Thursday, November 3, 2011

Another day in Florence

Ponte Vecchio on the Arno
Shops on the Ponte Vecchio

We call it the Hole in the Wall - great sandwiches made on the spot, served with wine or beer!
Check it out on the internet!



Our trip to Fiesole, a small hill town outside Florence
Great views from there

Views from Piazzale Michelangelo



Our Final Day in Rome

We spent our final morning in Rome exploring our neighbourhood. We walked to the 1960 Olympics site and found it to be a well used facility. It is a university that seems to specialize in what we would call PhysEd or Health and Recreation. They were using the pool and the track and field area as well as many classrooms.
We bought Bruno a fine bottle of wine and returned to finish packing. Bruno was cooking up a storm - he made Saltimbocca, pasta with meatballs, chicken with peppers and also potatoes. We feasted on our most delicious meal of the whole trip right in Bruno's dining room! He had remembered that I had said I wanted to try Saltimbocca (veal with sage and prosciutto) when we first arrived. Tom had mentioned that he loved spaghetti and meatballs. He had filed that all away and on our last day made us a most memorable meal. Bruno is an excellent cook! We shared some great wine and conversation. We also managed to meet Bruno's daughter who stopped by for a visit.
Our driver arrived and we kept him waiting as we said goodbye. B&B A Villa Riccio was our favourite place to stay. Thanks to Bruno and Luciano for a wonderful visit to Rome.
We arrived at the airport on time and a little tipsy! Our flight was on time and we had a fine flight. I watched 4 movies to pass the time! We stayed overnight in Toronto and came home the following day. What a wonderful trip!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Our Hosts

Luciana and Bruno, our hosts in Rome for the last week, have been wonderful. They are the couple pictured in the last post. We have stayed in their apartment and have had a wonderful time talking to them. They are gracious hosts. Bruno makes me tea and honey to ease the cold I have picked up along the way. He is cooking lunch for us today before we leave for the airport. He has driven us to several places, made reservations for us and overall has made our stay stressless and enjoyable. We have enjoyed our nightly glasses of wine together discussing many topics. Bruno has given us insight into life in Rome and Italy. We have become friends over our week's stay.
Our sightseeing has brought us to many tourist spots and a few not so touristy ones too. You can see from the pbotos that we have spent time at some of the famous piazzas and fountains, Piazza Navonna, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Popolo, Venezia, Repubblica to name a few. Public art and places to congregate are so important. We spent a lot of time in museums and a few churches. Galleria Borghese is my favourite. I don't have photos of the art because they don't allow picture taking and besides my camera wouldn't do them justice. We never did get into St. Peter's church or its treasury because the lines are way too long.We have spent the last few days at the Colosseo and the Forum and other ancient sites. It is amazing how emperors lived up on Palatine Hill.
We have felt safe everywhere we've gone and have found friendly and helpful people along the way. Also some rude and unhelpful bus drivers, tourist workers, and shopkeepers who were having a bad day but not too often.
Overall, we had spectacular weather, we brought the right amount of clothes, money, and figured out most things without too much fuss. We've seen so many interesting and beautiful places we will need time to digest it all. Speaking of digesting, it's back to healthy eating when we return. I'll miss my gelato!

Ciao Roma