Re: [Leica] ROMAN HOLIDAY

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

Tom,
Marvelous description... any chance of seeing your stuff on a website
somewhere?
Signed, Dan'l
Armchair Traveller!
dwpost@msn.com
- -----Original Message-----
From: TTAbrahams <TTAbrahams@aol.com>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Sunday, March 22, 1998 2:09 PM
Subject: [Leica] ROMAN HOLIDAY

>ROMAN HOLIDAY
>Well, we are back from the latest trip and the first trip to Rome for many
>years. Rest assured that it will not take long before we go back. It was
that
>good. In 10 days in Rome there wasn’t one grumpy, snarly person. Nobody
>overcharged or even tried to overcharge. The Romans were unswervingly
helpful,
>funny and treated us well.
> The highlight of the trip was meeting fellow LUGgers Ernesto and Guido.
These
>are two of the nicest Leica-nuts you can imagine. We spent “24 Hours in
Rome”
>together and ate well, drank well (when in doubt, let Guido pick the wine,
he
>knows his stuff!) and shot up a storm. There was enough Leicas on us to be
the
>envy of even the most dedicated LUGger. Nocti’s, S-Luxes, S-crons and
bodies
>to spare. In short, it was a great time and if Guido knows wines, Ernesto
>knows cheese and they both know how to have a good time! We decided that
the
>discussions that started in Rome will continue in Cologne at Photokina and
we
>have all booked in to the same hotel for the occasion. Leica will never
know
>what hit them when we show up at the booth!
> Rome is a visual feast. You can leave the lens on hyperfocal and just keep
>shooting and there will be something on every frame that intrigues you.
>Fellini was probably a better editor than director (how do you direct a
crowd
>wired on caffeine anyway), he just let the camera roll and cut out the few
>feet that were boring!
> Some moments of hilarity come to mind: Arriving at St Peters square at the
>Vatican one day, we were surprised at the huge crowd outside. It turns out
>that on Wednesdays the Pope will bless the people who come there. We were
>stuck in the back (you need tickets for front row seats) and standing on a
>chair we could see the Pope being shuttled around in crowd, standing in
back
>of a white Landrover, holding on to the rollbar for dear life, in the
meantime
>the Vatican Brass strikes up “When the saints go marching in” loud and
>slightly out of tune.
> At every stopsign, red light and pedestrian crossing the Romans re-enact
the
>chariot races from Ben-Hur. It does not matter what they drive, four guys
in a
>Fiat 500 (about 30 cu. inches of engine and the size of a bathtub) will try
to
>outdrag hot bikes, Ferraris and nuns on scooters. They probably are aware
that
>they will loose but they will try and try again.
> Crowds of Japanese girls looking at large Italian men, dressed up as Roman
>Gladiators, shields, togas, sword etc., wondering how they could bring one
of
>these home as a souvenir!
> The classic pose of Caesar with his hand outstretched is not at all an
>Imperial pose, he only pre-emted the current Roman pose of standing ,hand
>outstretched and trying to figure out why the @#$%&*** cell phone doesn’t
>work!
> Coming from the caffeine crazed west coast, you suddenly realize that we
are
>only neophytes in caffeine consumption. The Italians truly know how to
start
>the day. A couple of double espressos and a chocolate croissant for
breakfast,
>standing up at the counter, all gulped down in 4-5 minutes, followed by a
>cigarette, then they jump in the car or on the scooter and with total
abandon
>drive headlong into the Roman chaos that they call traffic. Whenever they
have
>a chance, the locals have another coffee (and we are talking about COFFEE
>here, this is the equivalent of the old Nitroglycerin/ether/methanol
mixture
>that old time racers used to fill up their cars with, compared with our
>unleaded, low octane stuff).
> Food, OK you cannot go wrong anywhere. There are expensive restaurants,
there
>are medium priced restaurants and there are cheap restaurants, it doesn’t
>matter the food is good everywhere. The best indication is to watch where
the
>locals go and just tag a long. How about Gorgonzola and Spinach pizza (2 of
>them) and 1/2 liter of house red for lunch (about US$12), then you take a
>siesta ( you need it!) and then you have a couple of shots of caffeine to
get
>started again.
> Beware though, Italians eat late, at 9 o’clock they start considering
dinner,
>at 9.30 read the menu and at 10 you order. West coasters like us have by
now
>eaten the tablecloth (not bad with red wine, mind you) and most of the
>decorations on the table!
> Weather was quite good, sunny, a bit cool, 1day of drizzle and 1 day of
cold
>wind. The summerseason gets blindingly hot and combined with millions of
badly
>tuned 2 stroke oil/gas mixture engines running amok, the air gets rather
>pungent.
> Of course we went to the usual tourist places, the Sistine Chapel (nice
>ceiling, dim room, 2 sec at 2,8 with the 35/1,4 in my lap pointing upward
!),
>the Pantheon, a bit of a challenge light wise as the only illumination is
from
>the opening in the ceiling of the dome and the dome is 3ft larger in
diameter
>than the one on St. Peters Basilica. 21/2,8 Asph carefully propped on the
>bench in front of me did that. It wasn’t that I dont have tripods, but I
know
>that when in Rome do like the Romans, walk and walk, on the average you are
on
>your feet 6-8 hours a day and the weight of the camera bag becomes a major
>consideration.
> I brought my M6HM along (its maiden “journey”) and it performed
flawlessly.
>Works very well with the 50/90 (left the 75 home, Leica take note, a
>lightweight 75 would be really nice!) and as a street shooter camera also
very
>well with the 35, bright finder, nice snap to the focus and with the 35,
just
>aim and shoot and damn the edges. The 21/2,8 Asph keeps amazing me, it is a
>landmark lens in my estimation. Spectacular negs, the absolute tiniest
>softening of the extreme corners wide open (this is using a 30x loupe and
even
>then it is difficult to see) and no distortion (remember that the Romans
and
>the Greeks like large stone pillars and there are lots of them around to
check
>if the are reproduced straight.
> In short (actually rather long) if you can, go to Rome, eat, drink, shoot
and
>get wired on caffeine.
> We thank Julius Caesar who planned it and Nero who did the Urban renewal
>projects and all the generations of Italians after that who have put their
>marks on the Eternal City. We thank Ernesto and Guido for being great
company
>and for the tour of the catacombs (why do you think they brought the
>Noctiluxes!)
>Arrivederci Roma and we shall be back, not to conquer, but for coffee, wine
>and food and more shots.
>Tom & Tuulikki Abrahamsson