PPF and Postcard Challenge

Hi everybody, welcome to another week of Paint Party Friday, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge, week 24, where we are off to Italy, which for me means ROME, which is my third favourite town in this world!


Jason and Shannon loved the T-shirts from Lviv. The wedding is going to take place in August, and Cissie and Thelma spend a lot of time squabbling over the arrangements, each determined to outdo the ideas of the other one. But Jason and Shannon both have other ideas. Shannon wants a romantic wedding in white. Jason wants a cool event with all of his mates. Cissie and Thelma at least agree over the fact that their kids have no clue about how to organise things, and decide to send them off to Rome for a few days, to make up for the holiday Jason was not allowed to take in Thailand.
On the day before their departure, they go to the Chippie for their usual meal, and then to Cissie’s for their afternoon tea and cakes. Jason has a list of friends he wants to invite, and Shannon a list of her's. The *Oldies* promise to think about it if there is enough room at the reception. Jason is cross, and says, *’Ang on, it’s my weddin’, ain’t it, so why don’t I get to choose?* Shannon buts in and says, *Your wedding? What about me? It’s just as much MY wedding!!* Cissie and Thelma seem to have been practising chorus speaking, for they say, *And we’re paying!! * Cissie adds, *Anyway, we have to invite the neighbours and their families, they always invite us!* Jason asks, *Do you know that Latif and Munah have got 9 kids?* They’ll fill up the reception themselves!* *What?* Asks Cissie, They have 9 kids already? I swear she gets pregnant every time she irons his trousers! Reminds me of my great uncle Joseph – He had so many kids he couldn’t keep track of how many, let alone the names!* *And I hope you learn to keep your trousers buttoned!* says Thelma, *I don’t want no 9 grandchildren!*
On this happy note, Shannon and Jason decide to go home and get packed….
The flight to Rome is pleasant, and when they arrive  it is hot and sunny, a pleasant change after cold and rainy London. They are staying at a little hotel on the Via Pinerola, near the Piazza Re di Roma, which is very central. They are delighted to find lots of cafés, bars and pubs directly nearby. On the first day they do a round tour with a bus, and then spend the next days visiting the famous sights one by one– the Vatican, the Via Appia Antika, the Colosseum, the Pantheum, the Tiber, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain,the Castel Sant’Angelo, the Baths of Caracalla, and many, many more. Every time Jason looks at one of the pretty girls he gets a sharp dig in his ribs from Shannon, and is told to look at something else!
Shannon has read the wonderful novel  in which the two protagonists promise eternal love by placing a lock on the third streetlight of Ponte Milvio and launching the key in the River Tiber.This ritual has become one of the new symbols of the city.The padlocks of love became hundreds, then thousands, were even stolen! Eventually  padlocks were put on the streetlight to stop it being stolen, which unfortunately fell apart because the locks weighed too much! But this does not deter Jason and Shannon from placing a lock there! The authorities have placed chains there now, specially to accommodate the love-locks!

Some of the famous sights: 

Some Panorama Views:

The Trevi Fountain was Shannon's fave place; Jason enjoyed sitting on the Spanish Steps and ogling the girls as they went past in their mini-skirts....

(Photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

And this is the postcard they send home, taken on the famous Ponte Milvio, after they have sworn eternal love and fixed their padlock to the chain. Jason is lifting his *scrawny bird*, as he likes to call her, clean off her little  feet....

And for Paint Party Friday I would like to share another of my 'ancient' nudes, painted in 1995.

Here's wishing you all a good day, take care, have fun and thanks for looking in!