Teri's Roman Holiday

After spending four fairly relaxing days in Venice, we hopped on a train to the Eternal City - Roma! It had actually been 9 years since Sam and I had last done anymore than catch a train or a plane in Rome, so it was really nice to have an excuse to share the sights of that remarkable city with Teri! 

As we exited the train station, we got in the queue for a taxi and Teri experienced her first crazy Italian cab ride! Since we were staying in an apartment in a quiet neighborhood instead of a hotel on a main street, the driver was less than certain how to get us to the address we gave him. 

While maneuvering his way out of the station lot, he hollered over to another cab driver for directions, but it seems the other driver steered him in the wrong direction - possibly on purpose! So while driving through heavy traffic, going in all directions, our driver started trying to look up the address in what appeared to be an Italian version of a Thomas Guide map book in his lap! Sam asked him where his GPS was, and the driver responded, "GPS makes you stupid!" He finally figured out the approximate location, and then stopped to ask a policeman where the address was. In his defense, our building was on kind of an alley way/parking area, not so easy to find, and it did make for a very entertaining ride to say the least!

After checking in with the landlord, and doing some grocery shopping for the next morning's breakfast, we had dinner at a pretty good restaurant just a stone's throw from our apartment, before getting a good night's sleep in preparation for a very busy day of sightseeing. 

A short walk from our apartment, in a quiet Jewish neighborhood, we could cross a busy street to see this lovely view of the Tiber River and Tiber Island.

Though rain was predicted, the day started out pretty nice as we walked from the apartment to Vatican City, our destination for the day. As you can see in this photo of us in front of the Castel Sant'Angelo, it was sunny with ominous clouds in the background.

Photo by Sam Parsons

It did start sprinkling as we joined a walking tour of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.

Main altar in St. Peter's Basilica

The Pope's Swiss Guard.

By the time we were finished touring the Vatican, and were ready to walk back to our apartment, it was pouring!!  It was so bad at one point, we had to duck into a shop doorway, with other soaked tourists and locals, hoping it would let up a bit. It seemed only to worsen, so we braved the rain and got completely drenched (despite the umbrellas we each had), but ended up having a delicious pizza and wine dinner in a cafe on Piazza Navona! Once our bellies were full and we were warm with wine, the rain had stopped and we wandered around the Piazza where one of the scenes in Angels and Demons took place. The obelisk in this photo's background is the Fountain of the Four Rivers, where the fourth victim was drowned.

The following day, we walked to the Colosseum, and joined a tour given by an older, professorial-type gentleman, who reminded me a lot of Roberto Benigni of "Life is Beautiful" fame. (I took no photos because I was trying to keep my camera dry, but Sam got our guide in his video.) It was raining most of the time we were there, but our guide was quite entertaining and informative. The second half of the tour was on the Palatine Hill, and was lead by an American doctoral student from Colorado, who was very smart and well versed in Roman history and politics.

The dome of St. Peter's Basilica, seen off in the distance from atop Palatine Hill.

After wandering through the ruins of the Forum, and before returning to our apartment that evening, we walked back by the Colosseum for this amazing night time view.

And surprise, surprise - a wedding shoot!

When the sun came out on our last full day, we managed to walk all over much of the rest of the city. We took in the Campo dei Fiori (translation: Field of Flowers, an open air market with food, clothing, souvenirs, and of course, flowers for sale),

the Pantheon, an amazing structure rebuilt in 126 AD, after being destroyed by fire,

Its most incredible feature being the rotunda, molded with approximately 5000 tons of concrete, and with an oculus at the top, allowing natural light (and rain) into the interior.

the extremely crowded Spanish Steps,

and the famous Trevi Fountain,

where Teri made more than one wish (think: Three Coins in a Fountain)! I'm pretty sure I know what she wished for!
 
If you've been to Rome, you know that you cannot walk very far without seeing archeological digs and ruins. Because so much of the city has stuff like this under the surface, it has been very difficult to build a comprehensive subway system, making the traffic in this city of almost 3 million (plus tourists) pretty awful!

Feral cats love these old ruins. There were dozens of them in this particular area!

I don't know how many miles we walked that day, but it was lots! Of course on foot, you will see things you might not notice from a car or bus, like this interesting graffiti on a postal box,

an exotic beverage shop window filled with colorful, and no doubt intoxicating liquors,

shrines on the sides of buildings,

 or a reluctant photo subject.

This guy happens to be a member of an elite group of Italian soldiers known as Alpini. We wanted a picture of him because of his funny, feathered hat, but he wasn't having it!

(Don't forget to click on photos to enlarge, follow links when words show up in blue, and go to my Flickr page to view a few more photos from this trip.)

Teri Meets Venice

On Teri's fourth day, we said au revoir to Paris, and caught our short flight to Venice! Although it may be preferable to arrive by train and step through the main doors of the station to get one's first glimpse of Venice, taking a bus from the Marco Polo Airport and arriving at the huge bus terminal isn't too bad either. After all, it is Venice! I will never forget the first time I saw it. It looked like Disneyland, or as I have since discovered, Las Vegas. It did not seem to be real, but indeed it was! There simply is no place on earth like it, and it is one of our favorite destinations.

We met up with our landlord, Marcello, right away and he showed us to our cute two bedroom apartment in a quiet neighborhood next to the university.

Of course, we did lots of walking - all over the city, enjoying many of the local sites: 

the Campanile in the always crowded Piazza San Marco,

the Bridge of Sighs (where prisoners crossing over to the prison sighed as they got their last glimpse of the outside world before going to the dungeon and their death),

the shop where the craftsmen build the gondolas by hand,

the interesting graffiti,

 and of course my favorite, doors and windows.

Buying a multi-day pass for the vaporettos (water buses, Venetian-style public transit) is the best way to get around to see various parts of the city and the outlying islands,

like Giudecca Island,

Burano Island (which we didn't visit on this trip, but did in 2009),

and of course Murano Island, home of the world-famous glassblowing artisans.

 

It was rainy while we were there, so we stopped for lunch, and Teri had some nice hot soup!

Having only 4 nights in Venice, we weren't able to see everything, but I think Teri got a pretty good taste of this incredible Italian city. Speaking of taste, the last two dinners we had in our neighborhood were amazing! Some of the best food on our trip! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures those nights, but I think Sam included some shots in his video. 

Aaaahhhh... just thinking about it makes me long to return - something I hope we'll do in 2015, once again to experience La Biennale, the international art exhibit that takes over the city every other summer. 

Oh, and just one more shot before I close this post...

I told you! Wherever we go, we always see weddings! I guess that's not surprising since we often go to the most romantic locations on earth!

(Don't forget to click on photos to enlarge, follow links when words show up blue, and go to my Flickr page to view a few more photos of this trip.)

An American in Paris for the first time . . .

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, my sister Teri had never been out of the country, had always dreamed of visiting Paris, and after listening to me go on and on about Italy over the years, wanted to see it for herself. Since Sam and I don't need much of an excuse to visit our favorite locations, we offered to act as her personal guides on a whirlwind, two and a half week tour of four cities.

When we left our friend Keith in London, we flew to Paris. We arrived a few days ahead of my sister, so that we could spend some time visiting with Sam's cousin Paul and his girlfriend Eva, who live on the outskirts of the city. Whenever we visit Paul and Eva, they graciously allow us stay in their tiny, but lovely apartment, and although they offered to let Teri stay there, too, it really is too small. Besides, with only four nights in Paris, we wanted Teri to stay in the city center, able to get to most of the sights on foot. With that in mind, we rented a studio apartment in the Marais district, just a few blocks from Notre Dame, and the River Seine.

The apartment was very nice, and unbeknownst to me when I booked it, was located above a gay bar, in a very lively gay neighborhood. Of course, this was not a problem for us, and made for some interesting sights and discoveries -- like the bakery that not only had really delicious breads, but also specialized in a certain shape of bread!

On the day she was to arrive, Sam and I took a train to the airport and waited for her plane to land. Of course, Teri had been traveling for over 15 hours (non-stop flight from LAX, plus the drive from her daughter's house in Big Bear Lake), so she was pretty tired, but we managed to take her out that evening for drinks and a little music at a jazz club we've been to before: the Swan Bar. It was open mike night, with Paul playing bass, and a friend playing piano, while several people took turns singing. It was wonderful!

Over the next three days, we saw all the iconic sights: 

the Eiffel Tower,

(Teri's first view of the tower.)

(View of the City of Lights from the top of the tower.)

the Louvre...

Notre Dame...

a walk through Pere LaChaise Cemetery, with the obligatory 

visit to the grave site of Jim Morrison...

and on the last day, a boat tour on the River Seine.

(You can see interesting things on some of the houseboats.)

(This one has a small version of the Statue of Liberty up front.)

When necessary, we took a couple of cabs, and many more rides on the Metro,

but mostly, we walked, and walked, and walked. Which was good, since we ate LOTS of bread, and other delicious food! While walking we noticed a lot of interesting graffiti and street "art" on the sides of buildings.

And of course, we did a lot of window shopping. We both got a kick out of these sculptures of fat, dancing ladies. We agreed, we could identify with them!

(To view enlarged photos, click on one of them and a viewer will open. Click X to return to the blog. If you are interested in seeing a few more photos from this part of the trip, go to my Flickr page. Also, if you would like to watch the video Sam made of this part of our trip, it has some of the music we heard at the Swan Bar.)