Week 21 - Birthdays

Week Beginning 18th May.

This week was all about birthdays. Unfortunately, neither of the two birthday people were in Milan with us. Justin, on the 20th was in Wales driving 6 hours to Cookham Dean. Not much of a birthday for him. Consequently we celebrated on the weekend in a half hearted sort of way. Mum's was on the 24th, and as you probably read, she had returned home. We had a long Skype chat and she managed to NOT open her gift from us until the evening in Australia so we could witness the reveal, quite an achievement for her.

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Week 20 - Mum and Dad, Naples and Pavia

Week beginning 11th of May

On Tuesday morning, Phoebe left for a school residential trip to Naples, Capri and Pompeii. How fabulous it sounds! She flew out from Linate at 7am.

Mum, Dad and I had one final outing before they left on Friday. We had a day trip to Pavia on Wednesday, a lovely Medieval town to the south of Milan.

 

We found a kitchen ware shop, so Mum was in heaven. I bought a Joseph Joseph julienne gadget, once I worked out how to use it, it slices carrots beautifully. We walked through a market and saw this bike shop.

We parked near the river and this bridge.

 

On Friday I successfully dropped Mum and Dad off at Terminal One, Malpensa Airport, and took the below shot. I love how none of us know where to look on the IPad.

Gee I will miss them.

It hailed on the way home from the airport, so I was not surprised to learn they spent two and a half hours in the plane on the Tarmac waiting for the storm to pass. Fortunately they still made their connecting flight in Hong Kong.

Phoebe returned from her residential trip on Friday night. She was full of news, and had a fabulous time.

Saturday night we had Emma-Dilemma Gold, Frank Versache and Grant Showbags Sjoberg over for dinner. The girls put on a play based on Claude on Holiday, we were all very amused and entertained.

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Week 19 - Ticks and dinner

Week beginning 4th of May

This week was fairly lacklustre after they joys of Siena. I got Claude back from the kennel. His teeth weren't too clean, so I gave him a bone, which turned out to be a mistake.

I say this because he chewed the bone for a while, then buried it. When he dug it out again two days later, his head became covered in ticks. Disgusting! I removed at least 30 ticks, and Justin removed some as well.

He is strictly on dental sticks or five minute bones from now on. I had a tick on my earlobe on our trip round Australia, and am still traumatised!

Mum and Dad came back on Saturday, earlier than originally planned, from their bike trip, to spend more time with us before their departure on the 15th of May. It was in the northeast of Italy, ending at Lake Garda.

We had an amazing dinner at Camp Di Cent Pertigh with a large group, organised by the lovely Alessandra. The food was excellent, octopus salad, saffron risotto and coconut and passionfruit pannacotta. Plus a limoncello to wash the dessert down. Great company.

 

 

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Week 18 - Siena

Week beginning April 27th.

Justin was away for the weekend doing an install in Edinburgh, so to take everyone's minds off his absence, we had a mini break in Siena. The girls had Friday off and a half day on Thursday, so we drove down Thursday afternoon.

As expected, the traffic was bad in spots, but the landscape kept us entertained. It gets hillier close to Florence, a contrast to the flat plains of Milan. It turns out, the hotel we are staying in, Hotel Moderno, is the same one Justin and I were in on our honeymoon! I'll have to check if we were in Room 8 all that time ago. It hasn't changed much. We collapsed into bed that night, without dinner to prepare for the buffet breakfast in the morning.

We spent a lovely day on Friday wandering around Siena.

In the 1300's two thirds of the population here got wiped out by The Plague, which led to financial decline. The city was taken over by basically a dictator, who wouldn't allow building works, which means Siena is preserved as a fabulous example of a Mediaeval city.

 

The girls were feeling lazy due to the late night, so we had a brick picnic (Bricnic) for lunch on the paving at Il Campo.

The sun was out, every one was relaxing. Il Campo is the main piazza in Siena. In, June and August there are festivals where horses race around the perimeter, representing different areas of old Siena.

 

We did some shopping, the girls are thinking of buying Swatch watches (the eighties are back), we had a slice of pizza each for dinner!

Day two in Siena we weren't feeling much more energetic, but we did book in for two o'clock to climb the Torre del Mangia. Meanwhile we wandered around the back streets of Siena, and the girls purchased a watch each.

We ate at a restaurant that let you draw on the walls, so if you are dining at a tiny cafe somewhere, look for these pictures and comments!

Lexie's drawings are of the cast of Frozen, (the Disney movie, in case you have been under a rock).

We climbed the claustrophobic tower, after I had warned the girls to have at least one foot on the ground at all times. They love to climb, so I was a trifle nervous! Once we got to the top we could enjoy the view in all directions.

Siena at it's best.

Whilst we were at the top, this bell rang which made me jump!

Naturally, we celebrated the climb with more gelato. On the Sunday we cleared out from Hotel Moderno for Vimercate, via Pisa.

We had hoped to climb the leaning tower, but had to postpone. The girls had school the next day and we couldn't climb until 5.30 pm. Next time, with Millie in June.

 

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