… joining the throngs back on the well worn tourist trail is quite a shock, but worth it to catch a glimpse of the Italy in every picture book. So first Pisa, then Firenze (Florence) then Rome then home via Munich (then back to work the next day – we hope we can hold onto the holiday wonder and spirit past Monday … )

Firenze – romantic, architecture, David, shopping – city of Italian leather!, evening streets alive with sidewalk cafes with AMAZING food, a piazza around every corner, sculptures and paintings to take our breath away …

Farewell dear Firenze – we will return.

Not even a backward glance as the Eurostar whisks us away from the Tuscan hills, vineyards, tall poplars and villages (clusters of burnt orange roofing tiles atop sandy white, pale rock melon or dusky pink walls & shuttered windows).

now, dear friends and family – we’ve looked for all of you in the queues and cafes and piazzas – everyone else is here !! – maybe we’ll find you in Piazza de Trevi in Roma

How amazing to sit down to breakie overlooking the Spanish Steps, Piazza Venezia, St Peter’s … ‘Back to the future’ with every mouthful of croissant, cheese, yoghurt and delicious caffe.

more fountains, more obelisks, more water from the ancient aqua duct, 900 churches, more ancient sculptures, mosaics, alfrescos, more cobbled alleys, more travetine marble, more more more … Rome – the truly eternal city !!

The Vatican …

inside the Colosseum …

the Pantheon …

who knew that there were 150 flavours of icecream to choose from  (we need to stay another 4 months!!)

the alarm rings at 6am Friday morning -> airport -> Munich -> AbuDhabi -> Melbourne -> Hobart 1pm Sunday
The alarm rings at 6am Monday morning and we are off to work!!

Unbelievable, wonderful
30 days to infinity and back.

Now, I hope that Cotswolds, London’s buzz, Monet’s amazing garden, Les Deux Magot, Bordeaux, Antibes, the Cinque Terre, Florence and Roma cling to us for a long time yet.
Live the Moment
Grazie and Ciao ciao

The Cinque Terre National Park Trails Using Levante as a base we started the Cinque Terre trails (5 rock villages) from Monterosso al Mare up and up and up the hundreds of rock steps then down the other side to Vernazza. The black thundering clouds, rolling down the steppes behind us threatened to deluge – from the high vineyards to the olive grove and finally through the lemon trees, the soaking Italian rain drops threaten to overtake us but we just made it to Vernazza and settled under a ‘sun’ umbrella to order lunch. Italian food – magical – we savoured every mouthful, not only hoping the rain would end but more because of the culinary master dish with the perfect blend of herbs. Finally the sun fought through, the clouds rolled on leaving only the sea to spray and churn against the mighty cliffs along the Ligurian coastline. Off to Corniglia, then Manorola and finally Riomaggiore – parts of the last two trails were still closed from 2011 mudslides and Manorala and Riomaggiore could only be reached by the hilltop routes (up the near vertical hills behind the villages and then down again, and fortunately by the local train tunneling through the rock cliffs and emerging at each town. PS no-one makes icecream like the Italians – a cone a day of the most exotic flavours is an absolute necessity. Staying in Levante is perfect – 100 steps to the front door of our luxurious apartment – 3 mins to the train, 3 mins to the cafes, bars, gellatories; restaurants, boutique shops, 1 min to the supermarket, 5 mins to the beach – what more could we wish for Coffee in Levante to start the day is an essential – at a local cobbled alley, sidewalk table – the simple soy flat white or latte at home is but a distant memory. Accidentally ordering lattes resulted in enormous glasses of hot milk – we then ordered caffe and added the ‘short black’ to the milk – not a bad result at all. caffe americana may or may not come with milk; caffe with a little latte could have a few drops of milk, a jug of steamed milk or froth … we have learned to enjoy them all and maybe it will be hard to go back to the humble soy flat white. Shopping in La Spezia- a lovely afternoon of wandering – La Spezia, the other side of the Cinque Terre from Levane is the Port for NW Italy and will be our train interchange for Firenze (Florence) and Rome. As usual any activity must always be accompanied by the obligatory icecreams and drinks. … so hard to remember whether its oui monsieur or si signore – bonjour or buongiorno – merci or grazie – pardon or scusami – un, deux, trois or uno, due, tre … quel pris or quant’e  

ciao ciao Levanto – grazie mille
loved everything – food, ice creams, little shops, the beach, the walks … watching the World Cup soccer at respectable hours …

Bordeaux – what a treasure in the south-west of France!
the network of trains is such a wonderful way to be effortlessly transported from one end of the country to the other.
Meeting up with Heidi, Adrian, Amia and Jesse was, of course, the highlight. They had just ridden on one of the Euro Velos down the west coast of France – kiddies in the trailer behind and camping for 6 weeks before we arrived.
Our apartment for our time in Bordeaux was right in the heart, minutes from shopping and more shopping, seconds from endless cafe/bars and restaurants, the ice cream shop round the corner and parks only a stone’s throw from our door.
It was worth the 69 stairs many times each day! sharing the ancient historical buildings – stone walls, narrow staircases, shuttered windows – traditional French design.
A visit to Saint Emillion (akin to the Barossa Valley) at Bordeaux’ door step reminded us of the region’s culture, tradition and history. the site was chosen by the monks in 700AD for its potential with the grapes … providence or divine guidance, Bordeaux’ wines are sort after the world over.
Friday 6pm the French National anthem could be heard from behind the counter in every Boulangerie, every Bar, every Fromagerie … Football – World Cup kicked off … France v Germany … the pain of losing was felt well into the night.
Dinner with Phillippe and Isabelle and their 3 chidren (friends Heidi and Adrian had met cycling) gave us such a local insight and perspective – Phillippe’s job was to woo the North American wine market bring Bordeaux wines to the US pallet.

Eight hours plus on the TGV to cross the south of France from west to east.
Antibes – comfortably positioned between Cannes and Nice is the harbour of choice for m(b)illionaires toys – amazing yachts with gold plated toilets and crew to deliver every conceivable service. Luke spent four months working here on a yacht with Nathan and Suze in 2007.
We wandered the cobbled alleys, bought food and drinks and icecreams, joined tourists lured by the ‘soldes’ sales in every boutique shop, swam in the Med with Amia and Jesse and a million others.
Enjoyed the summer fruit and fresh bread on every corner. At midday everything closes for 2 hours while the family has lunch or attends to other business; Monday – it is unlikely that anything will be open as Monday is the rest day, at the owner’s discretion. Hopefully the Musee de Picasso will be open tomorrow (Tuesday) after a walk through the Port, some cafe cremes, spot of shopping etc.

It will be hard to leave Antibes – a Mediterranean jewel – everyday a perfect 28 deg – the daily routine included an inviting dip into the Mediterranean with a view across to the snow topped alps and the France/Italy border. No day would be complete without croissants, cafe cremes, ice cream (la glasse), cuisines to answer every whim and cafes and restaurants a-plenty; a spot of shopping; timeless wanders through the cobbled alleys; the ritzy Cap d’Antibes and nearby Juan les Pins; opening the doors of a Musee and being lost in both the ancient architecture and the art; walking through the Port full of yachts of every size in both feet and $$ … PLUS what a bonus traveling with family AND Heidi’s fluent french.
We’ve walked Antibes as Luke had and know that we followed his footsteps to this French paradise.  “live the moment”

To Paris – Tuesday 1 July A bit more window shopping, a quick trip out to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge – a lot of development since we were here last 8 yrs ago – for the Olympics 2012 I guess. Piccadilly Line then Central line, raced back to our hotel, grabbed our bags, back down our 132 step underground – onto The Tube, couple of changes to Kings Cross St Pancras for the Eurostar to Paris at 3.30. Into the tunnel – tiny nana nap, 4.30 we were speeding through the French countryside past windmills and farming villages – amazing. Gare du Nord was our first of many “wish we spoke more French ” moments – we try, they smile !! merci et bonjour work well How good to see Hotel Ibis, Gare du Nord just across the road – Mais non Madame – FIVE Hotel Ibises later we found ours with help from the Hotelier in number 4. A bite to eat and then ventured back out into the balmy summer evening – through our red light district and sex shops back to Gare du Nord. Clocks forward an hour and we had to wait til the morning to get our train ticket Visite Paris Pass. Wednesday 2 July Breakie – croissant, pain et fromage, yaourt et cafe – a welcome change from the Full English Breakfast now we’ve left the Cotswolds behind. Deux billets and down to the Metro and up onto the street at Les Halles. Ah Paris !! Love ! The Musee de Louvre in front, the Jardin de Tuileries right, across Pont Royal to St Germain de Pres. Chocolat chaud at Les Deux Magots – a favourite from our last trip – just as good – a million calories and worth it.   A wander through the shop lined alleys, a freshly made baguette for lunch then off to Giverny, Normandy to visit Claude Monet’s house and garden. A magnificent day, flowers, water lillies, the bridge, a magical setting and fittingly romantic house with beautiful copies of many art works adorning the walls. The original furniture, personal touches, made up beds and worn rugs … Surely Claude and Alice are in the next room, or at least Michael, Claude’s son. Back into Paris about 7.30 Bought a ‘lock of love’ “Love Luke” on Pont des Arts xxxx,   Wonderful dinner on the left bank near Notre Dame – chatted to Jean Mark and watched the soccer. Finally it was time to head for home under the faint pink sky, past the street entertainers, hundreds of tourists in love with Paris … slowly we found the Metro at Pont Neuf to Gare du Nord and walked he 2 blocks home. Asleep in seconds zzzzzzz

Thursday 3 July … to be continued … in Bordeaux with Heidi and Adrian and Amia and Jesse … Amia has offered to teach me some french when I get there.

London

To London – Saturday 28 June
We had a lazy start and wandered to the train station – caught the fast train to London, Waterloo, dropped down into The Underground, Northern Line to Totenham Court Road, changed to Central Line and popped out at Queensway (132 steps underground!) – five minute walk to our hotel and we were home.
Not to waste the daylight hours we embarked on a journey through Kensington Park, Hyde Park, past Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square across the Thames and joined the queue for the London Eye. Our birdseye view of Big Ben. St Pauls, etc etc was fabulous.

We stopped for some dinner on the way back, again dropped into the underground at Charing Cross and finally made it home. Every pub has either the World Cup or Wimbledon on big screen so it’s been easy to keep up

Sunday 29 June
Up and out by 7.30 – down 132 steps or lift! to Queensway on the Central Line, off at Oxford Circus, follow the signs up, down, along to Victoria line and came up at Victoria Station – breakfast was a banana, a baguette and a particularly bad coffee. We finally found Victoria Coach Station and joined a tour to Windsor Castle, Stone Henge and Oxford – all new to us.
The sheer size of Windsor Castle was incredible and in the 2 hours there we explored 1/100th or less! Eton College just a stones throw away spoke volumes of British prestigious education.

Stone Henge was just as I expected and continued the picture of life in ancient England that we were piecing together – 2500BC – those rocks are massive. Gary’s thankful I don’t want that size in my garden.

Oxford – a town which is itself a University Campus was clearly a keeper of elite, quality education and every stone quarried from the Cotswold’s lay there with pride.
Around every corner evidence of Harry Potter and his friends was in the air.
A genuine Cornish Pasty from Oxford was dinner plus a not-so-bad coffee from an Italian barista, and we arrived home about 7pm.

A quick stop at our hotel then out again, over the road, hired 2 bikes from Kensington Gardens and explored the cycle ways via a peak at Kensington Palace.
We topped off the day with an ice cream and turned in as the twilight completely faded – about 10.30.

Monday 30 June
Raining again – we declared today a shopping day – Covent Gardens, Oxford St, dinner near St Paul’s – fabulous restaurant – excellent food, wine and service. A perfect shelter from the typical English weather outside then a dash to the tube, 2 line changes and home.

To Paris – Tuesday 1 July
A bit more window shopping, a quick trip out to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge – a lot of development since we were here last 8 yrs ago – for the Olympics 2012

Piccadilly Line then Central line, raced back to our hotel, grabbed our bags, back down our 132 step underground – onto The Tube, couple of changes to Kings Cross St Pancras for the Eurostar to Paris at 3.30.