ROMA the eternal city

Attempting another post hopefully with pics, will see how we go.

 

Had 4 nights in Rome! what a fantastic city, frantic…hectic….noisy..Brilliant. We visited all the sites we missed last visit and doubled up on some favourites. Caste San Angelo and Panthenon are favourires I wanted to revisit. April 25th we went to an Anzac Parade at the commonwealth cemetary and saw Amanda Vanstone! Obviously Italian food agrees with her, I think she has put on a little weight..but dont tell anyone.

We have enjoyed all Italian food and Gelati, I have tried every Italian beer I can find and have not found one I dont like!..will attempt to post some photos of Rome.  Next stop is Naples. Will add to this when we have more to say & news of our visit to Pompeii & Mt Vesuvios.. Cheers all and keep those comments comming.

HAVING PICTURE PROBS AGAIN..WILL TRY TOMORROW

Comment acknowledgment

Hi Suellen & Jackie, many thanks for the comments!! (Is that ok?)  Loved hearing from you.

Leaving Switzerland

Hi all, finally got to a computer to add a little to the blog.

Left Switzerland and made our way to a small town in the Italian Northern lakes called Arona.  Had planned a lake cruise to see some of the Islands on the lake however the weather turned nasty and we were held hostage in the town eating pastries & gelatii!..Damn the rain!.

 

 

 

After 2 nights we left for the small village of Monteresso on the Medireanian coast. Spectacular!..5 villages all within a stones throw of each other built into the cliff face..Got some great pics to show you all when we return..More Gelati & pasteries…..

 

Left for Rome yesterday via Pisa. Had a couple of hours looking around, under,up & over the tower…was unsure if I would be impressed but was. Is a corny tourist trap but cant take away the presence of the tower itself & surrounding buildings..

 

Left Pisa at 3.00pm for a 3 hour train ride to Rome, got into Rome at about 7.30pm..A train ride from hell but thats another story.

Hope it wont be as long until the next update!..cheers until then.

Am also having trouble adding pics here..will try again tomorrow

Bern baby Bern

HI all, not sure if we will get pics loaded with this post, ancient computer. We had a couple of days in Bern Switzerland, a beautiful medievil city with lots of old buildings & churches that had lots and lots of steps to climb!!

City is on a river and has a bear pit nearby with 2 beautiful brown bears. Deb gave them a taste of apple, not sure how they liked it.

We then spent a couple of pleasant hours in a town called Brig, high up in the mountains, lots of snow to be seen on the higher peaks.  Crossed over into Italy this morning, border guards came on the train & checked everybody out, Deb was not frisked this time, and we are now in a town called Arona on Lake Magiorrie in northern Italy. Hope to go on a lake cruise tomorrow but the weather forecast is not looking good.

Keep the comments comming and will add to this soon. Cheers all

(Mandy, we have recieved both of your comments, great to hear from you)

Amsterdam & little windows

Still on the move and spent a couple of days in wonderful Amsterdam. Continuing on from our last post, we visited  Van Gogh museum, Risjmuseum, had a ride on a canal boat as well as perfected the use of Amsterdam Trams. Weather at night was very cool. Deb visited Ann Franks house & we walked all over town & took lots of photos as you will see when we return.  Window shopping takes on a whole new meaning here! wasnt game to take photos though

We left Amsterdam and took the night train to Zurich. Quite an experience..didnt sleep very well but they looked after us. Deb had trouble when the train took steep curves! ended up curled up in one end of her bunk. Had a walk around Zurich`s old town, Beautiful buildings & squeaky clean.

We are now in Bern, Capitol of Switzerland & will let you in on all it`s secrets next post.

Cheers & catch you soon.

Oh.. thanks Shannon, we got both your messages .

Lille & Lost in Belgium

Thanks for all the comments!

Great to hear from you all.

OK, an update on the journey so far, told you all the Paris stuff & next is Lille, a very busy spot. Arrived sunday mid-morning & overheard someone mentioning the local markets were on! so thought we may take a look! big mistake!! My god you should have seen the people, as thick as flies on a Hamey Dog bone!. We managed to shuffle through for a while, but all too much, Deb remembered she dont like crowds & almost had my backpack picked in the crush!   Rest of the day we spent wandering through the old town, tried a French dessert you would not believe!   Next day (Monday) hired a car and went to Belgium to visit Deb’s G.G. Uncles war grave. Very sad moving place. It was so bitterly cold. Also spent a couple of hours driving around Belgium, visited Ypres, Tyne Cot cemetary & Passendale, some town we went through 3 times trying to find France again! Finally got back to Lille & you guessed it! Lost again!   WE are in Amsterdam at the moment, having a great time. Trains are wonderful.  Amsterdam is reasonably free of scooters comming at you from the wrong dirrection, but they have been replaced by thousands of bicycles!!  and freezing!!

Would love to hear from you boys!!  will add some more from Switzerland! cheers & here are a couple of pics!

Paris

Our last full day in Paris & I have a keyboard with confusing letters to contend with!

They all seem to be in the wrong location. Just had to walk a zillon miles to find a computer. Anyway, we have covered most of what we had planned, went to the very top of the eiffel Tower, went to Versilles, tried to visit the Catecombes but they were closed, stumbled upon a demonstration complete with riot police! (was a treat), visited the Pantheon, walked & walked! Phew!!  Went to Moulon Rouge! Great show!

Tomorrow we leave for Lille in Northern France & will attempt to add a more coherent entry from there.

Dont forget to add your comments, we look foward to them & click on any pictures we post to get the full size. Hope there is not too many sore heads from Mandys party;

cheers from Debbie & Mike

No Turning Back

Thats it!.

Picked up all our tickets today and almost needed a small mini-van to transport all the documents home. There are 15 different rail bookings involved as well as insurance, Air travel and tour documentation. This does not take into account accommodation and day tours which have been organised online. Oh well, I have had nothing else to do for the past few months.

Last shift at work tonight as well as last shave for approx 10 weeks!