Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Italy Trip Bonus



This is a little out of the narrative order, but I just realized I can post video as well as still pictures and want to test how that works. So, here is a brief (45 second) panning shot of the Piazza del Popolo in Rome. This ended up being one of the unexpected highlights of the trip-- I was out wandering on my own on our last day in Italy. I saw the Piazza marked on my map, and since it was close by the Spanish Steps, which I had set out to visit, I decided to check it out. The piazza itself is huge, with massive statues at either end, a tall column in the center, a big arch on one side, and two matching churches on the other (I guess the parish dividing line was the street between them). At the west end of the piazza was a huge stage populated by what had to be about a hundred musicians, and they were evidently practicing for a live tv broadcast, as cameras were being set up while I was there. So I got to hear a concert in a really cool setting, on a beautiful day (it was sunny and in the high sixties), and decided to take a full panoramic shot of the scene-- which if all went right, appears above.

3 comments:

Lil' Sis said...

Dr John,
That was so totally cool! Did you stay for much of the actual concert? Could you identify what they were playing? Keep up the great work!
Lil' Sis

John Hajduk said...

Lil Sis,
I didn't stay for the concert, because there was lots more I wanted to see. They were clearly rehearsing, since they often would start then stop in the middle of a song. I hung around for about four or five songs. The music sounded to me like movie soundtrack music-- it definitely wasn't classical (at least not anything I'm familiar with) or opera, though I'm sure there's lots in each genre that I would not recognize.
Dr. John

Lil' Sis said...

Dr John,
With that little piece of music I also thought it sounded more like an opening sequence from a movie (Roman Holiday perhaps.. hahaha). Too bad there were no programs around you could have picked up. =)
Lil' Sis