San Luis - Oakland /San Francisco

This morning we walked downtown to the historic centre of San Luis Obispo. 

The area was occupied by Indians until the 16th century when Carilla arrived from Spain and subsequently Drake sailed into the bay and claimed the area for England.

 

In 1772, the Franciscans set up a mission here and from then the town developed, initially as a ranching  area until the drought of 1884-86, when the ranchers sold out. The rains returned and the area developed into a wheat, dairy and fruit growing area. Later the wine making industry was established. 

The town is beautifully preserved with none of the tackiness one sees in many American cities. 

We first visited the plaza where the original mission continues to function. 

then to nearby mission church 

and the church bells deserves a mention!

From there to the nearby museum, where a very personable, young man welcomed me and suggested I look at a video explaining the historical development of the area. It was excellent. 

Crossing a nearby bridge which connects the plaza to the town 

brought us to Bubble Gum Alley - 

where one can deposit one’s chewing gum on the walls - the most grotesque tourist attraction I’ve seen ever!! 

We further explored the historic streets and the piece de resistance was the cinema - a magnificent piece of architecture

We returned to the motel via Monterey Street past the original court house and its modern extension

A taxi took us to. the Amtrak Railway Station to await  the Coastal Starlight (the latter commences in LA and ends in Seattle) to San Francisco / Oakland, where a bus will transport us into the city. 

The train arrived on time from LA. We boarded. It had sleeper seats but no Wifi!! The train exited the station in a dramatic fashion, climbed into the mountains and made a horseshoe-shaped loop before travelling onwards.  

Way below us the  cars were barely perceptible on the road 

We continued through very parched landscape and dry river beds 

passing a large settlement - so large that I couldn’t decide what employment opportunities supported so many in such a barren landscape. 

Later we encountered oil drilling (was it fracking?) 

We travelled through the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, a desert transformed by the diversion of water to the arid area. Today vast areas amount of vegetables, fruit, nut and salad product are grown in the region 

The area occupied both sides of the track in a wide, irrigated valley between the arid mountains. 

We passed King City at the heart of this area as numerous trucks plied the road close to the railway line, bringing the produce to market. 

We arrived at the town of Salinas - here along the track were the homeless in make-shift shelters. One group had the Mexican flag flying over their shocking accommodation. I’m informed that is much worse in San Francisco - that modern societies can preside over this situation is shameful!  

We had dinner on board and shared our table with a charming woman from a small town near LA. She was going to San Francisco to take care of her 18 month old grandson while his parents went to a wedding. She also confided that she was about to go guarantor for her daughter and partner’s rent as they did not earn sufficient to rent a small two bed apartment. It appears one can only pay 1/3 of one’s salary on rent and the couple earnings would not warrant such a rent. 

She had been a teacher, then a trade union organiser and now in her retirement she runs a homeless shelter in her small town. In her earlier years, she had gone to Honduras to help build houses but now she admitted , she was too old to drag bags of cement! She was no Trump supporter. 

We arrived at Oakland. We might have missed the stop as there was no announcement or signage on the platform to indicate our arrival! Within 20 minutes, the connecting bus had us at the nearby Hyatt, where we took a taxi to Club Quarters Hotel on Clay St. The taxi man was so annoyed at the short journey that he grabbed  the fare out of my hand.! For such rudeness, he deserved no better! 

San Fran here we come ...... 

Rome - The Vatican museums and St Peters Basilica

Last night we returned to the Trevi Fountain  as J wanted to see it by night. She was overwhelmed by the crowds on the first afternoon’s visit. The Fountain looked well (last visit some years ago, it was clad  in scaffolding) but now it is wearing its best livery. 

A photographer took our phone and as he photographed us, he had us pretend to throw coins into the Fountain as was the custom in the past. 

En route from the hotel at Palazzo Quirinale, we experienced a beautiful sunset 

and saw St Peter’s Basilica in the distance bathed in the sunset. 

Dinner and a hectic day ended....

This morning, we set off early to take a tour of the Vatican museums, including the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica.  Again the entry instructions from  Tiqet were not quite precise but an improvement on yesterday! The only advantage of the ticket was quick access to the Museums - once inside we were met by a very pleasant and informative Vatican guide. 

Founded by Julius 11 in the 16 th century, it was enlarged by later Popes. It encompasses 7 km of wall space and has a world renowned collection of  sculpture, paintings, frescoes and manuscripts. One could only taste the riches of some of its seven major museums. 

The magnificence of its ceilings

The discovery of an early Roman sculpture by Michelangelo - note the anatomical correctness. 

The magnificent Rotunda

Very  precious blue stone similar in colour  blue of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel

The Tapestry Gallery - an early Flemish tapestry 

A later 16th century tapestry - hung on either side of a corridor with open windows - most museums have yet to have air conditioning installed! 

The Gallery of the Maps by the Dominican photographer Egnazio Danti at the time of the Renaissance - 40 frescoes depicting very accurately various areas of Italy.  

A glimpse of the Vatican gardens through an open gallery window! 

Below - the Raphael rooms : 

 

In the above painting by Raphael, the central characters are Plato (in red) and Aristotle (in blue) on the near left  is a young, pensive Michelangelo and among the group on the near right is the young Raphael!! 

Finally we arrived at the Sistine Chapel, where popes are elected - a tradition going back to the 16th century. Michelangelo painted the ceiling from 1508-1512 and below it  hang Raphael’s frescoes. The Last Judgment was painted 1535-4. When  I first saw it in the 70s,  it was dark as a result of candlelight. From 1980-94, the ceiling frescoes and Last Judgement  were cleaned and restored. The side walls were restored in 1999 among much debate as to benefits of such restorations.  The atmosphere is bright and springlike now. Many of Michelangelo’s figures were nude, later covered and some of the covering though not all, were removed during restoration - silence within and no photographs permitted - in case of damage to the frescoes. 

The Pope receives numerous gifts  - I recall seeing the above in Musee Rodin in Paris in the 70s ? Among the gifts on display were works by Dali and Caravaggio. 

 

Having completes 3 hour tour of the the Vatican Museums, we taken down a corridor to access Saint Peter’s Basilica - only available to those on a guided tour 

 

A view of St Peter’s Square from the Basilica’s entrance.  

  

                    One of its many entrance doors 

             The interior devoid of benches

                                The Pieta 

                             The Rotunda 


                                 

                                The Main Altar

             Where only the Pope celebrates Mass

            The Swiss Guards guarding an entrance

               St Peter’ s Square from the exit

After 3 information packed hours, we left the Vatican, walked up along the Tiber, passed Castel S’ Angelo and back to our hotel - a 25 minute walk. 

We were exhausted and decided to eat locally as J had a taxi collect her at 08:00 for an 11:00 flight back to Oz 

We had a terrific few days - a rest in Ostia di Lido and action packed days in Rome. 

Since my flight wasn’t departing until 21:00, I decided to visit the Borgese Museum. 

On arrival, I was informed that there are no tickets available until 17:00 Thursday.!!!  Disappointed, I had a short stroll in the extensive Gardens

Where Italian families are enjoying a Saturday stroll 

I  returned to Via Nazionale, where I came across a most interesting restaurant, EST EST just off Via Nazionale, whose original proprietor was a Tuscan wine maker, who sold wine from the restaurant and on the arrival of electricity, commenced making Neopolitan pizzas for which it is still famous. The furniture in the front of house is original. I had a most delicious lunch. 

It’s almost time to depart for the airport. 

Until my next trip Ciao!! 

Housekeeping: 

1. At Ciampino  - taxi set fare €30 / Fiumicino €48

                           - Shuttle buses at Ciampuano €2.30/6 

                             I took SIT €6 - dropped off near 

                             Termini (Main Railway Station) 

                             Return stop  to C in different

                             location Check location and  

                             timetable online. 

2. Tours              -Worth booking to skip the queue/ 

                             quick security - Vatican Museums 

                             and Colleseum in particular! 

3.  Accommodation - Seven , 249 Via Nazionale - 

                                   v. Convenient - Sights walkable  

                                   from here - Check Web  - 

                                   highly recommend. (10 minute 

                                   walk from Termini) Free Now

                                   Now and Uber operate in Rome. 

4. Lido di Ostia - Hotel Scaletti  on beach front - v 

                             good 

        

  City tax must be paid in CASH - nominal

5. Cuisine - excellent pasta everywhere - go down side

                    streets for best options Avoid restaurants 

                    around tourist spots !!

Rome is very inexpensive in comparison to Dublin

Rome

What a disaster! Well maybe not a total disaster! 

We arrived for a guided tour of the Colleseum, The Roman Forum and Palatinate Hill. The meeting point the Metro B exit.  What we didn’t know (we should have read the directions more carefully, though it did not specify that there were two exits - one exit at one level and another exit downstairs, where the Tiqet kiosk was located). Had we taken the metro, we would have arrived at the correct place but our hotel being nearby, we had walked and ended up at the other exit. When someone finally told us that there was another exit, the tour had departed !  

There was an unguided tour departing and the guide suggested we take that as otherwise we would forfeit our tickets. We did - this merely entitles one to skip the queue for tickets and it was up to oneself to tour the Colleseum. (No map or information provided !!) Inside the Colleseum, we saw what was most likely our tour. I asked the guide if we were on her list. She ignored my question. Persisting, she said she was not taking a guided tour, which was untrue, otherwise she would have left the group at the entrance as our guide had done! She wore such a bored expression, I’d wager that we didn’t  miss much! 

After an hour and a half we were to quit the colosseum and await another guide at Constantine’s Arch  to help us skip the queue once again into Palatinate Hill and Roman Forum site. You would really want to have your wits about you taking these tours. Later, a call to head office to complain elicited no joy! Beware! 

There are three accessible levels - we were to have access to the lowest level but having ‘missed’ our tour we accessed only the two upper levels. However, the lower level, the arena, which I thought to be flat was in fact being excavated further down to another level! 

It is impressive from the interior. The construction commenced in 72AD  and completed in 80AD. The brick was once covered in marble. It was thought capable of holding 50,000 spectators seated in line with their class 

The popes, emperors and aristocracy pillaged marble from the Colleseum to build none other than St Peters and their  palaces.! 

The papacy somewhat redeemed itself when a cross was erected to erroneously commemorate the martyrdom of thousands of Christians supposedly  killed in the Amphitheatre, declared the area a sacred place and thus saved  it from further demolition!!! No Christians were ever killed there !!!

In the 1930s, it was again used as propaganda when: 

Meeting at Constantine’s Arch, we again skipped the queue - not having fancied standing out in 30 + degrees for any length of time 

We walked around the Hill . This is the supposed site of Romelus and Remus, founders of Rome suckled by the she - wolf. 

We walked the perimeter of Palatinate Hill where all the wealthy of the time lived in its fashionable environs such as Cicero (those of us who read Latin remember our jousts with his writings) and  Mark Anthony. From 36BC, it became home to the emperors who built most lavish palaces! 

This led to the Forum where the remnants of temples, basilicas and public squares. 

After an exhausting three hours in the midday sun, we returned to our hotel for a well earned rest!!