She did it! And a trip to Rome, bellissima!

Has it been that long since I blogged… high time for an update!

With a lot of other things that happened I did manage to get some patchwork done during a visit from fellow Feathergirl Hubertine, she was quilting her scrapquilt while I was working on some pyramids

Enjoy making these, it is not going that fast, because I am also working on other quilty projects and also this happened!

And we are more than proud, not only did she have to work really hard to get her vwo (IB-equivalent) high school diploma, but with one extremely :-( teacher making her life very difficult, a sudden operation earlier this school year and having to re-sit one exam, she proved that she is a fighter.
So we were able to join in this Dutch tradition:

Woohoo! Flag out with her very worn schoolbag attached to it.

For non-Dutch readers, in The Netherlands when children graduate from high school between the time they hear they have passed their exams and the day they collect their diploma’s you hang out the flag and attach the bag they have used all those years to carry their books to school with.

In a nutshell our high school system works like this:  we have high schools at different levels (you take all the subjects at the level of your high school) the last year is practically completely taken up by sets of exams. You either pass or you don’t, if you don’t, then you have to re-do that last year. Completely.
But when you pass your exams, you get to graduate and the flag goes out for you.
It is a fun tradition, for a few weeks early summer you can see this all over our country, we had a few more graduates in our area:

Between the time she finished her exams and getting her results she went on a week long exam trip with some class mates. Another tradition: to celebrate the finish of their exams they party for a week at a sunny location, a bit like spring break in the US.

So that gave the Mr. and myself a chance to take a trip to….Rome!

What can I say, having fallen in love with Italy during our holiday last year, Rome was just a continuation of that, we had a super time.

We stayed at a lovely, little apartment right behind the Piazza Navona

The Mr. (having been to Rome twice before to attend Rolling Stones concerts, he is a huge fan) was one again in awe of the Colloseum, while I was so impressed with the Trevi Fountains

For both of us the absolute highlight was a 7 a.m. breakfast in the gardens of the Vatican, to be there before the Museums open, before the madness of the crowds start, in those beautiful gardens, it was still so quiet, so serene.

This was followed by a very early tour with a very knowledgeable guide (himself a painter) of the Museums, the old papal apartments, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter Basilica,  still before it got busy, great. To give you an idea, on average 16.000 people a day pass through the Vatican Museums on a daily basis, in summer time that goes up to 20.000!
So our early visit with such an extremely small group (20 – 30 people) was very special.

In one of the old papal apartments the floors were full of inspiration for a quilter!

Some other sightings in Rome….. J

Other highlights – as always with us – involve food:

Loved the markets, the terraces, the small trattoria’s, the ice cream and the special Roman dishes like suppli, a sort of croquette filled with risotto and melting cheeeeeeese, yummmmmm!

And speaking of traditions (above) I really fell for the Italian tradition of enjoying an aperativo before dinner at a terrace, loved these Aperol Spritz’s!

My love for Italy certainly continued during this trip, we saw so much beauty, had such wonderful meals, all the people we met were friendly and the city was so clean.

Bellissima!

Phyllis

Bella Italia!

With the weather showing signs of changing into fall I think back of the lovely holiday in Italy we enjoyed just a few weeks ago in Italy. Besides some city trips, Italy was new to us and the only thing I can say is that was fabulous!

We flew to Bologna, such a different world after a flight of just 1,5 hrs! We spent the first night there, our hotel was part of the famous portico’s (a Unesco world heritage site), so all we had to do is walk via the portico’s to the central piazza of this very elegant town. We had a lovely dinner underneath the portico’s, a great start to our holiday.

Even the McDonalds looks elegant in Bologna! Sorry about the fences, they were re-doing the road surface.

Breakfast was yummy, the Italians start the day with something very sweet (cakes etc) and perfect coffee , our hotel had a professional barrista present at breakfast who made your coffee to order.

 



The next day we went back to the airport to pick up the rental car and drove 2,5 hours to the apartment we rented at La Giravolta (click)  just outside of the village of Barchi, in Le Marche. The last half hour it was pouring with rain, so when we arrived with the help of the owner, we quickly put our luggage into our apartment, I made dinner with the groceries we bought on the way and went to sleep early.

Next morning we woke up to this: beautiful weather and a gorgeous view.

As it turned out I made the right choice both with regards to the area, Le Marche,  as well as with regards to where we were staying. La Giravolta is a property that consists of two buildings, beautifully restored, with a few spacious, modern apartments and a great infinity pool. The atmosphere was great. To be honest, their website does not do it justice, the www simply can not. The views, the silence, the smell of lavender everywhere, it was so beautiful and so relaxing.

 

 

 

 



I loved that pool!

Getting the groceries was special too. The village of Barchi was a walk up a path behind La Giravolta, through a field, rather steep, but you got your reward walking back down again! That view made it so special!

 

I can honestly say that this walk down to La Giravolta made these trips the best, most special shopping trips ever for me.

The area of Le Marche is beautiful, with its hills, winding roads, medieval villages etc., and – important for us- not packed with tourists. It is located on the Adriatic Coast and there are very nice beach resorts, the sea is turquoise and warm.

 

And the food, oh the food. Soooo delicious, as are the wines. The restaurants? A lot of them, because of the hills, have terraces with beautiful views, it is like being on a movieset, constantly.

We made the most of the (sea!)food and the restaurants!

 

 

Dinner is mostly an all-evening affair

 

 

We did do other things besides eating…

The old villages have been beautifully restored and are impeccable. So, so clean, not a piece of paper (or chewing gum)  on the streets, nothing. The people really respect their history and their heritage and they are very disciplined about their waste and garbage.

So we did some sight seeing.

A walk up to the upper town of Urbino (again, the town was spotless), I loved all those small passages and open doors everywhere. Also this famous place, there were tourists but not very many.

 

And Mondavio, 15 mins from where we were staying:

 

 



Again, spotless streets!

August is the month where all the factories are closed so most people are on holiday. It is also the month where there are a lot of town parties, they can last 3 – 4 days. So we enjoyed a few of those.

In Fano:



 



In Mondavio (again) , the medieval plays in the evening time:
Also here, mostly local people,  just a few tourists and a great atmosphere.

 

Our daughter Eline spent a few days staying with one of her friends whose family has a holiday home about 2 hours from where we were staying.

She spent the better part of a week there with her friend and family, had a super time but was a bit unlucky too.
Eline and her friend went horse riding in the fields a few times during those days. Unfortunately the last day not all went well. While galloping Eline was unable to avoid a branch with thorns and she suffered a deep cut in her right arm which needed stitches, so she was taken to hospital. The stitches have been taken out now, looks like they did a good job and we just feel lucky it was her arm and not her face, because it will remain a scar.

 

 

 



Lucky enough this happened only two days before we were due to go home, because swimming was out of the question after this.

So we decided to end this wonderful holiday doing something all three of us love…..J!

 



Besides Eline’s horse riding incident it was a lovely, wonderful, relaxing holiday and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We will come back to this beautiful place!

Phyllis