Mille viae ducunt homines per saecula Romam (A thousand roads lead men forever to Rome)

Wake-up 5:00 am to take first flight @ 7:00 to Rome and see this SPECTACULAR sight from the plane.....

After my trip to the Embassy to renew my passport which, by the way, only took 15 minutes, I met up with Stefy for lunch.

Stefy & I in a store trying on funny stuff!

Then, off to dinner with the other girls, Claudia & Laura to eat spaghetti!

Claudia

Next Day Trevi Fountain!

Claudia, Stefy & Laura

Caludia, Stefy & Me

The Pantheon, a building in Rome, commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD.

Since the Renaissance the Pantheon has been used as a tomb. Among those buried there are the painters Raphael and Annibale Carracci, the composer Arcangelo Corelli, and the architect Baldassare Peruzzi.

Also buried there are two kings of Italy: Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, as well as Umberto's Queen, Margherita.

Although Italy has been a republic since 1946, volunteer members of Italian monarchist organisations maintain a vigil over the royal tombs in the Pantheon. This has aroused protests from time to time from republicans, but the Catholic authorities allow the practice to continue, although the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage is in charge of the security and maintenance.

The Pantheon today is used as a church. Masses are celebrated there, in particular on important Catholic days of obligation and weddings.

Corinthian Capitals

The Pantheon Dome's coffered ceiling also known as a lacunar ceiling:

Piazza Navona

Built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones ("games"), and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis' (competition arena). It is believed that over time the name changed to 'in agone' to 'navone' and eventually to 'navona'.

One of the statues in Neptune's Fountain in Piazza Navona.

Claudia

A cute little shop!

And cute Restaurants! I wish I could have tried them all!

Tired Girls!
Stefy In Piazza di Spagna
Spanish Steps from Piazza di Spagna
Taking a rest with cocktails & champagne

an old barber shop!

Cool painting

Last Night in Rome, our yummy vegetarian dinner, and it was REALLY GOOD!

...... The rest of the time was spent shopping.... no time to take pictures there! :-))))

Aaahhh "La Dolce Vita"

.....AND A GIRLS WEEKEND IN ROME! Can you say FUN FUN FUN!! I needed to get to the Embassy to take care of my expired US passport so why not turn it into a long weekend???

I'll be going with some girl-friends, one of which is getting married in July, so we'll be doing some SERIOUS shoe-shopping! Stay tuned for LOADS of pictures!

COMING SOON TO A BLOG NEAR YOU!

Anyone going to New York Soon?

Well if you are, (I'm not) I'd like to suggest going to the Museum of the City Of New York to see an AWESOME exhibition:

Notorious and Notable

At MCNY Through January 2, 2011

A newsworthy exhibition of clothes and jewelry worn by New York's most tantalizing and trailblazing women.

Our Anniversary Island Get-away

Archipelago of La Maddalena: Spargi, Santo Stefano, Caprera,

Santa Maria, Razzoli and Budelli

On our way to the archipelago of La Maddalena, we stopped on the road to visit Saccargia Abby, built in 1116.

beautiful passion flower

Then we boarded the ferry to the Island of La Maddalena...

And across we went from one Island to another!

Arrival at our Hotel - La Maddalena Hotel & Yacht Club

Beautiful furniture in the lobby

Cool design chairs 1

Cool design chairs 2

Our nest for the weekend.

Crystal shower

SPA area

Lounge area with more cool design chairs (I love these! they were velvet!)

A view of the Hotel & Restaurant

The next day we went to visit the last home of Giuseppe Garibald (July 4, 1807 – June 2, 1882) He was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and afterward returned to Italy as a commander in the conflicts of the Risorgimento.

He has been dubbed the "Hero of the Two Worlds" in tribute to his military expeditions in both South America and Europe.

He is considered an Italian national hero.

photos inside the home were not permitted :-(

only outside on the land.

Christina the guard

To Garibaldi: We give you Italy

Huge tree on Garibaldi's land!

Secret cove!

Enrico and his book Gomorrah

The book describes the clandestine particulars of the business of Camorra, a powerful Neapolitan mafia-like organization. Since 2006, following the publication of the book, the Author has been threatened by several Neapolitan “godfathers”. The Italian Minister of the Interior has granted him a permanent police escort.

The book is worth reading.

We took a boat tour around the archipelago, and look at our captain! :-))

The day was just perfect!

And we had a trusted friend on board, Roccia (Rock) and he was! 100lbs of D-O-G!!!!

The wild sea onion blooming was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L"

The next pictures speak for themselves

yes, this is the true color of the sea

Bear rock