Trevi Fountain | Mama Cormier

….thanks to Ailsa for this week’s travel theme

The beautiful and unusually balmy days of November appear to be behind us. With the forecast of cold and possibly snowy days in the coming week, especially further north, I decided I couldn’t put off installing snow tires on my new car any longer.

On Friday morning I woke up at 5:30 so that I could get to tire department at Costco by 6:30. The evening before the nice man at the counter after giving me a couple of quotes for snow tires strongly suggested that I arrive no later than 6:30 even though the place didn’t open until 7:00. I walked through the doors at 6:35 and found myself 14th in line. When the gate was finally lifted, promptly at 7:00 the second man in front of me was informed that he was the last person to be guaranteed getting his car back by noon. The rest of us might have to wait till 8:30 in the evening before we could pick up our cars.

Feeling that I didn’t have much choice in the matter I decided to leave it and I walked to work. Luckily it was a PA day and I didn’t have any classes to teach. It took me about two hours to get to school but I did stop for a coffee and bite of breakfast at a Tim Horton’s. Later in the day a friend drove me home and I no sooner stepped in the door when the phone rang and I was told that my car was ready. The same friend drove me back to Costco. I am now ready for those ‘snowy’ days ahead.

I know you’re thinking that this is a pretty cheesy way of getting to the theme of snowy but I do have some photos that are snowy white to share with you. Seeing that we haven’t experienced any snow yet I’ve gone into the archives to find some appropriate ‘snowy’ shots.

The photos include whitening the feathering on a Clydesdales feet with chalk, the snowy white marble of the Trevi Fountain, my granddaughter’s snowy white yogurt face, a lovely creamy white ball of buratta cheese, a snowy white peony from my garden and snowy days from last winter.

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Are you ready for the onslaught of snowy days? It’s coming!

Cheers!

…..seeing Rome’s Top Ten in three days is not impossible

When we planned to stay in Rome for the final three days of our trip to Italy I never imagined that we would be able to see so many of the famous sites of this ancient city. To be honest some of the sites were under construction so we only did a quick pass and for others we only saw the exterior.

My top ten sites included:

The Colosseum

It was a very hot day when we finally walked to the Colosseum. We were accosted by dozens of vendors selling selfie sticks and tours. My husband and daughter took refuge in a caffe next to the Colosseum and enjoyed a cool drink while the rest of us including the baby took a closer look at the exterior of this ancient structure. Unfortunately we didn’t see the interior, partially because the heat was too much for the baby.

The Pantheon

We arrived early and there was a mass going on so we had to wait to get in to see the Pantheon. We wandered off to get a coffee in a nearby bistro but when we returned there was a line-up to get in. My husband hates line-ups so he passed on seeing the inside of the Pantheon. Luckily the line went pretty quickly and there was some very high quality entertainment on the street in the way of musicians.

Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain was a bit of a surprise for me. It’s a very large fountain but it’s crammed into a very small space and the crowds were huge. It’s almost impossible to get a camera shot that takes in the entire fountain. You just can’t stand far enough away. I would love to see the fountain at night when it’s all lit up.

The Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps was the one attraction that we didn’t spend much time at because it was under construction. I understand that it is now restored and open again for the public to walk on.