Eurotrip 2011: Vatican Museum for two Pt.1

The non-tour line to get into the museum can be seen on the left. It wrapped around a kept going for another 70 yards.

After another crap night of sleep on the springboard mattresses at Hotel Planet Rome, we had to get up early and make it to the Spanish Steps across the street from the entrance to the Vatican Museum by 9:30am. We had a few things working against us that I didn't get into during the last post. To make a long story short, I bought an international use SIM card for the trip and borrowed a smart phone from my friend Paul. We used the phone successfully after arriving in Italy, but the data features were all useless, including google maps which is the main reason I got a SIM card and filled it with minutes. I also bought a outlet converter for me to charge my laptop, phones and camera accessories. Due to a 'mix-up' shall we say, both of these items were taken out of commission. This lead to some problems; neither of us wear watches and we had no ability to charge any electronics until we got onto the cruise ship that Sunday and today was Saturday. So to save batteries, I left my US cell phone (HTC Evo) turned off, only turning it on as needed, due to its notoriously short battery life. I programmed my US phone so that it had the local time displayed, which was GMT+2 during this time of year. We woke up to the alarm on Beth's US phone that I hadn't programmed yet. Doing the math from EST, we thought it was 8am when it was really 9am. After our cab dropped us off at the Vatican wall, the time info on the first couple shots I took left me confused. I figured it was just a mistake and stopped for breakfast since it'd be a long day of walking once again.

Even though our rush clouded the experience, we stopped in a nice restaurant a block away from the Vatican Museum entrance. We ordered food, then I took the pic above. The time stamp on that image was really bothering me so we asked the waiter for confirmation. Yep, we were off an hour, it was 10am and we had missed our 3hr tour which had cost a few hundred to book. I scarfed down my eggs paid the bill and we quickly made our way to the next Dark Rome tour that was were our meeting spot was. The rep let me know our tour had gone already, but she could take our voucher and bring us in on her tour which wasn't really a tour, but rather a free for all that let you skip the line. This was the start of the longest day of my life. Ha just kidding, but not really.

At 10:30am this new tour made it's way to the entrance line work-around (the main line was entering from the left of the pic above). This is a seemingly generic process where the tour guide holds a piece of paper with identification on it, in the air, and a bunch of people follow them inside. The line for those who hadn't booked in advance was long and hadn't wavered since we had eaten. We got inside to relive our airplane boarding experience once again; a row of about eight security stations with scanners awaited. Little did we know at the time that this would be a running joke all cruise week. I got through metal detector check to have a security officer randomly tell me I had to check my camera bag, which was the only thing I brought with me. It was packed with spare memory, batteries and other accessories, but in the disorienting nature of the process, and lack of English used, I didn't take anything out of the bag as my camera was already around my neck. Yep.

Once my bag was checked and I received a ticket for retrieval, the tour group scattered and we made our way upstairs to the main ticketing desk. There were plenty of options for those who didn't have a tour guide, including a headset and digital player that you could use to get information on anything you were looking at, using a numbering system. We got our equipment, map of the Vatican Museum and started making out way towards the start of the exhibits. There were signs everywhere giving you a general idea of where places in the museum were, but no real specifics; I found this to be synonymous with most direction receiving experiences during our time in Rome. The beginning of the museum started off with ancient artifacts collected around the world. Starting with figurines from the ancient Mayan civilization it them moved to Egyptian ruins and early African carvings.

As we proceeded the artifacts decreased with age and before we knew it an hour and changed had gone by. The tour we missed was 3 hours long and supposedly visited the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. The thought of this Gilligan's Island reenactment became unfathomable (or should I say realized) as hours passed in the Museum with no real idea of where the exit was. To be honest, there were multiple reasons why the trip through the museum was taking so long. The main reason was that I was taking pictures as we went and the lighting conditions were such that I had to take relatively long exposures in most situations. I had no tripod, just ISO/aperture adjustments and my hands. I found myself leaning against anything I could to take keepers and by the end of this day I was a better photographer. The second contributor to problem was tourists like ourselves. In order to capture anything decent I'd have to contend with the thousands of people all sharing the same space. As time passed the 'waves' of people became predictable and work got smoother.


A break in this wave was a minute or so away



On our way between exhibits there were large windows that gave a hint of this museum buildings' design. There was a huge courtyard inside of the four wings of the Vatican Museum, whose centerpiece was a large bronze globe that was actively in motion on it's many layers. We kept walking in the direction all the signs said the Sistine Chapel was, but all we found were literally thousands of more rooms with exhibits. As we walked the hallway ceiling artwork started off being works of pretty accomplished artists; Raphael, Michelangelo, etc. Lesser known artists filled the void elsewhere.

I shot like a madman and my camera started to get warm. Next thing you know the new 16GB card I bought specifically for this trip started giving me CF Error messages. My heart sunk. I had shot about 700 images so far and to think they were all gone was a little frustrating. I also had no other cards with me because they were in my bag. It was great to see plenty of other people with large bags about this time; and don't think I felt singled out, Vatican Security randomly selected a wide range of people to check bags; women, children, old men. I really didn't know what the overall security plan was, they were half paying attention all the while...but I digress. We got a little closer to the Sistine Chapel, going through random room after room. About 15minutes later I tried to turn on my camera again and my memory cards image count returned! I was back in business. Hopefully I could make it back to my bag without any other issues.


One of the rest areas on the way to the Sistine Chapel. My camera works again!



Monochrome. #11

Eurotrip 2011: When in Rome...go to the Colosseum - Pt. 2

As we walked down the street toward the old Roman Forum, vendors lined the streets. Snacks, hotdogs and hamburgers were advertised, showing how big tourism is part of the economy here...Romans don't eat hamburgers. We passed by a frutteria with some of the most gorgeous fruit I've ever laid eyes on. It didn't hurt that they had native variations on fruit that I was seeing for the first time.

The majority of Rome is a historical and archaeological site, so much of it is fenced and gated off from public. Given the amount of graffiti in Rome we had already seen, I'm not surprised. From my view in the cheap seats it seemed that on the whole, the locals didn't really care about the condition of their surroundings. Spent cigarettes and trash were a common decoration as well as barely functioning public bathrooms, if you were lucky enough to find one. This was the most surprising thing I found about Rome after visiting, especially since so much timeless beauty is everywhere you look.



How things used to look



As we travelled further down Via del Fori Imperiali, the Colosseum peeked into view. We were told more interesting things as we drew closer, but at this point we had walked about 4 miles and the sun was beamin'. I brought water and Gatorade with us, but our rations had been depleted and the water I had left was tub warm. We got to the great stadium of gladiators past, and worked our way into the stands for a quite majestic view of what previously went on here. One thing I do remember in my dehydrated delirium was that the movie Gladiator wasn't a true representation of how the Colosseum operated. Who would've thought Hollywood would make something up.

We parted with our tour guide and were left to our own devices. I could've walked to the other side to get a better shot with the sun to my back, but we had to get going. A mirage appeared past the exit, no wait, it was no mirage...it was the best racket it town. $5 icy cold 20oz Gatorade bottles. We really had no choice but to rehydrate ourselves and retreat to our Via Millazzo spread. Our cab driver worked his magic and got us home in about 10 minutes for ~10 Euros. We swung by the same place I got water in the morning to restock on necessities then napped showered and came out for dinner after sunset.

Our random decisions for food so far hadn't steered us wrong, so we walked back to Via Marsala to see if we could find another place with outdoor seating so we could eat while people watching over a nice Italian meal. We stumbled into quite possibly the best pork chop and chicken breast on earth...at a ristorante that you can't even track down on google map; its name was Il Capitello. When I say this pork chop was great I mean it was cooked perfectly; large in size, but cut thin enough to cook through by searing the meat for just a little bit of crust and juicy, but done inside. The only seasonings I could make out were pepper and salt, and it was wonderful. Beth had chicken breast prepared in the same manner which was delightful as well. Our gullets satisfied, we headed back to the terrible mattress for some quick sleep before morning. We had a date with the Vatican Museum.

Eurotrip 2011: When in Rome...go to the Colosseum - Pt. 1

The first thing we did on our second day (the first day was spent jet-lagging and eating a nice meal) was a walking tour of Ancient Rome. When you go online there are plenty of options, but one of the more affordable ones with an afternoon start was run by 'Enjoy Rome'. Starting in Piazza Navona, we worked our way through 500+ year old streets, buildings and structures on our way to the legendary Colosseum. This day started late in the late morning, but with our beds turning out to be the equivalent of a plywood panel with springs underneath it, the quality of said sleep wasn't great at all. After the meal the day before and seeing how fast money would leave us on a daily basis (plenty of storefronts are cash only), I decided to make a run to get more cash and some water bottles. I got washed up and headed for the Rome Termini. After some failed attempts to request cash from my VISA bankcard from so-called money exchange places, which were literally everywhere, I took a stab at using an ATM for a withdrawal. After receiving my cash I immediately realized not only would I need some interwebs for some account shuffling, but that we'd been had in the airport the day before hahaww. I swung by a small shop around the corner from our hotel, immediately on the right in that picture from the last post, and got some waters and Gatorade. They had the best prices out of everyone so far, so I would make it a point to patronize them again before our departure. Strangely enough all small shops are called 'Bars', regardless of seating, and all sell alcohol, espresso, sandwiches and bottled drinks.

After getting back to the room I paid for two days of internet, 10 Euros (great deal in hindsight), did my shuffle and checked balances, then left with Beth to the first tour of many during this trip. Months before I booked a walking tour through Ancient Rome and the meeting point was in Piazza Navona. I had done my research on mapquest prior to getting to Italy and had a general idea of where we needed to go, but unfortunately the international simcard prepped smart phone I had with me didn't get internet in Rome regardless of what I tried. Instead of having hand-held GPS awesomeness, we grabbed the tourist map we received the day before and started walking in the general direction. After about a mile had passed, the July sun started becoming a sweaty burden. The lack of street signs didn't help either; typically around Italy you'll see street signs in stone on the corners of buildings, but not everywhere. Also the toy map we received wasn't as detailed as anyone who has plans of a painless journey would want, so we ended up hailing a cab after stopping in a small store. For those that don't know Europeans don't believe in face cloths, so we ended up buying two microfiber cloths that you would typically use for drying a wet automobile. We would've bought face cloths, but no one seemed to...sell them.

After Beth twisted my arm we hailed a cab (ahem) we were dropped off a couple blocks from Piazza Navona. Due to construction and the fact that these historic sections of Rome are so old they weren't designed to have cars drive around them, we made our way on foot. This gave me a better idea of why you see so many scooters and motorcycles here. On the way, we found a small cafe that sold sandwiches. We were starving and decided to sit down as the taxi got us there ahead of schedule. When you see one of the million cafes in Rome and they have the display case with pre-made sandwiches remember one thing; if you think it's turkey it's ham, but it's delicious. After a quick bite and refreshment out of some dirty obscenely water glasses, served by kind old Italian woman who spoke no English, we made our way to our meeting point; the Fountain of the Four Rivers.

We met our tour guide, Ms. Carbonara (like the pasta dish), put on headsets and started making our way past the cafe where we just ate. Our next destination was the Pantheon. The Pantheon was pretty awesome, and the fact that it was cool inside didn't hurt. I'll warn you all now, I won't have as much information on the forthcoming pictures as I'd like. I had so much history jammed into my head that much of it has spilled out over the weeks that have passed. What I do remember is that Inside the Pantheon was the tomb of Raphael, and the structure itself included the largest free-standing dome in the world. Since the roof of this great architectural marvel has a large opening, you find yourself wondering what happens when it rains heavily; Beth reminded me that there are holes drilled into the floor so that rainwater can cycle back into the still functional aqueduct system. Word has it the Pantheon has been around since before Christianity, but had been destroyed a couple times. The most current build of the Pantheon, that we see now, was constructed around 123 AD under the direction of the Emperor at the time, Hadrian.

After leaving the Pantheon I started to shoot some fountains and the square. I then realized Ms. Carbonara's voice was crackling and becoming weaker. Before I knew it I couldn't hear anything through my headphones. So uh, I lost track of my tour group...and Beth too. After a quick walk around our area and where I thought they went, making sure to swing back through Piazza Navona, I decided to make lemonade by shooting what I found interesting on the way to the final destination of the day, the Colosseum. About an hour or so later, I found myself next to what the locals call the Wedding Cake, a large palatial structure with way too many statues that Mussolini used to make speeches in front of.

While I was shooting one of said statues, I started hearing a cracking in my headset. I moved around until the signal got a little stronger and low and behold, my tour was crossing the street to get some cake. Our tour guide and Beth greeted me warmly (twas hot outside) and, now complete, our tour then worked towards the Roman Forum.

Monochrome. #10

Eurotrip 2011: Central Rome for dummies

For vacation this year we planned a big one. I wanted to wander around Europe in a GPS spec'd Audi A4 Avant TDI (turbo-diesel) rental car for a couple weeks, finding hotels and what not on the way, and Beth wanted to take a cruise so she could see many places with less effort, as well as some luxury. After some discussion and slacking on my part to book flights or whatever (mainly because I don't like parting with large sums of money), we decided to take the job out of the hands of my web browser and trip-booking-website du jour and hook back up with our travel agent from the Mexico and Jamaica trips from years past. When the smoke from my wallet parted, the plan of action was set...in semi-dry concrete. We ended up with a plan to stay in Rome for a few days before departing on a Cruise spanning four stops and three countries, in the Mediterranean Sea, then take a train from the Rome Termini in Italy to Munich, Germany for my part of this Eurotrip. When I say my part of the trip, I don't mean I wasn't interested in the beginning of the trip, but you'll understand once the German portion of the trip is revisited via these e-pages. I went all out on preparation, even buying extra batteries, memory and renting a new lens for this adventure, the Canon 24-105mm IS F4L, so I wouldn't have to change lenses, batteries or memory during long stints and would get solid image quality in most conditions we'd run into. This plan proved to be very wise.

I worked nine days straight at work before our flight out of the country. I packed about everything days before, but finished up Tuesday night before we flew out Wednesday afternoon. My breh-in-law Chris handled the arrangements and took our car back after I drove us all the airport in Philadelphia. The flight over was long, but I managed to sleep for a solid 4 or 5 hours at some point during the journey which I can't remember anymore. Our plane landed in Fiumicino (Leonardo da Vinci) Airport in Rome with great applause by the entire flight. Tired, but pleased, we got off the plane to make our first mistake - turning $500 USD cash into Euros at the airport. While this sounds like a good idea, the exchange rate they give you varies on how much you convert; so if you have $2k USD to convert you almost get the current exchange rate. If you have $500 you get the 'best we can give you rate'. Later on after the cash ran thin, I found out that going to an ATM will cost you a foriegn fee around 10 bucks or so with your bank, but you get the current rate which was in the ~1.42:1 range. It was ~1.56:1 at the airport. In hindsight I would've gotten about $1k converted to Euros at a US Bank before leaving all together, but a lesson learned for next time is always good.

After turning $500 into about $285 Euros (after the service fee was taken out), we went with voucher in hand to find our booked shuttle to the hotel. Going from Eastern Standard Time (EST) to Central European Time is like doing the typical 'Spring forward' time change six times in a row. I didn't really catch up on sleep until the fifth day of our trip. After realizing it was the equivalent of about 4:30am EST once I turned on my cell phone, we got rounded up by our driver and all the other tourists taking out shuttle to Central Rome. We got situated and began making our way via the Autostrada (Italian Highway System) to the city of Rome by car. Traffic in Rome was an eye opening thing to see. Taxi's represented about half of the cars on the road, sub-compact/smart cars represented another 15%, the rest were either scooters or motorcycles. The flow of traffic was a whirlwind of traffic lights that switched too quickly, people double parking and holding everyone up in individual lanes, pedestrians walking right into the street and blocking right handed turns and those on two-wheeled transport (who looked liked geniuses with how cramped the city is) working their way between cars and occasionally on sidewalks. Our drivers' ability to curse in Italian brought smiles to our faces, it's literally like poetry which I wished I could learn via osmosis for my return home. We navigated the tightest roads and side streets with the smallest of clearances; I was truly impressed and tipped accordingly when we arrived at Hotel Planet Rome.


the main 'drag' half a block from our hotel - Via Marsala

 Hotel Planet Rome was a place in Central Rome with a good price and next to everything. The Rome Termini station, which had railways for connecting Eurorail transit as well as the Rome Metro system and shopping outlets, was just a brisk walk away. Ristorante's and gelaterias everywhere and taxi's hanging out for any desire to be fleeced of 10 Euro for an eight minute drive through cluster-eff city traffic. I initially thought we'd be walking everywhere given most places we needed to go for the walking tours we signed up for were within two miles or so, but after getting there and taking our first stab at walking to a destination for a tour of Ancient Rome, we hailed a cab...drenched with sweat from the July sun.



4'x5'



What a view!

 After checking into our hotel and noticing how absurdly small the bathroom was, we went back out and grabbed lunch at a local store front. Forno (Pizza) and Pasta where on the menu. It was all delicious. In clockwise order starting from 10 o'clock, you'll see a roma tomato, olive and fresh mozzarella slice, pesto rotini, white pizza with sausage and a rigatoni dish with fresh basil, tomato sauce and mozzarella. I guess saying fresh goes without saying. This random small restaurant on the side of the street was better than anything in the US, on flavor profile alone. One thing was clear, al dente isn't just a word here, it's how pasta is cooked everywhere.

We got back to our room and laid around, generally exhausted. Tomorrow we would sleep in and take on Ancient Rome.

Beer of the Month - July

The beer of the month for July is Bitburger Braugruppe's Premium Beer {4.8% abv}. Before our European vacation took place on July 6th, I went to a local beer store and picked out a few new brews to try out. One of my pick-ups was Bitburger Premium Beer. When you see package marketing stating #1 Beer from the exporting country (Germany in this case), you typically take it with a grain of salt and move on; Fosters has been advertised as the biggest Aussie beer ever, in the US, but if you were to ask an Australian about good local beers Fosters would never come up. Now I understand there are probably twice as many beer varieties and brewers in Germany as there are music bands, but the point is Bitburger had a strong presence when we visited Germany this Summer. While in Nürburg, staying at the Dorint hotel, the in house restaurant had Bitburger Premium on draft.

Bitburger, as the biggest draft beer supplying company in Germany, understandably has a history as deep as the day is long. First origins of the now stout Bitburger Braugruppe go back to 1817 with the starting of a small brewery by Johann Peter Wallenborn. Over several generations, the company continued to change hands between descendants of Johann and continued to grow in popularity, even outside of its native Bitburg, Germany. Fast forward to 1909, Bitburger started selling one of their first pilsner brews (Original Simonbräu German Pilsener) and later secured a fresh water well which is still key to the quality of their products today. During WWII, Bitburg was bombed and the brewery was just about destroyed. Once the war was over, the three brothers who owned the company, Theobald, Hanns and Bert Simon rebuilt the factory. Bitburger flourished and by 1978, they were exporting their full-bodied brew to the United States.

Getting home to compare the US-purchased Bitburger Premium Beer, to the lovely drafts I had in Nürburg, Germany was definitely interesting. Anyone who's had a good beer in the bottle then had it on draft (or vice versa) knows there's a different feel to the draft due to carbonation levels amongst other things. In this case I was comparing a bottled export to draft in its home country. I won't go as far as saying the difference was night and day, but they varied noticeably. That said, Bitburger Premium Beer in the bottle is incredibly smooth, with refined carbonation and a great hoppy orchestra performing for your palette. This beer is light blonde in color and is a great drinking beer for the full-bodied hop connoisseur. Think of it as a better Heineken with less bitterness. Rather than 12oz bottles, six packs of Bitburger come in 1/3 liter (11.2oz) bottles. This makes little difference when it comes to enjoying a cold one. 2.5 stars.

Monochrome. #9