Florence

Florence

So next we went to Florence, we caught the train there and found our hostel; archirossi
We then went for a wonder and to find some food!! Foodwise, we found a little street side restaurant; I had seafood rissoto and Rosie had spaghetti with a wild boar sauce. They were both so good.

So after a sleep in our 9 bed dorm we went on the free tour that the hostel offered. It was a 2 hour tour taking us round the best bits of Florence and explaining it. It was really interesting and was really enjoyable too. We went across the ponte vecchio bridge and over to the pitti palace vis and ice cream parlour! In the afternoon, we walked up to the michael angelo piazza, which gave us great views out over the city. We made our way back to the pitti palace and had a look in the museum and around the gardens. The gardens are huge, and a great place to visit if you have a spare few hours, or want somewhere to read a book in the shade. We headed over to the Duomo. The Doumo in Florence is huge, you turn around a corner and it literally takes your breath away. The intricacy of the carvings on the outside is amazing. The inside is equally impressive but in a subtler way, and seems much smaller than the outside. You can also climb up the dome for a small price, it is like climbing a small hill, up a steep winding staircase, which emerges on the inside of the dome where you can clearly see the paintings on the dome, it then takes you up between the outer and inner shells of the dome until you are brought out at the top. The views are incredible, the only 'modern' building in site is the station, apart from that it is just terraced roofs and Tuscan hills in the distance.

We made our way back to the hostel for a quick shower and went to find some more fabulous Italian food. We found a rustic looking restaurant with enthusiastic and welcoming waiters and decided to share and spicy sausage and spinach pizza and bacon, tomato, onion and egg spaghetti. It was the best food we had eaten on the trip.

Verona

Last week my sister and i went to Verona, Florence and Rome over a week long period, it was lovely to have a week of hot and sunny weather!

We started in Verona and got there at about 11 and went straight to the hostel. We got up at about 8 for a simple breakfast of jam and a roll and left the hostel to explore Verona.
We 1st went into the central piazza, Piazza Bra and went to the information centre and got a map. Seeing as we were in Verona we had to go to Juliet's balcony. We arrived in the courtyard where hundreds of people had written on the walls notes to lovers.
We went into the house, where they had some of the clothes used in the original film and some of the quotes from the play, and of course, the balcony.

There is also a postbox where you can post letters to Juliet and get a reply! It is quite an odd concept really, all these people coming to see the balcony and the tomb (which we went to next) to see the remains of someone who didn't exist. But the story of Romeo & Juliet lends itself to so many people on different levels, i understand why they, we all go there.

After our visit to the tomb we grabbed some lunch from a vender and walked across the Ponte Scaligero.

It is a great bridge with steps up to the top ramparts and a good view along the river. We walked along the other side of the river and crossed over to see the Duomo (cathedral) which has an unusual red and white layered brickwork on the outside. The inside is huge and it has 3 organs! It also has 2 smaller chapels in the back and a baptistry. We then walked up to Castel san Pietro, where there is a great view of Verona.

We headed back to the hostel for a quick shower and back out for dinner and the Opera!

We headed into the Piazza Bra and had a lovely dried beef and rocket pizza with a bottle of wine :)

We headed to the Arena and found some nice stone seats to watch Carmen. The opera was amazing, 4 hours of amazing singing and music. The opera was all in spanish so we got a programme which translated it and made it much more enjoyable as we could understand it.

At about 1.30, we wondered home under the moon and over the bridges and collapsed into our beds.

Next stop-Florence!

Weekend Photos

A round-up of a lovely weekend

Not strictly the weekend, but we won a bottle of wine in Wetheral village pub quiz

Boot was introduced to some cows

Churros :) From the continental market in Carlisle

The market

Boot and Pluto chillin'

Jabba and Boot all cuddled up

Take-away curry for dinner

Working at Grasmere Sports show

Fun times with money!!

Tommy Sedgewick-A famous fell runner

View from our office of the playing field

The Senior Guides race

Grasmere sports show has now been running for 159 years, it was were the shepherds and farmers and local boys competed in traditional sports such as Cumberland wrestling. The show was centred around the senior guides race, which is a fell race of 2.5km with a steep uphill climb of 270m. It's tough!

Even if you don't want to take part in any fell running, it's a great show and there is lots to look at and join in with (even a tug of war!).

So that was my weekend, i hope you have all had a good one too, and i am off to Italy with my sister tomorrow, so will be back in a week, all lovely and brown having enjoyed lots of pizza, pasta and gelato. :)

Stuffed Globe Courgettes

The other day i made my sister and i stuffed globe courgettes for lunch. They were so yummy, so decided i would share them :)

Globe courgettes are just the same as normal courgettes, but round (and often cheaper in supermarkets). My dad has been growing them this year and we have loads at the moment.

For 2 stuffed courgettes
First chop the top of the courgette off (where the green stalk bit is) and scoop out the inside and put them in a bowl.

Chop and fry an onion

Take 2 tablespoons of couscous and cover with boiling water for about 3 minutes. When the cous cous is cooked add paprika, cayenne pepper and a bit of chilli powder to taste. Add the fried onion and some mixed herbs and season with salt and pepper. Add the inside of your courgette (i only used the inside of one courgette). I also had a bit of left over chorizo in the fridge so i chopped that up and added it to the mixture. Grate some cheese and add half of it to the mixture.

Stuff your courgette with the mixture and add half the cheese to each courgette.

Pop the 'lid' back on top

and place in the oven at 200'C for 30-40 minutes, until the courgette is soft to touch (and is a bit squidgy).

Enjoy with a lovely green salad for a scrummy, healthy lunch.

North-western Scotland days 4-6

Day 4 was beach day. There is a fantastic beach called Guinard bay, about 1 hours drive from Ullapool. The sun was shining when we got there, so we got the fire going for the BBQ, and walked up the headland to find some cliffs to jump off. This year we discovered some new cliffs which were great, lots of different heights  into clean deep water. The sea was warmer than it had been in previous years which meant that we could stay in the sea for longer which was so much fun. After a BBQ lunch we played rounder and had beach olympics, consisting of 50m sprint, relay, shotput, long jump and wheel barrow race. It was the beast day at that beach we have had, and there have been a lot. The weather definitly helped and the company was fantastic.

The weather on our 5th day promised to be as good as it had been all week so went went for another walk. A small party consisting of myself, my sister and my dad went off to tackle 3 of the Fannichs which are munros and the rest of our party went up Seana Bhraigh, which is another munro that can be walked to from the house. Our walk was great, well the 1st munro was hard work, as we walked stright up the face of it due to the lack of a path, but the 2nd and 3rd munro were on a lovely undulating ridge with great views either sides and a lovely walk down the valley to end it. The scenery, again was amazing, so wild and quiet and everyone we met (bar a wierd party of 3) were lovely.

We got back about half an hour before the others and had a supper of beef stew and sticky toffee pudding, topping off a great day all round.

The last day; We had a lie in, which was very nice and after a lazy breakfast we headed off to Loch Achall and went trout fishing. However the sun was too bright and warm so after catching only 5 trout in a morning, we went to Ullapool for fish and chips and off for a swim by a near-by lighthouse. We then sadly said goodbye to the James' and headed back for a finishing up dinner and last game of pool and table tennis.

then on day 7, we packed up and left the valley for the last time this year :( But we will be back next year for another week of food, walking, beaching, fishing and fun and laughs.