Our last European vacation (at least for a couple years) was also our first (but definitely not our last) Roman holiday. We made the pilgrimage last March, and I really should have posted the pictures before now.
Our most memorable moments:
10. Walking through ancient history at Roman Forum.
9. Dusk at the top of the Spanish Steps.
8. Shopping for shoes on Via dei Condotti (also the most expensive part of the trip).
7. The most expensive carriage ride ever (though the sites we passed were spectacular).
6. Searching for the best italian gelato, pasta and pizza.
5. St. Peter's Basilica and Vatican City (especially the view - both looking outwards to the city and looking downwards into the Basilica - from the dome).
4. La Pietà by Michelangelo.
3. Trevi fountain by moonlight.
2. Colosseum by moonlight.
1. That moment of complete captivation when you realise you could never get enough and will have to keep coming back in order to feed your habit (thank goodness for a good job working for a company headquartered in Europe).
The pictures (from left to right; top to bottom):
- Maddie and Izzie dancing in a piazza near Pantheon.
- Izzie enjoying a beverage at dinner.
- 3 pictures of Maddie and Izzie at Roman Forum.
- Maddie posing at Trevi Fountain.
- View of Via dei Condotti from Spanish Steps.
- 2 Pictures of my girls during carriage ride.
- Maddie at Roman Forum and St Peter's Basilica (below pictures of carriage ride).
- Maddie from our rooftop hotel restaurant at breakfast (view of Roman Forum).
- Maddie and Izzie eating gelato on roof of St Peter's Basilica (underneath picture of Maddie at breakfast).
- Ally's newest boyfriend (preparing for some photo shoot near Pantheon - check out the clips on the back of his suit jacket).
- Maddie making a wish and throwing her coin into Trevi Fountain.
- Izzie eating gelato.
- My girls at Colosseum.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Wine, Waves & Happy Birthday to Maddie
It's been awhile, and we apologise for our long absence. I could blame it on moving and adjusting to Perth, and this would be partially the truth. The rest of the truth is that Ally and I have been in a blogging face-off that, as is now apparent from this post, Ally won.
As such, it falls to me to write our first post from Oz (please note the Dorothy costume and the 'Over the Rainbow' photo included in the slideshow above).
There are many things about Perth we love...the city is big enough and has most anything we could want or need, the beaches and other scenery is beautiful (as you'll also note above) and the people are friendly...but I think we're still adjusting from life in London (the center of just about everything) to life in a place that is (perhaps a bit eerily) both remote and cosmopolitan. Please don't think we're complaining (we do like it here), it's just that Perth feels a long way from everything.
Anyway, Maddie turned seven this week, and Rick and Vanalee have been here to help us celebrate. The following pictures cover the period from Bammy's arrival (Papa Ricky arrived a few days later) through yesterday, and include Maddie's birthday (presents, cake, dorothy costume and lunch at the beach), our long weekend in Margaret River (the Napa Valley of WA; but, don't worry, we stuck to the non-alcoholic stuff) and Mandurah (where Nana served her mission) and a few other miscellaneous photos.
Enjoy! We'll try to be better about posting more regularly, and (if I can get Ally to help me) we also need to find time to post our recent trip to Rome and a few other odds and ends.
As such, it falls to me to write our first post from Oz (please note the Dorothy costume and the 'Over the Rainbow' photo included in the slideshow above).
There are many things about Perth we love...the city is big enough and has most anything we could want or need, the beaches and other scenery is beautiful (as you'll also note above) and the people are friendly...but I think we're still adjusting from life in London (the center of just about everything) to life in a place that is (perhaps a bit eerily) both remote and cosmopolitan. Please don't think we're complaining (we do like it here), it's just that Perth feels a long way from everything.
Anyway, Maddie turned seven this week, and Rick and Vanalee have been here to help us celebrate. The following pictures cover the period from Bammy's arrival (Papa Ricky arrived a few days later) through yesterday, and include Maddie's birthday (presents, cake, dorothy costume and lunch at the beach), our long weekend in Margaret River (the Napa Valley of WA; but, don't worry, we stuck to the non-alcoholic stuff) and Mandurah (where Nana served her mission) and a few other miscellaneous photos.
Enjoy! We'll try to be better about posting more regularly, and (if I can get Ally to help me) we also need to find time to post our recent trip to Rome and a few other odds and ends.
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Eternal London Haunts Us Still
'Go where we may - rest where we will, Eternal London haunts us still' (Thomas Moore).
I think if you've really experienced London, you'll understand Moore's word choice. I'm sure the locals would say I haven't lived here long enough to really understand, and they're probably right - but I understand a little.
'America is my country and Paris is my hometown' (Gertrude Stein). This I understand, as I've felt similarly about London ... I think part of me always will.
We're moving again (and it feels like it will really happen this time) ... to Perth, Australia. What I've already experienced of Australia (and Australians) makes me excited to start our new adventure, even though I'm not fully resigned to ending our current one.
Please come visit - I think we'll have plenty of space, and the scenery is beautiful.
I found a few quotes about Australia, Australians or by Australians, which I like:
'The true Aussie battler and his wife thrust doggedly onwards: starting again, failing again, implacably thrusting towards success. For success, even if it is only the success of knowing that one has tried to the utmost and never surrendered, is the target of every battler' (Michael Page & Robert Inapen).
'Those who lose dreaming are lost' (Australian Aboriginal proverb).
'If you go out for a big night and by some misadventure you end up in a prison cell, you can count on your best friend to bail you out, but your best mate will be in there besides you' (Australian observation)
'The cricket bat is mightier than the pen and the sword combined' (anon).
'A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour' (anon).
'Before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticise them, you're a mile away and have their shoes' (anon).
'They who came here in chains, who were lashed while they worked in convict gangs at Port Arthur. They who like many others were driven through starvation or oppression from their home-lands to the shores of this new country, Australia. They, who for a multitude of reasons that hopefully, I or my children will never witness or experience, decided not to harbour grudges or discontent but rather to look to the future. They who embraced this country as their own and said; let's get on with it, this is a new land, this is our home' (Dennis O'Keeffe - Musician).
'It is a mistake to think you can't be hurt if you don't care' (Errol Flynn).
'Australians are, I have found, ready to laugh at themselves if they think that the joke is funny and the humour not ill-directed. And the ability to be self-deprecating is the mark of confidence; it is, as much as anything else, the yardstick by which a society measures how tolerant and self-assured it is' (Soumya Bhattacharya).
'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia' (Charles M Schultz).
I think if you've really experienced London, you'll understand Moore's word choice. I'm sure the locals would say I haven't lived here long enough to really understand, and they're probably right - but I understand a little.
'America is my country and Paris is my hometown' (Gertrude Stein). This I understand, as I've felt similarly about London ... I think part of me always will.
We're moving again (and it feels like it will really happen this time) ... to Perth, Australia. What I've already experienced of Australia (and Australians) makes me excited to start our new adventure, even though I'm not fully resigned to ending our current one.
Please come visit - I think we'll have plenty of space, and the scenery is beautiful.
I found a few quotes about Australia, Australians or by Australians, which I like:
'The true Aussie battler and his wife thrust doggedly onwards: starting again, failing again, implacably thrusting towards success. For success, even if it is only the success of knowing that one has tried to the utmost and never surrendered, is the target of every battler' (Michael Page & Robert Inapen).
'Those who lose dreaming are lost' (Australian Aboriginal proverb).
'If you go out for a big night and by some misadventure you end up in a prison cell, you can count on your best friend to bail you out, but your best mate will be in there besides you' (Australian observation)
'The cricket bat is mightier than the pen and the sword combined' (anon).
'A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour' (anon).
'Before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticise them, you're a mile away and have their shoes' (anon).
'They who came here in chains, who were lashed while they worked in convict gangs at Port Arthur. They who like many others were driven through starvation or oppression from their home-lands to the shores of this new country, Australia. They, who for a multitude of reasons that hopefully, I or my children will never witness or experience, decided not to harbour grudges or discontent but rather to look to the future. They who embraced this country as their own and said; let's get on with it, this is a new land, this is our home' (Dennis O'Keeffe - Musician).
'It is a mistake to think you can't be hurt if you don't care' (Errol Flynn).
'Australians are, I have found, ready to laugh at themselves if they think that the joke is funny and the humour not ill-directed. And the ability to be self-deprecating is the mark of confidence; it is, as much as anything else, the yardstick by which a society measures how tolerant and self-assured it is' (Soumya Bhattacharya).
'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia' (Charles M Schultz).
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Chubby Ears
Just a photo so Dad can see Izzie enjoying her new chubby ears for the first time. They're a little big, but she'll grow into them!
Friday, 6 November 2009
Izzie is 22 months old.
It is hard to believe that they grow up so fast..JPG){kind=link}
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