Italy
On Monday we met up with our new friends, Lachlan and Mariano, for a day exploring Murano and Burano! These two islands can be accessed by ferry from Venice. Murano is famous for its glass-making, and Burano for its colourful houses and lace-making. None of us had been to these
Italy
Here's a conversation had today (Friday) while carrying all our luggage, walking the 2km to the train station in the pouring rain for our high-speed train trip from Florence to Venice, having missed both of the buses we'd tried to catch to the station (but which
Italy
Here you go... Day 43 • 17 Oct • Naples to Rome Half an hour in Rome Before Ben's pocket is picked. Our day’s in ruins. Day 44 • 18 Oct • Rome The Colosseum, Stone arches decayed by time, Is gargantuan. Day 45 • 19 Oct • Rome “Pizza by the cut”
Italy
After visiting the Stibbert Museum, we had some belated birthday gelato for B. Both the museum and the gelato place were recommended in a blog post I found by a Florentine mum of three, and they made for an excellent day! One of the things I learnt from her blog
Italy
On Wednesday, our second full day in Florence, we walked from our lovely apartment in the Le Cure district to the Stibbert Museum. This was right up the boys' alley! What was at the Stibbert Museum? J: Paintings, armour, interesting words (things that you read) and weapons and stuff.
Italy
On Monday (B's birthday!), we had a few hours to fill in between checking out of our AirBnb and needing to be at Roma Termini Station for the departure of our high-speed train to Florence. Our AirBnb host was kind enough to let us leave our luggage at
Italy
On Sunday afternoon, we set off to explore Villa Borghese (a big park) and whatever else we saw along the way. We meandered along a somewhat grimy river's edge... Browsed in a Lego shop... And a rubber duck shop... Caught a glimpse of the famous Spanish Steps in
If you'd like to brighten his day with a message, he's contactable via his usual WhatsApp or email. (He also has his Australian number back, but won't receive SMS messages unless he knows they're coming and switches over to that eSim, so
Italy
Today, Saturday, we needed some downtime after a busy/stressful time of late, so we relaxed in our AirBnb all day and then went out for dinner at a local pizzeria a short walk away. On one hand, it felt somewhat outrageous to "waste" one of our three
Ireland
The next batch of haikus (these come around quickly!)... Day 36 • 10 Oct • Ballymoney to Edgeworthstown “See the Northern Lights?” We scream and bolt out of bed. Pink and green and WOW! Day 37 • 11 Oct • Edgeworthstown A day to catch up On sleep, life admin and blog. B is
Italy
Here are some more things we saw (mostly on Tuesday) in fascinating, gritty, busy, chaotic, overstimulating Naples! Bookshops (all within a few steps of our AirBnb)... Food shops... Side streets leading off Via Toledo; so interesting to just wander... Galleria Umberto I (a very fancy shopping mall)... People doing their
Italy
On Tuesday, our first full day in Naples, we did a LOT of exploring — we walked more than 11km! — but the absolute highlight was Napoli Sotterranea (Underground Naples). This was a guided one-hour tour of (a small section of) the 450km network of aqueducts, reservoirs and tunnels under the city