DonnaFromOz

Well today started good! We had nice morning, went to Trevi fountain, Spanish steps & just wandered around Rome for last time. Arranged with Hotel for car to take us to airport at 2.30. Remember my earlier reference to racing car type taxi drivers in Rome? Well this hire car driver left them for dead! I was clutching max' s hand for grim death when we on the autostrada to airport! And I not exaggerating when I say I had a Lady Di moment whilst we doing 170 kms in the tunnel! I tht we going the way of her & Dodi! We got frm centre of Rome to airport in 30 mins, a trip that took us 40 when we 1st arrived! Max wouldnt tell me speed we were going (he could see speedo) but ... read more

Anyway we saw the grandious church that is St Peters. It is beyond huge & so indulgent I found it hard to comprehend. Michaelangelo statue of the Madonna holding the body of Jesus is indeed beautiful & his frescoes in Sisteen Chapel pretty amazing though personally not as appealing to me as some others seen, but I certainly far frm an art critic! To me the size and indulgence of the whole place & the commercialism (trinket stands everywhere) resulted in a lack of the atmosphere a place of worship shd have. But that just my opinion and this is my blog after all! So again we had a lot of walking today, but at least no back packs & suitcases to wheel around! I havent mentioned food for a while! Weve had spaghetti with seafood, ... read more

Today the plan was to go to the vatican & if it hadn't beem for max' s tenacity we would't have made it. after all the sites weve seen & all walking done, the last 2 days have taken their toll & I am feeling every bit of 50! But max persisted & got me up & atom & we headed off to Vatican. Its not summer but I hate to imagine the crowds then, as we lined up for an hour to get in the front door then gggrrrhhh!!!! They had 2 queues only, 1 to see the tombs of the popes, the other town see the dome via steps or a lift. We wanted only to see St Peters basilica & Sisteen Chapel but had to go in one line or the other. So ... read more

Nov 12, Today was another big one! Plan was to go frm sorrento to pompeii by train which is only a half hour trip, but alas when we got to train stn part of the track had been closed & we had to catch a train, then a bus, then walk (& drag our bags) up a hill & catch another train to pompeii. This all took ages but we got there! Able to leave our bags at train stn for small fee & walk down hill to pompeii site. Lots of tour guides hassle you but we had our book so went it alone. Weather good & not many people. Pompeii is amazing in that u still walk down the streets and get the feeling of the town, but both max and I disappointed with ... read more

As soon as we left assisi it started raining again!.but luckily during the last 40 min it eased off which was heaven sent as access to Orvieto is via windey mountain range we had to traverse! Scenery was lovely for me, Max to busy concentrating on road! Had to drop car off at 4 .pm & got there on time. Found a little hotel to stay here the night in the town at the bottom of the cliff & then took a furnicular ( cable drawn tram) up the cliff face 300 metres where the actual town of Orvieto sits precariously on a plateau. After the steep furnicular ride (which was fun) you then get on a bus which takes you to the main square in town where the Duomo is. This Gothic duomo is one ... read more

Sorry - did the followings in wrongs order, part b shld be before part a. Part a. Assisi, 10 th nov. We made an early start & visited Assisi. It took a bit of getting to as its a walled town perched atop a steep hill. U cant drive there & all car parks at bottom of hill. But its worth the climb. We really liked it & the Basilica di San Francesco is different again than any weve seen. They built a church in 1228 & then a few yrs later started building another one on top which is huge by itself. We liked the bottom one better, it had a lovely semi circular domed roof which wasn't as high as others and painted with stars and geometri c patterns and lovely frescoes above the ... read more

HAPPY BIRTHDAY no 24 RICK!!! xxx... read more

We decided last nt to have a nice bday dinner cause this hotel Has a nice restaurant & a special package where u can have use of their spa & sauna & the full 4 course italian feast for a really reasonable price. low season is kicking in now so hotels all bit cheaper so max pleased bout that! We had a fantastic meal, a set menu of traditional Umbrian foods so had pasta with truffles! Beautiful beef fillets with balsamic vinegar and caramel pannacotta, Yum! When we got up nxt morn it was raining & when people frm truffle farm arrived they said truffle hunter had phoned & it was just too wet in woods to go. Surprisingly to us novices, it wasnt for the obvious reasons-ground too wet, dogs unable to smell truffles due ... read more

Hi everyone, sorry been of the air but no wi fi available where we been and at moment hanging out the window of hotel to get signal and it only 8 degrees so this be short message only. Thankyou all so much for my happy birthday messages it.was lovely to hear frm u . Sadly no truffle hunt cause it teeming with rain but still a wonderful day, will fill in details soon, all goin well x... read more

Today we awoke in Siena to our 1st day of rain. Bit of a bugger as we hiring car today to drive to above place in the very north of Umbria so we can go on truffle hunt. Made our way to the Hertz place & off we went in our Ford Focus station wagon. What a steep learning curve for max! Pouring rain & leaving the busy city area of Siena outside the walls where cars allowed. The car was parked on the side of the road between another 2 with minimal room for manoevring & this road was the main one to Rome! That as well as having the steering wheel on left, gear stick on right & driving on wrong side of road - he did great! We got a map frm Hertz ... read more