Water in Motion

Public art located at a riverside park (River Road, Richmond). Sculpture represents water in motion... Jun Ren - China.

Summertime Fun

It feels like summer made a quick visit this year, before moving on to more exotic locales, perhaps. Just got these pictures back of baby J from this summer... black and white film can sit in the camera for a while! We had fun romping around in the grass to get some of these shots ... and never underestimate black construction paper for a backdrop!

Ode to Loren(zo)

My brother, Loren, often laments that he wasn't born Italian... the food, the clothing, the lifestyle... ! Travelling through Italy this past summer, I started to notice all the variations on his name... Lorenzi, Lorenzo and the ever flamboyant "Lorenzale"! So while he may have missed out on the spoils of being born Italian... he did get an Italian name ;) After all, isn't a good name more desirable than great riches?

Ponte Vechhio, Florence

Original


Magazine option


Silver option

Magazine option

Fun with the iPhone Camera Bag app. I actually got a better shot here with my iPhone than I did with my camera, so don't know what that says about my technical skills!

Zara, Italy

Here's a fun pic of the Zara store in Florence taken on my iPhone. I just clued in that I have a tone of iPhone shots that I can share, so will edit some of those to post.

Also - I finally organized the Holga shots from Europe to be developed... so once I get them back and scan them, I'll be posting them as well. Quite excited... there are some fun ones in there!

Happy weekend everyone!

River Road

River Road, Richmond, BC

We were on a wild goose chase one evening in the summer, trying to wrap up things before my brother headed home to Sydney. Driving over the Gilbert Street Bridge in Richmond after taking a wrong turn, I spotted a very funky building on the river, with a wedding taking place out on the dock. A few days later, I happened to be in the area with time on my hands, so went to check it out. The building is the UBC Boathouse and is available for events.

The Boathouse is at one end of a modern walkway that is currently under construction. It runs from Gilbert Bridge around Cambie St. There are some modern public gardens, and play areas for kids. Loving the public art - the huge sculpture sits at the end of Cambie Street, and represents water in motion. Next time you're in Richmond, and in need of an inspirational walk... make your way over to Cambie and River Road.

Paddington

Paddington, Sydney 1996 - I came across this photo the other day and it made me smile... I've been taking pictures of bikes against buildings for a while now!

Vintage Finds

Birdcage, glass jar and creamer from Ivory Vintage Market.

August Market

Visited the Ivory Vintage Market this past weekend. I've been on the lookout for cute photo props.... I found a pretty vintage turquoise glass jar from Birch + Bird, a cute aqua blue creamer from Vintage Home and the adorable bird cage (see pic above) from Ivory Home Furnishings. Next market is Oct 16 at the Ocean Park Hall.

Beauty

"People need to see more beauty these days. I don't think the world in these diffucult times has enough." Manolo Blahnik, Vogue September 2010

June 18 - Modern Rome

Ara Pacis


Ara Pacis


Ara Pacis

Ara Pacis

Open Colonna

Open Colonna

Open Colonna

Open Colonna

So sad... our last day in Rome before flying home the next day. I decided I wanted a relatively relaxing day, as I knew I would be hitting the ground running when I returned home. I figured that while the previous day was very much ancient Rome, I wanted to discover a bit of modern Rome. I was reading my Wallpaper* City Guide, and found a place called B-Gallery in Trastevere. It was a bookstore/cafe/exhibition space, with photography, architecture and design books. It sounded like a lovely way to while away the afternoon.

It was such a stunning day, I decided to walk from our hotel to Trastevere. I walked along the river in the shade of the trees, it was such a pretty walk, stopping on the way at a place I had spotted the day before for lunch. Casa & Bottega is a fresh food cafe, with white built-in bookcases and booths. Lunch was so tasty and fresh: le carpaccio di tunno fresco con pele rosa e crostini complete with a bottle of San Pellegrino and finished off with a cappuccino.

From lunch I walked to B-Gallery. I wandered around, back and forth in the square where it was meant to be and could not find it. Finally, I found out from some shop merchants that it was closed on Fridays! Number one rule of travel, find out if the place you are headed to is open that day. So many galleries, museums, places of interest, are closed on random days of the week. To save disappointment, call ahead! Don't walk 5km like I did, only to be met with a closed door!

Feeling pretty bummed, and having no Plan B, I sat down on some steps and opened up the Wallpaper* City Guide again. I had no idea where I was, and had walked miles away from everything. In the 24 Hours section of the guide, there was a picture of a very cool restaurant called Open Colonna. I thought it might be interesting to take a look, and then would put me back more in the center of Rome to meet up with the others later on. Having had enough of walking, I hopped on the Metro line to take me to Repubblica, where I could walk a short distance to the restaurant. At one euro a ride, the Metro is definitely the way to get around.

Turns out that Open Colonna is part of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni art gallery. While wandering around, looking for the restaurant, I realized that the art gallery was pretty cool. I decided to have a wander around the neoclassical exhibition hall. (Thanks Wikipedia!) The day continued to improve when I found out that one of the exhibits was a famous Italian photographer, Mimmo Jodice. It was a real treat to wander through the cool, quiet, exhibition rooms admiring large canvases of black and white photos of modern, yet timeless Italian life. The sea series were my favorite. (If this is your kind of thing, do a Google image search on Mimmo Jodice for his images. They are stunning.)

Feeling peckish now, finally headed to Open Colonna. The space was stunning and I immediately wanted to move in. The walls and ceiling are glass, then rest of the space is white save for the punches of color in the lime green and hot pink furniture. Upon closer inspection, the colorful furniture was actually painted foam. How cool is that?! I was the only customer there, and when I entered, the waitress told me they were closed for lunch. I explained I just wanted a snack, did she have anything? She promised she would go look, and to have a seat. Of course I chose the pink couch! She returned with a dessert plate; chocolate pistachio cake and a tiny raspberry custard tart. The cake was simply divine, it was such a happy moment in time.

Later that night, we returned to the Trevi Fountain to say goodbye to Rome. Legend states that if you throw three coins over your left shoulder with your right hand, this ensures your return trip to Rome. Here's hoping...

June 17 - Part II: Vatican City

As mentioned in the previous, the others had the right idea of going back to the guest suite to escape the heat of the day. I continued on the bus to the Vatican City. The entrance to the Vatican Museum closed at 3pm, and I was hoping to avoid long lineups. I had no idea where the entrance was to the museum, and spent an unnecessary hour in the heat wandering around, looking for it. (It's to the right of main entrance of the Vatican City, around several corners and about 5,000,000 steps!)

I walked straight into the Vatican Museum, no lineups for me! However, I wasn't prepared for another marathon walk to get to the Sistine Chapel. Miles and miles of corridors covered with tapestries and paraphernalia of thousands of years of the Catholic Church. Miles of corridors, then up stairs, down stairs, through tiny rooms, and more stairs and finally you're in the Sistine Chapel. By this time, you're so exhausted, I don't think you can fully appreciate it. A bit of cynicism had crept into me; "Nice ceiling some guy painted. Now, where can I get a coffee around here?"

Funny you should ask. The museum cafe is located outside in the gardens and offers gorgeous views of the buildings, fountain and formal gardens. I think I enjoyed it more than the art... but shhhh... don't tell anyone!

June 17 - Part I: Colosseum

Colosseum

Ah, what is Rome if you don't overdo it? The ancient Romans went over the top with their feasts, and buildings and taking over the world. We overdid it with sightseeing. Well, I did at least. The others were sensible to cut the sightseeing into two days. I wanted to get the sights over with so I could relax one day before flying home. (More on that in the next day's post.)

Back to my story. We hit up the Colosseum in the morning. We bought tickets on one of those tourist open air bus dealies... you know, when in Rome and all! ... Anyway, it was a cooker of a day, and sitting on top of the bus, you had some idea of what it would feel like to be a meatball in a frying pan. By the time we reached the Colosseum, we were feeling slightly well done.
Peddlers were peddling their wares as soon as we disembarked off the bus... and thank you, I will take that pink umbrella for €5. Best money spent on the trip! We snuck into the Colosseum by paying €20 to a guide that would skip us straight to the beginning of the line. Again, money well spent. Despite the temperature in the high 30s, it didn't take away from the awesomeness of the Colosseum. To imagine them building it almost 2000 years ago, with the tools of the day, and the crowds attending the insane events they held there... it really is amazing.