Firenze

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Or Florence as we call it. Today (Sunday) we went for a walk near our hotel and came across a local Flea Market. Here is Trevor in front of one of the antique iron stands.

We found lots of treasures we would have loved to have brought home but the airline probably wouldn’t like it

We walked to the Duomo (Large Cathedral) in the middle of Florence – the queue was so huge we didn’t go in, might try again another day. We had lunch in a little Café (they call them Bars here) where you buy slabs of pizza, panini, fruit salad etc.

This afternoon we took an open bus tour up to one of the exclusive hill suburbs Fiesole. Very nice – all the paintings you see of Tuscany (or Toscana as they call it here) are so true they paint it as you see it.

Tonight was another special night – The Feast of St John. Outside our Hotel the street was blocked off. We are on the edge of the Arno River. Directly opposite us there are some gardens and there was an amazing fireworks display there tonight that went for 40 minutes – it just kept going the streets were packed with people out to watch it. The loud bangs echoed off all the buildings and the fireworks were reflected in the river – it was fantastic.

Sorry guys blogger has published these out of order and I dont know how to change it.

Walking the Cinque Terre

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Today we decided to get up early and walk the track between the five villages estimated to take about 6 hours. There was a train strike here today until 9pm in the evening. But that didn’t matter because we could get the boat back to Monterosso.
Off we set – the track between Monterosso and Vernazza – the next village is very steep and narrow. That took about 1 and a half hours to walk very hot and sweaty although it is a bit cooler today and overcast – thank goodness.


This is Vernazza – a beautiful village built into the cliffs. We then set off for Corneglia which didn’t have a port and is set high in the cliff. This took one and a half hours also – more sweat and puffing. We had a lovely lunch here. After that were the villages of Manorola and Riomaggiore which were only about half an hour apart and a little more easier to walk.
On arrival at Riomaggiore we went straight to the office to book the boat trip back because by this time we were buggered and didn’t want to miss the boat. The boat wasn’t operating because of “rough seas” – well the sea was as calm as a good day in NZ!!!! So we thought we had to muck around in this tiny village until 9pm tonight. We thought about hitch hiking but decided not to. There were no taxis or buses. We went back to the train station after lots of mooching around and they said that there might be a train at about 6:00. We went to a bar and had a couple of beers with a nice Australian couple to fill in the time. We were so pleased to get back to Monterosso and have a shower – very hot, tired and sweaty – not a relaxing day at all but glad we did it.

Monterosso

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We left Rome – reluctantly – we really enjoyed it. Our train was delayed and whilst we were waiting we had a cappuccino at the Station – it was nice although they seem to drink their cappuccinos tepid here. Trevor went for a walk to find the Gents and after following about nine signs found it underground but there was a large queue and it was coin operated to enter so he didn’t worry about it – he was away for ages. When he came back he informed me that there was a mega shopping mall under the station but because we only had five minutes or so before our train arrived I couldn’t get to go and see it – bummer!.
The train journey took about four hours – the country side is similar to New Zealand but with lots of Bamboo.

Monterosso is the largest village in the Cinque Terre (pronounced chenkway tear) group of five villages. Our hotel room is considerably bigger than our last one and is back from the beach but very nice. The temperature is cooler here than Rome – feels like about 28.

Pantheon

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Trevor was up and away for a walk at 5:30. There were lots of people heading to work. Today we didn’t have anything planned so asked the nice young gentlemen on reception where he thought we should go. He recommended we get a bus to see the Pantheon and the Castel Saint Angelo (for those coming to Rome you take the number 64 bus). That was fun – we weren’t quite sure where to get off and the bus was so crowded, Trevor was standing separate from me. We were on the right street and I motioned to Trevor that we should get off at the next stop. A lovely elderly gentleman said to me that we should get off at this stop so I got off but Trevor didn’t see me get off until I was on the pavement and the bus was starting to move away! Trevor’s lack of Italian made it difficult to tell the driver to stop, some nice woman helped him to stop the bus.


Beside the Pantheon there was a lovely café where Trevor decided to taste the Italian cappuccino and I had a gelato ice cream – sorry girls too hot to drink coffees

Then we set off to find the Piazza Navona – one of the largest Piazzas in Italy. This was beautiful and is known for its delicious eateries in the evening (more about this later).

A short walk (everything thing here is not far from each other – even though on the map it looks like miles its really a short distance) across the Tiber River and we were at the Castel Saint Angelo. This is near the Vatican and is a huge fortress type castle in very original condition. The statue on the top is the Archangel Michael sheathing his sword after the end of a plague (without looking up my guidebook I can’t remember when this was). There is a secrete tunnel from the Castel to the Vatican. The age of things and the beauty of them doesn’t stop amazing us at every turn.

Just down the street from our hotel is this fantastic store, a cross between diary, liquor store and deli – it is fantastic – we could learn so much from the Italians. They don’t seem to have as much bureauocracy here and the place is better for it – OSH would have a field day here and maybe it should be compulsory for them to visit Rome to see how anal they are at home.

Trevor is fascinated by the amount of scooters and how they are used here

This is just around the corner from our hotel.

We booked a Tour “Rome Illuminated” which was to be a tour of Rome at night. The only problem was that for the first hour and twenty minutes it was still daylight! As part of the tour we went back to the Piazza Navona – it was packed with people and buskers – really crowded – such a contrast to when we were there earlier in the day. Trevor had a look at the prices at the Restaurants – they averaged between 30-40 euros for a main ($60-$80nz approx).
We are off to Cinque Terre today not sure if there will be internet access there so may be a few days before I can do any posts.

The Vatican

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We decided to book a tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Bascilica. Thank goodness we did this was the queue into the Vatican. These walls are all around the Vatican City and this was only one side we saw the queue go around three of these walls – not sure how much further it went after that. Our guide estimated that they would have approx 3 hours wait in the 31 degree heat – We just walked straight in. Although being with a tour you didn’t get to wander wherever you wanted he was very informative and we got the best vantage points and explanations of things. The Sistine Chapel was amazing (we weren’t able to take any photos in there though

This is a photo of one of the many ceilings in the Vatican Museum

Trevor standing in St Peter’s Square in front of the building where the Pope gives his speeches – On a Wednesday. We went on Tuesday to avoid the crowds! Sometimes you are unable to get into some parts of the Vatican on a Wednesday

After we got back to our hotel we walked to the Trevi Fountain – absolutely amazing – thousands of people there and very hot. Got back to Hotel for a wee sleep and woke up at 4:00am!

We are just mucking around today – we leave Rome for Cinque Terre tomorrow – will be very educational figuring out which train we are on.

The Colosseo

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We went to The Colosseo and The Roman Forum mind blowing

We then we to the Spanish Steps but couldn’t find the Trevi Fountain (so we ate a gelato instead). Then went onto the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which had an exhibition on there about the WW1. The monument (which is massive) was completed in 1921. It had an elevator which went to the top and had views all over Rome

Very hot and sweaty now so back to Hotel for siesta.

I am typing this at 4:30am (bloody jet lag) but other than that we feel good and are off to the Vatican Museum, St Peter’s Bascilica and Sistine Chapel today. Caio

Italy – instalment number 1

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Its 4:30am (Dubai time) we are an hour away from landing in Dubai Airport. It feels like we have been flying for a week! Emirates are great and having your own tv in the seat in front is a god send. There are about 900 different channels, games, movies etc. I have watched The pursuit of Happyness, and Dejavu. Trevor has watched Wild Hogs, Holiday, Bugs Life and played Black Jack as well as looking through the information channels about the aeroplane and Dubai. There is a wicked sun rise happening here. By my watch it is about 12.30 Sunday lunch time in New Zealand

This is some of the transit area of Dubai Airport. It is really strange seeing the flight schedules on the monitors in Arabic. The monitors in English have flights to hundreds of destinations – places like Damascus (who goes there?).

The six hour flight to Rome didn’t seem too long although the in flight entertainment was not as good as the long haul flight to Dubai. I slept most of it. We sat beside a couple on their honeymoon – not sure what nationality they were but definitely Middle Eastern. She was wearing a head scarf and had lots of henna tattoos – they were off on a cruise – couldn’t quite make out where – They had a honeymoon cake that someone had given them and they didn’t like it – he tried to give it to us but we felt that we had been eating all the way from New Zealand to Rome – so a cake was just too much.

We arrived at Rome expecting to take ages to get through customs etc. We got off the plane, walked towards baggage claim – were stopped at a door by an Italian wanting to look at our passport, he gave a cursory glance, we collected our luggage and that was it!

We were greeting by a lovely young Italian driver complete with suit, sunglasses and Mercedes! He proceeded to drive us from the airport to our hotel at a speed of, on average, 150kms/hr while most of the time speaking on his mobile!. We arrive safely. It is about 31 degrees.

Our Hotel room is the size of our bathroom at home with a tiny wee ensuite. It is lovely and cool and really quiet the whole building is stone. We went for a walk around and found this fountain just around the corner. We refreshed our hot feet in it.

We to bed at 5:00pm and slept till 6:00am.

Italy

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Well we are nearly all packed and ready to go. We leave Queenstown tomorrow morning (Saturday) at 8:50am weather permitting, fingers crossed, but we don’t leave Christchurch until 6:00pm Sat so have time to drive if needed. Hopefully I will be able to use my laptop and post our progress and pictures as we go.

Franklin Arts Festival

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I have just heard that my Marrakech Bag that I won first prize with last year is being used in the television add on the Living Channel advertising this years Franklin Arts Festival – o how exciting – shame we only have poor mans TV.

I won’t know until we get back from Italy how this year’s entry went.

Into the Light

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After a frantic last minute dash I finished this piece to be submitted to the Franklin Arts Festival. I really like this one and the comments from home were very enthusiastic. I’m now worried it will sell as I did not put a large price on it.