Forget yesterday's highlight ... Venice is amazing

I think I am running out of superlatives. I was last in Venice in 1961 with my parents and have some memories of how beautiful it was, but nothing prepared either of us for finally being here.

It was helped by our hosts who own a number of apartments here. They met us at the station and we walked together through the streets to where we're staying. There gave us a list of things to do and were really helpful.

As I write this, I'm sitting on our water front balcony on a quiet canal watching daily life go by. There are three guys fixing a new mooring pole on the dock across the canal and three young guys just went past in a gondola, with one of them rowing.

We've just been for a walk to get groceries and fruit and took in the grand canal and I it's sites as the sun started to set. The warm light of the setting sun sets the building stone used to build this city to perfection.

Sadly we haven't seen Mr and Mrs Clooney of any of their friends, but I'm sure they're partying somewhere in town. Our hosts gave us a whole list of things to do and so we're going to plan the next few days over dinner tonight. Home made lasagna!

More from Venice tomorrow .... 

Our highlight so far ....

Last night was the highlight of our time away so far. It wasn't seeing an amazing sculpture or painting, rather it was doing something Florentines have been doing for thousands of years, having dinner.

Let me start at the beginning. We came across a brochure promoting various tourist activities and one of them was a guided night tour of Firenze, followed by dinner. So we dropped into the agency promoting this and booked ourselves in.

We started at 8.30, met some other Aussies and an American couple and set off on the bus. We went to the hill overlooking Firenze. A great spot for a view over the city.

After the drive we stopped near the river and headed off for dinner.

We entered a Piazza, almost deserted apart from a busker playing a flute. He wasn't playing pop music, but was playing a classical repertoire featuring the great arias from Italian Opera. The flute and his recorded orchestral backing track filled the Piazza with the most beautiful haunting sound. Just magic! We couldn't see any restaurants, but our guide took us into a building and up a flight of stairs and knocked on what appeared it be an apartment door.

We were led into a room with high ceilings, tables covered in white table cloths, set with cutlery and our antipasto. It was a private restaurant and it was fabulous. We sat with the American couple and discovered we shared a Faith and had lots of things in common. (They had loved the book 'Unbroken' about US Olympian Louis Zamperini who was imprisoned by the Japanese. Andrew, our eldest son, worked as A Camera/Steadicam on the crew when they made a film of the book in Australia over last Christmas.)

The food was perfect. Four courses all chosen by the chef and his partner who do this for a living. The room was great with open windows into the Piazza. Unfortunately the flautist had finished for the night.

After almost thee hours of great food and conversation we walked home around 11.30 with the streets still full of people.

This morning we headed of the Acadame Gallery to see Michelangelo's statue of David and all the other exhibits of course.

After lunch we headed to the church where Michaelangelo and Galileo are buried and had a lovely afternoon. The church also has a leather school attached - great old leather working tools.

We're off to Venice tomorrow - seems George didn't wait for us, he's already married. Anyway, I think there will be a lot of people in town. Fortunately our accommodation is all booked and we're being met at the station.

Firenze - a lovely surprise

Today we left the business of Rome and caught the train to Florence or Firenze. What a beautiful city, home to Michaelangelo, the Medici's and of course the Duomo with the dome designed by Brunelleschi. It's compact, clean and full of wonderful shops and restaurants with prices 50% less than Rome. Great for the budget.

We had pre-booked tickets for the Uffizi Gallery, home of the art of the Medici's and some famous Boticelli artworks, including The Birth of Venus. The Gallery is alongside the river, spanned by the Pont de Vecchio - home of all the Goldsmiths in Italy I think.

Seems the idea of a 'lock of love' has made its way from Paris to Firenze. I think one of them said 'Karl lives Ja ....' (Bit unclear there at the end).

Third time lucky ....

On our third visit to St Peter's Basilica we finally had no problem getting in. 

It was 7.30 in the morning and it was amazingly quiet. It was great too see it again, having filmed here in the mid-80's. I always loved the beams of light that make their way into the Basilica early in the morning.

Janine was happy too, having seen the Vatican Museum and the outside of St Peter's it was good to be inside.

At 10am we joined the tour to the Catacombs, Appian Way and a Roman aqueduct. We couldn't take any pictures inside the Catacombs, but it was a fascinating tour. Outside on the Via Appian, you can still see the wheel ruts from the Roman chariots and carts.

We had lunch in Piazza Navona and then walked the narrow streets to the west of the Piazza, the opposite way to the Pantheon. Some amazing old buildings, doorways and shops. I couldn't resist showing you the following ones - Jane Faase will like them I know.

Tomorrow we're on a train from Roma to Florence, so our next blog will be from Firenze.

The Almafi Coast and on to Pompeii

What a great day. After a pick up at 6:45 we travelled with 3 other couples south to Naples and the Almafi Coast, Positano and then on to Pompeii. If you've been there you know how beautiful the area is. Picturesque village after village. We realise we need to come back and spend more time just exploring this lovely part of Italy.

Narrow winding roads, Villas owned by movie stars, wonderful ceramics and all wrapped up in picture post card-perfect scenery.  

Almalfi

Positano

After an amazing lunch at Positano, we headed for Pompeii. Again an amazing site and in two hours, we just skimmed the surface. Our guide was full of amazing facts and like his father and grandfather before him, loves telling people about the city of Pompeii. To see evidence of their plumbing and sanitary systems shows how advanced the Romans were. 

It rained slightly while we were there, but the sun came out right at the end.

Pompeii with Mt Vesuvius in the background.

A local church meeting stopped our church tour

(This post is for Wednesday. I wrote it, but then we had a power outage.)

We had intended to check out the inside of St Peters Basilica this morning - we got there at 7.15 but it seems the Pope had called a church meeting in the middle of the square for 10am and with hundreds of thousands expected, he closed the church til after the meeting. We'll try again Friday at 7am.

We decided to do the walk around the Colosseum and then up the Palatine Hill for a view over the Forum and then back again.

Sort of like a walk through history. It was a walk through some of my history also as we visited places we had filmed from in the mid 80's.

Tomorrow we are off early to do a day trip to the Almalfi Coast and Pompeii. It will be good to see more of Italy.

The Coloseum (much of it is covered in scaffolding)

A view of the Forum framed through the arch of Septimis Severis.

On top of the Palatine Hill - bit like Town Hall Square in Sydney.

Ticking off the bucket list ...

Today we were up early to meet our guide outside the Vatican Museum for an early 'queue jumping start'. It was certainly worth it. The Vatican Museum had a major upgrade in 2,000 and the entrance, ticketing etc has been greatly improved. Our early start at 7.30 meant we were in the Sistine Chapel by about 9.30am and we probably spent an hour there with very few people. Last time I was here we had to keep moving, etc etc. It's an amazing room with so much world history crammed into one small area.

I'd recommend one of these sorts of tours.

However we then found of course that the line for St Peters was probably three hours long, so we're doing that at 7am tomorrow. 

We then went to Villa Borghese Gardens - an oasis of quiet in the middle or Rome. Then we headed for Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. Lots of stuff happening there, with buskers and a special Church parade to commemorate the work of the Rescue Services with people marching holding statues or Saints, a band - the whole works.

There were more guys doing the Indian rope trick,  great piano accordionist and all sorts of other stuff happening. It was great.

Off to St Peters early tomorrow, then breakfast and more of Rome.

Outside St Peter's.

Piazza Navona 

Tasting a real Italian Gelato from a store that has been making them since 1897!

Walking the seat of the Roman Empire

Rome is as noisy, humid and hot as I remember. I spent six week here in the mid-80's, shooting a documentary series when I worked at Wesley Mission. Long time ago now. They're building a third Metro line, so the area around the Colosseum is being dug up and it looks quite different.

We took a three-hour guided tour. Our guide had a PhD in Archeoelogy, so she sure knew her stuff and was a great guide. I learnt things about the Forum and Colosseum I never knew. Like the gold that Emporer Titus stole from the temple in Jerusalem was used to fund the building of the Colosseum.

The carving on Titus' Arch shows the soldiers carrying off the Menora.

Took the Metro just one stop from where we are staying - boy, Paris' Metro is gold plated compared to Romes. Met an American lady last night who lost 80E to gypsy girls at the train station, but we saw no sign of anyone hassling. Apart from the Romans dressed as gladiators that is .... Seems they're illegals, but no one does anything.

We're doing a tour of the Sistine Chapel tomorrow ... Early start.

Titus' Arch showing the soldiers carrying off the Menora from the Temple.

They've had the floorers in since I was last here.

Travelling at 300 kph just above the ground

Today's post title sounds like a plug for a Hot Lap with Andrew Fisher in the V8 Ute, but as you can see from the picture, we were doing that speed on a Very Fast Train from Paris to Rome. We decided some months ago to do a few legs by train so after a 5am start to get to Gare de Lyon in Paris, we spent around 8 hours travelling from Paris to Milan and then a change of train to Rome.

It was a great way to travel - lots of room and great views of the French and then Italian countryside out the windows. Apart from a slightly scary moment when we realised the Milan to Rome train left from a different station to the one we had arrived at from Paris - it was a great day.

We will show some pics of our Rome apartment in the next few days. It's so .... Roman!

Here's Janine, enjoying the train.

A quieter day - enjoying the sun

We took things a bit easier today ... Did some washing and then headed into the Gardens around the Louvre. We came across an English guy offering free massages, using his bike as a massage table. Turns out he was raising funds for water projects in India. Janine's legs were feeling a bit tired, so Matt got to work. His off-sider was a girl from Perth. 

It looks a bit weird, but Janine said he did a great job.

He sure knew his stuff and had converted the bike himself. As Janine finished, the local gendarmes appeared and asked for his permit, etc which I don't think he had. We assume he was 'moved on'.

Pity, because he was good at massage and had a worthy cause.

After we had lunch in one of the Royal Gardens we headed for Galleries Laffaette for some retail therapy and a coffee. Off at 5am tomorrow to catch the train to Roma.

Au Revoir Paris.

Touring the Somme battlefields

We had the most fabulous day today. We caught the 7.35 train to Amiens, an hour north east of Paris, to go on a guided tour of some of the WW I battle fields. There were two other Australian couples, plus an Irishman. We travelled together in a mini-van with Laia, our guide. She was excellent and as we visited places I have heard about for decades, she brought the events of WW I to life.

This is the Villers Bretonneux war cemetery, just out of the village. It lists the Australian soldiers who died fighting on the Western Front in 1918. Nearby in the village, which has taken Australia to heart, we visited the local primary school, rebuilt after the war with donations from Australian school children.

We visited Poziers and Albert and saw the remains of trenches still visible in the fields and some that had been left as they were 100 years ago. The love this part of France has for the Australian soldiers who helped push the Germans back to the east, has given us both a better sense of our history. 

We loved the French countryside, the village cafe at Albert where we stopped for lunch - the whole day was magic. 

We also got to learn a bit more about the French rail system and how having a ticket is really optional. On our way back I had to print out our tickets from a computer ticket terminal, a bit like you do at the airport. I think we got on the train back to Paris with 3.5 seconds to spare. At no stage did anyone look at or ask for our tickets! And we sat in first class with 2nd class tickets! Vive la France!

Both the husbands of the other two couples had both worked for Telstra (as I did away back in the day) and so we had lots of stuff in common.

Tomorrow - a quieter day in Paris before we pack for an early start on Sunday to catch our train to Rome.

Our guide.

An old German fortified basement..

Wild poppies along the side of the road.

The Palace of Versailles

Last night we enjoyed a river cruise on the Seine and dinner on the Champs Élysées. When you're renting your own apartment, you forget how much of a tourist city Paris is. Lots of people on the boat, followed by a bus tour of the 'Lights of Paris' and then a late dinner just across from the Arc de Triomphe. We just made it home before the Metro closes down at 12.30.

This morning we took the RER C line train to the Palace of Versailles, built by the French Kings. The French Revolution put an end to that when they ransacked the Palace and sold off all the furniture. The government is still finding pieces after all these years.

It's been a museum since soon after the Revolution. We've visited the English Palaces and Versailles is similar in scale and grandeur. 

Beautiful grounds also that seem to go on forever.

Tomorrow we head north by train to Amiens for a tour of the WW I battle fields, particularly those where the Anzacs fought. We're really looking forward to seeing how French towns continue to honour the AustralIan soldiers who died to protect their villages and to learn more about our history. 

At the gates of Versailles.

Napolean on his horse. 

They went 'that-a-way' ....

The Gardens at Versailles.