Author: Justin Hill

  • Italy Day 3 – The Colosseum and The Vatican

    Italy Day 3 – The Colosseum and The Vatican

    Day 3 The Colosseum! Our Rick Steves guidebook had good advice on avoiding the worst of the lines. After visiting Florence later in the week, I appreciated Rome’s sites all the more because they are so huge. There are a bunch of tourists there but you don’t feel crowded because everyone can spread out. The…

  • Italy Day 2 – Bike Tour of Rome, Ostia Antica

    Italy Day 2 – Bike Tour of Rome, Ostia Antica

    Day 2 Walked past The Colosseum to Top Bike Tours. The bikes were nice (good shocks are helpful on cobblestone) and our tour guide Federico was awesome. We had one other couple in our group. An unfortunate highlight of the tour was when Federico had us stop at one of the many drinking fountains in…

  • A week in Italy

    A week in Italy

    Day 1 We checked in at Casa Il Rosario, a Catholic nunnery-slash-hotel. The location was excellent, a couple of blocks from The Colosseum. The nuns made a mean breakfast with homemade yogurt, granola, and pastries. The hot chocolate machine was amazing and so was the lingonberry juice. We walked to the Borghese Gallery. The Borgheses…

  • GoPro images of Italy

    GoPro images of Italy

    We visited Rome, Florence, Venice, and Pisa last week. I’m knee-deep in photos and videos from four different cameras, plus the ones others took. While you wait with bated breath for the usual video summary, here are some photos I liked out of the GoPro camera. I found a couple of cool Lightroom presets last year…

  • I can’t believe I’m blogging about Sciatica

    I can’t believe I’m blogging about Sciatica

    Ignore this whole thing. Read this March 2017 update instead.  For the past four months I’ve had pain pretty much all day, every day. I think I’m finally at the end of it. I saw a lot of doctors, watched a lot of YouTube videos, and read a lot of articles, forums, and books. It’s…