Monthly Archives: December 2016

Gunpowder III

Posted on December 31, 2016 by d4vid

From 6pm on New Year’s Eve to 2am on New Year’s Day, the Netherlands is like a warzone.  I had no idea. In the picture above, you can see a crowd on a bridge lighting fireworks, fireworks exploding over the … Continue reading →

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Dam

Posted on December 30, 2016 by d4vid

Christmas tree on the Dam in Amsterdam.  I came here without telling anyone to surprise my dear friends the Snows (who live here) and Eric & Jessica (my friends who were spending New Years with them.) I knocked on the Snows’ … Continue reading →

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Riflessione

Posted on December 30, 2016 by d4vid

Some final thoughts as I leave Rome. I was surprised by the number of drinking fountains all over the city.  (Shouldn’t have been, of course, considering its history of aqueducts.) I saw an enormous number of Romans walking dogs. Gelato is … Continue reading →

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Silk II

Posted on December 30, 2016 by d4vid

I found this a fitting reminder of how the Silk Road has tied Rome and China together for centuries.

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Tritone

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

  Bernini‘s Fontana del Tritone in front of the Bernini Hotel in the Piazza Barberini.

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Enoteca

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

I spent my last night in Rome at a wine bar listening to a couple of acoustic guitarists covering — and nailing — songs by bands like Wham! and the Eurhythmics.

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Suprema

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

This imposing structure right next to the Castel Sant’Angelo is the Supreme Court of Cassation, the highest court in Italy.

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Tramonto

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

Sunset over Rome as seen from high atop the Castel Sant’Angelo.   

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Archangeli

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

This statue — with metal angel’s wings — at the Castel Sant’Angelo looks proto-steampunk.

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Castellum

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

The cylindrical Mausoleum of Hadrian was built across the Tiber from the Campus Martius by the Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family (and should not be confused with Hadrian’s Crypt which was, as I’ve pointed out, for a totally different … Continue reading →

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Fontana III

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

Although the Piazza Navona is dominated by the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, at either end are two smaller, less ostentatious fountains:  the Fontana del Moro……and the Fontana del Nettuno.

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Stadium

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

The Piazza Navona‘s cloistered shape (round at the top, squared off at the bottom) is because it was built atop the ruins of the Stadium of Domitian. The stadium was used almost exclusively for ludi (sporting events like what we think … Continue reading →

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Inverso

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

The back of the Palatine Hill as seen from the Circus Maximus to the south.   Note the workmen in orange laboring on the hillside.

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Circo

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

The Circus Maximus.  Little more than a dog park, now.

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Biblioteca II

Posted on December 29, 2016 by d4vid

The Baths of Diocletian were the biggest in Rome.  Even bigger than the Baths of Caracalla.  So big that it boasted two libraries (among many other amusements.) In additon to parts of the structure being incorporated into the Santa Maria degli … Continue reading →

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