Walking around in Rome

Walking around in Rome is one of life’s pleasures that I wish everyone could enjoy. Anyone with an opportunity should take advantage of it. You won’t be disappointed.

Meanwhile, until I can find my way back to Rome, I found this really cool website where I can take a virtual walk in Rome. They have beautiful panoramic tours of many of my favorite spots in Rome. There is one taken from Ponte Vittorio Emanuele that is very nice. It has a beautiful view of Ponte San Angelo.

Another, taken from directly in front of Fontana di Trevi, is interesting for having not a single person in sight. You can see that it was done in the early AM before dawn but still no people at all at Trevi Fountain. That’s amazing.

There is a second panorama from the fountain with the tripod moved to the left. You can see that it is an hour or so later and a few people have entered the scene, two men who look like grocers or butchers have stopped on the way to work. They sit on the hand rail seemingly unaware of the fountain behind them.

This photo looking down on Piazza del Popolo is a good example of why it's time for a digital SLR. My Olympus suffers from parallax between the view finder and the main lens. The Obelisk was perfectly aligned down the center of the street in the view finder.

Check out roma.arounder.com, it may not be the second best thing to a walk in Rome but it’s pretty good.

The panoramas are full spherical pans, you can watch as a movie or use your mouse to pan anywhere. There are also panoramic tours of the Colosseum, Piazza del Popolo, The Forum, Piazza di Spagna, the Pantheon and Saint Peter’s Square. There are also beautiful views inside and outside of the churches of San Giovanni, Santa Maria Maggorie and San Paolo.