After spending all of our fourth day in the hot and dry deserts of California, our fifth day, spent mostly at King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks came as a cool relief.
Our first stop upon arrival in Sequoia was to pick up tickets for the cave tour. Then, it was a mad dash to visit the General Sherman Tree. The Sherman Tree is the largest living tree. It is not the tallest, nor the widest, but its overall mass is larger than any other single living organism. Over the winter, it had lost its second largest branch, had crashed through the fence surrounding the tree, and made quite an impression on the asphalt pathway around the tree. This branch had a diameter of about 5 feet. Its the size of a tree itself. No apparent attempts to remove it had been made at the time of our visit.
After seeing the tree, it was time for out cave tour. You must first drive to the location, then hike a short distance down to the entrance of the cave, first crossing over and then hiking to the foot of a beautiful waterfall. The gate which prevents unauthorized entry to the cave is in the shape of a web with a spider at the center, giving it the appearance of a superhero's (or villain's) secret lair. The cave is made of marble, which means that it is created the same way as a limestone cave, since it is simply compressed limestone. The most impressive feature is where the water is flowing through the cave, and you can see the smoothed surface of the marble beneath the water.
It was then time to take the touristy loop drive and drive through a (fallen) sequoia tree. They don't make tunnels through the trees anymore, in appreciation of the trees' rarity and age. We also stopped to view a tree bridge, which was wide enough to have accommodated our car, if we had still been allowed to drive on it.
The trees here are huge. Not so much due to their height, though they are quite tall, but the trunks are incredibly thick, as the above examples might demonstrate. The trunks of the adult trees are at least 10 feet wide. On the trail down to the General Sherman, they have a courtyard that is the size and shape of a cross section of the tree. It has a base diameter of about 27 feet. The tree is over 250 feet tall.
After Sequoia, we headed out for a nice drive into Kings Canyon. On the way out of Sequoia, I managed to spot a black bear very close to a visitor's center. This one was a good bit further away than the one I had seen in the Smokey Mountains, but with my binoculars, I was able to see him well. I got out onto the shoulder of the road, while Jake parked the car at the visitor's center across the street. Of course, our presence soon attracted a crowd, and a park ranger telling everyone to park their cars, and not to stand in the street. Meanwhile, the bear was standing in a small clearing up the hill, rolling over logs and rocks, looking for bugs to eat. He finally wandered off into the woods, and we were back in the car.
Kings canyon was beautiful, but other than to say it was a really deep canyon full of evergreens, with a rushing river cutting its way through the bottom, I don't know what I can say about it. There were a couple of nice waterfalls along the way, and a little country store which had what it claimed was the worlds oldest gravity gas pump, which we took a picture of. The drive in, and then back out again, took considerable time. Thus ended our day. The next day's goal was a big one for the American Road Tripper, and, as we found out, many other people from all over the world: Yosemite.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Tarpeian Rock and Capitoline Museum
Beyond the Roman Forum's final arch, the pathway climbs the Capitoline hill. The Capitoline Museum is housed in 2 separate buildings, sitting across from each other on the Piazza del Campidoglio. As usual, wikipedia has an informative article, with more pictures here The museum houses primarily statues. The main thing to remember is, should you ever visit, despite the fact that there are 2 buildings, with nothing noticeable connecting them, you do not leave the first to enter the second. Instead, you must take the stairwell down, and follow an underground tunnel to connect. If you try to enter the second museum through the exit, you will only be turned away with vague pointing at the first museum, and no explanation of the mystery of reaching building 1 from building 2 when they clearly do not connect.
Upon first entering the main museum entrance, you are met with the broken pieces of a once giant statue
It is of some note that, having been palaces, the museums are quite beatiful in and of themselves.
The works of the museum are primarily statues, though there are a few notable paintings as well, including a painting by Caravaggio of St. John the Baptist, and The Rape of the Sabine Women by Pietro da Cortona
There is a nice statue of Hercules, who is easily identifible by the club, the golden apples, and the skin, all representing the labors of Hercules. As an interesting side not, Hercules is actually the Roman name for Heracles, though this name is often used in modern times in conjuntion with the Greek names of gods, such as Aries and Aphrodite, rather than the Roman counterparts, such as Mars and Venus.
In another section of the museum stands the original statue of Marcus Aurelius astride a horse, which used to stand in the courtyard between the palaces. The statue is larger than life, and still bears remnants of its gold covering, over the bronze.
Among my favorites is the Capitoline Venus. The details of the body on this statue are incredibly realistic.
My absolute favorite is the Dying Gaul. This piece stands our sharply from the traditional statues of gods and emporers, and depicts a defeated Gaul in the moment of death. The extreme detail of this statue is captivating. Veins are visible in the hands and legs, the foot with curled toes leaves wrinkles on the underside of the foot, and in all aspects excepting the stylized wound and blood are so realistic as to have the details of an actual person.
There are many many more statues in the museums, here are photos of just a few, including a child (probably Hercules) playing with a snake, a rather disturbing cherubic faced adult Hercules, a statue using the natural colored marble to mimic the bruised body of a saint, as well as some wonderful examples of the detail given to hair and fabric in the sculptures throughout the museums.
And a final picture of that elusive underground passageway connecting the 2 museums
After spending a great deal of time at the museum, we emerged back into the sunlight, and head for a quick view from the Tarpeian rock, which is back towards the path down to the forum, but to the left. From this rock were thrown traitors and the physically deformed. Today, it affords a nice view of much of the excavated ancient Rome. From this point we wound our way back through the forum, this time taking advantage of the free flowing fountains, and finally returned to our car, ready to rest our feet by taking a drive south to the town of Arpino.
Upon first entering the main museum entrance, you are met with the broken pieces of a once giant statue
It is of some note that, having been palaces, the museums are quite beatiful in and of themselves.
The works of the museum are primarily statues, though there are a few notable paintings as well, including a painting by Caravaggio of St. John the Baptist, and The Rape of the Sabine Women by Pietro da Cortona
There is a nice statue of Hercules, who is easily identifible by the club, the golden apples, and the skin, all representing the labors of Hercules. As an interesting side not, Hercules is actually the Roman name for Heracles, though this name is often used in modern times in conjuntion with the Greek names of gods, such as Aries and Aphrodite, rather than the Roman counterparts, such as Mars and Venus.
In another section of the museum stands the original statue of Marcus Aurelius astride a horse, which used to stand in the courtyard between the palaces. The statue is larger than life, and still bears remnants of its gold covering, over the bronze.
Among my favorites is the Capitoline Venus. The details of the body on this statue are incredibly realistic.
My absolute favorite is the Dying Gaul. This piece stands our sharply from the traditional statues of gods and emporers, and depicts a defeated Gaul in the moment of death. The extreme detail of this statue is captivating. Veins are visible in the hands and legs, the foot with curled toes leaves wrinkles on the underside of the foot, and in all aspects excepting the stylized wound and blood are so realistic as to have the details of an actual person.
There are many many more statues in the museums, here are photos of just a few, including a child (probably Hercules) playing with a snake, a rather disturbing cherubic faced adult Hercules, a statue using the natural colored marble to mimic the bruised body of a saint, as well as some wonderful examples of the detail given to hair and fabric in the sculptures throughout the museums.
And a final picture of that elusive underground passageway connecting the 2 museums
After spending a great deal of time at the museum, we emerged back into the sunlight, and head for a quick view from the Tarpeian rock, which is back towards the path down to the forum, but to the left. From this rock were thrown traitors and the physically deformed. Today, it affords a nice view of much of the excavated ancient Rome. From this point we wound our way back through the forum, this time taking advantage of the free flowing fountains, and finally returned to our car, ready to rest our feet by taking a drive south to the town of Arpino.
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