Friday, May 24, 2013

Rome - Day 2


     Second day was designed for ancient Rome – Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatino (Palatine hill). It turned out that purchase of tickets on the web was a great idea. It was a long line before tickets-office in Colosseum (1 hour waiting or more), but due to fact we had an reservation we could go directly to ticket-office and receive tickets. It was easy and very fast. I bought tickets valid for Colosseum, Forum Romanum and Palatino – so we didn’t have to wait in the lines.
     
     I think Colosseum  is one of the best recognizable symbol of Rome – walking in the Colosseum I have two one impressions –that the human nature hasn’t changed for thousands of years and second – admiration for the people who were able to build something so huge.




After leaning Colosseum we went in direction of Palatino and Roman Forum.






     Next we went in the direction of Trastevere through footbridge  Ponte Fabricio and Ponte Cestio. There are two bridges because we went through the smallest island in Rome – Isola Tiberina. This is the island located in the middle of the Tiber River (Il Fiume Tevere) that separates Central Rome and Trastevere. It boasts both a major hospital, called Fatebenefratelli, and a small synagogue that was secretly used in the Second World War when Rome's main synagogue nearby was closed down. It also has a café and gelateria on the Rome side.

     Trastevere is without doubt worth seeing – a lot of restaurants, the narrow little roads – everywhere you can fell Italian spirit.
Trastevere is a district in Rome. The district's name derives from the Latin words "Trans Tiberem": beyond the Tiber river. Today Trastevere is one of the centers of Roman night life; rich in pubs, restaurants and  clubs.
     We ate the lunch in  very good Italian restaurant and headed to Garibaldi Monument (Piazzale Guseppe Garibaldi) in Janiculum Hill(Il Gianicolo), It is one of the seven hills that Rome was founded on. It is the second highest after Monte Mario and offers incredible panoramic views of the city.










     Walking in the direction of Castel Sant’ Angelo we saw a lot of Lamborghinis on the streets. It turned out on Thursday 9 May the Grande Giro Lamborghini and its 350 supercars came to Rome as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Italian luxury sportscar.




      There were 29 countries represented with the majority of Lamborghinis (71) came from Britain. The next biggest contingents were from Germany and Switzerland with over 30 cars each, followed by the US with 21 and China with 17. There were also cars from New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and Canada.


     Over the Ponte S. Angelo we returned to the other bank of the Tiber and headed to Spanish Steps. We returned to hotel using underground.










Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Rome - Day 1


     We got a plane to Rome – took off from Warsaw Chopin Airport and landed in Rome Fiumicino Airport on Wednesday at 3 pm. From Fiumicino Airport we took train, but not Leonardo (as more expensive), but cheaper FR1 (€ 8). You can find a train timetable in my previous post. It is possible to go to city centre by bus, but we were afraid of traffic jams and chose train as a faster way.
In Rome Ostiense we had changed train to underground and travelled to Termini station. It is very easy way to change train to underground in Ostiense station (long corridor links train station with metro station). Rome has two underground lines – A (orange)  and B (blue) which cross at Termini.  We bought three-day ticket (BTI) for all Rome public transport tram, bus and metro (but except route to/from Fiumicino airport):
            BIT - INTEGRATED TIME TICKET (€ 1,50) 
            BIG - INTEGRATED DAILY TICKET (€ 6,00) 
                  BTI - INTEGRATED TOURIST TICKET (€ 16,50) 

     From Termini metro station we walked to our hotel – Corallo. Hotel has very good location – it is close to metro station and in walking distance to interesting places in Rome. Other advantage of Corallo hotel are cleanness, very polite service, wi-fi for free in rooms and breakfast on terrace on last floor.  There are many restaurants and pizzerias close to hotel – we chose Mamma Angela’s Trattoria – very good cuisine and wine. Last activity of first day was stroll to Colosseum and back …an evening walk through the narrow streets was marvelous.






     

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Eternal City - Rome 2013


Rome ... Rome has been on my target from some time now. In February I bought tickets using Alitalia promotion and chose May as month for visiting Rome (I heard it is the best month to visit Rome, but it turned out that it is not true in this year :) ). 
First impression connected with Rome – style, big squares, narrow streets, good food, traffic jams and sights from films. Especially films are interesting way of perceiving this beautiful town -
“Angels & Demons” , “Roman Holiday”, “To Rome with Love”, “La Dolce Vita” – there are only few which could be inspiration where to go in Rome.

 


     There are many ways how to tour Rome – I used internet (interesting links are below), paper guides (below) and piece of advice from my fellow worker Marta to find out about the interesting places
I describe my way of visiting city and include some of my impression and photos.

Useful links:
Tour for fans of Dan Brawn: 

Rome in polish language: 
          Rzym.it

(BTW you can see six paintings of Caravaggio for free :) )

How to get from Flumicino to city center: 

Train timetable:
          Trenitalia.com

Tickets to Rome museums:
          www.rome-museum.com

My guides:


Sunday, May 19, 2013

VII Mazurskie Spotkania z Fotografią

     In April I took part in very exciting photography workshop in very nice place of Masuria region - Piasutno-Łęg in the Puszcza Piska Forest.
More information about workshops you can find on Mazurskie Spotkania z Fotografią. The workshop lasted from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon and it was very exhausted but valuable time, which I spent with wonderful people.




Below there are some photos I took during workshop.

Model: Patrycja Włodarczyk
Stylization and Make up: Blanka Smolarek

Model:  Justyna Świdzińska
Stylization and Make up: Blanka Smolarek

Model:  Justyna Świdzińska
Stylization and Make up: Blanka Smolarek



The Colours of Ruin. Warsaw and Poland in the photographs of Henry N. Cobb

It is last time to see very interesting exhibition in Warsaw - The Colours of Ruin. Warsaw and Poland in the photographs of Henry N. Cobb. Venue: The Father Jan Twardowski Square. 


The city must completely disappear from the surface of the earth and serve only as a transport station for the Wehrmacht. No stone can remain standing. Every building must be razed to its foundation.
—SS chief Heinrich Himmler
Warsaw has to be pacified, that is, razed to the ground.
       — Adolf Hitler

     I know that sometimes for foreigners it is very tough to understand history of Poland. Very often they are surprised when they discover Warsaw in 1945 was razed to the ground. 
     In 1947 a group of American architects came to Europe in order to view the rebuilding progress in the countries which had suffered considerable war damage. Their visit included England, Czechoslovakia and Poland. One of them was Henry N. Cobb. His photographs presented in the exhibition – displayed publicly for the first time in Poland – show, among others, Warsaw, Szczecin and Wrocław. It was during these months that Polish architects and town planners were still allowed a degree of freedom in their work.
     
     More information you can find here:
               The Colours of Ruin. Warsaw and Poland in the photographs of Henry N. Cobb

               1947 BARWY RUIN. Warszawa i Polska w odbudowie na zdjęciach Henry'ego N. Cobba

     Below there are some of Henry N. Cobb's photos.


Aleje Jerozolimskie, róg Brackiej, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb

Plac Powstańców Warszawy, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb


Aleje Jerozolimskie, róg Nowego Światu, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb


Ruiny getta, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb


Ruiny getta, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb


Ulica Piwna na Starym Mieście, 1947 r. Po lewej - kościół św. Marcina. Fot. Henry N. Cobb

Poczta Główna na Placu Napoleona, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb



Ulica Boduena w kierunku Szpitalnej, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb

Ulica Boduena w kierunku Szpitalnej, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb

Plac Krasińskich, 1947 r. W centrum pomnik Jana Kilińskiego, przeniesiony później na Starówkę. Fot. Henry N. Cobb


Rynek Starego Miasta, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb

Plac Zamkowy, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb

Zachęta, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb

Ulica Świętokrzyska, róg placu Powstańców Warszawy, 1947r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb



Ulica Świętokrzyska w stronę Nowego Światu, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb

The ‘Prudential’ Insurance Socety skyscraper In Napoleon Square (currently plac Powstańców Warszawy (Warsaw Insurgents’ Square]). Photo: Henry N. Cobb

Skrzyżowanie Al. Jerozolimskich i Nowego Światu, 1947 r. Fot. Henry N. Cobb