We booked a twilight tour of Zealandia starting at 7:00 pm this evening, so we didn’t want to do anything too strenuous today. But we did want to do something. Ideally something that would let us enjoy the lovely weather. I’ve started using the AllTrails app, so I looked to it for inspiration. One of the easy walks it recommended was the Oriental Parade Path, along the Wellington waterfront and the Oriental Beaches. It sounded perfect. It was surprisingly busy for a Friday. I’m guessing that it will be packed on the weekend.
Oriental Beach
This area was once a whaling station, and the art along the walk acknowledges that history.
Further along, we were treated to views like this.
Even the manhole covers have a bit of artistic flair.
There are many Norfolk Island Pines around the city, and this year we noticed that some of them are growing huge pinecones. We had never noticed that on previous visits.
Pinecones
Here is another example of the type of art installation so common in New Zealand. This was part of a wall along Orient Beach. It is meant to highlight environmentally sensitive areas, and the need to protect them. It is also lovely art.
Mural
One of the things we enjoy when we travel, believe it or not, is visiting grocery stores to look for interesting new flavors. After our walk, we were craving something sweet … perhaps a chocolate coated biscuit, and I spotted these.
Unbelievably delicious treat
I mentioned at the start of this post that we are going on a twilight tour at Zealandia later today. It’s late now, so I’ll save Zealandia for a separate post tomorrow.
We woke up early (for us) and for a while we thought we’d get an early start on the day. But then we realized we didn’t have an agenda for today, other than enjoying the lovely New Zealand weather and friendly people. So we slowed down, had a relaxing morning reading the paper, finished our puzzles, and were out the door “at the crack of noon”. First stop was lunch. The special at the restaurant just around the corner (Cafe Neo, if you’re wondering) was a BLAT sandwich – bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato. It was divine, and gave us all the energy we needed for our afternoon walk. Probably a little extra as well, but who’s counting.
This is our third visit to Wellington, and we had yet to ride the iconic cable car. Today, we rectified that oversight by taking the easy route to the Wellington Botanic Garden … in other words, the cable car. And then, after a brief tour of the Cable Car Museum (and gift shop) we enjoyed a brief walk around the gardens. We’ve been to the gardens on our previous visits to Wellington, but we took a different path this time, and came across an unusual “interactive” sundial.
One-of-a-kind Sundial
It was spot on, with the shadow of Jan’s hands pointing directly at 2:00 pm. It had another interesting feature as well. The proper place to stand depends on the date, so it shows you exactly where to stand. Very cool.
Sundial “calibration”
You won’t be surprised to learn that I took pictures of the vegetation. I do that every trip, but this time we found a new plant. It’s called Kangaroo Paw, and if you look closely it isn’t difficult to see why.
Kangaroo Paw plant
It’s always lovely to see trees in bloom, but it was especially enjoyable today. At home, it is minus 20 C and has been snowing pretty much non-stop since we left. Looks like we got out just in time. But, back to the flowers…
Red Flowering Gum
It started out cloudy and cool today, but by the time we were wandering through the Botanic Gardens, the skies were once again clearing. This shot shows one of New Zealand’s iconic ferns opening, with the blue sky as a backdrop.
Ferns
On some of our past visits, we have spent a full day in the Botanic Gardens. Perhaps if you have taken the time, and effort, to walk all the way up the hill to the gardens, you are damn well going to enjoy them. But if you just ride up in the cable car, it’s okay to have a short walk and then head back down. So that is what we did.
Next stop was the New Zealand parliament building known as The Beehive. This is another landmark that we hadn’t seen before this trip.
The Beehive
We walked around the grounds and then found a quiet bench to relax in the shade, enjoying the weather and the greenery. Wellington is known as “Windy Wellington” and today lived up to that reputation. I caught this picture of the flag on the top of The Beehive, just to prove the point.
Windy Wellington
And here is a picture of Jan enjoying the day. She’s wearing the sweater that a good friend knitted for her. It is her new favourite. (Thank you Jane!)
A lovely day in Wellington
And now I have a question for any plant experts who have managed to read this far in this post. Several of the trees around the parliament buildings had these brown “things” hanging down. They kind of look like a broken branch, but they don’t look broken. But they definitely look dead. It’s hard to explain, so here is a picture, that hopefully might help.
What is this???
If anyone knows what this is, please let me know.
We headed down to the water and walked along the harbour front. It was warm in the sun, but the breeze kept us cool … I know, such problems. We’ve been here enough that we were recognizing things as we walked. Such fun. But it was getting late … it was almost “wine o’clock” for Jan or “beer o’clock” for me. I walked over to a local favourite, the Garage Project, to pick up a beer I’d heard about. On my way back, I passed this unusual street art. The more I looked at it, the stranger it seemed. Look closely at the images around the orc riding a dinosaur. Very strange, but cool. I like it!
Street Art near The Garage Project
Tomorrow we’re visiting Zealandia for an evening tour. If we are very lucky, we might see a Kiwi.
I’m kidding, of course. It’s actually really easy to take, especially when we see the weather at home.
We flew from Auckland to Wellington today and were treated to views of the New Zealand coast.
Shortly after takeoff
Last year when we visited New Plymouth, we only caught fleeting glimpses of Mount Egmont (now changed back to the original Māori name, which is Taranaki Maunga). Today we had a perfect view as we flew over.
Taranaki Maunga
After checking into our hotel, unpacking, and freshening up, we headed out for a walk around Wellington. This is our third visit here, and things are starting to feel familiar. One of our favourite spots is Cuba street.
Cuba Street, Wellington, New Zealand
Note the beautiful blue skies. It was “only” 20 degrees C today, so we were worried we might find it a little cool. Not a problem. I’m not sure why this is, but we’ve found in the past that in New Zealand it feels far warmer than the thermometer suggests. Maybe it’s knowing what the temperature is at home? But whatever the reason, we were very comfortable in shorts, t-shirt and sandals.
There is an impressive church right across from our hotel, so I had to take a picture, because … that is what I do. Once again, note the perfect blue skies.
National Shrine for St Mary of the Angels
Last year we stayed at a place on The Terrace. It was close to downtown, and on the map it looked like an easy walk. That’s because everything looks flat on the map. Unfortunately, in real life it was all uphill. So this year Jan made sure to find a place closer to the same elevation as downtown. It worked, and we even have a view of the hill that we had to climb last year … several times a day.
It was all uphill…
Surprisingly, the view is much more interesting from down here than it was last year when we were on top of the hill. This picture zooms in on one of the houses on the side of the hill that fascinates me.
We’re on the sixth floor with a balcony, giving us a perfect view.
Enjoying the view
Here is another interesting house, nestled in among the lush vegetation on the side of the hill.
We’re still a little tired from the long flight, and from jet lag, so we weren’t all that enthusiastic about going out for dinner. Fortunately we found a lovely pizza place that would deliver. Add in some New Zealand beer and wine, and you have a wonderful meal.
Dinner
The pizza was very good. It says it is “Neapolitan” pizza, but having just been to Italy, I have to say that it wasn’t as good as the pizza in Naples. But, to be fair, that is a very high bar.
Tomorrow … who knows. A week ago, the forecast was for cool, wet weather, but now it looks like it will be sunny and in the low 20’s. We might just wander around Wellington for the day. We’ll see…
We made it out of Ottawa before the heavy snow hit, left Vancouver ahead of schedule, and arrived in Auckland over half an hour early. All of that is good, but … after more than 24 hours traveling, even after getting some sleep on the flight, we’re still beat.
Last week we were watching the weather forecasts and we were concerned the weather wasn’t looking all that “summery”. No need to worry. Even though the temperature is around 20 C, it still feels wonderful walking outside in shirtsleeves and enjoying all the green.
We’re spending one night in Auckland to break up the trip and then flying to Wellington tomorrow. We walked over to the domestic terminal to check things out, and had a chance to get a few more ideas for later in the trip.
Tomorrow (or maybe the day after) I should start having more interesting pictures. Until then, we’re just enjoying hanging out in summer weather.
At the airport now, about an hour from boarding. The good news is that our plane is on the ground and at the gate, getting ready to go. If it was coming in from Toronto, Montreal, or almost anywhere in the U.S., I’d be worried. There have been hundreds of cancellations so far this weekend.
I snapped a picture of our plane as it was landing.
Touchdown
As you can see, the snow has already started. It will be getting much worse in a few hours, but we should be on our way by then. Fortunately they’re equipped to deal with snow here, so this shouldn’t cause any problems.
A storm’s coming… and we’re leaving. We’re scheduled to fly out tomorrow evening, just about the time the snow starts. Needless to say, we’re hoping to get away before things get nasty. Fingers crossed!
Today was cold, and tomorrow promises more of the same.
Brrrrr
We’re headed to New Zealand, where the temperature will be about the same … except for the “minus sign”. We’re definitely looking forward to the change.
One week left before we head back to New Zealand for our third visit in four years. We’re staying for six weeks this time. It really is a wonderful place to visit, especially in the middle of a Canadian winter. Speaking of which, we had over 50 cm of snow in December, and another 50 so far in January. That adds up to … a lot.
Fresh snow
Last summer we added a “secret garden” in our yard. It was a wonderful oasis in the heat of the summer. Right now, it isn’t much of a garden nor an oasis.
Secret Garden???
Still lots to do here before we leave, but we’re looking forward to a relaxing, and warm, trip.
Our last full day in Rome. There were a few housekeeping details to take care of, like tickets for the Fiumicino Express tomorrow and checking in for our flight. And of course, packing. But that still left time for an afternoon walk to enjoy the lovely weather that has been the norm throughout our trip. We considered various destinations, but in the end settled on a walk along the Via del Corso to the Piazza del Popolo, and the northern gate to Rome.
Piazza del Popolo
My attention was immediately drawn to the obelisk in the center of the piazza, so I focused on it when taking pictures. Jan thought the goal of the walk (other than enjoying the weather) was the northern gate. You can see the northern gate if you look closely, to the left of the obelisk, but that’s the best picture I have. Missed it by that much. But I do have closeup shots of the obelisk.
Flaminio Obelisk
This is the Flaminio Obelisk which dates back to the reign of Rameses II around 1300 BC, and was stolen from Egypt by Augustus around 10 BC. If you have been following this blog, you may recall that I talked about seeing this obelisk a few days ago. I was wrong. That was a different obelisk. When Apple or Google say they can identify a landmark, they may be wide of the mark. We all “missed it by that much” in this case.
Here is another view from the piazza.
View from Piazza del Popolo
We took a different route back to the apartment. At one point we looked up and saw a rooftop garden. This reminded me of the last time we visited Rome over 20 years ago, when our hotel had a rooftop garden with views over the rooftops of Rome. This wasn’t the same garden, but I’m sure it would be lovely.
Rooftop Garden
We were enjoying the walk back to the apartment, without any particular agenda, but as fate would have it, our path took us past the Spanish Steps, where we could see the obelisk that I mis-identified in my earlier post. This obelisk is actually the Sallustian Obelisk, which dates back to the second century AD, and was actually brought to Rome without any inscriptions, and then engraved with a copy of the engraving on the Flaminio Obelisk. Not a very good copy, but apparently good enough to fool me, and the AI platforms at Apple and Google. So when OpenAI gives you an answer, exercise due diligence.
Spanish Steps and Sallustian Obelisk
We detoured to avoid the Trevi Fountain as we made our way home. The crowds at the Spanish Steps aren’t bad, but knew the Trevi Fountain was going to slow us down, and not in a good way. But along the way, Jan did spot a building with a very elaborate painted facade.
Painted facade
We made a brief stop for gelato (pretty easy to find that in Rome) and then spent a quiet final evening in Rome. I continued the Monday Beer Club tradition, while Jan enjoyed a glass of Abruzzo rose wine. And of course, I wrote about our day.
Monday Beer Club
Tomorrow we fly home. It has been an amazing trip, but we’re looking forward to our own bed and our own kitchen. However, we’re not looking forward to the snow on our driveway. Fortunately we’ll be on the road again at the end of January for six weeks in New Zealand. No snow there…
We’ve been in Rome for over a week now. We’ve gone for long walks every day so we’re beginning to know our way around, and we don’t always have to rely on Google Maps. Of course, we end up seeing some sites (like the colosseum and the forum) many times, but that creates a sense of familiarity which is nice in its own way.
Today we decided to visit the flea market at Mercator di Porta Portese. We’ve visited flea markets before on our travels, and they are always fun. Nothing too serious, just an interesting window into the local culture. Today, our walk to the Trastevere district of Rome took us past some familiar sites, and a few new ones. One of the new ones was the Palazzo Senatorio, the seat of the Municipality of Rome since 1143, and the oldest municipal building in the world. Here is a side view from the colonnade.
View from the Palazzo Senatorio, Rome
Don’t forget to look up…
A detail in the ceiling of the colonnade
Here is a view we’ve seen most days, but this is the first time we’ve seen it with the sun at our backs. It highlights the amazing detail.
The Forum
When we started walking this morning my first thought was “it’s way busier on the weekend than it is mid-week. But once again, if you get off the beaten track you are nearly alone exploring the city. But a word of warning … the cars drive much faster when you are away from the heavy tourist areas.
Roamin’
Before long we arrived at the flea market.
Entrance to Mercato di Porta Portese flea market
We didn’t exactly get an early start (we try to avoid early starts whenever possible – the idea is to enjoy yourself) so it was after noon by the time we reached the market. It closes at 2:00 pm so we thought the crowds would be thinning out. We were wrong.
Flea market crowds
We thought we could walk to the end of the market to see what was available before buying. We were wrong again. We walked through a kilometer of the market before we turned around. I thought we were almost at the end of the market … but I’d been thinking that for at least 15 minutes by the time we gave up.
On our way back through the market we made a few small purchases (more on that later) and then it was time for lunch. The Trastevere district is known for its food, so we headed to an area with several restaurants. We found one that looked promising, but it didn’t have any tables. Fortunately, there were other options, and before long we secured a table outdoors. We ordered seasonal specialities, both with fresh truffles. This was mine.
Truffles are meant for sharing
The outdoor seating area was busy and shortly after we arrived there was a queue for seats. Good timing. We also noticed that everyone around us was speaking Italian. Good sign. The food was delicious.
While waiting for our food we checked the weather at home. Storm warning, with 10 – 20 cm of snow expected later today. Knowing what we were “missing” at home made our walk back to our apartment all the more enjoyable. We once again crossed the oldest bridge in Rome … it has become one of our favourites.
The Tiber
I’ve written before about the excavations we see everywhere. This one caught our eye. The metal rings in the wall were perhaps to tie up horses, but why were there three in a triangle shape. If anyone knows, please do let me know.
What were these for?
On our way home we once again passed the “Wedding Cake”, but this time with a different perspective. The sky makes the statues look foreboding.
A different perspective
Walking along the forum I spotted something I hadn’t noticed before. The underside of these arches are reminiscent of the inside of The Pantheon.
Rome Forum
We don’t buy much when we travel, and we certainly don’t want the usual souvenirs. But we enjoy cooking so we like buying good quality tea towels with traditional local themes and wooden spoons. If they are manufactured locally, we find it hard to resist. The spoon shown here is olive wood, and the tea towel is 100% linen, made in Tuscany. We bought the pasta cutter because I took pasta lessons in Abruzzo. It is made in Italy too.
Tea towel with lemons
Tomorrow is our last full day in Rome. We’ll likely just enjoy the lovely weather, and of course, pack.
The Appian Way was started in 312 BC as a military supply road during the Second Samnite War, but it quickly became an important route for trade and communications. Sections of the Appian Way still survive, some in their original state. Today we set out to walk one of the original, unimproved sections of the Appian Way.
Original section of the Appian Way
Note the ruts worn into the stone from the countless carts traveling the road over centuries. The Appian Way was an important artery for Rome, and it is lined by many tombs of important dignitaries. Here is one that dates back to 30 BC.
Mausoleum on the Appian Way
Here is another building along the road. We included this because it offers an important reminder that life goes on. In a field beside the building, a group of young boys were playing football (soccer), oblivious to the history all around them.
Building beside the football (soccer) pitch
We were walking an original section of the Appian Way, but clearly there had been ongoing “roadworks” to maintain the road over the centuries. Some of these repairs appear to have taken advantage of local “rubble”and reused a piece of a broken column.
Creative curb repairs?
I’m a bit of a history buff, so it was special for me to be able to walk the road in quiet contemplation of the history beneath my feet.
Walking the Appian Way
There were buildings you could visit along the road, and one had a garden with flowers still in bloom.
Passion FlowerLantana flower
Like everywhere else around Rome, there are so many pieces of ancient stone that have emerged from the earth and lie by the road waiting to be reassembled.
Stone along the Appian Way
This next one is interesting because it was an old house that looks like it had random pieces of stone and pottery built into the wall. I have no idea what the reason was for this.
Reusing pieces of pottery
This next one appeals to my sense of humour. If I didn’t know better, I’d think this indicated an early WiFi hotspot.
Hotspot???
Sure enough, as we were heading back home, we were treated to yet another view of a Rose-ringed Parakeet eating Magnolia seeds. This time you can actually see the ring around its neck.
If It Was Today... 