Studio39Designs

Sights of Rome

Before we began our cruise, we had a free day in Rome.  We originally planned this extra day for 3 reasons – to allow us to get a taste of Rome, to allow our bodies to adjust to the time change, and to give our luggage a chance to catch up with us should it somehow get waylaid.  Well, at least we accomplished the first!  In the morning, we decided to take what’s called a “hop on, hop off” bus to get a general idea of the sights of Rome.  I can’t say we’ve become fans of these buses, as the audio was most definitely not in sync with what we were seeing, so that we got the explanation of what we saw about 5 minutes after we saw it!  Still, it was good to start our European adventure!

US Embassy Gates

I was quite taken with the design of these gates before I found out they belong to our embassy!  Or, at least, one of them!  From the sign we later saw, this may be one of a few US embassies in Rome.  Go figure – I thought we would only have 1 per city, if not country!

Piazza Barberini

 

In the plaza where we caught the bus, there was this lovely fountain.  I couldn’t resist taking a photo of it, and a close-up (below).  They seem to have a number of these throughout the city.  I loved the detail of the carving of the fishes’ mouths at the base of the fountain.

Fountain Detail

Egyptian Obelisk

This obelisk was truly old, altho I can’t remember exactly how old.  However, it did date back to when Rome conquered Egypt, and brought this back as a memento of sorts.  This was one of the times when the mis-timed audio (see my intro) was really a pain in the butt in terms of understanding what we had seen! 

 

Arches

This is a sneak preview of what was to come in the afternoon, when we went on a tour to see the Coliseum, Forum and Palatine Hill.  These arches are ones that we saw as we drove around the Coliseum in the morning.  I did like this shot even if it was a “quick, snap it” type of shot.

Roman Wall Art

 

Again, sorry, but I have no idea what this sort of plaque is depicting due to the funky audio.  However, I took the shot because I really liked the contradiction between the flowing, intricate design of the plaque and the very severe grid of the window or vent close to it.  I also loved the texture of the wall!

Rome- Street-side Dining

After we got off the hop on, hop off bus, we meandered back to our hotel.  On the way, we saw this lovely restaurant with street-side dining.  I captured the image knowing I would change it into a photo-sketch.  It just captures the light, airy casually elegant feel of the outside dining room!

Fontana de Trevi

 

We also managed to find the fountain where people generally would make wishes and toss coins into the fountain.  However, it was closed for maintenance.  I managed to get this one shot thru the fence they had around it.  Somehow, it just didn’t have that same romantic feeling when surrounded by fencing telling you it would open tomorrow.  Hmmmm….now why didn’t I believe that?

Street in Rome

And, finally, to end this morning’s explorations, I stopped mid-street crossing to take this quick shot of a Rome street with an arch.  Somehow, this just felt so “Rome-like” to me!  I converted it into a sketch-painting that one could perhaps purchase from one of the artists lining the way.

Enjoy!