Yeah, this door is pretty cool, but it was not the first thing that caught my eye about this church. Nope, not the door, not the cool front gate or the mosaic work above the entrances. What caught my eye was whom the church was dedicated to - Our Lady of Snows. After a brief chuckle, my next thought was... who was this Lady?
Well, Wikipedia
links me with a few pages. Not so much with the helpful. Google lead me to some interesting links for other churches dedicated to the same Saint. Hmmm...
After half an hour of link diving, I think I have a basic story of the origin of the name. Some powerful guy in the 300's wanted to have kids with his wife but they were barren. They prayed to Our Lady (Mary of Jesus) to help them out. In a vision they were told to build a church at a particular place, on a hill top covered in snow.
That's all you get. 'They' have no other historical reference point for this story, nor do we necessarily know if their prayers/actions produced an heir. But there is a church build on a hill outside of Rome that tends to get snow. Our Lady of Snows. Tada!
I'm not normally this cynical about names, but I do find that Mary has so too many titles. I love Mary, probably more than my protestant self should. I find many of her images and icons inspiring, breathtaking and moving. I get disgruntled when I have to use a reference text to tell me that the church is dedicated to Jesus' Mom. Just sayin'.
Taken June 2010 - Detail of the West Door, Parish Church Sanctuary - Our Lady of Snows, La Spezia, Italy
Yet another classic Harbour shot. I love how rich and blue the water is here. I also really love the floating ferry platforms. There is just enough of a tide in this harbour to be a nuisance for ferries... all up it's about 1m of difference between low and high. (I'm rather obsessed with tides, just in case you didn't know). 
Yeah, this door is pretty cool, but it was not the first thing that caught my eye about this church. Nope, not the door, not the cool front gate or the mosaic work above the entrances. What caught my eye was whom the church was dedicated to - Our Lady of Snows. After a brief chuckle, my next thought was... who was this Lady?
I'm not certain which these beautiful birds are... something like Singapore sparrows? I'll let you tell me :)
I know I've introduced you all to Pepper Tree Winery before. (here) They really are one of the top wineries of the Hunter Valley and well worth visiting if you are in the area. Their production levels basically match cellar door demand, so if you like a wine you'd best buy it up right quick! On our May trip to the Hunter, we sampled the newly released shiraz named Pebbles. On our return trip in August they had been sold out of Pebbles for over a month. That's crazy quick! The Coquun seen above was a delicious shiraz which I believe is already sold out 6 weeks after release. All I have to say on this is 'good on ya' and 'yum'!
Taronga Zoo really does everything possible to give each of their animals the best of the best. This lion's enclosure has cool areas, sunny areas and lots of space to both be seen and to hide. On this particular occasion, monsieur le lion decided to be perfectly friendly and basque in the sun just in front of the plexiglass. It was mid afternoon and the early spring sun was wonderfully warm against the still cool air. There were so many people gathered watching the lions that I took this picture from about 5 people back holding my camera above the crowd.