Happy Holidays

(picture by O)*

Tomorrow we will drive South to spend time with my family.

Hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends.

*our little tree which has now started shedding needles, especially because inevitably the cats have been systematically removing the baubles. 

Keswick - Oct 2011

20 members of the same family in the same house for 3 days and it wasn’t even Christmas?!

We approached the long weekend with some trepidation to say the least. We’d be spending time with aunts, uncles and cousins that we rarely see and some partners that we’d never even met. But my Dad was turning 65 and he wanted his entire family together to help celebrate.

There were:

Mum, Dad, #1, her husband and niece and nephew, #2 and her boyfriend, O and I. Dad’s brother and his wife. Dad’s sister, her husband, her eldest son, his partner and their 8 month old son, her youngest son, his partner and her 7 year old daughter

We arrived in dribs and drabs on Friday night to a huge house on the outskirts of Keswick that had once been used as a B and B. We chose our room, made ourselves some dinner and caught up with family members as they arrived. The rugby world cup was still on and England had a big game against France the next day. Some of the family decided to go for a rugby breakfast at the nearby pub. O decided as the only one likely to be supporting France he would stay away from the pub and watch the game in our room where he was relatively safe to shout “vive la France”.

By the time we got up the next day, had breakfast and the others were back from the pub plans had begun to emerge. The immediate family Mum, Dad #1, #2 and me with our respective attachments were going to go for a walk around Keswick. #1 had got a treasure trail guide which basically took us on a long walk through Keswick but we had some purpose in our random wanderings. Aunts and Uncles went their separate ways for different walks and trips to car boot sales. The weather was not ideal so we were wrapped up with scarves, gloves and waterproofs to keep off the rain. Back to the house for lunch and a lazy afternoon. Dad’s sister and her family being from Leeds are huge rugby league fans and it was the challenge cup final so that evening they found a pub showing the game and stayed there until dinner time. Plenty of rugby for one day!

The photo on the left is the right way up. Trust me

family stroll through the park

#2 had contacted a local chef who came to the house and made us a delicious meal and did the washing up, which meant that everyone could relax. (although given the size of the supermarket shop my parent’s had delivered we could have fed all of us for quite some time). Wine was consumed and we began to relax with each other, family stories were told, some more shocking than others. We realised just how much we still missed our grandparents. It was strange and a little sad in a way to see my father in his role as the patriarch of the family. My Dad opened his birthday cards and he blew out the candles on his cake (which I spent Friday making), unfortunately we were all far too full for cake after the huge pudding the chef had made so it didn’t get cut until the next day.

The chef made a huge batch of cinder toffee (the inside of a Crunchie)

On the Sunday morning some of the family had to leave to get back for work on Monday so we reduced the numbers by 6. After saying goodbye everyone again went their own ways and made their own plans. Although we were in a stunning part of the country O decided he wanted to visit the beach. I wouldn’t recommend the beaches in that part of England or certainly not the beach at Maryport. It was an extremely industrial and rather grey and bleak. Although it was fun to reminisce with my Mum who’s Dad used to frequently travel to Maryport from Newcastle sometimes taking her with him. Again the weather was poor so we hurried to warm up back at the house. I was starting to come down with a cold at this point so wanted to be warm and cosy. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing a really hard jigsaw, each taking turns at different bits. Remembering how big granddad (Dad’s dad) used to love doing jigsaws and how little granddad (Mum’s dad) used to always hide one piece so he could put the last bit in.

Maryport

That evening we took #2’s boyfriend to the train station so he could also get back for work on the Monday. We put some pies in the oven and made simple vegetables and again ate around the enormous table which was in the dining room. That evening we played card games, chatted about our grandparents/parents laughing at different memories, how when my cousins had been with my Nana she had always talked about my sisters and I and then vice versa, she would always chat about my cousins when with us. We also doggedly kept going at the damn jigsaw and it soon became clear that we were not going to bed until it was completed.

The next morning there was a bedlam of packing and trying to share out the huge amount of leftover food. My cold had well and truly hit. We went to rheged for a hot drink and chats with #2 and my parents before #2 had to go and get the train. On the way home we popped in and visited Rebecca, the second time we’ve gone to visit her lovely home and I’ve been full of cold so have coughed and sniffed on her sofa. Should perhaps visit at the start of a trip before I fall ill rather than at the end.

The weekend had been a huge success much more relaxed than anticipated because everyone made their own plans and came and went as they pleased. We came together for meals and spent a lot of time chatting through happy memories.

intense jigsaw action

Photos by O. Me or nephew

Drinking plenty fluids

I suffer from headaches and no number or combination of drugs will cure them. I just have to ride out the three days it seems to take to shift them. I call them headaches as opposed to migraines as unless they are REALLY bad I don't feel nauseous and I don't have an aversion to light I've also never had any relief from migraine medicines.


Doctors have never established what causes the headaches although there have been several suggestions; posture, allergy to hormones or dehydration. I'm starting to keep a headache diary to try identify a pattern of behaviour that leads to a headache but the easiest diagnosis to challenge is dehydration surely.


I'm bad at drinking enough fluids. So what tips or hints do you have to help me keep up my fluid intake? Not helped by the fact that I don't like water ridiculous as it sounds it tastes funny both from the tap and mineral water. I always have dilute in my water. I also don't drink tea or coffee not sure if that helps or hinders.


I suppose the most obvious is to keep a bottle of juice on my desk and ensuring it is finished by the end of the day. But anything else I could try?

Snowy Monday Morning

Journey to work was fine, pulled into the car park spotted a space really close to the door, reversed in, handbrake on, picked up by bags, got out of the car and locked it. Took three steps forward to the front of the car when I realise the car is moving. Yank at the door handle, remember the car is locked, jab at the buttons on the key fob, wrench open the door, throw my bags in, enter car feet first towards the brake pedal. Stop the car from moving. Realise the car has realistically slid three feet at most as people are still able to get past me and the expensive car I was heading for. Try and reduce heart rate to a reasonable level. Glare back at the people wondering why I’m sat effectively in the middle of the car park. Park the car in a different space where all it can roll into is a hedge. Leave car in gear. Pull handbrake extra hard. Get out of car, give car a really good shake to assess if it is planning on going anywhere. Get back in car and try to reduce heart rate even further. Walk to office and try not to think about where car might be when I leave tonight.

Hope your Monday started better than mine!

Bloody snow.

Berneray - June 2011

This year seemed to be the year that I caught ferries to Scottish islands I’d never been to before. We’ve got quite a running tally and this year added two more to the list.

It was June, a lovely couple had just been married and we unfortunately had to leave the party early to prepare for our early start in time to catch the ferry. The tent was packed along with wet weather gear, warm weather gear and winter gear. You never can be certain of the weather in Scotland. We hadn’t been camping for a really long time so I was worried it could be a shock to the system. We were also going wild camping i.e. sans toilet and shower block which I was a little worried about. Although we’d expected to be camping very close to the holiday home that O’s Mum had rented for the week. After a smoothish crossing (thankfully I don’t get travel sick) we arrived in North Uist and made the relatively short journey to the house. Once we arrived at the house it was clear that there weren’t any spots nearby on which we could pitch a tent. O’s sister and her family weren’t arriving until the next day so we decided to take a bed for the night and find a camping spot the next day.

We had a fantastic weekend, there were trips to the beach where we found our camping spot. There was a slap up restaurant meal which included me eating half a lobster. There were hand dived scallops which were the biggest things I’ve ever seen – thank you O, shame you don’t eat meat they were yummy. There were fiercely fought games of scrabble and arguments over the quality of certain brands of dictionary. There were books read, a small hill climbed and seals spotted. There were cuddles with nephew who we later discovered was suffering from a hideous cold that knocked me and his Mum sideways when we finally came down with it a few days later. (he handled it much better than either of us).

Unfortunately there were also arguments with the owner of the holiday home (they lived next door and had only been renting out the house for 6/7 weeks) who felt we were overcrowding the house – even though O and I were only there for the day. We decided not to ruin the holiday for O’s parents and we left the island a day early but we did have a fantastic few days. I survived “wild” camping thanks to having a house with hot running water a 10 minute drive away. I was staggered by the beauty of the beach. In my time I’ve seen some fairly impressive beaches but nothing that compares to that stretch of unadulterated white sand. There wasn’t a thing on the beach either, barely a shell, pebble of clump of seaweed to be found. We relaxed, spent time with family and blew the cobwebs away with all that “fresh” air.

photos by O

#bloggingsix Secret Santa

Some of my favourite bloggers and I decided that we would do a Secret Santa. As well as a bought gift we made things for our secret Santa recipient. 

I made something for Zoe, it is on her blog today. Go and have a look. I was a little nervous about it so was very relieved with how it turned out and that Zoe seemed to like it.

aDizzyGirl was my Secret Santa and as well as a lovely brooch I got three jars full of good stuff; salted caramel sauce, peppermint creams and honey roasted nuts. I didn't manage to take any photos before O and I stuck right into them so you'll just need to take my word for it they are scrumptious. 

See another Secret Santa post here 

New kitchen 2

We scraped meals together for what felt like a long week. There was a little miscommunication with the plumber which resulted in me rushing home from work and then sitting waiting for 3 hours until the plumber who was allegedly “just round the corner” finally arrived. He then didn’t speak to me other than in grunts and complaints about the work he needed to do. Oh and he took away the sink which meant washing up in the bathroom. 
The electrician had a small heart attack when he saw the amount of work that we needed done. This was a team of people our joiner had put together and although we’d fully briefed him that hadn’t translated into telling the other tradesmen.


The weekend of the Royal Wedding. We jumped into the car and headed north for a wedding  with less hype but still an amazing day. We said a not too sad farewell to the sorry looking kitchen and wished the joiner well. Incredibly nervous about what might be waiting for us when we returned. We'd been seriously burned by bad tradesmen whilst getting our bathroom redone so we were over the moon relieved to come back to an almost complete and very soon finished kitchen.

It was then plastered and we painted, painted and painted some more.

I'd recommend getting your kitchen plastered before the brand new cupboards are put on the wall. We would have preferred to do it the correct way round but there wasn't a plasterer to be had for weeks and weeks. Thankfully our plasterers were uh-mazing. I think they left the kitchen tidier and cleaner after they'd finished than we did.

There has since been more paint applied to the walls, a floor laid and a splash back fitted. The boxes, crates and suitcase were all eventually unpacked. 

We love our new kitchen

New kitchen 1

When we got married all that time ago our guests were not only generous enough to give up their time, holidays and the expense of getting to our wedding and helping us celebrate they also gave us gifts. Our main request was a donation towards our new kitchen. It took us quite a while to finally get round to the kitchen, we still needed a little bit more savings. There were many, many weeks of angst over the design and how the layout was going to work. 

Eventually Easter weekend arrived as did my ever suffering parents, the kitchen was designed, the joiner was chosen - it was destruction time. We emptied the kitchen into an alarming number of boxes, crates and even a suitcase. Then we started stripping wallpaper layers upon layers upon layers of wallpaper. The previous owner of our flat was a heavy smoker and the steam from two wallpaper strippers meant that the tobacco and nicotine came dripping off the ceiling and walls – really truly disgusting. Under wall paper we discovered still live electrical sockets and other such dangerous mysteries. Over the weekend my parents and O and I got more and more weary. We were left with a sink and a cooker to keep us going for another week.

The living room was also emptied to allow room for the kitchen to be delivered and to give the joiners somewhere to work. 

October is here

October is going to be a good month. The start of November won't be too bad either


I've been on holiday with my sisters.


My whole family is getting together to celebrate my Dad's 65th birthday. 


Cass and I are celebrating our 30ths together.


I'm going to the 2nd blook club meeting - hopefully I'll have read the book by then.


O and I are going to Iceland - any recommendations gratefully received.


The O's family are getting together to celebrate his Mum's birthday.


Somehow all of this means I'm managing not to work a full week for the next six weeks. Woop!

Holiday break down

Do you know what really sucks at the start of your holiday? Having the car breakdown on the way to the airport at 3:45am. Waiting on the breakdown truck to arrive and poor #1's husband having to come and collect us. Delivering us to the airport 10 minutes after check in closed. Sprinting with #1 through the airport to make that flight, because we'd checked in online and could make it. Leaving #2 in the airport to change flights and deal with the large suitcase which was the reason we didn't all get to sprint through the airport. Waiting in Malaga airport for #2 to get there. Suffering the car hire guy bitching about us not taking their extra insurance. 

All of that sort of ruins the first day of your holiday. Do you know what makes it better?

Sunshine. Spending time with my sisters in almost complete silence because there was no need to make conversation. Reading our books, eating well and soaking up the sunshine. 

We've all some how managed to attach ourselves to men that can't sit still. Who need to do things while on holiday. So we holiday together and don't have to do anything.

Vehicular rubbish

There once was a time when I quite enjoyed watching Top Gear. I'm not an expert on cars or a petrol head by any stretch of the imagination. But I can identify cars by more than their colour and have an appreciation for the fast and sometimes stupid. Why else would we own a petrol guzzling sledge if not to appreciate its 0-60 speed (on a straight dry road do not appreciate the speed with which it goes sideyways on an icy/snow covered road).
However, either I, or Top Gear, have turned a corner. It makes me grumble and question in an old woman type way.
What on earth are they spending my licence fee on?
Why are they spending my licence fee on sending three presenters plus camera crews to countries, which are at war. Surely if the programme brief includes paying for a protection detail it isn't entertainment?
I don't really care how fast a car can go round your track when it costs well more than my home.
There are a lot more examples of programmes that have made me want to throw things at their smug little faces as they clutter up my tv. I do try to be out when O watches it and I could always leave the room.
Sometimes, just sometimes they have a story that reminds me they are human beings after all. At the end of the most recent series they ran a story about recovery amputee soldiers and their goal to take part in the Dakar rally. Soldiers who'd lost limbs in battle preparing to drive one of the world's hardest rallies. Where sand and sweat could damage their prostetics because the camaraderie is keeping their spirits up. A below the knee "scratch" being an affectionate nickname for a foot amputation.
So the point of this? I wish the soldiers well. I thank the BBC for bringing their goal to my attention. I ask that the BBC make more of these type stories and be more sensible with my licence fee from now on. Please and thank you.
Check out race2recovery for more information

.

I was working in a government office as a holiday job, it was my last week in the job before the start of the next semester.
We only found out through an email letting us know our security levels had been raised. 
We had to continue to serve customers asking to look through their belongings as a precaution.
I went home and watched the coverage in stunned silence.
Late, late that night I got a message from a good university friend. She'd been at the top of the towers the day before. Her flight had left JFK that morning before everything was grounded.


Remembering those who were touched and continue to be effected by the events of September 11th 2001.

Blook Club

Did you notice my shiny new badge? Over there, there, down on the right hand side! I'm a member of blook club, organised by the clever and delightful Zoe from Conversation Pieces. 

I say that I'm a member, however I'm unfortunately having to miss the first one. Cannot wait to hear how it went and what everyone thought of the book: How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran.

Enough of me wittering check out Zoe's post. She is much better at explaining.

Toothpaste

My Dad came to stay on Tuesday night. I noticed on Wednesday night when I went to brush my teeth that our toothpaste tubes had been squeezed from the bottom to the top.

This makes me smile. A LOT

a short commute

A long week at work ended unpleasantly with a minor emergency at the end of Friday. I tramped across the car park in the slight drizzle. Plonked myself into the driving seat and threw my hand bag and lunch bag onto the passenger seat. I started the engine and turned the cd up loud and sang along. I was halfway home when I spotted a little girl in the arms of her grandfather, she was laughing and clapping as he blew raspberries on her cheeks. I was almost home when I spotted some students running and laughing with carrier bags over the heads to protect from the rain which was now falling. I couldn't help but smile and the stress lifted. Weekends or days away from work are precious things. 


Have a good weekend. 

Anniversary day out

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo

How about you, you, you?

You should go too, too, too

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

Ok so I changed the words slightly but you get the idea. 

We spent our very sunny one year wedding anniversary at Edinburgh Zoo

photos by me or O

Birthday Girls

(image via pinterest)

Cass, welcome to the birthday club. Seems to be ok so far.


It was only this morning that I put two and two together and realised it was Lisa Marie's birthday too. Somehow I'd managed to separate the two in my head.


Happy birthday to you both

Blog Birthday 2

(from pinterest but etsy originally)

I've made it through another year!

My sisters and my "real life" friends have moaned about not having the opportunity to make new friends. How it is hard to meet like minded people and start conversations with them.

Inside I'm screaming at them, start a blog, start a blog. You meet the most amazing people and if you are lucky they become truly wonderful friends.

A day at the Festival

It is August, which means that Edinburgh is a crazy town. The fringe festival is here for the month. There are pros and cons to festival time. The obvious pros being amazing shows in a small space in a short amount of time. The cons being the huge amount of people trying to get between venues, or get you into their venue and filling every restaurant and cafe.

Last Saturday we headed through to Edinburgh. We went to see some great shows and despite getting soaked to the skin we had a really good day.


Live at the Gilded Balloon Podcast
The podcast is an introduction to different comics/shows that are on at the festival. So this was a great way to see a lot. We got to see Hal Sparks, Tom Green, Dave Eastgate, Jason Cook, Kerry Godliman and Michael Winslow. It was interesting listening to the podcast once it was published. They cut out so much good stuff from the live show. Each day the acts are different so it can be a bit of a lottery. 
It was here that I had my celebrity spot of the day. David Bradley otherwise known as Argus Filch from Harry Potter sat behind me for the recording. He has a really loud laugh. (I'm 99% sure it was him however if he was reported to be else where last Saturday I might concede that he has a doppelganger).


Eric's Tales of the Sea - A Submariner's Yarn
This was my least favourite show of the day. Not because it was bad simply because all the other shows were really good. Eric stands on the stage and tells you stories of life beneath the sea. 


Lady Garden
This was a last minute decision. So last minute and given the queue at the box office they actually had to hold the start of the show for us. We went rushing into the venue and the lady at the door told me there were seats at the front or we could sit separately, so I headed for the front. Please note this is a bad idea when seeing any show at the Festival. The show was great, a series of sketches performed by 5 female comedians.


(SPOILER: the final sketch of the show required audience participation. O was pulled from his seat and forced to slow dance with one of the comedians. My husband is a very shy man, he was mortified! He wasn't the only one, 5 men were made to get on stage. I'm convinced he was targeted because he was the best looking man there. They had to go several rows back to find enough men so I'm not convinced he'd have been safe wherever we sat. I do feel bad though, I think he is still traumatised.)


David O'Doherty
This was my favourite show of the day. David O'Doherty is hilarious with his little piano, songs and educational highlights.


Jimeoin
Jimeoin inside the Spiegeltent was our last show of a long and wet day. We have seen Jimeoin on TV several times and thought he was great. His show was good but he had a lot to try and live up to after David O'Doherty. I also don't think he was on top form as he complained about being jet lagged. 
The spiegeltent is a stunning venue - if a little cold.


All in all a brilliant day!


If you're in Edinburgh I'd love to hear what you'd recommend. We're thinking of seeing more.

Random Birthday Thoughts

O spotted and removed 3 grey hairs from my head (that is a photo of them, which you could see much better before I compressed the file. Now it looks like a picture of my hand). Well to be honest he noticed more but I was fed up of having my hair pulled.

I removed the piercing bar from my belly button. It has been there since I was 18. It hasn't been on display for a long, long time. I didn't expect to miss it but I do strangely.

I fully expect that neither of these pieces of information will be of interest to you. Sorry.

Celebrations

(images by me or O)

So as you are aware last Wednesday was the big 30 for me. To celebrate (or commiserate) we had planned a break away. We headed to the Lake District, to the same area where we'd spent our minimoon. However first we went for lunch in Kendal (of mint cake fame), it was a beautiful day so I tested out my new camera (present from O and my parents). O had chosen a place for lunch, I was very impressed by, he doesn't usually plan that far in advance. We walked into the restaurant and I turned towards the bar to ask for a table for two, however O just pointed me into the next room. When I looked up I was staring at my parents. It took me a moment to put two and two together. You know that feeling when you see someone you know but not in the situation you were expecting to see them - yes that. My lovely husband had managed to keep a secret from me and had set up the whole surprise. We had a lovely meal at New Moon, a wander about Kendal and then said goodbye to my parents and headed to our hotel.


We were spending the night at Langdale, after we checked in we headed to the pool for a swim, sauna and to slowly poach in the jacuzzi. We underestimated our time slightly so were a little rushed getting ready for dinner, we then got lost on our way to the restaurant, which was a little stressful. It was sooooooooooooooo worth it though. We went back to the Drunken Duck which is where we had spent our minimoon. The food was delicious as we remembered. 


The next day I'd decided I wanted to tackle a fear of mine head on. On our minimoon we took a row boat out onto Coniston water and I had a panic attack, for absolutely no reason - I was not expecting it and it has irritated me ever since. I was determined that this time I would not have a freak out. So after another swim etc. we headed through the drizzle to Coniston. This time there was no freak out and no tears. There was rain and drizzle and a wet seat but some bursts of sunshine and warmth and a lovely time. 


Our journey home was made all the more lovely with a brief stop at Rebecca's home - we had cake.

My Spare Rantings 2

Dear Hoteliers,


Two beds pushed together does not make a king size bed. It does not make a romantic giant bed. It makes two beds pushed together. It means someone falls down the break or a young recently married couple sleep miles apart*.


Please sort it out.


Thank you


*p.s. and then when they get home to their standard double bed they both try to sleep star fish style and there isn't enough room. 


I think I've ranted about this before - Sorry.

Italy: Luca & Pisa

Our last day in Italy we went to Luca. We went to Luca mainly to get gelato. We wandered around the walls of this beautiful fortified town with friends. I'd really like to visit Luca again - mainly for the gelato.

Then we got the train to Pisa, we marched rather quickly from the train station to the leaning tower. Friends we were with climbed the tower, however we were worried we would run out of time. So we watched them climb as they stopped at different stages to wave at us. There isn't really anything else to see in Pisa so we trekked back to the station, on to the airport and waited for our flight to depart.

That was a very long and dull account of our few days in Italy. It feels like such a long time ago. I hope we will be visiting  Italy again.

You forgot?!

Our first anniversary fell on a Sunday and so I blamed there being no post delivery for the lack of cards. We opened the couple that had arrived the day before and received text messages from some friends and O's family.

There was no a whiff of a message or card from my family.

We went out for the day and I expected to come home to the answerphone full of messages from my family asking what we were doing to celebrate.........nothing.

I came home from work on Monday expecting cards thinking they'd just missed the Saturday post.........nothing (ok a bank statement).

MY FAMILY FORGOT OUR FIRST WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

I sent a nudge, nudge email to my Mum and got a grovelling response. My nudge, nudge to #2 got a complete blank in response, she had no idea of the significance of the date. (#1 is in Spain on holiday, I'm letting her off)

What do you mean the date of the party of the decade is not etched into your brain forever? What do you mean you don't come over all emotional when that particular date is mentioned?

(Am I the only one that feels strange when people talk about events/meetings that happen to fall on my birthday? Yes, ok then.)

My Mum has asked how they will ever make it up to us. I floated the idea that they take us with them to the Caribbean later this year. Apparently forgetting your daughters first wedding anniversary does not mean you need to pay for her and her husband to tag along on your holiday. We're very disappointed.

Italy: Florence

Our friends had been living outside Florence for months and they didn't fancy seeing the sights yet again. So we explored on our own meeting later in the day to go for dinner. 

We went to the Boboli Gardens

We had lunch in the Bardini gardens overlooking Florence

Of course we went to the Duomo (although not inside)

Our photos could never do justice to how beautiful the Duomo is.

Just a few of the highlights of Florence.

Rawr

Happy Anniversary my Dinosaur

If you want to relive it all check out my recaps

(image)

A day out in Glasgow

Last weekend we had a friend come to visit. We decided to go the new Glasgow Transport Museum. Only we decided to go at the start of the Glasgow Fair...................never try to do anything in Glasgow during the Fair.

Given that we turned up an hour and a half before the museum closed we didn't really have enough time to properly explore. The bits we did get to see were very good with excellent interactive screens - not those annoying interactive screens but ones where you got to chose what you want to look at. We'll be visiting again, when it is quieter and we will get there earlier.

Italy: Day 3 Rome, Colosseum etc

Our last day in Rome we checked out of our hotel and headed to the Forum and Colosseum for the day.

Then that was it, the end of our time in Rome. We had crammed in as much as possible.


We headed back to the train station and took the train to Florence where we met up with friends who we were staying with for the next two days.


Photos are by me or my husband

Italy: Day 2 Rome the rest of the day

It was time to leave the Vatican, we'd had enough of the crowds, the hustle and bustle and needed some time to ourselves. Checking the map we decided that we would find the botanic gardens, sit ourselves on a bench and read our books for a little bit. Lets just say we got a little bit lost along a quite scary road which left me a little bit ratty and my feet rather sore. We made it to the botanic gardens an hour before they closed. So our lazy afternoon turned into a quick sit down to allow some of the pain in my feet to fade before we did a quick rush round the gardens. They are beautiful and if our afternoon plans had turned out right I'd have loved to spend more time there.


We went for dinner in the Trastevere and wandered back to our hotel in the moon light. 

Photo 1 - Husband likes to play with the effects on the camera

Photo 2 - Getting lost can lead to some beautiful places

All photos by me or himself