Blois

Friday 30th September, 2011

Off to Blois today which is a halfway point for us on our way to Epernay/Reims. A 3 hour drive that was uneventful except that Ruby couldn’t locate our hotel and that is because she was looking for the street in Blois when even though that’s what the hotel touts itself to be they are actually in a suburb of Blois. We parked the car and went in search of the tourist office so that they could direct us to where we needed to be and the girl there couldn’t have been more helpful. For the little bit that we saw of Blois itself it seemed to be a really nice town. Once we got back into the car and put the correct address into Ruby we were fine. Unfortunately though once we found the hotel it wasn’t open, some of the hotels you can’t check into until late afternoon (god knows why) so when we arrived just after 12:00 we found a sign saying it was closed between 12:00 and 3:00pm. Bloody nuisance really but the others that we’ve chosen so far we’ve been able to get into no matter what time we’ve arrived. Anyway you get what you pay for, we haven’t even got a mini fridge in this one to keep our drinks cold, luckily it is only a quick stopover!!

We decided to head off to Chambord Chateau which is one of the many Castle’s & Chateau’s in the area and was only 30 minutes away. King Francis I started the building of it in 1519 but didn’t see it finished before his death in 1547 when his sons Henry II & Louis XIV finished it. We’re always amazed at the grand scale everything is done, it is all so huge. In the centre there is a spiral staircase that links the three floors. It consists of two concentric spiral flights of stairs that wind independently around a hollow central column, so if two people each take one flight of stairs they can see each other through the openings in the central column but will never meet! Yes straight from the brochure but we walked up them and it was really fascinating, amazing really. The estate covers 5440 hectares but only 800 hectares are open to the public, as if anyone would see all of that. Once again it is very hard to write exactly what we see and make it interesting for anyone else, we’re always saying even the photo’s don’t do justice to what we see.

Chambord Chateau

Kim at Chambord Chateau

Kim & Jane at Chambord Castle

As you can see by our attire, another sunny day of 30+ temperatures, beautiful one day, perfect the next. We asked a gentleman if he would take a photo of the both of us which he had a little trouble doing but eventually managed. But as we started walking back towards him he thought he'd take another and was very pleased with himself. I actually prefer this one (the above photo ), Kim not so much.

Heading into the champagne region tomorrow, after looking at another chateau here in the morning, look out!!

La Rochelle

Thursday 29^th September, 2011

We had a better night without any bugs and insects to contend with although the beds are never quite like your own and always hard to get used to. We got up early again this morning to a thick fog. We were worried that yesterday might be the last of our good fortune with the weather but at about 10:30am the skies cleared and the sun came out and it was another hot +30 day. We weren’t in any hurry to get anywhere and with the fog early we fluffed around in the room catching up on some stuff, booking accommodation for next few days, catching up on emails, etc.

We then headed off to the island, Ile de Re which was only about 20 minutes away and is accessible by car over the bridge but they do sting you for a 9 euro toll to get over. We’d heard people spend all day there so thought there must be plenty to see and do so off we went. It has about ½ dozen little villages there and some ruins dotted around but from what we could see not a lot else. We did stop in one of the towns, St-Martin which I think was one of the bigger one’s and parked the car which you had to get a ticket for and we thought that was a bit rich considering we’d had to pay to get on the bloody island in the first place. Anyway we wandered around for a while looking in the shops and doing the usual stuff but found it to be quite expensive for what it was. When we went to leave and we put the ticket in to pay for the parking it came up with something in French which of course we didn’t understand but it happened that the polizia were right next door and a couple of them happened to be walking back into their office. Kim asked if they spoke English to which one said yes and the other pointed and laughed. As it turned out the one that said yes didn’t and the other one did!! Anyway they told us to bring the car up and they would let us out so it didn’t cost us anything in the end, lucky us.

St-Martin on Ile de Re

We got back to our room at about 1.00pm and then headed down to the city centre of La Rochelle again. Not very French I know but we found a little Irish pub opposite the waterfront and decided to stop in there for a drink or two, or three, or four as it turned out. A nice couple of hours spent doing as they like to do over here, sitting side by side, facing the passersby, taking in the sun and just watching the world go by. We then came back to our room at about 5:30pm to fill in some time before dinner but whilst Kim was writing in her diary I very promptly fell asleep. Out to it apparently, snoring my head off, so much so that she took a photo that I was very unaware of and will never see the light of day!!

Kim & Jane in La Rochelle

I woke just before 6:30pm so we freshened up and headed back into town for dinner. We chose one of the many restaurants and sat down. The girl that seated us was very nice and spoke very good English and obviously catered for the tourist. I was tucked away and every time the waiter came over, who also spoke English quite well, leant down to Kim and his face was always about 6 inches from Kim’s face and after every question he would wink. He would sometimes stand behind Kim and ask a question and also wink then too, we were very amused by this but the funniest time was when he leant down and asked Kim if she wanted some wine with a bit of a wink. I found it really funny watching from the other side cause every time he did this Kim would lean back a couple of inches and laugh. Anyway Kim had a t-bone and I had a thai curry chicken, I know, once again not very French. Kim also enjoyed a glass of wine (Sancerre) that she tells me was very nice. They do like to ask you about dessert right after you’ve eaten we’ve noticed but we were too full so we just sat there for a while and enjoyed the atmosphere, once again watching the passersby. After doing that for a little while we decided to share a dessert (La Moelleux au chocolate) which was a chocolate fondant with vanilla ice-cream. Rich and delicious. Back to our room for a coffee and get ready for another day ahead.

La Rochelle

Wednesday 28^th September, 2011

Up we got early again after another restless night but with only having to swat about ½ mossies this time, it didn’t seem to stop the other bugs and beetles from coming in overnight though...anyway needless to say we packed up and left the bug ridden place under the cover of darkness!! We had a 7 hour drive ahead of us to get to La Rochelle so it worked out ok, we wanted to get as much space between us and the bugs. The drive, our longest yet, took us about 8 hours with stops along the way for coffee, toilet, etc. We sang most of the way and always have a laugh whatever we’re doing so life’s not too bad at the moment. It was going to be a beautiful day where we left and fortunately it stayed with us and was a very warm 30+ degrees on arriving in La Rochelle at about 3.00pm. We have been so lucky with the weather and have only had one day that wasn’t really warm and sunny and have been told that it is unseasonable but everywhere, even Paris is getting it so we are counting our blessings for that. We have noticed here in France that they don’t drive quite as fast as the Italian’s and they have more speed signs than they have so we tend to think they are a little more strict. We also found it amusing that they have a different speed limit when it is raining.

Anyway I digressed a bit but when we arrived here we were really pleased. A nice little, or not so little as it seems, seaside town which smells fresh and looks very clean. It has a very picturesque marina filled with boats and yachts and we took a couple of hours to familiarise ourselves with it by wandering the streets and browsing here and there. Something we noticed was how many restaurants there were and wondered how they all survive. We always find it hard to go past the patisserie’s and chocolate shops without looking in. The work that goes into some of these little sweet treats looks amazing and they aren’t that expensive, usually cheaper than a coffee (yes we’ve tried a couple, who could resist?) We got back to our room at 5.30pm starving having not had much throughout the day so made ourselves some dinner with a baguette and some bits and pieces we’d bought. We will go down to one of the restaurants tomorrow night which are all within walking distance. There is an island here that you can drive over to which apparently has lots to do so we will have a quiet, hopefully restful night before heading over there tomorrow.

La Rochelle

Ceze Valley

Tuesday 27^th September, 2011

Well it was another early start even though we didn’t really need to today but it was a warm night and we had to battle the mozzie’s again!! Damn nuisance but we only have one more night here to worry about them. We want to start by thanking Eddie for your suggestions. We had been given the same recommendations by others and seen some pamphlets also but had decided that as there didn’t seem too much else besides those particular things in each destination and that we’d probably seen the best of those types of things in Italy that we’d pass. But thanks for thinking of us especially as you are familiar with the area.

Today we set off on a round trip in the local area. We had about 5 towns to visit and didn’t expect it to take too long but as it turned out we left at 8:15am and didn’t arrive home until 4:30pm. It was another glorious day peaking at about 33 degrees, hopefully it follows us into the north.

We started the day by going to Lussan which is another town set high on the hill surrounded by a wall and had fantastic views of the surrounding area. Every where we go the bells start chiming, sometimes frightening the bejeezers out of us but it is hard to go anywhere without that happening seeing that there is at least one church in every single town, large or small.  Next stop was Montclus which according to the brochure has castle ruins with a unique keep still standing which it does. It also said that a walk through it’s narrow alleys is the best way to appreciate all the charm of the picturesque village with a note to say ‘it does not take long’ and it certainly didn’t.

From Montclus we then moved onto Cornillon, another village perched atop a rocky outcrop and is listed as a protected site. It has a wonderful view of the Ceze valley and the remains of an ancient feudal castle to roam around.  

Jane in the ruins at Cornillon

Then we headed to Goudargues which we’d seen on a postcard that looked pretty. It was also in the suggestions from our accommodation. We thought we’d probably stop there for lunch but as it turned out we were a little bit early for lunch and it seemed that the postcard showed all that Goudargues had to offer which was nice but made for a quick look around. The main street had a waterway down the centre cooled on either side by plane-trees and was quite pretty. There were a couple of restaurants that we could see but not a lot of choice. We had a coffee there and although the man didn’t speak English we managed to get what we wanted. As we were sitting outside drinking our coffee he walked past and spoke to us in French, we smiled and laughed as did he but it always amazes us that although these people know we don’t speak their language they continue to have a conversation with us. Not sure, but the same thing used to happen in Italy!! Maybe our happy smiling faces attract them.

We then decided to confuse Ruby and make a detour into Uzes for lunch as we knew it wouldn’t be too far away and as we’d been there for market day on Saturday knew what a nice place it was with lots to offer in the restaurant options. We found a place to eat, at the correct time, and sat down to a very enjoyable lunch. Kim had a jambon & fromage (ham & cheese) omelette and I had a nicoise salad which could have fed a family. We wandered around again to walk off lunch before heading to a patisserie that we visited on Saturday to pick up a little something to have with our coffee tonight.

After leaving Uzes we reset Ruby to take us to La Rogue sur Ceze. It is only accessible by foot so we parked the car and is the case with most of these villages they are on top of a hill, so up we went! Nice views once again and it also contained a medieval castle. Down the bottom is the Charles Martel bridge which is listed as an historical monument but nobody knows why it is so named. We then walked along the path to the Sautadet waterfalls which are more like cascades and documented as 5 million years old. How do they know that??? Not the best we’ve seen, especially having been to Tassie but not bad.

La Roque Sur Ceze

Back home as I said at 4:30 to relax with a drink and get ready to pack up for leaving tomorrow.  The last couple of days had been thoroughly enjoyable and have restored our faith in the area.

Au revoir, see you in La Rochelle. Hopefully with better wi-fi we can start adding some photo’s again as it has been too damned slow here to wait for them to load.

Back again as when we went to the top of the stairs (the only place to sit and use the internet) we couldn’t get on. James the owner insisted all was ok in their place and that was that. Try as I might though I couldn’t get connected so this blog is being posted late. We also told James that we were leaving a day early to which he replied ‘I’m sorry to hear that’ and followed up with ‘be sure to tell all your friends about us’. As we walked off Kim mumbled under her breath ‘don’t worry we will’. The funny thing is the first day we arrived there we asked him about Nimes and he said ‘oh Nimes is good but there are plenty of really nice towns right here in this area, we’ll sit down and have a chat’. Then he never came near us. Also when we first looked at this place and booked it we kept getting confused as they had different names for each accommodation, eg. The Rose House, The Apartment and ours which was The Bakehouse. Kim mistakenly kept calling it The Barn whenever we referred to it, that should’ve been our first sign but we are a bit slow on the uptake!

Marseille & Aix-en-Provence

Monday 26^th September, 2011

Bonjour. Well we closed the doors every time we went outside last night but that didn’t stop the bloody mossies coming in so again we spent the first half hour in bed up and down squashing them!! Very hard to sleep with the constant buzzing in your ear!!

We got up and got ready for our drive into Marseille which was about 1 hour 40 minutes away. Ruby got us there ok but it is a very large city with a lot of construction work going on and we weren’t able to turn up a lot of streets she wanted us to so I think she was getting overheated. We decided to park the car and turn her off and give her a rest. We found a spot but as usual we weren’t sure if we were allowed to park there or not but did anyway. I’m not sure why we are worried because as I think I have mentioned in Italy they park anywhere and they do the same here, on corners, blocking one way streets, basically anywhere you please.

We weren’t that impressed with Marseille especially at first glance but the very small area we found, with the help of a pharmacist was quite nice. We looked around for a couple of hours stopping for a cold drink before getting back to the car which thankfully didn’t have a ticket and we didn’t have to pay for parking for a change. Yeehah, things are looking up.

We took off for Aix-en-Provence after that which only took another half hour to get to. It was a much smaller town and we were very pleasantly surprised. As soon as we parked the car and started walking up the streets they were tree lined with lots of shops, café’s, restaurants and of course the usual monuments, etc. Just what we like. We arrived there at about 1.00pm and wandered around until 5.00pm stopping for a late lunch of a ham and cheese roll. We can’t seem to work our way into the times of eating here so trying to get something (sit down) outside of what they do is very hard. We didn’t stop to eat until about 3.00pm but the rolls (or sandwiches as it said on the menu) that we managed to get were really fresh and tasty so we were very happy with that. It also turned out to be another beautiful sunny day with a top of about  30 so we are back on track. We didn’t leave there until 5 .00pm, arriving home at about 6.30 very happy travellers.

We managed to decipher the French weather station here and it looks like it is going to stay warm for the next few days. We are going to look at some local towns tomorrow that have been recommended so hopefully we are in for another brilliant day.

Montpellier

Sunday 25^th September, 2011

Well we woke early again to some drizzle and after a shit night. People tend to leave the windows (and doors) open here so we did too and we have discovered that is because if it is warm you need to air the places out because of the smell. They have this strange lingering stuffy bad smell. But in doing this it lets all the bugs, flies, mosquito’s, etc. in so we spent the first ½ hour in bed slamming mosquito’s with our thongs before we could get to sleep. I reckon I lost count at about 20. This has not been our finest pick. The area isn’t bad although we still think we’ve chosen a little too far from some main cities and our opinion is probably a little tainted due to the fact that neither of us is feeling 100% but we are not letting it beat us. Having said that we have decided to leave here on Wednesday instead of Thursday!!

Anyway back to today, we headed off to Montpellier to have a look around which was about an hour and a quarter away. Initial thoughts weren’t great but after getting a bit lost with their one way streets and not being able to see signs clearly when someone is up your clacker, we stumbled across the historical centre which was lovely. We parked the car and walked straight up to the Royale Du Peyrou which provides the setting for the statue of Louis the 14^th, and also the Arc de Triomphe and Saint-Clement aqueduct. We then found a little café off one of the side streets so stopped for a coffee before continuing down into the town. The weather improved with each hour as the day progressed but it was quite humid. We wandered around the town for a bit more and then headed back to the café we found earlier for some lunch, quiche and salad, very nice.

Kim found a brochure in the tourist info office for an Abbey so we decided to detour to see that on the way home. It was the Abbaye de Valmagne in Villeveyrac and made for a nice break in the day. It didn’t take long for us to have a look around and we were soon on our way again. Arrived back home at 5:15 in what became a lovely sunny 29 to relax again before the next big day….won’t be opening any bloody doors or windows tonight…..au revoir.

Uzes

Saturday 24^th September, 2011

The internet isn’t as easily accessed here because of the location so we were told that we needed to go to the top garden or sit on the steps in front of their house. We were sitting outside with a drink where I was preparing the blog to send and Kim was writing postcards when the English people we met (Phil, Sharon, Neil & Amanda) came out of their accommodation opposite ours with drinks in hand to go for a wander around the property. They came back soon after and Neil wanted to use the internet so he went to the top of the stairs. I was then ready to send the blog so went up to the stairs also, we named it the Internet Café, ludicrous really having to sit in that one spot to be able to use the computer. The others were having drinks in the top garden which is pretty much at the bottom of the stairs and asked us to join them, we didn’t need to be asked twice. We had a lot of laughs about one thing or another and they were well travelled and helped us with the surrounding areas, really nice people.

This morning we got up early again to get to the Uzes market. We were told in the information book that is in our accommodation that it started at 7.30 and went til 12.00 but when we arrived there at about 8.00 to find most of them still setting up we found out that it goes all day. We stopped into a patisserie for a coffee first in the hope that by the time we finished it would all be set up and it was. Now this wasn’t like a market that is in a designated area of town, this was all over town. Just about every street had stalls set up outside shops and the shops were open as well. Everyone we spoke to said that Uzes was a lovely town and it certainly proved to be. It had a great atmosphere with buskers here and there, fresh produce, and all sorts of merchandise. We spent about 4 hours wandering around sometimes going down the same streets twice! You have to understand these towns have streets and alleyways going every which way and it is very easy to get lost. Well maybe not lost as a bit disoriented.

We left there and came back to our accommodation, there was a mix-up and we spent the first 2 nights in another part before moving to what we originally booked so we moved everything in when we got back and then took another drive up the road to a couple of towns nearby but there was nothing there.  Back within the hour to relax for the rest of the day.

Sorry guys....no photo's at the moment, internet cafe is poor!

Avignon

Friday 23^rd September, 2011

Went to bed really early last night, like at 8.30pm. Kim has had a nasty cold and I finally picked it up yesterday as well which has caught up with us a bit. So up again before the sun came up, got ready and headed into Avignon. We initially had trouble trying to find a park but eventually found one. Apparently you have to be very patient according to one of the locals for a free one and as neither of us are we went straight to a paying one cause the traffic was really building up and you have no idea what it is like driving here.

Another warm day although it did start off a little chilly. We wandered around again for a while and went in to see the Palais Des Papes. Which is the Palace of the Popes, home to the Sovereign Pontiffs in the 14^th century. On we went to the Saint-Benezet bridge which was included in the price. This was built in the 12^th century and has a small chapel which is dedicated to Saint Nicolas, the patron saint of bargemen, not bargearses as I first thought!

A few hours spent in Avignon wandering around, stopping for some lunch, crocque monsier, and then headed back to our accommodation arriving here at about 4.00. We had a chat with the guy in the accommodation next door to ours who is from Devon and he gave us some points of interest to look at while we are here. Some other people came home to their accommodation opposite ours who are from Dover. They also gave us heaps of tips for the area. They stopped and chatted for a while and were really lovely. They all leave here tomorrow but it was good to get some information from people that speak English. We were a little disheartened with the distance we seem to be from everything but now feel a bit better that we know there is more, relatively close to check out.  We are heading into Uzes tomorrow morning for their market and apparently it is a really nice town also so we will stay there for a while and probably have lunch at the restaurant recommended by the poms.

Provence, France

Thursday 22^nd September 2011

Oh gee, got up just before 7.00am this morning to open the shutters to a beautiful sunrise. What could be better than that… Left at about 8.30ish after having breakfast to head to our next week long accommodation. We crossed the border from Italy to France with just a sign at the side of the road, I’m not sure what we expected but somehow were thought there’d be a little more fanfare than that! Oh well, ooh lah lah, we are now in the land of the Frenchie. We noticed there are a lot more speed signs than we ever saw in Italy and thought that they are obviously not as mad on the roads here so we took heed.

It was a long 4 hour journey to our final destination which is a private estate near Bagnols Sur Ceze in what seems to be wine country as there are vineyards all around. For the Victorian readers a bit like the Yarra Valley. As we had entered the destination into Ruby, we have since found out that she seemed to have taken us through the arse end of the world.  What we mean by that is it seemed like a long way from anything and she took us through a couple of little villages that you could shoot a cannon down and not hit anyone as they seemed to be deserted. This could have been because of their odd hours of trading and they might have been having a siesta as it was around lunch time (our lunch time that is). Anyway we were starting to wonder what we’d done because although we don’t like to stay in the big cities we thought we might have been too far out.

As it turns out the nearest town is only 10 kilometres away but as Ruby had taken the scenic route we didn’t see it earlier. Also Avignon, a main town is only 45 minutes away with lots of other little towns apparently worth a visit very near by. The place itself is very nice but there was a mix up with the booking and we are in different accommodation (smaller) at the moment to what we will be moving into on Saturday. We like to spread ourselves out.

The weather again today has been sensational, probably high 20’s again but when arriving here a little windy. That is good be because we had a bit of washing to catch up on, can’t get away from the chores. Will have an early night ready for a big day tomorrow.

Sanremo

Wednesday 21^st September, 2011

Another early start, you must all be sick of hearing that! Up at six again and went up for breakfast at 7.00am. Packed up the car and headed off just before 8.00am. We booked a room at the Hotel Miramare Continental Palace in Sanremo, Italy for tonight as a stopover before heading into France. It was a 3 hour trip with a couple of Autogrill stops along the way. We have never been through so many tunnels in our lives. One after the other, after the other with little villages dotted right throughout the region. The tunnels they have going through the mountains shorten what would otherwise be a very lengthy trip going around them.

We left the Autostrada as instructed by Ruby and started winding our way down the hill to see what is a larger town than we expected and again appears to be quite exclusive. Kim spotted the hotel very quickly so in we pulled to a four storey grand old hotel. We checked in and was told our room would be ready in 10 minutes so we wandered out the back to have a quick look around. The grounds overlooking the water are lovely with palm trees, hibiscus, gazebo’s and lounge chairs. Once again luck is with us in picking a great spot, sight unseen. The hotel proprietor came along and told us he had put us in a seaview room instead of the economy that we had booked. We think it is because we are Aussies and he has a son that lives in QLD. We had a good laugh with him and the porter because they asked if we had any luggage to which we responded ‘lots’. He replied ‘the room is not so big, either you in and luggage out or luggage in and you out’. We gave them our two biggest bags and they took them and us to our room, that’s a first. We’re used to carrying our own luggage around! We thought we’d check out the room and then head down later for the rest of our stuff. The room was fine with enough room for everything, us included!

As we arrived early we decided to take a look around town and have the mandatory gelato for lunch. After an hour or so of that we are now lounging under a gazebo in what is probably about 28 degrees, clear blue sunny skies and once again wondering what the poor people are doing? Oh, maybe we’ll take a walk along the promenade, catch you later.

Back again, we walked along the promenade a little and stumbled across a little bar. Good idea. Back we go for some money and in for a drink. That’s easier said than done though cause all we wanted was a vodka but trying to get it with a mixer isn’t easy. They have cans of lemon soda which we can usually get them to add to the vodka but if they don’t speak English very well that can be quite hard as we found out this afternoon. They also have flavoured vodka here so we always have trouble. Sure enough out comes this little shot glass with this very potent lemon flavoured vodka. The few people that were in the bar all seem to follow where they were being taken to so it obviously wasn’t the done thing and this at 3.00 in the afternoon. We downed that and then ordered a lemon soda and followed it up with that. Back into the room at 4:30 and relaxing again before we go and look at some more shops before having dinner. Trading hours here are very hard to get used to as is eating late but we’re managing! They shut from early afternoon for a couple of hours (siesta time I think) and usually re-open at about 4:00pm until 8:00pm and then they eat. I say usually cause some shops stay open and sometimes the hours seem to change a bit so it can vary but as Mirco from our last place used to tell us, ‘relax, you’re in Italy’. Says it all really.

Kim with vodka shot

Back from shopping again and dinner. Had trouble trying to find somewhere for dinner as there are more Pizzeria’s than anything else and we didn’t feel like pizza or pasta again. Obviously we are very spoilt for choice in Australia and although we have enjoyed the pizza and pasta we wanted something else. We chose somewhere just down the road but as it turned out it wasn’t our best choice especially for our last night in Italy. It was a shame because it is such a lovely place. Near the end of our meal an argument started between someone from a group of people leaving the restaurant and the waiter. We had no idea what it was about because we couldn’t understand a word but they were very loud and animated. There was only us and a couple of old ladies from Munich left at the restaurant and one of them spoke a bit of English so she filled us in. A little something to amuse us for a little while.

View of Hotel

View from our room

After 2 ½ weeks of trying to communicate in Italian and just when we think we’ve got it down pat we will be leaving for France tomorrow so it is Ciao for now, arrivederci. Stay tuned for how we go in French.

Lake Como

Tuesday 20th September, 2011

Woke early again, 6:00am!! Hotels are a pain in that they have air conditioning and when we checked in here at the Hotel  Capolago were given strict instruction not to touch the control. So we didn’t but I woke all stuffed up and Kim with a sore throat. They did say though if we wanted to adjust it to call reception so tonight we have asked that they turn it off and hopefully we will wake feeling better although having been out in the fresh air all day we already do.

Today was another great day.  A little bit chilly first thing but after going upstairs for breakfast we headed off to Como and as the day went on the temperature increased. Clear blue skies and about 27 degrees… perfect, who could ask for more, certainly not us. Ruby got us to Como with no problems although it took just over an hour to make the 38 kilometres which included 19 roundabouts. They’re big on roundabouts here and when you get on them it always reminds me of dodgem cars and he who hesitates is lost so on we get and go, go, go. The traffic was really busy also and then add the very narrow, I mean very narrow winding roads and that’s why it took so long. As we entered the top end of Como we weren’t that impressed but as we got closer to the centre and lakeside we soon changed our opinion. Another spectacular place….full of wonderful little laneways, restaurants, little shops, big shops (eg. Armani, Cartier, Gucci, etc). We wandered around for a bit and then spotted a Funicular so thought what better way to get an overall view of the town so up we went. There was another little town up there and as expected the views overlooking Como and the lake were stunning. We then had to go back to the car to top up the parking before having another delicious gelato (no we don’t have them every day but I could) and then we headed off on a boat trip to Bellagio. They had two options: the fast boat and the slow boat, one taking one hour and the other 2 hours so as we were time poor we took the fast one. It stopped at Moltrasio, Argegno, Lenno, Tremezzo & Menaggio before we got off at Bellagio. There are many, many more little towns dotted all over the lake that they stop at and probably some that they don’t but they all look magnificent. The main one’s that I believe tourists stop at are Managgio, Bellagio & Varenna and Bellagio was recommended to us so that was how we made our choice. Great recommendation, we wandered the streets again through all the laneways and back streets before heading back to the boat for the hour long trip again. The camera cannot capture how exquisitely beautiful these places are and nor do my descriptions, they really do have to be seen.

View from top overlooking Como

Another town around Lake Como

We went to purchase our return ticket and stood behind an American man who was wanting to change his ticket from the 5.00pm boat to the earlier 3:30pm. The guy at the ticket office said you want this one pointing to the boat pulling into the dock to which he stood back umming and aahing. Kim then said ‘Well that’s the one we want, if you hurry up’ to which he replied ‘Easy’!! Finally when he left we bought our ticket and as it turned out just sidled into the queue which in reality as we realised later was actually pushing in. No one seemed to say anything but we did get a bit confused when suddenly we noticed that they stopped letting anyone on after the couple behind us boarded. We couldn’t understand why when the boat still seemed quite empty. The funniest thing though was when the boat started to leave the dock, we saw our unhappy American friend who told us ‘easy’, standing on the dock waving his arms about abusing anyone in sight. We were in hysterics. As it turned out the last couple behind us were from New Zealand so we chatted with them for a while on the way back. Also when the boat was getting ready to let some more people off a really old guy came over and turned to Kim and asked where she was from to which she replied Melbourne. He said ‘yeah, but where’ like we’d already had a conversation with him and established that. She said Aspendale to which he replied so was he and reeled off his address saying I’ll see you at the Bridge Hotel some time. We can only guess that at some point he had heard our conversation with the Kiwi’s when we were talking about being from Melbourne.

Got back to Como at about 4:45pm so headed back to the car for the trip home. This took us about an hour and a half this time due to some Ruby issues that sometimes come up. Sometimes she tells us to go straight through a roundabout, sometimes she doesn’t mention them at all and sometimes she tells us the first exit but means the second exit and so on so every now and then she does lead us up the garden path so to speak. I’m not sure if roads have been updated that she’s no aware of or not but tonight was one of those nights. In any case we got home safely but starving as we’d only had the gelato since breakfast so we went straight into town to get some pasta before heading back the hotel for a cuppa. Fabulous day.

We are heading down to San Remo tomorrow before heading to our next week long accommodation in Provence, France. Can’t wait to settle somewhere for a week again, this in and out of hotels can be a pain but if that’s the only problems we’re doing great.

Haven’t mentioned before but there are a lot of beggars over here, always strategically placed where you would be paying for something with a cup in their hand for you to throw some coins their way.

Verona, Lazise & Varese

Monday 19^th September 2011

Yesterday was meant to be cloudy and a bit cooler but as it turned out for most of the day it was still quite warm, about 27. We’ve pretty much had 30’s and over every day for the last 2 weeks, that was until last night (or this morning) however when I woke at 2.30am to hear it pouring outside. The first sign of bad weather we’ve had. Got up early as usual but by the time we packed up to leave Padova it was about 9:00am with it still raining outside.

Firstly we headed to Verona which was a really lovely town and the weather started to clear as we got closer which we were very happy about.  It is the town where Shakespeare set Romeo & Juliet. I was really looking forward to seeing Verona, maybe because of something I’d read, and we weren’t disappointed. We both agreed it was one of our favourites. We stopped for a couple of hours and wandered around the streets, stopping at various points of interests among them a Roman Ampitheatre (a 1^st century pink & white amphitheatre known as The Arena and the 3^rd largest), Porta Leoni (one of the city’s Roman gates), Castelvecchio (an old castle and bridge) and of course Casa Di Giulietta (Juliet’s House).  Legend has it that rubbing the right breast of Juliet’s statue will bring you a new lover.  Needless to say even though neither Kim nor I are that way inclined we nearly knocked her over trying to do just that!! Here’s hoping. In the Piazza delle Erbe, a large piazza containing market stalls is was surrounded by palaces, where there were frescoes on the walls. Very charming city and we were sorry we didn’t have more time.

Jane testing if the legend works!

Next we set off for Lake Garda and from the map we chose a little town on the outskirts to view it from which was Lazise. A great choice, another walled town with quaint little streets and alleyways everywhere.  It was very windy there but not cold and we were surprised how many people were rugged up like it was winter whilst Kim and I were walking around in tshirts. We wandered around again for another couple of hours  browsing the shops and then sat down at the lakefront and had a cappuccino and tiramisu. Yum.

Lake Garda from Lazise

Off we went again to our final destination for today, Varese. We arrived at about 4:30pm after a busy day ready to relax for what will probably be another big day tomorrow when we visit Lake Como and try and track down George (Clooney).

A little summary of our trip so far…

1.      We finally mastered how to work the ipod in the car, new car, strange controls, what can I say! Now have a bit of Jimmy for company on the long trips.

2.     Directions from Italian’s – For example today we were told to go right when the man was pointing left. This has happened a lot, so we have learnt to go in the direction they point and not the direction they say.

3.     The Italian’s have their Autostrada down pat. If you are slow you stay in the far right lane, medium pace the middle lane and crazy stupid in the inside lane. We are now in the middle lane with spurts here and there in the crazy stupid lane, blending right in with the locals, which includes joining them at the Autogrills for snacks.

4.      There are dogs everywhere (on leads). You never hear them bark much and they pretty much ignore you when you pass but they are in the hotels, in the bars, in the shops and even in the restaurants and no one seems to mind. There isn’t a lot of poo around either so they obviously clean up after them.

5.   We learn a little something new everyday for example to find the information office and get a map of the town we are visiting before heading off on our own!

By the way it looks like it is going to be clear again for the rest of the week, yeehah.

Kim at one of the infamous Autogrills!!

P. S. Thanks to everyone who has made a comment, they are very much appreciated. Glad you are enjoying our trip with us.

Venice

Sunday 18^th September 2011

We got up at 7.00am yesterday to get ready to leave Bocca di Magra and for our 4 hour journey to Padova. We stopped at an autogrill for a cold drink along the way and arrived here at about midday. We took all our stuff, which seems to be increasing, up to our room and then decided to take what we were told was a 10 minute drive to Brenta Riviera which contains heaps of Venetian Villa’s that are apparently beautiful. Well that was a mistake, Ruby got a bit confused and when she didn’t get us where we wanted to be we turned her off and tried using the signs as a guide, once again we were let down. They have signs to places and then all of a sudden they don’t give you anything and there are roads going every which way. When we then got lost using those we tried to turn Ruby back on to get us home but we couldn’t get her going at all. Eventually we managed to find our way back to the hotel which I think was pure luck. We’d left at 2.00 but didn’t get back until 3:45 so that was a long 10 minutes where we didn’t get to see much at all because we were too busy trying to concentrate on signs. Anyway it gave us a chance to rest and catch up on some stuff and look for our next accommodation, etc. After trying for a while to get Ruby going again Kim remembered a little trick to reset her and all is good again. We ordered in room service which was hard enough to get for one reason or another and then it arrived and it was cold. Not our best day but we’re not complaining, we’re in Italy.

Woke early again, out of habit now I think but wanted to get an early start anyway to head into Venice. By the time we got ready and went down for breakfast we walked to the station to get the 8.36am only to find the trains were on strike. They have normal slow trains and they have fast trains and it was the slow trains that were on strike so luckily we were still able to get there. The fast train, which was about 3 times the price, didn’t leave until 9.00am so we arrived at 9.30am and hit the ground running. We wandered through the streets of Venice looking in the shops and at all the sights until about 3.30pm and only stopped once to sit down to view our map. We were pretty exhausted by this time and hungry to boot so we found a little Pizzeria on the way back to the station to have something to eat. We then caught the 4:50pm back and was back in our room by 5:30pm.

Florence Cooking Class

Friday 16^th September, 2011

Here we go again….up at 5.00am for the big trip into Firenze (Florence) for our cooking class. Ruby got us to the train station ok and off we went for the 2 ¼ hour train trip. Arrived in time and set off to the meeting point. Unfortunately our inner GPS’s are not as good as Ruby! The positive from that is that we are getting plenty of exercise. We still managed to get there right on the dot and as it turned out were not the last….a loud mouth Cuban American and her husband were.

As soon as we got to Villa Pandolfini we were into it. The menu we were preparing consisted of Brodo, Risotto Zucchini & Zafferano, Ravioli Ricotta & Spinach Al Burro & Salvia, Pollo All’Etrusca, Flan Patate Etartufo, Panna Cotta Con Salsa Di Fragole & Aceto Balsamico which translates to very very yummy. Basically there was a vegetable broth to be used for the Risotto (Zucchini & Saffron), Ravioli that we made the pasta for, Chicken dish with onion, olives, etc. with a potato flan which contained truffles and Panna Cotta with strawberry sauce. As an added bonus our chef Mauritzio thought we’d also do some bruschetta for an appertiser which wasn’t on the menu. We did the traditional with tomato & basil and another with zucchini & parmesan. Sensational. We had a great day and were laughing heaps with Mauritzio. Every dish was delicious with the exception of the Potato Flan which contained truffle. Now I know it is very expensive and I am usually keen to try most things but I surely don’t know what all the fuss is. It had, to me, a disgusting taste which very nearly came up as quickly as it went down, I should’ve known from the smell! My apologies to anyone who has a taste for them but quite frankly they can leave those suckers in the ground!! The American’s were a pain in every one’s arse, always telling us how they do things, etc. etc. We didn’t let it spoil our day though and as there were only them and us it was a small group and we were thankful for that. I was drinking wine which most of you will know I don’t usually drink but I found it quite nice. I think it was the whole atmosphere of cooking in Florence and with Italian music playing in the background, a wonderful experience. We finished an hour later than the course said, I think because he kept getting us a drink. He went and got Kim and I some Vin Santo wine and was making us (twisted our arms!!) try that as well. 

We got our ride back into Firenze to have a look around and do some shopping. We went down to Ponte Vecchio where there are a heap of jewellery shops that just dazzle. We shopped around and looked at the sights a bit more but knew we had to keep an eye on the time for we knew the train we had to get was at 6:53pm and it was a 2+ hour journey home. We finally found our way to where the Statue of David was that Kim was very keen to see but didn’t have a lot of time left at this stage. We walked into the entrance and stood there a little confused as there were scanning devices like at the airport. A man who could obviously see our confusion came over to tell us to put our bags through and walk through ourselves. Before we went through Kim then said to the man ‘We don’t want to miss our train, how far in is David?’ to which he replied ‘just around the corner’. He also told us it was a 10 euro entrance fee but as I wasn’t that fussed in seeing him and as Kim and I had already discussed that, she started handing me her bags to hold and  then said ‘I’ll just duck in and get a photo’ to which he quickly responded ‘no no no, no photo’s in museums’ to which Kim responded ‘then I won’t bother going in then’. It was all quite funny at the time in our rush and we just left him standing there open mouthed. We managed to get back to the train station and after much confusion with their signage finally got the right one. Unfortunately for us though it stopped somewhere through the trip and sat for about 20 – 30 mins. Everyone starting moaning, in Italian, to which we had no idea what was going on. A guy could see this and said they have turned off the airconditioner. Boy they carry on when that happens!! We’re not sure then why it just sat there for that long but it made for very long day in the end, home at 9:45. Whew!! No dinner required for obvious reasons so it was a cuppa and a little bit of tidy up and packing ready to leave Bocca Di Magra in the morning. We are going to miss this lovely little town as well as Mirco & Paola who have been so helpful. We didn’t have any accommodation booked until next Thursday so will be booking as we go from now until then. For the next 2 nights we have decided to stay in Padova near Venice and found a hotel, Best Western Premier Hotel Padova Galileo Wellness Spa very cheap on the internet and from there we can catch the train into Venice. 

Siena & San Gimignano

Thursday 15^th September, 2011

Started the day early again by heading off to Siena at 8.00am for the 2 hour drive. Something didn’t agree with me yesterday though and I spent a lot of the night on the loo. Luckily whatever it was had gone by the time we got to Siena because as I think I’ve mentioned before there never seem to be many public toilets around. Makes it a bit difficult at times! A little bit weary as was Kim cause every time I got up she woke up as well. We arrived in Siena, found a park and walked into the town centre. We wandered around town for a bit but we have to say we weren’t as impressed with Siena as we have been with other towns.

We wandered into Il Campo which is a huge piazza with an assortment of restaurants on the outskirts and that contained a building with a rather high tower. We’re actually not sure of what the building was but I said to Kim that I thought we should climb it to get the benefit of the view of the surrounding area. Off we went to stand in queue and by listening to others found out that you paid when you got up to the first bit. We also found out that they wait until everyone is down from the previous one before letting the next lot up. There is nobody at the bottom of the steps but a sign telling you when to enter or when to stop.  The line started moving so off we went but I didn’t count on them being quite so small and narrow and claustrophobia set in!! I quickly called Kim back who was ahead of me and said I couldn’t do it much to the dismay of the people behind me that I was trying to push out of my way. Maybe because there was a sign warning people with claustrophobia, breathing problems, etc. etc. that they shouldn’t do it. Should’ve read that first!

We walked off and I was feeling really disappointed in myself that I couldn’t do it but after walking around a little more and with much discussion we decided to head back and if the queue wasn’t too bad we’d give it another go. There weren’t many in the queue so in we got. Finally it came time for them to let some more in and it was agreed that Kim would follow me and slow people up a bit so I had some breathing space and didn’t feel too crowded. This worked and the steps got bigger toward the top of the first bit so it was easier. Then we paid the 8 euro each and threw our bags into a locker as you weren’t allowed to take them with you and headed on. We got to a landing that had a couple of stairs leading up and not a very good view. To my dismay there was another doorway to the left that had more steps, I think even smaller than the first and the tower was huge. Kim went in to check it out and said she’d probably struggle on those one’s as well but that was probably just to make me feel better. Anyway we thought well we’ve blown that money and headed back to the locker where we told them we couldn’t do it. The man told us it was only about the first 25 steps that were narrow and then they got bigger. We discussed it some more and decided to give it a go. There was another couple heading up at the same time and the woman was a little bit funny with it also but was very encouraging. I kept my head down and just marched up with Kim following and we eventually managed to make it all the way to the top to see the most stunning views of Siena and Tuscany countryside.

Next stop was San Gimignano which is another walled city. On the way there we passed through more Tuscan countryside which is everything everyone says it is. We wandered through the streets again and took many photo’s and after buying a couple of things headed back home.  We felt that San Gimignano had a real vibe and more atmostphere than Siena, but each to their own.

We managed to fill another full day because by the time we arrived back home it was 6.30pm. Paola was out the front and greeted us as we pulled in. We were starving hungry so we walked down to get a pizza and when we got back Mirco was lying on his roof and called out that he had something for us to try. He came out with some homemade bread, which is fried. Sounds disgusting but it was really light and tasted great. We wandered up after dinner to pay them up and spent a while up there chatting and having a good old laugh.

Getting ready now for another big day tomorrow…..cooking class in Firenze. Ciao for now.

Siena - Tower accomplished!

View from top of tower

Another view from top overlooking piazza

Boat trip to Portovenere

Wednesday 14^th September 2011

After arriving home at 10.45 last night with a bag of home grown tomatoes from Mirco & Paola and a note at the door saying that the boat trip was on for 10:00am we were relieved to know we could sleep in a bit. Ah no…thanks to Caz we were awoken by the phone at 6:38am!! Oh well another early start.

We set off in what was going to be another beautiful day for the meeting place which the 4 Estonians in the apartment at the front were also doing. We went across the road and about 20 metres further down the road to the boat fuelling depot where we thought we had to meet the boat. The guy that works there, who doesn’t speak any English told us that we should be another couple of hundred metres up the road a bit. Doubting our instructions from Mirco we head as told further up and whilst up there trying to figure out where we should be one of the Estonian women had come up asking if we were on the boat cruise and that we should be back at the petrol depot where we originally started. The irony in that was she spoke very little English herself but managed to work it out and find the dumb Australian’s who had obviously gone astray!!

By the time we walked back to the depot the boat was waiting so on we hopped. Rino was our captain and didn’t speak English. You get that a lot here. There was another woman already on the boat, Gabrielle, and when we asked if she spoke English she replied a little. Now as is the case with Gabrielle we are finding that when they say a little they are very helpful but when they think they know English they don’t seem to be of much help at all. I think we had a won a friend in Gabrielle because she kept us informed of points of interest throughout the trip. She asked us where we were from and when we told her she said ‘aah Oustralian’s’. Some of the towns we passed we had been to by car but were able to see them in a different perspective. We stopped at Portovenere and had 2 hours there to roam the streets. On the way up to another Church I tripped up the step and Kim said she could hear every part of my body hit the marble steps. I can tell you marble is hard and I certainly felt every part of me hit them!! I was taking a photo and when I turned to continue up I must’ve been right on a step because over I went but just as I thought I’d corrected myself down I went again. I grazed my leg a bit but it wasn’t too bad. Once again we meandered through the tiny little laneways and shopped and then stopped for a gelati. We haven’t had one everyday but we have had a few and they are yummy.

We got to the jetty a little bit early and had a conversation with Rino, once again he with no English and us with no Italian but strange as it may seem we were communicating. Whilst standing there with him waiting for the others we saw the best looking Italian guy we’ve seen so far. Kim and I both had to pick our jaws up off the ground but unfortunately he soon left to take some people on a tour. We boarded the boat which took us around some more inlets and stopped at one for lunch and a swim. We both had a pasta, Kim a fresh tomato sauce, me with a pesto sauce. Very, very tasty, we’ve decided you don’t need to overload with heaps of ingredients and hopefully we will learn that in our Italian cooking class on Friday.  The boat then pulled into shore where we waded into the water to board her again.  We cruised around an island, Palmaria before heading off for home which we arrived at about 5:00pm. This was all for the princely sum of 30euro which we couldn’t have asked for more, a fabulous day relaxing for a change with no driving.

Whilst writing this having a vodka and salada snack (due to big lunch) we are hearing the bells in the background from the local church which play the most beautiful little tune. What are you all doing?

P. S. Sorry about the delay with the blogs but we were internet down over the last couple of days, we didn’t know that when that happened we should go out to the fuse box and flick the switch! Another case of stupid Australian’s although I believe the Estonian’s fell for it as well.

Kim with fisherman!

Lunch

Portovenere

Kim, Rino & Jane

Carrera, Pisa & Lucca

Tuesday 13^th September 2011

Well we didn’t do the boat trip today but we headed off for some sightseeing instead. Didn’t leave until 9.30am but that doesn’t mean we slept in, we never seem to manage to sleep after 7.00am at the latest!! We didn’t take the toll ways today so that we could check out each town on our way. First stop was Carrera which was a lovely little town. Kim was having trouble with her card in the ATM’s so when we passed a big bank we decided to pop in. We walked inside to see all these seats and was then shown by a local how to take a ticket. Our number was 63 and when we looked up they were only serving number 42, but we thought that might be ok, they’ll get through them quickly. Boy were we wrong, only two tellers and as slow as a wet week. So after about a 45 minute wait we finally got our number called only to find the teller didn’t speak English and wouldn’t help us except to just keep pointing down the road to another bank so we decided not to waste any more time with that and we’d try again another day!! We browsed through some shops and then headed back to the car because we only had parking for 2 hours and had already wasted almost an hour in the bank. We wanted to get a photo of us together so near a fountain were about 6 elderly gentlemen on a park bench. We asked if one would mind taking a photo of us, us speaking English and them in Italian so a little bit of charades came into play, when 5 of them all pointed to this one poor man. I guess he drew the short straw!! He seemed happy enough though cause he led us around to the front of the fountain obviously thinking that would be more picturesque.

Jane & Kim - Fountain in Carrera

Next we passed through Viareggio and I say passed through because it didn’t seem very nice. We also passed through some smaller towns but didn’t stop as we were headed for Pisa which is a larger town and we know how hard it is to find parking even though they park every which way and on corners and basically anywhere you can find a spot. We are a bit more reluctant to do that though so we generally park on the outskirts but try and get as close to the action as we can. As it turned out we found a good spot and when we got out of the car we were given instructions into the main area by an English couple having their lunch on a park bench. Off we went along the river and before we knew it we’d walked out into a big square and there was the leaning tower. Hate using the word but it is very surreal to be standing in front of these famous landmarks we’ve only ever heard or read about. To go into the cathedral I had to put a poncho type thing on to cover my shoulders as I was wearing a singlet. What is it about the church and not showing your shoulders! We stayed there for a little while and after wandering through the streets we decided to head off to Lucca. We got back in the car and set Ruby up to get us there. Off we went and suddenly found ourselves in a huge empty square (piazza) with about 4 or 5 streets running off it. So after driving around it a couple of times we drove down a street under Ruby’s instructions only to find it wasn’t right. Now we were already laughing about driving around the piazza in circles but when we darted back into it again we were in more hysterics. We took another exit only to find ourselves in what seemed like a pedestrian shopping/restaurant area. I managed to do a u turn in the middle of it and we found ourselves back in the piazza. At this point it was starting to remind us of a scene from a movie. I’m sure if the same people were wandering in the piazza each time they would’ve thought what the hell are these two girls doing!!

Jane in Cathedral covering up shoulders!!

Leaning Tower, obviously & Cathedral

Anyway we saw a car, followed it and finally managed to get out and off to Lucca. We arrived there at about 4.45pm and found a car park easily. As we were getting our parking ticket there was also an old couple getting theirs. The woman noticed the time on ours and said ‘Aren’t you staying for the procession?’ to which we replied ‘what procession?’ They explained it to us and said something about candles and flags to which we still weren’t sure but thanked them and went on our way. Lucca is a walled city and as we’d parked just inside the wall it was only a short walk to the centre.  Early on Kim noticed a bank so decided to try her card again. It worked, yay. We wandered the many streets and be mindful that when we say streets they are basically just laneways with barely enough room to fit 2 cars but are good for strolling down. There were lots of shops to browse, which we did and then I noticed on one building face all these candles in candle holders all along the walls and round the doorways and windows. We then looked around and they were everywhere. We kept going when Kim noticed the bank that I needed so all going well so far. We kept going intent on finding another piazza of some significance (they’re everywhere) when we saw a little restaurant that looked good. We decided then that maybe we should come back there for dinner and perhaps stay for the procession as there was a real buzz starting around town. We looked around a bit more and then found the restaurant and sat down for dinner at about 6.00pm which is very early by their standards here. We both had a delicious scallopini with salad and some lemoncino (drink). We waited around for dark and for the procession to start which is once a year, how lucky were we to stumble across this, and is in celebration of Saint Croce I think. They come down with flags that had different places on them and the only one for Australia was Melbourne so we were pretty pleased with that. Kim got so excited she jumped into the procession to take a photo of it. They are followed by priests, nuns, fireman, police, a marching band and allsorts. It was a beautiful sight with all the buildings lit up with candles and we were glad we stayed. Until that was when it came time to leave a little bit before the procession finished as it was getting late…..we weren’t sure after twisting and turning through all the streets which direction the car was in and it was now after 9.00pm and dark. Take note: the whole town was only lit by candles so we couldn’t read the map!!

Melbourne Flag

Candlelights  in Lucca

I thought I had an idea but apparently my inner GPS isn’t working! We asked a few people for help but every street they took us down we ran right back into the procession….this wasn’t looking good. We got to where we thought it would be but alas no car. Kim had the idea to walk the wall and at least then we could see it as all we knew was we parked just inside of the wall. Some more helpful people confirmed this so off we set. Now I have to do some investigation on how long this wall is but I swear we must’ve almost done a whole lap when finally we spotted Cindy (the Citroen). We couldn’t have been happier. We arrived home at 10:45 tired and with sore legs and it was a very long day but we’d had a great day getting out walking the streets and getting amongst it.