Ciao Italia!!!

We spent a very pleasant evening in Graz on Wednesday evening (21st), staying in a lovely hotel on the banks of the River Mur and strolling through the Old Town. We found a Greek Trattoria and decided to dine there. We were pleasantly surprised at how lovely the food was and that the owners were in fact of Greek origin. We chatted with the owners and Zoe even made a new friend of the owners’ son, Hercules. Together they played with a ball in the pedestrian zone adjacent to the restaurant (in total view of course) after which the owner was keen to know if Zoe had a dowry. . .a hotel perhaps on one of the Greek Islands???!!!! Good grief!

After some quick shopping for necessities at the supermarket the next morning, we packed up and left Graz for our 4 hour drive to Venice. We took this last opportunity to write down as many new German words as we could to add to Dean’s growing vocabulary list. We certainly did learn lots and lots of new words/phrases!

We finally crossed the Italian border at around 2.30 pm. . .Ciao Italia!!! After another hour and a half we drove into Venice and parked the car at this enormous parking station (as you cannot actually drive into Venice proper). We unloaded deciding to take only one bag) and headed into Venice by “Vaporetto” (the Venetian mode of public transport on water) which took us to the Rialto bridge where we got off and headed for our hotel.

What should have only taken 10 minutes to reach the hotel– took us nearly 45 minutes as we seem to go round in circles fighting our way through the endless waves of people weaving in and out of the narrow walkways !!! It was literally stinking hot and I was glad to see that everyone around us was drenched with perspiration. . .so it wasn’t just us!

Fortunately, our hotel is air-conditioned (not many northern European hotels have this feature – as they don’t normally have to deal with such hot weather) and in no time we had recovered from our journey and were ready to hit the streets of Venice for a look around. There were so many people out and about it was truly amazing. I’ve been here twice before during winter and the difference in crowd levels is amazing!

That said, the kids were in awe and were happy to walk around and soak up the atmosphere. . .dining on pasta and eating gelato for dessert while strolling through Piazza San Marco and along the Grand Canal was amazing!
The next morning, we took the hotel’s complimentary taxi service to the island of Murano (famous for its artisan handmade glass) and toured one of the glass-making factories, taking in a glass-making demonstration and then onto the showroom and retail outlet where you can buy authentic Murano glass to take home. We made some decent purchases and Steven (in usual form) wanted to bargain with the representative for a better price. This naturally caught the attention of the owner who determined that we were Australian (from the rep). The owner was happy to bargain with Steven as it turned out he loves Australia and is visiting extensively next January and therefore wanted to know if we could pay for some of our purchases in Australian dollars? Steven said he could. . .and then the complimentary drinks came forth, after which the owner showed us his travel itinerary for his trip to Australia and then he offered us a tour of his private glass collection (priceless!). Steven was literally in heaven, having successfully bargained for our purchases, got free shipping of the lot back to Australia, a private tour of the owner’s collection AND to top it off, the owner organised a private boat to take us back to San Marco’s after our visit to Murano!! In Steven’s words, “ a great day”!

After more exploring , shopping and a filling lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a siesta and stayed indoors while a brief storm passed over and after things cooled down somewhat we headed back out into the thronging masses for a drink by the Rialto Bridge and later a moonlight walk along the Grand Canal and a quick dinner (at 10.30pm) before turning in for the night.

Saturday (24th) we decided to explore the other side of the Grand Canal, taking in a Gondola ride, then exploring the fresh food markets and fish markets before taking another vaporetto ride along the Grand Canal onto the domed church of Santa Maria della Salute. Back to Piazza San Marco for a relaxing lunch at the famous Café Florian on the Piazza (where we pay for the privilege of listening to some wonderful live music!). In any event. . .it was beautiful!

Germany and Austria

I think the last post was just as we were leaving Brussels for Cologne - so due to my previous laziness, this is quite a long post.

We had a pleasant drive from Brussels and got to Cologne about 3 pm. We had not booked anywhere to stay and rocked up to the Hyatt Regency to ask about availability. We were lucky to meet the Hotel Concierge who knew that the hotel had many empty rooms and made sure we got a really good deal for two rooms (including breakfast). Well. . .weren’t we in heaven???? The kids couldn’t believe their luck, there was a swimming pool and all the mod cons. We felt very spoilt.
Unfortunately, Cologne was very, very hot the day we arrived (apparently experiencing a very unusual heat wave) and it was nearly impossible to walk around town. We managed a short walk and a visit to the famous Cologne Cathedral before we had to go back to the hotel to cool off. Not long after we returned to the hotel, the storm that had been threatening unleashed itself on the city. We were happy though. . .cooling off in the indoor pool as the rain and wind raged outside!

I learned something new on our short visit to Cologne. . .the “eau de Cologne” or “4711” cologne (does anyone actually remember this??) originated in Cologne! I guess this seems obvious. . .but I’ve never really thought about it before. They do sell bottles of this around town as an authentic souvenir! Apparently, the “4711” is the number of the house belonging to the person who started making this product.

After a very pleasant stay in the Hyatt Cologne, we packed up and headed out of the city towards Bonn. We planned on driving from Bonn to Mainz (a southerly drive) so we could go through the Rhine Valley. This is predominantly a wine-making region – famous for its white wines (or reislings) and most of the towns of interest are located on the Rhine River. Apparently, the best way to experience the Rhine Valley is by boat on the Rhine itself, but as that was not possible for us, we decided to drive as far as we could get without going beyond our identified target – Heidelberg. We stopped in a couple of lovely towns – one of which was Bacharach. This was one of those picturesque and quaint towns that have cobble-stoned streets and old-style wooden buildings. After getting some information, we walked through the town – stopping at the local “Weinstuber” to sample the local wines. We headed to the lookout for a magnificent view of the river and vineyards which cover the mountains running alongside the river.

Onto Mainz for lunch and then to Heidelberg – our pit-stop for the night. Heidelberg seemed crowded and after a little searching managed to find accommodation for the night. After refreshing ourselves, we headed out for a walk in this pretty town which is dominated by a mountainous landscape and a castle which overlooks the town. Despite being small, the town was teeming with people in the beer gardens, wine bars and cafes and we had a lovely walk around town before turning in for the night.

Friday morning (15th July), we packed the car and headed out for a wander around the castle and gardens and then drove out of Heidelberg to Munich. This was a long and frustrating drive (for Steven) as the autobahns were very crowded and often became a slow crawl as three-lanes merged into two at a number of places. We finally arrived in Munich around 7 pm and checked into our hotel. We were all pretty tired – but needed some dinner so we headed out into town and were quite surprised by how seedy and dirty the area was. Munich is incredibly crowded and there seemed to be a number of events scheduled here this weekend (evidenced for us by the difficulty in securing decent accommodation). To top it all off, it was soooo hot.

The thing that has struck us most about Munich is the obsession with beer and meat! Everywhere you go there is beer, beer and more beer! Of course, Germany IS famous for its beers. Steven had a huge glass of beer with his HUGE dinner!! It also seems traditional to have a small glass of beer with breakfast!! With some trepidation we had a traditional Bavarian breakfast the next morning which consisted of fried sausages with sauerkrawt, white sausage (which comes hot to the table in a boiling bath of water) and metwurst (slab of devon-like flat sausage). I was proud of everyone for giving it a go. . .of course, the giant pretzels helped!

We toured as much of Munich as we could manage in the day and turned in for the night just before a huge thunderstorm hit the city (we seemed to be plagued with such storms at present). We woke early the next morning, checking out of our hotel and headed for the town of Schwangau - 2 hours south of Munich and the location of the fairy-tale Bavarian castle of Neuschwanstein. We had a great day walking up to the castle and then enjoying a well-deserved relaxing horse and carriage ride down the mountain!

After Neuschwanstein, we said goodbye to Germany and drove to Salzburg in Austria. We enjoyed a lovely Indian meal at a local restaurant on our first night before turning in after a long day. The next day was a beautiful sparkling sunny day and after a much-needed stop at the local laundromat, we headed out for some sight-seeing. We liked our horse and carraiage ride so much from the day before, we took another ride by way of a short tour of the main sights of Salzburg. The popularity of these horse and carriage rides is evident by the sight and smell of horse manure just about everywhere around town. . .this of course was hilarious to the children (who naturally had to comment on each steaming pile we came across!!!). Of course, Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart and you see images of him everywhere. . .After the horse and carriage ride, we took the cable car up to the castle which sits above the town and offered panoramic views of the alpine landscape which brought to the forefront of our minds those famous words "the hills are alive. . ."!! I'm fairly certain everyone around us was silently singing to themselves the very same song!!!

After an authentic Austrian lunch in a beer garden (schnitzel of course!), on July 20th, we headed to Vienna. . .there's lots of media attention on Vienna a present as the city is hosting the World Aids Conference at the Hofburg Palace (in the city centre). The likes of Bill Clinton and Bill Gates are here attending the conference and accounts for the motorcade of black vehicles followed by police cars along the streets of Vienna in the morning. . .

We had a terrific day in Vienna, visiting most of the cities main attractions on foot and even managing to sit down for a Viennese morning tea with proper hot chocolates for the children and a slice of sacher torte for mum and dad. We purchased some tickets for a Mozart and Strauss concert evening. . .which I thought would be impossible (given that the Vienna opera season is on hiatus for the summer). As it turned out, it was a slightly amateurish production - but the children enjoyed their first taste of Mozart and Strauss (even Zoe was clapping and toe-tapping in all the right places!) and we even managed to meet a lovely Australian family from Clovelly - who were sitting behind us! Isn't the world a small place sometimes?

On the 21st, after a fantastic visit to the Imperial Schonbrunn Palace just outside Vienna, we made our way to Graz, 2 hours south, for a much-needed pit-stop on our way down to Venice in Italy. We are really looking forward to our visit to Italy and some decent pasta after all the pork and sausages we've consumed on Germany and Austria!

Belgium

As foreshadowed in the last post, we left London on Monday morning and flew to Brussels in Belgium. Although only a short 45 minute plane ride away, the difference in the pace between London and Brussels is dramatic.

The pace in London was frenetic with people everywhere all the time and shops, bars and cafes open until quite late. Here in Brussels, there does not appear to be much night life and despite long daylight hours (not dark until 11 pm), shops and cafes close very early - around 5-6 pm!!!

Being in Brussels has given the children their first real experience of a non-English speaking country (although lots of people in the service industry are quite fluent in English) and I have been slowly using some of my awkward French to ask for things/directions etc - good practice I think before we get to Paris.

In any event, our flight over from London was uneventful and we made it here in excellent time, picking up our brand new Renault Grand Scenic from the airport with little delay. Driving on the "wrong side" of the road again is a bit freakish and we have to keep reminding ourselves to do the opposite of whatever we instinctively want to do. It's funny. . .although driving in England was scary from the speeding point of view, it felt very normal to drive there. Not so here in Europe. . .though I'm sure we'll be experts by the time we get to Rome!

After catching-up on some much-need sleep yesterday, today we had a productive and interesting day around Brussels. We started our day in the Grand Place - with visits to famous chocolatiers, biscuit-makers and lace houses. The things Belgium seems most famous for are: chocolate (of course), beer (Steven has already sampled some) and hand-made lace. We also stopped to take a peek at one of Brussels' most unusual attractions - a figure of a little boy peeing or the "Mannekin Pis". It seems so famous that the figure is replicated in touristy souvenirs and chocolate figurines everywhere.

We could not walk long before we spotted authentic Belgian waffle stores with tourists lined up to sample the delicious dessert (at 11 in the morning). We couldn't say we'd been to Belgium and not tried one at least...so these were our lunch!

In the afternoon, we got into the car and headed out to Bruparck to see the famous "Atomium" and Mini-Europe. It's a sort of theme park in all, but the Atomium is a structure that looks like a giant atom which you can tour and take in panoramic views across Brussels. Take a look for yourself!

Tomorrow we plan to catch up on a little house-keeping before heading to Cologne in Germany (about 2 hours away).

As an aside, I mention that I had forgotten how prevalent begging was in Europe and today the children got their first glimpse of the art of begging as women with babies and young children walked the streets in the tourist centres approaching people with their hands extended begging for coins. . .

What a week!

Okay. . .it's been a little over a week since our last post. So much has happened and we've seen so much it's really hard to remember. . .but I'll give it a go!

Last Sunday: Steven woke up really early and headed to Heathrow Airport to meet Jamie and Tania who were arriving from Sydney to spend the week with us. Jamie and Tania arrived safely (although very tired). After catching-up over breakfast and giving them some time to refresh themselves, we hit the city. First stop was Tower Bridge and the Tower of London to see the Beefeaters and the magnificent Crown jewels. Later, we headed into the West End for a late lunch at Jamie's Italian (yes. . .again!) - which was fantastic! Jamie and Tania got a really rude introduction to London - we made them walk for a number of hours around town and also use the tube to get around. Although we've been doing this for a while now and are now used to the hours of walking, we didn't give them any time to settle in. . .poor things!

On Monday, Jamie and Tania were on their own, doing the Big Bus Tour around London, while we headed back to St Paul's Cathedral for a more detailed look around and a climb up to the dome and the whispering gallery. We climbed 257 steps to get there and I'm proud to say little Zoe went up all on her own and then down again on her own. We were enthralled. . .it was amazing. We also headed down to the crypts to see the tombs of the Duke of Wellington, Admiral Nelson and Florence Nightingale (amongst others). After St Paul's we went back to the Museum of Natural History to complete the other half of the museum tour (which we promised the kids we would do). More shopping at Gap, dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and then home to hear about Jamie and Tania's day.

Tuesday was another day we spent all together. First stop Trafalgar Square, then a walk through Admiralty Arch to The Mall and up to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. After that, we headed to Westminster Abbey (and tears for Tania as she realised her life-long dream of visiting the Abbey). Westminster Abbey has been the location of all royal coronations since forever and was also where Princess Diana's funeral was held. A number of famous people have been interred here and it was amazing to see this magnificent place again. The kids completed their tour trail and were rewarded with their gold chocolate coins!! After the Abbey, Tania and I left the boys and kids to head to Shakespeare's Globe on the Thames to watch a production of Henry VIII. With 5 minutes to spare, we sat in our seats with a quick lunch and were rewarded with an enthralling production in an open-air theatre. We loved it!! Watching a Shakespearean play in London. . .it doesn't get much better for us Shakespeare fans! We headed back to town to meet the boys at Piccadilly Circus, dinner at Leicester Square and then Jamie and Tania went onto the Lyric Theatre to watch "Michael Jackson's Thriller Live". While they did this, we took the tube to Heathrow to pick up our hire cars for our road trip up to Scotland commencing Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, we were packed and ready to leave London at 6 am. We had a frantic drive through London to get onto the freeway and trying to avoid London's congestion charging. Basically, if you drive into London's central zone between 7am and 6pm Moday to Friday you have to pay and if you don't pay within 48 hours, you get a fine!!! Once we were out of London, we were relieved. We drove for a couple of hours to Salisbury (in Wiltshire) and then onto Stonehenge (another tearey-eyed moment for Tania). After Stonehenge, we headed back slightly to Windsor to visit the Queen's weekend getaway - Windsor Castle. After touring the Castle and the amazing State Rooms, we had a quick lunch and headed to Oxford - home of Britain's oldest and possible most prestigious University. We got into Oxford fairly late and decided to stop over for a night and pick up the driving again in the morning. Oxford is an amazing town and seems to revolve around the University - all of the colleges of which are spread out across the town. We spotted another "Jamie's Italian" restaurant in Oxford as well. . .We didn't spend as much time in Oxford as we would have liked, but we were due in Edinburgh by 7 pm on Thursday evening and we had to get going.

After a long, yet beautiful drive through England, we arrived in Scotland and our apartment in Edinburgh around 7 pm. We settled in and were amazed to find that there was still daylight at 11pm!!! Talk about wierd. . .it's so hard to keep any kind of normal sleep routine when the days are so long. After a good night's sleep, we headed into Edinburgh to visit the Castle and walk the Royal Mile. We also did the Scotch Whiskey Experience - which is a virtual tour of the whiskey-making process and then an opportunity to sample various single-malt whiskeys. Let's just say that whiskey sure must be an acquired taste and that for us, the idea of drinking whiskey is far more appealing than the actual experience of it!!! Check out the photos!! After shopping and lunch we headed to the movies for some time out before walking around night-time Edinburgh. It's really beautiful at night.

Saturday morning it was cold and raining and we were ready to leave Edinburgh for our trip back to London. We left via Rosslyn Chapel. . .the location of some of the scenes in the Da Vinci Code movie (with Tom Hanks). It was fascinating. Leaving Scotland we encountered a lot of rain, fog and mist - which made the drive very interesting to say the least. Back to London around 7 pm via Hertforshire and dinner with Aunty Sarah at the local pub. This would be the last time we see Aunty Sarah for a while. . .sniff sniff!

As a sidebar. . .driving on England's freeways was really an experience. Steven was freaking out slightly that the speed limit is not routinely displayed on the freeways and for a bit it seemed that a lot of drivers simply drove at whatever speed they fancied. Three-laned highways and the middle and third lanes were filled with drivers weaving in and out of the traffic at very high speeds. It was very very scary!!! It turns out that it is an unspoken rule that the speed limit is 70 miles per hour (or 112 km) on the freeways (unless otherwise posted), 30 miles in built up areas and 60 miles per hour on a single-carriage way road. It was all a little confusing and there are cameras everywhere!!! However, this does not appear to deter a lot of drivers who were clearly driving at more than 100 miles per hour!!! Can't imagine what it's going to be like on the autobahns in Europe. . .I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Last day in London today and hoping to go into Harrods for some last minute shopping and a look around. Will definitely be sad to leave London. . .but happy to be moving onto the next phase of our journey. Had a truly fabulous time here. Was great to share my London faves with Steven and the kids, Jamie and Tania. Wonder when I'll be back again. . .?

Shopping days, Harry Potter and Richmond Village

We've done quite bit of shopping in the last 3 days. On Wednesday, we had a shopping day. . .first stop Jimmy Choo. We (sorry - I !!), had lots of fun trying on different shoes in this wonderful store!! I walked away with a bargain! After Jimmy's we headed down New Bond Street towards Covent Garden as Jamie Oliver has just opened one of his "Jamie's Italian" restaurants there. It's a walk-in restaurant only (ie no booking required), so we turned up and only had to wait fifteen minutes before we were seated and the friendly staff were very attentive and we were served our sumputuous pasta lunches in a flash!!! It was really kid-friendly and so delicious. . .we were really impressed and thought we'd like to go back again! After Jamie's we headed further down towards Piccadilly Circus and the lovely department store "Fortnum & Mason" to have a look and to wait for our afternoon tea booking - which was at 5.30pm. When I say afternoon tea. . .it's a high tea with petite sandwiches, cakes, scones, clotted cream and jam all served with some delicious pots of tea. Oh my gosh. . .we were all in heaven!!! The surroundings were also sumptuous, we felt very posh! After this, we rolled out of the restaurant, back down to the tube and our apartment to prepare for the next day. . .
Thursday was Andrew's day. . .hot on Harry Potter's trail, we took the tube to Westminster and exited near where the Ministy of Magic was and then walked down Whitehall to visit the Prime Minister at No 10 Downing Street. After another yummy pub lunch (and another Guiness for Steven), we headed towards Trafalgar Square, then onto St Pauls to find the Millenium Bridge (see opening scene of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"). Onto Fleet Street, past the Royal Courts of Justice to find Twinings. This particular store has been in this location for 304 years (older than settled Australia)!!! After some tea purchases, we headed towards "Australia House" - the Australian High Commission Building. Apparently, the interior of this building was the location for "Gringotts Bank" in "Harry Potter and the Philospsher's Stone". Headed towards home for an "early" night. Bed.
Friday, we decided to do something a little more relaxing and we took a River Cruise down the Thames towards the village of Richmond in Surrey. The village is very picturesque and after a 2 hour river cruise (including passing through a canal or "lock" as it's known here - where we pass through a section of the river and get locked into a walled area which they flood with water to allow the boat to pass through into the higher section of the river beyond the "lock". It was fascinting to watch!), we wandered around the village and did some shopping before heading back to London on the train.
Saturday (today), we headed back into London for more shopping. . .everybody with their little wish list. After another visit to the Borough Markets for more yummy taste-testing, I think we managed to get all the items on the list and see "Eclipse" as well (loved it!!!!!!). By the time we returned to the apartment it was after 9 pm!!! Waiting for Jamie and Tania to arrive tomorrow morning and another jam-packed few days before heading off to Scotland on Wednesday. Can't wait!!!!!