Blog #5 - Dueling Cameras

It’s Saturday, September 25 and today the jet lag finally caught up with us.  We must have been going on adrenalin and the excitement of being in a new place up till now, because today we slept in until 12:00 noon.  Although we missed a morning of touring, the extra sleep was well worth it.  We each threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain yesterday and according to tradition, that means we will be coming back to Rome some day.  I must have thrown a coin in the fountain 35 years ago because I’m back on this trip for my second visit.



Sandy tossing a coin in the Trevi Fountain to make sure she comes back to Rome some day.



I’ve called this blog episode "Dueling Cameras" for two reasons.  The first reason is that Sandy bought a new fancy camera the day before our trip so I inherited her old one.  Now everywhere we go, we are dueling with our cameras to see who takes a picture and who poses.  The other reason, is that the file sizes of the pictures that we take are so large that they take a long time to upload to the Internet, especially when we have a slow connection such as the one we have here in Rome.  Therefore, we may be forced to add fewer pictures to our stories than we would like and then write more detailed stories with more pictures when we get home.  If you were wondering how the ceiling picture was taken in the last blog that Sandy wrote, here is a picture of Sandy taking the picture.



Sandy and Diane taking ceiling shots in the Vatican Museum



Speaking of Dueling Cameras, the other lady taking a ceiling picture at the same time is Diane Rudnicki.  Just as we had hoped (see Blog #2), Steve and Diane met up with us in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Thursday at noon.  We then toured the Vatican Museum with Steve and Diane and had a great dinner together at a sidewalk café.  Although Steve and Diane only live five minutes away from our house in Ottawa, we rarely see them because our lives are so busy back home.  It certainly is ironic that we have to travel so far to have dinner with good friends.



Fine Italian dining with Sandy, Steve and Diane eating pizza, and mussels waiting for me while I take this photo.



Meeting our friends, Steve and Diane Rudnicki in front of the obelisk in St. Peter's Square in front of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican

Yesterday was our big Roman adventure day, which is probably what wore us out and caused us to sleep in this morning.  Besides tossing coins in Trevi Fountain, we visited the Colosseum, Palentine Hill, the Forum, and the Spanish Steps – and then went back to the Vatican to take a night time guided tour, followed by dinner at one of the restaurants recommended in Rick Steve’s Italy guide book.  Here are some pictures from these various adventures.

Sandy at the Colosseum

Lorne and Sandy on Palentine Hill.  A self-portrait camera shot with Lorne holding the camera.  In the background are the ruins of the arena.  Palentine Hill is the most famous of Rome's Seven Hills.  It is beside the Colosseum and was the location of many public buildings, important temples and the residences of emperors and senators.and their sumptuous palaces, and then it became the home of Gothic kings and many popes.

Sandy on the famous Spanish Steps

Today was somewhat less hectic, although we still didn’t get home until close to midnight.  Since we were so close to the Vatican, we decided to go back for one last visit and then went over to the Borghese Museum to see one of the most truly amazing art collections in the world.  The collection included some incredible sculptures by Bernini, an artist I knew nothing about before this trip, which just goes to show my extreme lack of knowledge of famous artists.  Unfortunately, we can’t show you any photos of the Bernini sculptures because you are not allowed to bring a camera into the gallery.  We also learned why you are not allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, although you can take pictures in many other places in the Vatican.  We always assumed that it was because of the potential damage that flashes may have on the paintings.  The real reason is that the Vatican sold the copyright to the Sistine Chapel pictures to a Japanese group because they paid $8 million dollars for the cost of the restoration of the Chapel in 1982. They are the only ones allowed to sell photos and images of the Sistine Chapel.

Sandy on a walking path at Villa Borghese.  We can't show you pictures from inside of the museum, so we will show you pictures from the beautiful grounds surrounding the museum.

Sandy filling her water bottle at a fountain at Villa Borghese.  Unless there is a sign that says "Do not drink the water", it is considered very safe to drink the water from the fountains all over Rome.  We developed the habit of filling our water bottles from these sources because the water was fresh, cool and tasty and also because I once made the mistake of buying a Coke Light (the Italian equivalent to Diet Coke) from a merchant selling refreshments from his van (similar to a chip truck back home) for 4 Euros (approximately $5.50 Canadian).  Even the ice cream shops charge 3.50 Euros, so drinking fresh spring water that is free and better for you makes a lot more sense.

Tomorrow, we take the train to Venice. We splurged for first class tickets, but it was quite an ordeal to buy the tickets.  We went down to the train station and went to a self-serve ticket kiosk.  The first instruction that they give you is to watch out for pickpockets when you buy your tickets.  The rest of the instructions were not intuitive, so we got confused a couple of times.  A couple of gypsies were watching us closely and told us what to do.  Although they were right and they were helpful, they were obviously watching for their chance to saddle up close and pick my pocket.  We shooed them away and completed the transaction with Sandy watching my back.  The cost of the tickets was 198 Euros and I tried to pay with two 100 Euro bills.  The Gypsies pointed out that the machine only took 50 Euro bills, so they knew I had a fair amount of money when I then paid with 50s.  So we were quite glad to get away from there with our tickets and all our money when we finally finished the transaction.  I found the whole episode very stressful, but survived in the end.