Rome

We spent last week in Italy with our dear friends from the US, Sarah & Jonathan.  Our trip began in Rome and because I took so many photos (I will only post a fraction of them!), I am going to post a separate entry for each city. Rome was by far our favorite stop on our Italy trip....the food was AMAZING and our hotel was the most lovely place in which we stayed during our trip. 

Upon our arrival in Rome, we were surprised with the great news that Jonathan & Sarah had just gotten engaged a few days prior! We are SO excited for them and were thrilled to be able to celebrate their good news in person!!! That news, along with a fabulous time we had in Rome were the best parts of our stay there. However, while in Rome we felt the earthquake that hit L'Aquila, Italy, and our luggage was lost by Air Italia for three days upon arrival in Rome. It was then discovered as we were getting ready to leave for Florence that our luggage had been sitting at the airport but had some note on it saying we did not want them to deliver it to us at our hotel. I was obviously fuming about the situation by that point but it was difficult to correspond with the stellar customer service representatives who spoke little English. 

On to our recap of the better parts of our travels in Italy... We stayed in the Aventine neighborhood of Rome. It is not terribly far from the Colosseum but it is surely not in the height of the tourist crowds. Because it is not in the high tourist traffic, our dining experiences seemed much more authentic. 

Our lovely hotel in the Aventine neighborhood in Rome. 

Hotel S'Anselmo. If you are going to Rome, I highly recommend this hotel. It was a treat!

Our first night of dinner in Rome at a local restaurant started with this pizza that we shared as one of our starters. The buffalo mozzerella was so creamy and fresh - it was heaven! Every meal we had in Rome was excellent, especially those dinners we ate near our hotel. The restaurants near our hotel did not have any English on the menu and only a few people inside the entire place even spoke English. It was a bit challenging one evening because our waiter did not know any English, however he knew Spanish, so Jonathan was able to translate for the rest of us! 

The highlights of Rome included the tremendous sights we visited. We started with the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We breezed through both of those sights in less than a day but could easily go back to spend a full day at the Forum alone. 

The Roman Colosseum. 

The Arch of Constantine, located in the valley of the Colosseum, between Palatine Hill and the Colosseum. This triumphal arch was erected in c. 315CE.  

Inside the Colosseum, I start to listen to the guided audio tour. 

A view from the upper level of the Colosseum, looking inside the structure. The Colosseum was capable of seating about 50,000 spectators and was used gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. It is estimated that 500,000 people and OVER ONE MILLION animals died in the Colosseum games! 

Sarah & Jonathan touring the Colosseum. 

Sarah & Cassie inside the Roman Forum area, with the Colosseum close by and directly in the background. The Roman Forum is located between the Palatine Hill and the Capitoline Hill in the city of Rome. It is the central area around which ancient Roman civilization developed.

Scott, our week-long navigator, deciphering a map to see where inside the Forum we were...

A view of the ruins inside the Forum.  The forum was the heart of Roman political, social, and economic world. 

More of an overview of the main forum within the area. People first began meeting in this area about 500 BC, around the time of the founding Republic.

Scott inside the Forum. 

We made our way to the Spanish Steps which were crowded with people enjoying the beautiful sunny day! 

Can you see me waving on the steps? 

Now can you see Scott standing there half-way up on the stairs? I was all the way up top to look down...

One of my favorite parts of our entire trip, was our daily stop for gelato. The first day's gelato in Rome was the best we had but unfortunately I don't remember the name of the gelateria at which we ate. It was near the spanish steps and it was a welcome snack! 

Our daily dose of gelato. Mint chocolate chip was the winner this day.

Jonathan opted for a scoop of chocolate for himself.

The next day we visited another big site of Rome - The Vatican.  

The Vatican Museum Entrance. Pope Julius II founded the museums in the 16th century. There are 54 galleries or "salas" in total, with the Sistine Chapel being the last and the most noticeable one. 

Jonathan, Scott, and Sarah waiting patiently in line to enter the Vatican. I think we waited about 45 minutes which wasn't terrible, considering how long the line appeared to be upon our arrival! 

A garden area within the Vatican walls.

Another outdoor area within the Vatican. The entire museum is over 9 miles in length! It takes an average of 30 minutes to walk just from the entrance to the main attraction within the museum, the Sistene Chapel.

A bronze statue of Hercules. Hercules was the god of victory and commercial activity. 

The detail of the ceiling inside the room of maps. 

Sarah & Jonathan inside the room of maps. I thought this photo was particularly neat since the people walking alongside them are a bit blurred.

A glimpse of St. Peter's Basilica out of one of the windows inside the Vatican. 

St. Peter's Basilica. This church has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. 

Scott & Cassie in the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica with the sea of chairs set up for Easter services. 

There are a few markers within the square in front of the Basilica, that when you stand on them, the columns of St. Peter's square appear to only have one row of columns, as opposed to the four that are really there. 

The Trevi Fountain. It was crowded with lots of people enjoying the sight and the warmth of the afternoon sun. 

In front of the Trevi Fountain. Scott did not make this stop, as he was taking an 80 Euro taxi ride to and from Rome's airport to collect our baggage that Air Italia did not deliver to our hotel.

Our daily dose of gelato - Chocolate, Mint chip, and Creme Caramel.

That evening, we stumbled upon a terrific cheese, meat, and wine shop near our hotel. 

The aromatic and beautiful Italian cheeses for sale.

Their cured meat selection...

Jonathan, Sarah, and Scott out in the hotel's garden enjoying our wine and snacks. 

The Italian cheese & meat plate the local shop made up for us to enjoy back at our hotel's garden. One meat we tasted here was wild boar procioutto. It was tasty but expensive!

Paris for the weekend

I am a bit behind on my blog posts.....we are back from our week in Italy (which was wonderful!) but I still hadn't posted our weekend recap from our trip to Paris that we took the weekend before we left for Italy. It's been a busy spring season of travel for us so I am not fully up to speed with the recaps! 

A few weeks ago we met Scott's good friend Andrew in Paris for the weekend. Andrew has been coming to Amsterdam on business once a month, so we decided to all meet in Paris for the weekend before he flew back to the US.  We stayed in a little boutique hotel about a stone's throw away from the Arc De Triomphe. 

Andrew & Cassie out on the balcony of the hotel. Note the Arc de Triomphe in distance on the right. 

Scott goofing around and I am still amused by him! 

The view of the Arc de Triomphe from the hotel's balcony. It was so close and quite a sight! 

Friday night we enjoyed a dinner of steak frites and then took an evening boat cruise to see the sights of Paris lit up at night. Later that evening, we headed to a bar that Ernest Hemingway used to frequent and stumbled upon the Opera building lit up in its grandeur. 

The Paris Opera. 

We spent most of Saturday morning just walking through the neighborhoods. We started wandering by the Bastille metro stop and stumbled upon the Place Des Vosges Square: 

One of the many red brick buildings surrounding this square. 

Scott and Andrew enjoying our walk through the square in the Marais neighborhood.

A view of the square from an end of it. Victor Hugo, who wrote Les Miserables, lived in one of the red brick houses to the side (no. 6).

Our wandering took us through many neighborhoods, but we stopped for a while when we came to Notre Dame. 

Cassie & Scott sitting on a bench at the back of Notre Dame.

A closer photo of us sitting there....it actually seems to be a silly photo up close! 

Stopping for a great view along the Seine River.

After a day of strolling through the city by foot, we hopped onto the Metro and made a visit to the Musee D'Orsay. The Musee D'Orsay is a museum in Paris, on the left bank of the Seine, that is housed in a former railway station, the Gare D'Orsay. The museum contains mainly French art, and is most known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces.  

Scott looking around the first floor of the museum. The building itself is quite impressive, as you can see the domed ceiling in this photo. 

Cassie in front of the clock inside the museum's main hall, the old train station. 

Scott in front of an art piece at the museum. I was surprised that they allowed photographs to be taken everywhere in this museum. Sadly, my camera battery died after this photo was taken so it was my last photo of our weekend in Paris with Andrew....

Arrivederci!

Our bags are packed, we have tour guides in hand, and we are getting ready to leave for ITALY for the week! Rome, Florence, Venice, pasta, wine, and gelato, here we come!!! See you in a week.....

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has sprung here in England! Flowers and budded trees have been slowly starting to bloom over the past few weeks. The daffodils have been quite noticeable - all along the motorways, streets, individual family homes and within town centres. Here are a few photos of spring in our area...

The garden was packed this afternoon with Brits enjoying the nice spring day. 

A view of the town center strip with flowers in all of the beds along the main street. 

The End of Upholstery

My upholstery class has come to an end....

After TWO semesters of classes, I have finally finished my chair - a small rocking chair. In the beginning, I thought I would surely finish it in one semester and still have time to do another soft furnishings project. So you can imagine my surprise when the fall semester ended and I hadn't even begun to put the top fabric on the chair!  In the future, I will GLADLY pay an upholster to re-upholster any chair I find.....it is worth every dollar (or pound) spent! 

This 20 pound rocking chair that I bought off of ebay has somehow manifested itself into a 300-plus pound chair without countless hours of work and injuries behind it! Needless to say, it will now be the "prized" chair in our household and if you find yourself in our home, I would not suggest bringing any type of food near it as I am sure that would not be in your best interest if you ever want to be invited back.... (just kidding!).  Understandably, I am a bit attached to this chair now since so much time and many bruised fingers went into its redesign. 

Here are some photos to tell the story of its transition....

All of the fabric, cushions, and more came off to leave me only with the frame of the chair.

Starting to rebuild the body of the chair.

The very tight rubber strips that make up the seat of the newly redone chair. The ends are these metal clips that were near impossible to wedge into the sides of the chair frame!

The newly refinished wood on the chair frame, and a nearly completed seat frame.

The positioning of the top fabric to make sure the pattern works for the space...

The top fabric is now on the back part of the chair. Now, the seat cushion is put on.

First, the muslin is "tacked" on by using a hammer and 13 mm tacks to keep the muslin in place. The muslin is attached to the foam with super glue so that the foam will be able to be attached to the wood frame. 

After the tacks are in place, then the stapling begins and ultimately the tacks are removed. Here is an up close view of the staples in the muslin that attaches the foam cushion to the chair frame.

After foam is intact, a layer of muslin then goes over the foam to make sure the fabric lays correctly, again tacking the muslin first and then stapling it. Once I tacked the muslin to the bottom cushion, I realized it wasn't laying correctly, so I had to untack it and add batting to it to smooth it out. 

Finally, the smooth muslin layer with the right "cuts" on the side so the top fabric can be put on.

The top fabric is on the bottom cushion! Now, just the back of the chair to go...

The muslin layer gets tacked on to the back of the chair.

The staple "gun" (compressor machine) that was my aide in finishing the chair.

The back of the chair is finished with the staples in the muslin.

Then, a "guide" for the top fabric is first tacked onto the top area of the back of the chair.

It is then stapled into place, and when folded over, it helps create a neat crease/edge for the back fabric on the chair. 

Then, it was finally time to staple on the underneath fabric of the chair to finish it off!!!!!

My Growing Tea Cup Collection

My English tea cup collection is growing....here are a few additions I have recently acquired at local antique shops....

I can't wait for tea time! 

A Sight Not Seen Before

A sight I have yet to see in my marriage to Scott....

Him mowing the lawn!

We have never had a lawn to mow before this current house (the 6 foot patch of grass at our Chicago townhouse doesn't really count since we could cut it with scissors, if needed) so today when he announced that he was going to mow the lawn, I thought - Well, this is a first! Luckily it only took him about 15 minutes because the grass really isn't that long here yet. I think he just wanted to be outside and enjoy this beautiful spring day we are having in England!