Wonderful day...medieval festival here so Sat night we went to dinner & watched flag bearers in medieval dress throw their coloured flags high into the air & catch them & march about. A very late night for the kids...10pm. It was repeated last night with 1030pm with the d'Uva family as Montevarchi's town & piazza was also transformed into medieval times with trumpets, more flags, horses and a fair with kids rides. All had a ball. We had a sumptuo...

Ciao ancora bella Italia!!! It's so lovely to be back in Italy and see all our wonderful family and friends. We managed to get through all the flights and the 4 hour drive from Rome to our new "home" smoothly. On arrival, we got fed up to the eyeballs with delicious food- even though it was only a drop in visit to the family.... yuuummmm! Adam has conjuncivitis & finally yesterday started new antibiotics. We were getting a little worried about what it was...

For our last weekend in Italy, we packed up & headed north for "bella Venezia". It was also motivated by Adam having the "moonlight" half marathon there. Venice was gorgeous & glittering in the sunshine. So peaceful without car traffic...in the spots without the hordes of tourists! The kids loved the canals, gondalas & stripey mooring poles after having read stories about it all (thanks Aunty Rosie!). They were also fascinated by all the colourful...

Whizzing though Tuscany in a little european car with my 2 "besties" from school (a Japanese student & a Hungarian nun) & with an Italian priest singing at top volume to Pavarrotti is an experience I will never forget...crazy..felt like a scene from a movie! We were returning from a wonderful day in Assisi exploring the town famous for Italy's patron saint... San Francesco. The Italians adore him & are fiercely proud that the new pope has named himse...

The sea of umbrellas & people sheltering in mandatory fur-trimmed, black puffer jackets has gone. After the wettest march in 50 years its all sun shine & blue skies now. Everywhere things are blooming with the hills covered in cherry blossoms & carpets of baby daisies. The children loving making daisy chains with the new English neighbours. They are kindly letting us use their garden as ours is full of rocks. A 500 year old, 5m high retaining wall cam...