SpinnerCOyyy

PDF files of each Cruise Compass for your viewing pleasure. 

CC December 1, 2019 Oasis.pdf CC December 2, 2019 Oasis.pdf CC December 3, 2019 Oasis.pdf CC December 4, 2019 Oasis.pdf CC December 6, 2019 Oasis.pdf CC December 5, 2019 Oasis.pdf CC December 7, 2019 Oasis.pdf

PERSONAL SECURITY

 

Before I continue with this "summary", and already that is a loose title as I am trying to give helpful info for people coming to Venice and Rome for the first time, I'd like to take a minute to thank everyone who has contributed to this winding thread and in particular SpinnerCOyyy (Lori) who has contributed so many photos and good information for the tourist.

 

Norris

Thanks for the shout out! Glad I had something to contribute.

We also had the body wallets. As tight as the vaparetto's can get, it's easy to see how a pickpocket could make a fortune.

Our hotel in Rome was really secure. You had to be buzzed into the lobby, or use your hotel key if you had already checked in. And one feature that I thought was neat about the hotel keys, they were just plain white cards. No hotel id, and certainly no room number.

During this entire trip, there was only one stop where we felt unsafe and that was Palermo. And most of our unease was from the CRAZY drivers.

Hi Norris,

Thanks once again for your wonderful blog.

Do you know the name of the Maitre D in the main dining room? We would like to contact hin in advance. Any ideas for best table of 4 placement?

Thank you,

Marilyn

Our table on this cruise was 49. It was more or less center of the room, on the raised two step platform. The only activity was the waiters assigned to our area. We were right over the screws, but only noticed the vibration once.

In my defense re no photos from the Borghese: I do not believe any photograph and certainly not my point and shoot camera can capture a work of art. Otherwise why was I schlepping all that way to see the art in person? So you will never see me taking photographs in a museum even if it were allowed. The architecture, yes. In a museum I want silence and focus. I hate the buzzing audio guides and how they choose for you which pieces are "important." One thing I loved at the Borghese was when you enter each gallery there is a stack of laminated sheets with information about each art work and a numbered map showing their placement. Silent, informative, and you don't have to lean in front of somebody to read a label. Pick it up when you enter, return it when you leave the room. Germanic in its logic and simplicity. As for timing the times are two hours apart but they start shooing you out after an hour or so to clear the place out for the next group. An hour in a museum for me is just right as beyond that I no longer absorb anything. Carol the rigid

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. I had purchased a new camera for my husband to use on this trip. Half the time, I would dog him and dog him to take as many pictures as he could. The other half, I would be telling him that he was "missing it" by not living in the moment. Poor guy couldn't win for losing!

I could have stared at The Rape of Prospernia all day. That one section where Pluto has ahold of her thigh. I was speechless.

I totally agree with you about how much time is needed in a museum. I can easily be overstimulated and shut down. In Borghese, as I walked from room to room, I would focus on a particular piece and think about who created it, how it was done and try to make note of the little things. Then I would wander a little around the room and just take random shots of other stuff that I could look at later. Then I would go off and remind Steve to take a bunch of pictures but be in the moment! ٩(^‿^)۶

I've loved most of the food pic's you've posted. But like someone else mentioned, I draw the line at the artichoke. I have a personal policy not to eat anything with the word "choke" in it. It's a safety issue for me!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Very disappointing Lori. I can understand the no-flash rule but wonder at the no photos blanket rule.

 

The Sistine Chapel I can see why no photos- no one would leave to make way until they had every ceiling panel on "film" and people would be bumping into each other or pushing each other aside to get a better shot. There would be people tripping over outstretched tripod legs. Oh, the humanity!

 

Norris

The said they were trying to protect the sanctity of the "holy" sites. I understand about not being able to get a shot of everything you see. There is SO much to see, sometimes you just have to be in the moment. But thank goodness for the internet.

Surreal afternoon touring these bone rooms. Nothing could have prepared me for the site of a chandelier hanging one foot above my head, made of monk's finger bones. And then seeing this nifty clock. That was just a bonus.

I was surprised as I was taking my camera from around my neck to put it in the case and the clerk at the coat check told me I could keep it with me as long as I didn't use flash.

 

Norris

I believe I would have pitched a fit if they didn't allow cameras in Borghese. That was THE place I went to Rome for.

They didn't allow cameras at all on our crypts and catacombs tour. The tour included the crypts of St. Sebastian, no photos....the Basilica of San Clemente with it's 12th century church built on a 4th century church built upon a 1st century secret sect..... no photos. And finally the visit to the Capuchin bone rooms....no pictures. AARRRRGGGGG!!!!

Here is a map of the gallery that I grabbed as I was walking out. Better late than never!

BorgheseMap.pdf

Bet you didn't see this at the gallery!

But I'll bet you saw this....

It's a barnburner of an opera with great songs, some torture and a good fatal stabbing to great music.

Norris

I would say that statement is the first one EVER to have me considering listening to an opera!

Cheers! (c ͡|Q ͜ʖ ͡o)-c[_]

I think she needs to at least visit it once (or twice) again. This was a revelation to her as she hadn't been there in so long. She's ok with not returning to Venice again but Rome she has to. Two days was just scratching the surface. A week would really help.

 

Norris

I'm with Carol on that one. Venice, not so much, but more Rome!

Lori, as it happened we watched a TV show called House Hunters International last night- couple from Phoenix (Ed and Gracie Conner) buying a condo on the beach in Puerto Penasco. Neither of us had heard of that location until just now.

Seemed like serendipity. It looks like a fine place and I can understand why you would buy there.

 

Norris

That is a timely coincidence! They have done a HHI twice that I know of. The first one they had a family looking at some of the condo's down the beach from us at least 3 miles, closer to Mayan Palace.

Here is an aerial shot of where our house is located. We are down the beach a bit but we sit on top of a hill with the estuary behind the house.

The newest water sport off the beach is water jet packs that run with wave runners. If you look close, you can see a friend of ours launching off the water. The picture was taken from our balcony.

Five languages, very impressive. Whenever I meet someone who can speak several languages, I always ask them how they made the choice on which languages they would take up. Most often there seems to be two factors. One was geographic location. I doubt I would find someone who speaks Dutch in Mexico. The second was similarities in the different languages that make them easy to learn.

Get your ass to Rome! Love it!

Our hotel was the IQ. New, not really typical Rome. But there was one feature that this hotel had that was truly awesome.

The wine vending machine! Including Moet & Chandon...in a pretty cab-i-net...

Let them eat cake she says, just like Marie Antonette.

They want you to drink Moet and Chandon from plastic glasses!

So the good news, it's not wine that has a screw top lid. The bad news....

They keep the corkscrew on a chain like a pen in a bank.

Italians!

Dude! TMI about the bidet!

And if you're going to trash a room, we need to see photos of Carol standing on a table waving a red scarf around.

Why did they think you needed two lamps, and right next to each other? :D

Always wanted a Nikon, so got the D3100 - great camera. Now my interior shots of those dark churches are much better!

 

Ron

Nikon with a CMOS sensor! Very nice.

Allessia pointed out many of the ceilings and walls that looked 3D, but were actually flat. Three dimensional without the silly looking glasses!

Yes, the slope of the dome is real, but each square panel with it's medallion is flat.

The "tape" across this panel was the only real visual clue that the panel was actually flat.

Am I the only person who feels the strong desire to moo like a cow as the crowds slog along the hallways?

Lori, for a first trip to Italy you certainly made the most of it and packed a lot in.

 

The photos are coming chronologically so I hadn't taken any Borghese pics yet nor did I know what awaited me. Borghese was Carol's idea as she had read the guide books and listened to Rick Steves. Most of my ideas revolved around sitting in sidewalk cafes, people-watching, as if I had a month to spend in Rome.

 

Carol's unofficial name is Guide Book Carol and she has quite the library (in the North Wing) She finds great places to visit and then I keep us to our schedule like a Swiss Railway. My favorite paintings are by JMW Turner and I head for the French Impressionists at the Art Institute of Chicago so Renaissance Art doesn't stop me in my tracks as those do but I know skill and appreciate and marvel at the Renaissance.

 

Your InLaws have already hit most of the places on our bucket list.

 

I see your cruises have been spread out and wonder if the frequency will increase or if you love your land vacations as much as we do?

 

Norris

My traveling companions put me in charge of what we would see. Technically this was MY trip. I had been nagging Steve to take me after his parents returned and I was able to see their photos. It was my job to plan where to go and what to see. I tried to put in things that M&L had not seen the first time around. But there were things that we didn't see. We didn't get to see the Pantheon, or the Spanish Steps. And I would have like to have included San Giovanni Laterano. Funny how you were across from the Pantheon.... we were across from the Opera House! There was a children's program on Sunday night. Faint melody floating around, seeped into our open window.

I would have been thanking and thanking Carol for insisting on Borghese. Crowds were low and wow factor was high!

We do love our land vacations. We have a house in Mexico that we go to often. It is in Puerto Penasco, and is just a four hour drive from Phoenix. But Steve is not yet retired, so we work within his schedule. Do you have any relatives in Colorado? We have a dear friend who is an Adair, who also has a house in Penasco.

Spinner the Raphaels begin after the one in the gilded frame. They are frescos commissioned for that room illustrating philosophy, literature, etc. The cool story about The School of Athens (confirmed by Massimo when I asked him) is that Raphael used likenesses of contemporary artists (and himself) as models for many of the philosophers and according to the tale when he got a peek at what Michelangelo was doing over in the chapel he included him too out of respect. I had a literature professor in college who believed that all literary criticism could be summed up by the gestures of the two central figures - Plato pointing up and Aristotle pointing straight ahead. So incredible to see it in person over forty years later!

I'm so glad you got to see them. That is a really cool story about Raphaels' School of Athens. I'm going to write that in my notebook. Allessia had told us the story about Jonah and the Whale in the Sistine Chapel. About how Michelangelo had no idea what a whale looked like, so he walked down to the pier where the fishermen sold their daily catches. He asked them to show him the biggest fish they had. So they showed him a Tarp, or a Trout my notes are fuzzy. And then the story of the cleric who Michelangelo had painted in The Last Judgement. He was upset because the artist had put donkey ears on him. The cleric demanded Michelangelo remove his likeness but the Pope didn't want to anger the artist, so the image stayed.

I think your lit professor was right! Interesting how such complex ideas can be shown gracefully and succinctly.

I'm still trying to absorb everything that I saw. I am not really sure when I was able to close my mouth. Stunned, humbled, and blown away.

The Raphael's started at the bottom of post 579 and that reminded me of the favor Massimo did for Carol, hence post 580. The one where there are Philosophers about to walk down the steps...

 

Hopefully Carol will read this and comment. She's in the West Wing of our home at the moment- the Tintoretto Wing as I call it . I'll have the butler call her...

 

BTW Spinner I don't know if you saw my reference to the Borghesi Gallery a while back....lots of photos from there in the future.

 

Also BTW- is Spinner your real name?

 

Norris who cast off the screen name around day one on CC

Do you also have a Raphael wing? I'm sure with all your travels you've got to have a wing with just refrigerators. Rooms and rooms of refrigerators. There has GOT to be a place for all those magnets you buy!

I did see the reference to Borghese, and I think you had one or two pics from there earlier? I know I saw Appollo and Daphne somewhere along the line. We hit Borghese on Saturday after Popolo. My absolute favorite piece of Bernini's is Rape of Prosperina. I could have spent most of the afternoon staring at it. But to get to Borghese, we walked from Popolo, up at LEAST 75 steps up to the lower level of Pincio. Then up a hill, and up about 50 more steps to get to the top of Pincio. Then trek across Borghese Gardens to get to the gallery where we had pre-purchased tickets. One bad thing about using google maps, they don't tell you that it's uphill the whole way. Seems to be critical information missing.

Spinner is my just my handle. I am Lori Sexson, spouse of Steve. Daughter-in-law to Marv and Lenora. They were my traveling companions on this cruise. It was my in-law's second trip to Italy, first for Steve and I. This was I think the 7th cruise for M&L. They've taken an Alaska, Panama, Italy, Scandinavia, two Caribbean and this second to Italy.

I'd like to mention one more favor Massimo did for me. As I understand it there are only two paths you are allowed to take through the Vatican Museum, a shorter one and a much longer one. I knew somehow (probably from Rick Steves) that the Raphael Rooms would not be included in our shorter tour. But I wanted very badly to see The School of Athens, which I had studied in college and which had personal resonance for me. I asked Massimo if we could squeeze it in. He was torn: so happy to have an actual interested customer but knowing how strict the traffic rules were. But bless him he pulled it off and whisked us into and out of the room with the help of a guard and against all the traffic so that we could resume our short tour towards the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing. Norris has a photo of it above. Carol the grateful

Carol, were those pics that Norris posted all Raphaels? Or was it the one in the guilded frame? Great that Massimo was so accommodating! I know if I wouldn't have been able to see the Caravaggio's I wanted to see, let alone all the Bernini I wanted to see I would have been disappointed. Even with all the other stunning pieces surrounding me.

It's great that we have cameras that can get some quality shots without a flash. We found out fairly quickly that the trade off was you had to hold the camera very still for a longer period of time in order for them to come out clear. We ended up with dozens of photos that looked like we were running past! Good thing we carried spare batteries, that extra processing chewed them up!

Those tapestries were amazing. Allessia told us to pay attention to the eyes of Jesus on that tapestry you snapped a photo of. She said that they eyes followed you as you walk through the hallway. She was right!

We became a little distracted during the pass through the hall of tapestries. One tourist was being scolded for taking pictures with a flash. A flash going off was like a car accident. Everyone turns to look at where it came from. She was immediately surrounded by a couple of tour guides. She got the message quickly, but I think one of the guides had to turn off the flash on her camera because she didn't know her equipment!

I can't believe this thing actually spins!

Close up of the Sarchophagus of St. Helena

"River Tiber" statue is actually a fountain of sorts.

Water apparently came out of the jug, but when I went to snap a photo, I discovered something hidden inside.

If your guide was the big one, our guide was the little one. Alessia was 4'11 but a little pack of dynamite.

But she did manage to spin this ball by herself!

OK! Now I have to hunt it down and get it, subito!

 

Rome Reconstructed?

 

Thanks!

 

Norris,excited.

ISBN# 978-88-6668-024-6 Archeolibri :D

A great tool ! Thanks for going to the trouble of adding that to this review.

 

Our guide Franco carried a little book which had current photos of the sites and clear plastic sheets with representations in color of what they would have looked like back in time. These he could superimpose on what we were seeing- is that the book you bought? If so I want one!

 

Much thanks!

 

Norris

It is the same book indeed! They had several different versions of it in different sizes. I purchased the smaller one because I was worried about how much my luggage was going to weigh when we headed home. I had also purchased the same kind of book for Pompeii. The Pompeii version also had color layovers so you could picture what it looked like originally. I snagged that one from the gift shop on OP.

I am grateful that the ruins still stand. Always strange to think of how much time has passed. Always a reminder on how young the US is.

I purchased a Rome Reconstructed book after our tours on Sunday. In the back of the book it has a video you can watch about what it looked like back in the day. Check it out.

http://www.archeolibri.it/it/video/roma-ric.html The password is eay12avx