Kate's Queen City Notes

Blundering through Cincinnati, laughing all the way

Tag Archives: travel photography


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Trevi At Dawn

On the morning that we flew out, I got up at 5 before the sun was up. I walked though the sleeping city to The Trevi Fountain with the hope that I might have some quite moments with it. I wasn’t disappointed. When I arrived I found myself with 5 or 6 photographers there looking to capture the exactly what I hoped to.

We all hung back at the fringes to stay out of each other’s shots and watched and waited for the light. It was such a lovely contrast from my visit to The Fountain days prior. The throngs of people with the selfie sticks were gone. The city was holding its breath for the subtle ways the light shifts second by second at dawn.

As the sun came up the instagrammers came too. And I needed to get back to our room to finish my last minute packing, and get on a plane. That quiet morning was the perfect way to wish Italy a fond farewell. I hope to see you again one day.

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We Found The Cats

Jeannine thought that cats at Roman ruins were a thing. Until this point in the trip we only saw one solitary cat at Pompeii, and while I was thrilled with everything, the only way to improve the best things for me is to add cats. An ice cream cone is better with a kitten in your lap. A nap is better with a purring furry little buddy. A morning of coffee and contemplation is improved with some lazy cat snuggles.

We found the cats. With the help of our tour guide in Pompeii. Jeannine asked her about the cats and Roman ruins thing, and she confirmed this was not just magical legend. She directed us to a ruin that also houses a cat sanctuary.

This ruin is just smack in the middle of modern Rome. It takes up more than one city block. It’s also the place where Caesar was assassinated, etu Brute’

But cheers to cats in the ruins!


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Pompeii Through Telephoto

We took a bus from Rome that drove up to Vesuvius and then on to Pompeii. You might wonder why we didn’t spend more time in Naples (the closest city to Pompeii, Pompeii is just outside of it.) Putting it simply, our friends who have visited said it was a dump. I’m sure my impression of it wasn’t improved in anyway when I researched how we might take public transit from Rome to Pompeii. According to Travel Advisor users the Naples bus station is flush with characters who are quite skilled at getting money from foolish tourists. We spoke a small amount of Italian, but still had that slack-jawed look about us that most people out of their element have.

When we were thinking about how we were going to spend our time, we didn’t feel that we wanted to sacrifice a night in Rome for a night in Naples to gain a full day in Pompeii. I can confirm all those days in Rome were worth it just for the Carbonara and Cacio e Pepe we had. We possibly missed excellent Neapolitan pizza, but we had already had stellar pizzas in Florence and Rome. How much better could it get? I felt like we were touching the face of God with the pizza already.

We were just trying to figure out who had what camera. Jeannine clearly had this camera, because there are pictures of me.


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The Vatican & The Colosseum

Our guide at The Vatican was a lovely man. But he pointed out, too many times really, each time something was painted to look at though there are three dimensional decorations. While we lumbered through The Vatican we were regularly treated to him pointing to something and saying “It’s painted.” We got used to this familiar refrain, and we found ourselves reflexively saying “it’s painted” every time he drew our attention to something.

His consistency made it remarkable when his repetitive statement changed once we entered St Peter’s Basiclica. St Peter’s has had a history with fire and has had several of them over the years. Some wise guy during a rebuild had all the paintings replaced with mosaics. Have you guessed yet? It’s mosaics. It’s all mosaics.

And these two statements have come home with us.

 


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The Vatican And The Colosseum Is A Lot For One Day

I think I am sensitive to echos of the past. I have seen ghosts, and have lived haunted places. I am honestly not sure I believe my own experiences, so I completely get your skepticism.

Regardless, my life goes better when I take some care in going into spaces that have held big human emotions for decades and centuries. I get fatigued in antique stores. I love them, but I need to monitor my energy level and leave as soon as I feel fatigued, otherwise the emotions attached to those objects can overwhelm me.

So, I needed to be mindful going into the ancient places in Rome, like the Colosseum, the crypts, and catacombs. I have a grounding ritual where I envision sealing myself with white light, and I made sure to do that before entering any of those spaces.

Does it actually work? Who knows. The placebo effect works around 50 percent of the time. So maybe it works because I believe it to be so. That’s good enough for me.

So, in addition to that at The Vatican there’s the mental fatigue that comes from reconciling the raw political power and wealth of the church with a poor rebel who said things like the meek shall inherit the earth. I don’t even really ascribe to these beliefs anymore, but the ostentatious display of wealth at The Vatican still made me feel nauseous. Further, it was difficult for me to see these riches and then think about how the church in its response to abuse allegations clearly moved to protect these riches and its reputation over protecting children.

As if those aren’t reasons enough to feel drained, we also walked over 30,000 steps on this day. So. I am so thankful for this experience. But this day was hard on multiple levels, and I feel bad in no way whatsoever to say that I will never go back to The Vatican again.

On thing of note: we have no pictures of the Sistine Chapel. Photography is forbidden in there. It was amazing, but kissing the papal ring and giving them an offering of money once was enough. I will not do it again.


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First Day In Rome – The Pantheon & Trevi Fountian

On our first day in Rome, we walked around and got our bearings. We checked out The Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. Rome at a population of 2.8 million is quite a bit bigger than Florence, a mere 300K. It felt it.

We learned that the Pantheon was originally a pagan temple that had been turned into a memorial for Christian martyrs. This became a theme in Rome. Pagan temples seemed to be frequently re-purposed churches. Which doesn’t feel weird to me until I think about what would happen if the Church of Satan bought up St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York and flipped all the crosses around.

One thing that might not be apparent in all our pictures was that most of the places we visited in both Florence and Rome were jam-packed with people. And The Trevi Fountain was no exception. But I just adored it. It’s oddly tucked away, and it feels like you emerge from a unremarkable alley right into it. I liked it so well that we circled back to it later, so we could get some pictures of it at night. I think it’s partially that its placement in the city feels like so much of a surprise, and partially that some of the marble is unfinished and provides such a dramatic contrast to the sculpted stone.

Forgive me because, I just wanted to share all the pictures we took of it. I just loved it.


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Last Day In Tuscany

On our last day at Salvadonica we rented bikes, and explored the area checking out the closest town and the surrounding wineries. Jeannine got an e-bike and I got a regular hybrid. I am a cyclist, and ride to and from work in the nice weather. The ride has hills and its about eight and a half miles each way. Yet, those Tuscan hills kicked my butt. I was cursing my decision while watching Jeannine motor up the hills with ease.

We ended the day with messages and a lovely dinner at the restaurant on the premises at Salvadonica. The servers at the restaurant were a bit slow, even by Italian standards, but the food was excellent. It was a great way to wrap up our relaxing stay in the country. Tomorrow we checked out and started our busy, and exhausting Rome adventures.


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Cooking Is More Fun In Italy

Salvadonica offered cooking classes every morning, and we decided to sign-up for this as a group. We were doubtful when we learned that the price was 120 euros per person, but were swayed when we learned we would prepare and then eat a 3 course meal that came with complementary wine.

This experience was just lovely. The chef was a wonderful teacher and answered all our questions about regional differences between cuisine in the north vs south of Italy. We made fresh ravioli by hand in a pancetta cream sauce, roasted pork stuffed with raisins, Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs and a ricotta and dark chocolate tart. She was Sicilian and explained how the pasta recipe differs in the north vs the south and why. We asked about Tuscan olive oil, and she wryly said that the Tuscans think theirs is the best. She described the flavor profiles that olive oils from the south of the country will have vs the north.

This foodie loved every minute of this class. I know we peppered her with a zillion questions, and it was lovely that she seemed delighted to answer them. I would almost say I enjoyed cooking more than eating the food, but that would be a lie. That meal is one of my favorite of all time. Our chef gave us copies of all the recipes we used, so Jeannine and I are most certainly inviting over friends and giving them a go this spring.


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Tuscany Is Gorgeous

I got distracted with stuff like seeing Lucius at Memorial Hall last night, and making feeble attempts at putting in our garden. To be fair our efforts have been strong, the constant rain has impeded out progress. In case anyone decides to remove 800 square feet of honeysuckle and rose of sharon and reseed grass in it and carve out a garden space, let me stop you right now. It is mountains of very hard, very slow work. This may or may not be a warning to my future self, who might be trolling through my past posts to remember how we tore those devil weeds out. KATE, YOU SUPER HATED THIS TASK. PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Now then, back to Italy. After our 4 days in Florence we took a bus out to the Tuscan country side. We stayed at an olive farm that is also a resort. The trip out there was a bit of an adventure, which involved off-roading with our massive roller suitcases and sympathetic drivers pulling over to ask if we needed assistance.

The resort, Salvadonica, was a 15 minute walk from the closest town, and there was little to do apart from soaking in the gorgeous countryside by taking walks or relaxing by the pool. This was a dramatic slow down from our sightseeing in Florence, and it was very welcome. We were treated to this incredible sunset our first night there.


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Day Trip to Genoa

On our last day in Florence, we took a day trip to Genoa. It just didn’t make as much sense to get to Genoa from Rome which is where we were headed the day after. Unfortunately, we decided Venice will have to happen on your second trip to Italy, which we are certain we will take in the future.

Jeannine’s mom’s family came from Genoa and small towns in the general vicinity. So we wanted to get the vibe of that city. We didn’t really think our day through in advance, which proved to work to our detriment. After three days of walking all over Florence we were beat and decided we needed a sleep in. That meant that we didn’t get on a train to Genoa until 11. And in turn that didn’t put us Genoa around 2pm. The last train back to Florence left the station at 7pm.

Those five hours were too much time to just walk around the city, and they were not enough to go to the Aquarium or any of the other museums there. In addition, Italians eat dinner, late, 8pm at earliest. So, trying to get some dinner before hopping back on the train was difficult. We found may places we were interested in, but they opened too late. Net, we think a second, better planned visit is in our future.

We did manage to eat some focaccia and pesto, two foods the region is known for. And they were both great. Jeannine tried zucchini focaccia, and it was super. I tried the cheese focaccia, and it was a little more dense than what I was hoping for. We both had pesto at dinner, and we both enjoyed what we had very much.