Well, now that it is officially 2003 for everyone on this mailing list, let me
ONCE AGAIN wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR and as always, "be safe".
Last night was amazing - an experience i'll never forget! I went to the Piazza
del Popolo in an extremely crowded metro train.. this is Rome's version of the
new years eve Times Square party.... typically GRAND just like everything else
in Rome! There were people everywhere.... Well, actually until about 11pm there
really weren't too many people, but by 11:30 it was so packed inside the Piazza
that I couldn't move without pushing somebody else away first! (and vice versa)
And this was pushing people away using my whole body - because my arms couldn't
move either.
As for the people I was supposed to meet from the Pompeii/Sorrento tour, I
never met them. It was silly really - to think that in all the crowds I could
actually spot 5-6 people. We had decided earlier to "meet at the foot of that
big obelisk in the center of the piazza" -- hahaha! that was the most crowded
place! I tried to circle the column once trying to find those folks, but after
about 5 minutes or so gave up and decided to go on my own. So moved near one of
the two exits to the Piazza - as if that would make a difference later!
There were firecrackers going off all over the place (in the crowds) -- some
people got hurt; twice an ambulance had to maneuver through all the crowds,
pick up somebody, and head back out to a hospital! So it was general chaos
right up to midnight.
The main fireworks started at midnight.... and lasted about 1/2 hour.. At the
stroke of midnight, there were champaigne bottle corks flying everywhere,
accompanied by the champaigne, also flying everywhere over the crowds... Both
me and my camera got wet.. some people were wise enough to bring umbrellas! so
for the first couple of minutes I wasn't really paying attention to the
fireworks, just trying to duck under the crowds and trying to stay away from
all the champaigne dropping from the sky, also wiping off the lens of my camera
- again and again! But it was all a lot of fun! Quite an experience!
The show was spectacular, once I started paying attention to it. Like I said
before, typical Roman fashion -- GRAND! I was just pointing the camera up and
taking pictures continuously - about 90 of them i think, from which 60 turned
out good and I saved those. Not really looking through the camera to see what i
was photographing... just looking at the fireworks and taking pictures
separately.
There were a couple of times when I thought "ok this is the grand finale" ...
then a few seconds later... even more! just amazing!!!
At the end (the real end) -- about 12:30 or so, I had a decision to make - wait
in the piazza for a couple of hours for everyone to leave, or RUN like anything
right now to try and stay ahead of the crowds. Well, i couldn't run, so just
pushed my way through the people, got pushed aside too many times... went over
the tiber river going West (wrong direction on purpose), down to outside the St
Peters Square, then back across the Tiber again in somewhat lighter crowds
coming the opposite direction. There was also a parade going on near the
Parthenon -- saw some of that too. Anyway, that whole walk across Rome took
more than an hour... i was in my hotel room at 2 am. The Metro directly from
Piazza del Popolo to my hotel was out of the question -- and was probably not
running at that time of the night anyway.
But it was a nice (although tiring) walk back... many of the roads closed off
for pedestrians only... saw some more beautiful areas of the city, a couple of
fountains (incl. Barberini) ... all very good! After getting back to the hotel,
opened a bottle of wine (small one) and fell asleep after 2 glasses.
My feet are sore today from all the walking yesterday in the daytime too. I
crossed Rome on foot 3 times yesterday!
Today almost everything is closed, so I don't really have any plan. Today's
also the last day in Rome, so i just want to walk around... maybe go to Trevi
fountain in the daytime... maybe Vittorio Emanuelle II monument... although i
realllllllly dont feel like climbing that! ... same goes for climbing St Peters
Basilica for one of the best views of Rome. Tempting, but i dont think my feet
can take it!
Definitely on the next trip.......
# of photographs in greece = 89.
# of photographs in italy = 285. (these are the GOOD ones, after deleting the
ones i didn't like)
Tomorrow morning I'm taking sunrise train to Florence, then going to Pisa in
the afternoon for the rest of the day. Day after tomorrow Venice! Day after
that all day in Florence, and that's my last day in Italy. :-(
......
on this trip.
ciao,
me.
Piazza de Popolo: Notice the spots in the first couple of pictures after the new year... that's not raindrops, that's champaigne-drops. After that I cleaned my camera. The last picture is the Barberini Fountain, about 1/2 mile from my hotel ... notice the time difference between that and the picture just before it... that walk usually would have taken about 20 minutes, it took more than an hour that night.
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Table of Contents
January 1: Rome (Piazza Barberini, Piazza de Trevi, Vittorio Emmanuel II Monument, Turtle Fountain, Trastavere, Piazza Santa Maria, Circo Massimo, Coloseo)