The Forum, Roma

The Forum was the centre of Ancient Rome. Today one can see ruins of basilicas, temples, Arches and other important buildings, which the Emperors built to glorify themselves. Excavations still continue at the Forum. As we walked around we could imagine how grand and important the city must have been two thousand years ago. The buildings are huge and the size of the columns makes one wonder how they managed to move these behemoths without any machinery. Lily is standing in front of the Arch of Titus. The day after, we had a great view of the Forum from the back of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, which is part of the Capitoline Museums.

Experience Rome

Journaling is the same as the previous layout about Rome. Paper from Club Scrap.

Our hotel Raphael, all covered in ivy and full of antiques, was just off Piazza Navona. So we spent a lot of time there, especially while we waited for the Singh family to join us. The Piazza Navona is in a Baroque style. The Piazza has Bernini’s famous Fountain of Four Rivers, among other beautiful fountains. I was amazed to see Ganges depicted as a male. There are many cafes around the piazza where is the food is really good. And there were many painters and street performers. Lively and colourful, it is the perfect place to spend a few hours.

The Pantheon was a Roman “Temple to all the Gods”. In the middle ages it became a church. This amazing structure is a symbol of Rome itself! The huge dome has the same height and diameter. It has only one hole on the top through which light comes in. The Pantheon was designed by Emperor Hadrian (AD 118 – 125). The famous artist Raphael is buried there, as are many of the modern kings of Italy.

Visiting Pisa

I really like the way the top layout turned out but I must admit that I am more pleased with the lower layout because I was able to use up the 'Italian' Jolee's that had been in my stash for years!

We left Florence in the morning by train. After a long train ride and a short taxi ride we finally saw the famous leaning tower, where Galileo Galilee conducted his experiments on the velocity of falling objects.
The tower is built on sandy soil which is why is started tilting even before the third floor was built. The tower is the bell tower for the Duomo of Pisa. And both the Duomo and the Baptistery are also inclined, but not as much as the tower.Unfortunately, we did not climb to the top this time, but as I always say, we will be back! In the mean time, thanks to the millions of tourists, like Lily, holding it up, the Tower still stands!

Boboli Gardens, Florence

I used the beautiful papers from Club Scrap for this layout. Even though it is not to evident in this layout, the paper actually has a garden layout, which though perfect for this page, required a lot of hand wringing on my part because it felt like a crime to cover it up! But then I have this problem with all Club Scrap papers!

Excellent example of Renaissance style gardening, the Boboli gardens were laid out in 1549 for the Medici family, who then had bought the Palazzo Pitti. Starting from the palace, the gardens are laid out symmetrically uphill. It is very enjoyable, but hard work, walking along the cypress lined avenues, which lead to the top of the hill behind the palace. Ricky Singh commented that Boboli must have been a very athletic guy indeed! We climbed all the way to the top, where there is a museum of porcelains.

Florence, Italy

The Singh family was visiting with us. We took the train from Piacenza and our first stop was Florence. We were in a small but very nice hotel just behind the Duomo. Florence is, in my opinion, the most beautiful city in Italy. The first impact of the Duomo and the Baptistery leaves you speechless! The Baptistery, with its incredible bronze doors, is from the 4th century, the oldest building in Florence. Next time we will climb to the top of the famous dome, designed by Brunelleschi.

Florence was the home of the Medici family for many years. Between 1865 and 1871 Florence was the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The Medici family was extremely rich and they patronized the Arts. Today many streets, churches and palaces in Florence are filled with examples of fine Renaissance work of the artists who flocked to Florence, and its wealthy patrons.

We walked into the Piazza della Signoria and immediately bought a famous Florentine ice cream. I winced at the price but this was an indulgence!! The line for the Uffizi was 4 hours long. So we visited the Palazzo Vecchio. We walked around this beautiful building with its amazing paintings, statues and frescos. We loved it! We walked towards the Ponte Vecchio. There were so many street entertainers, painters and other artists selling their wares, we almost could not walk. The Ponte Vecchio is a small covered bridge across the Arno River. It is lined on both sides with jeweler’s shops, famous for their work through the ages. We took a fun bus ride to see the city with microphones that were not working very well. But we managed to understand some things about the history of Florence.

We wanted to see the Palazzo Pitti but because it was Monday, it was closed and we settled for the Boboli gardens instead. A word of advice – avoid Florence on a Monday! I am so sad because I wanted to show you the ‘Madonna of the Chair’ by Raphael, my favorite painting of all time. The original is in this building! This is a beautiful city that needs to be visited many times to discover all its beautiful art and history.

Roman Forum & the Capitoline Museums, Roma

I copied the layout style from a publication. I liked the rounded edges - they are coming back in style! Who knows, soon we may be using our decorative edge scissors again!?!

Here we are at the entrance to the Capitoline museums. Among other interesting things we saw lots of statues with their penises cut off – on orders of some extremely holy Pope in the 15th century. We saw a huge statue of Marcus Aurelius on a horse. Also here are the famous Lupa or She-wolf of Rome and the Spinario, an exquisite statue from 1st century BC, of a little boy removing a thorn.

From the back of the Palazzo dei Conservatori w had a fabulous view of the Roman Forum, which we had already visited a day earlier.The Forum was the centre of Ancient Rome. Today one can see ruins of basilicas, temples, Arches, which the Emperors built to glorify themselves and other important buildings. The excavations are still going on at the Forum. As we walked around we could imagine how grand and important the city must have been two thousand years ago. The buildings are huge and the size of the columns makes one wonder how they managed to move these behemoths without any machinery. Ricky is standing in front of the Arch of Titus.

Piazza Navona, Roma

Keeping the layout really simple with Basic Grey and a sticker about travel.

Our hotel Raphael, all covered in ivy and full of antiques, was just off Piazza Navona. So we spent a lot of time there, especially while we waited for the Singh family to join us. The Piazza Navona is in a Baroque style.

The Piazza has Bernini’s famous Fountain of Four Rivers, among other beautiful fountains. I was amazed to see Ganges depicted as a male. There are many cafes around the piazza where is the food is really good. And there were many painters and street performers. Lively and colourful, it is the perfect place to spend a few hours.

Indian Dress

Ricky was dressed up in his Indian clothes for 'Indian Day' at school. Eshana looks so pretty and Jamie is simply adorable! I tried getting one photo of him and me together, but Ricky is always pulling faces! And of course, Joe had to stick his testa in from behind ... LOL! Not very pleased with the title fonts & style, but it'll have to do.