Holiday Travels Pt 2

After Estonia it was on to Italy..... and 1st stop Rome! 

We had 3 days in this busy, exciting city.......so - with our trusty map in hand - routes marked out for each of the 3 days we had here (marked out by our very helpful hostel manager) we headed out! 
Over the next few day we walked, walked and then walked some more - with the occasional bus ride thrown in - mainly to get back"home" at the end of each busy day! We explored and discovered.....

...The Roman Forum

The Colosseum....

....Vatican City,

 including St Peters Basilica and.................. The Sistine Chapel.....

The crowds at Vatican City were amazing and luckily we followed the advice of our very helpful hostel manager who advised us to buy our tickets before hand - online - ques were still long but nowhere near as long as the "other" one! 

.... Spanish Steps (taken through glass as they were supposedly doing some work on them!! 

The Trevi Fountain - of course!

And.... we discovered a little hidden corner of Rome - Trastevere - an atmospheric warren of Medieval cobbled streets......

We walked many kilometers during our 3 days in Rome - nearly 45! Around every corner there was another photo opportunity! 

and luckily plenty of tempting fresh fruit stands as our weather was quite warm!!

but every afternoon exactly when the weather forecast said it would - there was a storm....they were so exact that we could plan our days around them - making sure that there was a restaurant close by and stopping for lunch......

All too soon our 3 days of discovering Rome came to an end and once more we were packed and ready for the next adventure!

Time now for some sea and sun as we were about to head off to Marina Del Cantone on the west coast.....

And so to Part 3 next time.....

Asta 

Holiday Travels Pt 1

Well.... as you can see by the title (and as I mentioned last time) I will back-track - or should I say "reminisce over" - a wonderful 6 week holiday I had last September with Hayley and Megan....this will mainly be made up of a small selection of the many many photos I took!! 
Hayley & I left together and after a 10 hour flight enjoyed a night in Japan.......

......... the following day another 10 hour flight onto Helsinki where we had a 3 hour wait at the airport......................

.....before finally arriving in Estonia to be met unexpectedly by Megan who had told us that she would be arriving from England the following day but had decided to surprise us!! It had been 18 months since we had last seen her!! 

Estonia is where my heritage lies - both parents are Estonian and this was Hayley's and my first trip to the "homeland" - Megan had just a few days there in 2014. 

We stayed in the "Old Town".........the oldest part of the capital, Tallinn.... and spent many hours walking along narrow, cobbled streets and lane ways within the medieval town walls discovering old merchant houses, hidden courtyards, winding stairs leading to views over the city and lots of cafes! 

behind this door and up the stairs was our renovated, modern apartment for our stay in Estonia

 Enjoying pickled cucumbers, various cheeses, beaver (yes, beaver)  and a house wine -  from Australia! 

We traveled out of Tallinn along the northern coast stopping off at one of their popular beaches - not very enticing with a freezing cold wind blowing!!

 A photo taken of all 3 of us in a town called Haapsalu......

And then there were the relatives to visit..... so we headed out of Tallinn to Rakvere not quite 2 hours away......surrounded by relatives we had never met we set out to do some sight seeing of the town my dad grew up in.....

..... the house where dad lived and  some relatives still live! ....including his 95 year old cousin...and where we had lunch! My girls were very impressed that I could converse with the relatives in Estonian as some of them did not speak English!

Like most towns Rakvere also had its medieval castle.......

Another day.... a bus ride out of Tallinn... and we were at the Open Air Museum. In beautiful forest surroundings some of Estonia's oldest wooden structures can be found - depicting 150 years of rural life....

...an old school house....

Having lunch at the old wooden tavern serving traditional Estonian cuisine....

A few women in traditional costume had just finished an exhibition of folk dancing.... 

Another "tourist" destination was the baroque style Kadriorg Palace built between 1718 - 1736 by the Russian Tsar Peter the Great for his wife. 

a final look over Tallinn......and after 9 days

the time had arrived to say "Goodbye" to Estonia as we made our way on the ferry across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki from where we were flying to Rome to continue the rest of our travels ! 

 

And so ends Part 1 of our travels together.......

Till the next installment ...... Asta

A New Year!

Well...before we too far into 2017 I'd better update a bit with what I have been up to.......
It was lovely having Linda, Mum and Dad here - it's been a while since they were here for Christmas - usually I'm the one travelling to either Sydney or to my other sister's place in the Southern Highlands.....(Vivien and her husband had gone to Adelaide so were unable to join us)....

Linda decided to do some gardening while visiting....didn't think my garden was that bad!
But.... I did take her to one of my favourite shops - Steph's Fabrics in Moruya where we enjoyed a cup of coffee before browsing through the tempting shelves of fabrics and bits and pieces....and of course making some small purchases.....

.......We had afternoon teas out 

........leisurely time to read......

..... also finished Magda Szubanski's  book "Reckoning" - which I thoroughly enjoyed - Mum then borrowed the book and I forgot to take a photo. 

Since my family left I've had another week off work spent catching up with a dear friend, Liz,  from Sydney.....over many cups of tea and lunch at our Botanical Gardens......

here we're up to afternoon tea! 

And..... I have actually done some stitching - the first real stitching for quite some time! I enrolled in a class at Steph's Fabrics - since I work full-time it's not something I get to do too often but found one that was offered while I was on holidays......

this is the class sample! And......

here is my work in progress....... very relaxing - just have to decide what stitch I might do and what colour!! 

Over the next few blogs I will "chat" about my wonderful overseas holiday last September with both Hayley and Megan and put up some photos.... hope it won't bore my readers but as I make my blog into a printed journal I really can't let that amazing holiday go by without being mentioned!! 

Hope everyone has started the New Year "creatively"!! 

Asta