Sam

Sep 202004
 

I enjoyed my time everywhere in Italy, but I don’t think Florence was my favorite city. The sites were great, but Florence had a lot of tourists and American students. It was nice to be able to easily speak English, but I really enjoy experiencing other cultures. It seemed that English speakers were everywhere in Florence.

The Arno is a major river that flows through Florence. There are many crossings over the river; one of the most famous is the Ponte Vecchio.

Ponte Vecchio

This location on the Arno has had a bridge over it for hundreds of years. The bridge is fairly build up, with many small shops on either side of the roadway.

The Catherdral in Florence, called the Duomo, is very pretty. The architecture is distinctive. The surface is fairly flat, but it is very colorful with its green and white walls.

Duomo in Florence

 Posted by at 8:52 pm
Sep 202004
 

When I was in Italy, I visited the Bioparco, Rome’s zoo. Why visit the zoo when there are so many great things to do in Rome? Well, I like zoos.

The Bioparco is located in the Villa Borghese, a large park area in Rome. In the Villa Borghese, it is in Piazzale del Giardino Zoologico. The park is pretty neat. I found one of the streets really interesting.

Viale Fiorello La Guardia; Sindaco de New York

Fiorello La Guardia was the mayor of New York City during the Depression.

Here are photos of some of the animals I saw in the Rome Zoo:

pig

Oink oink!

falcon

This falcon was in the animal rehabilitation area. The photo was taken through a smal slot in a wooden fence.

cow or water buffalo

I forget if this is a cow or a water buffalo.

tiger

camel

Don’t forget to brush your teeth.

camel

pelican

Overall, I had a good experience at the zoo. It wasn’t in the best shape; some signs were missing identification cards. I don’t mean to say that they were missing English identification cards; they were just missing identification cards. The animal quarters were not as good as most zoos I have seen in the United States. However, I may just be projecting human standards to animals–if the animals are happy, I don’t need to be.

There were no T-shirts for sale in the zoo; Italians tend not to wear T-shirts at all. Otherwise, I would have bought a T-shirt for my brother.

 Posted by at 8:37 pm
Sep 162004
 

Ruins?

As I was walking back to my hotel from the National Monument, I looked down this street. Honestly, I’m not sure if it was modern or ancient or some combination of the two. This photo was taken without a flash; there is a lit building on one side of the alley. The statues are precisely positioned in the middle of the alley. I wish I had written down the name of the street.

 Posted by at 7:27 pm
Sep 162004
 

Roman Ruins

One of the more striking things about Rome was the extent of the Roman ruins. The ruins seem to start 20 feet below the modern street level and cover an entire part of the city. It is really amazing to consider that almost all of Europe was ruled from a single area; I wondered which buildings controlled different segments of the empire.

Mosaic

The coliseum had some very nice exhibits. This mosaic was mounted inside; the craftsmanship is amazing.

Curia

The Curia is where the Roman Senate used to meet.

Trevi Fountain

This is a photo of me at Trevi fountain. The photo was taken by Meri-Jo Borzilleri of The Colorado Springs Gazette. They say that if you throw a coin over your left shoulder with your right hand into Trevi fountain, then you will return to Rome. We’ll see if it works.

Bernini's la Fontana dei FiumiBernini's la Fontana dei Fiumi

These are figures from Bernini’s la Fontana dei Fiumi in Piazza Navona.

Spanish Steps

I enjoyed walking up the Spanish Steps. The shopping at the bottom of the Spanish Steps is really great. I bought a Swatch and almost bought some nice shirts.

Map Room in the Vatican Museum

The map room in the Vatican Museum was really cool. There were both historical and realistic maps of all parts of Italy painted on both sides of the room. The ceiling is an intricate fresco that goes the entire length of the room. As you can see, the museum was very crowded.

Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II

This is the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. Basically, it is a national monument that also contains Italy’s tomb of the unknown soldier. I thought it was a cool looking building.

Wines at Cul de Sac

This is just a portion of Cul de Sac‘s wine collection of 1400 unique bottles. I really had a great time there.

 Posted by at 4:15 pm
Sep 152004
 

Ponte Sisto

Rome has many nice bridges over the Fiume Tevere. This is a photo of Ponte Sisto at night, a bridge between the trendy section of Campo de’ Fiori and the neighborhood of Travestere.

Lancelot Hotel

As I mentioned earlier, I stayed in the Lancelot Hotel, a small hotel near the Colesium. It was very nice, and the people were very friendly. They offer both breakfast and dinner, but I went around the city instead. I would definitely stay there again.

Coliseum in Rome

Coliseum in Rome

The Coliseum is impressive. I have visited quite a few stadiums working at Sports Illustrated, and it is quite clear that the Romans knew what they were doing when they designed the stadium. We certainly do not build stadiums to last thousands of years, but on the other hand, our stadiums have features like electricity.

I have more photos to post, but I’m leaving the office for the evening.

 Posted by at 1:20 pm
Sep 132004
 

Parthenon in Greece

In Athens, I stayed in the Electra Palace Hotel at the base of the Acropolis. I had a great view with a small balcony and a view of the Parthenon. [Warning, the website contains really annoying flash animation with music you can’t disable.]

My last day in Greece, I visited the island of Aegina (Αίγινα) with Anne, Geoff, Alvin, and Maria, 45 minutes by boat off the coast of Athens. It was the most relaxation I had in Greece, which was not surprising given that I was working many hours the rest of my time there. We spent most of our time in the main city, went swimming a bit, and finished up with a meal on the coast.

Boats on the Aegina waterfront

Boats bobbled in the water of the waterfront of Aegina.

Fresh octopus hanging in the sun

Many restaurants proudly displayed their seafood. Here, you see hanging octopi.

Anne

Alvin Lee

Geoff Michaud

Anne, Alvin, and Geoff at lunch. I didn’t get a good photo of Maria.

Lunch was delicious. We all shared dishes. Some of my favorites were the fried bait, the stuffed grape leaves and the fresh Greek salad. Of course, I also had wine.

Fried bait Stuffed grape leaves White wine Greek salad

Anne, Maria, and I all went to leave a bit earlier. We just missed one boat. Then, the second boat had major problems and had to turn back halfway. It took almost two hours to actually get back to Athens. I enjoyed the delay and was able to take a nice nap.

I could definitely see taking a month-long vacation on Aegina. I could rent an apartment, swim every day, and cook a nice meal each nice. It would be very relaxing to just chill out every day.

 Posted by at 11:52 am
Sep 122004
 

In around ten minutes, I will be on a plane back to the USA. I did find a place to edit, upload, resize, and crop my photos in Florence, but I didn’t have the time to create log postings to show them. Expect lots of photos in the next couple of days.

Milan and Siena were probably my favorite two cities. I think I would have enjoyed Rome even more if I hadn’t been really tired. Florence was nice, but it has far too many tourists.

I had a couple of pleasant dining experiences in Milan. I had a couple of nice dining experiences in Florence. I also had a very disappointing meal in Florence at a restaurant called Rossini. Not only was it the most expensive meal I had in all of Italy, but also it was one of my most disappointing meals of all time. I will be sure to write up the experience. I also going to send them a letter which I will post here.

I had a great time in Italy, but I’m looking forward to returning home.

 Posted by at 5:24 am
Sep 072004
 

Art in Rome is ubiquitous. The Vatican Museum is a perfect example of this. The floors were works of art. There was so much art there, people sped past exhibit after exhibit. They were seemingly unaware of all of the items there. There was a small statue of The Thinker by Rodin in one room. Most people sped by without a second glance. I could have spent a year in the modern art collection of the Vatican Museum alone.

In college, I worked on the student newspaper with my friend Dan. Dan was the Art Editor, and one week he proposed an editorial urging more works of art on campus. Dan took me to task when I said it was a fluffy editorial. Over the years, I have grown to appreciate his point more and more. Most people have a dearth of art in their lives, especially in the United States. If you look at religious institutions, works of art are everywhere. The art works are generally religious, but at least they are there. Where are the great secular works of art in secular institutions?

When was the last time a corporate office park was decorated with stained glass windows or a mosaic on the floor? When was the last time you walked down the street and saw performance art? When was the last time you walked in a restaurant and saw an amazing painting? When was the last time you ran across art simply because it was there?

I am fortunate to live in New York City, where you see art more often than not. I have walked down the street to see a performance like Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. However, that kind of experience is generally a pleasant surprise rather than a regular part of city life.

We should fund the arts more in the US. It doesn’t even have to be a lot. Maybe next year we could buy ten fewer cruise missiles and give the money to arts organizations instead. Or maybe we could choose not to invade another country next year and give the yearly invasion money to the arts instead.

 Posted by at 11:26 am