Everything Divine

Okay, nobody correctly identified the building with the hole in the roof. Or at least nobody posted or emailed me a correct answer.

It is:

The Pantheon


Pantheon is made up of two Greek words, pan which means everything and teon which means divine. It, supposedly, was built as a temple to all Roman gods.

A bit of history. It was originally built in about 26 BC by Agrippa who was the admiral of the fleet that defeated the fleets of Mark and Cleo in the Battle of Actium. This victory consolidated Rome under Octavian who went on to become Caesar Augustus and the owner of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Agrippa was Octavian's son-in-law so I guess he got to build things whenever he wanted to. Sadly, the Pantheon burnt down in a huge fire in 80 AD and was totally rebuilt during Emperor Hadrian's reign. In 609 AD the Emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV who converted it into a Christian church. This, probably, is what saved the building when so many other ancient ruins were pretty much destroyed to provide building materials for more modern structures. It was never abandoned and was always actively used as a church.

It is a very nice building and was probably my favorite touristy spot. One reason was that it was fairly small so you could take it all in rather quickly. The other was that it is nice and cool inside. That is because of the way it was designed, really an impressive architectural feat.

An Interior Shot


Later that evening the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I took advantage of the free hotel shuttle that drops you off by The Vatican and a nearby subway. We took the subway to a stop we had seen from our tour bus earlier in the day, an area that looked interesting with a lot of cute restaurants.

Note to self, a lot of clustered cute restaurants in Rome tends to mean touristy.

Right by the subway stop was a pleasant looking outdoor cafe where we decided to have a glass of wine before scouting out the neighborhood.

la baita


A Toast To Tourism


The wine was decent and the waiter friendly. He graciously took our picture and then pretended to pocket our camera. Hah Hah, what a card, laughed so hard I snorted. About as funny as the guy in last night's restaurant who pretended to drop your camera while holding on to the strap. There must be a school for funny camera tricks that these guys go to.

We walked around the neighborhood a bit and finally decided that the restaurant right across from where we had our wine looked good. It was all glass enclosed and was affiliated with la baita.

Diners In Glass Restaurants


The food was prepared in the building across the sidewalk from it and then carried over. I wish I could say that the food was good, but, sadly, that wasn't the case. I started out with an octopus salad and really had a salad with small whole octopus in mind. What I got instead was some kind of an octopus headcheese. Not really very appetizing.

Octopus Headcheese


One of the things that made me choose this place, other than the location, was that I saw someone eating what looked to be a nice steak. That was what I ordered and it was one of the toughest I have ever been served in a restaurant. On the other hand, the pistachio gelato that I had for dessert was very good and the portion was large.

The waitress was very nice though and gently recommended a different wine then the one I had originally selected. Apparently my choice was kind of a lightly carbonated dessert wine. I bet it would have tasted like Ripple, still one of my all time favorites.

Drinking The Good Stuff


Despite the disappointing food it was a pleasant enough place to sit and spend part of an evening just watching the passing scene.

Watching The World Go By


And it was certainly easy enough to catch a subway back to our hotel shuttle. All and all it was a very nice evening and our meal probably cost less per person than what the Equally Mysterious Sister paid for a bowl of soup back at the hotel.

The next day we finally started to move off the beaten track a bit, as you shall see.

Not A Good Tourist

Not only is Bar Man not a very good tourist, he is even worse when it comes to writing about touristy things. I do have some pictures of the touristy places where we went, like the Sistine Chapel. Well, actually, not the inside of the Sistine Chapel itself, but the building that surrounds it. But what can I write about it that hasn't been written before. Oh, except that you can no longer take pictures inside the Chapel itself because of a deal that was made with a Japanese company. In exchange for funding the cleaning and restoration of the Sistine Chapel they got the rights to sell all of the souvenirs, postcards, calendars, reproductions of statues, body parts of deceased saints, the usual. They then mandated a no picture taking policy in the Sistine Chapel itself so that it would increase the sale of said souvenirs. Hey, you want a picture, buy it.

Anyway, I am not good at taking pictures and writing about stuff in museums, even things that I found interesting at the time. I might stuff a couple of those into a future blog though.

Into our second day my opinion of Rome was still one of historical sights and tourist attractions, some of which were built around something historical. Well, in Rome I guess just about everything is historical. They can't even build a subway because they keep digging up antiquities. Then they have to stop construction until a team of archaeologists spends a couple of years sifting through the rubble.

One thing that there are a lot of are open squares, usually with a statue or something in the middle.

Your Typical Square


Of course this is prime real estate because these things are to tourists as roach motels are to, well, roaches. Tourists are just drawn to them and once inside they get stuck.

You Can Check Out, But You Can Never Leave


The bait is all of the little outdoor cafes that line the perimeter of the square where it seems to be compulsory to sit and have something to eat and drink and watch the passing crowd. Of course that crowd is all tourists looking for a place to sit where they can watch the passing crowd.

The Cute Little Cafes


Bar Man isn't adverse to being part of the touristy action though. And after visiting the Sistine Chapel and some other place that has a big hole in the top and a bunch of little ones in the floor, I ended up here as well.

Big Hole In The Top


Little Ones In The Floor


Okay, now this is a real famous place, the one with the holes, so if you know what it is or want to take a guess, post a comment. All will be revealed in the next post, but don't expect too many pictures.

Anyway, after a morning of guided sight-seeing we were let loose. The Mysterious Chinese Woman and her Equally Mysterious Sister decided to go shopping so I followed my basic roach-like instincts.

Hey, What's Bad About This


I managed to get a couple beers down before the women-folk showed up. We decided to get a bite to eat as long as we were here. Believe me, this wasn't my idea. I wanted to hunt for something a bit more authentic but was over-ruled. We ended up getting a couple of pizza's that were okay, at best. The Equally Mysterious Sister got a stomach ache later in the afternoon though, and she wasn't able to join us for dinner at, as it turned out, another touristy place.

But that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Pictures Are Back

Hooray, my friend Mark, who I can recommend for all of your PC needs, did a yeoman's job recovering my lost pictures on my Lacie Big Drive. This was no small feat, as I was able to observe, and which he took pains to let me know. But, recover them he did. And, really, he didn't kvetch too much. I think he secretly enjoyed the challenge.

And, speaking of pictures, when I was visiting the Louvre there were a number of people who were making copies of the paintings on the walls.

Maybe She Can't Afford A Camera


Obviously they must have special permission to do this. I doubt if they just let anyone wander into the Louvre with a bunch of paints and paint brushes. If they did I suspect there would be a lot of mustaches.

One thing that I did notice, however, is that everyone making a copy seemed to just be putting on the finishing touches. And there were at least a dozen people I saw who were making copies.

Just A Bit More Blue, Perhaps


After awhile I began to think that maybe these people were just here to create some kind of an ambiance. I mean, wouldn't you think that someone would just be starting, or maybe just halfway done. How is it that everyone was just finishing up? Another one of those mysteries of life.

Anyway, tomorrow I will be able to continue posting about my visit to Rome, so be sure to come back for that.

No Pictures..., No Camera

My stars must be misaligned when it comes to my pictures. My friend, Mark, tells me that the ones stored on my NAS are crawling back into view, albeit very slowly. He said about thirty have been recovered so far. Of course I have several thousand so it may take some time.

A bit worse was the loss of the pictures I took last night, and the camera that I took them with.

The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I headed out to Coney Island to have beers and hot dogs at Peggy O'neil's. This was an event sponsored by my friend Sean Murphy and it was a lot of fun. We never did get hamburgers though because they started the coals too late and never really got them hot enough. Oh well, hot dogs and ball games kind of go together anyway.

Before going to Peggy Oneil's we stopped into the Freak Bar which in the past never seemed to be open when I was around. Quite frankly, it isn't much. Kind of like an unfinished basement, lots of cement and exposed wiring. I think they are remodeling, but who knows.

The bar is fairly small and adjacent to, you guessed it, a freak show. As a result they wouldn't let you take pictures even though the show itself was behind closed doors and you had to pay an admission to get in. Well, the picture thing really didn't make much difference anyway, as it turned out.

Just about everyone in the bar had tattoos, lots of tattoos. In fact one of the customers was a tattoo artist. The woman who was with her didn't have any visible tattoos and I mentioned that she seemed a bit out of place. Then she pulled up her shirt and showed me her back. Believe me, she fit right in.

We had great seats for the game, right on the third base side just a short distance from third base itself. You got to love minor league baseball, these seats sell for just ten bucks.

The game itself was fun too. The home team, the Cyclones, jumped out to an early lead but then the Staten Island Yankees roared back in the top of the ninth to pull within one run and give everyone heart attacks. But, the Cyclones prevailed.

We headed back to Peggy O'neil's for a post game beer and the place was jammed. It is a fairly large bar too with a big outside area. There must have been several hundred people jamming the place. It is a great location, literally built into Keyspan Stadium so it is a natural place to go for a post-game drink.

As we headed back to the subway I decided to stop into a place for a nightcap. Nice bar on the main floor and they said there was another one upstairs as well. This place was also full, but a lot of people, couples and families, were eating dinner even though it was kind of late. The Mysterious Chinese Woman said she was a bit hungry so we ordered a Codfish Cake appetizer. Really good with quite a bite to them. We decided to go back again one day and have a full dinner. The menu has a Jamaican feel to it and the goat looked interesting.

I had ordered a Maker's Mark Manhattan, straight up. Something must have gotten lost in the translation though because I ended up with a healthy slug of Maker's Mark in a small brandy snifter. The bartender looked like he knew what he was doing though, making fancy drinks and pouring out of four bottles at a time. I don't think he heard the Manhattan part, but that was okay, I wasn't going to bother complaining.

Unfortunately I don't remember the name of this bar and restaurant. I took a picture of it with the name but, alas, that isn't helping me now.

We got on the subway and here is where I think my mistake, if you can call it that, occurred. I took a picture on the subway and I think my camera caught someone's attention. I put the camera back in my pocket and as I switched trains at the Atlantic Avenue station someone must have picked my pocket as I walked through. Bummer. I ordered a new camera today and I have a backup so it is really the loss of the pictures that bugs me, and my own carelessness. It is funny because I usually keep my left hand in or touching the pocket where I carry my money and credit cards. I guess I wasn't thinking about the pocket with the camera in it. Whoever got it must have been fairly slick though, I didn't feel a thing and the camera isn't as light as a billfold. What also bugged me is that the Mysterious Chinese Woman had made a neat cover for it out of fabric from an umbrella and that, of course, is gone too. She said she would make me another one though.

Well, that is my sad saga. I had promised Sean that I would post pictures of his party too, so I apologize for not being able to do so. Also, apologies to Danielle, the bartender at Peggy O'neil's who graciously posed for me. A real cutie, too. I had some really cool pictures of the fireworks after the game as well.

I am heading out to the Equally Mysterious Sister's house then heading to Princeton for dinner. We are spending the night and then tomorrow we are going to Lambertville for a champagne brunch to celebrate another sister-in-law's birthday. Her big five-oh, but I don't think I am supposed to mention that.

With a bit of luck I will get her copy of the European pictures and will be able to resume posting about my trip soon.

Both my brother and his daughter, my niece (of course) have started blogs. My brother lives in Brainerd in Northern Minnesota and is heavily into kayaking.

Marty Rambles On

My niece, Katie, is big on adventure camping and that is what she wants to do with her life. She is heading to Alaska where they have a two year graduate program in this field, supposedly the best one in the United States, and probably the world.

The Venture North

My niece, as you can see, sometimes writes on subjects similar to the ones that I cover, namely bars. I have been trying to dissuade her, or at least get her to drink something other than things like Key Lime Coke (Absolut Vanilla, Coke and two lime wedges) White Russians, and Peppermint Schnapps. Not all at the same time though. At least I hope not. She did try an interesting beer, South Shore Herbal Cream Ale.

Octopus For Breakfast

My pictures from Europe, and from the last five years, are crawling back one small pixel at a time. My friend, Mark Winkler, is helping me recover my data. Apparently, although NAS, or Network Addressable Storage, is becoming more popular, data recovery procedures are not yet firmly in place and the devices are not all that forgiving if you make a mistake. Mark will probably be the leader in his ability to do recover lost data.

Lets start with the fact that my 1 million gig Lacie drive is actually two 500,000 gig drives linked by some obscure Liunx program. Your data seems to be distributed between the two drives and, if you do something stupid like I did, you cannot easily recover the data.

But, enough of all that. Mark, who has been doing more work than anyone has a reason to do, is slowly piecing together my lost data. In partial payback I took him out for dinner last night at my now favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant, Queen. No pictures though, we were on a break.

However, I did take home leftovers, and my breakfast this morning was the remains of a most excellent octopus appetizer. Delicious. Tender as could be and served in a flavorful and spicy tomato sauce. You could make a meal of this. I ate half at the restaurant and took this tentacle home for breakfast.

If I Laughed, Would It Come Out My Nose?


Considering some of the Discovery Channel programs I have watched, I am probably eating something that once was smarter than I am. Of course, with me, veal would probably fall into that category.

Going to Coney Island tonight for a Cyclones (Mets farm club) Staten Island Yankees game. I should be posting about it tomorrow, or Monday. Tomorrow I head out to New Jersey so it depends upon when I get up and how early I leave.

Robin Des Bois - Sherwood Cafe

Lacie and Mark are still together so no pictures of Rome. As a last resort I will pick up a copy of them this weekend from the Equally Mysterious Sister. I made a copy on a CD for her.

The Saturday before the Bastille Day celebration in a nearby neighborhood the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I decided to go to a neat French restaurant, Robin Des Bois - Sherwood Cafe. This was the first time I have ever eaten there other than for brunch. I don't know why I haven't gone more often, maybe because it is at 195 Smith Street and I have to walk by Bar Tabac to get there. I will be going back again though, that is for sure.

Although this restaurant isn't far from where I live, it is a bit exclusive. Almost a gated community.

Luckily, I Am An Honorary Neighbor


You know immediately you are in a French neighborhood. In most neighborhoods there are old appliances sitting on the sidewalk.

Foosball, Anyone?


You have to look sharp to find Robin Des Bois - Sherwood Cafe because, despite its long and fancy name, it looks kind of like a second-hand store.

Deceiving Appearances


Looking closely you could see that they were promoting tomorrows Pentaque tournament.

Beach Pentaque


There is a funky bar up front along with some tables for dining. The second-hand store look is carried out throughout the bar area. Kind of a funky look, like you might find in a bistro in Montmarte.

The Bar


It was a nice evening so we decided to head to the patio in back that most of the dinner patrons had also chosen.

Quite The Patio






We picked a table in the back and I ordered a couple of Duvels. Regular readers of this blog will already know all about Duvel. In a nutshell, it is a most excellent Belgian beer. Duvel is Flemish for Devil, and if you drink too many of these you may be paying the Devil in the morning.

Duvel May Care


Quite The Head


Down The Hatch


The menus featured 1950's style pinups, which seemed to fit right in with the rest of the decor.

Beach Party


They have a typical French bistro style menu; mussels, hanger steak, the usual. They do have some interesting specials such as chili-rubbed pork with couscous. I decided to have something typical so settled for the hanger steak.

Nicely Done


It was a good sized piece of meat, much thicker than you usually get. I ordered mine medium rare and that is just the way it came. If I knew the steak was going to be this thick I probably would have opted for medium because hanger steak, by its nature, is a bit tough. This was a very good cut of meat though so it was pleasantly chewy. It was delicious.

It came with green beans and scalloped potatoes. The beans were fresh and crisp and the potatoes were a nice crispy brown on top. A winner all the way around.

The Mysterious Chinese Woman had some kind of a seafood medley and she said hers was very good as well and she would certainly order it again.

A Medley Of Seafood


Robin Des Boise sits right in the middle of a large French community so this place is a lot more authentic than most places in other neighborhoods. Just about all of the help here are French as are a large number of the patrons. Definitely a place to go to, either for a meal or a drink. Just a lot of fun with really good food. And the prices are reasonable as well.

Art, You Be The Judge

As you can see, Lacie is still acting up. A friend of mine who really knows his stuff spent about four hours yesterday trying to recover my data but couldn't do it. He took Lacie away with him and I haven't heard anything since. I hope they haven't fallen in love.

Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry when it comes to New York spending big bucks ($15.5 million in this case) for "artistic installations." This time it is the four "waterfalls" installed along the East River and on Governor's Island.

An Artistic Installation


Okay now, at $15.5 million for four this one cost almost $4 million. I find that to be seriously humorous. Well, it would be if it wasn't being paid for by the city.

Note - several readers have informed me, and I have verified this to be true, that the waterfalls were paid for by private contributors, not the city.

For some reason, however, that reminds me of the words of Bob Dylan in Ballad Of A Thin Man:

You have many contacts
Among the lumberjacks
To get you facts
When someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To just give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations

Bar Man hates it when he is wrong, but admits it when he is.

I suppose the fact that it was conceived by Olafur Eliasson, a Danish-Icelandic artist makes these, I don't know, art. When the water was turned on there was a media blitz promoting these as the biggest thing to hit New York since Christo and Jeanne-Claude put up saffron-colored fabric panels in Central Park for “The Gates” in 2005.

Hey, with no other problems to deal with I guess it was a good use of
Mayor Bloomberg's time to appear on four morning television programs to tout the installation. Supposedly these are a “symbol of the energy and vitality that we have been bringing back to our waterfront in all five boroughs.

To me they just look like more construction work along what is still a largely industrial looking waterfront.

You Be The Judge






I guess they might look marginally better if you are actually on the East River, but I doubt if too many people are going to spend the money for a boat ride just to see these. Somehow Mayor Bloomberg thinks they will generate and additional $55 million in revenue for the city due to increased tourism. All I can say is if this is the tipping point for someone deciding whether or not to come to New York this summer I suggest they have their head examined. Well, unless they are Danish or Icelandic.

I think there is much better art on the walls of Brooklyn. This one is kind of a mind bender, in it's own way.

Find The BLACK Arrow


True New York Art






My favorite "Waterfall Installation" is this one not far from where I live.

The Coolest Park Bench In Town


After touring the "Waterfalls" I had worked up both a thirst and an appetite. Pete's Waterfront Ale House seemed to be keeping with the theme.

The Offerings Of The Day


Having actually seen the green flash in Mexico a couple of times, I couldn't pass up the Green Flash IPA that they had in a cask.

A Green Flashback


It was quite good. Hoppy, of course, but not overpowering. I am still undecided about cask IPAs because I think they should be served a bit colder, but they are starting to grow on me.

As I have mentioned before, the food at Pete's is always good and the specials are, indeed, special. This day was no exception. How could you pass on the Beef Cheek Stew with Corn Bread.

Simply Delicious


The stew was great. Beef cheeks are great for a stew because they stay nice and moist and are very flavorful, kind of like short ribs. The corn bread was excellent and was a great counterpoint to the richness of the stew.

I can't remember what the Mysterious Chinese Woman had, but I know she enjoyed it mightily.

Yum, Yum, Yum (an inside joke)


Oh, and I am floating a proposal for my own "Waterfalls" installation. It will be a wee bit smaller, much cheaper, but prettier, in my opinion.

Miniature Waterfall

Smoke Joint

No, that is not a suggestion, just the name of a new barbecue place in Brooklyn. And the fact that I am writing about this instead of Rome means that I have not yet recovered the contents of my Lacie Big Disk. If any of you have a suggestion on how to do this, feel free to let me know. I imagine I will have to take it in someplace where they specialize in data recovery.

Anyway, shortly after our return from Europe the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I decided to try out a new restaurant in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn at 87 Elliott Place. It isn't too far from where we live, kind of in the neighborhood of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

The Smoke Joint


It is a bit of a hole in the wall, which isn't a bad thing. Gave it kind of a Down South atmosphere. There is a counter above which is the menu and where the cooks dish the plates. After deciding what you want you go to a little window and place your order.

Window Peeping


When your order is ready they call your number and you pick up your food. Very cafeteria style.

Servin' Up The Goods


There is limited space inside, but again, kind of like a typical rib joint you might find somewhere along a road in the South.

Grabbing Grub


There were a few tables up front by the open glass doors where you could watch the passing scene. On a hot sunny day like the day of our visit sitting in the sun wasn't very appealing though.

Roadside Service


They had a small, but interesting assortment of beers available including several Belgian style beers from the Allagash Brewery. I decided to go low-end and had a can of Dales Pale Ale. Well, the price wasn't low end, $4 for a can of beer, whatever the brand, isn't a real bargain.

Bar Man And Dale


Well, if the beer was no bargain, the ribs were a total rip-off. Before trying this place I checked out their website. When you click on the menu this is the picture that they have posted:

From The Smoke Joint Website


This is what we were served when we ordered a whole rack of spare ribs, for which they charge twenty dollars.

No Truth In Advertising


I actually asked if they got our order right, not believing this could be it. Well, it was. And the coleslaw was a double order for which we paid an extra two bucks. To be fair, there were two layers of ribs in that basket, but still, nothing like the picture.

It would be nice to say that the small portion and poor presentation was somehow compensated for by the ribs being delicious. However, that was not the case either. They were tender, I will say that for them, but pretty devoid of any flavor. I have to believe they were cooked in an oven and then crisped up in a broiler. I could detect no smokey flavor at all. Also, if they used any rub on them, which they claim they do, it was not noticeable. Without dousing it with the barbecue sauce that it came with they were completely bland. The coleslaw was also totally bland so it complemented the ribs perfectly.

The best thing about the meal were the Smokey Greens and Macaroni and Cheese at four dollars each. The Smokey Greens were, in fact, quite delicious.

The Side Dishes


In retrospect, ordering the ribs was a big mistake. The sandwiches that were being eaten at the table next to us looked generously portioned and the people eating them said they were very good. Hacked and Stacked pork, beef, and chicken sandwiches went for seven dollars each as did Crispy Catfish Cornmeal Crusted sandwich. They also had Beef Short Ribs for sixteen dollars but I think I would have to see what they looked like before I would order them.

In the final analysis I would have to say I was quite disappointed with our meal. When I go into a barbecue joint and order a rack of ribs I expect to get a full rack served to me. Even more so if that is what they are posting on their website. What I got was more like what I would expect at a drive-in restaurant, and I would expect to pay half the price.

Ruins In Rome

Sorry for the delay in posting. Major problems with my PCs, modem, my Network Attached Storage and, probably, my firewalls. I am still not sure what all is wrong. Took me numerous phone calls to get two PCs and a laptop connected back to the internet after replacing my modem/router. Had to give up on connecting an old laptop. That one is so old that it doesn't even have an Ethernet connection. All kinds of conflict between the modem, my firewalls, and who knows what else. Now my only remaining problem, which isn't insignificant, is that I cant access my Lacie Big Disk, and that is where I have all my pictures. Luckily I did manage to upload my first set pictures in Rome.

Well, enough about my problems, here is Rome.

The first thing we did after arriving in Rome was hop on a bus for a little tour of the city. I think we would have all preferred to just check into our hotel for a little wash up, but that wasn't an option. Our first stop was, appropriately enough, the Coliseum.

Crowds At The Coliseum


We didn't actually get to go in, that would have meant standing in line for an hour or so and we were told that there really wasn't that much to see inside. Whether that is true or not, I don't know.

An Arch


I am sure there was a story behind this arch, but for the life of me I just can't remember it. Although it is interesting to see this stuff for real, I think The History Channel has kind of spoiled it for me. There have been so many programs on this that the real thing is a bit anti-climatic. Also, the guide didn't seem to be all that well informed and that was a bit disappointing. Still though, it was neat to see it for real.

Coliseum And Bar Man


The sheer size of the Coliseum does come across when you see it up close. It really must have been an incredible undertaking to get it built. It must have been fun to be a Roman of means though.

Bigger In Life


Interestingly, the Coliseum had a retractable covering to protect people from the sun. Although the Coliseum in Rome was one of the larger ones, there were similar constructions all throughout the Roman Empire. I guess a good analogy would be the bull rings in Mexico and Spain. Lot's of gladiator fights and even more convicted criminals who were killed by them, killed each other, and killed or were killed by wild animals. According to our guide, slaves were not used in any kind of gladiatorial combat. I will have to research this though.

A Wider View


One thing that I learned, they did not hold chariot races in the Coliseum. It was too small for that. The chariot races were held on a track some distance away. Admission was free and it was primarily funded by the betting that took place. Both the top gladiators and charioteers made very good money and were the sports heroes of their day.

From here we stopped for a quick bite and then headed to The Vatican for a quick tour. The Sistine Chapel was scheduled for tomorrow morning.

The Swiss Guards were looking resplendent.

Nice Outfits


There is so much stuff packed in here that it is overwhelming. And most stuff is stored away out of sight.

Can You Say Ostentatious


It is hard not to be impressed by the true treasures like the Pieta by Michelangelo.

The Real Deal


Impressively, Michelangelo was only 23 when he completed this work of art.

A bit more morbid, I thought, was the display of the preserved body of Pope John XXIII. His face is now covered with a thin layer of wax and the Catholic Church has been careful to never claim that the body's preserved state was in any way miraculous. Many who pass by feel otherwise, however.

Pope John XXIII On Display


After our visit we finally got to the hotel and checked in. I had worked up a mighty thirst so I looked for a friend in the fridge. But damn, whoever had the room before me had filled the beer bottles with water. How rude.

A Really Light Beer


Luckily there were two more in there that had not been tampered with and I got replacements for the ones that were quite quickly.

Our room was really nice and it had a large balcony that looked out over well kept grounds.

A Room With A View


We couldn't relax for too long though. I signed us up for a group dinner. Not something I would normally recommend, but I was not that familiar with Rome and I thought it might be fun.

Party


It was fun. It looked like there was a decent restaurant up front where regular people ate, and then a big dinning room in the back for the tour groups. But what the hell, free wine and beer, all the food you could eat, and it was decent if not inspired, and live entertainment. I ended up really enjoying myself.

Having A Good Old Time


And the Mysterious Chinese Woman even got serenaded.

A Song For Sweetie


One last stop before we headed back. We had to see the fountain made famous in the movie Roman Holiday, Fontana Di Trevi. It gets its name because it is at a point where three streets converge. If you never saw the movie, maybe you recall the song, Three Coins In The Fountain.

Crowded, Of Course


I did manage to force my way through the crowd to get close enough to actually see the water, though.

But, I Saved My Coins


I will have more on Rome tomorrow if I can access to my pictures. If not I will post about some stuff that I have done after I returned home. There was a street party to celebrate Bastille day last Sunday just a few blocks from where I live, and that was fun.

Nuts, A Brief Digression

By now I am sure you have all heard of Jesse Jackson's politically incorrect comment, "I want to cut his (Obama's) nuts off" that was caught on a hot microphone. Big Whoop. What I find vastly amusing is the way it was reported by the media, and I will use CNN as an example.

First it was said that the comments made by Jesse Jackson were "too vulgar to be aired on prime time television." This, of course, led everyone to wonder just what Jesse had said, but I am sure we all thought it was something a lot more vulgar than "I want to cut his nuts off."

Next, Jesse Jackson's comments were broadcast but, and I find this hilarious, the word "nuts" was bleeped out. I suppose "balls" would have been off-limits as well. Would "testicles" have been acceptable? Gonads, perhaps?

George Carlin, I am sure, is not just turning over in his grave, he is having a belly-laugh.

By the way, I used CNN as an example, but almost every television news program followed this same general protocol.

Another bit of controversy seems to be over whether Jesse said he wanted to cut Obama's nuts "off" or "out." A subtle distinction, perhaps, but I think the later would at least leave Obama's scrotum in place, if not intact.

A Tale Of Between Two Cities - Condensed

When last I posted, and I apologize for the interruption (pre-Fourth of July party, Fourth of July party, post-Fourth of July barbecue and birthday party, recovery), I was boarding the train to Rome for an overnight trip. We were told how the trains to Rome were inferior to the trains that ran within France because the Italian rail system cannot handle the newer trains used within France. Oh well, our train was perfectly adequate for our purposes. Having watched all of those 1940's movies I felt right at home in our compartment.

Aisles Are A Bit Narrow Though


Still, the rooms were comfortable and popping the cork on a bottle of wine seemed like the appropriate thing to do to bid adieu to Gay Paree.

Traveling In Style


And soon we were underway. What, you thought I would wait until the train left the station to pop that cork? Along the way there was the usual scenery:

Graffiti On The Outskirts Of Paris


Suburban Sprawl


Village By The Tracks


Rome Station


Of course there was more than that, but scenery is scenery. Besides, it was an overnight trip so most of the time was spent sleeping. Bottom berth for me and top berth for the Mysterious Chinese Woman, and the Equally Mysterious Sister in the next berth.

There was a little sink for washing your hands and face and bottled water for brushing your teeth. The bathrooms were down the hall and you couldn't use them while the train was in a station. The reason was obvious, no holding tanks. You flush the toilet and the bottom opens up and a bit of water flushes the waste directly to the tracks below.

I had a beer left so I figured opening it to celebrate my arrival in Rome was appropriate.

Beer For Breakfast


Soon everyone piled off the train and loaded their bags onto carts to be loaded onto our bus.

Piling On The Bags


To The Bus


Some of us, however, lingered a bit too long over their breakfast and had to schlep their own bags to the bus.

Bad Bar Man


The bad thing was that we arrived in Rome early in the morning and we wouldn't be able to check into our hotel until later in the afternoon. In the meantime we were treated to a bus tour of a bit of the city and a quick stop at the Coliseum. We walked around the outside of the Coliseum but couldn't actually go inside. It was interesting to note that all of the ruins in Rome are ruins not because they were destroyed by invading hordes or by artillery or bombs during war. During World War I and World War II Rome was largely off limits to bombing because of the Vatican. No, the ruins became ruins because they were considered a good source of building material. The marble was hacked out and carted away by Romans themselves.

But all that and more will have to wait until tomorrow.

Bye Bye Paris

On our last day in Paris before taking the train to Rome I decided to go one way and the women-folk decided to go another. The Mysterious Chinese Woman and her Equally Mysterious Sister decided to go see the windows of Sainte Chapelle and maybe do a little shopping. I wanted to visit the Musee De L'Homme or Museum of Man. The museum is located across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower and was an easy walk. We agreed that we would meet for lunch at one of the several cafes nearby in Trocadero, a neighborhood around Palais Le Chaillot. Palais Le Chaillot houses several museums including the one I wanted to see and a Naval Museum that would have been fun if I had more time.

A view of the Palais Le Chaillot from the Eiffel Tower. I pulled this picture from the web because I never did get to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The View


And, of course, a view of the Eiffel Tower from Palais Le Chaillot

The Other View


After a week of really nice weather you can see that Paris turned wet on the day we were to leave.

The museum may have been more educational if I could read French, but I found the exhibits to be quite interesting.

Half Man and Half Woman


Heh, I guess the above picture of this exhibit in a French museum is considered too racy for Photobucket to allow. Not too racy for the group of grade school children who were visiting the museum, however. Go figure.

I guess this was someone shedding their skin.

Hey, A Little Privacy, Please


They had a lot of pictures on crates to create, I guess, the impression that they might contain the actual remains.

An Odd Collection


Another Oddity


And The Contents Of The Crate


I guess the objective was to show that some early sketches, as ludicrous as they may look, may have been based on some factual evidence.

This Was Just Spooky


All and all, even with the language thing, I spent an enjoyable morning browsing through the many exhibits. One of the themes seemed to be how all people, as diverse as they may look and as diverse as their life styles may be, are much more closely related than most of us realize.

The restaurant where we were supposed to meet was quite crowded with business people having lunch, but we did manage to find a table.

Cafe Du Trocadero


And, of course, a view of the Eiffel Tower from the restaurant.

You Can See It From Everywhere


We didn't have a lot of time to do much more after lunch than buy some sandwiches and a bottle of wine for the train ride, then it was off to the train station.

Gare De Paris Bercy


Not as fancy as Grand Central, but it seems to get the job done.

Waiting For The Train


And, finally, it was time to board.

All Aboard


Stay tuned for the train ride and our adventures in Rome.

Versailles And More, And Less

The "girls" wanted to visit Versailles and I figured that as long as I was in Paris I would be remiss if I failed to visit as well. Rather than pay the fairly hefty price for a tour we decided to just take the subway and then buy tickets on our own. Maybe that wasn't the best idea, but I still am not sure.

The subway drops you off just a short walk from Versailles. It was a crowded ride up to a point. There appears to be some kind of an office park on this line and a lot of people who work in Paris take the subway to get there. We must have hit it just about rush hour.

When you get to Versailles the first thing you notice is...THE LINES. And we got there early enough so that we thought we would beat the rush.

Lines


More Lines


Of course one of the reasons for the lines at this hour was because of some kind of a mini-strike that was going on. This one resulted in delaying the opening of the ticket offices for an hour and a half.

Work Stoppage In Progress


The French and their strikes. Got to love them. Just a nuisance thing now because France passed some kind of a law that a strike cannot interrupt a "vital service." So you get these pathetic things like delaying the opening of Versailles for an hour and a half. Just something to piss of the tourists.

One day I couldn't get a copy of The Herald, the New York Times international edition. I was told it was because of a strike of some kind. Apparently there was also a train strike when I was there. It didn't seem to affect the subways, though. I guess the subways are considered to be essential.

At least when Spain has strikes they are strikes with meat behind them. Garbage piles up, rats start carrying off small children, that kind of thing.

There were long lines beginning to form for the toilets even though it was still early in the day. I am not sure if they were late in opening too, or if this is just standard.

Holding It The Best I Can


I decided that I would pass on standing in line to get into Versailles itself and just spend time in the gardens. I left the interior to the Mysterious Chinese Woman and her Equally Mysterious Sister.

The gardens were quite interesting, lots of statues and fountains and no lines and free. Well, it was free, but the fountains weren't turned on either. Apparently they only turn the fountains on certain days and for certain occasions and then they charge admission. And there are probably lines.

Not A Bad Back Yard


This palace used to be a hunting lodge. You know, just a place to hang out, drink beer, play cards, and shoot the occasional wild stag as it walks by. As a result several of the fountains have a wildlife theme to them.

Teeth And Claws


Paws and Antlers


There were a few more traditional statues as well. Must have been the woman's touch.





I have to give this poor woman credit for her patience. The guy taking her picture spent forever focusing his camera and moving her to different spots. It reminded me of my Dad taking pictures of the family when I was a kid. I got stressed just watching.

Say Cheese


I told the Mysterious Chinese Woman that after I checked out the gardens I would head back to the hotel and meet them there latter. Luckily there was a little cafe on the way back to the subway where I stopped to get a beer.

Beer Time


As you can probably surmise, I had a Heineken.

That evening we headed back to Montmartre for dinner again. The Equally Mysterious Sister had read about a seafood restaurant that was supposed to be very good.

La Mascotte


Our visit turned out to be not so hot. We got there about 6:00 P.M. and were told that the restaurant did not start serving until 7:00 P.M. No suggestion that we sit at a table and have a drink while we waited, nothing. Well, the girls decided to go shopping and I decided to pop in across the street for a drink.

Cafe Bruant


I decided an aperitif would be in order so I had a Ricard.

Just Like A Local


At around 7:00 P.M. we headed back to La Mascotte and were seated in the dining room, which was just about empty. After we were seated we were pretty much left alone, no bread or water and nobody asked if anyone wanted a drink. Then, when we finally got our menu it was in French with no English descriptions. When I asked to see a menu in English I was told that they didn't have any. That they used to but it was a new menu and the English version wasn't available. And then the waiter left, knowing that we couldn't read the menu. I would have thought he might have asked us if we had any questions.

Now, I know, we were in France, but up until now everyone had been most helpful. Every other restaurant either had English versions of the menu or English descriptions of the dishes on the menu. Certainly every other restaurant had more helpful waiters.

When it became apparent that we weren't going to get any help we left. The maitre d asked us if something was wrong and when we told him we couldn't read the menu and the waiter left so we couldn't ask any questions he became quite upset. He said that there were English menus and that he would get the waiter to get them for us. By that time though we had had enough of our waiter and didn't want anymore to do with him. Particularly if the maitre d was going to get him riled up.

Luckily we were close to the place where we had our desserts the last time we were here and they looked like they were doing a lively business.

Le Relais Gascon


We were ushered upstairs to a crowded restaurant with the tables packed together. It was crowded in a nice way though with everyone looking like they were enjoying themselves. Although really big salads seemed to be a specialty of theirs, when I saw cassoulette on the menu I had to go for it. It is a simple dish made with white beans and duck that has been slow cooked in lard. Simple, and simply delicious.

A Romantic Dinner


We all had a good time and everyone agreed that the bad service at La Mascotte actually worked to our advantage.