Blogs from Rome, Lazio, Italy, Europe - page 303

Un nouveau jour qui se leve! Quel plaisir 15D au mois de Janvier? Un vrai plaisir!! Aujourd'hui de retour au Forum, passage par la Fontaine de Trevi e petit tour en bateau a Villa Borghese... Villa Borghese n'est pas tres connue par les gens en general, vois-ci donc un peu d'histoire... Moment...Un peu de culture! Au XVIe siècle, les Borghèse, une riche famille noble originaire de Sienne, acquièrent des terres en marge de Rome, au-delà de la vieille Porta Pinciana (actuel point de vue du Pincio). Quelques années plus tard, le cardinal Scipion Borghèse , neveu du pape Paul V, décide la construction d'un casino (petite résidence de campagne) au centre de ces terres, pour abriter sa collection d'œuvres d'art. L'architecte choisi est Flaminio Ponzio. Il dessine le casino en prenant pour modèles les villas ... read more

Date: 29.12.2004 Destination: Pisa, Italy Day: 3 We reached Rome early in the morning. The night train is not as good as those in Germany, here it was more crowded and some of the passengers didn't care to make reservation, so they just sit places that are empty. We sat with a couple from Albania and they are the most talkative people I have ever met. We can't even have a short nap. After reaching Rome, we decided to go straight to Pisa which is a 3 hour journey instead of walking around Rome so tired. So, after checking into the hostel which is near the main train station, we sat a normal express train towards Pisa. Along the way, the ocean was just on the left side. Nobody was swimming because it is near winter. ... read more

One of the most fascinating things about Rome is how, generation after generation, the population builds their structures on top of previous construction. Street level is now about 53 feet above its level in 250 BC. You generally have to descend a number of stairs to get to the entrance of a church built in the 11th-12th century, as the street level has simply grown up around it. Many of these old churches are still operational. My favorite example of this is a church called St Clemente. Archaeologists were aware that there had been a previous church constructed under the current church, so they excavated an area under the current structure. When they dug under the church, which is from the 12th century, they found the other church that had been constructed in the 4th century ... read more

This morning we went back into Firenze, where we had another look around. First, we all went to Leonardo Leather Works, for an insight into Florentine leather. Then I went for some morning tea with Bridget, Lauren, Gavin and Charl, before we all split up and went our separate ways. I just went for a walk around the streets soaking up the Florentine life, before meeting up with everyone at the Piazza della Signoria, for the tour of Firenze. Our guide took us through the Uffizi Gallery, which was crammed with artists, and also had some street mimes there dressed as statues. Then we went onto 13th century Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge in Firenze that escaped unscathed during World War II. It is a bridge that is home to many exclusive jewellers, which is one ... read more

I got to travel to Rome twice in 2004, August and September. The first time I stayed closer to the airport the first time an the Golf Parco Sheridan, they have a free bus service to downtown Rome and it's a pretty nice place, BUT it's still a waste of an hour round trip being stuck on the bus. The second time I stayed at the Sofitel on the northwest side of the city (very convenient). It was pretty hot in August and we were working outside, but it was still a good time. Have a look at the pictures I grabbed when I was there. Enjoy.... read more

Well, last time I wrote on here we were on our way out of Antibes to Italy - this was basically a wasted day as we spent the whole time in a stupid train station and our train didnt show up on time so we were forced to skip Pisa and stay in Genoa for the night... which was scary because we didnt have reservations and for the first time on this trip, I had no idea what anyone was saying... at ALL... Plus we were there pretty late and basically it was quite nerve-racking. However, I got some friendly Italian guy to show mehowtouse the phones (which are all differentso I guess there is some trick that you needto know to use them... like a secret code or something...??).Anyhow, we stayed in the local youth ... read more