Vacation Thread

[george55]

Slovenia has some of the most extensive caves in the world; must like Tennessee but much bigger.........

We went on a nice spring day......silly me not thinking about temp was not exactly dressed for constant 46 degrees......Phoebs chose the caves at Postojna because the amount of walking was lessened by the electric train in the caves. Good for me....otherwise four or five miles of walking!!!! each way........

These tunnels have been opened to the public for over a hundred years and proof of exploration to the 13th century AD........the Germans used them for fuel storage during WWII and thus the discoloration in the first photo.

The formations in the caves are thousands of years old...and again we were not supposed to touch or photograph...oh well; one out of two ain't so bad.....

The ducks at the end were on the property....had to add them

 

[george55]

phoebs was better at these shots than I and just ignored the warnings not to do so by the guide.....

In one area there was a very large opening where they hold concerts, this was natural opening .........not sure if it was big enough for thousand or ten thousand...........too many guides to take pic......a group of older Korean ladies held a short concert............

 

[Phoenix555]

phoebs was better at these shots than I and just ignored the warnings not to do so by the guide.....

In one area there was a very large opening where they hold concerts, this was natural opening .........not sure if it was big enough for thousand or ten thousand...........too many guides to take pic......a group of older Korean ladies held a short concert............

The so called concert hall can host 10.000 people..........here's one of them.

 

[george55]

The so called concert hall can host 10.000 people..........here's one of them.

look for Rome tomorrow folks, lots of resizing and journalistic comments to correlate........

 

[TomOne]

Slovenia has some of the most extensive caves in the world; must like Tennessee but much bigger.........
...
...

Now I'm a bit confused. According to here, the Postojna Cave System covers a total of 21 kilometres ... but I believe the way that's written, it's really 4 seperate caves.

By way of interest, compare that to Mammoth Cave in KY at 579+ km. And even TN has Blue Spring Caves coming in at 53.4 km.

The longest one I found in Italy from this site is Complesso Del Monte Corchia at 52.3 km.

Where I'm confused is I don't find any reference in that list to Postojna. Is there another name for it.

Anyway ... the pics look terrific no matter what!

Edited to add:

Oooooopppssss ... sorry ... just noticed it was Slovenia you were speaking of ... and its spelled as "Postojnska" in that list at 19.5 km. Continue on.

Anyway ... it's sorta eye opening just how friggin damn big mammoth cave is when then next closest one isn't even half its size.

 

[george55]

Now I'm a bit confused. According to here, the Postojna Cave System covers a total of 21 kilometres ... but I believe the way that's written, it's really 4 seperate caves.

By way of interest, compare that to Mammoth Cave in KY at 579+ km. And even TN has Blue Spring Caves coming in at 53.4 km.

The longest one I found in Italy from this site is Complesso Del Monte Corchia at 52.3 km.

Where I'm confused is I don't find any reference in that list to Postojna. Is there another name for it.

Anyway ... the pics look terrific no matter what!

Edited to add:

Oooooopppssss ... sorry ... just noticed it was Slovenia you were speaking of ... and its spelled as "Postojnska" in that list at 19.5 km. Continue on.

Anyway ... it's sorta eye opening just how friggin damn big mammoth cave is when then next closest one isn't even half its size.

not being a caver, I forgot all about Mammoth Cave................thanks for info Tom................

 

[george55]

Sneaking in to try to make it thru the pictures of Rome this evening.......


We drove from Slovenia to Rome in about six hours...a long day......the Italian countryside was quite spectacular but with one driver resting while the other drove...no pics. We were in out of tunnels all day long and made effort to stay with traffic that at times was close to 95 mph......

We picked a hotel online........made several phone calls and made the decision. What a mistake. It was outside the city, on bus line but not real convenient.....it was a private residence converted to tourists......the walls were paper thin......one couple tested the noise level on three occasions while we were there.......she was multi orgasmic; no doubt........

We did have real good food while in Rome.......we ate at several really nice restaurants outside the city and had lunch right outside St Peter's on day.....Ms. Phoebs was able to find her Italian coffee and I my Diet Coke with no problemo......

 

[george55]

Early the first morning we took the subway into the city and bought tickets for the jump on and jump off open air bus service.......get on where you like and what for a returning bus when you needed one. We stayed on the bus to begin with and took pics from the top of the bus. I need to mention we both had cameras so some of these are hers and some my own.

We saw several sites several times in touring but I put all the pics together.....even though they may have been taken on several days....

The first thing we saw was part of down town, the historic sites are mingled with modern Rome......another note I took pictures of quite few churches.....not all have names....

We passed Circus Maximus and it was hard to understand....it looks like a very long soccer field in third world country...of course all the stands are gone and the viewing are is a ruin.....

 

[george55]

At the next red light was the Temple of Vesta and it's fountain.....there were fountains all over the city......I watched a young female jogger running across the square toward Circus Maximus...and thought to myself that it has been in use for over 2 millennia.....

 

[VickyBee]

morning S!
lovely travelling with you....

 

[george55]

Next we went by the Colosseum.......we took pics from the bus and the next day walked around it......there was a line to get in as my leg doesn't do lines well, so we didn't go for the tour..........

 

[george55]

next we passed Vittoriano...a very large modern monument , strange just over a 100 yrs old it has scaffold all around......
Mussolini spoke from here on numerous occasions .....

 

[george55]

Going down the modern streets it was hard to take good pictures of many of the old and ancient structures. In this picture is a portion of the original wall from ancient Rome, right next to it is a church from the fifteenth century...what a mixture.......

 

[george55]

Next we debussed at St Peter's and the Vatican. We were lucky to catch the tail end of a tour. The quide was from South Africa and had been doing this in several locations over a number of years. We paid him and also paid for the entrance into the Vatican. There was a line here, but Ms P found an outdoor area to sit and have a drink while we waited for our tour to get to the entrance.

Again no photos inside the Vatican or it's museum....we were able to take a few in the garden and in the hall before the Sistine Chapel itself. There were thousands of people there and we were only allowed to stay at any point for a short period of time so our guide had to pick and choose what we saw.......also the guards made sure no pics in the Chapel and voices had to be very low......we learned that Pope very rarely holds any service in the Sistine Chapel.....

 

[george55]

morning S!
lovely travelling with you....

thanks sweety.....

We took a boatload of pics in St Peter's and in the Square.....it was hard to cut them down to this number an I'm sure I missed some .......Phoebs will be back Sunday and I'm sure she will have additions.......

 

[george55]

the next picture shows the widow from the Chapel that the Pope uses to look out at the Square...Then we are in St Peter's Basilica...............

 

[Beam_of_lite]

Hey this is COOL Here I thought I was just spending a quiet friday night at home..and instead I am in the middle of ROME

 

[george55]

again, St Peter's....then the Swiss Guards

 

[george55]

Hey this is COOL Here I thought I was just spending a quiet friday night at home..and instead I am in the middle of ROME

glad you've enjoyed.......but this boy is tired...this is a lot of work......so I'm going to stop for the evening and start again on the morrow

 

[george55]

After leaving St Peter's we stooped at a restaurant to eat lunch......then we watched the police chase off street hawkers selling fake handbags.....

we returned to our hotel for my rest............phoebs took off and took pics of a neighboring town situated on a hill.........


we got lost more times than I can count trying to get around the outskirts of Rome...the Italians were helpful but we still went in circles.......

The next morning we woke to another symphony by the young lady two doors down........

 

[george55]

This morning our main points of interest were the Pantheon......the La Fountana di Trevi...and the Spanish Steps......

First we stopped at the Piazza Navoni and visited the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone.......

 

[george55]

passing through a small alley and making several mistakes we finally came to the Pantheon.........but; it was closed to services...........we took some pics and moved on to the Trevi Fountain.................

 

[george55]

the Trevi Fountain can best be seen from the opposite roof tops or at night....we could do neither so we did our best.....I also bought an original sketch by local artist.........

 

[george55]

after leaving the fountain we walked for many blocks til we came the Church of the Trianta'del Monti at the top of the steps...................no, we did not walk up the steps....it would have been painful coming back down


Ms. P talked to one of the horse drawn carriage drivers and had bad things to say about their exhorbinent prices....


after taking these pictures we walked to a side street and found an exceptional restaurant for lunch........the price was high but the food and service was outstanding....


the statue was at the base of the steps and it looked like he was making a drawing of the fountain, steps, and church.........

 

[george55]

Full, and with tired feet we retraced our path to the Pantheon......

not sure if I had already pointed out but it was a
pegan temple from 29 BC....and then it was consecrated by the church and services are still held there................