Hong Kong, France, Italy, England: Rome

This morning we met P in nearby Piazza Navona after breakfast and then went for a walk up to the Pantheon. Over the past 5 years, P has shown a lot of Australian friends around the historic centre of Rome and is a very knowledgable tour guide! From the Pantheon, we wandered up to La Chiesa Di San Ignazio Di Loyola - possibly one of the most beautiful churches I've been in to date. The reason why P took us in, was to show us the optical illusions painted on the ceiling - giving the impression of a dome, when the ceiling was in fact flat. Really beautiful. From here, P left on her bike with Alberto to go and do some things at home before picking up Mila, and we continued on to the Trevi Fountain. The girls threw a bit of money in and made a wish, and we turned around and headed back for P's, to then go and meet up quickly with Federico's parents, before going back to the hotel to meet Tobes, hot off the plane from a (34 hour) trip from Australia.

After another hour delay on the runway, waiting for another plane to get out of the way, and a fairly hair-raising / entertaining taxi trip into town, Tobes walked into the hotel lobby (with Pops, who had hightailed it out the door and town the street in her hotel slippers).

We had a quick bite to eat / late lunch directly opposite our hotel, and then Tobes crashed for an hour and a half, while the girls and I caught up with my gorgeous friend, Violante and her husband Andrea, and children Linda and Tobias. Really quite emotional to see Violante again after all these years, and my girls absolutely amazed and intrigued to watch her lip-read in Italian and respond vocally.

Andrea, who grew up in Rome, took us for a coffee and and icecream for the children. Violante explained that she has recently got a job as a tour guide for deaf tourists, around the Vatican, having only recently learnt how to sign in Italian (she went to a mainstream school and has always lip-read). The girls were fascinated and kept asking "come si dice" / how do you say - grazie, ciao, yes, no, come stai, brava, etc, etc. So they were happily all signing their way back up the street to the hotel. We left Violante, Andrea and family in Piazza Navona, and then woke up Toby and headed over to P's for a quick drink, and then out to dinner (just the four of us - P, Federico, Tobes and I), while the girls stayed at home with Este (sp?) and watched an English film.

Dinner was lovely (thanks P & Fede) - a fantastic Sicilian restaurant over the other side of the river. The boys talking cars and driving all the way there, and P being the ever efficient tour guide. We got home to find the girls awake, and walked back to the hotel - another late night, knowing we could have a decent sleep in, in the morning!