Monday 22nd August

Our last day in Italy. We didn't have to check out until 12 so made the most of our morning by going up to the top of the Cathedral dome. We got there when it opened at 8.30. One advantage of this is that there is no-one trying to get down while you are going up. Most of the time there is one way up and a different way down but sometimes it is two-way and you have to wait for a gap.

It is a big climb with strong warnings at the bottom not to attempt it if you have heart problems. On the way to the roof you go inside the dome and get a good view of the day of judgement fresco.

Then up some more steps until you are right at the top with a view of the whole of Florence and beyond.

Just to prove we all made it to the top

After picking up our luggage we went to the food market where they had a cafe. Si and Will sampled the local delicacy - tripe. The journey back was easy changed at Milan and then to Lausanne where we got our final train, a local one to Nyon where Nick met us.

Sunday 21st August

Si and I left the flat at 6.30 and it was perfect – quiet and cool. We went to the Duomo (cathedral) first. A massive creation in ornate marble. 

Approaching the Duomo

Then to the square outside the Uffizi to see the copy of the statue of David. Crossed  the Ponte Vecchio again and went to the Palazzo Pitti a huge brutish building with an interesting modern statue outside. We then went to Santo Spirito and as it was now 8.30 the church was open. According to the Rough Guide Bernini described it as the “most beautiful church in the world”. It was very elegant.  Then made our way home for breakfast picking up some custard and chocolate filled pastries for breakfast on the way.

It is hard to capture the size of the Cathedral but this is an attempt

  

Spent the rest of the morning inside in the relative cool before venturing out for some sandwiches at lunch time. Then I went to the Santa Maria Novella church. This was awe inspiring, not in a spiritual sense but just thinking about the jaw dropping levels of wealth it represents. Rich families commissioned chapels within the church some with immense frescos - often including themselves pictured as part of biblical stories. The others went for a drink and then went to see the Duomo again. William and Josie were impressed but didn't say they wished they'd got up at 6.

The outside of Santa Maria Novella

We then retreated back to the cool of the apartment. Josie and I tried to go to Mcdonalds later to use their WiFi but after we'd bought drinks found out you had to have an Italian phone to access it. We had dinner at the apartment and then went out for gelato (after our meal this time!). It was a Sicilian one recommended in the Rough Guide but wasn't as good as some of the others we've had. 

Saturday 20th August

I did walk to the bakery again, it was a bit earlier so was still relatively cool. Had our final breakfast looking out over the mountain view. 

Clive drove us to the station and we sorted out the car hire money on the way. The journey to Rome was fine but the train from Rome to Florence on a smart Eurostar train that we paid a supplement for was painful. Very busy and it was about 20 minutes late setting off then stopped for another 20 minutes outside a tunnel and the air conditioning never really cooled it down much. 

Arrived about 4.30 and a short walk to our apartment, found it ok although it didn’t quite match the directions and there was no answer when we rang the bell. We phoned the number we’d been given and the caretaker came round on her bike to let us in. Nice apartment with lovely wooden ceilings plus a big TV and two air conditioning units that make a lot of noise but cool things down a bit.

The ceiling in the apartment

We went to the local supermarket to buy some stuff for tea and then went for a wander and some gelato. Crossed the Ponte Vecchio and took the obligatory photos. On the way back to the flat we passed a covered courtyard where they were just finishing a free ballet performance. 

  Evening crowd on Ponte Vecchio  

In the evening we watched some Italian TV including MTV and Two and a Half Men dubbed into Italian. Saw a weather forecast saying it will be 37 tomorrow. Si and I plan to get up at 6am and go sightseeing while it is still cool. Will and Josie declined this offer. 

Friday 19th August

Si drove to the bakers this morning – lovely bread. We spent most of the morning looking through guide books trying to decide where to go. In the end opted for a hermitage in a gorge. It was very pretty you could walk down to the river and along to a dramatic waterfall. The water was very cold, it hurt to put your feet in. Si bravely got across to some rocks to take this photo.

He then dropped the camera in the water but we left it in the glove compartment to bake and it seems to be ok. We went in search of arrosticini, a local lamb dish, but it was getting late so we had to settle for a pizza in Sulmona.

We were sat outside what looked like a florist but we eventually realised was a confetti shop. The local industry is to make sugar almond flowers mainly for weddings (and tourists!). We bought some for Sarah who is looking after the rabbit.

Si and Clive spent most of the evening sorting out the car. The wing mirror we had on order turned out to be the wrong size. They also had to get a quote for the dent. Clive persuaded someone he knows to come out on his holiday to look at it. The final amount for mirror and dent was €360 and we have to pay in cash. We also had to pay for the hire in cash so we had reached our daily limit. We’ll have to go to the cash point and car hire on the way to the station tomorrow. The owner of the car we hit never rang us so presumably won’t now.

In the square tonight it was an accordion and a balalaika (we think) they were also selling pasta and fried cheese sandwiches. We’d already eaten but bought some of the spaghetti to try. It was very plain just oil and some fresh chillies on top.

Thursday 18th August

I walked to the bakers this morning but it was hot and a long walk along the main road so I don’t think I’ll bother again! Had nice fresh cornettos though – like croissants with icing sugar and slight lemon taste.

We drove up into the Abruzzo National Park. Dramatic scenery. Went to the central town and again failed to find the tourist information office, think they are some sort of  secret society. We found an office organising guided tours that sold us a book and recommended a couple of nature trails.

The main one we went on was called ‘val fondillo’ and went along a river and then back through a beech wood. We stopped off for lunch and a siesta. We then went on to another short walk past a wolf protection area where we saw one slightly mangy looking wolf – not as impressive as the ones near Reading!

In the evening Clive told us that the entertainment in the square was a puppet show. We went and sat down in the square and the curtains on the stage opened to a set showing the outside of a bar. Three women came on and started talking to each other in an exaggerated pantomime way. Then they left and two men one with one trouser leg cut off came on, then an old man with his daughter then a priest. No sign of any puppets! There was a portable wood burning pizza oven behind us and the promise of free pizza but even that wasn’t enough to persuade us to stay.

Wednesday 17th August

We followed Clive into the industrial part of Sulmona to a car parts place. The guy had a look and said we only need to replace the glass and he can order us one for E14.

We then went into the market and bought loads of fantastic stuff, sweetcorn, water melon, aubergines, peaches, green beans, tomatoes, eggs, two types of cheese and the local salami known colloquially as ‘coglioni di mulo’ . They had a couple of stalls selling slices of roast pork in rolls, we chose one that claimed to have won the Italian pork championship – it was good. We also bought some bread from the baker on the edge of the market. You buy it by weight they just cut you off a chunk and you can even have it sliced – which they did by hand with a big knife. We also went to a better supermarket and bought some local wine and other stuff.

Si showing off his coglioni  

In the early evening we drove to Introdaqua a local village with a medieval tower. When we got there a festival was just started that claimed it would have ‘gourmet food stalls’  - there was one peanut stall! We walked up to the tower and then bought a gelato from a bar where we’d seen them get a delivery from an artisan gelato maker.

When we got back there was a religious procession going round the village. Led by a brass band and followed by the women, people carrying a statue and then then the men. We assumed the statue was Mary but when it came close it appeared to be Jesus with a small dog at his feet with a huge biscuit in its mouth.

We made a meal with our market purchases some of which weren’t as good as they looked. The peaches were a bit sharp and the sweetcorn was inedible, tough and tasteless. The tomatoes were good though – Will made bruschetta  from a left over baguette.  The brass band played on the stage but we didn’t go to see them, we could hear it anyway. Played Trivial Pursuits.

Tuesday 16th August

Breakfast on the decking

Clive took Si to pick up the car. We then drove into Sulmona to try another of the restaurants in the Gourmet guide called Gino. We had  the E30 local speciality menu and they made Josie vegetarian options where necessary. We had bruschetta with pigs cheeks (very thin raw ham) and preserved garlic shoots Josie had bruschetta with tomatoes.  We then had two separate pasta courses, the first was thick spaghetti with courgette and courgette flower sauce flavoured with saffron and then normal sized spaghetti with a lamb sauce.  Josie had the courgette sauce again so good job she liked it. We thought we had finished but then they bought out the main courses. A plate of different fried cheeses for Josie and lamb for us with potatoes and a slice of aubergine.

In the afternoon we drove into the mountains to a lake. We followed signs but failed to find the tourist office but we did have to pull over to let a funeral procession go past. They were carrying the coffin through the streets followed by loads of people. We then went back to the lake and went for a swim. On the way back we had a scrape in the car pulling over on a narrow road to let cars past. We’ve slightly dented and scratched our car and the parked car we touched is scratched.  We left a note with Si’s phone number. Coming back into town we had another knock and lost the glass out of our wing mirror. We then went to the first supermarket we saw which turned out to be really cheap and nasty. We got the bare minimum to have an omelette and some sliced bread for breakfast.

We told Clive about the damage to the car and he is going to take us to someone he knows tomorrow to have a look at the wing mirror. He also said no one in Italy has ever left a number after hitting a parked car! There was a concert in the square just outside our flat, a singer, drummer, double bass and keyboard playing mostly latin swing type music.