St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
Vatican City (like the rest of Italy) is incredibly accessible and aware. It is also free to disabled people. Lois and I bought tickets online several weeks before our visit, which is the best way to avoid the entrance queues. Anyway when we arrived, they promptly sent us to the front of the queue’s, refunded our tickets, and gave us complimentary tickets. You can easily spend several days in the museum’s alone; there is simply so much too see, from Egyptian mummies, to frescos, artwork and astonishing statues. The highlights of the museum’s themselves being of course the Sistine Chapel. Alas, I do not have any photos of the Chapel because they asked us to refrain from taking pics inside, which I respected.
I was however allowed to take pictures inside St Peter’s Basicalica, so here are a few highlights.
The outside of one of the most beautiful dome’s in the world.
The dome from the inside of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, designed by Michelangelo. Although he died before it was complete.
Detail of the artwork and architecture. The writing is over 7 feet tall.
More detail
Finally, Michelangelo’s Pieta. The Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus.
A day in Pompeii
Firstly a warning: the train station in Napoli has three planform three’s. Yes that is correct; different platforms serving different lines, but with the same number. We figured this out the hard way.
Having said that, the trip from Napels to Pompeii is about 45 minutes, and only costs about 5 Euros return.
Ok, now to Pompeii. It is a wonderful place to visit. The street are almost 2000 years old, and the preservation in some of the buildings is staggering condidering the age, the volcanic eruption they faced, as well as the prior earthquake. It is sobering to walk the streets that Roman citizens walked just after Julius Caesar was emperor of Rome.
One of the many temples in the forum
While the ruins are very well maintained, you need to consider the age of the roads and pavements, so you are going to both walk and get very tired legs. In some aspects it is more like walking up a mountain than walking through a town.the pavements are very uneven, but the walking is well worth it.
Typical Roman arches
The preservation is staggering. The Romans made buildings to last 2000 years, whereas in some places in South Africa we can barely manage to make houses last for more than a few months (but I digress).
Water pressure arch
This arch is interesting in that it held water in the top of the arch. This was used to increase the water pressure in the city; much like the tall water towers we use today in cities.
Take out
This was a take out restaurant; the marble slabs would have been the food preparation and serving counters.
A typical road in Pompeii
A day is more than enough to plan for a trip from Naples to Pompeii (even from Rome if you plan for a long day). We spent about 5 hours there. While we could have been there for longer, we felt that we had seen plenty. Don’t be deceived by the walking distances in the city; remember that it was a city for 2000 citizens, and probably even more if you included the slaves. It is a big place!
The Great Theatre, Pompeii
This theatre is the mid-sized theatre in Pompeii, holding about 5000 people. The small theatre can only hold a few hundred, while the amphitheatre could hold the entire city of 20000 people.
A (reasonably) modern church poking out behind the ruins of Pompeii
I have crossed Pompeii off my list, but yes I would love to go back in a year or so.
Day 170: Cape Town Stadium on match day
Day 170: Cape Town Stadium on match day, originally uploaded by Craig is shooting.
This picture of Cape Town Stadium was taken about 7 hours before the kickoff of the match between Germany and Argentina.
I was spoiled to a helicopter trip over Cape Town by Lois and my dad for my birthday, and we were very lucky to be able to fly almost directly over the stadium.
I don’t know how we managed to fly over a FIFA stadium on match day, but I am not going to complain :-)
So this is what the inside of the stadium looks when it is empty (I have finally seen the inside of a stadium). I think it is a stunning building. Here is a more detailed view.
Look out for more photos of my trip in the next few days.
By the way, Germany won the match 4-0.
Day 78: Reflection
Office building reflecting in a car window in downtown Cape Town.
Day 36: Fair Price Store
A photo of the Fair Price Store, in Mitchells Plein, Cape Town. This is a
very poor part of Cape Town, and you often see buildings and walls painted
very brightly in an attempt to put some colour into an otherwise very bleak
life.
After today, I am also 1/10th of my way through my 365 challenge.
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