Seeing in the New Year in Rome……

31 December, 2014

Hercule Poirot and his suspects. Susie with a moustach is particularly suspicious. On our way to the New Year’s eve celebrations.

Even more suspicious???

Ahhh, so that is how you get around being arrested by Poirot.

Fire works over Rome. Some a little to close… like right next to us.

Cars burning in an alley in Rome.

On our way back home we witnessed about 6 cars going up in flames in an alley. The arrival of the fire brigade was like comedy cappers. I have the video to prove it.

 

More lights and decorations than Christmas.

Freezing day and windy so off to the Vatican and Sistine Chapel tour

30 December, 2014

If you look closely there is a lion’s mouth in the urn through which the fountain waters flowed.

This was our second Vatican tour in two years but it was just as busy this time as last. Apparently they have over 30,000 visitors a day which nets the Catholic Church over Eu200,000,000 per year (minimum).

It takes about 3 hours to do the tour and it is full on continual shuffle for the 3 hours. We were crammed in again like sheep in a pen so it is very difficult to spend any quality time viewing the museum or the Sistine Chapel. It is obvious that the museum is too small for the volume of people so it needs to be in a larger complex. If this were in the USA they would have a large car park out front, electric carts to take you to the entrance and sell annual passes so that you could view the precious artifacts in about 10 buildings with refreshment facilities, toilets and interactive information about each object. It would take about a week to view the objects at leisure.

St.Peters is a day trip in its own right. The crypts and statues are very interesting. It was impossible to take all the photos that you would like to do and there is no photography allowed in the chapel.   That is fine as you can get all the photos you want on the internet so I just enjoyed looking at most things without the camera in my way.

 

This was an old Roman fountain made of Egyptian red marble. Highly prized by the Romans and very hard.

A bronzed marble statue. It appears that ancient Greek and Roman statues were never displayed as white marble but painted or coated to show more details than we see today.

The red Egyptian marble in the form of two identical alters.

Just outside of St.Peters.

The Colosseum and Palantine Hill tour

29 December, 2014

We managed to get on the Lower level and upper level tour.

The view from under the Colosseum where the Gladiators and animals waited for their turn to be on show.

The underground workings. A system of access points, storage and drainage.

A diagram showing how the lifts, levers and pulleys worked below the main stage.

Access to the higher levels. It was great to avoid the crush of the crowds.

The upper access tunnels to the “poor seats” up high.

Great view of the arch and Palantine Hill from the top levels.

The ruins of the main temple.

The Colosseum overview from the cheap seats.

Sunny day but the wind is straight off the snow.

Nothing cheap about this view…

The Roman Temple or Basilica which is the height of a 5 story building. It must have been amazing in its day.

The start of the Roman Forum. A funny thing happened on the way here……

The main forum.

This is supposedly the remains of the Roman Alter where Julius Caesar’s ashes were entombed.

The view of the Colosseum from the Palantine Hill.

The Basilica again. Most impressive.

The main area of the Forum from the Hill.

Paul’s lips were starting to freeze over so he needed to warm them up.

A long walk with Susie and Paul to Piazza Garibaldi via St. Peter’s Square

28 December, 2014

Cold day in St. Peter’s Square.

Not too crowded today but the weather looks like it is about to rain.

It didn’t rain but too misty to get any good photos from Piazza Garibaldi.

In front of the “Type writer”. Time for tea?

Quiet Christmas day in Rome then a beautiful day for a walk on Boxing Day

26 December, 2014

Teatro di Marcello. Built on over the ages.

Such a beautiful warm and sunny day in Rome so we decided to take a stroll down to Terme Di Caracalla. It was too nice a day not to drop in and look around the Teatro di Marcello since we were going past.

Portico d’Ottavia. There was a bit of scaffolding around the main building rectifying some 1960s poor workmanship so I just photographed the colums.

The back of the Palatino Hill from across the other side of the Circo Massimo. Bigger than Ben Hur really…

The Terme is quite vast so by the time we got there we decided that it would take a full day to investigate so we headed back along Via delle Terme di Caracalla and have a coffee at 0.75 near Circo Massimo. The height of the brick work in the Villa on the Palatino Hill is amazing given the time that it was built. The Circo was where the Romans had horse races until the spoil sport Pope decided that it was too decadent and it must stop. Cecil B d’Mills converted the old race course back again for the famous chariot race in the film Ben Hur.

A gentle stroll around Isola Tiberina on this sunny Boxing Day. Happy 87th birthday dad.

The Ponte Garibaldi from the Isola.

Still plenty of water in the creek. I can’t believe that they considered filling in the left branch a few years ago. Modern day vandalism really.

The water has that limestone colouring (with a bit of mud to add to the slime).

The ramp looks grass covered but it is just moss. The whole city needs a good weed and sweep.

The bridge to nowhere. Just one span left standing.

The hospital (north) end of the Isola. Needing a good weed and tidy up. With all the unemployment in Italy I would have thought that people could be put to good use.

 

 

Eliza called… Eliza and Matt are engaged! Great news!

22 December, 2014

Eliza and Matt on their recent visit to New York.

After a couple of failed attempts to hook up we finally managed to Skype with Eliza. She had great news. Matt and her are now engaged. The engagement party is to be in March next year and the wedding is planned for sometime around September 2016 depending on their unit settlement. That should give us plenty of time to organise to be in Oz for the wedding. SO EXCITING! My baby girl is getting married! Matt is such a lovely guy. We are very proud of them both.

The local chess matches in the Piazza below us.

Lynn is down with a cold this week so we are trying to limit her movements for a couple of days.

Piazza Navona lit up for Christmas.

Despite Lynn’s cold we ventured out to see the city decorations for Christmas. At last they have added some lights to Piazza Navona. We thought that it had been a bit neglected so far.

The Vatican at night.

Cool night at the Vatican with Christmas lights.

The nativity scene at the Vatican.

Chilly night for a walk to the Vatican.

The Vidlers return to Oz (to more Brisbane Storms)

21 December, 2014

Beautiful weather in Piazza Navona.

We had to move to a new apartment between the Vidler’s visit and the visit from Paul and Sussie. The larger apartment had 2 bathrooms so it was great for two couples but the owner wouldn’t do a deal when it was just two of us so we moved 600 meters down the road (and closer to Piazza Navona) for 10 days. The larger apartment lay vacant for these 10 days until our return. No wonder the Italian economy is in tatters. Still it was great for us. The cheaper apartment is two bedrooms but only one tiny bathroom and substantially cheaper but better located. We still go each morning to the coffee shop at Via dell’ Orso for great and cheap coffee (and the occasional doughnut).

Night picture out of our apartment window.

The new apartment is right above some of the best bars and restaurants in Rome but it is also less sound proof and the shutters don’t block out the bright lights but we just sleep later now that Wayne doesn’t wake us up at 7 am when he goes out for a cigarette and early morning coffee. We do miss you Wayne! But life is back to normal albeit much duller without the big guy.

Lots of Restaurants close by.

Lucky the Vidlers took the wet weather home with them.

Wet and dreary day in Rome – at least the tourists will stay indoors….

16 December, 2014

Bucketing down in St. Peter’s Square.

 

Some great views from the top at Piazzale Garibaldi. Too bad about the weather.

 

Good thing that the Vidlers brought the umbrellas from flooded Venice.

Some day I will tell you about how Wayne was busting for a pee, the army was setting the noon day gun and a vendor’s tent… 🙂

 

A monument and fountain at the edge of Gianicolo Park. Nice find and probably a rival to Trevi.

 

Just a quick sandwich and glass of red for lunch.

 

The walk was worth it. Great little wine bar and restaurant called Vinallegro at Piazza Giuditta Tavani Arquati in Trastevere. We may never find it again..

 

A walk around the usual tourist sites of Rome

14 December, 2014

The Pantheon. When in Rome do as the Tourists do..

Taken by a Girl Guide. Good deed for the day….Done!

The Trevi Fountain under scaffolding for repairs. At least something is being repaired in Rome.

This is the closest we had been to the statues in the Trevi.

Ahhh. I see the problem… someone pulled the plug on the fountain.

A walk around the Colosseum then back via Circo Massimo for lunch. A day as big as Ben Hur.

Out for a walking tour of the grounds of Villa Borghese, back via Piazza del Popolo

13 December, 2014

The mandatory photo near the lake.

Watching the rower on the lake.

Wayne in the Piazza del Popolo.

The Egyption Obelisk in Piazza del Popolo.