Roaming Loch Loman

The last few days have been spent roaming through the England and Scotland.
Have been to Hampton Court, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Edinburgh, Loch Ness. Today we arrived back in England and will be visiting the Lakes District on our way back to London.

Have visited Castles, Sherwood Forest, looked for Nessie and seen some amazing scenery. Yesterday was the first day we experienced rain to any degree. But it didn't matter as we were driving.

Have eaten haggis and a very nice venison roast. The Coffee was better in Scotland and they had cold beer.

Internet cafes seem rare in the country. We are at a Library in Carlisle at present and our time is about to run out

Advance to Trafalgar Square

Our last 5 days have been spent at

places like Trafalgar Square, the Strand, Oxford Street, Mayfair and other Monopoly sites.

We have also managed to visit Westminster Abbey & St Paul's Cathedral; the Tower of London and Shakespear's Globe Theatre, the National and Tate Galleries; the Victoria and Albert Museum and Churchill's Bunker & war rooms; Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens (Red Squirrels everywhere); Been around the London Eye and seen the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We have also managed to chug down some warm English beer, bangers and mash, Steak and Ale Pie, a good curry and the full English breakfast. Got a cheap bottle of Calafornian Wine for tonight (Hope its better than the beer and coffee here!).

Au Revoir Paris

Our last full day in Paris was spent at Versailles. The audio commentary finished by quoting someone from history saying "everything is grand at Versailles" ... it was.

On the way back on the train we overheard something about a train strike. Watched the evening news and there was story after story about trains. It is a shame we didn't pay more attention in French classes at school (couldn't understand a thing). Somehow we did confirm that there was a strike and there would be no metro trains on our last day. Tried to book a taxi but the earliest available was at 5:00pm (7 hours after our train to London was scheduled to leave). Shanks's Pony got us to the station on time.

Belgium, more than just Chocolate

Yes, there is more to belgium than chocolate. There is chocolate and waffles and beer and chocolate and beer and moullon and frites and chocolate and beer.



On Tuesday we had a day trip to brussels. We had no plans except to eat the belgium chocolate. After arriving we caught a tram to the city and went for a walk and soon found a chocolate shop. Joy selected one of every differrent chocolate in the window and was surprised to find she still had change from 2 Euros. After eating half the bag we could eat no more and continued our walk along cobbled streets, past old churches and other historic buildings.

We wandered down another lane filled with chocolate and lace shops and found the first of many waffle shops. Lunch was Waffles with strawberries, cream and you guessed it chocolate. At the end of the lane a crowd was gathered at a famous fountain of the Pissing Boy. We are not sure what is famous for, but the gift shops were full of all manifestations of the pissing boy: from corkscrews to fountains and of course 'Pissing Boy Chocolate'.

After lunch we took a sightseeing tour of Brussels; and saw the historic sights of the city and the modern buildings of the EU. When we returned we found we again had room in our stomachs so we went to pub where we found on the menu 19 varieties of beer. We spent the afternoon at the pub. From what we could tell every variety of beer came in its own type of glass. We can't be sure we didn't make it to the bottom of the menu.

We then went for another walk, bought more chocolate and then found a lane filled with restaurants specialising in Moullons. We didn't know what the were but .... (sorry to keep you on the edge of your seat. Our internet time ran out!) ... shortly arrived a large bowl of Mussels with a side serving of chips (Frites). We had a very nice day in Brussels, arriving back in Paris before midnight.

PS We had drunk too much to think of taking a picture of the Mussels.

Viva la France

Updates below 15/10/07

On the eve of rugby semi final between France and England Paris is buzing. Tonight we had the best wine of the trip. It cost 2 Euros at the local supermarket. When we checked the label it read "Product of Chile".

Have walked around the Eiffle Tower, spent

a day in the Louvre and checked out the Mona Lisa (couldnt get very close - Gem): climbed the Arch de Triomphe in the evening (its a long way up). Today it was the Musee de Orsay and the Catacombes. The apartment we are renting has great views when the fog and smog lifts. Coffee is not as good as Italy. Have been to a couple of French restaurants. The most common menu item is steak and chips; we had to search for something which we thought was french and have had a nice rabbit stew, Duck with Lemon, Salmon La somethingerother and of course Steak and Chips.

Still having a great time.

Have now been to 4 Museums in 4 days; as well as up the Eiffel Tower. We have been seen medieval through modern art including Da Vinci, Monet, Picasso and many more. We have travelled the length and bredth of the Paris Metro and have walked our legs off. Tomorrow its off to belgium for chocolate.

Had French wine tonight 2 Euro 39 (not as good as the wine from Chile but better than the 15 Euro bottle at the restaurant)

It is interesting that in each country we visit the key arrangement is different: this is qwerty -azerty

Austria, Germany (Beer), Switzerland

Since our last update, we travelled to Salzburg Austria with a lunchbreak in Villache, spent a day in Munchen where we went to Oktoberfest and are now in Interlaken.

You might think getting a beer at the worlds biggest beer festival would be easy, But.. We queued for 2 hours to get into a beer hall before giving up. We then hung around two beer gardens waiting for a seat (they won't sell you a beer unless you are sitting). Joy finally sweet-talked a young german man to let her sit next to him while his friend was at the toilet and then we were able to buy a beer. It was very good. After Oktoberfest we checked out old Munchen before training it back to Salzburg.






In Salzburg we toured an old Castle,
Mozarts House and did the Vienna Waltz in a river cruiser on the River Salz.




Arrived in Interlaken yesterday and went to the Top of Europe by cog train today. The scenery was spectacular, photos don't do it justice.

Uscita Italia, Munjana Austria

We arrived in Venice yesterday and took a leisurely stroll through the streets of Venice. Took a romantic gondola ride and saw the homes of Marco Polo and Cassanova. Checked out the Basilica at San Marco. Decided to take the ferry home. Joy got on and left Adrian on the dock. We met up later. Joy taking the ferry around the island and Adrian taking the more scenic tour along the Grand Canal.

Today it was more ferry trips but this time together. We also toured the Palais Ducale: more amazing frescos and artworks as well as impressive armoury. The Palace also includes the bridge of sighs and prison. We also toured a museum before coming back by ferry.

Tomorrow we exit (uscita) Italy.

Oops on our last day in Florence we also saw the Statue of David (only 90 minutes in the queue and then you are not allowed to take photos) Also visited the catacombes of St Sebastion and walked an ancient roman road



Where did this picture come from?

Treno, Treno, Treno

Today (Monday) we took the treno to Florence, checked into our hotel and then took another train to Pisa. We spent around 5 hours on trains and spent another 5 hours in Pisa where we climbed the tower, toured 2 museums and 3 other attractions. Walking up the leaning tower is like going on one of those fairground rides that make you lose your balance. It was quite hot today and nobody wears hats. We bought new hats at the market yesterday.

This evening we had a great meal and were seranaded by a group of musicians. (photo coming soon).

Avanti, Avanti, Avanti

Sunday was our last day in Rome so we went for an avanti (walk). We went to see a pyramid (yes there is a pyramid in Rome) but there was nothing much to see, but there were lots of people walking down the road. We followed them a found a roadside market and two hours later we got to the end of the market.

Later we took a bus into the hills and walked a roman road and toured some ancient catacombes. It was like an underground maze.

In the evening we went to a piazza and found where the expensive restaurants were. Avanti, Avanti, Avanti and eventually we found somewhere reasonable to eat.

(stay tuned photos coming)