Blogs from Rome, Lazio, Italy, Europe - page 5

Dear all. Some friends who are expert travellers have queried my luggage load on this trip and yes, I know 23 kilos is too huge and I usually do carry less. However, on this holiday we are away for nearly 7 weeks, in shoulder season. We are travelling from hot and sunny Greek Islands early September to cold nights in Austria, Croatia and Slovenia mid October so the temperature range we need to dress for ranges from 38 degrees to 5 degrees over the course of the trip (bbrrrr...I need a jacket and jumper just thinking about that). In addition to that, we just finished our 11 night cruise with no option to wash except for very expensive small bags of washing done by the cruise line (add in AUD conversion rate) so we needed day ... read more

We have had a wonderful day in Rome today after venturing to Pisa yesterday. It was super sad disbanding the "Fab Four" after meeting up for dinner tonight near the Spanish Steps. We have become firm friends in just a short time. We'll see you again, Deb and Jacquie, before you know it!!! Thanks for the great times and wonderful memories. xxxx Here are some photos to go along with my earlier blog post. Enjoy!!... read more

Our last day in Montalcino was fantastic. We started the day visiting Abbey St‘ Antimo. Founded by Benedictine Monks. Another beautiful example of architecture with Roman influence. Constantine had something to do with its founding back in 1350. The afternoon was spent touring two wineries: Podere Le Ripi . The winemaker, Giovanni, personally took us on a tour and explained their organic system thoroughly. We were lucky they started picking grapes that day. Very old school in the processes and all hand picked. We sampled their Brunello , Rosa and Bosai wines. Next we toured Masteo Janni Winery. Owned by the family that owns illy and a much bigger producer of wine. They were set up to produce and sell a lot of wine using the newest steel tanks-over a million bottles of wine per year. ... read more

Wow everyone awake & on full speed ahead this morning. There is alot of urgency in the movements outside. We have a good people watching window from 4 floors up. People having a very animated chat on the corner (we could hear them from here over the traffic), someone on an errand can't find a park so parks on the pedestrian cossing, the little dog wants to play with the big dog across the street, little street cafes already filling up with lots of chat, elderly lady with her trolly bag (i could use one of those!), children waiting impatiently at the bus stop, music thumping from a car expecting the driver to be blown from the vehicle, 'ding ding' the tram is approaching, more people in animated chat, the scooters, the buses, every second person ... read more

A little slow off the mark this morning...but so was the rest of Rome. It is so warm here we have a developed a constant shine...no wonder they have lovely skin. Some pretty looking storm clouds but no storm arrived. Out at 9am & the streets are quiet. Using the new Metro is so easy. It does not appear to have affected the other modes of transport as the buses & trams are still constant & full. We enjoy people watching on the Metro, you name the nationality they are there. We changed route at san Giovanni onto the red line to Spagna. Quite a crowd at the 'Spagna Steps' already & so I didn't climb them this time. So we HAD to walk past all those amazing shops on the 'expensive street' with all the ... read more