Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Rome, Italy
Rome, the Eternal City. A pretty amazing place if you ask me. Too many people here, just like in Florence. But so many sights.
Our hotel was just down the street from the Forum and Colosseum. Each night when we walked back we could just sit next to the forum and look at the 2000 year old columns.
Trevi Fountain
The Pantheon is my new favorite building ever. This was built in 126 AD and is in near perfect condition. Standing inside, it seems inconceivable that the dome was constructed 1900 years ago and is still intact. It wasn't until 1300+ years later with the completion of Brunelleschi's Duomo in Florence that man was able to match the architectural skill of the ancient Romans. Amazing.
The Spanish Steps are one big old staircase. Nice place to sit and people watch. The most interesting thing we saw here was the Carabinieri's attempts to catch this Roma (gypsy) flower seller who had apparently stolen something. He jogged around the Steps for several minutes with increasing anxiety trying to outmaneuver the blue uniformed Carabinieri who were patiently walking (not running) after him. The whole crowd on the steps watched this slow motion drama unfold and some (including us) pointed out his whereabouts to the police as he kept ducking behind objects and people. They never did catch him.
The interesting thing about travelling is the things you don't expect to find. Everyone knows that Italy has the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower, but unless you've been there you wouldn't know that every single Piazza in Italy has Roma men selling flowers, and Senegalese immigrants selling knockoff Louis Vuitton purses and fake Rolex watches.
Our hotel was just down the street from the Forum and Colosseum. Each night when we walked back we could just sit next to the forum and look at the 2000 year old columns.
Trevi Fountain
The Pantheon is my new favorite building ever. This was built in 126 AD and is in near perfect condition. Standing inside, it seems inconceivable that the dome was constructed 1900 years ago and is still intact. It wasn't until 1300+ years later with the completion of Brunelleschi's Duomo in Florence that man was able to match the architectural skill of the ancient Romans. Amazing.
The Spanish Steps are one big old staircase. Nice place to sit and people watch. The most interesting thing we saw here was the Carabinieri's attempts to catch this Roma (gypsy) flower seller who had apparently stolen something. He jogged around the Steps for several minutes with increasing anxiety trying to outmaneuver the blue uniformed Carabinieri who were patiently walking (not running) after him. The whole crowd on the steps watched this slow motion drama unfold and some (including us) pointed out his whereabouts to the police as he kept ducking behind objects and people. They never did catch him.
The interesting thing about travelling is the things you don't expect to find. Everyone knows that Italy has the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower, but unless you've been there you wouldn't know that every single Piazza in Italy has Roma men selling flowers, and Senegalese immigrants selling knockoff Louis Vuitton purses and fake Rolex watches.Sunday, April 24, 2011
Florence, Italy
Florence is a wonderful maze of art, architecture, and history.
A copy of David sits outside the Palazzo Vecchio. We stood in line to see the real one at the Accademia Gallery.
Nightfall with the Ponte Vecchio in the background
The Palazzo Vecchio and La Loggia was our regular evening spot to sit and eat gelato and gaze at 500 year old sculptures.
I had to put aside my preference for beer and become a wine drinker on this trip. The house wine is usually pretty cheap, sometimes as little as $7 for 750ml bottle. It's decent stuff too. Italian beer is pretty awful.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Pisa, Italy
People go to Pisa for one reason only....to get a picture of themselves pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I'll not claim to be any different.
The Leaning Tower was more interesting than I expected. It is a beautiful structure, and would be worth seeing even if it was upright. The whole "Field of Miracles" is a wonderful place to lay on the grass and look at some amazing marble buildings. Other than that though, Pisa has little to set it apart from any other Italian town. We spent one night here, and that was just the right amount of time.
The Leaning Tower was more interesting than I expected. It is a beautiful structure, and would be worth seeing even if it was upright. The whole "Field of Miracles" is a wonderful place to lay on the grass and look at some amazing marble buildings. Other than that though, Pisa has little to set it apart from any other Italian town. We spent one night here, and that was just the right amount of time.Thursday, April 21, 2011
Siena, Italy
Siena is a wonderful, romantic, fairytale castle town. Cobblestone streets, brick buildings surrrounded by city walls, a perfect central Piazza, this is the reason people come to Italy. Sadly we had only one night here, and were wiped out with jetlag.
Due to a camera problem (see Florence) this is one of the only surviving photos of lovely Siena.
Due to a camera problem (see Florence) this is one of the only surviving photos of lovely Siena.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Milan to Como, Italy
My time in Italy today was short. I flew into Malpensa Airport in the morning. I quickly boarded a bus to take me into central Milan to the train station. I arrived there just in time to book a ticket on the express train to Zurich, Switzerland. The train crossed the northern part of Italy into the Alps, and past the fantastic Lake Como area. My face was plastered to the train window as we went in and out of tunnels and from one side of the lake to another. This part of Europe, the lakes within the Alps, is defenitely a place to come back to another day.
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