Brom mostra di più

Coocoo

No! I didn't learn Italian, just that one sentence. It means that I am showing you more. More of Rome, because you may have wondered about certain sights.

And one of those sights that is really hard to miss is the Colosseum. Or as the guide said: Anfiteatro Flavio. Because I did listen to him. Even though by the time we got to the Colosseum, we were all quite tired. The two and a half hour walk had already lasted two and a half hours before we got to the Colosseum and we were still not done!

Part of the outside of the Colosseum

In the end Mara was defeated and we left the group and the guide to continue on their way. We went to find a place to sit and watch people go by. We chatted to a lovely lady, we saw people go by (jealous of our spot I think) and once we were a bit rested, we walked around the Colosseum ourselves. 

Where the cross stands now, the emperor used to have his place to watch what was going on.

It was big. Like really really really big. The guide had told us that there was room for so many people in the olden days, that if they would have used one door only, it would have taken them a day to get in and find their seats. Wow! But those Romans were clever and made so many gates, everybody could get in within twenty minutes. Much better.

From the inside you could see it was an oval, not a round

In the central area of the Colosseum there used to be trapdoors through which wild animals would have come up. Lions and bears and they would have had to fight with gladiators or Christians or each other. I think. It sounded not very nice, so I didn't hear everything. 

This wavy floor used to be flat before it collapsed.
It was the floor of the dining room and it was about four times what you can see here!!

The Colosseum stands in an area with a lot of other important Roman stuff. Like the forum, although there were a few of those apparently. The guide showed us a ruin that he said used to be the home of somebody. Their dining room was bigger and higher than our entire house! They sure did have some money, those Romans. Or stole some money...

We were quite tired after all that walking around and we weren't yet finished for the day either, because that evening we took a boat ride. More on that soon...

Brom sees some statues

Coocoo

Here I am again, with more stories and photos of our trip to Rome! And today I am going to show you some of the statues we saw. I already showed you one the other day of that beautiful sculpture with the angel. I will show the whole thing soon, but not today.

You may recall that the Vatican is situated within the Roman city boundaries, but it is actually its own city state with its own head of state which is the Pope! Right now the Pope is Pope Francis who originally comes from Argentina, but before him there was a German Pope (Benedict XVI) and a Polish Pope (John Paul II). He has been made saint already and this statue we saw close to Termini, the central station of Rome. 

Over the past couple of days I have shown you some smaller fragments of statues as well. Those we found in Saint Paul's Basilica, where they had lots of them. They found them years ago and they have embedded them in the walls of the cloisters. We saw a foot, several heads, bits with writing and some animals. I loved this one and it reminded me a bit of Jonas and the Whale.

Almost all the statues and sculptures we saw were either Roman or Christian, but there was one piece that had a more recent influence. Italy during World War II sided with the Germans at first and during that period, Jews, Gypsies, Jehovas Witnesses, Homosexuals and political opponents were taken away to camps to perish. This was the only monument we saw, although Mara said there were some stones throughout the city, outside the houses Jewish people were taken from. And even though we always looked downward so as not to fall, we didn't see any.

On our walk along the Via Appia, we came across the bathhouse remains and in that same area we saw this. Mara said it looked like four birdies have a conflab, but I think it looks like the claw of one giant beastie! What do you think?

Sometimes small is actually quite big. On that same Via Appia walk, we came across this statue of Tarcisius, patron saint of altar servers. We thought it best that Gera posed next to him, as he was quite large(!). Tarcisius was killed by pagan Romans for not wanting to desecrate Holy Communion which he brought to sick and imprisoned Christians in Rome. He was probably stoned to death, although that is not certain.

My last offering of today is a scene on the Arch of Titus (Forum area). In the first century there was an uprising in Judea against the Romans. The Romans won and destroyed whole cities. This image shows the triumphant arrival of the Menorah from Solomon's/Herod's Temple in Jerusalem. Most of the gold, silver etc that was taken from the Temple was sold off to pay for the building of the Colosseum. The Menorah was probably melted back to gold before becoming something more precious to its new Roman owner. Perhaps a little gold teddy bear?

Brom walks the old road

Coocoo

Did you know that all roads lead to Rome? Now that may not be true anymore, but back in Roman times, the major through roads all led to or from Rome. They all had their own names as well and we walked on one of them. A very famous one!

The road as was, with a pedestrian area to the left and right.
Chariots, carts and large platoons would have used the center.

We walked on the Via Appia. Mara had found it on her phone/gizmo thingymebob and had led us straight to... the Via Appia Nuova. The New Appian Road and we wanted the old one! Fortunately there was another bus and we ended up on the Via Appia Antica, which was one of the earliest roads built by the Romans (starting from 312BC by Appius Claudius Caecus), connecting the Forum in the center of Rome to Brindisi, a town about 550 kilometers further south. 

Not much is left today of the road, as its stones have been used in houses and farms along the way and in later years, the road itself has just been asphalted over and completely ruined. There are still some bits that are original and we found a tiny bit of it. 

Can you see the wheel rut?
That is over 2000 years old!

In fact, in the top photo you can see me sitting on the road. The road wasn't only used by foot soldiers, carts and chariots also used it and all those wheels made ruts in the roads and I am sitting in one! The stones used to be really flat and flush, but over the over 2000 years of its existence and sometimes repairs, it now ended up as quite an uneven road. Great fun though.

Part of the bath house with a beautiful mosaic floor.

In Roman times it was not allowed to bury your dead within the city walls, so there are a fair few mausoleums, graves, crypts and catacombs along the Via Appia. There were also temples, bath houses, inns and farms. We saw the remains of a bath house and after watching countless episodes of Time Team, it was great to see it 'live' so to say. Gera was even able to point out some of the features!

The mausoleum of Caecilia Metella.
It was really really really big!

Because it was Monday, we didn't get to enter the site of the mausoleum and a stronghold/keep/castle as it was closed, but we did get to finish the very first catacombs. If you want to read more, Mara has looked up where to go. Click here to do so: HERE. 

San Sebastian Basilica from the outside

We were not allowed to take any photos inside, but I can tell you it was big! Every time I thought it was the end, we saw another corridor filled with graves and holes for graves or urns. And we found out later it was one of the smallest!!!

I am going to catch you yet Mousey!

We did get to see one mausoleum from the outside and a church right across the road from it. The church was in ruins, but it was a great place for cats to catch mice. Although the cat never caught it while we were watching it...

The last thing I want to show you today are some trees. When the road was constructed, trees were used a lot to shade the users of the road. I call them umbrella trees and they would be on both sides. Because of later building and such, most of the trees along our stretch of road had disappeared.

Brom sees the sights of Rome

Coocoo

Here I am again, with more of our trip to Rome. Not only did we see five churches on the inside, we also saw lots of other things. Yesterday I showed you a car belonging to the Caribinieri in Rome. The Carabinieri are a police force with a military background, but do share quite a few responsibilities with the regular force. Some of you may have noticed that the car I showed yesterday was not in the best of conditions. In fact: the front tyre was actually flat! 

One of the soldiers is hidden behind the car (between car and wall)
A sneaky fag?

Something else we saw a lot of was the proper military. There were cars and soldiers at most of the major intersections in the tourist area and they had been there for a few years now to minimise the risk of a terrorist attack. Most of them on duty were very attached to their phones and cigarettes. Besides carrying a very severe looking rifle.

Trevi fountain

There were plenty of fountains as well in Rome, but not all of them were in great working order. Some of them did not work at all, others only had a trickle of water. The most famous of all of them however was working splendidly. Mara had seen it before, but it looked a lot better this time around as they had cleaned it up beautifully, she said. 

Ready... Steady... Go!

On the Sunday we went into town after our church service and we ended up on the Piazza Navona. A really pretty square with some lovely working fountains and a lot of locals. They were running, they were jumping and being very active. 

I always like when there is something local going on, it makes it feel like a proper place instead of just a tourist spot. Despite all the classical architecture and statues.

When we visited the Saint Paul's Basilica on Saturday, we saw a smallish sculpture in its grounds. When we visited Saint Peter's square in front of Saint Peter's basilica a few days later, we saw a life size version of that same sculpture. It was beautiful. 

Fortunately the smaller size we had seen a few days earlier had a small plaque as well, which explained the sculpture and gave the name of the artist who made it.

Right, that's it for now. I will leave you with a photo of a shoe shop. But not just any shoe shop. A real Italian fancy schmancy shoe shop! See you soon!!

Brom goes to church

Coocoo

Well, we didn't just go to church once. Or twice, or thrice. In fact we went four times! We visited four different churches and actually attended a service in one of them as well!

The first three Popes
Saint Peter, Saint Linus and Saint Cletus

The very first church we visited on Saturday was Saint Paul's outside the gates. It is a Vatican basilica, but outside the city gates. In fact it isn't even that close to the Vatican itself and it took us nearly an hour by bus to get there! 

The last four Popes
Pope John Paul, Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis

Inside the church there were pictures of all the Popes right up to now, starting with Saint Peter who is generally accepted as being the first Pope and ending with the current one: Pope Francis who originally hails from Argentina. As there were mostly no pictures of Popes during the early years, or at least none have survived, those Popes were all modeled on Saint Peter, with little differences between each. We even found our 'own' Dutch Pope: Adrian IV.

The Friesian flag in the Friesian Church

On Sunday we went to visit the church of Saint Michael and Saint Magnus, for the Dutch more commonly known as the Friesian Church. It is located within the Vatican and we attended the service there, which was a Roman Catholic service, but in Dutch. Afterwards we wanted to see the Pope, but we only heard the last words of his blessing, the square being chock-a-block and impossible to get onto.

Saint Bonifacius, one of the missionaries who tried to bring Christianity to the Friesians.
They killed him in 685 aD

On Monday we were not planning on visiting a church at all, but the tour through the catacombs of Saint Sebastian on the Via Appia ended in the church itself and it was a lovely church. They are always completely different from what Mara and Gera are used to. Having always attended Protestant churches, they are quite austere compared to Roman Catholic ones. 

Part of the ceiling in the Basilica of Saint Sebastian

The last church or basilica we visited wasn't on our list either and even when we were right in front of it, we nearly didn't enter. Until I told those two girls, they had better get in, despite their aching legs and knees and toes. This time it was the Basilica of Saint Peter, right in the middle of the Vatican. We had visited the Necropolis underneath to see where Saint Peter had been buried way back when and now we went into the big church on top.

Basilica of Saint Peter
The five people on the front were canonized on October 13th

It was beautiful. It was big, like really really really big. There were statues everywhere, paintings and people. Mara said to me just now how it didn't feel like a place for quiet contemplation though, which she had felt more in the other three churches. It was just too much of everything. 

This image was repeated quite often on the marble pillars

Well, too much or not, I loved to see all those churches. As I loved to see everything else as well, because you know I love traveling and seeing new things. Another time I will tell you more about what else we saw...

This image of the Road to Crucifixion was found in the Pantheon

PS: I nearly forgot, we didn't just see four churches on the inside, we saw five! The Pantheon is another one we visited. It started off as a temple of Pagan Gods, but once Christianity took hold, it was modified to a church. I just never want to visit it when it rains, as it has a big hole in the roof! Mara says that is how it's supposed to be, but I am not so sure. 

The Altar in the Pantheon

Brom went to Rome?

Coocoo

Well, after a long week, we made it back home and are now enjoying home-cooking again and giving our feet some serious rest. We (well, Mara and Gera anyway) walked at least 87 kilometers every day!

Mara had told me that we were going to Rome, but for a moment it didn't look like it, because all of Easyjet's computer systems were out. In the whole of Europe! There was a massive queue at the airport and when we finally got moving, we nearly had to run to the plane to make it. But we did...

That's Gera and me all the way to the right of the photo
Day two

Now, for those of you who don't know: Rome is in Italy. And as we were going to Rome, I thought we would be going to Italy. But then they showed me a pyramid, which I KNOW is not in Italy, but in Egypt. I may only be a teddy bear, but I do have some education you know. And before you say that it was only a photo: I could touch it. 

A real cactus and I could sit in it!
Day four

And then, only a few days later, I saw a cactus. Not a tiny one like Oma has on her window sill, a big massive one! I know those grow in Mexico. And this time I was sitting in it. So, I was wondering whether they were just taking me on a long trip around the world and not telling me.

You will have to wait until another time to hear what else we saw though. Because we saw plenty and we were very very very tired at the end of it all! 

My life 1

Me in 1991

How do you feel about seasons? Do you enjoy one? Or two or four? Personally I like to live through four seasons in one year. Starting with winter, then spring, summer and autumn. And if I were to ever end up on the other side of the world: summer, autumn, winter and spring. I don't want to leave anything out however! Because it's the spring and autumn that make a year even better. 

In 1991 I worked for Club Med on Sicily. It should have been somewhere in Spain, but my passport needed renewing, so it became Italy instead. I didn't see much spring, because temperatures of 18+ Celsius (64+ Fahrenheit) meant summer to me! Little did I know that summer would see temperatures of well over 35C (95F) on a near daily basis. And I am sure it soared up to over 40C (104F) on several occasions. 

The water and fire show

The temperatures being so high, it meant that going swimming in the absolutely humoungous humungous humongous huge pool was only nice when the temperature of the water was a nice 33C (91F). One degree lower and it felt cold! How spoiled was I??? 

I got used to the temperatures though. Yes it was hot, but I only had to wear a bikini to work. Which meant that I got a really nice tan! All over! The only thing I really missed was the rain however. Sometimes the clouds would move in. And it would start to rain. And some of my colleagues would actually feel the rain on their head. But by the time it should have fallen on my (lower) head, it had already dissolved. 

I've got a thing for redheads and he was so cute!!
He was from Australia and so nice. 

The season lasted all the way up to October and early on in that month I got a phone call from Antwerp (my handling office). And they had a job offer for the winter season. Somewhere on an island in the Carribean! Were they mad? No thank you, I would much prefer to have a winter season! So, that's how I found myself on a TGV to Albertville only two months later. To picked up from the trainstation and taken to Tignes in the High Alps to spend a winter season in the snow!

'Container'

The prompt of this week is a bit double for me. Because when we use the word container in Dutch, we mean the wheelie bin. The trash can that will be collected every two weeks. Fortunately though, our 'containers' can contain things as much as glass or boxes or anything else, so I set out finding a container.

Well, I found one: two lovely cheery ones I got a shot of 14 years ago while on holiday in Italy. Me and a friend of mine had taken my car and driven down to Lake Garda in northern Italy, where we spent several days. After Lake Garda we made our way to Milan and then to a small village not far from Verona. We saw the balcony of Romeo and Juliet (what do you mean: fool the tourists?), the colliseum from the outside, I had my first pizza ever, we pretended to think and I spotted these bins.

This is my 22nd entry for Photo Theme for Thursday. Why not join?

E is for...

Ercolano

Also known as Herculaneum, but that doesn't start with an E! Ercolano (which is the Italian name) is situated below Naples in the south of Italy. And when I say below, I mean below!

As you may know, the Vesuvius erupted in 79aD, covering all of Pompeï in toxic ash, killing most people who lived there. But not only Pompeï was affected, other communities in the area were hit as well. Ercolano was a thriving sea-side resort for the Romans and when Vesuvius erupted it wasn't covered in ash like Pompeï, but in lava. And the town disappeared underneath a thick layer of it.

Forward several centuries and a gentleman in Naples wants a well. He starts digging and digging and hits a hole. A big hole and he decides to investigate. And soon he and others start realising there's a whole other town beneath their town! One little problem though: where Pompeï was covered by nature, Ercolano was covered by Naples and its outskirts!

They did uncover part of the old town of Ercolano, finding a lot of fire damage (hot lava will do that), but also small treasures like beautiful art. However, the majority of the town is still covered by the new town up above and unless they are all willing to move away, it will probably remain like that! As you can see in the photo: the old town is in front and the new town is in the back.

For more E-words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

C is for...

Charging

Italy is a country that is incredibly fond of scooters and mopeds. When driving around in Rome or Naples, the best thing to do when driving a car or a coach is NOT to pay attention to them, because they will drive you mad! It's like an anthill. Just a lot noisier!

However, driving all those scooters about also means a lot is being spent on petrol (or gasoline for the overseaers) and the more petrol you use, the more emissions get into the air, which are not so nice especially during the hot summer months. So, this is one way of battling that problem: electric scooters! I saw several charging points when I was in Florence last year and there would usually be at least two scooters attached to the chargers. I thought it was a great idea.

For more C words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

R is for...

Romeo and Juliet

Who doesn't know the most famous work by Billy S? The tragic lovestory of two teenagers who were not allowed to spend any time together because their families hated each other, resulting in the end in the death of both!

This balcony can be found in Verona where the story took place. Of course it's not the real balcony, for starters it was built years after the story/play had been written and the story is fictional. It is a real nice tourist attraction in Verona though and lots of people flock to the site to take a photo.

'Romeo oh Romeo, wherefor art thou Romeo?'

For more R words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

Italy

The Swiss Guards. The former army of the Pope, they are now mostly ceremonial I believe. They still guard the Vatican though.

A Fiat 500. As you can see, it's not one of the bigger cars in the world (it would probably fit four times in one Hummer). This one was also quite severely dented, but it looks so cute!

The Trevi Fountain. Probably one of the most famous fountains in the world and it was heaving there. Quite difficult to take a nice photo and I never had the chance to throw a coin over my left shoulder so I could wish to return...

Radishes on the sorting belt. There were radishes everywhere!

One of the statues on the Piazza Signoria in Florence. If you biggify you can see the standing figure holding the head of the other one!

Ponte Vecchio in Florence. A lot of bridges used to have houses and shops on them and some remain (Venice and Bath, England for example). Most of the shops on this bridge are now jeweller's shops.