Day 3 got off to a crummy start. We had a reservation for the Borghese Gallery (by reservation only) but we underestimated the time it would take to get there and we missed our entrance time. All that running for nothing. Instead we went to the National Museum of Rome instead. From what I've read those are similar in the collections. The National Museum had a lot of sculptures, some frescos and my favorite part: the coin museum in the basement. They had coins from the early Romans all the way up to the Euro.
After the National Museum we had a good, very Itallian lunch at the cafeteria in the train station. I had a nice bottle of Chardonnay with my lunch. It was only €0.10 more than a Coke. After lunch we parted with Laura as she was headed back to Siena.
We then headed for the Capuchin Crypt. It was pretty creepy. There are several areas all coverd in designs made out of human bones. I would share pictures but they wouldn't allow it.
After the crypt, we walked to Trevi fountai again. Last time we were there it was just before sunset so we got to see it in the full of daylight. It wasn't much different, including the bazillion people there both times! We had gelatio yet again and people watched for a while.
We then headed to the Pantehon again. This time it was open and we got to head in. We followed the Rick Steves audio guide which was excellent. Since the building is so small, we just camped out on the seats near the front and looked around as he explained about the history of this almost 2000 year old building and the famous people buried there.
After the Pantheon we walked farther west to the Piazza Navona with the Fountain of the Four Rivers. Unfortunately the fountain was closed for restoration work and mostly hidden by plywood walls. The street performers and local artists were in full force though so we did get to enjoy that aspect of the area.
After that, it was back home. Teresa fell asleep at 8pm. She was exhausted!
Showing posts with label rome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rome. Show all posts
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Rome - The Vatican - Day 2
Day 2 in Rome was spent at the Vatican. It was a very full day! We got up around 9am and headed over to the Vatican on th subway. There are only 2 subway lines in Rome. One is N-S and the other E-W. They need more! After you get off at the Vatican subway stop, you still have a good 5-10 minute walk to St Peters Squre. We got there, looked around and then waited for our tour with Angel Tours to start. In the meantime I went and chached some. I was 1 for 2.
Our Irish tour guide took us through the Vatican Museum. Our first site was a courtyard lined with the same 3 pictures of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel. They do this so guides can explain what everthing is since once you get in the chapel, there is no talking (except the loud guards saying "shhhh..... quiet please". After our 20 minute description of all the awesome paintings by Michaelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, we saw a Globe that we were told represents the damage technology does to the world. There are apparently 7 of these things around the world. I translate that as the damage technology does to the authority of the stubborn Vatican. I need to look into this more when I have the time.
After the courtyard we were off to look at a bunch of sculptures, tapesties, old but accurate map paintings of Italy and finaly the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was beautiful but I was a little ticked that Nikkon paid to have the paintings cleaned in the 90s and now owns the copyright to them. Rediculous!
St. Peters Basillica was next. It was nice and HUGE! They even have a partition in the middle to show the next largest church in the world. Show offs! There we saw 3 dead Popes (1 in bronze and the other 2 in wax) and even more paintings and sculptures. My favorite was the sculpture done for some pope by a protestant sculture. The vatican didn't find this out until he was almost done but when they did they said they would not pay him or give him credit. He got the last laugh though as he carved HIS face instead of the dead Popes in the statue. They said the storage area is used as broom closet now. I have a feeling that story was BS but it sure is a good one if not.
After the basillica, I headed up to the top of the dome. It was quite a climb but I had the time as Laura and Teresa accidentally left the secure area and have to go through security again. The view from the top was great, especially inside the dome and then the view of Rome from the top. Next we went to the catabombs below the church. They were not that great but we saw a lot of old dead popes tombs and some newer ones like the 33 day pope from the 70s and John Paul II. There were 2 guards as his in fact. Next we sent a few postcards from the Vatican state post office.
After that we left the Vatican heading for the Pantheon. We got off the subway as close as we could and ended up at the Spanish Steps. Not much exciting there. Had dinner at McD's (I know, lame, but it is supposed to one of the the biggest and7or nicest McDs ever). I had a Grecko sanwhich which was really a Greek pita but in hanburger form. It was decent. Love some cucumber sauce!
After dinner we made our way to Trevi Fountain. We stopped in for groceries on the way so we could have toast and jam for breakfast. The sun was setting by then too so we took some pictures and has some gelato to wait for the sun to set to see it at night. I took some good night pictures (I think at least). We then headed to the Pantheon which was closed at this point but still lit up.
After all that we walked the almost 1.5 miles home. Long day!
Our Irish tour guide took us through the Vatican Museum. Our first site was a courtyard lined with the same 3 pictures of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel. They do this so guides can explain what everthing is since once you get in the chapel, there is no talking (except the loud guards saying "shhhh..... quiet please". After our 20 minute description of all the awesome paintings by Michaelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, we saw a Globe that we were told represents the damage technology does to the world. There are apparently 7 of these things around the world. I translate that as the damage technology does to the authority of the stubborn Vatican. I need to look into this more when I have the time.
After the courtyard we were off to look at a bunch of sculptures, tapesties, old but accurate map paintings of Italy and finaly the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was beautiful but I was a little ticked that Nikkon paid to have the paintings cleaned in the 90s and now owns the copyright to them. Rediculous!
St. Peters Basillica was next. It was nice and HUGE! They even have a partition in the middle to show the next largest church in the world. Show offs! There we saw 3 dead Popes (1 in bronze and the other 2 in wax) and even more paintings and sculptures. My favorite was the sculpture done for some pope by a protestant sculture. The vatican didn't find this out until he was almost done but when they did they said they would not pay him or give him credit. He got the last laugh though as he carved HIS face instead of the dead Popes in the statue. They said the storage area is used as broom closet now. I have a feeling that story was BS but it sure is a good one if not.
After the basillica, I headed up to the top of the dome. It was quite a climb but I had the time as Laura and Teresa accidentally left the secure area and have to go through security again. The view from the top was great, especially inside the dome and then the view of Rome from the top. Next we went to the catabombs below the church. They were not that great but we saw a lot of old dead popes tombs and some newer ones like the 33 day pope from the 70s and John Paul II. There were 2 guards as his in fact. Next we sent a few postcards from the Vatican state post office.
After that we left the Vatican heading for the Pantheon. We got off the subway as close as we could and ended up at the Spanish Steps. Not much exciting there. Had dinner at McD's (I know, lame, but it is supposed to one of the the biggest and7or nicest McDs ever). I had a Grecko sanwhich which was really a Greek pita but in hanburger form. It was decent. Love some cucumber sauce!
After dinner we made our way to Trevi Fountain. We stopped in for groceries on the way so we could have toast and jam for breakfast. The sun was setting by then too so we took some pictures and has some gelato to wait for the sun to set to see it at night. I took some good night pictures (I think at least). We then headed to the Pantheon which was closed at this point but still lit up.
After all that we walked the almost 1.5 miles home. Long day!
Rome - Colosseum & Forum - Day 1, Part 2
Ok, I found an Internet cafe. A nice cheap one too as compared to the other one we passed this afternoon (2€ an hour). I am going to finish day 1 in Rome. Part 1 was really just getting here...
After we got settled into the apartment, we decided to walk around the corner to take a peak at the Colosseum. We passed Laura on the way. After she got settled we went to the Colosseum. I reallyfrogot how big it is. I also didn't realize that it was built in less than 10 years! I guess all that slave labor from conquering other people helped. We walked right in thanks to our Roma Passes that Teresa bought before we left. They get you into 2 museums for free and then an all you can use metro pass for 3 days. It was 20€ and considering the Coloseum was 11 and each metro ride is 1, after the second museum and a few rides, it has more than paid for itself. After walking around the Colosseum, we went and found a geocache. It didn't take long but we had to wait a while to put it back. First find in Italy!
Next on the agenda was the Roman Forum. This was like the National Mall of Rome. most all of the Roman goverment was here. We had to pay 11€ to get in here (we thought it was free and it was until March, we also now think it was included in the price of our Colosseum ticket too so we paid twice) but it was well worth it I thought. Teresa and Laura were not as thrilled. Most of the Forum is only ruins. There are very few buildings still standing. The best are the 2 arches on each end of the Forum and the senate house. After exploring the Forum and listeing to Rick Steve's slightly confusing audio guide, we headed up to Palentine hill which overlooks the Forum. The view was great!
After all that walking we went to find some dinner. This proved to be more difficult that we thought as it was only about 5:30pm and many places did not even open for dinner until 7! We eventually found a place called W.A.N.T.E.D.. It was ok (and across from this internet cafed). I had a sausage calzone. Teresa and Laura both had pizza (artachoke and salami respectivley).
One thing I still don't like about Europe is the lack of tap water. I really don't want to pay $3-5 for some water. What is worse was Teresa got a can of Coke Light for 4€ ($6.30!!). You really need fluids after walking around all day.
After dinner we headed back to the apartment and took a short nap before doing some planning for the next day, transfering pictures, taking notes, etc. We watched a little TV too. The only channel with English was MTV so we watched some really dumb date show. The TV is really strange too. You can't turn it on with the power button. To turn it on you have to use one of the channel buttons. The power button only turns it off. Also, in Rome there are over 20 over the air broadcast channels. I wonder how many people have cable with that much coming in for free (or thanks to taxes, not sure).
About 10pm I ventured out to take some night pictures of the Colloseum and the Arch of Constantine. They look aweseome! They key with a point and shoot camera is getting the camera steady and using the auto timer to let it settle down after you press the button. No flash either of course! In all I took 181 pictures (532mb on the first day). Not a bad start.
After we got settled into the apartment, we decided to walk around the corner to take a peak at the Colosseum. We passed Laura on the way. After she got settled we went to the Colosseum. I reallyfrogot how big it is. I also didn't realize that it was built in less than 10 years! I guess all that slave labor from conquering other people helped. We walked right in thanks to our Roma Passes that Teresa bought before we left. They get you into 2 museums for free and then an all you can use metro pass for 3 days. It was 20€ and considering the Coloseum was 11 and each metro ride is 1, after the second museum and a few rides, it has more than paid for itself. After walking around the Colosseum, we went and found a geocache. It didn't take long but we had to wait a while to put it back. First find in Italy!
Next on the agenda was the Roman Forum. This was like the National Mall of Rome. most all of the Roman goverment was here. We had to pay 11€ to get in here (we thought it was free and it was until March, we also now think it was included in the price of our Colosseum ticket too so we paid twice) but it was well worth it I thought. Teresa and Laura were not as thrilled. Most of the Forum is only ruins. There are very few buildings still standing. The best are the 2 arches on each end of the Forum and the senate house. After exploring the Forum and listeing to Rick Steve's slightly confusing audio guide, we headed up to Palentine hill which overlooks the Forum. The view was great!
After all that walking we went to find some dinner. This proved to be more difficult that we thought as it was only about 5:30pm and many places did not even open for dinner until 7! We eventually found a place called W.A.N.T.E.D.. It was ok (and across from this internet cafed). I had a sausage calzone. Teresa and Laura both had pizza (artachoke and salami respectivley).
One thing I still don't like about Europe is the lack of tap water. I really don't want to pay $3-5 for some water. What is worse was Teresa got a can of Coke Light for 4€ ($6.30!!). You really need fluids after walking around all day.
After dinner we headed back to the apartment and took a short nap before doing some planning for the next day, transfering pictures, taking notes, etc. We watched a little TV too. The only channel with English was MTV so we watched some really dumb date show. The TV is really strange too. You can't turn it on with the power button. To turn it on you have to use one of the channel buttons. The power button only turns it off. Also, in Rome there are over 20 over the air broadcast channels. I wonder how many people have cable with that much coming in for free (or thanks to taxes, not sure).
About 10pm I ventured out to take some night pictures of the Colloseum and the Arch of Constantine. They look aweseome! They key with a point and shoot camera is getting the camera steady and using the auto timer to let it settle down after you press the button. No flash either of course! In all I took 181 pictures (532mb on the first day). Not a bad start.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Free Italy Audio Tours from Rick Steves
Tonight I am working on downloading and getting all the Italy Audio Tours from Rick Steves loaded onto the iPod. I am not sure if we are going to use them but they will be good to have in case we do want to. We are hitting all 3 cities he has tours for: Rome, Florence and Venice. We already have a headphone splitter. They also come with little maps to accompany the tour. I think we have most of those from his Italy book already but these maps are a little larger.
In all there are 12 tours across the 3 cities and each one is divided up into several different files. They are about 40 minutes each with the shortest being the Pantheon (19 minutes) and the longest being the Uffizi Gallery (48 minutes). The ID3 tags need a little work though. I changed mine so the album name is the name of the location. Before they were just split into 2 albums. Now when we want to listen we can browse by artist to Rick Steves and the by album to find the tour we need. The mp3s also only take up 416 MB on your music player so there is plenty of room for other music and/or photos (We bought our iPod specifically to store photos while traveling).
In all there are 12 tours across the 3 cities and each one is divided up into several different files. They are about 40 minutes each with the shortest being the Pantheon (19 minutes) and the longest being the Uffizi Gallery (48 minutes). The ID3 tags need a little work though. I changed mine so the album name is the name of the location. Before they were just split into 2 albums. Now when we want to listen we can browse by artist to Rick Steves and the by album to find the tour we need. The mp3s also only take up 416 MB on your music player so there is plenty of room for other music and/or photos (We bought our iPod specifically to store photos while traveling).
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Where we are staying in Rome, an apartment!
My wife decided that instead of staying in a hotel, bed and breakfast or hostel as we normally would, we should try staying in an apartment in Rome. She found the site Rental in Rome that rents out a ton of different apartments and even whole villas or castles! The apartments range from about €85 - €200+ per night.
We went with the Costantino Loft for €90 ($139 currently) per night. It is right around the corner from the Colosseum too. It did take us forever to get the place booked because with our trip about 2 months away (from when we started requesting), most everything was already taken. My wife finally requested under her name and my name and instead of just sending a first and second choice she sent a whole list of preferences. Whoever was handling her emails was super slow but my request was handled quickly.
All we had to do was fill out a form, email it back, and pay a 20% deposit. I payed with PayPal. It was simple and efficient. I'll blog more about the place when we actually stay there. Now I have to figure out everything we are going to do in Rome. Ciao for now.
We went with the Costantino Loft for €90 ($139 currently) per night. It is right around the corner from the Colosseum too. It did take us forever to get the place booked because with our trip about 2 months away (from when we started requesting), most everything was already taken. My wife finally requested under her name and my name and instead of just sending a first and second choice she sent a whole list of preferences. Whoever was handling her emails was super slow but my request was handled quickly.
All we had to do was fill out a form, email it back, and pay a 20% deposit. I payed with PayPal. It was simple and efficient. I'll blog more about the place when we actually stay there. Now I have to figure out everything we are going to do in Rome. Ciao for now.
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