Since our last blog we have travelled to The Lakes District in Northern England where we were looked after by Cath and Ian for 3 days. They were kind enough to take us to some spectacular lakes renowned for their beauty. Their hospitality was second to none and we thank them for looking after us. We then travelled to Gretna Green where Cal got a going over with a wash and a polish and an internal scrubbing ready for his new owner. The trip to Kilwinning was eventful with Annette (the navigator) missing the turnoff and subsequently Frank had to drive through the motorways of Glasgow. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife and almost booked into the nearest divorce lawyer.
Arriving at Kilwinning we had no trouble finding Robert and Delina’s home where we were greeted by two worried hosts as we were two hours later than our expected time of arrival. The next day we travelled to the Southern Highlands, including Loch Lomand with them both and dined at a Scottish pub called The Drovers, with history going back hundreds of years. We were surprised to see a lad attending the fire with a kilt, he looked like someone from Monach of the Glen and the lass behind the bar was also suitably attired. The open fire and low ceilings added to the atmosphere and we decided to join into the spirit of the moment by ordering Haggis. Very tasty but not something to be added to our home menu any time soon. We have been looked after like royalty by Robert and Delina and had many laughs along with a few single malts.
On Friday night we were welcomed by John, Margare, Marie and Shaun, (more of our new Scottish friends) to have dinner with them in their home which is an old church that has been renovated into a beautiful home. Truly spectacular and only second to their spectacular hospitality. Thank you to the Cunningham family.
Cal is now standing in the driveway of Robert and Delina’s waiting for some lucky person to come along and snap him up at a very reasonable price and no doubt he will continue to delight and amaze his new owner. He has a brand new MOT certificate (like our pink slip) and looks a treat.
We are now in Edinburgh completing the “Ghouls and Ghosts” tour last night. Had dinner in a great restaurant (Italian of course) where we met some very nice people sitting near us. The Scots are very friendly and outgoing and are only too willing to help if you are lost of needing help. Today and tomorrow we will explore the city further, by the tourist buses, before returning to Glasgow to catch our flight to Singapore on Wednesday and then home to good old Oz on Saturday.
Looking forward to seeing you all and having cuddles with Emily, Will and Daisy.
Love to all
Frank and Annette
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Oxford, Bath & The Lakes
Well we have had a big drive today almost for 5 hours and although most of it was on the M6 which is a huge motorway the last 1 1/2 hours was on a very windy narrow road up hill and down dale but the most wonderful scenery as we drove up 'The lakes'. I kept saying 'wow' and Frank kept saying 'shit'. He was driving!!! Cal went well and he had some big hills to drive up and down. Tonight we are spending the night with friends of Sam and Cathy (Andrew's in-laws) and I am using their internet. They are lovely people and have welcomed us cheerfully. Tomorrow they will show us around the Lakes.
We have been on some very ordinary roads, that are just little lanes and this is quite scary when you are driving the motorhome especially when it is just one carriageway wide and you meet a tractor or truck coming the other way. One lovely little place we went to in Oxfordshire was called Swinbrooke, it was picture perfect and we looked into the old churches and then had lunch at the pub.
We stayed at a caravan park just outside Bath for a couple of nights and caught the Bus into town each day (Park & Ride). We then did a walking tour of Bath that was fantastic and then went through the Roman Baths. The architecture in Bath is beautiful dating from Roman times through to Georgian times. We went to the theatre Royal to see a play which we thoroughly enjoyed. The Cornish Pasties lived up to their reputation. Leaving Bath Frank insisted that we not leave by the same road we came in as it was very steep, narrow and curvy so Annette being the navigator had the onerous task of getting us the hell out of there without touching that particular road. We took the turn within 2 minutes of leaving the caravan park and it only got worse. I think voices were raised a couple of times - but we eventually found our way and after stopping for a coffee on the motorway we started to like each other again.
Yesterday we had great difficulty finding a caravan park late in the day, we eventually found one and then when we tried to find our way this morning out of the wilderness, the GPS was not cooperating and the map wasn't detailed enough and we were parked by the side of the road scratching our head (not yet arguing) when a man walked up to our window and said 'are you lost'. We said we needed to find our way to the M6 and he said to follow him as he was going that way. When we said we were a bit slow driving he said 'That's OK its Friday and I can take it easy.' Another Angel crosses our path. He led us all the way to the M6 - about 20 minutes and then went on his way.
A couple of days now with Cath and Ian and then off to Scotland to see Robert and Delina.
That's all for now
Love
Frank and Annette
We have been on some very ordinary roads, that are just little lanes and this is quite scary when you are driving the motorhome especially when it is just one carriageway wide and you meet a tractor or truck coming the other way. One lovely little place we went to in Oxfordshire was called Swinbrooke, it was picture perfect and we looked into the old churches and then had lunch at the pub.
We stayed at a caravan park just outside Bath for a couple of nights and caught the Bus into town each day (Park & Ride). We then did a walking tour of Bath that was fantastic and then went through the Roman Baths. The architecture in Bath is beautiful dating from Roman times through to Georgian times. We went to the theatre Royal to see a play which we thoroughly enjoyed. The Cornish Pasties lived up to their reputation. Leaving Bath Frank insisted that we not leave by the same road we came in as it was very steep, narrow and curvy so Annette being the navigator had the onerous task of getting us the hell out of there without touching that particular road. We took the turn within 2 minutes of leaving the caravan park and it only got worse. I think voices were raised a couple of times - but we eventually found our way and after stopping for a coffee on the motorway we started to like each other again.
Yesterday we had great difficulty finding a caravan park late in the day, we eventually found one and then when we tried to find our way this morning out of the wilderness, the GPS was not cooperating and the map wasn't detailed enough and we were parked by the side of the road scratching our head (not yet arguing) when a man walked up to our window and said 'are you lost'. We said we needed to find our way to the M6 and he said to follow him as he was going that way. When we said we were a bit slow driving he said 'That's OK its Friday and I can take it easy.' Another Angel crosses our path. He led us all the way to the M6 - about 20 minutes and then went on his way.
A couple of days now with Cath and Ian and then off to Scotland to see Robert and Delina.
That's all for now
Love
Frank and Annette
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
BRUSSELS, BRUGGE AND ON TO THE UK
We last left you in Maastrict, and after a great time there we travelled on to beautiful Belgium and Brussels to see cousin Alexander and Collette. Of course we had the new that our newest little cousin had arrived, Liam, son to Lexx and Christophe After speaking with Lexx she assures us that he is adorable and the perfect baby, so congratulations to you all.
Alexander and Collette welcomed us very graciously and we had a very full program with them so although our visit was short it was really entertaining and their hospitality again, is second to none. It was sad saying goodbye to them as that most likely will be the last time we will see them, unless they can travel to Australia ( I think Collette will work on Alexander).
Brugge is a city where one is easily lost but it is so beautiful you don't mind. Frank and I rode the pushbikes into town for the day, approx. 4 klm. The main square is like a mini version of The Grand Place in Brussels. Very picturesque with canals running through the town and the waffles are to die for, just as A & J found when they were here previously. We wandered aimlessly through the streets and thankfully found where we had parked our bikes.
We are becoming quite the critics when it comes to shower facilities in camp grounds. Maastrict won with the most comfortable and well equipped showers, but last night in a little town outside Oxford UK we had the strongest and hottest showers so far on the trip, we all blissed out with hot showers, there being so must steam in the room by the time I was finished I couldn’t see the wall in front of me.
After arriving late in the afternoon from France by ferry we drove looking for a camping ground down this lonely narrow tree lined road and came across the “Lidden Bell” a delightful little pub in the tiny town of Lidden. It looked so gorgeous we all decided to stop for a few beers. Being Saturday night it was quite lively with a dozen or so people there for dinner so the four of us sat around drinking beers and playing cards. The publican said we were welcome to park in the carpark for the night for 10 pound, so we did. The next day we moved on to Oxfordshire (The Cotswalds) and stayed in a lovely camping ground called Evergreen Hills. It was a farm with lots of animals, chooks wandering around the campsites, ducks and pigs (not wandering). The weather had a turn for the worst and it was bitterly cold and raining lightly, however on awaking today the sun was shining.
We called in to a little town called Swinbrook today to have a look at a church of interest to us both as we have a “brass rubbing” from there. It was delightful and very historic, we walked across green pastures to another little church and met a few other people who were tramping around the area. Lunch was at the Black Swan pub and then we made our way across Oxfordshire to a campground for the night. For a “first day” in charge we have had a good day and we look forward to a yummy curry for dinner (last nights leftovers).
Andrew and Jamie moved on to greener pastures today. It was very sad to say goodbye as we have had a lovely time with them and of course now we actually have to do some work, with Frank driving and Annette navigating with the aid of TomTom as we make our way to Glasgow.
Thank you to Andrew and Jamie for sharing their space with us for the last 4 weeks. They must have found it difficult having two extras in their little love nest, but they never complained and have been very generous.
Love to all
Frank and Annette
x x x x
Alexander and Collette welcomed us very graciously and we had a very full program with them so although our visit was short it was really entertaining and their hospitality again, is second to none. It was sad saying goodbye to them as that most likely will be the last time we will see them, unless they can travel to Australia ( I think Collette will work on Alexander).
Brugge is a city where one is easily lost but it is so beautiful you don't mind. Frank and I rode the pushbikes into town for the day, approx. 4 klm. The main square is like a mini version of The Grand Place in Brussels. Very picturesque with canals running through the town and the waffles are to die for, just as A & J found when they were here previously. We wandered aimlessly through the streets and thankfully found where we had parked our bikes.
We are becoming quite the critics when it comes to shower facilities in camp grounds. Maastrict won with the most comfortable and well equipped showers, but last night in a little town outside Oxford UK we had the strongest and hottest showers so far on the trip, we all blissed out with hot showers, there being so must steam in the room by the time I was finished I couldn’t see the wall in front of me.
After arriving late in the afternoon from France by ferry we drove looking for a camping ground down this lonely narrow tree lined road and came across the “Lidden Bell” a delightful little pub in the tiny town of Lidden. It looked so gorgeous we all decided to stop for a few beers. Being Saturday night it was quite lively with a dozen or so people there for dinner so the four of us sat around drinking beers and playing cards. The publican said we were welcome to park in the carpark for the night for 10 pound, so we did. The next day we moved on to Oxfordshire (The Cotswalds) and stayed in a lovely camping ground called Evergreen Hills. It was a farm with lots of animals, chooks wandering around the campsites, ducks and pigs (not wandering). The weather had a turn for the worst and it was bitterly cold and raining lightly, however on awaking today the sun was shining.
We called in to a little town called Swinbrook today to have a look at a church of interest to us both as we have a “brass rubbing” from there. It was delightful and very historic, we walked across green pastures to another little church and met a few other people who were tramping around the area. Lunch was at the Black Swan pub and then we made our way across Oxfordshire to a campground for the night. For a “first day” in charge we have had a good day and we look forward to a yummy curry for dinner (last nights leftovers).
Andrew and Jamie moved on to greener pastures today. It was very sad to say goodbye as we have had a lovely time with them and of course now we actually have to do some work, with Frank driving and Annette navigating with the aid of TomTom as we make our way to Glasgow.
Thank you to Andrew and Jamie for sharing their space with us for the last 4 weeks. They must have found it difficult having two extras in their little love nest, but they never complained and have been very generous.
Love to all
Frank and Annette
x x x x
Monday, October 4, 2010
So it comes to an end....
The last six months have been many things. It’s been exciting, relaxing, emotional, frustrating but most of all, adventurous. When you travel for this long, it’s no longer a holiday, it’s a lifestyle. Unfortunately our lifestyle is about to change.
Tonight is the last blog entry for the “Young” Griffo’s and it’s written with mixed emotions. On one side we’re incredibly excited that we get to see our family and friends (and puppies) again, but we’re so badly going to miss the lifestyle we’ve had over the last 6 months. Not many people get the opportunity that we’ve been given this year. Our work places have allowed us time off to experience to most amazing adventure across Europe. Not all of it has been a typical easy “holiday”, but every minute of the challenge has been worth it. Travelling via road allows you to see the real lifestyle of the local people, as well as the big tourist attractions that are the “must do’s” like Paris and Rome. Today as we make our way back into London (Of course the tube is on strike so it should add another “challenge”) we’ll be thinking back to the amazing experiences we’ve had like seeing thousands of fervent believers make the pilgrimage to Lourdes in France in the hope of a miraculous healing of a sickness, camping on the side of the toughest climb on stage 15 of the Tour De France and of course meeting with new family and making some beautiful new friends.
Although we’ve had some tough times with our mate Cal, he’s been the most important part of our adventure, and has provided a talking point with strangers time and time again (Gee I’ve never seen one like that before...). Thinking back, there is no other way that we would do this trip, travelling Europe by motorhome is THE way to see as much as possible without spending an absolute fortune. We’ve become so attached to our mate Cal, that it’s been incredibly hard putting him up for sale. We even contemplated shipping him home, but it’d cost more than he’s actually worth.
So now we’re headed back to the real world of waking up early and working. It sucks, but we have to fund our next trip somehow. Thanks VERY much for following our blog, especially those who sent us lots of messages along the way. We will see you all back in Australia, probably feeling sorry for ourselves and planning our next getaway. Keep watching the blog to see the rest of Annette and Franks travels in Scotland.
Love to all,
A&J xoxo
Tonight is the last blog entry for the “Young” Griffo’s and it’s written with mixed emotions. On one side we’re incredibly excited that we get to see our family and friends (and puppies) again, but we’re so badly going to miss the lifestyle we’ve had over the last 6 months. Not many people get the opportunity that we’ve been given this year. Our work places have allowed us time off to experience to most amazing adventure across Europe. Not all of it has been a typical easy “holiday”, but every minute of the challenge has been worth it. Travelling via road allows you to see the real lifestyle of the local people, as well as the big tourist attractions that are the “must do’s” like Paris and Rome. Today as we make our way back into London (Of course the tube is on strike so it should add another “challenge”) we’ll be thinking back to the amazing experiences we’ve had like seeing thousands of fervent believers make the pilgrimage to Lourdes in France in the hope of a miraculous healing of a sickness, camping on the side of the toughest climb on stage 15 of the Tour De France and of course meeting with new family and making some beautiful new friends.
Although we’ve had some tough times with our mate Cal, he’s been the most important part of our adventure, and has provided a talking point with strangers time and time again (Gee I’ve never seen one like that before...). Thinking back, there is no other way that we would do this trip, travelling Europe by motorhome is THE way to see as much as possible without spending an absolute fortune. We’ve become so attached to our mate Cal, that it’s been incredibly hard putting him up for sale. We even contemplated shipping him home, but it’d cost more than he’s actually worth.
So now we’re headed back to the real world of waking up early and working. It sucks, but we have to fund our next trip somehow. Thanks VERY much for following our blog, especially those who sent us lots of messages along the way. We will see you all back in Australia, probably feeling sorry for ourselves and planning our next getaway. Keep watching the blog to see the rest of Annette and Franks travels in Scotland.
Love to all,
A&J xoxo
Thursday, September 30, 2010
BERCHTESGADEN, RHINE VALLEY, MAASTRICT
Since our last contact with you made our way to Germany thinking we had left our mechanical issues behind. The ever faithful TomTom decided to take us to Berchtesgaden on a very scenic route. Unfortunately we couldn’t see the scenery as all those following their GPS were taking the same route and had smoke streaming from their brake linings (as did we). Turns out the legendary driving of Andrew ensured we had less smoke than others newer and decidedly flasher motor homes and vehicles. Decided to stay in a very nice hotel (in the romantic suites) so all could have spa and a relaxing night. We thought we might buy some local produce in the tourist town so Jamie and Annette went into a little deli (where there were no prices on anything) as soon as we walked in they gave us a sample of their local peach schnapps. We then bought a couple of pieces of cheese a few sausages and some crispbread to have with it. Total value 47 Euro, yes that is right about $65 aussie dollars.
The weather was not the best for sightseeing Hitler’s Love Nest (also known as the Eagle’s Nest) so we decided to send Jamie and Andrew down the saltmines after Andrew confronted a German Frau (bitch) in the carpark. They spent 2 hours in the mine learning how salt was extracted from the core of the earth. We left Berchtesgaden in the drizzling rain making our way to the Rhine Valley.
The Rhine Valley was an amazing place to stay even though we only stayed one night.
There was a castle on every hill, trains running on both sides of the river, where on one side the trains ran every 5 minutes all night and barges going up and down the river full of cargo all night as well. We were parked right on the river bank. It is amazing how much the Germans use the river for transport, including tourist boats.
On to Maastrict, The Netherlands. Frank felt right as home as he crossed the border from Germany to Holland. Staying at a great park just out of town called “The Oriental”. The facilities here are the best we have struck on the trip. Indoor heated pool, (huge), amenities fantastic. Caught the bus into Maastrict, supposedly the oldest town in The Netherlands. The food was wonderful. Almost walked out of one shop into another to taste a new delicacy. Frank was delighted with his pickled herring and onion roll, then the four of us tucked into Frites with mayonnaise which was just delicious. Then we found the closest thing to a sausage roll that Jamie has seen in months, so we ate that, then what we thought was a meat pie and turned out the be a quiche (guess what is going to be first thing on the menu when Jamie gets home – yes a pie). The town was great for shoe shopping and there were sales on everywhere. The people in Holland are so friendly and it is very easy for an English speaking person as almost everyone speaks perfect English. We ended the day at a little local tavern having a few quiet ales and reflected on the past year.
More later
Love
J & A, F & A
X X X X X
The weather was not the best for sightseeing Hitler’s Love Nest (also known as the Eagle’s Nest) so we decided to send Jamie and Andrew down the saltmines after Andrew confronted a German Frau (bitch) in the carpark. They spent 2 hours in the mine learning how salt was extracted from the core of the earth. We left Berchtesgaden in the drizzling rain making our way to the Rhine Valley.
The Rhine Valley was an amazing place to stay even though we only stayed one night.
There was a castle on every hill, trains running on both sides of the river, where on one side the trains ran every 5 minutes all night and barges going up and down the river full of cargo all night as well. We were parked right on the river bank. It is amazing how much the Germans use the river for transport, including tourist boats.
On to Maastrict, The Netherlands. Frank felt right as home as he crossed the border from Germany to Holland. Staying at a great park just out of town called “The Oriental”. The facilities here are the best we have struck on the trip. Indoor heated pool, (huge), amenities fantastic. Caught the bus into Maastrict, supposedly the oldest town in The Netherlands. The food was wonderful. Almost walked out of one shop into another to taste a new delicacy. Frank was delighted with his pickled herring and onion roll, then the four of us tucked into Frites with mayonnaise which was just delicious. Then we found the closest thing to a sausage roll that Jamie has seen in months, so we ate that, then what we thought was a meat pie and turned out the be a quiche (guess what is going to be first thing on the menu when Jamie gets home – yes a pie). The town was great for shoe shopping and there were sales on everywhere. The people in Holland are so friendly and it is very easy for an English speaking person as almost everyone speaks perfect English. We ended the day at a little local tavern having a few quiet ales and reflected on the past year.
More later
Love
J & A, F & A
X X X X X
Sunday, September 26, 2010
SLOVINIA
What a surprise package the last couple of days have been. We drove into Bled and the views were stunning. The caravan park is surrounded by beautiful tall mountains that are covered in fur trees and cradled amongst them is a sapphire coloured lake. A castle overlooks the lake from a mountain top and an island sits in the lake with a beautiful white church with spire and other old beautiful buildings and fur trees. The area has an alpine feel with lovely stone cottages and trees with their leaves just turning to gold and red it is indeed picture perfect. There are wood gondolas on the lake in the shape of swans, whilst white swans float in the lake along with lots of ducks, hard not to overdo it with the camera.
We hired a couple of mountain bikes yesterday and all set off about 3.00 for a ride around the lake, just over 6 km. Annette was the dorky one with the helmet and the clip on the pants leg to stop the pants getting caught in the bike chain. (I am surprised Frank didn’t insist I have training wheels after my last effort on the bike – more about that later.) Fabulous ride, a little sore in the gluteous maximus for the oldie with the helmet but I did back up again this morning for another ride around the lake and I think another ride or two and I will be right for the Toure de France in a year or two.
NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!
We are currently sitting 6.2 klm into an 8 klm tunnel and Cal has chucked in the towel. Andrew and Frank are worrying enough for the four of us and Drew has just gone to the emergency phone to ring for help. A problem with the radiator I think. Help will be about 1 hour.
1 hour later a cute Austrian mechanic arrives with orange lights flashing and hero look about him. Andrew and Frank still vomiting, Jamie and I saying “He’s cute – better not to share that thought with the men right now!!!” It turns out to be a broken hose and voila the motor starts first go now that it is cooled down. All out of the car into the emergency bay whilst the mechanic pulls the inside of the van apart to get to the motor, he fixes the hose, follows us for a couple of klm’s to make sure we are OK then we are out of the tunnel and he has another look at the motor and hoses and then says we are right to go – no charge – unbelievable. We gave him a kiss and a koala souvenir and forced some money on him for beers and then went about rebuilding the inside of the van.
We have had an Angel in Turkey and now we have one in Austria.
Love J,A and F,A
We hired a couple of mountain bikes yesterday and all set off about 3.00 for a ride around the lake, just over 6 km. Annette was the dorky one with the helmet and the clip on the pants leg to stop the pants getting caught in the bike chain. (I am surprised Frank didn’t insist I have training wheels after my last effort on the bike – more about that later.) Fabulous ride, a little sore in the gluteous maximus for the oldie with the helmet but I did back up again this morning for another ride around the lake and I think another ride or two and I will be right for the Toure de France in a year or two.
NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!
We are currently sitting 6.2 klm into an 8 klm tunnel and Cal has chucked in the towel. Andrew and Frank are worrying enough for the four of us and Drew has just gone to the emergency phone to ring for help. A problem with the radiator I think. Help will be about 1 hour.
1 hour later a cute Austrian mechanic arrives with orange lights flashing and hero look about him. Andrew and Frank still vomiting, Jamie and I saying “He’s cute – better not to share that thought with the men right now!!!” It turns out to be a broken hose and voila the motor starts first go now that it is cooled down. All out of the car into the emergency bay whilst the mechanic pulls the inside of the van apart to get to the motor, he fixes the hose, follows us for a couple of klm’s to make sure we are OK then we are out of the tunnel and he has another look at the motor and hoses and then says we are right to go – no charge – unbelievable. We gave him a kiss and a koala souvenir and forced some money on him for beers and then went about rebuilding the inside of the van.
We have had an Angel in Turkey and now we have one in Austria.
Love J,A and F,A
Thursday, September 23, 2010
CROATIA, SLOVINIA, TOO RELAXED TO WRITE
Today we have a new guest writer on the blog. The Griffo's Old took the reins of the blog as "rent" for staying in Cal.
We are all agreed that Croatia is now our favourite country. The scenery is breathtaking, Croatia is covered in woods and forests, with steep rugged grey mountains running the length of the coast. The food is very tasty and inexpensive, coffee is as good as we have had anywhere and the weather has been sunny. Leaving Italy we caught an overnight ferry from Ancona to Split and the Adriatic Sea was as smooth as a millpond. Split was a treat with it old historic centre and great vegetable and flower markets. We did some great shopping, bought Italian leather sandals and a Genuine Panama hat for Frank. On to Hvar the next day catching a ferry from a small town on the coast over to the Island of Hvar. The drive to the main town from the ferry port was 75 klm and the road was very narrow, twisting and turning and no guard rails and about a thousand foot drop to our death. We got to the main town and all decided there was no way we were going to drive that road again so caught the ferry from the town of Hvar on to Dubrovnik. A six hour ferry ride which was very relaxing and a restaurant that served the best steak we have all eaten in a long time. Dubrovnik lived up to its reputation of one of the most beautiful towns in Croatia, we climbed about a million steps in Dubrovnik and walked the wall which surrounded the town. We all felt really great the next day and surprised that we had no ill effects from the workout on the steps, however, the next day a couple of us felt like we had been hit by a bus - everything ached.
A big drive from Dubrovnik to Sibenik just north of Split. A fantastic campground/resort, named Solaris Sibernik. Situated on the coast in natural surroundings covering 7.5 ha. After a big drive we decided to stay 2 nights, J & A ran into Amy and Mat, a young couple they had met in Paris. We all sat around at the bar and watched the sunset. Also gave the restaurants a good workout – yum!
On to Slovinia. Quite a climb to get onto the motorway (Cal is doing an awesome job ) and another big day for Andrew driving. We arrived in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovinia. After a great dinner last night at the restaurant at the campground 6 km from the city centre we had a few laughs trying to all get ready for bed at the same time and still keep some semblance of dignity and modesty. It was really cold last night and nobody was prepared to brave the cold whilst the other got their jammies on so it was a free for all. As I said lots of laughs, just as well we are all family. We have spent the morning walking through the old city, had breakfast in town at a cafebar. It had the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen but we resisted the urge and had toasted ham, cheese, egg and lettuce rolls and coffee instead. We had heard it was a beautiful city and it is. Very easy to walk around this town it is really pedestrian friendly. There are designated bike tracks all the way into the city from the outer areas and they are well used. I have never seen so many cafes in a city, the river which runs through the city has cafes all the way along each side. We are just arriving in Bled so must be away, more later.
Love from all of us.
J & A and F & A
We are all agreed that Croatia is now our favourite country. The scenery is breathtaking, Croatia is covered in woods and forests, with steep rugged grey mountains running the length of the coast. The food is very tasty and inexpensive, coffee is as good as we have had anywhere and the weather has been sunny. Leaving Italy we caught an overnight ferry from Ancona to Split and the Adriatic Sea was as smooth as a millpond. Split was a treat with it old historic centre and great vegetable and flower markets. We did some great shopping, bought Italian leather sandals and a Genuine Panama hat for Frank. On to Hvar the next day catching a ferry from a small town on the coast over to the Island of Hvar. The drive to the main town from the ferry port was 75 klm and the road was very narrow, twisting and turning and no guard rails and about a thousand foot drop to our death. We got to the main town and all decided there was no way we were going to drive that road again so caught the ferry from the town of Hvar on to Dubrovnik. A six hour ferry ride which was very relaxing and a restaurant that served the best steak we have all eaten in a long time. Dubrovnik lived up to its reputation of one of the most beautiful towns in Croatia, we climbed about a million steps in Dubrovnik and walked the wall which surrounded the town. We all felt really great the next day and surprised that we had no ill effects from the workout on the steps, however, the next day a couple of us felt like we had been hit by a bus - everything ached.
A big drive from Dubrovnik to Sibenik just north of Split. A fantastic campground/resort, named Solaris Sibernik. Situated on the coast in natural surroundings covering 7.5 ha. After a big drive we decided to stay 2 nights, J & A ran into Amy and Mat, a young couple they had met in Paris. We all sat around at the bar and watched the sunset. Also gave the restaurants a good workout – yum!
On to Slovinia. Quite a climb to get onto the motorway (Cal is doing an awesome job ) and another big day for Andrew driving. We arrived in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovinia. After a great dinner last night at the restaurant at the campground 6 km from the city centre we had a few laughs trying to all get ready for bed at the same time and still keep some semblance of dignity and modesty. It was really cold last night and nobody was prepared to brave the cold whilst the other got their jammies on so it was a free for all. As I said lots of laughs, just as well we are all family. We have spent the morning walking through the old city, had breakfast in town at a cafebar. It had the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen but we resisted the urge and had toasted ham, cheese, egg and lettuce rolls and coffee instead. We had heard it was a beautiful city and it is. Very easy to walk around this town it is really pedestrian friendly. There are designated bike tracks all the way into the city from the outer areas and they are well used. I have never seen so many cafes in a city, the river which runs through the city has cafes all the way along each side. We are just arriving in Bled so must be away, more later.
Love from all of us.
J & A and F & A
Friday, September 17, 2010
The last of Italy...
After our last blog you left us sitting at the pool at Villa Capanne sipping local wine and eating amazing local produce. Since then our holiday has progressed nicely. We picked up our hire car (Upgraded to a beautiful, and speedy Alfa Romeo), took several day trips to some beautiful local towns and regions, played some golf, enjoyed beautiful food and wine at the villa and had an incredible lunch at a local restaurant called Il Covone that we’ll remember for years to come. Recently we’ve had one problem with our adventure that, although hasn’t really required a mention, has been a massive pain in the bum. Cal has run out of gas (butane), which has meant that cooking was a challenge. This has been really quite hard to rectify as it’s apparently illegal to fill gas bottles in Europe, but no-one can provide us with a British gas bottle that will fit our mate Cal. More on this later.
One of our day trips was to the wonderful town of Deruta which is famous for its outstanding locally produced ceramic goods. We arrived at one of the factory outlets which prompted a fury of spending from all of us. We’ll deal with the extra baggage charges later. Our next day trip was to Cortona, which some of you will know from a concert that Andre Reau held there in the town square. This is an absolutely stunning hilltop town that is exactly the sort of town you imagine when you think of the best of Italy. In Cortona we wandered the streets found some beautiful little art galleries.
Frank and Andrew started Sunday with a game of golf on the Antognolla golf course which was a lovely start to the day, regardless of the score. Unfortunately the condition of the course was quite deceiving, from a distance it looked spectacular, but up close was obviously over watered and had too many bunkers. Even though Andrew did get a birdy, it wasn’t our best game. Lunch started with a drive through some amazing Umbrian farm land towards our restaurant. Lunch consisted of the best wines that Umbria has to offer, along with 6 courses of possibly some of the best food we’ve ever eaten.
On Monday it was time to move on. We left the wonderful Villa Capanne with heavy hearts. This was truly a wonderful part of our adventure, and a level of luxury that we’ll probably never see again. We left for Urbino in the midmorning and reached the town just in time for lunch which was enjoyed at a little cafe in one of the many side streets of this town. The town is another of Italy’s hilltop treasures which is heavily occupied by the students of the local university. It’s amazing to see such an old town so heavily populated with such a young, progressive population. Tuesday was spent in the wonderful Republic of San Marino. Although the drive half way up the massive mountain top city/country of San Marino was quite a challenge, the view and experience was well worth it. We finally found a car park for Cal right next to the gondola ride which takes you up to the top of the mountain and made our way up to see one of the smallest countries in the world. After seeing it’s location, it’s little wonder that these people have insisted on independence from anyone else. It really is on top of the world. We enjoyed an amazing 3 course lunch at a great little restaurant, and made our way back down to start our journey to Ancona en route to Croatia!
The next day we made it to Ancona by about 1:00pm which gave us plenty of time to hang around before our 8:30pm departure time. On boarding the ship, we headed straight for the bar to have a couple of last beers within Italy to calm the nerves of our more jittery travellers. Leaving Italy for the last time this trip was a fairly sobering idea. Although we met some incredibly rude people, and sometimes the “Italian way” can be incredibly infuriating, it’s still been one of the most beautiful countries we’ve been to. It’s all about the passion, the food, the wine and of course the way you look in Italy. Yes, it’s one of the most pretentious countries on the planet, but because of this, it’s also one of the most beautiful. Love it or hate it, it’s the worlds super power in both style, and most importantly, coffee.... Anyway, back to the boat. After a couple of beers, we had dinner, and a fairly early night ready to wake to our next part in the adventure.... CROATIA!
On arrival in Split, it took little time for us to realise that although this town is well known for its transport hub status, it’s definitely a place to visit in its own rite. We saw some amazing local markets with some very interesting foods, some incredibly talented buskers and yes, of course, more really old buildings. After leaving Split toward Dubrovnik we very quickly realised why the coast of Croatia has such an amazing reputation. You could compare this coast line with that of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The turquoise water is lined by white cliffs hundreds of metres high. We nervously drove Cal around the cliffs to a beautiful little sea side town where we’ve stopped for the night. After a swim in the ocean, and a few beers and wines (stocked up from Italy) for happy hour, we’re ready to start it all again tomorrow. Please, can this time in our lives never end....
A&J&A&F xoxoxox
One of our day trips was to the wonderful town of Deruta which is famous for its outstanding locally produced ceramic goods. We arrived at one of the factory outlets which prompted a fury of spending from all of us. We’ll deal with the extra baggage charges later. Our next day trip was to Cortona, which some of you will know from a concert that Andre Reau held there in the town square. This is an absolutely stunning hilltop town that is exactly the sort of town you imagine when you think of the best of Italy. In Cortona we wandered the streets found some beautiful little art galleries.
Frank and Andrew started Sunday with a game of golf on the Antognolla golf course which was a lovely start to the day, regardless of the score. Unfortunately the condition of the course was quite deceiving, from a distance it looked spectacular, but up close was obviously over watered and had too many bunkers. Even though Andrew did get a birdy, it wasn’t our best game. Lunch started with a drive through some amazing Umbrian farm land towards our restaurant. Lunch consisted of the best wines that Umbria has to offer, along with 6 courses of possibly some of the best food we’ve ever eaten.
On Monday it was time to move on. We left the wonderful Villa Capanne with heavy hearts. This was truly a wonderful part of our adventure, and a level of luxury that we’ll probably never see again. We left for Urbino in the midmorning and reached the town just in time for lunch which was enjoyed at a little cafe in one of the many side streets of this town. The town is another of Italy’s hilltop treasures which is heavily occupied by the students of the local university. It’s amazing to see such an old town so heavily populated with such a young, progressive population. Tuesday was spent in the wonderful Republic of San Marino. Although the drive half way up the massive mountain top city/country of San Marino was quite a challenge, the view and experience was well worth it. We finally found a car park for Cal right next to the gondola ride which takes you up to the top of the mountain and made our way up to see one of the smallest countries in the world. After seeing it’s location, it’s little wonder that these people have insisted on independence from anyone else. It really is on top of the world. We enjoyed an amazing 3 course lunch at a great little restaurant, and made our way back down to start our journey to Ancona en route to Croatia!
The next day we made it to Ancona by about 1:00pm which gave us plenty of time to hang around before our 8:30pm departure time. On boarding the ship, we headed straight for the bar to have a couple of last beers within Italy to calm the nerves of our more jittery travellers. Leaving Italy for the last time this trip was a fairly sobering idea. Although we met some incredibly rude people, and sometimes the “Italian way” can be incredibly infuriating, it’s still been one of the most beautiful countries we’ve been to. It’s all about the passion, the food, the wine and of course the way you look in Italy. Yes, it’s one of the most pretentious countries on the planet, but because of this, it’s also one of the most beautiful. Love it or hate it, it’s the worlds super power in both style, and most importantly, coffee.... Anyway, back to the boat. After a couple of beers, we had dinner, and a fairly early night ready to wake to our next part in the adventure.... CROATIA!
On arrival in Split, it took little time for us to realise that although this town is well known for its transport hub status, it’s definitely a place to visit in its own rite. We saw some amazing local markets with some very interesting foods, some incredibly talented buskers and yes, of course, more really old buildings. After leaving Split toward Dubrovnik we very quickly realised why the coast of Croatia has such an amazing reputation. You could compare this coast line with that of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The turquoise water is lined by white cliffs hundreds of metres high. We nervously drove Cal around the cliffs to a beautiful little sea side town where we’ve stopped for the night. After a swim in the ocean, and a few beers and wines (stocked up from Italy) for happy hour, we’re ready to start it all again tomorrow. Please, can this time in our lives never end....
A&J&A&F xoxoxox
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The best part of Italy....
It’s again been a few days since we’ve written. We do apologise, but there has been good reason for our tardiness. First we’ll start from leaving Visp. We left just before lunch thinking that it should be a quick 1 hour drive to Lake Maggiore via the train tunnel going from Brig into Italy. Unfortunately big Cal didn’t fit into the train which meant we had a 7 hour drive almost back to Mont Blanc to get back to the side of pizza and insane driving. On arrival to Lake Maggiore, we found a camping ground in Arona, right on the shore of the lake which gave us brilliant views. The next day we took a ferry from Arona to Stresa which takes about an hour each way and gives an amazing view of the lake and the three islands just off Stresa. Stresa itself is a beautiful little town with winding streets that can take an entire day to explore. We enjoyed a lovely lunch of seafood, pasta and wine in the square of the town.
The next few days were spent doing shopping trips to outlets surrounding Milan, and relaxing around the shores of one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe. It was great to get some relaxing in before picking up Mum and Dad Griffo and making the big trip down to the Villa.
On Monday we made our way to Malpensa Airport in Milan to pick up our new travel partners. We were both SO excited to see Mum and Dad Griffo, give them a big hug, and start the new chapter of our adventure with two great travellers. Once they made their way through Italian Customs (We won’t say what Frank thought of Customs as he might not be welcomed back into the country) we started the big drive down towards Perugia and Villa Capanne which has the reputation of being heaven on earth and carried the burden of exceptionally high expectations from both of us. Due to delay in Customs, and some heavy traffic, we spent the first night with all four of us in Cal parked in a truck stop on the highway with a refrigeration truck next to us revving all night long. What a great welcome for Frank and Annette!
Early the next day we made our way to the Villa. This place is absolutely incredible.... Frank and Annette are lucky enough to have two wonderful friends that own this piece of paradise in Umbria. To try and describe this place seems to be a futile task, but we’ll try. On driving through the front gate of the golf course that the villa sits above, the surrounding area changes from the rugged Italian country side to a perfectly manicured landscape scattered with several hundred year old olive trees. Once you weave your way through the golf course and up the hill, you arrive at Villa Capanne. The MOST beautiful house we have ever seen. A perfectly restored old Italian villa has all the charm of a traditional villa, but all of the comforts of a 5 star hotel. Every aspect of the villa has been finished to an exceptionally high standard ensuring the ultimate in luxury at the same time keeping its original charm making it’s guests feel like they’re arriving back home even as they enter for the first time. Once you finally get your head around the inside of the house, you walk out to the back yard where the infinity pool looks over the entire golf course, and castle sitting on the opposite hill. The garden surrounding the villa is full of lavender bushes, fig trees and an assortment of herbs as well as perfectly maintained lawns kept to its high standard by the full time gardener. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! We’re so very very lucky to be allowed to stay here and will never EVER forget this experience. We will of course upload photos of this amazing place, but must warn that they could never do it justice. See the website at http://www.villacapanne.com/.
Yesterday we took a day trip to Assisi, which is the home of Italy’s, and Franks patron saint, St Francis. To visit this brilliant town with Mum and Dad Griffo has been one of the highlights of the entire trip, and something we’ve been looking forward to since planning the trip back in Australia. We walked around the town for a few hours taking in the beautiful streets and churches. Once we arrived back to the villa, we enjoyed yet another night of happy hour and dinner on the terrace overlooking the most incredible view on the planet. What a life we lead during this brilliant adventure.
A&J xoxo
The next few days were spent doing shopping trips to outlets surrounding Milan, and relaxing around the shores of one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe. It was great to get some relaxing in before picking up Mum and Dad Griffo and making the big trip down to the Villa.
On Monday we made our way to Malpensa Airport in Milan to pick up our new travel partners. We were both SO excited to see Mum and Dad Griffo, give them a big hug, and start the new chapter of our adventure with two great travellers. Once they made their way through Italian Customs (We won’t say what Frank thought of Customs as he might not be welcomed back into the country) we started the big drive down towards Perugia and Villa Capanne which has the reputation of being heaven on earth and carried the burden of exceptionally high expectations from both of us. Due to delay in Customs, and some heavy traffic, we spent the first night with all four of us in Cal parked in a truck stop on the highway with a refrigeration truck next to us revving all night long. What a great welcome for Frank and Annette!
Early the next day we made our way to the Villa. This place is absolutely incredible.... Frank and Annette are lucky enough to have two wonderful friends that own this piece of paradise in Umbria. To try and describe this place seems to be a futile task, but we’ll try. On driving through the front gate of the golf course that the villa sits above, the surrounding area changes from the rugged Italian country side to a perfectly manicured landscape scattered with several hundred year old olive trees. Once you weave your way through the golf course and up the hill, you arrive at Villa Capanne. The MOST beautiful house we have ever seen. A perfectly restored old Italian villa has all the charm of a traditional villa, but all of the comforts of a 5 star hotel. Every aspect of the villa has been finished to an exceptionally high standard ensuring the ultimate in luxury at the same time keeping its original charm making it’s guests feel like they’re arriving back home even as they enter for the first time. Once you finally get your head around the inside of the house, you walk out to the back yard where the infinity pool looks over the entire golf course, and castle sitting on the opposite hill. The garden surrounding the villa is full of lavender bushes, fig trees and an assortment of herbs as well as perfectly maintained lawns kept to its high standard by the full time gardener. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! We’re so very very lucky to be allowed to stay here and will never EVER forget this experience. We will of course upload photos of this amazing place, but must warn that they could never do it justice. See the website at http://www.villacapanne.com/.
Yesterday we took a day trip to Assisi, which is the home of Italy’s, and Franks patron saint, St Francis. To visit this brilliant town with Mum and Dad Griffo has been one of the highlights of the entire trip, and something we’ve been looking forward to since planning the trip back in Australia. We walked around the town for a few hours taking in the beautiful streets and churches. Once we arrived back to the villa, we enjoyed yet another night of happy hour and dinner on the terrace overlooking the most incredible view on the planet. What a life we lead during this brilliant adventure.
A&J xoxo
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Alpine Memories
“The last two days have been so spectacular, they deserve their own blog.” This was Jamie’s reaction to the last two days that we’ve spent in Visp, Switzerland. This will be a fairly short post due to the fact that we only posted a couple of days ago, but we’ve both been so overwhelmed by the last couple of days, that we’ve had to put it into words.
Yesterday started with some pretty ordinary weather that called a halt to our expedition to one of Switzerland’s largest glaciers. Instead, we purchased a two day rail/bus pass which at an expensive $100 each, definitely needed to provide some brilliant services to give some satisfaction. We left that morning to see Sass Fee which is a small ski resort that offers all year round skiing, and beautiful scenery. The bus trip alone to our destination was absolutely stunning. When you see the work that has been put into the roads that service these towns, you can understand why it costs so much to get public transport. They have to pay for these incredible winding and tunnelling roads somehow. The town itself is completely free of conventional cars, which are traded for electric run taxi’s which are no doubt priced to encourage people to walk. This alone, has a calming effect on the entire town giving it an old school feel and essentially turning it into a complete pedestrian zone. We finished the day with a beer in a local cafe, and returning to Cal for a lovely dinner of bangers and mash (sausages purchased in France, 15 minutes away).
With a massive day planned for today, we woke up at a very impressive 6:30am; earliest we’ve been up in months! We made our way up to Zermatt which is a similar sort of town to the one we saw yesterday, but more famous because of the towering monster lurking above the town called Mattahorn. This was to play second fiddle today, as the original plan was for Andrew to do some midsummer skiing on one of the few all year round ski fields in Switzerland. Unfortunately due to some dodgy alpine weather early this morning, skiing was wiped off the cards. To make up for this disappointment we decided we’d take the cable car up as far as it would go (highest cable car in Europe). At about 11:30 the weather cleared up beautifully so we boarded the cable car for the hour long ride. After a couple of bumps which had Jamie clinging to the ceiling, we made our way to the top of Klein Mattahorn, 3882 metres above sea level. The view from here was just incredible. We could see into Switzerland, France and Italy all covered in beautiful snow. It’s just too hard to describe the feeling you get when you’re this far above the rest of the world. Jamie said that it’s one of her most memorable moments of travelling so far. This is what it’s all about.
A&J xoxo
PS - Only a few days till we see Mum and Dad Griffo!!!
Yesterday started with some pretty ordinary weather that called a halt to our expedition to one of Switzerland’s largest glaciers. Instead, we purchased a two day rail/bus pass which at an expensive $100 each, definitely needed to provide some brilliant services to give some satisfaction. We left that morning to see Sass Fee which is a small ski resort that offers all year round skiing, and beautiful scenery. The bus trip alone to our destination was absolutely stunning. When you see the work that has been put into the roads that service these towns, you can understand why it costs so much to get public transport. They have to pay for these incredible winding and tunnelling roads somehow. The town itself is completely free of conventional cars, which are traded for electric run taxi’s which are no doubt priced to encourage people to walk. This alone, has a calming effect on the entire town giving it an old school feel and essentially turning it into a complete pedestrian zone. We finished the day with a beer in a local cafe, and returning to Cal for a lovely dinner of bangers and mash (sausages purchased in France, 15 minutes away).
With a massive day planned for today, we woke up at a very impressive 6:30am; earliest we’ve been up in months! We made our way up to Zermatt which is a similar sort of town to the one we saw yesterday, but more famous because of the towering monster lurking above the town called Mattahorn. This was to play second fiddle today, as the original plan was for Andrew to do some midsummer skiing on one of the few all year round ski fields in Switzerland. Unfortunately due to some dodgy alpine weather early this morning, skiing was wiped off the cards. To make up for this disappointment we decided we’d take the cable car up as far as it would go (highest cable car in Europe). At about 11:30 the weather cleared up beautifully so we boarded the cable car for the hour long ride. After a couple of bumps which had Jamie clinging to the ceiling, we made our way to the top of Klein Mattahorn, 3882 metres above sea level. The view from here was just incredible. We could see into Switzerland, France and Italy all covered in beautiful snow. It’s just too hard to describe the feeling you get when you’re this far above the rest of the world. Jamie said that it’s one of her most memorable moments of travelling so far. This is what it’s all about.
A&J xoxo
PS - Only a few days till we see Mum and Dad Griffo!!!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Swiss Perfection...
The last week of our adventures has been outstanding. When we first discussed what we expected from Switzerland, we both came up with seemingly unrealistic ideas of this relatively small country. To our surprise, this landlocked alpine paradise is, although expensive, everything and more than what we expected. It has the engineering excellence of Germany, the culinary expertise of France, and the scenery, well, there is no other place that we’ve visited that has scenery like this. This place isn’t just the birthplace of the world’s greatest tennis player (Roger Federer) but they have thousands of people just like him, walking around the city. It seems as though almost everyone that lives here could become a world champion of something. It’s disgusting! It makes the average person feel less than athletic.
With only a week until we pick up Ma and Pa Griffo from Milan, it’s hard not to wish we were already at the airport waiting for them. We’re so looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and sharing the rest of our holiday with some amazing travellers. In saying that, we’re ensuring that we’re filling in our time and making the most of the rest of our trip alone. We spent three nights in Geneve which was just brilliant. Although the most expensive city in Europe, Geneve has plenty you can do at little or no cost. Simply walking the streets of this incredibly multicultural city is enough to keep anyone interested for days. They have endless streets of beautiful clothes shops that kept Jamie very busy. They also have the world’s tallest water fountain at an amazing two hundred and something metres! We had the opportunity to visit the UN Headquarters for a tour which was amazing. They let us sit at some of the delegate chairs in the main general assembly hall which has been the scene for many world changing decisions from the UN. We both found this incredibly interesting, and at 10CHF each, it was a steal!
We’re now at Visp which is one of the main towns to get transport up to see the Matterhorn. It’s also one of the most spectacular areas we’ve seen because we’re so close to the alps. The view of Mont Blanc has been incredible! Andrew must have the mountain air getting to him because he keeps talking about wanting to climb mountains and mountain bike down the side... We’ll be here for a few days waiting for the weather to clear up enough to go up and see the big attraction. There may even be a chance of some summer skiing for Andrew, imagine that! We’re also heading up to see one of the bigger glaciers in Switzerland. This afternoon we filled in with watching a couple of local soccer games between a few local teams. The standard of football was comparable to our A-League which was great to watch.
More updates to come soon...
A&J xoxo
With only a week until we pick up Ma and Pa Griffo from Milan, it’s hard not to wish we were already at the airport waiting for them. We’re so looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and sharing the rest of our holiday with some amazing travellers. In saying that, we’re ensuring that we’re filling in our time and making the most of the rest of our trip alone. We spent three nights in Geneve which was just brilliant. Although the most expensive city in Europe, Geneve has plenty you can do at little or no cost. Simply walking the streets of this incredibly multicultural city is enough to keep anyone interested for days. They have endless streets of beautiful clothes shops that kept Jamie very busy. They also have the world’s tallest water fountain at an amazing two hundred and something metres! We had the opportunity to visit the UN Headquarters for a tour which was amazing. They let us sit at some of the delegate chairs in the main general assembly hall which has been the scene for many world changing decisions from the UN. We both found this incredibly interesting, and at 10CHF each, it was a steal!
We’re now at Visp which is one of the main towns to get transport up to see the Matterhorn. It’s also one of the most spectacular areas we’ve seen because we’re so close to the alps. The view of Mont Blanc has been incredible! Andrew must have the mountain air getting to him because he keeps talking about wanting to climb mountains and mountain bike down the side... We’ll be here for a few days waiting for the weather to clear up enough to go up and see the big attraction. There may even be a chance of some summer skiing for Andrew, imagine that! We’re also heading up to see one of the bigger glaciers in Switzerland. This afternoon we filled in with watching a couple of local soccer games between a few local teams. The standard of football was comparable to our A-League which was great to watch.
More updates to come soon...
A&J xoxo
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Austria and Switzerland
Generally I wouldn’t use the word majestic. In fact I sort of have something against it, and judge people that use it as a little over the top. This is until late last week when we drove into Austria, and since to Switzerland. We drove from Venice to Innsbruck late last week and it was like driving through a set of moving post cards. The mountains that spring up from nowhere are nothing short of majestic. These monsters tower thousands of metres each side of the highway, which made me somewhat nervous thinking that at one stage, we’re going to have to climb one of these things in Cal which couldn’t possibly end well. On arrival in Innsbruck we found a brilliant brand new camp ground that which cost 30Euro a night inc free WiFi. Looking around this town, with the views that it has, and the proximity to some of the best skiing in the world, its little surprise that this town has hosted the Winter Olympics twice. We spent the afternoon/night sitting outside having an extended happy hour while looking at the incredible scenery.
The next day we headed toward a little town we’d read about on the internet called Appenzell. Known by some travel bloggers as the most authentic (old school) town in Switzerland due to the traditional dress worn and day to day activities carried out by the locals, we thought it was a must see, and it was. On route to Appenzell we stopped off at Vaduz which is the capital of Liechtenstein. The first thing we noticed in this town was the brilliant castle looking over the town which gives the place a definite fairy tale feel, the second were the exorbitant prices for food at the local restaurants, so we ditched the idea of lunch out, and grabbed some bread rolls from the local supermarket. Once back on the road to Appenzell, the roads quickly turned to a similar type of road we experienced watching the Tour De France. This was not good. Cal struggled his way up the mountain climb and at one stage came very close to being overtaken by a cyclist. Once we got to the top, we found an amazing camp site overlooking the Swiss country side and sat having drinks with the sound of cow bells in the distance. The next morning we used to discover this town called Appenzell, we found a beautiful little town which was described as a place where time seemed to have stood still for the last several decades. We had a coffee on the main street and people watched for a while followed by a spot of shopping and wandering.
Our next destination was Luzern which was a fairly short drive via St Gallen and Zurich. Luzern is one spot that seems to be a tourist hot spot for Europeans. The number of tourists from around Europe was reflected in the price of the camp ground, 38Euro! It was situated in a great spot though, 1 minute from the lake that Luzern is based around, and a 10 minute bike ride from the centre of town. We spent two nights here, relaxing and seeing the sites. We’re not surprised this place is so popular.
From one Luzern to another Lausanne. Our next stop was a few hours drive through what seemed to be incredibly flat land (considering where we are). This town is a definite must see when coming to Switzerland. If you’re a sports fan, this is the centre of the world for sports.... The home of the International Olympic Committee (We’re camped literally 100 metres from the IOC headquarters building), and many many other sports organisations. The town is perched above Lake Geneve which is a haven for the locals for all sorts of water sports. And while cycling next to the lake, you pass every different sort of sport field, court, ramp, ring, arena you could imagine, there’s even a Curling ring! Brilliant! We spent a day walking the streets and doing some shopping, then in the afternoon we headed to the Olympic museum which was one of the best museums we’ve seen in Europe. It had quite a hands on section which Andrew loved (Turns out he has a better reaction time off the blocks than Usain Bolt!)
Today we’re off to Geneve, hopefully to see part of the Large Hadron Collider! How cool!
A&J xoxox
The next day we headed toward a little town we’d read about on the internet called Appenzell. Known by some travel bloggers as the most authentic (old school) town in Switzerland due to the traditional dress worn and day to day activities carried out by the locals, we thought it was a must see, and it was. On route to Appenzell we stopped off at Vaduz which is the capital of Liechtenstein. The first thing we noticed in this town was the brilliant castle looking over the town which gives the place a definite fairy tale feel, the second were the exorbitant prices for food at the local restaurants, so we ditched the idea of lunch out, and grabbed some bread rolls from the local supermarket. Once back on the road to Appenzell, the roads quickly turned to a similar type of road we experienced watching the Tour De France. This was not good. Cal struggled his way up the mountain climb and at one stage came very close to being overtaken by a cyclist. Once we got to the top, we found an amazing camp site overlooking the Swiss country side and sat having drinks with the sound of cow bells in the distance. The next morning we used to discover this town called Appenzell, we found a beautiful little town which was described as a place where time seemed to have stood still for the last several decades. We had a coffee on the main street and people watched for a while followed by a spot of shopping and wandering.
Our next destination was Luzern which was a fairly short drive via St Gallen and Zurich. Luzern is one spot that seems to be a tourist hot spot for Europeans. The number of tourists from around Europe was reflected in the price of the camp ground, 38Euro! It was situated in a great spot though, 1 minute from the lake that Luzern is based around, and a 10 minute bike ride from the centre of town. We spent two nights here, relaxing and seeing the sites. We’re not surprised this place is so popular.
From one Luzern to another Lausanne. Our next stop was a few hours drive through what seemed to be incredibly flat land (considering where we are). This town is a definite must see when coming to Switzerland. If you’re a sports fan, this is the centre of the world for sports.... The home of the International Olympic Committee (We’re camped literally 100 metres from the IOC headquarters building), and many many other sports organisations. The town is perched above Lake Geneve which is a haven for the locals for all sorts of water sports. And while cycling next to the lake, you pass every different sort of sport field, court, ramp, ring, arena you could imagine, there’s even a Curling ring! Brilliant! We spent a day walking the streets and doing some shopping, then in the afternoon we headed to the Olympic museum which was one of the best museums we’ve seen in Europe. It had quite a hands on section which Andrew loved (Turns out he has a better reaction time off the blocks than Usain Bolt!)
Today we’re off to Geneve, hopefully to see part of the Large Hadron Collider! How cool!
A&J xoxox
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Mantova, Verona and Venice
So we’ve done some driving since we left you... After leaving Rome, we headed towards Spoleto which was a couple of hours drive. Andrew, still being in a fragile condition found the going tough so we parked for the night in a “services” area for campervans and had a night of free camping. It’s quite amazing how many of these places there are throughout Europe. Obviously camper vanning is a much more popular way to travel in Europe, and because of this, it’s very well catered for by local towns. Almost every single town we drive though, there is a location to park you campervan (often for the night) and empty your waste tank and fill up with fresh water.
The next day we decided to make our way to the East Coast to hopefully get some swimming in, unfortunately on arrival we hit our worst storm yet. Torrential rain would be an understatement, at one point we thought Cal was going to be swept off the road. Not surprisingly the Italians slowed to about 150kph during this storm while we crawled along at about 5. Due to the intense rain fall, Cal sprung a couple of leaks which required some urgent attention. Luckily we still had our emergency leak repair kit (consists of a tube of silicon, a rag, a knife and a couple of beers to work up the courage to climb onto the roof) which Andrew used to repair the leaks to the standard of a true craftsman. That night was spent on the waterfront between a bar, and a railway line. You can probably tell how this is going to end.... Turns out, the bar doesn’t really pick up until midnight, when ALL the locals arrive to see the band that’s obviously a favourite. Normally this would be fine, and we’d join in, but with Andrew still not well, it wasn’t exactly a welcomed surprise. This coupled with the train that whistled past our campervan, (Causing it to shake) EVERY HOUR on the hour made for a fairly ordinary sleep, and a cranky Griffo the next day.
The next stretch was quite a decent drive, all the way up to Mantova. Due to our less than rapid age enforced speed limit of about 85-90kph and a couple of rubbish roads this drive took about 8 hours so we were both trashed by the time we arrived at this beautiful town. This was the town that Romeo was exiled to in Romeo and Juliet. It is a spectacular town from the first time you see it. It’s surrounded by fortified walls, inside which is a maze of cobblestone streets with beautiful shops either side. There are of course a couple of amazing churches that are in the centre of the town, and more history than you can possibly imagine. Yes, it sounds a lot like many of the other places we have visited, but this is really something different. It wasn’t crammed packed with tourists like Rome, Florence or Pisa, but should have been, and probably will be at some stage.
Next stop was Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet. We stopped at a camping ground just outside the town. It seemed to be run by a family full of hippies which was cool, but unfortunately they didn’t supply electricity to their sites (you’d be surprised how excited we get by accessible electricity now!). We checked out Verona which was quite similar to Mantova, just on a bigger scale and with many more tourists. We did all the must dos in Verona such as Juliet’s balcony and the smaller version of the colosseum. We went for dinner at a local restaurant, were we ordered Lasagne and the local specialty of Horse with salad. The horse was definitely worth trying, and would possibly be on the order again list, it kind of tastes like a smoked roast beef type meat that was thinly sliced and served cold.
Our next destination was one that we’d both been looking forward to, Venice. Everyone has heard about how beautiful this city is, and the certain romantic feeling one gets when they spend any amount of time roaming the streets. Well, it’s all absolutely true. This city has a definite magic about it that causes you to think funny things. The perfect example is those people that pay 80Euro for a gondola ride around the canals. Yes, they are lovely and romantic, yes, we will probably only be here once or twice at best, but there was no way we were going to pay some guy that much to push us around in a boat for 35 minutes. You can get a MUCH cheaper ride by a much better looking person in Amsterdam (granted you may be paying for this one for longer)! The best way we think to see this town, is to get lost in its streets, and if you come here you almost certainly will. The maps of the city don’t even make that much sense as a lot of the streets don’t have a name. When you get lost though, this is where you find the best places. We found some amazing bridges, squares and shops by just wandering the streets. You will eventually find your way back after asking some locals as we did.
Today has been spent as a recovery day as Jamie seems to have caught some of the man flu (for the third time this trip). Tomorrow we’re off to Austria, then into Switzerland.
Ciao,
A&J xoxox
The next day we decided to make our way to the East Coast to hopefully get some swimming in, unfortunately on arrival we hit our worst storm yet. Torrential rain would be an understatement, at one point we thought Cal was going to be swept off the road. Not surprisingly the Italians slowed to about 150kph during this storm while we crawled along at about 5. Due to the intense rain fall, Cal sprung a couple of leaks which required some urgent attention. Luckily we still had our emergency leak repair kit (consists of a tube of silicon, a rag, a knife and a couple of beers to work up the courage to climb onto the roof) which Andrew used to repair the leaks to the standard of a true craftsman. That night was spent on the waterfront between a bar, and a railway line. You can probably tell how this is going to end.... Turns out, the bar doesn’t really pick up until midnight, when ALL the locals arrive to see the band that’s obviously a favourite. Normally this would be fine, and we’d join in, but with Andrew still not well, it wasn’t exactly a welcomed surprise. This coupled with the train that whistled past our campervan, (Causing it to shake) EVERY HOUR on the hour made for a fairly ordinary sleep, and a cranky Griffo the next day.
The next stretch was quite a decent drive, all the way up to Mantova. Due to our less than rapid age enforced speed limit of about 85-90kph and a couple of rubbish roads this drive took about 8 hours so we were both trashed by the time we arrived at this beautiful town. This was the town that Romeo was exiled to in Romeo and Juliet. It is a spectacular town from the first time you see it. It’s surrounded by fortified walls, inside which is a maze of cobblestone streets with beautiful shops either side. There are of course a couple of amazing churches that are in the centre of the town, and more history than you can possibly imagine. Yes, it sounds a lot like many of the other places we have visited, but this is really something different. It wasn’t crammed packed with tourists like Rome, Florence or Pisa, but should have been, and probably will be at some stage.
Next stop was Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet. We stopped at a camping ground just outside the town. It seemed to be run by a family full of hippies which was cool, but unfortunately they didn’t supply electricity to their sites (you’d be surprised how excited we get by accessible electricity now!). We checked out Verona which was quite similar to Mantova, just on a bigger scale and with many more tourists. We did all the must dos in Verona such as Juliet’s balcony and the smaller version of the colosseum. We went for dinner at a local restaurant, were we ordered Lasagne and the local specialty of Horse with salad. The horse was definitely worth trying, and would possibly be on the order again list, it kind of tastes like a smoked roast beef type meat that was thinly sliced and served cold.
Our next destination was one that we’d both been looking forward to, Venice. Everyone has heard about how beautiful this city is, and the certain romantic feeling one gets when they spend any amount of time roaming the streets. Well, it’s all absolutely true. This city has a definite magic about it that causes you to think funny things. The perfect example is those people that pay 80Euro for a gondola ride around the canals. Yes, they are lovely and romantic, yes, we will probably only be here once or twice at best, but there was no way we were going to pay some guy that much to push us around in a boat for 35 minutes. You can get a MUCH cheaper ride by a much better looking person in Amsterdam (granted you may be paying for this one for longer)! The best way we think to see this town, is to get lost in its streets, and if you come here you almost certainly will. The maps of the city don’t even make that much sense as a lot of the streets don’t have a name. When you get lost though, this is where you find the best places. We found some amazing bridges, squares and shops by just wandering the streets. You will eventually find your way back after asking some locals as we did.
Today has been spent as a recovery day as Jamie seems to have caught some of the man flu (for the third time this trip). Tomorrow we’re off to Austria, then into Switzerland.
Ciao,
A&J xoxox
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Naples (shitville) and Amalfi Coast.
We decided due to the reputation of the Naples traffic, and the road conditions on the Amalfi coast, to take the train from Rome to Naples, and on to Sorrento to visit the Amalfi Coast, Vesuvius and Pompei. This was pretty exciting for us as it’s like a little holiday inside our big holiday, we get to stay at a hotel in a big bed and enjoy a hotel breakfast... Brilliant! Although Andrew was still sick from what was obviously the bird flu, or swine flu, or some sort of variant that caused the most pain a man could ever endure, we continued with our plan and took the train from Rome on Sunday. On arrival in Naples, it became immediately obvious that this was going to be a one night stop. There are few words to describe the state of this city. Disgusting could be one, but not in the way a fart (sorry Mum Boyce) in an elevator is disgusting, you really need to use your imagination to conjure up an image of this city. Jamie started her description by saying it’s like Bangkok, in the middle of a rubbish tip. I’m fairly sure that any sort of government has abandoned this city long ago in the hope that Vesuvius will erupt and provide a nice clean slate to rebuild a more liveable city. We were lucky enough to pick up a hotel fairly close to the train station to ensure a swift getaway the next morning.
The following day we made our way to the Ercolano train station to get a bus most of the way up Vesuvius. Our “Bus” ended up being an 8 seater that proved to be more of a hot lap of Vesuvius, rather than a lift to the top. The driver had a picture of the Virgin Mary stapled to the ceiling of the car and was obviously faithful that divine intervention was going to stop us from sliding off the side of the cliff, or smashing head on into an oncoming bus as he was overtaking cars, campervans, trucks at regular intervals at what seemed to be surely one lane sections of this poorly guard railed road. Or maybe he was just sick of living in Naples and wanted to end it all? Either way, we made it to the top of the mountain to see the volcano, and then back down to relative safety. We also went in to Pompei itself to see the result of this monster of a mountain exploding in 79AD. If you’re not aware of this place, you must look into it, it’s fascinating.
From Pompei we went to Sorrento which is one of the very touristy towns along this part of the Italian coast, and for good reason. It’s a great little town with excellent local produce and a great start off point to get to the Amalfi Coast. We picked up an amazing little B&B that had only recently opened for business. It was built on top of a restaurant in the middle of town and only charged 85 Euro a night which was an absolute steal. To sleep on a real bed, with great pillows, and shower with no thongs on is a great feeling and something that we’ve experience only a couple of times in the last 4 months.
There was one day, a couple of years ago, that both of us consider to be our most memorable travel day. It was a day we spent on a hired boat in Kas, Turkey sailing the Agean. We were hoping to relive but a small portion of that day yesterday when we took a cruise around the Amalfi Coast to see Capri and Positano. Although it was a lovely day, and we got to swim near the white caves of Capri, it didn’t get close to “that day in Kas”. This must have had something to do with the fact that we shared this day with several hundred pasty white poms rather than a few very close family. It may also have something to do with the evil woman that tried to steal our bag while we were going for a swim at the beach.... Thats right, someone tried to rip us off! We put our bag down which had pretty much all of our valuables inside, and went for a swim. Andrew thought the woman next to us looked dodgy, so while in the water he watched the bag constantly and caught her pulling the bag towards her which was apparently her first move to riffling through it and stealing everything. As you could imagine, Andrew all of a sudden had the ability to walk on water as he steamrolled towards this evil bitch. Upon questioning, the woman replied that everything was fine, and I should go back out in the water and enjoy it. Refraining from making a massive scene, we picked up our stuff and got out of there. It is incredible how normal these thieves look, she was a middle aged, middle class looking Italian “tourist”. You can never tell.
A&J xoxo
The following day we made our way to the Ercolano train station to get a bus most of the way up Vesuvius. Our “Bus” ended up being an 8 seater that proved to be more of a hot lap of Vesuvius, rather than a lift to the top. The driver had a picture of the Virgin Mary stapled to the ceiling of the car and was obviously faithful that divine intervention was going to stop us from sliding off the side of the cliff, or smashing head on into an oncoming bus as he was overtaking cars, campervans, trucks at regular intervals at what seemed to be surely one lane sections of this poorly guard railed road. Or maybe he was just sick of living in Naples and wanted to end it all? Either way, we made it to the top of the mountain to see the volcano, and then back down to relative safety. We also went in to Pompei itself to see the result of this monster of a mountain exploding in 79AD. If you’re not aware of this place, you must look into it, it’s fascinating.
From Pompei we went to Sorrento which is one of the very touristy towns along this part of the Italian coast, and for good reason. It’s a great little town with excellent local produce and a great start off point to get to the Amalfi Coast. We picked up an amazing little B&B that had only recently opened for business. It was built on top of a restaurant in the middle of town and only charged 85 Euro a night which was an absolute steal. To sleep on a real bed, with great pillows, and shower with no thongs on is a great feeling and something that we’ve experience only a couple of times in the last 4 months.
There was one day, a couple of years ago, that both of us consider to be our most memorable travel day. It was a day we spent on a hired boat in Kas, Turkey sailing the Agean. We were hoping to relive but a small portion of that day yesterday when we took a cruise around the Amalfi Coast to see Capri and Positano. Although it was a lovely day, and we got to swim near the white caves of Capri, it didn’t get close to “that day in Kas”. This must have had something to do with the fact that we shared this day with several hundred pasty white poms rather than a few very close family. It may also have something to do with the evil woman that tried to steal our bag while we were going for a swim at the beach.... Thats right, someone tried to rip us off! We put our bag down which had pretty much all of our valuables inside, and went for a swim. Andrew thought the woman next to us looked dodgy, so while in the water he watched the bag constantly and caught her pulling the bag towards her which was apparently her first move to riffling through it and stealing everything. As you could imagine, Andrew all of a sudden had the ability to walk on water as he steamrolled towards this evil bitch. Upon questioning, the woman replied that everything was fine, and I should go back out in the water and enjoy it. Refraining from making a massive scene, we picked up our stuff and got out of there. It is incredible how normal these thieves look, she was a middle aged, middle class looking Italian “tourist”. You can never tell.
A&J xoxo
Monday, August 9, 2010
When in Rome.....
Since our last blog (which seemed so long ago) we drove down to the heart of Italy, Rome. On the way we stopped in a little village on the West Coast and camped along the water’s edge. The town itself was fairly quiet, however seemed to be well known for their kite-surfing. It was lovely having a couple of drinks on the water watching the surfing for a few hours.
On driving into Rome, we were lovingly welcomed on the highway by what seemed to be some sort of welcoming party, they could almost be mistaken for prostitutes standing on the side of the highway... (They actually had hookers on the highway!) We arrived in Rome and found an excellent camp ground with a swimming pool, excellent facilities and free wifi. even though we still didn’t post a blog!! How slack!!
We went into central Rome and visited the Trevi Fountain which was packed full of tourists. We had to fight for a spot along the fountain to throw our coin in while watching our belongings carefully so we wouldn’t get pick-pocketed. There was even a couple of dodgy guys stealing coins out of the fountain using a specially crafted stick with something on the end to grab the coins (Even the Roman bums are inventive!). That night we had a massive one, stumbling back to Cal at 4am, so we decided it was best to spend the day relaxing by the pool.
The next day we were all refreshed and joined the millions of tourists that cram into Rome each day. We did a fantastic tour of the Colloseum and the Roman Forum which was incredible. Seeing the ruins, and hearing of the size and magnificence of the buildings that once stood. It’s easy to see that no city in the world will ever have the same importance to the rest of the world as what Rome did in it’s prime. The descriptions of the Emperor’s palaces that stood on the grounds of the Palatine Hill over hundreds of years almost defy belief; you really have to see at least the remains to believe it.
As our tours the day before were so great, we decided to do the same for Vatican City. Unfortunately though the extra money we paid to skip the line wasn’t worth it as there was no line. So looks like we were ripped off. Never mind. The Vatican Museum was as great as expected and we can understand why it’s said that it’s the best museum in the world, beating the Louvre in Paris. We visited Sistine Chapel which was much of a disappointment. The art work is absolutely beautiful and we’re sure it would be amazing if you could be in there with only a few people, but there were hundreds of people crowding the room, being loud and generally disrespectful. We didn’t find it to be a very spiritual nor calming experience at all. Our luck did change however. During the day the line up to visit St Peters Basilica was huge, people would have been waiting well over 1 hour. Because we arrived later in the day, we walked straight in. There was security checkpoints of course, however they weren’t too concerned with security...their IPhones seemed to be a lot more interesting. Andrew even set off the alarm in the metal detector, and the guard seemed quite distracted and upset that Andrew set it off...never mind he just said "keep moving" then gave his full attention to his phone again.
We entered the basilica and were completely blown away, everything that the Sistine Chapel lacked, the basilica made up for 10 fold. This place is an ABSOLUTE must see when coming to Rome, weather you’re religious or not, this is one of the most amazing buildings in the world! What made this experience so much more special was that we were lucky enough to walk in as mass was starting. There were a small number of people sitting at the front of the church which looked as though it was blocked of by security guards about half way down the church. Fortunately we were brave enough to ask the security guards if we could attend mass, and they said that it wasn’t a problem. So there we were, attending mass at St Peters Basilica which was performed by a number of Cardinals. We found the whole experience breath taking.
Andrew came down with the "man flu" late Friday night so we rushed home to drug him up and let him rest. The next day he wasn’t any better so stayed in bed all day. Before anyone asks (as we all know how Andrew gets with the "man flu"), he has had massages, been pampered and yes...has even had his hair played with...Jamie likes to think this added to him feeling better, it had nothing to do with the cold and flu tablets.
Promise we’ll update this again sooner...
A&J xoxo
On driving into Rome, we were lovingly welcomed on the highway by what seemed to be some sort of welcoming party, they could almost be mistaken for prostitutes standing on the side of the highway... (They actually had hookers on the highway!) We arrived in Rome and found an excellent camp ground with a swimming pool, excellent facilities and free wifi. even though we still didn’t post a blog!! How slack!!
We went into central Rome and visited the Trevi Fountain which was packed full of tourists. We had to fight for a spot along the fountain to throw our coin in while watching our belongings carefully so we wouldn’t get pick-pocketed. There was even a couple of dodgy guys stealing coins out of the fountain using a specially crafted stick with something on the end to grab the coins (Even the Roman bums are inventive!). That night we had a massive one, stumbling back to Cal at 4am, so we decided it was best to spend the day relaxing by the pool.
The next day we were all refreshed and joined the millions of tourists that cram into Rome each day. We did a fantastic tour of the Colloseum and the Roman Forum which was incredible. Seeing the ruins, and hearing of the size and magnificence of the buildings that once stood. It’s easy to see that no city in the world will ever have the same importance to the rest of the world as what Rome did in it’s prime. The descriptions of the Emperor’s palaces that stood on the grounds of the Palatine Hill over hundreds of years almost defy belief; you really have to see at least the remains to believe it.
As our tours the day before were so great, we decided to do the same for Vatican City. Unfortunately though the extra money we paid to skip the line wasn’t worth it as there was no line. So looks like we were ripped off. Never mind. The Vatican Museum was as great as expected and we can understand why it’s said that it’s the best museum in the world, beating the Louvre in Paris. We visited Sistine Chapel which was much of a disappointment. The art work is absolutely beautiful and we’re sure it would be amazing if you could be in there with only a few people, but there were hundreds of people crowding the room, being loud and generally disrespectful. We didn’t find it to be a very spiritual nor calming experience at all. Our luck did change however. During the day the line up to visit St Peters Basilica was huge, people would have been waiting well over 1 hour. Because we arrived later in the day, we walked straight in. There was security checkpoints of course, however they weren’t too concerned with security...their IPhones seemed to be a lot more interesting. Andrew even set off the alarm in the metal detector, and the guard seemed quite distracted and upset that Andrew set it off...never mind he just said "keep moving" then gave his full attention to his phone again.
We entered the basilica and were completely blown away, everything that the Sistine Chapel lacked, the basilica made up for 10 fold. This place is an ABSOLUTE must see when coming to Rome, weather you’re religious or not, this is one of the most amazing buildings in the world! What made this experience so much more special was that we were lucky enough to walk in as mass was starting. There were a small number of people sitting at the front of the church which looked as though it was blocked of by security guards about half way down the church. Fortunately we were brave enough to ask the security guards if we could attend mass, and they said that it wasn’t a problem. So there we were, attending mass at St Peters Basilica which was performed by a number of Cardinals. We found the whole experience breath taking.
Andrew came down with the "man flu" late Friday night so we rushed home to drug him up and let him rest. The next day he wasn’t any better so stayed in bed all day. Before anyone asks (as we all know how Andrew gets with the "man flu"), he has had massages, been pampered and yes...has even had his hair played with...Jamie likes to think this added to him feeling better, it had nothing to do with the cold and flu tablets.
Promise we’ll update this again sooner...
A&J xoxo
Monday, August 2, 2010
Tuscan Temptations
Due to our delayed posting of the last blog update, and the incredible couple of days we’ve had, we’re updating with another blog sooner rather than later... We last blogged as we were on route to Pisa to start the Tuscan portion of our taste of Italy. We expected big things from Tuscany, being the home of some of the best Italian food and wine as well as historical sites such as Pisa and Florence. One aspect that immediately struck us was that Tuscany is a really pleasant place to drive through. Quite obviously our trip throughout Europe includes a lot of driving, in fact so far we’ve covered about 4000 miles, and we would say that our journey between stops is just as important as the destination itself because this is where you see the villages between tourist stops and the real living conditions of each region. You see the Sunflower and Lavender farmers in the south of France, the vineyard workers populating so many different areas of Europe and the granite miners in Tuscany are just a few examples.
Our stay in Pisa was deservedly short. This city is famous for one thing, a tower that was fairly poorly built and as a consequence has quite a lean to it, about 4.5degrees in fact. It’s quite fitting that the city is well known for this fact, as the rest of the city is also quite poorly built and even continues this trend with the distinct smell of urine within a lot of the streets surrounding the only maintained section of the city that immediately surrounds the leaning tower itself. The only outstanding aspect of this place is the fact that the tower is still standing (only after replacing about 80% of the tower to maintain the current lean, presumably to continue the “tradition” of the leaning tower) in its current state. One can’t help but think what would become of this city without its only drawcard?
Next stop, Florence (Firenze). This city holds the title of capital of Florence in regards to administration as well as culture. Florence, said to be the birthplace of the Renaissance, as well as home to some of the most influential figures of that period, including Dante, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo is possibly the most historically significant cities in Italy, and surely must be one of the most beautiful. Our camp ground is about 300 metres from the Piazza Michelangelo which gives the best view of Florence, and our camping ground has a bar that has a view which is just as good and sells bottles of local white wine for 2.50Euro so it’s been our local over the last couple of nights. Florence itself is full of museums, brilliant restaurants and local people selling their paintings. Speaking of brilliant restaurants, today we wandered to the part of town out of the tourist area and had lunch at a specialist Tuscan food restaurant. We walked in to see locals sitting around watching the F1 car racing with much interest. We sat down and ordered Bruschetta for a starter, then Jamie ordered a chicken dish served with white wine sauce, and Andrew had the legendary Florentine Steak. Jamie’s dish was OK, nothing outstanding, but it was real Italian food, so she was happy. When Andrew ordered the steak, the waitress got excited at the prospect of a tourist ordering the steak medium rare, and raced back to the kitchen to place the order for us. The arrival of Andrew’s steak was something special in itself. It arrived as a slab of beef on a breadboard as is customary for this dish. What followed was a state of bliss.... This 19Euro piece of heaven was definitely the best piece of meat we’re had in Europe, and one of the best steaks we’ve tasted of all time. It is a MUST ORDER on your next trip to Florence. After such a brilliant lunch, we got back to the camp ground just in time for showers and happy hour, which again, got fairly happy thanks to half price beers. On route to Rome tomorrow, probably staying somewhere along the west coast on the way.
A&J xoxox
Our stay in Pisa was deservedly short. This city is famous for one thing, a tower that was fairly poorly built and as a consequence has quite a lean to it, about 4.5degrees in fact. It’s quite fitting that the city is well known for this fact, as the rest of the city is also quite poorly built and even continues this trend with the distinct smell of urine within a lot of the streets surrounding the only maintained section of the city that immediately surrounds the leaning tower itself. The only outstanding aspect of this place is the fact that the tower is still standing (only after replacing about 80% of the tower to maintain the current lean, presumably to continue the “tradition” of the leaning tower) in its current state. One can’t help but think what would become of this city without its only drawcard?
Next stop, Florence (Firenze). This city holds the title of capital of Florence in regards to administration as well as culture. Florence, said to be the birthplace of the Renaissance, as well as home to some of the most influential figures of that period, including Dante, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo is possibly the most historically significant cities in Italy, and surely must be one of the most beautiful. Our camp ground is about 300 metres from the Piazza Michelangelo which gives the best view of Florence, and our camping ground has a bar that has a view which is just as good and sells bottles of local white wine for 2.50Euro so it’s been our local over the last couple of nights. Florence itself is full of museums, brilliant restaurants and local people selling their paintings. Speaking of brilliant restaurants, today we wandered to the part of town out of the tourist area and had lunch at a specialist Tuscan food restaurant. We walked in to see locals sitting around watching the F1 car racing with much interest. We sat down and ordered Bruschetta for a starter, then Jamie ordered a chicken dish served with white wine sauce, and Andrew had the legendary Florentine Steak. Jamie’s dish was OK, nothing outstanding, but it was real Italian food, so she was happy. When Andrew ordered the steak, the waitress got excited at the prospect of a tourist ordering the steak medium rare, and raced back to the kitchen to place the order for us. The arrival of Andrew’s steak was something special in itself. It arrived as a slab of beef on a breadboard as is customary for this dish. What followed was a state of bliss.... This 19Euro piece of heaven was definitely the best piece of meat we’re had in Europe, and one of the best steaks we’ve tasted of all time. It is a MUST ORDER on your next trip to Florence. After such a brilliant lunch, we got back to the camp ground just in time for showers and happy hour, which again, got fairly happy thanks to half price beers. On route to Rome tomorrow, probably staying somewhere along the west coast on the way.
A&J xoxox
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Italian Job
We last left off with Cal being patched up with black tape... This all started in Spain when we noticed that Cals bumper was getting a little loose and as we progressed back through France it was getting to the stage where it was going to fall off on a French highway and cause unknown damage to someones Bently (in Andrew’s mind anyway). The problem was resolved by the French equivalent to Australia’s liquid cement coupled with racing tape used to strap cars back together after they’ve had a bingle on the race track, how appropriate for our little Cal! We’ve survived with this measure so far, but will take additional measures if required.
After leaving Monaco we drove on to Genova in north western Italy. Unfortunately we ended up at one of the more questionable camp sites we’ve been to on the trip so far. It was neither cheap, nor pleasant with the highlight being having a cold shower with very little pressure in the dark. We didn’t see a lot of Genova except for the beach which was also the worst one we’ve been to. Lots of VERY sharp rocks and black sand made it a very quick visit. It was quite funny to see all the locals sun bathing in a car park and on a boat ramp next to the beach, how comfortable!
Our next stop was Portofino.... We stayed about half an hour outside of Portofino after attempting to drive into the town but being turned away by a cranky little old Italian man riding his scooter. Turns out you can’t enter the town if your vehicle is over 5m long. This turned out really well for us as we ended up staying at a brilliant little village getting a ferry into the town of Portofino itself the next day. Before jumping on the ferry we gave into the temptation and had our first Italian Pizza for lunch. It was everything we had hoped for with artichokes, olives, ham and an egg right in the middle, the egg was a little unusual but yummy indeed. The ferry trip to Portofino was spectacular and an excellent way of seeing the coastline from a different perspective, we would recommend this method of getting there to everyone. The town itself was a very small ex fishing village, the reason we say ex? Well, the tackle shops have now been replaced with Louis Vuitton and Coco Chanel shops selling ridiculously overpriced goods to American tourists. It’s a real shame to see, but obviously inevitable for a place of such beauty, and we can’t complain too much, it’s tourists like us who are supporting this sort of development.
The next stop on the list was only about an hours drive from Portofino. Andrew has been getting a pretty good deal out of these short trips as he’s holding Jamie to the “You cook, I’ll drive” deal expecting nothing less than gourmet kitchen meals from the galley of Cal. We had very high expectations of our next destination of Cinque Terra due to the enormous praise given by Mum and Dad Griffo and Fe and Graham, and boy did it deliver! The town we stayed in to visit these five pieces of art that they call the towns of the Cinque Terra is called Levanto which in itself is quite a lovely little town. We found a camp ground right near the centre of town and realised it was the same one that Fiona and Graham stayed in several years earlier after we heard the clock tower ring every 15 minutes (24 hours a day!) as warned by them. After settling in for the night we looked over our information about the 5 towns, and decided we would attempt the Blue Trail (Jamie expressing her dislike for this activity after having flash backs of our Mt Warning walk), which is a walking trail that starts at the southern town of Riomaggiore and makes its way all the way up to Monterosso Al Mare covering approx. 9KM of distance and going from sea level to up to 250M above sea level several times. Jamie covered the first couple of sections without too much trouble or complaining, then fatigue set in and the complaints started. Luckily, we came across a fitness instructor named Erica who gave Jamie some words of encouragement and helped get her through the experience, she also happened to shout us a beer half way through which also helped! All together it was an excellent experience and we’re so glad we did it. We were able to see all of the 5 towns of the Cinque Terra in a way that can only be seen if you endure the tough walk. We’ve included some photos of our walk, but there is no possible way of doing this place justice by writing, or showing photo’s, you must come to this place to truly see the beauty of the crystal clear water, and the towns that have stood the test of time. We can only thank the people that recommended this place to us and hope that we can encourage others to experience what we have.
We finished off a wonderful day by attending a concert by the Amsterdam Orchestra taking place in a beautiful church at the edge of town. It was one of those goose bumps moments....
Today we’ve spent pretty much all day laying in the campervan as we thought we would be so sore from yesterdays outing. Fortunately we haven’t been too bad so Andrew’s been out to get some local produce for Jamie to whip us one of her specialties. Tomorrow, we move on to Tuscany.
Love A&J xoxo
After leaving Monaco we drove on to Genova in north western Italy. Unfortunately we ended up at one of the more questionable camp sites we’ve been to on the trip so far. It was neither cheap, nor pleasant with the highlight being having a cold shower with very little pressure in the dark. We didn’t see a lot of Genova except for the beach which was also the worst one we’ve been to. Lots of VERY sharp rocks and black sand made it a very quick visit. It was quite funny to see all the locals sun bathing in a car park and on a boat ramp next to the beach, how comfortable!
Our next stop was Portofino.... We stayed about half an hour outside of Portofino after attempting to drive into the town but being turned away by a cranky little old Italian man riding his scooter. Turns out you can’t enter the town if your vehicle is over 5m long. This turned out really well for us as we ended up staying at a brilliant little village getting a ferry into the town of Portofino itself the next day. Before jumping on the ferry we gave into the temptation and had our first Italian Pizza for lunch. It was everything we had hoped for with artichokes, olives, ham and an egg right in the middle, the egg was a little unusual but yummy indeed. The ferry trip to Portofino was spectacular and an excellent way of seeing the coastline from a different perspective, we would recommend this method of getting there to everyone. The town itself was a very small ex fishing village, the reason we say ex? Well, the tackle shops have now been replaced with Louis Vuitton and Coco Chanel shops selling ridiculously overpriced goods to American tourists. It’s a real shame to see, but obviously inevitable for a place of such beauty, and we can’t complain too much, it’s tourists like us who are supporting this sort of development.
The next stop on the list was only about an hours drive from Portofino. Andrew has been getting a pretty good deal out of these short trips as he’s holding Jamie to the “You cook, I’ll drive” deal expecting nothing less than gourmet kitchen meals from the galley of Cal. We had very high expectations of our next destination of Cinque Terra due to the enormous praise given by Mum and Dad Griffo and Fe and Graham, and boy did it deliver! The town we stayed in to visit these five pieces of art that they call the towns of the Cinque Terra is called Levanto which in itself is quite a lovely little town. We found a camp ground right near the centre of town and realised it was the same one that Fiona and Graham stayed in several years earlier after we heard the clock tower ring every 15 minutes (24 hours a day!) as warned by them. After settling in for the night we looked over our information about the 5 towns, and decided we would attempt the Blue Trail (Jamie expressing her dislike for this activity after having flash backs of our Mt Warning walk), which is a walking trail that starts at the southern town of Riomaggiore and makes its way all the way up to Monterosso Al Mare covering approx. 9KM of distance and going from sea level to up to 250M above sea level several times. Jamie covered the first couple of sections without too much trouble or complaining, then fatigue set in and the complaints started. Luckily, we came across a fitness instructor named Erica who gave Jamie some words of encouragement and helped get her through the experience, she also happened to shout us a beer half way through which also helped! All together it was an excellent experience and we’re so glad we did it. We were able to see all of the 5 towns of the Cinque Terra in a way that can only be seen if you endure the tough walk. We’ve included some photos of our walk, but there is no possible way of doing this place justice by writing, or showing photo’s, you must come to this place to truly see the beauty of the crystal clear water, and the towns that have stood the test of time. We can only thank the people that recommended this place to us and hope that we can encourage others to experience what we have.
We finished off a wonderful day by attending a concert by the Amsterdam Orchestra taking place in a beautiful church at the edge of town. It was one of those goose bumps moments....
Today we’ve spent pretty much all day laying in the campervan as we thought we would be so sore from yesterdays outing. Fortunately we haven’t been too bad so Andrew’s been out to get some local produce for Jamie to whip us one of her specialties. Tomorrow, we move on to Tuscany.
Love A&J xoxo
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Cote D'Azure - What must these people do for work?
If you ever wish to feel ordinary, come to the Cote d’Azure (French Rivera)... From the beautiful houses, cars, boats and people to the crystal turquoise colour of the Mediterranean Sea this place is everything you will ever see in a magazine designed to sell people dream holidays in rich-ville. There are of course only two ways that you should visit this exquisite location; by flying in your own helicopter and landing on your recently acquired several hundred foot ship (penis extension), or of course arriving in your 1989 Volkswagen Transporter motorhome conversion that is being held together by very conspicuous but very sturdy black tape (more on that later).
Our first stop in this part of France was St Tropez, a fairly small town that seems to have a fairly hearty hatred of campervans touring the area. Unfortunately we struck St Tropez in the middle of what seemed to be the busiest day that the town has ever experienced with traffic slowed to a ridiculous crawl and Buck’s chance of getting a parking spot for a car let alone a much longer camper. After a little swearing and a declaration of hatred from Jamie against the town, we made it back out again and finally found a camp ground which we were happy with. Quite excited, we jumped out and went to speak to the reception where they told us that there was a three night minimum stay without exception. This renewed Jamie’s feelings about the town so we told them politely that we wouldn’t be staying, and moved on. Finally we found a camp ground that looked to be someone who owned a farm, but wanted to cash in on the tourism aspect of the place. We crashed there for 21Euro and drank away the tough times that this town had given us. The next day was much nicer, we were able to find a car park in town and have a walk around to see the sites. It was quite nice, and I would say the town would be much more pleasant if we were travelling by train and staying in hotels, we can’t have it our way all the time...
Next stop was Cannes..... well it was Cannes. We drove through this town hoping to find a spot for some free camping but the local Council was pretty strict on Campervans as well, so we ended up driving straight through the town. Although we drove through, we still saw what an amazing place this is. Yes, it’s famous for the Cannes Film Festival that draws all the A-list celebs from around the world, but this place is much more of a beach town and general holiday destination for Europeans. It’s comparable to the Gold Coast, but without the high rises on the beach, and with more rocks instead of sand.
We ended up stopping at a town between Cannes and Nice which was just perfect. We were 500m from the beach and 400m from a supermarket which is like gold to us. The camp ground was really nice and full of young people, which was cool. We also had 24 hours use of the WiFi which was the icing on the cake as we’ve been relying on McDonalds to provide us with their free WiFi for most of the trip and I think the McFlurrys are having a direct effect on my ability to put my boardies on without undoing the drawstring, think I’ll have to buy new ones.... Anyway, getting up early and going for a swim in the ocean has to be one of my favourite things about holidays and is becoming a habit. It’s fairly easy when the water temperature is around the 27 degree mark, kind of like jumping into a big spa!
We caught the bus into Nice and had a look around town. It’s much like we expected, and seemed to be the poorer cousin of Cannes, in saying that, it had its fair share of Ferraris and Maserati’s driving around. The sea again was an amazing shade of blue that is reminiscent of the colour of the alpine lakes in New Zealand but was obviously so much more pleasant to swim in. We had lunch out at a water front restaurant which was bloody ordinary and left us wishing we’d stuck to our staple of baguette with an assortment of meats and salad, nevermind.
After a couple of days chilling out, we moved on to Monaco. There are not enough superlatives to describe this place. If Nice is the poor cousin of Cannes, then Monaco is that rich cousin that puts the rest of the family to shame by arriving by helicopter on the previously mentioned penis extension. We have never seen such a concentration of expensive, high powered and simply astonishing cars. Of course this drew slight embarrassment as we were driving through Monaco in Callum, although he’s a great little bloke, he seemed to shrink as we were driving through these streets of gold. We found a car park on the side of a main road which we decided to use as our camp ground for the night knowing we’d be safe, but probably wouldn’t get much sleep. After a day of walking around the marina’s checking out the endless lines of multi-million dollar boats we did what every person should do when they go to Monaco. We went to the Monte Carlo Casino. This was THE spot for the cars to be seen. There must have been 50 of the most expensive cars in the world from the lowly Porche to a couple of Maybachs and even a Bugatti Veyron. Thats right, for anyone who watches Top Gear (Rickie J Cook), we touched a real live Veyron, and yes, it looks incredible!
Anyway, I’ve dribbled on enough for this session. Will try and put something up sooner this time, and will speak more of the sticky tape issue with Callum.
A&J xoxo
Our first stop in this part of France was St Tropez, a fairly small town that seems to have a fairly hearty hatred of campervans touring the area. Unfortunately we struck St Tropez in the middle of what seemed to be the busiest day that the town has ever experienced with traffic slowed to a ridiculous crawl and Buck’s chance of getting a parking spot for a car let alone a much longer camper. After a little swearing and a declaration of hatred from Jamie against the town, we made it back out again and finally found a camp ground which we were happy with. Quite excited, we jumped out and went to speak to the reception where they told us that there was a three night minimum stay without exception. This renewed Jamie’s feelings about the town so we told them politely that we wouldn’t be staying, and moved on. Finally we found a camp ground that looked to be someone who owned a farm, but wanted to cash in on the tourism aspect of the place. We crashed there for 21Euro and drank away the tough times that this town had given us. The next day was much nicer, we were able to find a car park in town and have a walk around to see the sites. It was quite nice, and I would say the town would be much more pleasant if we were travelling by train and staying in hotels, we can’t have it our way all the time...
Next stop was Cannes..... well it was Cannes. We drove through this town hoping to find a spot for some free camping but the local Council was pretty strict on Campervans as well, so we ended up driving straight through the town. Although we drove through, we still saw what an amazing place this is. Yes, it’s famous for the Cannes Film Festival that draws all the A-list celebs from around the world, but this place is much more of a beach town and general holiday destination for Europeans. It’s comparable to the Gold Coast, but without the high rises on the beach, and with more rocks instead of sand.
We ended up stopping at a town between Cannes and Nice which was just perfect. We were 500m from the beach and 400m from a supermarket which is like gold to us. The camp ground was really nice and full of young people, which was cool. We also had 24 hours use of the WiFi which was the icing on the cake as we’ve been relying on McDonalds to provide us with their free WiFi for most of the trip and I think the McFlurrys are having a direct effect on my ability to put my boardies on without undoing the drawstring, think I’ll have to buy new ones.... Anyway, getting up early and going for a swim in the ocean has to be one of my favourite things about holidays and is becoming a habit. It’s fairly easy when the water temperature is around the 27 degree mark, kind of like jumping into a big spa!
We caught the bus into Nice and had a look around town. It’s much like we expected, and seemed to be the poorer cousin of Cannes, in saying that, it had its fair share of Ferraris and Maserati’s driving around. The sea again was an amazing shade of blue that is reminiscent of the colour of the alpine lakes in New Zealand but was obviously so much more pleasant to swim in. We had lunch out at a water front restaurant which was bloody ordinary and left us wishing we’d stuck to our staple of baguette with an assortment of meats and salad, nevermind.
After a couple of days chilling out, we moved on to Monaco. There are not enough superlatives to describe this place. If Nice is the poor cousin of Cannes, then Monaco is that rich cousin that puts the rest of the family to shame by arriving by helicopter on the previously mentioned penis extension. We have never seen such a concentration of expensive, high powered and simply astonishing cars. Of course this drew slight embarrassment as we were driving through Monaco in Callum, although he’s a great little bloke, he seemed to shrink as we were driving through these streets of gold. We found a car park on the side of a main road which we decided to use as our camp ground for the night knowing we’d be safe, but probably wouldn’t get much sleep. After a day of walking around the marina’s checking out the endless lines of multi-million dollar boats we did what every person should do when they go to Monaco. We went to the Monte Carlo Casino. This was THE spot for the cars to be seen. There must have been 50 of the most expensive cars in the world from the lowly Porche to a couple of Maybachs and even a Bugatti Veyron. Thats right, for anyone who watches Top Gear (Rickie J Cook), we touched a real live Veyron, and yes, it looks incredible!
Anyway, I’ve dribbled on enough for this session. Will try and put something up sooner this time, and will speak more of the sticky tape issue with Callum.
A&J xoxo
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
What a few days we have had!
We left San Sebastian on Saturday morning on route back to France as we’d heard some very dodgy things about the road around Barcelona. The decision has been made to complete Spain, Portugal and Morocco on our next trip to Europe and dedicate more time to them to experience them on the same level as we’re seeing much of the rest of Europe. Although we can understand people focussing on specific tourist areas and completely understand how hard it is to get time away from work etc travelling in the way we have been has opened our eyes to what you see when you dedicate more time to the lesser known areas and really get in touch with local people. One of the best examples of this has been the France Passion subscription that we’ve been using. This has really allowed us to see how locals live, especially when we’ve stayed on farms where people live and make their living. Anyway, back to it...
We stopped on Saturday afternoon at Lourdes which is a pilgrimage town for Catholics due to miracles taking place in the town dating back hundreds of years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lourdes). We were lucky enough to witness a procession of what had to be about 5000 pilgrims, hundreds of which were in wheel chairs and hospital beds. To see these pilgrims arrive to the place that they’ve travelled so far to see, and hold so much faith in was a beautiful thing. It truly was an amazing experience and something neither of us will ever forget. When we got back to the camp site we spoke to an Aussie guy who said that we were really close to the Tour De France and showed us a great spot on the map to see the race! Brilliant!
Sunday morning we headed off to find our camping spot for the night on the side of the mountain. After a few stops to help Callum get his breath back, and a few stalls we found a brilliant spot 10km into the 19km climb of Mt Mee (which is one of the climbs of the tour that is too hard to rate). Due to a slight angle that we’d parked on, the fridge stopped working so we used the stream behind our van to cool our beers which actually worked heaps better than the fridge anyway... We were joined by a couple of Aussie brothers from Perth who pulled up and had a couple of beers with us before Andrew and one of the lads, Matt attempted to ride some of the course on Goose and Gander (Jamie has finally named her bike, I wanted her to call it Maverick!). The ride wasn’t terribly successful but certainly gave me more respect for these people that ride these mountains. I can also now say that I’ve ridden the Pyrenees. Monday morning we woke to the sound of more spectators arriving and amateur riders making their way up the course. We saw some brilliant efforts by people riding the mountain including an old bloke struggling up the hill with a young guy beside him pushing him in the back to assist which was just brilliant. Getting closer to the race coming through, there were about 20 floats that passed throwing out shirts, food, bags, hats and other useless things that will no doubt clog up the van, but we obviously needed to get to prove we attended. When the race finally arrived, the excitement and atmosphere was at fever pitch. The riders were yelling to each other but they were drowned out by people screaming for their teams and the sound of helicopters. Andrew, Matt and Dan managed to run with the riders for about 80 metres before they pulled away, to keep up the speed the bikes were doing after they’d already done 150KMs that day was super human! It was really a stroke of luck that we got to see the race but is another one of the biggest highlights of the holiday so far!
A&J xoxo
We stopped on Saturday afternoon at Lourdes which is a pilgrimage town for Catholics due to miracles taking place in the town dating back hundreds of years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lourdes). We were lucky enough to witness a procession of what had to be about 5000 pilgrims, hundreds of which were in wheel chairs and hospital beds. To see these pilgrims arrive to the place that they’ve travelled so far to see, and hold so much faith in was a beautiful thing. It truly was an amazing experience and something neither of us will ever forget. When we got back to the camp site we spoke to an Aussie guy who said that we were really close to the Tour De France and showed us a great spot on the map to see the race! Brilliant!
Sunday morning we headed off to find our camping spot for the night on the side of the mountain. After a few stops to help Callum get his breath back, and a few stalls we found a brilliant spot 10km into the 19km climb of Mt Mee (which is one of the climbs of the tour that is too hard to rate). Due to a slight angle that we’d parked on, the fridge stopped working so we used the stream behind our van to cool our beers which actually worked heaps better than the fridge anyway... We were joined by a couple of Aussie brothers from Perth who pulled up and had a couple of beers with us before Andrew and one of the lads, Matt attempted to ride some of the course on Goose and Gander (Jamie has finally named her bike, I wanted her to call it Maverick!). The ride wasn’t terribly successful but certainly gave me more respect for these people that ride these mountains. I can also now say that I’ve ridden the Pyrenees. Monday morning we woke to the sound of more spectators arriving and amateur riders making their way up the course. We saw some brilliant efforts by people riding the mountain including an old bloke struggling up the hill with a young guy beside him pushing him in the back to assist which was just brilliant. Getting closer to the race coming through, there were about 20 floats that passed throwing out shirts, food, bags, hats and other useless things that will no doubt clog up the van, but we obviously needed to get to prove we attended. When the race finally arrived, the excitement and atmosphere was at fever pitch. The riders were yelling to each other but they were drowned out by people screaming for their teams and the sound of helicopters. Andrew, Matt and Dan managed to run with the riders for about 80 metres before they pulled away, to keep up the speed the bikes were doing after they’d already done 150KMs that day was super human! It was really a stroke of luck that we got to see the race but is another one of the biggest highlights of the holiday so far!
A&J xoxo
Saturday, July 17, 2010
San Sebastian
First of all our drive from Biarritz to San Sebastian through the foothills of the Pyrenees was absolutely amazing. Probably some of the most beautiful country we’ve seen on the trip so far. We had a nervous Jamie in the navigators seat driving into Spain as she had heard a lot of warnings of crime in the Basque country which is where we were driving into. It didn’t help when we saw a man being taken out of his car and arrested in the middle of the highway, four police cars pulled up in the middle of the highway!
We arrived in San Sebastian with high expectations after Lana told us it was her favourite part of the world. The first day delivered on expectations brilliantly. Once we found our camp ground which is about 5KM out of town up on top of one of the mountains, we took the bus into town and walked around the narrow pedestrian streets. The architecture of all of the residential units is absolutely stunning, Jamie said she could easily live in a building like that. That afternoon we went to a couple of tappas bars and enjoyed some of the local food. The Tapas in this area is a little different to what we thought we would get. A lot of it has a bread base and is topped with meat, we’ll upload some photos of this. Most of the tapas was very nice, but we hit a couple of small bits that weren’t all that great, so we had a few more drinks of local beer and Sangria and made our way back to the camp ground.
The next day was an absolute stunner. The sun was shining and it must of reached low-mid thirties. We went into town with every intention of walking up the mountain to the statue that overlooks the city, instead we ended up spending the whole day lazing around of the beach and finished the day with a couple of Sangria’s on the beach before making our way back to the camp site. Once we got there, we had a few drinks with some guys we met from NZ which turned into a fairly late night.
Friday was another great day. We got into town just before lunch and walked up to the mountain where the castle and statue is. On the way up we passed about ten riot police that had balaclavas on and were carrying heavy weaponry, they looked as though they were ready for battle. Without actually finding out what was going on, we left the area straight away and headed up the hill. The view from the top was stunning, and there was a great little bar at the top where we stopped for a break and to enjoy the scenery. The rest of the day was spent on the beach with the not so self-conscious locals. Last night was one of the bigger nights we’ve had so far. We again had drinks with kiwi boys up the road, and ended up at the camp site pub. This is where one of the lads attempted some Spanish while ordering us beers and instead of asking for 4 beers, apparently asked for 8. So there we are, with two pints each about half an hour out of closing time. This made for an interesting evening to follow. After we left the pub, we made some 2am spaghetti, then went to bed at the insistence of the camp ground security guard... again...
Today we’re heading off towards the east coast, and the south of France.
Love A&J xoxo
We arrived in San Sebastian with high expectations after Lana told us it was her favourite part of the world. The first day delivered on expectations brilliantly. Once we found our camp ground which is about 5KM out of town up on top of one of the mountains, we took the bus into town and walked around the narrow pedestrian streets. The architecture of all of the residential units is absolutely stunning, Jamie said she could easily live in a building like that. That afternoon we went to a couple of tappas bars and enjoyed some of the local food. The Tapas in this area is a little different to what we thought we would get. A lot of it has a bread base and is topped with meat, we’ll upload some photos of this. Most of the tapas was very nice, but we hit a couple of small bits that weren’t all that great, so we had a few more drinks of local beer and Sangria and made our way back to the camp ground.
The next day was an absolute stunner. The sun was shining and it must of reached low-mid thirties. We went into town with every intention of walking up the mountain to the statue that overlooks the city, instead we ended up spending the whole day lazing around of the beach and finished the day with a couple of Sangria’s on the beach before making our way back to the camp site. Once we got there, we had a few drinks with some guys we met from NZ which turned into a fairly late night.
Friday was another great day. We got into town just before lunch and walked up to the mountain where the castle and statue is. On the way up we passed about ten riot police that had balaclavas on and were carrying heavy weaponry, they looked as though they were ready for battle. Without actually finding out what was going on, we left the area straight away and headed up the hill. The view from the top was stunning, and there was a great little bar at the top where we stopped for a break and to enjoy the scenery. The rest of the day was spent on the beach with the not so self-conscious locals. Last night was one of the bigger nights we’ve had so far. We again had drinks with kiwi boys up the road, and ended up at the camp site pub. This is where one of the lads attempted some Spanish while ordering us beers and instead of asking for 4 beers, apparently asked for 8. So there we are, with two pints each about half an hour out of closing time. This made for an interesting evening to follow. After we left the pub, we made some 2am spaghetti, then went to bed at the insistence of the camp ground security guard... again...
Today we’re heading off towards the east coast, and the south of France.
Love A&J xoxo
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Wineries and more beaches!!!
So a couple of days ago we stayed on the most beautiful vineyard near Bordeaux as part of our France Passion deal. When we arrived we walked to the front door and were greeted by the owners mother who was very nice and told us where to park the van, right in the vineyard overlooking acres of grape vines with a little village and river in the distance, it was stunning! After parking we went back into the house for a tour and tasting. The owner (who was about mid thirties) showed us around the wine production area and gave us an explanation in very broken english. He then invited us into the kitchen for what we thought was going to be a quick taste but we were greeted by his mother providing some nibbles as well. We met the owners son, who has a wine named after him, and who will take over the operation of the farm when his father retires. We then sat down at their kitchen table and had a couple of glasses of wine while the owner joined us and we fumbled our way through conversation about where we are from and what we're doing in Europe. It was an amazing experience to be able to share a glass of wine with the owner on more than a purely customer/owner experience but more of an invitation into their home and what seemed like a real experience (if you know what we mean).
The next day we drove down to Biarritz which is a real surf town. The beaches although crowded with thousands of tourists, are more like our beaches than anything else we've seen on our trip.... They actually have real waves! This town is known as one of the surfing capitals of Europe and because of this, is packed with tourists chasing some decent waves. Most of the beaches however have waves dumping straight onto sand banks about 5 metres from the shore line. We saw several ambulances in one day picking up people that had been smashed into the sand like rag dolls. Jamie managed to pick up a lovely ring at one of the local jewellers which she's in love with and will give her something to remember the town by. At the moment there's a "Roxy Jam" surf carnival happening in the town with Music, Art and Surfing contests. Last night we went to a party that was held in a carpark overlooking the Atlantic which was great. Roxy had set up quite an amazing stage for a DJ and had bars surrounding the whole area, very cool!
Early this morning before breaky Andrew went for a swim in the surf and noticed that the council must use a tractor every evening to smooth the sand out before the crowds the next day arrive... imagine doing that in Australia? They'd be going for months!
Today we're off to San Sebastian in Spain as recommended by Lani. Tonight we'll be eating the local version of Tapas with cloudy white wine, which we've heard about via Lonley Planet. Can't wait!
A&J
The next day we drove down to Biarritz which is a real surf town. The beaches although crowded with thousands of tourists, are more like our beaches than anything else we've seen on our trip.... They actually have real waves! This town is known as one of the surfing capitals of Europe and because of this, is packed with tourists chasing some decent waves. Most of the beaches however have waves dumping straight onto sand banks about 5 metres from the shore line. We saw several ambulances in one day picking up people that had been smashed into the sand like rag dolls. Jamie managed to pick up a lovely ring at one of the local jewellers which she's in love with and will give her something to remember the town by. At the moment there's a "Roxy Jam" surf carnival happening in the town with Music, Art and Surfing contests. Last night we went to a party that was held in a carpark overlooking the Atlantic which was great. Roxy had set up quite an amazing stage for a DJ and had bars surrounding the whole area, very cool!
Early this morning before breaky Andrew went for a swim in the surf and noticed that the council must use a tractor every evening to smooth the sand out before the crowds the next day arrive... imagine doing that in Australia? They'd be going for months!
Today we're off to San Sebastian in Spain as recommended by Lani. Tonight we'll be eating the local version of Tapas with cloudy white wine, which we've heard about via Lonley Planet. Can't wait!
A&J
Monday, July 12, 2010
France - West Coast (Beaches!!)
Since our last update, we arrived in Les Salles on the West Coast of France. We pulled Cal up on the side of the beach and thought we had found a perfect spot to camp for the night, however just as we were taking our bikes off, the Police came carrying a fine book and after Andrew assured them he was just "securing" the bikes, they just moved us along. Apparently towns on the coast don't like campervans!!! We eventually found a parking area in the middle of town, which was a 5 minute walk to the beach. We bought some fresh prawns and sat in the sand and went for a walk down to the pier. We sat at a local bar on the beach and had a beer while we, as Andrew puts it, "people watched". (He's a little freaky haha). The beaches are lovely, though nothing compared to our beaches. They did have sand, but also lots of rocks close to the waters edge. It was quite strange to be sun-baking at 8pm as the sun goes down so late!!
The next morning, we woke early at 8am (well early for us) and we went for a long bike ride along the beach, and found a lovely cafe to have coffee looking over the ocean. We went down and sun-baked again for a couple of hours, then had a quick lunch then back on the road, heading for Le Rochelle.
It wasn't so much of a beach town as we were expecting, but this town seemed to have more life. Great restaurants and cafes which were surrounding a marina guarded from the ocean by a wall and watch tower that must have been hundreds of years old, quite a spectacular site. At night, they close off the main streets and have local markets and live entertainment. We walked around the streets and took in the local nightlife then made our 5K bike ride back to our campsite (Jamie with no glasses in the dark!!). We did visit their "beach" the next day, however instead of sand, it was more like white dirt with rocks which made the water look dirty. We left the beach and did some more sightseeing.
Jamie had been complaining for days that the French won't make meat pies for her, so we found a irish pub that had pies on their menu. A VERY excited Jamie sat herself down at the pub, and ordered a beef and onion pie with chips. She was all ready to eat a lovely big Irish style pie, when what looked like a frozen Four & Twenty arrived on her table. Andrew has never seen Jamie more disapointed then when this microwaved piece of slop (her words exactly) arrived in front of her. All at a price of 10Euro. We should have known better.....
Last night we were going to ride into town again to watch the world cup final, but were warned that a "Huge" storm was on the way and we should stay at the camp site. They even showed us where to evacuate. We watched the football at the camp site with some Dutch and Spanish supporters which was OK, except for the result. The storm wasn't any worse than what we get in QLD every afternoon during summer.
Today we're on our way down to Bordeaux to stay at a couple of Vineyards then after that, down to Spain!
More soon,
A&J xoxo
The next morning, we woke early at 8am (well early for us) and we went for a long bike ride along the beach, and found a lovely cafe to have coffee looking over the ocean. We went down and sun-baked again for a couple of hours, then had a quick lunch then back on the road, heading for Le Rochelle.
It wasn't so much of a beach town as we were expecting, but this town seemed to have more life. Great restaurants and cafes which were surrounding a marina guarded from the ocean by a wall and watch tower that must have been hundreds of years old, quite a spectacular site. At night, they close off the main streets and have local markets and live entertainment. We walked around the streets and took in the local nightlife then made our 5K bike ride back to our campsite (Jamie with no glasses in the dark!!). We did visit their "beach" the next day, however instead of sand, it was more like white dirt with rocks which made the water look dirty. We left the beach and did some more sightseeing.
Jamie had been complaining for days that the French won't make meat pies for her, so we found a irish pub that had pies on their menu. A VERY excited Jamie sat herself down at the pub, and ordered a beef and onion pie with chips. She was all ready to eat a lovely big Irish style pie, when what looked like a frozen Four & Twenty arrived on her table. Andrew has never seen Jamie more disapointed then when this microwaved piece of slop (her words exactly) arrived in front of her. All at a price of 10Euro. We should have known better.....
Last night we were going to ride into town again to watch the world cup final, but were warned that a "Huge" storm was on the way and we should stay at the camp site. They even showed us where to evacuate. We watched the football at the camp site with some Dutch and Spanish supporters which was OK, except for the result. The storm wasn't any worse than what we get in QLD every afternoon during summer.
Today we're on our way down to Bordeaux to stay at a couple of Vineyards then after that, down to Spain!
More soon,
A&J xoxo
Friday, July 9, 2010
Loire Valley
Yes, it’s been a few days since we wrote, but we’ve been in the most relaxing place in the world, the Loire Valley. Although it’s been a few days, we don’t have a lot to report as we’ve been lazing around more than anything else. After we left Paris we got to Blois which is a lovely town with a camping spot right in the centre, AND even better, it was only 5Euro a night. We’ve found in France that a lot of smaller towns have “Municiple Camping Grounds” which are run by the city, and are often very cheap and clean. We spent the rest of the day in Blois chilling out and walking around a little. The next day we walked around more, saw the Chateau and did a horse and cart ride around the town. It’s really quite nice, but rather small so we decided to move onto the next town.
We arrive in Ambroise about half an hour after leaving Blois. Ambroise seemed to be a little livelier than Blois. We again relaxed for the afternoon, read our books and settled into the camp ground. That night we went to the camping ground bar and watched Holland beat Uruguay which was incredibly satisfying. The next day we explored Ambroise a little more which has an abundance of beautiful little cafe’s surrounding a massive chateau that towered over the whole town. Again in the afternoon we laid on the side of the river and read our books some more. We met a lovely Dutch couple that we had some drinks with that night and got to bed at around 12:30. A fairly early one on our standards over here at the moment.
Yesterday we drove for quite a while and didn’t seem to get all that far. Unfortunately we stopped at a camp ground that tried to charge us 63Euro for one night, then the girl behind the counter couldn’t understand why we laughed at her as we walked out. We kept travelling and found a little spot which again was put there by the town for campervans to stop. It cost us..... nothing. Last night was very stormy and incredibly hot, we think it must have been around low to mid thirties most of the night. How’s the weather in Australia? We hear a little chilly... HAHAHAHA
Today we’re trying to get to the coast and get some salt water before heading along the coast road down to Spain.
A&J xoxo
We arrive in Ambroise about half an hour after leaving Blois. Ambroise seemed to be a little livelier than Blois. We again relaxed for the afternoon, read our books and settled into the camp ground. That night we went to the camping ground bar and watched Holland beat Uruguay which was incredibly satisfying. The next day we explored Ambroise a little more which has an abundance of beautiful little cafe’s surrounding a massive chateau that towered over the whole town. Again in the afternoon we laid on the side of the river and read our books some more. We met a lovely Dutch couple that we had some drinks with that night and got to bed at around 12:30. A fairly early one on our standards over here at the moment.
Yesterday we drove for quite a while and didn’t seem to get all that far. Unfortunately we stopped at a camp ground that tried to charge us 63Euro for one night, then the girl behind the counter couldn’t understand why we laughed at her as we walked out. We kept travelling and found a little spot which again was put there by the town for campervans to stop. It cost us..... nothing. Last night was very stormy and incredibly hot, we think it must have been around low to mid thirties most of the night. How’s the weather in Australia? We hear a little chilly... HAHAHAHA
Today we’re trying to get to the coast and get some salt water before heading along the coast road down to Spain.
A&J xoxo
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
More of Paris
First of all we’ll start with Andrew’s birthday. What a place to spend a birthday, the morning started with Jamie making pancakes in the van which were beautiful. We got into town at about mid-morning and strolled the streets of Paris for a while in 34 degree heat. We walked from the Arc-de-triumph all the way down to the Louvre which was amazing. It’s definitely a street full of beautiful people and expensive coffee’s. We had a picnic for lunch looking over a lovely piece of grass that we of course weren’t allowed to sit on, however it was still beautiful sitting on the benches.
The afternoon was spent walking towards the Eiffel Tower until we found a pub that was playing the Holland Vs Brazil world cup game. This is the part where we had our first dose of French price hiccup. The beer price was really quite reasonable on the board above the bar (2.30Euro), or so we thought.... We asked for a beer from the bartender which he replied, would you like to take a seat, Jamie said “yeah , sure”. When we sat down, they bought our beers over with a bill of 16.40Euro!!! After the initial shock, and a few expletives, we made our way back to the bar, used our Aussie charm and negotiation skills to bargain our beer back down to “Sitting at the bar” prices. We enjoyed a few extra beers and watched The Netherlands destroy Brazil with a lovely couple from Holland who we hope to stay in contact with. After the game we made our way to a local restaurant for some French food for dinner. We had Snails for Entre (absolutely brilliant!), Andrew had Steak Tartare for a main, Jamie had Duck, then we shared Creme Brulee for Desert (Topped with a firecracker and bought with the French version of Happy Birthday thanks to Jamie being sneaky!). After dinner we had a quiet stroll under the Eiffel Tower on the way back to our camp ground.
Yesterday we caught the train to the Palace of Versailles. We went into the Palace itself which was the home to the Kings and Queens of France. We’ve never seen such an opulent residence than this one, the 75m long hall of mirrors was stunning. The Palace was only topped by the gardens outside of it. These are really a MUST SEE if you come to Paris. They are the most manicured gardens we’ve ever seen and are topped with fountains everywhere! We were lucky enough to be in the gardens while they had all of the fountains working and also had classical music playing all though out them. We were shocked at the loudness and quality of music which managed to cover such a large area and you couldn’t even see the speakers, they were hidden amongst the hedges. Hate to think what they would cost!
Yesterday morning (being the first Sunday of the month) the Louvre had free entry for all. As we LOVE free things, we decided to get into town early and try to beat the rush. We arrived just before opening time and were greeted with a 300m line for the entry. Amazingly (because there was no ticket checking) the line dispersed within 10-15 minutes and we were into it. This place is ridiculous! We spent 4 hours walking around, and hardly scratched the surface. We managed to see all the things that were on our list, and got out of there just as the after lunch crowd was arriving (apparently an hours wait in line). This afternoon we went to, Notre Dam and the Catacombs which we unfortunately missed out on by 5 people because they shut! SHIT! Doesn’t matter, we’ll see the one in Rome... After that we (Jamie) did a little shopping on the Champs’ Elysee and purchased a couple more dresses (cause she’s obviously in desperate need for it..).
Today we've done the drive down to Blois which was nice. We're now having a relaxing afternoon getting ready for more sight seeing tomorrow.
A&J xoxo
The afternoon was spent walking towards the Eiffel Tower until we found a pub that was playing the Holland Vs Brazil world cup game. This is the part where we had our first dose of French price hiccup. The beer price was really quite reasonable on the board above the bar (2.30Euro), or so we thought.... We asked for a beer from the bartender which he replied, would you like to take a seat, Jamie said “yeah , sure”. When we sat down, they bought our beers over with a bill of 16.40Euro!!! After the initial shock, and a few expletives, we made our way back to the bar, used our Aussie charm and negotiation skills to bargain our beer back down to “Sitting at the bar” prices. We enjoyed a few extra beers and watched The Netherlands destroy Brazil with a lovely couple from Holland who we hope to stay in contact with. After the game we made our way to a local restaurant for some French food for dinner. We had Snails for Entre (absolutely brilliant!), Andrew had Steak Tartare for a main, Jamie had Duck, then we shared Creme Brulee for Desert (Topped with a firecracker and bought with the French version of Happy Birthday thanks to Jamie being sneaky!). After dinner we had a quiet stroll under the Eiffel Tower on the way back to our camp ground.
Yesterday we caught the train to the Palace of Versailles. We went into the Palace itself which was the home to the Kings and Queens of France. We’ve never seen such an opulent residence than this one, the 75m long hall of mirrors was stunning. The Palace was only topped by the gardens outside of it. These are really a MUST SEE if you come to Paris. They are the most manicured gardens we’ve ever seen and are topped with fountains everywhere! We were lucky enough to be in the gardens while they had all of the fountains working and also had classical music playing all though out them. We were shocked at the loudness and quality of music which managed to cover such a large area and you couldn’t even see the speakers, they were hidden amongst the hedges. Hate to think what they would cost!
Yesterday morning (being the first Sunday of the month) the Louvre had free entry for all. As we LOVE free things, we decided to get into town early and try to beat the rush. We arrived just before opening time and were greeted with a 300m line for the entry. Amazingly (because there was no ticket checking) the line dispersed within 10-15 minutes and we were into it. This place is ridiculous! We spent 4 hours walking around, and hardly scratched the surface. We managed to see all the things that were on our list, and got out of there just as the after lunch crowd was arriving (apparently an hours wait in line). This afternoon we went to, Notre Dam and the Catacombs which we unfortunately missed out on by 5 people because they shut! SHIT! Doesn’t matter, we’ll see the one in Rome... After that we (Jamie) did a little shopping on the Champs’ Elysee and purchased a couple more dresses (cause she’s obviously in desperate need for it..).
Today we've done the drive down to Blois which was nice. We're now having a relaxing afternoon getting ready for more sight seeing tomorrow.
A&J xoxo
Friday, July 2, 2010
Touring Champagne Country...
Since we last wrote we've done one of Jamie's most favourite parts of the trip.... Champagne... On route to the Champagne region, we came across one of the French peoples favourite pass times.... a strike. We were driving quite happily down the road to a nice little village when we found a roundabout that had been completely blocked by local tractors. Apparently the farmers had the shits about something so decided to cut off the town in every direction. We spent the next 45 mins working our way around the tractors and driving onto footpaths etc... We eventually made our way through although Tom (our TomTom) was not all that impressed with our handy work. We arrived in Bouzy (how appropriate) the first night and stayed on one of the vineyards that are part of the France Passion deal, the name was Remy Galichet. They produce champagne so it was brilliant to be able to turn up, have a few taste tests, then buy a bottle and enjoy it in the vineyard. The town Bouzy was really quite small and most places were closed once we arrived, so it was a fairly early night.
The next day we headed to Eperney which was recommended by Mum and Dad Griffo. Jamie was very excited to see the biggest champagne houses in the world. On arrival we were surprised at how down to earth the town and people were. We went in expecting that there was going to be a certain pretentious feel and everyone would be dressed up with nowhere to go. What we found was a town that was very proud of their champagne heritage, but not full of themselves. We did the tour of Moet & Chandon (and learnt that YES, the French do pronounce it with the T!) which was brilliant. We didn’t actually know that the Moet & Chandon house also produce the more expensive Dom Perignon. The tour included a walk through the caves which in total cover 100Km. When asked the question, “how many bottles are actually down here?”, the tour guide explained that they were not allowed to tell people, but she could say that there were more bottles in that cellar then there are French people in France (Google it :)).
After visiting Epernay, we stayed the night in another vineyard that produced champagne. Once again we taste tested, then purchased another few bottles. We enjoyed another bottle (this one was even nicer) in an orchard of cherry and apple trees that the vineyard have for their private use. They told us to pick whatever we wanted which was lovely of them. Words couldn’t describe how beautiful this night was, sitting in the vineyard grounds drinking champagne and watching the sun go down over acres of vines. We highly recommend it. :)
Today we managed the dreaded Parisian traffic and made it to our camp ground 8km from the centre of Paris. The camp ground is fairly ordinary, but still manage to charge 37Euro for a powered site as they are the only camp ground within 100km of the city. Jamie is disgusted in their lack of customer service so far and keeps talking about how it would be different if she was in charge..... Whatever... Today we’ve spent the day wandering the Champes Elysees which has been wonderful. Tomorrow, being Andrew’s birthday will be filled with spoiling him with gifts and kisses (being the most romantic city in the world).
Love A&J xoxo
The next day we headed to Eperney which was recommended by Mum and Dad Griffo. Jamie was very excited to see the biggest champagne houses in the world. On arrival we were surprised at how down to earth the town and people were. We went in expecting that there was going to be a certain pretentious feel and everyone would be dressed up with nowhere to go. What we found was a town that was very proud of their champagne heritage, but not full of themselves. We did the tour of Moet & Chandon (and learnt that YES, the French do pronounce it with the T!) which was brilliant. We didn’t actually know that the Moet & Chandon house also produce the more expensive Dom Perignon. The tour included a walk through the caves which in total cover 100Km. When asked the question, “how many bottles are actually down here?”, the tour guide explained that they were not allowed to tell people, but she could say that there were more bottles in that cellar then there are French people in France (Google it :)).
After visiting Epernay, we stayed the night in another vineyard that produced champagne. Once again we taste tested, then purchased another few bottles. We enjoyed another bottle (this one was even nicer) in an orchard of cherry and apple trees that the vineyard have for their private use. They told us to pick whatever we wanted which was lovely of them. Words couldn’t describe how beautiful this night was, sitting in the vineyard grounds drinking champagne and watching the sun go down over acres of vines. We highly recommend it. :)
Today we managed the dreaded Parisian traffic and made it to our camp ground 8km from the centre of Paris. The camp ground is fairly ordinary, but still manage to charge 37Euro for a powered site as they are the only camp ground within 100km of the city. Jamie is disgusted in their lack of customer service so far and keeps talking about how it would be different if she was in charge..... Whatever... Today we’ve spent the day wandering the Champes Elysees which has been wonderful. Tomorrow, being Andrew’s birthday will be filled with spoiling him with gifts and kisses (being the most romantic city in the world).
Love A&J xoxo
Monday, June 28, 2010
On the road again....
It’s funny how a few days back in holiday mode and back on the road has made such a difference. We left Dusseldorf on Friday afternoon after our final round of maintenance on Cal. Since then we’ve travelled down the Moselle Valley which was brilliant. The Moselle River itself is surrounded by very steep hills that are covered with vinyards. We stayed a night in Brodenbach and Cochem. Cochem was recommended to us by Mum Griffioen and was brilliant. We managed to find a great free spot to camp right next to the river and about 400m from the middle of town. We walked up to the castle which is on a hill visible from all parts of the town and allows a wonderful view straight down the river. We were lucky enough to find a row of local stalls selling their own wine on a cliff face also looking over the town. The ride/walk up to the location was absolutely horrible in what had to be 30degree heat, but once we arrived, and found they were selling wine for 1euro a glass, everything seemed to be worth it. We took the lonely planets’ advice and sampled a couple of glasses of wine while enjoying the view. :)
We continued down the Moselle this afternoon and are now in Vianden which was recommended by Fe and Graham. This place is incredible.... We’ve stopped at a camp ground about 5 min walk from the town centre and have a direct view of... you guessed it... a castle! This is a smaller town that doesn’t even grace the pages of our AA Map book, but should be part of everyone’s itinerary if going to Luxemburg. Right now we’re sitting watching Germany vs England in the world cup at a brilliant little cafe/bar that has been converted from an old cinema. We’re eating a platter of salami and olives while enjoying a few beers. This is the life!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Stuck... Again....
After our excellent weekend in Berlin with John and Marta we got back to Dusseldorf to pick up Callum which was in perfect running order. We camped for the night in Dusseldorf again. The next morning we headed to Colone (Koln) about 50KM away and stopped at a camp site just outside the city. The weather was perfect and we had the most beautiful view over the Rhine. The guy at the front counter was a real tosser (we found out later that he’s a jerk because we turned up at his lunch time and interrupted him... apparently thats rude over here....). We took the tram into Koln to check out the Kolner Dome which is the biggest cathedral in Germany. The Cathedral took more than 600 years to build due to stop start work, but was completed finally in 1880. The building survived heavy bombing in WWII with hardly a scratch. It’s absolutely massive and well worth the visit. Andrew climbed the 503 stairs to the top of the Dom which was quite an effort, Jamie still wasn’t feeling all that well from her cold, so stayed down stairs.
The next day Cal didn’t start all that well, as a precaution we took it back to the mechanic in Dusseldorf to check it out as we knew he had replaced the starter. After getting there and “speaking” to the mechanic in German, we found out that the 2nd hand starter that they had used will have to be replaced with a new one. That wasn’t a problem and was done in half an hour. This is when things turned bad..... AGAIN! When we tried to reverse him out, he didn’t want to move at all, it seemed as though reverse wasn’t working... We’ve now learnt several bad words in German and they were all on show by the mechanic. These guys have been great to us though, yesterday they gave us a car to take for a drive, so we went down to the local lake and had lunch. Cut to 7 o’clock last night, and our gear box is in the back of a car leaving the mechanic. Last night we camped in the mechanics front yard again which has a lovely view of the industrial complex across the road. We rode their bikes down to the local pub and had a Schnitzel and watched the football. The Schnitzel was about the size of Andrews head.... HUGE! We shall include a photo when able to.
Today we’ve taken a tram into town and walked around a bit. We’ve discovered that this shitty little town (Krefeld not Dusseldorf) is actually quite nice. We’ve decided that we require some reliable transport so we’re about to go and buy a couple of bikes for 150Euro (Jamie’s has a basket). Hopefully we’ll be back on the way soon... Maybe...
A&J
The next day Cal didn’t start all that well, as a precaution we took it back to the mechanic in Dusseldorf to check it out as we knew he had replaced the starter. After getting there and “speaking” to the mechanic in German, we found out that the 2nd hand starter that they had used will have to be replaced with a new one. That wasn’t a problem and was done in half an hour. This is when things turned bad..... AGAIN! When we tried to reverse him out, he didn’t want to move at all, it seemed as though reverse wasn’t working... We’ve now learnt several bad words in German and they were all on show by the mechanic. These guys have been great to us though, yesterday they gave us a car to take for a drive, so we went down to the local lake and had lunch. Cut to 7 o’clock last night, and our gear box is in the back of a car leaving the mechanic. Last night we camped in the mechanics front yard again which has a lovely view of the industrial complex across the road. We rode their bikes down to the local pub and had a Schnitzel and watched the football. The Schnitzel was about the size of Andrews head.... HUGE! We shall include a photo when able to.
Today we’ve taken a tram into town and walked around a bit. We’ve discovered that this shitty little town (Krefeld not Dusseldorf) is actually quite nice. We’ve decided that we require some reliable transport so we’re about to go and buy a couple of bikes for 150Euro (Jamie’s has a basket). Hopefully we’ll be back on the way soon... Maybe...
A&J
Monday, June 21, 2010
Christopher Street Parade - Berlin Gay Pride 2010
Well last night was one of the most amazing experiences both of us have ever had. We started the day at around 1pm by catching the train into the city and having a couple of beers. We realised that it was going to be a very expensive night/afternoon if we bought beers from the bars on the street at the festival, so we headed to a supermarket to get some alcohol. We ended up getting a couple of bottles of vodka for 5 euro each! Berlin is SO cheap! The festival itself was held in the middle of Berlin at the Brandenburg gate which had been cut off from traffic and transformed into a stage. It's amazing how much work these people had put in for this one night of partying. Once the parade began it was a brilliant show of floats driving up towards the Brandenburg Gate. The security was very relaxed which allowed us to get really close to the procession and get some brilliant photo's. At one stage Jamie and Marta (Johns girlfriend) were actually on a float and John and Andrew followed behind in the procession itself.
At the end of the parade there was a concert which had about 500,000 people at it which was just amazing. It was an excellent way to end the day. Although we didn't expect to get to Berlin at this stage of our trip and the circumstances were less than ideal, it was all made worth it by having a night like that. We look forward to getting back to Dusseldorf tomorrow to see our mate and hopefully make our way south.
A&J
At the end of the parade there was a concert which had about 500,000 people at it which was just amazing. It was an excellent way to end the day. Although we didn't expect to get to Berlin at this stage of our trip and the circumstances were less than ideal, it was all made worth it by having a night like that. We look forward to getting back to Dusseldorf tomorrow to see our mate and hopefully make our way south.
A&J
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About Us
- Andrew and Jamie Griffioen
- Andrew and Jamie are a married couple from Brisbane, Australia. We have embarked on an overseas adventure for 6 months leaving in April and returning in October. We plan to cover the UK and a lot of Europe. To see more details, check out our posts below.