Italy 2020 – Caravaggio, Spanish Steps and Pizza

Continuing my account of my Italian holiday, featuring Caravaggio, The Spanish Steps and a remarkable Pizza experience.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my Italian holiday (2-11 September inclusive), which deals with the second half of the final full day in Rome before we moved on to Tivoli.

THE CARAVAGGIO

After finishing at Domitian’s Stadium we headed towards the Spanish Steps, and along the way we passed the church of Sant’Agostino, the main feature of which is a painting by the artist Caravaggio. It is very dark, and there is little light unless you pay 1 euro to have it briefly lit up. For obvious reasons flash photography is forbidden (I am in any case not keen on using the flash on my camera, so no hardship for me).

Although the main feature of the church it was not the only one of interest, as this gallery, which covers from leaving Domitian’s Stadium to leaving the church should show:

THE SPANISH STEPS

We completed our afternoon’s activities with by walking to the Spanish Steps and then back to our apartment. There was, as always in Rome, much to see, as the gallery below indicates.

EMMA’S PIZZERIA

For that evening’s supper, our last in Rome before moving on to Tivoli the following morning, we were booked into Emma’s Pizzeria. I opted for ‘Bufala con prosciutto’, a pizza with buffalo milk cheese and prosciutto. It was a ‘white pizza’ – no tomato in the topping, which suits me fine. Roman pizzas have very thin and crispy bases, which I also approve of, so all in all this was a great success (indeed we had lunch there before heading to the airport for our flight home at the end of the holiday, and I made precisely the same choice).

I end as is my custom with these posts with a waterfall video from Tivoli:

Scotland – Applecross

An account of then time spent in Applecross on my recent Scottish holiday.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my Scottish holiday. This post deals with the village of Applecross. 

LUNCH AND A WALK

We ate our sandwich lunches right by the water before setting off on a walk round the bay on which Applecross sits. 

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The Saint's Burial Place
:Possibly the spot where St Maelrubha was buried.

THE SECOND HALF OF THE WALK

The Heritage Centre was closed due to a funeral, so we turned back after a while in the churchyard. 

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Beetle
Earnest theologian to renowned biologist J B S Haldane “what have your studies of nature told you about god?” Haldane’s response: “that he is inordinately fond of beetles!”

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Outside table at a coffee shop we visited just before leaving applecross

North Norfolk Walk (Part 1)

On Easter Sunday, enabled by the fact that I was staying with my parents overnight rather than returning to King’s Lynn we decided to do a walk recommended in The Times, and have our main meal in the evening. Here for reference is what they provided:

Walk 001

Sheringham Park, where the walk starts and finishes, is a National Trust property, and as such as is very informatively signposted. Here are the information boards from the start of the walk…

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Straight after these was an interesting tree…

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After this, we passed a turn off to The Bower, with a story board, and then walked through woods for a while…

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This clump of flowers was hard to do full justice to because the flowers themselves do not have a lot of colour.
This clump of flowers was hard to do full justice to because the flowers themselves do not have a lot of colour.

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The sign that we had reached the end of the wooded section - horses grazing in an open field.
The sign that we had reached the end of the wooded section – horses grazing in an open field.

Just in to the open section came Weybourne, and a chance to watch the North Norfolk Railway in action, which I have already covered in detail here and therefore will skip over.

I will leave you for the moment with some glimpses of the village of Weybourne, before covering the rest of the walk in another post later…

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The Case of the Crooked Camera Repairers

The story that is the raison d’etre for this post is already in the hands of Adam Lazzari, the EDPs chief reporter for Fakenham and Dereham. It concerns the situation with my Nikon Coolpix P520, and the plain text version is here:

THE CASE OF THE CROOKED CAMERA REPAIRERS

This is the story of the fate of my Nikon Coolpix P520 up to today, when I uncovered evidence that admits of no interpretation other than serious criminality on the part of Messrs Christopher Robert Simpson and Mark Gregory formerly of The Camera Repair Company, Dereham.

The significant milestones are as follows:

  • October 27th took camera in for repairs, handed over a deposit and was told I would be contacted as soon as they had identified the fault.
  • A week and a half later I was told that the fault was a damaged USB port and associated damage to the motherboard. I was assured that they could fix it in approximately ten working days, so although I was going to have to pay for the privilege I agreed to the deal.
  • Three full weeks (i.e 15 working days, since there were no public holidays in the period concerned) later I phoned them to ask what was going on and was told that they just needed to perform quality checks and would then be able to return the repaired camera to me.
  • On the Saturday following having mean time heard nothing I phoned them to find out what was going on, and was told it should be ready by Monday.
  • Thus on the Monday following that I went to Dereham expecting to pick up the camera and was told that one of them was doing a job in King’s Lynn the following evening and that they would return the camera to me then.
  • That following evening no one showed up, so…
  • On the Wednesday I made another trip to Dereham expecting to return with a functioning Coolpix P520. I was then told that the replacement board had malfunctioned and that they needed another which they were waiting for. They also said that as soon as it was ready they would deliver it to me. So I waited, and waited and waited some more, hearing nothing until…
  • I decided that today, with them having had three full working weeks since Christmas to get things sorted I was going over to Dereham one more time and come hell or high water would return with a camera, which brings us to what I as a classical music lover call…

DIES IRAE

I arrived at the shop to find it shut and locked, and with a notice from Brown & Co Estate Agents attached to the door, explaining that the shop had been repossessed and that more information could be obtained from them. Therefore, I travelled on to Norwich (no extra cost – on First Eastern Counties one gets a day pass rather than a return ticket) to find the branch indicated (I wanted to do this face to face, not over the phone). There I found out that I was far from being the only person in this situation and that the repossession had been because they owed the estate agents a large amount of money. Additionally, I was informed that when the agents went to repossess the shop and change the locks they found it already stripped bare, and they have not been able to make contact with the individuals who ran it.

Additionally to what is mentioned above in the word document (attached below), the website is still active, but I have not bothered to attempt to contact them by that means as I do not consider it worthwhile.

Article ???????????????????????? THE CASE OF THE CROOKED CAMERA REPAIRERS

This major issue apart, I am in decent fettle, and I will finish by sharing some of my more usual type of picture (taken with older and lesser camera, a Samsung) with you…

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Here for your information is a photo of the repossession notice taken with old Samsung…

Auction and More

Saturday was almost entirely taken up with the November auction of James and Sons, which went very well. Those of you who follow @aspitweets on twitter will have seen a few highlights (a very few – not easy to live tweet when you are also recording details of the sale on the company database).

Yesterday was bright and sunny, so I enjoyed a morning walk before heading to my aunts house for Sunday lunch. This yielded some interesting photos…

The James and Sons banner.
The James and Sons banner.

The auction room from "Data Entry Corner"
The auction room from “Data Entry Corner”

Lot 731 - mine for an hours pay.
Lot 731 – mine for an hours pay.

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The path that has been turned into an unbridged ford - and as I learned the hard way it is more than shoe deep.
The path that has been turned into an unbridged ford – and as I learned the hard way it is more than shoe deep.

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The mandarin among the mallards
The mandarin among the mallards

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Kastania – Frescos and internal art

Now for my final post about Kastania – though there is still more Greek stuff to come. There were several superb churches in Kastania, the no longer consecrated church of St Peter (Ayios Petros) being the best from an art point of view. They yielded many fine photos…

This modern art - the sort of thing Maurits Escher might have used as a basis for one of his pictures is from the main church in the centre of the village
This modern art – the sort of thing Maurits Escher might have used as a basis for one of his pictures is from the main church in the centre of the village

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Some super frescos in the older churches.
Some super frescos in the older churches.

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This fractal cross was very striking although for me at least equally far from being attractive.
This fractal cross was very striking although for me at least equally far from being attractive.

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A Little Church in Tseria

Just below my parents house in Tseria is a small church, not even the biggest one in the village, and all around its outside are interesting pieces of artwork…

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Versions of this "snowflake" pattern appear in all sorts of contexts in Greece, notably in a very simple version that adorns many a metal gate.
Versions of this “snowflake” pattern appear in all sorts of contexts in Greece, notably in a very simple version that adorns many a metal gate.

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Greece 4: Around the villages

On Wednesday we went for a walk around the local villages (Tseria, Katafigio, Pedino), and saw some very interesting things. My next post will deal with the  former school and its accompanying chapel. As well as the stuff we actually saw close up I was able to get a decent shot of an isolated chapel which sits on the hillside above Tseria. Also, although we did not actually get there I have some photos of Leptini…

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The isolated chapel mentioned in the text. Apparently there is a shepherd who still regularly goes up there with his flock.
The isolated chapel mentioned in the text. Apparently there is a shepherd who still regularly goes up there with his flock.

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This is clearly a fossil of some sort, but I am not sure what.
This is clearly a fossil of some sort, but I am not sure what.