We're back in Sydney....and some photos of Siena

We are back in Australia and head back to Canberra tomorrow morning. It is very nice to be safely here again  even though we have had a lovely time away. After Florence we drove to Siena. It is a lovely place to visit. Here is some of the beautiful Tuscany countryside.

Here are some views of the town.

We were walking down the street and could hear drummers drumming and then these young men came walking down the street waving their banners. There were so many of them and several drumming bands. It was so nice of them to march just for us!

Here is the famous town centre where they have horse races each year.

And another beautiful cathedral.

Florence

We stayed near Florence and caught the bus into town.

We had a great day wandering around this beautiful city. We came here 34 or so years ago and it was well worth another visit.

Check out the patchworky tiles!

We went to the Pitti palace and had a lovely wander around the gardens which had great views of Florence. Checked out a porcelein exhibition and a fashion one too. The rooms were beautiful.

We enjoyed visiting the markets.

The Cinque Terre

We are now in a delightful B&B near Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast which has wifi! So nice to be able to email and blog again. We have been to so many places since my last post. So back to the 3 September when we visited the Cinque Terre. This is a lovely part of Italy and we were looking forward to our time there. We had only one day but we managed to visit all the towns, some by foot, some by train and some by boat. We walked the easier track from Riomaggiore to Corniglia. I walked 6 kms! This is, of course the easier part of the track. We also caught the  ferry from Riomaggiore to Venazza which was a lovely way to see the towns. Here are just a few of our many photos.

Just loved these handpainted tiles for the wall from Monterosso. Such a shame they are heavy and we haven't much room in our luggage!

We had a drink in this little square in Monterosso.

We stayed in a lovely little town nearby called Levanto. It is a small beach town. Here is the beach. Please note the life guard. Looks a dangerous beach, doesn't it?

Most of the beach was sectioned off and you had to pay to sit under the umbrellas provided! 

Here is a nice view of the beach in the evening.

Lucca

We had a delightful visit to Lucca a few days ago. It is an old walled city. We stayed just outside the walls in a good B & B and then spent the afternoon and evening wandering about.

We were particularly surprised by the wonderful shops. They were tiny but their window displays were so artistic. It is as if they have a competition to see who has the best display. Here are a few.

Even the hardware shops looked lovely. The cake shops were wonderful too. We had yummy afternoon tea and dinner here. There were beautiful churches too.

Doesn't this square (really a circular space) look inviting?

The next morning we walked part of the way around the wall and discovered a market. It was a local market with not one souvenir for sale!

We had a wonderful day yesterday walking and exploring the Cinque Terre. I'll share some pictures next time. Today we are off to our next B & B near Florence.

More of Rome

We are now safely in Levanto and have had a very relaxing afternoon wandering around this seaside town. The beach has the dark sand which is so different to our lovely Australian beaches. We head off tomorrow to explore the Cinque Terre. But before we see Lucca and Levanto, here are a few more views of Rome. We are quite relieved to be out of the city and in the country, even with the driving! Here is St Peter's Square.

I just loved the very old mosaic floors.

This ceiling looks 3D but it is painted!

After being amazed at the Sistine Chapel we then headed to the Colosseum. You are not allowed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel but it is really wonderful to see. We were also amazed at the size of the Colosseum and its history.

These are the rooms which were under the floor and held the animals ready for the fights and performances.

This is the view from the upper level of the Colosseum.

We then walked some more and visited the Roman Forum.

No wonder we had sore feet!

Rome

We had a very busy time in Rome. There is so much to do and see. I think you really need a week! We are now in Lucca and feel a bit more relaxed. It is lovely to be in the country and an achievement to have made it here in the car. Getting out of Rome was stressful!
We headed out early and went to St Peter's which was amazing. There weren't too many people which was wonderful. Everything from the marble floors to the ceilings was decorated!

This is a grate in the floor.

We also went on a tour of the Vatican Museums and probably only saw a small part of this unbelievable collection. I was impressed by these embroidered fabrics which had been altar cloths or garments. Loved the blanket stitch all over this piece. It was about the size of a single sheet.

This piece was fully embroidered with all sorts of stitches and it was large with many of these images all over the fabric. Amazing.

Flashback to Lavenham, England

We head out of Rome today to Tuscany. Haven't any photos to share for yesterday downloaded so thought I would share these images from a gorgeous little town called Lavenham (Hope I have the name right this time). Penny and John took us there and it was delightful. This was one of the windows in the church.

Check out the delightful houses. I looked high and low for some wooden little houses to bring home for my collection but they didn't have any!

We went inside a wonderful hall that was once used by one of the Guild churches way back in the 1400s or so. Can't remember all the details now. It had a fabulous museum upstairs recording the building's history as well as the area's history too. Please note the jacket...it was chilly and raining.

Inside there was a wonderful collection of objects used in the daily life of the community over the centuries. They did lots of spinning and weaving. Brings back memories of spinning wool in the 70s!

Here is some dyed and spun wool.

This is one of the looms used and some lovely soft fabric.

There was a room for one of the well known families in the area and this little sampler was stitched by a 7 year old! One of the other daughters had written the nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle little star". It was a very special place to visit.