Italy - Part I

Hello! Back in the land of Oz following our amazing holiday to Italy for Lindsey's wedding.  It would appear that the Olympics are on but we would describe it better as the Australian Championships as we don't get to see much coverage of any other country! Quite incredible that the Australians believe they are the best at everything and appear quite shocked when they don't win.  They also have an unbelievable, one sided, rivalry with the POMS (I'm assuming they have lumped together the Scots, English, Welsh and Northern Irish in the POM category) which, at first, was quite grating when Australian got their first gold medal and they rather enjoyed taking the micky out of the Brits who couldn't win anything apparently.  Now that we are 4th on the medal table and Australia are 17th, they are keeping quiet.  Or making excuses.  Brilliant. Got to love the Aussies!!!  We wish we have posh telly with the red button to watch 8 sports at the one time but we have now resorted to taping the Olympics overnight and watching it when we get home from work.  It'll do!  Well done Bradley Wiggins (Cadel Evans was too fatigued apparently....) and Chris Hoy!  Favourite moment from the Olympics so far - Chad Le Clos beating Michael Phelps in the pool.  Fabulous.

We now have an exercise bike in our living room and have been motivated to get on the bike whilst watching the Olympic time trials on the telly.  I'm sure in about 10 days, we won't be quite as excited to get on the bike but as it was a free gift, we'll not feel too guilty about it!!

Final point about the Olympics.....if water polo and clay pigeon shooting can make it, why can't netball?!!

On a sporting theme,  sad to say I'm out for the netball season with a suspected stress fracture in my navicular bone in my foot.  I'm pretty sure the ceilidh dancing at Lindsey's wedding didn't help, nor did the full game back at netball or the walking around Rome in a pair of flip flops.  Worst patient ever - I will have to make myself rest but I will be rather bored.  Oh well, maybe that exercise bike will come in handy after all.....

Now, the main event...our holiday to Italy!  Absolutely brilliant.

The first few days we spent with Helen and Steven, in an apartment close to the Pantheon.  Perfect for sightseeing, people watching, eating gelato and close to brilliant pizza/pasta restaurants.  Having Virna there to assist with ordering in Italian was a good help, although Bob and I and our trusty phrasebook were doing a good job too!! Not sure about the pronunciation but the enthusiasm was there at least.  Helen and bump were looking good and Helen gets extra brownie points for bringing us a massive ration of dairy milk and some well needed Irn Bru.  Fabulous!  Must admit, that chocolate was carted around Rome to Tuscany to Florence then back to Rome via warm car seats and cool fridges.  Let's say it was somewhat 'tempered' - didn't' look great but it still tasted good!

We felt a little guilty shunning the Collosseum for an Irish pub to watch the Wimbledon final but hey, priorities and all!  Helen, Steven, Bob and myself, Virna and Karen all with a wee Magners (well, not Helen) and shouting at the telly. We even managed to sneak in a gelato from the shop across the road.  Yummo.  Shame about the result but it was a funny afternoon.  Time for dinner? More pizza!!Had a good time down by the river, where there are lots of bars/cafes/restaurants and market stalls in the evening, great atmosphere and live music too.  Got beaten at table football and played a lot of hangman on the chalkboard tables while waiting for a beer.

Bob and I jumped on the Sightseeing Roma bus to get our bearings for an for or so leaving H & S to enjoy the air conditioning.  We did the Vatican tour and met up with H&S later on to catch some dinner with Karen and Virna.  Brilliant restaurant and brilliant food - a wee 'cacia e pepe' pasta please!  And a free glass of Prosecco. Yum.   Last day involved shopping for Helen and I (got the baby a wooden dog musical thing from the Pinocchio shop) and the boys went to the Leonardo Da Vinci gadget museum.  Then time to say goodbye! Fabulous to catch up with them.

Next stop - Roccastrada, a tiny town in Tuscany where Francesco's family has a holiday home.  Beautiful, very Italian, not used to tourists!  We'd picked up our hire car and drove for a couple of hours to our accommodation in La Civitella, a fairytale castle of a place where the wedding reception was held.  A great layout with several rooms all surrounding the dance floor.  Most people had arrived the week before the wedding so the next few nights involved meeting new people and bonding over lots of wine.  With Lindsey working in Belgium, being Scottish but talking French, and Francesco, being Italian but working in Belgium and talking Italian and French, they had a multicultural array of friends! Americans, Australians, Italians, Belgians, French, English, Irish, Scottish....it made for an interesting wedding.  The Scottish certainly have lots of traditions for a wedding whereas the Belgians/French/Italians get the deed done fairly quickly then enjoy a big feed.  And then go home.  No best man/bridesmaids, no cutting of the cake, no first dance, no speeches...  so Lindsey had a hard task trying to explain to everyone the significance of the traditions.  Bob was MC for the day, with Francesco's sister Letizia translating into Italian, which helped.

The night before the wedding, the boys and girls split up - boys to Francesco's family home for a spit roast and the girls to prosecco and nibbles and a pool party.  A great idea for everyone to mingle before the big day.  Then back to La Civitella for a nightcap with our new friends!

Will write more tomorrow about the wedding - lots to tell!  Enjoy the photos xx