Thursday, 11 June 2015
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Tuscany
We hired this little red fiat to get us around in the mountains & country villages.
The views from our Marriott hotel, where we had breakfast on the terrace everyday.
The little village of Barga that gave us the true culture & lifestyle
Sent from my iPad
The views from our Marriott hotel, where we had breakfast on the terrace everyday.
The little village of Barga that gave us the true culture & lifestyle
Sent from my iPad
Monday, 8 June 2015
Next stage of the journey Switzerland, Zurich, Luzern, interlaken
Starting to get used to our first class train journey's & heading for Zurich. Sonya (who I used to live with in airlie beach & now working living in manedorf outskirts of Zurich) met us at the train station. Big hugs, kiss & a wonderful smile, was a warm & welcoming site. We took the 1 1/2 hrs sunset ferry cruise on the lake to go back to her place, which was a welcome change to public transport or taxi, gave us a chance to have a good chat & catchup while taking in the sites & views, was very special. Spent a couple of days with Sonya, got to enjoy the city of Zurich, immersed ourselves in the local flea market, where Lyn managed to grab a few bargains (warm coat, wool jumper, hooded jacket) as the weather had turned cold on us, to which we were not prepared. I on the other hand decided to suck it up, freeze to death, be wet & cold because I didn't want to carry any more gear in my backpack & was only going to be cold for a short time.
Said our sad goodbyes to Sonya, heading to Luzern for the day, another beautiful old town, with 2 gorgeous old very long wooden walk bridges that crossed the river, also had this amazing carving of a wounded lion carved into a cave on a massive stone wall with a large pond & beautiful garden, gr8 day, but back on the train to interlaken, once again being greeted by stunning scenery, mountains, lakes, rivers, snow, glaciers & frozen waterfalls, magic warm sunny days, just sent me into the freedom of nature.
After spending late afternoon doing some major changes to our booked train trips & accomodations, changing our schedules due to the beautiful weather, upsetting the Swiss rail people, paying extra for the changes & totally being stressed out, hotel reception lady reassured us it will all be ok, relax, tomorrow will be a new adventure.
She was right, perfect sunny day, took the train, a bus & 3 cable cars up to Schilthorn pizglocia mountian. We started at 19 degrees, then 11, next stage 7 & by the time we reached the 2033 mtrs high peaks of the snow capped mountains it was 4degrees, but magic sunshine, it was just incredible views. We had lunch at Murren ( only 400 people in this little mountain village) further down the mountain where our views of the cliffs, gorge, skydivers, waterfalls, were all in front of us, real calming. Still descending, where I ventured into the Trummelbach falle, which consist of 10 tremendous powerful waterfalls raging inside & thru the mountain at horrific speed, u had to be taken up by a fanicular tram high in the tunnel up inside the mountain, was fantastic. It has been a very inspiring day to be alive.
Sent from my iPad
Said our sad goodbyes to Sonya, heading to Luzern for the day, another beautiful old town, with 2 gorgeous old very long wooden walk bridges that crossed the river, also had this amazing carving of a wounded lion carved into a cave on a massive stone wall with a large pond & beautiful garden, gr8 day, but back on the train to interlaken, once again being greeted by stunning scenery, mountains, lakes, rivers, snow, glaciers & frozen waterfalls, magic warm sunny days, just sent me into the freedom of nature.
After spending late afternoon doing some major changes to our booked train trips & accomodations, changing our schedules due to the beautiful weather, upsetting the Swiss rail people, paying extra for the changes & totally being stressed out, hotel reception lady reassured us it will all be ok, relax, tomorrow will be a new adventure.
She was right, perfect sunny day, took the train, a bus & 3 cable cars up to Schilthorn pizglocia mountian. We started at 19 degrees, then 11, next stage 7 & by the time we reached the 2033 mtrs high peaks of the snow capped mountains it was 4degrees, but magic sunshine, it was just incredible views. We had lunch at Murren ( only 400 people in this little mountain village) further down the mountain where our views of the cliffs, gorge, skydivers, waterfalls, were all in front of us, real calming. Still descending, where I ventured into the Trummelbach falle, which consist of 10 tremendous powerful waterfalls raging inside & thru the mountain at horrific speed, u had to be taken up by a fanicular tram high in the tunnel up inside the mountain, was fantastic. It has been a very inspiring day to be alive.
Sent from my iPad
Josie's journey Bologna , Venice,
Hello everyone,
Once again our travels continued after leaving beautiful Tuscany, we stopped at Bologna. Much to our surprise this city was quite nice to wonder around in, considering when we came in by train it was dirty, full of graffiti & not a pleasant train station. This city has the oldest university still running in Europe. There was a decent amount of tourist, but not over bearing. The town had a religious festival on, so the beautiful old San peditrio church, had a service happening with choir singing, the amazing pipe organ playing, with the church filled, people from all walks of life, singing & coming together in prayer, was a nice experience to sit & observe.
Change of pace, off on the speed train to Venice. Up the ante, tourist everywhere, traffic jams of a different type, being on the water in the canals this time. The charm of this grand old city, you can understand why it is immersed in a quaint romantic lifestyle. The crisscrossing of the beautiful bridges, walking the stone paths amongst the local villages, the atmosphere that food, wine, families,friends, music draws people together is the most fabulous sight to watch & be part of. The incredible old structures, architect, history, traditional culture, coming together with tourism just allows you to enjoy the journey.
Sent from my
Once again our travels continued after leaving beautiful Tuscany, we stopped at Bologna. Much to our surprise this city was quite nice to wonder around in, considering when we came in by train it was dirty, full of graffiti & not a pleasant train station. This city has the oldest university still running in Europe. There was a decent amount of tourist, but not over bearing. The town had a religious festival on, so the beautiful old San peditrio church, had a service happening with choir singing, the amazing pipe organ playing, with the church filled, people from all walks of life, singing & coming together in prayer, was a nice experience to sit & observe.
Change of pace, off on the speed train to Venice. Up the ante, tourist everywhere, traffic jams of a different type, being on the water in the canals this time. The charm of this grand old city, you can understand why it is immersed in a quaint romantic lifestyle. The crisscrossing of the beautiful bridges, walking the stone paths amongst the local villages, the atmosphere that food, wine, families,friends, music draws people together is the most fabulous sight to watch & be part of. The incredible old structures, architect, history, traditional culture, coming together with tourism just allows you to enjoy the journey.
Sent from my
Saturday, 23 May 2015
Tuscany, Venice, Switzerland, Austria
Hello everyone,
Finally back again & should be able to load my photos on now due to lots of technical problems.
An early rise & take the daunting challenge of driving to Florence, an hour into our drive, going thru toll gates, taking wrong exits, back thru toll gates, back on crazy freeways, we decided to detour & park our car at the Pisa airport & catch the 70min shuttle bus ride. That way we could relax, take in the sites along the way, destress, so much better for us & a lot less praying for me.
Got to Florence to start the battle of wondering around with thousands of other tourist doing the same thing. It was a sunny day, navigated our way around the sites, still fascinated on how proud they were hundreds, thousands of years ago in building such enormous structures, that still stand the test of time, each building with its individual characteristics, telling its own story is truly amazing, but unfortunately for me I refuse to line up even with prepaid tickets waiting to get a glimpse of the insides & being pushed thru for the next cattle run to come thru. On our way back we stopped at Pisa to see the tower, lucky for us it was about 6pm & nearly all the tourist had gone. We r loving that it stays daylight till late. We took a drive down to the Pisa marina where along the river mouth goin out to sea are these fishing huts built on the rock wall, with huge nets attached on a swinging pulley arm, that they drop into the water to catch there fish, add the gorgeous sunsets to the mix, only being there can describe how it feels. Our last days in Tuscany, I went walking thru the mountain down to the local village off Barga, taking an hour & a half to walk through & down very steep countryside, spent the afternoon sightseeing the village, while chatting to locals & tourist, enjoying the true village lifestyle, while Lyn went on a wine tour all afternoon. Final day we joined in the local village of Cascio where they were having a outdoor wood fired cooking food & home made wine festival. I think we were the only Aussies. You got to try 4 dishes which consisted of lamb shank with olives, potatoes, a pasta bake, polenta, pork minced spread on bread, baked tomato, egg pie, berry tart & cake. Was great watching the locals socialise, eat, drink, music playing & lots of Italian chatting.
Sent from my iPad
Finally back again & should be able to load my photos on now due to lots of technical problems.
An early rise & take the daunting challenge of driving to Florence, an hour into our drive, going thru toll gates, taking wrong exits, back thru toll gates, back on crazy freeways, we decided to detour & park our car at the Pisa airport & catch the 70min shuttle bus ride. That way we could relax, take in the sites along the way, destress, so much better for us & a lot less praying for me.
Got to Florence to start the battle of wondering around with thousands of other tourist doing the same thing. It was a sunny day, navigated our way around the sites, still fascinated on how proud they were hundreds, thousands of years ago in building such enormous structures, that still stand the test of time, each building with its individual characteristics, telling its own story is truly amazing, but unfortunately for me I refuse to line up even with prepaid tickets waiting to get a glimpse of the insides & being pushed thru for the next cattle run to come thru. On our way back we stopped at Pisa to see the tower, lucky for us it was about 6pm & nearly all the tourist had gone. We r loving that it stays daylight till late. We took a drive down to the Pisa marina where along the river mouth goin out to sea are these fishing huts built on the rock wall, with huge nets attached on a swinging pulley arm, that they drop into the water to catch there fish, add the gorgeous sunsets to the mix, only being there can describe how it feels. Our last days in Tuscany, I went walking thru the mountain down to the local village off Barga, taking an hour & a half to walk through & down very steep countryside, spent the afternoon sightseeing the village, while chatting to locals & tourist, enjoying the true village lifestyle, while Lyn went on a wine tour all afternoon. Final day we joined in the local village of Cascio where they were having a outdoor wood fired cooking food & home made wine festival. I think we were the only Aussies. You got to try 4 dishes which consisted of lamb shank with olives, potatoes, a pasta bake, polenta, pork minced spread on bread, baked tomato, egg pie, berry tart & cake. Was great watching the locals socialise, eat, drink, music playing & lots of Italian chatting.
Sent from my iPad
Thursday, 14 May 2015
Hello from Madrid to the gorgeous mountains of Tuscany to romantic Venice
Finally hello everyone,
After leaving gorgeous Marriott hotel in Costa del sol Malaga in Spain, we headed back to Madrid. The challenge of catching a taxi, then bus, train, another bus & another hotel shuttle bus is nearly driving me to drink. We had a good time walking the streets of Madrid, neither one of us able to navigate their so called map of the city, so we were not able to find certain landmarks even with asking directions as we went along. But we were happy with what we saw & basically walked all arvo/night. I am in ore of these incredible buildings, there own individual characteristics of each structure, the shear size, let alone a monument on every roundabout or piazza square, what a culture shock, let alone way to many police with rifles & guns(not sure if I feel safe or should worry about there presences) plus tourist everywhere, not enough green natural nature & waterways for my liking.
This was a vast difference to when we arrived at Tuscany (Lucca Italy). We discovered that this Marriott package deal that we managed to snag had a catch to it as it was way up in the mountains & no public transport to it, it was going to cost us $130 euros to catch a taxi to get out there, so we were forced to hire a car ( little red fiat, of course). Next challenge trying to follow the GPS & navigate the crazy Italian drivers to get out there. Much to our delight & surprise after doing a lot of praying, while horns were going full bore on us & got out of the city, it was tucked away high in the mountain top surrounded by small quaint real country villages. Just magic & a real gem, what a way to wake up everyday, with breakfast on the terrace & spectacular views. We ventured out on a country drive to the local villages where I got to experience the true Italian culture, converse with the locals, eat local food (yum) & appreciate there simple lifestyles. We managed to get lost as usual & stumbled across a farmer working in his terraced vegetable patch, when much to our surprise he was a very well tanned stark naked man with only his boots on, thank goodness for us he had his back to us & he hadn't seen us, we snuck past on the dirt track & found ourselves in a mumma italians back yard where she was peeling veggies at her sink, I poked my head in her window, speaking my very slang Italian, apologising for being lost, asking if she could assist us to find our car, ended up having a chat, as she had relatives in Melbourne, all the time while I was smelling the Italian food she was cooking & wanted to invite myself for lunch. She let us take the shortcut thru her yard back to the Main Street where we found our little car. Went to the Grotto Del Vento caves & did a 3hr guided tour, we climbed 90mtrs up & 86mtrs down into the cave, from the Middle, was fascinating, in 1996 the cave totally flooded & has since flooded 5 more times, but seems to drain away within a wk or so, to which they r trying to find an answer to why & how this is happening. We travelled to Cinque Terre where these beautiful old villages r built into the cliff edge over looking the Mediterranean Sea, we went in by train to the furthest town & then caught the ferry to each village, so that u could appreciate the beauty of the mountains, view the incredible building of these villages carved into the cliff sides, they grow all there produce on the steep face of the terraced mountains, just beautiful.
Sent from my iPad
After leaving gorgeous Marriott hotel in Costa del sol Malaga in Spain, we headed back to Madrid. The challenge of catching a taxi, then bus, train, another bus & another hotel shuttle bus is nearly driving me to drink. We had a good time walking the streets of Madrid, neither one of us able to navigate their so called map of the city, so we were not able to find certain landmarks even with asking directions as we went along. But we were happy with what we saw & basically walked all arvo/night. I am in ore of these incredible buildings, there own individual characteristics of each structure, the shear size, let alone a monument on every roundabout or piazza square, what a culture shock, let alone way to many police with rifles & guns(not sure if I feel safe or should worry about there presences) plus tourist everywhere, not enough green natural nature & waterways for my liking.
This was a vast difference to when we arrived at Tuscany (Lucca Italy). We discovered that this Marriott package deal that we managed to snag had a catch to it as it was way up in the mountains & no public transport to it, it was going to cost us $130 euros to catch a taxi to get out there, so we were forced to hire a car ( little red fiat, of course). Next challenge trying to follow the GPS & navigate the crazy Italian drivers to get out there. Much to our delight & surprise after doing a lot of praying, while horns were going full bore on us & got out of the city, it was tucked away high in the mountain top surrounded by small quaint real country villages. Just magic & a real gem, what a way to wake up everyday, with breakfast on the terrace & spectacular views. We ventured out on a country drive to the local villages where I got to experience the true Italian culture, converse with the locals, eat local food (yum) & appreciate there simple lifestyles. We managed to get lost as usual & stumbled across a farmer working in his terraced vegetable patch, when much to our surprise he was a very well tanned stark naked man with only his boots on, thank goodness for us he had his back to us & he hadn't seen us, we snuck past on the dirt track & found ourselves in a mumma italians back yard where she was peeling veggies at her sink, I poked my head in her window, speaking my very slang Italian, apologising for being lost, asking if she could assist us to find our car, ended up having a chat, as she had relatives in Melbourne, all the time while I was smelling the Italian food she was cooking & wanted to invite myself for lunch. She let us take the shortcut thru her yard back to the Main Street where we found our little car. Went to the Grotto Del Vento caves & did a 3hr guided tour, we climbed 90mtrs up & 86mtrs down into the cave, from the Middle, was fascinating, in 1996 the cave totally flooded & has since flooded 5 more times, but seems to drain away within a wk or so, to which they r trying to find an answer to why & how this is happening. We travelled to Cinque Terre where these beautiful old villages r built into the cliff edge over looking the Mediterranean Sea, we went in by train to the furthest town & then caught the ferry to each village, so that u could appreciate the beauty of the mountains, view the incredible building of these villages carved into the cliff sides, they grow all there produce on the steep face of the terraced mountains, just beautiful.
Sent from my iPad
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