Funk Friday Foto

This poor pink bike abandoned outside the Metro station in Paris.

FLORENCE

Florence - A Day of Misadventure.

For us Florence was not a great experience, it was just an interlude of a few hours while doing other things. Firstly our leased Citroen C3 required servicing after 2000 kms of travelling and secondly we were taking our son Andrew to Florence to catch a plane to Moscow. We drove over to Chiusi where we had booked the car in a few days previous but as usual, we got lost. As we were looking for the Citroen Dealer we were confronted by a road block, by the Carabinieri, you know, those guys with automatic rifles over their shoulders. Sue said, "you stay in the car while I ask these nice gentlemen for directions."

After much hand gesturing a smile came over their faces which then broke into laughter. Sue came back to the car as the Carbonieri were pulling up their road block. Wondering what went on, Sue just said to follow them as they were giving us an escort to the Citroen Dealer. It seemed one of them had a relative in Australia which then made us their friends - how good is that?

Despite being initially lost, we were still early (we factor in getting lost time) for the train to Florence so we decided to have coffee and a snack at a local cafe near the station. The lady behind the counter was talking with the local patrons and of course our Italian was basically non-existent. I tried to order coffee and all of a sudden this Aussie accent flowed out from the lady. She just happen to be from Sydney and was married to a local bloke from Chiusi. They'd lived in Sydney for several years but decided to settle back here. I think she enjoyed communicating in her native language and we promised to call back on our way home after picking up the car.



Taking time out to watch the waters of the river Arno flowing beneath the Ponte Vecchio.



The train trip to Florence was uneventful and we arrived ready to explore in what little time we had available before Andrew left in a bus for the airport.

Not much time really and as a consequence, we didn't appreciate the true treasures of Florence. Certainly Ponte Vecchio was on the must see list and we did spend some relaxing time looking out over the river.

Certainly when entering from the Pizza de San Giovanni the Duomo was a highlight and entering inside of the Duomo will always be an experience to be remembered, much the same as the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

We would have needed a few days, not a few hours to have brought home great memories of Florence. The tacky souvenir sellers, the poverty and beggars tend to take the shine from such an historic and cultural rich city. Is it any wonder we love returning to rural flow Italy and France more than the populated cities.

Looking down narrow side streets can offer some amazing sights.



Was the statue on the right offering us directions?





The Duomo and the Baptistery in the forefront were amazing. The Duomo is the fourth largest church in Europe and when you enter it you actually feel minuscule in the huge open area. Even though there were heaps of tourist inside, it still felt uncrowded. The tower, Campanile was designed by Giotto and completed 20 years after his death.
Had we had more time, we could have explored the church for longer.



Time was moving on and we needed to get Andrew to the bus stop to take him to the airport. Our attempts to make contact with Alitalia to confirm Andrew's second leg of his flight from Florence to Moscow were unsuccessful but we guessed all would be OK.

It was not to be - as we were back on the train to Chiusi we received a call from Andrew to say that Alitalia would not honour his flight because he had not taken the first leg of the journey. This was infact (always read the small print) the case but due to a change of travel plans he decided to relinquish the cost of the first leg and make his way to Rome to meet us. I was furious that an airline would leave a 20 year old stranded in an airport possibly endangering his safety. This was more of an issue rather than the cost to me.

It was fortunate that Andrew called us for help and so we suggested that he purchase another ticket and I would deal with the matter when we returned to Australia. And I did. It took me three months of badgering but I did get a refund but not the apology I would have preferred. I now refer to them as the genitalia airline.

I guess this did leave a sour taste in our mouth from the Florence experience but our son eventually was safely on a flight to Moscow and we were back in Chiusi picking up our car. We did honour our promise to return the little bar with our new found Sydney friend and washed down that bad taste with a Vino.

Maybe we should return to Florence another time.

Too Late to Post Tonight

Started to post about our mis-adventures in Florence - it was a day to forget but strangely the things that went wrong seem a bit of a giggle now.
Should have it all posted tomorrow night.

Food, wine and Lotsa Rain

Friday evening and on my way home from work and she says (Sue that is), "buy some sparkling red to start the weekend with." I always do as I'm told so that was the beginning of our weekend.
I usually start with a Saturday morning ride but my back is playing up and from mid-Friday to early Sunday we have had a huge rainfall so cycling was out. I actually didn't mind really, forgot what a sleep-in was like.

For 48 hours it has rained and rained - that's a good thing with our water catchment areas are filling.

We decided on doing a late morning market thing at Prahran and buy some ingredients for our Saturday night dinner. The Prahran market is not the cheapest market but is a little special in many ways.

Sue had in mind rabbit (Lapin) for dinner and I have to say that this was the best I have EVER had. It was fall of the bone stuff, so tender. I'll let Sue tell you how it was done.

An entree of scallops
Scallops were little, but local. They were great quickly seared and on a broad bean puree with some crispy prosciutto.



Complemented by a Riesling from the Strathbogie ranges.





We love rabbit, but his photo looks like rabbit that disagreed with someone!! Good one Leon!

It was simply braised in stock and wine after browning with shallots, garlic, celery, mushrooms and prosciutto. Dampened parchment paper and a lid on top for an hour or so, then finished with a spoonful of light cream. We served it with a mash of potatoes, garlic and peas. Yummo.

It's a shame that rabbit is expensive here and not that easy to get.



The red was from the Languedoc region in the south of France - perfect with bunny.

Still wet Sunday AM, and a date to catch up with friends on the Mornington Peninsula didn't allow for a ride, but that's OK.

Our friends Glor and Baz just returned from their trip to Italy and France and we wanted to share their experiences. What with a week in Sicily, then Rome and then Nice before a week in Avignon, they had plenty to tell us.

Many riders would have been on the 220 kms ride for 12 hours.
There were probably as many as 10,000 riders.



The guys above were going to ride 220 kms around Port Phillip Bay and that included a ferry ride to the other side of the bay. Brave or stupid??????

 While we drove down to see our friends we were amongst virtually 1000s of cyclists on the annual "Round the Bay" ride. I did this several years back (2006 I think) and you can get 4 seasons in one day over the 220 kms. The start was at 6.00 AM and we returned home at 6.00 PM, and so were many of the riders looking very fatigued.

Can't say I missed not riding really................

Annette Kellerman- the Aussie Mermaid

While recently reading thru my History of Mentone book, I was reminded of Annette Kellerman, a local girl  who with her family settled in our local suburb. She was credited as influencing synchronised swimming (in my case synchronised drowning).
I'm afraid we can't take much credit for her infamous career in her latter life as she took off to the US to become a celebrity in many ways - Wikipedia (as always) has something to say about this young lady who spent some time from around the corner where we live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Kellerman#Early_life

I'll just post a few piccies of this delightful young mermaid of the pool.

And there is more here - happy reading, she's fascinating.

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/marie-claire/features/life-stories/article/-/5887692/annette-kellerman-australias-forgotten-icon/