Rome: old masters, Trevi Fountain, street food, Caravaggio and gelati

Having spent many weeks in Rome you might think that there wouldn't be much left for us to do, but we had a full day planned and we set off early.

First stop was Palazzo Barbarini - the National Gallery of Ancient Art. Our special interest was the Caravaggio collection but some of them were holidaying elsewhere. We saw two of his works but a whole wider range of Italian art than perhaps we have seen before. After two hours it was time to move on.

Over the last two years the Trevi Fountain has been closed for major renovations. In fact, it was closed for 516 days as 2 million euros was spent on the work. This was financed by the Italian fashion house Fendi. It was money well spent as the Trevi looks stunning. 

We always toss our coins to guarantee our return and this time we were quite a way from the water. As Kel wrote in his journal, 'Sadly, Eleanor won't be returning to Rome as her coin stuck to her finger and fell short.'

Then it was off to the church Santa Maria della Pace, one rarely found open and only before noon. We managed to call in on the Caravaggio works at San Luigi on the way, and arrive in time to see the Raphael sibyls and the two storeyed cloister by Bramante at S. M. della Pace.

We were working up a hunger by now so the plan was to eat street food - cibo di strada, at a place recommended by our American fellow blogger friends Janelle & Johnny. 'Supplizio' is a cute little spot where they recommend you sit on the couch and eat in your hands, with Prosecco if you wish! Being a hot midday we opted for local beer and Kel's was (amusingly) called Pig Floyd. But back to the suppli ... crispy coated rice balls with a surprise mozzarella centre. Mine had a hint of chilli and was delicious.

Next stop was to walk through the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica. The day was in the high 20s and coming from an Australian winter we were begining to feel the heat with all this walking.  To see about this segment of our day read the next post.

There was no better way to finish off this planned day than to visit the # 1 rated gelato shop in Rome, Gelateria del Teatro. It is so good that you need to take a number from the machine at the door and be prepared with your money so they can get through the crowds. They had many new flavours so I opted for white peach and lavender and an old favourite that eases sore throats, limone.

They deserve their rating. Wow!

As we were sitting on some stairs beside the shop I noticed people stopping to take a photo. Later I found why ... a stairway full on gelati licking people engrossed in pure pleasure!

We had earned our bus tickets home where we took a short 'pausa' and then began our journal writing.

Later we ate at nearby  Ristorante Mino where the pasta was a treat.

Oh, we do love Rome.

Siamo arrivati? Are we there yet?

You might think that flying out of Melbourne at 2.40 am sounds horrible but let me convince you otherwise, from the air.

Sunrise is my least favourite time, but how beautiful is this!

This flight took us via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where it seemed that the earth had been denuded and palm trees planted. This wasn't pretty!

On we flew to Dubai where for the first time we could see the city. Great highways seem to penetrate into the desert and here we also saw tree plantings but we could not determine what type of trees.

Amazing sandy patterns and rocky outcrops created fascination for ages, the Sinai Peninsular being a vast expanse of desert.

The navigational information available to passengers means you can track your moves precisely if the sky is clear. It was such a day and soon we realized that we were going to see the Suez Canal!

 and Cairo,

 and the Nile River.

Seeing the Nile Delta was an emotional thing. We both felt it and couldn't really explain it. The sheer size of the delta and the green expanse was incredible after so much desert landscape.

We passed over Alexandria, rocky Crete, the Greek Islands of the Mediterranean, spectacular Athens and eventually crossed into Italy at the very tip of the heel.

To complete this magical flight we flew right over Rome, where I missed photographing the Coliseum!

And so 36 hours later we arrived at our favourite hotel in Rome ... just in time to get a good night's sleep in preparation for a busy one day visit to Rome.

Siami arrivati? Si, e molto contente.

The Ugliest Sight in Italy

In 2008 we were wandering around the back 'calle' of Venice when a horrific sight came into view. For a minute moment there was an excitement and then the reality of what I was seeing struck me. A cruise ship in the canals of Venice!!

A few minutes later ... another cruise ship sailed by.

This has all been brought back to me after reading an article entitled 'Saving Venice' by Isobel Lee, printed in an Australian publication called Italianicious.

Most people would be aware that Venice is at great risk from rising water and the washing away of its sub-structure, the degradation of the lagoon and the death of the community. Cruise ships are adding to these troubles without contributing anything positive to Venice. Cruise groups descend en masse in their thousands and rarely add much to the economy - they sleep and eat on the ships and take tours arranged by the ships.

Having experienced these swarms of cruise ship tourists in precious places like Bethlehem and Ephesus in Turkey, I can think nothing positive about them from a tourism point of view.

From the environmental point of view, there is a strong move to have Venice recognized by UNESCO as an At Risk World Heritage Site. Let us hope that when UNESCO meets in July that they will recognize the damage being caused by huge cruise ships and that a stop to this type of mass tourism will be put in place.

Our National Capital - Canberra

Australia's capital city is different to most other capitals as it is not a big city, it isn't easy to get to and it was planned and built specifically to be the nation's capital. 
Canberra was founded in 1908 and in 1911 a competition was run to find a design and designer for the city. American Walter Burley Griffin won the competition but after nine years of disruption he resigned from the job. Development didn't really start until the 1920s. Old Parliament House was built in 1927 and development slowly progressed with a surge in the 1950s.
Over time Canberra has progressed to be a really interesting city, more-or-less based on Walter Burley Griffin's original plan.

Last week we visited Canberra with a group of friends, and the following photos show some of the highlights of our few days in the national capital.

The National Arboretum is a living collection of forests with 100 forests of rare, endangered and symbolic trees from Australia and around the world. This whole area was burnt out in bush fires in 2002-2003 so it will be many years before we can really appreciate this amazing project.

 The National Bonsai and Penjing Collection is housed at the Village Centre, itself an award winning architectural structure.

 You can begin to see the big plan coming into being as each forest grows with its different foliage.

Outdoor sculptures including this one made from rusty pieces of old machinery are scattered around the arboretum.

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla is one of three NASA tracking facilities around the world. This 70 metre 'dish' known as DSS 43 was operating when we were visiting, communicating with Voyager IV which is way out into deep space.
Also at the complex is DSS 46 which received and relayed to the world the first historic television images of astronaut Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.

The National Gallery of Australia is home to over 166,000 art works so naturally we only saw a very small number of the collection. Jackson Pollock's 'Blue Poles' is a 'must see', but we also saw some classics like Monet's 'Water Lilies', some Australiana from Sidney Nolan and Fred Williams, and the Tiwi burial poles from Bathurst Island.

                                 Fred Williams 'Landscape',

                                                   'Blue Poles'

                                          and the Tiwi burial poles.

A view of something of Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra with the War Memorial [centre front], looking down ANZAC Parade to Lake Burley Griffin, then to Old Government House then up to the new Government House.

The Australian War Memorial is the most amazing collection of stories and artifacts honouring those that have lost their lives in war. We spent several hours there but you could easily spend a week hearing about appalling conditions and amazing bravery.

      Fred Dyson, my great uncle who died at Fromelles, France in 1916, aged 19. 

                                                   The Wall of Honour World War Two

Edward 'Weary' Dunlop - doctor & prison of war on Thai Burma Railway, war hero, iconic figure, Great Australian and son of Benalla. 

Canberra may be off the beaten track but it is well worth a visit. We hope to return again soon.