ITALY!

 It was amazing crossing the border from Switzerland over into Italy. Once we crossed over the houses suddenly looked different. Our time in Italy was amazing. We stayed for 2 weeks with a family in Northern Tuscany and did some work for them such as gardening, painting, feeding the animals etc. They were such wonderful hosts and took us to visit some amazing places such as, Pontremoli (an old medieval village), lots of other little historical villages and castles, and even some sea side towns along the eastern coast of Italy! On one of our days off us 3 girls ventured to the Cinque Terre (5 amazing villages along the coast of Italy) where we went swimming and exploring. The scenery was spectacular!

After Tuscany we ventured to Venice where we spent a few days. We got to explore the amazing city of historical building, bridges, canals, gondolas, mask shops, venetian glass and ferrys!

From Venice we ventured to Rome where we spent 4 nights in a lovely little apartment in Chiampino (on the outskirts of Rome). One night we watched “Roman Holiday” starring Audrey Hepburn. One day we had our own Roman Holiday and visited a lot of the famous sites that where used in the movie! While in Rome we visited the Pantheon, the Spanish steps, the Trevi fountain, the colosseum, the Roman forum, Palatino Hill, the Christian catacombs and we even walked on the Apia way (mentioned in the bible. I think the Apostle Paul walked on it!). Rome was an interesting city, with ancient roman pillars and remains of old roman buildings just sitting by the side of the road! Very different to any other place we have visited!

Visiting some medieval villages in Northern Tuscany

A Castello (Castle)

There were cats roaming the streets everywhere!

Our home for 2 weeks  in Northern Tuscany where we stayed with some lovely hosts.

Making new friends

Poppy, Peggy, Jess and Maisy

Here are some of our other animal friends we've made our travels...

The view from our balcony!

We hauled all those rocks!

We did gardening also!

This is all the produce we picked from our host's garden....

...we went mushroom picking in the forest on a few occastions...

chestnuts

One lunch we helped our hosts make pizzas from scratch! So delicious!

The Medieval village of "Pontremoli"

One of the villages in the "Cinque Terre" 

The village of Vanazza!

Our hosts took us to some lovely seaside villages...

Our last night with our lovely hosts!

VENICE!

We watched a man make a horse out of glass within seconds. It looked so good!

In venice once a year they have a celebration called "Carnevale." Where everyone dresses up and wears fancy masks! It wasn't that time of year but we got some anyway! :)

A gondola!

Amber and Loretta cooking a delicious dinner! They enjoy cooking together and they are both great cooks!

Our little balcony at our apartment in Rome! One evening we had dinner under the stars!

The Spanish Steps

Loretta and I wanted to get our portraits drawn by a street artist. It was really hard sitting still for 15mins and haveing a big flock of onlookers taking photographs! :)

I didn't know the Romans had cell phones!

The Trevi fountain!

Me with Pinocchio

The Panthion

It's amazing how the celeing dome is just resting on top of the rest of the building. It isn't attached by morter or anything.

There are water fountains everywhere in Rome for people to fill the drink bottles up. The water tastes so good!

Some ruins by the side of the road!

The Roman Forum

The Colosseum

"The mouth of truth." We didn't get our hands bitten off! :)

The Basilica

We even got to see the new Pope. He was standing about 2 meters away from me.

Sistine Chapel and Museum!

On the "Apia Way!"

Visiting the Christian catacombs on the Apia Way.