Mamma Mia!: Meeting Mum in Rome & Florence

It was an overcast roman day, just over a week ago that my eight months of orphanhood came to an end. I celebrated my grand reunion with Mama in Rome and we've been/ will continue to travel around Italia for nearly a month like two peas in a lovingly dysfunctional pod.

Sunset against the Duomo in Florence.

 I know I have a bad habit of starting off a blog post in one country and then backtracking, but the saga of my arrival in Italy truly warrants this small digression. Mmmkay. So from my beautifully dilapidated apartment in Berlin I hitched a ride with Sarah in a removalist's' van to her beautiful and not at all dilapidated family home near Wiesbaden and then onto Frankfurt to stay with her sister Freya and hang out in bars with German movie stars who I didn't know. Tres cool.

The following day my twenty-four hour bus ride began. The first high/lowlight was a police raid that took place somewhere near Stuttgart after an impromptu and confusing bus change. I asked what was going on but no one on the bus- including the driver- spoke any German. They just muttered to me in Italian and pointed places. Eventually I found my way to the second bus in which I was seated next to an adorable, tiny old man called Francesco who also didn't speak any German or English but kept force-feeding me biscotti. At about midnight we drove through München and Oktoberfest was in full swing, at about 4am we were in Austrian electrical storms and the bus roof started leaking, at 4.01am the old lady behind me whipped out her umbrella (and proceeded to keep it up for the rest of the evening) and around 4.05am it was discovered that I was the only passenger on board that was able to (very roughly) translate from Italian into German so I had to act as the intermediary between the wet and disgruntled Italians and the new bus driver (who only spoke German) for the early hours of the morning. At 7am we got stuck behind a big fireballs of an accident outside of Florence and by 11am I had been dropped with all my bags at the wrong station in Rome and waved off with a vague hand gesture and a hotel name to find the place where mum was waiting to meet me. Fair to say I was happy to see her!

After a recuperatory nap and an expresso Mum and I explored the area we were staying in; Campo de' Fiori. It gets a big thumbs up from both of us. Cute little produce markets, artisan shoe shops and just a five second stroll to all the 'must see' joints. Like the ol' Pantheon below.

My ancient Rome nerdy excitement was off the charts. I nearly peed my pants when we went to see the Roman Forum.

Part of the temple to Mars Volta.

Hanging out across the Tiber river in tiny Tastevere.

Waterworks in Piazza Navone. Soon followed by torrential rain which caught us on our way to the Vatican Musuem...

Dripping wet we entered the Museum. Let me take you on the Ohlert tour of ancient art:

400AD Pokemon floor mosaic.

The Last Supper Italian tapestry feat. Jesus eating a puppy dog.

St. Peter's Basilica

Me gently mocking the St. Peter's Basilica (in my, largely non-intentional, nun outfit.) It's hard when you only have a wardrobe of two skirts and three shirts to rotate through!

The next day we boarded a train to Florence and hoped the weather would be nicer considering I had no waterproof shoes and Mum, with admirable optimism, had really only packed sarongs.

We were greeted the station by ok weather and Mum's friends Danila and Christina. Danila's place was unbearably Italian. And everyone, being Italian, was unbearably generous. 



Danila's house was where Mum stayed during her 'exchange' in Florence. We also caught up with the friends she made whilst she was there, so it was a nice completion of the cycle for me to come from my exchange to catch up with the girls from hers... 

It's a Party with Gelati! (and Christina and Marianne)

Ponte Vecchio and the non-vecchia Nancy.

And again with my bag of laundry (like I said, life's hard when you have about 4 items of clothing).

Killer views from Piazzale Michaelangelo. That's Santa Croce peaking out between the trees.

Duomo close up - on our way to the Uffizi gallery where we ogled at Botticelli's Venus and the Medici bling.

Don't be fooled into thinking we only did cultural things. Went spent a large chunk of our time in the St. Lorenso food markets and the silk and leather markets. We literally bought more handbags than I have hands (ie. three) and I snagged a pair of handmade leather shoes that make my feet sing Arias when I wear them. It's Mum's bad influence really, but we ended up shipping 14kg of Italian trinkets home again. Judge me.

 Panini Panini Panini

Then, just like everything ever, our time for hanging out on century old bridges and teasing masterpieces came to an end. After a mild drama involving train delays and the wrong hotel, we trooped off to meet the 'Eolian Heritage Study Tour' group, with whom we'll be chillin on the Eolian Islands (where my Mum's family come from) for the rest of the month. Watch this space ragazzi!