The European Trip, Rome, Day 2 - The Colosseum

Man, we did some walking today....to/from the Rome Metro station, all over the Colosseum area, the Palantine Hill, and even checked out the recently opened exhibit of an emperor's house.

Martha and I woke quite early and we snuck out of the hotel room, leaving sleeping teenagers sleep, while we went just down the street a bit to take pictures of Castelo San Angelo.

Featured in the movie The Da Vinci Code, it's the castle where one of the popes, when under attack, was smuggled through a secret passage in the Vatican wall to this castle.

A view of Saint Peter's Dome from Via Concialiazione

Castelo San Angelo

Martha then wanted to check out Plaza Navona.  It's got a couple of fountains that are a good stand-in for the Trevi Fountain site which is currently under repairs and not much to see there.

A short walk later, the golden hour and us arrived at Piazza Navona together.

King Neptune

We started headed back to the hotel via a different route, and found ourselves enjoying a couple of Expressos and a pastry at a small cafe we saw full of locals.  It was quite nice.

Suitably fortified, we found the following as we crossed the Tiber river once more:

We got the boys up and we headed to the nearest Rome Metro stop, the Ottaviano, which also had a TIM store nearby.  TIM is the largest of at least three cellular phone/data providers here in Italy and I needed to us get data sims that would work in Italy not only for work but for everyone to check their email and social media of course.  ;p

Anyways, we got there before 9am and of course, they weren't open yet.  Sigh.  So, we went to the Termini Metro Station where Rome's main train station is also located and found an open TIM store there.  Got our 5GB data only sims for 24 Euros per phone, not too bad I guess.

The sales guy told us it would take 2-3 hours to activate, ah Italy.  So off we went to the Colosseum metro stop to end up waiting in the heat (though we did find a nice shade tree) for about an hour before the tour was scheduled to start.  Why not look around while we waited you ask?  It was hot and humid, especially when out of the shade!

Hot sun, huge crowds, high humidity, what's not to like?

Oh, turns out, the Colosseum was built on what used to be marsh land and a lake!

The tour started on time at 12:30 and the lady handling the program dropped a bombshell on us.  She told us the folks who schedule tour groups for the "special access" areas had goofed up and we wouldn't be able to do the "underground Colosseum" tour!  Quite disappointing even though they said they'd refund us 30 euros per person and thrown in an "exclusive" tour of a Roman emperor's house.

We were bummed but whatcha going to do right?  So, off we went into the oppressive heat.  The poor tour guide, he was full of great information but I think he figured out pretty early on that the Chang boys weren't that much into history, and the fact we didn't get to do the underground Colosseum tour obviated his chances for a tip after the 4 hour tour.

Still, he soldiered on, and so did the 10 of us in the tour group.  So much information about the area, so much walking, so many people to wade through in the process.  Add in hot humid conditions and the interest level steadily dropped as the hours went by.   Still, the rich history of the place....not something to be missed.

The arena within the Colosseum, we were supposed to have been 

down there but not this time!

A view of the arches which made up one of the layers 

of this massive structure

According to our guide, only about a third of the colosseum remains, 

the rest was destroyed by earthquakes and centuries of folks taking the

building blocks away for other purposes.  

The Triumphal Arch built to conmemorate the victory over Jerusalem

The war booty of which helped fund the construction of the colossuem

Can you tell Patrick's no longer interested in even pretending to listen?

Above and below, shots of the restorative work done so far

on the home of one of Rome's Emperors, I forget which right now.

The remaining ruins of what used to be the Roman Supreme Court building.

View of the Colosseum from Palantine Hill

View of the ruins of the Roman Forum from Palantine Hill

Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

A view back towards the Palantine Hill and the remnants of

what used to be a huge administrative building and living quarters

for the Roman emperor.  Apparently, the building covered about a third

of the land that was originally where the tribe of Rome originated!

It was near the above picture that the tour ended, I think to the relief of everyone including the tour guide.

All of us were pretty much exhausted and we slowly made our way back to the Colosseum Metro station where we were in time for rush hour.  We were packed like sardines in the train back to the Termini station but the train with the six stops for our "home" station wasn't too badly crowded.

Once we got out of the Metro, we located the TIM store that had been closed that morning and I told the young lady at the desk that the sims weren't working!  She checked the records, looked around a bit then gave me "the look".  "Sir" she said, "you have to reboot the phone for it to work with the new sim and get Internet access".  I told her that her colleagues at the other TIM store had failed to mention that, she was not impressed.

Still, she got all four of our phones working so we were all satisfied and on our way to dinner.  We found this little trattoria and decided we needed some wine to help our sore feet.  We ate outside as I've determined that even though a restaurant may claim to be air-conditioned, it really isn't after a long day of walking around in the heat.

Ah, the curative qualities of red wine

Martha and I had the Spaghetti Carbonara, yummy

Patrick loved the Pizza Diavola, basically spicy pepperoni!

Success!

Miles liked the Borgo Nuovo pizza, ham, sausage, hotdog I think.

Miles LOVED the Tiramisu dessert....always ordered a second one!

above and below, I had the boys take a sip out of my expresso

cup, both claimed to like the taste.  It'll hopefully translate

to wide awake boys for tomorrow's early tour of the Sistine Chapel.

On the way home, I spied this "basic" scooter, nothing fancy but definitely workmanlike!

Token Moto Content

Got myself a blister on the right foot, but no big deal I think.  Lots learned today, Roman history-wise and also about Italian cell/data providers, and finally about how crowded things can be at times.

The European Summer Trip, Rome, Day 1

Warning, very slight moto-content in this first post detailing our first day, a long day, where we rode planes flown by United Airlines from Denver, to Chicago and from there to Rome Italy.

As I type this, we spent most of Saturday, and most of Sunday, awake.  We tried sleeping on the plane but between periodic turbulence, the seemingly incessant use of the flight attendant request button and accompanying loud tone and just general discomfort in cattle class, we didn't succeed in getting much sleep.

Still, we survived, and after a somewhat long wait to get past passport control at the Leonard Da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, Italy we got ourselves a cab and rode that into Central Rome, the Eternal City.  And by Eternal, I think they mean the traffic!

It's early summer here in Rome and the temperature today reached 31 degrees Celcius, or 87 degrees Farenheit and very humid!

We made it to our hotel just fine and after sorting ourselves out a bit, Martha, my son Miles and I went up the B tower's stairs to find "the view" shown in the hotel's advertisement pamphlet.  Of course, B Tower faced the wrong way, so we made our way down via elevator this time and then ascended on the A Tower's elevator.  Found the door to terrace locked.  Down we went, located the keys from the hotel's front desk, and finally got out onto the terrace for this view of Saint Peter's Dome in nearby Vatican City.

 View of Saint Peter's Dome

We rested for a bit, but knowing we had to try and stay awake in order to adapt to this new timezone and get over jet lag, we went out for a walk to "explore".  

 It really didn't take long at all for Martha and Miles to have

to take a Gelato break!

After the gelatos, we wandered over to a nearby gate that allowed one inside of the Vatican City.  The below row of columns lead one's eye to the centerpiece of Saint Peter's Plaza, the massive Church itself!  There were, hundreds of tourists, queued up in the hot afternoon sun, trying to get into the church to have a look around.  We, did not join them.

 Instead, we contented ourselves in some sweat-soaked picture taking 

in the middle of the plaza.

We meandered around a bit and finally got back to the hotel where after a brief rest period, we gathered up both boys this time and went out for a late lunch/early dinner.

Our first dinner choice was a nearby ristorante which had garnered good reviews on trip advisor but it turned out to be closed on Sundays!  Doh.

Nearby was a pizzeria and since it advertised air-conditioning, we picked it as the backup choice for pizza.  Turns out, the food was mediocre at best, the AC pretty much non-existent, so our first dinner in Italy didn't turn out so well.

Ah, but the fates would turn things around for us.  We escaped the pizzeria, and out into the narrow little streets near the Vatican under a very mild rain; really just the occasional drop or two but it really drove all the tourists indoors!

We went to St Peter's Plaza and the place was darn near empty in comparison to the earlier crowds!  We hurried into the the queue and within a minute or so were taking a tour of Saint Peter's dome, man that was a lot of climbing of narrow stairways but the views from up there were breath-taking!

 A couple of views of parts of the long set of 

stairways leading up to the top of the dome.  There was a portion, 

where you could feel you were walking along the curved edge of the dome itself!

source: LINK

Before we went to the top of the above dome, we walked along a walkways

ringing the dome from below.  Quite the view of the church below but

there was a very high, mesh fence, made out of 1/8 thick wire that precluded pictures 

from this balcony area.

 A nice view of Saint Peter's Plaza/Square from the top of the dome!

 I believe we walked all the way to the top portions of the curved dome above.

After the dome, it was walking about part of the roof of the church itself.  We could get pretty close to part of the row of statues the decorate the top of the archway columns which sweep from the church out, creating Saint Peter's Plaza/Square.

 A view of the backend of the main sculpture/art work which I believe is

built over the
SE corner of the church itself.

Patrick, Martha and Miles at one of the small "domes" which 

cover the center holes of one of the several domes within the church.

We made our way careful down the stone steps; descending down from the top of the dome, to the main level of the church.

We wandered about this incredibly beautiful church, me taking photos while Martha toured the church using an audio tour guide app she'd downloaded beforehand.

Took a lot of photos, these are the ones that turned out best at the job of giving you a small hint of the beauty of the inside of this church.

One last shot, a lone Swiss Guard on sentry duty near the gate which we passed as we left the confines of the main church.

Now, as to the slight moto-content I alluded to at the start.  The best way to get around the city center, where the Vatican City is located, is by scooter it seems.  They're everywhere and while helmets seem to be a preferred option more often than now, there's not a lot of safety riding gear being used by the scooteristas.

Could be the muggy heat, could be because most of the riders were young men with young women riding pillion while trying to hold down the hem of their short skirt, maybe they're bolder than I am.

The scooters can park just about anywhere and do and I would say 99% are "rode hard and put away wet", which didn't make for artsy pictures of scooters.

I did however spot this old Airhead Beemer: 

Next posting: The Colosseum!

Previously, I find Valencia's pic on Ebay

Found Valencia's Picture on Ebay....

Just goes to show you how one's pictures, when posted on the Internet, can end up in the most unforeseen spots.

Happily, the person who used the picture, did somewhat of an attribution in that the source was listed as "redlegsrides", which a google search usually renders my blog's location. (10,200 hits on their search engine)

Still, I never figured it would be found on ebay.com of all places!

I get an email from pinterest.com you see, listing boards I might be interested in looking at and possibly following.  I saw one offering calling itself "Colorado!" and it peaked my interest as you might imagine.  After all, I am always looking for new locations to shoot in this great state I live in.

While perusing the "Colorado!" board's pins, lo and behold I spot what is unmistakably one of my photographs of Valencia!

Now, seeing my stuff on other pinterest boards is not a surprise, that's why one shares one's stuff on pinterest right?  What drew my attention was that the board owner cited the source as ebay.com.

Ebay?  Huh?

So I clicked on the picture which pinterest hyperlinks to the source.  It led me to this page on ebay.com where the author is showing a listing of pictures in an article called: "10 Spectacular U.S. Road Trips You Didn't Know Existed".

Yep, there was the picture of Valencia on the Million Dollar Highway from a posting I'd published back in May 3, 2012:

So, since when is Ebay.com in the business of listing such articles?  I couldn't see that it was for auction or sale but then again, the publishing date of this article was May 29, 2014.

On the one hand, I was happy to find attribution by the article's author.  On the other, it makes me wonder what the purpose of this article was to the author.  Sure, it's to list what carhoots.com considers some great Road Trips.  But on Ebay?!  Not exactly the place I'd pick to drive traffic to my website.

Anyways, here's the original picture from my posting, I believe the ledge that Valencia is sitting on is no longer there, must have "fallen off" or been removed by CDOT to stop folks from using it.

Link to the blog posting

a better view of the ledge, from the original posting as well
but tweaked a bit using google photos tools

Previously: Mosquito Moon

Mosquito Moon

Yesterday evening, it was going to be a Full Moon evening, with Sunset immediately preceding the Moonrise.  It gave me hope that there'd be enough light to shoot my rig, with the full moon in the sky.

Got to the usual spot with plenty of time, and watched a pretty colorful if cloudless sunset make the front range mountains glow with oranges and yellows:

 above and below shot with my iphone6, not too shabby....

Soon after the sun had disappeared behind the front range mountains, I saw the full moon begin to peek above the eastern horizon.

My angles were all wrong where I had pre-positioned the Sony A5000 camera with tripod beforehand!

There was much hurried re-positioning of camera and tripod as the light grew dimmer with the sun's afterglow fading.  As to the title of the posting, all the shots I took were while being eaten alive by what seemed at times to be a cloud of mosquitoes!  It was a warm muggy evening, and I had removed my helmet and riding jacket, which of course offered up more skin for the mosquitoes to sting!

Here's the best that I got, after post-processing and before the last shot which is a Photoshop composite of the first two photos below:

 The time was very brief, where remaining sunlight allowed a capture of the

rig and the camera could be underexposed to capture detail on the moon.

Straight up shot of the moon, done with the below

Photoshop composite in mind.

Didn't really shoot a lot of shots, a total of only 34 shots with the Sony!  For me, that's very few pictures.  I ran out of usable light, the camera no longer could cope with the disparity of such a bright moon and lack of ambient light for the rig, and I'll admit it; I was chased out of there by all the biting mosquitoes!

one of the mosquitoes caught in the picture

The ride home was nice and cool in the breeze caused by the moving rig.  The western horizon was still aglow with a very pale orange color still highlighting the front range mountains.  It was, quite nice a view.  Keeping a wary eye for wildlife which might be crossing the road, I made it home safe and sound.  

I hope you like the pictures.

Previously: Monkey See, Monkey Do

or

Martha and I go Uraling on Trail Ridge Road