Going Cruelty Free | Beauty & Cosmetics

Rome

The River Palace Hotel Via Flamino is placed just outside an original Entrance to Rome. Although it is quite small it has a sumptuous interior with gleaming marble floors. It was pleasant and welcoming. Our cosy room included a luxurious bathroom and powerful rejuvenating shower. We had English TV and were able to catch up with family using the free wi fi.  The lounge was always a pleasant retreat after a long day of sight seeing and they provided a free cold buffet in the evenings.

 www.riverpalacehotel.

Outside in the Piazza Flamino I was poised with my camera ready to snap every historical archway and sculpture surrounding me in awe of this aesthetically stunning city. I was later to find out that this square was quite bland in comparison to other parts of the city. I was about to be wowed.

The modern Capital set in amongst ancient architecture is well maintained and more modern buildings compliment the old. Exquisite fountains, statues, columns and churches face you at every turn as well as cafes, restaurants, shops and boutiques with manikins of unobtainable slenderness displaying rich fashionable clothing.

Street vendors are everywhere some selling hot chestnuts at an outrageous price, others handing you selfie sticks, scarves, water, supplies on demand. The one day it rained they suddenly conjured up waterproof ponchos. 

Beggars kneel humbly faced down on the ground clutching Rosary beads and a container for offerings. They generally wear head scarves and you rarely see their faces. None of them look too starved.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and you will struggle to see all of it in a week. It is best not to have rigid expectations as sometimes things can close for maintenance occasionally as I found out.

The Spanish steps at Piazza Di Spagna named so as they belong to the Spanish Embassy are usually lined with flowers and open to the public.  During my stay they were being cleaned and so they were visually less impressive than I had seen in pictures as well as being fenced off.  Piazza Di Spagna was still bustling with visitors and very much alive.

The Trevi Fountain, the most spectacular fountain in Rome  in which people throw wishing coins into and in doing so it is said to secure a return visit.  Well I will almost certainly revisit the city as I missed out on this vital attraction as it was also closed for maintenance.  A sign gave the impression that it was just for a day and so I went back on several occasions. I could see it’s magnificence even without the water though.

The enormous Vitteriano  is an imposing white marble building. It is referred to as the wedding cake and said to be the alter of the nation. Although it’s a stunning work of art It is slightly out of place in the city because of it’s origin in time. It overshadows some historical features in ancient Rome which can be seen from the back of the building. It was built between 1885 and 1911 to honour the first Italian King Emanuele II and the unification of Italy.  The monarchy only lasted for thirty years after it was completed.

It became a land mark for us as all roads opposite it lead us to our hotel.

Just along from this monstrosity are ancient ruins of the Trajan Markets named after the Emperor Trajan. It is the world’s oldest shopping mall dated back to the second century A.D. Once full of life where flowers, oils, wines and fresh fish kept alive in salt water tanks would be traded. If you can imagine the echoes of voices bartering for goods and badgering for sales all those years ago now only seagulls, crows and the occasional cat inhabit the place.

Circus Maximus was a chariot racing track built in the 6^th century BC and is situated in a valley between Palentine and Aventine. It is now a deserted empty looking space like a river drained of water. But once it was all so much alive. All kinds of athletics were held there as well as wild beast fights and crucifixions. 380,000 spectators could be seated there, seven times that of the colloseum. Whilst these events took place there would also be an abundance of food and wine stalls, astrologers and other vendors trying to make money from a captive audience much like today. It looked as though more excavation is currently taking place.

Piazza Navona is the city’s artistic central surrounded by bars and restaurants. Artists display, demonstrate and sell their work. It is a beautiful place to come at night and nearly always has live musicians playing romantic music. There are striking constructions such as the Fountain of Neptune at the north end, The Fountain of Four Rivers with an Egyptian Obelisk in the centre and at the south west end the Statue of Pasquino. In ancient Rome it was once Domitian’s Stadium and you can still recognise it’s oblong shape today. Apparently it is undergoing excavation also to discover the ancient treasures beneath. Everywhere you walk in Rome you are treading on the ancient Empire.

Technically the Vatican is classed as a small country and is not Rome. It is an essential part of the tour though. Don’t be fooled by the queue all around the magnificent St Peters Square to enter the church. We came early and prepared to queue for longer than an hour but it was no more than twenty minutes. Private tour guides will offer ticket sales to help jump you through the queue which also includes the museum and Sistine Chapel. Remember, it is free to go into the church and you only need to pay when you climb to the top of the Dome. As for the museums, you will need a whole separate day for that and the last thing I would have wanted was to be rushed through with a private tour.

Photos do not do justice to the grandeur and scale of this delightful masterpiece. We went to the top which was 320 steps after a short elevator ride. It was a long, narrow climb and it continued to narrow in breadth and height as we ascended towards the top though you never could tell how much further it was. Health and Safety takes a back seat here for if someone had feinted up there, nothing was to be done. Luckily no one did. The view was brilliant from the top but there wasn’t much space to move and take photos.

The Church itself was overwhelmingly beautiful. I felt deeply awestruck by it’s powerful spirituality. The ornate marble carvings, splendid artistry is almost indescribable.  

Castel Sant Angelo another fantastic building near by with a wealth of history. Built in 123 – 139 A.D.  by the Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum to himself. It was a tomb to him and his family. Later it was converted into a fortress of defence in medieval times as well as a prison and home to the pope.

At the top of the Castel there is a Montelupo statue 1544 of an angel sheathing a sword. It signifies a legend that an angel was seen over Rome during the end of the plague in 590 AD.

The view from the top is fantastic. Not as high up as St Peters but a bigger base to walk around and see Rome in it’s entirety.  The building included a museum collection of artefacts from all around the world, some from the travels of Guiseppi Tucci an Italian explorer.

The Pantheon and the Square around it is yet another bustling lively place. The Pantheon was a place of worship built during Hadrian’s reign but was one of the first Roman Temples to be made into a church by Pope Boniface VI in 609 A.D. It’s famous for having the world’s largest unreinforced dome. A marvellous construction indeed. Many leading Italians have been buried here including painter Raphael.

The weather in October was warm and sunny most of the time and you didn’t really need to bring a coat. We had only one day of patchy rain and so chose to go to the Vatican Museum which would mean spending the day inside.

The museum is holds an amazing ancient Egyptian collection of sarcophagi, mummies, jewellery, ornaments etc.   It also has a fantastic collection of Roman and Greek statues. There is so much to see and soak in. One of the most striking things to me were the ancient tapestries which were hand woven by artists. The room displaying these had an aroma of dampness. The Raphael rooms were fabulous and beautiful displaying elaborate ceiling art. On the way to the famous Sistine Chapel we passed through a modern art area ranging from the 20^th century onward. The crowds dispersed here and sadly no one was that interested. How could they be, Art seems so inferior now to what it was in the renaissance period or earlier. I put that down to the technology we have now. We replicate or portray character even beauty through the use of film and photography. We no longer need to sculpt portraits to remember our heroes and idols by. Tapestries once told stories. People sought immortality by leaving images of History behind long after death as a sort of trail to their descendants to learn from. Now the internet does the job.

The Sistine Chapel was amazing with enchanting, eye catching hues. The museum provides a personal audio handset which explains it all. By far the most breathtaking piece was Michael Angelo’s Painting in bold sky blue portraying judgement day as it is said to be in the Bible's book of revelation.  The ceiling offered bible stories from the beginning of God bringing light, Adam and Eve and Noah. On one side the life of Moses is displayed in frescoes and on the opposite wall the life of Jesus. 

We returned to the church of St Peter afterwards.

It is important to do your own thing in Rome and not to just follow guide books. I discovered that every church in Rome is beautiful just by popping into them. It is also nice to get away from the crowds and relax a little because did I mention how annoying the incessant presence of tourists can be?

At the Piazza Della republic where the centre piece is yet another gorgeous fountain, we discovered the entrance of an old looking Roman structure and decided to go inside and it was completely transformed inside. Santa Maria delgi Angeli dartiri had originally been the Baths of Diocletian but now a beautiful marble church. Antonio Lo Duca had the revelation to reconstruct it and again Michael Angelo had a hand in it’s design.

Outside in the grounds we walked further to discover the Roman Museum National. It had a complete collection of artefacts dating back even further than the Romans. Tombs of an earlier agricultural period had been excavated and even the discovery of magic and spells. Many Roman busts, plaques and statues from all the famous emperors were exhibited here too. Tablets from new years vows and announcements made by names like Tiberius, Claudius, Augustus, Caligula and Nero. There’s nothing quite like brushing shoulders with the rich and famous.

When going to the Colosseum  it is a good idea to first go to the Gladiator training grounds just across the road. There is a scaled down arena as well as the stone cell like rooms the gladiators lived in. You could imagine they could hear the crowds roaring and cheering from there as they headed towards their fate.

It is a good idea to have a guide talk you through the Colosseum or it’s real name Flavian Amphitheatre. It is impressive from the outside but just little more than a shell inside as it has been exposed to earth quakes and some of it’s materials were reclaimed for recycling in the middle ages when sentimentality towards the Romans was non existent.  You can appreciate the size of it as you stand at the highest point.

The Roman Forum is worth spending a large part of your day if history fascinates you. It is important to have a guide as there it is a collection of ruins and many unlabelled structures. It contained lots of government buildings including a bank. It was the centre of Roman life and full of temples, arches and shrines.  It is easy to imagine you have been teleported through time and it left me with an unquenchable thirst for Roman history.

More importantly my favourite eating places. During the day time a lovely place to stop for a drink and a rest is Mr Boom on the Corner of Piazza Pascale Paoli.

A good place for an evening meal and decent wine would be Cavona Tadolini. Via del Babuino.  It has charm and character as well as delicious food. You are surrounded by white stone statues because it is actually a museum dedicated to Antonio Canova a famous sculptor and teacher of art.

I ate roasted vegetables with artichoke and mozzarella for starters (it was huge) followed by the most succulent chicken breast with chopped pistachios. 

www.canovatadolini.com

I would have liked to have been able to bring home the essence of Rome. A lovely City well worthchecking out.

Pixels -

Nerd fantasy becomes a reality when Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler) is forced to face his demon, you know that one big thing in every kids life that renders you inadequate, strips you of all your dignity causing your self esteem to plummet beyond reach forever. The demon that causes a thirteen year old genius to give up on himself and maps out the rest of his life playing out the role of “a bit of a loser”. Highlighted by the fact that his best buddy Will Cooper (Kevin James)   became the President of the United States. Brenner's demon was Donkey Konga, an 80s video game usually found in an arcade.

A video tape which had been sent out to space some 30 years ago following an intense  arcade gaming tournament, was taken as a declaration to go to war by a distant planet. They began to invade us with our own iconic video game characters. Unfortunately not very many soldiers knew the rules, and so Sam Brennan and a couple of other nerds Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) and Eddie (Peter Dinklage) had to step in and save the day. Oh and other Nerd fantasies were fulfilled as Lady Lisa from Dojo Quest manifests from pixels.

Now although this was pure comedy, I actually found myself tensing up during the Pac Man car chase and of course there were scenes that got me all emotional but over all it was hilarious.

 Michelle Monaghan plays Violet Van Patten the Lieutenant Colonel

An enjoyable film for all ages (well it was a 12) I especially loved it as I am an eighties chick.

Bath

I began to wish I had dressed more appropriately as we approached the county of Somerset, South,West England in the slushing of rain. I was expecting it to be a miserable August afternoon spent cowering for shelter inside a museum, merely glimpsing exterior architecture whilst wading between various venues of interest. I had to remind myself that this was just a characteristic of our wonderful country and that I should accept it and enjoy it in all its glory. In doing so I think I stopped the rain.  As we arrived in Bath it became pleasantly sunny. The streets were lined with exquisite Georgian townhouses, the back drop of many a period drama. I was awestruck by its classical beauty, humbled by its charm and immersed in its history.

 We were famished after our two and a half hour drive and so before our tour we embarked on finding somewhere for a quick bite to eat. Typical 21^st Century chains would be obscenely unfitting in the surroundings yet we did manage to find a Subway near a Tesco and I even saw a McDonalds poster.  These things were obviously placed in a rather modern area. Everywhere else was unspoilt. Chain stores and shops were uniformly subtle in there appearance.

Our first stop was the Historical Roman Baths. I could literally spend hours absorbing the ancient structures and imagining myself standing there 2000 years ago trying to build up a picture of what life would have been like. The video and audio presentations really helped to conjure that up for me as it took us on the journey not only of the Roman times but also the discovery to the reconstruction of the baths. There were the statues of many famous Romans such as Emperors Julius Caesar , Hadrian and Claudius. Images of Gods.  I felt that the baths took us on a journey through time of the ordinary people. For example, the people traditionally had curses engraved onto fine lead to throw to the gods for consideration and when these were discovered and translated they were found to be quite petty and mundane. They would wish ill health on someone who nicked there clothes or the equivalent of a couple of quid.  Cultural traditions and different faiths were practiced in the Roman baths. Religion played very big part in those times. It all felt very familiar to me, the whole human civilization. I wondered if some day in thousands of years time, they might dig up Brent Cross Shopping Centre in the North of London, the first of many indoor shopping malls built in 1976. They might reconstruct the fountain and the rusty old escalators and talk about people through the ages from the 20^th century.

The  green water.

The loud steaming water of a Roman drain.

The Golden Head of Sulis Minerva

The Roman Baths is an absolute must for anyone visiting the city no matter how enthralled or not you are by history. The ancient artifacts, the modern visual re-enactments displayed on video screens make for a great experience.  The hot mineral water bursting from the ground eventually tamed by the Romans had always been considered to be a gift from the gods. Now it is lime green with Algae. We were not supposed to touch it because it was untreated but curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to be sure it was hot, I wasn’t taking anyone’s word for it and I could wash my hands after.  

Over priced Rugby shirts

After walking around the delightful City, it was time to go to the Jane Austen Centre. It wasn’t a huge building with a lot to see but an absolutely marvellous experience for a literature buff.  Her life and the history of her family  was passionately presented by a Jane Austen adoring fan dressed up as Kitty Bennet from the famous novel Pride and Prejudice. Then we toured the building 40 Gay street which is similar to No 25 Gay street where Jane Austen lived for a short time. 

During my visit to Bath I tried to imagine what it might have been like with out the intrusive sound and presence of traffic. I was able to see it so clearly in a visual presentation of Jane Austen’s life in Bath set to an enchanting clarinet concerto by Mozart.  

As you can see, we were able to dress in costume.

When I held the quill I encountered romantic notions of living in Bath and becoming an author.

The Royal Crescent Designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a Grade I listed building.^[   It has been used as a film location for many things but the most memorable one for me was The musical Oliver made in 1968 based on Charles Dicken’s Novel  Oliver Twist. The scene was for the song “Who will buy”  It was a beautifully choreographed, colourful scene. I grew up being a huge fan of that musical as I would play back the sound track on vinyl over and over. I adored Mark Lester who played Oliver, was fascinated with Ron Moody’s portrayal of Fagan and petrified of Oliver Reed’s Bill Sykes.

I fell in love with Bath. It’s a truly inspiring place which I will return to again and again. I am intrigued to learn more about the Roman Empire from where I left off at school and now keen to follow up other old haunts of Jane Austen. Next stop Chawton and Winchester.

www.romanbaths.co.uk

www.janeausten.co.uk

Jupiter Ascending

Written and directed by Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski from the makers of The Matrix Trilogy, this charming story of Jupiter Jones, (Mila Kunis) a young girl born under the night sky destined for greater things. 

She grows up in the family business as a chamber maid and is seen to be cleaning and fixing toilets until one day a fine looking creature from outer space Cain Wise (Channing Tatum), genetically engineered military server comes to earth to seek her out. His indestructible spirit is on a mission to protect and transport the lady to her greater destiny which is on another planet in another galaxy.

Unbeknown to our planet and many others, we had been seeded by alien royalty and are under the rule of the Abrasax Dynnasty of which  Kaleque (Tuppence Middleton), Titus (Douglass Boothe) and Balem (Eddie Redmayne)  are  Aires. Planet earth is about to be harvested in order to give these rulers eternal youth.

Where does Jupiter come into this? Well as it turns out, she is the most perfect molecular  reincarnation of the parent of this dynasty and she actually owns earth. This girl has power in her hands she never even knew about.

Kalque, Titus and Balem were her children in a past life and each one is more corrupt and greedy than the next. The cause is down to the commodity known as  time and it's eternal youth is only obtainable by the death of human beings.

This story has a certain amount of romance aimed at the teenage soul. As usual, amazing effects which are becoming less impressive the more we see.  There was a little too much action which became tedious.The acting was  excellent and in my opinion, the story was  good.

I don’t see this film having a sequel but it probably will. Some things are best left alone.

Ex Machina

Man’s fascination to become a creator of life has been expressed through fiction over the ages in the likes of Frankenstein. However when it comes to making the sexuality of the artificial life female, man never ceases to aim for physical perfection.

Written and Directed by Alex Garland,this film is a calming masterpiece with few characters and not much action. It is pure storytelling through characters and script.

Domhnall Gleeson plays Caleb, a young man who works for the biggest search engine in the world, has won a competition within his company to spend time with a top CEO in his secluded home in the mountains.

It is top secret and he is dropped into the middle of nowhere by helicopter and given instructions on how to find the rest of the way on foot.

The multi billionaire Nathan played by Oscar Isaac is extremely intelligent and it is no coincidence that the chosen winner is this boy. He has actually been hand picked using data from his browsing history.

Nathan is a man of extremes. He appears to be a bit of an alcoholic by night and a fitness freak by day. He has spent much of his time alone and this in itself has given rise to such eccentricities. In any case, it’s a new angle of mad scientist and a far more realistic approach than the classic freaky haired white coated professor.

His creation is a Ava played by Alicia Vikander,  a beautiful robot girl with a sorrowful demeanor. Caleb has been instructed to carry out the Turing test. To find out if the machine can exhibit intelligent behavior and can learn emotions.

Ava gently flirts with Caleb and is able to stir emotions in him.

The film leaves you with many thoughts about many future possibilities of artificial intelligence. Well worth seeing.