Rome Activities

So now Rome.

Rome is a very unique city. It is a city full of history. Every corner you turn, there is a random ancient pillar or wall. Once again, other than the heat, it was a very nice trip.

We saw many different buildings and many ancient sites.

Here are some of our experiences while in Rome:

One of the first places we visited was Vatican City. It is very unique because although it is tiny in size and population, it is considered an independent state. It is the international capital of the Catholic religion. It was actually very interesting to see all the priests and nuns who visit Vatican city....I mean.......I know they are normal people too, but you never imagine seeing priests, dressed in their black robes, wearing cameras around their necks and being tourists.

A 1st century bronze sculpture in the Vatican City courtyard

Tapestry in the Vatican City Museum

A fancy cake shovel

 Also within Vatican City is Saint Peter's Basilica. All of the previous Popes are buried there:

Me in front of Saint Peter's Basilica

 We also visited the Pantheon. It is an ancient religious temple for the old roman gods.

The front of the Pantheon

 

We also visited:

The Trevi Fountain

The Piazza di Spagna

The obelisk of the Piazza del Popolo

Trajan's Market

We also visited other sites like the Villa Borghese and the Castel Sant Angelo, but we didn't take many pictures. However, we did take a lot of pictures of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It is so much bigger than I imagined. Very impressive. Take a notice on how tiny the people are in the photos. So many fights and killings occured in this ancient stadium:

The Colosseum outside walls

Inside of the Colosseum

Us ^_^

Night view of the Colosseum

And the Roman Forum:

The Roman Forums

In the Roman Forum

View of the Colosseum from the grounds of the forum

It was a very hot trip, but it was very interesting to see so many different sites with such rich history. Its hard to imagine everything that happened in those areas.

And of course:

Yummy Gelato!

Venice Activities

We are now back in Paris and rested. We did practically nothing for two days since we came back. We're actually enjoying the cooler weather of Paris after the sweltering heat of Venice and Rome!

Today, lets recap Venice part of our trip. As you know, Venice is a surrounded by water. There are absolutely no cars on the island. I don't think I even saw bicycles. So the two forms of transportation is either by the vaporitto (the "bus" system) or by feet. We decided not to take any gondola rides (as romantic as they seem to be) because we didn't think it was worth it. Half the time you're in a crowd of gondolas.....where the drivers are yelling to each other.....and the other half you're under the blazing sun....and gondolas have no shade. It might have been nice right around sunset......when everyone is eating and the sun is not hot anymore, but we didn't.

The first day in Venice we explored the city:

View of the Grand Canal

Ate gelato:

Yum!

walked:

One of the many small canals and bridges

And explored:

The Doge Palace from Grand Canal

And walked:

Another canal

The next day we continued to explore the city. We went to visit the inside of the Doge Palace, we visited the Guggenheim Museum, we took the vaparitto, and we went up the Sainte Marc Campanile.

In front of the San Marco Basilica

Courtyard in the Doge Palace

At the Guggenheim

The Rialto Bridge from the Grand Canal

View of the city

The top of the Sainte Marc Campanile

We also took a tour of the "secret" areas of the Doge Palace, but they did not allow pictures. Neither did the San Marco Basilica. A lot of places actually did not allow pictures. bummer.

We also visited the opera house. The name of the opera house is translated to "The Phoenix". Which is very interesting because it was originally built in 1792 and has gone through two fires since since. They have always rebuilt it and tried to keep it the same. Of course changes were made throughout the years of different leaders and architects. There were no pictures allowed in here as well, but we snuck a couple with our phones ^_^

The ceiling of the theatre. It is actually flat, but the design gives the illusion that the ceiling is dome shaped.

The sides the theatre.

Our last night in Venice we ate at a restaurant right next to the Rialto by the Grand Canal. The food was.....not great, but the view was very nice. It made it worth it.

View from our table

Venetian food is mostly about seafood. We didn't eat any (wayy to expensive) but we did see a lot of fish and other sea creatures around. Like this lobster!

Look at the size of it's claw!!

Venice is also very popular for their glasswork and their venetian masks. They're very pretty, but we didn't get one because we have absolutely no use for it =P But I took a lot of pictures ^_^

That pretty much sums up our trip to Venice. Overall it was a good trip. It was a good experience to see new things and learn about different cultures. However, I'm sure we would have enjoyed it a lot more if it wasn't so hot and so tourists centered.

Food in Italy

Although Italians are known to have good food, we ate most pizza and pasta during our stay. Meals were typically pretty expensive in Italy and the portions were not very big. This was especially the case in Venice, since almost all the people in the city are tourists.....and the restaurants know this.

But we did have a couple of good meals in Rome.......some different fusions of ingredients as well.

Here is the photo gallery of our more notable plates while in Italy.

Gnocchi in a beef bolognese sauce

Prosciutto and melon

Pear salad with nuts and 4 different types of cheeses in a berry sauce

Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella

Chocolate filled pizza dough

Lamb ragu with a touch of cinnamon

Lamb sweetcakes with melon and cream

Wild boar in a chocolate and vinegar sauce

Pudding with saffron and sage

(note: photos taken with my iphone)

Rome, Italy

Today was our first day in Rome.

My poor feet. =P

I realized that I am very impressed with ceiling work. Whether it is painted, wood work, plaster, etc. It must be so difficult to work with. Just painting the ceiling with one color is difficult enough (isn't it dad??) But imagine painting figures and having them come out proportionally correct!

Here is my quick update from Rome dedicated to ceilings:

Dome Ceiling of the Pantheon

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - Vatican City

Hall of framed paintings on the ceiling in Vatican City

Painted ceiling and corner relief - Vatican City

Wood with gold embellishment ceiling - Vatican City

The Dome Ceiling of Saint Peter's Basilica - Vatican City

Another Dome ceiling in Saint Peter's Basilica