Around Tuscany

Wednesday 27th June
Today we drove to Florence about 1:15 from San Sano (our village). Thank goodness for a Tom-tom as driving around Florence is quite a challenge. I wanted to head to the leather shop where I bought a jacket 8 years ago & amazingly soon found it. The owner, an Australian, was still there & was pretty impressed that I had returned & with friends! I did buy a jacket this time in a very unusual green colour. Not that I wanted back but she said they sell very few black ones now. I also came away another bag - I hate handbags, what am I doing? The leather is beautiful, so soft. I did get a good discount & the others came away with leather goods too.

We were also on a mission to find a particular sock shop to purchase special long golf socks (don’t ask) & after lots of walking we found them. By then we were in need of shade (it was 36C) & food & were eventually seated in the piazza beside the statue of David - not the real ones he was safely behind glass in the museum!

The afternoon was spent in cultural mood at the Petti Palace studying(?) the art works. I found the ceilings to be the most interesting _ hope I haven’t upset any art lovers!

After a refreshing swim we cooked our own dinner - a BBQ.

Thursday 28th June

A relaxing stay at home day with an hour or so in the cooler morning at the pool, a great alfresco lunch with different cheeses, salami & olives then a nanny nap. Out to dinner at a local restaurant.

Touring Tuscany

Monday 25th June
After about an hours drive through beautiful Tuscan countryside today was spent in hilltop towns. These towns were walled and were fortified to protect against the invaders from Siena & Florence (in the old days!) They were interesting places with alleyways and one even had the remains of a Roman amphitheatre - very impressive. Another had 14 towers - down from 60! Well you do need to watch for invaders when you are up high. We were about to walk into an old building when a priest walked out & we realised that it was a jail - needless to say we didn’t enter! We had a fabulous pizza before heading back down the winding alleys.

The weather was very hot again - 31C so when we got back to the villa we were straight in the pool and then across the road for dinner.

Tuesday 26th June
We drove to another walled city but this one was well know for wine. We thought we were close to the centre so didn’t take the bus but we found that it was a long way to the top of the hill, luckily there were plenty of shops to look in!!

Unfortunately there were a lot of leather shops but I did get a cute leather bag and it was good for pottery oil/vinegar containers. After an afternoon snooze we are waiting for the chef to cook our dinner. Yes you can pay for someone to do this - the smells are amazing!

Arrived Italy

Friday 22nd June
Caught the first train to Sydney after work and arrive at good old Formula1 at about 6:30. Dinner was on the agenda & the bright lights beckoned but when I realised it was Krispy Kreme, Macca’s & KFC’s bright lights I went to the ‘posh’ hotel over the road. An early night was needed & I’d been away with the Fairies for about an hour when I was awoken by the fire alarm! I tried to get dressed - hard when in an unfamiliar room even getting bra upside down -  when a voice came over saying “We think this is a false alarm. Stay in your rooms.” Some time later “ Sorry it was a false alarm!”

Saturday 23rd June
Managed to get up & dressed (clothes in correct order!) & arrived at airport at 3:45am.Unfortunately only place open at that time for a cuppa was Macca’s but hey you have to change your principles sometimes! Flight left on time at 6am and 14+ hours later we were arriving in Dubaii where it was a ‘mild’ 39C. All people connecting to Rome were gathered together & marched to the departure gate - it was far enough away to feel like we were walking to Rome! Another good flight & 6 hours later were arrived at Leonardo De Vinci International airport (sounds good doesn’t it!). Then caught airport express train to the centre. Hotel, not the best but it is right next to the station & I have a train to catch to Florence. One thing I’d forgotten about Italy was there bath towels - not like our fluffy - mine was, luckily, the size of a tablecloth & in fact would have been a good tablecloth. The towel are like thin tea towels - strange!

Sunday 24th June
Woke far to early but that’s jet lag! Arrived at railway station & got on wrong train but realised in time to get on the right train. It was one of the high speed ones & in little over an hour I was in Florence & the gang was there to meet me.

We wandered through the streets to the river passing various sights that I had seen before - the replica of David being one. Not many shops were open &  there were few tourists. The leather area was interesting - windows full of brightly coloured gloves, We will return in a few day to shop!

As we started to drive back to the villa we found that the temperature was 39C - slight change from 16C in Sydney! The villa is in amongst the vines - this is the Chianti region. a snooze & quick swim took us to dinner. There is a restaurant straight across the road - ten steps & you’re there - perfect!

Goodbye Chile

We are sitting waiting to go to the airport - flight goes in 6 hours & so begins the 18+ hours flight. Arrive home 7:30am Saturday.
Yesterday we went on a tour to one of the wine areas. It was great to be away from the city & we had a tour around a vineyard & tasted a  couple of the wines - nothing to write home about!
We had a very relaxing massage in the afternoon so are definitely winding down.

I hope that you have all enjoyed the blog so until the next time - Adios!

Chile

We have just had a scary moment - well Jodi & I did, Valda was in the bathroom - the whole place started to shake with the bed moving & I thought the mirror was going to fall off the wall we were probably enduring an earthquake tremor! We have decided to run for the bathroom if it happens again!
We had a tour through the city of Santiago - quite green with tree lined avenues & lots of parks. There are some interesting buildings & we actually saw the changing of the guard at the palace - not quite as impressive as  Buckingham Palace! There is a lot of smog which obscures the snowcapped mountains.
In the afternoon we went for a massage - very relaxing - & then off to dinner around the corner from the hotel - great food.
Tomorrow we are taking a half day tour to the vineyards.
This is so different from the last dusty town - you could imagine John Wayne walking down the street- but we did have one really crazy moment there when we walked passed the supermarket to see a guy in there with his 2 llamas!! They filled the shop & got everyone laughing as it's not too often you see that happening in a supermarket.

Now in Chile

After a 4 hour bus trip & 7 hour train trip (arrived 2:30 am) we started a 3 day trip through Bolivia to Chile. First stop the Salt flats - had an awesome time felt like a kid again you will understand from the photos!

We travelled through the desert unlike anything I've been in before. Driver was fabulous especially when I explained why I was nervous about travelling by jeep! Our days were on dirt roads - we could only go on the salt flats for a short time because of flooding - the scenery was unbelievable with mountains all around. one day we stopped to save a llama which was stuck in a bog. We did reach 5000m & the altitude tablets certainly helped. We had our passport stamped at the Bolivian border,tiny hut, then drove for 45 mins until we reached the Chilean border where we stood in the blazing sun for 2 hours before we got passport stamped! NOw in dusty desert town. 

La Paz

The Bolivians have some interesting traditions - there is a period in January when they buy miniature models of something they desire to own eg car & they go to the church to pray for this to happen, When they do get the eg car they cover it with flowers & take it back to the church to be blessed by the priest. There are numerous stalls which have miniatures for you to buy - see below

 Another belief is that if you wish for rain you go to the 'Witches Market" where the Sharma will prepare a basket of lollies, coca leaves & a foetus of a llama you were then expected to burn it, - it all looked pretty yucky!
Today we went to Tiahuanaco - a spiritual meeting place of the Tiahuanaca people who were around 20,000BC. Very interesting but poorly developed & when you consider that money has been put into it but a lot was filtered off into other pockets (if you get my meaning) & the site really hasn't been excavated.
The surrounding countryside is quite beautiful with snow capped mountains as the back drop.

We have just met with the guy who is organising the next part of our trip through the salt flats. As there has been a lot of rain some parts of the journey have had to be changed. We are on a night train tomorrow which sounds interesting - thank goodness we have some gin left!!
It sounds as if we will be out of contact for quite a few days & we are getting up to 5098m - we will certainly be out of breath but hopefully I will have some good tales & photos to show you then.