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Just got back from my trip to Rome (second trip since I went in Jan this year). The trip was really for my mom and Gran (82yrs old), and once I had arrived, starting seeing the same monuments again, and the hordes of people (compared to when I went in Jan this year and it was much quieter), my appetite for marching the streets of Rome was dampened quite a bit. I also somehow left my monopod on the underground Oh well.

Here's what I got this time round, basically more of the same, bar a few shots of passers by and a few street performers with the 300 f2.8. The street shots of passers by were taken at piazza del poppolo with the 300 on the monopod, just aiming and shooting. Nobody came up to me etc. It was a real pleasure not getting bothered by pesky police officers looking for us terrorists with our scary lenses, and just enjoying the afternoon.

As far as focusing goes, I had the dk-17M eyepiece, which made mf a little easier, but (for subjects moving towards me) I think what I should have done all along, but was a little tough getting the hang of, and did so in a few shots, was to try and focus just a tad in front and wait till the image became clear to fire off a few shots.

It was nice having the 16-35, I must have got down to around 1/6th or so, so VR was pretty nice to have. It was my first time going wider than 24mm with my own glass, so it was a little strange to get home and see my shot wasn't 100% vertical and needed some cropping. Quite annoying thing that I must say.

I also made a bit of a cockup in that I bought 3 Roma Pass cards, and while I knew I should have got the Roma et Piu (and more) card, which allows entry into Tivoli Gardens, when I asked the pass my brain just thought meh I don't think we'll even bother going outside central rome. Well we did, and upon arrival at villa d'este, they promptly told us is was ELEVEN EUROS entry per person. I scoffed as did my mom, and we just left it. The real kicker however was that nobody else felt like tramping the roman forum, so the free entry into two sites, wasn't even used. A big waste of 75 euros but oh well, you live and learn.

Finally, on the morning of our departure, seeing as my mom was in charge, I left it to her to decide when we were getting up, and leaving with a taxi for the airport. Well turns out our flight was at 6:45 gate closing at 6:10, and we were still at the place we rented, at 5:45. Luckily, the airport was 15 minutes by car (our driver hit 160kmph, woohoo), and the gate was a 5 minute walk from the airport entrance. We made our flight, and got home safely.

So in a nutshel, if you're going to go to Rome;

1; don't go any time that's peak, it may be more pleasant temperature wise, but people and crowds wise, it won't.
2; The good thing about Rome, is that you don't HAVE to go inside everytging to have a good time, which means unless you plan on getting on and off transport A LOT, don't bother with the Roma pass. Others have got by without it. Also, the underground, is NOT fun. You have to go down what seems like 4 stories of escalators, to get to the platform. If you can figure out what buses to take they are a lot better and you see more.
3; Don't get a headache in Rome. I was told it would be SEVEN euros for a pack of headache tablets. Funny how in Greece they cost a third of that. It's a shame I hadn't thought of it at the time, but there were a few phrases in my Rome book that could have come in handy; "Molto Karo!! Chiama le Polizia!!"( Very expensive!! Call the police!" Not quite accurate but I'm sure I would've got the point across. Luckily I found one at the bottom of my bag.

Anyway, here are a few pics. Again, sorry if they're pretty same same, but here we are;

St Peters;









From Piazza Del Poppolo;











Outside the Colosseum;







A new type of street 'performer'. Toss them some coins and they all start laughing. Pretty bad imho, but hey, you gotta make a living somehow;



Piazza Dela Rotonda Outside the pantheon;





Piazza Navona;























Outside Chiesa Nuova (a funeral was happening, I assume it must have been for someone important);







Santa Giovanni in Laterano;

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

Really nice set, I particular like the architecture and art in St Peters, the Vatican museum is also a must. Churches that look grotty outside were magnificent on the inside, I ended up not being able to pass a church without going inside.

My tip for travelers is not to get a tour but do it yourself and see what you want. Tour groups I have seen spend very little time at each venue and put so much into the day the groups are exhausted. While having a break with a beer we saw many of these groups looking exhausted.

Staying out of town can be more expensive with travel cost to the venues, at Venice we stayed at San Marco and in Rome halfway between the trevi fountain and the pantheon and we could walk to most majors at most 20 minutes, not transport costs or wasted time.

Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.