Piazza Del Fico, Rome

 A left leaning water fountain

 Gaffer tape fixes everything :)

The concierge at the hotel told us about a great little restaurant in Piazza del Fico near Piazza Navona called Da Francesco. They specialise in Roman food it was very good - we went twice :)

 Piazza del Fico with two groups of men playing chess

 The guys were very intent on their game and there were encouraging spectators

Photos from Rome

 A really hot day in Rome and there was a group of German guys wearing lederhosen :)

The forum is always a favourite place

Pines, blue skies and a forum = Roma

 Vicolo del Babuino

The hotel terrace had cute little olive trees in pots

We went for a stroll along the river  between Isola Tiberina and Castel San Angelo before it got too hot

 Il calcio and Gigi Buffon rule

 There were strong reflections despite rapid currents

 A safe haven for ducks

and an upturned boat was a hang out for other birds

Settled in Rome

Our Emirates flight was uneventful and we finally made it to our hotel around 10.00pm after an interesting time at Fiumicino Airport.  Our plane was early  but we had to spend over an hour squashed in a line trying to go through Passport Control.  The main problem was the big numbers of people in tour groups continually shoving and manoeuvring to get best positions.

Our hotel is great and in a fantastic location near Piazza di Pietra -our hotel room windows look out over the piazza. Our first day was spent taking it easy wandering around reacquainting ourselves with Rome.  It was around 30C and quite hot in the open area near the Foro Romano.  Rob went for a run early in the morning -his favourite Rome run which includes going up to the Campidoglio.

 The only glitch for me is that I have ended up with legs like tree trunks post flight and long walks yesterday didn't help so I'm taking it quietly for a little while.

 The hotel has a rooftop terrace which is a great place for an aperitivo in the evening before going out for dinner.

 Will post photos from Venice as the wifi here has some security problems.

Andiamoci di nuovo 2014

The countdown has started.  Only a few more days until we are on our way to spend another autumn in Italy and another Venice marathon for Rob.

 I'm looking forward to speaking and thinking in Italian  and gelato, pasta, pizza, pane & bigne - ok all Italian food ;)

Parma in November

We spent a few days in Parma -too late for the opera season but still a worthwhile place to visit.  We stayed in a suite at Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati which is situated in the Strada del Duomo and is opposite the Battistero and Duomo - an ideal location and comfortable accommodation.
The weather was quite cold and a bit rainy but it didn't stop us from wandering around and if the rain was heavy we shopped or stopped in to one of the many bars for a caffè or aperitivo.

Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati is very close to the Battistero which was built in the 1100s

The Baptistery

The doors of the Battistero

One of the side panels

Parma is an interesting, well maintained place and the centro is quite picturesque with many attractive narrow streets and large piazzas. Sections of the city were bombed in the second world war and some evidence of the destruction remains today.

The street lights are beautiful and are attached to buildings rather than free standing

As with most Italian cities, there are interesting courtyards visible from the street

Piazza Garibaldi

Piazza Garibaldi

We went to a Botero sculpture exhibition "Botero a Parma" in Palazzo del Governatore. This sculpture was in Piazza Garibaldi

Palazzo Pilotta was bombed during WW2. It was partially rebuilt but still shows signs of damage

The cds in this shop were precariously balanced near the computer monitor

Parma is the home of fantastic prosciutto and parmigiano.  This antipasto tasting plate has prosciutto crudo, culatello, spalla cotto and the best pancetta that we have ever tasted

Police and students in Torino

There always seems to be something happening with the police and students in Italy, this time it was in Torino. There was a national student protest on November 15 over cuts to education in the coming national budget. Student groups are concerned that access to education is being drastically reduced.
In Torino there was a massive police presence and streets in the centre of the city were closed to traffic from fairly early in the morning.  Police were in their riot gear with batons etc and there were massive police vans everywhere - does this antagonize protesters to take physical action? I think so.

In Piazza Castello many people didn't know what was happening and many people registering for the Turin Marathon became part of the student group by default.

Apparently there was some friction between the police and students, but it was all very orderly in Piazza Castello while we were there and what we thought was a flare was smoke from the castagne seller's fire.

Turin Marathon

Rob again ran in the Turin marathon and did his best time in ages.  The race was much better supported by the public this time and there were many people out in the streets cheering runners on.  Rob said that there were groups of women in traditional dress singing folk songs in some of the towns.

Once again the African runners were the top placegetters

The first woman to finish got heaps of applause

A group of runners ran together from Piazza San Carlo in remembrance of those killed at the Boston Marathon. They ran at the same time as when the first bomb went off in Boston

Glad to be finished