Trip to Rome
Italy v. England, RBS 6 Nations, Stadio Flaminio, Rome, 11th February 2006. And a bit of sightseeing.Click on any image to see a bigger version.
The Colosseum. It's, er, colossal. |
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Some arch or something next to the colosseum |
Some more Roman remains |
Russell Crowe and Biggus Diccus having a fag break |
One of the innumerable tat stands. Leaning towers of Pisa! In Rome! Jesus ate a can of beans!! |
It's still colossal. |
Humptus Dumptus and Andus Pandus are no longer talking to Daftus Costumus after a tiff. |
Another big arch in the distance and more Roman remains. The ancient Forum is through that arch. |
Same arch closer. |
Still colossal. |
There are some more modern bits. |
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There are lots of words that all mean Rome. |
The exit from the Colosseum, something Christians of the day never saw alive |
Close up of inside. Tourist trap. |
A sneaky shot through the railings. |
Same but closer. |
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Still colossal. |
"In the name of the senate and people of Rome let it be known that this thing is huge. Really big. Colossal in fact." |
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That's the lift shaft. Clever people those Romans. |
This is probably the most colossal bit. |
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A funny thing happened on the way here... |
...yes folks it's the ancient Forum. |
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It's not in very good condition. |
Especially this bit. |
That up there is the emperor's residence on top of the Palatine hill, from which we get the word "palace". |
Caesar's privy. Actually it probably isn't but that's what it looks like and I can't be bothered to translate the plaque. |
You have a go if you like. |
Pillars of the community. |
They liked pillars, did the Romans. |
An arch. Not the one we saw earlier, this is smaller. |
A column. It's dedicated to someone Roman. |
More pillars. |
That arch again. |
Ruins. |
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The Forum. |
Totally pillartastic mate. |
Old meets new. You can just about make out that arch that I said earlier leads to the Forum from the Colosseum - it's right in the distance to the left. |
Bridge of sighs? Nope, though I'm sure you can buy Venice souvenirs here along with those from Pisa. |
A brass horsey's bum. With a bloke on. |
Latin for "A brass horsey's bum with a bloke on" |
More horses' rears. |
The thing being guarded by the brass horsey's bum with a bloke on |
Looking down the hill from where the stone horses are |
I have no idea what this is. |
Stone horses' fronts |
What's the point of wearing a cloak if you're just going to flash your tackle at everyone? |
Looks like a colosseum. Isn't one though. |
After a while all this pillary stoney stuff looks the same. |
Trevi fountain, as immortalised in La Dolce Vita |
zzzzzzzzzz |
zzzzzzzzz |
zzzzzz has the film finished yet? |
These pests are worse than flies round shit in summer. They've learned the English for "You buy? Two Euro?" but do not understand what "no" means. At the first sight of a copper they scarper sharpish. |
Spanish Steps, with some delightful railings to keep us off the roadworks. |
A pope on a pole. In fact this pope might even BE a Pole, who knows. The last one was. |
Looking down from the Spanish Steps |
City Skyline from the very top of the Spanish Steps. NO, that isn't St Peter's over there. We didn't go near the Vatican. |
Party time outside the Stadio Flaminio |
Beer tent |
A nice tree. Oh, and there's a stadium behind it. |
Not very big, is it? |
Blokes selling beer! Corking idea. |
The tricolore waving by |
Plenty of English fans here |
And people with Lions shirts |
And funny hats |
The view from our seats as the stadium filled up - most excellent |
The band. They were very quiet. |
Our view of the 22 and in-goal area. We saw 3 English tries this end |
Lining up for the anthems |
Harmless fun with flares! Only in Italy. Or France. Or Spain. Actually, everywhere but here in the United Nannydom. |
Ready for kick-off |
England line-out on half-way |
England in possession in their own 22 |
Not any more! Italian turnover |
Italians made a break for it but nothing happened |
Penalty to Italy for holding onto the scrum in the drop zone. |
Ramiro Pez (remember those little sweets in a dispenser? Weren't they great?) lines up the kick - which bounced harmlessly away off the right hand post. |
England are penalised in the scrum for handling the put-in while the ball was in perjury. |
Italian line out in the England half |
And there it is again. The referee is indicating that if that Italian player on the right of the line-out doesn't get out of limbo, he will award a drop try to the touch judge. |
The referee here is singing along with the England fans, who have just got to the "carry me home" bit. |
A massive international cooperative effort fails to find the referee's contact lens. |
Lots of fans of both nationalities and not a single bit of trouble anywhere. Top banana! |
Jeez, even Rome has one of these, and it has the bare faced cheek to be in the Piazza della Repubblica |
We could check out any time we liked... thankfully this wasn't our hotel! |