A few days late...

Tuesday 22nd December
Its only 7.30am and I’m sitting in McDonalds at the Termini Train station waiting for Judy to arrive. I’m sitting in the comfy chairs happily on the computer and Russ is waiting out the front, in the wing with the populace! We’ve never met Judy before and she won’t recognize us either but we’re hoping our “spot an Aussie” skills are up for it.
We had an unexpected extra night in Rome. Judy’s flight details had been wrong (Malaysian airlines) and she was still in Melbourne when we were expecting to collect her yesterday so Brad and Trish asked if we’d mind staying one more night in our 5 start room in Rome. It was such a gift for us. We’d both at different times said that we wished we had one more day and there it was, placed in our laps.
We had another walking around day, stumbling on unexpected treasures. We ate again at the Nonna and poppy ristorante and we’ve some pics for you…simple honest wholesome food but the best gift was that we were all treated the same…I think I’ve already said that?
I think a must do for everyone is to visit a museum with Russell. That’s were the irreverent humour comes into its own. In the silence that these place have, I get the Homer Simpson style stage whisper “Check out the statue…you can see her nipples…they’re like skipping rope handles!!!!!he he he he he ) Talk about spot the Aussie, they certainly spotted us!
We found an English movie channel on the TV and had a lovely rainy afternoon watching movies and reading, then visited our Indian friend at the Laundromat. We are stocked up with clean undies now! We strolled home and on the way found a beautiful Venetian glass store. We just popped in for a quick look and have found the memento of our trip (and you’ll have to visit us at home to see what made us both so delighted!)
The owner was an absolute character and we met his aunty too who was 82 years old and an absolute joy. She took a shine to me, I looked like her daughter who had died 4 ½ years ago and bless her heart I took a shine to her too…I wish I could have stowed her away in my luggage. She was telling me of a craft she does where she saves the papers from her teabags, dries them out and uses them to make backgrounds for her collection of glass animals. (For a minute there I thought it was going to be teabag folding!)
So now we’re off to Introdacqua and a couple of days before we celebrate Christmas. We have Judy in tow ( who is a hoot!) and we’re ready now for our Italian Christmas.
Ciao Ciao
Linda X
PS. Some pics of our dear little ristorante we found in Rome. Good and simple food and so delicious! Russ now seriously loves Tomatoes…True…from hating them! And some street lights on a tram…..

Travel Tips with Lindy Lou

Hi guys, linda here and thought i might slip in a quick travelling in Italy tip!
Today's lesson....
The Metro Underground transport system.
1. The word "Uscita" and an arrow is not a direction to the loo despite being pronounced "you-schitta"
2.Its not necessary to make friends with the people you travel with, even it is a short journey.They really don't care where your from, or how many stars your hotel has.Save the life story for your waiter at dinner. He won't care either but it will mean fast table service.
3. Learn to say "I'm sorry"(mio diaspiache)and "please"(per favore) and "bathroom"(bagne) in Italian. Essential for your well being...there's always time for manners
4.Have a hankie with perfume tucked in your sleeve...no details needed here just trust me you will need it for rail travel...also tissues... there's is seldom toot paper here!
5.If you do something dumb, say your American...it saves our reputation and reinforces theirs.
And some Metro signs translated for you.


1. If you try and open the door with your fingers, red laser beeams will shoot at you.
2.Doing the splits in the doorway will result in groinal injury.



3. If you see a coin between the train and the platform don't look, its a trick designed to trap your head. No Apologies!
4.Passing wind on a train is dangerous, and not just from the other passengers.

Hope that was helpful and may make your journey to italy a little smoother.
Arriva Derci!

Visiting Jeebers at the Vatican and the most expensive coffee in the world.

Saturday 20th December

From the desk of signor Gook,

Yes we are in Rome and doing the tourist thing. Worked out the Rome metro, which is no mean feat, if it’s not confusing enough everything, is in Italian.
Decided to do the Vatican and do a tour so we could get immersed in the culture. After 7 hours it was more like drowned in the Vatican!!!! Bloody hell it’s huge. We were told if we spent one minute at each exhibit we would be there for 7 and a half years.
Don’t get me wrong it was fantastic and yes its beautiful but by the end you can walk past a priceless work of art and not even notice it. It seems a little unfair that so many wonders are all put in the same place. And right at the end you get the Sistine chapel and St Peters cathedral, there are no words that do these places justice, you have to see them to actually believe them true

Hooked up with a tour group of English speaking people to see the Vatican, all nice people as far as we could tell, from all around the world, got a bit worried when the tour guide said we had to go through airport style security to enter Vatican city and one South African mother had to hand over a knife she had in her coat sleeve!!!!
But there was also a great little Canadian Family with two little boys between 8 and 12. The tour guide was talking about the great artists who’s work we will be seeing, like Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael and Leonardo and one of the boys asked why the teenage mutant turtles were at the Vatican! Best question the young guide had ever had.

Finally came out of the cathedral as a military band came marching out onto St Peters square, absolutely fantastic, was a little disappointed when Linda insisted the band wasn’t just for us, after all who could have told them we were there? Apparently they were about to light up the giant Christmas tree that had been placed in the square and the band was for the official ceremony. We stayed and watched until finally some kid plugged in all the power points, the tree looked nice. Let’s face it how many people can say they have seen the popes Christmas tree being switched on?

Russell

And from Linda.
Its been a hectic couple of days, ending with us collapsing in our room exhausted. We’re certainly doing some miles. Russell has covered the Vatican except for a couple of things. My favourite question to the tour guide from a young fella… “Sorry which statue did you say was Jesus?” and the guide answered in his Jamie Oliver accent “ why he’s the one bang in the centre holding the really big cross!” and bless his heart he didn’t laugh out loud but there was a smirk carefully hidden.
And the other thing was knowing while in Saint Peters Basilica, that somewhere immediately under our feet was the tomb of the apostle Peter. That is just incredible. Just means there’s so much more I need to know!
Rome is really,really quiet; even compared to when we were here 3 weeks ago. There seems to be hardly any tourists around and that may be seasonal, but also a sign of the current economic times.
We took our own tour today, armed with a map and tickets on the met. We walked all over and found the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and some other big old stuff that I forget the name of but will keep the map so I remember. Tomorrow its back to the Colosseum and the old ruins to have a good look around without rushing. Just love it!
We’re enjoying the food with absolute relish. Tonight we found a momma and poppa restaurant and I swear they were tottering around as the wait staff. Poppy waiter was bent over and shaky and momma waiter shuffled around I actually checked to see if she had her slippers on. But they served us the most lovely home cooked meal…bruschetta for entrée each and then cannelloni for me and osso bucco for Russ. Absolutely delicious and best of all, we were all served and treated the same as the Italians that came in and the prices were also the same. That’s so refreshing as usually they see you coming. We’ve been stung once for coffee today and serves us right for not checking but we needed a sit down and coffee. Two grande cappuccinos, a water and table service cost us 22 euro (That’s about $32 australian). Our own fault but the coffee was delicious I must say!
One more day in Rome and then back to Introdaqua for Christmas on Monday. We’re gonna be in big trouble cos we short sheeted Brad and Trish’s bed before we left. I’ve been suffering Short sheeters remorse ever since and there’s nothing I can do!!!! Okay just have to prepare for the revenge!
Till next time Ciao, Linda X
PS Alex I’ve included some pics of the Organs we saw in The San Pietro Basilica and the Pantheon and some shots through the window of a music shop here that looked pretty great! Sorry theyre a bit fuzzy…We’ve taken heaps of photos of shop windows just because they are so beautiful…they really merchandise well…it makes their products irresistible.!!!


What a crack up...Russell the Pidgeon whisperer...check out his beanie he looks like Papa Smurf without the beard. LOL

Dreaming of a white Christmas

Wednesday 16th December
Linda's Bit...
It’s been a quiet couple of days. Washing clothes and sleeping mostly. Oh and eating…any excuse!!! The snow hasn’t arrived at Introdacqua yet although its much lower down our mountain now. The weather on the internet predicts snow by Sunday but we’ll see. The locals are a bit doubtful we will have a white Christmas. Fingers crossed!
Today we caught our little local bus, went into Sulmona, caught another little rural bus and wound our way through the mountains up into the snow fields to a dear little village called Scanno. Brad and Trish had visited there already and told us it was a must see so off we went.
One of those curvy windy inching around cliff edge roads that popped us out into one of the local ski resorts. (see pictures) Scanno is famous also for jewelry making, beautiful fine filigree work but when we were there all the shops were shut except one dear little old man in the midst of closing his shop to go home for siesta. He pottered and tottered around showing us bits and bobs and in the end I found a dear little ring I loved. The little old man wrote down the price for Russ who nearly had a heart attack thinking it was $2000, when in fact only $20,00….he’d forgotten the decimal point! We all had a giggle at Russell’s shocked face…and then we bought it (yay) silver with gold plate but I love it! Felt we had to as the man had worked so hard to show us his wares…and it’s a sweet little memento. The only shop for lunch was a café with only cakes to eat, so we did and munched our way through a couple of sweeties and two café macchiato’s. Delicious!
We wound our way back down the hill, bought a few things at the supermarketto and then called Alfonse, our private taxi driver to chauffeur us back up the hill to home. It’s always Alfonse that comes to collect us. We have a good old cackle with him on the journey despite the language problems. Each time he asks Russ “Skiing?” and Russ explains “no, eating and drinking, I’m too old and Grande ( big)!!!” So is Alfonse, truth be told! But he enjoys the banter.
Tomorrow we catch the bus back to Rome and I’m looking forward to finally seeing all the sights of the city. We only had one whole day there when we arrived and still have plenty to see. I keep waiting to feel God in the Churches we visit and so far they seem to celebrate Rome rather than God. Am I just cynical? Will see if I can tell in Vatican City. Maybe it’s because most of the really old churches were temples to Roman Gods first, until Christianity arrived then they just changed the façade and called it Roman Catholic. I’ve seen paintings depicting Christ’s life that I don’t recognize from the story…artistic license perhaps?
Last night the dogs were howling and they’re at it again tonight and we’re reminded that we’re in little red riding hood country. It’s very cold outside and I love how safe and secure we are in our little villa with the fire going and the door bolted! As well as wolves there are bears too and our drive into the mountains was a reminder of how far from civilization we are here in the country. The people are much nicer here and of course it’s much cheaper to live!
Will blog again tomorrow from Rome. The internet is very unpredictable here so have to time it for the best connection.
Ta ta for now
Lin X

From the desk of signor Gook.

Hard to imagine that all those at home are sitting in the air-conditioning when its so bloody cold here. I have had to get into the thermal underwear, and even with that I get cold. The locals were worried we were under-prepared , especially when we kept getting the words for hot and cold mixed up, we kept saying in poor Italian how cold we were but we were in fact saying hot. It wasn’t till a caring local pointed out this fact, that we realized what idiots we must seem.
There are still some problems doing some basic tasks as our Italian is so poor. face to face we can make ourselves understood eventually, but when it comes to ordering a new gas bottle over the phone, especially to be delivered well, that’s near impossible. I eventually found a local who rang and organized it for me, but I had to meet them down on the street and change it over myself. So near the allotted time I picked up the extremely heavy empty and carried it down three steep sets of stairs and waited in the cold rain for an hour. When a nice lady finally showed with the new cylinder wedged into the back seat of her Mercedes I was frozen stiff. By the look of the delivery car I don’t think they normally deliver, but it was nice of them to do so even if I had to pay a kings ransom for it. To top it off I then pulled something in my back getting the new bottle home and installed, at least we can cook now.
Very quiet night tonight, stay at home cook a nice dinner then of to Rome in morning. There is no radio, no TV, and when the dogs stop barking at whatever they see in the dark all you hear is a clock ticking, it just goes to show what noisy, busy lives we normally lead.
Russell.

Being fired from a cannon and landing in a winter wonderland.

Tuesday 15thDecember 15, 2009
We’re home again in our little village. We had a lovely time in Florence. (Pisa not so pleasant.) But Florence is the city I’d gladly run away from home to. We met some lovely people and even the hard sell stall vendors (Italian) would enjoy a good old chat, comparing what they knew of Australia ( hey I have an Aunty in Melb/Sydney or wherever) and they loved their work you could tell with the absolute pleasure they took in negotiating the Quanto Costo of anything we wanted to buy. Half the time we pulled out to early in a haggle and they would cut their own costs! The Markets were right next to our hotel and so by the third day they’d be calling out to us, “hello, our Australian friends”…I think the off season is pretty quiet for them and they were glad to have our business, ha ha .
We manage to start some kind of conversation everywhere we go and I love that about holidaying. For example we met a nice Indian man (he also has family in Australia) who had just bought a wine shop. We got chatting and found out that he was Sikh but had decided he wanted to have a life first and when he turns 50 he’ll grow his hair and beard and don the turban but until then, he’ll have a life!!! He proudly showed us the new sign for his store “The Plenty Wine Store” that was ready to hang out the front “Pretty good name, yes!” We had to agree, having just bought 3 bottles for the price of two. When we left we noticed his serious competition three doors down, “The Happy Wine Store” also with some grocery lines…we could see why he would take such drastic action as to change the name of his shop. A pre-emptive strike in the battle of the grog shops. Nice people!
We chooffed off on our train at 9 ish in the morning negotiating the Florence station to catch the really fast train. They shoot you out of a big cannon so its important to wear your helmet and leotard and throw your hands in the air when you land. Russell looks great in Silver lycra.
We landed in Rome, negotiated the Metro (underground) to the Suburban station where we caught the regional train back to Sulmona. It was about a three hour trip so between reading and dozing and looking out the window it went pretty quickly.
At one stage we popped out of a tunnel into a winter wonderland. I thought I was having a Narnia moment, or had stepped into a Christmas card. There was fog everywhere and snow, big deep fluffy snow. And the quaintest little villages, frosted with white. It was breathtaking. The closer we got to home the more we thought that we’d have snow here, but unfortunately its still a few days away they said , still not cold enough. Cold enough for us to be wearing most of our clothes!!!
So here for a few days then back to Rome to finish out touring there, we collect Trish’s cousin who flies in from Australia and then we are back here for Christmas. So a couple of days to wash clothes, walk, sleep and eat. Its heaven!
Talk soon
LinX

Pushing the Tower over!

From the desk of signor Gook

Sitting on the very fast train from Florence to Rome, so fast that whenever you go through a tunnel you get ear compression, it’s like the tilt train to north Queensland but faster. As we left Florence we could see a lot of snow on the hills about us, this wasn’t here 4 days ago, so we are wondering what it will be like back at Introdacqua, hopefully white.
Must comment on our trip to Pisa, Linda I said, you can’t go to Italy and not go see the leaning Tower, its like going to Sydney and not seeing the opera house or the bridge. I now have a new name for Pisa, it’s called expensive piss weak world.
It all started by getting tickets in Florence for the 1 hr trip to Pisa, we got sold the tickets ok, then we couldn’t find the train we are to take, mind you there are about 20 tracks going in and out of this place and everything is in Italian. No one told us that we caught a train with a completely different NAME to get to where the ticket said. So to find out information I go back to the ticket people and they just point to a sign that says “no train information” Are you kidding you just sold me the bloody ticket……. So I finally find a small room with one rapidly ageing Italian man being harassed about very similar issues I was having and by least 20 other people, …finally…….. I find out which train and which track and we had 2 minutes to find it so we ran…and made it. So we sit and laugh about a little hiccup and look forward to Pisa, ( which I keep calling Pizza, ) Then along came a conductor who checks the ticket and fines us for not validating the train ticket….wonderful, another thing tourists must learn by osmosis!!!! Usually$40 euro fine each but he was happy to drop it down to $5. There were about another 6 people caught on our carriage alone. Nice money spinner huh?

We finally get to Pisa, its cold, very cold , windy and grey sky. We walk what felt like 45 km through the center of town which is filled with cheap market stalls, one even had boomerangs and didgeridoos made out of bamboo, how authentic is that? We finally get to the tower which is not as big as we imagined, but it is surrounded by lovely palace and church and huge big green lawns, about the first I have seen in Italy. Hooray I said things are looking up, we got the mandatory picture of us holding up the tower and found out that you are not allowed on the five hectares of grass, you must pay the equivalent of one full years income to go in or on or around any building or purchase anything from the gift shop.( should call it the extortion shop as nothing in it was a gift) and to top it all off I find that to climb to the top of the tower which is slowly falling over, after paying a fortune to do so, you have to walk on the outside of the tower to get to the very small ledge on the top, my vertigo kicked in at ground level, Linda wouldn’t even do it, so we called it a day, ran the gauntlet of the Somalia hard sell designer bags and went back to Florence.

Just on the Somali hard sell, they are every where, great if you want a genuine Rolex at 10 dollars ( guaranteed special price just for you ) or handbags or wonderful original works of art, they travel in packs and are at times a little threatening. Typical though it is illegal to buy off them. A fine of 5000eu or about $8000 the shop keepers here hate them as they take or scare away business, and apparently the police have given up charging them… anyway what’s the old saying , buyer beware!!









The handbags are awesome! A little clutch purse with a light that turns on when you open it...and a guitar that had an inbuilt speaker for you ipod...we didn't even know we needed that!!!
That Mona Lisa Had some issues...
A new instrument for alex to try...piano accordian darling!!!
The lights of florence.

Takes my breath away....

Friday 11th December.
We just sat to have coffee while we wait for our hop on hop off bus to arrive and had the strongest coffee we’ve had so far in Italy. Russell has left fingernail scratches on the table.
We’re in Florence (or Firenze as they say in Italy) and I love it! Still the hustle and bustle of Rome but none of the Garbage and scary characters of Naples. But oh my goodness the shopping! I’m so glad I held back on my handbag purchases. We’ve decided now we’ll have to do a box to mail back home, there are things too good to pass up.
Yesterday was a fun day traveling here from Introdaqcua . On the first little bus was a girl who was a bit of a character. One of theose special individuals that every village has, even in Nambour. She spoke to us in machine gun Italian despite our protest that we had no clue what she was saying, the the absolute amusement of everyone else on the bus! She looks like she’s about to go rabbit trapping said Russell, and its true she did! Complete with a shabby shopping trolley that she’d stitched together with bits of string and wire! When she left we got a farewell to rival “arriva derci Roma” complete with a kiss on each cheek for both of us. The whole bus waved goodbye and when we drove off the entire bus including the bus driver and us; laughed for the next kilometer. It was a lovely good natured laughing too, I think they were delighted with how we handled it. When the other passengers left the buss we were included in the waves and ciao’s (Ciao is usually reserved for friends, buon giorno for strangers). Gee it feels so comfortable here.
We caught the Roma Bus in Sulmona and arrived in Rome mid morning and after a tad small amount of confusion as to which platform for which train we figured out what to do. We had the delight of paying 50 cents to use an automated toilet, it looked scary so I took Russell in with me, while trying to tinkle I had a very growly Italian voice explaining how to use the machine. I was waiting for a mechanized hand to come out and powder my tush for me, talk about a nervous wee. Russell decided to take advantage of the loo as well and for a little moment I worried that it woiuld somehow know we’d only paid once, and the troopers would be waiting outside the door as we both emerged, red faced with bags and gjhnd luggage in tow.
At Roma Termini station Russ, clever sausage, bought tickets on the bullet train, up to 300km an hour ……woooooooohooooooooo so we celebrated with a fabulous feast at a sizzlers type Italian ristorante, no self service but heaps of beautiful food. We sat in our comfy bullet train seats waiting for them to light the dynamite although Russ reckons it’s more likely a plunger system like on road runner than a lit fuse. Whatever we flew to Firenze in an hour and a bit . I’ll let Russ tell you about his Hotel selection skills.
Ciao for now.
Linda X

Never let Linda go first, she used up all the good material. Not really, there is so much to say but hard to put it into words.
We got to Florenze and were immediately accosted by a man wanting us to stay at his B&B , had a nice little brochure and everything, but we got this felling he was the type to come and tuck you in at night, or at least want to watch!!!
Found a good place to stay after several tries, I have worked out that if the foyer smells, looks dirty or the person on the desk has no teeth its best to go somewhere else. I do go and check out the rooms first though as some of the places in Italy have bathrooms so small the toilet paper is kept on the bedside table.
Got a nice place though and went for a walk, and to Linda’s delight and my dismay there are streets and streets and streets of markets and shops all around us. That’s not the worst of it Trish has told Linda of this wonderful little town near Sulmona which is famous for its fine gold jewelry, oh well, happy wife happy life.

Must say that Florence is a beautiful city, did the city recon on the “hop on hop off bus” this way we can see most of the sights and decide what to go and see with the time we had. The place is a photographer’s paradise but don’t worry, I wont bore you with hundreds of blog pictures.
Sat up on the open top deck to get best view and nearly froze to death. But you can’t see much from down stairs.
Got off eventually and took in some sights and did some shopping and have also decided we will have to stay an extra day to see even the basics, not a bad problem to have really.
Have great news, I found a shop that has alcohol, pizza and a great gelati all in the same place, Fantastic!

Russell

Linda Boombah again….
I’ve found my city. I’m madly in love with Florence and not just the fabulous food…there’s a golden glow to the light here that takes my breath away. Every direction you look in, is a picture. There are artists on street corners and everywhere there is art, as well as all the creative geniuses of the world, in fact that’s what they call Florence, the Creative Capital of the world. So if I have to run away to a foreign city…this is it! I am gob smacked.
Will add some pics, although we took hundreds…I kept getting Russell to snap left right and centre so I wouldn’t miss a colour, or texture or light or shade…I can’t wait to get home and crack out the water colours. Wow!
A few odd shots for photos today.
Some scenes from Florence
A wheelbarrow full of cement being hoisted atop a building.
Russell finds more gelati
and german sausage
The police have nice handbags too
an old music sheet, i think its "don't worry, be happy..."
a wishing pig
and the boombahs having fun....
Ciao. x