hai le's photography

Vatican City

I spent my second day in Rome visiting the Vatican. To get to Vatican City, I took Metro A from Termini to Ottaviano - St Peter's Basilica station. Ottaviano is a short walk from St Peter's Basilica.

Vatican City, known as the smallest country in the world, is encircled by a 2-mile border with Italy (Rome). The head of Vatican City is the Roman Catholic Pope, known as the Bishop of Rome.

I arrived at Vatican City early in the morning and was one of the first to enter St Peter's Basilica.

Rome

Rome is the city that had many stories, many myths, and many greats. It was the center of the world. It sparked future inspirations and shaped our modern world.

mīlle viae dūcunt hominēs per saecula Rōmam or a thousand roads lead men forever to Rome, or all roads lead to Rome, is the medieval sentiment referring to the Roman roads, but also the greatness of the Roman empire.

I landed at Rome Leonardo Da Vinci Fiumicino airport at 2 pm from Amsterdam. It took me around 40 minutes to gather my luggage, then headed to the Fiumicino Aeroporto train station.

The Leonardo Express, the express train from the airport to Termini Station, the center of Rome, took about 30 minutes. Cost €14.

Amsterdam

In 2011, I traveled solo to Europe for the first time. My first destination was Amsterdam.

I arrived at Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, after a 10-hours flight from SFO. I had 8 hours in Amsterdam before flying to Rome. With a long layover, I had options to take a long nap or take the train to the city center to see Amsterdam. I took a triple expresso and headed to the city.

When I was a kid, I learned most country and city names by watching football. In the mid-1990, Ajax Amsterdam was one of the best football clubs in the world. I built my travel bucket list from the famous football clubs. That was how Amsterdam made it to my bucket list.

Amsterdam's name comes from Amstelredamme because of its origination around a dam in the Amstel river.