On March 17th Italy celebrated 150 years of unification.

The date was declared a national holiday but in typical Italian fashion controversy set in and not everyone agreed to celebrate.

But while some Italians celebrated and will continue to do so throughout the year our friends in Japan are in need of help and support.

If you haven’t already, please consider making a donation to the tsunami and earthquake relief efforts. The loss and trauma of this disaster is staggering.  To help, click the Japanese flag to be linked to The American Red Cross website.

Thank you.

Leslie

Last week Milano celebrated carnivale.

Maschere (Masks), costumes and festival sweets, chiacchierare and tortelli, were everywhere.

What I didn’t expect was the silly string spray fights and a piazza covered in confetti.

An unexpected site in front of Milano’s imposing Duomo…

And this was just the beginning of the party.

Two hours later this piazza was a battle field of silly spray, that unfortunately forced me to keep my camera in it’s case.

But hopefully these photos convey some of the day’s atmosphere.

Leslie

I traveled light last week…

In terms of cameras…

I packed my iPhone and Point and Shoot and left my DSLR at home.

That wasn’t easy but given the weather and the limited time I’m glad I left the heavy SLR at home.

These were a few of my favorites.  I hope you like them too.

Enjoy!

Leslie

Rome isn’t for everyone.

It’s dirty, the cars and scooters are unruly, ordering coffee at a bar can leave you exhausted, and the only time people move quickly is when ordering food.

But it’s the only place I know where it’s okay to take your time and walk slow.

Once a great empire, this city has nothing to prove.

Life is no longer about ruling and controlling, it’s about relaxing and enjoying…

My kind of place…

Enjoy!

Leslie

I’ve been making a lot of changes…

And have started the New Year off right…

By pushing my friend Mapie to come with me to Rome.

We toured, we talked, we relaxed, we ate (everything), we shopped and one of us spoke a lot of Italian.

And did I mention it was between 50-60 degrees and sunny every day.

Rome was very good to us, the only difficult part was saying goodbye but I’m sure we’ll be back for another visit.

Enjoy!

Leslie