Spring in England………

…….is still a wondrous affair. After the barrenness of winter the rapid, verdant growth always comes as a surprise and the beauty of it is breathtaking. It’s particularly wonderful to have family visiting from NZ and the pleasure of showing them around the local sites and pubs makes it even more special for us.
Our local “the Duck” is a great place for a pint at the end of the day. Something we only do when we have visitors to give us the excuse. Like most pubs in England, it is really dog and child friendly and so Molly and Pippa had a righteous old time while we sampled our pints. It’s lovely to be able to sit and enjoying these things al fresco instead of huddling in front of a roaring fire.
Avebury is a very ancient stone circle, a World Heritage site, not as well known as Stonehenge, but rather more accessible. It is one of our favourite places to take visitors. Yesterday was May Day and this weekend is also a Bank Holiday weekend. We arrived at Avebury and found the pagans were camping there. Pagans from all over gather there to booze at the local pubs and then proceed to parade around the site in obscure rituals, arriving back at the pub to meet up with long lost ‘pagan friends’ have some refreshment, then undertake more rituals amongst the stones. It was colourful and interesting……some pagans looked rather more “pagan” than others, some decidedly dodgy! The group in the photograph were honouring some goddess and were quite pretty. We thought it prudent to leave before the ‘after dark’ rituals began!!
We decided to have our picnic on one of the many white chalk horses that dot the hillsides around the Wiltshire area, but a family of real horses decided to join us! Not being absolutely certain that their big fluffy hoofs were friendly we decided to have our picnic on the other side of the fences, much to Molly’s chagrin. She vociferously demanded a “ride on the little one”.
Thanks to the abatement of the Icelandic eruptions we are now on our way to Cyprus. Delayed gratification makes it all the more appreciated………..wish you were here xxxxx

Spring.....

……….each year in England, we see why Spring has inspired poets, storytellers and musicians through the ages. Just when you are beginning to think winter will never end, the colourful riot bursts forth.
We have 4 gardeners and they plant bulbs in their spare time, so our estate has spring bulbs popping up in every conceivable space and yesterday I picked armfuls of daffodils for our cottage. But the sides of the road are where it’s at! How did the incredible profusion of flowers come to be there? Bulbs are a bit big for birds to randomly sow……………
The Cotswolds are full of old quarries that have become lakes as the water table has risen. We walked around one this afternoon and were struck by the connectedness that Brits have with their animals and the indigenous fauna, including fish. Fishermen spend hours in this country fishing, but the thing that is hard to comprehend, coming from a ‘huntin…shootin…. fishin and eatin’ dynasty, is “what is the thing about spending hours fishing, just to throw it back immediately?” We got talking to one of these young guys (and there were at least three or four of them in their own possie around the lake) and he camps at the lake most weekends and through the week if he can. He catches a fish (perhaps the same one!)…., checks it for any injuries, applies ointment if needed, then throws it back! The kit enabling all this to take place is impressive and I daresay expensive……..methinks it could lead to some very decent sort of ‘fishermen tales’………xxxxx

A race against time……

……..in the last few days we have finally worked out the transport system and have been using it as an easy way to get around (much easier than “da passeggio” – walking). It is very cheap, you buy a ticket from a newsstand for 1€, validate it on the bus or metro and then you have 75 minutes travel. The trick is, if you are a tourista, managing to get to where you want to be in the allocated time can be rather challenging………we love it….it makes us feel like we are in the “Great Race”.
We decided to visit the catacombs; this entailed a bus, the metro and a bus…..no probs, except it was off our maps of Rome. On the last leg we met a really lovely young Kiwi woman who has been living here for 20 months. We talked and talked all the way to the catacombs where we got off having promised to keep in touch ………..The thing was we had forgotten to lay our trail of crumbs and on the return trip to Rome didn’t recognise any of the landmarks. But we kept our cool, even managing to guide a young German couple to the Metro………..
Tomorrow evening we fly out and so there is a race against time to cram in as much “dolce vita” as possible in 24hours………………wish you were here, it would make it perfecto………xxxxxxx

When in Rome........

……….having knocked off all the major tourista attractions, we decided to just wander and soak up the ambience (of which there is plenty). I think we have started to develop a more ‘seasoned look’ as beggers and street vendors no longer hassle us (except for the odd leather jacket scam trickster!). AND we have even been asked for directions on several occasions – which is most amusing – what is even more amusing is that Rod has been able to oblige!!!!!
This trip we finally remembered to bring the compass Sarah gave us and it has been brilliant. We can highly recommend using a compass…..’cause it’s STILL different on this side of the world!
We have a rule which goes like this……only eat in places where the locals eat…...and only eat in restaurants that have a lot of people eating there. Today we decided we couldn’t leave Rome without eating pizza. We found a very ‘local’ pizzaria run by a family, packed with Romans……we proceeded to order pizza and the very ancient owner became most indignant……..his response went something like this …….”no, no, no, not for lunch………..you eat pizza for dinner…..!!!!!” We looked puzzled and he scowled and said “I’ll bring you something”……….he ended up being ‘our new best friend’……we ate pasta (of course!), drank the house red and his wife came out of the kitchen and brought me the most divine crème caramel I have ever tasted. None of us spoke the others language, BUT the thing we can confirm is “when in Rome”……………….xxx

Day Two……..

…….Nothing prepared us for Rome……it is a large modern city that is in effect a 3,000-year-old museum. Around every corner you find ancient monuments, art treasures and timeless architecture. Nothing, it appears has been “knocked down and rebuilt”. Ancient columns, watchtowers and porticoes survive, enhancing modern ‘add ons’. Truly a testament to superb design and recycling.
The cobble streets are very narrow with no footpaths and one tends to forget that you are sharing the street with cars and scooters………..definately a no stilleto zone!!
Thank-goodness we are here for 8 days, but even so we are only scratching the surface of this rich, breathtaking, mind blowing phenomenon……wish you were here…..xxxxxx

Roma…..

……………….bella….bella……bella!!!!! We arrived in Rome late at night and after a very convoluted taxi ride from the “termini” reached our apartment on the edge of the Vatican City, quiet, with a lovely little terrace and view of St Peter’s. Terrazzo floors, tiled bathroom, bidet…..all very Italian!
Before breakfast we walked along the Tiber and got “befriended” by a very well dressed man in a late model car who was “very famous” in the fashion industry….would you believe his wife was a New Zealander!!!!!.............It wasn’t too long before he tried to reel us in with the old ‘Italian Leather Jacket’ scam……he likes us so much he wants to give us a leather jacket each….left over samples from next years fashion shows………..gift…gift…gift…BUT if we could just help him with some money for petrol. It was very funny because we knew someone who had been scammed in Auckland……..
Vatican City….what can you say……..we decided to ‘buy’ a tour to avoid queuing for 2 hours…we ended up “waiting” at least two hours for the tour to start, but the cool thing was we met another Kiwi couple from the UK so spent the time talking 19 to the dozen with them and hanging out with them all day. It’s great to be with people you ‘know’ and we will catch up with them back in the UK.
Vatican City….Sistine Chapel….the Pieta……spectacular works of art that remind one of the power and wealth of the Church……..the experience takes a lot of processing and we’re certainly not there yet.
Back out into it today to experience another dose of ‘overload’…………golly I wish you were here……………xxxxxxx

"Wales........Wales..........

...........land of the mist and the sea"........ we sang this at school and for me it always brought up visions of schools of whales cavorting through the water. Well, we didn't see any whales, but the 'Land of our Fathers' is impressive and so close to England. It's an hour from where we are to be somewhere 'different' . Different language, different landscape, different architecture, less traffic and a different pace of life. Driving over the mountains we were surprised by a herd of shaggy wild Welsh ponies, they ambled across the road and looked as interested in us as we were in them. We had booked an apartment in Aberdovy or if you are a native Aberdyfi, a beautiful unspoilt seaport village with miles of sand dunes and beaches, in the midst of Snowdonia National Park.
Pippa the dog loved it and ran like a lunatic through the sand dunes, they are full of rabbit holes and so it was doggy heaven. We arrived back in the village and were sitting on the harbourside eating locally made icecream and we noticed large black nasty looking things in her coat...........fortunately she is well protected against fleas and such like, so they just brushed off. At dinner the proprietor of the restaurant asked if we'd had nice day and we told her what we'd done. She said they never took their dogs into the sand dunes because of the 'ticks'.....yukkkkk! The other thing to watch out for if you're paddling is 'weaver fish'...also nasty little blighters that lurk in the shallows and impale unsuspecting waders with their poisonous spines......we also saw washed up on the beach 'man- o -war' jelly fish the size of hubcaps!!!! We felt safe that it was a real 'winter break' and we weren't tempted to take to the water! So we enjoyed the beautiful peaceful scenery, loved walking in sunshine then blizzards and then sunshine again.....oblivious to the pontential dangers surrounding us. Interesting to note that Aberdyfi is home to the first Outward Bound school, the boats in the photo belong to the Outward Bound school...............we do wish you were here, much love xxxxxxxxxx