Sunday, 21st August 2005,Udine, Italy Waiting for the rain to cease.
Well the weather forecast was right - it forecast rain & we've had 2
days down poor. Richard wants to know how come the Brits manage to get
the weather forecast right for Italy but always wrong for the UK? We
don't care as we're sitting indoors and not getting drenched.
Those of you who have subscribed to our
newsletters may recall us mentioning Josephina, the lovely lady who
cheered us with coffee and chocolate bars at the Valdivienne bus stop
the first day we set out on our world tour. A couple of days ago the
Nouvelle Republic in France did an update article on our travels.
Richard's mother, Claudine rang us today to say that she had just
received a phone call from Josephina who wanted to say how happy she was
to read the article as she had been so worried may recall us mentioning
Josephina, the lovely lady who cheered us with coffee and chocolate bars
at the Valdivienne bus stop the first day we set out on our world tour.
A couple of days ago the Nouvelle Republic in France did an update
article on our travels. Richard's mother, Claudine rang us today to say
that she had just received a phone call from Josephina who wanted to say
how happy she was to read the article as she had been so worried about
us.
Tuesday, 16th August 2005,Porcia, Italy Starting Good - Ending Bad.
On route to Porcia we a Q8 to visit the toilet. Whilst waiting for Stani to
emerge, Richard was invited in the bar for a cappuccino and cornetto by a
friendly truck driver. As if that wasn't enough to fill his day with happiness, someone
had left a copy of Sport Week on the table and glancing through it we discovered
an article on the Chavenel brother's - Richard's cousins who are professional
cyclists. Unfortunately the day didn't end so well as we lost our Scooby do
mascot :-(
Tuesday, 9th August 2005,Ferrara, Italy Tales from the Danube Delta
Just finally got round to reading a recent email of Anne
& Johny, friends who are presently cycling to Mongolia. They tell a tale
of their visit to a monastery and the "self cleaning icon" in the Danube
Delta.
On it's arrival at the monastery the entire face and neck of Christ
were grey yet now only the top left-hand corner of Christ's face remains
so - the rest of the picture has cleaned itself. Apparently the face is
becoming cleaner in sequences coinciding with major advances of world
peace, namely after the 2 world wars. Pilgrims claim their photographs
of the icon are also are becoming "cleaner. Only about a quarter of the
icon remains unclean today. There's hope yet no?
We've finally posted the magazine article that was written about us
in Algeria in the ladies magazine Missilia so for those of you who can
read French you can read it
here.
Sunday, 7th August 2005,Ferrara, Italy
Today the temperature topped 22°C so it was no effort at
all to cycle the flat route from Bologna to Ferrara we'd been dreading.
It was hard to say goodbye to Umberto but we'd already stayed an extra
couple of days as it was. In Ferrara we are staying in the flat of a
Hospitality Club member - he's in Brazil but he kindly left the keys
with his friend. How generous is that - to let 2 complete strangers into
your home when you're not even there? Only thing that spoilt our entry
into the town was the MacDonalds' sign immediately behind the Ferrara "Citta
di bicletta" sign.
Saturday, 6th August 2005, Near Bologna, Italy
Hello everyone. Another long silent patch! As most
people these days seem interested in where we are actually going as to
where we have been we thought maybe we should put a few comments on
that!
Basically we are heading north to Ferrera tomorrow (big cycle town!)
and after that to Padua, Pordenone, Udine and into Slovenia. We intend
to visit the Triglavski Narodni Park - looks like we'll have to go
over the Vrsic mountain pass (the Giro d'Italia usually includes it and
apparently it's called "the devil's climb". By all accounts not an easy
task). Initially we were heading for Bled but everyone has said that
Bohinj is just as nice and less touristy. After that to the city of
Ljubljana - "a smaller less touristy version of Prague" - sounds GREAT!
Then down to Croatia, heading towards Turkey to escape the winter
(what again?). Route not yet planned so any suggestions welcome!
We've added a few new photos to the Blue menu photos page but we
still have a huge back log to go!
Thanks for everyone's support (especially Andrew, Neil and Angel.)
Photos of the day ....
Saturday, 9th July 2005, Palestrina, Roma, Italy Palestrina has captured our hearts for a number of
reasons.
Apart from the fact that it may be one of the oldest towns in Italy
(older than Rome!) dating from the 9th Century BC, it is a small hill
top town that has amazing views over the valley and the people there are
wonderful.
Wednesday, 29th June 2005
Cetara, Amalfi Coast, Italy
See our
newsletter -if
you didn't get it why haven't you signed up huh? For those of you that
have come to see the mad San
Pedro himself on film - sorry we had to remove this as too slow even
with ADSL!
The best was definitely the fireworks - set to operatic music. We
were advised by the local residents because of the poor fishing that
year, the local council didn't have much spare cash so the fireworks
weren't as good as normal - but we were impressed. Ditto as above re the film clip.
Wednesday, 22nd June 2005 Caria, Reggio Calabria, Italy
Yesterday when we went to Vibo Valencia, Salvatore told
us to try the local speciality "Tavoletta di Cioccolato al Peperoncino".
ie dark chocolate made with calabrese peppers - yummy chocolate with a
hot piquante kick that melts gently away - haven't had anything like it
since we left Mexico!
Tuesday, 21st June 2005 Caria, Reggio
Calabria, Italy
We are sitting here in the sun, drinking cold red wine
from Terre Forti, Montepulciano, D'Abruzzo, at
Salvatore's house. We've been discussing many issues but the last topic
was the word "ok". Richard has always hated the world - believing it
originated from the American expression when at war - "zero to kill"
signifying that everyone was dead and it was alright to proceed.
Salvatore has extended our education by explaining that the word is
originally French! FRENCH! Do they know this? Isn't the word "ok" banned
in France as an foreigners word? Apparently it comes from the phrase "au
quai" indicating that boat is ready to ship.
In case you want to rent a little bungalow in Caria (near the famous
Tropea) check out Salvatore's charming little place on
http://www.secondcasa.com
