March 14 - Marseille Vieux Port

This week we had a our first visitors to the Villa!! Hanna, Patrick and Michael, and Pam our friends from Toronto.  They had an interesting flight to get here, and their bags had an even more interesting trip, but they arrived safe and sound.  Our first trip was to Marseille to see the old port area.  Marseille is the oldest city in France and has been a port for 2600 years.

There is another area where the smaller boats are parked, it is around the corner in the swamp.

Fort St. Nicolas

Fort St. Jean.  The two forts are build on either side of the entrance to the old harbour.  Both these forts were built to protect the harbour from the residents of Marseille.  The cannons pointed towards the town, not out to sea.  The two ports were built by Louis XIV, just after an uprising against the local governor.

The Palais du Pharo, built as an imperial residence for Napoleon, but never occupied by him.  He was "replaced" in 1870 as the seat of government.

A small enclosed portion of beach (Plage des catalans) belonging to the restaurant we were shown by some locals.

Chillin' waiting for our food.

After lunch a stroll on the beach.  Nice sand, not rocky, the Mediterranean is still cold mind you.

An interesting view of St. Victoire, the 5th century abbey on the hill.

Its all so very very French.

Rome - Part 3 - Vatican Rome

Day 3 - Other side of the Tiber to the Vatican.

We start the day at the Vatican Museum, where the Sistine chapel is located (Sorry no pictures allowed).  The museum is absolutely packed with stuff, it seems like everywhere you look there is another priceless something.  I guess when you've been in business for 2000 years you have the ability to steal, oops..., collect a lot of stuff.  We have some time to kill before heading to the vatican museum, so naturally we take some pictures of the main square, and St. Peter's basillica.

 One of the Swiss guards.

You need to be very proper when you visit the Vatican.

 Inside the Greek section of the Vatican museum.

 This was either a bathtub or a sarcophagus.  My guess is you wouldn't want to mix those two up, or you might end up taking a very very long bath indeed.

 Marble carving depicting the Trojan wars.  Big fuss for three people and a snake.

 A lovely carving of a lion.

 a Fertility Godess (or the goddess of wonderbra), interesting the things you find in the Vatican Museum.

 Ceiling fresco.

 This is the map room.  Along both sides are frescos depicting the areas under management.

 an early scientific instrument for predicting the motions of the planets...didn't a guy named Copernicus get in heaps of trouble for something very similar? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDKdi7aRGls  FYI this is the origin of conflict (or uprising) as a definition of Revolution, it did not exist in this context prior to Copernicus and the revolution he began by suggesting the revolutions that he suggested.

 Spiral staircase on the exit of the Vatican museum.  Names of various Popes are along the side-rails.

 Hungry work looking at all those treasures.

 After lunch we go back to St. Peter's to go up to the cupola at the top of St. Peter's dome to look at the city.  The walk up is very cool.  The staircase is built in a space between the inner (mosaic decorated) dome and the outer roof.

 The view of St. Peter's square from the cupola.

 View of the cupola from the roof level (where the gift shop is.)

 The sculptures which ordain the top of St. Peter's from behind....aka bums of saints.

Sun streaming through a side window, very appropriate given the setting.

The washrooms, over there.

This is Bernini's high altar, technically it is a balachin.  Cast in bronze it is something like 90 feet tall.  It is positioned directly under the dome of St. Peter's, and directly above St. Peter's tomb.

This sculpture, the Pieta by Michelangelo, is really something to see, completed when he was just  24 years old, a true masterpiece - one you can tell just by looking at it, you need to know nothing about art.  Just stand there and wonder why the marble isn't moving, it looks like it could.

Cherubs, who doesn't love 'em.

One of the highlights of the trip.  This Gelato store was steps from our hotel, and had some of the best Gelato in the city.

Rome - Part 2 - Hop-on Hop-off Rome

To give everyone a bit of a break from our forced march on Day 1 (and planned forced march for day 3) we planned a hop-on hop-off bus tour for our 2nd full day in Rome.  This mode of transport takes you to the major sites of rome, where you can explore at your own pace, and re-board a bus to continue on to the next site you are interested in.

 Temple to Hercules near the banks of the Tiber

 Looking away from the monument to King Victor Emmanuel II

Facing the monument, which includes the tomb of the unkown soldier.  Nick-named the wedding cake by US GIs.

 The Piazza Navona:  A view of the plaza, which sits on the site of Domitian's former stadium, with the buildings located where the seating would have been.  Naturally tourists come here, and therefore things are for sale, both from cafes that ring the plaza and from vendors that set up shop in every other conceivable space.

 There are three fountains in the Piazza, the first one we came upon is the Fountain of Neptune, thats him below making some sushi (sashimi actually)

 In the middle of the square is the Fountain of the Four Rivers, and like most things in Rome it was designed by Bernini (eg. most of the Vatican)  The four corners of the fountain, contain personifications of the Nile, the Ganges, the Danube and the Plate.

 Last up (also with help from Bernini) is the Fountain of the Moor.

The church of St. Ignazio.  Think of this as a poor-man's Sistine chapel.  Much less crowded, and well worth the visit.  Below is as much of the ceiling as my little camera could handle.

 Ceiling detail - America

 Ceiling detail - Europa

 Ceiling detail - Asia

 Ceiling Detail - Africa

 Beautiful work with very vibrant colours, amazing considering it hasn't been new since 1694.  Below is the detail showing the carving (marble) of an altarpiece in the church.

 These guys are out to make a buck (euro actually).  Makes you wonder how you come to this line of work....Hey..you should get a job... ya, but I don't know where to start....Well what are you good at?... I can sit on the couch perfectly still for long periods of time....HEY I know what you should do for a living....ah well.

The Spanish Steps:
The approach to the Spanish steps takes you down the Via Condotti, a high-end shopping district, we remained safely on the street and did not venture into any of these very dangerous shops.

 The Spanish Steps - not at all a popular spot.  Yikes.

 Just before Gelato on the Spanish steps.

 At the top of the Spanish steps, if you turn left and look down you will find the much less popular Mexican Steps.

Trevi Fountain:

The Trevi Fountain dates form 1762, and was provided water from an aqueduct that ends at this fountain.  The tradition is that if you throw a coin in the fountain you will be sure to come back to Rome. (We did)
The theme of the fountain is the palace of the ocean, with the central figure representing the ocean being drawn by two seahorses.

 Detail of the seahorse carving on the right.

 two mermaids appear on the scene

 ... and when it looks like mermaid #1 is going to dive over mermaid #2 the Italian police that guard the Trevi Fountain blow their whistles, and you get chased off the artwork....sorry mermaids.

DONE