21 August 2008 - 23 August 2008

Siena to Rome

21 August 2008

Today we checked out of our Tuscan villa and headed to Rome. On the way to Rome we decided to head into Orvieto a small township. In Orvieto we headed up the hill to look at the massive and very impressive Duomo. This church is beautiful and decorated in traditional Italian style with a massive organ in the corner. After looking at the Duomo and having gelato (I also ... pulled a muscle in my tounge .. weird I know but extemely painful) we headed back down to the car as it was hot! Upon hoping in the car and cranking up the aircon the temperature guage read 44 degrees, eeek thats hot!!

We proceeded to Rome where we checked into Camping Roma and our airconditioned room. We spent the rest of the afternoon laxing out by the pool!

22 August 2008

Today we said goodbye to Michelle. Michelle was heading back home via New York as her visa had run out. As it was still extremely hot outside me and Debra decided to make the most of the sun and the pool and spent the morning relaxing by the pool and soaking up the talent. In the afternoon once it had cooled down we headed into the city and wandered around the Colessum, Roman Forum and various other roman ruins and buildings.

23 August 2008

This morning we ventured out to the Vatican City.

FACT - Did you know that the Vatican City is its own country? Is has a pretty much zero percent birth rate (being that most of its country people are nuns)!

Vatican City' officially the State of the Vatican City. At approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and with a population of around 800, it is the smallest independent state in the world by both population and area. Vatican City is a city-state. It came into existence only in 1929. The state of Vatican City issues normal passports.

Another FACT - the worst gelato ever was brought at a place near the Vatican City and it was extememly disappointing that our last Italian gelato was unedible

In the afternoon we headed to the airport to start some more adventures in Spain.

18 - 20 August 2008

BEAUTIFUL SUNSET UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN

(sunset setting on my camera)

Siena - Tuscany Region

18 August 2008

After having a fantastic breakfast in Poggi we checked out of our hotel and started heading to our next destination, Siena.

On the way we stopped in at Monteriggioni (Monte) - Sitting on a small natural hillock, this completely walled medieval town in the Siena Province of Tuscany was built in the 13th century - yip, another smalled walled in medieval town. The was teeny compared to the others. After a quick look around on the walls we were on our way again. - SORRY FORMATTING IS BEING DUMB

ON THE WALLS IN MONTE

We arrived in Siena and after a minor accident(!) and a trip to the giant co-op to stock up on food we headed out to our ... wait for it ... Tuscan Villa!! in the Chianti Region. The villa was amazing, self-contained, stone, shutters, pool near fields of grapes and magnificent views. That afternoon was spent sunbathing by the pool and then cooking ourselves an amazing dinner.

MINOR ACCIDENT

19 August 2008

Today we headed into Sienna to look around. It was pretty much like all the other towns, souvenir shops, gelato, leather and handmade painted bowls.

In the afternoon our accommodation was offering a free wine tasting and tour so we decided to head along. The wine tour was fun and informative and we got to test some wine (Debra ended up with most of the testers as both me and Michelle don't drink wine) and some amazing olive oil. After our tour and with Debra some what liquored up we headed for the pool ... with the camera in tow. Got some cool photos and you will need to head to the photo gallery for most of them, I put the setting on a quick take picture setting which means there are about 10 pictures for each event, if that makes sense, so its like you can actually see us moving its was heaps of fun and my camera still works

ITS IMPORTANT TO SMILE - EVEN WHEN UNDERWATER!

20 August 2008

Today others girls when for a drive in the Chianti hills as I was a bit over windy roads and small Italian towns I decided to spend my day productively by the pool working on my tan.

We attempted to go out for dinner and got all dressed up but it seems that restaurants around that area are closed on a Wednesday.

WE COULD BE MODELS

(The tanning went well, maybe some airbrushing would be good!)

17 August 2008

Poggibonsi and San Gimignano

Today we left Florence and booked into a Hotel for the night.

The hotel we picked was in the small town of Poggibonsi halfway between Florence and Siena.

After checking in and unpacking we headed on a day trip to San Gimignano - San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometers outside the town.

San Gimi (as we liked to call it) was another small enclosed village. It is famous for its towers, one which we went up to get amazing views of San Gimi and the surrounding area. The highlight of going to Sam Gimi was the most amazing - Worlds Best actually - Gelato.

In the afternoon we headed to another small town called Volterra I was a bit over it and feeling quite car sick so I had a nice snooze in the car while the other girls looked around.

14 -16 August 2008

Florence / Firenze

ITALY

14 August 2008

View of city from Michaelangelo Piazza

Today we left La Spezia and drove to Pisa to pick up Debra. We didn't stop in Pisa as I am going on my other trip and Michelle had already seen it. On our way to Florence we drove and stopped in Lucca - Lucca is a city in Tuscany, northern central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near (but not on) the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca. Among other reasons, it is famous for its intact Renaissance-era city walls (although the city has expanded beyond the wall's boundaries). Lucca (like a lot of other small villages I visited) is surrounded by city walls.

Dummo in Lucca - Panorama of city centre in Lucca

We then proceeded to keep driving to Florence and pulled into our accommodation for the next three days - Camping Firenze (Florence). The weather in Italy during my whole stay there was hot. I am talking 35 - 40 degree heats. I love the heat (hence why I moved to Gold Coast) but can tell you the other girls (especially Michelle) were not coping well.

That night we headed down the hill from our campground to find some dinner. We stepped into this yum restaurant where Debra and Michelle had pasta and I had some much craved red meat. Unfortunately, as we found quite common in Italy, we got overcharged. After trying to sort it out me speaking no Italian the lady speaking no English we managed to fix it. Now I think over the course of my two weeks in Italy one of us must of got shortchanged/overcharged at least once a day, because of that we keep a close eye on charges and change. I recommend you keep an eye out should you go to Italy.

Super yum dinner - Michelle ahd tomato pasta, Debra had a pear with cheese sauce (what you see is pretty much all she got) and I had a yum steak dish.

15 August 2008

Fake David statue

Today we went into town to look through the markets and see the fake statue of Michaelangelo's "David". I had a yum chicken and potatoes for lunch and Debra managed her way through Bruchetta (she hates tomatoes) and a giant pizza. We got stung with a 2.00 Euro per person surcharge there, another pointer to watch when in Italy check the service fees before you sit down to eat.

After lunch to help us digest our food, we took part in one of our favourite Italian pastimes - eating gelato - some of us ate it more than others!! :) Lucky bronze boar

As soon as we hoped off the bus today it poured down!! Lucky for us we have all lived in London/Ireland and always carry umbrellas! The rain was a good thing though as it cooled down a bit.

After chilling in the tent for the afternoon we decided to head up the road to have dinner. I begrudgingly ordered a salad (felt I needed some vegetables) and since my steak looked so good last night Debra thought some red meat would be good. She tried to ask the waitress (who spoke no word of English) to see how big the steak was and after giving up ordered it anyway. It came out, all 750 grams of it. What a hero though, managed to get through the whole thing!

Debra's steak before and after

16 August 2008

After a freezing cold night in our house tent we headed into Florence again to have another look around and eat some more gelato.

For dinner we decided to go to a bar. For 8.00 euros each we got to eat some apperetives (see above if you don't remember what they are) and a (very strong) cocktail. The apperetives consisted of pasta, rice, pizza, carrots and heaps of other yum scrumptious dishes.

11 - 13 August 2008

Milan, Cinque Terre, Portofino
ITALY

Me eating giant slice of pizza in Autogrill - common highway restaurant stops.

11 August 2008

Today me and Michelle flew into Milano (Milan) airport, picked up our hire car (they drive on the right side of the road in Italy) and headed off into the city for a quick look around.

Milan has a pretty huge cathedral (duomo) but as my skirt was too short wasn't able to go inside. I have attached a picture I got off the Internet as when I saw it, it had scaffolding, a popular theme with tourist attractions on our trip!

Milano Cathedral - very gothic looking

After a quick look around we drove to La Spezia (well Michelle did as too expensive to put all names on insurance) where we were met by a 16.50 Euro toll - these became the bane of our existence during the first half of the trip.

Michelle and me in Milano

12 August 2008

Today we drove into La Spezia so we could catch a train to Cinque Terre - The Cinque Terre (pronounced CHEEN-kweh TEHR-reh) is a rugged portion of coast of the Riviera to the west of the city of La Spezia in the Liguria region of Italy comprising five villages, "The Five Lands": Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

Panoramic view of Monterosso

First stop was Monterosso - the biggest and most touristee of the "five lands" here we took some amazing photos and had a swim in the beautiful ocean. Second stop was Vernazza followed by Riomaggiore.

Monterosso train station

All the five islands had beautiful views of the sea and the lifestyle of Italian people in small villages.

Gossipying old men in Vernazza - Me in main street of Vernazza

13 August 2008

Today we decided to drive up the coast a bit. We headed into Rapollo for a quick bit and some apperitives - snacks you get with your drinks in some bars (you can sometimes pay 3.00 for a drink an enough snacks for a lunch) before catch a boat to Portofino - is a small Italian fishing village, comune and tourist resort located in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town crowded round its small harbour is considered to be among the most beautiful Mediterranean ports. Portofino was again another beautiful seaside village. It was said that George Clooney visited there a couple of days before we arrived, unfortunately we didn't run into him!

Castle in Rapollo - Me in Portofino

Buckingham Palace

On Saturday Niki, Hayley and myself decided to go and visit the opening of the state rooms in Buckingham Palace as they are only open for two months of the year. It appears that almost everyone else had the same idea and we had to settle for buying tickets to go and see it on Sunday.

So on Sunday we arrived at our allocated time, had a (not so sneaky) photo in the waiting area and then proceeded to go though the palace. The palace was quite cool and we had an audio guide which is really handy. This year was the first year ever that they set up the banquet room and it was amazing. Definitely the highlight of the visit. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to take photos in the palace so I have copied some off the Internet. Also unfortunately the Queen wasn't there as she is away for the summer so people can invade her house. Some of the rooms are so amazing (and a little over the top). The queen even has her own secret entrances.

I totally recommend going to see it when its open, way better than Kensington Palace

Redback

On Friday night it was one of Michelle's last nights in London before heading back to NZ. So me and Hayley missioned it to the Redback Tavern in Acton to catch up with her. I had never been to the Redback before but heard it was the place of "snakies" - A snakebite is a pint glass half filled with cider, half with lager and a couple of dashes of raspberry cordial. Not as bad as I would have expected but not good either. The Redback is where a lot of Antipodeans hang out and as soon as I walked in the door, it reminded me of my youth and the hours I spent at the Outback!

As soon as the music went downhill we missioned it home on three different night buses and oh so many hours later the only up point to our trip home was that I got to see my first foxes in London.

Wicked

Last night Hayley and me went to see Wicked the Musical. It had been on the list for a while and we managed to score cheap tickets to go and see it last night.

Wicked is say, a sorta prequel/side story about the Witches of Oz.

Wicked tells the story of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West and her relationship with Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Their friendship struggles through their opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, their reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government, and, ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from grace. The plot is set mostly before Dorothy's arrival from Kansas, and includes several references to well-known scenes and dialogue in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but can tell you that I now look at The Wizard of Oz in a different light. The musical was fantastic, the singing brilliant and even had some funny parts. I would totally recommend it ... it was WICKED!!

BBQ in Acton

This weekend we headed out to Acton to have a BBQ at Pete "The Olympians" house. He was one of the olympians we met on the monopoly pub crawl last weekend. We had a good time chatting with some new people and eating bbq food. Yum!

Various

Various updates from the week

MAMMA MIA

Pam, Hayley and myself went to the movies on Wednesday night to watch Mamma Mia. I had heard mixed reactions from various people but generally the reviews were good. So we settled down with our lollies from Sainsburys to a packed theatre and tuned it. We were not disappointed. Mamma Mia is hilarious me and Pam were laughing at the top of our lungs (much to Hayley's embarrassment). The cast is fantastic and you just start to cringe when you think they are going to break into a another song. It has the total cheese factor and I would totally recommend it, but probably for the girls.

Has anyone else seen it? What did you think?

GOOGLE READER

Here is just a handy dandy tip, I picked up from Hayley, for all those gmailers and blog readers.

Its called Google Reader and can be accessed from your gmail home page. This tool allows you to load up peoples blogs and whenever they update their blogs you will get an icon saying that they have -ie. Toni's Blog (1) - if you have one unread update. This is very good to make sure you don't miss a blog update if there are more than one, and not wasting your time clicking though not so vigilant blog updaters (and that is why I knew your site was updated Jason, even though I got a personal message)

NOW WORD OF THE MOMENT

Wicked - don't know why, but it keeps coming out of my mouth when anything good happens!

WORK

Managed to extract a couple more days out of my current job so am due to finish up there on Wednesday.

HOLIDAY

Am due to start my holiday on 11 August 2008, can't wait.