nhulunbuy beach
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Friday, 18 May 2007
arrivederci italia (but ill be back)!!!
ciao i tutti!
the last few hours roll around, and I can't believe it. A few days ago I was looking forward to seeing family and friends, and hanging out at home without having to worry about where we were to stay that night, but now I'm not so pleased to be heading out!!! How can we leave behind the great food, the beautiful people, the funny police sirens, and so many places yet to be discovered??? Bit of a sad feeling really to be leaving, at least on my side (sim). Em is keen to get started on the next adventure which will be physio placement at Box Hill again.
will def. be back - our visit to italy, and in particular, our last few days in rome, has ignited a desire in me to continue the language, return for a year or so, and try my luck with the work, the traffic and the housing. we will see.
cant wait to see you all - after the hideous flight of course!
love sim and em xxxx
the last few hours roll around, and I can't believe it. A few days ago I was looking forward to seeing family and friends, and hanging out at home without having to worry about where we were to stay that night, but now I'm not so pleased to be heading out!!! How can we leave behind the great food, the beautiful people, the funny police sirens, and so many places yet to be discovered??? Bit of a sad feeling really to be leaving, at least on my side (sim). Em is keen to get started on the next adventure which will be physio placement at Box Hill again.
will def. be back - our visit to italy, and in particular, our last few days in rome, has ignited a desire in me to continue the language, return for a year or so, and try my luck with the work, the traffic and the housing. we will see.
cant wait to see you all - after the hideous flight of course!
love sim and em xxxx
Friday, 11 May 2007
the smart car
ciao i tutti!
so now that we are safely back, its time to come clean about our adventures of the past four days...
yes we took the plunge and hired a car from sorrento, to travel down to puglia (the 'heel' of italy) for a few days. it was an experience that was scary at times, but overall we adapted very well to not only driving on the right, but to the italian style of driving with a few exceptions (i.e. only 110 on the autostrada, instead of 200!). it was a little smart car, a two seater, which as you know is quite narrow, which was good as our first route planned was from sorrento to salerno, via the amalfi coast!!! lets just say it was great fun. em drove most of the way along the narrowest roads to amalfi, with great dexterity and calm. we landed at ravello, a gorgeous town 7kms inland and uphill from amalfi, with great views over the coast and beautiful hills surrounding. we enjoyed lunch at ravello, but chose not to take a walk through the gardens there due to the 5 euro pp entry fee!! sim took the wheel after lunch, and took the rest of the winding roads (which included being stuck behind two of the buses described in the previous post) to salerno, at which point we had our first taste of the italiano autostrada.ù
we motored along nicely until about 8pm, where we decided to rest our heads overnight in Martina Franca, a charming town just north of Taranto, or west of Bari. we ended up having to stay in a deluxe hotel, centrally located in the middle of parklands, within the city centre, because we hadnt booked anywhere and tried to wing it last minute style.
was actually quite amusing as we couldnt find the entry after a few laps around the hotel, at which point, em suggested that sim take a right into a big gate (which em maintains looked like a driveway), which turned out to be the aforementioned town gardens!! we drove in, did a u-ey australian style around the round about which was actually a garden bed, the only reason we made it was cos the car was so tiny!! we completed the turn, only to find ourselves pointing towards a now firmly closed gate, with the guard in front, about to call someone on the mobs. we both leapt out of the car at the same time, trying pitifully to explain in broken italian that we were australians, it was an accident, and we were really looking for the entrance of the hotel ducale. fortunately for us, he was a friendly man, smiled, and let us through, with a few correct directions. later when we parked in the real driveway, he came up and had a joke with us.
that night we headed out close by, and went to a pizzeria called don giovanni, at the start of the old town. just had to mention this as sim had previously sworn off pizza after napoli (ugh!) and this place was fantastic - crispy bases, and fantastic toppings (still italiano style not australiana). apparently they have different schools of pizza makers in italy... crazy but true. they take food v.seriously here we think - nice because we take eating very seriously too! one other interesting thing about italy is that most of the waiters are male, and the cooks female, unlike australia. the waiters are always fantastically helpful, and v.charming.
the next day we tripped past the trulli houses of puglia (see photos to come), we got to see inside an older trulli house made in the 1400's - it was amazing that 6 people fit inside!! apparently 4 sisters slept upstairs, in a space equivalent to a 3 man tent. from here, we hit the adriatic coast, found our place for the night, and then headed to ostuni, the so called white city, a gorgeous hill town with characteristic small cobblestone walkways, about 10 kms off the coast where we enjoyed what had to be one of the top 5 meals in italy so far... all hand made, and so well priced. the owner was great, and ended up telling us about a place he rented out in town that we will probably check out on our eventual return.
day three, we spent a lazy day at the beach, in a beautiful nature reserve. it was fantastic - white sands & crystal clear warmish water. we set up a little shade McGirlver style, and read, swam and ate fresh rolls for lunch!
we packed up around 5 and headed to Matera, our base for the next mornings trip back to sorrento. although we didnt get to spend much time there, it is def. worth a visit and interestingly, was used as the set for Jerusalem in Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ, and you can see why - the town was originally comprised of cave like dwellings housing about 15000 people up until the 60's, where the residents were forcibly removed and rehoused nearby by the Govt due to poverty, disease (maleria and other) - basically third world conditions. we walked through the old town and enjoyed a great dinner on a terrace overlooking the Sassi houses, as they are called. a little spooky to walk through late at night as the renovations are still in progress, and many of the cave houses are still empty and open (though most of them are renovated hotels/houses/restaurants etc which are neatly hidden to preserve the look of the old town).
an early morning today then - 6 am start to get the car back in time, and to potentially meet Em's brother Phil who had just arrived in italy last night, although this is now prob not likely. we are planning to finish up here, have a relax down at Marina Grande for a couple of hours, then head to the station to catch the long train to Pizzo (on the calabrian coast - the toe of italy), our destination for the next three nights.
following this, we will head to sicily for a day and a half - the plan so far is to check out the volcano Mt Etna which apparently still has snow on it, Siracusa, site of greek ruins, and possibly taormina. an overnight sleeper train from messina on the 15th will see us back in roma on the 16th for our last few days of adventure!! the time is going too quickly - we are not really focused on it though, as the travel adventure is still v.much in progress.
thanks for all the messages, and hope all is well in melbourne.
love em and sim xxx
so now that we are safely back, its time to come clean about our adventures of the past four days...
yes we took the plunge and hired a car from sorrento, to travel down to puglia (the 'heel' of italy) for a few days. it was an experience that was scary at times, but overall we adapted very well to not only driving on the right, but to the italian style of driving with a few exceptions (i.e. only 110 on the autostrada, instead of 200!). it was a little smart car, a two seater, which as you know is quite narrow, which was good as our first route planned was from sorrento to salerno, via the amalfi coast!!! lets just say it was great fun. em drove most of the way along the narrowest roads to amalfi, with great dexterity and calm. we landed at ravello, a gorgeous town 7kms inland and uphill from amalfi, with great views over the coast and beautiful hills surrounding. we enjoyed lunch at ravello, but chose not to take a walk through the gardens there due to the 5 euro pp entry fee!! sim took the wheel after lunch, and took the rest of the winding roads (which included being stuck behind two of the buses described in the previous post) to salerno, at which point we had our first taste of the italiano autostrada.ù
we motored along nicely until about 8pm, where we decided to rest our heads overnight in Martina Franca, a charming town just north of Taranto, or west of Bari. we ended up having to stay in a deluxe hotel, centrally located in the middle of parklands, within the city centre, because we hadnt booked anywhere and tried to wing it last minute style.
was actually quite amusing as we couldnt find the entry after a few laps around the hotel, at which point, em suggested that sim take a right into a big gate (which em maintains looked like a driveway), which turned out to be the aforementioned town gardens!! we drove in, did a u-ey australian style around the round about which was actually a garden bed, the only reason we made it was cos the car was so tiny!! we completed the turn, only to find ourselves pointing towards a now firmly closed gate, with the guard in front, about to call someone on the mobs. we both leapt out of the car at the same time, trying pitifully to explain in broken italian that we were australians, it was an accident, and we were really looking for the entrance of the hotel ducale. fortunately for us, he was a friendly man, smiled, and let us through, with a few correct directions. later when we parked in the real driveway, he came up and had a joke with us.
that night we headed out close by, and went to a pizzeria called don giovanni, at the start of the old town. just had to mention this as sim had previously sworn off pizza after napoli (ugh!) and this place was fantastic - crispy bases, and fantastic toppings (still italiano style not australiana). apparently they have different schools of pizza makers in italy... crazy but true. they take food v.seriously here we think - nice because we take eating very seriously too! one other interesting thing about italy is that most of the waiters are male, and the cooks female, unlike australia. the waiters are always fantastically helpful, and v.charming.
the next day we tripped past the trulli houses of puglia (see photos to come), we got to see inside an older trulli house made in the 1400's - it was amazing that 6 people fit inside!! apparently 4 sisters slept upstairs, in a space equivalent to a 3 man tent. from here, we hit the adriatic coast, found our place for the night, and then headed to ostuni, the so called white city, a gorgeous hill town with characteristic small cobblestone walkways, about 10 kms off the coast where we enjoyed what had to be one of the top 5 meals in italy so far... all hand made, and so well priced. the owner was great, and ended up telling us about a place he rented out in town that we will probably check out on our eventual return.
day three, we spent a lazy day at the beach, in a beautiful nature reserve. it was fantastic - white sands & crystal clear warmish water. we set up a little shade McGirlver style, and read, swam and ate fresh rolls for lunch!
we packed up around 5 and headed to Matera, our base for the next mornings trip back to sorrento. although we didnt get to spend much time there, it is def. worth a visit and interestingly, was used as the set for Jerusalem in Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ, and you can see why - the town was originally comprised of cave like dwellings housing about 15000 people up until the 60's, where the residents were forcibly removed and rehoused nearby by the Govt due to poverty, disease (maleria and other) - basically third world conditions. we walked through the old town and enjoyed a great dinner on a terrace overlooking the Sassi houses, as they are called. a little spooky to walk through late at night as the renovations are still in progress, and many of the cave houses are still empty and open (though most of them are renovated hotels/houses/restaurants etc which are neatly hidden to preserve the look of the old town).
an early morning today then - 6 am start to get the car back in time, and to potentially meet Em's brother Phil who had just arrived in italy last night, although this is now prob not likely. we are planning to finish up here, have a relax down at Marina Grande for a couple of hours, then head to the station to catch the long train to Pizzo (on the calabrian coast - the toe of italy), our destination for the next three nights.
following this, we will head to sicily for a day and a half - the plan so far is to check out the volcano Mt Etna which apparently still has snow on it, Siracusa, site of greek ruins, and possibly taormina. an overnight sleeper train from messina on the 15th will see us back in roma on the 16th for our last few days of adventure!! the time is going too quickly - we are not really focused on it though, as the travel adventure is still v.much in progress.
thanks for all the messages, and hope all is well in melbourne.
love em and sim xxx
sorrento
ciao i tutti!
a bit of time has past since we last wrote - getting more tardy as the time ticks by... sorry to all our fans out there!
just to close on Napoli, while our trip to the Museo didnt eventuate, we did stop by the Catacombs for a personal tour - very interesting but em was hoping to see bones strewn about the place but all of the excavated remains from the tombs had been buried in a nearby cemetary. was still pretty cool though, it had a functioning underground chapel, and we learned that it acted as a bomb shelter, refugee camp, and hospital in WW2 (given that Napoli was a big target cos of its massive port).
the rest of the time in Napoli was spent wandering around the streets, trying out the famous pizza, and negotiating our way around the chaos that is traffic in the city. its totally different to any other city we have seen in italy - by far the dirtiest and craziest. as far as first visit impressions go, it was a must do, however sim was on high alert all the time due to crime, traffic, smog, smokers, (you see the general trend) and so it was a very mentally tiring experience.
it was great then, to board the ferry to sorrento after a couple of days in the big smoke. mt vesuvius looked incredible - it was massive, and cant believe so many people are living just a km away from the peak!! apparently scientists predict that it should erupt every 35 or so years, and given that the last one was in the early 40s, it is well overdue!! we didnt climb it this time, maybe next visit.
sorrento was a breath of fresh air, literally, from napoli. the ferry was definitely the best way to approach given the amazing coastal views. the town itself is quite touristy, and most shop keepers speak excellent english, however we keep trying to practice our italian on them, and find that it often is more appreciated and warmly welcomed.
we spent four nights overall in the town, in which time we visited and explored pompeii (really interesting - massive, so it took up a good 5 hrs and we didnt even see the whole lot!), took a trip (bus there, ferry back) to the amalfi coast, explored sorrento itself, and Marina Grande, where, as some of you might know, sim's nonni was grew up. we even found out that we were staying on the exact site that nonni was born - an olive grove that her parents leased to work the land.
the amalfi coast was amazingly spectacular. em has put it as no.1 above the great ocean road, which must be saying something!! the bus trip down was slightly hairy, narrow roads, steep cliffs, and tiny villages with numerous near misses (millimetres, not feet!!), all seemingly a normal part of the experience. we saw a huge bank up just out of amalfi, with two buses coming each way, blocking the entire road (even the scooters stopped, and thats something!!).
it was great to see Marina Grande, finally, after I (sim) had heard and seen so much of it second hand. we explored the rock pools where nonni would of played, and walked the same streets - it
was a little surreal actually. we also found the school where nonni went, but were too shy to buzz ourselves in on a school day as the friendly old italian man suggested we do after giving us directions. we found a trattoria on marina grande that had been there for 60 years, and enjoyed some of the best fish yet.
that's our sorrento experience, in a nut shell!
a bit of time has past since we last wrote - getting more tardy as the time ticks by... sorry to all our fans out there!
just to close on Napoli, while our trip to the Museo didnt eventuate, we did stop by the Catacombs for a personal tour - very interesting but em was hoping to see bones strewn about the place but all of the excavated remains from the tombs had been buried in a nearby cemetary. was still pretty cool though, it had a functioning underground chapel, and we learned that it acted as a bomb shelter, refugee camp, and hospital in WW2 (given that Napoli was a big target cos of its massive port).
the rest of the time in Napoli was spent wandering around the streets, trying out the famous pizza, and negotiating our way around the chaos that is traffic in the city. its totally different to any other city we have seen in italy - by far the dirtiest and craziest. as far as first visit impressions go, it was a must do, however sim was on high alert all the time due to crime, traffic, smog, smokers, (you see the general trend) and so it was a very mentally tiring experience.
it was great then, to board the ferry to sorrento after a couple of days in the big smoke. mt vesuvius looked incredible - it was massive, and cant believe so many people are living just a km away from the peak!! apparently scientists predict that it should erupt every 35 or so years, and given that the last one was in the early 40s, it is well overdue!! we didnt climb it this time, maybe next visit.
sorrento was a breath of fresh air, literally, from napoli. the ferry was definitely the best way to approach given the amazing coastal views. the town itself is quite touristy, and most shop keepers speak excellent english, however we keep trying to practice our italian on them, and find that it often is more appreciated and warmly welcomed.
we spent four nights overall in the town, in which time we visited and explored pompeii (really interesting - massive, so it took up a good 5 hrs and we didnt even see the whole lot!), took a trip (bus there, ferry back) to the amalfi coast, explored sorrento itself, and Marina Grande, where, as some of you might know, sim's nonni was grew up. we even found out that we were staying on the exact site that nonni was born - an olive grove that her parents leased to work the land.
the amalfi coast was amazingly spectacular. em has put it as no.1 above the great ocean road, which must be saying something!! the bus trip down was slightly hairy, narrow roads, steep cliffs, and tiny villages with numerous near misses (millimetres, not feet!!), all seemingly a normal part of the experience. we saw a huge bank up just out of amalfi, with two buses coming each way, blocking the entire road (even the scooters stopped, and thats something!!).
it was great to see Marina Grande, finally, after I (sim) had heard and seen so much of it second hand. we explored the rock pools where nonni would of played, and walked the same streets - it
was a little surreal actually. we also found the school where nonni went, but were too shy to buzz ourselves in on a school day as the friendly old italian man suggested we do after giving us directions. we found a trattoria on marina grande that had been there for 60 years, and enjoyed some of the best fish yet.
that's our sorrento experience, in a nut shell!
Thursday, 3 May 2007
napoli
ciao i tutti!
sim and i have made it to naples after a gloriously lazy half day in Ponza eating pasticceria specialities and drinking coffee (yes I have aquired the taste as long as it has two sugars!), and reading in the sun.
we have found a very laid back alternative cool (bordering on pompous)area, somewhat akin to fitzroy - in which we have enjoyed watching the last half of the semi final of the UEFA cup between AC Milan and Manchester United. Unfortunately for me, AC Milan were victorious and have made it through to the final against Liverpool. As usual, I was going for the underdog and given that we are in Italy, and everyone else was going for Milan (inc. Sim), I couldnt possibly throw my support that way as well.
Yesterday Sim and I had a great day exploring the isle of Ponza on a dilapidated old hire scooter that couldnt pass 35kms/hr to save itself. probably a good thing as I was in control with Sim as pillion passenger half the time (nb. in australia you need at least a year's experience before this is allowed, and here I had but two minutes experience as a solo driver). I was going so well - taking the turns like a pro, until we had to do a 180 degree turn - unfortunately we didnt quite make it and ended up driving on the side of the embankment on the left hand side of the road (wrong wrong wrong in Italia!!) I tried to put the brakes on but it was so close to the accelerator that I merely succeeded in accelerating further up the hill. Once we came to a stop, we gracefully slid back down to the level of the road, not without the left hand side of the scooter coated in dirt and grass. Not to worry, we emerged relatively unscathed- ready to take on the next few kms. The views along the road were amazing, and the trip as a whole was completely relaxing and therefore very worthwhile (although recommended in April or May during the week - molto tranquillo!).
tomorrow we are heading to the Museo Archiologica di Napoli and the Catacombs nearby (plus a bit of shopping on the side, and taste testing of the famous Napoli pizza of course!).
Ciao for now! Tanti baci, Em. xx
sim and i have made it to naples after a gloriously lazy half day in Ponza eating pasticceria specialities and drinking coffee (yes I have aquired the taste as long as it has two sugars!), and reading in the sun.
we have found a very laid back alternative cool (bordering on pompous)area, somewhat akin to fitzroy - in which we have enjoyed watching the last half of the semi final of the UEFA cup between AC Milan and Manchester United. Unfortunately for me, AC Milan were victorious and have made it through to the final against Liverpool. As usual, I was going for the underdog and given that we are in Italy, and everyone else was going for Milan (inc. Sim), I couldnt possibly throw my support that way as well.
Yesterday Sim and I had a great day exploring the isle of Ponza on a dilapidated old hire scooter that couldnt pass 35kms/hr to save itself. probably a good thing as I was in control with Sim as pillion passenger half the time (nb. in australia you need at least a year's experience before this is allowed, and here I had but two minutes experience as a solo driver). I was going so well - taking the turns like a pro, until we had to do a 180 degree turn - unfortunately we didnt quite make it and ended up driving on the side of the embankment on the left hand side of the road (wrong wrong wrong in Italia!!) I tried to put the brakes on but it was so close to the accelerator that I merely succeeded in accelerating further up the hill. Once we came to a stop, we gracefully slid back down to the level of the road, not without the left hand side of the scooter coated in dirt and grass. Not to worry, we emerged relatively unscathed- ready to take on the next few kms. The views along the road were amazing, and the trip as a whole was completely relaxing and therefore very worthwhile (although recommended in April or May during the week - molto tranquillo!).
tomorrow we are heading to the Museo Archiologica di Napoli and the Catacombs nearby (plus a bit of shopping on the side, and taste testing of the famous Napoli pizza of course!).
Ciao for now! Tanti baci, Em. xx
Monday, 30 April 2007
more photos - for pics 1-3, pls see previous post below
4. eating the pizza in the piazza at bergamo (città alta - the old town), with Matthieu, a cool french guy we met at the Ostello the previous night - who is riding his way across a few countries at the moment.
5. Berliner Dom - as seen on our second day in Berlin as we took a self designed tour around the city on bikes (v.reccomended!!). it is here that we spotted a strange old man whose movements we followed and captured on film as he trekked around the gardens in front of the Dom to about 5 different groups of girls. He proceeded to sit close nearby the group, and after a couple of minutes looking inconspicuous, he would edge closer, and taking what looked like a branch or a back scratcher out of his bag, he would lean in and tickle the nearest bare outstretched limb or back. the subject would often put up with the first, thinking it something else because he would look away and hide the stick, but on the second or third, the subject and friends would invariably move away - often accompanied by much laughter and hilarity - but also overriding wariness. we werent sure if we were watching a candid camera type show or a perverted old man, but we got him on camera anyway. v.amusing, especially as he had come to our attention intially because he had sat too close to us too (but not tried anything after we gave him the death stare for invading our personal space). anyway, the gardens were great to relax in, minus old man.
6. em on the bike in front of Brandenburger Tor- this is a video not sure if it will work though. just need to add here how freezing berlin was compared to the cinque terre - riding without gloves = pain.
7. Sim riding in Tiergarten - witness beanie and covered hands!! this is also a video, however i dont think it will work.
8. Night time riding in Marx-Engels Square.
9. Bundes Liga - Hertha BSC v Dortmund. A missed goal from a corner! the crowd loved it - it was an attempt by Dortmund of course.
10. A memorial to the Berlin Wall. The memorial stones trace the original path of the wall - em and I rode along the section from Checkpoint Charlie to the East Side Gallery, and then along to a watchtower. next to the path in most sections ran a 50 mt wide unused area which appears to be the site of the no-mans land created between the wall on the East side by the DDR.
11. the ride along the east side gallery - the largest remaining section of the wall. tried to get into a cafe as recommended by Sally at work but it was closed!!
12. a graduate in padova - as explained in 2nd last entry, it is a long standing tradtion in padova to cover the graduate in all sorts of crap and make them read a caricature of themselves out in front of the crowd in the piazza whilst drinking copious amounts of liquor that was sticky-taped to their hand.
13. Venezia - v.cute side canals&streets...
14. A picture of the family - from left - Eros, Elisabetta, Simona, Emma, Fabio (missing is Claudio as he was at work).
15. Em coming up the stairs (one of 463) that ran between the two walls of Bruneleschi's Duomo in Firenze.
16. the famous Michelangelo's David. I strategically hid from the guards who constantly yelled out NO PHOTO to score this one and others.
17. Ponza town from the ferry. a great sight for tired eyes. the ferry ride over to ponza from the mainland of lazio saw em and i trying to squeeze in an hour or so of sleep after our sleepless night on Roma Termini Platform One. yes we looked like hobos in our tartan sleeping bag but no we didnt care!!
ponza & photo update
we are currently staying in ponza, a small island pretty much on the campanian/lazio border. its v.popular with the italian holiday makers - far less so for other nationalities so far. the main town is a little like those of the cinque terre and the water crystal clear. we think that it is a bit of a getaway for rich italians, with yachts and boat shoes abounding. the restaurants are a little more highly priced than we are normally go for, but the upside is that the food is molto delicioso (since it is predominantly being cooked for italians with higher expectations!!).
the apartment we are staying in leaves a little to be desired, however it sure beats platform one at Roma Termini (where we ended up staying over on Saturday night because we couldnt find accomodation anywhere in umbria or lazio, and had therefore planned to go to a place in napoli -but missed the last connecting train there so had to wait for the next one at 5.50am. We hung out with some oldies and others - it was like a sociology experiment - all the women and older people stuck together, while the wierdos milled around in another area. fortunately, we met a really nice older couple from naples who we shared night watch duty with, and the station police were vigilant throughout.
after all of this, we decided that a restful break was in order, hence us choosing to come to ponza. we would definately recommend it to anyone who wants to escape the traditional tourist route in italy, but still wants to experience the mediterranean and the cutesy seaside towns surrounding.
anyway, now for the photos as promised - will write again shortly. hope all is well at home for everyone. thanks to nan for the post and of course i will pray for you in st peters - we are going there in our last days in Roma. a big congrats to Tan for the new job - we were v.excited to hear the news!!
cheers, sim and em xxxx
after all of this, we decided that a restful break was in order, hence us choosing to come to ponza. we would definately recommend it to anyone who wants to escape the traditional tourist route in italy, but still wants to experience the mediterranean and the cutesy seaside towns surrounding.
anyway, now for the photos as promised - will write again shortly. hope all is well at home for everyone. thanks to nan for the post and of course i will pray for you in st peters - we are going there in our last days in Roma. a big congrats to Tan for the new job - we were v.excited to hear the news!!
cheers, sim and em xxxx
1. a view from the path of the cinque terre walk over Vernazza, the town we stayed in for 4 nights.
2. Manarola from our ferry ride - the cinque terre.
3. em outside a pizza shop in bergamo. what a selection!!!
Saturday, 28 April 2007
firenze
ciao i tutti!!
we are writing to you from Firenze - home to the Uffizi, the Duomo, and Michelangelo's David. Needless to say, we have trekked around the city today like natural tourists, checking it all out. V.expensive, but totally worth it. We have also squeezed in a bit of shopping. Not too worry, we managed to fit in some relaxing time in a cute little trattoria near the uffizi for some handmade ravioli and tagliatelle - followed by parmagiana melanzane. Buonissimo!!
To back track a little from our last post -
Berlin was amazing! Totally diverse and a welcome break from small towns in Italy where the nonna's look at you strangely if you wear thongs in the street. The history of the place is crazy -especially considering its all so recent. we hired bikes over a couple of days and self toured around town to see the berlin wall, checkpoint charlie, the east side gallery and some old watch towers. we also checked out some holocaust memorials and museums - v.moving but emotionally exhausting - v.interesting but highly confronting.
em and I also hit the olympia stadium to experience the bundes liga first hand - akin to serie A in italy, but german style. the crowd was amazing - 90% of the fans were going for Hertha BSC - the local Berlin side (blue and white). over the other side from us, and cordoned off from the rest of the crowd were the Dortmund crowd in yellow and black. the chanting was crazy and the atmosphere was just as exciting as a massive AFL game but so different. the fans have to work harder here because they have set chants led by one guy on a microphone, and they keep it up for the whole game. easy for aussies to get lazy with a pie and beer.
We returned to italy on a 6am flight (!!!) to bergamo, from which we trained it to Padova, 1 hour out of Venezia. We both really loved Padova - a great town - our timing coincided with the end of the uni year - there is a really interesting tradition for gradutes to get down to their underwear or similar in the middle of the main piazza, get eggs and other gunk thrown at them, while reading a massive A1 caricature of themselves throughout uni (somewhat similar to a really embarrassing 21st speech i think). prior to being egged etc, they have to run through a human tunnel while everyone slaps them on the back (hard for the boys) and yells 'dottore, dottore ___something in italian blah blah ___ dottore'. all the oldies love it and lots of tourists (like us) stop and take photos. I am planning to introduce it to Australia at the end of the year when Em finishes her physio degree - will let you all know the date and time!! Ha.
While in Padova we checked out the massive church of St Anthony (I prayed for Nonni and families) and we also enjoyed a great dinner (we were shouted by a few older canadian couples our parents age after we spent a couple of hours sharing the long table together). We spotted a great bar to chill out in afterwards, as by this stage i had consumed about 3 espressos and about150gm of dark chocolate - needed some sedatives to get to sleep! V.cool spanish music that we managed to get the name of and hope to track down to share as well. Would def. return to live in Padova if ever the chance arose.
We headed to Venezia from Padova for a few hours - very touristy of course - but totally unique. Amazing to visit a city built on water. although we didnt splash out in a gondola, we hit the grande canal on the water bus to Piazza San Marco (so many pigeons - yuk!!) which was well worth it. the small cobbled streets were also really cute to walk through. glad we chose to stay in Padova and just visit however, as it was far less touristy.
the next morning we took a long trip to Carpi, a largish town near Bologna/Modena (region - emilia-romagna) to visit my relatives (my nonno's brother's daughter - Elisabetta (also a Gianfrotta) and her family) at their home. I was quite nervous given the language barrier, but really excited to visit family over here. Elisabetta and Eros picked us up from the stazione (us not knowing what they looked like and vice versa), they found us out the front and we had our first car trip in italy. its very strange to be on the other side of the road, and also to be in a car where the driver is on the left side. We went back to their house for pranzo - amazing and delicious traditional meal including a beautiful lasagne (primo piatto), and fantastic meatballs and melanzane for secondo piatto, followed of course by salad and buffalo mozzeralla and then sweets that we had brought from the pasticceria in Bologna, plus a cake that Elisabetta had made, and then (!) frutta, and then (!) un caffe. We have both tried and are now converts to the taste. The lunch was fantastic and tasted amazing - such a warm welcome. We rolled into car afterwards to visit my nonno's brother and his wife at their home about 200 mts away. Following this, we went into the town piazza for the evening passeggiata and then back to the house to eat some pizza from the pizza place that my second (or is it third) cousin, Fabio, works at.
The following day we spent the morning with Fabio in town checking out the market and the local pasticceria. We then headed back to the house where yet another magnificent feast awaited us. it was really great to meet all of the family. while it was difficult to understand everything, i think we came out of it with a little more italian than before. Fabio and his brother Claudio were really patient with us, especially when they were called on to interpret for us to talk to Elisabetta and Eros, and vice versa.
We should probably go now, as we have to catch the bus back to the ostello and still need some time to post some photos too!! will update shortly - we hope!! from here, we are hoping to head to Spello, a small town in Umbria, although accomodation not looking good at this stage - not to worry, we usually find somewhere. then onto Napoli on the 1st.
Cheers, love Sim and Em xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
we are writing to you from Firenze - home to the Uffizi, the Duomo, and Michelangelo's David. Needless to say, we have trekked around the city today like natural tourists, checking it all out. V.expensive, but totally worth it. We have also squeezed in a bit of shopping. Not too worry, we managed to fit in some relaxing time in a cute little trattoria near the uffizi for some handmade ravioli and tagliatelle - followed by parmagiana melanzane. Buonissimo!!
To back track a little from our last post -
Berlin was amazing! Totally diverse and a welcome break from small towns in Italy where the nonna's look at you strangely if you wear thongs in the street. The history of the place is crazy -especially considering its all so recent. we hired bikes over a couple of days and self toured around town to see the berlin wall, checkpoint charlie, the east side gallery and some old watch towers. we also checked out some holocaust memorials and museums - v.moving but emotionally exhausting - v.interesting but highly confronting.
em and I also hit the olympia stadium to experience the bundes liga first hand - akin to serie A in italy, but german style. the crowd was amazing - 90% of the fans were going for Hertha BSC - the local Berlin side (blue and white). over the other side from us, and cordoned off from the rest of the crowd were the Dortmund crowd in yellow and black. the chanting was crazy and the atmosphere was just as exciting as a massive AFL game but so different. the fans have to work harder here because they have set chants led by one guy on a microphone, and they keep it up for the whole game. easy for aussies to get lazy with a pie and beer.
We returned to italy on a 6am flight (!!!) to bergamo, from which we trained it to Padova, 1 hour out of Venezia. We both really loved Padova - a great town - our timing coincided with the end of the uni year - there is a really interesting tradition for gradutes to get down to their underwear or similar in the middle of the main piazza, get eggs and other gunk thrown at them, while reading a massive A1 caricature of themselves throughout uni (somewhat similar to a really embarrassing 21st speech i think). prior to being egged etc, they have to run through a human tunnel while everyone slaps them on the back (hard for the boys) and yells 'dottore, dottore ___something in italian blah blah ___ dottore'. all the oldies love it and lots of tourists (like us) stop and take photos. I am planning to introduce it to Australia at the end of the year when Em finishes her physio degree - will let you all know the date and time!! Ha.
While in Padova we checked out the massive church of St Anthony (I prayed for Nonni and families) and we also enjoyed a great dinner (we were shouted by a few older canadian couples our parents age after we spent a couple of hours sharing the long table together). We spotted a great bar to chill out in afterwards, as by this stage i had consumed about 3 espressos and about150gm of dark chocolate - needed some sedatives to get to sleep! V.cool spanish music that we managed to get the name of and hope to track down to share as well. Would def. return to live in Padova if ever the chance arose.
We headed to Venezia from Padova for a few hours - very touristy of course - but totally unique. Amazing to visit a city built on water. although we didnt splash out in a gondola, we hit the grande canal on the water bus to Piazza San Marco (so many pigeons - yuk!!) which was well worth it. the small cobbled streets were also really cute to walk through. glad we chose to stay in Padova and just visit however, as it was far less touristy.
the next morning we took a long trip to Carpi, a largish town near Bologna/Modena (region - emilia-romagna) to visit my relatives (my nonno's brother's daughter - Elisabetta (also a Gianfrotta) and her family) at their home. I was quite nervous given the language barrier, but really excited to visit family over here. Elisabetta and Eros picked us up from the stazione (us not knowing what they looked like and vice versa), they found us out the front and we had our first car trip in italy. its very strange to be on the other side of the road, and also to be in a car where the driver is on the left side. We went back to their house for pranzo - amazing and delicious traditional meal including a beautiful lasagne (primo piatto), and fantastic meatballs and melanzane for secondo piatto, followed of course by salad and buffalo mozzeralla and then sweets that we had brought from the pasticceria in Bologna, plus a cake that Elisabetta had made, and then (!) frutta, and then (!) un caffe. We have both tried and are now converts to the taste. The lunch was fantastic and tasted amazing - such a warm welcome. We rolled into car afterwards to visit my nonno's brother and his wife at their home about 200 mts away. Following this, we went into the town piazza for the evening passeggiata and then back to the house to eat some pizza from the pizza place that my second (or is it third) cousin, Fabio, works at.
The following day we spent the morning with Fabio in town checking out the market and the local pasticceria. We then headed back to the house where yet another magnificent feast awaited us. it was really great to meet all of the family. while it was difficult to understand everything, i think we came out of it with a little more italian than before. Fabio and his brother Claudio were really patient with us, especially when they were called on to interpret for us to talk to Elisabetta and Eros, and vice versa.
We should probably go now, as we have to catch the bus back to the ostello and still need some time to post some photos too!! will update shortly - we hope!! from here, we are hoping to head to Spello, a small town in Umbria, although accomodation not looking good at this stage - not to worry, we usually find somewhere. then onto Napoli on the 1st.
Cheers, love Sim and Em xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thursday, 19 April 2007
berlin
guten tag!
we touched down in berlin last night - after a fantastic few days on the cinque terre and bergamo. we ended up doing the cinque terre walk on a beautiful sunny day, including a ferry ride from the western most point to the east. the walk itself isnt too challenging, but there are some steep parts! fantastic views and highly recommended experience overall though. we also had a great meal or two at a place in vernazza - Gianni´s- right on the main piazza with great views of the natural harbour. a little more expensive than our usual budget but well worth it.
We hit Genova for a day trip from vernazza - ended up shopping for most of the day, with a little sightseeing. we splashed out a bit with some new clothes for both of us, and at lunch overdosed on the local specialty - pesto - we are officially pesto-ed out as of now.
bergamo is also a well recommended town which we happened upon following a disasterous experience with an irate hotelier in Milan when we rejected the room he offered as it was too dirty and had hairs in the bed! all for 75 euro too. the cheek of it all.
so we hightailed it to Bergamo, a town about 50 mins away via train, and stayed in an award winning youth hostel for 18 euro pp - breakfast included! we met a really nice french guy at the hostel who was riding around europe, and ended up hanging out for dinner and some sightseeing the following day. Bergamo itself is literally split into two parts- the old medieval part on the hill - Citta Alta, and the sprawling modern mass below - Citta Bassa. Have to say though that it was one of the cleanest places by far that we have been, and the old town is absolutely beautiful.
we hitched a flight out of italy last night at 21.00 to arrive one hour and forty mins later in Berlin - quite crazy to think of how close everything is here. first impressions echo the stereotype of Germany- very ordered efficient and clean - at least the public transport is! we are staying at a massive youth hostel in mitte (the centre) in an apartment on the 5th floor and can see views of the east berlin tv tower from our place. the quality of this place is brilliant - 77 euro a night and the room is immaculate, and could be fully self sufficient with a fully kitted out kitchen.
the plans so far are to hire a bike today and explore tiergarten, friedrichstrasse, and some other parts of town. seems to be flat so not a hassle. we are set to spend time exploring the jewish history and stasi or GDR cold war stuff too. we have just bought tix to see the fussball on Saturday which should also be amazing. we are thinking 5 nights is not enough in berlin already and will have to journey back soon! have to say that it is somewhat of a relief to get into a big city again - away from the judgemental old eyes in italy that seem to follow us whenever we have a backpack on.
will post more shorty, with photos hopefully. hope all is well!!
love em and sim. xx
we touched down in berlin last night - after a fantastic few days on the cinque terre and bergamo. we ended up doing the cinque terre walk on a beautiful sunny day, including a ferry ride from the western most point to the east. the walk itself isnt too challenging, but there are some steep parts! fantastic views and highly recommended experience overall though. we also had a great meal or two at a place in vernazza - Gianni´s- right on the main piazza with great views of the natural harbour. a little more expensive than our usual budget but well worth it.
We hit Genova for a day trip from vernazza - ended up shopping for most of the day, with a little sightseeing. we splashed out a bit with some new clothes for both of us, and at lunch overdosed on the local specialty - pesto - we are officially pesto-ed out as of now.
bergamo is also a well recommended town which we happened upon following a disasterous experience with an irate hotelier in Milan when we rejected the room he offered as it was too dirty and had hairs in the bed! all for 75 euro too. the cheek of it all.
so we hightailed it to Bergamo, a town about 50 mins away via train, and stayed in an award winning youth hostel for 18 euro pp - breakfast included! we met a really nice french guy at the hostel who was riding around europe, and ended up hanging out for dinner and some sightseeing the following day. Bergamo itself is literally split into two parts- the old medieval part on the hill - Citta Alta, and the sprawling modern mass below - Citta Bassa. Have to say though that it was one of the cleanest places by far that we have been, and the old town is absolutely beautiful.
we hitched a flight out of italy last night at 21.00 to arrive one hour and forty mins later in Berlin - quite crazy to think of how close everything is here. first impressions echo the stereotype of Germany- very ordered efficient and clean - at least the public transport is! we are staying at a massive youth hostel in mitte (the centre) in an apartment on the 5th floor and can see views of the east berlin tv tower from our place. the quality of this place is brilliant - 77 euro a night and the room is immaculate, and could be fully self sufficient with a fully kitted out kitchen.
the plans so far are to hire a bike today and explore tiergarten, friedrichstrasse, and some other parts of town. seems to be flat so not a hassle. we are set to spend time exploring the jewish history and stasi or GDR cold war stuff too. we have just bought tix to see the fussball on Saturday which should also be amazing. we are thinking 5 nights is not enough in berlin already and will have to journey back soon! have to say that it is somewhat of a relief to get into a big city again - away from the judgemental old eyes in italy that seem to follow us whenever we have a backpack on.
will post more shorty, with photos hopefully. hope all is well!!
love em and sim. xx
Saturday, 14 April 2007
vernazza - cinque terre
Ciao a tutti!
we actually arrived in the cinque terre last night at 7.30pm after about 11 hours of continuous public transport trying to get here - 7 buses, and 2 trains later. the trains were on strike all day until 5pm (which we didnt find out until about 5pm - language issues and people at the station in siena not very helpful) so we had huge trouble trying to get here. we ended up just travelling in this direction on buses - any buses we could find- until about 5.30 when we hopped on the train to la spezia and then the next one to vernazza. crazy day- v.stressful and tiring, but i guess thats what travelling is about - not all holidays here! on the upside, we saw five times as many towns and countryside villages that we weren't anticipating - some of which were quite beautiful - close to the snowy mountains, yet right on the beach.
our initial impressions of vernazza screamed tourist! we hadnt even stepped off the train before we were asked if we needed a room - in english!! the dinner we had was pretty poor compared to our montalcino experience - i think we have been royally spoiled. it was packet pasta and gnocchi, and probably jar pesto. sheesh. its like little america here as well.
however, the views are amazing, and the water crystal clear. just as the guide book says, you put up with the negatives above, to just experience the place. we are in a cute little room with a sea view away from the train and the bells, so the sleep last night was fantastic, and we woke this morning to sounds of the waves sweeping onto the rocks. We are off to explore further today, and will probably do the famous five town walk tomorrow, starting in riomaggiore.
thats all for now, will post some more photos soon - have to share the views!
Cheers,
sim and em. xx
we actually arrived in the cinque terre last night at 7.30pm after about 11 hours of continuous public transport trying to get here - 7 buses, and 2 trains later. the trains were on strike all day until 5pm (which we didnt find out until about 5pm - language issues and people at the station in siena not very helpful) so we had huge trouble trying to get here. we ended up just travelling in this direction on buses - any buses we could find- until about 5.30 when we hopped on the train to la spezia and then the next one to vernazza. crazy day- v.stressful and tiring, but i guess thats what travelling is about - not all holidays here! on the upside, we saw five times as many towns and countryside villages that we weren't anticipating - some of which were quite beautiful - close to the snowy mountains, yet right on the beach.
our initial impressions of vernazza screamed tourist! we hadnt even stepped off the train before we were asked if we needed a room - in english!! the dinner we had was pretty poor compared to our montalcino experience - i think we have been royally spoiled. it was packet pasta and gnocchi, and probably jar pesto. sheesh. its like little america here as well.
however, the views are amazing, and the water crystal clear. just as the guide book says, you put up with the negatives above, to just experience the place. we are in a cute little room with a sea view away from the train and the bells, so the sleep last night was fantastic, and we woke this morning to sounds of the waves sweeping onto the rocks. We are off to explore further today, and will probably do the famous five town walk tomorrow, starting in riomaggiore.
thats all for now, will post some more photos soon - have to share the views!
Cheers,
sim and em. xx
Thursday, 12 April 2007
p.s - two more photos that didnt make it in the last blog... technical difficulties.
1 - ruins of a theatre in the palatine hill (apart from the forum, the most famous part of ancient rome and the site of the most expensive houses and games for the nobility or patriciate)
2 - me at a great osteria in montalcino - beautiful food and beautiful view out from this table onto the countryside below. (pasta is fantastic, but in my humble opinion, nonni's is better still!!! )
will get some more photos of em up soon!! x
bellissima montalcino
ciao i tutti!
thanks heaps to all who have written and/or followed our adventures ... Its great to hear from you all and to be able to share the stories so far.
at the moment, we are sitting in an enoteca (wine bar) in a small hilltown in tuscany called montalcino - well known for its specialty wine - brunello. needless to say, we have embraced the local red and are enjoying a glass or two before we head out to dinner.
Montalcino is a pretty little town about 45 km south of Siena - while it attracts some tourists, its nowhere near as touristy as San Gimignano and others. We have found the people extremely friendly, and the great thing is, we have more of a chance to use our italian here than in Roma, and as a consequence, are becoming far more practised and perhaps improving a little too. The views here are amazing - the town is about 560 mts above sea level and we can see 360° around the surrounding countryside. The place we are staying at is a bit of a steal too - a converted wine cellar complete with everything we need, for only 56 euro a night for two. we like it so much, we managed to fumble our way through negotiating an extra night here before we head to the cinque terre - florence will wait until our return from berlin.
today we headed by bus out to an mediveal abbey, about 10 kms out of town - Sant'Antimo. It is very much in working order - the benedictine monks living there pray seven times daily through gregorian chanting. em and i were lucky enough to experience this when we went. we spent the afternoon today in the grounds of the abbey on the beautiful soft (GREEN!) grass, reading and eating homemade panini with thick chunks of formaggio , proscuitto and pomodori. what more could you want?
enough from us for now. check out the photos below of the trip thus far. will write again, probably from the cinque terre.
cheers,
sim and em. xxx
roman ruins and st peters basillica in b-ground
streets of trastevere
abbey of sant'antimo montalcino
thanks heaps to all who have written and/or followed our adventures ... Its great to hear from you all and to be able to share the stories so far.
at the moment, we are sitting in an enoteca (wine bar) in a small hilltown in tuscany called montalcino - well known for its specialty wine - brunello. needless to say, we have embraced the local red and are enjoying a glass or two before we head out to dinner.
Montalcino is a pretty little town about 45 km south of Siena - while it attracts some tourists, its nowhere near as touristy as San Gimignano and others. We have found the people extremely friendly, and the great thing is, we have more of a chance to use our italian here than in Roma, and as a consequence, are becoming far more practised and perhaps improving a little too. The views here are amazing - the town is about 560 mts above sea level and we can see 360° around the surrounding countryside. The place we are staying at is a bit of a steal too - a converted wine cellar complete with everything we need, for only 56 euro a night for two. we like it so much, we managed to fumble our way through negotiating an extra night here before we head to the cinque terre - florence will wait until our return from berlin.
today we headed by bus out to an mediveal abbey, about 10 kms out of town - Sant'Antimo. It is very much in working order - the benedictine monks living there pray seven times daily through gregorian chanting. em and i were lucky enough to experience this when we went. we spent the afternoon today in the grounds of the abbey on the beautiful soft (GREEN!) grass, reading and eating homemade panini with thick chunks of formaggio , proscuitto and pomodori. what more could you want?
enough from us for now. check out the photos below of the trip thus far. will write again, probably from the cinque terre.
cheers,
sim and em. xxx
1 - easter mass with the pope
2 - (right)
the pantheon
the pantheon
roman ruins and st peters basillica in b-groundstreets of trastevere
abbey of sant'antimo montalcino
Monday, 9 April 2007
roma pt II
Buona Pasquale i tutti!
Our adventures over the Easter weekend have been amazing. We've been to see the Palatine ruins, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, St Peters Square, Piazza Navona, and many more Piazzas and famous buildings.
We've really enjoyed just walking around the cobbled streets of Trastevere, Testaccio, and the Centro Storico, eating out for massive lunches - so much so that we can't really fit in dinner afterwards (or gelato crazily enough). As you can imagine, the legs have been working hard, which is good given the amount of olive oil we have consumed over the past two days - and we have found time each afternoon for a siesta before heading out again.
One of the more inspiring sights we've seen so far would have to be the Pantheon - coming around a small street corner close to midnight to see it looming above us - we felt like we were in a movie set. The building itself is mammoth - the doors are at least ten times our height and the columns 4metres in diameter. The most amazing thing is how it contrasts so boldly against the other buildings in the piazza. Just to know that it has stood there for 2000 years is pretty crazy.
Today we went to St Peters Square for Easter Mass with the Pope. There was a crowd of about 300,000 or more, just in the square - the connecting piazza would have held more people still. It was quite a moving experience to hear the Pope speak and bless the people - and to see how the crowd responded. We also went to a huge church on Piazza Navona last night for a while whilst there was a mass on, which was equally as moving - the singing was particularly beautiful as was the church itself.
Not all of our time hasn't just been spent looking at cultural treasures though... we have also amused ourselves perusing the supermarket shelves for an hour or so just to see the different products on offer. Small things hey...
We are getting a better handle on the language, bit by bit, and each of us has a phrase or two that we are semi-confident in so we can take turns at restaurants and shops- the language barrier is quite challenging (mainly because of the speed at which people talk) but we are getting there. on saturday, sim went in alone to a supermarket to get some lunch and managed to wing it without the phrase book to get a proscuitto and mozzerella panini made up at the deli... was pretty happy after that one!
We have loved it so much here that we have organised to stay one more night at our accomodation in Trastevere... Tomorrow we will check out the Forum ruins and Campo di Fiori markets - and shopping is definitely on the cards. On Tuesday we head off to a small town in Tuscany called Montalcino.
Hope all is well at home. Will post photos as soon as possible once we figure out how.
Cheers,
Sim and em. xxx
Friday, 6 April 2007
roma
ciao i tutti!
Just a quick one to say that we made it safely to Roma after a hideous 21 hour flight. Forget water torture, we were in economy.
Have managed to negotiate our way around from the airport, the main train terminus, to our awesome accomodation near Trastevere - right near the river Tiber and just south of Vatican City. Although we have used our newly acquired italian, it seems it must be obvious that we speak english and the response is often in english (they speak it very well here!)
will post again soon!
love em and sim
Just a quick one to say that we made it safely to Roma after a hideous 21 hour flight. Forget water torture, we were in economy.
Have managed to negotiate our way around from the airport, the main train terminus, to our awesome accomodation near Trastevere - right near the river Tiber and just south of Vatican City. Although we have used our newly acquired italian, it seems it must be obvious that we speak english and the response is often in english (they speak it very well here!)
will post again soon!
love em and sim
Sunday, 18 February 2007
andiamo d'Italia
Benvenuti!
Welcome to our blog. We are very excited about our impending adventure... and are avidly wathcing the weeks and days tick by until departure.
Whilst in Italy, and Berlin, we will endeavour to post regularly (amongst all the relaxation and sightseeing) to keep you all in the know about our search for la dolce vita.
Thought it could be a good way to keep people in the know without long group emails etc. For those interested (read - parents), we will be going roughly along the following route:
5 - 9 April: Roma
9 - 13: Toscana-Montalcino & Firenze
13 - 17: Cinque Terre
17 - 18: Milano
18 - 23: Berlin
23 - 24: Bergamo - Venezia
24 - 26: Bologna
26 - 30: Spello
1 - 3 May: Napoli
3 - 7: Amalfi Coast
7-8: Pizzo (Calabria)
8-12: Sicily
12 - 16: Sardegna
16-18: Roma
18- 19: Flight back to Melbourne!
Will try to share the growing knowledge of italian (and german) as we go... but for now - arrivederci!
sim and em x
Welcome to our blog. We are very excited about our impending adventure... and are avidly wathcing the weeks and days tick by until departure.
Whilst in Italy, and Berlin, we will endeavour to post regularly (amongst all the relaxation and sightseeing) to keep you all in the know about our search for la dolce vita.
Thought it could be a good way to keep people in the know without long group emails etc. For those interested (read - parents), we will be going roughly along the following route:
5 - 9 April: Roma
9 - 13: Toscana-Montalcino & Firenze
13 - 17: Cinque Terre
17 - 18: Milano
18 - 23: Berlin
23 - 24: Bergamo - Venezia
24 - 26: Bologna
26 - 30: Spello
1 - 3 May: Napoli
3 - 7: Amalfi Coast
7-8: Pizzo (Calabria)
8-12: Sicily
12 - 16: Sardegna
16-18: Roma
18- 19: Flight back to Melbourne!
Will try to share the growing knowledge of italian (and german) as we go... but for now - arrivederci!
sim and em x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
so where the hell are we?
