Travelling to Europe :)

[Mehera]

Fren: Don't take a lot of stuff with you. And if you buy anything heavy (wine, mustard) do it toward the END of your trip or you will be lugging it all over Europe. I learned this by buying these kind of things in France, our first stop. I would consider buying some fancy olive oil, too!

I kept accidentally taking short movies as the controls on my camera would shift without my knowing; some of these little shorts are my favorite souvenirs. Take an extra memory card with you.

How I loved Europe; I can't wait to go back! People always ask me what area I liked best--no way to choose--I loved everything!

[Shaydra]

Ooh! Have fun, Fren!

And in Paris, one word of caution: try to speak French to the shop keepers and natives FIRST. Many of them do speak English, but they will be more rude and possibly even over-charge you intentionally if you don't at least attempt to speak their language. I was there about 12 years ago and the shop keeper acted like he spoke no English to the couple in front of me, then corrected my French pronunciation and then proceeded to have a pleasant conversation (in English) with me about how rude American tourists are when they just assume that everyone all over the world should speak their language! (then he gave me a small 5 F discount.) I also spent 5 days in Nice, France on the Mediterranean coast - where most people really don't speak English. Beautiful place! Not as dirty as the big cities.

Having never been to Rome or anywhere outside of the Airport in England, I can't say anything about them. Just try to speak the language where ever you go. Even if the only phrases you know are "where's the toilet" and "do you speak English?"

Think about how you perceive foreign people who just walk up to you and start babbling their language, arrogantly expecting you to know what they're saying. American's have a bad rep for arrogance and rudeness in most foreign countries already, no need to make it worse I say!

[smartie2000]

856 unread posts!
I finally got back. The places I went were beautiful and architecture very different from my home city. The trip as so fast, going from landmark to landmark. I took many photos but I can't seem to find my last memory card, it has more pics of London and Windsor castle. There were some photos at windsor I particularly like, unfortunately I can't find the memory card. I am glad I didn't loose my big memory card with most of the photos. I hope I didn't leave it at the airport in Toronto, we were waiting for the flight to Edmonton and I was flipping through photos. We only stayed for dinner and the night in Dijon, so I didn't get the chance to buy Dijon mustard, however we did have dinner with delicious mustard sauce. We did buy red wine there.

All my budded plants are still in bud and Phrag albopurpureum was in bloom. Right after I took a few shots the perfect looking bloom dropped, typical of phrags.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Welcome home, Fren! I sure hope you find that memory card. I look forward to the photos.

Cheers,
BD

[Kerry]

Welcome home Fren, glad you enjoyed your holiday and that all your plants are okay.

Share some photos with us - it's always good to see what other people think of your country (and I'd just like to apologise for it being so expensive!)

[smartie2000]

I had excellent photos at Windsor castle because the lighting was perfect. I think I dropped the memory card on the ground while flipping though photos at Toronto airport without knowing it and the janitor cleaned the floor when I think back.

I'm still organizing and adusting photos. From Toronto we had a 9 hour flight to Rome.

Our first stop was the State of the Vatican City. It's the smallest independent nation in the world.
Here standing on St. Peter Square:

The Vatican obelisk is notable for being the second largest standing obelisk and the only one that remained standing since it was erected during the Roman Empire. There are also two fountains in the square, the north one by Maderno (1613) and the southern one by Bernini (1675).
St. Peter's Basilica is the most predominate building inside the Vatacan, and is the burial place of St. Peter, one of the twelve apostles. On top are statues of Christ, John the Baptist, and eleven of the apostles; The statues of St Peter and St Paul are in front of the parish. Two clocks are on either side of the top.

On top of the colonnade are 140 statues of saints, crafted by a number of sculptors between 1662 and 1703


The narthex or entrance hall, has five doors. The detail on the ceiling is amazing.


Holy Door, the northern most entrance.


The PietÃ** sculpted by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Perhaps one of the most famous religous statues, and very well guarded.


Over the main altar stands a 30 metres (98 ft) tall baldachin held by four immense pillars, all designed by Bernini between 1624 and 1632. The baldachin was built to fill the space beneath the cupola, and it is said that the bronze used to make it was taken from the Pantheon. The representation of a chair, part of the sculpture, is said to contain the remnants of the chair belonging to Saint Peter (It is also said that it is the largest bronze piece in the world.) Underneath the baldachin is the traditional tomb of St. Peter.


There are four niches, approximately 10 meters high in the base of the pillars that support the dome. Each niche contains a statue: St. Veronica, St. Helena, St. Longinus and St. Andrew, they are the works of F. Mochi, A. Bolgi, G.L. Bernini and F.Duquesnoy, respectively. The chapels above the niches were created to contain the relics of these saints. They were designed and built by Bernini, and are decorated with rare marble, ancient columns and figures of praying angels.
St. Veronica

St. Helena

St. Longinus


I'm not sure where this photo is pointed towards but it shows the architecture inside


The St. Peter's Basilica is immense and detailed with the finest craftmenship on the building and its monuments. I could easily load too many photos. I don't know if the info above is 100% correct since I pulled them from various web sources.

[Kerry]

Fab photos Fren - I have never been to Rome myself, and it's always a pleasure to see through over people's eyes.

[smartie2000]

And now we are sitting on the tour bus...

Piazza Venezia. In 1921 also the tomb of the Unknown soldier was placed at the entrance of the building. Looks like some work is being done on it. I also have a poor photo (so I won't load it) of Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome’s City Hall, which is behind Piazza Venezia.


Earthquake ruins. I am not sure which ones they are. Can I assume we are now on Palatine Hill?


The Collisium


I think these are the ruins of Caesar's Palace


ok we get off the tour bus now at Arch of Constantine,situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was erected to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312 AD.
I wonder what the false columns on the background of the left side of the photos are for. We didn't get to go into the Colisium or look more closely at the Roman ruins....I guess I'll have to go back again



Then we went to the famous Trevi fountain. There seems to be variations on the coin tossing tradition. I read at the end of the night all the coins are collected and used for charity. The water is crystal blue and still drinkable after all these years. Neptune is the centre statue


and we had delicious gelato!

...Then we go to Florence, I still have to edit those ones

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Keep them coming, Fren. I am reliving my trip to Italy through your photos. I wish I had my Italy snaps in digital form. It is such a beautiful country and Florenza and Sorento are my two favorite cities there. Florenza for the beautiful sites, and Sorento for the wonder, friendly people in a quiet little beach town.

Cheers,
BD