when in rome

The Colosseum

St Peters Square

Trevi fountain

Spent our first day in Rome walking to all the major sites. First on the list was the Colosseum, we walked around it and took some photos. Once finished there we walked through the ancient ruins. From there we went to the Trevi Fountain and then on to the Spanish Steps. We then walked from the Spanish Steps to the Pantheon and then on to Piazza Navona. The fountain in Piazza Navona is being repaired so that was a bit of a let down, but was still a great atmosphere.

Today we went to St Peters Square. We decided first to go to the Vatican museum to look at the Sistine Chapel. It is really amazing how the paintings are done on the roof in all the rooms, I could not imagine doing them. We finished in the museum and then went into St Peters Basilica. There are tombs of the old Pope's under the Basilica. There were lots of people around the tombs stone of Pope John Paul II.

From there we headed back through Rome just taking in the Roman way. We went back past Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon and had some Gelati. Yum!

There are so many beggars in Rome asking for money for them and their children. There are also a huge amount of people trying to sell you stuff you really do not need or want.

We have just booked our tickets to Pisa for tomorrow, and then we head to Venice.

our day in nice

Bronte on the beach in Nice (Weather not very Nice)
Nice from the roof of the museum of contemporary art.

Our train didn't leave until late at night to Rome, so we spent the day walking around Nice. The day was cold but no rain, we went for a walk along the foreshore for about 2km, we watched some planes land as we were close to the airport. We went and visited some museum's, the contemporary art one was quite good. Had a good lunch at a place called Buffalo Bills and walked a little around where the Nice Carnavale was on. The Carnavale was a bit boring and we really did not understand what it was about.

Anyway the day was ok and we got to the train station at 9.00p.m. to catch our over night train to Rome which really was bad! The train stopped at every piss pot station and took 13 hours to arrive. We were in a room on the carriage with an old man who was in bed and wanted to sleep right from Nice. There was no where to sit and talk or do anything other than sleep.

monaco, monte carlo

View of the bay of Monaco

Entrance to the Grand Prix tunnel.

Grand Casino

We arrived in Nice at about 8.00 p.m. on Friday night. We had a little bit of trouble trying to find the youth hostel as there were hardly any street signs to find! Today we decided to spend the day in Monaco, which is only a 15 minute train trip from Nice. Once we arrived, we followed a portion of the Grand Prix track around and we went past the Casino which looked very expensive and well kept. All the cars parked out the front would have a price tag starting at $200,000. We did use the toilets in the foyer of the Casino, and the toilet washed the seat by its self before you use it! Bit flash for us, Bronte took a video on his phone of the toilet and flushed it 3 times, child!

We walked up to the old part of Monaco where Prince Albert lives. His house has guards out the front much like Buckingham Palace, except the uniforms were blue. Walked around the shops and slowly made our way back to the main part of the town.

Monaco is an amazing place, all the housing looks like it is hanging off the side of the cliff. There is obviously a lot of money around the town. All the buildings are made from lots of marble, so to are steps and monuments all over the town. The town is also kept clean and tidy all the time, workers were sweeping up all over as we walked around. The gardens and lawns were also manicured immaculately to say the least.

Will look around Nice tomorrow.

finally in barcelona

Foreshore in Barcelona

(first time we seen the sea in two weeks)

Diving pool from the 92 Olyimpic´s
Yes its where Kylie Minogue made the film clip ¨Slow¨
Gaudi´s famous temple, still not finished til 2020.

After having huge amounts of trouble trying to get to Barcelona (computer says no!) we arrived on Thursday night by bus. The trains in Spain were on strike and this was made more difficult to try and book in France when they could not tell us why we could not get to Barcelona. They told us "Its impossible" and that was the reason we could not go. Once we got to a place called Narbonne
the lady who booked our bus ticket explained what was going on. She was really helpful.

Once in Barcelona we headed to the foreshore and had a good look around. Caught a cable car to the top of the hill on the other side of the bay where some of the events from the 1992 Olympics were held. We saw the famous pool where the diving was done and also the filming of the Kylie Minogue "Slow" film clip was filmed.

Caught the funicular down the side of the mountain and went to the famous cathedral that was designed and built by Gaudi and never finished. It is now being finished off and will take to 2020 to complete. The cathedral is amazing. We also got the Metro to Gaudi's other famous buildings, they too have the same unique styling as the cathedral.

Barcelona was a bit of a surprise how it seems to be so modern and well set out. A lot of building work happened for the Olympics and has obviously continued.

carcassonne the medieval city

Carcassonne fortified ¨la cite¨

The entrance gates (yes we stayed in here) The streets inside the fort.

After leaving Paris at dawn we headed to Carcassonne on the TGV, the train trip took 6 hours. Carcassonne was once a town inside a fort which is still operational as a town to this day. The town has now grown outside of the fort. The youth hostel inside this very old fort to my suprise it had central heating, the fort also had a restaurant called Adelaide and one cafe sold fosters. how does a crap beer from Melbourne end up in a fort in the south of France.

last night in paris

Eiffel Tower at 11pm (pretty flashing lights)
Eiffel Tower in fog.

On the last night in Paris we decided to go for a walk, (I was actually going back to a shop to buy Jennifer from KFC a present). The day was warm and the night came in quite foggy, we took some beautiful pictures of the Eiffel Tower with the top covered in mist. What a way to spend our last night in Paris.

paris is wonderful

View of the crowd lined up from the top of the Eiffel Tower

The Grande Arch
Concorde!!

Yesterday we went back to the Eiffel tower for the second ride, but this time it was right to the top, we had to line up for about 20 minutes to buy or tickets then it's up the elevator to the second level, then we had to wait 30 mins again for the elevator to the top level, the top photo is a pic of how the the line was when we were up the top, it was not that long when we lined up. The elevator to the top is an interesting ride as it is not supported by much. The view from the top was amazing. After the tower we went into le defense "the financial heart of Paris" whilst in there we went to the Grande Arch, the second photo, what a weird building, we went up to the top of there for a look at the city.

We then caught the train into the older parts of Paris, we walked along Rue Du Ravoli, what a most magical time it was, there were people everywhere as it was a balmy 20 degrees, this what makes Paris, with is narrow streets, intersected by community squares, cafes and bars and full of people, it had an atmosphere about it that you don't get any where else.

Later on at night we went for a train trip to find Moulin Rouge, we ended up at the wrong station, after catching 3 more trains we finally arrived and found Moulin Rouge, shows are very expensive at 83 euro so we decided to look from the outside.

Today we went to Musee de la e'space aero, it is a museum full of the history of flight, it was here that I got to see not one but two concordes. The first concorde was the prototype and the second was from the Air France fleet. What fantastic pieces of machinery they are, not bad considering the first one flew in the late 60's.

Tomorrow we catch the TGV to a place called Carcassconne, it is a town surrounded by a fort, sound very exciting, from there we will head to Barcelona. Will send a blog from there.

Merci.

our first few days in paris

Eurostar from London to ParisArc de Triomphe
Eiffel Tower on Valentines Day

After having all sorts of problems getting to Waterloo Train Station on the Tube because of signal failure, we had to completely re-arrange our route which is not easy to do when you planned another way, we arrived in time to catch the Eurostar to Paris. The train was very exciting as it went around 300km/h, the French countryside was just wizzing by. It only took 20mins to go through the tunnel.

After arriving into Paris we had to work out the Metro to get to our hotel. Not to much trouble in doing that, not that anyone would help if we had problems. After settling into our Hotel room we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower and we got there just before dark. It was amazing to see the tower lit up in the night time, it was beautiful. We paid to go to the first level, but the attendant directed us to the top elevator so we got to go to the second level for no extra charge.

On Thursday we caught the Metro into the centre of Paris and went for a walk along the River Seine, we went to Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Champs de Elysees and the Louvre, first port of call in the Lourve was of course the most famous painting in the world "Mona Lisa", there are lots of signs directing people to it, like it is the only painting that mattered.

Paris is a beautiful city only let down by the constant onslaught of beggars asking for money. It's like they work in gangs, I heard the same story a 100 times about being from Bosnia needing money to get home to feed their sick kids, they all use the same lines, its well rehearsed, a very ugly mark on a beautiful city.

Today we have been to Euro Disney. It was a good day, all the rides are cool, a bit like Dreamworld really. The line up for all the rides was not to bad considering that it did seem very busy. Bought some souveniers for a keep sake to remember our day.

Went out to dinner tonight in a restaurant and the food was nice, even the man who only spoke a little English was more than helpful.

Had trouble finding a place for the internet in Paris, that is why it has been a few days since the last post. Will try to update the blog a little more often from now with a bit of luck.

stonehenge

Stonehenge in the wind!
Salisbury Cathedral (800 years old)
The swollen Avon River at Salisbury

Today we headed off on a tour to Stonehenge. We had to get up at the crack o dawn to meet the bus that took us.

The day started off very rainy and very windy and it really did not change from that all day. Stonehenge is amazing, it's hard to believe it is so old, it is very impressive.

The Salisbury Cathedral is also a work of art, it took 35 years to build and is over 800 years old. The spire is 404 feet high. The town ship of Salisbury is very European with it's water through the town and the tall skinny buildings and houses.

We also went to Avesbury and saw the other stone circle which is actually larger and older. Larger as in the size of the circle not the stones. Avesbury town is actually built in the middle of the circle. No such thing as conservation when they built that town.

Tomorrow we are spending the day in London, we are going to St Pauls Cathedral, The Princess Diana memorial in Hyde Park and we are climbing the tower that marks the great fire of London in 1666. There are 311 steps to reach the top of the tower.

Next time we leave a blog message we will be in Paris!! Oui Oui.

finally in london

On the London Eye.
Out the front of the Tower Bridge
At Madame Tussauds, and look who we caught up with!!

Well we are finally in London, the plane trip over was long and boring, I managed to sleep for about 9 hours of the flight from Singapore to London. Bronte was woken up by people always going to the toilet and mothers trying to shush babies and only got 3 hours sleep.

The YHA has been good and we decided to stay in the same one for the full time in London.

The weather in London has been nice and cold so far, it's been about 8 degrees during the day. It did actually snow the day before we got here. We have been on the London Eye as you can see from the photos and walked along the top of the Tower Bridge. Went to Madame Tussauds and saw all the famous people who have been sculptured.

Lots of beautiful building and still much to see. Off to Stonehendge tomorrow and that will be good to see. Have also booked the train to Paris!!

Will leave another post in a day or two. Bye for now.

packing

Work is all over for both of us now and we have started the packing phase. Wow we hate packing. Done some cleaning of the house and yard today so when we get home the place should look good. Just 2 sleeps to go now. Shadow and Asia are certainly going to miss us.