Spence Adventure: November 2005

We arrived in Rome by plane, then had to make our way to Florence. It turned into a mad dash as when I bought the train tickets I forgot the time difference and turned out we had about 4 mins to get on the train. We first got on carriage 1, correct seat but then it was explained to me (in Italian) that we were on the worng carriage, so we had to heave-ho down to carriage 11 !! Nic has asked me a number of times if we have to do that again...:-) We only just made it in the end. 2.5 hrs train trip to Florence. Nice to see the Tuscan countryside along the way but I still remember the guy with bad b.o. !!.

We got to our Hotel (Hotel Medici) right in the centre of Florence. Very good location as it is close to all the tourist spots by foot. The hotel is 2-star but good enough for a 2-night stay, except for the delivery trucks that arrive at 4am. We made it to the top floor for the view, hence this picture, one of the Duomo in Florence.

Another shot for the top floor, the main Duomo. The weather was great as it was for the whole holiday.

After dinner we walked to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Beautiful night. Well worth it after a day full of travelling.

The Ponte Vechio, another angle. We came here on our honeymoon and it bought back a lot of memories walking through Florence.

Now on the Ponte Vecchio, a lot of very old jewellery shops mainly.

At the other end of the bridge we stopped for an ice cream. The Italians do ice cream really well. More on this later....

And Nic really enjoyed his ice-cream.

Back to the main square near the Duomo, a hive of activity.

The next morning we went to the central food market to peruse the produce and we tried to sell the kids for a couple of Euro, but no takers.

Seriously, lovely food on sale here all fresh. Look at these fresh olives on sale!

And here the fresh fruit and chillies and garlic.The lady on this stall was singing away, must have been very happy in her job.

Phillipa coming back from shopping for lunch, we had nice lunch of bread, salami, tomatoe.

This place, as is most of Italy, is "moped city".

We took a bus up to Boboli Gardens, mainly for the tacky photo opportunity, and here is one of them.

Duomo and Nic. My comment are getting shorter, I'll try improve.

Okay, here I am looking like a suave, debonare gigolo, but then Phillipa slapped me and I realised it was a dream. According to Phillipa, the coffees we had here are the most expensive she has ever had to pay for. She offered to tell me the cost but I denied the offer, best not to know!

Nic, Phillipa and Jes - I think they are smiling about the coffees.

Ahhh, we walked from Biboli back down to the Ponte Vecchio but Jes started to feel a bit sick.

Me and Nic for a good poser shot.

Nice shot of the surrounding buildings on the Arno river, good reflection into the water.

And here is the Ponte Vecchio in daytime. I love the colour of the buildings in Italy, much more elaborate, yet simple and pleasing to the eye.

The Piazza Della Repubblica near our hotel. I took this one because of the funny 3-wheel car, but it just so happens the picture in the distance has a title of JESS; not intentional, it is actually an advert for the GUESS brand.

The carousel in the Piazza Della Repubblica, which at the time also had a demonstration for armed forces, hence the local army personnel present.

This morning we were back at the market for a coffee.

On Saturday we drove to Tregole in Tuscany to stay at a farm-stay villa. Very nice countryside in the Chianti region.

On the first night we took a look around Castellini, this shot was taken outside a local restaurant.

Simple yet effective decoration outside the restaurant.

Nic standing next to the car, after dinner on the first night.

We had pancakes almost every morning, well it is a holiday!

This is where we stayed, the villa

The next day we went to San Gimignano

This town used to have 14 towers and now only has 7. A family's standing in the comunity was judged by the height of the tower, bit phallic if you ask me!! Phillipa and Nic went up the main tower. I asked Phillipa to go down on my tower but she declined!

A beautiful shot from the top of the tower.

The weather was closing in. We did get a bit of rain that day, but all-in-all the weather was good.

A local ceramic shop in San G.

This was taken one morning just outside our villa, looking across the valley.

Jes after shower time, getting dry near the fire.

We had a good time with the open fire, very cosy and warm.

Fog is reasonably common in Italy in November, some mornings we woke up and it was thick! This shot was taken looking through the front door, out to the morning fog.

Nic's reflection shot.

Nic had some birthday money to spend so he made a wise investment in a Lamborghini.

Another trip somewhere?

We stopped off at San Sano one day; had a nice lunch there.

Also at San Sano.

This is shot of our Villa from within the local vineyard.

They also grow olives on the farm and it was almost picking season.

There's Nic running down the path, lovely colours.

There's Nic looking happy.

And there's Nic scoffing a pizza, leftover from previous dinner.

Took a trip into Siena, only 14 km south of Tregole. This is Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo.

A shot of the kids playing in the Piazza in Siena.

Now is this inner city living, or what?

No need to ask who took this picture?

Dancing Princess.

Siena attracts a fair few backpackers.

Wow, Dad how much more walking? I'm buggered!

Okay time for a sugar hit.

And I've been so good, I can spend my birthday money on a make-up kit.

Beautiful morning shot.

And toasting marshmallows, yum and sticky.

We were testing out the autotimer on the camera.

And again. Jes is smiling, on the inside.

Okay she is trying to find a smile.

Ahh, finally a smile. Off camera, Nic is doing a funny dance.

Lovely sunny day nr the villa.

Dad and Nic taking a walk in the sunshine.

This was on the way to Montepulciano, typical Tuscan landscape.

Jes struggling with the "packpack". I have a similar shot to this at about 7 yrs old, struggling to carry stuff to the beach.

Now is that a grand entrance?

This cat was quite popular, nearly every tourist stopped to take a photo.

Looking out from Montepulciano, which is quite a steep walk up.

Nic and Jes playing.

Nic and Jes perusing something.

A unique way of drying clothes.

ummm..

Looking back at Montepulciano.

I think these are peaches.

A night trip to Siena. We had to park quite a distance away. This was one of the fountains on the way.

And a cafe. No shortage of these.

The local old guys tend to congregate in the town centre, seems to be the done thing, have a chin-wag, chew the fat. Then the younger blokes come out later.

Piazza del Campo at night.

Alternative shot at night.

This was at Monteriggioni, a small town. We celebrated Jes's birthday here.

At one of the entrances of Monteriggioni.

At Jes's birthday lunch.

The birthday girl, now 4.

Beautiful sunshine, time for the next destination...

Nic and Jes running for the car.

This is Greve in Chianti, seemed to nice working class town.

Nic in the sunshine.

After Tuscany, we drove to Rome (doing 140km on the Autostrade). Dropped the car off in the centre (madness). Then did some quick sightseeing, this is Trevi fountain.