I have only dreamt of going to Rome, so to say l was excited about it actually happening, was an under statement!!
This was another trip that was purchased through "Groupon". Again l would suggest to anyone who is looking to travel, to sign up to Groupon in the country for which you would like to visit so you can get view their deals. It has saved me a lot of money by doing so and of course, l have been able to go to places that l might not otherwise!
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Carole and l heading out for a walk around and dinner. View of the
hotel... |
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Of course, you can't be in Italy and not have
"Pasta"! Yummy and Italian wine of course! |
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Tiramisu.......... Nothing like we get back in
Canada, it was to die for!!!!!!!! Unfortunately
l could only eat half of it... :( |
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Some of the sights we saw on our first night
in Rome... Beautiful Fountain... |
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Our Hotel in the day light.
"Grand Hotel del Gianicolo" |
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| Roof top Breakfast room |
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| Beautiful dining room facing the pool |
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| Lovely gardens |
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| Fresh Lemons for the picking! |
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Too bad it wasn't warn enough to enjoy!
The hotel was situated on one block of property!
It was a 4 star hotel, staff were wonderful to deal
with and very friendly.
Thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. |
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| The Roman Republic |
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| Just one view of Rome, by our hotel |
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| Beautiful Rome, what a view! |
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It was still early in the morning so the haze
hadn't burnt off yet. |
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| Streets of Rome |
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A friendly Priest helping us to get
to the Vatican! Friendly tipfor those who might be
visiting the Vatican in the near future. If you take the bus,
you will get off across from a parking garage.You walk into
the garage, take the first door on your right, take the
elevator to the lower level,then take the escalator
down, go straight until you reach the street, then turn Left,
it's right there! |
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First view of the "Vatican" as you come around
the corner. |
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| Grounds of the "Vatican" |
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Another helpful hint.... Don't take the guided tour unless you have plenty of time
to kill, like 4 hrs worth!!!! Not all of this time is spent going through the Vatican itself. Time is wasted waiting for them to get enough people to start the tour, ( min. 12 people), once they do, you then stand for another 20 mins or more while the guide gives you information about the Vatican. It is after that, that you start to make your way to the Vatican or so you think, no they have to take you to their office so that you can make payment first. That is additional 10 mins of walking and more time wasted as you wait for people to be processed as they have a small office. After payment is completed it is then when you make your way to the entrance of the Vatican to start your tour... So right off the hop, 1-1.5 hrs is wasted.... Forget about hearing all the details that the guide is giving you over a radio with earphones cause the quality of the sound is so bad you miss over half of what is said anyways... I would not recommend doing it this type of tour... |
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From the top left, second window
is the Viewing window of the Pope |
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| Pope's Gate, Vatican Guards |
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The Entrance for which the Pope uses on
Special occasions |
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Behind the walls of the Vatican,
the Pope's personal garden |
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| Court of the Pigna |
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View from with in the Vatican, over looking
Vatican City |
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| Vatican City |
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Just a few examples of the collection
of classical sculptures within the Vatican |
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| Gallery of the Candelabra |
This room contains classical roman sculpture
which dates from the 3rd century BC to
the 3rd century AD |
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Amazing paintings along the ceiling in the
Gallery of Maps |
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The ceiling in the Gallery of
Maps |
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| The Gallery of Maps |
You definitely will get a sore neck from looking up!
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| The Gallery of Tapestries |
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Entering the Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel is one of Michelangelo most famous
pieces of art. |
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The ceiling was started July 1508, it took
Michelangelo until Oct 1512 to complete it. |
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You are not suppose to take pictures but.....
l did..... me and hundreds of others! :) |
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The back wall, The Last Judgement
was painted by Michelangelo between
1536 and 1541 |
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| Sistine Chapel |
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Painting in the Gallery of the
Libraries |
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Painting glass window, it
is illuminated by the sunlight outside. |
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The Braccio Nuovo (the new wing)
over 200 sculptures are located in this
wing |
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| Spiral Stairs of the Vatican Museum |
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Enjoying a nice drink and some Italian cuisine
after the tour.. |
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Just one of many trips we took on the local
transit system. |
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| One of hundreds of Churchs through Rome |
Abosultely beautiful inside!
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Complesso del Vittoriano
The National Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II
(Father of the Nation) |
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| La Zona Prima dei Fori Imperiali |
The Imperial Forums consist of a series of
monumental buildings that were built over
a century and a half, between 46 BC and
113 AD in the heat of Rome by the
Emperors. |
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| Colosseum in the back ground |
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| The Forum and the Markets of Tarjan |
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| Forum of Nerva (south wall) |
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| Colosseum in the background |
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| Carole, I and the Colosseum |
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The stone streets that the Romans
built. |
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| Colosseum is a definitely a sight to be seen! |
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| Carole and her Roman Solider! |
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| Two thumbs up! :) |
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Having some "Cut throat"
fun with my Roman Solider |
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| Colosseum with sunset lighting |
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After a 10 hr day of sightseeing, it was
time to enjoy a lovely Italian meal before
heading back to the hotel for a well
deserve sleep! |
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| Back to the Colosseum the next morning.. We missed visiting it the night before by 5 mins so a return visit was required but oh so worth it! |
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The next set of pictures are of the inside of the
Colosseum |
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Construction of the Colosseum began in
72 AD, to be completed in 80 AD.
It was a marvel of engineering since its
enormous weight rested in a swamp (Nevo's
former lake) on artificial supports. |
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| The very steps that the Romans walked! |
Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.
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| Arch of Constantine in the background |
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Arch of Constantine
The Arch was erected in honor of Constantine's
defeat of pagan Maxentius in AD 312. |
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| Colosseum... |
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Entering the grounds of Caeser's Forum
Colosseum in the background |
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| The layout of the Forum grounds |
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| Forum of Caeser |
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| Carole and l under the beautiful Misteria |
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| Misteria |
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| 3rd-2nd Century BC |
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| 4th-1st Century BC |
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| Imperial Period, 1st Century |
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| Imperial Period 1st-4th Century AD |
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Late 2nd-early 3rd Century AD
Crystal |
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Mosaic with Harbour Scene made of
Terrerace of Glass and limestone |
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Street performs, Colosseum
in the background |
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Sundays they close this main street off to local traffic.
Pedestrian's took over the street, street performs, vendors etc. |
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Just a few examples of Ceaser statues you will
see in Rome |
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The miniatures are craved out of carrots!
Amazing detail.... |
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Trevi Fountain
The largest baroque fountain in Rome, was completed in 1762 as a collaborative effort between many artists including Salvi, Bracci, and Pannini. It was built on the site of an original fountain fed by the Roman Aqueducts (as are most of the fountains in Rome). |
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Myth has it, if you toss one coin in,
you will return to Rome again. If you
toss in 2 coins, you will either have a
new relationship or going to have a baby,
and if you todd in 3, you will
either get engaged or divorced....
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Let's just say, l threw in a total
of seven! |
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| There is no lack of beautiful churches in Rome. |
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Spanish Stairs
The widest staircase in Europe, completed in 1717.
Church of Trinità dei Monti located at the very top. |
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| Looking down to Piazza di Spagna from the Spanish Stairs |
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View from the Piazza Trinita dei Monti,
located about the Spanish Stairs |
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Inside the Church of Trinità dei Monti,
located above the Spanish Stairs |
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Lovely Statue located in Piazza
Trinita dei Monti. |
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An Egyptian obelisk of Sety I stands in the middle of the square.
It is the second oldest obelisk in Rome, brought to Rome in
10 BC |
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For centuries, the Piazza del Popolo was a place
for public executions, the last of which took
place in 1826. |
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Piazza del Popolo
(People's Square) |
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| The way of travel in Rome! |
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A wonderful private courtyard that we
came across during our sightseeing. |
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Piazza Navona, fillled with Artisans, you
will find amazing works of art created by local
artisans..
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| If you saw the Angels and Demons movie starring Tom Hanks, then you may remember that the obelisk atop the Four Rivers Fountain was the 4th Illuminati marker and it is where Cardinal Baggia was placed to fulfill the death by drowning. He was to be weighted down and drowned in the fountain pool. |
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Fountain of the Four Rivers,
Four gods on the four corners of the fountain represent the world's four major rivers. |
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Enjoying an Italian Ice cream, Gelato!
Yummy |
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| Another angle of the Colosseum |
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| Entrance to St. Peter's Basilica |
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| Vault in the portico |
Since we ran out of time to visit St. Peter's on Saturday when we were at the Vatican, we decided to make this our last visit before leaving Rome Monday. I am glad that we did because it was well worth returning for and it is free to visit as well.
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Inside St. Peter's
Maderno's nave, looking towards the chancel |
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| The altar |
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| The altar with Bernini's baldacchino |
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List of Pope's that have serviced
in the Vatican
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Some of Michaelangleo's finest work is located in St. Peter's Basilica
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You don't have to be religious to appreciate
some of the worlds most beautiful art pieces. |
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| Vatican Guard |
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| Finally look at the Vatican |
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Enjoying a lovely lunch at the hotel before
we head off to the airport! |
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Our "Taxis" Mercedes Benz, brand new!
What a nice ride even though
we watched our lives flash past
us. Our driver drove like a a manic,
160 kms on the highway!!!!
NUTS!!! |
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Went to the airport only to end up sitting there for
hours to see if we were going to be able to
fly out, apparently Orly Airport in Paris was on strike.
No prior notice of this happening... Only some flights
were getting in, but what we didn't know on this day was....
The airline for which we were flying was also on strike, again
no prior notice!!!!!!!!!
After a long day spent at the airport going no
where, the Airline sent those who were not able
to get out on the only flight that night, to a Airport hotel.
Carole and l decided we need a drink after the day we just had,
trois demi-liter tard! Three half bottles of the bubbly later! |
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Enjoying our dinner and wine, compliments of the Airline.
Let's just say the wine was flowing freely! I managed to sneak a
bottle upstairs with us so we could continue enjoying
it. What can l say, it was good! |
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A day and a half later, we finally leave Rome! Mind you, it took us having to buy another airplane ticket with a different company to do so. Our airline couldn't give us a flight back to Paris until APRIL 5th because of their strike!!!!!! Yes we now have to go through the process to get our money back, oh the joys of travelling! :)
I personally enjoyed every minute that l/we spent in Rome and l would love to return one day and explore more of Italy's fabulous cities. |
