Today was our last full day in Novara. We finished our laundry and packed our luggage. We then did some last minute shopping as I needed shorts as the weather has been quite hot and is set to get hotter as we travel south. We went to Novara to check out some shops and had success in the department store Coin. We then had some nutella crepes and gelato before driving home for our final home cooked meal from Aunty Antionette. It was superb as usual and after dinner...

Today we relaxed and went to lunch at Vivien's house. She had prepared a feast for lunch and we enjoyed the many entrees and BBQ dishes that were beckoning us from the table. Once full, we retired to the couch to watch Casey Stoner win the very wet MotoGP at Silverstone. In the afternoon we kicked back before eating dinner again at Viv's place. Then we settled in to watch the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix which was delayed because of the amount of rainfall and e...

We decided to stay in with Uncle (Zio) Tony & Aunty (Zia) Antonia today to relax a little, and give our feet a rest from all the walking we've been doing. Zia spent some time showing us her veggie patch in the backyard and attempting to explain in Italian what all the different herbs and vegetables were. She's growing all kinds of things like tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, potatoes, zuchinnis, different varieties of lettuce, celery, basil, and chilli - and th...

We probably had the best sleep last night since the beginning of our trip. I don't know if it was the spacious room, the plump pillows or the knowledge that over a thousand people hadn't slept in the bed prior to us - but we woke up feeling very refreshed. We went to Novara city and walked around the little shops and la duomo (the church) before making our way to the train station to buy our tickets for the remainder of our tour around Italy. We ducked into a loc...

After a quick morning stroll down Las Ramblas for the last time, and a bocadillo and coffee for breakfast - we checked out of Hotel Turin and bid Barcelona Adios. A 30min aerobus ride to the airport and another Easyjet adventure later - we touched down in Milan Malpensa airport where the Italian D'Souza's were waiting to greet us. We drove straight to Uncle Tony's house to meet the rest of the faily and settle into the room we'd be staying in. We sat down with ...