Because we didn't want a mad rush getting away from Italy, we decided to stay the night in Fiumicino - near the airport. That suited Beth too, as she had to fly to London to join her Contiki tour. After the usual research we found a place called the Hotel Seccy, and worked out that the simplest and most economical way to get there was to fly from Verona - despite our earlier searches. We were all up in plenty of time for the final round'em up and move'em out. We...

A: This entry is for three days ie Jan 1-3. New Years Day was spent fairly quietly with Marthese and Elias packing to head to Florence the following day . Mick cooked us a delicious pasta lunch with meat/ vegetarian sauce and then Elias made himself scarce while the rest of us really enjoyed watching Mamma Mia that Beth brought for us from home. The following day we farewelled M and E who walked the 1.3 km to the station for the train for Florence. They will sp...

A: This was our final day in Italy in 2011 and it was a good one except that Beth still didn't feel well and so had a quiet day to herself. During the day she valiantly carried what turned out to be a large amount of shopping up the four flights of stairs to the unit. The lift is still not working. Meanwhile Mick, Elias, Marthese and I caught the train ( 2 hours and about 15 minutes, quicker back) to Bolzano in Trentino-Alto Adige. This province is right up on ...

A: Friday:We had a slow and relaxing morning and Mick and I went for a walk and shared a "Fritella" ie deep fried flat piece of dough served in a bed of lemon flavoured sugar- yum. (M: A kind of overgrown donut without the hole) We had walked past so many of these that we wanted to sample one. We took the nutella-free option! Elias had one with nutella last week and it was a bit rich! The big plan for the day was a visit to Valpolicella wine country to start at...

A: Thursday: We had a message this morning from Marthese and Elias to say their train trip to Switzerland last night was trouble-free and they had received a warm welcome from Wiebke and her parents, Connie and Matthias, and it was snowing. Yeah! Today Mick and Beth and I took a trip (45 minutes on the train) to Mantova- Mantua- which is a pretty little place on the shores of three lakes; Lago Superiore, Lago di Mezzo and Lago Inferiore. The poet Virgil was bor...