At last!

The title says all!!! 

It took me 3 years to meet up with Jill...why have I procrastinated for so long?????!!!!

This beautiful American lady lives in Venice and got in touch when my very first blog was still up and running...we kept wishing each other "Happy Birthday" or "Happy Holidays", always promising to meet up one day, but this never happened until last Saturday...

I must be honest and tell you it was my fault...my laziness to go downtown.. but now that I "commute" very often, I really had no excuse!!!

We had a fantastic afternoon together, escaping the humidity into a cafè and chatting and laughing like old friends for nearly two hours!

Words cannot describe how nice and friendly Jill is!!!
Another kind soul I had the chance to meet thanks to that magical place which Blogland is :-)

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

The return of the wanderer..

One year later....well, here I am!

It has been a weird mixed year this one...
December and January were spent having fun with friends, February brought me a boyfriend and I flew to London for a girly weekend...

..where of course I had to catch up with my lovely friend Kelly and her family...

(sipping a  cup of tea and enoying a cupcake, at the Primrose Bakery in Notting Hill)

A romantic getaway to Prague in March....

(the beer is not mine, I just borrowed it LOL!)
 

In April I gave my parents a trip to Amsterdam, we stayed in a houseboat, cycled through the flowers fields and came home with 2 extra cases full of vintage stuff : /

 

In July another romantic getaway... to Lake Como

At the end of August a car trip to the lovely village of Rovinj/Croatia...

..And the first week of November was spent in New York..

..where I met up with my longtime buddy Juanita ..

(we almost got lost in Brooklyn while finding our direction to the flea market  and she brought me a generous huge bag of American treats! )

It could seem I've been holidaying all the time but this is only the bright side of life...

Family life has changed a lot since my grandad got stuck on a wheelchair last June...time off from work is spent trying to make his life as normal as possible and helping at home with cleaning , ironing, etc.....

I didn't even dare to blog again but some lovely bloggy friends have encouraged me to do it...

Not sure when next time will be, but it won't take so long, LOL!

 

 

Happy times!

I'm a bit overdue in posting a huge THANK YOU to my gorgeous friends Kelly, Sophie and James for coming to meet me twice during their long Italian holiday last July....

Despite some sickness due to the long drive and then to the altitude, we had a lovely day in the mountains, took a cable car and reached a farm at 1.897 meters....

..We enjoyed cooler air (Summer heat has been unbearable this year), some comfort food...

..and cakes of course! :-)

How nice to be able to chat with Sophie this time, she's growing so fast!!!

Then one afternoon they came over for a BBQ, joined by Kelly's parents, cousin and Italian uncle!
Sophie had fun meeting some of our pets..and it looked like she enjoyed  her food too! Never seen a 19 months old snapping at pork ribs as she did, bless her!

A great time was had by all... no matter the language...coz my garden is "a place where friends meet", as the title of this blog says!

Arrivederci Roma!!!

Two weeks ago I flew to Rome for a bloggy meet up...yes, something crazy to do in only one day and with such awful weather forecast (Italy is not immune to the big freeze which is flagellating Europe and snow had been predicted in the usually mild capital city...)

My visit had been planned one month before, because my friend Juanita was spending a weekend there ..could I not leave??? Of course NOT!!!

Despite a very early arrival at the Rome airport I had a little misadventure whilst travelling dowtown...a wrong train ticket ....heavy rain made the railway go crazy...anyway I was entartained by some lovely and chatting Romans during my long wait :-)

We had a very special Cicerone for our Roman date..Juana, a wonderful

Argentinian lady who has been living in Italy since ages...

I'm really sorry because I don't have many pictures to share with you and the ones I took are slightly blurry because my hands were shivering and busy with my umbrella.

Being Rome a place not accustomed to rain, you can only image what snow caused...the hell!!!

We took refuge in a cafè and spent a few hours together (spoiled by my anxiety to not be able to fly home on the same evening because all means of transportation had been stopped... bloody Northern Italians, always living in a hurry :-)

Later joined by the lovely Maria, Juana's friend, we ventured ourselves into the blizzard until the train station, where a miracle happened and the only guaranteed train for the airport was leaving..

We stopped at the Trevi fountain......

..such an unusual sight all covered with snow.....

...Could we not throw a coin into the fountain???

...this means that we're ensuring our return to Rome...hopefully with some sunshine!

Thanks A LOT to Juana and Juanita for such a great day!

A very special NY's Eve getaway....

First of all happy New Year everyone!!! (..better late than never, LOL!)

..in Swiss German..because this new adventure takes place in Zurich....

....starring my longtime bloggy friend Juanita!!!!!!!!

I got to spend New Year's Eve weekend with her, an amazingly funny and not to forget bilingual tour guide in this lovely town.... (shame for the rain which wetted 2/3 of my stay)

Anyway, nothing could stop us, we went to the Rheinfall in Schaffausen...

... even hit Germany...

(have lost count of how many trains we got into/out of on that day, ha ha...)

..took a stroll around the beautiful Bodensee.....

..had a coffee in Konstanz .....

.enjoyed hot chocolate, scrumptuos Luxemburgeli, sipped Apfel Punsch and had a yummy Raclette (believe me, getting into that restaurant was like spraying myself a bottle of Chanel no.5, LOL!)

...I took my chanches for looking for a husband, possibly a rich banker, but had not much luck and only found a nice sixty-year-old (probably a farmer..)...
My weekend really flew past, words cannot describe the great time I had, the exquisite hospitality of Juanita and Dr.Pin, so caring and lovely!

Juanita, if you think I didn't spot the way you folded the toilet paper, well..you go wrong!

(thanks also to their babies Pickes and Fluffly for behaving themselves...I must confess you I'm slightly scared of cats... :-)

Thank you very much/merci vielmal for making my stay so unforgettable and for all my gifts, even for the tissues, much appreciated! (..my trumpet played 24/24 for 3 days...erm, still very sorry for the loud noise :-)

Off to put to some cream on my face now...fingers crossed it will work magic against some horrible spots.......wicked Swiss chocolate..ha ha... :D

...And London called again!

Hello everyone, how are you???

I'm back after a very long break, with a stop at...

(from 08.10 till 16.10.2011)

...and if you're a bloggy pal of long standing, you already know that when I fly to London is for visiting my fabulous friends Kelly and James!

They very kindly invited me to spend a week with them, on the occasion of Princess Sophie's christening, it was a great honour to attend such an important event!

Sophie was stunning in her Burano lace dress, the Reverend was very funny and we had a great time at the venue chosen for the buffet, many thanks to the lovely Teresa, Victoria and "grazie mille" to zio Mimmo (Kel's uncle, he's from Italy) for entertaining me!

On the same evening the very kind Kelly's dad, offered us a fantastic night tour of the Old Blighty (erm sorry Martin, but can't forget your "Duke of Wellington" pronunciated with a marked accent :D )

It was a week of chatting, laughing, eating and drinking, going shopping but most of all enjoying each moment with Sophie, giving and receiving cuddles and big priceless smiles!

She behaved perfectly even on a long outing in London, accompanied by our angel, grandad Martin...

..we stopped at Lola's in good old Selfridge's, where we had another meet up with the kindest Teresa, who treated us to some yummy cupcakes! (Teresa, I met you twice and didn't take any picture, I'm so sad, you were beautiful in your burgundy outfit!)

Can a trip to the UK be complete without some proper lardy English food in a typical pub??!

..Or without having breakfast in a smart tea room??!

This outing was arranged by the very kind Janice and Jill (Kelly's mum and aunt), we drove through Essex till Tiptree farm and had a lovely morning, sipping nice tea, eating lush cakes and sandwiches, posing for pictures, buying jams and chutneys..

..Sadly one week flew past and it was already time to say goodbye and facing again the excess luggage problem.....

Thank you very much to Kelly, Sophie, James and all the rest of the family for making me feel so welcome and putting up with me for so long! :-)

Friends over for lunch!

Yesterday morning a blinding and hot sun was shining in crowded Venice.... ..even Jonathan Livingston Seagull was in town! ...such fancy unusual sights, eh?!
...always the same, since my arms were both busy!

...And you already know that when I go downtown is only for special purposes...Yes, my beautiful friend Kelly ........

....and her lovely family were around! Yay!!!

The occasion was rather special, since I met the wonderful Sophie, the cutest baby I've ever seen! (I took loads of close up pictures of the sweet princess but despite her parents'permission, I'm going to respect the Italian laws in force and protect the minor's privacy on this blog, which is open to everyone)

Here James is putting fuel into the pushchair at the boats'petrol station!

We were a bit unlucky for our lunch,the restaurant I had in my mind was closed! But don't worry, we didn't starve, since Kel&James took me to their favourite trattoria!
As a thank you I took them to Giudecca, a long and narrow island facing Venice, hoping to reach the top floor of the Molino Stucky Hilton for a drink..shame it was closed too due to preparations for a pool party!!! Anyway we were allowed to visit the pool terrace and enjoy for a few minutes the breathtaking view!

Once the Hilton hotel was a mill...Venice's harbour and the many cruise liners...
..The quiet island of Giudecca...
..the panorama over the town...
..the happy couple :-)
..and again, Kel and I...
Thank you guys for a great meet up, can't wait for the next one!

It won't take long, LOL! ;-)