Blogs from Montone, Umbria, Italy, Europe

A great surprise whilst in Umbria was the film festival im Montone with Terry Gilliam, last night we wnt to the beautiful restuarant on the piazza. we enjoyed the meal while awaiting the film festival of kids shorte to begin. The first film was the Fox and the chicadee from the Canadian director, second was a delightful short from Holland Mina, about a girl who wanted to be different from her constrictive society where everyone wears green. She is obsessed with Minnie mouse and loves to dress as her. Before the films began we enjoyed watching the outdoor set up of the screen, van from where the projector sat and the seating. Thankfully the rain held off but the fog did come in bringing the temperatures down a little colder than we expected. just before the ... read more

Toby got up early as usual for his run and, as usual, he woke Fiona up. She took the opportunity to go to Umbertide to the supermarket before Harriet woke and Toby came back. She needed special ingredients as she had to cook a pavlova today. We had been invited to a barbecue at Aine and Fabio's. Any self respecting kiwi knows you can't have barbecue without pavlova. Even though it was going to have to be hand whipped we had to take pavlova. The rest of the day was spent whipping egg whites and cream or lounging the pool. Aine and Fabio own the property that we are renting. Aine is from Limerick and Fabio from Sicily. They have renovated the old stable block into one villa and we are staying in the tobacco drying ... read more

We have been away for nearly 6 weeks and Fiona hasn't driven a car until today. Toby has been happy to do all the driving but Fiona has always offered to take over if he is tired. The trouble is the car we hired is manual and takes a little time to get used to changing gear with the right hand. If Fiona does need to drive it would be better if she has already got used to it so today she drove all 10 kms to Umbertide. We slept in late and spent the morning at the pool recovering from a hectic few days. By mid afternoon it was gelato time and we also needed a couple of grocery items so we went to Umbertide. The first stop was one of the gelateria Harriet and ... read more

Harriet has been known to be a bit of a hypochondriac. In the past she has suffered from all sorts of illnesses, including a short bout of leukaemia. When she told Fiona and Toby that her foot was broken, they therefore assumed that she was stretching the truth a little bit and perhaps she was just sore from all the walking we have been doing. Eventually the moaning became too much and we investigated further, only to discover that her shoes were too small and she has bruised her toe. The designer outlets didn't really have anything that would be suitable but we had heard of another outlet place that had high street shops as well as Nike, Adidas etc. so that was where we headed this morning. The mall is supposed to be set out ... read more

Today was truly a holiday. We got up late and walked into Montone. We discovered the bakers where we bought fresh bread for lunch and then wandered on into and around the village. The village is very small, but is divided into 3 regions or quarters, each with their own church. There are several restaurants and of course the cafe on the piazza. We had a lunch time drink at the cafe and Harriet and Toby tested out the gelato. It may not have been the best quality but it gained points for location. We went into one of the churches and once more we were blown away by the art in every church. Above the altar was a hole in the ceiling which let light flood in over a dove symbolising the Holy Spirit. It ... read more