London Club Quarters Hotel

We stayed Friday night in London to take in a going away party for a couple moving to Dubai. I booked a hotel reservation on line at the Club Quarters Hotel in Central London. I took the train into town and found the Hotel with no trouble and checked in. Guess what, the check in was on a computer screen just like getting a ticket at the airport. I followed the computer instructions and entered my name, stuck in my credit card and asked for 2 room keys. The computer gave me back my credit card and 2 room key cards. I found my room and never talked to one person. This was a really scenic part of London and a night picture of where we were. I couldn't resist a shot of the 2 friendly computers that greeted me at the front desk where I checked in.

Rome'n the Streets

After returning to England yesterday, we did reflect on our 1 week Rome holiday. We enjoyed being on the streets of Rome as much as seeing the sights. Even though we were always in a crowd, being on the streets is where you learn how people live. We thought that London traffic congestion was bad but look at these scooters. I guess there are 20 scooters to every 1 car on the streets. That's because there's no room to park. If there is 3 feet between 2 parked cars there will be 2 scooters there. When the parking is gone the scooters park on the sidewalks and the cars will double park. If you come to your car and it's boxed in, no problem, you just lay on the horn until people come and move. We ate all of our meals at these sidewalk ristorante's. Most shops will be open 9 am to 1 pm, then 3 pm to 7 pm. So you can have lunch and a nap. Most locals can speak a bit of English but the Italian language is similar to Spanish, and not to difficult to pick up. It was a great holiday.

Castle Sant'Angelo

This Castle was built in the second century on the bank of the Tiber River. The Castle had a walkway built from the Vatican City, and was a fortress for the Popes in case of an attack on the Vatican. The Castle now open to the public still had Cannons in place and a display of the weapons that were used to defend it. We climbed to the top and I took this shot of Julie with the Tiber river in the background.

The Pope

This is a picture of St. Peters church and on the far right is where the Pope lives. The far right building, second floor down, second window in from the right is what everyone comes to watch. At certain times the Pope will appear from this window and bless the people. In this area that we're standing, up to 150,000 people have gathered for a chance to see him. The line of people you see are people waiting to visit the church. The line is the same every day.

St. Peters Basilica

This is the largest church in the world. Everything in St. Peters is made of marble, bronze, or gold. What appear to be paintings are all mosaics. Beneath the basilica are the Catacombs where the bones of St. Peter were believed to be found. It was a bit haunting to walk through these underground tombs where all of the Popes have been buried. We wern't allowed to take pictures in the Catacombs, but I was allowed to get a shot of St. Julie in front of the church.

The Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel is best known for Michelangelo's spectular paintings. He did these paintings in 1508-1512. The paintings were restored in the 1980's and are crystal clear. We were allowed to take pictures without a flash so I got these shots of the ceiling.

The Vatican City

The Vatican is the smallest country in the world. It measures about one half mile square and has less than 1000 residents. We took a guided tour of the Vatican and although we were always in the middle of a croud, it was the best way to tour the city. Our tour started in the Vatican Museums where an average of 20,000 people a day pass through. This is by far the largest attraction in Rome.

The Trevi Fountain

This fountain was built in 1732 and is impressive enough to fight the swarms of tourists. Thousands of gallons of pure cold water per minute, come to the surface here. I am filling up my water bottle for a cold shot in the 95 degree heat. We have gotten used to traveling and being stuck in the midst of huge crowds. Living in Europe and using public transit you've got no choice. Here in Rome the tourist trade brings in millions of people and is thier largest industry.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum is quite a sight and very hard to believe it's size without going inside. This is now 2007 years old and the city of Rome has ongoing restoration to hold it's remains together. This Colosseum held 73,000 people and had enough exits that it be completely emptied in 15 minutes. It was home to sporting events where gladiator fights and animal hunts were held. Behind us down low, you see many pens and rooms where animals and prisoners were held under a massive wood floor that is now partly rebuilt.

Piazza di Spagna

This sight is on every tourist list, and of course jammed with people. This is called the Spanish Steps. At the top of the steps is the beautiful 18 th century Trinita dei Monti Church. At the base is the Bad Boat fountain, fed by the Aqua Virgo (aqueduct). This natural aqueduct feeds cold pure water to the surface, and is the place to refill your water bottle.

Breakfast Roma Style

In Italy you gotta eat pasta and pizza, and lots of it. Our first breakfast was a pizza and it was just as good as it looks. We have come here in a very hot time of the year. It is in the 90's every day, so we go out in the mornings, take an afternoon nap and stay out late at night. Restaurants don't often serve dinner before 8 PM.

When In Rome

Rome, Italy. When in Rome we will do what everyone else is doing, eating, drinking, and sightseeing. We arrived here Friday night and got settled in for a week. We are staying at the Historic Hotel Majestic shown with Julie. We met up with a good friend Rick that we had met in England. Here we sit in an outside pub with the Great wall of Rome in the backgroung. Rick is a geologist who is working with a company drilling for gas. His office is now in Rome. I'll keep the blogs coming

July 4 th

We went into London to celebrate the forth of July. Of course it's not a big holiday here, we X patriots will always remember July 4 th. We were invited for a good ol American barbecue by Julie's boss, Bob Bond. Here are pictures I took from a cruise boat on the Thames River. One Picture of the London Tower bridge and a night shot of the House of Parliament next to Big Ben. We had never taken this river route before but the Jubilee tube was closed down so we had no choice. These fast cruise boats are actually used by many as a regular way to commute.