Julia and I went to Italy for our honey moon from October 3rd to October 13th. Italy was the birthplace of my parents, and it was a pleasure to see the country they came from. Any person whose been to Italy can talk to you for hours about its ins and outs. Our trip consisted of 3 days in Rome, 3 days in Florence, and 3 days in Venice. For my sake I will post one city at a time. Rome was the first stop on our trip. It started with an eye opening trip from the airport to the hotel we were staying at. Driving in Rome is an art form, there is a chaotic beauty to it that high budget action movie directors pine for. Everyone drives "reasonably" sized automobiles. We rarely glimpsed a SUV or truck. There is a abundance of scooters and motorcycles in Italy, and the people who drive them are fearless. We saw scooters weave in and out of any kind of driving situation you can imagine. Some roads fit 4 cars width wise, the only thing is that they have no lane markings. Imagine the 93 north with no lane markings during rush hour. There would be an accident every 5 minutes, and I'm being nice. Not in Italy, no markings and crazy drivers are everywhere, but we did not witness one accident.
Carrying on, We left Boston at 5PM Monday evening, and arrived to our hotel at 930AM Tuesday morning, The time difference doesn't hit you right away, but it will. For me it hit me during a meeting with our pseudo tour guide. The might of Zeus had no chance in stopping me from dozing while she was explaining Rome. The hotels in Rome are smaller than what we would expect from a hotel in America. The bathrooms had bedays! Sadly, I did not use one. It may have been fear, pride, or a combination that stopped me from using it. Alright, let's get to the meat of this thing. This first picture is our view from our hotel window, not the whole view but it has the name of the hotel in it.
This picture gives you a little glimpse into how they park in Italy and the kinds of cars they prefer. I have no idea how the cars that have the scooter bread would get out of those spots. Mentos commercial style probably. Here's a picture of Julia enjoying the view from our hotel window.
I'm not going to be discussing technical aspects of the pictures in these posts. I would rather discuss Italy. Moving forward, the next pictures should give you an idea of the landscape of the "normal" part of Rome. I say normal in the sense that most of these shots were taken at places that didn't have a major attraction.
My first reaction when I first saw Rome was that it's like any major city. It's busy, there are buildings everywhere, and it's dirty. However, as you dig a little more into what it has to offer you notice the details and the passion that went into everyday buildings and homes. Rome is an old city and it's buildings are a refreshing change of pace from the sleek modern buildings we see here.
Julia and I ventured out for one of our many walks around Rome. These pictures start to show the synchronization of the new into the old. What I mean is that as you walk you see things that have been there longer than any building around it. You'll see a church or statue that has been there ages and still makes the new additions seem so worthless in comparison.
It was sensory overload at times. There's rows of buildings apartments and stores, then you'll see a gold statue glistening in the sun light over looking the city. You'll be walking in a rotary and see a dude with a horse in a head lock. The statues inside the churches are amazing. The detail and condition the are in is remarkable.
As we kept walking we found ourselves at Santa Maria Maggiore. You'll see some pictures of the road leading to it, the building and structures, and then the roads leading away from it.
It's amazing how these building came to be. When these were built there was no heavy machinery. These next couple of pictures are random shots of our travels.
I am not sure how many pictures this thing can handle, so this will be the end of part 1. I suspect there will be around 6 posts from the trip. I hope you enjoy these pictures.
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