Day 68 - From Rome with Love

Now we've finally reached the end. These are the last of my Rome photos. Wow... I've never done a 68 day challenge before. I once did a 30 day challenge of photos and then started a 30 day challenge of drawing comic strips but this one tops even that. It has been a lot of fun reliving Rome through photo editing and blogging. I've really enjoyed googling all the places I've visited and finding out even more about them. It has almost been like taking the trip again, and I think I'm actually gonna continue doing this, just after a bit of a break - since it's summer I'm taking a few weeks off work, and when I come back I'll hopefully have another batch of photos to edit.

Today's left shot is of a clock that is powered by water. Notice the scale in its bottom part? That's what makes it tick - the small scale shifts from side to side as water flows to one side and fills it up and then the other.

The right shot is the perfect end to my challenge, actually they both are - a clock powered by nature to run forever symbolizing "eternity" and the couple to the right kissing by the pond... Rome is a very old city - a city of forever - and as I traveled there I grew to love it, just as so many others who have traveled there before me have. So, it's time to say goodbye to the city of unending time with warmth and affection. To say goodbye to Rome with love...

I'll be back in August :)

/MrsHjort


Ps. A warm thank you to all of you who have followed me these past months. You rock!

A special thank you to all who have taken the time to comment and write to me. I appreciate all of your kind words and the support you've given me. Without you I wouldn't have made it for so long!

Also a super special thank you to Bob, who have brightened all of my days with his kind and witty comments. You are the best, sarge! Never change :)

Day 67 - Busts, trees and ponds

Rome is beautiful in the spring. There are blooming trees here and there all over, not only in the parks but in the city center too. I've never seen that many purple trees before - my guess is they're too sensitive to survive the harsh winters where I live (Sweden). I have no idea what type they are... Maybe you do? If so, you're more than welcome to tell me :)

As we were packing to travel to Italy, I was hesitant to pack my 55-300 mm telephoto lens - I usually don't end up using it that much unless I wear a lens pouch on my belt, and since that's not very handy in a crowded city I didn't plan to do that. Every day except this one I used my more versatile 18-105 mm lens, but this day I wanted to experiment a bit with bokeh, and maybe do some floral shots, so I brought the telephoto lens to the park. As it turned out I mostly did "wide" angle shots anyway (as wide as they got -  not very), so maybe next time I'll actually leave it at home... at least if we go to a large city. I didn't use my tripod either... Maybe I'll just bring my handy mono-pod and and save myself some weight.

The top shot and the middle shot are pretty self explanatory, but the bottom one is quite cool if you look a bit closer; the trees are growing through the roof of the building. Sadly I don't remember the name of the place but if I remember correctly it was a cafe or a restaurant. A pretty cool looking place.

/MrsHjort

Day 66 - Villa Borghese gardens

As a person who loves to travel to see beautiful nature I couldn't leave Rome without seeing one of its parks. So, the last few pictures that I'm going to show you will be from the Villa Borghese gardens - Rome's third largest public park (80 ha).

Regarding the park's history, it all started in 1605 when pope's nephew, cardinal Scipione Borghese began turning a former vineyard into a garden. It became the most extensive one built in Rome since Antiquity but it took a long time before it was open formally and it wasn't until 1903 that the garden was bought by bought by the commune of Rome and given to the public.

/MrsHjort

Day 65 - Trinità dei Monti

This is the inside of the church that was in yesterday's shots (the one at the top of the Spanish steps, if you don't follow me regularly). It was built in 1585 and it's unknown who designed its facade, but it is believed that a follower of Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, who had designed a similar church was the mind behind this one too.

The inside of this church is a bit different to the other churches in Rome - it's more minimalist. While that is not a phrase I'd usually use to describe it, the contrast brought the word to mind. To put it simple there is less color and not as many lavish details - the ceiling for example is not painted, nor is it filled with geometric patterns, it's simply light gray with some tasteful white lines to underline its architectural shape. I didn't get the ceiling in the shots though. Like I say yesterday I had the wrong lens with me and the 55-300 mm lens couldn't provide the wide angle I needed to make stuff work the way I wanted them to.

The second shot is of the view just outside the church. Beautiful in the morning with the light blowing life into all the shapes of the buildings, and a blue sky to top it all off. I rather like the way those three domes interact in this shot, don't you? :)

/MrsHjort

Day 64 - Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti

This is, of course, the Spanish Steps, designed by the architects Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi. In Italian they're called Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti meaning the steps to the church Trinità dei Monti. The building of the 174 steps were funded by the French diplomat Étienne Gueffier between 1723-1725, linking the Spanish embassy to the church, that was under the patronage of the Bourbon French kings at the time. They have been sung about in many songs, and they have appeared in both tv-series and movies, and no wonder - it's a beautiful place. They had even put a bunch of flowerpots in the middle of them when we were there to make them look even lovelier.

As you can see, we visited the steps on two different occasions - I had the wrong lens (too heavy zoom) with me the first time and the lighting wasn't entirely to my satisfaction either, so, since the place was not far from where we stayed, we popped by a second time to snap a few quick pictures. I much prefer the lighting in the pictures to the right (that were taken on that second visit) to the one on the left. The blue sky was lovely but not as interesting as the cloudy drama in the other shots that were taken later in the day when the stairs were sunny - if you go too early they will be shaded by the surrounding buildings. That's the stuff you figure out as you explore a city. It's a good thing to think about which direction the sites are facing and when the best time to shoot them should be.

/MrsHjort

Day 63 - Largo di Torre Argentina

Look closely, can you see it? I didn't at first. As we were on our way back to our B&B in Rome we came across these ancient ruins, which isn't unusual in the city, but as I was taking them in I noticed a tiny spot of fur at its center. The crazy cat lady that I am I immediately identified my favorite animal and smiled at its nonchalance as it was laying there in the middle of a historic place without a thought of its past. It was then that Mr went "hey there's another one!" And lo and behold, there it was, walking along an old wall, and another one, no three others sunbathing on a slab of stone...

It turned out we had unknowingly arrived at the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary - the place in Rome where stray cats are taken to live in a safe environment. They are all fed and looked after by volunteers until they, hopefully, find new owners. The population is held in check as the cats are spayed and neutered, and the cats are also provided healthcare (if they need it). There is even a space for the elderly or handicapped to be safe and live their lives in peace. There are approximately 150 cats living in the shelter at any given time and about 125 cats find new homes every year.

It warmed my heart to find this place, and of course we made a small donation to the cause. It's nice to know that there is a place for our four-legged friends even in the busy streets of Rome.

/MrsHjort

Day 62 - Forum Romanum

We are nearing the end of my Rome series, sort of, there are still more than two weeks of photos that I want to edit but since I'll spend some time off work soon I want to take a break from this as well and maybe even build up a new batch of shots to edit as I come back later. Therefore I'll speed up my challenge and show you more than one shot a day, every day, until we reach the end.

Today's shots are from the Roman Forum. It's an ancient plaza that once was the very heart of the Roman empire as it was surrounded by several important government buildings, some as old as the 8th century BC. It was a place for speeches, elections, trials and even gladiatorial matches, but now only ruins are left. Sadly much of it was cannibalized and used as building materials as the place started to fall apart from exposure to nature in the 8th century AD. Later, as the interest in archaeology grew the pieces started finding their way back again though different means but there's no way of knowing how much is still missing. I was told there was even a great map that carved into stone once, but that too got broken apart, so who knows where all the pieces ended up... The forum will never be what it was, but as we learn more and more about it, history is reconstructed. Now it's a popular place to visit and a wonderful place to learn about the past.

/MrsHjort