Our second full day in Rome was much more relaxed. We slept late and the day became a self-made walking tour. Took a cab to Ristorante Pancrazio where we had a very good brunch. It’s one of several restaurants and outdoor markets located on the site of Pompey’s amphitheater. About half the size of the colosseum it was built in 60 BC. The restaurant’s basement has some of the original wall
Inside Ristorante Pancrazio. Original wall of Pompey’s amphitheater in back
One shot of the huge outdoor market in the piazza created on the ruins of Pompey’s amphitheater . Ristorante Pancrazio is behind the photographer
We planned a walk to the Pantheon, Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps, stopping into churches we found along the way. Many of these have renaissance masterpieces inside, also it was amazing to see plaques in so many of them saying “this is a copy of the original taken by Napoleon and subsequently lost”. Apparently his conquering army took, stole, over 120,000 works of art from Italy, many from churches. We also stopped to rest and replenish with gelato periodically.
The Pantheon, built by Hadrian circa 120AD on the site of a previous temple. This temple was dedicated to all the Gods (Pan Theo). It became a church in 609 AD and has been in continuous use for nearly 2,000 years. We didn’t go inside, the line was very longTrevi fountain, so named because it is at the junction of three roads Tri Via – Trevi. Unfortunately it was under repairs when we visited it The Spanish Steps seen from the top. Built in the 1720’s they take walkers from the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Plaza) to the Trinita del Monti church. This photo is from the plaza outside the church and looks down on the small fountain in the Spanish Plaza. We went into the church of course. Pictures are allowed but we took few if any of the church interiors.
From Trinita del Monti we walked back to the hotel stopping in one more church. The walk was about 2 miles. We got back to the hotel about 6 PM, had our evening meal at La Culinaria.
We had an easy gettaway, the drive from Charlottesville was uneventful, traffic manageable. The flight was the usual necessary evil, 8.5 hrs., fortunately it was only half full so we both could lay down, me across three seats in the center row, Peggy in two seats by a window. We left on Wednesday evening in Virginia but it was 3:30 AM Thursday in Rome. We arrived about 12:30 PM Rome time but it took us too long to decide how to get to the hotel. We finally picked taxi, the line for one was easily a city block long. We ate at La Famiglia a super crowded, super noisy, totally Italian place. And learned a few things about ordering and eating out in Italy (mentioned later)
The next day, Friday, was our day for official tours. AM was vatican, Sistine chapel and St Peter’s Basilica, PM was the coliseum and forum.
The vatican is a walled city state, its own country, visited by 30,000 people a day. Here are pictures of the old entrance and the new one:
Our tour guide, 49 yo Debra Diego, a visual artist and producer, as Rider Haggard might say “She who must be obeyed” New entrance at right was created only a few years ago.
We payed a little more for the “VIP skip the lines tour”, well worth it. 12 people is all there were in our tour and the guide was really good. She cares deeply about art, and knew so much. She was bossing us and total strangers around the whole tour “don’t stand there you’re blocking the aisle”, “there is a time limit here you must move on”. And she herded us like we were sheep and she a border collie. We sped through the vatican museum first. Her theme was to show us Michaelangelo’s influences. The greek statues of Apollo are his models for Jesus, Hercules is God the father, a statue of Glaucus is the model for the face of agony (hell). Here are some pictures:
Apollo, his face used by Michelangelo as the model for Christ’s face. But he gave Jesus a six pack, not the soft abdomen seen here
Glaucus, a greek who sided with Troy in the Trojan war. The face of agony, used as a model for those in Hell by Michaelangelo
Fragment of a sculpture dug up in Greece, thought to be Hercules. Michaelangelo’s God the father is built like this guy
We sped through the vatican museum, there was so much to see it could have taken days. It’s kind of a blur in my memory already. We were taken to the door to the Sistine Chapel and told we had 12 minutes, to be quiet, take no pictures and meet her at the opposite end. Peggy and I were so into studying the images on the walls and ceiling that 10 minutes into it we were still just inside the door when a priest came to offer a prayer. We couldn’t walk to the back of the Chapel meeting place while he prayed, – we were late. From there we walked through St Peter’s square and then to the Basilica. The Pieta is there:
Michaelangelo’s Pieta, The Pity, Mary holding her son immediately after the crucifixion. Our guide saying good bye in St Peter’s. The wooden structure in the back is directly over the tomb of St Peter. Six members of our tour are here.
After lunch at Osteria delle Comare we took a cab to The Coliseum and Roman Forum. We were to meet at the Arch of Constantine at 3:00. At 2:54 I started to panic when one minute later a woman with a yellow flag showed up and 10 other people instantly congregated around her. Our guide was a 45 yo former professor who had a PhD in anthropology. Originally from Rome, he lived in England, Columbia, Peru and Brazil. The latter two countries were as part of his phd work. He lived with an indigenous tribe in the Amazon for a year, knows that language as well as being fluent in Italian, English and Portuguese. The four hour 15 minute tour was 3hrs 55min on the colisseum, 20 min forum. The coliseum could seat 70,000, was free and bread was handed out free. Built between 70 and 80 AD by Vespasian and his son Titus, it was used as entertainment for the people of Rome, entertainment that usually included death of many animals and people. The seats were marble or brick, it had a retractable canvas roof. Here are some pictures and recreations of the original as it is really hard to imagine how it was from the ruins:
The tunnel-like archways you see above our heads would not have been visible from this position inside. There was a solid row of seats in a nearly continuous circle broken only by a few entrances. Each of the arches you see above us had a statue in it visible from outside (see the model at the end)
The marble on top was the original height, it no longer extends entirely around. Wooden posts like telephone poles stood vertically on top of that marble and ropes from those posts holding a retractable canvas roof extended out to nearly the middle of the circle
The white marble just to the right of the emperor’s entrance is all that remains of the original marble seats. But what’s going on with the floor??? You are looking at the remains of support for the wooden planks that were covered with sand to create the “playing field”. Gladiators and animals in cages stayed in the tunnels and hallways under the floor. The sand was to soak up the blood. Wood covered with blood would be slippery and the blood difficult to remove. Bloody sand could be shoveled up, removed and easily replaced. The latin word for sand is arena, thus the nickname “the arena”. It stuck around.
how the original coliseum looked from the outside
one of those marble seats with a 2,000 year old name of the patron family still easily read
A Recreation of a 50 50 fight animals vs men, a common event. Notice the coliseum seats are a continuous circle of marble and brick, the wooden floor covered with sand. The gladiators were not allowed to turn their backs on the emperor so must fight the animals facing him or be punished. A referee wearing a white shirt with blue stripes called fouls and decided the punishment
The forum was a large gathering/meeting place on the palatine hill adjacent to the colosseum. Rectangular, it stretched roughly half a mile and had government buildings on one side, religious temples on another, and market places on a third. The residential city spread out from all sides of it. Unfortunately the forum was not well preserved.
The forum built on Palatine hill
Ruins of once impressive buildings are all that is left of the forum today.
August 19 and 20, 2024 Nine hours to home from Empire is two days of driving for us. From the CG, near Sleeping Bear, we drove to Saugatuck Brewing Co. for a very good lunch and a really good beer. Afterwards we walked on Lost Rock beach, Sammy loves wave chasing and he entertained several beach goers. Next stop for the night was a Harvest Host site, Twin Maple farms.
It is primarily an apple orchard, 20 varieties, many tree limbs drooping to the ground and some broken under the weight of the apples. They also have blueberries, cherries, strawberries, pumpkins, summer squash, a couple of acres of tomatoes, and lots of flowers. The sunflowers are $1 apiece, you pick. The owner said “I bought this place two years ago knowing nothing about growing apples”. Talk about a leap of faith. They have an open air store by the road, operated by his wife and daughter. He and his sons worked in the orchard until sunset. We made our purchases and then strolled around. Here are some pictures of the farm…..
Me with Sammy just before “the attack”. The muskrat was in the sunflower field but moving toward the cattails which are just ahead of me.
A field of you-pick zinnias, apples in the background
Attack of the killer muskrat
In the sunflower picture above, a muskrat charged at Sammy seconds after the picture was taken. My guess is he had kits in the cattails, assumed we were a threat and was protecting them. The “fight” took about 2 seconds, Sam inflicted a bite on his back, he bit Sam’s nose. I pulled the leash hard and separated them. Sam bled a lot, took 20 minutes or more to stop.
Before and after Small cut above the nostril, larger cut beneath at 5 o’clock. .
Had lunch in Lafayette, IN at D T Kirby’s downtown, a road food rec. Peggy said it was the best hotdog she’s had in years, maybe ever (wrapped in seasoned bacon and deep fried). Kevin texted with her to help her with her order choice. Just left there, should be home in about 4 hrs.
August 18, Left Petoskey SP and drove through both Petoskey and Traverse City. Beautiful small towns on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Ate brunch at Bayside restaurant in Petoskey. Finished the day at Sleeping Bear NLS. Campground was full of course so we found a spot in a county park called Empire CG then we drove the scenic drive within Sleeping Bear. Each scenic overlook was nice but the last stop was spectacular. About 450 ft above Lake Michigan atop a sand dune, we watched the sun set.
That clump of trees Peggy is pointing at is the sleeping bear. It served as a landmark to native Americans and traders navigating the lake in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It looked from the lake like a bear curled up asleep. It’s hard to show the enormity of this sand dune. Those are people coming back up the dune. It’s about 450 feet.
Saturday August 17 Ferry over to Mackinac Island, only 4 miles wide the island is famous for not allowing cars, everyone walks, bikes, rides a horse or takes a horse drawn carriage/taxi. This was the location of an important fort in colonial period to shortly after the war of 1812, known as Machilimacinac (spelling varies), it changed hands from French, to English to American. Very touristy, of course, beautiful landscaping, lots of flowers everywhere, we spent about 6 hrs walking around and eating lunch (at Kingston Kitchen). Here are some pictures to give an idea of what it is like………
A Mackinac taxi goes by
The Grand Hotel,
A mixture of private residences and vacation rentals (mostly the latter)
From Mackinac Island we drove to Petoskey SP. For us it was just a place to stay the night but we were impressed by the extensive bike trails linking small towns along the lake, Petoskey to Traverse City e.g.
Left Tahquamegon SP around 9:30 and drove to the upper falls parking area. My opinion, upper falls much more impressive. No one swims in the upper falls. Here it is…..
worth an uncropped picture
Next drove to Whitefish point, known for two things: it’s the graveyard of Lake Superior, and it’s where migrating neotropicals tend to congregate as they cross the lake going back south. There have been over 500 shipwrecks off this point. Most were in the late 19th to early 20th centuries when there were as many as 3,000 commercial ships on the lake, there are only about 200 now. Whitefish point is where the lake narrows before the entrance to the St Mary’s river and the Sault (Soo) locks. It’s also where the lakes famously huge waves break as the lake becomes more shallow. The great lakes shipwreck museum is here. Regarding the neotropical’s fall migration, it is just now starting and one checklist submitted two days before we were there had 40 Cape May warblers on it. We unfortunately saw only a few Redstarts and Black-throated greens, and a Lincoln sparrow. After walking the sand beach studded with many colorful flat skipping-stone rocks, and walking the birding trail back along the huge sand dunes, we headed for Sault Ste. Marie. Had a late lunch of poutine at “The Antlers”, look at this picture of the interior and you’ll know why the name,
I don’t usually photograph my food but this was something altogether different (and basically a bowl full of leftovers, but still good)
Mostly local or at least north American game but also African Kudu and gazelle, and many unrecognizables, no jackalopes however.
The Soo locks were worth seeing. There is a museum, free, and behind it a viewing platform. Only two locks are there, one small one large. A third larger lock is under construction on the Canada side. We watched a tour boat and an ocean going container ship go through. The bridge to Sault Ste. Marie Canada is a site to see but I couldn’t get pictures to do it justice.
We watched this descend perhaps 10 feet before taking the pic. By the time it was ready to lock through we could look down on its deck. Notice the bridge to Canada in the background
Tour boat heading upstream lock water at highest
Tour boat coming upstream through the lock, water level down
Sault, pronounced Soo, is an archaic French word for rapids, so Rapids of the St Mary river. Many times in my life I have looked up Sault in a french/english dictionary never to find it, learning the meaning took a deeper dive. The river is about 74 miles long and empties into Lake Huron, which is really the same thing as Lake Michigan btw.
From there we finally started south, camped in Straits SP which is literally on the shore of the strait between lakes Huron and Michigan. Tomorrow Mackinac Island and later Petoskey, Traverse City the day after, then home, at least that’s the current plan.
Aug. 10, 2024 We decided a “beat the heat week” was in order so we left this morning for a few days circling lake Michigan with the UP, upper peninsula of Michigan, our primary focus. Our first night was spent at a Harvest Host site, Beans and Barley, a family owned restaurant just off I57, about an hour south of Chicago. The owner was washing dishes when we arrived, his wife and adult son were cooking. Very friendly, they visited us at our table at both supper and breakfast. I’m always amazed at how hard people work. He and his son have full time jobs during the week. His wife does the cooking, he does all sorts of odd jobs for the restaurant, he was mowing the grass Sunday morning when we left, hollered “hope to see you again soon neighbor” as we drove away.
Sunday Aug. 11 we drove to American Family Field to see the Reds play the Brewers, got there at 11:30 for a 1:10 game and there already was a line of cars at the entrance. We were turned away because of our dog, went to downtown Milwaukee, parked in a lot, ate at the Brat Haus (shout out to Craig and Laura for the rec) and took the shuttle to the game. Arrived as the National Anthem was ending. I tipped the parking lot attendant to let me park in a handicapped spot, it was the only spot completely shaded. The game was great despite an obnoxious Brewer fan who taunted the small number of Reds fans near him, but only when Milwaukee was ahead. He quietly snuck out when it became obvious the Reds were going to win, final score 4 -3. (Peggy wanted to taunt him back as he left, had to restrain her).
American Family Field, home of the Brewers (photo bombed by some random person)
Great place to eat before the game, then shuttle to and back. Definitely better than driving there.
Shuttled back to the Brat Haus, then ate at the Red Lion. We had very good impressions of Milwaukee. Noticed that few places are called restaurants, but there are lots of breweries, pubs, bars and “Haus” places, so no shortage of places to eat. We had a little time to walk around on the river walk, very nice. There were lots of new apartments and condos close to the city center, a sign of a healthy city.
The Red Lion, ate there because they allow dogs on the patio. small sign on an otherwise nondescript door, never would have gone there but for that, never would have noticed it in fact. Food, and beer selection was very good.
Drove to a Cracker Barrel in a northwest suburb for the second night.
Door County
Monday drove to Peninsula SP in Door county, had time to eat lunch at Al Johnson’s goats-on-the-roof place, and to walk along the lake. Then we checked into our spot in the park CG. The Northern Sky theatre is a short walk from Nicolet CG, we saw “Belgians in Heaven”, a slapstick, silly comedy about immigrants to Door county from Belgium. Peggy loved it. All the plays here are new plays, commissioned for this theatre.
Upper Peninsula at last
Tuesday was a driving day, Tuesday and Wednesday nights we stayed in Michigan’s Indian Lake SP. Indian Lake is 6 X 3 miles but never more than 15 ft. deep. CG almost full, beautiful sunsets over the lake. Wednesday was spent at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, essentially a National Park.
Supposedly you can make out pictures in the cliffs, mostly landscapes, wheat fields in snow, distant mountains, etc.
Getting started on the Pictured Rocks tour. A Lake Superior sandy beach is in the background, my lovely wife in the foreground
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The southern shore of lake Superior contains a long escarpment composed of two layers of sandstone with various colorations creating “pictures”, thus the name. The upper white layer of sandstone is hard, the lower darker layer is soft. The subsequent faster erosion of the lower layer leads to unusual, interesting formations, overhangs and the eventual cave-in of the unsupported upper layer, seen in the above pic. The cliffs are 200 ft high, the overhang on the right side in the picture above juts out as much as 50 ft, the cliff on the left side no longer has an overhang, instead it has a mass of sandstone rocks and rubble at its base. I’m told some kayakers were present when it collapsed, caught it on video and it’s available on youtube, I haven’t checked yet.
Lovers Leap and the Caves, two of the formations in Pictured Rocks. The former won’t be there much longer as the lower sandstone wears away it will eventually collapse.
Thursday 8/15 morning was spent at Kitchitikipi, or Kitchi-ti-kipi or Kitch-iti-kipi, or, the Ojibway language being so foreign to our ears, just Big Spring. A small, deep pool of crystal clear water it is Michigans largest natural spring. 10K gallons a minute flow into it, at a constant year-round 45 degrees, it flows into a stream that empties into Indian lake. The fish are mostly lake trout but I was told some are brown trout, they come and go between the spring and Indian Lake.
there are 3 springs in the picture, 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock and one between them. The sand boils up and moves to the left with the current
The raft is attached to a cable, someone hand cranks it across the pool and then back. It is a square with an opening in the center that has glass between the surrounding decks. It was in the center that the view to the bottom was best. After this we went to Seney NWR and did the wildlife drive, a one way, one lane gravel road. Takes about two hours, once you start you’re committed, no turning back. Very scenic, we saw trumpeter swans, loons and a merlin. Only 10 species total but the views alone were worth it. Here’s a picture……
the white stippling on the water in the background is created by water lillies in bloom .
Finished Thursday by droving to Taquamegon SP, set up camp and walked to the falls, a loop about a mile each way. Picturesque, but I expected taller, also didn’t expect to find it full of people swimming.
The river splits above the falls creating an island, with two falls, one on each side of the island. The picture with Peggy and Sammy is looking upstream above the falls.
Screen shot from a video on the right. Cold but not beyond-immersion cold. Not too slippery, but an uneven bottom which can suddenly drop two feet deeper. Sammy loves the water and of course was squatting down in it frequently. He always attracts a lot of attention, as in “Oh can I pet your dog” and “what breed is that”. Still more to see in the UP before heading home. Turns out Tahquamegon SP is the second most popular in all of Michigan. We could only stay one night, there were only 3 of more than 200 total spaces left when I went online to reserve one and none left for the weekend.
July 2 through July 5 was next to the beach at Parador Resort and Spa. The climate was very different. While it was cool, almost cold at night in the central mountains, it was hot and humid at sea level. But not uncomfortable, actually not as bad as back home. Parador sits on a small hill above the ocean near the town of Quepas. We rented the “casita”, a three bedroom house in the center of the property. Monkeys, Howler and White-faced Capuchins, used our roof to partially cross over the path guests and staff use to go between the main building, pool and restaurants to the bulk of the rooms. There are trails through the forest that surrounds the hotel but wildlife watching was best done from buildings that allowed looking down on the canopy. Monkeys, sloths, macaws and toucans were easy to see. I walked the road leading to and from the resort and saw numerous other tropical birds but only added 7 to my life list. Most I had seen a few years before in Columbia.
The beach was a 20 minute walk, nice enough but the pool and restaurants and wildlife on the hotel grounds were the highlights. Here are some pictures:
White-faced Capuchins
Don’t leave any items on your balcony., they’re fair game if you do.
Howler monkey on our roof
Parador pool, Peggy and Margaret on the crocodile, Don and Thomas on lounge chairs on right, Anne is at the “swim up” bar, Pacific ocean view
Fiery billed atacari (toucan) outside our room The larger better known yellow throated toucan was more abundant
Stare down between monkey and Peggy, who is standing beside me holding a can of pringles. Peggy wasn’t aware at first what the angry look and stare were about. “Gimme those chips”Two toed sloth. They all have 3 toes on their hind feet but are named by the number of “toes” on the front feetThe only tour taken at Parador was the animals of the night tour (in the rain) Margaret with the red eyed tree frog, symbol of Costa RicaMargaret at the restaurant
Peggy and I drove, accidentally, into Manuel Antonio National Park. There were lots of people, the beach was long and wide, big waves and undoubtedly an under tow, didn’t look safe for small children. I bet we saw more wildlife at Hotel Parador than we would have seen in the park.
Lastly your peripatetic blogger wrapped in a Poor-man’s Umbrella
Peggy hiding behind me?
It was a great trip but getting home was an ordeal, for both families. Peggy and I missed our flight from Orlando to Charlotte because security found a bottle of water in her carry-on and had to pull her bag aside and carefully inspect it, once they had time of course. I went on ahead and pleaded with American airlines personnel to wait just a couple minutes but “sorry, no can do”. It literally was 3 minutes until she arrived. We finally got to Richmond around 11:30. The Venables were just then getting their much delayed flight home from Houston. Those kids are seasoned travelers. Next trip may be a van trip around Lake Michigan, and/or a short trip to europe, ?Italy. But for now, just relax and regroup, glad to be home.
Getting around on your own with limited knowledge of the language inevitably leads to awkward situations. To wit: parked in the short term lot at the airport, returned with the Venables and was unable to get out, the gate didn’t have a place to pay, and of course wouldn’t open. Backed up, drove around, no one spoke English or seemed to understand our problem. Finally, it turns out you pay at a station outside the lot then you can scan your ticket and the gate will open. Next we went to city Mall to eat lunch. Having learned in CR you pay for parking at a separate pay station outside the lot, I did that, only to have the gate again fail to open. ??? Backed up, found someone in a uniform, who, through my broken spanish was able to ask and understand that you have 15 minutes after paying to make it to the gate in your car. We had tarried a little more than 15. Had to pay a second time to get out. Lastly, the next day, after seeing the volcano we ate lunch and the waiter made a point of telling us “you are at table 31”. So what I thought. We finished eating, the staff cleared away our dishes and we sat there. Eventually everyone left but me, waiting for the check. Finally I corralled a waiter and asked for my check, in spanish he said “you’re table 31”. Right, I said. “Pagar al caja” he said and pointed to a counter. Our check was with the cashier at the counter. No other problems, just reading traffic signs, finding the speed limit signs which seemed few and far between and searching for non-existent street signs. But then there’s still 2 days left.
It was a short easy drive down the volcano and on to Peace Lodge, an incredible resort on 65 acres of private land. The land was developed in 2000, there are only 18 villas on the property. Each has two jacuzzis, one on the balcony and another in the large bathroom, two showers, one a waterfall shower the other traditional. There is a canopy bed, a fireplace and plenty of room for a second bed to be set up. Here are some pictures of the room and the view from the balcony……
The main room and balcony; jacuzzi is on left side of balcony, fireplace on right straight across from the bed, Margaret’s “cot” is set up. Each balcony has a hummingbird feeder.
The traditional shower is on the right, the waterfall shower is behind it. The jacuzzi is straight ahead. Picture taken standing at the sink, counter top
The waterfall showerThe view from our balcony. Rain/cloud forest straight ahead, trout pond on left, unheated swimming pool in middle with Big Trout restaurant in front of it.
The big attraction is the walking tour to the falls and the animal exhibits along the walk. The latter consist of an aviary, complete with parrots and toucans, a monkey house, a butterfly house, an insectarium, a herpetarium, a sloth house, a frog house and a hummingbird area. No way guests in a mere 18 villas support this place. Tourists staying elsewhere pay to tour the property and to eat at the restaurants or visit the bar.
We did the frog tour the first night….
Margaret with THE frog of Costa Rica, red-eyed tree frog, seen on every state sponsored tourist ad
Tiger frog, his legs are orange with black stipes
We did two tour the second day, the guided tour which I will call the “knowledge” tour. It took nearly 4 hours, ended at 12:30, and went through each display ending with the famous waterfalls. At the end of the day, at 4:30 we did the feeding tour where you are allowed to feed the toucans and the sloths. Here are some pictures.
Margaret feeding a violet sabrewing (I think). M was good at holding still, not an easy thing for an 8 yo
Peggy feeding two Green Crowned Brilliants, she was especially good at attracting them, nearly ran out of sugar water
The last cataract at the end of the walk, before taking the shuttle back to the lodge
We finished the stay at Peace Lodge birding at 6 AM with our guide Michael and fishing in the stocked pond/swimming pool. Throw a chunk of fish food in and the trout swarm it, throw a chunk of fish food on a hook in, they ignore it completely. It took some subterfuge and luck to catch three, here is Margaret with her catch, being held by Anne.
I added 24 new birds to my life list, 7 of them hummingbirds.
We checked out at 11AM, drove to Parador Resort in Quepos next to Manuel Antonio NP. While it was cool, actually cold at times on the volcano, it’s hot and humid here at sea level. We stopped near Jaco for lunch at a restaurant called Stephen Lisa’s. Lucky with the weather so far, it rained on us as we drove but began to pour once we checked in. Any concern about seeing monkeys was gone nearly as soon as we got to our room, white face Capuchins were on the roof of our room and in the palm tree next to our balcony.
Roses 1.0 Van Life 