More like a trip report

[Marko]

But put together in the spirit of a ride report, this is a trip Jen and I took to Italy a year ago. This will have to do until Shane stops holding us hostage and posts some of his pictures up. :grin:

The Colosseum is probably the most well know symbol of ancient Rome. It's pretty impressive. Seats 60,000 people to watch gladiatorial contests but they could also flood the bottom and do mock naval battles too.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/colloseuminrome.jpg

Here's a shot at night.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/colloseuminatnight.jpg

Around the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine there are some of the original Roman roads.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/originalroads.jpg

The Roman Forum was the political and social center of ancient Rome. It was the marketplace the business center and now lies in ruins in the center of the city near the Colosseum

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/Ruinsandvictorebuilding.jpg

Palatine Hill is the part of the Roman ruins where all the palaces used to stand. It is very close to the Colosseum because if you're a rich Roman you don't want to have to walk far to see people get ripped apart for sport. :ack2:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/Ruins.jpg


There are something like 1000 churches in Rome according to a tour guide I overhead at the Vatican. Vatican City is a separate county formed in 1929 but Popes have been living there since the 13th century. St Peters Basilica is built on the site where it is believed Nero crucified the apostle Peter. The church itself was built around 300 AD and redesigned in the 1500s to the building we see today.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/stpeters.jpg

This is a close up of the columns that surround St Peters square.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/pillarssurroundingStPeters.jpg

These are the Swiss Guards. They are the official military of the Vatican and are responsible for the protection of the Pope.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/swissguards.jpg

Here are a couple shots inside the basilica. It can accommodate 60,000 people inside, (same as the Colosseum - weird :hmm:).

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/insidethestpeters2.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/insidethestpeters.jpg

The Vatican Museum houses the Sistine Chapel sorry no shots, it is too well policed to take pictures in. Here is a shot of one of the halls of the Vatican Museum.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/insidethevaticanmusuem.jpg

And I particularly liked this one of the stairway and the woman in red.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/staricaseinthevaticanmusuem.jpg

One other church I want to mention is the Santa Maria della Immacolata Concezione. Under the church the bones of more than 4,000 Cappuchin monks have been arranged to decorate the walls of several tiny chapels under the church. The history is basically that the soil from the cemetery of here came directly from Jerusalem making it a very desirable place to be buried. When they ran out of space they exhumed the bodies and decorated the six chapels underneath making them crypts. This one is the Crypt of the Skulls.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/capuchincrypt.jpg

There are several fountains in Rome, the most famous is the Trevi Fountain. Legend has it if you throw in a coin you will return to Rome one day.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/trevifountain.jpg

There are several nice fountains in the Piazza Navona, including the Fountain of Neptune that was being restored when I was there but there are many other fountains in the Piazza.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/fountain.jpg

We stayed in Rome for about a week then took overnight trains to several other places that we wanted to see. We traveled to Modena where we set up our base of operations to see some other parts of the country because it was central. First stop Maranello!!! And you know what that means.












http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/ferrarifrontdoor.jpg

The road cars are all made in the factory beyond this gate. Before a buyer takes possession of a new Ferrari the car passes through these doors, drives through the town to the test track on the other side of the down where it is given a shakedown.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/ferraritesttrack.jpg

We went to the Ferrari Museum where we saw literally 50 years of Ferrari competitive cars, Schumacher, Lauda, Mansel and of course Gilles. :cool2:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/gillescar.jpg

This was also where Jen and I picked up our rental for the rest of the trip.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/jenandtheenzo.jpg

Just kidding. Next day we took the train to Pisa. Although most famous for the leaning tower the entire site is an outstanding example of Pisan architecture not the least of which is the Duomo.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/duomoatpisa.jpg

The Baptistry nearby is also impressive. Inside the acoustics are unbelievable. You can see the Baptistry just beyond the Duomo. This was taken from the tower.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/duomoandbaptisryfromthetower.jpg

It's really hard to capture the interior of the Duomo, it is so intricate and at the same time overwhelming that it doesn't translate well onto film. This is one of the alters.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/duomoatpisainside.jpg

Of course I couldn't resist this one.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/jenandthetower.jpg

The next day we went to Florence. The Duomo here is in the center of the city and the buildings are so close to it that it is very hard to get a good shot.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/duomoatflorence.jpg

The doors on the side are made of gold.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/doorstoduomoinflorence.jpg

The Ponte Vecchio is a bridge that runs over the Arno in Florence. It is full of shops, mostly jewelers and souvenir shops but it's one of the most recognizable bridges in Europe. It's difficult to say when it was built because it has been added to and renovated so many times over the years but it is at least 1000 years old.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/PonteVecchio.jpg

The next day we went up to Venice. Instead of paying the $100 per half hour for a gondola we got on a vaporetto (basically a water bus) for a couple bucks and got to ride through the entire city on the Grand Canal.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/canalsinvenice.jpg

But the real beauty of Venice is walking though the tiny streets and seeing the canals and buildings up close.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/venicebridge.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/boatgoingthroughcanal.jpg

Here is a shot of the market square at night

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/veniceatnight.jpg

We took an overnight train south to Naples to see Pompeii. We were greeted at the train station by a couple of cops on . . . I kid you not. . . Segways. :copcar:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/copsonasegway.jpg

The site of the ancient city is massive. Much of the excavation has exposed the city in a remarkable state of preservation. The roads look just like the original roads in Rome.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/roadsinancientponpey.jpg

And you can kind of get the scope of how big this place was. Throughout the site they are unearthing things all the time. This is a mummified man who was asleep when the volcano blew and likely died in his sleep from the poison gas and ash.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/mumifiedguyfrompompey.jpg

Here is an amphitheatre that is still only partially excavated. You can see why it went undiscovered for so long because earth literally overgrew everything and hid it completely.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/colloseuminpompey.jpg

We took another overnight train back to Rome for one final night there before we flew out. We walked over all the bridges in the city one more time. You can see the back of the Pantheon from here.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/patheon.jpg

And one more stroll through the back streets.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u19/marko675/Italy/ferrari.jpg

Hope you folks enjoyed the photos they will have to do until :fruit: posts his.

Mark

[asphaltscraper]

Thanks for sharing Marko! :cool2: Amazing architecture, makes me want to travel. :thumbup:

[DoubleApexx]

I can't even imagine how amazing your trip must have been. Thanks for sharing your photos!

[Budo]

:icon_eek: :icon_eek: She sat on the Enzo...???!?!?





Nice pics though... seems like a fun trip :hooray:

[Scooter Scott]

I went to Italy in 98. I wanted to see the Colosseum but the line to get in was ridiculous. I always thought it was out in the country somewhere from all the pictures you see in school. Its right in the middle of the city. I took one of those walking tours with a audio tape describing what I was seeing. Walk a while, cool off in a Barre, walk some more, cool off, you get the picture. Incredible beauty and gypsies everywhere.
Took the train to Firenze and rented a car to go to the GP race in Mugello. Driving in Italy was a blast. The woman at the rental car agency said just watch out for the street cars and go like hell.
I stayed in a little town called Barberino di Mugello and drove to the track for practice, qualifying and the race. The crowd was estimated at 100,000 for the race.
I need to take Valentina up on her offer to use one of her bikes and get my ass back over there.

[ShnikeJSB]

I've gotta go to Italy some day... I've always wanted to go! See my heritage (I'm mostly German and Italian). :yeehaw: Gotta see it before it sinks! :laugh:

EXCELLENT pics, man! :notworthy:


(PS -- Is that Dave Coulier I see in that pic??? :rofl:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/lcp/quefuede/myfiles/Dave%20Coulier01.jpg)

[Marko]

She sat on the Enzo

It was just a rental anyway. :wink2:


Is that Dave Coulier I see in that pic???

He's my twin brother :nod:

[SVreiter]

It was just a rental anyway. :wink2:



He's my twin brother :nod:

Hehe...that's quite correct. You look similar :). Amazing pictures btw. Just went to Italy (The North...Lake of Garda, Verona, and Venezia) too, some weeks ago. It's always very nice there and it's near for me (Location South Germany).

I will ride tomorrow or the day after to South France and Pyrenees. I hope I will be able to make some good camera shots of my trip. It's cool and very interesting to see this riding-trip pictures of you all.

Many Greets from Germany.
Micha :yeehaw:

[Marko]

Thanks for the kind words and have a great trip. I hope to see a trip report and some pics of the Pyrenees. The mountains are beutiful.

[DoubleApexx]

Hehe...that's quite correct. You look similar :). Amazing pictures btw. Just went to Italy (The North...Lake of Garda, Verona, and Venezia) too, some weeks ago. It's always very nice there and it's near for me (Location South Germany).

I will ride tomorrow or the day after to South France and Pyrenees. I hope I will be able to make some good camera shots of my trip. It's cool and very interesting to see this riding-trip pictures of you all.

Many Greets from Germany.
Micha :yeehaw:


Endlich! Du sollst mehr heir besuchen und schrieben, Micha! Was ist dir los?
:icon_wink: :smile:

[AdamB]

Damn Marko! Awesome photos and history bits. Thanks for sharing man!

[Marko]

Call me Dave :rofl:

[ShnikeJSB]

Call me Dave :rofl:

Ah -- the truth comes out! :laugh:

[ShaneXman]

This will have to do until Shane stops holding us hostage and posts some of his pictures up. :grin:

Mark,

Wow...just wow! :clapclap: Those are some remarkable shots, and now I don't even want to post mine. You definitely put mine to shame. :notworthy:

What camera were you using?

BTW, looking through your pictures just brought back sooo many fond memories. I can't wait to (eventually) go back. Thank you for sharing, this was a wonderful write-up.

Also, regarding my report from the honeymoon, it looks like it will be a tad bit longer. My wife and I are in the process of moving, as well as dealing with a whole bunch of other life issues. I'll get them up as soon as I can. Sorry for the delay. :thumbup:

[AdamB]

Call me Dave :rofl:


No, I just can't :verysad: You will always be Marko to us :laugh:

[Marko]

What camera were you using?

Believe it or not a point and shoot Olympus Stylus.

I got it because it was durable and easy to use. There are better cameras out there but this puppy is pretty bulletproof.

http://www.slipperybrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/olympus-stylus-1030-sw-digital-camera.jpg

Here's a video but it will give you an idea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyVzGk2xm_k

If I'm doing serious photo work I still use film.


No, I just can't :verysad: You will always be Marko to us :laugh:

Aw shucks :itsok: