Saturday Gala Dinner

















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  Thursday 14 November 2024 We found a wonderful little café today for breakfast with the locals. The cruise ship Americans with the little bloke with the flag on the stick – he gets around, eh? They went elsewhere. Excellent cappuccino, cannolo and ham and cheese roll.  Then a painful hobble around the outside walls of San Gimignano ended with a coffee and the purchase of a shirt in the local market. By this time, it was almost lunch and our mate Kevin, from La Chaine des Rotisseurs in Cairns, now living half the year in Florence, arrived to collect us.  We are now back in three layers and puffer jackets because despite the clear blue sky, the temperature is in single figures and the wind and shadows are, how shall I put this?   Very bloody cold! Lunch was at Bottega Torciano, a 10 minute drive down the road. It specialises in Florentine steak. That is a 1.5 kg T-bone, cooked rare. We shared this and had some healthy grilled vegetables and potatoes – about three...
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  Thursday 7 November 2024 365 days since we departed Cairns today. It seems like a fast year over four seasons. Today was also another warm, sunny day. I’m not sure what this will mean for the coming European summer, with the floods and such. Plus, what will the Trump win mean? Today we caught the train to Pompeii to do a guided tour of Pompeii and Herculaneum with an archaeologist guide. Very scientific of us. Not just a guide, but a real archaeologist! There were 20 in the group, mostly Americans. And the cruise ship mob were there as well – mostly Americans too. Our guide was, according to Lady P, a bit of a hunk. He also spoke heavily accented English ten to the dozen, which meant you got brain strain trying to pay attention to the excellent content he was delivering. Nonetheless, the Pompeii tour was excellent – again without the summer crowds. A break for lunch before the bus to Herculaneum. Both cities were covered in 15 metres of volcanic ash and mud, killing all l...
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