And now the end is near.

So we have come to the end of the European leg of our holiday. We were pretty fatigued by the time we arrived in Florence, fortunately we rented an apartment on the quiet side of the city. Also we have a lovely friend here, Francesca, who was able to take us to some interesting places and we didn't have to think too much. 

Ponti Vechio

Best thing about Italy - the food!!!!!!! Can't rave about the food enough. I thought the food in Spain was good - but my oh my, Italy takes it to a whole new level. The main thing is the quality of the food - it's quite simple but absolutely the best.  I have eaten pasta so good it makes you want to weep!

Panna cotta in Lucca.

We spent a few days wandering around central Florence - sooo many tourists - but Florence is fairly large (unlike Prague which is tourist hell) so you can easily duck down a street, that is lovely and peaceful, until you can face the throng again. It is a beautiful city - hence all the tourists and the river is lovely, although pretty dirty if you look too closely. 

We bought ourselves an Italian coffee pot - I had researched it on the web and knew I wanted a Bialetti so we popped into a shop and this lovely old….. and I mean old, lady served us. She didn't speak any English and we don't speak Italian…… anyway she hobbled off to get the pot we requested - climbed up about 100 steps and came back with about 5 different pots - well we had to buy the bloody thing after that didn't we? It was probably one of our most fun purchases - the old Nonna went into great detail about how to look after the pot - only words I understood were bastante and bruta - both of which I am familiar with (thanks Maria)!

Food glorious food, chocolate souffle Florence.

We caught the train to see our friend in Pistoia - a town about 40 minutes from Florence. Her parents live in a beautiful Tuscan farm house complete with grape vines, olives trees, tomato plants, pumpkins, pears etc oh and don't forget the pigs and chickens. 

Richard checking the home made wine.

What a bunch of hams!

Her Mom and Dad - very old school - made us a really lovely lunch - homemade ravioli, steak, salad and summer tiramisu  and home made wine - was like a scene from a novel or a movie! Mind you the old Dad was, we think, a bit mad. I'm quite glad we couldn't understand him as I have a feeling we might have been insulted :-) but it's all good in Italian after several litres of home made wine!

We spent another day in Lucca- about 1 1/2 hours on the train from Florence. It was a lovely train ride - watching the Tuscan country side slide by. Lucca - lovely little town surrounded by an old Roman wall. Not too many tourists (by Florence standards anyway) we dilly lagged around and then had a fabulous fabulous lunch! Richard had the best ravioli I have ever tasted - to die for! 

Lovely Lucca

Spent another day in Siena, another nice town, great fan shaped public centre - another great lunch - we really were tired when we went to Siena so couldn't summon up as much enthusiasm as the place deserved.

Spent yet another day at Pisa - was quite impressed -  tower and surrounding buildings are very clean and bright, nice lawn area to relax and appreciate the view. The main view consists of people contorting themselves into ridiculous positions to look like they are holding up the tower in their holiday snaps. Whatever lights your fire….

Pisa - duh!

Our last two days were spent in Milan which was a pleasant surprise as a few of our friends had advised that Milan wasn't up too much. I guess enjoyment always has to do with expectation levels (in which case the Brits should enjoy life more than anyone but thats another argument!). Anyway it was only one week after Milan Fashion Week and the city was full of long, lean, lovely things with legs up to their armpits. People were very well dressed, very stylish - even more so than Paris. 

With Mickie and Kristen, Cathedral Milano.

The central cathedral is stunning - it was cleaned some time in the last few years and looks gorgeous. We met up with a couple of very sweet, old friends Micky and Kristen and enjoyed a couple of pleasant evenings drinking and watching the world go by.  We spent a day at the San Siro, the home stadium of AC Milan and Inter Milan, didn't see any famous footballers sadly. I enjoyed my last few chocolate croissants and we flew back home. 

Stylish Milano

We stopped off in Dubai for some last minute shopping and more food. Stuffed ourselves stupid on Indian food and I bought some Indian cooking pans from a shop I had researched on the web. Very satisfying to find the shop and the exact pans I wanted and a great purchase to finish the holiday with. We had an unexceptional flight home - very painless, very quickly through the airport and finally home. It's so nice to be home - our beautiful wonderful king size bed, our beautiful wonderful king size television and our beautiful wonderful king size cat! Oh my god, Yodi has turned into a super fatty - she now weighs one stone!!!! Anyway she is happy to be home and has forgiven us for leaving her for 6 months. So now all three Ajayi's are on a diet and I am looking forward to being a domestic goddess - just need to get over the jet lag……..and of course we might go to Bali for Christmas…………………………………….

Where the hell have you been?