The Colosseum

This place is so amazing, I am not going to rabbit on but will allow the majestic remains speak for themselves.  What I will say is just take a moment to imagine how many people fought on this stage or were killed, it didn't feel like an eerie place but our tour guide told us at night it is definately very creepy.  It was orginally built for the poor, to give some light entertainment for the crowds.

The Gladiators were entertainers, they had to please the crowd.  When they fought each other the crowd would chant but the final decision for life or death would belong to the owner of the Gladiator.  If if the Gladiator was popular or earning the Owner some money then he would normally give the thumbs down and his life was saved if not, he would give the thumbs up and the other Gladiator would kill him there and then.  Usually the Gladiator's were friends and trained together.  Believe it or not it was a good job, it paid well and usually after a number of years they were set free but many Gladiators still stayed on as they loved the notarietary.

This place was facsinating!

http://www.annsteer.com/

Oprah's Inspiration

Hi Y'All.  Who watched Oprah on Friday night??  I am not a big Oprah fan, I watch her on and off and I understand she does so much for others but I find it all to be a bit too hyped up and usually so about Oprah.  Since there was nothing else to watch on Friday night apart from football I tuned in.  If you did watch it and you did not cry, then you have no heart!.  I blubbered my way through it and I have to tell you she said some pretty inspirational things, I loved her views and the way she lives her life, I too try to live my life this way.  She really moved me with her words, we are all so busy with life that we sometimes forget to stop and listen to ourselves.  This just reconfirms everything for me.    I thought I would share her words with you for those that missed this show. 

I know you all have to earn a living but every one has something that makes you, you.  Be true to yourself and embrace the life that is calling you and use that life to serve the world.

You bring the energy that changes your life, please take responsibility for the energy that you bring into this space. 
Don't wait for someone to save you or completete you. You are responsible for your own life when you get that you will be free.

Thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing you deserve it are two different things.
Know that you are Worthy because you are born, because you are here, you alone, are worthy enough.
Validate your co workers your children your husband let them know what they say matters,validate them.

That presence that flow some call it grace is working with me at every single turn and if you let it in it can help you too.  I have felt the presence of god speaking to me all my life, everyone has it, be still, it is there.  You can hear it, acknowledge it or ignore it but it is there. The only time I have made mistakes is when i haven't listened. The whispers are subtle but they are there, pay attention stop and listen.
What are the whispers in your life?  Your life is speaking to you, what is it saying to you? Stop and listen and it will tell you the answer.

Connect, embrace, liberate, love and share this, validate someone!

I will be printing out these words and putting them on my fridge so I can be reminded daily to take time out to be true to myself and others.No body is responsible for your life but you.

The Roman Forum

We had originally planned to visit the Colosseum in Rome but part of our tour included the Roman Forum which actually turned out to be one of the best parts of the entire trip.  This is such an amazing place to visit, the history is incredible and if you pick the right guide your visit is a highlight of any trip to Rome.  We used Roman Empire Tours and they were very knowledgable and best of all only a small group of 6!!  No headphones, no scrambling to follow a guide with 30 other people.

I found the story of Rome so fascinating so if I bore you am sorry, stop reading NOW!

A vestule virgin was in charge of keeping the flame of Rome burning.  It was a 30 Year job, during this term she must remain a virgin, if she didn't the penalty was being buried alive.  The job consisted of 10 years training, 10 years doing and 10 years teaching.  It was a sought after position as the virgin's were treated like royalty, they lived in the palace, were carried around on thrones and were very well paid.

The story of Rome:  A vestule virgin gave birth to twin boys called Romulus and Remus - the Emperor at the time demanded that the virgin be sentenced to death and that the boys be taken away to the woods and killed.  The guard could not bring himself to take the lives of these two baby boys so he placed them next to a pack of wolves assuming that they would do the job for him.  The She Wolf suckles the babies and raises them as one of her own.  Years later when the boys grew, they were very powerful and intelligent, they decided to build a city.  One boy wanted to commence the city on one hill and one on the other, the boys fought and Romulus killed Remus.  Romulus built the city now known as Rome.

Julius Caesar grew up in a middle class family, he was very clever and studied to become a lawyer, he started attending senate and people began to listen to him and he became more powerful.  He led a battle across the seas, where nobody had taken this risk before, he knew if he failed it was certain death but if he won the battle he would be victorious.  He won the battle and led his troops back home and started to rule Rome as Emperor.  He became very popular with all the Romans and started to make his own decisions and not listen to the Senate.  The Senate began to fear this and was concerned about Ceasar's following.  His best friend Marc Antony made a pact with the other Senate members to kill Ceasar.  When Ceasar returned to Senate, Marc Antony stabbed Ceasar and all the other Senate members also took turns in stabbing him, this was so that they all took the blame and not one person could be charged.  One strange thing that day was, usually Ceasar was accompanied by body guards at all times, that day he was alone, some say that he knew that he was going to be murdered, he also had epilepsy which was deemed to be weak/crazy perhaps he wanted to die?  Another thing was was strange, each and every one of the Senate members that stabbed Ceasar died either by murder or suicide.

 This is where Julius Caesar's body was actually cremated !

This is the actual floor that the Senate walked on and made all the decisions!

The Romans gave us the Calendar, originally there were only 10 months in the year, September (meaning 7 in latin), being the Seventh month.  They found that having 10 months in the year didn't allow enough time for harvesting so they added two additional months.  July was named after Julius Ceaser, August was named after Augustus, Julius Ceasar's son.  Orginally August only had 30 days and Augustus was jealous that his month didn't have as many days as July so Augustus pinched a day from February, hence the reason for 29 days in February.

I hope you enjoyed my mini history lesson and if I got anything wrong, my memory has failed me!  Not the first time though.  Have a fantastic weekend everyone, Ciao!



Home Made Pasta

After coming home safely following our Italian holiday and bragging about all the delicious food we have eaten especially the home made pasta's we decided to share our culinary skills with our closest friends.

We did a cooking class whilst in Tuscany and decided to make Bruschetta for entree (a no brainer really been making this for years) freshness is the key.  A homemade ravioli filled with pesto and ricotta with a butter and sage sauce and a homemade taglitelle with pesto.  So our pasta was to be the hero of the night!

We had never made pasta on our own before but felt comfortable that we could achieve this after our cooking class.  My dear husband had bought me an electronic pasta machine for Xmas that was sitting gleaming in the box unused so we dragged it out of hiberation and got to it.

Well the pasta moulded together really well, my husband mixed the ingredients and did the kneeding, I stood by offering my opinion which I call morale support and he calls interferring.   The pasta was ready to put through the machine, we decided to tackle the ravioli first.  The first piece of dough went through the machine pretty well, not a big long sheet of pasta but it didn't stick to the rollers and it came out in one piece, we were relatively happy.  The second piece of dough kind of fell apart, it was a bit holey and it just wasn't right.  We tried and tried and eventually gave up on that piece.  Our third piece, we played with the settings and it worked wonderfully, we were quite a team, my husband was pressing the buttons, changing the nozzles and I was feeding the pasta through and catching the thin sheets below, it was a wonderful feeling.  After about three or four sheets we were on a roll and not caring about the oodles of flour that was spilling onto the floor or all over our workspaces.  The pasta sheets were lining up and we were gradually running out of room.  My husband went on to start on the next lot of pasta dough to commence the Taglitelle.

I started to prepare the pesto sauce, which is just pine nuts, parmesan cheese, basil leaves and olive oil.  I borrowed my brother's $300 food processor but managed to put the blades on incorrectly and took a good 15 minutes of stress (my husband's) to get off.  Finally, my husband put the blades back on I poured a handful of pine nuts in to test it (also my husband's advice) and crap, there was smoke, the blade was still not on properly and it had gouged into the plastic bowl and had melted the blade to the bowl.  Crap, crap, crap, one mixer down.  I went to all of my neighbours doors, knocking, begging a blender but they were all out or inside hiding with their blenders!  Quick into the car, down to the local electrical store and purchased a hand held bar mixer. 

Back home, mixer out of bag realised the mini blade will take a while to get through the nuts and basil but after a lot of persistance and smirks from my husband the pesto was ready and looking good!  Meanwhile the taglitelle was ready and put aside for later.  We headed back to the ravioli sheets waiting to be filled but they had gone hard like cardboard!!! We thought that maybe with a bit of water they may be ok, so we added some filling tried to squeeze the sheets together to look like a parcel but it was like two pieces of cardboard trying to stick together without any glue.  It was not looking good, but not to be outdone, we tried 8 pieces together with the a few strands of the taglitelle and boiled a pan of water, two minutes later, nothing was rising to the surface but the filling was ha ha.  Green blobs of pesto and ricotta were popping up out of the bubbles.  Five minutes later and still no pasta on the surface, we dragged out the soggy remains still looking (and tasting) like wet cardboard and finally agreed our pasta was a failure. 

We had been cooking for 4 hours, we were still getting over jet lag from our ventures, we were tired, our kitchen resembled something like a construction zone, a white construction zone, flour in every crevice, dried pasta sheets covering every surface.  Our hero of the night was a big FAIL.

Pine Nuts $17.24, Basil $6, Parmesan Cheese $9.95 ($33 pesto sauce!!!!!), 1 Food Processor $300, 1 Bar mix $49.95, 1 Roast Lamb $35, 1 Roast Pork $27 (our Hero substitute, a roast cooked in the BBQ never fails to be a Hero), x 2 bottles of Red, Great Great Friends and laughs were free - PRICELESS!!!

And by the way I blame the flour! not the chefs!  I have now found the "00" flour and we will not be defeated, Round 2 coming up!

The Sistine Chapel

I have to get back to art, after all I am writing an art blog not a travel blog!

The first impression of the Piazza San Pietro is crazy, a very touristy area and full of people trying to get you to buy trashy souveniers and people trying to get you to sign up for a tour, complete madness.  The area is so overwhelming that the Vatican and St Peter's Basilica is almost the second thing you notice.  A guide is a must.

Which brings me to the Sistine Chapel, what an amazing piece of art and I am so blessed to have actually had the chance to see it with my own eyes instead of merely through books.

I could not take any photo's of the ceiling as believe it or not, all photography is banned as the rights to the Chapel ceiling is owned by Fuji!!!!  Yes that is right, Fuji paid for the restoration/clean of the Sistine Chapel in return for all photographic rights for 20 years.  The only snap shot you can get of this ceiling is via a postcard sold for 1 euro.  It may not seem like much but when 40,000 people a day can wander through the Vatican, I am sure that Fuji got their money's worth.

Here is a downloaded pic for you all to gaze and wonder and not ruin your neck in the process!!



Michaelangelo, who was not primarily a painter but a sculptor, was reluctant to take on the work but the Pope was adamant, leaving Michelangelo no choice but to accept. However Michelangelo negotiated for a grander, much more complex scheme and was finally permitted, in his own words, "to do as I liked".  His scheme for the ceiling eventually comprised some three hundred figures and took four years to execute.  Actually some have argued that he finished it in 3 years as he completed the first half of the ceiling in just 1 year and had to wait for a year before being able to commence the second half which he completed in 2 years.




He did all this work under duress, he wanted to finish this work quickly so he could begin sculpting again which was his true love.  In fact he was disecting cadavers at the age of 14 of which the church was strongly against but Michaelangelo said that the Greek sculptors were doing this and he too needed to learn how the human bodies worked inside and out so that he could be the best scupltor in the world.

His first painting on the ceiling took him 6 months and he quickly realised that he would never finish plus this was too small for people to see clearly from down below so he started to put less detail in his work.  Towards the second half of the ceiling he changed his style further and began to paint using two paintbrushes one in each hand and not put much detail on the background.  Basically he just wanted to get the job done.

Years later Michaelangelo was dragged back to complete the final piece, called the Last Judgement.



This work is is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. It is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse. The souls of humans rise and descend to their fates, as judged by Christ surrounded by his saints.  Michaelangelo had to pay for all his paints up front during the painting of the Sistine Chapel, in those days the most expensive paint of all was blue, used by grinding down lapis to make the blue.  As you can see there was not much blue used in the painting of the ceiling, mainly greys and greens.  Once his was commissioned to paint the Last Judgement he chose to paint it almost entirely in blue as the Church was paying for all paints used.  Lapis was very expensive and he used it with abundance.

The Last Judgment was an object of heavy dispute between Cardinal Carafa and Michelangelo, the artist was accused of immorality and intolerable obscenity, having depicted naked figures, with genitals in evidence, inside the most important church of christianity so a censorship campain was organised by Carafa to remove the frescoes. When the Pope's own Master of Ceremonies, Biagio de Cesena, said "it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully," and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather "for the public baths and taverns," Michelangelo worked Cesena's face into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld (far bottom-right corner of the painting) with Donkey ears (i.e. indicating foolishness), while his nudity is covered by a coiled snake. It is said that when Cesena complained to the Pope, the pontiff joked that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain.  The genitalia in the fresco were covered 24 years later

Can you only imagine what this man could have created if he had done so with love and passion, he did not want to be a painter, scultping was his passion yet his legacy was the painting of the Sistine Chapel.

Truely Inspiring!!!

Rome Part 3

Shopping is a big part of Rome, Via Condotti is designer shoppers heaven.  If I had plenty of money I would seriously travel to Rome twice a year for seasonal wardrobe updates, all the major designers are all on one street, you could shop to your hearts desire.

For the more affordable range of fashion Via del Corso is a long long street that has shops, shops and more shops. 

I must say that in Italy I thought that the men were better dressed than the women, the men always had a nice shirt, designer jeans, leather shoes and a fitted jacket and always the quintassential item, a designer pair of sunnies!

The coffee in Rome was to die for!!  I am sure that they looked down their italian noses at my coffee taste as I did have an Americano Coffee which basically was a long black.  The Italians have a tiny expresso shot that resembles something like tar, they drink it standing up in little cafe's like at a bar.  Anyway the Americano coffee was the best tasting coffee I have had ever had.  I did have a few cappuchinos and they were also so yum!

We also went to a church called Santa maria Della Conzione, it is the cemetary where the bones of 4,000 capuchin monks have been arranged.  Each room depicts bones from a certain area of the body.  There is an arch crafted out of skulls, ceilings made up of collar bones, an entire room made up of pelvis', femur light fixtures.

On the last room there is a message in latin which says "what you are now, we used to be; what we are now you will be"

Was very very very bizarre, no photo's to show you are it was not allowed but I am sure you can get the picture!

Rome Part 2

The Trevi Fountain
Around this famous fountain is total chaos, loads and loads of people jam packed, it is actually a struggle to get close to the fountain and you are best hanging around the sides to get a better view.

There are interesting little shops mixed in with the usual tourist souvenier shops which all house the same thing, trashy t-shirts, little rome snow domes and mini collusems and leaning tower of pisa's.

Piazza Navona is a really nice area, this place is full of artists but I really do think that they are commercially done, I could be wrong but I did not seen one artist painting on site, if they are sitting there all day in the wonderful area why are they not painting?  They all seems to be selling very similar works with the same style and they had their paints in a tool box but not one of them was using any paints.  I think they had been created en masse and selling on to unsuspecting tourists. 

It was a nice forum mixed with artists and street performers lined with trendy cafe's and restaurants.  Many of the buskers are dressed up to look like a statue and stay still until somebody puts money in their hat.  One day a guitarist was playing wonderful music using a large amp and it just added an amazing ambience to the whole italian experience, sitting in the sun drinking a cappuchino in a nearby cafe watching the world go by.

Italy - Rome

I'm back after an amazing 27 days in Italy!  I have wanted to visit this country for about 10 years and finally got to do it with the two beautiful men in my life that I love dearly, my husband and my son.  Italy did not disappoint.

I will start with Rome.  Ahh Rome, I just loved this eternal city, it was fast paced, full of wonderfully dressed men and women, interesting architecture, amazing history, and winding streets just waiting to be explored.

If I had to sum up Rome if a few words I would say "Its all about the fashion, coffee, sunglasses and history".

I am going to begin with the Spanish Steps, it is one of those iconic people watching places, the day that we went the steps were really quiet, but after a couple of days, they were literally filled with people, with only a small gap to walk through to the top.  I realised how lucky we were to actually see the steps almost people free, I am sure it is a rarity.  On the steps there were people sitting, lovers kissing, people eating, people writing, people reading it was an incredible people watching place.  My favourite past time was trying to work out people's nationality, there are people from all over the world that flock to this monument.

The Pantheon is another famous building, built around a piazza and the roof has an open dome, the rain actually falls through the hole.

The Rome odyssey ...... to be continued....