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- pantheon.jpg
Well, I don't have much nice to say about Rome, either. The Eternal City has become a kind-of nightmare to visit because there are too damn many of us tourists. Everything worth seeing - like the Pantheon, here - is a packed crowd. So are most streets. You can barely hear yourself think, and walk with one hand on your pocket for fear of pickpockets everywhere.
- trevi.jpg
Had trouble seeing the crowd under the Pantheon on that last shot? Well, try the Trevi fountain. Everybody here is making their own postcard shot by cropping out the surging crowd. As I did at the Mona Lisa, I turned the camera around. We left as soon as we could. Slowly. Through the thick crowd. Hands on our pockets.
- gelateria.jpg
I did have one nice half-hour there: in a gelateria, slowly savouring the amazing drop of heaven that is gelato. It is NOT ice cream. It is to ice cream what silk is to burlap. And, I had licorice gelato - and it was made with real, pure licorice essence. Oh god.
- spqr_manhole.jpg
And for my Water Resources friends out there, you remember the "SPQR" tattoo on Russel Crowe in "Gladiator" and on every Roman banner, the symbol of Imperial Rome? They still put it on the manholes - I loved that.
Well, I don't have much nice to say about Rome, either. The Eternal City has become a kind-of nightmare to visit because there are too damn many of us tourists. Everything worth seeing - like the Pantheon, here - is a packed crowd. So are most streets. You can barely hear yourself think, and walk with one hand on your pocket for fear of pickpockets everywhere. 
Had trouble seeing the crowd under the Pantheon on that last shot? Well, try the Trevi fountain. Everybody here is making their own postcard shot by cropping out the surging crowd. As I did at the Mona Lisa, I turned the camera around. We left as soon as we could. Slowly. Through the thick crowd. Hands on our pockets. 
I did have one nice half-hour there: in a gelateria, slowly savouring the amazing drop of heaven that is gelato. It is NOT ice cream. It is to ice cream what silk is to burlap. And, I had licorice gelato - and it was made with real, pure licorice essence. Oh god. 
And for my Water Resources friends out there, you remember the "SPQR" tattoo on Russel Crowe in "Gladiator" and on every Roman banner, the symbol of Imperial Rome? They still put it on the manholes - I loved that.