Aussie Invasion Part 2 - Rome

The next phase of our adventure saw us getting up early on the Monday morning for a somewhat convoluted taxi ride to Stansted airport for our flight to Roma. We were delighted to find sunny blue skies when we arrived. After bussing into town from Fiumicino, and trying to figure out exactly where to go next, we caught an 'adventurous' Roman cab to our little apartment near the Forum and Colosseum, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise -spacious, nicely decorated, and central.



Looking down the street from 'our place', Piaggio workshop in the foreground.

As you can see from the photo above, it wasn't long until we had hit the streets and found our first genuine Italian pizza, served by a suitably surly Roman signora - my idea of heaven really. Just around the corner we found the Roman Forum, and its equally ancient neighbour, the Fori Imperiali, which you can see in the photo below.

The Roman Forum.

Three gladiators outside the Colosseum, complete with Roman sandals. We managed to beat our way past the queues by going on a tour, which was fascinating, despite the somewhat monotonous nature of our tour guide.

Don't ask.

Us, wandering in footsteps of Caeser. Come to think of it, we actually saw the grave of Julius Caeser himself in the forum, which was a wierd kind of thrill for me, at least!

From the forum, we walked through twilight Rome, finding ourselves outside the Pantheon, just before the sun went down.

The interior of the Pantheon.

Luke's tribute to Dean Martin....ever the romantic.

At our penultimate stop for the night, outside what turned out to be really nice trattoria in Piazza Navona. Our waiter (who bore a canny resemblance to Darryl Sommers), of course, had lived in Melbourne, so provided a great source of entertainment, mainly at my expense!

Roman margherita - Get in!

The Fontana del Nettuno in Piazaa Navona.

Fontana di Trevi, as beautiful as ever. We finished the night here, throwing our coins and feeling very happy with ourselves.

One of the surprises of our visit to Rome was our tour of the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. Our passionate, and highly entertaining guide, gave us all the seedy gossip surrounding Michealangelo, his ego, his influences, and his relationships with the Medici, the Pope and cadavers.

Bernini's baldicchino inside St Peter's.

The Vatican square. Another warm, beautiful day. It was getting late in the afternoon, so unfortunately we had to run back to the termini to pick up our rental car for the trip to Pienza. After a bit of a search for the rental place, we eventually squeezed into our 7 seater Chrysler and hit the streets of Rome...in peak hour....

Aussie Invasion Part 1 - London

Well its certainly been a long time coming, but after nearly two months (has it gone that quickly?) since the guys left, finally I'm getting my butt into gear and putting up some photos of our amazing time together. I can honestly say that Fee and I had The Best time with Luke, Nic, Bob and Bron exploring London, Italy and NYC together. Getting back together was just like old times, and reminded us both what great friends we have. Although we miss everyone, and we are looking forward to coming home eventually (sorry mum, not just yet!), what this visit helped reinforce was that in these people we have a real friendship that distance or time won't change, which I know will last through all the 'bits and bobs' (thought you might miss the English-isms Luke) that life inevitably throws at you.

Anyway, enough of the mushy stuff, and down to the first chapter of the story, London.

Luke and Nic arrived wearily on the Friday afternoon of September 29, and came back to our old place (we've moved again, but thats another blog entry) in Ingatestone. Dinner was quickly followed by sleep for everyone, but we were surprised to discover Luke and Nic were up and about before us the next morning, touring the streets of Ingatestone. It was a sunny morning, so after a full English I took them on a tour of the back streets, which was nicer than it sounds. Luke and Nic then went off on the train to Plymouth for the next week, before returning to Ingatestone the next weekend. On the Saturday afternoon, we travelled in to Notting Hill, through the bustling market, and onto a small cafe for a light brekkie where we saw none other than Nicole Kidman! Of course after that we made our way over to the book shop of Hugh Grant fame, and after a bit of a browse in there and a nearby record store, I took off to go and pick up Bob and Bron.

Fee, Nic and Nic outside the 'Notting Hill' travel bookstore.

It was great to see Bob and Bron, and get the whole gang back together again. Despite the inevitable jet-lag, we all dragged ourselves happily into London to spend a day exploring the capital. Here we are, having just arrived, outside Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Us in The Eye.

In The Lamb and Flag in Covent Garden, our first pints after a big day walking.

We finished the day with boat trip down the Thames to Tower Bridge, and dinner at The Chop House, which was a fantastic night of great food and drink, complete with snooty French sommelier, celebrating Bob and Bron's engagement. (if somewhat belatedly!)

The next day saw us back in London, with a tour of Buckingham Palace, a brief sojourn to Hyde Park and a 'brief' sojourn to Harrods, where Luke brought some undies. It was another nice day, much to everyone's surprise, but we were home reasonably early as we needed to pack for the next morning's flight to Italy.

Pete and Marcella's Wedding

Back in August, Fee and I were lucky enough to be invited to Pete (IT manager, and good mate from work) and Marcella Vincent's wedding down in Brighton. Somehow they managed to pick the only perfectly warm and sunny day in about three weeks of utter rubbish weather. A lovely church ceremony was followed buy a pre-reception reception under a marquee at an old school overlooking the coast. The champagne was following freely, some of it on me, (but that's another story) as were the canapes. The reception itself was held in a nice restaurant down in Brighton proper, near the pier. With plenty of drinking, dancing and raiding of the buffet, everyone, especially the bride and groom, had a great night - even the £10 room at the boarding school where we stayed wasn't too bad....once we got in!

The 'lads' - Sal, Matt, Pete (the groom) and me.

Fee, with Matt's girlfriend Nel, and Sal's wife Elsa.