Catching up with an old mate

After the intensity of our Roman sojourn, we took it a little easier over the past week. Sean, a high school friend of Mike’s who he hasn’t seen for 25 years, and his girlfriend Lidia, drove down from Munich to spend the weekend with us (see pic). We had coffee together on Friday afternoon, lunch in Florence on Saturday and lunch at home on Sunday. It was great to see them and we appreciate the HUGE effort they made to see us. On Saturday evening we went to support ‘our team’ in what turned out to be the best match we’ve ever seen. A resounding 3-0 win over Genoa. Click on this link ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsE0ietO-6M ) to experience the Fiorentina ‘fight song’, sung when the teams march out. See also the opposition in their ‘cage’ in the right foreground, burning something! Lee-Ann’s sister Biddy will be joining us for 10 days.

Robbie’s Rome

First we got on a train to Firenze SMN. Then we got another train to Roma Termini. We got to our hotel and had lunch. I had spaghetti bolonese and then we walked to the Colosseum. The gladiators used to fight in the sand with other gladiators. They had unusual clothes and good weapons. Also lions came from Africa on ships. The gladiators tried to stab the lions and kill them. We went to a 3D museum and I got dressed in gladiators clothes. That was fun! On day 2 we had breakfast at the hotel then we walked to the bus and travelled around Rome. I chose the seats upstairs at the front of the open bus! We stopped at the Vatican to get tickets for the Pope and then we saw some Swiss Guards and the Swiss Guards let my Dad in to the Vatican. The Swiss Guards have spears and guns and swords. One uniform is all blue and the other uniform has blue and yellow stripes. I liked the Sistine Chapel too. On day 3 in the morning we got on an underground train to the Vatican and then we got to our seats and we saw the Pope in his Popemobile. The Pope spoke in front of the audience. We saw some more Swiss Guards with spears. I would like to be a Swiss Guard because they have weapons and look after the Pope. The last thing we saw was the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. I threw a coin in the fountain.

Audience with the Pope

On Wednesday morning we returned to the Holy See to attend a general audience with Pope Benedict XVI. It was the first outdoor Papal audience of the year (in St. Peter’s square) and the weather was perfect. There were people from all over the world in the huge crowd. To our right across the aisle were two rows of Irish ladies wearing traditional looking green and white dresses. Behind us were Spanish pilgrims shouting “Viva Papa” at every opportunity. We had Germans in front of us and Poles and Indonesians to our left. The Pope then entered the square in his ‘Popemobile’ and drove up and down through the crowds. Mike got to within 2m with Robbie on his shoulders. Various Papal Prefects and Cardinals then introduced large groups in the crowd in their native tongues and the Pontiff gave fluent addresses in seven languages. Click on the link below and then click on [ Video ] to experience exactly what we did. www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100317_en.html

...off to Rome for 3 days...

Hi Bloggers

We're off to Rome for 3 days. Can one of you please feed the gold fish (bottom of blog) while we're away? Left clicking you mouse will dispense food for them. We had a busy week and a pretty quiet weekend: went to Pistoia (and Florence) on Saturday and kicked a soccer ball with the boys all day (!) Sunday. Perfect Spring weather (a few days after snow!). If you need to contact us while we're away, please use SMS.

Ewings

Pisa, snow, more soccer

As I type this, it is snowing gently outside. The boys spent the morning (in between lessons!) gazing out the window and then sticking their heads out to catch the snowflakes in their mouths!! We’ve decided to put our Rome trip “on ice” (ha! ha!) for a few weeks until the weather clears up. Home-schooling is good fun (if there are no distractions!) but it is also a challenge. Robbie told me this morning (after I thought that I had competently explained something) that he “would rather do it the old-fashioned way, thanks”! On Saturday the sun shone brightly so we decided to go to Pisa (about 90 minutes from Prato). Our response to our first sight of the Leaning Tower delighted our taxi driver! It is spectacular. As you can see in the photo, I tried to straighten it (like every other dopey tourist)! The “Field of Miracles” is home to the tower, Italy’s largest baptistery and yet another stunning cathedral. After lunch, we took a ride around the old town on a 4-wheeler “bike” (quadcycle?), going the wrong way down one-ways and generally causing a bit of havoc on the roads (getting our own back). A gelato later (by now a daily occurrence), on our way home on the train, we took a family ‘vote’ (3-0, with 1 abstention) and decided to drop by the soccer stadium (of all places!) and chance our luck for tickets to the big match: Fiorentina/Juventus (according to Wikipedia, Juventus is Italy’s most successful soccer team ever). We managed to get great seats and I must admit, the crowd, the atmosphere and of course, the soccer was incredible. The stadium was a haze of purple, red and white and the chanting was deafening. I was entertained by the “older lady” behind us who yelled the entire match, “Madonna, Madonna, Mama Mia @#$%”. After a wonderful day, we trained back to Prato: happy, weary, a bit down-heartened (Fiorentina lost 2-1) and slightly deaf!! Another tough day in Toscana...

Rob's ramblings

Last weekend we went to Siena. We saw the Duomo and heaps of paintings by Michealangelo and Leonardo Davinci. For lunch I had Tuscan sousege and gelato. Then we went to Florence on Wednesday and we saw Spandau Ballet. It was very good. We are eating heaps of pizzas and pasta. Also me and tom have started playing soccer in Prato. It is really fun. The club is called AC Santa Lucia. Yesterday we saw the lening tower of Pisa then we saw Fiorentina play Juventus and Juventus won 2-1. We have also seen Ac Milan play Fiorentina and Livorno play Fiorentina.

Spandau gold!

Seeing one of my favourite 80s bands with my own sons. It doesn’t get much better than that! Depeche Mode (Detroit, 1993); Duran Duran (Pretoria, 1995) and now Spandau Ballet at the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence (ironic on numerous levels). As you’d expect from a bunch of 50 years olds, they weren’t perfect, but the audience (most of whom were bald) happily forgave them. The Kemp brothers haven’t changed much, but Tony has put on 30kg and struggled in places. His voice is still good, but he doesn’t have “the moves”. The surprise was Steve Norman, who has improved with age and stole the show with stunning sax solos. See Steve’s solo during True from 2:00 to 2:46 and 4:30 to end (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyEJZmBiz_o&feature=related). ‘Round and Round’ was also really good because up on the big screen behind them was a montage of the early days, which caused both the band and the audience to laugh a lot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoFu1Vtx93I). I’m not surprised Virgin media named them best comeback act of 2009. For anyone interested, I am thinking of writing a full review of the concert (too long to blog). For those under 40 or over 50 (!), Spandau Ballet is a British band, inspired by the early 80s new romantic movement (of which I was a member!). They achieved ten Top Ten singles and four Top Ten albums between 1980 and 1990, but split acrimoniously in 1990 over royalties. A good night out!

Siena and Cortona

Last Saturday morning we hired a little car (Fiat Panda) and with no map and no sat nav (welcome to Hertz Prato!), off we set, on the ‘wrong side of the road’. The speed and rudeness of the Italian drivers initially wrong-footed us, but Mike fought back hard calling on all his South African driving experience! Our ‘Tom-tom’ was an 11 year-old who maintained his ‘cool’ long enough to navigate his family through the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside...picture postcard stuff. Stunning GREEN landscapes, olive groves, stone walls, villas dotted on the hills and cypress trees standing like exclamation marks on the horizon. We were charmed by Siena (named after our little friend Siena Whyte!). The hill town has traditionally played second fiddle to Florence, but has a unique charm of its own and is well worth a visit. Highlights included the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo and the duomo is the best we’ve seen to date – indescribable (see picture). Cortona was also lovely, but since being popularised by Frances May’s book (Under the Tuscan Sun), it now attracts droves of tourists, which is beginning to upset US locals!

Boot purchase prevents disaster

Lee-Ann Ewing, formerly the only women under 60 in the whole of Italy not to wear stylish boots all day every day, bought a gorgeous brown pair yesterday. Australia’s ambassador to Italy, Amanda Vanstone, said that the Rudd Government was profoundly embarrassed that an Australian national had so flagrantly flaunted Italian fashion sense for two long weeks. Prime Minister Berlusconi said that he is just relieved the whole incident is now over and hopes that ordinary Tuscans can get on with their lives, without ever having to see Aussie Blundstones again. Ms. Ewing could not be reached for a comment.

Italian MX

On Sunday we attended the second round of the Italian MX championships. Some very good GP riders were there, including former and reigning world MX1 champions, Italians David Philippaerts (2008) and Tony Cairoli (2009 – see picture). The former GP track at Castiglione del Lago was very scenic (Lee-Ann). Despite what the reader may think, Mike in no way engineered this remarkably fortuitous coincidence (of being at the right place at the right time). We actually just happened to see a MX poster in a shop window in Cortono – and discovered that the track was just 10 minutes away. That said, the hotel where we spent the night did not get the L-A stamp of approval....but that’s a topic for another day