ROME - FIRST IMPRESSIONS

When you come from a place where the land itself is ancient but there are very few man made structures which are more than 100years old 

and you walk around a corner in a new city looking for a supermarket to buy to tea, bread and coke only to be confronted with this,

it is a little difficult to take in !!

This is the Pantheon in Rome and it is just around the corner from where we are staying. 

Now this is a seriously old building. 

It looks terribly old too. 

It was completed in 125 AD and has survived intact till today.

That's over 1800 years old ! ! !

Inside it is just awe inspiring.

The dome is very high and it was the highest dome in the world for hundreds --no, more than a thousand , years. The only light source was the oculus at  its highest point.

This is the original marble floor. Still beautiful today.

Not far away, through ancient, windy laneways we wandered into the Piazza Navona

Around every corner there is a wonderful fountain but this lovely square has three of them !

The cafés surrounding the square proved to be too enticing and we had our first taste of dining in Rome - a late breakfast and a pleasant chat with a friendly waiter to try out our Italian. 

Delightful.

Then it was on to find the famous Trevi Fountain.

I've decided that when you travel from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere you lose all sense of direction. We seemed to be going in circles and finally turned the map upside down ! 

That seemed to solve the problem and we finally arrived at the fountain.

There was a huge crowd there too but that didn't diminish it's beauty.

It was a bit of a battle to get to the edge of the fountain so we could toss our coins in, but we did it.

Right hand . Over left shoulder 

That's the way !

Hope it works!

More adventures soon.

Cheers.

ANZAC DAY 2014

ANZAC DAY,

possibly the most important day commemorated in Australia,

  is celebrated on 25th April.

 

 

Although at first it was created as the day we honour those who fought and died at Gallipoli, it has evolved into a day we remember all those who served ,

fighting for the freedoms we enjoy today.

 

 Most of these battles have been fought on distant shores.

 

 

Each year more and more people attend memorial ceremonies and the dawn ceremonies are extremely popular.

 

This year the images of service men killed in recent action were projected onto the front of the Australian War Memorial in  Canberra before the service began.

 

 

Ben Roberts-Smith VC spoke at the ceremony this morning emphasising that we should remember the returned soldiers and wounded too and give them continuous on-going support.

(He's a huge fellow isn't he? )

 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived unexpectedly and unannounced around 4:30am on a very cool Canberra morning to take part quietly in the service.

 

                          And later in the day took part in the official ANZAC DAY PARADE.

    

                           All over the world Australians we're taking part in similar ceremonies

                            ensuring that we never forget the horror and terrible price of war.

                                                                  LEST WE FORGET

SPECIAL VISITORS

 

We have some very special visitors to Australia at the moment.

 

 

We're very happy to see them and their tour is creating loads of interest with huge crowds where ever they go.

But for me yesterday was a highlight.

 

Do you remember here when I told you about the plight of the bilby and how there was a push to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby?

 

The poor little bilby, though very cute, is not widely known.

 

Or he wasn't till yesterday !

Yesterday William and Kate and George ensured that the world now knows what a bilby is.

 

 

This one has been named George too !!

 

 

 

There was even a toy bilby to take home.

 

 

A proud dad taking his little one to the zoo.

 

Little George was enthralled

 

Lots of lovely images of a lovely little family behaving very much like most families with small children at the zoo.

 

Cheers.

 

COUNT DOWN

AsIt is exactly two weeks today till we jet of on our much anticipated holiday in Italy.

We're counting down the days and ticking off the jobs that need to be done.

1. Visit Brett and Sarah in Sydney .... Tick

2. Visit Mum and Dad in Hervey Bay....... Tick

3. Get new suitcases down from wardrobe and dust them off...... Tick

4.  Get technology organised...... Tick

This means the purchase of a brand new iPad for me !

A lovely new, THIN, light ipad5 has made its way into my possession and I am writing this post on it to see if I can post and place photos scattered amongst the text.

As you can see from this photo I am also learning how to do screen shots on the iPad!

5. Begin to gather clothes together. ........ Tick

So that's five ticks and this iPad post seems to be working well too. 

I'm sure that I will get the hang of it as I use it more while on the holiday.

I'm hoping to get back into blogging more when I have more to blog about while traveling around Italy.

Cheers.

CELEBRATION WEEKEND

 

A weekend visit to Sydney was in the wind as we gathered to celebrate the engagement of Brett and Sarah.

To say we are delighted they have decided to take this big step would be an understatement !

 

Leaving home at 6:00am we first drove to the Gold Coast to pick up Sally then on to Coolangatta airport for a 9:00am flight to Sydney.

 

 

The Gold Coast looked its sparkling best in the early morning sunshine

before we headed south to Sydney.

 

Due to the fact that Queensland does not join the southern states in switching to Daylight Saving Time over the Summer months, we lost an hour on the one and a half hour flight and arrived in Sydney at 11:30 am.

 

It was lovely to catch up with Brett and Sarah for a while before we checked into a nearby motel and dolled ourselves up before setting off in the late afternoon for the city by ferry.

 

 We started off with bubbles - the best way to begin any celebration -

 

 

at the Argyle Hotel , a very trendy spot in the historic Rocks area.

 

 

(http://www.theargylerocks.com/)

When we emerged darkness had fallen and the famous Sydney landmarks were all lit up

 

 

Our restaurant for the night was one of these lined up below

 

 

complete with tall ship masts as decoration

 

It was a lovely night.

We met Sarah's family for the first time and were soon chatting like old friends.

Exciting times ahead planning a wedding for later in the year.

 

 

Sunday's weather began fine but cool.

Just enough time for a delightful breakfast but

as the day progressed the weather deteriorated until we said goodbye and headed home

  in this

 

 

 

 

Cheers.