TRAVEL THE WORLD - ROME, ITALY

These three photos of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in Rome were taken in 1994. St. Peter's, the "mother" church for the world's Catholics, is the largest Christian church in the world, holding a congregation of 60,000. It was constructed between 1506 and 1626.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ROME , ITALY

These three photos, taken in 1994, show how impressive the ancient ruins of Rome are. The first photo looks down over the Roman forum from the Arch of Septimus Severus, the second photo looks over onto Augustus' Forum, and the final one features Caesar's Forum. Our only complaint was the intense heat, which limited the amount of time we spent exploring the ruins. Spending more time is something to look forward to on our next visit.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ROME, ITALY

The monument of Viktor Emaneul (or Vittorio Emanuele), the first king of united Italy, was completed in 1935. As you can see from the photos, taken in 1994, it is very lovely.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - MONTPELLIER, FRANCE

I love the way the light shines through the openings in the Roman aqueduct at Montpellier, photographed in 1999. Montpellier is one of my favourite places in France. It has a world renowned medical school, the most beautiful modern buildings you will ever see, a very interesting old medieval quarter, and of course this beautiful ancient aqueduct. What more could you ask?

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ROME, ITALY

We visited Rome in 1994 in the middle of a heat wave. Can't you almost see the heat in this photo of the Roman Forum? If you look very closely, you can just make out the man and woman near the bottom right. This will give you an idea of the scale of the ruins. The forum itself is very large. We walked here for an hour or so until we felt burned to a crisp and returned to our hotel, disappointed that we couldn't spend more time reading the guide book to see what we had actually been looking at.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - BIGNOR ROMAN VILLA, ENGLAND

My mother and I had a holiday in England in 1984. Driving north of Chichester on a minor road in the countryside , we saw a sign post for a Roman villa. Intrigued, we stopped to see it and were amazed at the quality of the beautiful mosaic floors. As this was the first time I saw ruins from the ancient world, the day remains fresh in my memory some 25 years later. The floors are part of a Roman villa that dates from the 3rd Century AD.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ROME, ITALY

The Basilica of St. John Lateran, photographed in 1994, is the cathedral of Rome, and as such is the official seat of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. The site was originally a fort which later became a palace. Some time around the year 313, the palace was given to the Bishop of Rome by the Emperor Constantine. Renovations were made during the 18th Century following an architectural competition. The facade, seen in the first photo above, was designed by Alessandro Galilei in 1735. Set directly behind the facade is the narthex - a lobby or porch, featured in the second photo. It is a wonderful space, like so many that are to be seen and enjoyed in Rome.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - BATH, ENGLAND

A visit to these Roman baths will make it easy to imagine what one very important feature of life in ancient Rome was like. The photo was taken in 1997 when my husband Paul, my son Jason and I had a holiday in England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - SEGESTA, SICILY

In 2000, we traveled to Sicily and were very pleasantly surprised when we saw its beautiful ancient temples. This Doric temple was built in the late 5th Century BC when Segesta was one of several Greek cities that existed on the island.