Florence

We got up early and got our stuff all packed for our train trip to Florence. We headed to the train station and bought our tickets for a regional train (the cheapest and longest journey).  The trip was about 4 hours, but it seemed to go quite quickly. We had some seats to ourselves so we played some uno and cards to kill some time.

When we got to Florence, as per usual it took us ages to find the hostel. We didn’t have a great map of the city so I went into a real fancy pance hotel to ask for a map and directions after about 45 minutes walking to try find the place. The guy was very nice and pointed us  back in the direction we had came but we had a map now! So we found it pretty easily – but the hostel had a tiny tiny sign on the door (4cmx2cm). We got up the stairs and checked in. We decided to book a twin room as it was very cheap and was about the same price as a dorm room. The room was massive – and it’s like a double bed so that was good news. We’ve got a safe and a large dining table and a massive ensuite, really fast wi-fi. After dumping our bags – we went out to explore.

Walking the streets was great – you got woffs of fresh waffles being cooked and everyone seemed really happy. The first few pub/bars we looked at – we saw they sold cider and walking to the supermarket we past a piazza and saw they had a chocolate festival happening for 5 days.

There’s not a lot in Florence, but the atmosphere of the city has been one of best we’ve stayed at.

We got a few things at the supermarket and headed back to the hostel to drop our stuff off. We decided to eat out that night and then go for a couple of drinks. We had a great chicken kebab at this place… the guy gave us a 2 euro discount for something… we then headed across the road to this American pub and I had a beer called a Gasoline Beer and Cindy had a strongbow. We started talking to this Brisbane guy who works as a head chef called ’1889 Enoteca’ in Woolongabba.  He seemed really nice so we kept talking to him and after a drink we all went out to find the Australian Pub which was meant to be around the corner. Well we found it…but it was closed… it was 7:45pm so we thought we’d wait till 8 to see if it opened… we walked around the corner to have a look in the chocolate festival and OMG – The chocolate was incredible!! We just looked but everything look delicious. At 8, we went back to see that the pub was still closed. I remembered seeing a Scottish Pub back near our hostel – so we went there and it was open. I tried a Scottish beer called Devils Kiss, Cindy had a bulmers. After our first drink – Matthew and I had a Tequila shot… the bartender was like “you won’t need lime and salt, this stuff is smoooth”… I was a little apprehensive… but we shot it and it was soo good…. It didn’t burn or anything. After the shot we went back to the American pub and had a drink watching this band warm up, they sounded really good but apparently wouldn’t start till 11pm. So Cindy and I finished our drink and headed back to the hostel. We made an arrangement to meet up with Matthew for lunch the next day.

The next day – we slept in because we could and no one was in the room to bother us or wake us up. Plus I wasn’t feeling too well from that tequila the night before… so we took our time and then went out to meet Matthew.. It wasn’t the nicest day – cold and rainy.  We couldn’t find Matthew – we waited about 15 minutes and then gave up as it was raining. So we went and found a cheap place to have lunch. Found a place that did cheap cabonaras… It wasn’t great but it wasn’t too bad, we saw him warming it up in the microwave. ( I would think it would be illegal for Italians to serve frozen Italian meals). We walked around and went to a giant church – The outside was insane – so much detail was put into everything… but inside was very big but very plain.  We found a square (piazza) that had all these statues – there was a replica of the statue of David. We found a really cool looking pizzeria that we thought we would try out one day. We then went to the chocolate festival – there is such a selection – we tried some different chocolates.. but we bought a really lifelike spanner and nut and bolt. Was so cool.

We went to the supermarket again and bought ingredients for spaghetti. We ate the chocolate spanner, nut/bolt over the day/night and they were so delicious.

The next day we walked around town and had found that little pizza place… It was packed. I had a Mediterranean pizza and Cindy had a calzone (A pizza folded in half). They were really nice… We went back to the chocolate festival and thought we’d try a different chocolate. We went to this one booth and got a sliver (75grams) of this amazing hazelnut chocolate. We also bought a chocolate spoon.

I started to get a fluey during the afternoon… so we came back to the hostel and I drugged up with vitamins.

This morning, I took some cold and flu tablets and off we set to Pisa, It was really easy to get there by train. The leaning tower is so cool – really busy. Busy with tourists and locals as it was a sunday… the weather was so nice (not a cloud to be seen), still cold in the shade though. We sat and looked at the tower and had morning tea and then walked around Pisa. There’s not a great deal to do in Pisa, but we had a nice lunch and then headed back to Florence. We walked back and decided to have a Gelato, I had a peppermint one and Cindy had a vanilla. Their smalls were massive… They were delicious but sickening… You felt quite ill after eating a only a small tub. We walked around some smaller back streets that we haven’t seen, there was this tiny 3 wheeled car charging it’s batteries with this little electricity thing on the side of the road. So cool!!

We thought we’d check out the chocolate festival as it was the last day and we thought we could get a bargain. Some stuff was cheaper, Cindy got a chocolate dog and I got a chocolate camera. We also got this cool chocolate light bulb. The festival was packed – so hard to move around so we didn’t hang around.

We’ve booked another 2 nights in Florence – we might try do a day trip to Sienna and another town before going to Bologna for 3 nights before going to Padova which is about 3o minutes from Venice. It’s carnival time in Venice so there’s a lot of hotels booked out or is very very expensive – there are hardly any hostels ( I think 1 hostel).

So we’re staying outside of Venice and are going to catch the train into Venice everyday and see Carnival (Venice Mardi Gra) – Have to buy a mask!!

Hope all is well!

Frost, Frost and more Frost….

Today is the frostiest day we have had so far… So Kath and I went outside to play in the frost!

We went over to the golf course and found some huge puddles of water which had frozen over completely. So we both took turns in skating on our “ice-rinks”. We found some puddles of mud which had frozen, so I decided to crack it and Kath took a video of me extracting the ice shard.

We found a car that was upside down (apparently there was an accident down the road last night, and they just put the car in the golf course to get it off the road). We went for a walk around the back yard and we got ice all over our shoes! And I ate some (it really just tastes like normal ice).

Mallorca II and back to Glasgow

I typed the blog up, but then I accidentally deleted it… so bit annoyed really.

We went to Palma by train from Inca. Trains were nice, saw some great scenery from the train. In Palma we walked around the streets and looked at some nice shops and market stalls. We bought some nice pictures from one shop. We then walked up to the cathedral and the architecture was brilliant. We saw the Spanish changing of the guard outside the Palace and the Cathedral.  We were going to go into the Cathedral but saw they were charging 4 euros to see inside… we walked around the back streets behind the cathedral and found the  banys arabs which are historic arab bath houses. It was amazing how they were standing between two apartment blocks, but still had a peaceful feel about it. We walked back to the cathedral and paid the 4 euros each to see the inside of the church.  The stained glass windows and the ceiling was amazing… you weren’t allowed to take photos but I took some sneaky shots because I saw everyone else taking photos.

We then walked around Palma for awhile and looked at stalls and shops. Everything closes from about 1-4 so we decided to just go home when things started to close.

On Sunday we had a great sunday roast at a little cafe in Port de Pollenca. Maxine and Grandpa had Roast Beef – we had the chicken. It was delicious. We had a yummy dessert as well. We all spent the afternoon at my aunts place and then we drove my Grandpa home.

We drove to the Caves of Drach and it was very impressive, they also had a little music show like the Cave of Arta but they actually played the music in boats so it was a bit cooler then the Caves of Arta but it just went on and on. The actual stalagmites and tites were really amazing and they had all these lakes within the caves… the water looked so clear. We weren’t allowed to take photos – one guy got yelled at so we didnt even try.

After the caves we drove to Palma in search for the Castell (castle).. It was too hard to find and the traffic was busy and scary drivers that we just kept going and had a nice drive to Port Andratx on the way back we had one more attempt at the Castell but didnt get much closer. Palma has some scary streets. There was this one street that had 3 lanes and merged into 1 without any warning and being in the middle lane with cars on both trying to merge on top of the car.

Tuesday we went for a nice drive off the motorway through the middle of Mallorca – we were looking for a walk but couldn’t find the start so we kept driving and ended up at Port Soller again where Cindy got a cool shot glass. We then drove through the scary windy cliff drive back to Pollenca. Later in the Afternoon we drove to this small little beach where we hung out for awhile before going home.

Wednesday we took the car back and hung out, Tommy arrived back from work today so we finally met him. He’s great – we hung out for a few hours then went back to the apartment where I made some great chicken burgers… if i do say so myself.  Thursday was a horrible wet and windy day so we stayed in and watched movies.

Friday we borrowed my Aunts Alfa Romeo and went to visit my Grandpa to say goodbye. We hung out there for the morning before a quick stop at the supermarket. We went over to Maxines and Tommys place in the afternoon and had a few drinks.

Saturday, Jan a family friend drove us to the Airport. The flight ended up leaving half an hour early – which we thought was kinda crazy. No wonder Ryanair is always early. We flew over the pyrenees mountains which were covered in snow so that was an amazing site from the plane.

Ellen kindly picked us up from the airport at prestwick. We hung out for the afternoon and we all went to the movies to see 2012… which was a laugh, you just couldn’t take it seriously but it was fun to watch.

So yeah… Santa fun run next sunday – I’m number 640 and Cindy is 645. We are also going to a Pantomine on Saturday which should be good fun.

Until next time.. Adios.

A New Adventure…

Today we hired a car!! Our toy for the week is a Vauxhaul Corsa (for the Aussie’s who don’t know that brand it is pretty much a Holden Barina!!) We were meant to get a VW Polo – but we are happy with our little mean machine!! Kath is the designated driver (it is very expensive to make 2 under 23 people drivers). I am the navigator (Map book girl).

We headed off on our adventure at an early 9am..Peak hour traffic time. Not to mention the first day we have had rain in weeks!!!

We headed through Stirling, Dumblane, Crieff (to try find some standing stones- which we could not find!!) and Perth (to see Huntingtower Castle). The castle there was really good – shame that 3 floors of it had been knocked out. But it was nice to stretch our legs (and also put on our waterproof pants).

We then continued north to Pitlochry which is a tiny town which we had our lunch at… It was a nice lunch. We then continued onto Breamer and managed to spot the castle from a distance (it was closed and rainy). Following the road East we stopped in at Ballater and Kath had a hot chocolate and I had the worlds best donut – Literally, I have never had a better donut…We paid for our second lot of toilets (I think I forgot to mention the last lot we paid for. Kath was busting and it was 30pence at a bus station in Inverness. They were like the entrance at Movie World so there was only getting one person in at a time). Today’s toilets were 20pence and you put the money into the door to open the toilet facilities- if you had brains (like Kath and I) more then one person would go in at a time. On our way out from the toilets there was a lady about to go in and we said here just come in and we will open the door for you so you don’t have to pay – she was like ohh its ok I’ll just pay, and we just looked at her oddly and convinced her to go in while we held the door open (I dunno these tourists have no idea, haha). Our last stop before our final destination for the day was to Crathes Castle in Banchory. We didn’t pay for parking or entrance – we only wanted a quick look. We decided that tonight we would treat ourselves to a nice B & B in Huntly. The place is really nice. There is electricians working in the street so we have no electricity, so Kath and I are here in the dark drinking our wine… and enjoing the nice evening city lights.

We don’t really know where we are heading tomorrow (where ever the brown road signs tell us is good to go). We may not update for a while as we are unsure of our next stop on our adventure.

We hope everyone is well.

Love Cindy and Kath.