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| Luigi and France |
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| So who are they, you ask? As we were stopped in our tracks, studying our map on a side street of Pisa, Luigi asked (in a univeral language)if he could give us a ride.
We spoke no Italian except "grazie," and they spoke no English except "no capese."
Thanks for saving our tired piggies. |
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| Another shopping bag |
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| Tricia and I have this uncanny ability to find local color and bargains everywhere we go. |
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| The Colosseum - Can you hear me now? |
| The voice inside the little blue box told me all |
| Begun in 72 A.D. by Vespasiano, the Colosseum was finished eight years later by his son Titus. Built on the site of the Domus Aurea of Nero, the huge amphitheatre was called Colosseum because of the gigantic statue of Nero that was erected nearby(with the help of slaves and 24 elephants). There were around 65,000 seats. The public entered the four levels, through four entrances and 80 arcades. Entrance was free, but the places were subdivided according to the hierarchy; senators had reserved seats with thier names ingraved on thier seats. The underground housed hte animals and the gladiators. Thousands of men and animals were massacred for the pleasure of public. In the fifth century gladiator games were outlawed, and the Colosseum was used as a castle-fortress. In 1312 Henry VII gave the amphitheatre back to the city. In 1451 the pope took building materials for the marble stairway at Saint Peter's and the door at Ripetta. And now? A roundabout for traffic and a place for graffiti and exhaust fumes to settle. Even so, it was invigorating to be here. |
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| The Sistine Chapel |
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| Beautiful -- Vibrant -- Magnificent
The Sistine Chapel was built between 1475 and 1483 in the time of Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere. The chapel is rectangular and measures 40.93 meters long by 13.41 meters wide (the exact dimensions of the Temple of Solomon, as was cited in the Old Testament). The wall paintings were crafted by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, Luca Signorelli and the artisans in their workshops.
Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by Pope Julius II della Rovere in 1508 to repaint the ceiling; and I'm sure glad he did. It's overwhelmingly beautiful. The ceiling was completed between 1508 and 1512. He painted the Last Judgement over the altar between 1535 and 1541.
The renovation was finished last year that brought the colors to the original vibrancy of Michelango's original.
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| Anyway You Spell It... |
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| Tchotckes can be sold in any language! |
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| Poseidon Swam Here |
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| At Piazza Navona, which was built on the foundations of Domitian's Circus, you see the Poseidon fountain. This romantic square, designed in the 17th century by Bernini, has lots of artists (and tee shirt sellers)on the square.
Rome, Italy |
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| Colorful, huh? |
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| We loved buying snacks from local market vendors. At least here you can eat the fruit without worrying about what is in the water they used to wash the fruit.
Rome, Italy |
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| DaBaDaBaDaBaDa |
| Are You Humming Along With Us? |
| Yes, the accordian players really do come by your tables while you are eating. It's not only in Italian restaurants back home and in the movies. If they are good, the meal tastes better.
Rome, Italy |
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| The Tiber River |
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| The first day in Rome we sailed down the Tiber River (Ital. Tevere). We were really tired from our long flight in from Vietnam and all we had energy for was to sit a watch the Roman ruins pass us by. It flows through Rome to empty into the Tyrrhenian Sea by two mouths and is connected with the Arno River by the Chiana Canal. No dead fish like in 2002 and no floods anymore since the banks of the Tiber are diked. |
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| Sausages, Ham And... |
| What's for dinner tonight? |
| So you would think that we could find some spinach or some carrots hanging from the windows, but no. Everywhere we turn it's hanging legs of some poor unassuming animals or stuffed sausages. At least they're dead (more than we can say than when we were in Asia). Tripe is a very respected dish here, but not on our plates. Let's here it for pizza, however. |
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| Time For Gelato...Again |
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| Tricia and I had to taste test many flavors of gelato. Tarmisu was our favorite. |
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| Can Tricia Stop The Leaning Tower From Falling? |
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| We're in Brussels now. We cannot find an Internet connection that will allow us to hook up our laptop or USB. We'll try from London when we get there on the 27th. Sorry for the delay in sending new images. |
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| Buon giorno. We made it to Roma. |
| The Coliseum, of course. |
| Im posting a current image of Rome just so you can believe that were here. I will back track and post Asia when we settle in Florence in a few days. Our Internet connection here is as reliable as if you used the aqueducts today.
Ciao.
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