florence

The blogging has been a bit sporadic of late, quite a bit going on and the weekly discipline of reflection and recording has gone by the wayside.

And so it is that mid November has arrived and we are on the other side of the world adjusting to a new time zone and a new country. Predictably the long haul flight was unpleasant, long gone are the days where 14 hours on a plane was exciting! On the up side being in Italy IS exciting and tiring and challenging and amazing and so many other things too.

Our first four days were spent in Florence (so far it is Colin, myself, Johanna and my nephew Hayden). We did a lot of touristy things and were severely embarrassed finding ourselves on a Tuscan Day Tour with a big group led by a tour guide waving a flag (yep, exceedingly cringe worthy). However the tour itself was great and San Gimignano was amazing and the organic winery and farm set in the Tuscan Hills where we had lunch was picture postcard perfect.

tour group in the winding alleys of Sienna

Tuscan landscape and also our lunch destination

Tuscan landscape

San Gimignano

A bit of photo taking in the main square of San Gimignano, such a beautiful place and not very busy mid/late afternoon

hold it

yep, got it

Note that Colin is sporting a new hat. Johanna and I vetoed a beanie, can't look like an Aussie bogan in Florence! Now he has an old man Italian cap instead!

We arrived in Pisa at dusk, the last stop on our tour.

Johanna and Hayden climbed to the top

Our other most embarrassing moment (other than the hop on/off bus) was being so tired and hungry (mostly tired) that we ate at 6pm in a cheesy, touristy place called Il David, right next to a replica of the statue of David, smack bang in a touristy square. Not our finest moment, and we were the only ones sitting outside (there were a couple of other culturally inappropriate tourists eating inside, it was a cold evening).

our local morning coffee spot

a couple of locals

a drummer drawing a crowd in one of the many piazza's

the river Arno from the Ponte Vecchio

the Ponte Vecchio

The Duomo

The Duomo

Yesterday we managed to time our arrival by train into Rome with Heidi and Alex's arrival in the country and more amazingly find each other at Roma Termini with ease and a bit of luck. Colin had far more trouble finding the public toilets! My sister arrived in Rome a couple of days ago, so now we are 7. The next few days will be spent exploring Rome and no doubt there will be more touristy and embarrassing moments to come.