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We are currently in Perth with Leah, Blair and Todd, staying in their new home until Tuesday until we head north to Denham and get the boat and van out of storage. We plan to do some more fishing and then come back to Perth for November, December and January when we can rent a furnished flat fairly cheaply near here. At this stage, we think we'll be going down south after that for some cooler weather.

Bangkok

Day 2 in Bangkok started with a huge sleep-until 11.15 am which meant we'd slept for 14 hours!

We got out on the street and I still didn't like it all that much. It was hotter, more humid and the place is so busy. The only sign we saw of the coup was a couple of soldiers in a troop carrier stopped near a temple having something to eat. It all seemed to be pretty tame.


We lunched in the food hall as it was air conditioned, the food was good and it was close to the hotel. Some of the food on the streets literally made my stomach heave in the heat and humidity. Huge piles of un refrigerated chicken and seafood and the strongest smell the fish sauce being used to cook them.

After booking a couple of tours for the following days, we went back to the hotel pool then got ready for our complementary dinner and Thai dancing. The Thai dinner was good, but we left the dancing as soon as we could and headed up to bed. It was so stupid to sleep 14 hours the night before as we couldn't get to sleep at all. I suppose that was a bit of jet lag.

Day 3 we woke very early and set of on a bus tour to the Bridge over the River Kwai, the war cemetary, war museum and Burma Railway. It was interesting and wonderful to get out of Bangkok and see there is a beautiful Thailand. The mountains and forests were wonderful. We travelled down the river by a couple of different boats, lunched by the river (great Thai meal), travelled 35ks on the railway (3rd class on wooden seats with the locals) and generally just had a great day. On the way home we finally passed a couple of tanks guarding the entrance to the city (with their guns and machine guns aimed at us as we passed). A few ks on, we passed more tanks with locals videoing them and the soldiers, having photos taken with them and presenting them with flowers and hanging garlands of flowers over the guns. That night we were exhausted so decided to eat in the hotel (something I hate to do, but almost had to). I expected to sleep really well, but again it was pretty light and little.

Day 4 was hotter if it's possible. We did a bit of shopping, then had some lunch at the food hall before going on our second tour. This was a boat ride up Bangkok's main river and canal. It was really interesting to see the number of people who live along the river and see them going about their daily lives. We passed some amazing temples and buildings along the way too. The second boat we travelled on was a traditional rice barge and they served us unlimited drinks and tropical fruits.

We met a nice family of 4 (mum, dad, son and daughter-in-law)from Adelaide on the tour (also staying in our hotel) and went for dinner to a great Indian restaurant with them that night. As we left the hotel to walk the 5 minutes to the restaurant it was spitting lightly-by the time we got there the skies had opened up and we were drenched. Still, it was a great night with some really nice people and the food was as good as they promised.

Day 5 we woke at 4.45 am, got picked up at 5.30 and went to the airport for our 7.50am flight back to Perth. I hated the flight and was so happy to be off the plane, through customs and find Leah waiting for us at the gate. What a wonderful suprise for 2 people who thought they needed to get a taxi home.

Leah, Blair and Todd are in their new home, so it was exciting to get there and see everything and have Todd (still on crutches from his knee reconstruction) cook us a lovely, homely meal of chops, veg and gravy.

*This blog has become very long and large and publishes veeeeeeeeery slowly nowdays. I'm going to start a brand new one and will post the link to it righ here when I have it set up.

Wednesday September 20th East Garston to Bangkok

After breakfast (our last Full English for a while I hope!) we drove through a lot of smaller roads and villages as we headed to London. On the way we passed another of those White Horses and an ancient fort on White Horse Hill between Swindon and Wantage.

We had lunch in the tiny town of Great Milton in one of the quaintest pubs we'd been in on the whole trip. A tour bus arrived just as we did which sent them into a spin. In the end, all they could do us for lunch was a sandwich with fries. What a sandwich that turned out to be-fresh bread, hot bacon and brie cheese. A bit of an artery clogger but yummy!

We got onto the motorway which would basically take us straight back into south Wimbledon past Mick's old place to the car rental place, then we jumped on the tube and went to Heathrow.

Our plane left Heathrow at 10pm and we landed in Bangkok at 3pm on Thursday. It was hot and humid and I suspected I was going to hate it. We had dinner in the food hall next door to the hotel. It cost less than a beer in England for a duck soup, a roast duck and rice and two beers. I liked that at least.

Tuesday September 19th Calne to East Garston

This was the day we had planned to head back into London, return the car and stay at South Clapham again. When we thought about it, it made more sense to hold on to the car and arrive in London about 3pm the following day-otherwise we would be left to traipse around London after we booked out until it was time to go to Heathrow.

Anyway, we left the hotel and drove out to see The White Horse at Cherhill. There are 8 of these huge chalk horses on hills in the area-some have been there 3000 years. The locals have fixed the borders and refilled the chalk since forever. Then we drove on to Silsbury Hill. It's 140 metres high, man made and took 4 million man hours to make over 500 years. At one stage it was a huge chalk pyramid, then they covered the chalk over with earth. No one knows why it was built, or why it was covered over, only that it's over 4000 years old.

Next we visited the little village of Avesbury that sits in the middle of many standing stones. A lot have been taken to build the cottages, but a lot are still there. There are two circles either side of a large moat, then a long avenue of them leading to Silsbury hill and the West Kennet Barrow (a huge burial mound). The two museums in Avesbury (one in a 300 year old barn and the other in the stables of the manor) were really interesting.

Finally we walked up to West Kennet Barrow, then hunted out another of the White Horses on Milk Hill before heading a bit closer to London. We ended up in a lovely old pub at East Garston where the new front of house guy was an Australian. His wife who had cooked in the Yarra Valley was the chef and the two of them had only been there a week. My dinner of Guinea Fowl on a warm chorizo salad with fingerling potatoes was great. There was another Aussie in the pub, so we had a drink and a long chat with him before heading to bed.

Monday September 18th Burlescombe to Calne

We left the B&B visiting the tiny village of Burlescombe and the not so grand Grand Canal as we went. We had a fair bit of ground to cover back to London, so we got on the M5 and M4 only leaving them at Chippenham to have a look at Bowood House. It's lived in by the Marquis and Marchiosness of Landsbury and although it had beautiful gardens I was a bit disappointed at how little of the house was open. I wanted to see bedrooms, dining room and kitchen, but we had to make do with the Orangery (now an art gallery) and the rooms above that.

Calne seemed as good a place as any to stay and although our 16th century B&B The White Hart was a bit pricey, it was really comfortable (nice to be on a ground floor with the car close by for a change). We enjoyed a nice long walk around the tiny streets of the town before dinner.

Dinner was good and a young guy we got talking too recommended we should visit Avesbury the following morning.

Sunday 17th September Dartmoor

This turned out to be one of our favourite days of the whole holiday. It started out foggy, rained then cleared to a fine sunny sady. This is the sort of weather the downs are famous for and the fog can be dangerous as it comes in fast and heavy. I decided to drive and save myself the terror of the passenger seat and the closeness of thse heges, stonewalls, cottages and barns that edge the road.

Spinster's Rock


We saw Spinster Rock-an ancient burial site in a farmer's field, then drove on to Grimspound-the remains of an ancient village that has been dated to 3000BC. It sits on top a hill and the remains of the roads, drains, little clapper bridges, wall and 26 houses are very easy to see-it wasn't as easy to find mind you as it has no signs to it.
Grimspound

We saw more ponies (the Dartmoor breed is not as pure as the Exmoor's are) and farmers lease the moors to graze sheep and cattle so it wasn't unusual to see long tailed, black faced sheep laying all over the roads as we drove along. Often as we drove we saw the remains of ancient stone walls and buildings, standing stones and circles and ancient stone crosses that no one can explain.
One of Those Stone Crosses


After a lateish lunch, we drove to Plymuth, then on to Bigbury-on-sea (a popular holiday spot). We crossed a tidal road in our hire car/4WD then drove to Torcross and along a beautiful coastal road to Dartmouth before heading home

We got back to the pub about 7.45, had dinner then found another Aussie couple were staying. The landlord said he only gets about 4 0r 5 couples a year and had never had 2 at once!

Saturday 16th Mosely to Burlescombe near Tiverton

Saturday, we got onto the M5 and drove to Tiverton between Exmoor and Dartmoor as Caroline (the Aussie publican we met) said the moors were very worth a visit if our time was limited.

B&B at Burlescombe


We got to Tiverton 'round lunchtime and found that accomodation was almost impossible to find. Eventually the nice little man in the Tourist Information Centre found us a B&B in a pub at Burlescombe not far away. We took it for 2 nights and headed out there and booked in. It was still early afternoon, so we went for a drive through the moors of Exmoor (or a small part of them!).

Ponies on the Moor

It was beautiful, so remote and so unspoiled. I loved seeing the (semi) wild ponies ans the scenery. We visited Cleve Abbey
Cleve Abbey

and Tarr Steps which are an ancient clapper bridge. Clappper bridges are made of granite slabs and stones and most are over 500 years old (many are believed to be much older than that too).
Tarr Steps


We had fun driving our car through the river beside the steps to continue along the road. It thought it was a 4WD for a few minutes! I have to say I hated the tiny roads though. They are so narrow and have huge hedgerows either side. The hedgerows often have stone or compacted earthwalls behind them and as the passenger I seemed to get way to close to them at times. We spent a huge amount of time on the trip backing up to allow oncoming traffic through or hoping there was no oncoming traffic as we often couldn't see. The scariest thing on a one laned road that is used as a two laned road (with parked cars thrown in) is to meet a double decker bus coming towards you!!!!!
One of Those Wonderful Roads

Friday 15th September. Little Malvern to Mosley near Worcester

The village of Wick

We left Little Malvern and drove through more beautiful countryside (including the lovely village of Wick and it's thatched cottages)to Stratford upon Avon (Shakespeare country). It's pretty touristy, so we decided just to visit Anne Hathaway's Cottage (she was Shakespeare's wife). It was fairly quiet and we really enjoyed the time we spent there. A lot has been restored, but a lot of the furniture is original and much of the stone floors too. The gardens, orchard and maze were nice to wander through.
Anne Hathaway's Cottage


After that we drove to the beautiful ruins and gardens of Whitley House which is not too far away. Building of the place started in the 1500's with extensions carried out by each new generation or owner until it was partially destroyed by fire in the early 20th century. It was then stripped of anything saleable and planned to be demolished. It was saved for conservation and a little restoration and is well worth a visit.

Next Russ wanted to visit Leigh Court barn in Worcestershire. It's one of the largest and oldest surviving wooden cruck barns in England and was worth the trek to finally find it. The barn is 150ft long, 40 ft high and almost 700 years old. We were the only one there so it was great to wander found and imagine how it had been. Cruck barn's rafters are actually each carved from single oak trees, so the place was truly impressive.
Leigh Court Barn


Finding accomodation turned out to be difficult but eventually we stopped at a samll pub who phoned their friends who owned a B&B (Mosely Farm). The owner called in, met us took her dog to the vet, then we arrived out there at 7pm. It was one of the most comfortable rooms and beds we have had in the whole time away. We had dinner at a great local pub (I had sole stuffed with spinach and smoked haddock) then home for a great nights sleep.

Thursday 14th September Chepstow to Little Malvern

Russ and I left Chepstow and drove quickly down through Cardiff to Barry in Wales where we met Joy from Recipezaar (an international recipe club I belong to). We spent 3 hours at her home and really enjoyed meeting her. She is a very interesting lady who has lived and travelled to lots of places in the world. We were sorry we couldn't accept her kind offer to stay with them, but were starting to realise our time was very precious and we needed to keep moving if we were to get a good look around the south at least.

We left Joy's at 2 pm and headed to Little Malvern and a great little B&B in an old coach house. As it was only 4.30pm when we booked in we decided not to waste the last of the afternoon sittin in our room so took a drive around the area. After driving through some beautiful villages and countryside we decided to stop for a drink at The Pheasant-a lovely looking pub with a big car park! The boy behind the bar (David) was from Smeaton near Ballarat and the publican of 8 weeks (Caroline) was from Ocean Grove. Our plan to stay for 1/2 an hour went out the window fast as we sat there talking to them and the locals for 2 1/2 hours!

We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant across the road from the B&B and voted it almost the best Thai we have ever eaten.

Wednesday September 13th Chepstow Wales

Cepstow Castle

Wednesday we had a full day in and around Chepstow. First thing in the morning we visited the castle-it was in great condition considering building began in the 1100's and finished in the 1200's. It was one of the first stone castles to be built apparently. Once again there was probably only a dozen people there when we were so it was very easy to spend a few hours there.

After that we drove to the Cisterean monks 12 century Tintern Abbey ruins. It's also very imposing with lots of buildings or footings of buildings left in tact. These monks had a pretty tough life-they maintained the abbey with proceeds from the farms they worked as they couldn't except donations or tythes from the local people. They woke at 2am to start their day of work and prayers (about 8 times a day) and survived without any heating in the abbey.

Tintern Abbey


There is a lot of restoration work been done on it (the Abbey) and I'm not sure how much should be done. I decided I'm more for conservation that restoration-it makes things 'new" again and I'm not sure that's how they are meant to be.

We luched in a pub across the road where I had a great lunch of beef in beer pie, peas, chips and gravy. Good English tucker!

After lunch we took a drive through and around the beautiful forest of Dean through tiny villages along tiny hedged roads. We lamost got cleaned up by a local cop travelling way too fast on one of those roads, but he stopped, backed up and let us pass and it was OK. Once again, we had one of our quick, light cheap dinners of cold meat and salad from TESCO>

Tuesday September 12th Portsmouth to Wales

After a huge full English Breakfast (which pleased Mick a lot) we left for a drive to Stonehenge on the Salisbury plain stopping off at the ruined castle of Old Sarun on the way. Only the footings remain, but it was early morning with not many around and a good stop. We joined the English Heritage for a week too, so we had unlimited visits to any of their listed properties.


I've always been told that Stonehenge was a lot smaller than you imagine and a bit of a let down. None of us felt like that and I actually got goosebumps all over on the way in and out at exactly the same spot both ways-it was quite eerie. Once again we were relativly early and it wasn't too crowded (or maybe after the tourist spots of Europe we just expected larger crowds). Stonehenge was quite amazing and to me it is also a bit of an English icon.


We lunched in Bath, then took a good look around the city. I wish we could have stayed but it didn't seem as though it was going to work. As we were walking around, Mick got a call from Aus to say a good school mate had just been killed by a truck in Melbourne. That put a bit of a dampener on things for him so he headed back on the 4pm train from Bath to Wimbledon. Russ and I headed to South Wales. That's probably the last time we'll see him until Christmas next year. It was a bit sad, but at least he is off having fun (not like his mate).

Near Chepstow, we paid almost 5 pounds toll to cross an amazing bridge over the River Wye. We found a great little B&B in Chepstow right near the towns beautiful castle so decided to stay a couple of nights. We went for dinner at a pub right on the river where we sat outside for a drink before dinner. The river has a huge tide so most of the boats were sitting metres above the water in the mud. The oposite side of the river was England which was pretty amazing. Dinner upstairs (by an open window overlooking the river) was great-I had a Stilton and cauliflower soup followed by a perfectly cooked rump steak. We took along walk through town past the flood lit castle.

Monday September 11 Brighton to Portsmouth

Mick came out by train to Brighton where we met him at the station. We'd hoped to get to Land's End and St Ives, and may have been able to if we stayed on the Motorway. The trouble is you drive along at 70 or 80 MPH getting there fast, but seeing nothing. We decided after day 1 to avoid the larger places like Brigton, Bristol, Manchester, travel the tiny back roads and do the south as well as we could. I would have liked to see the Lakes disrict and get into Scotland, but they should still be there for another holiday.

We stopped in Chichester for lunch in a tiny pub that has had a building on the site since the 13th century. The last facade was added in the 17th. The beer garden was surrounded by crooked old tiled and shingled building-it was a lovely place to sit and eat our lunch. Before we went to lunch we had to buy a parking ticket which was available from a store with a green sign with a big tick. After wandering up and down "High" st, we finally found it on a handbag and luggage store. We should have realised.....

After lunch we travelled to Portsmouth where we'd decided to spend the night. Before deciding on a place to stay we took a harbour cruise to look at all the navy frigates, destroyers and aircraft carrier. We saw The Warrior which was the Navy's first steel hulled sailing ship and is beautifully restored and Nelson's ship The Victory (not a replica, but the real thing). Next we went to the observation deck of The Spinnaker Tower for another view of Portsmouth. It's a really impressive looking building and was great to visit after being out on the waterways we were now looking down on. The tower has a glass floor in the centre and although we all stood to take photo of our feet and the view downwards, Mick was the only one of us that could actually walk across it !

We found B&B and were shocked when Mick suggested it would be good to have Indian for dinner. Any of you who know him would be shocked to see how much he enjoyed it too.

I forgot my camera on the harbour and up the Spinnaker tower so I'm waiting for Mick to send me a few photos to post.

Sunday 10th September

Sunday Morning we had another of those lovely sleep ins then Russ picked up our hire care (a mid sized manual Toyota) and we headed off out into the country. We got a bit confused but eventually found our way out heading towards Brighton.

The Beach at Eastbourne

We stopped for a lunch of fish and chips on the "beach" at Eastbourne then drove on to Brighton hoping to find a B&B Brighton was packed full of bikers, tourists and a motor scooter club. There was people wall-to-wall so we headed out of town a little and found a place to stay right on the ocean. Our late afternoon was spent getting our laundry up to date, then we bought some very yummy take away Chinese and that was the end of our day.

Saturday 9th September

Hooray, a sleep in at last. It was so good not to be woken by that bloody phone and our wake up call!

Mick arrived at 9.30 after he moved out of his flat finally. He's going to live at the Walkabout pub until he goes home to Warrnambool on the 15th. He brought along a disc of photos of his trip so far-it was really interesting to see the places he'd been. After that we went to a cafe near by for brunch, then he left for work at the pub and we took a few busses to The British Museum. The place is huge and you could spend days in it but as we didn't have days, we chose to visit the Ancient Egyptian section for the afternoon.

Both of us were too tired when we got back to the hotel, so we went into TESCO and bought ourselves some cold meats and salads and ate those in our hotel room.

Last Day of the Tour

Friday, we got up at 6am, got dressed, had our breakfast and onto the bus for the last time. 2 couples stayed behind in Paris and then we took the 4 Canadians to Charles de Gaulle airport for their flight home. We arrived at the ferry in Calais about 10 minutes before it took off and said our goodbyes to the beautiful Antonio. He and the bus were not coming to the UK=we went over as foot passengers and another coach and driver brought us to London. Russ and I were the first drop off at Victoria Station. It was a bit sad to see the bus go, but quickly forgotten when we got into the station and had to find our way out to Clapham South.

It was an easy trip with only a quick change at Stockwell. We arrived at our hotel (which we’d booked before we left). Around 4 is, settled in then walked don to the Tesco supermarket for a look round. It had been closed for renovation when we were here last and I have to say it looks pretty slick now. I love the supermarkets here and if I earned pounds could live pretty cheaply.

We walked on from there, caught the underground to Sth. Wimbledon and then walked the last couple of ks to the Walkabout pub. I had tried to phone Mick, but can’t ring his mobile from public phones. One of the guys he works with told us he was on a split shift and would be in at around 8. At 7, he rang him for me, just as he was about to walk in the door. He was able to sit and have his dinner and a drink with us before he started his shift. We also had our dinner there (surf and turf and a big baked potato. It was so good to catch up with him. We then took a bus and the train home and fell into bed after a very long day. I can’t wait for no wake up call in the morning.

38 hours in Paris

the Arc de Triomphe

Thursday morning was cold and very misty in Paris-not a good time to visit the Eiffel tower. Trafalgar tours can’t be held responsible for the weather at least. We picked up a local guide and headed out early before the traffic got too bad taking in a drive around the Arc de Triomphe and a quick city tour. After that we got to the Eiffel tower and queued for 30 minutes before taking a lift to the second level. It was sad not to be able to see anything.


Most of the group left at 11 am for a “tour” of the Louvre (I think it meant a quick run past the Mona Lisa) , followed by a “tour” of Versailles (another quick run round). They were to be home by 4.30, so allowing for queuing and slow travel times their 90 Euro tour was pretty pricey I think.


We jumped on a double decker bus, took a city tour and had a wonderful lunch in a fantastic little sidewalk café. I had French onion soup and duck confit with fried potatoes (that had mushrooms capsicum onions and little bits of duck through them. I think they may have been cooked in the duck fat and were so delicious.

The weather cleared so we eventually got great views of the Eiffel tower, the Arc, the Louvre, the opera house the Avenue des Champs Elyses, the Place de Concorde, The Seine with all it’s beautiful bridges, the Latin Quarter with all its cafes and restaurants, the Flower market and book sellers along the river. Paris is a really beautiful city-it has heaps of gardens so there were lots of flowers and lots of trees with beautiful autumn colours.

We caught the Metro back to the hotel and got showered and changed for our farewell dinner. It was held in a restaurant back in the city. We were told it would be there because the staff and owners were used to groups moving around and taking photos etc. It was so cramped you couldn’t fit a credit card between tables let alone move around to take photos. Going to the toilet involved a few people from a couple of tables having to move! On the way back to the hotel, we took a tour of Paris by night visiting all the places we had seen that day. It was all very beautiful, but the most beautiful was the Eiffel Tower. In 2000, the covered it with sparkling lights and it was so successful, they decided to let them stay. At 10pm every night, it sparkles for 10 minutes and is really amazing. We viewed it from the same place we had lunch.

Nice to Lyon & Lyon to Paris

Tuesday September 5th we left Nice and started a long, hot drive to Lyon. We stopped at a perfumery just as we left Nice. It was hot and smelly and (surprise surprise) just another sales pitch. None of the perfumes impressed me, so I guess I felt it just extended the drive to Lyon unnecessarily!
The Pope's Palace at Avignon


Lunch was spent at Avignon-yet another pretty, old medieval town on the banks of the Rhone. It seems so sad to visit such an interesting town for 1 hour 20 minutes, so just went and had a big lunch in anticipation of the “Highlight dinner” that night. We had 2 12. 90 Euro set menus of 3 courses each and were really happy with them.

After lunch, we followed the river Soane to Lyon through some very boring and some very beautiful scenery. The bus got hotter and the traffic thicker as we neared our hotel. The last km took about ½ an hour and was almost unbearable.

Our hotel was tall, thin and round-it looked like a large pencil. It had a pointed glass roof that looked just like the lead! Our room was on the very top (39th) floor right under the roof, so we had amazing views of the city below-especially after dark.
Our View from the 39th Floor


We managed to get a very quick shower and iron some clean clothes before rushing out to our “highlight dinner”. It was quite nice, but the portions were very small and a lot of the group wasn’t too happy about it. We had a Salad Lyonaisse (much like a Caesar Salad) roast veal (1 slice) 1 small turned potato and a tablespoon of spinach. Dessert was a chocolate mousse cake with some sort of green sauce. Some believe it may have been something to do with the water poured off the spinach thickened and a little cream added! The restaurant consisted of two small rooms so the group was split and we managed to end up in the smaller, hotter room of the two.

Back at the hotel I was able to use the free high speed internet to update my Blog, check and send e-mails and do some banking. One lovely e-mail arrived from Kirstyn telling us she and Ryan are engaged. What a surprise!

Lyon to Paris
Wednesday September 7th, we got up and after breakfast left Lyon for Paris. It’s over 500ks and we were to have a 1 hour 15 minute coffee break and a 45 minute lunch break. The countryside was beautiful yet again. We went through heaps of farming land-bigger farms, less villages and houses. The farmhouses we saw were just as I imagined them to be in France-2 story stone ones with roofs of tiny terracotta tiles. The barns are often attached and nothing ever sees a lick of pain. Somehow though, they are really beautiful. The land was more gently undulating and there was a lot of grapes and corn growing. We didn’t see many dairy cows, but lots of small herds of Charolais beef cattle.

Beaune

The coffee break was at yet another beautiful walled village-there have been so many I can’t even recall its name. It was particularly nice and the farmer’s market in the town square very interesting. Russ has read over my shoulder and tells me it was Beaune (he found it on the map).

Lunch was in yet another Autogrill on the Autostratta. It’s lucky they are so good as we have seen a lot of them. I think the driver and guide get kickbacks from taking tourists into them!

We arrived in Paris about 4.30 to 30c degrees. It was really hot in the bus by the time we got to the hotel. I was really sad to be staying in the financial centre of Paris rather than the heart as we were planning to go out for dinner by ourselves. Most of the group were going to the Moulin Rouge, but that is the first optional tour I crossed out-I couldn’t think of anything worse at over $200 per head! We could have gone in on the bus and waited till the show was over to come home, but that didn’t sound like fun either. In the end, after a walk before dinner, we found a reasonable pizza and pasta restaurant just out back the hotel so had pizza and pasta. I was happy to see Antonio our Italian driver turn up there for dinner too. I was once again so sad to be in such a special place (Paris) for so very little time. 38 hours hardly does it justice!

Sight Seeing in Nice

Monday 4th, we got up late, had breakfast then walked 4 or 5 kms around the streets of Nice looking for a restaurant to eat in that night. We found an interesting one that serves 1kg mussels 5 different ways for $8 euros 90, so that looked the likely one.

After that we did some scheduled sight seeing to a pretty, old, walled village-St Paul of Evance. Whilst it was pretty, the hills were a bit of a killer in the humidity and heat.
The Wall of St Paul of Evance


Then we drove on to Cannes which is the world capital of Mutton Dressed as Lamb. I didn’t feel like being thrown out of the bus for a one hour walk, but in the end we had a lovely walk past all the huge yachts and boats at the marina which was great. The lifestyle of the rich and famous is amazing on the Riviera.

Russ and I both went back to the room feeling a little off, so he lay on the bed and read and I sat at the computer and copied my notes for the past few days to word documents ready to cut and paste to the Blog.

At 8.30, we felt a bit cooler and rested so we walked to the chosen restaurant for a fantastic dinner. We shared a chef’s plate consisting of lettuce leave piled with potato salad, bacon, pine nuts basil and a beautiful dressing then surrounded by tomatoes, white asparagus, duck pate, and croutons topped with smoked duck slices. Yummmmm. I don’t think I have ever eaten a nicer starter. Then Russ had 1kg of Mussels Provencale and I had a huge pepper steak. We had a litre of wine and the whole lot still only cost us 50 euros.

September 3rd-Florence to Nice

Sunday morning we left Florence and took a one hour drive to Pisa to see that leaning tower. It’s part of a 3 building complex and I was surprised at how pretty the whole place was. We got there early, so avoided a lot of the crowds which helped. The other thing that made it so nice was the fact it sits in the middle of about the only green lawn we have seen in Europe-either there is pavement or the grass is a foot long. Anyhow, the lawn and the white buildings looked pretty good. It’s not a big tower, but it’s still great to see something so famous.


Back on the bus and on to lunch-our last meal in Italy. We shared a hot salami pasta, asparagus risotto and salad. Don’t bother coming to Italy if you don’t like tomatoes, pasta or parmesan cheese-fortunately we love all of those. The other thing I have enjoyed are the antipasto vegetables and the salads.

The Autostratta is quiet on a Sunday (as only trucks carrying necessary foodstuffs are allowed to travel) so it was a really nice drive past lots of beautiful old villages perched on the hill sides, vineyards, olive groves and the flowers grown for perfume. We travelled through 157 tunnels totaling 87km to get to the border of Italy and France.

Just after arriving in France, we visited Monaco and the casinos of Monte Carlo. Russ and I had a win (16 Euros) then had a wine and a beer at a café. The trouble was the wine and beer cost us 19 Euros so wiped out our winnings in one round! Still, it was an experience to visit the place with all those Ferraris, Porches Bentleys etc parked out front, to see all the beautiful and not so beautiful but obviously rich people go by.

I loved seeing the Grimaldi’s Pink Palace and Prince Albert’s yacht (more a ship I think) and the Cathedral where Prince Ranier and Princess Grace are buried. I didn’t go inside because I am all churched out, but it was apparently very beautiful.

We had a “Highlight Dinner” in the restaurant Fredy’s next door. (could you trust a restaurant called Fredy’s?). It was pretty good (we had tomato mozzarella salad, a pastry dish with tomato asparagus and cheese sauce, salmon and béarnaise sauce, some sort of baked custard and pineapple and coffee) but they had us in, fed and out in an hour which doesn’t make for relaxed dining. At one stage, I hadn’t finished a mouthful of something when the next course arrived. I know why I like to go out with Russell and find our own food.

After dinner we drove another 45 minutes to our hotel in Nice. It turned out to be one of the biggest rooms, beds and bathrooms we have had on the whole trip.

September 2nd-Assisi to Florence

A Back Alley in Asissi


On Saturday, Russ and I slept late then took a stroll around the beautiful little town. The rest went up the hill to visit yet ABC (another bloody church) but Russ has caught himself a cold, so we took a sicky. I’m getting a bit sick of churches (similar to temples and castles when I visited Japan).

It wasn’t too long a drive to Florence, so we had a lovely walk around town. I bought myself a really nice lamb leather bag- one of the only things we pushed for space caravanners have bought on the trip- and we picked a nice restaurant in a pretty square for dinner with Donna and Victor.

The Main Square of Florence


The 4 of us grabbed a cab to the restaurant and although we’d written the address down, we’d apparently written it wrong. We needed the street crossing as well. He eventually stopped at another square and asked it that was it-we decided it would do and had a nice dinner there. It was really pretty with street stalls and buskers and classical music playing and lots of people just strolling around.

Donna and Victor came back to our room for a drink and a quick (I promise) look at a few photos of Australia. They have decided they are coming for a month, hiring a car and staying in cabins-we’ll see!

Sorrento to Asissi

On Friday Morning, we got up early and some of us took an optional tour along the Amalfi Coast to Posettano. It’s really spectacular with its lemon orchards (grown for the liqueur limoncello), olive groves and tiny villages clinging to the limestone hills (mountains to us I think), which run right down to the very blue ocean, so it is just amazing. I’m sorry to say it leaves the Great Ocean Road and The Firth of Thames (NZ) miles behind for beauty. We saw the 3 islands which were formally owned by Rudolf Nureyoff before he died and are believed to be where the sirens lured mariners to their death before Ulysses’ beat them at their game.


At 10 am we picked the rest of them up and continued our trip around the bay of Naples to Pompeii where we spent an amazing couple of hours at the ruins. I’d never thought I needed to visit it, but will remember it as one of the highlights of the tour. Our local guide Lailo certainly helped to make it very entertaining too.
Pompeii


We finished our drive around the bay (having seen Vesuvius from every angle now) and headed to Assisi where we were to spend the night. It’s a fairly small medieval walled town and the second most visited city after Rome as far as religious pilgrimages go. People visit the Basilica as it contains the bones of St Francis (the patron saint of animals amongst other things).It’s a beautiful, unspoiled place and I have never seen so many priests, friars, nuns or religious souvenirs in one place.
Assisi


A big group of us sat and had drinks in a quaint little bar next to our hotel. It had wrought iron furniture, sitting on cobblestones on a hill so all our drinks kept sliding across the tables. We had to watch them carefully or drink them fast! A glass of wine was only 1 Euro which is the cheapest we have paid.

One of our hotels waiters had to come down and call us for dinner (which was a good and generous one of pasta followed by pork with forest mushrooms and finished with panna cotta and berries.

Rome to Naples

Today we left Rome and headed for Naples. We made really good time, so got a “bonus tour of the city of Naples before heading out to the Isle of Capri. Naples reminded me of Bali somehow. The houses are close together, the washing hangs from balconies, there are stray dogs wandering everywhere, peoples selling fake everything on the streets and it’s smelly.

At the docks, we met our guide and sat to wait for the boat. It was really hot and the boat was late, not good!


Still, the trip out to Capri was beautiful with wonderful clear views of Mt. Vesuvius. We met some nice people from Bendigo on the way. When we arrived we split into two groups. Those of us taking the optional tour took a beautiful old wooden fishing boat out for a trip round part of the island to see the Fraglioni Rocks and grottoes on the steep coast.


After that we got into the smallest and most cramped busses I have ever ridden in for a hairy ride to the top of the Island for wonderful views of the blue seas, white washed villas, gardens and Mt Vesuvius. All of that was good, but the long, long, hot, hot wait for the 2 minute ride on the Funicular down was horrible. Then we had an equally long and hot wait for a long and hot ferry ride to the mainland and our hotel in Sorrento.
The rooms in all the hotels can be very different and we scored one of the smallest with the smallest bed and bathroom as well. At least the air conditioner was good.

Dinner that night was in a restaurant outside the hotel and was the worst meal yet. The pasta of egg plant, olives, anchovies and tomatoes was good (for some), but the chicken served only with lettuce was pretty forgettable (and raw for some) and the ice cream awful. The beautiful walk home with stunning views of Mt Vesuvius and Naples at night then a drink with the Canadians Victor and Donna helped to lift the night a bit. Then Off to bed as we have an early wake up in the morning.

Rome

August 29th, we headed to Rome, past orchards, fields of sorghum and Arborio rice (I guess they still call them rice paddies here) growing. The Autostratta took us through The Apennines which were very windy with heaps of tunnels and tall bridges through the mountains. A number of us complained about the speed Antonio was travelling at and he reduced it. I worked for a bus lines for 2 years and have never gone so fast!!! A lot of people were getting very green around the gills. Still it was nice to see the hills and mountains and the leaves starting to turn colour for autumn.

I almost cried though as we raced through Tuscany with its olive trees, vineyards and villas sitting in the hillsides-it’s somewhere I’ve always longed to visit. I’d love to rent a villa and shop and cook like a local. Anyway, it whizzed by us on the Autostratta and was gone.

We arrived in Rome just before 4pm. Most of the others on the bus raced up to their rooms to get ready for dinner out. Russ and I strolled down and walked right around the Coliseum and Caesar’s Palace then back through the cobbled streets to pick our restaurant for dinner.


Back to our room, and after a glass of wine we headed down for dinner. We had picked a restaurant Clementine’s which turned out to be a great choice. We had bruscetta with beautiful fresh tomatoes, stuffed zucchini flowers and a small antipasto plate. I should tell you I have never seen more beautiful small goods anywhere. I just go into the delis and supermarkets and inhale the beautiful smells of the parma and coppa hams and the cheeses we have bought are unbelievable. Anyway, back to dinner-then Russ had spaghetti with Mussels and goats cheese and after deliberating between rabbit Cacciatore or veal saltimbocca, I settled on the latter. The waiter told me I was in Rome and it was a traditional roman dish so I should eat it! It was great. Then we shared a green salad with lovely olive oil and balsamic vinegar (mopped the seasonings up with our bread. Last we shared traditional tiramisu (wonderful) and an orange, limoncello and almond syrup sorbet. (I asked for the recipe, it was SO good). We had water and lots of wine for 49 Euros.

August 30th we got up bright and early and went on one of the few extra organized tours we have signed on for. We arrived at the gates of the Vatican at 7.30am, got in by 8.30 and were herded through the museum and on to the Sistine Chapel for half an hour “free time”. It is really quite beautiful, but hard to appreciate with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of other people there too. We had to have a local guide today, and by the time we escaped her, I was really sick of her little girl voice. Also, she took people to buy special books at very chosen stands and you knew she was getting a kick back. St Peter’s Basilica is the biggest Catholic church in the world, and is awesome with its statues and mosaics. It’s beautiful. We should have just taken the included tour there and skipped the Vatican. The extra tour cost 36 Euros, but the actual tickets only cost 12.
Enjoying a Caffe and Caffe Fredo Near The Vatican



Once again we gave the group the slip and went off on a Hop on Hop Off tour on open double decker buses for 13 Euros each and managed to see all the things they have paid lots of money for as extras. We had a lovely pasta lunch near the Trevi Fountain 18th century). We did a lot of walking around Rome (through the shopping areas, visiting a supermarket and ending up at the Spanish Steps) before arriving home at the hotel around 5.30 when we went for drinks on the roof with a heap of the other tour members. From the roof, we have a wonderful view over the Coliseum and Rome.
"The Wedding Cake"


The Wedding Cake is just a huge monument, there's no museum, no offices-nothing-it's just a really huge empty monument!