Travel Hamsters Invade Rome

Elvis and the other Travel Hams wanted me to show you their photos of our fabulous Italian holiday. They had a really great time and was the first time the Superhero Hams had been anywhere this exciting!

They are quite good at learning languages, and apparently, Travel Hamsters in Italian is criceti di viaggio. 

They had a wonderful time playing in the piazza of feathers, and tried lots and lots of different flavours of ice cream. The electric blue one in the top right of the above montage was called puffa and tasted a bit like vanilla. The Travel Penguins and Harriet & Hamilton also joined in on several occasions so it was like an enormous party!

Most of the time was spent sharing their knew found historical knowledge of the places we visited from the security and comfort of their specially made travel pouches, which went down a treat in both sets of Travel Hamster camps. They can't wait for their next holiday away!

Harriet & Hamilton's Great Italian Adventure

 In the Easter holidays, Harriet & Hamilton went on a grande expedition with my friend Amy. The plan was to tour parts of Italy, all by themselves- very brave! They started the adventure in Florence, which, judging from the photos and hamster selfies, is a very beautiful part of the world.

Look at the lovely twinkling reflection of the lights in the River Arno!

 They visited many of the sights in each town/city they visited. The above two pictures are in Piazza della Repubblica which is one of the central squares of Florence. You can see The Arch of Triumph there as well.
The below right image is of Michelangelo's statue of David, who stands just outside the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria, another very important square in Florence. (These hamsters know their stuff!! They've picked up a brilliant Italian accent to go with pronunciations too!)

Now the T.H.E (Travel Hamsters Extraordinaire) are standing on a bridge over the Arno River, looking over to the Ponte Vecchio, a Medieval stone arch bridge which is bristling with posh shops selling jewellery, antiques and snazzy souvenirs.

Isn't that a fantastic piece of architecture?! This is the Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flowers), the main church of Florence. The beautiful white and grey side is the Duomo, and you can just make out Giotto's Bell Tower on the right hand side.

The hamsters and Amy, brave things that they are, climbed all the way to the top. What a view! The sunset from the top of the Campanile looks spectacular.

With all paws safely on the ground again, they wandered through the Boboli Gardens, which lie behind the Palazzo Pitti. The gardens are supposedly one of the greatest open air museums, with centuries old trees, sculptures and fountains.

The Palazzo Pitti is one of Florence's largest architectural monuments, and has fantastic views over the city, as well as having several museums and royal apartments set inside.

All this wandering around calls for some gelato...lots and lots of gelato in fact!! Apparently this is the best ice cream in Florence and the explorers travelled several miles to find the gelateria- which was totally worth it, I have that on good authority. Don't let it drip on your ears hammies!

The Travel Hams have journeyed to Siena now and are standing in front of the Siena Cathedral, another incredible feat of architecture, dating back to the 1200s. The image underneath is in Siena Square.

More ice cream, this time from a world champion ice cream maker in San Gimignano. They enjoyed the delights of Nutella, Strawberry and White Chocolate ice cream! Sounds delish.

There was a lot of travelling on this holiday, through coach and train. Lots of Tuscan countryside whizzing past in a blur of green Italian-ness.

 Can you guess where the hamsters are now? Pisa!! And the grand leaning tower.

Dipping their toes in the Trevi Fountain, and throwing in bucketfuls of coins in the hope of returning to this lovely place.

From Pisa the hams travelled to Naples and had a wander along the coastline, breathing in the fresh sea salty air.

What beautiful colours.

So there we have it! A whistle stop tour of the travel hams (and Amy's) trip around a bit of Italy. It looks like they had a fantastic time, and maybe a little bit too much gelato (if there is such a thing as too much gelato!).

Elvis Goes To Scotney

We returned to Scotney Castle this weekend, it's only been a couple of weeks since I last went, but some of my friends wanted to visit and I was more than happy to oblige as it's such a beautiful place. Elvis and a couple of his travel hamster friends, Harriet & Hamilton, came with us as well so it was a proper day out!

It's funny how so much can change in two weeks. Last time I visited the garden was covered in Daffodils and there wasn't nearly so much green around. Now, the fountain has water in, there are protected Orchids blooming in the lawn, leaves bursting out of the trees and it is Bluebell season.

Elvis, Harriet and Hamilton were really enjoying running around the grounds, and found a little hollow in one of Scotney's oldest and most tended to trees (it needs more looking after in it's old age). They were very careful not to damage the tree but paused there momentarily for a quick group photo.

Elvis was imagining himself the Lord and Master of the ruined, old castle, putting on his posh accent and proclaiming things to the other people in the room from his window ledge position.

The weather was a bit variable and we had a few spots of rain. Luckily we found a very cool, sheltered spot under a tunnel of trees by the Chinese Bridge. I think this is a new favourite place for young Elvis!