UK and family - part one

Arrived at Gatwick airport after several delays at Rome end, glad to be in England. Met by little brother Mike and whisked briskly home to Westerham. A lovely little town....and a comfortable hotel for two nights. We met Shannon from school and had a very nice evening with Mike Debs and Shannon at their lovely cottage before a good night's sleep at the Kings Arms.

We did enjoy a real English breakfast this morning, nice not to have to eat another croissant!

We had a stroll around the town and then an afternoon with Mike in the garden where he arranged the insurance on his car so we could borrow it for the next few days.

What a delight Shannon is.....so bright and so pretty!

We'll head off in the morning to Windsor first and then head southwards towards Brighton and down towards Cornwall.

Arriverderci Roma!

Just a quick note.... off to airport soon for England.
Yesterday was very hectic.....booked a Vatican tour but couldn't connect with the tour guide so not happy but we managed on our own....lining up for about 45 mins to enter. Amazing inside. I didn't want to take photos, for two reasons.....they probably would not have come out very well with the varied light but also it didn't seem appropriate with all the chatter and flashes in this holy place. We bought a book!
Nicki....you didn't tell me that to get to the Sistine chapel is such a long route through all the various museum rooms....we were overwhelmed with the beautiful frescoes, tapestries art work etc so when we reached the Sistine (about an hour after we entered) we really couldn't look up for two long as our necks were reaching screaming point!
Of course Peter had to do the "Eh Michael, whena you gonna finish?" gag.
On the way back to the Termini we hopped on the open top bus but sat inside while all the others on board raced for the top....premonition or just good luck?? we just wanted out of the sun but the rest were treated to a thunderstorm and heavy rain so two by two they retreated downstairs to really crowd the bus.
We did get wet walking swiftly to our hotel, refusing all the hawkers selling umbrellas and after drying off had dinner across the road again.
Roberto must have taken quite a shine to us (regulars that we are) and presented us with a bottle of wine and me my second continental (3) kiss.
Breakfast awaits... funny how they eat so much cake for breakfast! Looking forward to a full English or perhaps just proper toast tomorrow.
Ciao!

For Anne and Enjo chicks

Who would have thought that in a tiny village in the swiss mountains, Poschiavo, we would come across a shop window with what looks exactly like Enjo products.....even down to the floor cleaner.

Question....which came first..... Jemako or Enjo?

Roma Day 1

Bella Roma!

Well our impression of Italy has taken a 180 degree turn!

We arrived in Rome this morning to a lovely hot day and after checking in to our B&B Giovy (fantastic reception....thanks Carolyn) we headed down to the Termini to board the open top bus for a two hour tour of Rome.

So the photos today are from the top of the bus.....tomorrow we are booked for the Vatican Tour.

We had a cappuccino at a handy Trattoria across the road from the hotel, a wine after the bus tour (after dropping in our laundry for washing, also across the road) and dinner tonight where we were treated as treasured regulars! Again, aperitif sparkling on the house, bruschetta...on the house and Limoncello....on the house! With the bottle of wine we ordered I was a little happier after dinner.......Bella Roma!!!

We walked to Santa Maria Maggiore after dinner to walk off a little of the Tiramisu and now I am catching up on the blog while Peter takes his shower. I am sure we'll have a better night's sleep tonight!

Firenze - Florence

Italy day 2 and 3

Another train ride and e arrive in Florence. A quick check with a poiliceman for directions and we found our hotel just down the road from the station.

Note to friends.....DO NOT STAY IN HOTEL MARTELLI!

Four out of five so far and I haven't done too bad with hotel selection. This hotel is very bad. Room certainly not up to online pictures.....stained wallpaper, lampshades, bedspread. Mould in bathroom. No glasses for drinks. Toilet wonky and leaking around pipes when sat on. Broken nights sleep due to generator outside window starting up every half hour. Front desk ain't bothered! To top it off, breakfast orange juice served in flimsy plastic cups....watered down.

Anyway......

Florence certainly an improvement on Venice. We did an open top bus tour on day one to take in all the sights. Walked around the Duomo later in the evening and had a lovely dinner in a nearby restaurant finishing with Tiramisu. Peter cheekily told the waiter it wasn't as good as mine!

After a sleepless night, we met our Tour guide Becky, a lovely English girl married to a local (with two small children) for our Tuscanyy in one day tour.

FABULOUS!
We saw Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa and lots of lovely Tuscan countryside. Included in the 12 hour tour was a delicious lunch in a vineyard overlooking San Gimignano with generous samplings of four different wines including a dessert wine to dip our biscotti into. Yum yum!

Becky gave us directions to one of her favourite restaurants in Florence so we headed there when we got back for dinner. As we had been given a substantial lunch we didn't really want a big dinner but with Becky being but a favourite of the restuarant owner we were plied with extras such as sparkling wine to start, a mousse thingy that I quickly passed over to Peter to eat for me and a limoncello for afters. We staggered back to our hotel (I'd much rather have slept at the station) for the last night before packing up to set off for Roma.

Florence .....good one!

Arriverderci Poschiavo - Buongiorno Venezia

We are in Rome today but as it's the first chance of decent internet connection I'll start with day 1 of Italy.... Venezia - May 21st.

Not a good start to the Italian leg of our trip. Apart from the general sadness of leaving Poschiavo and the excellent Swiss rail system, the journey from Poschiavo via Tirano, Milano, Venezia Mestre and then to Quarto d'Altino was bit traumatic. Not a good idea to start a rail adventure on Swiss trains and then to hit Italy....grot grot grot. Not going to moan too much about it but ask me when you see me!

Our hotel (Crowne Plaza) in Venice East was very nice. We dropped our cases and caught the train back into Venice proper for the evening. Somewhat underwhelmed by Venice!

Pretty dirty and covered in graffiti and rubbish for the most part. We did walk through some canals and crossed some bridges to arrive at quieter and cleaner streets/canals but the areas most tourists would venture into were pretty grim.

We decided next morning not to go back there but spent the morning rearranging clothes in suitcases (cooler clothing needed) and walked to the local post office to post the key Peter found in his pocket back to Hotel Suisse (Poschiavo), complete with large heavy metal key tag.

Next stop Firenze... Florence.

Roots

Today we met with Pastore Antonio di Passa of the reformed church here in Poschiavo. He spoke very good English and was very happy to go through the church records with us searching for family. We found the Carisch family record with David Teodoro Carisch and his wife Domenica and children listed including Grandfather Giacomo.

We found David and Domenica's death records and will be meeting with the Cemetery custodian later this afternoon to see if we can find a burial site.

No luck with grandfather's death record but Pastore di Passa will ask for us in Brusio and email me later.

It was an amazing feeling to see the names recorded in the register.

Mission almost completed.

Photos hopefully to follow of the cemetery but just one of Otto Carisch, perhaps and uncle, born too early to be my Great Great Grandfather Otto Carisch but he was the Founder of the school here and was once the Pastore of Poschiavo.

Perhaps I am imagining it but I fancy I see a resemblance to Mum and her brothers Jack and Frank.