First things first, there’s no evidence of Bram Stoker’s inspiration (Vlad the Impaler) ever setting foot at Bran Castle. That small point aside, it is a beautiful castle shrouded by mist that’s definitely worth a visit.
Mar 272014
Mar 242014
This water fountain in Rome is right next to the Pantheon. I had set this photo up exactly as it is and was just going to take a picture of the taps. Then, this woman walked up, acting completely oblivious to me, and positioned herself perfectly in the frame.
Mar 222014
After a three hour slog up the side of a volcano, this is what you find when you’ve arrived. It’s one of the weirdest stores I’ve ever seen. I can’t figure out what it sells, other than the purses you can see there, and why does it need to advertise a phone number? What possible reason could you have for calling this shop?
Mar 202014
This garden, with its weird implements, is in the middle of a torture museum in San Gimignano. One thing you learn there, is that people have done some pretty horrible things to each other. The imagination involved in creating some of these contraptions is just mad. One of the creepiest sections was entering the dungeon to see a small vault where a man was actually walled up. For those that don’t know, that’s when they stick someone in a closet sized hole and brick them in to starve to death.
Mar 182014
I was pretty happy when I managed to get this photo on a gloomy, wet morning in Rome. Then I came across this photo taken on a much nicer morning!
Mar 172014
This is the first shot I took of the horse parked conveniently in the Piazza Rotunda. I’m not sure how the driver got it to stay there while he went for his morning coffee in a nearby cafe.
Mar 152014
This is my last photo from London, for now.
Mar 142014
I liked this little square I stumbled upon in Rome and had planned on eating lunch there, but by lunchtime I realised my wanderings had taken me a long way away.
Mar 132014
I’m not sure what I think of this photo, but need to break up my photos of Italy. If you click on the image you can make it bigger and see the insane amount of detail on this building.
Mar 122014
According to Wikipedia, the Ponte Vecchio is “a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge”. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I thought I’d fill you in just the same.
About ten years ago I had dinner with my family in a restaurant “Golden View” across the river from here. I stayed behind after dinner, with my girlfriend at the time, and wound up playing the piano there. That resulted in the waiter providing us with complimentary champagne, strawberries and cream before driving us back to our hotel out in the countryside!
I planned on trying that trick again on this trip, but never made it across the river.
