Tag Archives: Rome

Update

Obsessed much?

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unesco bookFor some reason, I’m obsessed with UNESCO sites. I want to see them, I want to know about them, I want to visit them. It is an odd little phase I’m going through. FYI: There are 890 UNESCO World Heritage Sites as of 2010. Jon thinks that our apartment might as well be a UNESCO site, everything else is, so why not is his view point. Really, the dust balls and smudgy windows are hardly an attraction.

Because I’m a total nerd, and also slightly addicted to Chapters, I bought this book. I’m sure as we continue to travel (IF we’re fortunate enough to be able to travel), we’ll select sites that we’re interested in, and if I’m lucky enough, that’ll have one more site to cross off the humongous list.

So, if we’re keeping tally, and I am, I have been to 10 sites so far. The Palace and Park of Versailles, The Historic Centre of Rome & the Properties of the Holy See, Vatican City, Venice and its Lagoon, Westminster Palace & Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Banks of the Seine France, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Archeological Areas of Pompei & Herculaneum, and the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks.

After Peru, if everything goes according to plan, the count will be 17. Cusco, Machu Picchu, Chan Chan, Historic Centre of Lima, Historic Centre of Arequipa, Historic Centre of Mexico City, and Teotihuacan.

Too bad if I finally went to the Dinosaur Museum in Alberta and visited Dinosaur Provincial Park, I’d get another site crossed off the list.
Europe, Italy

Colosseum

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Columns Colosseum Rome

We were lucky the day we went to the Roman Colosseum and Palatine Hill because it was Ladies Day and I got to go for free. Yay me!

Colosseum Rome
Colosseum Rome

Whenever we visit historical sites, my brain won’t stop wondering what the buildings actually looked like in the height of their use, and what happened that made the civilization abandon the site. I need to do some serious book learning about the Colosseum to find some answers.

Apparently the roof used to be covered with fabric as there were over 200 masts attached on the 4th level. And, there weren’t just Gladiator style events. The Colosseum was also filled with water to have mock sea battles. A book was available when we were there that flipped through what the Colosseum would have looked like in the past, and now I’m kind of kicking myself for not buying it. Who carries unnecessary books around while on vacation?!

Included in the entrance fee for the Colosseum is an entrance to Palatine Hill which has the Roman Forum and Circus Maximus. There is a ton of Roman mythology surrounding Palatine Hill. Read up on Romulus and Remus if you don’t believe me.

Palatine Hill Rome
Arch of Titus Palatine Hill Rome
Orange Tree Palatine Hill
Palatine Hill Rome
 I didn’t expect to see pine trees, palm trees, orange trees or cactus in Rome (which is dumb given its proximity to the Mediterranean!), but there were plenty of all.

And I managed to find this video on Youtube with a reconstruction. The music is uber-cheesy, but the visual (minus the digital flock of birds flying by every 10 seconds) is good.

England, Europe, France, Italy, United Kingdom

The order of things…

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First, I’m sure you all suspect that I’ve lost all hand function in a tragic typing accident, not true. I’m just overwhelmed at where to start with the whole travel recap. It would have been much easier to have kept an accurate journal, or have used the internet each day. Moola doesn’t grow on trees and internet access was 2£ for 15 minutes in places.

I’ve given up trying to repost the stories that come to mind, in the order that the countries were traveled. My mind isn’t that organized.   So now you get a random hodgepodge of travels. LUCKY!

Here’s the travel route, you put your own sequence together!

Vancouver, London, Paris, Milan, Venice, Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, Rome, Vatican City, Pompeii, Naples, Rome, Frankfurt, Toronto, Vancouver.

Europe, Italy

When in Rome…

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So I have not been able to update as often as I would have liked, but we have been busy sight seeing. It is BEAUTIFUL here in Rome. The weather is warm enough most of the time to wander around in a tshirt or just long sleeves.

The other day we were in the little town of Orvieto for the night and we made a day trip to Civita di Bagnoregio (google it now…so beautiful!). Well let’s just say the bus ride there…we got our dollar’s worth. The dude was driving on crazy small town Italy streets windy as all get up and he was in a full size bus. The speed limit was 50, and the one electronic meter we went by said your speed 60, and that is what he slowed down to. He was hitting the branches on the trees on the side of the road, and I seriously thought he was going to drive us into a bridge abutment. And, stop signs…all optional. He didn’t stop for a single one.

I nearly puked. Jon thought it was awesome, and that the guy must have been a Tuk Tuk driver in another life.

ps: Be on the lookout for loads of post cards. They’ve been in the mail since London.