Tuscany

While we have broadband access at our Tuscan farm we thought we'd keep you up to date with our goings on... Oh wow (to quote Delwyn!) - Tuscany is even better than she expected and Lyn and Meryl are loving being back in this part of the world! We started the day at a hill-top medieval fortress village, sipping on lattes and just taking in the atmosphere of the local village without the clutter of tourists. We didn't want to leave! We eventually moved on to San Gimignano where we wandered around cobbled streets checking out the Italian handbags, then enjoyed a lunch of panini or bruchetta. We then drove thru more narrow winding roads in our large rental chariot! to Volterra (both medieval fortress villages), where we enjoyed our daily gelato (3 flavours). Tonight we have had pasta (& a little vino) in the local pizzeria - bellisimo!

Happy birthday wishes go out to Clint (moving into the naughty 40s) and Levi ... and may we say we didn't forget your birthdays - we toasted them (for Clint in amazing Santorini, and Levi's from historic & fascinating Ephesus). We hope you both had great days and that you got our text messages via mum. We didn't have any email access at the time....! yeh that's so true!!

And happy birthday to Jake for tomorrow (30th) - we will be celebrating it from the lovely Florence, and awesome Cinque Terre later in the day.

From our villa in Tuscany...

Before we gush about our current location... we thought we should recap on the cruise... We finished the cruise this morning. Its been a great experience for us, very luxurious, delicious food, and amazing destinations. In Athens we did a walking tour of incidental buildings and parks, then created our own personal tour to the Acropolis (good for our fitness levels climbing climbing climbing), amazing ruins overlooking the city... Ephesus was amazing from a historic and Christian perspective, walking over the cobbled streets that Paul frequented... Our final day was spent on the Amalfi coast in weather that set it off to perfection. We wandered around Sorrento, took a motor launch to Amalfi town along the coast, and sampled some tasty Italian cuisine... But our favourite location definitely goes to Santorini Island, and especially picture-postcard Oia. We enjoyed having lunch over-looking the striking white-washed buildings with blue shutters, with sweeping views over the azure blue seas of the Mediterranean. The bells have just chimed 9pm in our village nestled in Tuscan countryside. We're staying on a working farm complete with buildings many centuries old. There's ambience spilling out of every corner (or every orafice, in the words of Lyn!)... We arrived here late afternoon, having driven from Rome - Lyn was very impressive at handling the left-hand drive wagon that we were upgraded to! The biggest challenge was getting out of the car park building! Once we arrived here in Tuscany we wandered around the farm and into the village to sample the local gelato, as is our custom, then drove into the ancient hill-top town of Siena, and meandered around its cobbled streets. We're looking forward to exploring Florence and some of the Tuscan countryside tomorrow.

Cruising the Greek Islands

Today's post is coming to you from beautiful Santorini Island, and we are currently in the village of Oia. Internet access has been very expensive on the ship, hence the silence from us - and we have been a little distracted with the beauty of the Greek Islands, and a little bit of drama on the high seas.. Lyn came down with a stomach bug so we all had one day in isolation in our stateroom, and Lyn unfortunately had a second day confined as well! We made the best of it with room service and great views from our balcony which are stunning. Time is short today but suffice to say we are well (now) and living the dream in the Greek Islands! We crammed onto a bus that was packed to the gunnels to get to Oia today but the views are worth it!! We've been to Athens, Messina, Ephesus, Mykonos (seen from our balcony!) - all varied and interesting. Rhodes yesterday was Meryl's favourite day so far - our first swim in the sea - aahh, Lyn described it as swimmming in satin!!?! Lotsa love from us

ROME

when in Rome .... we did as the Romans did (well, some of it anyway)! Yesterday we left Venice in the pouring rain - getting the water bus with crowds of others with the rain driving in (see, travel is NO fun....)!?* The train ride took about 4 hours through Tuscan scenery and as we got closer to Rome, the sun began to shine and the weather got hotter. By the time we were navigating the metro and making our way to our B&B the weather was pretty darn warm, and today it has been up to 27 degrees. After we had dumped our bags, we set out for the Coloseum which looked pretty amazing and wandered around a bit before looking for authentic pizza pasta restaurant (they are getting a bit touristy over this way these days and going for the cheap packet pasta so you have to beware - gutting!!!) We got a good one tho and enjoyed some marghuerita pizza, parma ham & gnocchi ... with a little wine for our stomachs sake looking out over the coloseum! While there the sky opened and poured with rain, even with a little thunder & lightening. Had a great day going to all the local attractions including Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, St Peter's Basilica, 3 flavours of ice cream! ... Piazza Navone, the Pantheon and its cute piazza (where we did the unforgiveable and had some mcdonalds! - gave us good fuel to keep going a little longer!), and then back to the Colosseum and The Forum. However when we got there it was almost closing time so will go back in the morning. Tomorrow afternoon we make our way to the ship - apparently an hour's train ride - so very exciting! Next report will be from the luxury of our ship 'Solstice'. We're glad to be back at our BandB resting our feet and eating a bit of take-out pizza!! Hope you are all doing well! xxx

Venice!!!!

Oh my gosh!!!! We have so LOVED our day in Venice today (not that the rest hasn't been fabulous as well you understand but ... Venice is ambience plus plus!!). We got the t-shirt ... and the Italian bags! Started the day with breakfast at our hotel. Our hotel manager told us to get lost in Venice so we did that with gusto wandering around the little lanes and alleys, sipping lattes in piazzas, buying Italian bags & t-shirts, and a wee bit of venezian glass. Had gelato (a daily must while in Italy) - different flavours every day, enjoyed the famous St Mark's square with its oodles of tourists and even more pigeons (which had Lyn running for cover & provided hysterics for the rest of us). Parted with more euro than you can believe eating pizza & pasta alongside a canal, sipping hot chocolates ($26 NZ) sitting looking out over the grand canal. Meryl is proving to be an absolute star in the navigation role getting us from place to place in ways that leave Delwyn & Lyn shaking their heads in awe. Thanks Meryl! Flagged the idea of a gondola ride at 100 euro a pop. I know, cheapskates us!! Better things to spend our money on like hand bags and jewellery! ... and food!!!!! Felt reluctant to leave the ambience of Venice for our hotel, but sleep must be had for these intrepid travellers!!! Leave for Rome tomorrow midday so will get the water bus back to the station (half an hour along the grand canal).

INNSBRUCK

We had a great train trip from Vienna to Innsbruck after walking with our bags at least half an hour to the train! Some coped better than others. Loved the scenery with CUTE CUTE AW CUTE being the catchphrase of the day. Delwyn outdid everyone with the photo count and we nearlz had to prize the camera off her to have lunch. We had a nice wander around Innsbruck when we got here late afternoon and the mountains rise up from the town in spectacular fashion. Todaz we have been in to the Imperial Palace for a wander around a couple of their rooms which were magnificent. It is raining today and a bit cooler. We are about to head to the train station for our trip to Venice which will take 3 or 4 hours. Tonight dinner alongside a Venice canal!!! Happy birthday Logan for the 15th. Hope you have an awesome day.

Vienna

We have trod the majestic streets of Vienna and had our cameras very busy. Everything is very grand here and dates back to a bygone era of wealth and culture. There are evidences of that in local people dressed up in historic customes, selling tickets to the many theatres to attend classical performances. We sampled some of the local fare, schnitzel of course, and viennese hotdogs, a very strong garlic flavour. At Hofburg Palace there was a gala happening with music, local foods and drinks. We went back there later to taste some for ourselves. Heading to Innsbruck today for an overnight stay to catch the connecting train to Venice. We are looking forward to seeing some mountainous scenery on the way, and resting our slightly weary legs. Definitely think we are getting fitter with all the walking, though we had to give Lyn a breather in a park at one point yesterday while Delwyn and I went on a quest to Belvedere. Lyn said she did a lot of blind staring! Happy Birthday to Ava for the 11th. We were thinking of you and hope you had a fun day. Jac and Hannah, can you email Delwyn at the gmail address so she can get in touch with you. Henry and Monica, was great to see a bit of Czech countryside and enjoyed our stay in Prague, loved the Charles Bridge... Delwyn Lots of love to our followers out there...

Prague

Well we've just made it to Vienna after 5 1/2 hours by train and have had local dinner and settled into our accommodation at a fairly central location. Prague was amazing! We had a beautiful day and walked the pavements in the hot sun, taking in as many sights as we could. A couple of panadol washed down by a starbucks sorted us for the rest of the day and we got a tram up to the castle to enjoy the sights from up there and wandered down thru the old town to the Charles Bridge. It is one of the focal points of Prague with lots of people lingering on the bridge and enjoying the statues and artists and live music. The next stop was following the crowds along the old winding streets to the Old Town Square. We were hanging out by 5 to have dinner so decided to go for the local specialty which is goulash & dumplings. Then spent an hour or so on the Charles Bridge enjoying the ambience and taking photos as the sun sunk over the castle!!!!!! ahhh

Getting out of London

Yesterday (sunday) was the day to hotfoot it out of London via Hertz rental car (after well over an hour's wait to pick up a car!!) We had planned to go to All Souls church in the morning and then jump on the M4 and get off at Bath (a town, not a thing you do...) for a look. But plans are for changing and after the long wait at Hertz we ended up getting straight on the motorway and heading south, and made an unscheduled stop when we saw the turrets of Windsor Castle coming in to view. It's such an imposing looking castle so gots lotsa photos, then wandered down to the Thames river to enjoy the scene ... with swans, boats, riverside walks and pubs lined along its banks.

Got back on the M4 and heading towards Bath when signs for Castle Combe appeared (a very cute National Trust village), so somehow the car just found itself getting off the motorway and following the signs to Castle Combe. We enjoyed an hour of wandering around taking photos and stopping for a drink (tea & appletise of course!) inside the very quaint village pub. We then took the country roads towards mum's cousin's house in Minehead, arriving there just in time for yummy Beef & Yorkshire pudding dinner with pavlova for dessert!

Today (monday) we have had a great day wandering around the local Somerset area with Mary as our tour guide. We have dribbled as we wandered thru the very quaint little village with its thatch roof houses of Selworthy and Bossington, pausing for morning tea inside one of the houses that doubles as a tea shop. We loaded up the calories with cream teas, carrot & coffee cakes and one called Victoria Cake. Yum!! We then headed to Porlock and its beach and snapped several more photos (we're in competition for how many we can take!!). It was then time to head up the hills to the heather and bracken and amazing views over countryside. And then back through Dunster, a market town with a castle on the hill and a lovely ambience. At one point Delwyn turned to me (Lyn) and said 'I can see what draws you to the UK' She has taken more photos than any of us I think, and that's saying something.

We've had another yummy dinner courtesy of Mary tonight, complete with lashings of clotted cream on dessert tonight, and will be heading back to London tomorrow via Wiltshire, particularly Lacock.

London

We've walked the pavements of London for the last 2 days and have seen many of the sights. Have all had to pinch ourselves to believe we are actually here. We are staying with Joy & Brian who have been our 'other home' in London when we've been here before and they are very hospitable and fun to be with. Friday we started at Covent Garden then Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, Portrait Gallery then along the road towards Big Ben & Houses of Parliament and Westminster Cathedral. Also saw Buckingham Palace, St James Park and the Mall before putting our weary selves on the bus to take us thru to Harrods for a quick look before heading over to Hyde Park and a sit in the cafe viewing the world while our feet recovered. Yesterday we had a slower start and made straight for our old haunt, Portobella Road markets where we were immediately told by a stall holder to watch our bags because she'd just seen a bunch of pick pockets wandering by. The sights, smells and crowds of the markets brought a smile to the face and lots of memories flooding back!! We were all a bit exhausted still so went to Starbucks for a frappacino fix (& sneaked our egg sammies out of our bags) and grinned at each other smugly while anticipating another day in London. The day then involved a walk thru Kensington Gardens, the round pond and then down to the road to catch a bus thru Oxford Street to then wander thru Bond Street along with the wave of humanity that was coming with or against us. Everywhere we went was full on crowded being the last weekend of their summer holidays. The remainder of the day was a no. 15 bus trip past St Pauls to Tower Bridge and Tower of London, perfect timing as it happened as the tower bridge was just lifting to let a boat thru. So refreshed after a take-out cuppa and a tunnocks wafer! ... we walked across the bridge and then back along the Thames Path to the millenium bridge and St Pauls where Evensong was in progress, before heading back to Piccadilly to meet Joy & Brian for dinner. Dinner was a half hour que at a chain restaurant called .... and then a night bus trip thru town. Lots of pictorial evidence to bore you all with when we return. Wanted to download some but we really need to get to the tube and pick up our rental car before a quick church service at All Souls and then on the motorway to Somerset where a roast dinner awaits us at Mary's place.

Bangkok shopping experience

Our flight was loooong!! but we managed to cope with a few dvds and lotsa food along the way! We eventually got to bed about 4am NZ time!! Our day in Bangkok was pretty full on. Had breakfast at the McDonalds near the hotel, and then were off to explore the local area. Checked out MBK (local mall about half an hours walk away) but found the local market prices we had passed on the way better, so after buying a bit of food to stash in the pack, we headed back to the markets and found some bargains. We managed to find a very friendly scarf stall where we offloaded quite a bit of baht, among other things. Afternoon was spent on a relatively arduous temple tour. We now know every position Buddha has been sculpted in, but also got a bit of the history of Bangkok and found out it has the longest place name in the world. Had dinner back near the hotel at a local Thai outdoor restaurant and then were back in the melee of the markets bartering like old hands and acquiring watches and the like. We have been back this morning for a quick wander to use up the last of our baht. Could have spent a LOT more!!! Gotta gooo .... catch ya soon.