longs2go

House building in Cambodia

2010-10-04T16:10:00.003+11:00

After two years of house hunting and now starting a house extension we are off for three weeks in Cambodia as part of Euroa Rotary Club Community Project (no we are not in Rotary and we are not from Euroa but part of the group nonetheless).
The house building is auspiced by the Tabitha Foundation.
http://http://www.tabitha.org.au/cms/programs/house-building.html

Milton is one of the house builders and Judith will do more leisurely activities.

We then have a couple of days in Sihanoukville and Kampot leaving Cambodia on the 23rd. We have a stopover in Singapore for about 6 days.

Next post will be from Phnom Penh!

Homeward Bound

2008-05-06T09:01:00.010+10:00

Well, today is the last day of our holiday. It has been a fantastic trip with such a variety of aspects to it including catching up with old friends and friends of the family, seeing iconic parts of the US such as New York, Miami, New Orleans, the Mississippi, and the deep South, getting a really good look at life in the US and finally relaxing in the lap of luxury in a resort in Fiji.

We haven’t done a lot in Fiji. We have relaxed by the pool and spa, done a little sight seeing which included a Hindi temple, had big breakfasts, had a massage, and completed quite a few cryptic crosswords.

It is a beautiful setting here, both in the resort itself and on Denerau Island. The only downside is that, being a designated tourist precinct, everything is expensive.

Still, we’ve had a very relaxing time in Fiji and fly out for Melbourne at 6.30 this evening to be welcomed by the cat at about midnight tonight.

On the road again, jest cain’t wait to get on the road again

2008-05-01T13:00:00.021+10:00

Y’all will be innerested to hear that the last leg of our US tour has been a road trip through the deep south, including Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. And y’all might be innerested to hear that they do say y’all down here. And y’all might be innerested to hear that they do proudly serve and eat grits down here.

Grits is a type of porridge made out of coarsely ground corn which you have on scone-like biscuits or eggs. Butter is often added to give it flavour. They’re very proud of their grits down here, and in fact the state of Georgia declared grits to be its official prepared food in 2002! Now, why anyone would do this – let alone eat the unappetising sludge – is beyond our understanding. I guess every culture has to have its own dish that the locals love and which offends the taste buds of the rest of the world – like vegemite.

This has been a very civil tour – civil rights and the civil war. In fact it has been most enjoyable and interesting. The countryside down here is beautiful, lush and green. We have managed to negotiate the traffic in the cities and on the interstate highways pretty well thanks to Judith’s (mostly) brilliant navigation and Milton’s (mostly) brilliant driving.

One thing we notice about the speed limits down here is that the authorities may think they are THE LAW but the citizens treat them as ADVISORY. Much of the time on the interstate highways we thought we were back in Europe on the autobahn. We would be travelling at the speed limit (70 MPH – which, translated is 120 KPH) and would be consistently passed on the left hand side by cars travelling between 90 and a 100 MPH. I guess it’s just another quaint custom – like the road toll.

Anyway, back to the tour. We stopped off at Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama to see the memorials to the civil rights movement and to Martin Luther King. It is not very comfortable stuff to be reminded of the attitudes of many white Americans towards black Americans and the accompanying actions taken by state governments, police, organisations (KKK) and individuals.

The positives to take out of the whole experience, though, are the courage and determination of black Americans to strive for their common civil rights and the fact that many white Americans supported them in their struggle.

We drove right across Mississippi state from Alabama to a town on the Mississippi River called Vicksburg where we stayed at a B&B situated in a stately Antebellum house (“Antebellum” is the fancy word for pre civil war). This house was very impressive and one of its claims to fame is that a Union cannonball which was fired through the front door and hallway wall still protrudes from the sitting room wall. While in Vicksburg we visited the Vicksburg National Military Park which is a preserved battlefield of the Civil War with individual and state memorials to the Confederate and Union soldiers and officers killed there. It is very large, very well kept and very accurate – the latter because it was set up about 30 years after the war and surviving eyewitnesses were able to indicate the details of the various skirmishes.

We then drove 80 miles south to a small town called Natchez also situated on the river. We stayed on the third floor of a hotel situated right on the Mississippi and had a magnificent view of that mighty river. The word “mighty” in this instance is entirely appropriate. Where we were, the river measured 800 metres across, and its current is very strong and very fast. Natchez is a beautiful old town with many magnificent antebellum houses, one of which we toured called Magnolia Hall.

Our final visit before returning to New Orleans was to an old estate plantation and stately home called Houmas on the Mississippi (about 50 miles north of New Orleans). This was again very impressive and informative. The original estate was a sugar plantation which grew to 300,000 acres. An Irishman bought it in 1857 for $1 million so I guess that gives the most telling idea of how large the plantation was and how grand the house. One of its big features is the spiral staircase which does look great. They have filmed quite a few movies here - but no, not Gone With the Wind.

New Orleans

2008-04-29T09:06:00.006+10:00

There is, in fact, a house in New Orleans they call The Rising Sun. Whether this particular house has been the ruin of many a poor boy is open to question. I guess we have to be thankful we only saw one house named thusly.

The effects of Hurricane Katrina are still very obvious with many, many buildings derelict and boarded up. It looks like the owners have just boarded up six floor buildings and left town – which in fact could be true because estimates of people who have left New Orleans range between 300,000 and 400,000. One of the freeway bridges close in to town still has people living in tents beneath it. Notwithstanding this, there is a real spirit of regeneration and the city is starting to get back to normal.

The French quarter is still very lively and full of art and antique galleries, restaurants, bars and buskers. We heard a number of buskers but the highlight was a Dixieland band called the Loose Marbles who were absolutely great. They had a resident couple of dancers as well. The band is made up of 15 musicians who turn up on a casual basis so that at least 8 to 12 of them are playing at one time. This means that you may hear different songs and different arrangements each time depending on which musicians turn up. Apparently the group does not do formal gigs but prefer to be street musicians.

We spent much of our time walking around the French quarter and eating out. However, we did find time to take a trip down the Mississippi River on a Paddlesteamer called the Natchez and we did take the ferry across the river to walk around a beautiful and old part of New Orleans called Algiers.

While we were walking around New Orleans we noticed an inordinate number of pirates, both men and women all dressed up in elaborate costumes. We finally found out that the very weekend we were there was a "pirate convention" and they had come from all over. The photo below finally answers the question: What does a buxom wench look like?

MIAMI NICE

2008-04-25T00:04:00.015+10:00

Miami means warm weather, money, people with money, Spring Break college kids on holiday, lots of restaurants, wealthy people, party people, myriad bars (for the myriad party people), waterside mansions (for the myriad wealthy people), and art deco architecture (plus, some more art deco architecture).
We flew into Miami with a minor mishap – Milton left his leather jacket in the taxi. After many phone calls to taxi companies and the filing of a police report... nothing happened.

Our hotel was fine, except that our room was on the outside looking over Espanola Way – wall to wall bars and restaurants for the party people to party into the night until 3.00 or 4.00. Anyway, we decided to make the best of it.

If you can get past the Gold Coast, touristy side of Miami Beach, it really is a beautiful place. In 1976, a woman by the name of Barbara Baer Capitman set about arresting the decline of the buildings of Miami Beach and turning the area into a vibrant Art Deco historic district. And she succeeded. Now, I’ve got to ask, didn’t anyone notice anything about the architecture in this place before 1976?! Apparently not.

The guide on the tour I took referred to the style as Resort Art Deco (although the young guide on the Duck Tour - see below - referred to it as Tropical Art Deco) and it really is great. There are many restored apartment blocks and commercial buildings, but especially lots of magnificent restored old Art Deco hotels on the beachfront. This was a real highlight for me.

Miami is of course close to the Everglades and, unlike some national parks where you can go and walk to see the sights , this one is more problematic, as any walking on the high ground could find you face to face with an alligator. So we took a guided tour involving a bus tour via downtown Miami and then an airboat tour of the the Everglades. The airboat looks a bit like a barge with two huge fans up the back and it skims along the water, making a very loud noise. The noise levels are high, however the tour operators have this one covered as they give out toilet paper at the begining and suggest that people stuff it in their ears. Now why hasn't Worksafe thought of that one as a simple solution for hearing protection? OH&S issues aside, we did see several alligators, and lots of birds and water plants.

Another interesting boat ride was the Miami Duck Tour. This amphibious vehicle drives through the streets of Miami Beach, over the bridge and off the road into the water for a sea-going tour of the beachfront houses of the rich and famous. Judith managed to win a plastic "quacker" for knowing the population of Miami (5 million people in Greater Miami).

Spring in New York

2008-04-20T06:39:00.009+10:00

The photo below is of breakfast with the Harrises before their trip back to Oz (taken by Arron).

On the evening of the Harris's departure, we went to see Tim Minchin – a very talented and funny Australian comic who some of you may or may not know. He was absolutely brilliant – I recommend anyone should see him if they get the chance. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant over the road from the theatre before the show which was also very good, so it was overall a great night out.

On Saturday I went to the Museum of Modern Art while Judith tried her hand at shopping (without much success I think). I really enjoyed seeing MoMA after its massive renovatons. One of the permanent collections relates to 20th century design - hence the photo of the Alessi juicer.

That evening we caught up with another lot of Australian friends, Marg and Roy Orme. Marg is doing the teacher PD and mentoring gig in New York (like Lindsay and Judi) and they have an apartment up on the West side from which you can see the Hudson River and down to Times Square. After admiring the magnificent view and having a couple of glasses of wine we queued up for a very popular Mexican restaurant and got a table after only 45 minutes! The speciality of the house? - yes, Margueritas. We had a good night and enjoyed catching up with the Ormes.

On Sunday I went to the annual Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America jewellery Expo at New York’s equivalent of Jeff’s Shed – the Jacob Javits Convention Centre. It was a great day and I found out about some equipment I want (met the inventor) and bought some semi-precious gemstones and quite a few larger cabochons. Judith spent the day shopping again, but again with not a great deal of success – she obviously needs more practice and expert advice (!)

On Monday we went into town for lunch and then Judith went shopping (again !!!) and I went to the Guggenheim. I walked across Central Park to get to Fifth Avenue and was enchanted by the blossom which has emerged so quickly.

I didn’t visit the Guggenheim last time we were in New York so it was a real treat seeing Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea of an art gallery – not to mention the amazing installation exhibition on at present. It is by a Chinese artist currently living in New York (Cai Guo-Quing) who is known for using gunpowder and staging explosive “events”.

Our last day in the Big Apple was a leisurely one where we slept in and then went into town to stroll through Greenwich Village, visit Washington Square and have lunch. The weather was great (as it has been for much of our visit) so it was a very pleasant day. It was a lovely way to finish a great ten days.

Wednesday we flew to Miami , but that’s another story.

New York New York

2008-04-15T09:00:00.012+10:00

Well, here we are in the Big Apple staying in Brooklyn with Lindsay and Judi Harris. It is 21 years since we were last here and we are looking forward to the revisit. On our first day here, Lindsay took us uptown on the subway and oriented us to the subway/public transport system, Times Square, Union Square and so on. We now each have a weekly ticket which means we can go anywhere at any time, which is great. Lindsay also took us to the Dallas Ribs Restaurant for that quintessential American culinary experience - “ribs”. Dianne and Richard Woods’ son Arron (from Mildura) is completing some work involving the U.N. in New York and is also staying with the Harrises.

So far we have been to the top of the Rockefeller Centre, visited the memorial at ‘Ground Zero, visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, been to Tiffany’s, been to a baseball game at Shea Stadium and Milton has walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with Lindsay.

The view at the ‘Top of the Rock’ is excellent (last time we went to the top of the Empire State) but we were a bit disappointed at Tiffany’s. We particularly looked at the sterling silver jewellery on the third floor with the intention of buying something for Judith. However, we were very underwhelmed by the design and range, even given that it is made by well known design houses. We also went to a jeweller, Aaron Faber, who is better known for contemporary jewellery and this was a lot better than Tiffany’s.

Milton is interested in Art Deco design and architecture, so when we saw the Fred French Building from the Rockefeller Centre we went down to have a closer look. While the exterior at ground level is obscured by renovations, the foyer is still accessible and is indeed very impressive.

After a great meal at an Italian restaurant in the heart of town, we all went to a rock musical on Broadway on Thursday evening called Passing Strange. This was an excellent show with a very tight band and first class production values. Although the second half was not as strong as the first, we all agreed it was an impressive show.

Friday afternoon Lindsay and Jude flew out for three weeks in Australia and Aaron flew out to London, so we now have the house to ourselves – not that that matters as we had a great time catching up with our hosts and seeing New York through their eyes.

Judith and Lindsay in Times Square.

2008-04-08T08:02:00.012+10:00

Day four of our trip saw us driving John and Marlee’s Buick down to Brooklyn, Wisconsin to see ‘the old Whittaker farm’. Here we were made extremely welcome by Jerry and Garnett who have lived and worked on the farm for 30 years. Judith’s great great grandfather owned this farm before he eventually moved to South Australia.

Jerry and Garnett showed us over the farm and the local cemetery and were wonderful and generous hosts. We met most of the family and some of the neighbours and took photographs of this beautiful part of the country.

We stayed overnight and then Garnett took us into Madison, the state capital, where we had a little Frank Lloyd Wright tour.

Unfortunately, FLW's home (Taliesen) at Spring Green was closed, but we had a great morning looking over the Monona Terrace Conference Centre (which has only recently been completed years after FLW’s death) and the Unitarian Church Meeting House (below).

We travelled back to Chisago City where later in the week John and Marlee showed us over the twin cities of St Paul and Minneapolis. They are indeed beautiful and we had a great day with our hosts, finishing up with a performance of a very talented and tight Bluegrass band (Monroe Crossing) in the evening.

Saturday we travelled up to Duluth in the Buick and had a quick look at Bob Dylan’s birthplace – locally referred to as Little San Francisco.

Sunday we flew to New York via Chicago for ten days in the Big Apple. But more of that later.

2008-04-06T11:34:00.007+10:00

GETTING THERE

Well, we’re off again! This time a small trip to the U.S. for four weeks finishing up with five days in Fiji. We have bought a new lap-top to facilitate with the blog, to keep up with our e-mail, to phone home (on skype) and to store and display photos. So far it is proving to be the best thing since sliced bread – an antiquated phrase for a technological miracle!

The flight from Melbourne to Minneapolis was OK but with a couple of problems. First of all we had a stopover at Auckland, NZ which we had not expected (we specifically asked for a direct flight). Then, when we got to L.A., immigration and customs took so long that we missed our connecting flight. This obviously happens all the time at the L.A. airport because they have a permanent desk staffed with four people specifically to re-route travellers who miss their connection. We had to wait a couple of hours and then take a flight to Fort Worth, Texas and then another to Minneapolis, arriving there at about 10.00 pm. The last hitch was that the baggage handlers treated our luggage so roughly that one of the wheels on Milton’s case was ripped right off and is lying on the ground somewhere between Melbourne and Minneapolis.

BEING THERE
We are currently staying with our friends John and Marlee Eret who have a house right on beautiful Lake Chisago which is about 30 minutes out of Minneapolis.

We have been treated with the best American hospitality and have really enjoyed catching up with old friends – or should I say friends of old? On the first day here, John drove me out on the metre thick frozen lake surface to ice fish. Although they were mostly very small we caught almost fifty fish, including sunfish and crappie, and had a great time.

This was my first experience of ice fishing and it was a lot of fun.

I’m not sure if it was more fun catching the fish, drilling the hole in the ice, or the experience of drinking a couple of stubbies in the middle of a frozen lake with a mate. While we were doing this Judith and Marlee went for a walk and then took a scenic drive around the area.

Our second day in Minnesota was characterised by a heavy snowstorm which transformed the landscape into a beautiful North American postcard. John and Marlee took us to see the Mall of America which is the biggest shopping mall in the U.S. We had lunch there and also bought a new case to replace the damaged one.

The mornings are characterised by a sumptuous breakfast prepared by our hosts, the evenings by a wonderful meal, a judicious amount of wine and a great many laughs. I would like, though, for someone to explain to me how come Australian wine is cheaper over here than it is in Australia!!?

More Tassie photos

2008-02-29T19:02:00.013+11:00

Tracey and Carol share a joke

At Salamanca Market on Saturday morning. Fairy's DH, Rachel, Tracey's daughter, Carol, Vicki, Judith, Fairy, Tracey and Karin

Sitting from left - Carol, Judith, Fairy, Tracey and Karin. Vicki standing behind.

Trip to Tassie

2008-02-28T19:10:00.018+11:00

We have just come back from an enjoyable 4 days in Hobart with some of the "girls" and their husbands from the Simple Savings website GO Crazy threads. We all had a great time together with lots of eating, laughing and talking (especially a lot of the latter). In the space of four days Hobart turned on some fine weather, rain, cold temperatures and snow.

Out for dinner on Saturday night - from left Judith,Rachel,Carol, Fairy and Tracey

Tracey and her daughter with Karin at the Salamanca Market

On the road again (soon)

2008-02-19T17:58:00.008+11:00

It's been a long time between entries however suffice to say we arrived home safe and sound via a night in Hong Kong.

Since we are now mentioned in this particular website it seemed appropriate to create a new post in anticipation of the many hits we will no doubt get from it!

After five months back in Australia we are heading off to the USA at the end of March so longs2go will be on the road again. First stop will be the twin cites of Minneapolis and St Paul, then on to New York.

Belgium, Cologne and back to Paris

2007-10-11T19:14:00.000+10:00

We have just completed an amazing ten days in Belgium (in the battlefields of the first world war), Brussels (one day), and Cologne in Germany with some family friends. Judith and I attended the 90th anniversary commemoration of the battle of Paeschendale, where my great uncle William Christopher Smith was killed, and the re-interment of the remains of five Australian soldiers. We also located the graves of four of Judith's great uncles and relatives killed around the same time.

We managed a close-up photo of the Governor-General who spoke to us as he walked past. In a long holiday of eating out and looking at cathedrals, museums and art galleries this part of the trip was welcome and extremely important to us. It was cerainly a part of the trip that we will never forget.

The city of Ypres (pronounced "eeper" by the way) was completely destroyed in the first world war. The main town hall, the Cloth Hall (so named because of the cloth trade conducted there through the centuries), was totally destroyed and was completely recreated in its original form after the war. It is a beauiful and impressive sight.

On a lighter note, we hired a car in Lille for the three days for this part of the trip. We ordered the cheapest automatic we could, but when we went to pick it up they said they didn't have any automatic cars so they upgraded us to a manual Alfa Romeo! So we had to drive a six-gear manual Alfa around for three days - damn!!

After our three days in Ypres we took the fast train to Brussels where we had a look around the centre of town and only stayed one night. We then took another train to the border town of Aachen where we were met by the Ehrlich family who were our extremely generous and hospitable hosts for the next three days. It was great to catch up with Joerg, who lived with us for three months in 1996-7, and to meet his family.

The Ehrlichs and Joerg showed us the cathedral, which was the church of Charlemagne, and the Treasury museum connected to it in Aachen and these were indeed impressive and beautiful. It is here that Charlemagne was buried in 814 AD. All through Aachen and Cologne can be found the remnants of the Romans and Roman buildings.

The Ehrlichs took us to their house in Cologne and we had a wonderful two days exploring Cologne, Bonn and the surrounding countryside. The Cologne cathedral dominates the cityscape and is indeed as impressive inside as it is outside. We again saw the attached Cathedral Treasury which is full of treasures from centuries past.

We visited Cardinal Clement's summer rococo palace on the outskirts of Cologne and had a good look at Beethoven's birth town of Bonn. The last night in Cologne was indeed a treat as Jurgen and Elisabeth took us to the city's underground concert hall where we heard the Cologne Symphony Orchestra directed by Markus Stent who only recently returned from Australia where he directed the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for six years.

We returned to Paris the next day by fast train (four hours from Cologne to Paris) and are staying in a flasher part of town at a flasher price! (300 dollars a night). We are taking it easy these last couple of days in Paris and mixing a bit of sight-seeing with shopping.

We have had a brilliant trip with some incredible highlights but it is fair to say that we are looking forward to going home.

PARIS !!!

2007-09-29T00:36:00.000+10:00

Well, we've finally made it to Paris. The first thing we had to do, though, was make a dental appointment to fix one of Judith's fillings! On emerging from the subway to go to the dentist we were confronted by the Arc de Triomphe - it had quite an impact as I thought we would approach it from the distance of at least two or three hundred metres, but there it was towering right in front of us.

We've been doing all the tourist things that one does in Paris and having a great time. The Eiffel Tower is indeed impressive and is a focal point all over Paris. We went up to the second level for the view as the top level was a further 45 minute wait.

We have hit the art galleries of course. We have been well disciplined and have got to all of the galleries early and have avoided any lengthy queues. We made a bee-line for the Mona Lisa straight away and got an easy view - and by 11.00 am there was a massive stream of tourists heading for the Mona Lisa and (it would seem) not much else. I found it quite amusing that when I went to the French collection there was hardly anybody there as was the case in the Objets d'Art salons.

The Louvre is very impressive but I particularly liked the Musee D'Orsee which is in an old railway station that more resembles an old palace than a railway station! It is simply spectacular as is the art housed within. It has an overwhelming collection of seminal impressionist and post-impressionist paintings and sculptures. It was exciting to not only see five, ten and twenty or more paintings of such famous artists as Degas, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Matisse and so on, but these were some of their best known works as well.

It really brings home the massive significance of the impact of the French on modern art.

The hotel we are in is in the Latin Quarter and is in an excellent position. We are about 5 minutes walk from the Pantheon (one way) and the river Seine and Notre Dame Cathedral the other way. The other bonus about Paris is the magnificent underground railway system. We bought a weekly ticket and have travelled all over the place without any worries. A train comes along to any station within two or three minutes so you don't have to wait long and waste any time. Anyway, must dash - got a train to catch!

Dijon and Troyes

2007-09-29T00:10:00.000+10:00

We got to Dijon from Avignon (again on the train) on Friday. Dijon is indeed a beautiful old city. It too used to be a walled city but there are only a few remnants of the wall left - and yes, this is where they make the mustard. We walked to most of the tourist places, but on Saturday we took the free bus around town (as you would)! At the same time, the whole centre of town was turned into a marketplace with wall-to-wall people which was quite amazing in itself. When we asked, we were told that this happens once a year, so we were very lucky to be there on that very day.

The town square (place?) was about 600 metres from our hotel and it was a beautiful space. At the front of the square was the Musee de Beau Artes which has an amazing collection of paintings and sculptures. The building has a tower which everyone is able to climb to see the amazing view of the whole town and distant hills. An additional bonus is that it is free to climb on Sundays so it cost us nothing for the privilege!

The tower was three hundred and twenty three steps up (I know - I counted them!) We are starting to realise why we are both losing weight. The upside is that we were both able to climb the steps quite quickly without any problems at all.

These are a couple of the views that we were rewarded with for the effort.

We really enjoyed our three days in Dijon and would readily go back again.

On Monday we took the train to a relatively small provincial city about 150 kilometres north of Dijon called Troyes where we stayed two nights. We have been staying in relatively budget accomodation (by European standards) and the hotel in Dijon was a bit rough around the edges so we decided to treat ourselves to four star accomodation ($200 a night). It was a good hotel and, except for very poor lighting, worth the extra money.

Troyes is yet another pretty town built originally within walls. Its particular claim for notice is the preponderance of old medieaval buildings with external timber. Being in a very nice hotel in a beautiful old town we used our two days here to re-charge our batteries and just chill-out a bit. In this spirit, Judith made an appointment and had her fingernails manicured.

Les chiens

2007-09-24T01:42:00.000+10:00

One very noteworthy thing about France and Italy is the presence of dogs. They are everywhere - a good thing in a way if you consider that most of them live in apartments and would need regular exercise. However they are not only on the streets but also in restaurants, museums (in Italy) and on the trains.

There appear to be no rules about picking up after your dog, so consequently there is dog poo all over the place. I note in Avignon and Dijon the local councils do suggest you might clean up after Fido and give plastic bags but it is only a suggestion, and frequently not acted upon by local residents.

I am, as most of you know a dog lover, but being in a small railway carriage with someones dog or with their furry friend sitting next to you at a restaurant has its limits. But I would rather sit next to a dog than a smoker!

We did note at the Archaeological Museum in Naples that whilst we had to go through security and leave back packs, umbrellas etc in the cloak room that dogs were allowed in. I am not sure what happens, if anything, if Rover lifts his leg on a artifact from Pompeii.

If this is Tuesday we must be in Avignon

2007-09-22T22:15:00.000+10:00

We got off the TGV fast train at the new station out of town. It was very windy and quite cold - a shock after the last five weeks of heat. We stayed in a small hotel in an "apartment" - that is, it had a kitchen as part of the bedroom. It was in fact very good with quite good views of two separate churches (see one below) - although it WAS up three flights of stairs. We have both lost weight and we think it is due to all of the walking and particularly all of the flights of stairs we keep encountering in hotels, railway stations and tourist sites.

We took a boat trip up the Rhone river and saw the famous bridge and took a guided tour of the town which included the Popes' Palace which they occupied in the fifteenth century.

On our last day there Judith enjoyed a couple of hours shopping while I visited the Langladon Gallery which proudly boasts the only publicly exhibited Van Gogh in Burgundy. They also have one Modigliani, one Pisarro and a Picasso but this is very small beer in the European context. However, it was a very well kept gallery and I spent a pleasant hour there. I figured that this was just a little taster for the real McCoy in Paris.

We're in France

2007-09-22T02:14:00.000+10:00

We arrived in the town of Menton on the French Riviera after a six hour trip by train (changing at Genoa). In a telephone conversation with Rohan he suggested I drop the "arty" shots and put a few more shots of where we are - so I'm going to take his advice.

Menton is a lovely smallish town on the Cote D'Azure just about fifteen kilometres from Monaco. The weather is beautiful and I felt I had to go for a swim just to say I had, although Judith wimped out preferring to take a photo for evidence (so, no arty shot here).

Below is a photo of the hotel we stayed in; the Hotel De Londres. Our room was rather small but we had a small balcony which we could sit out on and take in the view - we did manage a glimpse of the Mediterranean from our room.

Menton itself is a relatively quiet place with a lot of ageing tourists - we fitted right in. I'd put in a few exclamation marks at appropriate times (such as then) but neither of us can find it on the French keyboard.

On Monday we took the train to Nice and got on a hop-on-hop-off bus. We got a good look at Nice, especially the obscenely expensive boats in the harbour. It is a beautiful city down by the sea but other parts are decidedly seedy. A highlight was that we got to see the Henri Matisse gallery and museum. This was extremely well organised and curated.

On the way back from Nice we stopped off at Monacco and had a quick look and an ice-cream - talk about life in the fast lane (another one of those exclamation marks would be handy here - and here).

The next day we took the fast train via Marseilles up to Avignon but that's another post. Below is the fast train at Nice central station.

Florence/Firenze

2007-09-16T19:11:00.000+10:00

Well, we have had our three days in Florence in quite a nice hotel with a (small) lift and air conditioning - what more could you want? None of the significant sights and sites are far in Florence so it was an easy but quite expensive couple of days (52 euro/84 Australian dollars to see two galleries!).

One of the major attractions is the Duomo or cathedral - this was about 120 metres from the front door of our hotel. While this is the fourth largest cathedral in the world, to us it is almost an "inside-out" cathedral - all of the decoration and splendour is on the outside and inside it is very restrained for European Roman Catholic cathedrals.

Our first gallery visit was to the Uffizi on the edge of the Arno river. This is a fantastic gallery with a staggering collection of renaissance paintings. We were thrilled to see Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and "Spring", and two Canalettis of the Doges' Palace and Grand Canal in Venice.

No trip to Florence could miss the goldsmiths' area on the Ponte Vecchio. However, while the bridge on the Arno was a picturesque sight, we were particularly underwhelmed by the experience due to the incredible number of traditional jewellers stores, the over-abundance of gold jewellery almost cascading out of the windows and the ever-present wall-to-wall river of tourists!

Our last gallery visit was to the Galleria Accademia largely to see Michaelangelo's statue of David. This was quite inspiring and we were both very impressed and appropriately awed. There is a life-sized facsimile in the nearby piazza but it is nothing compared to the real thing.

My eye was caught during a last minute stroll by a gift shop almost next to our hotel. I think it very fitting to finish this entry with a photo of what caught my eye. Yes, it is a small figurine of a middle-aged David - Michaelangelo is probably still rolling over in his grave. And, yes, the figurine is still there and not in either of our suitcases!

Italian observations

2007-09-13T19:15:00.000+10:00

Milton is busy putting photos on the blog and it is my task to make more social observations.

Fashion is BIG - and most Italians are extremely well dressed. This includes small children. I have priced some toddler and baby clothes and they are very stylish , beautifully made and extremely expensive.

In spite of the dietary staples of pizza and pasta we see very few overweight Italians.

Smoking is widespread. There
is a ban on smoking inside restaurants but that does not stop people lighting up at the outside tables.

Along with potential lung cancer I must also assume that skin cancer is not a worry either as many Italians, especially women, are extremely tanned.

The range of calendars available for the tourist dollar is huge. Of note is the one featuring 12 very sexy looking priests. Or at least 12 very sexy looking men wearing clerical garb. If only I knew a good Catholic girl I could buy this one for! (Marg B or Michelle I thought of you both and then discarded the thought.)

This calendar is only rivalled by the one featuring various sculptured penises from statues in Italy.

Lucca and Pisa

2007-09-13T02:15:00.000+10:00

We got to our "Guesthouse" room on Saturday afternoon and decided to change our plans and only stay in Lucca for four nights and then go to Florence. The room was up one flight of stairs, fairly basic and old but clean, and we had access to a shared kitchen.

We then settled in to three days of taking it easy and just enjoying the ambience. Lucca is a city of about 81,000 people but the heart of the town is the old walled city. The town has maintained the wall and the old town within and this is where we stayed.

It is a truly beautiful place but definitely a "tourist town". As the wall is an old fortification, it is very wide on top and the locals and the tourists alike use it to walk, cycle, run, walk the dog, roller-blade and simply stroll on a Sunday afternoon around the city. It is also Puccini's home town and this is reflected in some of the statues, street names and tourist souvenirs.

On Monday we took the train to Pisa (a 30 minute trip) and spent four or five hours walking around Pisa and going to see the leaning tower. As the Lonely Planet says, nothing can prepare you for the reality of the lean of the tower - it certainly does lean. The authorities have been working on ensuring that it does not lean so far that it falls over, and apparently their efforts have been successful. The interesting point is that they could probably fix it so that it doesn't lean but then no-one would come to see it and the town would not get so many tourist dollars!!

One thing is becoming increasingly clear, Italy's economy would crash without all of this tourism - a point that a number of the locals do not seem to be aware of (!).

My main question on the Leaning Tower is why do so many people have their photo taken with their hands up as if they are stopping it from falling over? Who said this was a funny, memorable, amusing or whatever thing to do?

We took the train back to Lucca and spent the rest of the time on housekeeping matters such as the laundry and getting a haircut. The restaurants recommended by the Lonely Planet are very hard to get into so we booked one for our last night in Lucca. We had an excellent meal followed by a stroll along part of the wall, after which we had a very tasty gelato. A very pleasant last night in Lucca.

The last day in Rome

2007-09-13T01:55:00.000+10:00

On our last day in Rome we went to see St Peter's Basilica. We had heard a lot of horror stories about queueing for hours (and had seen thousands of people there Wednesday when we went to the Vatican museum) so we went pretty early in the morning. To our extreme surprise we just walked straight in as the place was almost deserted!

It is indeed an amazing building and it is very much a working church. What can I say - it is Roman Catholic, iconic, immense and overwhelming. We went up to the top of the Basilica to see the dome better and to walk around the top of the building. The photo below is a black and white rework of the top of St Peter's.

In the evening, after a pleasant meal at one of about two thousand restaurants within a kilometre of our apartment (!), we attended a free concert in a cathedral nearby. We had seen the notice for it two or three days prior and thought it might be worthwhile. It turned out to be part of the International Festival of Sacred Music and featured a sixty voice German male choir! The organist started with a Bach cantata and then the choir sang. It was a real highlight and I wished my father could have been there with us as he would have been absolutely thrilled.

The next morning we got a taxi to the central station and took the train via Florence to Lucca, where we lugged our cases for about a kilometre and a half to our guesthouse. We were very glad to get there.

La Bella Roma 2

2007-09-07T23:30:00.000+10:00

Well, it's Friday and tomorrow we pack up and take the train to Lucca for a week in the Tuscan sun. This post is just to include a few photos of our Roman tour.

Our apartment was just two minutes walk from the Pantheon which is a truly amazing building.

No visit to Rome could be complete without the visit to the Vatican and the Vatican Musuem. The work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel was magnificent, but unfortunately no photos can be taken (although quite a few tourists were surreptitiously taking them). Below are two of the ceilings of the Vatican Museum and one of St Peter's Square.

The spiral staircase at the end of the Vatican Museum and Judith in the Map Room.

The Colosseum - which was more noted for its blood-thirsty killing of criminals, Christians (anyone really) and wild animals as a spectacle rather than the hollywood version Rusty style.

The Trevi fountain.

The Castel de San Angelo on the river Tiber.

La bella Roma

2007-09-06T23:06:00.000+10:00

Our week in Rome is going fast and although I can report that we have hit all of the tourist high lights there seems to be much more to see. Around every corner seems to be another church with glorious paintings or another picturesque piazza. We are very lucky in that we have been able to walk everywhere so good to know that all of those hours in Melbourne on the Internet researching apartments paid off. On Sunday we, and it appeared the rest of Rome, went to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. Monday we got up early and were amongst the first tourists at the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. I heard one Aussie tourist say she could just imagine Russell Crowe there. Her imagination is obviously much better than mine!

Tuesday was yet another fine and sunny day with blue skies and we just walked - across to the Tiber and then to the Piazza del Popolo. Also made it to the Campo Del Fiori fruit and veg market where I bought and immediately ate some figs.

Wednesday was another early start and although we got into the Vatican Museum quite quickly we were far from the first tourists there. It was not a good day to chose (depending on your religious affiliation) because the Pope appeared in St Peters Square. The antiquities and art work in the Vatican is almost obscene (especially when one considers the number of poor and
starving Catholics [and non Catholics] in the world).

Some observations and questions about Rome:
Why are bananas grown in South America cheaper here than bananas grown in Australia are in a Melbourne supermarket?
How do those stylish Italian women (that is most of them) manage to walk on the cobblestones in high heeled shoes? Do they learn it as toddlers?
I have been surprised by the number of beggars, especially young disabled men with untreated talipes (foot deformity). It would be unusual to see this now in Australia.
Milton will post some photos of Rome soon.

Naples to Rome

2007-09-04T21:09:00.001+10:00

We finally finished up in Naples, having seen the ruins of Pompeii, the Certosa di San Martino (a monstery more like a palace) and St Elmo's Castle which is on a hilltop with impressive panoramic views of Naples. Pompeii is incredible in and of itself, but it is fascinating to see such an old civilisation that was so advanced.

Our stay in Naples was characterised by a small hotel room with no airconditioning (coupled with three days of oppressive heat and humidity), one wheel on Judith's case breaking (under warranty in Australia, not in Italy), Judith's visa card being cancelled while trying to extend credit on Skype in Italian (coupled with the hotel phone not working and a rather confusing public telephone system), and being situated in a rather "seedy" part of town.

Below are photos of the monastery and the castle Elmo overlooking Naples.

We left Naples by train on Saturday, but the train was delayed 35 minutes because someone had not labelled the carriages properly and there were two carriage "eight"s and no carriage "nine"! To say that the resulting confusion was chaos is to not use the English language accurately, to say the least, as there were approximately sixty Italians loudly arguing and gesticulating and Judith and I trying to make sense of the situation and find our seat. It was with much relief that we finally found our seat and sat down - particularly after carrying Judith's case because of the *$!%&!*! broken wheel.

We finally got to Rome 35 minutes late and got a taxi to our apartment. The apartment is no more than two minutes from the Pantheon, is nice and roomy with a kitchen and bathroom and is in a fantastic part of town as we can walk to almost all of the significant sites. The only drawback is that the bed is very hard and is situated on a mezzanine arrangement which is so low that you cannot stand up. But best of all, it has air-conditioning.

We are looking forward to a comfortable, relaxing and interesting week in Rome.

From Venice to Naples

2007-08-31T00:19:00.000+10:00

As referred to earlier by Judith, we had a picture-book trip through and over the alps from Munich to Venice. Although it was quite a long trip it was an enjoyable one and Judith used some of the time to brush up on her Italian.

We spent three days in Venice which was too short and we are now spending four days in Naples which is probably too long! However, Venice is beautiful but over-run by tourists (including us). There are cafes, bars and shops selling Murano glass every three metres and the tacky tourist mill is a sharp contrast to the magnificence of the buildings such as the Doges Palace and the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and the great art contained within.

On Tuesday we travelled by train through Tuscany, Florence and Rome to get to Naples. It was almost like travelling through two different countries. And this difference is even more dramatically contrasted in the two cities of Venice and Naples.

We are finding Naples very hot and extremely humid. We need to go back to our hotel each day to shower and cool down. Unfortunately our hotel does not have air conditioning but with the help of an open window and wall- mounted fan we are managing to sleep OK.

Art in Berlin to picturebook Bavaria

2007-08-30T02:29:00.000+10:00

We are now in Naples, having taken the train from Venice via Roma. Unfortunately the train was delayed for two hours which meant we had a long day's journey into night. I thought I'd do a little catch up as we haven't had a great deal of access to the internet over the last three or four days (8 euro per hour in one internet point in Venice!)

As mentioned earlier, we visited the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, which is housed in an old railway station. The setting was sensational and the artwork ranged from brilliant and visually exciting to very edgy and confronting (a table full of about forty plastic boxes containing rotting matter). Judith was not engaged but Anthea, Andrew and I were. I particularly liked the thousands of roughly hewn slate from the Himalayas (above).

On the morning of the day we were leaving Berlin, we lined up to see the Reichstag along with many others, but found that we were unable to wait long enough as we had to check out of our hotel room by 12.00. We left the queue and then stumbled onto the Holocaust memorial which we'd heard about but had not seen. It was very moving and sensitively done - no mean achievement. It consists of the myriad concrete blocks seen here, with the displays and informative element housed underneath.

After Berlin, Judith and I flew to Munich and stayed with a lovely family Judith had contacted through the internet. Our hosts were extremely hospitable and took us for a drive into the Bavarian countryside where we visited an old castle built by "Mad Prince Ludwig" who only lived there a short time and was reknowned for building four or five castles. This castle was on an island and was modelled after Versailles. Eventually he drowned under mysterious circumstances. We then drove into the hills and had afternoon tea overlooking the lake and island (below). The whole trip was picturebook Bavaria.

The following day we visited munich itself and just had a pleasant day ambling around the streets. Our hosts showed us genuine friendly Bavarian hospitality and our stay was a real highlight of our current trip.

Venice

2007-08-27T02:16:00.000+10:00

This is our first full day in Venice and this will be a very short post as Internet access like everything else in Venice is very expensive.

We came by train from Munich yesterday through storybook scenery in Bavaria and Austria into the Italian Tyrol.

Today we went to see the Doges Palace at the Piazza San Marco (with the thousands of other tourists). We are limiting ourselves to one museum/ gallery a day as we are finding that there is a limit to how much one can effectively take in. Venice has a fading grandeur that is really beautiful, but it is impossible to see anything without many other people sharing the experience.

We have another full day here tomorrow and then off to Naples.

Berlin

2007-08-20T02:10:00.000+10:00

We have been in Berlin for five days now and have been doing a great deal of sightseeing with Anthea and Andrew. We have been impressed with the architecture which is far more adventurous than most Australian architecture and often very striking. Judith has outlined much of what we have been doing but one place we visited which does indicate something of the design ethic of Berlin is the Sony Centre, which includes a very large covered space with a windmill-like umbrella; this is a photo of the roof of the Sony Centre taken from below.

The food in Berlin has been fantastic. There is a very wide range of cuisines clustered in a series of eating strips, and we have had some excellent eating experiences.

Tomorrow we fly to Munich in the afternoon where we will be for three days and then on by train to Venice.

Day 3 in Berlin

2007-08-20T02:01:00.000+10:00

After a very long 23 hours in the air we arrived in Berlin on Wednesday morning. Thanks to a very efficient public transport system we quickly reached our hotel.

Wednesday afternoon was spent exploring the quiet neighbourhood around our hotel. Late afternoon Anthea and Andrew arrived in Berlin after their quick trip to the UK.

We spent two days of busy and intense touristing and managed to see the Brandenburg Gate, the 500m stretch of the Wall still standing, Checkpoint Charlie, Potsdamer Platz, the Pergamon Museum (fantastic antiquities from the middle east and Turkey), The Jewish musuem ( thought provoking and harrowing in a confronting archtectural style) and the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum (devoted to very modern art and best described by Milton as my comments may not pass the censor).

This afternoon we went on a boat cruise down the River Spree which was very relaxing and a good way to see some of the sights. The "City Beaches" are particularly interesting - sand is bought in and people stretch out, make sand castles and generally behave as if they were at the seaside instead of on the river bank. It is in the mid 20s today but worries of skin cancer do not seem to concern the sunbathing Berliners.

Anthea and Andrew are going to Hamburg tomorrow to visit Jörg - they come back late Tuesday and then fly out to Ireland early Tuesday morning so tomorrow morning we will have breakfast with them and say goodbye.

My school girl German is holding up well - helped by the fact that many people speak excellent English.

Impressions so far are of a clean city with helpful friendly people. Beer and sausages are sold everywhere and food comes in large servings but people generally appear trim and fit. The public transport system is terrific - we have been hopping on and off trains using our weekly pass. I have managed to avoid both the beer and sausages so far - we have eaten Syrian, Asia and Italian for dinner and for lunch and breakfast have visited some of the great bakeries near our hotel.

We are still recovering from jetlag and our feet are just coping with all the walking but over all we are doing fine.
Andrew is currently giving Milton a lesson in uploading photos to the blog so we should have a ew up soon. Unfortunately are having troubles with our Flickr account so I will remove that from the links.

I bought a camera!

2007-08-15T09:15:00.000+10:00

We fly out of Melbourne at 2.40 pm today, so are just doing last minute preparations. Thought I might give an update on the camera purchase for those technophiles out there. I had decided to buy an SLR digital camera so that I could not only take better happy snaps, but also take better macro photographs of jewellery I have made.

I settled on an Olympus E-410 with a 14 - 42mm zoom lens, and also bought a Zuiko 35mm macro lens for good close-ups of jewellery. A key factor in deciding on this particular camera was that it is promoted as the smallest and lightest SLR-D on the market and that certainly was my perception, having had a good look at what was available for a similar price. This is an entry level camera but it will do all I want it to do and more. I am extremely pleased with my choice so far, having played around with it for the last three weeks, and having gone to a two-day workshop on taking more professional photographs of your own artwork. Actually, I think it is more user-friendly than a normal digital camera.

I also was talked into buying a 2 gig SanDisk Extreme III flashcard which can hold more than 800 jpeg files/photos. I already have an 18 gig iPod which has over 8 gig of music on it and still has available just over 9 gig of space for photos. By my calculations, that's room for about 7200 photos. I figure that if I take that many photos in 9 weeks I need to come home and get a life!

Oh, and my wonderful family bought me an iPod docking station for my recent birthday so we can listen to music sans earphones wherever we might be.

At this stage, the biggest decision we have to make is: do we book a taxi to the airport at 12.00 or 12.15?

Milton

Getting organised

2007-07-31T11:25:00.000+10:00

Inspired by Anthea and Andrew we have decided to enter the blog business to document our 9 week trip to Europe. This trip is a long held goal for both of us as we missed out on the rite of passage trip to Europe undertaken by so many of our peers in the 1960s and 70s. We are going at this particular time to coincide with the remembrance ceremony for the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele to be held in October in Ypres in Belgium as we both have relatives (great uncles) killed in WW1. Before arriving in Belgium we plan to travel through Germany, France and Italy.

For those of you interested in pre-trip planning we can only recommend you to this excellent website .

We are leaving in 2 weeks to fly to Berlin where we will meet up with Anthea and Andrew. Before that there are many things to organise, although the fact is we could get on the plane tomorrow with our passports, tickets and credit cards and pick up the rest as we went along (although the cards might be looking a bit overworked in a short time).

Hopefully before we leave we will both conquer the process of putting photos on Flickr and will post a link to that site in due course.