As I got on the water taxi at Venice Airport to make our way into Central Venice, I smiled, looked around and thought “oh, how I have missed Italy and Venice!’ It must be twenty years at least since I was last in Venice, and….I really had missed it! I know… they say it is full of tourists, but trust me….it is still just fabulous  and well worth a few days! The pace of life just seems to be slower – maybe because you have to wait and catch water taxis around in the central area, or walk. (Hint….get a good map as it is easy to get ‘geographically misplaced’!). We arrived at the Rialto bridge stop after a very pleasant journey on the water and were met by our friends who where waiting there for us. Thank goodness they were as we did need some assistance with the luggage to negotiate up the steps and down the steps, and up the steps and down the steps, and up the….you get the idea! Hint…. ensure you do not have too much luggage with you if you have to walk any distance. On making it to our apartment, the next ‘challenge’ was to get the bags up the stairs. I have never seen such steep stairs in my life! But, we managed it. We were in a great location though and on going out to explore later on, it was all worth it. What’s a little jetlag when there is so much to see, taste, explore and experience. The next day we were heading to Florence just after midday. So of course we had to go out and have the obligatory ‘cappuccino’ and pastry for breakfast before a little more exploring, negotiating the luggage back down the steep stairs, onto the water taxi again and off to the station. We decided to get there nice and early so we could find our way to the correct platform with plenty of time, get ourselves ensconced in our first class carriage and relax.! Well, that was the plan! What we hadn’t realised is that they had changed the platform for our train from the one on the screen and while we are happily sitting on platform 3 awaiting our train, it was loading on platform 5! So, with five minutes to go when they announced the new platform, there was a mad dash, suitcases were hurled onboard, (with one landing on my big toe!) and we managed to scramble on board just as the whistle blew for the train to pull out! Apparently this ‘platform change’ is quite common…..so watch out if you are catching a train in Italy! But the 2 hour journey was pleasant once we got ourselves organised, bags stashed and Quattro biere ordered. (Purely for medicinal purposes of course!) Hint….buy your rail ticket before you leave, otherwise the queues are very long and take ages, and pay the little extra and go First Class!

View from apartment window

Florence ……..for me, Si….Firenze è la città più bella d’Italia…….Florence is the most beautiful city in Italy, in fact I think one of the most beautiful cities in the WORLD really. It is five years since I was last in Florence and I just love it. Again we had an apartment for the 10 days we were there. But what is it with these European apartments…..they all seems to be up flights of steep stairs with no lifts! Yes, they are authentic old buildings! Once settled in, we again explored our area and found the local restaurants, deli, superette, greengrocers, bars and the local Gelato shop and many local shops we didn’t even know we would need. I love apartments as it gives you such flexibility. You can do your washing, cook if you wish, have snacks if you don’t want to cook, all very relaxing I find.  Hint…get an apartment central if you are walking around. We were within approximately 20 minutes walk to the train station so we decided that we would do several ‘day trips’ out of Florence during our time there.

River Arno

But what of gorgeous Florence. Where to start? In 1982, the historic centre of Florence was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The centre of the city is contained in medieval walls and the heart of the city, to me is the Piazza della Signoria. The first day that is where we went and spent considerable time admiring and photographing the great statues that are there. My favourites – The Fountain of Neptune, the Rape of the Sabine Women, a copy of the statue of Michelanglo’s David, Perseus with the Head of Medusa, and Hercules and Cacus. In this piazza you will also see Florence’s town hall, the medieval Palazzo Vecchio.

From there we went onto the Ponte Vecchio, (old bridge). It was Florence’s first bridge across the Arno River and is the only surviving bridge from Florence’s medieval days (others were destroyed in World War II). The Ponte Vecchio is still lined with shops selling gold and silver jewelry, (great window shopping) and from the bridge, you’ll have a great view along the Arno River and beyond.

We do have a friend however from our ‘old days’ who has a gold and silver shop so off we went to pay a visit (not Euro’s!).  How lovely to see Walter and Christine….and they recognised me straight away! Can’t have changed/aged that much!

After a chat and a coffee, we went to visit Florence’s most popular site the Duomo (cathedral), the Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Fiore. This huge Gothic duomo holds 20,000 people. Its exterior, made of green, pink, and white marble, has several elaborate doors and interesting statues. Inside, the Dome is a masterpiece of construction. If you feel fit enough you can buy a ticket to climb the 463 steps to its top. We didn’t bother! Opposite the front door of the Duomo is the Baptistery of John the Baptist one of Florence’s oldest buildings. Its exterior is made of green and white marble and has three sets of amazing bronze doors (reproductions – the originals are in the Duomo Museum, also worth a visit). The Campanile, bell tower, gives great views of the Cathedral, its dome and the city of Florence and surroundings. However…you do have to buy a ticket and climb the 414 stairs (no lift) to see it! We thought about it, and then decided to go for lunch!!

I can’t tell you everything that we did in Florence as that really would just take too long. But here are some other highlights for us:

Shopping – Florence is famous for its leather.  Have a browse through the shops and don’t pay the first price. Also, if you are buying a leather coat/jacket, ensure you get the VAT forms to claim that back on your departure from Italy. Handbags, belts, wallets, all manner of leather goods are good value here. There are a number of open air markets, and they all have good quality goods and are fun to go through. Lots of bargaining and yes, we did shop! I love also visiting the Food markets. Mercato Centrale is a great place for food shopping or just browsing and seeing what is for sale. I can spend ages in these markets and you get a feel for the real Florence. If in an apartment, it is a great place to get in some supplies.

Santa Croce, in Piazza Santa Croce –   It is the largest Franciscan church in Italy and holds the tombs of several important Florentines including Michelangelo and Dante. The vast interior contains some exceptional stained glass windows and frescoes.  The square is a great place to just sit and soak up the atmosphere and ‘people watch’. You will find there is a lot of the street art for sale here also.

Piazza Michelangelo – This is an area at the top of the hill just a little out of town. It is quite a walk up to the top but well worth the effort as you the get the most amazing views of Florence and some fantastic photo opportunities from up there.

Some of the things we didn’t see….because we had not brought the tickets in advance and kiwi’s are notoriously bad ‘queuers’! Next time I shall pre purchase the tickets and go and visit these places again.

The Galleria degli Uffizi which holds the world’s most important collection of Renaissance art, but it is also one of Italy’s most crowded museum. So…. buy tickets ahead to avoid long ticket lines. Artists whose works you’ll see include Michelangelo, Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino, and Raphael.

Pitti Palace – This is a vast mainly Renaissance palace which used to be the main seat of the Medici grand Dukes of Tuscany.  It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. Just behind the Palace is the BoboliGardens. They are some of the first and most familiar formal 16th-century Italian gardens. (If you have not heard of the Medici family before, you surely will have by the time you leave Florence!).

We often went out for dinners in the evening and would pick a different restaurant each time. Get off the beaten track and go to some of the more ‘back streets’. You can eat fairly cheaply in Florence…just check out the menu before you to in as most will have it at the door. Sometimes the translations are hilarious. (Little piggie in the wood…we think that was wild pork….but it was delicious!).  The house wine is usually pretty good too!

DAY TRIPS

Sienna Street

Piazza – Sienna

After a couple of days in Florence, our first Day trip was to Siena. Approximately one and a half hours on the train, you can just go and buy your train ticket at the station and away you go. BUT….here is the thing to be aware of! Make sure that you VALIDATE your ticket on the validating machines at the station that you are leaving from. If you do not, and a train inspector comes along and checks your ticket during your journey, you can get up to a 40 Euro fine! Yeeks! We did see some English people get caught and they did fine them, but luckily only 5 Euro’s each. But do be careful.

It is not a long walk from the Siena station to get into town and the next inside tip is, go into the shopping mall just across from the train station and catch the escalators right up to the top of the hill. Beats walking!  Sienna is a beautiful old city and it is here of course that the famous traditional medieval horse race, the Palio is held and is run around the Piazza del Campo twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August. The main Piazza (the Piazza Del Campo) is the historic centre of Siena and has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. Make sure also that you go and visit the Cathedral (Duomo). Fabulous. Have a stroll around and explore this wonderful city and find a little back street for a nice lunch.

Our second day trip was to Lucca, Again, easy to get to (approximately 1.45 hrs by train) and the train actually goes through Pisa on the way there. So, if you wanted to, you could do both places in a day. Hint….remember siesta time when many shops are shut and plan accordingly.  On getting to Lucca, you can actually cross from the train station to the old intact Renaissance city walls and walk around these on your way into the center of town. Wander around the lovely cobbled streets, visit the Piazza’s and churches, and make sure you have a Gelato while you are there. It is all very peaceful here in Lucca and really takes you back to the Renaissance times.

Piazza San Gimignano

Our third day trip was a bus trip, to San Gimignano. This is fabulous place, San Gimignano which is on the top of a hill right bang in the middle of the Tuscan countryside. Maybe a bit more of a hassle to get to, but believe me….well worth it! My sisters favourite place on her Italian trip!  but you have to either do a tour or catch the bus to get there. We caught the bus! The buses leave from the SITA terminal in Florence,which is located near the Santa Maria Novella train station. You will have to change buses at Poggibonsi and it really is a ‘Day trip’ because of the change of buses. (Takes about 2-2.5 hours on the bus). You don’t need reservations, just buy the ticket the day of the trip. You can walk over to the bus station and check the schedule the day before, but try and leave early in the morning. Hint….when you get there, check out the bus return times. Again there are fabulous old city walls, towers, archways, eight gates leading into the town, and the center is also a UNESCO world Heritage site. But the views from this town on top of the hill are just amazing! You get to see all of the gorgeous Tuscan countryside…photos really don’t do it justice. And…it is well known for its fabulous white wine! Had to check it out of course over a pizza lunch! J

I could ramble on about Italy and Florence for ages, but my best advise is to just take some time and Walk around! Some days we would not need to go anywhere in particular, so we would just ….walk around and go wherever we fancied. Stop, have a coffee, have lunch and a glass of wine and just browse through the streets.  One day we were over by the PittiPalace and the Boboli gardens and I decided to go for a stroll. I found a little Piazza with a market in it. After browsing, I just sat on the Church steps and relaxed and enjoyed what was going on around me. How great that was!

Take plenty of time so you are not rushing and can enjoy things. Look at things such as the way the Italians park! Anywhere, anyhow and we would have a fit if it happened in NZ. I also just love the Italian language and the people. Do a little homework before you go and know at least a few words in Italian. It is part of the fun.  Go to the local markets and shops. Talk to the people and ….smile….you just can’t help it anyway when you are in Italy!

Ciao!

(we can provide quotes for apartments in Italy or if you prefer a tour we have varied trips featuring in depth Italy)

Most people love a Pavlova and we have baked them and decorated them for all sorts of celebrations throughout our lives.  I have spent many hours arguing with my Australian relatives as to who invented it, them or us.

Keith Money, a biographer of Anna Pavlova , wrote that a hotel chef in Wellington, South Africa, created the dish when Pavlova visited there in 1926 on her world tour.

Professor Helen Leach , a culinary anthropologist  at the University of Otago  in South Africa, has compiled a library of cookbooks containing 667 pavlova recipes from more than 300 sources.  Her book, The Pavlova Story: A Slice of South Africa’s Culinary History, states that the first Australian pavlova recipe was created in 1935 while an earlier version was penned in 1929 in a rural magazine.

The Australian website “Australian Flavour” gives the earlier date of 1926 for its creation, suggesting that Home Cookery for South Africa, by Australian writer Emily Futter, contained a recipe for “Meringue with Fruit Filling”. This recipe was similar to today’s version of the dessert. It has been claimed that Bert Sachse created the dish at the Esplanade Hotel in Perth, Australia in 1935.  In defence of his claim as inventor of the dish, a relative of Sachse’s wrote to Leach suggesting that Sachse may have accidentally dated the recipe incorrectly. Leach replied they would not find evidence for that “because it’s just not showing up in the cookbooks until really the 1940s in Australia.” (However, a 1937 issue of the Australian Women’s Weekly  contains a “pavlova sweet cake” recipe. Of such arguments, Matthew Evans, a restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald, said that it was unlikely that a definitive answer about the pavlova’s origins would ever be found. “People have been doing meringue with cream for a long time, I don’t think Australia or South Africa were the first to think of doing that.” The first known recorded recipe named “pavlova” was published in the fifth Australian edition of Davis Dainty Dishes in 1926.  However this “pavlova” recipe was not meringue based, but was instead a multi-coloured gelatine  dish.

Well lets agree to disagree then and just enjoy the finished product.  My younger brother Paul is renowned for his Pavlova making and always has requests for different colours and shapes.  He lives in Melbourne but was recently at a family function in South Africa and made this spectacular Pavlova for 25 people.  Suffice to say there was none left over.!! The “M” shape was for my sister Michelle who was also over from Australia and celebrated a birthday while she was in South Africa. Her favourite colour is pink so Paul added a pink food colouring to the mixture and also to the cream.  I can definitely recommend this one!!  but I have to say mine didn’t turn out like Pauls……this recipe is for 6.

Ingredients

4 egg whites

1 & 1/4 cups caster sugar

1 teaspoon DYC white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 tablespoon Edmonds Fielder’s cornflour

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and sugar for 10 minutes or until thick and glossy

Mix vinegar, vanilla and cornflour together

Add to meringue

Beat on high speed for a further 5 minutes

Line an oven tray with baking paper

Draw a 22 cm circle on the baking paper

Spread the pavlova mixture to within 2 cm of the edge of the circle, keeping the shape as round and even as possible

Smooth top surface over

Place pavlova in oven then turn oven temperature down to 100°C

Bake pavlova for 1 hour

Turn oven off

Open oven door slightly and leave pavlova in oven until cold

Carefully lift pavlova onto a serving plate

Decorate with whipped cream and fresh fruit

Serves  6

Hard to believe that just a short 1 hour flight and a view of some snow on the mountains and you are in the South Island and landing at the newly refurbished Christchurch airport.  We picked up a rental car but you wouldn’t really need one if you were staying in the heart of Christchurch.  We drove in from the airport to the Rydges Latimer hotel which is just a little on the outskirts of the city. This had just opened about a week or two before we arrived. They were putting the finishing touches to a lot of the public areas and in fact the room opposite ours was still in its bare shape with no bed or facilities.  Our room had that new carpet smell about it and when we looked out the window we looked onto another building site.  The room had everything we needed included a balcony for those who like fresh air.  I could not believe it was 31 degrees!!! Well that is until I started walking! phew it was hot. No humidity just hot sun!. The central city is easy to get around and the locals were very friendly and helped us with directions.

We wandered into the city to get a coffee.  It was very eerie as there seemed to be no one in the city. It WAS a Saturday though.  We wandered past buildings that had the ceiling fallen in. It was so strange to see a bathroom shop with beautiful baths, showers and taps all as they were on the day of the big earthquake.  People told us of restaurants where coffees and meals where still on the table. There were containers seemingly holding up buildings and evidence of destruction everywhere. We had coffee and some brunch at a gorgeous spot called C1 where Staff were friendly and efficient and the food was great!! We noticed lots of great coffee shops everywhere. We had lunch on Sunday at Bridget’s in Merivale too which was just lovely.

The saddest thing I saw was the group of white chairs. A chair for each of the 185 people who lost their lives in the Earthquake.  Each chair different and it made you wonder about the choice made for each person and what part of their lives or personalities it represented.         The little white baby capsule and children’s chairs were just so very hard to look at. I shed a tear over that.

As we got closer into the city we came upon the new “pop up” mall, made with containers stacked on one another.  It was packed full of people shopping and enjoying the hot weather.  This was the “new” and full of hope Christchurch.  Everyone very upbeat and some fabulous little coffee shops and restaurants with entertainers keeping everyone amused.

We walked on and came up on the side of the cathedral. Its not until you get close to the front of the cathedral that you see the Alhaji Bamideleble devastation. the whole front of it has come apart.  pigeons were nesting in the open spaces and flying and out. It was held up by scaffolding in the front.  I can quite understand the controversy of rebuilding or destroying.

We had a look at the new “cardboard cathedral.  The fact that this is made out of Cardboard is truly amazing.  We spent a good half hour just wandering around feeling the cardboard rolls and oohing and aahing.. they have a lovely stained glass window too but to be really truthful it didn’t feel like a church. It is a very stark place and I guess for me it was just too modern and soulless. I was still blown away by the structure though.   We enjoyed a lovely family function on the Saturday night which was in the suburbs.  Patricks sister has completely rebuilt her house after it suffered damage. A beautiful old villa which has retained its heritage look.  I think Christchurch will be a beautiful city when its rebuilt again. Its taking its time and I am sure there will be more controversy as the locals make decisions about their future.

I found it both sad and uplifting and whilst it was hard to get your bearings as so many buildings had gone or were deserted it was still a fabulous experience. I urge you to go back and re-visit this lovely city as it rises from its ashes.

While we all refer to it the ‘Taranaki Rhododendron Festival’ (or the ‘Rhodie Festival’), it appears that the ‘Official’ name has changed and it is now called the ‘Taranaki Powerco Garden Spectacular’. Why? Because there is so much more to see than just Rhododendrons, and that is very true – we did!  If you have not been to this Festival, you are really missing a treat. It was the first time on this trip for me, and I want to go back again next year as there is so much more to see.

We set off from Auckland on the Friday morning, popped into Pukekohe to pick up a passenger (because Supreme are nice like that!) and then over the Bombay’s and on our way south. A short stop at Huntley for a ‘nice cuppa tea’ and off down to the King Country and Te Kuiti for our lunch stop. (Te Kuiti is of course famous for Colin Meads). We arrived into New Plymouth around 4:00pm and into our hotel, the Copthorne Grand which was very centrally located in town.  If dinner that night was anything to go by, we were going to be well fed on this trip!

The next morning we were up bright, early and eager and off we went to start visiting our Gardens. How appropriate that we started with one of NZ’s greatest gardens ‘Te Kainga Marire’ – which means ‘peaceful encampment’. It is the only private native garden in NZ to be rated as a ‘Garden of INTERNATIONAL significance’. You could see why it was featured on the BBC series ‘Around the world in 80 Gardens’!

Next on our list was Hirst Cottage, a smaller garden all done in Green and white, with a few splashes of red. The owner showed us around and was saying that only two days earlier all had been bedlam as they had the builders in building the new cottage. This property is in the NZ Historic Places trust having become a heritage building in 1980 and the ‘new’ cottage fitted perfectly in with the main building.

On to Tupare, a Garden of National significance and one of our favourites as it turned out. With one of the very knowledgeable gardeners to guide us, we heard all the stories about Sir Matthews and his good lady and there was also time for a tour through the house, which made the visit even better. I had never seen a ‘Hanky Tree’ before either!  Time for lunch at the Raised Eyebrow nearby, (served by a very frazzled café owner) before we went off to sniff the roses at La Rosaleda. The purchasing of plants started here, but who could resist the gorgeous double bearded Iris’s. Plus this garden is where the FROCKS ON BIKES ends. All part of the festival, the theme this year was Pearls and Roses. How appropriate!

Onto our last garden of the day – Pukeiti, an internationally renown Rhododendron garden and another garden of National   Significance. Rhodies everywhere of every colour you could imagine, and again….we could buy some of the unique hybrids.

Once back in New Plymouth, some people opted to go and have a look at Pukekura Park near the hotel, and some of us opted for a wee stroll over to the waterfront of New Plymouth to have a look at the view and also to see the elephants

Again, part of the festival, the family of elephants, all made from Willow and gifted to the city of New Plymouth from an artist in Suffolk, England  were attracting a lot of attention. What is it about elephants – when you see them you just can’t help but smile!

Another lovely dinner with lots of chatter re the lovely day we had enjoyed and looking forward to our next day.

Sunday we were off further south to Inglewood and Cairnhill, Merleswood and Te Popo Gardens. More Rhodies, Peonies, hostas, Roses, woodland, native Forest and birdsong, along with stories of romance, kittens and 80 year old Elm trees all over a nice coffee.

Lunch in Stratford and onto Stanleigh Gardens which was fabulous with ducks on the pond and local arts and crafts for sale. Kings garden was our last stop for the day.  After we had time to explore the garden we were invited back to a lovely sheltered spot on the lawn for a lovely surprise….bubbles and cheese and crackers, all kindly supplied by Supreme Tours! What a wonderful end to another glorious day, sitting in the sun, with a lovely glass of bubbles or juice, a snack, and chatting with the owners Sharyn and Jim and Ferris the dog. We really didn’t want to leave!

Sadly on Monday we bade farewell to New Plymouth and headed towards Waitara and the lovely Tikorangi Gardens. A plant breeder’s garden, it was our last chance to get some of those lovely bargain plants that you would not easily find in the nurseries. Onward towards Rotorua where we arrived around 3:30pm to enjoy a lovely ‘afternoon tea’ at our hotel – The Princes Gate. Time then to head off to either visit the famous Government Gardens just opposite our hotel, or explore a little of  Rotorua.

Last day and what day is it? Melbourne Cup day, so of course we had to have a little sweepstake on the coach!  Names were drawn, money was handed over (dollar a horse) and the ‘form’ was passed around the coach for all to read up on their donkey horse! Yes, big stakes here with $12 for the winner and $6 second and $4 third!  (You have to have fun!).

Hamilton Gardens was a real eye-opener for many, including me. I have been past them so many times, but this is the first time I have been in. It was really well worth the visit and I was most impressed with the guided tour around the Paradise Gardens.  On towards Auckland  and we unloaded all the bags and plants from the coach. Well, Bob our fabbie driver did!

Fond farewells to new friends before everyone headed off on their shuttles back to their respective homes, looking forward to planting all their ‘treasures’.

We commented that every time one of our treasures bloomed, we would remember this lovely trip.  I love gardens, but I am not the best gardener I fear. However, I so enjoyed this trip that I would jump on the coach in a flash to do it again as I know I would see and experience different things the next time. The weather was very kind to us, which does help, but we always enjoyed fabulous food, had great company, saw amazing and beautiful gardens and plants, relaxed with wonderful scenery, had lots of fun and laughs.  The Festival in 2014 will offer the same great floral experience with some of the same gardens and some new ones for us to view. The Itinerary will be featured on the website in early February so pencil in 5 days in late October and join me on the delightful tour.

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