Drove home to Cardiff for a lovely lamb dinner prepared by Betty (Helen's mum) with Judith (Adrian's mum) in attendance.
What a great holiday.
Monday, 6 June 2011
Saturday 4 June
This was our last day in Italy.
Tessa and John left early to drive to the airport at Pisa.
Helen and Adrian got the train to Florence (1 hour journey, cost e5.80 and the train was spotless and on time) and spent the day sightseeing there.
This is the Florence Duomo and Baptistery which are quite stunning (we 1st saw them 26 years ago and they are still quite breathtakingly beautiful)
This is the bronze carving on one of the Baptistery doors (600 years old)
This is the ceiling of the baptistery, again painted (actually inlaid mosaic) 600 years ago
This is one for Rob, one of the panels depicts part of Dante's Divine Comedy. This is Lucifer in hell
and this is Virgil, leading Dante into the inferno
This is the town square with Michelangelo's statute of David in it:
Actually, the statue is a copy, the original is in a nearby museum, but its still very impressive (the other statues...about 20 in all... are all original and date from 1550 to 1700).
We finally left Florence at 5.30 on the train to Pisa (again over an hour for 6 euros....Rob you should get down to Italy and do a bit of cheap backpacking here).
Flight from Pisa airport delayed but we eventually took off at 11.00 and back to Gatwick and hotel bed by 2.00!
Tessa and John left early to drive to the airport at Pisa.
Helen and Adrian got the train to Florence (1 hour journey, cost e5.80 and the train was spotless and on time) and spent the day sightseeing there.
This is the Florence Duomo and Baptistery which are quite stunning (we 1st saw them 26 years ago and they are still quite breathtakingly beautiful)
This is the bronze carving on one of the Baptistery doors (600 years old)
This is the ceiling of the baptistery, again painted (actually inlaid mosaic) 600 years ago
This is one for Rob, one of the panels depicts part of Dante's Divine Comedy. This is Lucifer in hell
and this is Virgil, leading Dante into the inferno
This is the town square with Michelangelo's statute of David in it:
We finally left Florence at 5.30 on the train to Pisa (again over an hour for 6 euros....Rob you should get down to Italy and do a bit of cheap backpacking here).
Flight from Pisa airport delayed but we eventually took off at 11.00 and back to Gatwick and hotel bed by 2.00!
Thursday 2 June
This morning we had a bit of a panic! Last night we discovered that today was a national holiday (independence day) and we were told that everything would be shut. No wine supplies! or Food!! Luckily we found a supermarket where we could stock up (including champagne - see below).
Panic over, we went up to the hill town of San Gimigano, which is stunning. This is reputed to be the most beautiful of all of the Sienese hill towns with 11 medieval towers. It's also where Tony Blair stayed on holiday a few years ago (although I think he was staying in one of Silvio Berlusconi's villas and probably didn't spend much time in the town....bunga, bunga, know what I mean!!).
This was a street artist reciting Dante's Inferno, pretty classy and a bit better than the hawkers you get in Cardiff Queen Street. This one is for Rob..
This was also the day that Adrian's big deal was due to complete. Here you can see him pacing up and down in the afternoon waiting anxiously for news!
And yes, it did complete, so out came the champagne:
Not sure why this has come out sideways, but you get the idea (and yes it was raining at the time but still 27 degrees).
Ended up with a very nice celebratory dinner:
Panic over, we went up to the hill town of San Gimigano, which is stunning. This is reputed to be the most beautiful of all of the Sienese hill towns with 11 medieval towers. It's also where Tony Blair stayed on holiday a few years ago (although I think he was staying in one of Silvio Berlusconi's villas and probably didn't spend much time in the town....bunga, bunga, know what I mean!!).
This was a street artist reciting Dante's Inferno, pretty classy and a bit better than the hawkers you get in Cardiff Queen Street. This one is for Rob..
This was also the day that Adrian's big deal was due to complete. Here you can see him pacing up and down in the afternoon waiting anxiously for news!
And yes, it did complete, so out came the champagne:
Ended up with a very nice celebratory dinner:
Wednesday 1 June
Today we took a trip to Siena, the medieval city that sits on top of 7 hills in Tuscany (about 20 miles south of the villa). Here are some pictures.
The central square, where they have the palio horse races every year (yes they are flagsones and horses and people do get killed!)
These buildings are all about 700 years old.
This is the Siena Duomo (cathedral) which is one of the finest renaissance buildings in the world (after Florence, see later).
After all this culture, back to the villa for a spot of sun bathing and swimming!
Evening spent eating, drinking and playing cards (Helen won because she changed the rules as we went through the game as usual!).
The central square, where they have the palio horse races every year (yes they are flagsones and horses and people do get killed!)
These buildings are all about 700 years old.
This is the Siena Duomo (cathedral) which is one of the finest renaissance buildings in the world (after Florence, see later).
After all this culture, back to the villa for a spot of sun bathing and swimming!
Evening spent eating, drinking and playing cards (Helen won because she changed the rules as we went through the game as usual!).
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Monday 30 May
Spent the morning in Venice and then took the train to Florence (2hrs).
This is a lovely canalside cafe in Venice
and this is the train station entrance right by the Canal:
The italian trains are very smart, very well equipped and cheap (just like UK rail!). They are also ticketless, so you book your ticket on the internet, get a reference number and give that to the guard on the train. he enters that into his PDA and confirms you have bought a ticket for this train. Very simple - why don't we do it like this?
The train journey took 2 hours from Venice to Florence (mostly flat plain but last 30 minites all tunnels underneath the mountains north of Florence).
Very hot when we got to Florence. Tessa and John arrived to pick us up. They had had a real problem finding their way into Florence to meet us, even with Helen's sat nav whixh has taken on an italian idiosyncratic mode and is happy to take the car down tiny backstreets and into prohibited zones!
About 40 minutes drive to the villa we are staying in. This is absolutely lovely, set in beautiful Chianti wine growing hills about 6 miles from the nearest town. The villa is divided into 4 appartments plus the owner's half. It has lovely gardens which are maintained as if they were english, great views, a swimming pool and lizzards! Here are some pictures:
Had a swim and then a great dinner on the terrace. Good night.
This is a lovely canalside cafe in Venice
and this is the train station entrance right by the Canal:
The italian trains are very smart, very well equipped and cheap (just like UK rail!). They are also ticketless, so you book your ticket on the internet, get a reference number and give that to the guard on the train. he enters that into his PDA and confirms you have bought a ticket for this train. Very simple - why don't we do it like this?
The train journey took 2 hours from Venice to Florence (mostly flat plain but last 30 minites all tunnels underneath the mountains north of Florence).
Very hot when we got to Florence. Tessa and John arrived to pick us up. They had had a real problem finding their way into Florence to meet us, even with Helen's sat nav whixh has taken on an italian idiosyncratic mode and is happy to take the car down tiny backstreets and into prohibited zones!
About 40 minutes drive to the villa we are staying in. This is absolutely lovely, set in beautiful Chianti wine growing hills about 6 miles from the nearest town. The villa is divided into 4 appartments plus the owner's half. It has lovely gardens which are maintained as if they were english, great views, a swimming pool and lizzards! Here are some pictures:
Had a swim and then a great dinner on the terrace. Good night.
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