Turkey, Florence and Rome - 27-28 March 2012

Dear Everyone, we are such happy little Vegemites. On Tuesday morning, we woke after another ghastly night to discover that our Italian Travel Agency operator, Jen, no doubt under instructions from our Travel Agent, Ron Prophet, had rung our hotel to express our dismay at our small room & they were going to see what they could do. We went to an early breakfast, ordered our poached eggs on toast and watched the eggs grow cold as we waited for the toast, which is easily the most difficult thing to order! Eventually it arrived, we ate speedily, our waitress apologised (the staff here are very special) and caught a taxi to the Vatican City to meet our guide, Daniela. We were lucky enough to have our first ride with a sedate Roman who loves using his English and our trip went quickly and enjoyably.

We were blown away by the Vatican as everyone is. I was impatient when we dallied our way along, looking at some inferior sculptures, then some Flemish wall hangings, and finally some frescoes, before we found ourselves in the Sistine Chapel. We were both in awe, although we had expected a circular ceiling in a religious chapel – we’re not sure that God is around, even though he probably approves of Michelangelo’s work.

St Peter’s was such a surprise, nothing prepared us for the majesty and splendour & I was particularly taken with the alabaster host, which must look quite magic when the sun’s rays hit it in the afternoon. We also loved Michelangelo’s Pieta, which Kathy & Ged had asked us to look for especially for them. We could have spent hours there, but our guide had to take another group in the afternoon, so we said goodbye and visited the crypts of the Popes downstairs. A message came through from Jen to say that our hotel had another room to offer us, so we caught another taxi – no English, but a quick drive back, and gleefully accepted our new room – we have a sitting room, a bath, a hallway, no posts, a view into a courtyard, 2 lots of air-conditioning & a shower we can manage. Bliss.

After packing in record time & unpacking a little more slowly, we set off for the Castel Sant’Angelo where Pope Clement VII sought refuge during the sacking of Rome. It was originally the tomb of Hadrian, the Roman Emperor. We got glorious views of Rome and the Vatican City from the top of the castle, and then wended our way home via various churches, the Trevi Fountain and a gelataria – a genuine one, where I had coconut & chestnuts flavours & Wes enjoyed chocolate & almond. By 5.45 we were exhausted and looking for dinner, so stopped at Rossini Ristorante, about 5 minutes from our hotel.

The staff were charming (Rumanian again) and after sharing a spinach salad with pear, grapefruit & walnuts, we both had very yummy main courses – Wes had pepper steak (the beef was Danish), and I tried gnocchi with four cheeses & grilled vegetables to share (all in the photo). Our wine was a disappointment, but it was another reasonably priced meal, costing just over $100.

Today we woke early after a good sleep and I rang Viva. She had an eye operation yesterday to save the sight in her left eye which has been so troubled by a large ulcer. After the operation she had to endure having her eyelashes sewn together & assures me that she looks as though she has gone three rounds with Muhammad Ali, although blissfully she can’t see herself and is relying on Leanne’s description. When I had finished on the laptop it was Wes’s turn to compose an email to our assessor to sort out the final part of our claim. It appears that the damage done to our lounge suite by the first clean may not be able to be overcome and we are looking at having the suite recovered, which we had so hoped to avoid as the material may no longer be available.

Breakfast went smoothly and poached eggs arrived at the same time as toast much to everyone’s delight. We then met Daniela and set off on our walk around parts of Rome. We caught the lift to the top of the Wedding Cake, which gives a brilliant view of the city, visited some churches, checked out galleries, visited the Jewish Quarter & the Market, and ended up having lunch at a Kosher Jewish restaurant.

It was a great experience – Israeli Sauvignon Blanc, artichokes done Jewish & Roman styles and fish to die for. We then ordered sweets we didn’t know but the waitress wouldn’t give us the Nonna’s cake, so we had pistachio mousse & a hot dish similar to a Greek sweet. We got into conversation with an American/Italian mother & her Italian daughter sitting next to us, they run a B&B & rent out apartments & were very amused by the poached eggs. They also claim that Australians say everything is ‘gorgeous’. We weren’t aware of it, perhaps we do. We gave them koala bears and the waitress was very jealous!

I was feeling tired so Wes put me in a taxi and went back to explore the Jewish Quarter more. And I had the unfortunate experience of being ripped off by a taxi driver who took 20€ and told me to get out of the taxi. Don’t ask – it was a clever trick and I was tired enough to be caught. I eventually found Wes and we both caught a cab back here, then he went off to back exploring as he was keen to see the Synagogue and the Jewish Museum.

Turkey, Florence and Rome - 24-26th March 2012

Dear Friends, we are resting in our room tonight after our first two days in Roma. I left you in Florence in our luxurious palace and I write to you from our tiny room that would not be as big as our bathroom there. We enjoyed our train ride on the Eurostar with a couple of Yanks by our sides – they with i-pads reading away, us with books and crosswords to amuse us when there was no view. We were met at the station by the handsome Gabriele, and driven to our hotel Barocco at the Piazza Barberini. Whatever we were prepared for in the wonderful write-ups of this hotel, it wasn’t for our tiny room, complete with 4-poster bed and small desk on which all the space was taken by a bowl of fruit and a lamp. The bathroom is equally tiny and all the available spaces were taken there. We have a miniscule dressing room with a collapsed do-it-yourself robe, which has since been fixed. The pillows are like sacks of wheat & today we exchanged them for foam ones and expect a better night’s sleep. Everything is very modern and clean lines, but you can’t operate the shower without a lesson and the heated towel-racks are only turned on at the whim of the hotel.

Our room, which finishes at the right of this photo & the lovely breakfast room

We couldn’t unpack until the robe was fixed so went for a walk to a restaurant Wes had found on Facebook, however, like most good family eateries, it was closed for Sunday, so we walked around until we found somewhere we liked and sat outside enjoying a good lunch with a bottle of Pinot Grigio, our first serious foray into white wine here. We had another walk afterwards, then made our way back here where we took it in turns to unpack and ended up in the bar where Wes enjoyed a Jameson & I had a G&T. There is only one very small chair here, so you need to sit in a lounge if you want to chat.

This morning we met our guide, Daniela, and driver, Giancarlo, and set off for a short drive around Rome to get our bearings and then visited the Roman Forum, the Senate, the Basilica of Constantine, the Colosseum and the Basilica of St Peter in Chains where the Moses carved by Michelangelo sits in splendour. We then drove back here via the Palantine Hill and Monte Testaccio, an artificial mound in Rome formed almost entirely of broken amphorae shards. I particularly enjoyed the Colosseum and Moses.

Roman Forum& Palantine Hill

We decided to try Osteria Barberini again and sure enough it was open. We were welcomed and chose a table downstairs where Maria from Rumania was our waitress. We had a bottle of frascati with our tuna salad followed by meat balls for Wes and mushroom & truffle fettuccine for me. The food was so good, we had to try our first tiramisu here – the whole meal with tips cost 74€ or $99 and represents great value. 

Afterwards we visited Capuchin crypt, which is something to behold! Then a walk around a few streets, some shopping for gifts to bring home and a couple of t-shirts for me as the weather is so good and all my clothes are too warm.

We sat in the bar again with pots of tea and coffee and played Travel Scrabble, which was a lovely way to unwind from our busy day. Wes has found a TV channel playing classical music and he is reading the last of the Sjowal & Mahloo books ‘The Terrorists’, which I really loved and thought he would enjoy.

Tomorrow we catch a taxi to the Vatican where we have three hours with Daniela – we are very excited about this, especially to finally see the Sistine Chapel after all the build up in Florence.

Turkey, Florence and Rome - 23-24 March 2012

Dear Friends, we set off on Friday after the shocking news of Ron James’ death had sunk in, to visit Siena. Gianluca, our driver, took us there & as he was in the bad books for smoking in the car, he was doing his best to get back into our wallets, by showing more grasp of English than he had up until now. We fell in love with Siena – walked and walked for the two hours free time we had – lit a candle for Ron in a sweet little church and another for all the parents we have lost. We loved the little shops, found a pair of sunglasses for Wes that cost 5 € in a delightful market, looked down alleys, into shops & were entranced by some lovely local art.

Easter Eggs big enough to contain a Teddy Bear & Gelati not to be touched – anything on display is not genuine, you need to go into a shop with lids on the vats and you know the gelati is made freshly each day.

The drive there and back was lovely, through Chianti country and by the time we were dropped off at the Accademia again, we were hungry for lunch. So off to our favourite restaurant – Accademia, where the waiter greeted us like long lost friends, produced a complimentary glass of prosecco, told us we had to drink the best red on their menu – nebilio grapes, tasted to me like old-fashioned claret, agreed that rabbit would be good for Wes and fish of the day for me and brought us a Fra Angelico salad while we waited. My fish was boned at the table with a spoon & fork – Wes said his rabbit was the best he had ever tasted and I finished my meal with a large glass of limoncello, while Wes downed two short blacks. The place was full of regulars and until a group of Yanks walked in we were the only visitors. We tried to advise them, but they went for pasta and house wine, so we gave up!

We walked to the Ice Cream shop and had a small gelati each sitting outside in the sun, then visited the Americans in Tuscany Exhibition, which left us a little under whelmed, before making our way back to our palace for tea and coffee. Our waiter appeared with a small plate of special biscuits as well. We had hoped to get to the Church of Santo Marco at night for some classical music, but after all that wine, we had no hope.

Inside the Dome and the glorious view

  Wes thinks I didn’t give you the right idea about our morning tea the other day and perhaps he is right – it felt like Florian in Venice, was glorious gold in decor and had the biggest Easter Eggs you could wish to see. It was peopled by visitors like us and regulars who went there every day and were treated like family.

Wes had a hot chocolate like the picture above & the room we were in is very popular with post-wedding, pre-reception parties.

I have also forgotten to tell you about the little shops – a bean shop run by three sisters, who disagree all the time. One side of the shop is devoted to people food & the other side to dog food. The beans and rice are in open sacks and you can’t just choose for yourself. There is the bakery, the sock shop, the picture-framer, the green-grocer, the man who has everything, the Stanley knife shop, the list goes on & on and we are entranced by them all.

Today was our last day here. We celebrated by ordering poached eggs at breakfast (they are on the menu) and after 20 minutes and much clattering of heels up & down stairs they arrived. We suspect no-one knew how to cook them & that a local restaurant came to the rescue.

 We have just discovered it is the end or start of daylight saving & we get less or more sleep tonight, now sure which. Hopefully our watches will do the right thing at 2am. We met Tanya at 9am to stroll through streets, but discovered she wanted us to go to the Museo del Bargello, which has some wonderful Donatello sculptures. Then we had coffees & tea in a little place where it is a privilege to be allowed to sit down.

We saw a man who makes leather boxes and pouches, a lady who does fine work under a magnifying glass, we found Dante’s home & church, visited an Offertory that is over 700 years old, did a tour of the Dominican Church, Santa Maria Novella (facade), and finally popped into the old apothecary’s shop that is now popular all around the world for its herbal & flower essence remedies.

Finally we ended up at the rooftop restaurant of the Hotel Excelsior – it only took 20 years for them to get permission to open this. It has glorious views of Florence and we three enjoyed a stunning meal with good service, fine wine & great conversation. We exchanged gifts and were sorry to part. Tanya has greatly contributed to our understanding of Florence, its history and its art.

Prawn salad with mango & mozzarella cheese with tomato & basil

We wandered back home through the wonderful pageantry that is Florence and were pleased to get our tray of tea and coffee and unwind. Wes wanted the results of the Queensland election where we learned that his good friend, Deane Wells, has lost his seat after 22 years. We can only imagine how he is feeling at the moment.

Tomorrow is the start of the last part of our adventure. I’ll write again from Rome.

Turkey, Florence and Rome - 21-22 March 2012

Dear Friends, after a leisurely start on Wednesday, we were driven by Gianluca & Tanya up into the hills to visit the home of an extremely eccentric Englishman, Frederick Stibbert, who was an incredible collector. He bought three villas in a row to house his magnificent purchases of paintings, tapestries, furnishing, armour, stained glass & fans. We have never seen anything like it. He had the villas redesigned in a lavish fashion and fortunately on his death, left everything to Florence.

Then we had decadent cakes – some of us had very rich hot chocolate at a lovely café where people are known to eat every day, made us think of Café 3460, chatted with Tanya and set off to explore the Medici Town Hall building. What a wonderful place that is, with so much to see. We were tired and hungry by 2pm, so Tanya left us and we ate at one of her favourite restaurants, a little place downstairs. It wasn’t as good as the previous lunches, but it was a different experience. We walked back home, ordered tea & coffee and I went to bed & stayed put. Wes went walking and exploring, much to my delight.

This morning, after breakfast, we met Tanya at the Uffizzi and spent 4 wonderful hours there including a tea break. We saw works by many early painters including Botticelli, da Vinci & Michelangelo. We were treated to a special viewing of the Vasari Corridor, the Medicis secret walkway from Palazzo Vecchio to the Pitti Palace. The Corridor is hung with self-portraits by all the famous artists of note and we were the only ones there at the time. We stopped for lunch at an indoor/outdoor cafe where Wes had spaghetti and Tanya & I had spinach & cuttlefish. During lunch a fight broke out in the piazza between some druggies and a trader who had lost his temper with them. Tanya was embarrassed, but we were interested to see how everything and everyone stopped to watch this battle, which was eventually sorted out by the local police. Then we walked to a new gelataria, where we had rose petal flavoured gelati!

 Wes posing before the badly placed modern art in our sitting area.

The rest of the afternoon was in the Boboli Gardens and the Pitti Palace, where we absorbed culture and history until our heads were spinning. As we walked back to our hotel, we invited Tanya to join us for a drink at Procacci, a small wine bar which has been on site since 1885. We sampled three different reds and swapped travel stories.

Tomorrow we have a rest from Tanya and she from us, as we will be driven to Siena, where we will spend the morning, returning to Florence at lunchtime. So many people told us we should go there, and we are obeying their wishes. I’ll be in touch again before we leave for Rome on Sunday.

Our bedroom in the palazzo

Turkey, Florence and Rome - 18th-20th March 2012

Dear Friends, I last wrote on Saturday night as we prepared for an early start the next morning to fly to Florence. Everything went smoothly, although the hotel had forgotten to book our car, and then overcharged us, but rang us as we were just leaving & refunded the money! The airport was deserted early in the morning, we checked in and our only wait was to go through Immigration, where it seemed all the clerks were late for work. When we finally got to our clerk, he was most suspicious of the middle of the Australian passport, but eventually let us through. We found our gate lounge (only 4 overseas ones) and settled down to wait for our plane.

Wes went roaming on his phone, something we are not allowing ourselves to do very often in the hope of getting a manageable phone bill on our return. He discovered Barbara on Skype for the first time since she had left, so had a long chat with her, and was relieved to know that she was OK; that Gail had sorted out seating issues on the flight, and that she was comfortable & enjoying catching up with her father, Bob, and his wife, Viv. We haven’t seen Gail & Terry on Skype, nor have they responded to our emails, so we hope they are enjoying the South Island of NZ, while Barbara is in Palmerston North.

Pigeon Holes in our Cave

We were packed in like sardines in our little plane to Vienna, but the flight went quickly and we were excited to be flying over Austria, which looked beautiful from the air. We were thinking of our friend, Hanna, and hoping that one day we would all be in Vienna at the same time. Then reality set in – there was a stampede from the bus into the airport and we tried to find where to go for our flight to Florence. A friendly girl pointed us to the haphazard queue at Immigration, and sure enough, we needed to join it even though we were in transit. The surly officer didn’t even look at either of us when we eventually got to her window, but we smiled sweetly, retrieved our passports and set off in search of our Gate Lounge. We arrived just as our flight was boarding and discovered that Ron had booked us in Business Class & we were the only ones! The flight was 90 minutes and we were well-looked after in our little Fokker Friendship.

We were hugely disappointed to discover that our luggage had not made the flight and was still in Vienna, and would possibly arrive later that night or the next day. Our driver, Gianluca, took us to our beautiful hotel, Residenza del Moro, previously a palace, where the staff were sympathetic and upgraded us to a Suite. Our Suite, translated, is Lemon House, and we are thrilled to bits with it. We have a huge room which is our bedroom & lounge; then a dressing-room, bathroom & private garden. Wes ordered tea & coffee and later a bottle of red wine; we showered, rinsed out our underwear and went to sleep.

Afternoon tea in our walled garden

The next morning we met our Guide, Tanya, who is an American-Italian, with a Norwegian mother. She is in her 50s, passionate about the history of Italy and torn between Florence & California. Gianluca drove us on a City Tour which comprised the Hilltowns of Florence and included entrances to an Archaeological Area & Museum & the Villa Gamberaia Gardens, where we saw our first Lemon House. It rained for a while, so we spent some time in coffee shop learning about each other & what we hoped to get from our time together.

Later we had lunch together at a small restaurant where we could see into the kitchen. We enjoyed our meals – salad followed by seafood pasta for Tanya & me, whereas Wes went the red meat route! After lunch we walked back to our hotel, where we discovered our bags had not yet arrived, much to our disgust. Any plans for walking during the afternoon were shelved, as we decided to stay around & put pressure on the reception staff to keep ringing the airport every hour to see what had happened. Finally at 7.45pm, both suitcases turned up, intact and no worse for wear. We realised that as the planes are tiny, perhaps they had not fitted into our flight, but it would have been good to have been told the truth from the start!

This morning we rose early and I had the chance to speak with Viva, who was expecting my call & had stayed up later than usual to receive it. Her eye has not improved, so she sees another specialist tomorrow morning. She had a lovely visit from Terry yesterday and sounded quite good considering she was very tired.

After a light breakfast, we went walking around Florence with Tanya. We learnt some more history, visited some beautiful churches, lit a candle for Jim Stynes, and another for Perc, Dot & Ray, and finally, after visiting a beautifully restored Tower House, found ourselves staring in awe at the wonderful statue of David, in the Accademia. Tanya had to leave us at 1pm, as she had some students to look after during the afternoon, so she gave us advice on a good lunch-spot – also called Accademia, where we had a salad with pears & honey, followed by pizzas, mine with truffles and Wes’s with salami. We enjoyed a lovely bottle of red, the waiters were attentive & spoke good English & we hope to get back there. On the way home, we had our first gelati – Tanya would not let us go just anywhere & we had been instructed to go to a little place with a sign saying ICE CREAM, where the gelati is made fresh each day & not piled up high in the window. Wes had chocolate & almond & I enjoyed yoghurt & pistachio. We then bought some tonic water & chips in a supermarket and finally went into a delicatessen/greengrocer, where we bought a beautiful soft cheese & a bottle of red.

We arrived back at our hotel to find a basket of fruit in our room – pears, kiwifruit & apples, so we won’t starve over the next few days. We met another couple, Yanks, named John & Patty, who are the only other visitors here, then sat in our garden with pots of tea & coffee talking about our morning. We find ourselves so very sad about the death of Jim Stynes – I regard him as a modern-day saint and feel very privileged to have met him, and Wes has been surprised at how affected he has been as well. Thanks to Jane & Carol for updating us on him. We are thrilled he is getting a State Funeral & hope it is televised so we can tape it.

Wes with a wonderful dog at the Villa Gamberaia

With Sercan – we just loved the sign!

Lemon House

Our bathroom in the palace suite