A River Walk

I decided to break up my posts about my last day in Rome because, well, my last day in Rome was a bit broken up. They Mysterious Chinese Woman and her Equally Mysterious Sister decided to go back and revisit some of the places they had been before and visit a couple more historical sites. I decided to do something different and went for a bit of a wilderness walk right in the heart of Rome.

I took the free hotel shuttle to the train station and then headed towards the river, not quite sure what I would find. Much to my surprise I found a nice little walking and biking trail.

Country In The City


The walk is right along the river which is still a bit wild along this stretch.

Quite Pastoral


Well, it wasn't all pastoral, there was what looked like some kind of an encampment underneath one of the bridges.

Very Mysterioso


I am not sure if this was some kind of a storage area, or an altar.

Just Not Sure


As I walked along the river I noticed that there were very few places where you could actually get off the path and back to the city streets. There were a number of stairways leading up towards the street, but they all seemed to dead-end against either a wall or a gate.

Stairways To Nowhere




Obviously these stairways once led somewhere. In fact, if you got up to the top there is a narrow footpath that runs along the wall that blocks access to the sidewalk and street on the other side. The footpath is so overgrown with underbrush though that it is impassable. I am not sure why these stairways have been blocked off, but once on the river walk you either have to turn back to where you started or keep walking until you get to a major bridge with stairway access. I am guessing it is somewhere between one and two miles from my entry to the first exit.

I was thinking about trying out this culvert to see where it would lead me, but that would have been too much of an adventure. Based upon my earlier discoveries of encampments, who knew who, or what, might be living inside.

Ah, Not Today


The river looked to be at about its normal level to me, based upon where it was in relationship to the bordering vegetation. Apparently it does flood on occasion, at least if these markers are to be believed.

How High's The Water, Mama?


Although Rome is peppered with old buildings, it is undergoing a transformation. I thought this picture kind of caught the juxtaposition.

Something Old, Something New On The Way


I finally made it to a bridge that I could escape too. As you can see, the path I was on kept going, but I was walking, not biking, so I had gone far enough. Plus there were a few other sights I wanted to see.

And The River Flows On


There was a path on the side of the river opposite where I walked, but it really looked like country road. If I had another day I would have taken it to see where it went.

No Walk On The Wild Side


Tomorrow I shall post about the remainder of my last day, and I know you won't want to miss that.

Also, a friend of mine, Terry, pointed out that I was getting close having half a million hits on my website since I installed my counter. He asked me if I planned to celebrate that milestone. I hadn't planned on it, but I guess the afternoon after I hit it I will head to Pete's Waterfront Ale House here in Brooklyn on Atlantic Avenue and hoist a few. Maybe you can join me.

New PC

Okay, I know, I have been remiss about posting lately. I promise that I will post about my last day in Rome tomorrow. Really, I will.

I just bought a new PC, the HP TouchSmart, and I am in the process of installing it. Well, actually, the installation was a piece of cake. Pretty much just plugged it in and hooked it up to my internet. Then I changed the name of the workgroup to match my existing one and viola, everything connected. It automatically found everthing, even my Lacie BigDisk NAS device. Given that the HP has 500 gigs of memory and Lacie has a terabyte, I think I am pretty well set for storage for awhile.

Now I am migrating over some of my application programs and that is what is taking me a lot of time. Some of them need to be replaced because they are old and not Vista compatible. Others need to have updates downloaded. Kind of a pain, but it will be worth it. I can replace two of my networked PCs with this one. Plus it has a cool 22 inch screen and, as the name implies, touch screen technology.

It will take me awhile to get used to the touch screen technology. I feel more comfortable with the mouse at this point. I can see where the touch screen is neat for some stuff, but I will probably move into it gradually.

Okay, back to work. The last day of Rome will appear sometime tomorrow morning though, I promise.

Art, Or Scaffolding - An Update

As promised, I checked out the "Waterfalls" to see if Friday's shutdown was only temporary. It was.

Walking down to see the one right under the Brooklyn Bridge I headed down on of my favorite streets because of the view at the end.

Nicely Framed


It was too bad it was such an overcast day. On a clear day you can see the Chrysler Building perfectly centered in the lower arch of the Manhattan Bridge. I will make a point of re-shooting this one day. It also looks nice at night when the Chrysler Building is all lite up.

Well, as you can plainly see, the "Waterfalls" were back in business. I have to admit, though, that I didn't see a lot of tourists flocking around.







As I have mentioned before, unlike "Gates," the large installation in Central Park a few years ago, there really isn't any good viewing points for these "Waterfalls" unless you pay for a boat ride. And you certainly can't interact with them. A few people who have tried had to be rescued when their kayaks overturned. The Harbor Patrol now actively keeps people from venturing too close.

I, personally, like the smaller sculptures along the waterfront, the ones that kind of surprise you.

More My Style


Okay, enough with the diversions already. My next post will be about my last full day in Rome and conclude my European adventure. I guess I have just been delaying the inevitable. It was a fun trip even if I didn't get into the seedy casinos by the train station.

Art, Or Scaffolding

Just a quick interlude before I post about my last day in Rome. You may remember that I had posted about the "Waterfalls" installation that was getting rave reviews. You may also remember that I was less than impressed saying that it pretty much just looked like scaffolding with water pouring off the top. I also said that the $16 million price tag struck me as being nothing short of ludicrous. Well, it has become even more so.

Yesterday the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I headed over to Staten Island for a baseball game (more on that in another post). It was a lovely Friday afternoon, just perfect for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. This is a great free ride with beautiful views of downtown Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and Governor's Island where one of the "Waterfalls" is installed. Well, guess what, the water is no longer running. Whether this is temporary due to a problem of some sort I really cannot say. Hey, for only $4 million per "Waterfall" what do you expect?

How Lovely, Scaffolding


Interestingly, or not, although there was all kinds of hoopla when the water was turned on, I haven't seen anything about why this one is no longer running. I will go check out the other "Waterfalls" today to see if they are still operating.

Gosh, I certainly hope the tourists coming to see these "Waterfalls" who were supposed to pump another $55 million into the local economy aren't too disappointed.

Addendum - Today all "Waterfalls" are operating, pictures to follow shortly.

On The Town In Rome

We decided to steer clear of the touristy areas for dinner and try to find something more along the lines of typical neighborhood fare. The shuttle from the Hotel also drops you off by the railroad station, although I don't think it is the one we came into. This one does have a train that goes to the airport though. It is pretty small. No matter, we weren't going to be taking any trains. It was also near to a subway stop and along a trolley lines.

The neighborhood is a bit on the run down side with a lot of, not sure what to call them, places that cater to the commercial trade and things like that. Garages, whatever. There were a couple of bars that had gambling and billed themselves as casinos. I should have peeped in one but for some reason I didn't. Well, the some reason was the Equally Mysterious Sister who doesn't really feel comfortable in places like those. She didn't say anything, but I know her well.

There is a main drag, Viali di Trastevere. It runs a couple of blocks away from and parallel to the river, Fume Tevere. It then dead ends at the rivers edge where the river makes a bend. As you walk further along the street away from the train station the neighborhood becomes more residential with retail stores and little restaurants, many with outside seating.

We pretty much picked the first one we came to that looked nice, and we weren't disappointed.

Pancotto


Having worked up a bit of a thirst I decided to order a carafe of their house red. A nice little wine that they served in a stoneware pitcher.

A Picture Of Pancotto's Pitcher


Now I Feel Like I Am In Rome


I had a pork dish really good in a rustic way. The Mysterious Chinese Woman opted for a whole fish and she wasn't disappointed.

Not For Tourists


Somewhere along the way we also had gnocchi. I am not sure if it came with something or we ordered as a side dish. All I can say is that it was delicious. The best, by far, that I have ever eaten. It was fluffy yet chewy and not at all doughy like they so often are. The service was really good and very friendly. We chatted a bit with the owner and he was a riot. We really enjoyed ourselves and if we had the time we all agreed that we would come back again.

It wasn't too crowded when we arrived, but then we were early for Italy. By the time we were finishing up it had pretty much filled up though.

That's Me In The Back


We decided to walk along Viali di Trastevere to the river and then walk along the river for a ways on our way back to the shuttle. It turns out that this stretch by the river is the scene to a lot of night life.

Down To The Fun


Again, by Italian standard this was still very early so there weren't a whole lot of people here yet. But the walkway was lined with little bar areas and stages for bands. I bet along about midnight this place really rocks.





My opinion about Rome is starting to change a little bit now that I am discovering more and more interesting thing. In fact on our walk back to the shuttle we passed a real neat looking restaurant with an outdoor garden area. We all agreed that is where we should have our last dinner in Rome the next night.