Italy and the Trip Overall
Jun. 30th, 2004 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kybearfuzzI finally got home today. I loved the trip, but I enjoyed getting to my house. I didn't have computer access in Italy at all. No internet cafe was nearby at all. This is going to be a long post with pictures. I've got the LJ cuts in place for those who want skip it.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Toronto is a great city and I spent many hours that week touring the downtown area. Thankfully, I got to hang out with some LJ'ers --![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
raphbearish, pickacub, scruffer, and jprtoronto.
I also got to meet up with another of my internet friends from Bear411. Jerry gave me another tour of the city after we had a nice dinner at the Keg Mansion, which I have recently learned is actually supposed to be haunted, according to Ghost Stories and Mysterious Creatures of British Columbia by Barbara Smith (I bought it read on the flight out to Italy).
The Keg Mansion
Me and my handsome buddy Jerry
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
The flight to Vancouver was very smooth. I got to town and was a bit tired, so I hit the mall and a movie, saving the touring until the next day. I did what every tourist does when they hit town, I went to Stanley Park, a beautiful 8 km perimeter park, which I walked all around. I took almost a hundred pictures. Here is one of my favorites, Siwash Rock near Prospect Point.
Siwash Rock
There was also a man who was balancing and stacking stones. It was impressive to see and I saw many people try unsuccessfully mimick him. I shot several pictures of these stacked stones.
A Balancing Act
After soaking my feet and giving them a break for a day or so, I met up with another Bear411 buddy, Jamie. Jamie is a grand conversationalist and is a nice burly, handsome guy. Well, you can see for yourself.
Smiling Jamie
Jamie and I went walking about the Bay area and the gay area of town. He's a great tour guide and very patient to let me take so many pictures. He even took a few of me at the Bay side.
Mark on the Rocks
Rome, Italy
The flight to Rome by way of Netherlands stop-over was long and hard on the rear. Still I made it with minimum problems. Total flight time was 13 hours. Ugh! I was way too tired to tackle the Roman sights until the next day. I then braved the bus and metro to see the Colosseum and ruins of Palatino. It was incredible to walk through a structure thousands of years old. It gives one a true perception of how new the States are in comparison.
The Colosseum interior
Me in Palatino
I even got a pic with a cute Roman soldier.
The folks I was working with and I went out for a late dinner on Monday and ended up staying out until 2 AM checking out the sights -- the fountains, the statues, etc. Rome doesn't sleep until about 3 AM. It was amazing to see everyone out having fun. Naturally, many of the fountains had bearded, muscular gods, lounging around in homoerotic poses. I took many pictures.
Villa D'Este, Tivoli, Italy
After a nice dinner and a late night out with the folks I was working with, a few of us went to Villa D'Este which is a mansion and garden for a Roman Cardinal. The estate has all natural fountains, no mechanical pumps. The river at the top of the mountain provides an incredible amount of water pressure, shooting the fountains about 25 feet in the air. With no mechanics, they run perpetually. It truly is amazing to see.
Main Fountain at Villa D'Este
I took many picture of the fountains. Even the small ones were impressive and to think that all of this was for one man! And he wasn't the Pope, but a Cardinal.
The Flight Home
The flight home was fine, but the airport in Rome is sheer insanity, the most unorganized place I've ever seen. The people working there don't seem to volunteer help. You have to ask or else they give you a typical sneer or don't make eye contact at all. I was not impressed. And the security is something else. Soldiers walked around with automatic machine guns. It was very uncomfortable. It took forever to get to the gate.
I finally got to see Along Came Polly. Hank Azaria has an amazing body and he plays characters hysterically. Thanks to my sketch pad and my iPod I kept myself fairly occupied the entire trip. I was happy to get off that plane. The one really bright spot was the very handsome male flight attendant. As I take many pictures, I managed to snag one of him. The flight turbulence, however slight, kept me from getting a really clear shot, but he is very hot, in my opinion. He wears a ring, so he has a happy wife or hubby at home.
Heeeelllllloooo Nurse!
I guess that is about it. I got home about dinner time and spent the night messing with pics and getting this typed in. I need to get to bed. I'm beat, but the trip was truly worth it... and I managed to get a fair amount of work done! I'm not repeating last year's mistake. I'm taking tomorrow off.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Toronto is a great city and I spent many hours that week touring the downtown area. Thankfully, I got to hang out with some LJ'ers --
raphbearish, pickacub, scruffer, and jprtoronto. I also got to meet up with another of my internet friends from Bear411. Jerry gave me another tour of the city after we had a nice dinner at the Keg Mansion, which I have recently learned is actually supposed to be haunted, according to Ghost Stories and Mysterious Creatures of British Columbia by Barbara Smith (I bought it read on the flight out to Italy).
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
The flight to Vancouver was very smooth. I got to town and was a bit tired, so I hit the mall and a movie, saving the touring until the next day. I did what every tourist does when they hit town, I went to Stanley Park, a beautiful 8 km perimeter park, which I walked all around. I took almost a hundred pictures. Here is one of my favorites, Siwash Rock near Prospect Point.
There was also a man who was balancing and stacking stones. It was impressive to see and I saw many people try unsuccessfully mimick him. I shot several pictures of these stacked stones.
After soaking my feet and giving them a break for a day or so, I met up with another Bear411 buddy, Jamie. Jamie is a grand conversationalist and is a nice burly, handsome guy. Well, you can see for yourself.
Jamie and I went walking about the Bay area and the gay area of town. He's a great tour guide and very patient to let me take so many pictures. He even took a few of me at the Bay side.
Rome, Italy
The flight to Rome by way of Netherlands stop-over was long and hard on the rear. Still I made it with minimum problems. Total flight time was 13 hours. Ugh! I was way too tired to tackle the Roman sights until the next day. I then braved the bus and metro to see the Colosseum and ruins of Palatino. It was incredible to walk through a structure thousands of years old. It gives one a true perception of how new the States are in comparison.
I even got a pic with a cute Roman soldier.
The folks I was working with and I went out for a late dinner on Monday and ended up staying out until 2 AM checking out the sights -- the fountains, the statues, etc. Rome doesn't sleep until about 3 AM. It was amazing to see everyone out having fun. Naturally, many of the fountains had bearded, muscular gods, lounging around in homoerotic poses. I took many pictures.
Villa D'Este, Tivoli, Italy
After a nice dinner and a late night out with the folks I was working with, a few of us went to Villa D'Este which is a mansion and garden for a Roman Cardinal. The estate has all natural fountains, no mechanical pumps. The river at the top of the mountain provides an incredible amount of water pressure, shooting the fountains about 25 feet in the air. With no mechanics, they run perpetually. It truly is amazing to see.
I took many picture of the fountains. Even the small ones were impressive and to think that all of this was for one man! And he wasn't the Pope, but a Cardinal.
The Flight Home
The flight home was fine, but the airport in Rome is sheer insanity, the most unorganized place I've ever seen. The people working there don't seem to volunteer help. You have to ask or else they give you a typical sneer or don't make eye contact at all. I was not impressed. And the security is something else. Soldiers walked around with automatic machine guns. It was very uncomfortable. It took forever to get to the gate.
I finally got to see Along Came Polly. Hank Azaria has an amazing body and he plays characters hysterically. Thanks to my sketch pad and my iPod I kept myself fairly occupied the entire trip. I was happy to get off that plane. The one really bright spot was the very handsome male flight attendant. As I take many pictures, I managed to snag one of him. The flight turbulence, however slight, kept me from getting a really clear shot, but he is very hot, in my opinion. He wears a ring, so he has a happy wife or hubby at home.
I guess that is about it. I got home about dinner time and spent the night messing with pics and getting this typed in. I need to get to bed. I'm beat, but the trip was truly worth it... and I managed to get a fair amount of work done! I'm not repeating last year's mistake. I'm taking tomorrow off.
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Date: 2004-07-01 09:00 pm (UTC)