blue skies and perfect temperature since morning. Our first stop was back at Goyard again. This time for Akma’s St. Louise, not after much issue with bank transfer. Lope was my forever designer boutique’s assistant. If course he had his own ideas as well. His wish list was golden goose, and few others that I had forgotten by now. I wanted to wrap up Milan with few must have chill outs as well; coffee and pastries at the cafe, proper lunch inside the cafe and the mandatory panzerotti pastry. Coffee was good, lunch was A-ok. Pastry was good as well. And some other minor tourist spot before we bid Milan goodbye.

We settled our prayer at the Milan Central Station. Prayer room was next to none. We used bottle for wudhu’ outside the station, looked for a quiet corner, and performed our prayer there. Had to take out my creative hat when convenience is not on the table. “My” specifically as it would normally be me who will insist doing these things - using odd methods to get prayer in. To my surprise, no one looked weirdly towards us. Alhamdulillah. We boarded the train, I used the time to catch up with work, and on we headed towards Rome.

Upon reaching Rome, our homestay was very nearby, with very short walking distance. The view as we arrived was already spectacular. It’s like every single building is a historical building there. With the well lit lights, lighting up every window and corners, Rome looked glorious. The aisle just outside our house looked lively with bars and restaurants still open, unlike Milan. Milan would already be very quiet around that time. 

Our homestay wasn’t as good for me as the one in Milan. It was less equipped, but still decent nonetheless. Hubs asked whether I wanted to walk around outside. Little did I know that he was opening an invitation for a ciggie. I figured that we better reserve our day for a full day visit the day after. Indeed we had a super pack day after. We started the day with a run at Villa Borghese. Gosh I was so in love with this park. One of the best park ever. Issue was, it was quite small, unlike Hyde Park where the park itself connects to other parks and you can reach to a totally different area if you exit at the wrong way.

I had our itinerary lined up (as always) in google sheet. This time with the help of chatgpt, validated with few instagram research. Hopped on and off at whatever stop that Google Maps brought us, based on the location in the itinerary. The first destination brought us Piazza Venezia & Victor Emmanuel II Monument, which was within walking distance to Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. I was definitely in awe with the architecture. Colosseum and all was definitely built during Roman times. But Victor Emmanuel II Monument and the rest was after, but still it carried over the legacy of its ancient Roman’s history. I was never a history buff, but one can't help but to appreciate your surrounding nonetheless. 

Rome was jam packed. It was like a major holiday season itself, despite being supposedly low season. God knows how bad would it be if it was of the opposite season. The queue for everything was of course, long. So, lunch over there was next to impossible. Since everything was nearby, we then decided to just go back to our homestay for lunch and prayer. That had since, became our modus operandi in Rome. We wouldn’t have to be concerned about prayer later, and of course, we got to save. Next on the list was Piazza Navona, Pantheon andTrevi Fountain. Piazza Navona, to our surprise, was very pleasant indeed. It reminded us of Grand Place de-Bruxelles. People gather, some just to hang out, there were street artists around to perform their arts. During our time there, Michael Jackson wannabe was performing. Being Asian and being afraid to hand out our Euros, we stayed far and hidden. Pantheon was another magnificent monument that left us much in awe. I was not that amazed with Trevi Fountain but wouldn't disagree for it to be one of Rome's must visit. 

As the day was heading into dusk, we made our way to the Spanish Steps. Didn't understand what was the fuss about the place initially but it was certainly recommended a lot. There we found Rome’s beautiful sunset and….designer street. The sunset wasn't something that we had anticipated but it was indeed a pleasant surprise and a treasure in itself. As for the designer street, first damage was done; Saint Laurent’s sunnies that I’ve been aiming for sometime. 

Satisfied to have finally made the purchase, we made our way back home, settled with dinner, and the kids were contempt to just stay in. Having visited Rome's remains and how less the kids know about Rome, we put in the Gladiator movie for them, hoping for them to learn and appreciate a thing or two. 

Our 2nd day in Rome was a bit chilled, since we have covered quite a lot of important places the day before. Laila even made remarks that we have covered quite a number of places. I was still quite ambitious with the itinerary, making Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Santa Maria, Tiber Island and Tiber River still unfulfilled, despite being originally be in the first day’s list. But fret not, this was quickly recovered on the 2nd day. The most interesting one was Campo dei Fiori. It was a market, of multiple sorts. We bought cheese, pistachio spread and pistachio pasta paste. On which, both the cheese and pistachio pasta paste still remain untouched until now. The pistachio spread however, finished in a flash. To our surprise, and understandable given how international Rome is, most of the employee there can speak Malay. They're mostly Bangladeshis and some acquired the language by having worked in Malaysia before, some other may have picked it up due to the bulk of Malaysians who frequented the place. 

We then made our way to Stadio Olimpico, home turf of AS Roma. Just like San Siro, we were again disappointed by how Italian football clubs closed their stadiums from visitors. This time it was even worse. There was no chance to have a glimpse inside, and there was no shop for us to visit. But they had a track with multiple nude statues outside, which we managed to amuse ourself with. 

All good things must come to an end. The final day in Rome, which was also the last day for our holiday finally came to an end. Bade the final day with one last run in Rome, at my favourite park. Lope bought breakfast set from McD which was super cheap and nice. Caramel latte if I'm not mistaken and pistachio croissant at only EUR 2.99. We fell in love with everything croissant in Rome. While we were getting ready, rain poured heavily. We had to checkout no matter what despite the rain. Since I was planning on last minute shopping, we had decided to split. Me, lope and angah braved the rain to checkout the Rinascente mall. Choosing mall for no other reason than to save ourselves from the rain. But not that saved though. We still had to take the bus and the bus stand was still far enough to require us some amount of walking. The mall was like Harrods, but the choices was still limited. I was lucky enough to having contained my desperation for a last minute shopping and not succumbing to anything that worked. Left the mall without anything, and regrouped with hubs and the 2 kids. The rain finally subsided. We brought our luggage to a storage place as planned. To our disappointment, what was initially supposed to be a cheap bag solution for us, turned quite the opposite. Despite the size description, the locker could only store 1 big luggage instead of 2. Long story short, we had to empty up our bags, combined certain bags to minimise the number of lockers needed, and tug along the sort of empty bag along with us. We had our lunch and now that the weather was clear with some time to spare, we made our way back to Via dei Condotti, near the Spanish steps. 

Longchamp, Dior, Channel, Balenciaga were few boutiques visited. Hubs got to do some final shopping for his mom too. The morning before we left hotel, I was busy clearing up my credit card to make sure that I had enough credits to shop. With that kind of expectation and preparation, I was desperate not to leave empty handed. Question was, whether I would finally end my sabotage by purchasing LVMH bags, and whether I was cold hearted enough to be spending RM 20k and more for a designer bag. Upon checking google map, I found 1 last shot at Celine. And it was the answer to my dilemma. Rare enough brand, at least not to the naked eyes like LV, Dior and Channel to be disguised as non LVMH, and doesn't hurt the pocket as much. We had a very good experience with the hospitality as well, which the kids also got to enjoy.

However, the journey and trouble was far from over. Hubs and the rest had to leave early in order to catch with our luggage's time limit. Naela was left with me. My data roaming period soon came to an end as well. I was troubled with 2 bad situations at that time. Not only that I went over the limit just few seconds out (and this has costed my around RM 50), my phone line became not working at all. I managed to navigate my way through back to the train station, but I couldn't get hold of the rest. I had to walk all over the station to find their whereabouts. Total connection less. Normal voice/cell line roaming didn’t work as well. I finally found some traces of free wifi. Roamed around for a stronger signal strength. Managed to get connected finally, at a very limited spot (read: I had to stay put and not moving) and used whatever chance I could to call/text them. Finally I managed to know their whereabouts and regrouped soon after. Alhamdulillah.

We then tried to make our way back to the airport. Which was a journey by itself as well. In order to save money. We took the train to a bus stop somewhere. Then took the bus to the airport. Wasn't too much trouble, just that it wasn't a direct journey, but nothing too inconvenient. Managed to reach safely and in time in airport. Timely enough for us to perform our prayer in the airport. Slight inconvenience again, the outside prayer room was suddenly closed. We went back and forth near the area, checked online on the prayer room location guide, was 100% certain that it was around the area that we walked up and down at. The only way to justify the disappearance was, it was undergoing some construction. We headed in straight then, and there was a proper prayer room inside. Alhamdulillah.

So that was it, the end of our journey. Definitely one of the best vacation that we had as a family. Alhamdulillah for the opportunity and Allah's guidance to get the best deals, and His protection throughout the journey. Till the next trip.