We still haven't posted about our last two  destinations!

The Return of Calamity Popkin!

Traveling with an ear infection is never fun so rather than taking the 5 hour bus ride down the windy coastal road we opted for a private transfer car and 3 hours on the motorway. Cost about the same as flying but took us right to the gates of the old town (and no painful air pressure!)

We arrived in the late afternoon and after the apartment manager finally turned up and gave us the keys we went out for dinner and had a walk around the old town.

Dubrovnik is a bizarre place, most  of the buildings date from the 16th century (after a large earthquake...) but the city walls were originally built in the 13th century. If it wasn't for the hoards of slack jawed tourists pouring off the cruise liners (7500 a day!) you might mistakenly think you'd slipped back in time.

With me feeling miserable we got an early night.

We slept in late, first visiting a gallery of photos taken by an Auckland photographer Wade Goddard at Mostar during the Bosnian civil war. it was sombre and eye opening. later we climbed up to the nearby Lovrijenac Fortress (St Lawrence in English) which had a great view of the city walls and was also a location used in the filming of many scenes in the Game Of Thrones TV show! We waited till the drones shuffled back to their cruise liners by visiting the city archives and the remembrance room for the citizens who died defending the city during the disintegration of Yugoslavia (and subsequent Serbian invasion). Once the city cleared out we climbed the city walls, it took us a good couple hours but the views were worth it :)

The following day we got up early planning to head out to the island of Lokrum bus we missed the boat so visited the aquarium while we waited. Sea turtle was cool, Cee was scared of the big fish... We caught the boat and started to explore the island, got a bit lost and nearly ended up on the nudie beach! But we found a salt lake called 'dead sea' and went for a dip, Cee (henceforth referred to as Calamity Popkin) accidentally trod on a sea urchin and got quite a few spines imbedded in her foot :( (kind of like brittle splinters) she took it in her stride and we visited monastery ruins and grabbed some lunch, visited the Botanical gardens and saw some biggish lizards, climbed a steep hill to get some photos from Fort Royal at the top and then climbed back down for a swim in the bay (urchins avoided this time!)

The last day we rode up the steepest cable car in the world to another castle 'Fort Imperial'(?) Cee was worried she'd panic but she loved (almost) every minute ;) the fort holds the 'Museum of the Croatian War of Independance' which had lots of photos from '92 - '95 but wasn't so well translated but it was still interesting to see as I remember seeing it on the TV as a child.

We then dragged our bags out of the old town in the 36 degree heat and took a taxi to the airport headed for Vienna

Split boat trip

Our second day in split saw us visit the city museum in the morning and then the days highlight; the boat tour! It kicked off at 1pm. We boarded a catamaran with about 20 other passengers and 3 or 4 crew and sailed into the Adriatic! There was even unlimited drinks! We anchored down around an hour in and got to have a swim! It was quite Scary at first as it was at least 30m deep! No one could dive to the bottom and we could see the chain of the anchor disappear! I loved it though! It wasn't too cold after a whole and we made friends with a couple (one from England and one from Canada) who live in London. We also met two other London girls and a guy from Boston. We had lunch on the boat with these guys after the swim; chicken ceaser salad. We then sailed back in the sun and docked at 5pm. Unfortunately once we were back Daniels ears were playing up from diving off the boat and we both had mild sunstroke we reckon! We felt very ill so skipped tea and went to sleep after a long day. The following day Daniel was still feeling sick and was dizzy from some sort of inner ear problem. We decided to skip our 5hr bus ride to Dubrovnik and got a driver instead. This cost about the same as a quick flight but was faster as we didn't have to wait around at the airport! It took 3 hrs and we arrived at Dubrovnik at 6pm. 

Splitactular!

Celia here! We arrived in split, a coastal town in Croatia via an overnight ferry at 8am. We found our hostel without too much trouble and decided to start our day by browsing the shops at diocletians palace - a 4th century AD stone palace that is still used as an underground shopping area today. It's amazing. And cool. Which was good as it was around 30C. We ended up not doing any shopping down there but instead toured around the other parts of the basement which are the same floor plan as the place above would've been (not much of the palace exists above ground but most of the basement is well preserved). We then saw the remaining parts of the above ground palace before visiting the ethnographic museum which features lots of interesting traditional Croatian clothing, jewellery, crafts and furniture. 

Next up we visited a cathedral that diocletian built as his tomb. This was taken over by Christians who he ironically hated. We also saw the crypt, which was very lame (pretty much just a well) and jupiters temple; a place used for baptisms. We then went to visit the statue Gregory of Nin, a croatian bishop. It is said if you rub his toe you'll be brought good luck. His toe is very shiny as a result. Just before dinner we decided to climb up the city's old bell tower. I made it up about 1/3 of the way on stone spiral staircases, but the following 5 stories of rickety, see through iron stairs put a stop to me. Daniel ventured up, but even he admitted it was unnerving. He thinks climbing up the Eiffel Tower stairs was easier! (He did that last trip!)

We got dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by the receptionist at the hostel. I had amazing gnocchi with bacon and Daniel ordered chicken in a Gorgonzola sauce with fried potatoes! Yum! We also spontaneously booked a half day boat tour for the following day. 

After dinner we decided to work off the calories by climbing up a hill that over looks the city. It was soooo many steps but we made it! And had a cocktail at a cafe up there as the lights went on in the township. 

Venice - streets flooded, please advise!

We arrived in Venice from Florence by train at 11:30am yesterday. Our b&b is a quick 6 min walk away (thanks google maps) so after dropping our stuff off and meeting the family who run it we went out to explore the islands!

It's very surreal here. Everything is by boat including busses, taxis, ambulances and rubbish trucks! There are a lot of shops selling fancy masks, murano glass and fashion. Oh, and leather! Our first stop was the realto bridge. The biggest bridge with shops on top of it running over the grand canal. It's not unlike ponte vecchio in florence in that sense I suppose. Next we hit up San Marco square but I'd forgotten to pack my scarf and had on a sleeveless dress (duh it was 30C!) so we couldn't go into the church. Instead we just admired the buildings and then got a drink nearby (Daniel a beer and myself a Bellini which is popular here). We then walked back to the b&b and had dinner at the family restaurant as 6 or so hours had passed!! After dinner we decided to go for an evening stroll to see some parts of the city lit up and to get some supplies from the supermarket for breakfast (pictured below - yay summer berries again!). We got home late, about 10:30 so hit the hay immediately. Unfortunately I randomly woke up at 2am with food poisoning again!!! Definitely the same one as I was only sick once. My body is struggling to shake it because its tired I think. Luckily I slept through the rest of the night and have only been nauseous after food today, not being sick.

Today we slept in and then went back to San Marco to go into St. Marks church! It's pretty cool in there. The floor and ceilings are all completely mosiaced. Some in gold. We then went to the dukes palace which is now a museum but still has the elaborate rooms. It featured political areas such as meeting rooms for councils and the senate. It also has a cool prison underneath which was a little hard for me to walk around but also my favourite bit. It'd be great to play laser tag in haha, very winding and enclosed bridges over canals. By buying entrance to the dukes palace we also got 3 other free museums which were all in a huge building together so we quickfired all 3; archaeological, renaissance art and some plush rooms from the 17/18th century for an empress. It then started to rain heavily so we got a relatively early dinner at 6 of gnocchi and an awesome semi frozen chocolate mousse concoction. It's now 8pm and we're just going to spend the night inside as its very wet outside. We have a bottle of limoncello from the supermarket to keep us company.

Cee x

We slept in the following day, and after lunch at the nice cafe we'd found the day before headed over to the Peggy Guggenheim museum which houses a lot if modern art (more Picasso's per square inch than any other museum I've been to!). She was a New York socialite who loved art and bought a giant mansion (with a garden!) on the grand canal. So great art and great views! Afterwards we tried to retrace my steps during my last visit and find the best gelato I've ever had.... we found the shop but the gelato was half ice cream and awful :( lost to ravages of time I guess (and recession!) we then walked around the outside of the southern suburb of Dorsoduro and spotted a giant as cruise ship moseying through the canal between Guiedecca and Dorsoduro. Looked out of place as it was twice as tall as the buildings!

We made our way back through San Marco to the suburb of Castello where a lot of locals live and few tourists go. It had a nice quiet feel (till they started singing Kareoke..) oddly the Italian restaurant was run by Chinese but hey - it was cheap! We walked along the canal side till it got dark then took a boat cruise back to our B&B, well... Ok we took the Vaporetto water bus ;) but it was nice!

Cee enjoyed the bus ride so much we took a ride up and down the canal the following day! We had a bit of travel ahead of us so we quickly grabbed some lunch and jumped on the train, first to Bologna, then on to Ancona to catch our cruise liner (low cost ferry ;) ) to Croatia!

It was poorly signposted and poorly explained by the ferry company (well, 'Low Cost!' is their motto...) so it took us an hour dragging our bags around in the 33 degree heat to get checked in and boarded but we got there in the end!

On to Split in Croatia!

Dan

 

'Just call it Florence so we can go!'

After a miserable first day we opted to get up earlyish and set out for breakfast. Cee was determined to have something other than the classic Italian breakfast of pastry and espresso but after visiting 3 cafes she gave up (she did rebel and have iced tea...)
We walked across the city to Galeria de Academia and queued for two and a half hours to get in. After the wait one of the sculptures we were there to see (Giambologna's 'The Rape of the Sabine Women') was away for restoration! Michaelangelo's 'David' still made it worth the visit. The level of detail and realism he achieved is fantastic, the only thing I've seen that comes close was Gian Lorenzo Bernini's ' The Rape of Proserpina'  we got to see at the Villa Borghese a few days earlier (hmmm a lots of raping classical antiquity....). The museum houses a other works, mostly 15th - 16th century religious Florentine renaissance art which I'm not very enamoured with, there was also an exhibit of Russian orthodox renaissance art which looked primitive compared to is Florentine contemporaries.
We were starting to feel queasy so we found a nearby restaurant, the food turned out to be reheated (even the pasta!) So it didn't help much. The Orto Bortanico was nearby (officially the Orto Botanico of the Natural History Museum of the University of Florence - or colloquially the Garden of Simples....?) So we stopped in for a look. Apparently its arguably the third oldest in the world, though if they spent less time arguing its age and more time tending the garden it might look a little better.
We made our way back into the centre of the city to the Duomo, a hulking green and white marble cathedral that still towers above the city (it was consecrated in 1436!) Its quite beautiful it inside the cavernous interior, with a beautiful fresco in the dome. You can go down to the crypt but I saw a sign that said €15 and I was like nah whatevs.... Cee was sitting outside as she was starting to feel sick again so we went back to the B&B for a nap that turned into twelve hours of sleep.

Late this morning, Cee gave in (and actually enjoyed!) The Italian 'breakfast' and we went vintage shopping. It turned out it was all vintage designer and we couldn't afford anything so will visited the Ponte Vecchio (this time actually open) but it was all expensive jewellery and we couldn't afford anything.... So we went to Plazza Della Signoria and took pictures of the replicas of the renaissance sculptures (including the Rape of the Sabine Women) and visited the Galileo Museum which has a collection of scientific instruments, maps and planetariums from the 15th century onwards the including several of Galileo's, such as the first telescope!

After a brief thunderstorm passed, we are now going out for dinner.

Here's hoping no food poisoning.....

Man. I write far too much when things are fresh in my memory!

Room ceiling in Florence.

A photo of our room's ceiling in Florence. We are not sure when it was painted, the owners don't speak very good English but we may ask them. Colours are more vivid than the photo suggests. 

Oh no Rome...

We took a 3hr bus trip back to Athens from nafplio and then a further hour bus ride to the airport. Next was a 2hr flight and a metro ride and we were at our hostel in Rome! Travel took up pretty much the whole first day.. It was about 6 on arrival so after talking to our host about local sites we went out for a meal at an Italian restaurant he recommended. I got some amazing pasta with strong sheeps cheese and black pepper (the guy warned me the cheese was strong but I liked it!) and a side of expensive fried mushrooms! Daniel got a roulade of pork.

The next day we went straight for one of the main attractions - the Vatican. The line wasn't too bad for St. Peter's basilica so we went there first. It was huge. Not much stained glass but impressive ceilings and michaelangelos only signed work (a sculpture). Also a couple of embalmed popes which was slightly scary. We got a pizza for lunch and then made our way to the Vatican queue. It was about an hour which wasn't too bad. It wasn't raining and the sun wasn't blazing hot so I suppose that was ideal. Once inside I was quite surprised. I didn't really expect the museums to be laid out as they were. Room after elaborate room unfortunately packed with people (shoulder to shoulder in many areas) shuffling along towards the Sistine chapel. You kind of just follow a one way route so the anxiety was super high. There is no turning around or stopping for a break as its packed. It's one way or... Well, that's it. Had a panic attack but got though it and got into the chapel. That too was not as I expected. A lot smaller and no stained glass, only paintings, but they are magnificent. It was shoulder to shoulder in there as well and you're not allowed to stop. Guards kept yelling "shhh" and when that didn't work clapping loudly which definitely ruined it. The Vatican gardens were nice but you can't see much without buying a tour which we didn't. After the Vatican we walked towards castle st Angelo but it was near close so we just got some dinner and went back to our hostel. 

The next day we decided to go to Villa Borghese, an old estate which is now a park with museums in it. The weather was good and it was very crowded being a Sunday. We first hit up a small art gallery that had a Warhol in it (my highlight) and then decided to go to the zoo. After a long and confusing walk we found the zoo, and it's 12€ price tag (each!) and decided against it. There was however a butterfly house temporary exhibit on that we decided we would return to later as it did late nights. After a panini from a cart in the park (remember this panini...) we went to the main museum of the park, the villa Borghese museum, only to discover tickets were sold out for the next 4 days unless you'd pre bought one! Daniel was disappointed as he'd missed out last time and really wanted to go. I mentioned that technically we had pre-bought tickets as we had a museum pass. We went inside to see how this would fly and it unfortunately the lady said it didn't work like that BUT she had just had two tickets returned from a group that we could buy for full price if we wanted, so we did and we got in!! The museum had lots of elaborate rooms with classical paintings and sculptures on the bottom story and  renaissance paintings and sculptures on the second. 

After the villa Borghese we headed back to castle st Angelo which we'd missed the previous day. It's a papal castle that was built out of a masoleum to emperor Hadrian from 132AD. It was gradually extended by each pope and even includes a sneaky pope tunnel that meant they could get from the Vatican to the safety of the castle without being seen. It's 6 stories in total and was very confusing to navigate even with an audio guide! The view from the roof terrace is 360' though and was awesome. 

In the late evening following dinner we went back to the zoo to see the butterfly exhibition. As we were admiring a pure white preying mantis sitting on a matching white orchid a staff member casually came over with a huge stick insect for us to hold. Eeeek! I "patted" it and Daniel decided he'd pass, the man just handed it to him anyway though and he did very well. I certainly didn't want it crawling up my arm like that! The butterflies were beautiful and we left the exhibit at about 9pm and made our way back to the hostel. 

That night, I awoke at about midnight and was very badly sick. I knew it pretty much straight away - I had food poisoning for the first time ever. I do not want it again! Damn that cart panini!!! I was up most of the night and so the following day stayed in bed to sleep. I couldn't eat or drink. Daniel stayed at the hostel with me all day :) At around 6pm I started on crackers and was keeping down sips of water. Thank goodness! 

The next day Daniel decided he'd visit the modern art museum while I took the morning in bed to rest up a bit more. Once he got back we decided we would just squeeze in the coliseum as I wasn't feeling 100%, still nauseous and only eating crackers and plain croissants. On our walk there I felt a bit sick so we sat down for a break. Upon standing up Daniel pulled a muscle in his back! Rome really hates us. We could see the coliseum so just decided to walk up to it, take a photo and go back to the hostel. Daniel didn't think he could do all the steps and I wasn't feeling well. Will have to be next time. 

Today we woke up, ready to catch the train to Florence! I was feeling almost 100% and Daniels back was much better but he'd caught the food poisoning! (Told you Rome hated us!). The poor lad endured a bumpy taxi ride and 1.5hr train to Florence. Once here we rested up all day and he seems better now. Thankfully he didn't have it as badly as me and even had a proper dinner. 

Now it's 10pm and we have tomorrow and the following day in Florence. We were originally going to spend one of the three days taking a day trip to Pisa but we've flagged that as we lost today. 

Hopefully there is no more illness!!

Cee.

Today's pic: coffee face. 

3 Castles in 3 days!

We traveled from Athens, down into the Peloponnese. Away from the dereliction and homeless of the city the smaller country town seem to be doing better.

We first took a coach down to 'new' Corinth and I made the mistake of thinking a bus bound for Corinth would terminate there and we didn't get off there! Luckily the bus to Ancient Corinth also stops there so crisis averted we got off there and with the help of a local managed to get the right bus! (The Greek character set can be a bit hard to read!)

After Checkin we strolled into the village center and visited the Ancient Corinth archeological site, something I've always wanted to do. Little remains of the original Greek settlement, most of the remains are from later Roman occupation . Afterwards we took a taxi up the hill to the Arco Corinth, the Ancient Greek/Roman/Byzantine/Frankish/Venetian fortress on top of a mountain that was extended by each successive conquerer and so is consequently MASSIVE. Most of the buildings have been destroyed so only the walls and gates remain. We walked over the top of the mountain (besieged by literally hundreds of locusts and grasshoppers) and climbed into the remains of an underground Byzantine cistern that was built around a mountain spring.

 

The next day we took a bus to Nafplio in the Argolic Gulf, a town that used to be (breifly anyway) the capital of Greece.

The old town in Nafplio is largely made of of 16th - 17th century Venetian villas with bougainvillea cascading down the sides. It's a really beautiful place with a homey country town feel. There are LOTS of castles and fortifacations as each invading force fortified it a little more. The town has been controlled by the  Byzantines, the Ottomans, the Franks, the Venetians and now the Greeks!

The first day we visited the Archeological museum and saw some 32,000 year old clay hearths used by early setters in the region - the oldest thing we have seen yet! (Along with your standard collections of Bronze Age, classical and Hellenistic artifacts). They were also showing video about the Neolithic finds in the area which was interesting - not something you see very often. Later that day we visited Bourtizi fortress in the harbor - a cute little baby castle in the harbour built by the Venetians that was also used as a boutique hotel between 1930 - 1970 (till the government took it back - now it's derelict....)

On the second day we visited another castle, Palamidi - the big daddy castle on top of the hill. We cunningly took a taxi up to the back of the castle to avoid the 1000 odd steps to get there from the town (we did walk down em though!) the views were great, could see both sides of the peninsula. We spied a great looking swimming beach but by the time we got to it the tide had come in and the people were crammed into a tiny 2x10m space (plus the water was cold...) so we did a spot of shopping.

Athens photos

Again just from the iPhone. Sorry! Real pics coming soon. 

Athens! - Ruins, ruins, ruins! (Including the economy :/)

First day in Athens - man I thought the dozens of half constructed buildings we saw in Santorini were a bad sign of the Greek economy but there are so many abandoned buildings, closed businesses and homeless people it beggars belief. We walked down the main shopping street and there were three closed shops and two burnt out buildings in the same block.  Cee has a big heart and she feels the weight of it, it's been hard on her at times. We have been giving change to the homeless (amputees in particular),

I have been really looking forward to coming to Greece, the history here is incredible and also abundant! As soon as the Greeks try and dig anywhere or build anything they encounter ruins or artifacts. We saw some bronze statues that were found 2m down where they were trying to fix some plumbing, we went into a gift shop that had to have a glass floor because it was built on ruins, numerous subway stations have archeological displays of things found in construction and when they tried to build a new museum for the artifacts from the Acropolis they found a whole ruined city block under the site - so they built it on stilts so you can see the site and the museum!

Now for the breakdown:

We arrived Friday afternoon and decided not to pull punches and headed straight for the Acropolis and spent the afternoon exploring the ruins in the blazing heat.

On Saturday we explored the Monastiraki flea markets, went to the Roman Agora, the Agora Museum (actually inside a rebuilt Greek Stoa),  Philopappos hill, Pnyx and the Acropolis Museum (busy day - back at 10!)

On Sunday we watched the changing of the guards at parliament, went to the National Archeological museum and saw the parts of the Antikythera (and three working reproductions!) then climbed Lycabettus hill for views of the city (ok we cheated and took a funicular half way!)

Today we had a lazy sleep in (we are on holiday!), went on a mission to the laundromat with practically all our washing (it cost €20!) and had a stroll about the National Gardens (which also has ruins haphazardly strewn about it).

Tomorrow we head for Corinth and even more ruins.

Oh and a bird pooped on Celia's hat and left a stain - it's ruined!

If Celia had a pet donkey she would call it Mr HeeHaw

After a wonderful evening at a 5 star bench in Athens airport we arrived in Santorini on Wednesday morning. Stepping off the plane to a cold spring day on the islands (28 degrees). We were confronted with the islands unusual architecture, striking white houses with barrel rooves. 

After check-in we grabbed a €2 Souvlaki and explored the main village Fira. We walked down the cliff path to the old port where passengers were returning to cruise liners by boat and grabbed a beer on the edge of the water. With some Dutch courage, we rode back up the cliff path on the backs of donkeys - who didn't seem to want to follow instructions but luckily seemed to know the way!

Afterwards we popped back to the hotel for a swim and a quick power nap - that stretched out to 3 hours! But we managed to force ourselves to go out and get dinner and explore the cliff side by night and enjoy the view.

On our second day we traveled to Akrotiri archeological site on the south of the island, a former town from the late Cycladic period that was covered in silt and ash when the islands volcano exploded 4700 odd years ago (like Pompeii but different volcano).

It's amazing hour much still remains and how little they have excavated so far (about four out of 35 buildings!) but they have only been digging for forty years, they estimate it will take another 200!

Later we tried to get to another site on top of a mountain but it was closed due to high wind so we decided to explore the beaches. The bus goes on 'Island Time' and was taking forever so we hitchhiked to the beach, we got picked up by the local Maths teacher who was really nice, he wouldn't take money for gas and gave US a present for riding with him! So we had a few cocktails and a souvlaki on the beach before heading to Oia on the northern tip of the island. Oia turned out to be even more beautiful the Fira! So after dinner we caught the sunset over the Aegean and went back to start packing. 

Our flight out was delayed due to high winds, could have really done with another day in Santorini and nearly got one! But it managed to land (just) after an hour.

The thing that sticks with me the most is the hospitality of the islanders, they are really nice, like really really nice, like nicer than the Danish nice ( and without that whole 'secretly taking over the world' vibe). Even when they were trying to sell things being nice was still more important!

And now on to the mainland!

Celia is making me blog

So we are sitting in an airport in Paris, waiting for our 3 hour flight to take us to Athens airport where we get to schlemp around for 9 hours waiting for out flight to Santorini! Well at least Greece should be warmer, Paris has been wet and cold.

In the last couple of days we visited the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame cathedral, the Archeological Crypt underneath Notre Dame square and returned to Versailles to view the palace (we ran out of time and got drenched on Sunday!).

All in all returning to Paris has been fun but I wish the weather was like last time!

For Tarrentino fans, went to McDonalds and ordered a Royal with Cheese. Didn't order a beer though, it was 11am!

Edit: as it turns out some loony shot himself in front of the altar at Notre Dame as a protest about gay marriage the day after our visit, lucky we missed it!

Week in Paris

Bonjour! It's been a couple of days since the last post. I find that we're doing so much I need to post frequently or I forget what we did and when! 

On Friday we slept in and then made our way to saint chapelle, a famous church with 360 stained glass windows. We took a couple of videos to show you all once we're back. It was beautiful and not too overcast so there was a fair bit of light coming through. Next we went to the prison where Marie Antoinette was held. That had an art exhibition going on at the same time so some of the cells had artworks in them. It was a weird combo but it was only 4E so it was okay haha. 

We then walked to the louvre gardens and had a very late lunch that we'd pre bought to save money (from the supermarket). I had a really disappointing tuna sandwich :(

Following that we explored the mall under the louvre a bit and experienced toilets that charge you 1.5E to use (about $2.60). They weren't that great. Clean I guess. We then met up with a small tour group of 3 others (plus the guide) that we were recommended. Fortunately this meant we got to skip the line which was handy! Our guide took us around all the main artworks including Venus, Mona Lisa and Nike. Mona Lisa wasn't that impressive but I can now say I've seen her. I really liked Nike (the sculpture of the goddess) and one called 'the young martyr" the most. 

Yesterday we went to the musee d'orsay and l'orangerie museums. We saw some of monet's waterlillies, some cool art nouveau furniture, some Renoir and other famous impressionists. We got an early night in. 

Today we took a tour of the gardens of Versailles! Since its a Sunday the fountains all came on at 3pm-5pm and all the groves were open (except a few for renovation). Normally most of the 20 groves are shut bar sat/sun. It was forcast to rain but held off until 5pm when we got soaked despite our umbrella! We saw a wonderful musical fountain and lots of topiaries and paterres. We didn't get time to see the palace as well so that's on tomorrow's agenda along with notre dame. We then have Tuesday to throw in the Eiffel Tower before we leave at 9pm for santorini!!!

Au revoir, C xx

Today's photo is a frank Lloyd wright door that Daniel liked. Sorry you haven't had any actual photos from the camera yet, only cellphone ones. They're on their way!

Paris day two

Day two in Paris and we started out with a haute couture exhibition at hotel de ville. It was lovely but nothing was translated so we finished it quickly (luckily for Daniel). We proceeded over the seine and got lunch at a relatively expensive restaurant with good service but thin steaks haha.

Next we walked to st Michels to start a free waking tour! It was 3.5 hours long and it rained a fair bit but Daniel had a waterproof jacket and I bought a 5E umbrella. It was hard to find one not covered in Eiffel towers. I don't want to look like too much of a tourist! Anyway, the tour covered saint chapelle, Norte dame, the courts, the oldest bridge in Paris, the Eiffel tour, the louvre and their gardens, a Starbucks for a break and a bridge of locks. Walking tours don't go inside the attractions but you can see it from the outside and the guide tells you things about it and also history and funny wee bits and pieces. They also tell you how much it'll be to go in.

After our tour the guide took us to a restaurant for a mid arvo meal and I got some snails in garlic oil and herbs, and french onion soup to try. I didn't like either and it cost me around $45 nzd including 2 coffees but hey, had to be done. On our way back to the hotel we also walked the champes elyses and saw the arc du triomphe.

We bought tickets from the guide for a paid louvre tour tomorrow night and Versailles on Saturday. We also plan to go on an evening seine cruise as the city is all lit up.

Also on the agenda are musee d'orsay, the Eiffel Tower closer up, moulin rouge and the louvre gardens in more detail.

Todays picture is Choccies from belgium which im eating!

Celia (ps; sorry the blog has awful grammar like that last "im". Since I'm typing on a phone it doesn't often so capitals when it should or when it doesn't recognise a foreign word!!!!)

Paris!

Our second day in brugge we went to a chocolate museum, a beer cafe and begijnhof (a monestary). We then ended up using our last day in Brugge to go to Ghent and saw a fantastic castle called gravensteen that was built in 1180!! It housed a museum of weapons and torture. We got some nice views over an extremely rainy Ghent. We then went on a covered canal boat tour.

Today we left Brugge and took a train to Paris! We arrived about 2pm and walked the short distance to our hotel. The room is okay but tiny and the bed is a king single they are trying to pass off as a double. We complained and they're moving us tomorrow.

After dropping off our things we walked up to sacre coeur. Daniel warned me I might encounter men in Paris on the streets that weave a bracelet onto your wrist and then make you pay tons for it. I wasn't really expecting to see anyone doing this but as soon as we started walking we encountered about 4 men trying to do so. One even grabbed Daniels wrist but he wiggled away. Very scary! Anyway, once at the cathedral it was beautiful. The view was also great although unfortunately it was a bit cloudy.

After sacre coeur we walked into Montmartre and place du tertre where there were lots of cute shops and creperies along with an artists market type thing where they all sell their paintings and do live portraits. The artwork was amazing! Sadly I can't bring any in my suitcase. I was shocked as to how good they all were though, I hope they make enough money, must be hard when their audience is people traveling on planes.

We then walked back to the hotel and I bought a lovely silver ring on the way with little fleur de Lis linked all the way around it.

We picked up some bread, Camembert, pesto and ham from the supermarket for a cheap dinner.

The Photos are the view from our window, the ring and dinner. Tomorrow we are planning a look at a haute couture exhibition and a waking tour of the city centre. Over and out.

Skipped Ghent

Due to us both having colds we went straight to Brugge from Brussels and skipped out on Ghent. It's Sunday and most things in Brugge are closed anyway so I'm not sure how much would've been going on in Ghent. We had a quick walk around the city and grabbed some lunch. Now we're keeping warm in bed (it was about 10C today) and will get an early night to hopefully shake the bugs. We have two more days on Brugge. Our b&b is lovely, but doesn't do breakfast haha!

Argh! The plague!

Cee and I arrived in Brussels on Thursday. We met a lovely gay couple on the train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam who were also going to Brussels so they helped us catch all our connecting trains :)

The first afternoon in Brussels we went on a self-guided walking tour of the city center which has beautiful medieval churches and many run down Art Nouveau buildings. 

On our second day we went to the Atomium a 30 story tall giant atom sculpture from the 50's  that you can go inside, and also visited a planetarium to see a cool 360 degree hi res star scape view!  After that we tried to visit an Art Nouveau museum but we weren't feeling so good so we turned in early.

We spent almost the entire next day in bed as we are both coming down with a cold! And now we are off to Brugges.

We had originally planned on heading to Ghent first but we may just end up back in bed :(

Photos from Amsterdam

Waiting...

At centraal station in Amsterdam waiting for our train to Belgium! Yesterday I got 3 lovely dresses while shopping. We then walked back to our hostel in pouring rain and got dinner at an Italian place opposite. Then some packing and an early night before today.

The ride to Brussels is about 4 hours then I guess we'll find our hotel!

Amsterdams!

So after a very early start and a very short flight we landed in the Netherlands on Monday to brilliant weather and tulips in bloom. After crepes for lunch we attempted the Anne Frank house (museum) but the line down the street and round corner put us off but the museum was open till 9pm so we checked in at hotel (a tiny rickety affair built in the 1670's with a broken window!) and opted for a canal tour first. Took a little longer than we expected so had to leg it to the museum before closing without stopping for dinner! After the museum we grabbed a Dutch specialty to eat on the way home - a giant cone of french fries smothered in mayonnaise!

On Tuesday we started out by heading to the Hortus Botanicus, the worlds oldest botanical garden. It was smaller than expected (like most buildings in Amsterdam!) but had a cute butterfly house and some 300 year old cycads that Julian would love. We then made our way to the Van Gough Museum, which has a large collection of his original works. Afterwards we met Cee's friends Natalia 'let me just get my bearings' Kirwan who came out for dinner with us and took us of a tour on the red light district.

Today we started with the Rijksmuseum (pronounced Rikes- Museum), the queue was epically long and Cee had some trouble but she was determined to get through it! The museum houses a large collection mostly of Flemish Masters like Rembrandt and Vermeer but has a small range of other artifacts like a collection of early firearms and a room full of miniature ships. After having lunch at Natalia's Kiwi-themed cafe 'we' are now shopping. Amsterdam has lots of vintage shops so Cee is in her Element - and I have time to have a coffee and update the blog!