This is Great Britain

Day 225- 15/5/10

Enjoying a cider in one of the local beer gardens. If only the sun would have stayed out a bit longer...a lovely day besides that!

I attended a little exhibition of student art work that was done through a gallery, and their three year program. The gallery has a partnership with three schools that every student in those schools makes three gallery visits in a year. Along with that is hands on work, and CPD for teachers. How great is that? I think Canada needs to start doing something like this... Its so important.

Day 223- 13/5/10

Day 222- 12/5/10

Italy has stuck on me...In my opinion Italy is a very easy place to find a good lunch or dinner, compared to somewhere like Spain. I've seemed to be a bit more picky in Spain, and can't always find something I really want.

I bought this great bread book called "Dough" (The local bakery even uses it!), and decided to make some pizza of my own. Fantastic.

Day 221- 11/5/10

A very cool installation that artist Sun W Kwak calls a "drawing". She was installing the piece today using black tape and "responding" to the shape and size of the room, working without a specific plan.

Once the piece is taken out of the gallery wall all the tape is discarded, so the only proof of the piece is photos taken.

Day 220- 10/5/10

One thing we noticed in Italy was the lack of green spaces and the lack of flowers in the city. Arriving back in England something that struck me. How green and lush everything is in the town, not just the countryside.

It's odd how something can seem to change even when you are away for only 11 days, I swear the trees are fuller and brighter with that time that passed.

Day 209-219 30/4/10-9/5/10

For the last eleven days I have been in Italy with my parents. This was a trip we had planned for months and months with the initial plans being altered as flights were cancelled due to the volcano. In the end the trip was fantastic, and I loved enjoying Italy with my folks.

This morning I sat here wondering how I would put up a photo a day for a 11 day trip which covered Rome, Florence, and Cinque Terra.

I have chosen one photo per day of the trip just to give a glimpse of what we saw. For those of you with a keen sense for details will notice there are actually 12 photos. The extra photo will be the one of the gelato, so lovely to look at and consumed every day it had to be included. For those of you lucky enough to be friends with me on Facebook you will see a full album soon...

Ciao!

Arrived in Rome, and taking the Leonardo Express into the Termini station. I like how the train is named after one of the greatest artists of all time.

We climbed to the cupola (dome) of St. Peters in Roma. Lovely view over the city and of St. Peters square. Warm weather and sun...

Italian women have nice handbags and shoes. So many of them would walk around the cobbled streets in heels, I was always amazed.

The Trevi Fountain and all the goodies you can buy! Still warm and sunny...

Inside the duomo in Florence

Gelato. Awesome gelato.

Wandering around Florence, I loved these little trucks mainly for deliveries and waste. This is when the weather turned chilly...

A view of Florence from Michelangelo's piazza. A cold and rainy day.

Breathtaking Cinque Terra. This is Manarola. Still cold and rainy...

The next day we took the train through all five towns since the path was closed due to the rain they were having. A glimpse of blue sky and sun was nice to see at points though the day.

Last night in Rome, Fiumicino actually. Early flights the next morning lead us to stay close to the airport. We had dinner at a family run restaurant that evening. Our fave was the head of the family who sat behind the counter, reading the paper, and passing jobs onto the women working.

Flight home. Almost didn't leave Rome due to ash...