TODI, UMBRIA, ITALY-OUR VILLA!

Hi Everyone
We have had a fantastic stay in Todi, in the Villa we leased. It has been a tonic to stop travelling and living out of a suitcase and enjoy the beautiful local town, the swimming pool and day trips to other towns in the Umbrian countryside. I must say that on some days it was hard to pull ourselves away from the pool and there we stayed! Anyway Some photos taken of Todi, our Villa and celebrations of my 50th birthday which we celebrated by attending a cooking class in the late afternoon then staying on and eating the food we had prepared for dinner. A fantastic day to remember.

This is the view from our Villa looking up to the old town of Todi.












This photo is of our villa and the swimming pool with Lizzy, Anthony and Jenny (the movie star with the wide brimmed hat) enjoying a cool off. In the last two weeks, the daytime temperature has ranged from 36 - 40 0 C. A couple of days were 340C in the shade. We couldn't have survived without the pool.






Jenny baked me a birhtday cake and we enjoyed it with coffee before heading off to the cooking class.

What a grin. Looks like the cat got the cream!







Anthony, Peter and Lizzy at the cooking class.









Rita our cooking teacher instruction Peter on how to roll the Gnocchi.













Who is this babe! Jenny having just returned from the hairdresser.











Our second to last night when Lizzy's friend Sarah Wilson and her parents Vicki and Ian came for dinner.

HI FROM TODI, ITALY

Hi family and friends,
Well here we are settled in the Villa in Todi, Italy.
As promised, here are the few photos that we have on disk that were not stolen. It covers our time from Montegrotto north of Venice and then our trip up through Austria, Germany and Switzerland.



Jenny Anthony and Lizzy standing in front of a beautiful water garden outside the Spa town of Montegrotto













The Hofberg Palace in Innsbruck, Austria.










A view from Oberperfus where we stayed down the mountain to the valley below and Innsbruck









Standing on top of the world! - well almost. We are above the city of Interlaken, Switzerland, looking across at Europe's highest peak, the Jungfrau.











In Gemany we stayed in a town called Bodman on the Briendersee Lake. We visited a wonderful castle and village called Schloss Salem.













We are pictured standing in front of Duomo in Florence. While in Florence, we visited Michaelangelo's David, which we found as amazing as the first time we saw this sculpture.










Travelling south, we stopped in Montepulciano, and in the village piazza we were caught having a cuddled!

And finally today, 12 June 2008 we celebrated Anthony's 19th birthday. Jenny baked him a cake and we had Anthony's choice of food- Bacon and eggs for breakfast, home made Italian style pizza for lunch and Steak for dinner, with lashings of Heineken and red wine!!!

Well as you can see, we are still alive and despite the theft in Milan of my main suitcase, all our four carrybags and a backpack with Jenny's sounvenir treasures, we are having a good holiday. It was an interesting experience being left so far from home with only the clothes on my back!

We are resting this first week from our travels and have taken the car to Perugia to be fixed finally. We intend to then travel around Umbria and Tuscany on day trips visiting the interesting small villages and countryside.

We will try and keep in touch and update the blog every week or so.

Our love and best wishes to you all.

FROM ITALY NORTH into AUSTRIA, GERMANY, SWITZERLAND and back to ITALY

Well here we are in Todi where our villa is, but two days earlier than expected as we have come to get our car repaired. Why you ask ? - well here we go ...

...we had a wonderful trip up into Austria, Germany and Switzerland enjoying the wonderful alps with magical little wooden houses perched on the hill sides with green green paddocks and cows with bells on. The weather was great, but we headed back down into Italy a few days earlier, to visit Milan which at this stage we had not intended to do. Just as well we did head south as we missed the terrible thunderstorms and rain which created havoc and many deaths particularly in Germany. You may have seen this on the news.

Back into Italy the weather has been great, but on our second day in Milan, our car was broken into and all but three of our cases stolen !!!! We had parked in a carpark and arranged with the attendant to keep an eye on it for us. That he didn't and we think his "friends" were the ones who broke into the car. The Police took him away for questioning, so who knows. Peter lost his main suitcase with all his belongings and only had the clothes he stood up in and the items in his manbag. We each lost our small carrycases and 1 small backpack with all our personal items, two cameras, our Camera SD cards some of which had all our photos on them, Lizzy's Ipod, all our trinkets bought in each country we have visited, tickets, itinerary, notes, diaries, spare cash cards, copies of documents, our peugeot wallet with contact information (luckily not our car registration, insurance, spare key or transponder, or the GPS which were on Peter in his Manbag). At least Jenny, Lizzy and Anthony had their main cases with clothing and some toiletries. Anyway it was very upsetting and we have wasted a day in Milan and the next 4 days in Florence trying to sort out the insurance and repair to the car drivers door and lock where they forced entry and get replacement spare visa cards. We are told the car will take 20 days to get a new door lock and handle and be repaired, so have been directed to the Peugeot dealer down here in Todi. Upon arrival today, we find he can not do the repair and we have to drive back up to another Peugeot dealer in Perugia - talk about be given the run around!

Anyway enough of our troubles, back to the trip.
From Montegrotto the spa town nearVenice where we stayed, we drove up to Innsbruck in Austria and stayed in a beautiful little village in the mountains called Oberperfuss. The scenery was breathtaking and the village out of a storybook. We had a great few days exploring and visiting the lovely city of Innsbruck. Everything was so clean green and orderly. No one speeds on the roads and everyone is very polite on and off the road; very different to the Italian motorists! We drove west then headed north through the alps to Germany and stayed in Brienz on the lake. At this point, Austria is between Germany and Switzerland on a spit of land 15 km wide, on one side of the lake its Germany and the other Switzerland. We then stayed in Germany at the northern point of the lake at Bodman and explored the area from there. The lake was picturesque and the weather very fine and hot with no wind. We then drove further west and south to Interlaken in Switzerland, a small town between two lakes with the Alps towering above. The Jungfrau, the highest mountain in Europe stands over the town and we managed to get good views of it and the Eiger as the clouds and mist rose. Back into the alps the senery was spectacular and the fresh, clean, green environment was recharging. With the weather deteriorating in central europe with thunderstorms on the way, we headed south back to Italy earlier than planned. We decided to visit Milan now, rather than in a months time when we leave Todi. That way we would be able to head straight up and around the French Riviera into France, thereby saving 2 - 3 days.

We have spend 4 days, 3 nights in Florence sorting insurance and car matters out and have not had the chance to sightsee there. We will have to spend time there in a few weeks on our way north to France. So much for saving a few days.

We are all well and count our blessing that we are safe and that it was only our luggage taken. We are looking forward to life in a small Italian town for the next three weeks and also to not moving on every few days.

I am sorry that there are no photos to post on the blog for your enjoyment, but someone in Milan has them !!! Lizzy has her portable hard-drive to which she had downloaded photos from her camera, but all the others are gone. At least we have hers. Anthony is upset that he has lost his photos on SD card and trinkets he had purchased on the way. We have bought one replacement camera in Florence so we can begin taking photos again, so hope to upload some for you of Todi and our villa in a week or two.

Thanks to those of you who have kept in touch through comments on this site or emails. We appreciate them and are sorry if we have not replied as often as we should. Its always great to receive news and photos from good old NZ.

FROM ITALY NORTH into AUSTRIA, GERMANY and SWITZERLAND