2008 Year of Learning
2008 is going to be my year of learning and not just because I am going to back to uni to study Information Architecture, which in a weird way I am looking forward to. But also because I am going to learn about my body and mind. I am determined to continue with a routine exercise path and to truly become fit. At the moment I am no where near as fit as I could be, and in the process hopefully lose a few more kilos. Not too much I don't intend to get really skinny or go crazy but more just firm up some of my more flabbier parts. I lost a few kilos on our holiday which I didn't expect at all but I guess walking about 8 hours a day did do something despite the daily intake of sausages, schnitzel, gelato and the like, and I feel good for it. I think this has been the impetus I need to keep going. That and being puffed walking up steep steps in Salzburg.
On the mind front, I want to understand who I am and what makes me tick. Not to mention come to terms with my depression. My depression has been one area of my life I have not been happy with how I have handled it. Despite my knowing full well that there is nothing to be ashamed about etc etc I do still find it hard to open up about it. Anyway, my path to self discovery has been helped along in recent days by beginning to read the book The Introvert Advantage which I found out about on Marcy Phelps' blog Power Networking for Introverts and a colleague lent me a copy. I always knew I was an introvert but even after reading about 50 pages or so I have already learnt so much more about myself particularly about how I cope in social situations and why I act the way I do.
On the mind front, I want to understand who I am and what makes me tick. Not to mention come to terms with my depression. My depression has been one area of my life I have not been happy with how I have handled it. Despite my knowing full well that there is nothing to be ashamed about etc etc I do still find it hard to open up about it. Anyway, my path to self discovery has been helped along in recent days by beginning to read the book The Introvert Advantage which I found out about on Marcy Phelps' blog Power Networking for Introverts and a colleague lent me a copy. I always knew I was an introvert but even after reading about 50 pages or so I have already learnt so much more about myself particularly about how I cope in social situations and why I act the way I do.
Been updating
I have just been updating the RSS feeds in my Bloglines account so I thought it only fitting that I update my blog as well. Going through the Top 1000 subscribed blogs, a feature of Bloglines Beta, it was nice to see so many blogs by Librarians or Library's. I was surprised to see so many blogs about knitting though. I knew this craft was big, but I didn't expect knitters to be bloggers as well.
On the holiday front, I have finally created a brief (if you can call 637 photos brief) version of our happy snaps and they are slowly being added to my Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/55078544@N00/). Continually going over the photos is wonderful as each time I remember something that I had otherwise forgotten and I am transported back to that time and place.
Thank goodness for Bloggers automatic saving function. I would have just lost everything I had previously written. I am still learning this blogging game. I will get better soon I know. Hopefully then I will learn how to include photos.
On the holiday front, I have finally created a brief (if you can call 637 photos brief) version of our happy snaps and they are slowly being added to my Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/55078544@N00/). Continually going over the photos is wonderful as each time I remember something that I had otherwise forgotten and I am transported back to that time and place.
Thank goodness for Bloggers automatic saving function. I would have just lost everything I had previously written. I am still learning this blogging game. I will get better soon I know. Hopefully then I will learn how to include photos.
The Final Chapter
Okay, so I thought it was a long time between blog posts last time but this has been longer. Sorry. We are now back home so I better finish off the trip now before I go back to work on Monday or I will never finish.
Where was I? Belfast. The day before we left Belfast, Aunty Yvonne, Carol, Alasdair, their 2 girls Sophie and Lara and Aaron and I went for a drive up to the North Coast of Northern Ireland. Our first stop was the Giants Causeway, the geographical wonder of hexagonal basalt rocks and the coldest place we encountered on our trip. Last time I was at the Causeway I wimped out and caught the bus back to the top. This time I was determined I was going to walk it. Which we did. Not just back up the same path, but up a hundred a something steps up to the cliff top (and steps are not usually my thing). The view was amazing and it was then that we encountered the first of our rain for the day. After a blitz through the souvenir shop it was onto the town of Bushmills for lunch in a nice cafe called 1608. We then drove onto Port Stewart where we stopped for ice cream at Morelli's. Even though we were still full from lunch Aaron & I just had to have Knickerbocker Glory's. I'm so glad we did, and as Aunty Yvonne once said 'the ice cream just melts and falls between the cracks in your stomach'.
The next morning after packing up our stuff and saying goodbye to the rellies, we headed down to Dublin by train where we were picked up by our friends Kathy, Brian and their son Paul and taken to there lovely house in Maynooth, outside of Dublin. It was great to catch up with them again and so nice of them top put us up for a few days.
We then spent the next few days exploring Dublin and getting to know the Irish train system, where trains can suddenly disappear from departure boards with no warning or explanation. Our whirlwind tour of Dublin included, the National Museum, the National Library, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, the very interesting Archbishop Marsh's Library (where Librarians are known as Keepers) and of course the Guinness Brewery. Despite me not having an interest in beer or stout it was an interesting morning. I tried so hard to drink all of my free pint in the Gravity Bar but I could only manage about 2 thirds. I can't understand why people like the stuff. Oh well.
That night was Halloween and I don't know who was more excited, the trick or treaters that came to the door or Aaron. It certainly brought out the big kid in him. Lots of lollies, candy or sweeties (whatever you prefer to call it) was definitely consumed that night.
The next day we had one of our earliest starts of the trip so that we could get a lift to Dublin with Brian. We then caught a bus out to the airport to wait for our flight to London, which was delayed (as was most of our flights. Do any flights ever leave on time?). After the flight, then a train ride, then a tube ride, and a short walk we made it to our friend Dave's place in Central London (NW1) where we then spent the next week spread out all over Dave's small one bedroom flat.
I love London and on our first walk around the city that night around Picadilly, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Oxford Street and Regent Street I couldn't stop smiling. Dave's two finger Japanese style photo pose added to the fun of the night as did Aaron's singing which by now I am used to but irritated Dave in under 3 hours.
I will now condense the next 6 days activities as the post is already very long. Things we did and saw:
The next day, our last in Europe, began with a breakfast of as many croissants and pain au raisins as we could stomach, before venturing to the Montmartre and Pigale areas of Paris. Our visit into the Sacre Coeur was our first visit to a basilica where a service was in progress, complete with choral singing. It was a slightly odd experience. We then managed to avoid having our portrait drawn by the many artists in the streets before heading to the red light district of Pigale where we saw the Moulin Rouge. After a quick stroll down Avenue Rachel and a look around the MontMartre Cemetary we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags before heading out to Charles De Gaulle Airport by train. We got to the airport so early that we were unable to check in for our flight for almost an hour. We then spent another 3 hours in the most boring of airport terminals before boarding another delayed flight to Dubai and Singapore.
We arrived in Singapore, went straight to our hotel, showered and went to bed. The next morning we headed to the Singapore Zoo which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite coming too close for my liking to a few animals including a lemur (well its tail anyway). Their collection of primates is impressive. We also added elephants to our modes of transportation taken on this trip by having a ride on a lovely big elephant called ?. I have no idea of his name, although Aaron called him Lumpy. We spent the afternoon having a look at the shopping centres on Orchard Road before a welcome dip in the hotel pool. That night we headed out on a Night tour which included dinner down by the river, a river cruise on a bum boat, a visit to the Royal Selangor pewter workshop, a visit to the Bugis Markets and a stop at Raffles Hotel where Aaron and I experienced Singapore Slings in the Long Bar (and paid for the privilege). The next morning after sleeping passed the alarm, we awoke to rain for the first time in quite awhile. We still ventured out to Chinatown (by taxi) where it poured down. A quick trip on the MRT had us back at our hotel packing up and checking out before heading to the airport for the final time ( I love late check out). This time, again despite being incredibly early for our flight we were able to check in and we then spent the next 1 1/2 hours watching television in the departure lounge before doing some last minute shopping only to sit and wait at the gate for another delayed flight.
7 hours later (and no sleep by me) we arrived at Brisbane Airport and made it through Customs without any problems. After arriving home and unpacking we began the souvenir sort which covered the entire dining room table. If only we had more luggage space we could have brought back so much more.
So that is then end of our European Adventure. I hoped you enjoyed reading about our antics. I will most likely continue to ramble on this blog in the future (but with much shorter posts) as i am going back to uni next year to study Information Architecture. Why? Just for something to do.
Where was I? Belfast. The day before we left Belfast, Aunty Yvonne, Carol, Alasdair, their 2 girls Sophie and Lara and Aaron and I went for a drive up to the North Coast of Northern Ireland. Our first stop was the Giants Causeway, the geographical wonder of hexagonal basalt rocks and the coldest place we encountered on our trip. Last time I was at the Causeway I wimped out and caught the bus back to the top. This time I was determined I was going to walk it. Which we did. Not just back up the same path, but up a hundred a something steps up to the cliff top (and steps are not usually my thing). The view was amazing and it was then that we encountered the first of our rain for the day. After a blitz through the souvenir shop it was onto the town of Bushmills for lunch in a nice cafe called 1608. We then drove onto Port Stewart where we stopped for ice cream at Morelli's. Even though we were still full from lunch Aaron & I just had to have Knickerbocker Glory's. I'm so glad we did, and as Aunty Yvonne once said 'the ice cream just melts and falls between the cracks in your stomach'.
The next morning after packing up our stuff and saying goodbye to the rellies, we headed down to Dublin by train where we were picked up by our friends Kathy, Brian and their son Paul and taken to there lovely house in Maynooth, outside of Dublin. It was great to catch up with them again and so nice of them top put us up for a few days.
We then spent the next few days exploring Dublin and getting to know the Irish train system, where trains can suddenly disappear from departure boards with no warning or explanation. Our whirlwind tour of Dublin included, the National Museum, the National Library, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, the very interesting Archbishop Marsh's Library (where Librarians are known as Keepers) and of course the Guinness Brewery. Despite me not having an interest in beer or stout it was an interesting morning. I tried so hard to drink all of my free pint in the Gravity Bar but I could only manage about 2 thirds. I can't understand why people like the stuff. Oh well.
That night was Halloween and I don't know who was more excited, the trick or treaters that came to the door or Aaron. It certainly brought out the big kid in him. Lots of lollies, candy or sweeties (whatever you prefer to call it) was definitely consumed that night.
The next day we had one of our earliest starts of the trip so that we could get a lift to Dublin with Brian. We then caught a bus out to the airport to wait for our flight to London, which was delayed (as was most of our flights. Do any flights ever leave on time?). After the flight, then a train ride, then a tube ride, and a short walk we made it to our friend Dave's place in Central London (NW1) where we then spent the next week spread out all over Dave's small one bedroom flat.
I love London and on our first walk around the city that night around Picadilly, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Oxford Street and Regent Street I couldn't stop smiling. Dave's two finger Japanese style photo pose added to the fun of the night as did Aaron's singing which by now I am used to but irritated Dave in under 3 hours.
I will now condense the next 6 days activities as the post is already very long. Things we did and saw:
- Visited Harrods twice (and bought more bears)
- Went to the Tower of London and saw the Beefeaters and the Crown Jewels
- Shopped at Hamley's toy store on Regent Street (more bears)
- Visited the British Library
- Saw an exhibition about China's Terracotta Warriors at the British Library
- Saw fireworks at Battersea Park for Guy Fawkes (where Aaron wore a scarf for the first time in his life and also had a hole put in his jumper from a wayward firework let off by kids)
- Saw lots of squirrels in Hyde Park (and they were much tamer than their other European counterparts)
- Saw several Princess Diana memorials
- Saw Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral Regents Park, Kensington Gardens among other famous sites
- Went on the London Eye (not as scary as I expected for someone who ates heights)
- Went on a day trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath; and
- Met more of Aaron's relatives and a couple of his friends as well
The next day, our last in Europe, began with a breakfast of as many croissants and pain au raisins as we could stomach, before venturing to the Montmartre and Pigale areas of Paris. Our visit into the Sacre Coeur was our first visit to a basilica where a service was in progress, complete with choral singing. It was a slightly odd experience. We then managed to avoid having our portrait drawn by the many artists in the streets before heading to the red light district of Pigale where we saw the Moulin Rouge. After a quick stroll down Avenue Rachel and a look around the MontMartre Cemetary we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags before heading out to Charles De Gaulle Airport by train. We got to the airport so early that we were unable to check in for our flight for almost an hour. We then spent another 3 hours in the most boring of airport terminals before boarding another delayed flight to Dubai and Singapore.
We arrived in Singapore, went straight to our hotel, showered and went to bed. The next morning we headed to the Singapore Zoo which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite coming too close for my liking to a few animals including a lemur (well its tail anyway). Their collection of primates is impressive. We also added elephants to our modes of transportation taken on this trip by having a ride on a lovely big elephant called ?. I have no idea of his name, although Aaron called him Lumpy. We spent the afternoon having a look at the shopping centres on Orchard Road before a welcome dip in the hotel pool. That night we headed out on a Night tour which included dinner down by the river, a river cruise on a bum boat, a visit to the Royal Selangor pewter workshop, a visit to the Bugis Markets and a stop at Raffles Hotel where Aaron and I experienced Singapore Slings in the Long Bar (and paid for the privilege). The next morning after sleeping passed the alarm, we awoke to rain for the first time in quite awhile. We still ventured out to Chinatown (by taxi) where it poured down. A quick trip on the MRT had us back at our hotel packing up and checking out before heading to the airport for the final time ( I love late check out). This time, again despite being incredibly early for our flight we were able to check in and we then spent the next 1 1/2 hours watching television in the departure lounge before doing some last minute shopping only to sit and wait at the gate for another delayed flight.
7 hours later (and no sleep by me) we arrived at Brisbane Airport and made it through Customs without any problems. After arriving home and unpacking we began the souvenir sort which covered the entire dining room table. If only we had more luggage space we could have brought back so much more.
So that is then end of our European Adventure. I hoped you enjoyed reading about our antics. I will most likely continue to ramble on this blog in the future (but with much shorter posts) as i am going back to uni next year to study Information Architecture. Why? Just for something to do.
It's Finally Raining
We have been in Belfast for a week now and today is the first day of rain. All of Aaron's wishful thinking that we were going to bring the sunshine with us worked, until now.
It has been a while since I have updated this blog. I didn't realise quite a long until I just logged on.
After our short stay in Siena, in the lovely Tuscan hills, we caught the train back to Florence and then onto Venice. Our trip on the Eurostar Italia was very nice and the time flew as we were talking to a very interesting lady from San Francisco who was sitting next to me. Aaron was definitely impressed with Venice when we arrived. I almost got sick of him pointing out all of the boats to me. He was just like a big kid. Our hotel was basic and had no lift which meant 2 flights of stairs each time we wanted to go to our room, but it was easy to find and although on a main street was not very noisy at night. We spent most of our time in Venice just wandering around the street, I mean canals, which was very easy to do. We did catch a boat to the island of Murano which is the home of the glass blowing. There was so many nice glass pieces we would have loved to buy but didn't for fear of not getting them home in one piece. The glass Christmas trees were amazing. We did buy a few small pieces which we think we will be able to bring home without breaking which is good. Oh, and we did go on a gondola ride, which was lovely but very very expensive. We almost had to sell one of Aaron's kidneys to pay for it. (Only joking. The budget is going fine, we are surprisingly under budget. More money for shopping in Paris and Singapore, yeaahhh).
After our 3 nights in Venice we ventured onto Bergamo, near Milan, a city we knew absolutely nothing about except that it has an airport. We were pleasantly surprised by our nice a place it was. It has a charming old town up on a hill which required a ride on a funicular railway to get to. Our 3rd funicular for the trip. We spent a lovely few hours wandering around up there enjoying the views and our last gelato. We made a surprising discovery for dinner of a cute restaurant that served free champagne on arrival and limoncello after dinner. We politely refused the limoncello after our introduction to the horrible liqueur at Jane and Alessandro's in Bologna. The food was delicious and the service was great (and not too expensive either).
The next day, after a few hours wait at the airport (no the plane was delayed it was just us getting there early) we boarded a Jet 2 plane (an airline I knew nothing about but was cheap) with a large number of elderly Northern Irelanders who were returning to Belfast after a package tour of Italy. Hearing all their accents was like being surrounded by hundreds of Aunty Yvonne's (Aaron's aunt). The flight was okay and we made it to Belfast alright. After interrogation by passport control, which didn't take long as we were the only 2 none EU passport holders on the flight we collected our bags and met Aunty Yvonne and her daughter Carol who kindly picked us up from the airport. We have spent the last week in the loving care of Yvonne and her husband Desmond, who have not only cooked for us, but has done washing for us and has driven us around. Well except for Monday when they kicked us out and made us catch the bus into the city. This week as been really nice and relaxing. We sleep in, watch TV (I am loving my English television, East Enders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Bill, Top Gear, you name it I have watched it), go out for a bit, come back, watch more TV, use the Internet, eat, watch TV, sleep. It has been great. We have seen some sights though, don't get me wrong we are not spending all our time at home. We have visited Belfast Castle, Stormont (the parliament house) the city centre (including the oldest library in Belfast) and W5 (an interactive sciencecentre). Today we caused mass truancy among all of Aunty Yvonne's grandchildren when we all went to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Well, only the transport museum as it is raining and this part is undercover. It was a fun museum to visit as you could climb onto some the the trains and things and it was especially fun going with Kathryn, Brett, Corey, Sophie and Lara, not too mention Carol and Anita (their mums) and Aunty Yvonne of course. It also included a Titanic Exhibition (as the Titanic was built in Belfast) and a Flight Experience thing which was like you were in a small plane.
Tonight we are having dinner with Aaron's Uncle Brian and Aunt Dorothy and tomorrow night with all those we spent today with at Carol's house. It has been really good getting to know Aaron's relatives. They are all so funny.
We then head off to Dublin on Monday and London on Thursday. I can't believe our trip is almost over and I will be back at work in less than a month.
It has been a while since I have updated this blog. I didn't realise quite a long until I just logged on.
After our short stay in Siena, in the lovely Tuscan hills, we caught the train back to Florence and then onto Venice. Our trip on the Eurostar Italia was very nice and the time flew as we were talking to a very interesting lady from San Francisco who was sitting next to me. Aaron was definitely impressed with Venice when we arrived. I almost got sick of him pointing out all of the boats to me. He was just like a big kid. Our hotel was basic and had no lift which meant 2 flights of stairs each time we wanted to go to our room, but it was easy to find and although on a main street was not very noisy at night. We spent most of our time in Venice just wandering around the street, I mean canals, which was very easy to do. We did catch a boat to the island of Murano which is the home of the glass blowing. There was so many nice glass pieces we would have loved to buy but didn't for fear of not getting them home in one piece. The glass Christmas trees were amazing. We did buy a few small pieces which we think we will be able to bring home without breaking which is good. Oh, and we did go on a gondola ride, which was lovely but very very expensive. We almost had to sell one of Aaron's kidneys to pay for it. (Only joking. The budget is going fine, we are surprisingly under budget. More money for shopping in Paris and Singapore, yeaahhh).
After our 3 nights in Venice we ventured onto Bergamo, near Milan, a city we knew absolutely nothing about except that it has an airport. We were pleasantly surprised by our nice a place it was. It has a charming old town up on a hill which required a ride on a funicular railway to get to. Our 3rd funicular for the trip. We spent a lovely few hours wandering around up there enjoying the views and our last gelato. We made a surprising discovery for dinner of a cute restaurant that served free champagne on arrival and limoncello after dinner. We politely refused the limoncello after our introduction to the horrible liqueur at Jane and Alessandro's in Bologna. The food was delicious and the service was great (and not too expensive either).
The next day, after a few hours wait at the airport (no the plane was delayed it was just us getting there early) we boarded a Jet 2 plane (an airline I knew nothing about but was cheap) with a large number of elderly Northern Irelanders who were returning to Belfast after a package tour of Italy. Hearing all their accents was like being surrounded by hundreds of Aunty Yvonne's (Aaron's aunt). The flight was okay and we made it to Belfast alright. After interrogation by passport control, which didn't take long as we were the only 2 none EU passport holders on the flight we collected our bags and met Aunty Yvonne and her daughter Carol who kindly picked us up from the airport. We have spent the last week in the loving care of Yvonne and her husband Desmond, who have not only cooked for us, but has done washing for us and has driven us around. Well except for Monday when they kicked us out and made us catch the bus into the city. This week as been really nice and relaxing. We sleep in, watch TV (I am loving my English television, East Enders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Bill, Top Gear, you name it I have watched it), go out for a bit, come back, watch more TV, use the Internet, eat, watch TV, sleep. It has been great. We have seen some sights though, don't get me wrong we are not spending all our time at home. We have visited Belfast Castle, Stormont (the parliament house) the city centre (including the oldest library in Belfast) and W5 (an interactive sciencecentre). Today we caused mass truancy among all of Aunty Yvonne's grandchildren when we all went to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Well, only the transport museum as it is raining and this part is undercover. It was a fun museum to visit as you could climb onto some the the trains and things and it was especially fun going with Kathryn, Brett, Corey, Sophie and Lara, not too mention Carol and Anita (their mums) and Aunty Yvonne of course. It also included a Titanic Exhibition (as the Titanic was built in Belfast) and a Flight Experience thing which was like you were in a small plane.
Tonight we are having dinner with Aaron's Uncle Brian and Aunt Dorothy and tomorrow night with all those we spent today with at Carol's house. It has been really good getting to know Aaron's relatives. They are all so funny.
We then head off to Dublin on Monday and London on Thursday. I can't believe our trip is almost over and I will be back at work in less than a month.
Comings and Goings
I realised that in my last post I forgot to give an update of our itinerary since we had left Italy fairly open.
As mentioned before, we spent a few days in Bologna with friends, then we headed to Florence for 3 nights. We are now in Siena, (still in the Tuscany region) and will be here until Monday 15th. We then we head off to Venice for 3 nights before spending our final night in Italy in Bergamo (outside of Milan). It is from here that we fly off to Belfast on Friday 19th.
I am currently standing in the lobby of our cute hotel in Siena, yet again free internet but I have no shoes or socks on and the tiles are getting cold so I don't think I will be here for much longer.
So here is a quick update. In Florence we went to the Uffizi Gallery (and queued for an hour) and saw Botticelli's Birth of Venus, the Galleria dell 'Academia where we saw Michelangelo's real statue of David, the Gallerie Michelangelo where we saw models made from Leonardo da Vinci's drawings (and got to play with some of them) and for something completely different (and non-religious) the Criminal Museum with a display about serial killers from all over the world dating back to the 14th century. As well as the Duomo (more impressive on the outside that the inside) and the Ponte Vecchio and ate the obligatory gelato.
Yesterday we arrived in Siena around lunch time and the first thing we did after checking into our hotel was eat a huge very nice buffet lunch at the restaurant next door with a glass or two of vino to go with it. We then went on a tour visiting the nearby town of Montelchino and a couple of wineries to taste the local Brunello wine. The first we went to was interesting as it is experimenting with playing classical music to its vines. The second, included a wine making museum and was run by a charming 80 year old man called Mario who loves the ladies. We also tasted olive oil, prosciutto, pecorino cheese, biscotti and grappa. And Mario was very generous with his wine and everybody went home just that little bit schozzled.
Today we spent the day wandering around inside the walled city of Siena. It is a nice small wandering city, slightly hilly but not too strenuous. We also visited the Civic Museum where Aaron climbed its associated tower and the Duomo (much more impressive than Florence's) and its Crypt, Baptistery and Museum. We certainly got a fill of religious art today. Plus we went to one of the Basilica's where we saw the preserved head and thumb (don't ask me why they have her thumb) of Saint Catherine, who along with Francis of Assisi are the patron saints of Italy. That was pretty cool.
Tomorrow we are doing another tour, this time to San Gimignano where we visit yet more wineries.
As mentioned before, we spent a few days in Bologna with friends, then we headed to Florence for 3 nights. We are now in Siena, (still in the Tuscany region) and will be here until Monday 15th. We then we head off to Venice for 3 nights before spending our final night in Italy in Bergamo (outside of Milan). It is from here that we fly off to Belfast on Friday 19th.
I am currently standing in the lobby of our cute hotel in Siena, yet again free internet but I have no shoes or socks on and the tiles are getting cold so I don't think I will be here for much longer.
So here is a quick update. In Florence we went to the Uffizi Gallery (and queued for an hour) and saw Botticelli's Birth of Venus, the Galleria dell 'Academia where we saw Michelangelo's real statue of David, the Gallerie Michelangelo where we saw models made from Leonardo da Vinci's drawings (and got to play with some of them) and for something completely different (and non-religious) the Criminal Museum with a display about serial killers from all over the world dating back to the 14th century. As well as the Duomo (more impressive on the outside that the inside) and the Ponte Vecchio and ate the obligatory gelato.
Yesterday we arrived in Siena around lunch time and the first thing we did after checking into our hotel was eat a huge very nice buffet lunch at the restaurant next door with a glass or two of vino to go with it. We then went on a tour visiting the nearby town of Montelchino and a couple of wineries to taste the local Brunello wine. The first we went to was interesting as it is experimenting with playing classical music to its vines. The second, included a wine making museum and was run by a charming 80 year old man called Mario who loves the ladies. We also tasted olive oil, prosciutto, pecorino cheese, biscotti and grappa. And Mario was very generous with his wine and everybody went home just that little bit schozzled.
Today we spent the day wandering around inside the walled city of Siena. It is a nice small wandering city, slightly hilly but not too strenuous. We also visited the Civic Museum where Aaron climbed its associated tower and the Duomo (much more impressive than Florence's) and its Crypt, Baptistery and Museum. We certainly got a fill of religious art today. Plus we went to one of the Basilica's where we saw the preserved head and thumb (don't ask me why they have her thumb) of Saint Catherine, who along with Francis of Assisi are the patron saints of Italy. That was pretty cool.
Tomorrow we are doing another tour, this time to San Gimignano where we visit yet more wineries.
Ciao
Since my last post we have left Austria and we care now in our second Italian City.
On our last day in Salzburg we caught a bus to a nearby town where we then caught a cable car up to the top of Untersberg mountain. The views of Salzburg and its surrounds were fantastic. I only walked around a little bit up there but Aaron walked up another part a bit higher up. Up on the mountain we met a nice Canadian couple who we talked to for awhile. After that, we looked around Salzburg's Alstadt again before walking up a hill in the centre of town that has a monastry of the Capuchin monks on it.
The next day we headed to Innsbruck where we stayed at the closest possible hotel to that station. We didn't even have to leave the station to get to the hotel as there was a lift that took us right on up to the hotel. Very convenient. We spent that afternoon wandering around Innsbruck where we saw the Golden Roof, or Golden Awning as Aaron believes it should be called and the River Inn. The next day we caught a tram to a nearby town called Igls where we caught another cable car up another mountain. This one is called PatcsherKofel and again it had spectacular views. This time we spent a couple of hours walking around on top before heading back down again. This time it was only the 2 of us in the cable car which was great. This area has held the Winter Olympics a couple of times and in the cable car we passed over a bob sled course. Aaron wanted to have a go at bob sledding but it is only open in summer and winter. What a bummer. We then had a very nice lunch in a hotel in Igls where I have never eaten so much spinach in my life. The main course was spinach dumplings covered in cheese and served with more spinach. They were very nice though. Arnold Schwarzenegger has eaten there, as well as other famous people we didn't recognise.
On Saturday we left Innsbruck (and Austria, where there are no kangaroos) and headed to Italy. After 5 and a half hours on the train we arrived in Bologna where we raced to another train only to find it wasn't going to leave for another 20 minutes due to a strike (but not by rail workers, according to the driver we spoke to). Eventually after going and stopping and going again we made it to CastellMaggiore (or something like that) where we were picked up by friends Jane, Alessandro and 18 month old Damian. Jane grew up in the same street as Aaron In Wavell Heights. It was nice to have a semi normal life for a few days. We spent a fairly quiet Sunday, doing washing, watching a dvd, playing with Damian, before we visited a nearby ye olde town called Dozza. That evening Alessandro introduced us to some local cuisine which was very nice.
On Monday morning, Aaron and I headed into the centre of Bologna where we spent the day wandering around. We could not find a tourist information place to get a map, nor did we find any public toilets, (thank goodness for fast food restaurants) so we just wandered and wandered and wandered. Bologna is a very nice city, very red.
Yesterday afternoon, Aaron and I headed down to Florence along with Jane and Damian, who came along for the afternoon. After checking into our hotel, we then spent the afternoon wandering around the city for a few hours before saying goodbye to Jane and Damian when they caught the train back to Bologna.
Now it is Wednesday morning and we are catching up on our Internet stuff and accommodation before heading out to see the sights.
On our last day in Salzburg we caught a bus to a nearby town where we then caught a cable car up to the top of Untersberg mountain. The views of Salzburg and its surrounds were fantastic. I only walked around a little bit up there but Aaron walked up another part a bit higher up. Up on the mountain we met a nice Canadian couple who we talked to for awhile. After that, we looked around Salzburg's Alstadt again before walking up a hill in the centre of town that has a monastry of the Capuchin monks on it.
The next day we headed to Innsbruck where we stayed at the closest possible hotel to that station. We didn't even have to leave the station to get to the hotel as there was a lift that took us right on up to the hotel. Very convenient. We spent that afternoon wandering around Innsbruck where we saw the Golden Roof, or Golden Awning as Aaron believes it should be called and the River Inn. The next day we caught a tram to a nearby town called Igls where we caught another cable car up another mountain. This one is called PatcsherKofel and again it had spectacular views. This time we spent a couple of hours walking around on top before heading back down again. This time it was only the 2 of us in the cable car which was great. This area has held the Winter Olympics a couple of times and in the cable car we passed over a bob sled course. Aaron wanted to have a go at bob sledding but it is only open in summer and winter. What a bummer. We then had a very nice lunch in a hotel in Igls where I have never eaten so much spinach in my life. The main course was spinach dumplings covered in cheese and served with more spinach. They were very nice though. Arnold Schwarzenegger has eaten there, as well as other famous people we didn't recognise.
On Saturday we left Innsbruck (and Austria, where there are no kangaroos) and headed to Italy. After 5 and a half hours on the train we arrived in Bologna where we raced to another train only to find it wasn't going to leave for another 20 minutes due to a strike (but not by rail workers, according to the driver we spoke to). Eventually after going and stopping and going again we made it to CastellMaggiore (or something like that) where we were picked up by friends Jane, Alessandro and 18 month old Damian. Jane grew up in the same street as Aaron In Wavell Heights. It was nice to have a semi normal life for a few days. We spent a fairly quiet Sunday, doing washing, watching a dvd, playing with Damian, before we visited a nearby ye olde town called Dozza. That evening Alessandro introduced us to some local cuisine which was very nice.
On Monday morning, Aaron and I headed into the centre of Bologna where we spent the day wandering around. We could not find a tourist information place to get a map, nor did we find any public toilets, (thank goodness for fast food restaurants) so we just wandered and wandered and wandered. Bologna is a very nice city, very red.
Yesterday afternoon, Aaron and I headed down to Florence along with Jane and Damian, who came along for the afternoon. After checking into our hotel, we then spent the afternoon wandering around the city for a few hours before saying goodbye to Jane and Damian when they caught the train back to Bologna.
Now it is Wednesday morning and we are catching up on our Internet stuff and accommodation before heading out to see the sights.
