Snapped: Dinner in Fiumicino
It is that time of the year: evenings on the beach!
There is a small shack on the beach in Fiumicino, near Rome. Nothing more than a wooden structure, few square meters of covered space, and a deck. But Stefano serves one of the best dinners around.
A typical Italian setting: low key, limited choices, but fresh. And in a idyllic setting, facing west, over the Mediterranean.
[i-link]
Dinner on the deck
[i-link]
A view of the sea through the restaurant.
[i-link]
A significant sign.
[i-link]
Sunset as we had aperitivo...
Snapped: Sunset near Rome
[i-Sunset near Rome]
Last year, I started a series of posts on The Road, which I called The Snapped Series, "Mobile phone shots from the hip". They evolved from pictures taken with my crappy Nokia mobile phone to shots taken with the iPhone I got for my birthday.
I was amazed of the iPhone picture quality and got hooked on taking shots as I went along "on the road of life".
One thing lead to another, and the phrase "Shot from the Hip" let to the birth of a separate website, where I posted these pictures, soundbytes, short videos. All taken randomly, and posted via Email from my phone. For the nerds amongst you, I explained in this post how to do that.
Anyways, to make a long story short, I will resume posting a selection of these shots here on The Road. I will start with this one, as there is a sweet story connected to it:
A little girl and her dad watched a sunset.Read the full post...
After the sun went down, the girl asked:
"Daddy, can you do that again?"
Living in Italy - Part 16: Free WiFi access. Almost.
[i-Free WiFi access in Rome]
Since a while, there is free WiFi access in many public parks in and around Rome. All WiFi hotspots are neatly indicated with signs:
[i-Free WiFi access in Rome]
Encouraging effort to bridge the digital divide, if any left in Italy. Maybe there are also other divides to be addressed... When accessing the WiFi spot from a mobile phone, you are neatly prompted with a login screen:
[i-Free WiFi access in Rome]
Hmmm. Username and password, hey? Boh.. as it says (in Italian): registration is for free, so let's give it a try:
[i-Free WiFi access in Rome]
Holy Mo! That is a quite a chunk of data.. You need to give your name, address, mobile phone number, and of course endorse the terms and conditions which are neatly outlined (in Italian):
[i-Free WiFi access in Rome]
At that point, I gave up trying to register via my mobile phone.
Once back at home, I registered from my computer. Well, almost, as after filling in the form, you are prompted to confirm your registration by calling a toll-free number. You have to call it from the cellphone you registered. And you have five minutes.
So going outside, waiting for the mobile coverage to come up, I dialed the number. Which was engaged. Which was engaged again. Which was engaged once more. Which was engaged again. Which kept on being engaged.
Of course the five minutes deadline came sooner than expected, and I had to register again.
At that point I gave up. Maybe free WiFi access is not something for me.
Read more in the Living in Italy series
Driving in Rome
[Loband: Object Removed -]
If you are used to switching from one highway to another using four parallel lanes, a smooth gradual exit and re-entry, then you will need to adapt to real life when you visit Rome.
Driving here, is more about being creative, daring and above all: it's about being decisive.
To switch from one highway to another, this road in Rome takes you through several backstreets of an area I would not like to drive at night. It has a four meter exit at 90 degrees, and a five meter long re-entry with virtually no visibility on incoming traffic.
Snapped: Signs of fall in Rome
[i-Rome signs of fall]
Every season has signs of beauty. Fall is the season of colours: Trees in the centre of Rome.
The Snapped Series: mobile phone shots from the hip.
Snapped: Italian Tuk-Tuk
[i-Italian%20tuktuk]
I think Italy is the only country in Western Europe where the "Tuk-Tuk" or "Treewheela" (as they are called in many places around Asia), are still widely used. Here is one at a traffic light in the center of Rome.
Snapped is a series of posts with pictures taken with my mobile phone.
Sea shells on the sea shore.
I can see the sun shining between the sea shells shuffling on the sea shore. (x20)
[Loband: Object Removed -]
PS: can't wait until good quality pictures and video can be taken from a mobile phone... Nokia surely is not good at it.
Our local rock band
[i-our local rock band]
Snapped this picture while walking in the town (eh, village) where I live, near Rome in Italy.
Locals tell me their popularity equals that of U2. At least in the village here.
The summer season arrived in Rome
[i-summer essentials - take 2]
With 27°C today, here near Rome, we hereby officially declare the summer season open for business. Time to get the essential survival equipment out from its winter storage: the deck chair and the hammock.
This is definitively spring
Two days ago. A spring day in Rome...
Arrive early at work. Clear blue sky. A view from my office:
[i-the signs of spring in Rome]
Leave at 6pm. For the first time, the thermometer hits above 20ºC. Definitively a sign winter is over.
[i-30032009-1]
And then arrive home just in time for a sunset. A view from my living room balcony.
[i-the signs of spring in Rome]
Rome WWF nature reserve features... a garbage dump
[i-Rome WWF or garbage dump?]
Close to where I live, here in Italy, is the "Oasis Macchiagrande", a WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature) nature reserve which, according to the Italian WWF website features "an interesting combination of Mediterranean scrub behind a Mediterranean forest, making it the most beautiful and best preserved coast of Lazio."
Well, it surely is an interesting "combination of things", plastics mainly. I am not so sure if it is the "most beautiful" and "best preserved" piece of coast line I have ever seen though, when looking at these pictures I took today:
[i-Rome WWF or garbage dump?]
[i-Rome WWF or garbage dump?]
[i-Rome WWF or garbage dump?]
I also doubt if the site is an illustration of WWF's mission statement, "to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature"...
Shame!
Spring is in the air...
Spring is all around us, here in Italy. Some random snapshots taken during a walk this morning.
[i-spring flowers]
[i-spring flowers]
[i-spring flowers]
The beach today:
[i-the beach today]
Yours truly: (I know! I need a haircut!)
[i-Peter by the sea]
More on The Road about Italy
Emergency! Rome ice cream shops to close at 1 am
[i-gelateria soon to work part time]
In the latest attempt to crack down on drunken violence and thuggery in the Italian capital, ice-cream parlours will soon be obliged to close by 1 am.
Rome's right-wing mayor Gianni Alemanno has been seeking effective ways to curb the loutish late-night drinking habits of young Romans and visitors in some parts of the city centre, particularly Trastevere and Campo de' Fiori.
Other businesses required to haul down the shutters will be pizzerias, bakeries, pastry shops, yogurterias and the cafes specialising in roast meat and vegetables known as rosticcerias.
Rome-lovers see the move as a direct assault on some of the city's most sensual pleasures. (Full)
More posts on The Road about Italy.
Sunset this evening
I live half a mile from the beach in Fregene, near Rome. As today was such a gorgeous day, I went for a walk around sunset... Look at the movie the Gods played on the beach this evening:
[i-Sunset on the beach near Rome]
[i-Sunset near Rome]
And to make it all picture perfect, they injected
this "guy fishing in the sea" into the script:
[i-Sunset on the beach near Rome]
Watch this evening's pictures in a Flickr slideshow
More on The Road about Rome, Italy, or living in Italy.
Protests in support of Gaza in Rome
Today, about 3,000 people took to the streets protesting the Israeli incursion of Gaza.
Our local reporter "E" was present on the spot, reporting on what she called "a peaceful demonstration". She sent these pictures live from the rally.
Protest in support of Gaza (Rome)[i-Protest in support of Gaza (Rome)]
Protest in support of Gaza (Rome)[i-Protest in support of Gaza (Rome)]
gaza protest3[i-gaza protest3]
Rumble: Beach Combing
After the storms and rains that flooded half of Rome, all debris carried out to the sea by the rivers, washed on the beach. It looked like a battle field.
Fregene beach after storm[i-Fregene beach after storm]
Fregene beach after storm[i-Fregene beach after storm]
Many dinghies got picked up and dropped, or buried under the sand.
Fregene beach after storm[i-Fregene beach after storm]
This river estuary is normally three meters wide.
Fregene beach after storm[i-Fregene beach after storm]
More on The Road about where I live, Rome and Italy.
News: Rome Floods (2)
Yesterday, I posted about the excessive rain in Rome, causing major disruptions in town. While it was not too bad where I live, the center of town was apparently hit worse.
The mayor said the emergency was equivalent to Rome being "hit by an earthquake. We had more rain in one night than normally comes down in the whole of December". (Full)
Colloseum flooded[i-Colloseum flooded]
people being evacuated by dinghy in Rome[i-people being evacuated by dinghy in Rome]
isola tiberina[i-isola tiberina]
Tiber[i-Tiber]
Rome drenched[i-Rome drenched]
Rome floods[i-Rome floods]
Pictures courtesy Massimo Percossi, Alessandro Di Meo/EPA, ANSA, Manuela Ajo, Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters. Thanks to my Friend E for the links.
Rumble: Rome Floods
Rome in the rain[i-Rome in the rain]
There was a time we lived in Kampala, Uganda. When we had a rain storm, everyone was late coming to the office, as roads would be flooded knee high.
I was reminded of that today. The only difference is, I now live in Rome, Italy.
I woke up at 6:30 am. There was some distant rumble of thunder, but I did not think much of it.
When I got outside, it rained. I drove off, curbing a corner and followed a car in front of me, which stopped all of a sudden. I passed him, to find myself driving through 10 inches of water. As drainage where I live is almost non-existent, I did not think much of it.
Drove to work, and found the traffic to be very light. Saw many fields besides the highway drenched, but did not think much of it.
Took the Fiumicino-Rome highway. Exit close to work. One of the underpasses of the highway was flooded up to the ceiling. A car stuck in the underpass, its roof hardly visible. We had the same two weeks ago. And it took them four days to drain the underpass. So, this morning, I did not think much of it.
Got to work, and saw very few cars in the parking lot. Went to the usual Thursday morning staff meeting, only to find a handful of people. Normally we have 200 people attending. Started getting SMSes from several of my staff saying "I will be late", followed by "Stuck in traffic" and later "Making a U-turn. Going back home." "Not coming today, traffic just stopped".. One after the other, meetings were cancelled.
Only then I caught up with the news:
Apparently there was a big rain storm last night (slept through it), with loads of thunder and lightning (slept through it), and half of Rome was flooded (drove in from the other - non-flooded - side).
Rome's mayor declared the state of emergency, advising people to stay home. One person was found dead in a car, stuck in a flooded underpass. (More)
That is the point where I started to think about my time in Africa.
More on The Road about Rome and Italy
Picture courtesy Letneo
Rumble: Today. And my favorite music station.
fregene in fall[i-fregene in fall]
The sun is out again. A picture as I was walking back from my morning coffee at the bar around the corner.
On this wonderful day, let me share a secret with you. But shhht, don't tell anyone! If your Internet connection is good enough to listen to music streams, try my favourite chill radio station, 181.fm...
And imagine you are here, in Italy, with the sun shining in your face... Enjoy!