Don and Laura's space

Well...we've been home for 11 days now and are back in the swing of most things. I still haven't gone back to work yet (Oct 15th) but Don has had his first week back.

 

I have spent a lot of the latter part of this week uploading photos to a local online printing crowd who are inexpensive and fantastically fast (www.expressphoto.com.au) and we're having fun showing Stephanie our travels. She is keen on art and her eyes bulge at some of the originals we have seen (ours did too). The albums are being prepared as the prints arrive, and I am getting stricter about what goes in. We took ALOT of photos. I'm still amazed (and grateful) that we were able to photograph some of the art we saw, and its probably a good thing that it was only allowed in New York and Paris.

 

So, on reflection, what are our impressions of our trip? Monumental.

 

First of all, we are both impressed that we were able to spend 24/7 in each other's company for 52 days with such ease. We had similar goals in terms of what we wanted to see and compromised on the things that one or other had stronger feelings about. I had always thought that one day we would do an architectural/cathedral/art trip of the Northern hemisphere and lo and behold - we have. Don showed me the places and things he had seen before and liked, and many of the places were new to us both. So we had a rough idea of what might be good, and were guided by locals and other recommendations from previous travellers. Some things were serendipitous, some disappointing, some breathtaking, some seemed to be rooted in our psyches from a past life. There were so many WOW moments, so many highlights, so much to appreciate. It is all still sinking in.

 

Seeing our friends in their homes was terrific, and nothing beats that feeling of being at home with people you know. The hospitality we were shown was so generous from all our friends and family everywhere, we were so spoilt with meals and accomodation, and showing us around. Brilliant.

 

We used air, rail, road and water and enjoyed it all. Public transport all over the place, barely a taxi in the whole time. Travelling by train was also well worth doing.

 

Linguistically we managed OK in the last 3 weeks in France and Italy, and I was impressed with how well Don picked up Italian by ear - it was certainly enjoyable to at least have a go at it. I had learned Italian for 2 years ten years ago so had a bit of an understanding but was quite daunted by the immersion at first. However we were soon watching local Italian TV game shows of 1 vs 100 and getting the gist, as well as watching movies we knew dubbed in Italian (The Banger Sisters).

 

We would go back to any (or most) of the places again but would definitely bite off less next time, or do only 2 places. Scotland, France, England, New York, maybe further Italy are on the cards. Other wannados are Spain, more of the West Coast of the USA, Germany and more of Australia too.

 

So for now this blog will probably end. I've enjoyed the blogging part and will set up a different blog elsewhere for my occasional use in everyday life. The modern diary I suppose.

 

Thanks for reading and following with us, we've enjoyed sharing it with you.

 

Bye for now

 

Laura and Don

Well here we are home at last. The last two days in Rome went smoothly. The underground rail in Rome is by far the simplest and easiest to navigate so far-terrific! Incredible babble of Italian conversation on the trains in stark contrast to the studied lack of human interaction that is de rigeur everywhere else! On the first day, we saw the Sistine Chapel after an interminable traipse through miles of Vatican museum galleries full of the same sort of stuff, nose to neck with ten zillion equally frazzled tourists who had also come to see only one thing. Finally got there in less than the ideal state to appreciate Michaelangelo's work. Well its impressive, but frankly, the crummy bits rather outweigh the high points (oh dear, now my inherent Phillistinism is fully revealed). Some of the anatomy is so bad that even making allowance for the difficult nature of the task, one can't help thinking he was having a bit of a dig! I mean, biceps muscles anatomically reversed, and people so overweight that it would be impossible for all that musculature to be so well defined through the sub-cutanteous fat. And again all those women who look just like men but with plasticene breasts stuck on their chests. Anyway, we did it!

 

Then to St Peter's-what a great piece of civic architecture-the four deep but open collanade that defines the piazza is a stroke of pure genius! Somehow it gives a sense of grandeur and inclusivity at the same time.  Don was happy to sit outside and admire while Laura braved the long queues to see the inside of the basilica and Michaelangelo's pieta-her reports were that both were "well worth the effort".

 

Dinner at a very nice Ristorante accompanied by the now habitual vino de cassa. Very hepful and efficient waiter who seemed to take a bit of a shine to Laura. Early night!

 

Next day, to the ancient quarter-fabulous impact of the colloseum seen straight in front of us as we emerged from the underground. Walk through the forum-now those are ruins! Like a vast historical junk yard.   One last night trip to view the colloseum and forum with floodlights-a bit of a fizzer. Althought the colloseum was lit most of the other ruins were not. Back to the hotel to pack and try to sleep for the dreaded early start home.

 

Next morning, Rome to Heathrow-a brief period of extreme anxiety as the inefficient security screening made us fear we would miss our flight despite arriving with plenty of time. As it happened we arrived at the gate just as boarding was starting.  Heathrow very smooth and then finally on the plane for Singapore-not a bad flight really though Laura experienced increasingly severe oedema in the feet AND legs. Finally Singapore to Perth and home after 17 hours in the air. Met by Steffie and Prue-big hugs-home sweet home!

 

Will post the last batch of pictures soon. 

 

Love to all and our especial gratitude to Faye and Prue who kept house for us during our trip.

 

     

Well, today we paid a last visit for now to the Chianti region. We headed off to see the view from Panzano in Chianti again (because the pulling over stop whizzed by us the first time)  - see new Tuscan album for results. We then went to Radda in Chianti for a look and found a third walled mediaeval town. Back down the road to a very small place called Volpaia which is smack in the middle of about a dozen tiny vineyards. We followed a trailer loaded with freshly picked vine grapes up a narrow winding road to the town, and upon walking around the corner discovered the grapes being stripped as they fell from a hopper above. Talk about fresh! We then wandered back to the town square (10 sq metres) and had a very pleasant lunch in one of the two little restaurants, with of course a glass of Chianti vino rosso!

 

Back on the winding roads to Impruneta and on to Florence where we dropped the car. A quick Internet stop and off we go again. Next stop Rome tomorrow lunchtime.

 

4 more sleeps until we are back on Aussie soil!  See you soon!

Well we are off to Rome in 2 days and then home. Ony 5 more sleeps before we see Perth and family again.  Yesterday and today we have been a bit lazy: late starts busing into Florence and just some limited sight seeing, not withoutsome stunning rewards. Yesterday we went into the main Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore). Not flash but extremely impressive space-huge angular columns and minimal vaulting on the ceiling giving a sense of sombre tranquility.

 

In the church of San Lorenzo there was a truly absurd reliquiry with bottled bits of saints on display and even (supposedly) bits of the "true"cross, but also some stunningly good Donatello bronze reliefs of the passion of Christ.

 

After that the Medici chapel; a profane  hymn of praise to the princes in coloured stone (God very much taking a back seat!). Three Michaelangelo sculptures for tombs also on display-OK, but as Laura observed, they showed a singular (though not surprising) lack of familiarity with the female nude form.  And then-glory Hallelujah! The ancient baptistry; oldest building in the piazza del Duomo dating in parts from the 5th century. A beautiful blend of Roman, Islamic and Byzantine styles-unforgettable. Hope the pictures we took give some idea.

 

Today, woke to the news of Pavarotti's death. Then a bit of a dutiful trudge through the Pitti Palace-paintings from all eras with highlights being some stunning Raphael portraits and a Caravaggio of a rather dissolute and shagged-out "Love asleep". Interesting to note how the sequence of the paintings matched the historical progression of the palace from Medicis to Hapsburgs (with a brief Napoleonic interlude)  to House of Savoy after the red shirts success and finally,  the workers' paradise. Also viewed the royal apartments-ornate ceilings and rich furnishings and over-the-top chandeliers! The palace also contained displays of operatic costumes and there was one worn by Pavarotti in the 1970s. The thought occured that we could maybe scrape some cells from it and clone him. Sigh!

 

Tomorrow we plan a short trip into the Chianti countryside by car, lunch, then drop the car back to Florence and return to the hotel by bus. We take the train to Rome on Saturday morning.

 

Ciao

 

 

Don and Laura

 

 

 

Hi again

 

We are going to try again to upload some photos from this public internet cafe. From Paris I figured out a way to includ ONE photo with the blog, but from italy it hasn't allowed this either, soooooo......

 

Anyway, Siena was gorgeous. We drove through the Chianti region with some pretty WOW scenery, castles, a bit of a winetaste etc. Lunch on a hillside overlooking an amazing valley with fresh figs nicked from a tree. Siena was bigger than we expected and really old and cobbled streets with Piazza afetr piazza, some obvioyus factions in the town, which we later discovered were related to the horse-races held every two years around the town central amphitheatre - a huge space with sloping sides. On the way back to the car (miles away) we were lucky to see a parade thingy with drumming and flag waving and throwing in mediaeval costume. Hope to show you photos!!!!

 

A day of rest on Sunday (for Laura, who did the washing, and re-read a book) but Don went for a long walk and collected mushrooms in the pine forested hills near our village. We've also found some groovy less expensive places to eat in the town and just outside.

 

Back into the car on Monday and off via the motorway to Pisa - pretty impressive and improbable and older than we had realised. then to Lucca another walled mediaeval city smaller then Siena, but the walls were nestled within earthworks and Roman looking foundations (we say it so casually now...). Really impressive, there was also a church with a great mosasic on the facade, and inside the most amazing ""uncorrupted"body of the local St Zita (saint of flowers and charity) - an actual mummified body from 1278 in a glass coffin like Snow White. Bit strange really.

 

We went off to the beach after that and snuck onto a private beach (almost) by accident where we partook of the Mediaterrean sea - Don bodily, me to my ankles. Home again on the motorway where we got spectatularly and frustratingly lost around the Florence exits - much swearing and blood pressure later we staggered into our hotel.

 

So today we have come into Florence by bus! It is POURING with rain so an Internet cafe seems like a good plan.

 

Fingers crossed with the photo business!!

 

This time next week we will be home!

 

See you all soon