Capri - us

Capri

Capri

Capri - I want to live there

I will go back there.

Capri - what a beautiful island!

Capri was beautiful. Words escape me as they often do but this island was made for the eyes.

Pompeii three columns

Pompeii - Vesuvius

I wanted to post this shot because it has the two peaks of Mount Vesuvius. The crater is in between the two peaks. This means that if you drew a line following the outer edges of the two peaks and intersected it at the top , thats how big this mountain was before that fateful day.

Pompeii

The city of Pompeii with Vesuvius looming in the background.

Meet a Pompeii man

This guy woke up on August 24th 79AD in his home town. A beautiful town that overlooked the Mediterranean sea. he had thoughts about his life and his children and then a massive volcanic eruption occurred. Him and his town disappeared .

Pompeii - the dead of pompeii

The dead of Pompeii. From what the tour guides told us the people died from asphyxiation from the wave of volcanic heat. They were then covered with volcanic ash. The ash hardened and the body decomposed. While they were excavating Pompeii a bright guy was finding these body cavities and thought it might be a good idea to pour plaster into them and create a mold of the tragedy of that fateful moment.

Rome Statues

Some of the many statues in Vatican city

Rome - Vatican

This is the tomb of Pope Alexander VII, by Gianlorenzo Bernini. What I liked about this work was the skeletal arm of death holding an hourglass to the pope telling him that time was running out. I have worked with a deadline before but not like this.

Rome - Vatican

Ok, I have to make a confession. I am a sculpture nut. I love art in general , photography , paintings and all other avenues. But, when I stand in front of a statue I really feel it. So when I stood looking at Michelangelo's Pietà it was breathtaking.

Rome - Centurion

A centurion eating lunch. I never thought I would label a photo as such. There were many people dressed as early Romans. What they did was grab your camera and pose with you and charge you 5 Euro. I have to say that their costumes were very authentic.

Rome - The Colosseo

The Colosseum in Rome. What an incredible structure that was built by emperor Vespasian between 70 and 72 AD. It used to be covered in white marble. My question was how did it get in such disrepair? It's in the center of a thriving city. You would think they would have kept it in all it's splendor. I got my answer from the tour guide 'Georgio.' The Colosseum did well putting on shows of men fighting men, men fighting beasts, beasts fighting beasts, etc until around 500 AD when Romes economy went sour. Then the squatters moved in . They sold the white marble facade and turned it into a giant apartment building. An earthquake in 1349 caused the outer wall to collapse and the rest is history. I can only imagine it with the white marble and its silk roof . Please click picture for a better view. This was a panoramic shot that I used 5 separate photos to create.

This was our guide Georgio. He kind of had a 'Ben Stein' thing going on. He was really good actually. He taught art history in college until he retired.

Italy!

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Italy. We visited Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, Capri and Pompeii. It was a great trip. I took over 800 photographs . Please be patient while I post them.