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Italy's PicturesPages A Stopped Clock is Correct Twice a Day (Nikon D5000)
Whilst I did write about Bologna's train station bomb I never realised that there were two clocks on the station. To be honest I are really three. There are two analogue clocks and a digital one in the middle. I never had the gust to take a picture of the crack in the wall but this I could take because with a zoom lens you can see from our room.
What's weird is that nothing of this is in the guide books but perhaps that's not that weird. It came to light at the end of the swift bus tour of Bologna. It turns out that the clock in the picture that is on the left side of the ticket hall stopped at the time of the bomb and in memory of the incident was kept at the time, the other one on the right still ticks away. Of course the digital one is probably as accurate as it could be.
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Window on Venice (HTC Touch Pro 2)
Well you can tell it's soon time to leave because it's a more nondescript picture here at Zamyatin. The toll of beautiful buildings and baking sun has taken its toll. Plus the fact that I spent most of the time taking pictures with the Nikon and using the JVC to take video on a free trip to Murano which was free from the hotel, the weird thing initially was that the water taxi was paid for by the glass gallery especially since there was a demo and a personal tour thrown in free. Of course this was weird until it became patently clear that this was a sales trip trying to sell us hundreds of Euros of glassware. What's actually odd about it was that last time we came to Venice we paid our fare to get to Murano and when we tried to see if we could have a tour (which we would be happy to pay for) we were all but escorted off the premises but this time since they were more than happy to pay the water taxi and give us a personal tour. By way of thanks we bought EUR25 of glass, that should go some way to paying for some of the taxi fares.
Anyway lets get back to the picture. On the way to find something to eat we stopped near the Teatro Restaurant and this image looked quite nice so I took and snap. The end.
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Rialto (HTC Touch Pro 2)
The largest and the only bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice until they built the one until 1854. The first one was wooden but the stone structure now supports shops on either side similar to a larger bridge in Florence, however the one in Florence contains shops with expensive jewellery instead of the souvenirs as with this on.
Near here there are restaurants and Gondoliers lining the sides of the canal. We at last gave in to the calls of the Gondoliers and went for the longest trip which included the Small Canal and the Grand Canal, the Grand Canal trip alone was expensive but adding the Small Canal was only EUR20 extra so why not. It was indeed enjoyable but at the end of 30 minutes (5 of which was on the Grand Canal) we did wonder what little we would have got for the (not much) cheaper trip. Of course during the whole negotiation process of price I couldn't help thinking we were paying for an investigation into the ear or the gut what with the phrases Small and Grand Canal. Perhaps that's just me.
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Top Marks for Venice (HTC Touch Pro 2)
Oh yes I start with a really rubbish pun. For those who have not guessed this is St Marks Square. The trip from Bologna was simple but tiring with a a one hour water bus journey from the airport. At least the one and a half hour trip to the airport was in an air-conditioned car.
This pic was taken during a much needed rest stop after the rigours of shopping for jewellery took their toll. Not much sightseeing today just a lot of travelling and shopping so this opportunity caused a flurry of shots from my Nikon. Needless to say this was not one of those.
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Bologna Gates (HTC Touch Pro 2)
On a rather speed bus trip around Bologna we saw many fantastic features of Bologna some of which we saw on the walk around Bologna on Sunday. The features we didn't we saw today at speed in an open toped bus. Here is one of the many gates that surround Bologna that would have been connected by the old town walls. Because of the speed of the bus and the unwillingness of the Touch Pro 2 to take a picture when asked the picture isn't centred, anticipating this I moved the phone hoping to get it right. I am glad however that the gates are in the picture at least.
Other sights we past were a church on a hill overlooking Bologna (San Michelle in Bosco), many statues with their back to us and a church in memory of a martyr who's head was cut off on the hill, his reaction to this was to pick up his head and wander into town to die which was quite impressive.
After the hour trip it was time for a sit. All that driving about sat down was rather tiring when hurtling down cobbled single lane roads at speed.
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Twin Towers (HTC Touch Pro 2)
This is a pic of the Due Torri one of the two remaining towers in Bologna. As anyone who has seen Francheso de Mosto's program will be able to tell you, these towers were built to impress people and show power and wealth. So it would com as no surprise that there used to be hundreds in Bologna and now there are only two.
Bologna appears to be old world Italy. Buildings rather drab and square on the outside. Nothing like the impressive and ornate buildings you see in Florence. The place is nonetheless impressive, where else can you find a station where a crack in the wall caused by a terrorists bomb has been preserved or a rather surprising statue of Neptune or perhaps the grandest entrance I have ever seen to a public park?
Despite the amount of interesting stuff, it is far too warm here so there is only so much you can see before you have to run for the shelter of a bar... It's tough out here!
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Blue Amalfi (Minolta X500)
Not sure I realised how this would turn out when I took it. I seem to remember I went out early to take pictures with this one (and many more). They always say that when there is a bit of mist then the photo appears two dimensional, I thought of this when I took it but I took it anyway. I think in this instance it seems to work because of the two dimensional thing in that the far peninsular looks like it's been dropped in which makes it work as well as the blue feel, but what do I know.
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If You Want to Get Ahead Get a Mask (Minolta X500)
As promised in this post here's a scanned picture of the Venice Carnival. Standing back from the scrum I got my Minolta out with it's zoom to it's full extent and snapped this jewel. Probably not to everyone's taste I might guess. As I have probably mentioned to those of a more photographic bent the zoom crops the depth of field massively so that the focusing is really tight, which is another reason why I lake standing back from the scene and zooming in.
It would have been better if I had have got the whole of the left guys face in focus but it's quite difficult because of the tight focus and human targets and the fact that I'm such an amateur. Of course that then reminds me of the other picture like this which is of the Carrera Cup. Again a good picture for me but not something you'll real photographer showing about.
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Venice Boatman (JVC Everio GZ-MS100)
Simple pic of a Gondola in Carnival season. I like the reflection from the water personally, it almost looks like it's reflecting off his hull which I think for me makes this picture. So as usual a complete chance causes a good picture. Well I say It's good. As in the (new) old tradition of Big Brother “You Decide”. Hmmm... perhaps I should put a voting thing on this site... on the other hand since comments didn't work then perhaps not.
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Enough is Enough (JVC Everio GZ-MS100)
When all the frock wearing is quite wearing this is what to do in Carnival Season in Venice. I snapped this chap from afar. I assume that he'd only got his head down as his dog was still quite alert and I do think that it was his dog but I could be wrong. Of course I didn't snap this is his face which is one of the many great things of a zoom lens. The other great thing is that (and it helps if you're tall like me) you can step back from the scrum as you get in Venice at Carnival time and take a picture at your leisure. Whilst the scrum are all trying to get as close and get the right picture, you can step back and zoom in and take it or leave it. Of course the worst thing about a zoom lens is the fact that you might be over 10-20 feet from a shot so no-one actually knows what you're looking at so people walk right in front of you. Of course being a little patient is a must. For the camera lovers out there then you'll also know that if you zoom in then the depth of field closes up so you do end up with a sharp picture of the subject with the background out of focus with a zoom lens. I have some pictures of this with the Minolta that I am waiting for so these may be scanned in at some point.
Anyway back to the picture. It's one of those pictures that I think... I'll swap with him... just for a few hours.
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