Post Wedding Holiday

Prior to her wedding, Amy had kindly organised some holiday accommodation for us at La Penisola, which is an apartment complex between Orvieto and Todi so on the morning after the wedding we said our goodbyes and went off to collect our pre-booked hire car and set off to find our accommodation. This proved to be easy and the place itself was ideal for us to relax for a few days. We had an interesting time with the restaurant menu, which was, of course, in Italian, however, with the help of the extremely helpful staff, we translated the whole menu onto a napkin. The rooms and food were good and it was very quiet. There was an outdoor swimming pool and the complex itself sat on the side of a lake.

La Penisola Swimming Pool

Lake Corbara

During this part of our holiday, we accepted an invitation from Amy and Andrew to go and visit them in their rented house. We spent a very happy day there and we also went to have a look at the house they proposed to buy (now theirs). They have certainly taken on a lot of work - have a look at Amy's Blog if you want to see how things have been progressing.

We also spent some time visiting Todi but forgot to take a camera with us, which was pretty stupid. I thought that, though interesting, Orvieto was a better place to visit.

We did spend some more time in Orvieto because the Hotel Restaurant was closed on one day so we decided to have a meal in Orvieto. Because we spent so much time wandering around and eating, we missed the last trip on the Funicular Railway so had to catch the bus. That was an interesting experience with me clinging on for dear life as the bus hurtled down the side of the hill on which the town stands, with not much consideration given to passengers or corners.

Too soon the holiday was over and we handed back the car and caught the train as the first part of the journey home. No real problems but Ciampino is the most uncomfortable airport in which to spend a couple of hours.

A Family Wedding

Andrew and Amy were married on 14 June 2007 in Orvieto, Italy. We travelled to Italy a couple of days before the ceremony along with Annette and Clive and the journey went comparatively well. The drive to Bristol was uneventful as was the flight to Rome, Ciampino. We had pre-booked a coach from the airport to the Railway Station and managed to find that OK. We sat at the back and from speaking to someone who sat on the front seats, we were in the best place (we couldn't see what was going on in the streets of Rome and how the coach driver got through them!!). We eventually figured out how to get tickets for Orvieto and boarded the train for yet another uneventful journey. Andrew met us at Orvieto and took us across the road to the Funicular Railway after which we went by bus to the Hotel Maitani - a really nice hotel with very friendly staff. In the evening, we went out for a meal and met some of the other guests before collapsing into bed.
On the following day we met other guests and walked around Orvieto, which is a splendid little town with a spectacularly fronted Cathedral. In the evening we had a get together on the rooftop terrace of the hotel, paid for by the Bride's parents - thanks to Gill and John. There were a couple of speeches and I presented Amy with a collection of photographs from Andrew's youth. So as not to forget the bridegroom, I gave Andrew a set of Ear Defenders. These did have a practical purpose - he had recently acquired a noisy 2 stroke Strimmer.

John's Speech obviously amusing Amy

I will keep my comments on the day of the wedding very brief as it was absolutely superb:
The Bride was beautiful; the Groom was happy; the guests were well behaved; the weather was perfect; the setting for the ceremony was ideal and David the photographer was brilliant. What a great day. Thanks to everyone who made it so.

JDT