I was absolutely fascinated with the beautiful and diverse doors we saw in Italy. There must have been a wonderful door store, but I never saw it.
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| My favorite in Deruta. |
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Showing posts with label Rome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rome. Show all posts
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Italian Doors
I was absolutely fascinated with the beautiful and diverse doors we saw in Italy. There must have been a wonderful door store, but I never saw it.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Almost Opera in Rome, Italy
It would be a shame to be in Rome and not attend an Italian opera. Friends Betty, Mary, and I attended an "almost" opera in Rome the other night when we went to a concert at the Anglican church in Rome. The vocalists and chamber orchestra performed a number of arias from Italian operas.
Walking home after the concert allowed us to enjoy the beauty of Rome at night.
On the way home we stopped for drinks at a little sidewalk restaurant, and we stayed so late we were asked to leave because they wanted to close. So now we can say we "closed down the bar"!
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| Friends Betty (left) and Mary (right) at the concert. |
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| The concert. |
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| Betty taking photo of fountains. |
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| Rome at night. |
On the way home we stopped for drinks at a little sidewalk restaurant, and we stayed so late we were asked to leave because they wanted to close. So now we can say we "closed down the bar"!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Dan's Comments 1
From time to time on this tour of Italy, Dan has agreed to share some of his impressions with me. Here's the first:
"This is a very interesting country in many unexpected ways. A motorist is apt to leave his car in the middle of a one-lane road and block the flow of traffic while he has a drink in a bar. Yesterday a Northern Italian told us that this would happen in South Italy, but before we reached our hotel it happened to us here in Rome."
"The proficiency of drivers, especially big bus drivers, on the switchback roads of the Amalfi Coast is incredible. In three days of driving we encountered only two accidents, although there was seldom more than six inches of leeway between our bus and the ones it was encountering. Fortunately the Vespa riders usually didn't try to squeeze between us until we had passed.
Scenically that coast is quite spectacular, with volcanic mountains of the southern Appenines plunging several thousand feet into Homer's wine-dark sea. It takes a while, though, to make the esthetic adjustment to fishing villages that look like tenements."
"Pompeii was much more impressive than it seems in photographs. Something about the third dimension gives it a convincing reality, the humanity of which is attested to by the hundreds of museum amphorae and the handful of plaster casts of the bodies of people killed in the eruption. Today there are 700,000 people living within Pompeii's distance from Vesuvius. That's what makes it the most dangerous volcano in the world."
"After even Amalfi's tourist accommodation, Rome's seem rapacious. Five euros to use the TV or the Internet. It would be cheaper to buy a new blouse than to have one laundered here."
"This is a very interesting country in many unexpected ways. A motorist is apt to leave his car in the middle of a one-lane road and block the flow of traffic while he has a drink in a bar. Yesterday a Northern Italian told us that this would happen in South Italy, but before we reached our hotel it happened to us here in Rome."
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| Our bus blocked in Rome. |
"The proficiency of drivers, especially big bus drivers, on the switchback roads of the Amalfi Coast is incredible. In three days of driving we encountered only two accidents, although there was seldom more than six inches of leeway between our bus and the ones it was encountering. Fortunately the Vespa riders usually didn't try to squeeze between us until we had passed.
Scenically that coast is quite spectacular, with volcanic mountains of the southern Appenines plunging several thousand feet into Homer's wine-dark sea. It takes a while, though, to make the esthetic adjustment to fishing villages that look like tenements."
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| Fishing village along the Amalfi Coast is very different from one in Nova Scotia |
"Pompeii was much more impressive than it seems in photographs. Something about the third dimension gives it a convincing reality, the humanity of which is attested to by the hundreds of museum amphorae and the handful of plaster casts of the bodies of people killed in the eruption. Today there are 700,000 people living within Pompeii's distance from Vesuvius. That's what makes it the most dangerous volcano in the world."
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| Amphorae and cast of victim from Pompeii. |
"After even Amalfi's tourist accommodation, Rome's seem rapacious. Five euros to use the TV or the Internet. It would be cheaper to buy a new blouse than to have one laundered here."
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| Eleven euros ($15.00) to launder a blouse. |
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