Slept
like a baby. As Steve predicted, we were awake at 4am. What to
do...what to do. Get our cameras and go take some photos of course!!
So
we walked the streets we did did last night and we made our way to
the Trevi Fountain. We came down the small street and turned the
corner and WOW – OMG, I wasn’t expecting it to be so big. So
impressive, its just gorgeous. Unfortunately we had council cleaners
on the site, pressure washing everything, so they were in our way.
So we waited and waited, and waited, and they still weren’t moving,
so we had to make do with what we had access too. Such a shame, as
we had the place to ourselves otherwise. I did need a wider lens….
16mm wasn’t wide enough. Wish I had my 14-24mm with me.
The
detail in the marble is amazing. I could have stayed there for hours
just soaking in the detail, but alas we had other things we wanted to
see.
So
we started walking down the small narrow streets of Rome, heading to
the Fume Tevere (the big river!) lol After a few turns left and a
few turns right we eventually found it. (wish the map was bigger –
or the font was bigger – as we are getting older we can’t see a
damn thing….)
So
we found the Fume Tevere and turned left and walked past the most
amazing building which is the Court House. Then we walked past
Castel Sant Angelo which has a beautiful bridge leading from it with
beautiful statues that lined it.
Steve
was hoping this was a bridge he could take a long distance shot of
the Vatican from that he had seen by a famous photographer….but
alas it wasn’t. We were hot, tired and with our feet hurting, we
were getting a tad cranky. So we just gave up on that for now.
And
from the bridge we could see it…. It was there in all its glory lit
up like a beacon….yes, it is the Vatican City! Wowsers, laying
eyes on it for the very first time does take your breath away,
regardless if you are religious or not. You have to admire the
architecture.
We
stopped to take many photos on our walk right up to it.
We
did not know what the time was, but the sky was still dark as night.
The city was starting to stir, being a Monday morning, people were
out, and the traffic was starting to get heavy around us.
I
could not get over the amount of people out so early at the Vatican –
they were everywhere! All making their way to the front to get
inside to start their tours.
Steve
and I made our way ever closer to the Vatican. Inside the big
barricades where the people on mass sit and wait for the Pope to
address them. As the sky finally started to become light, we climbed
over a small fence of the Obelisk and got a little bit higher and
started taking more photos – only for the Police to come with their
lights blazing on their car asking us to get off that immediately and
for us to pack up our tripods. Tripods are not allowed in Vatican
City. We thought it was only inside the Vatican itself, but no, the
whole grounds do not allow tripods! OOOPS – so we quickly made our
way out.
Not
before Steve had taken some stunning panorama’s. Bugger, I missed
out on doing them, too busy being focussed on the Vatican itself,
waiting for the sky to get some colour, but alas that didn’t happen
this morning.
We
decided to head back to the hotel since the sun was now up.
We
stopped off on another bridge to look for this photographic location
Steve wanted, and we found it – it was the bridge that is opposite
the Court House. Such a shame that bloody Samsung has this enormous
billboard advertising on a prominent building right in front of the
Dome. Ah well, you get that I suppose, it is 2016.
We
plan on coming back here for sunset.
So
we walked back to where we were last night. We found the Basilica
that we found last night again, so I could take many photos. Steve
sat outside on the steps enjoying the cool morning air, whilst I
stayed inside. To have the whole place to myself was humbling. Then
they started up the organ pipes – I couldn’t help but get teary
eyed, it is very emotional and moving.
Afternoon
– part 2
Well,
we finally made it out of our new room….I think it was too nice to
just get up and leave, so we had to stay a while. Alfonso
recommended us to see a few more things, so we headed off on another
walking trip of Rome. The time was 3.30pm
We
firstly made our way to to Santa Maria degli Angeli, another church.
From the outside it is a ruin. I mean, if you were walking past,
you’d keep on walking. We made our way inside and WOW – the
place is vast….enormous. It just keeps going and going and going.
It was ornate, but not “pretty” as the other basillica’s.
There was a man doing some repairs to the marble floor. Looking at
the size of the floor and how long it was taking him to do just one
little bit, I think it will be a family job for many generations to
come! It was truly lovely to have seen inside.
We
then kept heading left and made our way tot he big train terminal.
We were trying to work out how to make our way to Florence. The
automated machines do make it pretty easy. We didn’t buy a ticket,
but we had a good look around. Warnings about pick pockets are
everywhere! We kept our valuables close.
We
left the Terminal and headed down one of the the main roads, via
Cavour and found ourselves in front of Santa Maria Maggiore. The
back of the church faces this road and it was barricaded up. We were
almost going to keep walking past, but we thought “what the heck,
we’ll walk around it” - so glad we did. We had to get through
security and x-ray our backpacks to get inside. The place was packed
with tourists. It was quite ornate, but it wasn’t till we walked
to one of the smaller chapels that BOOM – it was amazingly
beautiful! Then on the other side, there was a mass being held, and
we weren’t supposed to be in there with camera’s, but we weren’t
leaving without taking a photo of that chapel…. It was the most
beautiful room we had seen. Steve has said it is the highlight of
Rome so far for him. Truly breathtaking!
We
left the church feeling so excited by what we saw, over the road was
a Gelati shop, so of course we had to keep the good vibes going (plus
the fact it was 4.30pm and it was the FIRST gelato for the day – I
mean, hello….. 4.30pm – there is something very wrong with this
picture!!) anyway, keeping good things till last as they say, I had a
full cup of Coconut Gelato and OMG it was TOTES-AMAZE-BALLS! BEST
EVER!! Well….. I must admit, this was only the 2nd
Gelato since arriving, but it is the best so far! Steve had,
vanilla, vanilla and some vanilla – boring!! ha ha ha Poor Steve,
I do like to make fun of him and his very bland taste buds.
Back
on the via Cavour, we made our way to the Colosseum. Must admit we
both didn’t really care whether we got here or not. But we are
glad we did. We met a lovely local Roman named Maxamillion (I know –
right!), and he was fantastic, right into photography, so we talked a
while and he suggested we take some shots from the bridge behind
where we were standing. So we did….glad we did, Got some light
trails of the cars against the Colosseum at blue hour. Looked great
– I love the whole “old vs new” of the image!!
Feeling
very tired now, we decided to head back to the hotel going a
different way. We found another little church that had mass going
on. We snuck inside to take a quick photo and headed on, back up via
Nazionale and then home.
We
were way too hot and sweaty, tired and with all our camera gear,
eating at a fancy restaurant was out of the question. So we grabbed
some pizza just around the corner from the apartment and ate back in
our room.
I
was fast asleep within minutes. I think the time was 8.30pm. Steve
said we walked another 7kms tonight. So thats 23km today, with all
our camera equipment. No wonder we were tired, and sweaty and our
feet were killing us!!
It
was a great day.
Buone
Notte (good night)! :)
