Unfortunately my holiday with the parentals had to come to an end. They are back in Oz and I am a little homesick as a result, we had such a fabulous time. They spent a week in Perugia where I am living. I showed them all the fascinating parts of the town, like the old city which the new city was built on top of and the beautiful churches and art museum. I took them to my favourite restraunts and introduced them to some of my friends over pasta at my house. We also visited Assisi which is a really beautiful nearby town famous for it’s association with St Francis who founded the Fransiscan order of Monks. Mum and Dad stayed in a really nice hotel close to the town centre which was super convenient. We had some beautiful food which would became a theme of the whole trip. We tried my favourite pizza and favourite gelato and favourite aparatevo (really can’t remember how to spell that). Very nice.
After Perugia we headed to Florence where we saw Michaelangelos David and some beautiful churches and art. We had a really lovely lunch for Mums birthday, super tasty food and a bottle of Prosecco (italian champagne), how could you go wrong.
Next was Venice which never fails to amaze. Mum and dad fell in love with the canals and windy streets. I found a really lovely place to stay on the Internet. Unfortunately it was up a few steep stairs but it was close to the main train station which was good. It had only been up and running for two months so it was lovely and clean and the people running it were really lovely. We got a 48hour ticket for the ferries and rode around on the canals a lot which was wonderful, such a beautiful city. We took a couple of trips to the nearby islands of Murano and Lido. Murano is were they make the beautiful Venetian glass that you see all over the world. They really are immensely skilled, such beautiful delicate things. Mum and I picked up some lovely necklaces and earrings. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any of the glass factories in action because it was late in the day and the off season but just wandering through all the beautiful little shops was great. We also wandered a bit further into the island and mum and I sat for awhile on a bench in a Piazza where a heap of kids were playing after school, while there Mums chatted. They were so adorable, it was a really lovely little look at Italian life. Lido is more of a resort island and is really geared towards summer with beautiful beaches and boardwalks. We did manage to have a very overpriced meal served by an extraordinarily surly waiter though which was great (note the sarcasm). The trip was worth it though because I found a great winter coat lined with down that Santa was generous enough to give me a little early. That along with the great waterproof boots he also gave me will go a long way to keeping me snuggly during the European winter. Thanks Santa, you guys are legends.
We were really lucky with the weather while Mum and Dad were here. We had one of only two rainy days while we were in Venice. Mum decided to sit it out in the room but dad and I went out for a rather drizzly walk. It was still amazing though because we were in Venice. That day we visited a great museum which is an old castle restored to how it would have been in the 18th century (I am having a mind blank, was it seventeenth or eighteenth dad). It was beautiful with original furniture, paintings, frescoes and sculpture. Really amazing to things which had been kept so beautifully for such a long time. The most interesting part for me was the bedroom which had all the things a lady of the time would have used to get washed, dressed and made up in the morning. We also got to experience a very Italian pausa (siesta) that day. We stopped of at a little cafe for some pizza a little later than we would have lunch and a whole lot of Italians came in for drinks and snacks on the break from work. It was loud and bawdy and great!
On one of our last nights in Venice we went to a Vivaldi concert which was amazing. It was ladies playing three violins, a cello, a bass and a harpsichord. I had never heard a harpsichord played live before so that was pretty fascinating. There was also a male violinist who came in for the tricky bits. They were all super talented, I don’t know how they get there hands and fingers to move so fast. They were also in period dress which made it visually spectacular as well. No matter how many times you have heard a piece of music it is and entirely different experience live. It was marvelous.
Our last stop was the Amalfi Coast, a part of Italy I have been dying to see for a long time. I wasn’t dissapointed. I happened upon an amazing hostel on line. It was really more like a hotel. We had our own room on the roof with an amazing 360 view of the surrounding area. Really beautiful! On our second rainy day of the holiday we decided to take the bus that goes from Sorrento to Amalfi on which you see awesome views of the coast and towns in between. Even in the rain the views were amazing. One of the towns on the way, Positano is so beatuful. Lots of white houses built right into the rock, amazing. Unfortunately it was a bit to wet to get out and explore. We did brave it at the end of the bus trip and took a look around Amalfi. It is a really cute little town with a beautiful church and lots of cute cafes and shops to discover. Luckily the rain didn’t hurt our enjoyment of the place. The bus ride back seemed even more spectacular as the sun was starting to set and the towns were lighting up. It is definately one of the most beutiful places in Italy I am yet to see. The only shame was that it was near impossible to get good photos out the rainy windows of the bus but oh well, it just means I will definately have to make it back there some day in nicer weather.
Unfortunately i am out of internet time so will have to leave it there for the moment. Will hopefully get back to tell you the rest tommorrow. Love you all. x
