First day in Roma

At this point in my trip, I had already been in Italy for a week for training. (In case you missed my Ciao Italia post). Pat flew in on Friday and we went to Rome on Saturday (May 14) for a full day of sight seeing.

We were planning to catch the 7:30am train from the Castel Gandolfo station, which takes around 45 minutes to get to Rome. While we were waiting at the station an announcement was made in Italian. Another passenger at the station came over to us and explained that the train was canceled. The next train wasn't coming for another hour or maybe two. Luckily she offered to drive us to the bus stop in town, which we would have never found on our own as it was unmarked, let alone even knowing which bus to take. She even gave us tickets for the bus and told us when to get off to get to the metro station. She was an angel! We were so grateful!

Once we arrived in Rome, our first stop was the Vatican museum. We wanted to get their as early as possible to avoid standing in long lines.

The museum was amazing and almost a bit of sensory overload. Everywhere we looked there was an incredible painting or sculpture.  We saw many famous works of art including the paintings in the Sistine Chapel (though we were not allowed to take pictures inside).  I've posted a *very* short summary of pictures here:

Sphere Within Sphere Sculpture in the Vatican Museum courtyard

A little size perspective...

Ceiling in the Hall of Constantine

 

Spiral Stairs leaving the Vatican Museum

View of St. Peter's Basilica

After the Vatican Museum we made our way over to Castel Sant'Angelo. Initially, we only planned to view it from the outside because we didn't think we would have time to go inside. But, once we saw it we decided to buy tickets and I'm so glad we did. This ended up being one of my favorite sites in Rome. In this building's lifetime it has served 5 purposes: a mausoleum, a papal fortress, a papal residence, a prison, and now a museum. AND it had some of the most amazing views...a really great surprise.

View from Ponte Sant'Angelo bridge

View of St. Peter's Basilica from upper terrace

Panoramic view from the terrace

After taking in the beautiful views we walked across the Ponte Sant'Angelo bridge and walked through some really quaint neighborhoods on our way to Piazza Navona to see Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers).

Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune)

 

Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi with Sant'Agnese in Agone church in the background

After Piazza Navona we continued on our way to the Pantheon. This is one incredible building!! It was built in 126 AD and once an ancient Roman temple, is now a church. The building also houses Raphael's (the painter) tomb.

Pantheon in busy Piazza della Rotonda

Amazing Pantheon dome

Next we walked to Piazza de Trevi to see the famous Trevi Fountain. This fountain is definitely worth fighting the crowds to see. It is magnificent!

Our U shape walk from Castel Sant'Angelo finished at the famous Spanish Steps. The Piazza was overly crowed because children were performing on the steps. It's extremely rare to see these steps empty in mid afternoon, especially on a Saturday. So although we didn't get to sit on the steps, it made for a great photo opportunity.

After the Spanish Steps we hopped on the metro and went back to the Vatican. The line at St. Peter's Basilica was extremely long when we were their earlier in the day, so we decided to go back around 5 in hopes that it would be shorter. It was indeed much shorter, but we still had to wait. Everyone must go through security and only a few stations were open.

It was well worth the wait. The basilica was absolutely stunning! 

The Swiss Guard

The outstanding view when we first entered

Backing onto Piazza San Pietro

HDR of St. Peter's Basilica

We tried to go up to the dome, but we spent more time in the basilica than we expected. By the time we went to the entrance to the dome it had just closed. Had we known it closes earlier, we would have done that first. It's really too bad, but you can't win 'em all.
 
We sure saw a lot, and that was only our first day in Rome. Post of our second day in Roma to come....

I love long weekends

This past weekend was Memorial Day long weekend and I started it out right. On Friday we were let out of work early at 2! woohoo! The weather was beautiful and the outdoor pool at our apartment opened for the summer on Friday. Coincidence? It was was made to be! I drove straight home, put my swim suit on, applied layers of sun screen, and headed straight for the pool. It was DEVINE!

Enjoying my first pool day of the season

After laying in the sun for a couple hours, I got ready to meet Pat and some friends for dinner at a restaurant in Cambridge. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the fabulous weather. mmm there is nothing better than fajitas and a glass of gin and tonic. I was in summer heaven.

After dinner we reached a compromise on where to go next. Pat wanted to watch the Bruins vs Tampa game, most wanted to drink beer, and I wanted ice cream or chocolate...naturally. So we went to The Miracle of Science, a bar close by, which satisfied all our needs. I had chocolate ice cream...in case you were wondering.

Oh and in case you live under a rock and didn't hear, the Bruins WON! Pat was ecstatic. Off to the Stanley Cup Finals, which starts tonight. Too bad we don't have tickets :(

Link

Ok, so that was Friday....Saturday we went to Haymarket, a large outdoor produce market in Boston. We bought some super cheap raspberries and cherries. Our fruit ended up being pretty tasty, but I was a little underwhelmed by the quality of the overall produce at the market. We should have gone earlier because it looked like a lot of the good stuff was gone. Lesson learned!

After Haymarket we made our way over to Hanover street in North Boston....the Italian area. As if we didn't already have our fill of Italian food from our trip. We went for coffee and cannoli at a cute shop. Both were delicious and they made little hearts in our lattes with milk, but I forgot to take a picture.

Later that night we went for a romantic dinner cruise on the Boston Harbor. It was my early birthday celebration. I love any chance to get all dressed up! The food was great and so was the view. And best of all I got to spend that night out with my hubby.

About to set sail

My special birthday drink including a blue light!

Yeah, I know, we took a lot of pictures....but we had so much fun!

On Sunday we lounged by the pool and then that night we watched Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. I thought it was an ok movie, but was a little long and at times hard to follow. A few interesting twists though.

Pat lounging by the pool

Monday was Memorial Day here in the US, so we had the day off. Pat went golfing in the morning and then we ran some errands in the afternoon. Before dinner we went for a nice walk around the Upper Mystic Lake just north west of our place. We have so many lakes and parks near our place that it's so great to explore a new one every time.

Italy pics coming soon.....b/c we shoot in raw format we're still working on processing them.

NOW off to watch the game with my hubby!

Ciao Italia

So I intended to post this the day I arrived in Italy. However, I was having internet problems and couldn't load any pictures because the connection was so slow. This post is mostly an account of my flight to Rome. I decided to post this as I originally wrote it on May 8, 2011.

So here it is - two weeks late:

Well I made it to Rome safe and sound! I'm in Italy for work and I'm actually staying in a hotel south of Rome in Castel Gandolfo for training. It feels like a retreat. The area is so beautiful and the hotel looks onto a gorgeous lake.

I was fortunate enough to fly business class, as work was sending me. I flew with British Airways and transferred in London. I've never flown business class before, but let me tell you for international flights it's amazing!!


First of all by flying business class I got to skip all the lines, which was great because Logan airport in Boston was busy when I left. I also had access to the British Airways exclusive lounges. They have free food and alcohol, as well as a much better place to sit and relax. Always a bonus!! I took advantage of these lounges before both flights and it definitely makes the flying experience that much better....it's a whole other world!


Enjoying my breakfast at lounge in Heathrow

British Airways Club Lounge at Heathrow

I've never been so excited to fly then I was today. And if you know me, you know I HATE flying. My seat was somewhat of a "pod" if you will. It was so comfortable. It had a foot rest and it also turned into a bed. YES a bed!! I actually got some sleep on this flight. It was fantastic! My seat also came with a really nice pillow and blanket, not one of those crappy thin blankets that you sometimes get on flights. Oh yeah and they gave out socks too. They came in a little package with lotions, ear-plugs, a tooth brush, and an eye-mask.

My "pod"

To top off the amazing seat, I could have as much food and drinks as my heart desired. I started out with some champagne and of course I couldn't turn down a gin and tonic. My fav! The meals on board were pretty tasty too.

If I thought I hated flying before, I'm really going to hate it now. I've now been spoiled with flying with such ease; I'm not sure how I can go back to economy. Bahhhh....but I also don't have thousands of dollars kicking around either.

Ok so once I arrived in Rome I took at taxi to my hotel. My taxi driver got lost along the way; he thought I was staying somewhere in Rome. He then took an exit with a sign pointing to Rome and I immediately told him it was wrong. We got it straightened out in the end. He was such a nice man and very apologetic. I felt bad because he didn't really know what he was getting himself into. He normally only takes people to Rome itself, not outside Rome, and to top it off the traffic was really busy on the way to Castel Gandolfo. But I made it nonetheless!

The first night (Sunday) I arrived I went for dinner at a cute little restaurant in town and had some delicious gnocchi. mmm....
_____________________________________________________________________
Now that I'm back from Italy,  I have so much to write about my trip. I just have to process some pictures first. We only have like 1000 of them :S

All Smiles

I'll be in Rome in 3 days! YIPPEE!!!!


....that is all

Wide Angles

Well Pat and I bought another lens! This time we bought a wide angle lens to add to the collection. It's a Sigma 8-16mm with an aperture of 4.5-5.6.

Wide angle lenses are awesome for architecture shots. The lens arrived on Friday and that night we took a few test shots around MIT on our way out for the evening. The truth is we were on our way to Whisky Night 3.0 and we missed the MIT shuttle. We had a half hour to kill before the next shuttle came and had our camera with us.

We started our wide angle shoot by taking pictures of a sculpture at MIT.

Inside the sculpture looking up

Just to give you an idea of how wide this lens really is, Pat was literally standing right in front of the sculpture and he was still able to get it all in. He was standing so close that it actually looked like we was trying to take a picture of something inside or beyond the sculpture.

Side view

A wide angle lens is great for indoor shots because it allows you to get everything in the shot (so they are often used for real estate). They can also give interesting perspective distortions (so it's not so great for portraits). For example, this picture was taken inside Lobby 7 at MIT. I was crouching on the ground while pointing the lens at an upward angle, so the building appears to be much taller than it is in reality.

Taken at 8mm

The same effect can be seen here. The lens is pointed at an upward angle, making the pillars look more monstrous than they actually are.

At 8mm

This next picture was taken on the second floor balcony looking into the lobby. Again, the wide angle lens makes the lobby look larger and much longer than it actual is. (Taken at 9mm).

At 9mm

This next picture was taken from the same balcony as the previous picture. However, it was taken at 16mm; therefore, the pillars appear much closer.

Standing below an art sculpture inside MIT, looking up

 AND here is the lens....

Whisky Night 3.0

After our impromptu photo shoot at MIT we made our way over to Whisky Night 3.0. Of course I didn't participate in the tasting, but I served the scotch for the blind tasting portion. We had a great time and our hosts were very accommodating. Great quesadillas boys!

Wide angle lens

Spring has Sprung

Last Saturday was a beautiful spring day so Pat and I went for a nice long hike/walk at the Middlesex Fells near our place. The Fells is a large reservation park just north of where we live; it is intersected by I-93. We've been to this park once before and loved it. The park has a bunch of hiking paths and running trails. Last time we went to the Spot Pond so this visit we decided to explore a different area near the South Reservoir.

After our hike we grabbed some refreshing drinks from Starbucks. MMM....I love their iced passion tea lemonade.

I just have to say that the best part about moving to Beantown (other than living with Patty) is the awesome SHORT winters! Love love love it!

Anyway, here are some pictures from our hike:

 Later this week Pat also took these pictures near Tufts University:

Mystic River