Exterous' trip to Italy

[WelshBloke]

god damn I miss that place.

Did you eat cinghiale and pecorino sandwiches in Florence?

Panforte in Sienna!

 

[Exterous]

god damn I miss that place.

Did you eat cinghiale and pecorino sandwiches in Florence?

No - we tried a lot of things at the Mercato Centrale but I didn't see that there

dude thats awesome.

amazing photos and airfare prices

Holy shit - you're alive! And thanks

• Great Pictures. After reading your first post about the train station I just want to warn everyone here that when you ask for direction in italy be prepared thats its not the same as ours. For example when they say its close and just down the street prepare to walk half a mile. Sometimes they point at a direction and make it looks like its close but its not. You need map and lots of questions. LOL

Thanks! Maybe its just that we're in progressively better shape as we take these trips but we keep setting new personal records for miles walked\hiked. We were over 10 miles every single day full day on the trip. We normally have a down day of around 3-5 miles but our 'down day' was 10.2 miles and our farthest 16.2 so a half miles is NBD

 

[Exterous]

You should look into switching to a micro 4/3 system from Panny or Oly. I had a full DSLR kit and loved it but it started getting so heavy it took away from the enjoyment of shooting. Not only is a micro-4/3 body much lighter, so are all the lenses, which is where the size/weight savings really come into play. Both Panny and Oly make pro-level 7-14mm wide angle lenses, which are the FF equivalent of 14-28mm, so pretty much matching your Tamron.

Since you travel a lot, you will really make your money back quickly. I sold half my dslr lenses and gave the others to my sister, but I made decent money back on the ones I sold.

We keep talking about it but we're pretty tied into the Canon ecosystem at the moment. Multiple bodies, grips, batteries, lenses and flashes. We'd want the camera, a good walk around lens and a wide angle before we took it on a trip so I'd guess $4-5k in one pop? We're thinking maybe when the 6D dies or its time to replace it...

And the $$$

Very nice pictures.

Half a mile is close!

Nice pictures OP!

Thanks guys

 

[ultimatebob]

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[eng2d2]

Half a mile is close!

Nice pictures OP!

I agree its close but if you have been walking for 3 miles and hungry well....

 

[MrSquished]

yeah i have a m4/3 and love it, i just need to splurge for the 7-14m f/2.8 olympus one of these days

it's amazing. I have one since I am a semi-pro real estate photographer and if I ever get to travel again it will be a great landscape lens, but yeah. It's the tits. The technical reviews on it are that it's a marvelous piece of wide angle kit.

 

[MrSquished]

We keep talking about it but we're pretty tied into the Canon ecosystem at the moment. Multiple bodies, grips, batteries, lenses and flashes. We'd want the camera, a good walk around lens and a wide angle before we took it on a trip so I'd guess $4-5k in one pop? We're thinking maybe when the 6D dies or its time to replace it...





Thanks guys

Yah about 4 grand if you go the Oly EM-5 Mark II route with a 12-40 and 7-14mm lens and a grip aka 24-80 and 14-28mm lenses both at a constant 2.8 - Need some extra batteries since they don't last as long as DSLR batteries. But you'd be all set. It really makes a difference when you walk around with your gear a lot. Plus looks less fancy to the thieves, those smaller lenses at least. It's definitely worth considering. I haven't traveled in awhile but I remember my trip to Turkey with my canon 40D and 4 lens setup. It was just ridiculous the weight. That made me switch over.

 

[Exterous]

So last two from Cique Terra before we move on to the Vatican

Nothing like 1.5 liters of wine and some delicious warm food on a rainy day

So hopefully I don't put too many of St Peter's Basilica up for you guys. I love large scale, intricate buildings so I took quite a few.

Leading up to it

Raphael ceiling

St Peters

I wanted to pay extra to go up into the dome. My wife wasn't sure but she ended up being glad that we did it. I highly recommend doing it if time allows.

Intricate tile work of the dome:

 

[Exterous]

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Yay! Heck yeah I want one! PM Inbound

Yah about 4 grand if you go the Oly EM-5 Mark II route with a 12-40 and 7-14mm lens and a grip aka 24-80 and 14-28mm lenses both at a constant 2.8 - Need some extra batteries since they don't last as long as DSLR batteries. But you'd be all set. It really makes a difference when you walk around with your gear a lot. Plus looks less fancy to the thieves, those smaller lenses at least. It's definitely worth considering. I haven't traveled in awhile but I remember my trip to Turkey with my canon 40D and 4 lens setup. It was just ridiculous the weight. That made me switch over.

I can absolutely understand the weight issue. When we add both lenses, a tripod, water and some hiking snacks to the backback its not exactly light. Still I've schlepped around enough with our current gear that we'll probably wait a bit. We'd potentially need to take one less vacation in the year we bought it and neither one of us is willing to do that yet.

 

[dasherHampton]

Keep 'em coming. They make me nostalgic.

I remember standing next to those murals made out of little stones like it was yesterday.

 

[WelshBloke]

So last two from Cique Terra before we move on to the Vatican

Nothing like 1.5 liters of wine and some delicious warm food on a rainy day

Is that melanzane? Because that's awesome!

(You take excellent pictures btw! )

 

[NetWareHead]

Excellent pictures. You followed roughly the same track as we did on our honeymoon this past summer. Italy is amazing

 

[eng2d2]

where is fatamorgana?

 

[William Gaatjes]

Wonderful pictures.

 

[Exterous]

From the inside of the dome we climbed up more stairs in ever narrower hallways. It got narrow enough that I had to turn my shoulders to make it through

The views from the top were fantastic though. Unfortunately a good chunk of the domes were covered in scaffolding so we didn't end up with good pictures of those

Honestly I found the Roman Forum to be much more interesting than the Coliseum. More pictures from there later

 

[Exterous]

Keep 'em coming. They make me nostalgic.

I remember standing next to those murals made out of little stones like it was yesterday.

Will do!

Is that melanzane? Because that's awesome!

(You take excellent pictures btw! )

Thats eggplant right? It was 'just' lasagna by which I mean it was perhaps the best lasagna I've ever had. My wife takes them too but if you have any favorites so far I'm sure they're ones I took

Excellent pictures. You followed roughly the same track as we did on our honeymoon this past summer. Italy is amazing

Thanks! Did you guys go anywhere else? We headed back to Milan for our flight home after the Rome area

 

[Exterous]

where is fatamorgana?

The gelato place? We didn't stop there but we got plenty of it elsewhere

Wonderful pictures.

Thanks!

 

[WelshBloke]

Honestly I found the Roman Forum to be much more interesting than the Coliseum. More pictures from there later

The Forum is amazing! Theres a building at one end with these alcoves that used to have statues in. The alcoves are just huge! I cant imagine how impressive it looked in its day!

 

[brianmanahan]

The Forum is amazing! Theres a building at one end with these alcoves that used to have statues in. The alcoves are just huge! I cant imagine how impressive it looked in its day!

if that forum was really amazing, it would have its own cryptocurrency

 

[DigDog]

ma'house is in this picture.

 

[eng2d2]

From the inside of the dome we climbed up more stairs in ever narrower hallways. It
Honestly I found the Roman Forum to be much more interesting than the Coliseum. More pictures from there later

Not a fair assesment because they are completely different . You have to look at the colloseum as a unique architecture that has been copied even up to this date while the roman forum is sort of a community built where everyone gathers. Did you check out the bath and the catacombs?

You can never get enough of rome in one trip. The vatican alone is a trip in itself.

 

[dasherHampton]

Honestly I found the Roman Forum to be much more interesting than the Coliseum. More pictures from there later

I love the Forum.

If you venture deep enough into it the noise of modern Rome dissolves and you can almost imagine yourself walking among the philosophers, writers, and politicians thousands of years ago. Their ghosts still wander that place.

 

[ringtail]

Italian guys are lying in wait for pretty young INGORANA Amerian girls, and will (a) approach smooth as hell, (b) from the wall as she struts past on the cobblestones they will grab breasts, (c) SEEm exotic...they're not!

 

[Exterous]

My new friend:

For our last day we headed out to the ruins at Ostia Antica. We were surprised to see that the easy train ride was included in our metro day passes and its a huge complex so well worth a visit.

Sadly, that evening it was time to head to Milan and the Malpensa airport. If we return to MXP I'll be sure to leave some more time for walking. Check in was at one end of the airport so we walked to that, then to security in the middle (I think) and then to the other end for passport control. Then it was back to the other end for our flight. Overall 2.1 miles of walking without making a wrong turn.

At least when we landed in MI it was 32 and snowing. Welcome home!

 

[Exterous]

The Forum is amazing! Theres a building at one end with these alcoves that used to have statues in. The alcoves are just huge! I cant imagine how impressive it looked in its day!

I love the Forum.

If you venture deep enough into it the noise of modern Rome dissolves and you can almost imagine yourself walking among the philosophers, writers, and politicians thousands of years ago. Their ghosts still wander that place.

I had similar feelings. Imagining its what it looked like back in the day and that the city disappears around you as you wander back through time...

ma'house is in this picture.

And you didn't invite us in for coffee or tee?