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.