when in Rome part 2

painted ceiling and walls

How many pictures of painted ceilings should I post... How many roman ruins pictures... statues... tiled floors... tapestries... maps......

We 'did' the Vatican Museum today - finishing up with the Sistine Chapel - it was a mammoth 3 hour slog - and when I say slog I don't mean it wasn't enjoyable but its bit like trying to walk backwards on a conveyor belt of people - round a most beautiful building with incredible exhibits from amazing tiled floors to the obvious painted frescoes and ceilings.

such detailed stone carving

In-between all this were sculptured bits of marble sliced and mirrored and in every kind of colour and pattern marble could ever be seen in. it was all very sumptuous -and completely over the top!!!! Every surface was patterned, tiled, marbled or painted. The Map corridor was just amazing -

map fresco only one I could get pretty much whole there were so many people about

I cant help thinking of the poor starving people out there in the world who do not in anyway benefit from this culture and beauty but as Dr Fred says you can hardly sell the Sistine chapel to clear world poverty and I know really its just the atheist in me coming out when I see such blatant opulence that I am actually privileged enough to go see.

fierce creature

I took hundreds of photos mainly of statues which were just so beautifully carved with such intricacy I couldn't leave them. I also bolstered my mythical creatures collection quite a bit and might have got a tad carried away with tiled floors!

fabulous detail of tiled floor

There was a bit of me that wished we could start the tour with the Sistine Chapel because it is so stunningly gorgeous but the glory is slightly lessened by all the previous grandeur you have just witnessed. That coupled with museum leg and the insanely packed in amount of people takes the edge of some of the worlds most iconic art. On a busy day 25,000 people visit the Sistine Chapel!!!! Still amazing and awe inspiring though to see the Michelangelo paintings for real (without additions such as coffee and spliff...)

After the museum - St Peters Square - busy and no seating! I would have liked to rest my weary legs and reflect on what we were looking at, and what we had seen. We were in St Peters Square a few years back when we discovered we had totally lost track of time and suddenly it was Easter Sunday and there was huge Mass going on and the Pope was throwing blessings around.. the choir were incredibly beautiful and it was quite spiritual but I'm still an atheist... it was a bit quieter today but lack of seats meant we carried on.

Up, up, and up A LOT of steps to the most amazing view point across the city - we could see for miles and miles. All the iconic buildings were glinting in the 32 degree heat and it was rather splendid and we sat looking eating more delicious ice cream.

view across Rome

We walked and walked and walked a bit more through the old town - up and down more steps down by the river and finally realised we were getting footsore thirsty and hungry but were also very very hot - so back to base for a shower and then a nice restaurant at the end of our road. Perfect end to a long hot culture filled day!

Alesund

Our final destination stop was Alesund. This is a very pretty town in southern Norway built on a peninsula. All the houses are painted pretty colours and a lot of the architecture is all very Art Nouveau based. This is because the town itself was completely burnt to the ground In 1904 by a fire for which they never found the original cause. The whole town had to be rebuilt and this became a huge National Effort and a lot of prominent and up and coming architects flocked to the town to stick there 20 pence in. Consequently the town is very heavily Art Nouveau which was very fashionable at the time. There is this wonderful Museum just off the harbour which is a very beautiful Art Nouveau house. It has amazing panelling, doors, wallpaper, and it's all furnished with beautiful art Nouveau Furniture. It also house a collection of of enameled Art Nouveau Trinkets,boxes, spoons, jewellery, very very beautiful. There is an interesting collection of old books and paintings a...

Isle of Bute

Another Landmark Trust tick - this time Ascog House on the Isle of Bute - stunning as always... a very comfortable warm accommodation for the usual 8 suspects. This time we had a wee tower house for Dr Fred and myself - a lovely bedroom up the stairs with a big window and a bathroom al to ourselves - having said that all the other bedrooms in the big house were large and serviced by two bathrooms so there was no hardship for any visitors! The grounds of the house were very extensive with ponds and secret passages - hidden paths and we even spotted a deer late afternoon - there were lots of old features - ornate staircases and a lovely hidden door which I did a quick sketch of. Bute provided quite a lot of entertainment as well - the weather was kind and we did a a muddy wander down the south of the Island taking in St Blanes Monastery and Kilcannon Bay. The views were spectacular and it was fabulous to be out in the fresh (and it was fresh on the tops) air and we...

The Blue Dot

Excellent evening spent at the first Blue Dot festival held at Jodrell Bank. Clever use of the radio telescope as back drop for the main stage... there were some major teething issues which hopefully will addressed if this event happens again - mainly access and parking.. it was a nightmare approach to the festival and fortunately as we were only doing one night we decided to ditch the car and chose to walk the last mile and half into the site... what a relief as if we had queued we would most certainly missed Public Service Broadcasting which was one of the reasons we were going.. anyway we caught them and then enjoyed fantastic set by Underworld - danced much of the night away in the rain - my trusty solfest poncho almost kept me dry.. it was a splendid evening and the telescope looked brilliant when lit up when it got dark. There was a rather fab "installation" called a luminarium, lack of site information - another hiccup meant we were really lucky to catch it just ...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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