Fabulous at Fifteen

A couple of weeks ago, Sunny had the delight of turning 15 years old during the 'Italian Leg' of our adventure trip. Oh yes, the joy of becoming 15! Actually, is it a joy? Was it a joy for anyone? I personally have absolutely no memory of turning 15 and even if I had a birthday party (Mum, can you help me out here?). I do recall 15 being not one of my favourite ages - very intense time, attempting to become a grown up when clearly I was ill equipped to do so and of course the distraction of boys didn't help!

As I was always aware that Sunny's impending 15th birthday would occur while we were away on our trip, I wanted to make sure it took place in a fantastic location that she would love (or at least like - well that we all liked) and that we did something special in that location to mark the event. So what could we do as a family that would please a new 15 year old? I decided we would go visit the "sexiest man in the world". Not bad, eh? Wouldn't mind meeting him myself....... check him out....... see if it's true. Can you guess who he is? He's Italian, lives in Florence and is around 500 years old - yes, the awesome statue of David himself and I have to say he is absolutely beautiful in all his 5m high natural glory. A very imposing figure - so smooth, so well defined, so..... out of proportion. What the? This is the statue of the perfect man! How can this be? Now the part of the male anatomy that you would assume to be made larger was actually overshadowed by David's oversized hands, feet and head. Fortunately, these slight imperfections didn't make any impact on Sunny. She was quite amazed at David's beauty and enthralled with his facial expression. How he managed to look confident and sure from the front, yet pensive and concerned from the side was the topic of much discussion - and yes, we did also mention the fact that he was in the buff and how his pubic hair looked like it had just stepped out of a salon, but all in all, Sunny had a wonderful and unique 15th birthday with us and David.

Since visiting Florence, Rome and most recently Pompeii, the impact of ancient art in its varying forms has been great on Sunny and Rosiegirl and in particular, on one main theme. We were all wowed over and over again by the magnificence of ancient times but why are most men portrayed in the nude? Travelling with 2 young female teenagers and seeing penis's (what is the plural of this word?) everywhere you turn or look up at has been very confronting at times, and yet, has made for some very funny and interesting conversations too! The girls have learnt a great deal about male anatomy in all its varying sizes and shapes - thank you ancient Italy for being such a thorough teacher. I can't wait to see what topic their next lesson will be!