January

January Update

January is always a huge month for us.
The first week is always a 'down' week. We totally relax, begin to pack away our Christmas decorations and clean and dust as we put items away.
I make lists of what we need to take. We pack for our busy month, re house our animals and make our house ready.
Our first week is at Mcdonald College in North Strathfield Sydney. Its an amazing ballet summer school with outstanding teachers from all over the world. Christopher Powney - Artistic director of Royal Ballet. He and his wife were among the teachers.
Its a big week, long hours, very tiring, but quite rewarding as it challenges the dancers. Its a great networking week for Brid. We had 3 students from our Ballet school attend. They certainly came back to the school inspired.
Brid and I stay with our dear friends 40 minutes drive away. They have generously allowed us free access to there home 3 years in a row. Its a true Blessing.
Our next week we spent in the company of the Disciples of Jesus community and there religious order-Missionaries of Gods Love.
It was such a wonderful week. So lovely to be there among Christ filled men and women and children.
We arrived very tired, broken from a quite tiring and stressful year and left 7 days later totally recharged. We were tired as it is again early starts and late nights, but that's the beauty of the week. The Holy Spirit was very powerful and worked on each individual person at a different rate, depending on our needs. I love the praise and worship, Mass daily, Divine Office twice a day, Adoration, lectures, seminars and hanging out with all these gorgeous people during meals and snack times.
The teen girls around  Brid's age were so gorgeous. They supported each other and held each other up to God as each needed. It  was a beautiful witness. They formed a little community called Sophia sisterhood. They had 2 young women who mentored them and encouraged good Godly practice- modesty, Purity, and so many other lovely qualities.
Dermot and I watched with awe and wonder of Gods Love in this little group.
So after we left refreshed, We headed to catch a flight to Melbourne so Brid could attend the Australian Conservatoire of Ballets Summer School. This is the syllabus her ballet school use. It was with much excitement and anticipation that Brid attended this summer school. It was wonderful to meet with Christine Walsh and her Husband. The administrative staff and the ballet teachers. Brid learnt a great deal and has taken this enthusiasm back to her Ballet school.
So while Brid danced, Dermot and I watched the Tennis at Rod Laver Arena, took trams and trains all over Melbourne. Found gorgeous little dresses for Brid, walked along Southbank and had a river cruise along the Yarra, learning the little secrets of the Yarra.
We rented a little apartment in Parhan very close to the direct tram line to the ballet school.
Brid fell in love with Melbourne and can't wait to go back. And actually nor can I.

So what do you think we did when we got home from 3 busy full weeks?
 We just chilled. 
Unpacked and just relaxed...It was the best thing to do. 
It was our plan all along to have that week resting and relaxing. cuddling our Puppy, our cat and rabbit. 

umbrelli

That's right Umbrelli...

It was a word we heard all over Europe..Particularly Rome, Paris, Venice.
If it was drissling, the umbrellas would be brought out by the street traders.
If it was sunny, the hats, the water bottles and sunscreen would come out.
In other areas of Rome, there were sheets layed ot with bags on them...all ready for purchase.

The ones that annoyed, amused and followed us the most were the street traders with practical useful items or souvenirs.
Interesting prices.

Several days in Rome, it was , drissling, raining heavily, or showering. Umbrellas were everywhere. The street traders often followed tourists to buy there product. We had our raincoats and we were set for any weather.
We didn't need the 'umbrellis'

On our last night in Europe- Paris it was drissling. "Umbrelli, Umbrelli". We heard.
As the rain stopped, we were bombarded with tiny souvenirs of Eiffel Towers.
The further away from the Eiffel tower we walked, the lower the price became.

We would soon be gone, but there are many memories, and at times little things like an Umbrella at a shop or a street trading van would remind us of our wonderful memorable holiday.

Umbrelli Umbrelli...


 

St Anne

Sorrento..Its a beautiful coastal town on the cliffs of Italy..It was a 'must see city' as we wanted to see Pompeii last year.
Brid had been studying Cambridge Latin and reading about a family and there adventures using this series of books.
We saw Pompeii on a hot day. Well it seemed that it was as it is so exposed.
It was so fascinating and Brid took a mile of photos.
Dermot wanted to see Mt Vesuvius and I just wanted to see those spectacular views along the coast line...And oh those drivers....I think we lost our a heart beat quite a few times driving on those narrow roads. I mean narrow. We wouldn't drive down a road like them in Australia...but they didn't just drive, they sped..Those bikes, they were lethal and dangerous....I lost a heart beat every time on got tooo close.
Anyway, not far from our little hotel accomodation was a little fishing village. As we walked along the sea on the foreshore, we noticed a church and children playing outside. A priest casually talking to the kids and hanging out. A few ladies sitting on a bench as we wntered the Church.
It was called Santa Anna
Gorgeous little obscure church, not on the normal route, but just beautiful inside.
We spent quite a while before Our Lord in Thanksgiving of our holday and our safety and his provision..
I also prayed for one of my friends whose name is Anne...Adorable sweet women.

These are a few photos of this church..

St Anne and Our Lady

 

Martigue....

.........A cute little finishing village about an hour from Avignon, France....
We drove to the sea so dermot could swim in the mediterranean.
Here is this cute little town...but no sand or beach for Dermot..

Its a fishing village..and this statue is in the main square

Brid took a great fancy to it...
 

dipping his toe in.....

Off to Venice .......

There was literally hundreds of these little statues over Europe..
 

This was a destination I never thought I would see again. I was there a very long time ago, on a Contiki tour..!!!! And we stayed outside of Venice. Brid and I had visited Venice in a read aloud book and on google maps.
So to my surprise and delight Dermot and Brid both had desires make this a destination...Yeah !!!is all I could think.

A little ghotto outside the main Basilica
 

It was a 3 hour drive from Assisi and we stopped into Paduva to the Basilica of San Antonio. The Gps went a bit crazy in this city. Although it directed exactly to the Basilica, it took us down every narrow street that Paduva had to offer, and they were nailbiting NARROW.
I kept saying please God let us get this hire car to the drop off spot without any  scratches on it.
we overrode the commands from the Gps and took a chance. It worked, we were heading toward Venice after a lunch stop.
This was going to be a little tricky as we had acquired a few extra pieces of hand luggage, in the way of food stables.
We found our way to the Vaporetto- water bus-  and stayed on it until our stop.

Just about to enter our apartment. The canal is on the right
 

After much confusion and a few tears of frustration, we found a lovely manager in a Very Grand hotel who sorted out where we our accomodation was. Our host would be there to meet us at the vaporetto stop, sign of relieve. Once at out apartment we were  in for a treat. it was lovely,right on a canal and beautifully appointed. How did we manage this???

Bridge of sights near San Marco

A view of San marco from the vaporetto coming from Murano
 

There were so many people in Venice, particularly around San Marco and the grand Canal. It was rather humid as well. It was explained to us, its the amount of water surrounding the city. It makes sense, but it sure was steamy.
Did I tell you that every bridge over every Canal is curved, so there are steps up over the bridge and down the bridge- quite annoying for carrying suitcases -even if they were not heavy.

Brid at Burano Island

We trapsed all over Venice, out to the Islands Murano and Burano where Glass making and Lace works are there main income.
We all loved Venice even though we got a little lost and got our way home to our apartment a new way each time we ventured out.

Dermot & I at the Rialto Bridge

Brid and her Dad at the Rialto Bridge



 

San Marco can be under water at times, but not when we were there.
The streets are very tiring on your feet and legs as there is no give at all.  I found myself rather tired most days of our trip as we constantly were on the go and on veryy hard cobblestones or paved paths. We found some grass in Murano while we waite for the vaporetto, and we could not resist the temptation to sit and lie on the grass. Pure Bliss. The simple pleasures we take for granted.
 

My favourite Italian city

Assisi-

A beautiful serene town  sat up on a mountain was our next stop. A 4 hour drive north from Sorrento.  So much too say so I will just leave you a photo or 2 or 3 or .....

Our first glance of Assisi- yeah hope dermot loves it as much as me...

Sunsets are so beautiful here



Brid at sunset in Santa Chiara piazza



the Portiuncola inside the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli
 

a view from the valley of Santa Francesco Basilica

Brid outside San Damiono - where St Chiara lived.

The inside Garden. This is where St Chiara- or as we call her St Clare until her death

Dermot and I just loving the view and the Spirituality of this city
 

St Chiara at the Basilica of St Chiara

Dermot was determined to get to this little church called San Stefano- it was a very long complicated treck up many many stairs and steep roads within the Assisi.

He had to have a photo outside. We got to the church 10 minutes before closing time. Just in time. Thank You Lord
 

Our last night looking down on the valley at sunset...again....beautiful view with
 lovely company and meal

Dermot and Brid both loved Assisi. We stayed in a monastery of San Collette. A companion of St Chiara. We drove through the street of Assisi to get to our accomodation. A bit scary. I couldn't believe the pathways !! that we needed to negotiate to get us there.

A little bit of paradise ...

Early on Thursday morning we had a knock at the door. It was our hire care to take us The airport to pick up our car. Why you ask?? I wouldn’t drive in Rome , and as the Apartment offered Hire car to and from the airport we thought why not.

Europcar was excellent. When we arrived at Ciampino airport our Renault Scenic and GPS were waiting to be checked out by us. Yeah....
Then the reality hit....Oh dear, we now have to navigate on the wrong side of the road for the next few weeks. I was quietly panicking....Then Dermot said..”Lets Pray”. We drove out of the dirt car park very cautiously.  It took me a while to work out that we needed to cross a round about going right and Left turns were with the traffic, and not against it..I think the passenger seat panel still has nail marks were I tried to shrink the car to fit the road..
We hit our first toll. There were about 20 or 30 more for us to use yet...

St Maria Gorretti

The Basilica of St Maria Gorretti

We headed south to stop eventually in Sorrento via Nettuno. Why There you ask? Well St Maria Goretti’s incorrupt body is there in a lovely Chapel area below the main church..Wow...She was so small, being only 12. Such deep Faith at her age. Such forgiveness. I  hadn’t discussed her death very much with Brid as I felt she was not ready.
On the way to Nettuno, which is on the coast, we discussed her life, her Death and the conversion of Allessandro. Quite a remarkable story.  We spent a few hours at Nettuno at the Crypt as well as by the shoreline, before heading to our destination for 2 nights.

Sorrento, Iyaly

We drove past Napoli- Naples. The country side was distinctly different. Many Roads through the mountains and buildings with flat roofs. I asked Dermot to view a You tube of the drive to Sorrento from Naples. He didn’t want to, so it was me who was quite nervous negotiating the very very narrow roads, the traffic and the motorbikes just doing there own thing. Not following and rules at all, but they did get out of the way when they needed to...
Sorrento is a town high the mountain tops overlooking the Mediterranean.  It is sprinkled with beautiful Churches and many hotels, restaurants and is known for its seafood. The beaches were roped off and they paid to use the beaches. This gave them the privilege of using their own beach lounge and at another cost an umbrella, on a stony beach- give me our beautiful beaches any day. But the history and the atmosphere was so very different to our own.

St Anne, Sorrento
 

St Anne is the Patron of Sorrento. She has a little church close to where we stayed, which we dropped into Pray, especialy for Friend.
We ate at a restaurant where the owner, a very sweet Italian Lady, had a deep devotion to Our Lady. She had been to Medjugorje and has miraculous medals in a bowl that she hands out and statues, oh so many of Our Lady. There was a beautiful on at the very end of her restaurant overlooking the sea....She called Brid Marys Angel- bringing the message to everyone who needs to hear it.

Pompeii

Mt Vesuvius

While we were in Sorrento our major interests where to go to Pompeii and just look around. After going through yet another toll on our way to Pompeii we arrived to a rather leafy area, with a dirt car park and not a lot of signs to say where the Scavi- excavations were, but around the corner was the entry. Its quite touristy but a must see for this part of the world. After a morning being  absorbed in the history in the heat with little shade, Dermot announced lets see Mt Vesuvius !! Off we went to in these huge army type massive 4wds buses to almost the summit, then a walk of only 500 metres, but the tail wound around the mountain making it a much longer walk than you would expect. The view from the top was amazing, and too see a volcano that is classed as quite dangerous because it hasn’t erupted for many many years was a little scary.
This was our last evening in Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, next was the 4 to 5 hour drive to  Assisi...

4 days in Rome....

Ok 4 days in Rome...We celebrated our 25^th anniversary while we were there.

A view of the Colosseum you don't normally see. It was ransacked to build other more important buildings over the early Roman years

We walked and bused it all over Rome, including the Colosseum, The Forum, The Trevi Fountain and The Spanish steps. We popped into so many beautiful Churches and saw so many reliquiae it was amazing. S Monica, John Paul II, Padre Pio to name a few
We deliberately did not venture near the Vatican, at first,  as we had Scavi tour tickets. There are only 350 pilgrims allowed access yearly, so when we got the email before we left to say we were granted tickets we were very excited. We met behind St Peters Basilica and Immediately we felt to dampness and the change in air. It is very secure and has many glassed screened doors to keep the area being too exposed to the light and outside and outside environment. We saw the tomb of St Peter and heard so much interesting facts. Brid was keen to carry on a conversation with the Tour guide. She was the youngest on the tour. Infact, she was 6 months too young., but that didn’t stop her asking many quite thought provoking questions. Yeah to Homeschooling and delving into Roman history and the Saints for all these years.
Our tour ended with a viewing of the Papal Catacombs. And then widing up a staircase to be at last inside St Peters. It was Beautiful and what a way to do it. We were so Blessed to have had this experience on this day.

We avoided the MASSIVE queue you can see behind, by doing the Scavi Tour

It was pouring when we finally got ourselves outside several hours later.
There were these street sellers selling, depending on the weather, rain covers, water, hats umbrellas- which they pronouced umbrelli. We had a laugh so often at what they would come out with next, and how much they would reduce there cost for a sale.
We hopped on our Roma bus and got ourselves to our apartment to dry out., via a Gelati shop of course and a look  for somewhere to eat that evening.
The next day was our big day. We had tickets for an audience with Our Holy Father and Vatican Museum tickets. We were all excited and had to be up early to be at the access point by a 9am. As we were still jetlagged and Dermot developed a horrid night cough, we were still quite tired.
Nothing was going to stop this experience from being special. Brid later said being in the same room as our Holy Father was amazing and to be able to understand the many Latin words on the museum exhibits was really wonderful.  To  see the Sistine Chapel with my Family and experience all that Rome had to offer us,  as a family was such a Blessing. God had his hand over us the entire time.

We made use of the waiting time for meals to write postacrds and write up our journal.
 

We leave Rome with many more places to see an excuse to come back and a sense of excitement but nervousness of our next part of our Journey.. God please take care of us.      

A humble beginning ........

It was 9am and Dermot was determined to get to the airport early. 'Why' I say.?
He has been caught many times in all those Customs and Immigration lines. I knew we had pre-booked plane seats so I was a more layed back...
After a final check and a clean up of the house- I know a women thing to do, we put our 2 suitcases and 3 carry on bags into the hire car and off we drove, down the highway to Sydney international airport, excited and nervous...and yes we went straight through to 'No mans land' after we checked our bags in. We were in a long queue.! I had packed a couple of cut apples and water so we munched on them as we waited our turn- then it was time to dump the water and the fruit in the bins as we are not allowed to take anything on the planes from Australia.....and say Arriverderci to Australia for a few weeks.
Sitting in our seats we settled for our very very long flight to Rome via a 3 and a half hour stop over in  Hong Kong- at 2am Aussie time.!!! Not Fun, but part of international travel. A sleep- haha in the airport was how we spent our time in Hong Kong Airport- in between hearing the various announcements in both Chinese and English.
So a very weiry little family arrived in Rome. I wanted to freshen up, but before I knew it Dermot had navigated us out of Customs, so  before Brid and I knew it we were meeting the driver who would take us to our apartment. He spoke very little English, but that was Ok its all in the fun of it.
Dermot and I booked everything except the Airline tickets using online booking sites. It was stressful but fun, as we ticked off yet another city or town that we had booked..
We arrived at 7am, so by the time we cleared customs etc it was 8.30am. It was time to acclimatise ourselves. Ok Sunday morning, why am I so tired !!!!!. Our driver literally sped us to our accomodation, which we booked near the Piazza Navona. My favourite part of Rome. We looked outside the windows of the car to see the many ruins scattered through the streets of Rome. We said goodbye and thanked our driver, paid him, and as we were far to early to access our accomodation, we had a long breakfast at the local cafe'. Italian coffee, cakes, hot Chocolate and water, YUM...

 

So tired, but very excited to finally be here..
 

 

As I was familiar with this part of Rome after staying here in 05, with a group of teens and young adults from World Youth Day 05, I convinced Dermot it was OK to take our bags and have a look around. So 2 minutes walk away was The Piazza and I was finally taking my Sweetheart Dermot and our Brid to see it. I was excited to be doing this as a family.  

The gasp from Dermot was worth it all as we turned the corner. A huge square made of cobble stones, a fountain and the people just getting ready for the day, setting up stalls. A church or 2 in view. We took our bags with us and found out when the Sunday Mass times were. The Deacon was a little concerned about our bags but we reassured him and the Priest that  there was not a bomb in our bags and we were staying for Mass. This was there main concern.
Although Mass was in Italian, you know where the pauses are, where to respond- most of time. Where to say Our Father etc, etc.
We thanked the Priest and Deacon for letting us keep our bags in our view, and walked back to gain access to our apartment, along the cobble  stones and dodging the various motorbikes and cars along the way. It was now 12.30.
Now we could relax, have showers and put our feet up for a couple of hours.  

So proud

As you are aware we have been away in Europe.. We had been gearing up to this for some time. Every time we came across a Saint or a new city we would put it on our list of areas to visit.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised when our sweet Brid started sharing different snip its of information with us on each place we visited.
It wasn't just the population is this or something boringly similar, but interesting little bits of trivia. My highlight was when we were  in Pompeii  telling her Dad all about what happened and when we were at the Lourve, she came bursting up to me "Mum its the Paintings from "Art through Faith and the Seton Press books". Interacting quite confidently with The tour Guide to the not so well known Scarvi Tour- underneath the Vatican.
It is such a thrill to give Brid the books, internet sites and watch her absorb all that knowledge and reall it. This trip has only deepened her understanding and knowledge of our world.
Sorry to boast everyone,

The Louvre precint area

               BUT I am quite a proud Mummy. Isn't homeschooling great. No pressure she delved and learnt herself without exams or tests or deadlines

Winter school break

Well the July school holidays, here in Australia are almost officially over, but we never stopped learning or discovering.

Its been a nice refreshing break. Dermot was fortunate enough to have quite time after the end of our financial year to rest and enjoy the break with us.
Brid had a weekend at her grandparents so Dermot and I could attend a retreat. We re entered a Catholic community that we moved away from. We felt called to reconnect. We will now see what God has install for us.
We warmed ourselves by the fire while watching movies and documentaries. There are 2 series on the TV at present. One on the human body and then another called the Great migration. Both well presented.
Reading was high on everyones priority list as was my knitting. I am making blankets to give to a nursing home.
We had excursions to the foreshore and walked or scootered along in the cold winter air.  Doing a spot of shopping while in town. We caught up with several friends. One set of friends are not homeschooled and we often see this family. So we made a posh morning tea with scones jam cream and milo -all in fine china cups and saucers. Served my me. They loved it.  We made clay ornaments. We originally were going to make windmills but they digressed, so we just chatted as we created. Dermot surprised us all by taking us to see a play- Beauty and the Beast. Performed by a local youth company. Guess who wants to join the drama group now.   
We met with our new Bishop Bill at our local parish and welcomed him to our community.
We fitted a lot in but still tried to keep low key. Brid and I had several girlie nights and Dermot drove into see his local footy team the Knights. My Dad and Dermot bought season passes this year. Dad hasn’t wanted to go to a game for years, but there is a revived vigour. So while he is gone, we choose a movie and paint nails and spend a special time together.
We had several activities and crafts we purchased to do over the holidays, just incase, but haven’t used the kits we purchased yet. I am sure we will in time.  

So that’s our holiday roundup. Relaxing Refreshing and low key.