Montefalco

Montefalco  24 August - 2 September 

We stayed in the beautiful hilltop town of Montefalco in Umbria with Jenny and David for 10 days.

Bill, Jenny and David enjoy the view from the top of the town.

Jenny on our street just below the piazza.

The lounge room of our apartment

Our bedroom

Our fabulous pool and garden and just a stones throw from the main piazza.

More from London

                        

Outside the Imperial War Museum.

WW1 aircraft inside.

We attended a Prom Concert at the Albert Hall. Brilliant playing by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

The Albert Hall

The Albert Memorial

The Geffrye Museum, founded in 1914, which specialises  in the history of the English domestic interior, displayed in a series of period rooms from 1600 to the present day.

Inside the Geffyre Museum.

London 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 August

Back in lovely London again.  The weather is glorious, except when it's cloudy and pouring rain and that surprisingly hasn't happened often.  The Londoners say this is the best weather since last April.  (You always have to mention the weather when referring to England).

The Houses of Parliament taken from the ferry to Greenwich.

Queen Anne's House and Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

Walking in the tunnel under the Thames from Greenwich to Docklands.

Starting on the Hidden London ride, on Bromley bikes, through parts of South London and on to the City of London.  Amazing tour! We learnt a lot and saw things we would not otherwise have had access to.

Our guide Ian demonstrating the garrotting of William Wallace (Braveheart).

City of London Guild Hall and site of the old Roman Colosseum.

Later we met up with Nicola, Felicity, Ali and "the boys" in Bermondsey.

Ready to enjoy lunch.

               European Trip 2011

Singapore   August 16, 17, 18                               

The first stop on our trip was Singapore for a couple of days.  Bill is enjoying the view from our hotel, overlooking The Padang, the colonial sports field - a sort of village green.  They were setting up for the Formula One, to be held in September.

There is as magnificent display of orchids in the Singapore Orchid Garden, within the beautiful Botanical Gardens.  

Enjoying a trip in the Singapore Flyer, Singapore's version of the London Eye.

A taste of Singapore's amazing Architecture.  This is a double helix foot bridge.  The lotus like building is a new arts building and the huge structure with a 'boat ' on the top is the flashy casino.

Yum, steamboat!

Bangkok  12-14 November

We had a stopover in Bangkok on the way home.

The foyer of our hotel, the Amari Watergate.

Rooftop of the hotel.

More on the rooftop.

The free cocktail hour.

 Trains and shopping!

 Street food vendors.

 Of course you have to have a ride in a tuk tuk.

 Street shrine.

 View from hotel.

Naples 

 We headed off to spend the weekend in Naples.  What a crazy city.  Had fun, but felt more comfortable back in Rome.

 Relaxing at our hotel, a lovely retreat from the madness that is Naples.

The busy, crazy alleyways that make up the Centro Historico. There’s plenty of washing to inspect!

                                                Watch out for all the speedy motorinas!

Naples is famous in Italy for its Nativity scenes, or Presepi. Presepe means cot or crèche. This is one of the lanes that produces and sells them.

All the pieces are for sale.  Huge Presepi are in the churches over Italy, or you buy what you like to make up scenes for your home.

We were surprised by a parade coming through on of the lanes.  They weren’t exactly joyful folk, so not sure what it was about.

Bride meets policeman.  A more jolly and typical Neapolitan scene.

           Rome  28 October - November 11

Here we are back in lovely Rome again for a couple of weeks, while Bill goes back to work at the UN IPPC.

Balcony of our hotel in the Aventino.  We moved into an apartment into Celio after a few days.

The Teatro di Marcello and the Tempio di Apollo.

Palazzo Altemps a national museum.

Palazzo Altemps.

Largo di Torre Argentina.  Apart from containing an amazing  collection of ancient ruins,
it is also a cat shelter for some of Romes many homeless felines.

Cloister of the Baths of Diocletian.

There is a museum at the baths.

The Great Hall of the Baths of Diocletian.

Trajan's Column.

David and Bill lunching on the roof of the FAO building.

A military display on Circo Massimo

A random church in the Celio area.