My little tip is to get here early. It had the longest queue by far in all of Rome. All the way down to the road and just as long around the corner as to it.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Vatican Galleries
Simply stunning, just a pity we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel. I guess they wanted to make money from the postcards.
My little tip is to get here early. It had the longest queue by far in all of Rome. All the way down to the road and just as long around the corner as to it.
My little tip is to get here early. It had the longest queue by far in all of Rome. All the way down to the road and just as long around the corner as to it.
Palatine
The Palatine are the gardens where the Roman leaders, after travelling around the world, would come to get some rest and recreation. The gardens housed baths, resting places, churches and the like. Considering this is in the middle of the city it is extremely calm and serene here.
Coliseum
Hurrah for wide-angle lenses!!
The lower level is where they channeled the animals into the arena. At the far end is where the emperor would sit.
Rome Day 3
Circus Massimo is where they used to race horses, as seen in Ben Hur. Now there's nothing left of the place except for the grass, which is now one the main park in the city. The pic is taken from one end of the centre of the track, where the horses and chariots would turn around. Although there's nothing to see here it was actually my favourite bit of Rome because you were left to imagine what it would have looked like.
Some old church, which was very popular with the tourists for some reason.
On the southern edge of the main city is this rather out of place Pyramid. Apparently some Roman dude was so impressed with what he saw in Egypt that he decided to build his own pyramid, shame it was so rubbish!
The Tiber River runs through the city and this island is the only one of its kind, at least within the city walls. There's an excellent ice cream place on it. Not sure how I managed to make the island look like it was snowing.
Some old church in the Trastevere part of the city. Its famous because it was one of the first to use gold in its patterns. Quite a stunning church.
Taken at the end of the night, this is the fountain in the Piazza Republica. Again I was playing with the long exposure in the camera. I think this came out alright considering...
Vatican
The Vatican is one of the most stunning places I've ever visited but then with it being the centre of one the main world religions I guess it has to be.
St Peters Basilica is in the background. When the new pope was announced people were queueing all the way back to here.
Inside the Vatican the light levels are too low for good photos to be taken and those taken with flash came out rubbish. This meant that to get a half decent photo you had to use long exposures. Even though the hawkers were selling them on the way in, tripods aren't allowed, so keeping the camera still is the challenge in here. I felt a bit awkward leaning all over the place to keep the camera steady but it allowed me to come away with some nice shots.
After walking around the main building I took a tour of the tombs, which now include the resting place of the previous Pope. A respect for the dead meant that no pictures were taken down there, even though some tourists (mostly the Italians I might add) sneaked a pic in front of the security guards.
As well as descending beneath the Vatican you can also ascend to the top of it. Not wanting to be seen as a lazy Brit I chose to ascend the 500+ steps to the top, and not rely on the elevator for half of them. As you ascend the Cupola (the main dome) the side wall curves in, as you'd expect, and the final few steps feels like being in a funhouse. But the views from the top are amazing, even on an overcast day.
St Peters Basilica is in the background. When the new pope was announced people were queueing all the way back to here.Inside the Vatican the light levels are too low for good photos to be taken and those taken with flash came out rubbish. This meant that to get a half decent photo you had to use long exposures. Even though the hawkers were selling them on the way in, tripods aren't allowed, so keeping the camera still is the challenge in here. I felt a bit awkward leaning all over the place to keep the camera steady but it allowed me to come away with some nice shots.
After walking around the main building I took a tour of the tombs, which now include the resting place of the previous Pope. A respect for the dead meant that no pictures were taken down there, even though some tourists (mostly the Italians I might add) sneaked a pic in front of the security guards.As well as descending beneath the Vatican you can also ascend to the top of it. Not wanting to be seen as a lazy Brit I chose to ascend the 500+ steps to the top, and not rely on the elevator for half of them. As you ascend the Cupola (the main dome) the side wall curves in, as you'd expect, and the final few steps feels like being in a funhouse. But the views from the top are amazing, even on an overcast day.
Rome Day 2
The Pantheon was built around 120AD by Hadrian, more famous for building a wall in Northern England. Most of the lighting in the building comes from a hole in the roof that symbolises a connection to the heavens.
Castel Sant Angelo is another Hadrian structure, well at least it was started by him. Throughout its time it has been a castle, a prison and papal residence although when I was there it was nothing more than a few galleries and an excellent view of the city...once you'd climbed to the top that is.
There are loads of statues around the city. This is one of Darth Maul.
The traffic in Rome is manic to say the least. It took me quite a bit of confidence to step out into it (this is the only way you'll get them to stop the majority of the time). Once you get used to it though it does work. Here a fleet of lorries remove illegally park traffic. There were 6 other vehicles doing the same thing off camera.
More ruins in the middle of the city.
Rome Trip Report
Here are some pics from my recent trip to Rome.
The Villa Borghese is one of the main parks in the city and an excellent place to relax. It was also a short walk from the hotel so I thought I'd pass through it on the way to rest of the city.
These are the Spanish Steps located at the end of one of the main shopping streets in the heart of the city. Here people gather to just chill out with half of the people boosting their tans and the vampire population choosing to remain in the shadows.
The building on the left is the Ara Pacis. It upset some of the locals because it was the first modern art building to be built in the city. It houses some old tomb, older than the church on the right, one of many in the city.
This is on the way to the Coliseum and shows several periods of development with the old ruins beneath the more modern, yet still old, buildings above. They're trying to build a third metro line here but every time they hit ruins they have to excavate them, which is slowing things down considerably. I guess given the city's historical reputation they can't limit the digging to 5 days as they do on Time Team.
A HDR shot of the Piazza di Popolo, with the Villa Borghese high up in the background. The city knows how to do a piazza, with loads of them around the city. This one is famous for being the start of famous horse race that began here and ended up down at the Piazza del Venezie.
HDR shot of the Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous landmarks in the city. Its also, quite annoyingly, home to lots of people trying to sell you junk.
The Villa Borghese is one of the main parks in the city and an excellent place to relax. It was also a short walk from the hotel so I thought I'd pass through it on the way to rest of the city.
These are the Spanish Steps located at the end of one of the main shopping streets in the heart of the city. Here people gather to just chill out with half of the people boosting their tans and the vampire population choosing to remain in the shadows.
The building on the left is the Ara Pacis. It upset some of the locals because it was the first modern art building to be built in the city. It houses some old tomb, older than the church on the right, one of many in the city.
This is on the way to the Coliseum and shows several periods of development with the old ruins beneath the more modern, yet still old, buildings above. They're trying to build a third metro line here but every time they hit ruins they have to excavate them, which is slowing things down considerably. I guess given the city's historical reputation they can't limit the digging to 5 days as they do on Time Team.
A HDR shot of the Piazza di Popolo, with the Villa Borghese high up in the background. The city knows how to do a piazza, with loads of them around the city. This one is famous for being the start of famous horse race that began here and ended up down at the Piazza del Venezie.
HDR shot of the Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous landmarks in the city. Its also, quite annoyingly, home to lots of people trying to sell you junk.
The Illusionist
A film about Magic and beards and another tale of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girls parents don't like boy so he runs away, boy meets girl, girl is already spoken for, boy tries to get girl from rival.
Set in Austria at a time when people wore period costume Edward Norton with crap beard plays the eponymous magician. Paul Giamatti with better beard and moustache plays a magic loving cop investigating Edward. Rufus Sewell with average beard plays the evil emperor who is due to marry Jessica Biel, who lacks a beard.
The film is actually pretty stale and dull. Norton isn't challenged too hard, in several scenes all he has to do is hold his hand out with fingers outstretched and imagine he's creating some CGI effect; even I can do that!
The film tries to be clever but the twist is easier to figure out than the illusions, which are intentionally impossible to do.
If you want to see a good film with a magic theme, go and see The Prestige; not this.
Americans aren't stupid
Australian TV sets out to disprove that Americans are stupid. Link is here . Clearly they've edited it to show what they want, but some amusing answers to the questions all the same.
Monday, March 05, 2007
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