Feels like home?

Going to London is like going home for me. Not quite the same, but very familiar. We didn't do a lot of "tourist" things - we went on the London Eye and that was about it. Alex did get to experience Pax Lodge.


And Hampstead crepes.


And meet a bunch of my friends and family:

Kristine

Doreen

Heidi and Sarah (who he met last summer)

Hugh and Alice (who were at the wedding)

Liz (who was also at the wedding with Hugh and Alice)

And he got to attend a bonfire day parade!

and meet Persis and George


And now we get to go home...and enjoy the memories of our fabulous wedding and amazing honeymoon.

Real life, here we come!

Life in Florence

Beautiful Windows

Florence is a huge change from noisy, dirty Rome. Alex and I both like Florence a lot more. It is so much more laid back than Rome and fewer people suit us both!

Shanalex with Ponte Vecchio in the distance

Plus we found an amazing restaurant right near our hotel and I think if we could we'd just eat there ALL THE TIME! For three whole days...It's a good thing it's only open for dinner - we ate there last night and tonight. MMMMMmmmm....

Tastiness (and a requisite food shot!)

Gelato anyone?

Rome is all about eating. Yum!

Gelato

Pizza

More gelato

Pasta and wine (with our lovely hosts Masha and Luca)

Roman Fanny Packs

As we've wandered the city the past few days, we've noticed a lot of men with fanny packs (sorry non-Canadian/non-American readers). Many of them were carrying the fanny packs instead of wearing them. I thought they might be tourists, maybe with decoy fanny packs, but today as we rode into the city, we saw lots of Romans wearing these beautiful fashion accessories. My favourite was the guy in an Armani suit, smart, highly polished shoes and a beat up old fanny pack.

Note to Self: Read previous note to Self

Which means noon to four is a bad time to visit places in Italy!

This morning we ventured east to the Adriatic and then to Chieti where my great-grandfather came from.

We had hoped to see the Adriatic, but we were super pressed for time because we have to catch a very early bus to Rome in the morning. It was also a miserable day and the idea of being at the sea side was not a pleasant one!

Chieti is a very picturesque town with an amazing view.

Shannon in Chieti

Chieti Street

Too bad it wasn't a clear day!

Everything was closed when we arrived, but we had a very pleasant wander thought the streets. It was hard to even find an open restaurant - lots of bars and caffe, but we wanted to sit and we wanted pasta!

We finally found Ristorante Venturini tucked behind the local theatre. We had delicious chitarra de Abruzzenese, a yummy local dish. We're pretty sure it was a local restaurant that didn't usually see many tourists. Everyone was quite curious when we walked into the restaurant.

We had debated renting a car and a couple of times I wish we had so we could have stopped in some the smaller towns, but overall I'm glad saner heads prevailed. It was pouring rain when we came back to L'Aquila and the roads were quite treacherous. Just outside of the L'Aquila we even encountered a car going the wrong way in a roundabout.

Oh, Italian drivers!!!

Note to Self

From L'Aquila

Arriving between noon at 4:00 pm in a small Italian town that is NOT a tourist destination is not recommended if you are planning on doing anything that day. In true Italian style, everything except for a few restaurants, bars and caffe is closed! And the market is over.

But it's all good. We wandered around town and meandered around the Forte di Spagnolo. While Alex watched Italian afternoon TV (yup, soap operas and strange game shows), I tried to regulate the jet lag with a bit of a nap.

Now we're off, still at an early hour for the locals, in search of some yummy regional cuisine.

Roma!

From Rome

We're here! We're in Rome! After a long trip, it's nice to be here finally. Sleeping in chairs in airport lounges and on airplanes is not much fun.

The trip was uneventful, but surprisingly pleasant since I've now been awake 32+ hours and spent more than 26 of them travelling.

Oh, and we saw members of the South African Championship Rugby Team - Paula we paparazzied them just for you!