The view looking down the Spanish Steps
A Sojourn in The Eternal City, Rome, Italy - 22nd July 2008
Friends of Isobel are getting married in Tuscany, and so to make something of a holiday out of it we go out for the week before. On the way, we stop off in Rome for an overnighter, which gives a bit of a chance to poke around the hot and humid city. Nosher's driving the hired "sprog-hauler" around Rome for the first time, which is a bit hair-raising, but Isobel gives some good navigation and we get to the hotel without issue. There, we meet up with the Belgian massive - Pieter and Jules - who have been in town for most of the day, before proceeding out for a wander and some food in the evening. The next day we start with a gentle wander in the vague direction of the "usual stuff", but as we do so we happen upon a shop where a bunch of blokes are making fresh pasta, and where a quick "posso avere uno photo, per favore?" gets us a chance to see real pasta being made. Later, we end up on an on/off open-top bus tour, which at least means we can cover more ground without having to walk too far. And so we head off to the Colisseum, then on to the Vatican, although the Pope's out when we get there, before we leave Rome and head up to Tuscany.
next album: Tenuta Il Palazzo in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy - 22nd July 2008
previous album: Debach And the B-17 "Liberty Belle", Suffolk - 12th July 2008
Tourists and locals soak up the evening sunshine
It's a 'thing' to collect water from the fountains
What looks a lot like chestnut roasting
The Trevi Fountains, and hordes of tourists
Pieter, Jules and Isobel
The statue looks like it's eating a banana
Everyone's a David Bailey or a Frederico Fellini
Trevi's fruit
Jules and Isobel
A tat-seller shouts for business
We roam the back streets
Isobel looks relieved to get a bit of Gelato
A passing girl is given a budgie for some reason
Isobel eats gelato
Roman street scene
The cobbles of Rome
A caricature artist
Pieter outside a shop
Roaming around bits of ancient Rome
Nice apartment buildings
Roman buildings and columns
The Pantheon in the Piazza della Rotonda
Posters advertising the 'Magic Flute' adorn a wall
Space-age graffiti
Down-and-out in Rome: a champagne bottle on a step
We roam across a quiet square
Jules, Isobel and a huge puffy bread-thing
Le Cave Di Signor Ignazio
Jules, Pieter and Isobel uplit by a floor light
The restaurant
A cobbled square in sodium light
Old cobbles
The Altare della Patria by night
Il Colosseo, and a couple of buses
The back of the Colosseum at night
Our actual room at the hotel
We have a paddle in the jacuzzi
There's a foam war in the jacuzzi
There's an aerial forest over Rome
The hotel's sign over the Via Boncampagni
A pigeon visits for breakfast
Our roof-top breakfast
Isobel fashions a shade from her sunglasses case
We visit a fruit stall
It's amusing to see SPQR on street furniture
Pieter takes a close-up of a Roman cat
We pass a restaurant making fresh pasta
The day's ravioli is being made
The chef proudly shows off his ravioli
The Pastaio's toolbox
All the men of the restaurant are involved
More ravioli is made
A fountain
A Four Seasons poster on a pink box
Isobel outside a boutique
A City Works vehicle
A fruit and veg stall
Pieter takes a photo of a tiny van
A moped whizzes past
Jules tries on a hat
A back alley
Well-worn shutters
A statue peers round a street corner
A very grand building corner and light
Crowds of tourists
Padlocks attached to railings
A homeless dude sits in a doorway
Some dude potters around in a print works
There's some papal street art
Another homeless dude asleep on a doorstep
An empty shop
Cool 'Bernini' hotel sign
The Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli
Two old women with their world on wheels
The women have some sort of charcoal-burning thing
Pieter has a doze on an open-top bus
Graffiti'd bins
The walls of the Colosseum
Some 'Romans' outside Il Colosseo
A mix of old and new
The Colisseum
In the Forum
The Arch of Constantine
The Colisseum and some building works
The road around the Colisseum
Jules and Isobel in a bar
The 'Wedding Cake'
The Castel Sant'Angelo
Palatine Hamburger near the Vatican
A mosaic of the Madonna
The collonade around St Peter's Square
St. Peter's Square, Vatican
A car seems a bit lost
Inside the collonade
A couple of the Vatican guards
Someone sits down for a bit of peace
The Basillica of St. Peter
A group of nuns cross St. Peter's Square
The wide avenue leading up the St. Peter's
A sunken boat on the Tiber
A dedication to Mary, Mother of God
The sun reflects off a window
A nice accidental slow shot of the moped massive
Funky old Martini sign
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The view looking down the Spanish Steps
The view looking down the Spanish Steps
Tourists and locals soak up the evening sunshine
It's a 'thing' to collect water from the fountains
What looks a lot like chestnut roasting
The Trevi Fountains, and hordes of tourists
Pieter, Jules and Isobel
The statue looks like it's eating a banana
Everyone's a David Bailey or a Frederico Fellini
Trevi's fruit
Jules and Isobel
A tat-seller shouts for business
We roam the back streets
Isobel looks relieved to get a bit of Gelato
A passing girl is given a budgie for some reason
Isobel eats gelato
Roman street scene
The cobbles of Rome
A caricature artist
Pieter outside a shop
Roaming around bits of ancient Rome
Nice apartment buildings
Roman buildings and columns
The Pantheon in the Piazza della Rotonda
Posters advertising the 'Magic Flute' adorn a wall
Space-age graffiti
Down-and-out in Rome: a champagne bottle on a step
We roam across a quiet square
Jules, Isobel and a huge puffy bread-thing
Le Cave Di Signor Ignazio
Jules, Pieter and Isobel uplit by a floor light
The restaurant
A cobbled square in sodium light
Old cobbles
The Altare della Patria by night
Il Colosseo, and a couple of buses
The back of the Colosseum at night
Our actual room at the hotel
We have a paddle in the jacuzzi
There's a foam war in the jacuzzi
There's an aerial forest over Rome
The hotel's sign over the Via Boncampagni
A pigeon visits for breakfast
Our roof-top breakfast
Isobel fashions a shade from her sunglasses case
We visit a fruit stall
It's amusing to see SPQR on street furniture
Pieter takes a close-up of a Roman cat
We pass a restaurant making fresh pasta
The day's ravioli is being made
The chef proudly shows off his ravioli
The Pastaio's toolbox
All the men of the restaurant are involved
More ravioli is made
A fountain
A Four Seasons poster on a pink box
Isobel outside a boutique
A City Works vehicle
A fruit and veg stall
Pieter takes a photo of a tiny van
A moped whizzes past
Jules tries on a hat
A back alley
Well-worn shutters
A statue peers round a street corner
A very grand building corner and light
Crowds of tourists
Padlocks attached to railings
A homeless dude sits in a doorway
Some dude potters around in a print works
There's some papal street art
Another homeless dude asleep on a doorstep
An empty shop
Cool 'Bernini' hotel sign
The Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli
Two old women with their world on wheels
The women have some sort of charcoal-burning thing
Pieter has a doze on an open-top bus
Graffiti'd bins
The walls of the Colosseum
Some 'Romans' outside Il Colosseo
A mix of old and new
The Colisseum
In the Forum
The Arch of Constantine
The Colisseum and some building works
The road around the Colisseum
Jules and Isobel in a bar
The 'Wedding Cake'
The Castel Sant'Angelo
Palatine Hamburger near the Vatican
A mosaic of the Madonna
The collonade around St Peter's Square
St. Peter's Square, Vatican
A car seems a bit lost
Inside the collonade
A couple of the Vatican guards
Someone sits down for a bit of peace
The Basillica of St. Peter
A group of nuns cross St. Peter's Square
The wide avenue leading up the St. Peter's
A sunken boat on the Tiber
A dedication to Mary, Mother of God
The sun reflects off a window
A nice accidental slow shot of the moped massive
Funky old Martini sign