Final Week In London

Back in London, Claire’s passport was again detained (we are used to this by now) and we finally got to our hostel at midnight. It was a nice little place down from Victoria station and on the bottom it was a pub and on top a hostel. The only worrying thing was the bunks which were 3 high and wobbled scarily if you were at the top and there was too much movement, other than that it was a lovely little place.

On our first day back we got up to go and see the changing of the guards which after 6 months we still hadn’t seen. We wandered around St James’ park for a while beforehand looking for squirrels which we found disappointingly few of. When we made it back to the palace it was FULL of people waiting to see the changing and this meant that we only got a spot at what I supposed were the barracks of the guards. We watched the band play some ‘fun’ songs like the Rocky theme before getting into the main event and their marching songs. An Irish wolfhound led the procession through the gates and we watched them disappear into the crowds.

We made our way up to Piccadilly Circus and Regent St for a peek at the end of financial year sales and found ourselves in Carnaby Place which was full of cute and quirky little stores. My next interest was to find out how the Harry Potter red carpet would be working the next day. I had been told it would be in Leicester square so we headed that way and found construction work and not a lot else, we guessed that they hadn’t started setting up yet and we would come back tomorrow.

On to Harrods next and Claire picked herself out a bag and we proceeded to get lost in the huge, expensive maze that is Harrods. When you see ‘Bargain’ racks for 300 pounds and under, you know you are in the wrong place. After looking at all the expensive things I was tired and ready to go home, however whilst on the tube I picked up a paper which had pictures of Trafalgar Square crowded with people setting up for the Harry Potter premier, so we made a detour to Trafalgar Square to check it out. On arrival we found a security officer who was being mobbed as he was handing out wristbands which would allow people into the restricted viewing area. Claire and I snapped up a pair of them, plus some extras for Shannon and Ben, and went to have a look around. On seeing all these people in various states of dress-up, playing HP celebrity heads or reading the books Claire looked at me and said ‘you want to sleep the night don’t you’. I did.

We went back to the hostel to shower and pack a bag and then hurried back. It took us some time to find a sleeping spot as it was quite crowded, but eventually we found a space just big enough for two little girls. That night we ate baked beans on bread (cold) watched people set up the stage and banners and red carpet, in fact they worked all through the night. We chatted to people around us although I had previously mentioned to Claire (who hasn’t read any of the books) that she wasn’t to say anything as she would only embarrass me. This meant that questions such as ‘why does that girl have a lion on her head?’ or ‘why is there so much red and gold?’ were conveyed to me in a whisper. We were told that rain wasn’t expected until 4am which was nice. Our sleeping arrangements were thus, One sleeping bag with both our legs in it, zipped up to our knees, this was then all inside a large garbage bag which was pulled up to our waists. The open bit of the bag was over the top of us whilst we lay on some cardboard we found then our bodies were inside a poncho, each of us had an armhole for our heads, which was then tucked into the garbage bag. We used our bag as a pillow although at one point during the night that got uncomfortable for Claire and she chose to use our loaf of bread instead. There was spooning to the max as it was cold, but with my five layers of clothing and Claire, I stayed warm.

At 4.30am we were woken by a rush of people, I don’t know who they were or where they came from but they were making a break for the front, over the top of us. We jumped up and they swept us along, but it there wasn’t far to go before it was so crowded with people that we couldn’t go any further. So that is where we stood for the next 12 hours. It started raining at about 11, a torrential downpour, the likes of which we hadn’t seen in England before and we stood in our rain coats and under other people’s umbrellas whilst it rained on us for the next four hours. We were wet through, neither of us had any shoes other than thongs, so our socks got soaked, and then Claire’s thongs broke and she stood there with only tights on her feet. The ground became a mixture of puddles, newspaper mush, food and strangers bags that had been left behind during a rush.

Then the sun came out, things began to dry, and the celebrities began arriving. Rupert Grint was the first to come and the crowd went wild, even though he looked kind of silly with his foppish haircut but what can you do? They would arrive and on the big screen we all watched them sign autographs and have their various photos taken for the magazines. Then they came up onto this huge stage in front of the screen at the base of Nelson’s column. There they were interviewed before walking the carpet all the way up the steps to the National Art Gallery where more people were waiting to interview them. Claire and I had a good view of the screen, stage and steps but no view of the red carpet in front of us so did not manage to score any autographs or kisses L however it was still amazing. They played some clips and trailers from the movie and there were just so many characters there! I can think of only five who we didn’t see, the Dursleys (not in the last movie anyway) McGonagall and Sirius. Everyone else was there, down to minor characters like Filch and Lavender. Emma Watson got the biggest cheer I think, but when Daniel Radcliff came second to last and was joined on the stage by JK, well I think all you fans out there understand that it was an important moment. There were tears in the crowd; there were almost tears up on the stage! At about 7pm it all finished and the cast went off to the theatre to watch the film and we made our way back to the hostel and collapsed into bed. I just want to say that when I was a kid I entered so many competitions to win tickets to premiers in England, who knew I would get there for the big one?

The next day we deserved the quiet day we gave ourselves. Washing cloths and getting sorted out before going off to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, 15. We also went with Claire’s friend Bec from Australia. 15 is in an odd area I think. It’s north London which is a little out of the way and was a bit of a rundown area. Not excessively so, but it is not very flash or expensive. In a side alley are Jamie Oliver’s two restaurants, the Trattoria is at street level and 15 is in the basement. We had delicious drinks at the bar before taking our seats and ordering. Bec and I went for different pastas whilst Claire took the recommended fish. They came out looking amazing and we weren’t too embarrassed to get out our cameras and take pictures! For dessert I had a chocolate tart with Guava sorbet, Claire had seared peaches with almonds and Bec had white chocolate mousse with raspberry sorbet. Delicious!

On the 9^th we had a day planned out, we needed to go to Primark to get new shoes for Claire to start with. London’s major Primark is on Oxford St and is crazy. It’s basically Target, but cheaper. Claire and I had previously bought dresses and jackets here for 1 and 2 pounds respectively and this time scored 1 pound shoes amongst other bargains. We came out only slightly poorer and headed off to Camden Markets. This area had some bargain clothes stores but not as cheap as Primark so we weren’t that impressed and moved on to the vintage shops, checking out the punk/goth ones along the way. We followed directions to a new Banksy (graffiti artist) that had turned up and then made our way home to get ready for the night, which this time involved Les Miserables!

Wearing our new clothes we went into Piccadilly Circus and the theatre. We had the cheap seats right at the back of the theatre but once the show began we forgot all about that. It had me on the edge of my seat and holding my breath as well as sending shivers up my back and bringing me to tears. It also made us laugh so it really had it all! A fantastic night that had us coming out grinning and discussing it all the way home.

The next day we had to shift hostels (as it is peak season in London it was impossible to find just one place to stay for the whole time). Our new place was fantastically placed right on Piccadilly Circus but was not as personal as it had seven levels of hostel! We checked in and got straight out to Brick Lane Markets. It was an eclectic mix of garage sale type stalls and basement vintage warehouses with a large amount of exotic cuisines mixed in. We had some Asian dishes for dinner and resisted buying anything after the purchases of the day before. I had gotten sick after the whole standing in the rain for four hours thing and was slowly wilting through the day and so we made it an early night at our hostel.

On our second last day we bought some pastries and coffee from Tesco and walked down to St James park where we fed some squirrels and enjoyed our breakfast in the sun. We then strolled to Trafalgar Square and found a movie being filmed in the centre of it. Called ‘Street Dance 2’ there was a large stage set up with guys break dancing on it. The square was not shut to the public so there were just extras spread amongst the crowd to make it look like we were having a good time. We got into a few of the shots before going up to the National Portrait Gallery. There we mostly spent our time in a wing with recent contestants of the BP Portrait Award which were, of course, very good. We were then supposed to meet another of Claire’s friends who was getting in from New York that morning. We waited for her in the square getting in some more of the movie shots before finding out her plane had been delayed four hours but she would be there soon, so we got lunch at the pub before meeting her at Piccadilly Circus. All together we went out to Greenwich which Claire had been keen to see. The museum was closed by the time we got there but she still got to see the time line she had wanted to. From there we made our way further east to the Olympic Park. Although it is still under construction it is showing many similarities to Homebush. We could see the main arena and the aquatic centre from the viewing site we were on and an education board told us what we were looking at.

We went back in for dinner and met with Bec again and took her to Tesco to grab some dinner to eat in St James park (I really like the park) which was a most relaxing way to do it.

Our last day was the most stressful we have had in a long time! Claire’s mum had offered to pay for us to stay in a fancy hotel for our last night so we went to check in. Two hours, a train and a bus and several phone calls later we found it. We checked in and ran straight back out the door as we had to pick up our big suitcases from Hatfield. The original plan had been to have a leisurely day in St Albans doing some last sightseeing but we didn’t have the time so we just ducked in and out of Uni. It was like a ghost town, we walked past Telford court, both of us looking up to John’s window at the same time but of course he wasn’t there.

Our bags are not light and the stations we took them to were not disabled friendly and so we carried our bags up and down the stairs. I’ll say it once here then never again. I have one bag and Claire has two, a big and a little. This means that she has to leave one at the top of the stairs whilst she carries the other down then go back for a return trip. Except that at every station there is a lovely man who wants to carry her big suitcase for her. This meant that she never once carried her big bag up or down stairs. I got given help twice but other than that I worked my muscles carried the bag. On the other hand her two bags are more of a pain to wheel so I suppose it’s all give and take.

Back at the hotel we were again only there for as long as it took to change into something warmer as we were going out again. We had tickets booked for the Globe Theatre to watch Dr Faustus. We were 15 minutes late and I was so worried that they wouldn’t let us in, but they did and the fantastic players soon made me forget my stressful day. The story is about a man (Dr Faustus) who sold his soul to the devil in return for a demon who would serve him for 24 years. We were in the standing space (5 pound tickets!) but I didn’t even notice that I was on my feet for the whole time because the play had me so entranced. Claire was blown away by it as well and we both came out much happier than when we came in, which I think is a great quality for any entertainment!

Back at the hotel we extended out check out time so that maybe tomorrow we could enjoy the hotel.

And we did. There was a spectacular breakfast before heading off to the spa to try out the thermal pool, steam room, sauna and ‘tropical rainforest’ shower. Very relaxing and we haven’t been so clean in ages! Back in our room we packed our bags and checked out at 2pm. More bag lugging to Heathrow, although the Heathrow station is more accommodation for bags. At the check in my bag was 6kg over the limit and Claire’s was 20kg over.  (That’s Double what she was allowed!) The man told us how expensive it would be to send them home (very) and then after looking at our anxious faces said, ‘its alright’ and just put them through. The benefits of being two little girls (earlier in the day the spa lady had thought we were 16).

Our first flight was just an hour to Germany with a quick transfer to a 10 ½ hour flight to Bangkok. We had a 4 hour stop over there and then 9 hours to Sydney and we landed at 6.30 on Friday morning. Our families met us there (guess who’s were late) and we all went to brunch together on the beach. I think the most descriptive I can say about that day is that by Saturday I had almost lost my voice.

It’s lovely to be home and I have already caught up with several people. There are lots of things that need organising that are currently keeping me distracted from actually being at home so I will give that a bit to set in. Internationals will be glad to hear that Claire and I are already going to be seeing each other after only 2 days apart so you don’t need to worry about your little married couple, we aren’t separating for good.

Thank you to everybody that has been reading our blog! It has been great fun to keep in touch with people this way and a source of entertainment for both of us, as well as improving our journalism skills!

This is a final ending of our travels, for now.

Love Gemma & Claire

Lyon France

The first thing we noticed in Lyon was its modern-ness and how it was so disabled friendly. There were a much higher percentage of wheelchairs than is usually in one city. A wheelchair could get off the train, cross the tracks; go through the station and shops, over to the tram track and onto the tram without any help, without any lifts and using all the same routes as everyone else.  I found it quite amazing and it gave the whole city quite a sculptured feel.

The city is kind of like Paris as it is set on a river, the Rhone, which flows wide and splits and joins again to create an island in the centre of the city. It is on this island that we were staying. Our hotel was basic but nice, we were basically happy to have a bath to enjoy! In general we spent our time sleeping in, eating out, watching movies and shopping at the end of financial year sales. We were so tired that the fact that there wasn’t all that much to do in Lyon turned out to our favour and we just relaxed.

We did climb the hill on the side of the city one day. It rose up steeply as soon as you crossed the river off the island and was crowned by a large church. It took us some time to find our way up to it but when we did the view was magnificent. The highlight for me was being able to see Mount Blanc in the distance. We stayed for several hours at the top of the hill admiring the church and view and discussing things religious.

One night, at a Chinese restaurant Claire ordered the frog’s legs in some kind of marinade. They came out like tiny little chicken drumsticks in a pile and we shared the plate. They tasted just like a delicious marinated chicken drumstick! On another occasion we purchased delicate little macaroons, which melted in our mouths.

On leaving Lyon we laughed at the airport terminal which was effectively a large marquee but we soon found out it had the tightest of any of the European cities we had been to. They picked up things when scanning our bags that no other place had and took the time to really assess our passports, another rarity.

Prague

Prague, a city close to the heart of Mozart, home to ‘good king Wenceslas’ (from the Christmas carol), and  well known for their beer (seriously you can order one for breakfast, at McDonalds, or get one as takeaway on your way to the castle).

My first impressions of Prague were that it was a quaint city. The old architecture mixed in amongst the new. Clean and quiet yet filled with bustling streets, welcoming store fronts and entertaining street performers. Unfortunately for us, we had gotten very used to the Italian language; we regrettably confess our efforts of learning Czech were poor.

Following a slow afternoon we set out in the evening to cross the Charles Bridge. The statues were not as well lit as we had hoped but we could still see them well enough and with the Prague info book we’d borrowed from the hostel’s book exchange we were able to name each of them; making the stroll across the bridge not only beautiful, but educational. We like learning :).  From the bridge you could also see the Prague Castle marvellously lit up on the hill and the experience was enhanced by buskers playing at various points along the walk. This reinforced the quaint or enchanted feel of Prague city.

The following day, our first full day in Prague we had signed up for the free walking tour. These tours are always good fun, they teach you about this history of the city, point out little details that you would normally not notice and give tips on other great places to go in the city; and it’s all for free! This tour took us through the Old Town followed by the New Town and finally the Jewish Ghetto. The guide pointed out iconic buildings like the astrological clock which had a few very interesting stories attached to it; symbolic monuments like the metronome on the hill which represents moving forward from communism; and explained much of the country’s history. We didn’t realise how much we didn’t know about the Czechs and how much they had been though especially in regard to Nazi Germany, communist occupation and their reasonably new democracy.

We enjoyed that tour so much we signed straight up for The Prague Castle tour that afternoon with the same lady. Not free but we felt it was worth it. The castle tour took us around the castle area, again highlighting other historical buildings or monuments of importance. We arrived at the Prague Castle just in time for the changing of the guard. We were fascinated by the guards wearing aviators, agreeing this is defiantly something the guards at Buckingham palace should incorporate into their uniform.  Gemma felt the need to stand there and have a conversation with the guard, tell him how much she was enjoying his city and detail her life story (or just about) about why she was in Europe and in particular Prague. She resisted from actually doing so, but opted for practicing her one sided conversation on me. Inside the castle walls is a Cathedral, it is taller than the castle it’s self and has a gothic appearance, and from a far (or at least the Charles Bridge) it is assumed that the towers of the cathedral is in fact the castle not a structure within it.  Unfortunately, you are unable to see the actual crown jewels when visiting the castle (and we like crown Jewels), as they are locked up behind golden mosaics and a door with seven locks, each with a different person possessing the key. Again the story of the old security encouraged the fairy tale image of the city.

Before returning home we admired the immaculate view from an old vineyard by the castle, detoured via the Lennon peace wall (where we saw our 8^th Bride of the day – everyone in Prague seem to be getting married) and had traditional Czech cuisine for dinner. Gem had the Goulash and I had... well I don’t know what I had. I’ve enjoyed attempting to read the foreign description and se-le-ve-ing it. They were definitely hearty meals; Gem has described them as something she would expect at a medieval banquet.

We spent much of the next day revisiting the Jewish Ghetto (I enjoy that it’s called a ghetto because it makes it sound like its rough and gang infested, when it’s mostly it has many up market designer stores, synagogues or touristy stores.) Our ticket allowed us to visit each synagogue in the area including the Jewish cemetery. 

A few details about the Ghetto:  this was an area that before the Nazi occupation the Jewish community within Prague were forced into and walled off from the rest of the city. A change came about at the end of the 1800’s when it was decided that if people inside were rich enough then they could move out. Most of them were and this dirty part of the city instead filled up with criminals and the poor. At the start of the 1900’s the Prague government decided to knock down the whole area (except for the synagogues) and rebuild it into the up market area that it is now. Our guide had informed us that Hitler apparently had a liking for Prague and had requested that it not be damaged during the war. Apparently Hitler had also requested that the Jewish ghetto not yet be touched as he had plans to use it after the war as a museum of the extinct race.  It really enforces how sadistic this man was especially when you’re walking around the area. Fortunately, because of this wish Prague was able to keep the city intact and the ghetto still contains much of the Jewish history and for that reason The Old New Synagogue in Prague is the Oldest Synagogue in Europe. The Pinkus Synagogue contained every name of every Jewish person in the Czech Republic killed during this time, as well as children’s drawing retrieved from a concentration camp. It was sobering to see each name individually scripted on the walls with a date as well as to view the children’s art work which portrayed fear yet hope that the struggle would soon be over.  I noticed that several had been titled Ester, after the bible story (I would assume) and again was sobering to read the child’s name, and see their photo by their art work with a date of death.

A story that particularly captured Gemma’s imagination was that of the Golum. He was apparently made out of clay from the banks of the river and fashioned into the form of a man by a rabbi who was concerned for the safety of his people. He brought the Golum to life and apparently he still lives in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue keeping guard. Another reason why the Jewish Ghetto survived the war. We spent the whole day with our eye out for the famous Golum, he didn’t come out.

To continue with traditional activities we ate lunch in the old town square, eating food from a market stall; a hearty meals again unsure the exact ingredients. I recall one moment when Gemma finished her mouthful saying “well that wasn’t a potato” in a surprised tone.  We also took on the challenge of consuming Absinthe; of course the proper way. Because our resources were limited we weren’t able to use a shot glass and a teaspoon instead we had a regular glass and a soup spoon. First with the sugar, lighting it until it caramelised before dropping it into the glass and downing it.  We had Irish roommates which enjoyed watching us attempt this and took the pleasure of taking our photos for our evidence. Unfortunately, chugging in general is not a skill of mine, so doing it with Absinthe is not in the slightest easy, so I needed to do it in two parts, succeeding in the end (Don’t ever break up horrible things in to two parts... be wise and get it over with in one go!).

Naturally, following our Absinthe episode we decided it  would be a good idea to use the remainder of our final night in Prague to find the Lovers bridge – another bridge covered head to toe in padlocks signifying everlasting love(it seems this is big in Europe); revisit the Lennon wall; and hunt for the narrowest lane in Prague. We found it! It was maybe about half a meter wide and had traffic lights at either end, as to help prevent getting stuck in the middle with two people going opposite directions.

We had originally booked Prague mostly because there were limited airports we could get to from Milan but when telling people that is where we were headed, no one could say a bad thing about it. After our short stay in the city we completely agree with all of them. Prague is fantastic we would have loved to stay longer, and would also recommend it to anyone.

Italy

In Italy, they love women. Especially women with red hair (Claire has now dyed hers to match mine, yes!) and blue eyes. I was greeted with ‘Ciao Ginger!’ a cat-call I couldn’t help but laugh at. On another occasion a man called after us telling us what beautiful fox eyes we had. That one kind of confused us; do foxes really have blue eyes? An old lady on a train also told us that we had “Bella azure occhi” (beautiful blue eyes). We have never felt so watched and it is hard to know whether to call it ‘oggling’ or ‘appreciating’, it depends on how you feel about it I guess.

This time in Italy we landed in Bari on the south east coast and caught a train straight to the west coast to Sorrento. It is an hour north of Naples so we also got to glimpse the city we had been warned against going to. We didn’t get to see a lot of Sorrento other than the train station and our campsite as we got in late and left early each morning.

On our only full day there we went to Pompeii which is only a few train stops down the line and unfortunately we disappointed ourselves there. As Claire put it ‘This is the worst thing we have ever done!’ That isn’t an attack against the amazing ruins and history of Pompeii, it is an attack at ourselves after entering the site and realising that we knew practically nothing about what we were looking at. We should have booked a guide, rented an audio guide, bought a book or something! As it was we wandered guessing at what we were looking at but not really knowing, and there weren’t any maps and it is a very complicated area so we only stumbled across some exciting things by accident. Those exciting things were fossilised bodies stored amongst jugs and bricks curled into positions that told stories in themselves. Mosaics we found plenty of and murals. There were ‘posters’ on walls and right at the end we found a brothel.

After the ruin site we went up Mount Vesuvius. It was a lot further away than I had guessed it would be and it provided a view all the way to Naples (if there were no clouds). It was a steep walk up and the volcano was amazing. Huge and commanding, I can’t even describe the size of the crater, suffice it to say I think a fair chunk of Sydney city could fit inside it (after further research I have found out it has a diameter of 700m and a circumference of 12km). We spent a bit of time walking around and taking pictures, however we hadn’t realised just how much time until we came down and we had missed the last bus back. Oops. We weren’t stuck for much longer than an hour though when an old couple that we flagged down gave us a lift back to the station, and thank goodness because it was a long drive never mind walk!

We left Sorrento the next day for a very long train trip up to Cinque Terre. On the train ride we tested our Italian with the other people sitting in our compartments, one young guy and two old women who spoke no English. We ‘Chatted’ for over an hour, establishing where we had been and were going, what we were doing in Cinque Terre, how old we were, what we studied and anything else that I knew the words for! I possibly doubled my Italian in this train ride, then they said goodbye to us at Pisa and we continued on to Cinque Terre. We had been recommended this spot by a few people and so had taken heed and booked ourselves into a hostel for a few nights. Cinque Terre is a national park right up on the North West coast, almost touching France. It is only 9km long and is dotted with 5 little towns built into the rocks between the forest and the sea. It is an extremely fertile area from the forests on top of the mountains to the grape vines, orchards and vegetable patches which take over most of the mountain side even down into the sea which has beautiful reefs and fish life. Most people go to walk one of its many trails which wind from town to town and up and down the mountains.

On our walking day we got up early, put on our walking shoes (thongs) and set off. The first part tricked us into thinking it would be easy, it was coastal, paved and flat and named the lovers walk, covered in the locked padlocks that are so popular over here for symbolising everlasting love. After that we found a gate closed against us. We later found out that there had been a landslide 2 weeks ago and you were supposed to take a train to the next station, but not knowing that we just chose another path and kept walking.

It turns out that that this was one of the mountain paths and took us on what I think was one of the best experiences of my life. Imagine a gruelling climb, following paths you are only guessing exist because all the grasses and flowers along the way have grown over them. It is steep, climbing rocky sides of the mountain at times. I ended up with cuts on my foot from falling and both of us still have scratches up and down our legs from the blackberry bushes, cactuses and other un-named thorny plants that crept onto the path. It is HOT, we were sweating like we haven’t sweated before, even in the forest it was still hot. But the thing is, the landscape made us not even think about all these things other than to note them and accept them. We stopped at one point on top of a hill, a very high hill that swept down to the sea. The hillside in front of us had all sorts of tomatoes, cabbages, pumpkins, grape vines and herbs planted in small plots with tiny tracks between them for the villagers to get to each of them. We were picking and eating the cherries from the tree we were underneath, sitting amongst the wildflowers which were blue, purple, yellow and red around us. Butterflies were fluttering in them and behind us the mountain kept going up, changing to a thick forest of pine trees. In these settings we hardly noticed our scratches and sweat patches. It was amazing. We walked up and down the mountains for 4 hours without seeing anyone, enjoying our own intense conversations and singing until we came to the 4^th town (we had skipped the 3^rd one) where we stopped for lunch. After we decided we would stick to the main coastal path to the last town. It turns out this path is the one that everyone takes and it was very crowded, still beautiful but we missed our mountain solitude. In the final town there was a beach which we embraced eagerly, not having the energy to tread water we floated, holding hands so as not to lose each other. Very relaxing. We took the train back to our starting town and chilled down at the port as the sun went down. All in all we walked for 7 hours and covered (we estimate) 15km. Cinque Terre could not rate more highly in my books, it was really the best thing we have done.

The next day was slow thank goodness (we were SORE). We took the train to Pisa to stay one night. People had told us that there was nothing worth staying in Pisa for and Lonely Planet said the same but we had booked ourselves in and we needed the slow time anyway. We got to see the tower, get our hair cut and dyed and cook a fantastic dinner so it didn’t feel like a wasted day as others had described it.

The next stop was Florence, we stayed in a campsite on the hill just outside the city. Our first mistake was walking there from the train station. The 2 hours of walking through the town and up the hill in the heat of the middle of the day with our bags was more painful than Cinque Terre! We were sharing our three bed tent with Harry from England who we found out had a penchant for getting in at 4 in the morning and then sleeping though his alarm whilst it continued to go off for the next hour. But he seemed cool whenever we did get to see him.

On our first full day we went and lined up to see the David. We lined up for 3 hours but kept our chin up about it (unlike some other people around us) and when we got in we appreciated the artworks all the more for it. Claire’s opinion of David was that he looked like he would at any moment just turn his head and step off the platform. That day was San Giovanni’s day (say it out loud, it’s fun!) he is the patron saint of Florence and down at the river they were having rowing races under the Ponte Vechio which we watched for awhile. That night from our campsite we had a perfect view of the fireworks that went off on Piazza Michelangelo to celebrate the day; they went for an hour and were really spectacular.

The next day we went to the Duomo, the large church in the centre of the city. It turns out the outside is more spectacular than the inside but we did find the museum with the original foundations of the church as well as a Medici grave. We have become rather interested in the Medici’s, we felt like we were chasing them over Italy and it was with great pleasure that we found one of their graves (we think... there were no signs...). We did a lot of shopping that day, traversing all over the city in search of souvenirs and shoes, no luck on the shoe front, I still only own thongs. In the afternoon we found a soccer match to watch, quite similar to the one in Amsterdam, but with less good looking guys so our attention wasn’t held for quite as long.

On our last day we went to the Galileo museum in the morning where we got to see cool things like astrological clocks and Galileo’s fingers in a jar. We then went to the church of Santa Croce which we had been turned away from the day before for not having appropriate clothing but now we got to see the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo and Dante which was amazing.

On a side note I will mention the food of Italy. We did not have a very varied diet. For the most part we ate Margarita pizzas or spaghetti if we ate out. We ate ice-cream every day and often for lunch we bought a jar of pesto and some bread to spread it on and had a picnic, delicious though all this was we weren’t really getting many nutrients from it now I think about it.

We got to our Venice campsite early that night. It is on the mainland opposite the islands and is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Its main attraction is that from outside the front door you can get a ferry which will get you to Venice in 20mins. It was good experience to have and convenient but expensive. Once in Venice our first aim was to get to St Marco’s square. I had been to Venice once before but had got so lost in its winding walkways that I had never found the famous square so it was my first priority now. It wasn’t that hard from the ferry stop and we had some fun with the pigeons feeding them corn we bought from the nice man. The rest of the day was spent walking and getting lost. We don’t know where we went and when we needed to get back to the ferry we had a hard time trying to find it. Venice may be cute and romantic and evoke beautiful pictures of masked days gone by but by and large it is just overly touristy. Many places are crowded and it is very difficult to find your way around, maybe it was just me but I was slightly put out by Venice. The next day we wanted to go out to the smaller islands known for their lace and glass making. However after spending over an hour at the post office we realised that we really didn’t have time. Our trip to Milan that day was long. We left Venice at 2.30 and didn’t get into the airport until midnight. There we camped out on the floor and had a pretty good night’s sleep, it was even better than at Stansted!  Our flight then was to Prague and it was sad to say goodbye to Italy. I may have called out ‘Ciao Bella’ as we left.

Greece

Oia

Donkey ride on my Birthday

On the boat on my Birthday

The hot springs

The volcano walk

Our room in Oia

Snorkling!

Claire doing some washing up on the roof

Down at Oia's port

Oia

The port by night

Oia

Ben lining up to jump

Our picnicing island

Our hostel/hotel/house

At Perissa's black beach

Anni and Ben at the beach

Writing postcards

On our way to the dive sites (the hat is my B'day present from Claire!)

Off for their first dive

After their first dive, obviouly wasnt too bad!

Getting helped out of her gear

Hitting the road on our bike

Heading for the sunset

I'm only giving you one sunset of the many that were taken

Sunning it up!

Ice tea ftw!

Or a coctail will do...

In Athens

The remains of the riots

Various Acropolis pictures

Photos of Rome

Wet in the forum

The fountain of the four rivers

Fountain of the four rivers

Getting a real feel for the forum

The Colosseum

The Trevi Fountain

Inside the Pantheon

The Pantheon

Castel del Angelo

Crossing borders at the Vatican

Crossing borders

The Pope

Swiss guards

The altar at St Peters

Burning torches at St Peters

Going into the Vatican

Greece

Greece was my choice; it was the first place we really settled on for the trip. More specifically than Greece it was Santorini that I really wanted to go to. A little background for those of you who don’t know, when I came to Europe on a class trip in 2008 we went to Santorini for about 4 days, I don’t really remember because I had a case of tonsillitis so bad that I couldn’t swallow my own saliva and on top of that some kind of stomach bug. I barely left my bed and didn’t get to experience anything of the island. Hearing everything that my classmates did made me intensely jealous and I vowed to go back.

Then the choice came up of where to be for my birthday and I immediately said Santorini.

Getting there wasn’t so easy, remind me again why we chose to fly ryanair everywhere? It seemed smart and cost effective at the time... But when they only fly into Volos (it was a cheap flight!) and from there to Athens is a 4 hour, 27 euro bus trip and then you still have to get to the port from the bus station.... well it begins to look like a less smart option. We are learning.

After a few more hiccups and an 8 hour boat trip we were there. I knew I wanted to be in Oia (Pronounced Eea) and when we got out of the bus in the town there was one little old woman trying to collect occupants for her hotel/hostel/house. She won our hearts with juice and cake and gorgeous little rooms all whitewashed with untreated wood floors and flower wreaths on the doors. Her roof terrace had an unobstructed and tourist free view of the sunset and the breakfast every morning of cake, toast and tea was perfect. It is called Marco’s Rooms if anybody is heading that way.

Ben, Shannon and Anni joined us the next day. For the record, these meet ups were not arranged in advance, we just happen to be in the same city at the same time and so might as well stay together! 

Some of the experiences we had in Oia:

Climbing the 200+ stairs down to Oia’s port, sometimes twice a day, dodging the donkeys and making sure not to slip on the smooth marble steps. At the base we followed the path around to the left, over the fallen rocks and found a little island not very far off the point with an even smaller church set into the side of it. We swam and snorkelled there often and one day swam with Anni and Ben over to the island with blankets, olives, bread and nuts held over our heads so we could have a picnic there. We stayed for hours watching others swim, ringing the church bell and working up the courage to jump off the rocky outcrop into the turquoise sea.

We also found the nearby ‘sandy’ beach. We were told it was sandy but standing in the waves we thought we were getting stoned to death. We watched the sunset from that beach, as well as from our rooftop eating olives and cheese and drinking retsina, we watched it from a rocky outcrop we found which also overlooked the town as it lit up, trickling over the edge of the mountain  like a light filled waterfall (see Niagara Falls). We watched it from the shell of a house whilst playing interior designer and creating our own masterpieces of architecture, as well as on a boat and from a restaurant labelled ‘unique sunset’. All in all we had our fill of sunsets, no sunrises though.

On my birthday I was woken by Claire jumping on me and we went and had breakfast with the others. My twin Jasmine and brother Daniel had booked us into a tour for the day so we caught a bus to the port where we boarded a green and white sail boat named ‘Adonis’.

We started off at the volcano in the centre of Santorini. A little history to start with; Santorini consists of several Islands, first of all there is the main one shaped as a huge sweeping crescent, in between the two points is a small island with a village on it, these two islands create a ring with two entry points. Inside the Caldera there are two more smaller islands, both old volcanos. Originally the Island had been one large volcano which when it exploded sunk in the centre. Over thousands of years the centre has risen again and will slowly rise until there is only one large island again. It was on this centre volcano that we stopped for a walk. There was no vegetation on the island, just black rocks that sent heat waves up from the ground. I don’t know the temperature but it was HOT. Possibly the hottest birthday I will ever have.

We were a little dubious therefore that the next stop was at the hot springs, we felt like a swim but not a hot one. We were surprised that the spring was in a cove of the other small island in the centre. Our boat stopped and we jumped off into the cool blue waters and swam towards the warm muddy ones. In the cove it was shallow and we picked smooth mud off the ground and rubbed it on our arms and eventually on each other’s faces. Being 21 is awesome.

Back on the boat on our way to the last island, the one connecting the crescent points, I was sunbaking on the front when there were calls from the other passengers and we looked over the side to see dolphins! Real live dolphins! I’ve never seen dolphins before so was quite excited by this but they did not stay with us long and we were soon at the island where we stopped for lunch. Claire and I had Gyros (of course) and tropical slushies, a perfect birthday lunch. We then found donkeys to take us up the mountain. It was like a derby, with the owner behind them yelling (in a very abusive tone) and their bells all jingling in their haste to get away from him and all at an angle of about 45°. At the top we admired the view and then turned around and descended again as our boat was leaving. This last trip took us back to the port and a bus took us back to Oia where we were to shop and watch the sunset, Claire and I went back to our house to shower and meet Ben and Anni for our own sunset and dinner. That night, back at the lookout Claire surprised me with a collection of well wishes she had collected from friends in the past few weeks which was truly touching.

After five nights in Oia we said goodbye to our host, she asked to kiss each of us and Ben said there were tears in her eyes, she had been very touched when for her birthday (the 9^th) we had bought her cake from the local bakery and she was really a lovely lady. Our next destination was Perissa on the south eastern side of the island. Here rooms were much cheaper and they had a much younger population, they also had an almost sandy (black) beach. Here we basically just relaxed. On the day before the others left we found a scuba diving group and booked ourselves in. It was a first dive for Ben, Anni and Claire and I was so excited to help introduce them to it! We went on two different dives, both to boat wrecks. Both fishing boats were in the shadows of the volcanic islands and had sunk over 50 years ago. There was no coral in the area and very little fish life, but the wrecks were cool and as a licensed diver I was allowed to go inside them. Our group was large and really friendly so all in all it was a great day ending in one of the roughest, but most fun, boat rides I have been on.

Ben, Shannon and Anni left the next day but Claire and I stayed in this new hostel for the rest of our nights. We made friends with an Australian girl and a Mexican guy and one day rented a quad bike. We rode to the red beach, the capital Thira, Kamari beach and then out for dinner and then the next day took it for another little spin along the beach before we had to hand it back. Other than that we just beached, read our books, ate from the 24 hr bakery EVERY DAY, one day we even had breakfast, lunch and dessert there. It was so good and cheap and the guy got to know us. He was a big hairy Greek man with his singlet pulled down to show off his chest hair and his apron tucked under his moobs and he wore washing up gloves for serving. On our last day when we were buying breakfast, lunch and snacks from the boat he came out from behind the counter to shake our hands and say goodbye. What a guy.

Our last few days have been in transit, but you know what they say about the journey and not the destination mattering! It turned out that I had booked the wrong ferry back and we were landing in Lavrion, about two hours out of Athens. We saw on the news on the boat that there were riots happening in Athens (apparently a very common occurrence) and we were a little worried to be there. We had an hour break where we had to all get off the boat at about 4pm and I asked the crew what time we were getting to Lavrion. He told us 11pm (14 hours after we had gotten on the boat) so I asked if there was anyway we could get a bus to Athens from this port we were at, and he told me with a little smirk that it was an island. So on to Lavrion it was. At midnight we found out there are no hotels in Lavrion so we went to neighbouring Sounio for some rest and the next day got a bus to Athens. The riots had stopped but as we walked past the government buildings surrounded by banners and graffiti Claire and I both got very sudden stinging throats, eyes and noses which passed not too long after we moved on, our figuring is there was still some pepper spray or some kind of chemicals in the air, I’m not sure if that can happen but that was the solution we came up with.

We made our way to the Acropolis where we got in free with EU student cards (win!) and after browsed the markets until we had to get to the bus station for our overnight bus to Igoumenitsa. We slept fitfully for the bus ride, at one point stopping for the police to get on and remove about five Indian looking guys up the back. They were taken off the bus and lined up on the side of this road in the middle of nowhere with a few other Indian guys who were already out there. Very strange. We got in at 3.30 this morning and slept at the bus station until at 7 they chucked us out. Now we are taking advantage of friendly cafes where they don’t throw you out even though you have only bought a €2 coffee and waiting for our ferry tonight at 9pm.

FERRY FROM IGOUMENITSA

After spending the whole day lounging around the port town of Igoumenitsa, we finally boarded our ferry setting down for the nights trip. Our plan was to watch the rest of Black Books, read a little maybe and sleep a lot!! Not long into the night a group of Turkish musicians began to play instruments and sing and eventually others began to dance along to the music. We soon discovered they were a group from a Turkish school in Istanbul travelling to perform at various locations across Europe. The singing and dancing went on into the night, Gem and I even got involved and attempted to learn some of the steps to their danced, but mostly just cheered and clapped along.

All was fun, fine and dandy until two of the Turkish guys decided Gem and I were ‘special’ and became rather insistent on spending the rest of the ferry ride up talking with us (which was already difficult to do since they spoke little English) and given that they had turned slightly seedy we responded we harsh ‘no’s’ to many of their advances. These two giving the Turkish a bad name, took some time to move away from us. With some stronger advances of wanting to sleep on the same deck lounge as us, we would not have it and we became quite annoyed and our messages of ‘bugger off’ was eventually received.

The Next morning all lovely and refreshed after sleeping a lovely long night – not. We caught a bus, train, train, bus to Sorrento, where we were to stay for 2 nights. Shower, Dinner, Wine and Sleep were welcomed with open arms!

Rome

Flying out of Amsterdam after lunch we spent the rest of the day travelling to our accommodation. We stayed in a camping ground outside of Rome city called Fabulous Plus Camping. The first night we were in what they called a bungalow and the other 3 nights we were in a tent. The tent was way more fun- it was a permanent, large tent with two single beds.

The next day (Wednesday the 1^st of June) we caught the bus into the city and the metro towards Vatican city, stopping by a small restaurant to have our breakfast at 1130ish [it was more like a brunch] and ate turkey balls [just like meat balls but made from turkey]. After, walking towards the Vatican we were stopped by a tour company employee offering group tours inside the Vatican, which we took as we felt the information the guide could tell us would allow us to get much more out of our visit, not to mention the queue skipping that came with the tour. The Vatican galleries were wonderfully beautiful, large and containing so much Italian culture. There were some particular roman tapestries that were pointed out to us, when you’re standing on the left, approaching it the table down the centre is facing you; and once you pass it and are standing on the right, the table is still facing you. The guide described this technique as perspective and mentioned that perspective was lost in the Middle Ages. Continuing through to the Sistine Chapel, the guide gave us a detailed description of the art works before entry as it is a sacred area and guests are meant to be silent. There are also no photos allowed to be taken inside the chapel, but many of the tourists took some anyway. Some were a little more subtle, while others pointed their large cameras to the roof. Guards would frequently yell for the crowd to be silent or no photography etc. I’ve heard that sometimes guards will actually ask you to delete your photo as they are kicking you out. The tour guide explained that the copy right to the restoration belongs to some company in Japan who paid for the restoration work. Finishing the tour at the entry of St Peters Basilica we left our guide and continued in with crowds of tourist. The entirety, floor, walls and roof were beautifully decorated with spiritual artwork, sculptures including La Pieta by Michelangelo. At times it was overwhelming and we didn’t know where to look because there was so much to take in.

As Gemma had just recently read Angels and Demons and we watched the movie we wanted to see all the sights from the book. We knew that there was an official tour we could take but it cost about 50+ Euros each. We knew the first place; Castel Sant’Angelo was straight down the street from St Peters Square so we found that one easy and walked across the bridge lined with statues, like they did in the movie.  We later googled the other sites so we could visit them on another day

Through backstreets we aimed for the Pantheon. Every corner we turned revealed beautiful streets and had a stereotypically Italian feel. After a while we refrained from taking pictures of every striking walkway. We were slightly overwhelmed by the immensity of the Pantheon and the beautiful art work all around it; but wondered what happens in terms of the hole in the roof, when it rains.

From there we went to the Trevi fountain, which was absolutely packed with tourists but we were determined to get down to the front for a good photo and to throw my coin into the fountain. For those that don’t know, legend has it that if you throw a coin over your left shoulder, using your right hand you will return to Rome.  We spoke to a lady that said the Trevi fountain collects about 3000 euro a day from tourists throwing in their coins; and that it is given to a local charity.  For the fun of it Gem and I threw in our coins.

Unfortunately when we arrived at the Spanish Steps they were partly blocked as construction was taking place for what appeared like concert seating and we later found out it was for the upcoming national holiday parade. We walked up and sat half way for a moment, mapping out our latest route and our plans from here. We still don’t know why they are called the Spanish steps... one of those things we intended to Google but haven’t yet got around to it (if you know, please share the details). Not far from the Spanish steps was the Medici Villa. We first visited a Medici site when we were in Bruges and have since learnt that not only were they an extremely wealthy family and started the first bank ‘as we know them now’ (according to our Vatican guide) they also had two family members who were popes, and employed and trained Michelangelo (as you can see, they had lots going on). Strolling through the side gardens of the Medici Villa where from the wall was an amazing view across the city and the paths were lined with bust sculptures; unfortunately many had graffiti  or had what I called a nose job (in the way that their noses were missing).

The sun was setting for the day and we decided to visit the Colosseum by night. We were in amazement as we exited the metro station straight in front of the site. Standing beside it in awe of the sheer size of it and its splendour lit up at night.

Our plan for the next day was to return to the Forum across from the Colosseum. Getting into the city at about 1.30, the colosseum and the forum were set to open at 2pm due to national holiday parades in the area. We lined up with the crowds and wondered the ancient city of the forum. How excited we were to be amongst the old ruins; reading all the information signs and listening closely to passing English guide groups for further information. It was interesting to imagine the original buildings using the images provided, comparing them with what remains. Half way through wandering the site storm clouds moved in and it started to pour. Many people scattered to find shelter. Gem and I, under a tree at first then after awhile figured we were already wet and just continued to stroll through the ancient ruins. The forum and colosseum housed an exhibition on Emperor Nero and by the end of both visits we felt Nero educated.

As the Forum took up most of the previous day we prioritised the colosseum for the first thing the following day. Again, the structure amazed us; and we’d now seen it one way or another every day we’d been in Rome so far.  Again reading all the signs and tagging on to listen to English speaking guides for further information.  There were sections reconstructed to help outline the original structure like the floor of the stadium and seating; we could also make out marks from where stairs use to run. We learnt that the colosseum was used for all kind of productions, that of the well known gladiator fights as well as animal fights and even aqua fights. Apparently they would fill the base of the stadium enough to have boats float and fight. There were remains which show very detailed graffiti that spectators had made by scratching pictures of battles or popular gladiators into the stone seating/steps. I think for us, part of the enthusiasm comes from, Australia being a relatively young nation; our historical sites are rather modern compared to ancient structures as these.

Using the rest of the day to visit the remaining sites from Angels and Demons, we made our way to the tomb of santi. It was however closed and we continued through the Piazza Nova which contains the fountain of four rivers; towards the ecstasy of St Theresa in the Saint Maria Delta Victoria church. Here there was a service being conducted so we sat in on the mass before looking seeking out the statue we were after.

To conclude our day and our final night in Rome we had dinner at a table by a mafia meeting, and got out of there as soon as we felt they were on to us listening in to their plans. To escape them further we took an early flight out of Rome heading for Volos Greece; we appear to have escaped them... for now.