We’ve been exceptionally British and been to the Polo to stomp some divots… Happy to say that the home team (in red) managed to hold off Buenos Aires (blue) to take the title.
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Waved to the Queen at the Diamond Jubilee Flotilla…
A couple of women also watching the Flotilla had these hats they'd made themselves that had those solar-powered waving Queenies on the top. I was allowed to try it on :) It even has a corgi. Just as the flotilla moved past us, it completely bucketed down. Good thing we were ready to go home by then!
For a quick break, we went to see Rock of Ages which is now our number one favourite show so far. No plot to speak of, but who cares? It was huge fun. It meant that we didn't have to bother with the movie either! Tom Cruise? A rock star? Puh-leeese...
Anyway, back to the Britishness! Off to the Tower of London, but thankfully not by boat…
There were other things sprouting up too connected to some other event that's been going on.. oh, what was it called again??? Drat... can't remember...
And then to Rome....
After popping over to
Dean and Lou's for dinner (and a few glasses of vino) and the Olympic
Opening Ceremony, a grand total of three hours' sleep followed before a
very unwelcome alarm call at 4am for our 7am flight to Rome. Lucky for
us we were going somewhere exciting!
Rome was beautiful, and hot! 44 degrees two days in a row... Thank god for gelato! We arrived around lunch
time, so after checking into our hotel we immediately went off to
forage for some pasta. On the way back we found St Peter's Square and
our first look at the Basilica.
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| St Peter's Square |
We ticked off many Roman highlights, managing to brave the heat, queues and Vatican dress code to get to the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel, the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum and a tour of St Peter's Basilica, including the climb to the top of the dome to take in the view.
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| St Peter's Basilica at night |
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| Spanish Steps |
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| Trevi at night |
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| Colloseum |
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| Looking back down on St Peter's Square from the top of the Basilica |
Speaking of the Sistine
Chapel... while in there, because it's such as holy place, you're not
meant to take photos or talk. Who did we see doing both that you'd
expect to obey the rules no matter what? Nuns. That's right. Nuns.
Unbelievable... But if they can do it, so can we!What was really hilarious was listening to an Italian guard working in the Museum explain how to get back to St Peter's Square to a couple of other tourists. We waited patiently until he was finished because Kyle had a burning question... "Where does the Pope live?" The answer? "I don't speak English". Now, I'm sure they get the odd nutter in there, but, really? That's the answer you choose to give? Okay. Google knows anyway... It's not a secret or anything.
As with all the other places we've been this year, the food here was fabulous. We ate pizza and pasta like no one was watching and sampled some tiramisu as well. Would be rude not to, really. Kyle also found that he's quite partial to a glass or two of Ripassa. We found a lovely local restaurant, Su e Giu Cucina Romana, run by a guy and his wife, where the food was really good and really affordable. So we went twice. I still think about the tomato spaghetti marinara from time to time.
Meanwhile, back in London...
Getting back four days
later, the Olympics were in full swing. We weren't fortunate enough to
get tickets to any events, so instead we took advantage of some of the
free events happening around the place. We went to Hyde Park for the
women's triathalon and cheered on NZ's three hopefuls.We also went to Hyde Park on the final Saturday to take in the atmosphere in one of the roped-off areas with massive screens. It was pretty cool being surrounded by Brits when local pin-up boy diver, Tom Daley, took bronze in the Men's 10m platform. The whole place erupted. There was no crying over bronze there! Can't say the same for the guy who silver, however... Boo hoo.
Now that the Olympics are over, we're getting into the swing of things with the Paralympics and are off to the swimming on Wednesday night. We've also been along to a few of the Proms (as in Last Night of the...) at the Royal Albert Hall with Dean and Lou, which have been pretty good. The festivities have included Saint-Saens (Mozart murderer) and Tchaikovsky, Broadway Sounds and The Marriage of Figaro. Yet more kulcha for Team Reid!
That's enough for now! All caught up again...
Until next time, toodle-pip!
M&K xxx
