Rome

Bouongiorno

WOW. What beauty. The ancient ruins of an establishment so great. It’s really hard to imagine the ore and shear beauty of the works, from the architecture to the monuments, buildings and churches to the sculptures and pieces of artwork.

There’s so much to see but more importantly, to appreciate. Seeing giant sculptures in person and having the ability to touch them showed me a lot personally. The devotion and the constant commitment to ones craft, work or calling is essential in order for great works like the few that I have seen already to be achieved. I am realising that people like Michael Angelo focused only on the development of his craft, and truly honoured God through his works on a completely different level. His works will be remembered throughout history as being, great: period. What an achievement.

I visited the coloseum and got a guided tour, which I recommend if you want to truly experience and understand the history of the coloseum. I would go into the history but you can find that out for yourselves and I would only spoil it, but what I will say is that the experience was amazing. I was walking on the steps of giants: sitting and rein-acting (literally) what these great people of the time would do. To walk through the halls, that was once painted in gold and then to walk up the steps that were once paved in marble is really hard to imagine, but felt so surreal. They said that Gladiator got it spot on, visually that is, in term of capturing the ore of the Coloseum. I was part taking in a history gone.  As stated by the tour guide and a general observation of the ancient ruins, the Romans only really cared about one thing, which was to show the world how great they were and you can see it through the statues and great works they built. But the tour guide kept on reminding me that there is a very dark side to the Coloseum that he choose not to dabble about as he claimed it gave him nightmares, rightly so. But apart from the evil, or cruelty suffered here which was greatly bad, there is a real beauty to the architecture and general history that the guide revealed to us.

I also went to Santa Maria Maggiore, which is a really beautiful church. So much intricacy and detail. It was amazing to see how the greats of the time really worked in creating their masterpieces. I went to another church, which was huge (that I have sadly forgotten the name to but when I remember I will get back to you). When you come through the doors you see an alignment of these giant statues of the saints, 6 on either side, going towards the altar, where you have this giant life like statue of the pope praying and looking up into heaven. The whole ore of everything was amazing. A lot has changed. But as what they say, in order for something to be birthed, something must first die. A lot is missing today with regards to art and history as well as the continual appreciation of it in today’s western society. I was thinking to myself, imagine stepping outside your house everyday and seeing such great works surrounding you in the streets, in museums, in libraries and in churches, what an experience that would have been.

Overall Rome has been a splendid trip. A place that I will visit time after again, as the preservation of history is amazing and to know in the back of your head that  a once great empire ruled much of the know world is amazing, and brings forth a certain level of pride but more importantly appreciation for the works that we do today, whether it be art to creating plays, entertainment, art , laws or politics.  Western society in general owe allot of its heritage and fundamental structure to the once great Roman Empire.

Oh my gosh! The food, I almost forgot the food. Yep the food is good. Their pizzas are squared, why I don’t know so don’t ask, and their portions are far to small for me, so everything, with regards to food is so expensive for me as I have to buy double of everything. Anyway enough for now. Check out some of my pics below.

Arrivederci

JA Out!

London

Yes I know what you are saying, “why are you exploring London, you are from there?”. Yep you are right, but how many of us know what that stuff and statues in Trafalgar square means or was built for or what stuff they have in those things there call galleries? I always see tourists getting so excited, when they ride the bus and eat an ice cream, and on the flip side I see so many Londoners moody when getting onto London Transport (rightly so, its soo.. that is another topic for a different blog for a different time).

They is allot to see and value about London. As i get older I am beginning to value this great city and all our many bridges that all represent and were erected to cater for changing times in our City’s history. But not even it, this city is so diverse. We have the old and the knew. For example we have the Gherkin (sorry if i slept it wrong) and then a couple miles down the road you have St Paul’s Cathedral then if you walk more east you have the London eye, which you can take the bus 73 or 38 (the old ump on the back red buses with the conductors if you don’t know).

I have made a decision that I must explore my own city first before I venture out and explore the world. The history of London is very intertwined with the rest of the world, especially Europe and America. But besides the history you have some really funny characters, especially in Camden. But I love it. London is apart of me, whether I choose to confess it or not. Every time I visit another country I always compare it to London. For instances, the traffic system in Rome, is so wrong. My apologies for any Italians reading this, but its true. They drive crazy and don’t stop at zebra crossings and they beep and get angry when you do cross. It’s war, and I haven’t even got behind the wheel. But anyway, enjoy the London experience.