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Gabrielle Ingram
Gabrielle Ingram

Gabrielle Ingram

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    The advantages of living on a hill - great views!
    Outside the wall of San GlimiglianoThis place has a lot of towersLunch in the piazzaLunch in the piazzaFinnyGelati

    San Gimigliano

    30. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    The kids were keen to "not have a long day" so we had a leisurely start to the morning (ie: stayed in bed 'til late), and then 25 minutes over to the other hilltop village we can see from our place, San Gimigliano.

    There were two gelati shops - one selling the "best ice cream in the world" - we went there - shorter line. The other was the "World Champion Ice Cream Maker for several years in a row" - ridiculously long queues. It was the best gelati we have had during all our extensive testing over the last few weeks ;-)

    It was adorable! Lunch, some photos of "our house" across the valley and a short drive home - all happy!    Weiterlesen

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    And then were able to get down the rickety old ladder...
    If you ignored the abandoned buildings everywhere...And then were lucky enough to find the stairs tucked behind here...And navigate the murder scene... (yep! that's blood)Then head down the tunnel toward the light...You could have a swim in the Mediterranean!The horizon is wonky!Collecting "marble"?This was referred to as the "beach" in the online guidebook I read!Swim over

    Swimming in the Mediterranean

    29. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Can't really come here and not dip your toe in right?

    We walked along what looked like an abandoned and uncared for esplanade area, found the remnants of an abandoned touristy area, managed to stumble upon an entrance which took you down a tunnel where there was so much blood that it looked like someone had been murdered there the night before, found a rickety ladder with a bit of rope dangling off the bottom from which you could just reach to get into the ocean.

    Craig went first, kids followed, I minded the gear, but then we agreed it would be impossible for a person with a dodgy shoulder to get back up again. Thus, my toe has remained undipped. It was cold, so not sure I mind so much.    Weiterlesen

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    First drink break. Notice the lack of hand rails!
    I'm not built for this...Craig went all Rambo on us - it was getting a bit hot and sweaty1Worth it for this view though!Stopping for a breatherCorniglia didn't seem to be getting any closer!Walking through someone's vineyardNearly there...

    Cinque Terre: Hiking trail

    29. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    There are shorter walks between each village of the Cinque Terre, but only two of them are currently open. [Craig was joking that the 2 hour lunch break from 1pm-3pm played havoc with the maintenance people's ability to get to the bits that needed maintenance before they turned around to go back again for their lunch break.]

    There was a lot of UP, and then thankfully some DOWN to get to Corniglia. I did catch snippets from Kate along the lines of "I am not built for this!" and "This is the best 'down' EVER!". The views were spectacular along the way, so a 1.5 hours well spent. Amazingly, no sore muscles the next day, but I guess one thing we have done on this holiday is a lot of walking. We are conditioned (beneath the layer of wine-, gelati- and pasta-induced adipose tissue).    Weiterlesen

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    Monterosso
    This would have made going to church more interesting!Outside the skeleton churchOn the trainFinn doing one of the stupid poses we see all the girls doing in their selfiesMonterossoCoastal village of Monterosso

    Cinque Terre: Monterosso

    29. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Another 5 hour driving day, for a day trip to the Cinque Terre...

    Surprisingly it all went quite smoothly, and we parked at the "hard to get into because it fills up quick" parking lot at La Spezia train station with ease. On the train, with ease. Get to Monterosso (far end of Cinque Terre) with ease. All good!

    Had a look around Monterosso, popped into the "skeleton church", luncheon and considered our next steps. There is a thing called the Cinque Terre Card which I had read about the day before which gives you access to the walking trails, the bathrooms at the train stations and all the interconnecting train journeys. I hadn't bought that because internet advice was such that it wasn't worth it. Internet advice was wrong and based on outdated pricing of walking on the interconnecting trails + the cost of train journeys.

    Went and bought the Cinque Terre Card. Found out that three of the 5 interconnecting trails between the villages were closed for "maintenance". Had no choice but to catch a train to the next village along so we could access a walking trail.    Weiterlesen

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    Finn's posh lasagneTuscan beef

    Dinner in Certaldo

    28. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We got home pretty late from our long drive, but to top off a perfect day, we popped out to the "local" (about 30 metres from our front door) to have dinner on the back verandah looking out over the lights of Certaldo (the lower village). The owner/waiter was a delight.

    Fabulous food and wine, great night out!    Weiterlesen

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    At the base of the Fossa BiancaThe kids starting to climb Fossa BiancaA bit harder getting back downIn our pondKate checking out the hot water inlet - very hot!

    Bagni San Filippo - thermal hot springs

    28. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Continuing our epic day out in the Tuscan countryside, I had researched before leaving home the various options for "in the wild" thermal hot springs. On our journey home we more or less had to pass the thermal hot springs at San Filippo, so pulled off the road, parked the car and walked the few hundred metres to the first pool. Following it down a bit further, we found the calciferous formation known as Fosso Bianco - kids climbed up to sit in a pool. In the end we settled for a pool with no-one in it. My first time in a hot spring, and it was surprisingly bordering on almost too hot! The trickles of water feeding into the pools were almost too hot to touch. I was worried that when we got out that we would be cold, but it was very refreshing.Weiterlesen

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    Vie Cave Etruscha

    28. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    One of the main attractions outside of Sovana is a series of walking trails which take you through the hill side on ancient Etruscan paths, where there are caves and tracks etched into the landscape. There are also a number of necropoli and other monuments scattered throughout the countryside, but we focussed on a walk through one path and back along another. It had the added advantage of taking us across the gorge with views back across to Sovana, which was spectacular.

    We walked for about 2 hours through the hills. The track we took to the other side was obviously quite well used, however we decided to take what turned out to be the road considerably less travelled on the way back. The path was not that well signed, steep and covered with leaf litter, which made it a bit treacherous in our "not built for hiking" shoes. I did slip on a steep bit, hit my head on the ground (ouch!) but otherwise, it was a great trek through the forest. We were all pretty impressed!

    It was possible to still see in the caves the marks made by whatever implements were used to carve them out in the first place. The tracks were impressive in terms of their depth. Rather enterprising people those Etruscans!    Weiterlesen

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    Sovana

    28. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We woke up this morning, the husband asked "Wife, what is the proposed agenda today?", I answered with "Today's agenda includes a 5 hour round trip of driving!", the husband didn't think that sounded like a great plan, eventually acquiesced, and the rest, as they say, is history. We had a GREAT DAY!

    So we headed off toward Sovana. Sovana was Etruscan by origin, becoming a Roman municipality in the 5th century. (I looked up Etruscan civilisation, whichWikipedia described as "the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio dating from circa 600BC".)

    It did take us 2.5 hours to drive there, but it was through beautiful countryside and not a great deal of traffic. But the drive was worth it - the village of Sovana was breathtaking! Sovana itself is perched (clinging to?) on the side of a hill and the valley below is dotted with little caves. There are magnificent views across the valley which is lushly green.    Weiterlesen

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    One of many switchbacks
    In the southern parts of Tuscany, lots of fields were ploughed upLooks a bit like they are in drought compared to further up northAbandoned buildings litter the country side (but are lovely)Entire bits of hillsides seem to be growing nothingBit greener in this part of the world, with lots of "graperies" as Katie calls themGraperies galoreAnd our favourite new thing... "pointy up trees" which line lots of drivewaysHill top villages are all over the place

    Driving in Tuscany

    28. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Given we have done so much of it, I have taken some photos of Craig driving in Tuscan country. Narrow roads, lots of switchbacks, crazy drivers not obeying the speed limit, overtaking where it is not possible to do so (or so we think!), a large array of signage... tempered by great scenery!

    Out day to and from Sovana consisted of 5 hours of driving. Craig gave me 3 hours credit for Sovana and Vie Cave, 1 hour credit for the thermal hot springs, and 1 hour credit for nice scenery - we are square.

    [That is "Craig code" for saying I had done good in finding something worth 5 hours of driving.]    Weiterlesen

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    The quest for a football jersey

    27. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Finn has been desperate to buy a soccer jersey for EVER! Today as we wandered through Florence we came across a store totally dedicated to soccer gear AND they have gear for Real Madrid AND they customised the jerseys as you watched which, admittedly, was pretty cool.

    Using the money he has been saving up since his birthday and Christmas last year Finn bought the "away jersey" for Real Madrid, got the #7 jersey for Cristiano Ronaldo, and could also get his name on it. One happy boy at the end of it all!

    He realised later he didn't have the shorts, so I guess that gives us something to look out for during the rest of the holiday!    Weiterlesen

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    Firenze

    27. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Taking into account all wisdom published on the internet about NOT parking in Florence, we headed off to what was supposed to be the super-dooper new parking lot off the A1 built at the end of the tram line, which was not expensive and features a quick ride on the tram into Florence. Reality = if you didn't approach the super-dooper new parking lot from the A1 autostrade (which we didn't) then you can't actually access it. So what we witnessed was a gigantic brand new parking lot with almost no cars parked in it which we could circumnavigate, but not get into. Frustrating! After driving around for way longer than desired, we parked in some industrial estate hoping we wouldn't be towed/clamped, walked to the tram and scooted into Florence.

    We wandered to the obligatory attractions of Florence, but I have to say that the entire experience was not all that enjoyable and the only thing you could (sort of) get from the experience was a) it would be horrible to be a native to Firenze and have to live in the city positively heaving with tourists and b) Florence is a victim of it's own fame. We heard one American guy stating that it just seemed to be one gigantic shopping mall for tourists. Pretty much summed it up... [I realise this is probably a case of committing culture-lovers' blasphemy. I am sure the city is perfectly lovely if you take all the people out of it.]

    Just as we were waiting for the tram to come home Kate and I wandered into a nearby shopping mall in search of a loo and witnessed two ladies taking their dogs shopping with them, who did "their business" in the middle of the mall (think of this in the middle of Garden City and you could imagine our horror at the sight!) and then just walk off. Gobsmacking.    Weiterlesen

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    The kids being kids
    The park was packed with these treesGrowing wild over the hillsThe main street up to our villageViews across from one part of the village of Ceraldo Alto to another partIn the town meeting place - original artworks remainingA modern sculpture outside one of the museums "The Tree of Life" in bronze - was amazingHeading down to Certaldo in the funicularAnd walking back up again!

    Exploring Certaldo

    26. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    A bit of a lazy morning before heading out to explore our hilltop locale of Certaldo Alto. It is quite tiny, with lots of windy alley ways, all beautifully old and with nooks and crannies. The kids played in the small playground in the village (lined with olive trees, all bearing olives) where what looks like daffodils (?) are growing wild on the side of the hill tops.

    In search of lunch, we decided to take the funicular down to the village after working out that Google Maps statement of there being a bakery in our village were false. Got there just as the shops were closing up for a few hours and the entire village of Certaldo proper turned into a ghost town for a few hours (most inconvenient this idea of closing down from 1.00-3.00pm every day!). We decided to not wait for the funicular and walked back up a very steep hill.

    The kids and I played board games up on the tower for a few hours, ready for gelati time! No gelati in Certaldo Alti either as it turns out, so we walked back down the very steep hill, to find the ghost town was a hive of activity. We had also been charged with finding our nightly wine offerings. Tough stuff really. Every other places we have stayed at has had these small shops which sell wine. NONE in Certaldo, we think because a very large co-op has opened up on the outskirts of town which has a pretty incredible range of food and alcohol, to the point where no-one else seemed to have bothered have their corner store any more.

    What we did find was a tiny wine shop which had a shelf without about 8-10 varieties of local wine and four gigantic vats of wine on tap. Each was simply labelled as either bianca or rossa for between €1.40 and €2.40 per litre. We didn't have any bottles with us, so we the guy sold us 2 litres of merlot in an old water bottle! We did buy a couple of real bottles too, so it wasn't totally uncouth.    Weiterlesen

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    One of the restaurant's just outside our place, jazzView from one of the windows in our bedroomKatie sitting in the window alcove looking out over the square1The other side of the main entry doorsA street in the village

    Views from the tower

    25. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    And the reality of living in a 12th century castle converted into 21st century living quarters:
    - septic toilet
    - uneven tread and rise of stairs is disconcerting
    - the sloping ceilings in certain rooms mean you bump your head a lot (ie: I stoop to sit on the loo and by the time I finish my pee I forget to duck when I stand up and bang my head on a ceiling beam)
    - the very steep ladder-like stairs to our bedroom mean it is too dangerous to go to the loo in the middle of the night

    BUT, the setting is unreal, the village is cute as and the views are incredible.    Weiterlesen

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    The road guitar on the tower of the castle
    Finn entertaining us with "Scarborough Fair"Me and KatiekoozleRelaxing (and trying not too drink too much because it is a treacherous journey back down)We don't have flags on our tower!

    Rome to Tuscany

    25. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    All cool this morning as we had the trial run with the ridiculous bus situation yesterday. We arrived, we waited, we got on the bus, we relaxed for several hours watching scenery. Got off the bus at Siena, the boys retrieved the vehicles, we drove to Certaldo - reasonably sedate driving experience really, we got to Certaldo, only marginally alarmed that I had not heard from our AirBnB host since I booked 6 months ago, and we couldn't enter the village as it is a traffic controlled zone and we had no arrangements for anyone to meet us. But merely seconds before we put money in the parking lot to wait it out and/or work out where we were going to sleep in lieu of being homeless, they made contact and we were good to go.

    This is the accommodation we have all sort of been looking forward to - an apartment in a castle dating from circa 1100s. Not disappointed!

    We settled in quickly, and were up on our own tower sipping on wine and eating cheese faster than could be imagined as possible given the access to the tower is up a steep narrow staircase, followed by what can only be described as the steepest ladder ever (to our bedroom), then up another set up of narrow steps to the tower. A bit tricky to navigate without spilling your wine - we have since worked out to leave it in a corked up bottle and just take up empty glasses in case you are wondering!

    Anyway, a lovely sunset, views across to San Gimignano and perfect weather!    Weiterlesen

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    Pompei

    24. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    For a world-famous archaeological site, there was little by way of signage or information about how to actually get into the place if you arrive by bus. Even Google maps seemed strangely silent and eventually misleading on the matter. We did eventually find our way to the main gate, after stopping in a great restaurant for the best valued pizza.

    Pompei itself was gigantic and we had a bit of fun trying to interpret the maps with minimal information provided that didn't match up with most of the signage. The kids enjoyed themselves, and it was quite different to what I expected.    Weiterlesen

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    Getting to Pompei

    24. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Up early for the train from Termini to Tiburtina, transfer to the bus station and on the bus. This was a sentence written without much turmoil. On the day however, everything was pretty easy until we got to the bus station, only to be met with chaos. It was bound to happen since I am sure I had only uttered the day before that the train and bus network in France and Italy had worked like clockwork, down to the minute just about. We arrived at the bus station at least an hour ahead of schedule, where there was absolutely no indication of what to do next. A line of angry people were lined up at the "ticket office" (although perhaps they were not angry, just speaking in dramatic Italian). One guy did dare to queue jump, at which time there was a bit of anger directed at him - that much can be deduced without the need to understand the language.

    It would appear the board which told you which platform you had to go to was broken, and with only one girl working the counter (despite another man standing around behind her doing what looked like "nothing"), she didn't really care to help people. To be fair, she may have just been sick of being yelled at about the broken billboard despite it only being 7.30am.

    So the only way to know which bus you had to get on, was to stand around, wait for one of your bus company's buses to pull in, rush to the bay to see if that was yours, and bravo if it was. So, that is exactly what we did. Bit of a trial run for tomorrow because we are going to be back here to catch the same bus company to Siena.

    The bus journey was great and we drove past Vesuvius and through Naples. That was an eye-opener! Imagine scouting for a post-apocalyptic movie location - do yourself a favour and go to Naples - will save heaps of time! Graffiti, overgrown, run-down, neglected, slums, rubbish everywhere, mafia-controlled, barely habitable...    Weiterlesen

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    The dreary sights you have to put up with when you duck out to buy a few groceries for dinner
    Another vision en route to buying the groceriesThe deli guy earnestly cutting the most expensive prosciutto we are ever likely to eat at €150/kgAnd this was the easy window to work out what to buy!This is a smile of terror at what we are trying to achieveThe antipasto fare

    Antipasto for dinner

    23. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Because we can't possibly have walked enough today, Craig and I decided to find a delicatessen and buy some various antipasto ingredients for dinner tonight. Google Maps gave us an option which was a 3km round trip, which seemed reasonable for some authentic Roman fare. So off we set. Unfortunately, Erzinio Food has not lodged the correct opening details with Google Maps! Our other option was Roscioli which turned out to be a 4.2km round trip.

    Finding ourselves in a stuffed-to-the-hilt deli where everything was in Italian was only slightly daunting ;-) We walked away with fresh pesto, whole baby caramelised onions, artichoke hearts and more than what we asked for of the €150/kg prosciutto. It took him a good 20 minutes to cut the prosciutto by hand, so it was a bit of a masterpiece.

    Roscioli also had a forno (bakery) a little further down the lane, so we bought some crusty bread there from an equally stuffed-to-the-hilt-with-bread-and-people shop, and some cheese and salami and grapes from yet another shop, and our hunter-gatherer duties were done.

    A meal fit for a king, only topped by gelati from the shop downstairs (dangerous to live close to too many gelati shops!) I feel slightly vindicated by the additional 4.2km walk we squeezed in on top of all the other walking we did today.

    On the topic of lots of walking, and tangentially related... the kids are somewhat enamoured by the bidet and keep asking us if we have used it yet. After the extra walking this afternoon, I think the perfect use would be to fill it up with some warm water, add a splash of Radox, sit back on the loo next to it and soothe the sore feet!    Weiterlesen

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    St Peter's Basilica + Cupola

    23. September 2017 in Vatikanstadt ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    The organ was playing in the Basilica during our visit as some visiting clergy were partaking of Mass. The Basilica is awe-inspiring in its scale. A number of colleagues at work had suggested we do the walk up to the Cupola, which we did. Luckily there is a lift to the first level which gives a close up view of the internal ceiling and mosaics of the dome, and then after a lot of twisting and turning on the barely-wide-enough stairs, you pop out at the very top of the dome with 360 degree views of Rome which included a great view over St Peter's Square.Weiterlesen

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    Grotto and fountain commissioned by one of the Popes
    The Italian Garden looking across to St Peter's BasilicaThe Italian GardenPop Francis commissioned these two statues from an Argentinian artist using recycled materialsThe apartment George Bush (Snr) stayed in, but apart from that, the brickwork was greatThe back side of the BasilicaFabulous mosaics, and cute turtles

    Vatican Gardens

    23. September 2017 in Vatikanstadt ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Today, we continued our mastery of the Roman public transport system and took the Metro to Vatican City. I had booked us in on a tour of the Vatican Gardens, because we could then skip the queues to the Museums + we also got access to the little door at the back right of the Sistene Chapel which gave us access straight into the Basilica (and when we saw that queue, were glad of the opportunity to do so). Do you get the idea that queues are an issue?

    The gardens were lovely but that is to be expected when there are 50 full-time gardeners employed to tend them. There were great views of the dome of the Basilica as you walked through the gardens. They are closed to tourists in the afternoon so that they can be used by the Pope and other residents of Vatican City in the afternoons. On the grounds is the apartment of the former pope, who apparently was in residence when we were there (something to do with windows being open etc).    Weiterlesen

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    Kate found a vast expanse of green and decided to frolic. The others joined in.
    Jeff extending the olive branch to GlenCraig followed suitA very small part of the parklandThe kids collected mushrooms for Poppy. Fettucini al funghi for dinner tonight?The yellow restaurant for lunchKatiekoozle sketching the restaurant windowThe walls of Rome cityThe walls of Rome city

    Catacombs of Saint Sebastian

    22. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Today we headed outside of the city walls of Rome to the Parco Regionale Appia Antica. After successfully navigating the bus we needed to get out there, I stupidly got us off the bus a little too early. I can therefore report that despite being one of the earliest Roman roads, the Appian Way (or Via Appia Antica) is still used to the fullest and was VERY busy and somewhat hairy walking along the edge of the road on a very narrow stretch which is walled on both sides and barely wide enough for two vehicles, let alone pedestrians. Eeek.

    Anyway, we did eventually make it to the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian in one piece, had a very informative guided tour of the Catacombs where there were just the six of us + one other lady. Afterwards, we then wandered through a very small part of the parkland (it is over 3,400 hectares) which is scattered with Roman ruins.

    Despite not being able to speak Italian, Glen and I had a lovely conversation with an elderly gentleman out doing his daily exercise in the past. We managed to deduce he was originally French, so spoke French, Italian and very little English, but we somehow managed to piece together a conversation.

    Unfortunately we couldn't see the large aqueduct as it was at the opposite end of the park, but decided we may as well walk back to Rome which took about an hour and a half. But, we were able to walk through the city walls.    Weiterlesen

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    Fora Romano & Palatino

    21. September 2017 in Italien ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    The scale of this place is remarkable. We had a book provided by Glen which showed us what it looks like now and then you can lift the flap to see what it looked like then. Helpful to provide some context to the structures.

    Almost overshadowing the ancient ruins was the ridiculous poses being pulled by men and women alike as they took photos of themselves or each other - puffed up chests with tensed muscles to define the pecs for the guys, and hair pulled back round artfully to one side, trout pout and all other manner of strange body contortions for the girls. Pretty hilarious actually.    Weiterlesen

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