Friends and family

Here we are leaving 30 degree sunny days in Roma for England.

Mmmnnn, what to pack?

Well guess what, it was cold. 16-18 degree days were the norm although as the week progressed in did get into the early 20's. But I guess it is England!

We left at the beginning of the world cup so lots of English flags prevalent in old London town.

First game 0-0 against USA.

We stayed for the first two nights with Margaret (better known as the Baronness). A very dear friend of Carolyn (and now myself) whom she has now known for 30 years.

She has a beautiful apartment in St Johns Wood.

We had a wonderful time dining at La Aventure on the first night and fish and chips on the second. The Brits still know how to do good fish and chips!

Waiting for our royal carriage on the way to La Aventure

In our royal carriage on the way home

The fish and chip queue. Note the two sitting on the left.

We also had a wonderful lunch at Margaret's son's house in Hearne Hill.  Jon and Allison made us feel very much at home!

Then off by train to Herefordshire, on the Welsh border, to visit John and Katherine. John is Carolyn's cousin from her father's side. They have a beautiful old "rectory" property which they enjoy outside of their London base in Kew.

John and Katherine were gracious hosts and showed us many wonderful places in and around the area which will be the subject of a separate blog.

John has a cellar with some greart French wines. We were fortunate to have red wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy dating back to the mid 1990's. And of course we shared a traditional pint!

Then we were off to Watford to catch up with my son Peter and his fiance. They both work at The Grove, an amazing resort of 300 acres just north of London.  Peter and Victoria are marrying in October this year in Mallorca Spain and the whole family is looking forward to it very much.

We stayed at the Grove and it was clear from the reaction of the staff that both Peter and Victoria were liked by their colleagues.

The Grove Resort

And some pics of Peter, Victoria, Carolyn and myself.

Peter and Victoria in Pete's restaurant "Stables"

We had a great degustation dinner in their fine dine restaurant. Possible the best we have had.

The boys

And of course, as is tradition with father and son, we ......

O well, boys will be boys!

Just some wonderful moments with friends and family........

Ciao, ciao a bacci

Carolyna e Alan

Venezia

Off to Venice for five days. Neither of us have been to Venice for quite a long time.

The islands of Venice were inhabited when the Venetians fled dry land to escape the barbarian invasion to occupy the islands in the bay and in the process they created the worlds most beautiful city.

However its uniqueness and beauty can hide many issues. Firstly it has a loss of citizens every year who are going back to mainland areas to live. At present Venice has only 50,000-60,000 inhabitants

Secondly it is sinking at an alarming rate of 2.5 inches every ten years

Also properties are decaying, unoccupied, with water pollution and rat infestation

So charm and beauty confronted by the ravages of the sea and time

We entered Venice by the public transport system, bus from airport to Piazzale Roma then a vaporetta (ferry) to a stop near our hotel. (yes Carolyna is still doing buses)

Our hotel was well situated on the other side of the Grand Canal, away from St Marks Square.

 Its an area called Dorsoduro and is much quiter than the more popular San Marco area with its hordes of Tourists. It is a pleasure to meander through the quite, narrow streets of this area.

This is La Salute church, next to our hotel, looking across to St Marks Square

We went to Venice at this time to see the Sydney Dance Company performing. They, along with other international dance companies, were performing for the Venice Dance Biennale

This is The Malibran theatre where the dance company performed

The dancers after one performance accept warm applause from the audience

Venice survives totally on tourists. It is chaotic particularly around St Marks Square where tourists mass to get into St Marks Basillica

and the Doges Palace (building on the right below) with the bridge of sighs

St Marks Square has been the heart of Venice for more than a thousand years

Florians Cafe (opened in 1720) in Piazza San Marco

A number of cafes in the Piazza have music both day and night

Very enjoyable

The canal system dominates the city. It is subject to all the issues that you would expect including debris, tidal movements, flooding and pollution. But it is still amazing. And of course there is always the mandatory gondola ride.

The eastern most group of Islands is known as Lido. We went there one day. This is the beach location for Venetians and in its day was chic and filled with artists and literati. Today it is just a shadow of its past. Still a pleasant visit to the beach facing the Adriatic and a casual lunch

The Grand Canal has three bridges of which the most famous is the Rialto Bridge. It houses shops and on the eastern side is a very popular seafood market

In general Venice is very expensive. In fact we would say it is the most expensive city that we have been to. A casual lunch for two with one course plus a half litre of the house wine will set you back 60-80 Euro.

The following are just some pics of various scenes from Venice

And of course the happy (and lucky) couple

Breakfast at the hotel

Well back in Roma now

bacci a tutti

Carolyna e Alan

La Famiglia

Last Sunday we were invited for a family lunch by a waiter at our local restaurant.

Mimo invited us to his home about 10km from Roma centro.

He had a top floor apartment with balcony. They shared the apartment with another family.

Mimo and his wife have three lovely children, two girls aged 12 and 11 and one boy aged nine.

We got there at just after 12 and eventually were driven home at 7pm

They made us feel so welcome

Primi was antipasti, then pasta con funghi, then abbaccio (lamb) con forno, beef, schnitzel and insalata followed by dolci.

We also had wonderful wine including a barolo vino rosso

The following are some photos of this special day

Well ciao for now

i baci a tutto

Carolyna e Alan