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Dinner with Catherine again- Dale donated a compass to her for the rest of her travels.Had big hors d'oevres platter after our steak and rugulo lunch near the rotunda Wandered along the corso and via nationale- police out in force as some demos happening- bought top,scarf and cloak in a lovly shop canova?
Packed up to move to the aparment ( clover)Apartment ok on opposite side of station-lots of Chinese shops and dodgy looking characters there.OK sleep and breakfast at station again-2x2 croissants and coffees for 8 euro!
Visited St Mary Maggiore- mosaics in darkness even tho church full of tourists and worshippers. Called into supermarket opposite for lollies for the plane and caught train to airport 1/2 hour trip got us there early. Weather fine and cool.Found presents for Stu and Alex
Left Rome with mixed feelings- sorry the trip was over but looking forward to seeing family again.Trip home with security checks at every stopover was tedious as lots of games etc on plane did not work. Popped a pill and managed to get a few hrs after Dubai.Bed at 430 am Oz time after children met us.It was lovely to see them.Even Abby seemed to remember us!Now back to normality.

More Rome

Have ome time now as we have moved to another part of the beehive and computer use is not as in demand.Rome was wonderful and we have paced ourselves- Trastavere the first day along with the Balbi for a good insight into the digging up of ancient Rome followed by a walk thru the ghetto to the pantheon and a good restaurant recommended by Beehive people.
Great pasta and we then headed in the rain to St Clement of the underground river and on to St Giovanni de Lateran where all the popes are buried- great statuary there and an impressive size.In the rain braved the bus back to termini and had a meal at a station self serve where the girls grilled meat of your choice 5eveges3e for aserve and a 1/2 bottle of good wine for 5e- cheap and cheerful!Breakfast the next day were charged 27e for 2 capuccinos fresh OJs and 2 ham and cheese panini and 1 croissant- real tourist rip bur oj and coffee were excellent!Breakfast at the railway Italian pasticceria for 2 caps and 2 filled-1 fruit 1 custard croissants the next day was 4e! Go figure.Dinner a disaster fatty meat stew called veal in wine sauce tho Dale roast chicken was fine- real tourist place but we were tired and desperate!
Anyhow good value is to be had in Italy generally, Booked a ticket to the Borghese Gallery for 1pm excellent value as the palace is a work of art itself and there was a Canova exhibition as well as all the other wonders there. Spent 2 hrs and then wandered thru the park to the Popolo place- great misty view over Rome. Visited Spanish steps on way to Borghese- expensive hotels and dress shops Valentinos workroom was one I spotted-fendi gucci etc. all there!Full of Americans and Middle Eastern princesses.
Headed back to the beehive walking as the sun was out and again covered 7km or so!Met a nice lady from Melbourne and had dinner with her at the beehive. Have a ticket to the Massimo from th Balbi visit- went there in 2004 a great little museum with sculpture, frescoes and mosaics from ancient Roman sites discovered during earthworks, building etc.Have rooms reconstructed from the past with original wall paintings etc. lovely.
Also a massive coin display of every coin minted in Italy sine Christsd time amazing to see well arranged and explained.
A mummy of an aristocratic young girl was also displayed- showing all the work done on her- DNA studies,cloth analysis etc.
Jewellery and other artifacts were also shown so all in all a good place to see a potted history of Roman sculpture, mosaic work and frescos.Anyone interested in coinage and history of money would also find it worthwhile.Searching for shoes but found a dressshop instead- poor Dale- finally bought myself something I wouldn't find in Melbourne!
There seems to be some sort of industrial/political activity today- police in their cool uniforms and boots strutting their stuff on the street. Large marches with banners and lots of people and balloons-can't figure what it is all about.
Have crossed paths with some of the politicians, diplomat types in flash cars with police escorts outside restaurants and buildings-seem to be very security conscious- reckon terrorists would need to disguise themselves as tourists as it seems everyone ignores you if you look like one- comforting in some ways!
Off to another dinner at the beehive tonight our last in Roma- lunch at our good place at the Rotunda was sliced steak on a bed of rocket-just the ticket before a vegetarian feast tonight. Have walked our feet off in Rome! Daylight saving finishes tomorrow so we have a sleep in tonight!Ciao.

Orvieto and Rome

Arrived in the bustling Rome termini station after a great day in Orvieto- the best risotto ever and dropping off the car.
Rome still dirty crazy feral and full of tourists but wonderful! Visited a great new archaeological museum where you walk into the dig itself ( Balbi) as well as all the good mosaic churches. St Clements also has a dig in progress and a Mithraen temple underneath as well as a 4th century church. Dale worried about the safety aspects due to the underground river ou could hear nearby - I said its been there for 3000yrs so dont worry!
Borghese gallery yesterday and off today for our last full day then home- alas!
Mixed emotions looking forward to the children and friends again to say nothing of the cats!

Italia the beautiful-mostly!

Left Panzano regretfully-gorgeous autumn coulours seemed to have appeared overnight!A beautiful drive avoiding Siena and heading for Motalcino where Isabel Dusi lives- she wrote 2 great books about life of an Australian married to a local. In the books she descibes the local carnivale where the 4 quarters of the town compete for an archery prize and have a massive feast afterwards. Colourful banners for each quarter were hanging everywhere as rthe show is on this weekend- weather not flash so I hope they aren't rained out!Dale ahs the headcold cum cough I have had and as usual it seems to affect him more than me- I take Panadol at the drop of a hat when I feel off and it seems to work. We visited a wine shop to taste the local wine (Brunello de Montalcino)128 makers locally all competing foer the market of this highly desirable wine- San Giovese grapes and a special soil locally make it good apparently.Very nice drop!Montalcino has a massive fort and we walked around the wall- great views ( and B... cold!)Headed next to another wine town- Montalpucino- again walled and sitting on a hill surrounded by lovely countryside.Lunched there in a great Edwardian style restaurant- old mirrors etc. and a great view across the countryside- lovely meal of tuna stuffed peppers and potato pudding ( mash wirh cheese on top melted)Just the ticket on a cold old day. The place was packed with Americans and English all panicking about ordering spaghetti!D feels annoyed when we run across lots of non Italians in a place!Bought a pack of 10 Baci as compensation for not having any of the great looking canoli etc. in the showcases-all gone 24 hrs later!Headed south and needed to find a hotel otr somewhere to stay as it was getting late-Chiuso has a great Etruscan heritage and museum and I wanted to see thisso we looked for somewhere- internet not working in local cafe so forced to wing it- ended up at a dodgy hotel having work done to patch the cracks for 50 e per night. Clean but not much else to reccommend it.Had a great stroke of luck for dinner- after a hairy drive in the rain back to Chiuso we saw a group of ypoung Iyalians at the doorof a restaurant- Zuppa d ? and went in. Gorgeous warm lady welcomed us and sat us down then her husband discussed what was on for dinner- no menu.Started with pecorino and pear cubes with walnuts and a sauterne type wine.Pumpkin and spice and cheese soup for Dale while I tried chestnut and lentil soup-both delicious!Dale had 4 meats in tomato and rosemary sauce and I had pork cooked with apples.Artichokes with bechamel and lentils were the veges.Did not need sweets or cheese after this. Usual wine and water and all for 64 euro- excellent food and value!Today left hotel -weather looking better-some sun and no rain!
Heading south but some misdirection meant we ended up next to Lake Tarimasino at Castel de Lago -another lovely town! Bought truffles and cheese at a great little food shop full of local produce. Had lunch at a little trattoria- gnocchi and truffles for 6 euro and prawns with spaghetti for 8 euro.Nice Canadians arrived and we chatted for a while.
Reached Orvieto and we intend to look around there before dropping off the car- blown the budget by booking in at an old monastery!Lovely place if a little overheated. D having a little lie down while I do this.
Not had a bad meal in Italy- Rome still awaits tomorrow!

Florence and beyond

Spent a day in Florence visiting the Medici tombs , science museum and leather shops near San Lorenzo. Locals said this was the best place to go to buy. Found prices and quality OK. Returned to Bacchus where they kindly let us in despite no reservation-nice people there and good food and prices. Just another night in paradise at the B and B a party going on when we returned!Gave us cakes and wine to compensate for the hour of noise of a raucous TV and laughter.No problems sleeping with earplugs and wine!
Collected the hire car from Avis just up the road from our B and B and were entertained by naive Australians who thought they needed a car in central Florence!
Trying to get a refund- he was born in Italy and should have known better!
Booked a hotel on the web unsure of its location- Dale was unhappy as it was only 40k out of Florence in Chianti region. Turns out it is lovely and the local fair is on this weekend. Street market and food tastings of the local produce-buy a ticket for unlimited food and wine all to raise money for a childrens hospital. Great vibe happy people and not many tourists!San Giovese in Panzano is a lovely hotel an easy drive out of Florence.We have a Fiat Piunto which is cute but not as zippy as the Citroen we had in France. Heading south toward Orvieto tomorrow after we watch the GP in a local bar this evening. Will have to barrack for Ferrari or be lynched?Weather turned cold so finally wearing coats etc. we have lugged with us.

Florentine entertainment?

Looked for a restaurant near the b and b for dinner. One too noisy with heavy loud music so went across the road to a quieter place with waiter and price list outside-seemed like good choices so in we went. Ordered our mushroom and rocket bruschetta and steaks for mains along with the house red. Finished entree and some of our main course when a giant kerfuffle behind me-Dale saw the lot- all I saw was the chef legging it across the road and a man being wrestled to the ground in the doorway.
Turns out he had eaten and drunk and attempted to do a runner wirhout paying. They hauled him back and 3 people stood behind him as he produced credit cards ( they expired in 1999)-no point arguing with him and he was let go! Staff explained this is not uncommon in Italy and they gave us a free drink to compensate for the disturbance to our meal-very kind.Dale then pretended to do the same thing to entertain the staff a bit- they were a bit shaken by it all.Good meal reasonable cost and nice staff at Bacchus restaurant!
B and B seems OK good internet access is a bonus!Blaring TV at 1030 pm is not!

More gorgeousness

Sadly left La Spezia- a nice town with a great hotel (My Hotel) about 1km from train.Handy internet cafe and train schedule made last blog shorter than I would have liked.
Managed 4 out of the 5 villages as weather was predicted to be poor so we gave our 2 day ticket with a day still on it to 2 young Australians from Bathurst who were about to set off. The walk was great- excellent 20 degree weather and sunny created a sweat on the more difficult parts - went from south to north not to have sun in our faces-still all those yrs of walking with Deb and Jan stood me in good stead. Dale sometimes forgets his legs are a lot longer than mine- he seemed surprised I could keep up with him!Caught the train back to La Spezia from Varessa after a well deserved beer on the waterfront. All very picturesque and a very happy crowd from everywhere.
French lady (my age) was on the train and was very glamorous in her color cooordinated sportswear, jewellery, scarf etc.Put her lipstick on and was every bit a medel for Vogue on the crowded train while her husband in jeans and teeshirt remained impassive. ( like a lot of men accompanying their partners in Europe)Dale says women are amused by trivialities-easily amused??
Back in La Spezia had another excellent seafood and steak meal at reasonable cost tho I did want to try some Montalcino red wine- similar to Oz style heavy red which was expensive at 20E.
The train to Lucca was fine as usual and we arrived about midday. What a lovely town. From the station we walked about 1.5k to our accommodation we booked on the net. Turned out to be a B and B (San Ferdinandino) with bathroom down the hall,nice people, breakfast on a tray in the room,expresso machine in the hall and very clean but old.
Had a good lunch at Avini which had been suggested -a group was there who were doing economics and language courses in Lucca-Brazilian and Americans nice people.
Explored the town-cathedrals,shops etc very lovely.Saw toyshop with wonderful automaton type toys, skaters,merry go rounds and ballonists No time to find it again!
Walked along the wall at dusk and went to a reccommended restaurant ( Gigi) and had a great meal starting with a tasty mushroom and zuccini pudding ( mousse like) with a creamy sauce. Then Dale had steak and I had veal with tomato and caper sauce-another terrific meal-
67E was a good price for accommodation so we ignored the prepacked croissant and had breakfast at a local pasticceria we had already spotted.4E for 2 coffees and cakes!Off to Florence on the train 2 hr gap between trains so hurried to station-learnt to use automatic ticket machine as there was a long queue. Rang Valdo from the train as he has always told us how great Lucca is and we agree entirely.
Florence station -decided to wing accommodation- internet prices better than phoning up e.g. 95 E compared to 120 quoted on phone.About to find an internet point when a sweet old man with a namecard and details of his B and B said he had a room available. He grabbed my case and off we went thru the crowded station and past St Maria Novella toward the river- ended up on the 2nd floor of and old palazzo and into a room with a bathroom for us across the corridor.Clean and 75E per night in the thick of things cant be bad. Bed good and room spacious with a view of the river.
Walked our feet off this afternoon after a chicken and vege lunch. Locals had it and we asked for the same- got the last serves of it- very delicious with fresh sprigs of oregano on top.Revisited the Duomo , San Lorenzo and the Ponte Vecchio with all the jewellery shops- pales after seeing Dubai gold souk!Crowded and noisy after our last few days in Italy- spoilt I guess.Leather here in vast quantities will be hard to resist.
Off to dinner now I know not where-we seem to have the gods smiling on us today.
My cough is getting better-hope Dale does not succumb!