Note #1

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

        - J. R. R. Tolkien

♡ Candles and Baths ♡

I love candles. They smell amazing and can perfectly set the mood. I'm a sucker for vanilla scents, they're not too sweet, they aren't filled with spicy undertones, and they just smell comforting. For us in Perth, the number one place to go for candles is Dusk. They have a million different candles and scents in different sizes and ranges. I found a new candle that I believe is going to be in my all time favourites list... Presenting to you, the Pink Butter Icing candle. I bought this one in large (85 burning hours) and it smells amazing. It's sweet with vanilla undertones, isn't too overpowering but still strong, and is really quite relaxing. I've had it for three days now and have lit it every day. I also have a 'Vanilla' soy candle and four small 'Black Currant and Plum' candles, but the 'Pink Butter Icing' candle is by far my favourite this winter. 

I struggle to get warm in winter, and being on the computer all the time my hands are generally freezing. I'm also not a bath person. Showers for me are just easier, they get the job done, they're quicker, and I don't really see the need for using a whole tub of water. Being freezing all the time (and having an amazing boyfriend that picked up the nicest smelling bath product ever), I've become a bath lover. I know I am exceptionally late to the party, but Lush have some seriously brilliant bath products. I've tried out two so far, the Creamy Candy Bubble Bar and the You've Been Mangoed Bath Melt. They both smell delicious but for someone who gets bored in baths the Creamy Candy Bubble Bar has somehow made is more interesting. It smells very sweet, like an overly sugary fairy floss scent. For those who are after something sweeter, this one is definitely  up your alley. Your bath smells amazing, the bubbles are soothing, and when you manage to climb out of the bath your skin faintly smells of the bubble bar. So for all those people who are unsure about baths or want it to be a little less boring, definitely try out the Creamy Candy Bubble Bar.

 

Pompeii & Mount Vesuvius!

I was super excited about this particular tour. Our day started off with a 6am wake up to get ready and out the door by 7. We all met up with our tour guide and other travellers and headed off by 7:30. The drive from Rome to Pompeii took us roughly 3 hours. A long one.

Perfectly preserved ceiling

When we got there we all headed straight into Ancient Pompeii for a 2 hour walking tour with a local guide. I thought walking in that I would see small/half walls, a few vases in houses, and no casts of the bodies. Oh boy I was wrong. Ancient Pompeii has been so greatly excavated, it’s almost as if you’re walking through normal, populated places in Europe. Half reminded me of Arles actually…

You also see quite a few casts of the bodies they uncovered. They aren’t located in the houses they were found in as quite a bit of Pompeii is still roped off understandably. There were, if my memory is correct, 2 human casts inside one building that still contained the original ceiling artwork and colouring, a cast of a dog inside an area where the archaeologists stored the vases, and 2 other human casts that accompany the dog. I did feel a bit disrespectful and inappropriate taking photo’s of the casts but after seeing so many other tourists take them, I figured I wouldn't be returning any time in the near future and it will be a good reminder of what the people felt at the time of the eruption.

Cast of a dog

After lunch we all headed off to Mount Vesuvius! Once again, super excited about going there. The tour bus drove half way up the mountain and dropped us all off at a little cafe/kiosk/bar. I got out of that tour bus incredibly fast and headed straight up the walking track as fast as I could. Stupidly, I decided to try get up there as quickly as possible. It took me 20 minutes to get up to the top and by that stage I was as red as you can get. I sat down for a while and waited for Grandad to make his way up to join me before I headed out to stand next to the crater. Luckily I had time to cool down a bit before I had my photo, though I am still rather red and sunburnt as you can see. 

Cast accompanying the dog

After heading down back to the cafe, we all jumped on the tour bus and headed back to Rome. Visiting Pompeii was such a wonderful experience. Would definitely recommend making the trip out there if you head to Italy. It is such a long tour (13 hours in our case) but worth it.

...and I got to cross something off my bucket list :)

View from the top of Mt. Vesuvius

A very red Cate at the crater 

Borghese Gallery

I typically don't like going in to gallery's. Purely because I find them to be quite boring and I feel like I've seen all the good ones from photographs and movies. The Borghese Gallery however blew my mind. Not because of the sculptures, which I am aware is one of the big draws to the place, or because of the paintings on the walls. I find most paintings that contain a cross, a halo, or any kind of christian/catholic religious symbol in it to be an eye roller. 

The thing that blew me away was the paintings on the ceilings. I've never seen paintings on such a large scale done so incredibly well. 

Also, above each doorway were two cherubs holding a golden leafy vine whilst staring down on the person passing through. Each pair of cherubs were positioned differently with different expressions of their faces. It was really quite marvellous. 

Unfortunately you're not allowed to take any bags, cameras, or phones inside the gallery so I couldn't manage to grab any photos. If you do go ahead and look up the Borghese Gallery and see some of the ceiling art, I must must must inform you that they don't do any justice at all. I did go ahead and try to find a photograph of my favourite ceiling that did it justice but I couldn't manage it. 

If you do decide to travel to Rome, I definitely recommend heading over to the Borghese Gallery even if you don't particularly like seeing art.

Part of my favourite ceiling

♡ A few changes ♡

You may or may not have noticed a few changes happening over the past week with my blog. Firstly some of the photos may not have been showing up in posts. I believe I have fixed this issue (which was due to my stupidity whilst playing around with settings in a different but linked program). Silly me. Also I've added in one new topic and changed an existing one. 

We'll start with the existing one, "Gaming", which I've changed to "Games". I've played many games in the past on many different platforms under different genres, all aimed at different age groups. So I figured why not do a fortnightly post on one game that I find to be entertaining and fun. The posts will generally be covering Playstation, PC, and Wii platforms so if you're interested, keep an eye out for those.

Introducing the "Unboxing/Hauls" tab. For those who don't know what an unboxing is, an unboxing is when you receive a package containing various items, or you purchase something like a computer or tablet or phone for example, typically you record yourself unwrapping and explaining what's inside the box with a few comments and opinions thrown in as well. Toward the end of the month there will be a post up on an unboxing and occasionally one in-between as well.

So keep an eye out on those if they interest you. I'll still be doing posts on Books as well, generally once or twice a month (study load permitting). I'll be travelling until the 8th of June so those posts will be coming through probably up until the 9th or 10th. Of course any travelling or holidaying I do in the future will be posted up in the Travels tab also :) 

Delphi - GREECE

Your first view into the ruins

Originally we weren't planning on heading out to Delphi but after finding out that our Mycenae tour included Corinth, we decided to change! And what a brilliant change it was, so glad we did. It was a long drive out from Athens, roughly 3 hours, but definitely worth it. 

When you arrive, you start out at the bottom of the archaeological site, pay for a ticket (or in our case collect it from the tour guide), and start walking up the stone path that heads up the mountain through Ancient Delphi. As you walk up you have a beautiful view of the mountains surrounding you. I personally found as you headed further up to the top of Delphi, the more beautiful the scenery appeared.

Treasury of the Boeotians

The first thing you'll see is a few open rooms shown in the picture on the left. I won't go in to too much detail about it as I didn't find it to be too jaw dropping, however I will point out that whilst building the walls, the ancient Greeks made them capable of draining any water that may flow down them as you can see in the patterns in the walls. Smart.

Treasury of the Athenians

Continue walking approximately 30-50 metres ahead and slightly uphill and you come across the Treasury of the Boeotians. The pathway to the left of this has been roped off however there is a plaque sitting on the left side indicating it also led to another treasury. Delphi must've been a treasury centre as only a few metres further forward and uphill (again), you see the beautiful Treasury of the Athenians. All the artefacts found from this site are located down in the museum attached, roughly a 3 minute walk from the entrance of Delphi.

Further along you have the Rock of the Sibyls, an object used to foretell the future.

Temple of Apollo

And on to the most wondrous part of Delphi (in my opinion), the Temple of Apollo. My favourite part of Greece is the rich background and cultural investment in the Greek Gods. Apollo being apart of this Greek God family, naturally peaked my interest. After walking around the Temple of Poseidon the day before, being able to walk around the Temple of Apollo was an amazing experience.

Finally we have a shot of the Treasury of the Athenians and the ruins that surround it. From this far up the mountain the view is incredible. Unfortunately the clouds were billowing in quite quickly as by the time I had reached the top, going past the theatre and up to the stadium, it was almost raining.

For anyone thinking of going to Greece, would definitely recommend taking a tour out to Delphi as the tour guides are quite informative and Delphi itself is a beautiful place.

Views from the mountain 

Athens (sneak peak!)

Mycenaen Tomb

As I am still out exploring and doing things in Greece I thought perhaps I should share some photos and snippets now, and on Saturday morning, share my adventures from Delphi! I will be posting some individual posts with additional images for the places that I personally quite enjoyed but for now, here are a few photos to give you an idea!

 1. From our visit to Mycenae and Corinth
    Mycenaen Tomb

 2. On our way climbing up to the Acropolis 
     Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus

 3. My most favourite place of all so far
     Temple of Poseidon

Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus

Temple of Poseidon