04-30 Homeward bound

Wheather: Fine, warm, avg temp 23c

The flight is at 17:45 but we plan to leave for the airport at 12:30. Wow, its over, this time next week it will be pushing buttons behind a desk. The last day is like eating sweat and sour pork. To see all our friends and family again; see our pets; our home; to not have to think about how to say something in a foreign language; to use your own toilet; to get a good meal; breakfast; driving; to watch tv (other than cnn) in English; to just sit and veg in the hammock; breakfast again... All the little things that make Australia home and at the same time there will be no more adventures and spiral stairs and towers and churches and momuments and baguets and sunsets and aching feet and each day will be much like the last except for weekends...

So happy to be heading home and sad that it is over we packed but first headed to the Cemetary next to Pere Lachaise metro station. James Morrison and Chopin are there but it is a large confusing area and we get separated (Jas stops to take photos - he is my person photo diarist) and I amble ahead... Anyway I ambled a bit too far ahead and he is gone but I found James M (follow the the crowd of people with cameras) and then after many wrong turns andgetting completely lost I found Chopin.

Still with time to spare we headed down to the art markets at the end of our street, keen to find something a little special to remember Paris. (I found a gorious silver handcrafted ring- very unique) and a print of a water colour by a very charming frenchman who chatted me up - surprising since I was not wearing any makeup. :)

Anyway, at last we caught the metro to Gare de Nord, then the RER train to Charles De Gaul which has to the quietest international airport I have ever been too (which would be 4 so probably not much to go on....) There was hardly anyone about - I was actually relieved to glance out a window and see a plane parked I thought we were still at a train station, even the number of shops were few. anyway, on a half full plane to Tokyo - we have the emergency exit seats which means lots of leg room and the personal tv sets so quite content... Jas watched "Meet the fockers" (bof bof) and I got to see "Bridget Jones Diary"(mon par).

04-29 "Arhhh Paris"

04-29 "Arhhh Paris"

Wheather: Fine, warm, avg temp 23

A fine warm day which began at the Photography Museum where we viewed a collection of black and white photos from the 1940's, a couple of contempory artists - one who took photos of office buildings (like a water cooler or a group of chairs) - very boring. There was an exhibition of Andy Warholes poloroides with a fewfamous faces amoungst them and some strange ones as well...

We then returned to Notre Dame because Iwas keen to climb it - Jas twisted his knee in a minor way earlier and it was bugging him a bit so declined (ok for walking, not ok for stairs). I waited in line for about 40min since they were only letting up groups of 20 or so every 10mins (it was about 1300hr) and cost E7 but well worth itto see the gargoles and Paris on such a fine day. All the bladers and cyclists were out and about it was such a beautiful day.

We then grab some lunch shamefully at KFC (not many around) but it did not taste the same as Australia - fries were terrible. By mid afternoon we were at the contemporary art museum again and watched the street performers and the people before stopping for a coffee in the complex. Keen to make the day last longer we then walked back over the Seine to the Latin Quarter until we ended up in the Luxemburg gardens. At last we walked back to Pont de Alexandra III and watch the sun set and the Eiffle tower light up - it was about 2200hr then finally returned to the hotel for the last time...

04-28 Versailles, France (outside Paris)

"This is the Viccaci palace" said one American to another, and I thought our pronouciation was bad...

Ok so today we braved crowdes to see Versailles Palace, one of the most visited locations by tourists and locals of France.

History
The chateau started construction in 1664 and continued until 1715. It was built during the time of Louis XIV. After his death Louis teh XV moved in in 1722. It remained the residence of the royal faimly until the revolution of 1789. In 1871 it became the seat of the nationalist government.

Getting There
There are two train stations to Versailles, we caught the Gare de Nord (SNCF) which puts you about 15 min walk from the entrance, and on the way home we caught a closer RER C (by only about 5 mins) local line which put us back on the Met in Paris.

About
Versailles consists of a few key areas:
Le Chateau, where the royals and gentlemen hung out, is the main 'exhibit' today.

The State Apartments (Grand Apartments) and the Hall of Mirrors. The rooms here are littered with artwork, statues possibly to adorn the King of the time.
We were unable to see the hall of mirrors as they are currently undergoing reconstruction and will reopen in 2006.

In the aparetments in the Queen's (Marie-Antoinette's) bed chamber. Many of the rooms have ceiling paintings and minute details in areas such as the door handles and fireplaces.

The King's Suite includes the Guard room, the Antechamber for the Grand Couvert, the King's bedchamber and the Council Cabinet. Including many fine paintings the rooms are also laced with marble walls, carved statues and gold lined furniture.

The Chapel Royal I think was attached to the aparments. Having gothic tendancies as part of its construction the chapel stands over 25 meters high.

I dont remember visiting it but there is also an Opera theatre inside the massive structure....

After a while the many fine paintings, rich carvings, gold laced everything, copious amount of tourists begins to blur into a dejavu style feeling as you begin entering room upon room... We had an audio tour for certain parts of the tour but we were just too damn fast for the annoucer (mayby he was just too damn slow talking!) . In some locations they had run out of audio tours and we didn't bother to grab em, so we lost the history lesson of some parts of the Palas.

The Trianon
The trianon consists of the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine. Trianon is the name of a village Louis XIV purchased and then demolished in order to build house for partaking of light meals. Aparently the king would retreat to this area to avoid the oppressive protocol of Versailles and still be close to his family. The trianon is a 15 minute walk from the Chateau and is surround in lavish gardens and flowerbeds. Surrounding the grand trianon are also many garden scluptures and fountains, perfect for a garden stroll.

The Petit Trianon.

Liking the grand trianon so much the king decided to build a new chateau, finished in 1768, the Petit Trianon was done. With similarly fashionable gardens and foutains lining its expanse this location was about 5-10 minutes from the Grand Trianon.

The Queen's Hamlet
Part of the Trianon grounds consists of the small lakeside village, the location chosen by Marie-Antoinette, a pictureseque location that the queen used to escape to and play at being a shepherdess. The area consists of a large pond, surronded by small village housing, the Queen's house and a small Farm (used to supply the queen with eggs, butter cream and chese.)


The Gardens
The gardens consist of about 1/2 dozen designated named areas. Of which the main areas are: the Le Parc which adjuts the The Chateau and surrounds the Le grand Canal, a cross shaped canal where you can hire row boats.

Planning your Visit
We arrived around 1000 or 1100 on the day to enter what was already a crowded attraction (obvious by the 40 odd tourist busses in the car park). We followed the lonely planets guide and began to line up at Entrance B, while most people were queued at Entrance A. Heres a tip, go and ask at the information office what would be the best way to start the day, the Lady here advised that I should actually go to the gardens entrance to purchase the ticket, unfortunatly they would only take cash not credit so we stayed at Entrance B. Once you have obtained your ticket for this and the other attractions you can bypass the initial queues and move through the place a bit quicker.

A little gripe with the place, after forking out euro20 for a day pass we still had to pay euro 0.50 for a toilet stop. I had the unfortunate timing of requring the ameneties the same time as 50 odd kinder boys who were busily practising there light sabre urinating techniques (unbeknown to them the urgency of some mere Australians just wanting to go behind them) What can you do get mean at them in English... to French kids? I think not. Patience is a virtue so you wait..

Overall if you're into the exceeisivly rich, pompous lifestyle of Aristocrats you will probably enjoy your time at Versailles. Take a packed lunch and go into the gardens to enjoy your cusine! It's a lovely maintained area outside of the Chataue.

04-27 Paris, France Musee d'Orsay

04-27 Paris, France
Weather: 17 and fine.

Today we ventured back to the Musee d'Orsay. We got there at 9.00, unfortunatly it opens at 9.00 in Summer, 10.00 in Winter. Amazingly the queue grew at 9.00 and was 4 lanes deep by 1000. So I guess it was good we waited out the hour anyhow.

Upon entry we gazed upon the impressionist paintings from Renoir, Monet and Pissarro. Other works from Van Gogh and Matisse.Also there were 2 works from Burne-Jones which delighted Clare. Also there were a vast amount of sculptures including works from Rodin.

This filled up most of our day. After that we headed for home.

04-26 Paris Explorer Museums, queues and Indians

04-26

Paris explorer

Cloudy, warm, showers in the afternoon.

Today we slept in till 10. Our intent was to do the Musee d'Orsay butwhen we arrived, around 11.15, the queue was a mile long. Rather thanwaiting around forwhat looked like might be hours we walked aroundParis a bit.

We walked North, back across the Seine to the gardens of Jardin desTuileries. Lines of trees on display with small gardens set invarious areas. Throughout the garden are certain works of art andstatues.From here we headed North East, visiting the Musee de l'Opera. Entrywas Euro7 Clare went into the foyer (which was free) but declined thefull entry. A cross section scale model of the Opera is visible inthe Musee d'Orsee which shows how massive its staging & seating areaare. From here we moved east, to visit the gardens at Jardin du Palais Royal. These gardens are surrounded by a 19th century shopping arcade. Many art, antique, clothing,nicknacks and expensive restraunts exist here. Its fun just to window shop, expensive to actually shop!

From here we continued east to the Centre Pompidou, which is some art and culteral centre. An interesting structure where all the stairs, piping etc are on the outside of the windows.Just a bit west of the centre is the Place Georges Pompidou, herethere was a group of funky mechanical fountains in a pool. Somethingthe kids seem to enjoy. From here we went north-east and found a nice set of book/nik-nakshops. Bought some books and Clare found a present for a colleague atwork which I had been searching all over Paris for, a small torch that illuminates a wall with the Eiffel tower, lets hope we got the rightone!

From the shops we head North to the Musee Des arts et Metiers. Entry was about Euro5. This museum houses all sorts of mechnical and scientific devices. Including mesuring instruments, time devicesincluding sea clocks, cartographer tools, early mechanical clocks; thepedulum; early mathemetical devices for doing addition andmultiplication; looms dating back to the 19th century; telehphonic and photographic items dating back to the 19th century.We only had 2 hours in here before closing, Clare could've easily filled a day!It was pouring rain by the time we left the museum; we decidied towalk home (approx 20 minutes), we easily got drenched as the rainbecame even harder as we got closer to home. Looking like drenchedrats, feeling cold, we went for a good warn Indian meal across theroad from where we are staying.

04-24 Louve

04-24 Sunday

Paris, Louve

Weather: Rain, 14c

Well what not a better way to spend a raining sunday than in the Lourve. Warned many times about the queues and crowds we were upearly and queued at the main pyramid entrance before it opened. We had tickets in our hands at about 9:10am (pretty pleased with ourselves) and began the well-marked route to the Mona Lisa. It is hard to describe the first viewing of this famous painting. It is more beautiful than I expected - the colours are rich and deep and vibrantand it is bigger than I expected. A small crowd was there and I tooka photo of Jas in front of it. Glad we did because we wandered past it later in the middle of the afternoon and could barely get near it. We found a coffee, developed a plan of attack and set off to explore the Louve. We saw Greek, Roman sculptures, Italian and French paintings, Medieval Louvre etc. We stopped for lunch at the café Devon (for a recharge) and continued until about 5:30pm (the museum closed at 6pm) and returned to the hotel.

04-23 Paris, explorer; Saint-Ste and near misses

Date: 04-23

Paris, explorer

Weather: Cloudy, 15c

Returned to Notre Dame today to visit inside the chapel. Being a Saturday it was quite busy. Around the corner from Notre Dame is another church, Saint-Ste. It is realitively small in a simple rectangular shape but renowed for its stained glass. For euro 6.10 we entered and it was the first church we had seen with two floors. The first floor was ok, nothing out of the ordinary and I was beginning to think our money could have been better spent when we walked up a narrow spiral staircase to the second floor. The walls were like 30 feet tall and all stained glass. It was incredible. Unlike the Notre Dame which had stained glass 'windows' this just had walls of stainglass. We spent a while in there, it was so beautiful (and they hadchairs).

We walked to the Arc de Triumphe up the Champs Elysee. It was very crowded. They even have a McDonalds that sells beer! We arrived at the Arc at around 5:45pm but it was closed for a special ceremony so we could not climb it as we had hoped. We stopped for a while and just watched the traffic go around it. It is the largest round-about in the world and most insurance companies do not insure it. We could see exits all on unmarked road. It is one round-about that you do not stop to get on, you just drive straight into the outer circle then merge inwards. Admittedly, we watched for half an hour and did not see any accidents - many, many close calls though.

04-22 Paris, France Eiffel Tour to Notre Dame

04-22

Location: Paris, France

Weather: Cloudy, 16c

Today we begin by travelling from Avignon to Paris via TGV (journey time approx 2hrs 50mins). I think the train travels of speeds over300km/hr which is a strange sensation leaving us a little queasy bythe end of it. Many times we see people travelling with their pets. At Avignon TGV station a man in his late 40's ambled past us carrying a tote bag (it looked like a large padded sewing bag) over his shoulder. Out of the opening of the bag a small dog looked eagerly around. He sat not far from us and the bag fell open to reveal two dogs - not one!! Anothertime I was surprised to see an ordinary gym bag next to lady except it had a plastic see through window in one end. As we passed it a large grey cat with yellow eyes was sitting quietly in it peering out. Idon't think Buffy would be sitting so quietly... It is not unusual to see people taking their dogs out to a restaurant - they sit under thetable - the dogs, not the people. From Gare de Lyon in Paris we caught the metro to our hotel. Nice room except it is on the 6th floor and there is no lift. It was early afternoon by the time we had settled in and freshened up so we caught the met to the Eiffel Tower, thinking to walk back to the hotel. It was a pleasant afternoon and we sat in the large park at the base ofthe tower and enjoyed a bagette. Finally we walked to the tower andpaid euro 3.80 to take the stairs halfway up. It is very impressive and we must of stayed up there an hour or so, there are many displays and shops). After that we walked along the north bank of the Seine towards our hotel. We passed the Louvre, the Musee D'orsey, Jardins park, Pont deAlexander III. Many tour boats run up and downthe river. It did not get dark until about 9:30pm and we stopped at the Louvre and took some photos of it lit up. The Eiffel tower is lit at night as well andevery hour it sparkles for 10mins. We walked to Notre Dame and also took some photos of it lit up until the lights went off at midnight. Many people were picnicing on the river and it was very festive. Caught a taxi back to the hotel (about euro8) and slept very well.

04-20 Avignon, France Wine Tours and snobby waiters

Date: 04-20

Location: Avignon, France

Weather: Exceptionally windy but a fine sunny day (23c)

Today we traveled from Lyon to Avignon by Train. Travel time was 3hrs(a TGV service is also available which cuts this down to 2 hours, theTGV station is outside the old town of Avignon, a 10 minute 1.10euro bus will ferry you to the old city) Avignon (pop 80,000) has a very well preserved walled old town as its main attraction. Most of the old town's roads are one way. The small city is a cosy little, attractive spot. With parks and fountains spread across various blocks, statues, gothic buildings lined with gothic charicatures on their window cills, there is lots to see in Avignon. Arriving around lunch, we dropped into the tourist office (of whoms attendants speak perfect English) and organised one (of many available) 1/2 day tours. The tour we initially chose was full (a trip to Les Baux deProvence) so we opted for a wine tour. Cost was euro50 pp and included our knowledble guide, Pascal. Tour was via miniibus which seated 8 people, ours consisted of us, 2 British and 4 Canadians. Our first stop was at a prestigious wine grower outlet (name escapes me). Aparently the vineyards around the area are never sold due to their high value. Once you own some land here, you own it for life. A lot of the vines are grown with a mulch of small orange rocks, aparently the rocks absorb the heat during the day and then at night when it cools they slowly release the heat which assists in a better grape crop. Good crops are a mixture of harvesting conditions, soil, environment andtime of picking we're told. Picking occurs in September and usuallylasts a few weeks. Inside the (unknown??) vineyard showroom we visited the wine storagearea, huge 300l barrels stacked 6 high adorned the room. Our guide explained how they carefully choose the wood to create the barrels for storage (another important step in the wine growing process). The naming of a
vineyard's product is called by region/provence rather than by the type of wine (ie Merlot/Shiraz) We were tutored in the process of testing/tasting wines (a bit overthe top in my humble view), swishing it around, sniffing it 3 different ways, swishing some more, sniffing, checking its color, then... finailly, actually tasting the stuff. Like any good non wineconissier's Clare and I preferred the cheaper, younger variety of red's rather than the pricy, smooth vintage on taste. We left vineyard #1 (still unknown) to travel to a small town shouldered on a hill (a common thing in these parts). It was a lovely little town, with a small chapel at its peak. Untouched by the tourist industry there was not the overflowing array ofpostcard/trinket shops lining its narrow streets. 30 miniutes on we're back on the bus off to another wineyard showroom, this one's name was 'The cave', or something similar to that. They produced moresweeter, dessert wines, of which some alikened our pallete. Aftertasting we were treated to a cheesy 10 minute video on the localfamily's history of wine making. After that it was off home to Avignon. Arriving home, we explored the village some more, of which they do a good job of lighting at night. We saw the Palais des Papes, a 14th Century fortied palace for the popes. We then had dinner at one of very few places serving chicken. The consistent snobby waiter service greeted us as our best attempts at speaking French obviously did not impress. A simple meal of Chicken and Lasange (unforgivingly not a very standard local dish) was had and then it was off to bed

04-21 Avignon, France; Pont du Guard and The Master

04-21

Location: Avignon, France

Wheather: Windy, but fine and sunny (22c)

Today we lined up another 1/2 day minibus tour (organised by the tourist office) to visit a small historical township called Le Beau hillside. The winds in this area were exceptionally strong, All through the little village the wind blew with enormous strength, definitely not a place of the wearing of loose hats. The village consists of two main streets, with attractions including a museum Euro7 entry, which I'm unsure what it houses, a small little chapel,lined with modern stained glass windows, was a simple yet pleasant place of worship. A non tourist attraction, yet a definate point of interest, the coffee store situated at the fork of the two main roads has served the bestcoffee sofar. Not only could they make a decent brew but serving sizewas also extra generous. Run by french speaking Italians this is sofar *the best* coffee store in all of Europe!

From LeBeau we travelled through the French country side, consisting primarily of crops of Grapes and olives to the Pont du Guard. The Pont du Guard being an ancient Roman built aquaduct dating back toaround 5A.D. The was a massive construction, as high as the Colleseumin Rome, and almost fully intract (although definatly not functional). You have the option of climbing to the top for a semi-panoramic viewof the aquaduct (unfortunatly tree growth makes the view some what limited), or you can go to the bottom of the river bed and walkbeneath, (definatly the preferred option). Our journey ended with the guide dropping us back into the city of Avignon.

In Avignon we followed, to some degree, 3 different walking tracks ofthe city. Markers on the footpath assist in navigating your around thespecified path.We ventured north and up from the palas de pope do a lovely park areacalled Rocher de Doms. Filled with stoned walkways, some fountains andkid playing areas this was a nice area to view the surrounds of thecity and the river Rhone. A reminder that the winds (known as 'the master' to locals) up here are quite gusty so secure loose clothing

Strolling back down in the city heading to the west wall, we walked across the Pont Edouard Daladier bridge to the other bank of the Rhone(opposite the old town. From here you can take in gorgeous views ofthe city and the Pont St-Benezet, which is lit up at night. That concludes today's trip, tomorrow we are scheduled to leave for Paris

04-13 San Gimigiano, Italy; Great Food great sights!

Date: 04-13

Location: San Gimigiano, Italy

Wheather: Beautfil yet again, 16c to 20c and clear blue skies.

We travelled today from Siena to Pogibonsi by train, then by bus to San Gimigiano. Train journey was about 25minutes, and bus from PogiBonsi was about 25 minutes.To return to Siena, you can either catch the bus directly to Siena or back to PogiBonsi train station and then by train. Strangely thebus/train combo appeared to be faster than the bus only option. Check timetables to verify. PogiBonsi is the second train stop from Siena. The bus ticket officeis up 100m from the train station to the right. Buy your ticket here first, then when exiting the ticket office head right another 40m to the main road, the bus stops here for San Gimigiano(Bus tickets were Euro 1.80 one way)

San Gimignano's population is approx 7100, is a small hilltop town deep in the Tuscan countryside. The bustrip winds you up through some veryscenic landscape and drops you outside an wall enclosed 'old town'. From here you enter the main road to the 'old town' of San Gimigiano. Again be prepared for streets that ascend and descend throught your walk, there are no flat surfaces here. One of the best walks is the dirt path you can circumnavigate the town and view the magnificentcountryside, full of wine and olive crops.Inside the town you are treated to a large amount of touriest orientated shops, restraunts & crafts predominatly. Strangely only a few non bricks and mortar merchants, selling various paintings/drawings.

We had lunch at a small little restraunt (again I've forgotten its name). Service has returend! Our waiter was exceptional, our food(pasta) was delicious and the wine was cheap! What more do you want for lunch! My spagheti Amatriciana was delightful. Desserts and treats, many of which seem to use nuts as the primary ingredients, all look delicious. We bought what looked like fruit pillows and some nutty cholocate biscuits. All of which were delicious.

Sights

The town is very photogenic. I went through about 150 photos here. Exploring the city you can glimpse in almost any direction and discover more countryside or intricate buildings, each with their own style & character. San Gimignano is a town you just want to walk around and discover. From the main plaza, looking at the church, Walk towards it but head right a bit up a hill, you'll end up at an open Olivegrove, where there is a small tore (tower) to climb (all free). From here you can take in wonderful views of the township and countryside. There is a larger bell tower you can climb but we didn't get to there. Ensure you have some time just to sit back in one of the many yards/chairs and just soak up the Tuscan sun for a truly relaxing day.",

04-12 Sienna Italy

Date: 04-12
Location: Siena, Italy
Weather: Perfect - blue skies, temp between 12-20c

We travelled from Bologna to Florence to Sienna by train. The whole journey took about 3.5hrs including transfer times. As you travel by train from Florence you really get a feel for what I assume is a 'Tuscany' landscape. Many sloping hillscapes covered in olive and winecrops, small clusters of houses scattered through the countryside, the occasional deer locating food for the day.
Sienna is a moderatly sized univeristy town, population I think was 54,000.

Travel
Exiting the railway station there is the bus stop (not to city, but tothe Best Western amongst other locations). To visit the city you cross over to the other side of road closest to a cliff face and catch almost any bus into the city, ensuring you've bought your ticket beforehand at the train station [Euro 1.80] Buses from the city were a bit confusing for us, there are two #10 busses (one of the numbers that went passed our hotel stop). Unfortunatly we caught the wrong #10 and did an entire circuit of the city. All the other bus numbers had only 1 number correlating to their journey, perhaps for #10 there was a North and South. Oh well. Taxi's are also few and far between, after the failed attempt with the bus we queuedfor a taxi for approx 30 minutes, when we caught up with some American's who suprisingly enough had also caught the wrong #10 bus and were destined to our hotel. The couple phoned for a taxi, but as things go, a taxi turned up just as the call was placed! Fate.

Sights of Sienna.

Sienna has an 'old town' area that sits in the heart of the city. Be prepared for some steep climbs, with most streets on at least sometype of incline/decline. Wandering through the city you experience delightful craft stores, including pottery, calligraphing/writing,toys, woodcraft and the odd worked metalstore. The stores are intertwined with housing in all Tuscany feeling buildings, all tightly tucked up against each other, all with their own unique style and colour.There are many museums and attractions to enter in Siena, of all the visits we made they were worth it. There is some sort of Vienna tourist card which you can purchase at the tourist office that will grant access to most of these locations, its probably worth it if you intend visitng more than 2 locations.The Piazza del campo is the main city square, in an clam shaped openspaced area, there is a church to one side, with restraunts covering spectacular view of the city (we didn't). We found another place, theMuseo de Panorama, which I thinkis just off the Piazza del Dumono(150m South/West of the Piazza del campo. Entry was Euro6.00 As well entry to a museum housing some beautiful carvings and paintings (and a preserved saint head/bones) you gain access to the 'Panorama', a tower you can climb to exit to an outside rooftop which gives fantastic 360views of the 'old town'. You get sweeping vista views of all thetowns red roofed houses, the Tuscan landscape and the main citybuildings. It is a fantastic sight! Especially with the fine wheather. Also in Piazza del duomo is the Catherdral. The catherdral innards are spetacular. It's a seriously large building with orante paintings lining its interiors, fine stone murials on the floor and excessivly rich use of other valuables adorn its every corner. You're allowed to take photos (no flash/tripod) in here. This sofar has been one of thebest Catherdrals seen to date.

Dining.

We had an unfortunate lunch experience, arriving in the city latearound 2.30 we were close to closing time for Seista (12.00 to 3.00)we went to a nice little restraunt (I don\'t remember the name, Claremight) we asked if they were still serving they greeted us and sat usdown. No sooner had we been given menus the waiter was back hovering,we asked for a few more moments and he grumpily responded, 'Hurry upor no food for you'. It's just a little hard to order meals when you've only had 15 seconds to see the menu. Anyhow we orded promptly after(much to our waiters delight I hope). Then came the next customer service nightmare, the waiter delivering our meals spoke quickly andwe didn't catch what he said, so we sat and pondered for a sec, he then went 'No no', and walked away as if to ignore and then turned around and served our meals. (Obviously knowning they were for us but politeness and manners never existed) .We had dinner at one of the many restraunts in the main piazza delcampo, I had to try Pizza. Well, I think the westerners took the pizza and perfected it, compared to our local pizza eatery (Earth &Sea Pizza Wilston) the locals just didn't stack up. Perhaps it was just this place, I'm going to give them a chance and assume there are good pizza's....somewhere in Italy. Next time its back to the delicious pasta! (Oh the bruchetta was wonderful, they grow some very tasty tomatoes locally, definatly worth a try!)Tomorrow its of to San Gimigiano, somewhere in Tuscany...

04-11 Bolgna, Italy

04-11 Monday

Bologne, Italy

Whether: Light rain 8c

We arrived in Bologne at around 8am and found a hotel to stay in by using the tourist office located at the train station. We needed an internet café to sort out our next accomodation so aftergoing to the place the Lonely Planet had listed - only to find it had shut down,then going to the free internet service offered by the council at town hall - booked out, then going to the one listed by the tourist information - "we are having computer problems", we decided to have a coffee instead. Well, German coffee was inconsistant - sometimes good, sometimes ok, but Italians know how todo coffee and we paid euro1.10 for a cappacino - so cheap too.

Eventually we found a functioning internet café and sorted out the next weeks accomodation. By then it was lunch time so we did as most of Bolognedo and have lunch. The pasta lived up to expectations and again we were surprised at how cheap the food was. After lunch we thought to explore the many museum of Bologna since it was still wet but theywere all closed on Mondays. Bologna had also shut down until 3pm - nowwe understood why the restaurant had got so packed. All the shops were closed and everybody was at siesta. Eventually we found an open museum that was run by a university. Anatomical and maps - itwas free entry, interesting (and disturbing anatomical) displays. We went back to the hotel at around 6pm and did not emerge until the next morning.

04-10 Rothenburg, Germany 'Romancing the road'

04-10 Sunday

"Romancing the Road"

Rothenburg

Whether: Cool, fine

Famed for its romantic scenary is a route running between Wurzburg toFussen called the Romantic Road. Apparently lots of medieval towns and beautiful country side. There are bus tours for around Euro43 each that run the entire length (approx 12 hours) but we were advised that Rothenburg is worth seeing if you want to save money, and we could reach it by train. Well over two weeks of travelling meant we are getting slower at rising in the morning and we had to pack to check out as we are catching the night train to Italy, Bologne so it was not until 9.44am that we were on the train. Four train connections later we were beginning to understand why our guide book suggested going toWurzburg directly (further north), then backtracking and catching a train to Rothenburg. By 1:30pm we were wandering the cobbled streets of the walled medieval town. Rothenburg is famed for its Schnellballs (partly cooked dough balls sprinkled with sugar, chocolate etc) about as big as an orange. Many shops specialize in them but the idea of eating a dough ball was not appealing. And we figured it was not something that had caught on in other in other towns (e.g. Pizza) soit could not have been that good. We walked along the entire wall andthen aware of the lengthy journey back to Munich we caught a train toWurzburg then Wurzburg to Munich (three train connections less than the journey there)

04-09 Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany "Let it snow"

9th April

Neuschwanstein Castle

"And the world turns white"

We woke early to the sound of rain on the window and like true tourists knew our plans were dictatated by time and not the weather so proceeded to catch the train to Fussen to visit the legendary Neuschwanstein castle. The train to Fussen takes about 2.5 hours andwe sat quietly on the train watching the foggy landscape flick past the windows. About 1.5 hours away from Fussen we noticed the rain seemed to float past the window and then we noticed white coating start to develop on the ground. To our complete amazement it was snowing!!!! By the time we got to Fussen it was well and truly snowing with about an inch on the ground. The castle is 5km away from Fussen so we hopped aboard a shuttle bus which dropped us at a little village where we bought our tickets and walked 30mins up the hill to the castle. By then the world had taken a completely Christmassy feel to it. Leafless trees stood white and quiet and snow rested on pinetrees branches exactly like Christmas cards and it was still snowing.We both had umbrellas and gloves and the walk up the hill warmed usgreatly. Still amazed we got to the entrance of the castle only slightly disappointed not to be able to see it properly. It must havebeen 100m visability. The tour of the castle was quick (during peak season apparently the queue is 2 to 3 hours long) so I guess theyneeded to shuffle people through. The castle was built by KingLudwick II around 1880 (though unfinished) we saw the finished rooms -there were beautifully painted scenes on all the walls, huge ornatechandeliers and incredible mosaic floors. The carving on the kingsbed took 4 years to complete! After the tour it still had not stoppedsnowing so we carefully walked back down the hill to the village andfound a restaurant. They serve a drink called Gluhwein - it is a cup warming you up. After some gluhwein and lunch we wandered down tocatch the bus back to the train station and were rewarded with aglimpse of the castle though the snow. I could not help but think that the snowdomes in the souvineir shop were especially poignant on a day like to day

04-19 Annecy

04-19 Tuesday
Annecy
Whether: Cloudy but clearing, avg temp 13c

We arrived in Annecy around 10:30. Annecy is a pretty lakeside town with a medieval old town criss-crossed with canals. We arrived in time for the fresh food markets and were tempted to try some locally produced cheese and bread which was lovely. The town was surrounded by snow topped mountains and the canals were almost rapids with the amount of water running through them. The water was crystal clear.The Chateau D'Annecy is a 13th to 16th century castle above the town which we walked up to. It is now a museum but like most things around France was closed between 1200 and 1400 (siesta). Again we passed through snow covered towns as the train crawled through the French Alps.

04-18 Dijon "The Owl Trail"

04-18

Dijon"the Owl Trail"

Whether: Light rain, avg temp 12

Dijon has a great walking tour concept of following a marked trail of brass arrows on the pavement. Carved into a church is a small owl on the Rue de la Chouette. It is reputed that by rubbing the owl happiness and wisdom is bestowed on you. The owl looks like a nob nowfrom centuries of rubbing. Continuing on we walked through the old town of Dijon, the French architecture very much reminded us we werein France. Towards the end of the walk we came across the CathedralSt Benigne where we visited the crypt under the church.Upon arriving back in Lyon we took the metro(underground rail) to theold town of Lyon. The Basilique Notre Dame de Fouviere stood high onthe west bank and was brilliantly lit up. Eglise Notre Dame was a strange church with many strange gargolespearing down on you.The train trip between Dijon and Lyon provided tempting sights of theFrench country side. Everything is so green here from the rain andoften you see French chateus (large mansions) on the hill sides ormonastry like buildings made of stone with witches hat turrets.

04-17 Rome to Lyon "Goodbye Italy!"

04-17

Rome to Lyon

Travel day. We arrived in Nice at 9:45 and caught the train to Marsaille. From Marsaille we went to Aix En Provence (40mins from Marsaille) but despite what the guide book said it looked dodgy (everything was closed, it was cold, and it really just didn't have a 'vibe') so had enough time to catch a train to Marsaille and then to Lyon. We booked into a hotel conveniently right next to the train station which was to be the base of our travel for the next few days.

04-16 Rome "Today was not a good day"

04-16

Rome, Italy
"Today was not a good day"

Wheather: Showers, light rain, avg temp 13c

A combination of exhaustion, frustration with the Italian train system, queues, a recently deceased pope and a long night on a train to France meant that this was not a good day for us.

The plan was to catch a train to Rome, see the sights, catch an overnight to Paris, then from Paris head to Lyon (amazingly this was quicker than a direct route because of the TGV's speed). Firstly, catching a train in Italy is not the pleasant experience we had in Germany. 90% of the trains we caught were late, albeit sometimes 5 minutes late but still late (we missed a connecting bus); they were not as clean or comfortable; every train had to be booked (difficult since our Italian sucked and you have to arrive early because of queues where as in Germany no booking was necessary) and there is the added cost of a booking fee; illogical things like at Bologna there are two platform 4's; unable to show platform numbers for trains that will depart in 5 minutes; we even were able to book a seat on a train 4 minutes before schedule departure that was then cancelled (surely you know the train is to be cancelled 4 minutes before the train leaves). Anyway, after a long wait at a the reservation queue the overnight to Paris was booked out so after a regroup and another long wait in the queue we got a seat on an overnight train to Nice - the details I won't go into but I don'tthink we will be doing that again... It left at 23:00 so it gave us time to see the sights of Roma (so far we had spent 3 hours in Roma and had only seen the inside of the train station). We visited theTrevi fountain where I threw a coin over my shoulder and made a wishand opted not to throw another one in to guarentee my return (I read later that I had it the wrong way round - the first coin is to returnand the second coin is the wish. Agast I almost went back to the fountain to fish it out!) Plodded on to the colesseum and the roman ruins and the patheon and the plazza where all the painters were (haveto look up the name for that as well!) except all the artists were selling the same prints we saw in Florence. "Lady, lady a pretty painting. Special price for you". Did not quite make it to St Peters my bad ankle had flared up again so hobbled back to the train. Caught the overnight train to Nice - caio Italy!

04-15 Venice "Are there any hills in Venice?"

Venice "Are there any hills in Venice?"

04-15

Wheather: Cloudy, cool, avg temp 17c

Venice is about 3 hours from Florence by train so although we were on an early train out it was not until 12:30PM we arrived in Venice. Jas asked if there were any hills in Venice expecting some more vigorous walking as in San Gimignano. As advised by our guide book, we caught a ferry from the train station into San Marco so as to walk our way back to the station. Unfortunately, catching a ferry in Italy is just as confusing as catching a train in Italy so we did not go down the Grande Canal but headed out to the main port and then to San Marco.The square was bustling with tour groups (mainly school children). Jas waited outside with the bags (Ed: as for some strange reason this is the only place we visited that did not allow bags in...wierd.) as I visited the church in the square(the name I have to lookup). It had the most amazing mosaic goldtiled ceiling and the marble floor undulated like the sea. We then planned on walking to another church to the east (which I have to lookup - I am terrible with names) which by the map seemed to be no morethan 700m away. 1.5 hours later we got there!

Venice is difficult to navigate for the unwary. After initially trying to feel our way there(and going in circles) I found our trusty National Geographic compass keyring and started orinteering our way which was much more efficent.We passed many glass shops with billiant, seemingly impossible glass sculptures. Other shops had the famous masks of Venice. The gondolas were busy as they navigated expertly the narrow canals. Even though it was a fine day Venice sat in the middle of a haze of smog and almost every corner turned we faced a tour group of children and so happy tohave visited we were happy to head back to the hotel.

Nice place to visit but a day is more than enough for this location.

04-14 Thursday "The Duomo"

Date: 04-14 Thursday
Location: Florence
Wheather: Cloudy with temp top of 22c

We leave Siena to Florence today by Train. Journey is approx 1 hour. Florence is our base city for visiting Viena and Rome.
By 10:30 we had arrived in Florence from Siena, checked in to the hotel and armed with a map and a destination hit the pavement to explore Florence. We followed the Arno River to the Ponte Vechico - the only bridge notto be destroyed by the WWII bombing. It is a bridge with stores onboth sides - mostly gold and jewellery. I was just about to turn to Jason to tell him the last time I was here there were street vendors/peddlers everywhere hocking sunglasses, watches, gizmos etc when we came across them. Except this time they had a hunted lookabout them and we watched as they packed up their wares in seconds and briskly walked away throwing glances over their shoulders. In about 50m and around a corner they were set up again watching for the police.

We stopped at the Galleria Delgi Uffzie only to be disheartened by thelong long queue and the estimated 3 hour wait. As we only had a short time to explore Florence so we continued on to the fake David in theLoggia della Signoria where we waited a long time before we had aphoto of him without a pigeon on his head. The Duomo appears without warning from the narrow streets around it. It is a huge structure with beautiful coloured marble façade. Entryis free and the inside is simple but elegant with amazing floorpatterns and a painted domed roof. We thought our house and yard could have fitted neatly inside the space at least 2 times. For E6.00 we opted to climb the dome. 463 narrow, steps up and 463 steps down. There are a few stops (sights) along the way. The first is a view ofthe dome from the inside several stories up. This gives you the chance to see the painted dome ceiling from a much closer point of inside. Now you are high high above the crowds below and right nextto the painted ceiling which still looms above you. Through a narrowdoor and some steep steps puts you between the inner dome and theoutter dome and finally a steep long climb straight up the inner domeand you emerge at the outside top of the dome. From there all of Florenze is visible (unfortunately through a slight haze of popultion) but we had a beautiful fine and sunny day to enjoy the scenery. It was humbling to think that the Duomo was begun in 1294 and finished150 years later without modern machinery.After the Duomo we followed the signs to a Leonard Di Vinci exhibitionof machinery. This was great. Using the drawings and plans of DiVinci\'s scaled down working models of his concepts were on the displaywith an explanation and hands-on try it. We found out he helped design 'cranes' and lifting machines to help build the Duomo.

Time for coffee.

We thought we might wander back to the Galleria Delgi Uffiz and see if we could get access considering it was late inthe day. To our surprise the queue was much much shorter and after only a half hour wait we were in at 5:15 (closes at 6:30pm). We walked to the second floor for the renaissance art and were absolutely stoked to see the original Botticelli's Venus and some DiVinci,Raphaelo, Both, Jacob and other works. By 6:30pm we were ushered through the bookstore and out. After dinner (and an excellent brushetta and pasta) we noted that a classical concert was about to be held in a small church. Eager forsome culture (and the accoustics of the church seemed pretty good) westopped and enjoyed over an hour of classical music from a pipeorganist and flutist. Very nice.

04-08 "Blow your own horn" Berchtesgaden

04-08 "Blow your own horn"
Travel from Munich to Berchtesgaden.
Wheather: Overcast to Sun to RainTemp: From 16c to around 8c

We got going late today and borded the train for Berchtesgaden around 0930. The trip has a stop at Freilassen (2hrs from Munich) then another 45mins to Berchtesgaden. There is a faster ICE train you can take which will shave 1hr off this journey. The train trip is a scenic journey through Alps that border Austria and Germany, up a spiralling track from Freilassen to Berchtesgaden. Arriving after lunch we did not have a lot of time so grabbed a taxi to Lake Konigssee (Euro 10.50 or Euro 2.30 by bus) Lake Konigssee is a spectacular site. Spread between two towerring mountainscapes liesthe emerald lake. It is the clearest lake I have ever seen. From the brochure, it reads that no petrol boats, only electric, are allowed on this world heritage listed lake. Tickets for a boat ride were Euro 12and the journey lasting 20min in either direction.Halfway into the first leg of the boat ride, the driver and companionstop the boat's engine, let the water settle and then open the boat's canopy. Utter silence is now, nothing can be heard, then they begin playing a small tune on the trumpet. The jingle echo's through the enclosed mountain range and is just a magical experience. Thetrumpet's notes reverberate possibly 4 or more times after each noteis released.The boat ride continues on to a chapel nestled on a shore next to asnow covered mountain. Here you can hop off and have a look around,go for a walk even on this small beach shore.

Back from the boat at Konogssee, walking back to the bus, there are adozen or so tourist shops, this time selling the vast range ofBavarian kitsch items, including Froydelyne (sp) dresses and an absurbamount of hiking sticks with custom ends.

So ends this short trip. Even though there was approx 6 hours oftravel the sights were still definatly worth the trek.

04-07 "Vertigo, snow and funiculars"

04-07
"Vertigo, snow and funiculars"
Location: Innsbruck, Austria.
Travel Time: Approx 2 hours from Munich.
Weather: Overcast, 17-22c

Left Munich approx 0930 Today we ventured across the border to Austria. The train ride toInnsbruck is an eye candy delight. As you pass between the Alps onboth sides you get to gaze at snow top covered peaks and small villagetowns nestled within the mountainside.

Go when the weather's good to get a good view of everything. We hadan overcast day which limited visibility, yet still provided a niceglimpse of the mountainscape.
After arriving at the Innsbruck station, (tourist office within, whosestaff were friendly and picked our accent), we grabbed a city map andheaded west about 800m, then North to reach the city square. Onceagain you're treated to a yesteryear village centre, brightly colouredbuildings. Interesting to just wander through the streets for a while.We unfortunatly ran into the worst thing you could ever find on yourholiday.... Groups of American tourists, vocally loud, slightlyignorant of the surroundings and just plain annoying (Im sure I'vestereotyped too broadly here, but these folks were definatlyannoying).
Located in the town square is the Statturn, E2.50 entry fee allows youto climb its 187 odd steps to the top for a breathtaking 360 panoramaview of the cityscape with snow capped mountainness backgroud. Wow!(Oh but then you get an American climbing up the tower soon after,reaching the top...First thing he decides to do is Yell, then wolfwhistle to his wife and daughter down the bottom to (possibly?)announce that he had reached the top!.. Yay for him! real ambientmoment that!)

From the town square we headed N, NW along the river for approx 1.5kmto the Hungerburgbahn Vernicular/Cable Car, (cost Euro 21). The ridetakes you up approx 2800m via 3 separate cable rides. Each stop isspaced well to allow you to travel to the top within 1 hour or less(each ride taking less than a few minutes). Reaching 2/3 way markthere was still snow on the ground and people skiing/snowboardingaround us. You get a magnificent view of the city from this viewpointas well as several moments of vertigo standing close to a foot highwall looking almost 1500m straight down a snow covered slope! (Unfortunatly we had a bit of cloud cover which limited visibility).Heading further up the cliff to the final of 3 stops we were greatedwith even more specatular views of the mountain and lower township. Views from here were simplying amazing.

Finishing up, we had about an hour to burn, which was spent wanderingthe touristy shops back in the square, before catching the 18.30 trainback to Munich

04-06 April "The Bergs"

6 April "The Bergs"
Today we journyed North from Munich, Germany to the towns of Nurenberg and Bamburg.
Weather: Overcast, approx 17c. Slight rain.

Nuremberg is a walled city, meaning that the main town area isenclosed in an entire brick/stone wall shell. Within the city lies ariver and half a dozen bridges across. Nuremberg has a copious amounton Museums & art galleries that you can visit. We visited one museum,Nuvo Something, just outside the train station & across the road. Itwasn't a museum as such, but more of a historical collecition of1970's to current day appliances. Things like the imac, cokemachines, chairs, record players were on show. Entry was Euro 3.50. Atad boring unless your into art Nuevo. If you were to do a lot ofmuseum tours I think there wasa card you can get from the touristoffice for the day which gets you into all the museums/art galleries.
After exiting the train station, across the road there was a smallmarket of guilds, showcasing wares of wooden toys, metal toys (cars,trains etc), blown glass, pewterware (mugs,trinkets,ornaments) andpottery. This was a facinating assortment of shops which was hard toresist not opening the wallet to. All the items appeared to be handmade locally with no chinese imports in sight! Being just outside ofeaster, there were still many trees with chains of brightly coloured,hand painted eggs hanging from their branches.

We journied into the main city mall Markt around 11.30, grabbed acoffee and waited in anticipation for the Glockenspeil clock toperform as it struck midday. Unfortunatly when the gong struck, littlehappened from the clock. Give this a miss as I'm sure theGlockenspeil in Munic would be a lot better event to witness.From the Markt, we journied to the Northern walled section of town andadmired the housing and various religious temples that were visiblefrom the roofline.Heading back to the train, we continued our Journey to Bamburg,ariving around 13.40 (approx 40min from Nuremburg).

Bamburg was a lot smaller city than Nuremburg, approx 70,000 I think Iread. It is primarily a university town. Exiting the train station,you wall for about 10 mins, then cross a bridge and walk another 10 toreach the main town centre. The buildings in this city have a very English feel to them with a touch of Gothic thrown in. The mall areawas filled with great little bakeries everywhere. All with very cheepfood (pretzels, buns, crosionts). We grabed some bananna andstrawberry filled crepes for lunch/snack which were delicious. (Euro2.20ea).

We journied further North through the town to reach an area with adecent sized church and sandstone/limestone buildings on the otherside. (Possibly a schooling area). This is a good area to explore onfoot if you enjoy looking at architecture and just getting a feel forthe place. We spent the rest of the day here. The ICE train (whichactually leaves 40mins later than an earlier train, yet arrives 1 hourearlier) departed at 18.51. We'll arrive in Munich at 21.15 whereit's off to bed

03-30 to 04-05 London, Brugge Namur, Koblenz & Munich

30th March Wednesday
Whirlwind London City
"Fair-well England"

Weather: Light rain, cool
Avg Temp: 8c

Had a few jobs to do first up today so went to the internet café and postoffice and booked our tickets to Brussels for the 4.39pm train.By the time that was done it was 12noon so decided to take a doubledecker tour bus to get a taste of London. The tour was 2.5 hours ofsitting on the top of an open air double decker appreciating theatmosphere (cold and misty) but we got to see all the majorattractions - Big Ben, Tower of London, Westminister Abbey, BuckinghamPalace (the Queen was spending Easter in the country), Number 10 andLondon Bridge etc.We are now on the Eurostar to Brussells having a last glimpse ofEngland before the tunnel.

England:
- The motorways are usually 3 lanes one way, one lane for 100km/hr andless, middle lane for 120km/hr and the the third land for "What the..?".
- There are "Free houses".
- They seem to have the heating thing down pat - we were always warmin the rooms.
- Alcohol is freely available at servo's and grocery stores - evenAustralian wine.
- We paid 89p a litre for petrol which converts to around $2.20/litre
- There maybe no footpaths along the side of roads but there are thousands of hiking paths and mostly through farmers paddocks.
- The english love their dogs - a lot of which we saw were black labs.


31th March Thursday
Brugge
"Belfries, bicycles and beer in Brugge"
Weather:Cool, hazy
Avg Temp: 10c
Brugges population 117,000
Bruge is a medieval city surrounded by a stone wall. The city's a labrynth of alleys some with only enough room for walking or riding a bike through.
Exploration began at the Markt square, this is where the bus from the train station can drop you to. To avoid crowds we promptly handed overour E6 for tickets to walk up Belfry (366 steps). Its tight spiralling staircase woud not be fun in heavy crowds, as there is barely shunting space in most of the stairwell.Views from the top are magnificent, you get a good view of the central township and local landmarks.While we were there the fog was still visible which limited visibility somewhat.

Well today was our first experience of foreign travel using the trains. After a few questions and aimless wandering we caught the most-likely train and we were happy to arrive in Brugge refreshed - (firstclass is very pleasant). Brugge is great - from the train we caught a bus to the Markt and from there wandered through the cobblestoned streets, along canals and bridges. We were keen to do a bicycle tour at 1pm but the gentleman scheduled to take it was sick with the flu so we wandered some more. Canal tours operate regularly so for 35mins we explored the canals of Brugge in a low boat. We were just about ready to sit down for some hot food when we came across a bicycle hire shop and opted for it instead. So on pedal power we cycled outside of Brugge into Damme through Belgium countryside for about 5kms. Jas's back bike tire was half flat and most of Brugge is cobblestone and I think he felt everyone of them. Damme is a great little town but we had to return the bikes by 7pm so we road back to Brugge via a different route that took us through farm land. We dined in Brugge before catching the train back to Brussels. Everyone cycles in Brugge. At the train station, thousands (yes, thousands - I have pictures) of bikes lined the bike parking. Motorists and bikes use the ways in harmony. They all ride comfort bikes - large wheels, upright seating and I think I saw 2 mountain bikes the entire day. Brugges is so flat it is easy to ride anywhere.



1st April Friday
Namur
"The only trouble with castles are they are all atop of steep hills"

Weather:Sunny, fine
Avg Temp: 17c

Today it was fine and sunny and warm. We visited Namur which is approx 50mins South of Brussels. The lonely planet guide has left this out of the europe pulication which is surprising because it is an attractive little eighteenth century town with an impressive citadel at at its centre. We walked to the top of the citadel past its many innerwalls - it was a steep climb for tired legs. Since it was our last day in Belgium we had to sampled the chocolates and the beer and we shared a waffle on the way back to the station. I know I could never eat a frozen waffle again ...
Since the train stops at Brussels Centrale Station we decide to get off and walk to the Grand Place. The square is bustling since it is Friday night and and we wander around for 4 or so hours enjoying our last night in Belgium.We head to Koblenz tomorrow via Koln (Cologne) in Germany so it will probably be a travel day which is not so bad...


2nd April Saturday
Brussels to Koblenz
"Arhhh... Travel day"

Weather:Sunny, fine
Avg Temp: 20c
Travel days are great - you sit on a train in first class most of the day and watch the world go by. The ache in your legs disappates and the rumble of the train almost puts you to sleep. We rose early to catch the train to Koln (Cologne) - we had to book for this 2 hour journey. Just across the border of Germany the train broke down and we were transferred to a local train. No hassles just about an hour delayed. We had not booked Koln to Koblenz so we just caught the next train. Koln station was an amazing structure - the entire station under a barrel roof. Catching the trains in Germany is so simple - once we worked out that Gleis and Abfarht were not names of locations rather they meant 'Platform' and 'Departs'. Our railpass allows us to travel first class which is very nice :)

3rd April Sunday
Rhine River Cruise
"A new day a new ache"
Weather:Sunny, fine
Avg Temp: 15c
We hopped a river cruise to Rudesheim - it was free included in the railpass. It was a great day, clear, fine but a little cool. We hopped off at Bacharac and wandered through the little village then up to its burg (castle). A lot of the villages on the Rhine seem to be about 2 or 3 roads deep before they run out of space and steep hills prevent anymore building. Grapes are grown anywhere on the steep, steep hill side so much so that it would be impossible to get machinary to it - it must be mostly manual labour. After Bacharac we caught another ferry up steam to the town Rudesheim. A very commercial and popular town. Wandered some more then caught a train back to Koblenz. The Rhine has a dedicated biketrack along its west bank. Many cyclists were enjoying the good weather and flat roads and the convenience of putting the bicycle on to a train or ferry for the return journey. They were travelling faster than the ferry (15km/hr) (the ferry was traveling up stream at considerable effort as it was flowing so fast).


4th April Monday
Mosel valley - Burg Eltz
"Would have thought it was difficult to hide a castle".
Weather:Sunny, fine
Avg Temp: 20c
From the train station Moselkerb there is a walk to the Burg Eltzcastle. From literature it ranges from 1.5 hrs to 45mins so we started hiking to it. It is a very pleasant walk through German forests and woodland and it is only at the very end, around the last corner you see the Burg Eltz so the entire walk you wonder if you are still on the right track :) We took the tour of the castle and then walked back to the train station (55 mins).
The train continues toTrier but we opt to get off at Cochem. A bit more touristy but since it is a Monday it is fairly quiet. Because we don't think we have done enough walking (ha!) we decide to walk up to the Rheinsheim Burg (sp?)(Castle Cochem) which dominates Cochem's landscape. All the castles along the Rhine and Mosel were built by merchants who dominated the trade routes. Most were rebuilt at some time (often in the 16th century) and most were affected during WWII. The Mosel valley has larger townships and new housing developments. Unlike the Rhine it has a couple of bridges across it.

We note that generally everyone in Germany is fit and active.People of all ages ride bikes and/or hike. Almost every house has a well kept garden or each town has a community garden for vegies etc. As we walked through the towns you could here the tinkering of the men in their sheds. They love camping/caravaning.



5th April Tuesday
Travel day - to Munich
"Perfect weather for a travel day".
Weather: Wet, cool
Avg Temp: 10c
We were surprised to awake to a wet day after three such beatiful days. Luckily the trip to Munich is about 5 hours so we are spending the day on the train.

03-24 to 03-29 The mother country

24th March 2005 Thursday
Overnight stay Narita, Japan.
Avg Temp: -50c 10,000m up and 10c in Narita City
Weather: Cool, showers, thunderstorm

"Are we there yet?"
Unfortunately, the more you travel the longer 9 hours on a plane seems.
The first experience of flying a long distance time passes quickly
because it is new and exciting (and possibly because you were
younger). This time it was a long drawn out process of getting
somewhere. The flight was uneventful (if uncomfortable). We were
surprised to see Monica from Intergraph at the JAL check in line at
Brisbane airport. She was not travelling rather dropping off a friend.

Narita Airport is actually 66kms from Tokyo and catching a train there
would take an hour, so an alternative is Narita City, only about 7kms
from the Hotel. A short taxi ride had us arriving in Narita City by
about 6:30pm. So armed with a map, intending to visit the Naritasan
Temple so logically we started walking away from it... 25 minutes
later we see it in the distance on the horizon and so we check the map
and the compass and turn around towards it. Our map reading skills
have improved remarkably since then. We circumnavigate the temple for
another 30 minutes trying to find the front entrance. I think we got
there at around 8pm - when it should have been a 15min walk. The
temple and gardens cover a huge area and are a wonderful example of
traditional Japanese gardens and temples. They appeared to be opened
all night and we were able to explore the area undisturbed until a
thunderstorm and light rain forced us back to the hotel.

The Japanese are polite and friendly. The city was clean and neat.
The back roads were narrow and without footpaths but were well lit and
quiet. Taxi doors open automatically. You walk towards a cab and
doors spring open to let you in. They close automatically too. Never
under-estimate the effect of Doilies seat covers to improve the ambience
of taxis. We were in Narita not 5 minutes and we had seen McDonalds,
Starbucks, 7 eleven.

25 March Friday
Tokyo to London, drive to Salisbury
Weather: Fine
Avg Temp: 15
"Be prepared"
At least the 12 hours in flight were spent on a newer plane where the
seats were more comfortable, possibly a little wider with maybe a
centimetre more leg room. A bonus was individual entertainment screens
mounted in the seat in front with a selection of movies, games and
information. The most popular among the passengers was the outside
camera that was pointed directly down and showed the landscape (or
cloud cover as the case sometimes was). Heathrow customs were almost
non-existent so within 20 minutes of disembarking (mostly spent
trekking vast corridors) we were ready to start the 'grande tour'.
After a mix up with the car collection that was resolved after a
mercy call back to Australia (big thanks to Ann who chased up some
details for us) we were on our way. We spent the first night in an Inn
in a village called Woodfalls, a few miles south of Salisbury where we
slept very well.

26 March Saturday
Salisbury, Stonehenge, Longleat, sunshine and hordes
Weather: Fine and sunny
Avg Temp: 19
"Lord Farquar's Safari"
We navigated our way to Salsibury where we spent a few hours exploring
the town and cathedral before continuing on to Old Sarum castle.
When travelling, there is a concept of a 'must do list'.
Unfortunately, this list is universally broadcast and items on the
list are the same items on everybody else’s list. Traffic on the way
to Stonehenge was congested and by the time we got there the car park
was full and 3 or 4 huge buses were sitting in one corner. There was
a queue for tickets the site of the stones circled by tourists
shuffling around it listening to a free audio guide (after paying the
entry fee) detracted from their majesty. I've been to stones before
where we were the only ones there - that was great. I
guess the combination of Easter and sunny weather draws the crowds.
Anyway, forgoing the entry fee and the queues we walked along the
barrier (the stones are right by the road) and were able to get a
great view of them.
Longleat
Longleat, a large manor set on spacious grounds was our next stop. If
ever I felt our entry fee was maintaining someone else's lifestyle it
was then. The grounds were 100 acres or more owned by Lord Bath who
we nicked named "Lord Farquar" because we felt he needed a more
pretentious title. Numerous portraits of him lined the walls where he posed in his regal getup. Many photographs of him were displayed in the rooms either at his painting desk or in his hunting gear.
We made a quick stop at Glastonbury Tor before arriving at Dragon House Hotel (near Dunster) where we spent the night.

27 March Sunday
Dunster Castle
Weather: Cool, mist, cloudy
Avg Temp: 10
"What? More rolling hills??"
We started driving to Minehead on the coast but stopped at Dunster
Castle - a magnificent 12th century castle and medieval village. Most
places open at 11am and as we were early we picked a walk. There are
footpaths for walkers everywhere. It was a 2 mile walk through the
english countryside and woodlands.
Dunster village was lovely and after our walk we stopped for tea and
scones - when in Rome...
We hit the frog and toad and were able to get a room in Bath
at a b&b called Devonshire House. After checkin we wandered down into
Bath central and had a bit to eat.

28th March Monday
Bath, Lacock Abbey, Avebury Stones
Weather: Morning fog. Sunny
Avg temp 15c
"Who's Harry Potter"
At 10:30am there is a free walking tour of Bath for 2 hours which was
great. After the tour we wandered some more (feet and legs holding up
well) then drove east to Lacock Abbey where some of Harry Potter was
filmed. From there we passed one of the whitehorses in the hillside
and continued to Avebury to see the stone henge. We stopped at
Marlborough for the night.

29th March Tuesday
Oxford, London
Weather:
Avg Temp
Well, today we end our mobililty and return the car to Heathrow.

Welcome

Welcome to the rambling overtones of a couple of people traversing the planet, exploring new islands, bolding going where....., oops just a tad carried away there. Please enjoy! - C& J.