This morning we walked past the Quirinale which is the Presidential Palace. Not quite as impressive as the buildings we have already seen but I guess it's nice to see where Mr President lives and works. Decided to start taking pictures of all the different types of guards that we see in the city. They are all elaborately dressed, each one slightly different from the next. Rome is a well guarded city!
Woke up this morning with a headache. Last night we went out for dinner. Food was ok but nothing to write home about. We paid 38 euros for 3 small appetizer (I really liked the stuffed and breaded olives), 1 salad, 2 main courses (Ali had "something like chicken" but not chicken and I had one of only three pasta dishes on the menu), a bottle of red wine, water (which they charged us for), and one coffee. We had difficulty ordering the food because this place really was popular with the locals and therefore the entire menu was in Italian. Afterwards we treated ourselves to more vino at the nearby wine bar. More than our budget permitted (15 euros for a bottle of Toscana Chianti) but well worth the bad head this morning.
Not quite as nice weather today.
Next on the agenda was the Pantheon. A unique building that was originally a temple dedicated to all Roman Gods but is now a Christian Church (surprise surprise) and still a place of worship today. At first I was intrigued by the giant hole in the center of the dome shaped roof. What happens when it rains? We discovered that it does in fact rain inside the temple but there are 22 little holes on the outskirts of the marble floor with a drainage system below. Fascinating!
Walking around the nearby market stalls snapping away with my digital camera, I realise that this is a dream come true. All I ever want to do is take photos of things, places or people that interest me and now I'm getting the chance to do it. I have the time to stop, compose and shoot anything I like. It's wonderful. It's also a great opportunity to improve my photography skills. Already I am noticing trends in compositions and themes and I'm having to force myself to come up with new ways of looking at things through the lens.
Just noticed that there are tons of nuns walking around here. Just saw a vicar on a Vespa and it made me chuckle.
Train ride to Naples was great. It was a newer train than the others and had bunk beds which of course we used. We slept the entire two and a half hour journey and woke up just in time to realise that we had arrived at our destination. As we exit the station we are greeted with loud bangs and sirens. The sirens were just a big emergency that happened to be whizzing by and the banging I'm assuming was from Easter fireworks. We called 5 hostels before finally booking an available room. The guy at the hostel said it was a miracle that we found availability on Easter weekend. Tomorrow he said is fully booked so we will have to pack up early and look for a new place to stay. So far, our introduction to Naples hasn't been very pleasant. I'm sure after some exploring tomorrow I will be convinced otherwise.
Total number of photos taken to date: 546
About Me
- Kris McKnight
- I am currently Managing & Creative Director of KMD, a London-based visual communication agency. This is my personal blog. I'd like to share with you some of the more interesting places I've been, things I've seen mixed with random thoughts and frivolous finds.