Italy 2014

The Louvre

numbfoot — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 15:49:59 +0000

We’re not sure we did this justice. It is wonderful, the building itself stuns you, but it was perhaps one too many places for a brain to absorb and appreciate in under a week.

The sculptures were more enjoyable than the paintings but on another day, with fresher feet & and fresher mind I could easily lose hours on them.

En Paris

numbfoot — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 15:43:53 +0000

Made it to Paris on the Thello overnight from Milan after a lovely meal. It was about 30 minutes late leaving & lost another 30 minutes somewhere. We suspect the Swiss.

Was very hot on board again – they need to get that fixed.

Arrived at the hotel to find we’d been upgraded. ‘Which was nice.’ Room looks onto the front of Gare Du Nord.

Dodgy Travel Agent

numbfoot — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 15:38:47 +0000

Here now but for a while there it was squeaky bum time. All my fault – well that & the wine when booking – but we rocked up at Roma Centrali only to find that our train left from the other main Rome station.

We had spotted the night before that we arrived in and left Milan from different stations but with 30 minutes to get across Rome twas a bit fraught. Still, we got to use the Rome metro & it all worked out. Typically having made it & got through the maze that is Roma Tiburtini our train was 15 mins late. We could have strolled.

Cats Toilet

numbfoot — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 16:27:12 +0000

So remember what I said about them just having to many remains? This is the site of four temples unearthed in 1926. It is now a cat sanctuary. True.

The Pantheon

numbfoot — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 16:24:28 +0000

So you go wandering back from St Peter’s to your hotel vaguely aware there is this to see on the way back, stroll round a corner & get this in the face. An open roof means the rain gets in but then drains from the floor through the tiny drain holes. It’s been doing this for TWO THOUSAND YEARS!!!

St Peter’s

numbfoot — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 16:19:16 +0000

Huge, no HUGE, HUGE, HUGE. People swallowingly big. Just vast. But beautiful. There wasn’t a single inch left in decorated and each of those inches was probably a month of somebody’s life. It took them 120 years to build but … Continue reading →

Vatican Museum

numbfoot — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 15:55:31 +0000

Well, not what we expected. All the art and artifacts that the Popes have collected over 500 years. So many Roman statues, paintings, busts, globes you just couldn’t take it all in. You also had to remember to look at the building. The walls, ceiling and even the floors were just beautiful.
It was slightly frustrating as the map you got proscribed a route through the galleries but gave you no sense of the buildings relationship to each other. All roads led to the Sistine Chapel. Reminded me of the arrows at IKEA.

Roma Pass

numbfoot — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 15:42:59 +0000

Haven’t mentioned this yet but we got a couple of these from an information point we past on the way to The Coliseum yesterday. They give you free entrance to the two museums or sites run by the City & free public transport for three days.
Most usefully you also get your own queue at these sites or in our case no queue at all. We must have walked past and hour and half queue. They paid for themselves just in doing that.
We also used them on the bus to the Vatican this morning.

Trevi Mountains, Spanish Steps

numbfoot — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 18:29:38 +0000

Yes yes I know but Sar “misspoke” and it has stuck. I hate to think what it is like in Summer. You had to be careful note to get a coin in the eye as it was. Hadn’t realised that it only started with a film & now nets the church €3k per DAY.

The steps weren’t that special but maybe that was because the fountain is being restored. Or maybe because you had to keep your eyes open to avoid being sat on.

Ruined . . . . .

numbfoot — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 17:21:23 +0000

. . . . . out. Gosh, what a lot to take in. Too much for my brain and feet to take. Everywhere you look there are what anywhere else would be really significant sites. Here they are squeezed between a road & apartment block. That means that what they do make a fuss of is special.

The Colosseum is just awe inspiring. 60,000 to 70,000 capacity it knocks any stadium I’ve been to into the ground. The arena looks so small, the seating so high, and you have to remember you are standing on the concourse with all terraces that would have been above you gone.

The Palatine Hill, The Forum, Farnese Gardens can’t match it but is still wonderful. I can’t get over that it has all survived. It hasn’t been lost or buried and then rediscovered it has all just always been here. In the middle of a major European city. Ignored. Left alone. How?