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June & July 2005

Rome & Vatican City

Jeremy Koh
2005-11-05 11:48:59

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down Via Nazionale towards the Roman Forum. It was a long walk and the heat was really getting to us. Apparently the heatwave hasn't subsided. Finally we reached the imposing Monument of Victor Emmanuel II. It had been closed when we were here before, but today there's some ceremony going on on the steps and people were walking into the building. We decided to follow them up the majestic stairway.

Inside the building, we realized that the building also holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as the Museum of Italian Reunification. We decided to take a look at the museum. It contains mostly historical military artifacts and I think Prema was bored out of her wits here. For me, while it wasn't exactly fascinating, there were a couple of exhibits which I felt were interesting, such as the weapons and uniforms they used in the past. There were also lots of busts of the various Italian leaders, but try as we might, Serene and I couldn't find Mussolini's bust. I guess the honour is only bestowed on certain leaders and certainly not someone as controversial as Mussolini. Suddenly I'm reminded of that famous quote from the movie Gladiator- "What we do in life, echoes in eternity". Well, upon exiting the museum, we came to this open-air terrace at the top which had a great view of the Roman Forum. You can even see the Coliseum from here. This is definitely a must-see.

From the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II, we walked over to the Pantheon. It was originally a Roman temple dedicated to the seven deities of the seven planets in the Roman state religion. In the Middle Ages it was consecrated as a church and that probably saved it from being abandoned and ending up in ruins. Today it's still a church and it's one of the best preserved historical sites in Rome. It's also one of the most-visited sites in Rome. As a result, there're fake Roman guards and touts selling fake branded goods in front ...