Thursday, 15 March 2007

Sunshine, Lizards and Digital Cameras!

This is the view from window where I sit typing - not bad is it?! We are very happy in our "little house in the garden". It is full of wildlife at the moment - birds, bats, lizards....
We found these two fighting earlier today. No-one was hurt. They separated and hurtled across
the garden after each other! That time of year I suppose!




Italy isn't exactly that well known for cricket so sometimes you have to make do! Luckily we have alot of bamboo and my son is quite ingenious, hence the bamboo wickets and bat! Just a shame his sister is a little fuzzy on the rules of being second batsman!

It really feels like summer is here, but I don't think we have seen the last of the rain just yet! The nights are still chilly and that serves as a reminder we are not in Spring just yet!

As you may have gathered I have finally got around to downloading my photos from my camera! Not sure why it takes so long to do, as the process itself takes seconds, but there you go and there we are! So be prepared - just got to sort out the formatting now!


Tuesday, 6 March 2007

Cascine Park Market and My "Little Walks"

Today we went over to the Cascine Park to visit the big market held there every Tuesday morning. We always buy something, but even if we don't it is an experience. To me it feels like the "real" Florence. The centre is beautiful but it is not where you see the day to day life of the people who live here.

It is a great place for really cheap shoes - when the weather changes for the better consistently I will be buying some 10 euro ballet pumps for certain! If they don't last it doesn't really matter at that price!

We bought toys, knickers (!) and a dress-up frock for less than 20 euros, but it felt like we had bought loads.

The trip was spiced up by an argument between the people who sell the fake bags - haven't a clue what it was about but all the stall holders found it amusing! As I say, you see the real Florence here!

We walked over to the Cascine from where we live. This would normally take about 15 mins but today I decided to go a different way. My son lives in dread of these excursions and constantly expects me end up in Siena! This one wasn't too bad as we found the riverside walk which doesn't start on the Cascine side of the river until much further down. We then crossed the river over the Scandicci foot bridge. This was interesting as the market continues on that side of the river in a small square opposite the bridge! Next time I will investigate but we wanted to see the main market.

The last time we went on one of my walks we were out for over 4 hours - we nearly did end up in Pontassieve! We saw alot of Florence and the Eastern end of the Arno though!

We also went into the centre afterwards. We had lunch in the Bar Allegro near the Teatro Communale. They do a great chicken, olive and mayo sandwich! Then we walked over to the centre. Finally the new Zara has opened, and as I hoped, it has a Zara kids. I bought my son some shorts and my daughter a pinafore dress. At last somewhere I can buy clothes that a) my son will wear and b) won't cost me an arm and a leg! Maybe H&M will be next?

My OH returns from Spain tonight so I must depart and clear up now! At the moment it looks like a toyshop exploded in the house!

Friday, 2 March 2007

Photo's for my friends in Bloggerland!

Here's a few I took earlier! Enjoy...



The Florentine snowman!



That really is the top of the Leaning Tower we are on! One of those "must do before I die things", for me anyway (nearly died getting up there, so it was nearly the last thing I did...!)

Where's this I wonder?

Only 600 more to go......!

Moving house, telecom and esselunga!

A lot to catch up on!!!!

We finally moved house on the 1st February! It then, only, took another two weeks to get telecom in, which I have heard is a bit of a record. So I have no excuse from the 19th February onwards for not writing here.

What it does tell me though is that I really am living here, not just visiting! My time has gone on shopping, getting things from Ikea for the house, sorting out ballet classes for my daughter and generally getting to know the area of San Frediano where we now live!

The house is beautiful. We are the first tenants after its recent restoration so everything from the paint on the walls to the showers and beds, is brand new! It really doesn't feel like being in a rental. There is enough furniture, but not so much I can't put in my own stuff - when it eventually arrives that is!

The view out of the windows is beautiful too! I look out onto a large lawn as I write this, surrounded by a high wall and trees. What is unusual is that it is all ours - we don't share this space with anyone else. The nearest dwelling is about 5mins walk away in the grounds. There are alot of other apartments and houses in here but you wouldn't know it! There aren't too many places like this in San Frediano.

Moving in was fun - we needed two taxi's to get us and our stuff here! Then, as the address is new, the taxi's flew past and ended up having to reverse back down a one way street to get back to where they should be! As you can imagine much use of car horns was made by the traffic behind us! Especially as when the taxi's did stop one of them decide it would be good to park in such a way that the whole street was blocked to everything except scooters and smartcars. Not popular!

It was great to finally be in and on our own. My most vivid memory of moving in is waking up the next morning to sun streaming in through french windows and birds singing - and that was it - no other sound at all! We are off a very busy square, but the only way to hear it is to stand on the street or look over a high wall at the back of the house, otherwise you could almost be in the countryside it is that quiet. It is such a relief after Piazza Pitti.

Now we feel settled in. I have had my first Esselunga delivery - what a farce! As the property hasn't been lived in for over a year no-one knows where it is! I stood outside waiting for the van and stood watching as it flew past! One thing I can say is Crocs maybe ugly, but they are great for running in! Finally my shopping arrived. I have to pay better attention to what I order, I should have known 59c for a litre of juice was low - I got 4 small cartons instead! But I will be doing it again - no more carrying huge packs of water home!

We also had our first post - a parcel and a letter - we must be living here!