Roman Elevator

A perfect fusion of modern German engineering inside the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

I like the Roman paperback size bricks sticking out and forming a ruin arch where inside is a modern steel and glass elevator with a cold light and touch screen display.

Largest Alpine Fortress in Europe

Not many people know about this fort, in fact try searching for the "largest fort in Europe" and it takes you a few minutes to find it.  But the Fenestrelle Fortress is the largest in Europe.

Built and upgraded in the past hundreds of years, the fortress was originally French and then later fell into Italian hands.  This is one reason not many people know about it, but what's interesting is that it's Europe's version of the Chinees Great Wall.

Next time I'm in the area I'll try to get some photos and compare it to the Chinees version.  Inside is also a nice little museum showing how life was like for the soldiers in the 19th century stationed here.

Romeo and Juliet Balcony

The famous balcony in Verona, Italy.  Millions of tourists come to visit and scribble love notes on the gates and walls.

Venice at Night

Visiting Venice is a amazing experience.  Visiting it at night is even better.

The best attractions are packed during the day, but what many people don't relise is that night the city is near a ghost town.  Only a few local and die-hard tourists remain.  And you get to enjoy the glamor all to yourself.

San Leo

An amazing fortress in central Italy.

Tuscan Archipelago

Part of my Tuscan roadmap was to go along the coast and see the fishing villages.  This part of Italy is just amazing and I'm hoping to do more trips here to enjoy the sun and nature.

Rome

Part of my Italy roadmap, I went to Rome.  Don't remember much from the trip but going to Rome is always special.

Pantheon

Roman Pantheon - I love this building.  There's something special in a building that has a whole on top and has been standing here since the Roman times.

Tuscan Landscape

Some photos of the Tuscan landscape on my Italian roadtrip.

Florence

Going down to Italy I stopped by Florence.  Funny thing was I didn't know the Italian name and had only German and Italian maps with me.  After that I started writing down the local names when traveling.

Italian Road Trip

Back in 2008, I rented a Audi A3, with only 3km on the odometer.  The clutch was stiff, and everything new.

I took it down to Tuscany, drove around on the small side street and passing hill-top villages, visiting Rome, Florence, Siena and finally coming back North though the Brenner Pass in Austria.

3000km and 7 days later, I retuned the car.  Happy and with the broken-in clutch.

Rome!

Part of being Catholic and Polish, it's near mandatory to visit Rome and spend some time there.  The US-Polish congress runs a summer University program (or as I called it, University Themed vacation) in Rome.  It's a month long vacation learning about Italy, Cahalosisim and a fair dose of Polishness for good measure.

Was really a great time and quite amazing.

First time in Rome

When I came back to Germany, I decided to travel more and see more of Europe.  I haven't been down to Italy and it was something that I wanted to see.  Ryanair at that time was dirt cheap and I booked a ticket to go down for a weekend.

This was the first time I flew Ryanair and also in Rome (well, south of the Alps).  Ryanair was quite an adventure, as I was use to the full-service airlines that go transcontinental and not the shuttle flights with no service (sit down and shut-up!)

Italy was also quite an adventure, I don't know what I was expecting, perhaps something like Germany or Florida.  I was a little surprised seeing Communist party flags and the easy going nature of Italians.  This started my admiration of Italy.

It's also interesting that at this point I was starting to get more into photography.  I only had a Canon S100 (~3 megapixels?) It worked and managed to get some good pictures.  Funny, my travel camera today is also a S100, but the 2014 model.