The Squamidian Report – June 24 / 17
Issue #787
Including:
From Lorne
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Would you believe that after months of cold and wet, the sun has come
out and the temperature is climbing. Our visitors from KW left early
Tuesday morning. We dropped them off at the crack of dawn under a heavy
overcast that was producing spotty rain. By the time we got home from
the airport there were signs that the sky just might open a bit. By mid
afternoon the sun was out. It took another 3 days for the temps to
climb all the way up to 'normal'. Unfortunately, the temps weren't
aware that 'normal' would be a good place to stop and just kept on
going. The point is, the weather seemed to want to be sure that our
visitors had left before finally shaking off the lingering dregs of
winter. However, we were able to keep our visitors entertained and the
weather wasn't really a factor, and, most of us preferred cool and
cloudy with a bit of rain over hot and hotter anytime.
Now, there is no need for me to drag my section on any further as Lorne
has sent in his take on things, and, Greg has another great installment
from his trip to Italy. So, read on.
doug
****
From Lorne
Back to the grey old east. But remembering a week ago when
we made a few more adventure trips up the gondola bringing the
total to 34 times over the last 3 annual visits. A trip to
Britannia Beach and a return up The Sea to Sky Hwy. to the site of the
2010 Olympic ski jump and a climb up to Shannon Falls all since last
weeks reporting. Ending at the Vancouver Airport by
7am, Tues., whereupon an inspector of identification upon examining my
Ont. Driver's Permit, found it had expired 3 days before and would not
accept it as a valid form of identity even though it contains a recent
photo. 2 pieces are required. Several other officials
were summoned speaking in rapid and strange languages but finely
I was given the OK. with a warning.
Attempting to board at Calgary, checking our identification, some power
craved migrant discovered my driver's permit had expired and would not
accept proof that I am the same person. The inspector at
Vancouver looked very much like this one. Don't know how they did
that. Both times looked like I may not get on the plane but again
with a meeting of authorities and a warning I was allowed on.
In both cases, after everything was settled, I was treated kindly and
brought to my seat by an attractive attendant. This couldn't happen to
a nicer fellow.
Lorne
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Once again I’m back to continue my description of our trip to Rome.
It’s actually barely touching on the details of our adventure but the
more I write the more I remember about the amazing time we had over in
Italy. To continue from last week, I’ll start off by mentioning our mid
vacation decision to ride around the city rather than walk one day,
just for a change of pace. We found that there was a bus stop about a
block from our apartment that was geared for the tourists visiting the
city. For 30 Euros per person you can board their topless double decker
bus and take a great tour of the city. You are even supplied with
headphones that allow you to listen to a description of all the amazing
sites you pass along the two-hour route. This bus is called a “Hop-On,
Hop-Off” tour and you can do just that anywhere along the route you
wish. You can hop off at a certain site and once you have finished
touring that site, you can hop back on the bus and continue your tour.
Your ticket is good for a 24 hr period. If you start at noon you are
good until noon the next day. They call it a 24-hour ticket but the bus
only runs from 8am until 6pm on any day. It was fun to see the city and
it’s busy streets and walkways from a different perspective and we did
hop off at a couple of different sites, once to have lunch and the
second time to visit the cool “Ferrari” store in downtown Rome. The
store has a real F1 Ferrari race care in the front window and of course
you can have your picture taken beside the car as long as an employee
doesn’t see you doing it, since there is no photography allowed in the
store. LOL! We managed to take a couple of photos anyway! We purchased
a couple of Ferrari Tee Shirts (Red of course) as well as a Ferrari
phone cover for Adam’s phone and a red Ferrari mug for myself. I have
enjoyed many a cup of tea in my mug since arriving home. I guess
technically it’s a “coffee” mug but I’m not a coffee drinker so, tea it
is!
The next day, we were walking along the wall
above the Tiber river and decided to walk across the “Bridge of Angels”
to the north side of the river and check out the “St Angeles Fort”
directly at the north end of the bridge. It’s a huge fort that was
built many centuries ago to be used as a form of protection against
invaders that might enter the city by way of the river! This fort is
also used to this very day as a refuge for the Pope should Vatican City
ever be invaded. There is a one-kilometer long 10meter high roadway
that stretches from the fort to the residence of the Pope in the
Vatican. The pope and his guards can move from one place to the other
without having to be on street level and this affords them safety from
enemy forces. The fort was an amazing part of our day and it is visited
by thousands of visitors every day. It’s huge and totally impenetrable
unless by air! The fort is at a guess, at least 100 to 150 feet high
and it’s quite a challenge to climb to the top of its highest point.
This particular building affords one of the best views of the city of
Rome. You can even look down on the St Peter’s Square of Vatican City
where the Pope holds his outdoor services. I believe the fort covers an
area of approximately 25 acres, it’s huge!
The next day, we decided to take a trek to see the
Spanish Steps in central Rome. This is an ancient set of steps; I
believe there are 189 of them or more. They were built during the
1600’s to connect the French Cathedral on the upper plateau to the
Spanish “Square” below. Once the steps were completed, they attracted
hundreds of artists, musicians and performers who were inspired by the
amazing architecture surrounding the “Steps” and also the tourists
flocking to see the steps. The tourists became a grand source of income
for the street performers and artists and still are to this very day.
We also made our way to another famous square that fronts the Leonardo
Di Vinci Museum. We wanted to be sure to see this museum as it contains
many of the famous artists inventions as well as a copy of his most
famous portrait “The Mona Lisa”. The copy is so amazing that I’m
surprised nobody has made an effort to steal it from the wall it’s
mounted on. It is mounted at eye level with no security ropes or
obvious protection around the painting. It would fool an art critic I’m
sure if presented as the real thing! I could have reached out and
touched the painting without any problem at all. Well, maybe someone
would have chastised me for doing so but it was tempting to say the
least! We have had a copy of “Mona Lisa” on our living room wall for
about 40 years and it was interesting to see that our “fake” Mona is
almost identical in size and not a bad copy at all! We also saw the
real Mona in the Louvre in Paris two years ago but were kept at a
distance of about 25 Feet by a rope and guards! I think it was cooler
to see the copy in Rome than it was the real thing along with 2000
other pushy tourists in the Louvre! LOL!
I was amazed to see how many inventions of a mechanical nature Di Vinci
had perpetrated in his lifetime. He invented everything from the
helicopter to the common lathe. I believe there were about 50 different
items shown in the museum in Rome that were attributed to Leonardo!
When we were approaching the museum from the Square out front, a man
carrying a bunch of roses approached us. He presented Carole with three
lovely red roses and insisted she take them. We thought he was trying
to sell them to her but then he said, “No no, they are for you!” So
Carole accepted them graciously. At that moment, he proceeded to tie a
small coloured string around her wrist and then one around both Adam’s
wrist and mine as well. We thought this was rather quaint and he said
it was for good luck! As we thanked him and started to walk away, he
stepped in front of us and insisted we pay him 5 Euros each for the
“Good Luck”! Aha, so there was a catch! We said “no” several times,
feeling duped by this tricksters method of extracting money from
tourists but finally offered him a 5 Euro note and claimed that was all
the cash we had on us! He followed us across the Square but gave up his
pursuit as we entered the Museum. We learned a lesson that day or so we
thought!
The following day we decided to venture out to
visit the Coliseum. After all, what would a visit to Rome be without a
tour of the most famous and the oldest structure in this ancient city?
Upon our arrival at the famous site, a gentleman asked us if we wanted
to join a guided tour of the Coliseum for 30 Euros each. We decided it
might be a better way to see the structure as well as a way to learn
more about the history. So we paid our money and received a set of
headphones for the tour. This tour also allowed us to go to the head of
the line to enter the Coliseum rather than wait two hours in a long
public line. We entered the front gate and found that the City had
installed an elevator for those of us with bad knees etc rather than
having to climb the steep stairs to the different levels. We were
collected on the top level in our group and the Italian guide began his
spiel! He was informative but his English wasn’t as good as we had
hoped and he was a tad difficult to understand at times. However, by
listening closely we managed to get most of what he said to make sense.
We viewed the lower floor of the “Stadium” which had originally been an
open playing field where war games and gladiator contests were held. In
the early years of the Coliseum they even flooded the playing area and
floated ships to perform actual sea battles to please the crowds in the
seating area surrounding the stadium. Today, the floor space is
littered with stone structures that were used to have lions, elephants
and other exotic animals displayed upon for the spectators. I suppose
this is where they fed the Christians to the lions for fun! It’s
incredible to think of what went on in those days for entertainment!
After exiting the Coliseum we walked through the ancient ruins of the
city of Rome. Again with a different guide telling the features of each
area we walked through. It took about two hours to complete that last
part of the tour and it was a grueling climb up one of the 7 hills of
Rome that were made famous by the wealthy of ancient times. The top of
the hill behind the Coliseum was the area of the city where the rich
and famous of the time lived. The richer you were, the higher you lived
on the hills of Rome. It just so happened that we took this tour on the
hottest day of our vacation so it was doubly difficult to keep pace
with the tour group. We finally reached the end of that tour and found
our way out of the ruins back to the street and headed for home. As we
walked the street above the ruins, there were two Roman Gladiators
dressed in the armor of ancient times. One of them placed his metal
helmet on Carole’s head and urged us to take her picture. They even
held their swords to my chest and groin to pose for the shot beside
Carole. We thought this was great fun until it was over and they
insisted we pay them 5 Euros each for the picture we just posed for!
LOL! Hahahahaha……. I guess we should have known better after being
stung the day before with the “Rose Guy”! LOL! We handed them a 5 Euro
note and they finally walked away to bother some other poor suckers!
That was a good days walk and adventure even with the exhausting heat
and once again we were quite happy to be back to our apartment for an
evening of R&R. We were in bed early by our standards most
evenings. I think it was usually about 9pm when we hit the hay! All
that walking sure did make for sound sleeping!
That’s about as much as I have for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to writing the final chapter of this story next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Is pizza the same here in Canada as it is in Italy?
7 FACTS ABOUT THE SPANISH STEPS
With its irregular butterfly design, the beautiful “Scalina Spagna”, or
Spanish Steps are just one of these must see places when in Rome and a
great example of Roman Baroque Style. It’s a great place to just sit
down and enjoy the atmosphere and views of the Eternal City. The steps
are a wide irregular gathering place consisted of 138 steps placed in a
mix of curves, straight flights, vistas and terraces. They connect the
lower Piazza di Spagna with the upper piazza Trinita dei Monti, with
its beautiful twin tower church dominating the skyline.
7 FACTS ABOUT THE SPANISH STEPS:
1 The Spanish steps were built in 1723-1725 by
a design of the rather little known architect Francesco de Sanctis and
were financed by French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed. It was
built in order to link the the Trinità dei Monti church that was under
the patronage of the king of France, with the Spanish square below. The
long, triangular Spanish square is named after the Spanish Embassy to
the Holy See. In the 17th century, the area around the embassy was even
considered Spanish territory. The idea of connecting the church with
the square below originates from the 17th century, when the French also
planned a statue of King Louis XIV of France at the top of the
staircase. This plan was never executed, due to the refusal of the Pope.
2 The Spanish steps unique design and elegance
has made it a popular place for artists, painters and poets who were
attracted to the place which inspired them in return. The artist’s
presence attracted many beautiful women to the area, hoping to taken as
models. This in turn, attracted rich Romans and travelers. After a
short time, the steps were crowded with people of all kinds of
backgrounds. This tradition, of the Spanish Steps as a meeting place,
has lived on ever since.
The Spanish Steps are the widest stairway in Europe
3 At the lower end of the stairs you can find
an early baroque fountain called Fontana della Barcaccia, or “Fountain
of the Old Boat”. It is credited Pietro Bernini; a member of the
renowned artist family Bernini and father of famous Baroque artist Gian
Lorenzo Bernini. The fountain has the form of a sinking ship and it is
said to be based upon a folk legend. The legend tells that a fishing
boat was carried all the way to this exact spot during a massive flood
of the Tiber River in the 16th century. The design with the sinking
boat also helped Bernini to overcome a technical problem, due to low
water pressure.
4 On the 13th June, 2007, a drunken young man
attempted to drive a Toyota Celica down the Spanish Steps. Luckily no
one was hurt, but several of the 200-year-old steps were chipped and
scuffed. The driver was arrested.
5 At the corner on the right as one begins to
climb the steps, is the house where English poet John Keats lived and
died in 1821; it is now a museum dedicated to his memory, full of
memorabilia of the English Romantic generation.
6 On the 20th March, 1986, the first McDonalds
restaurant in Italy was opened near the Spanish Steps. Protests there
against fast food led to Carlo Petrini founding the international Slow
Food movement three years later.
7 So many tourists sit on these steps every day that it is difficult to climb them.
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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