mja007's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member mja007 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mja007 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:58:54 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com Venice - Where cars aren't a problem. — Venice, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193209020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193209020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193209020/tpod.html Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:58:54 -0500 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Venice, Italy

We arrived in East Venice after a long day on the road from Milan. On the way from Milan we stopped in the city of Verona which is the city where Romeo and Juliet is based. Subsequently the city has done a bit to live off this famous point with a house dedicated to Juliet with its own balcony. The funny point is the balcony is actually a sarcophagus whether it was actually ever used for this I don't know. The city also has a very well kept amphitheater but like Nimes and Ales in France no where near the size of the Colosseum. After lunch in Verona we walked around checked out some shops as I have been looking for a new pair sunglasses and a new watch throughout the entire trip but once again no luck on either item. After a few more hours driving we reached East Venice on dusk. East Venice is on the mainland with the main part of the city (where all the canals are) on a series of islands in the lagoon. When we arrived we went straight to dinner and then back to the hotel for a few quiet ales and then off to bed to get some rest for our big day in the city.
The next morning we were up early as we had to catch a train to the only train station in the main part of Venice. After the train we then had a charter boat waiting for us that took us around the main island docking just up from St Marks square in the centre of the city. The group I was with headed off to see some glass blowing and lace making demonstrations which I had seen on a previous to Venice so I headed in to have a look inside St Marks cathedral. As most people know the islands that make Venice are sinking into the mud and this problem is quite evident in St Marks with the floor being very uneven. The cathedral isn't as big as those in Milan or Florence but has many interesting art work inside. My biggest gripe with this cathedral is that even though the entry is free (as long as you can bear the line up which I missed by going early) each section of the cathedral outside the main hall has an entry fee which if you do all the sections start to add up. After the cathedral I headed up the bell tower next door in the square. I was a bit unnerved to find out as I lined up that the tower had to be rebuilt in the early 1900s after it collapsed. Luckily the tower stood its ground as well as having a fantastic view from the top. I spent a few bit of time up here taking heaps of photos and was joined by a few of the guys on the tour with me, Jamie and Ethan. After coming down from the tower Ethan had planned out a route that would let us see most of Venice so the three of us set off to see more the city. We stopped at a little café along the way for some lunch where I had this massive pizza. In all the time I had been in Italy I don't believe I had a bad pizza and due to them being a lot thinner then what we get back home they aren't as filling. Our travels eventually brought us back to Saint Marks square where we went into the Doges' palace right beside the cathedral. Inside the palace there is a room that would be one of the largest rooms I have ever stood in. It is about 50 metres by 25 metres and was where the council of Venice would preside (it pretty much meant every family in Venice was represented). The palace also had a great selection from the armory on display with everything from extra long swords to very early Gatling guns. We also got a chance to walk across the bridge of Sighs which connected the palace to the prison. After the palace we went for a walk along the waterfront and checked out more of Venice. It was funny to see all the people selling fake handbags and then they would disappear as soon as a police officer walked by. Places like Venice and Milan are really cracking down on this sort of stuff but they can't catch many of these people so they are targeting the tourists who buy the fake items. It's pretty hypocritical as they only target those people buying fake items from Italian companies (i.e. Prada and Gucci handbags) but they do nothing to those vendors selling fake Adidas and Nike football shirts. I left the guys after this as they were meeting back up with the group to do a gondola ride (something else I had done on a previous trip) so I wandered by myself for a while before finding a café and ordering a few beers and watched the world go by. I also skipped the group optional dinner and after further wandering found a nice little restaurant and had some soup and pasta for dinner. I then met back up with the group in Saint Marks square and headed back to the boat that took us to the train station where we got the train back to the station right behind the hotel. After a few more quiet ales I headed to bed getting ready for the longest day on the road as we headed back to Rome to complete the tour.
]]> Rome - I Feel I've Been Here Before — Rome, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192864080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192864080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192864080/tpod.html Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:56:25 -0500 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Rome, Italy

As they say all roads lead to Rome and after leaving Venice we had a full day on the road to get to Rome. Our only notable stop was in the tiny self governed province of San Marino where we had lunch. San Marino is very small but very pretty with the main walled city sitting on top a hill in the middle of the valley and the view was fantastic all around it. We finally reached Rome just at dusk and got dropped into the city to do a quick walking tour of a few of the famous monuments (i.e. Trevi fountain, Spanish steps and the Parthenon). After the tour we broke off from the tour and had dinner. Once again I had pasta and shared a pizza with the rest of the people at the table. We finished dinner with a stop at a gelato stand before meeting back with the group and walking back to the bus. On the way to the hotel we drove past the Vatican so we got to see it all lit up at night.
For our full day in Rome and the final full day of the tour we got the Contiki bus to drop us at the closest Metro station and then caught the Metro into the city getting off at the station at the Colosseum where we met our local guide for a walking tour of the ancient Roman ruins. After walking through the excavations for the ruins we met our tour manager, Franco and a few of us headed over to the Vatican where we lined up to go into the Vatican museum. Now this line was about 1.5km long so it seemed we would have a fair wait but the line moved very quickly. This I found out when I did a quick run across the street to get some drinks for the group I had lined with. When I came out my group had moved about 800m up the line and up around the bend of the street. On average about 15,000 people go through the Vatican museum each day and we found this out quite well when we finally got in as every room was full of people. The museum had many different parts including a section of Egyptian artefacts but was mainly religious themed paintings and sculptures. Near the end of the museum is the Sistine chapel painted by Michelangelo which was very different to what I expect with the ceiling being a collection of many smaller paintings instead of the one famous scene everybody knows. I thought it was quite ironic that they asked for silence in this chapel and the most noise was being made by the attendant yelling out silence. There is meant to be a way to get into St Peter Cathedral from here but we couldn't find it and ended up heading back out on the street. As we had missed lunch we decided to grab a quick meal near the Vatican before heading back to the Metro station near the Colosseum. We took the Metro back to the station where our bus picked us up and took us back to the hotel to get ready for the farewell dinner. For the farewell dinner (which is one of the optional activities on this tour) we had dinner at an Italian restaurant (fancy that) near the Vatican so again we got to see St Peter's cathedral lit up at night. As I was staying an extra day I didn't need to go to bed early so I stayed up and had a few beers with some of the group and said farewell to those that had early starts the next morning.
The next morning was unlike any on the Contiki tour as it had no early wake-up call and no set times for breakfast or departure. Staying at the hotel for an extra night were two groups of girls from Tasmania (the Ness Sister - Emily and Sara and the 4 Tassie Lawyers - Kara, Liz, Nadia and Jillian) who were keen to head back to the Colosseum to actually tour inside it. We first stopped off at an internet café as we all had to sort out something (for me it was my banking) and after that we grab some lunch before heading over to the Colosseum. Now anyone who has been to the Colosseum will know that there is always a huge line out the front of it. This line is for tickets and not to actually get in so you may ask how you skip this ticket line. Well it is easy go across to the excavated ruins and you can (for the same price) buy a ticket that gets you into both the Colosseum and onto Palatine Hill which is the part of the ruins you have to pay to see. There is never a line up here but very few people know about this. After we grabbed our tickets we walked rather smugly past all the poor souls waiting at the Colosseum ticket booth and straight in. Inside it is quite amazing as you can just see how big it was plus all the effort that went into making it an engineering marvel for it time (i.e the rooms under the floor where the gladiators/animals entered from). After the Colosseum the girls wanted to do some shopping (I know that would surprise most people) so I headed over to Palatine Hill to use the other half of my ticket and even though it is in ruins these buildings in there day would have been massive. After there I had only one more place I need to visit and enter to complete my visit to Rome and that was St Peter's cathedral. Now as some of you might remember the last time I was in Rome (April 2003) I was not allowed into St Peter's as I wasn't wearing appropriate Italian church dress. This time I was prepared so I hurried over to the Vatican again hoping I wouldn't be too late to go in. Usually there is a long line to enter the cathedral but it was quite short this late in the afternoon and after waiting 10 minutes at the metal detector I was straight in. The main hall of the cathedral was massive and much bigger then any cathedral I had been to (and that includes all the most important churches in England and my other stops in Italy and Eastern Europe). You could tell that this was the home of the Catholic Church as everything was spotless and the marble statues were bright white. After the Vatican I grabbed a metro and headed over to the Trevi fountain where I was meeting up with the Tassie connection and a few other people from my Contiki tour for dinner. As I approached the fountain I noticed that the crowd was large then usual and were staring at something in the fountain. As I got closer I noticed that the police had roped off the area where people usually go down to throw their coins. Then it hit me, the colour of the water was bright red like someone had come along and turned it into wine (I couldn't help myself throwing in that biblical reference). I never found out the full facts but someone had come along and thrown some red dye in the fountain just before I got there. After a while the rest of the group showed up and we headed away from the fountain to find a restaurant for dinner. This part of Rome has plenty of restaurants so finding somewhere for dinner wasn't a problem. After dinner we headed back to the metro and then after a quick train trip waited for a bus. Once back to the hotel I headed up to my room and packed my bags for the final trip back to Australia.
The next morning I said goodbye to the Tassie Lawyer Group as they were heading to France and myself and the Sara and Emily grabbed a hire car to the airport. After a rather painful wait in the check in line I said goodbye to the remaining Tasmanians and had for my plane destination Singapore and then Sydney.
]]> The Return Home — Brisbane, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193209800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193209800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193209800/tpod.html Sun, 28 Oct 2007 00:56:41 -0400 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Brisbane, Australia

After leaving Rome I flew back to Australia via Singapore and landed in Sydney. Both flights were pretty uneventful except that the luxury of a more spacious seat on the first leg wasn't available on the second leg (luckily this was the shorter leg). When we arrived in Sydney I got the usual hold up at passport control and then I grabbed my bag and exchanged my money before taking my luggage through customs. On unknown to me there had been another break out of mad cow in England so everyone was being checked on my flight so my comfortable 2 hr break to my flight to Brisbane was getting pretty short. What really annoyed me was that this directive to check all baggage was probably quite fair exept they only had one gate open for everybody off 2 flights. After I eventually got through I found that the free bus with Virgin Blue had stopped running about an hour earlier so I had to wait for the next train which was only 10 minutes but still cutting it fine. What was crazy here was it cost me $13 to get a one way ticket between the international terminal and the domestic terminal. Now I had seen some big rip offs on this trip but this took the cake. I eventually got to the Virgin Blue terminal and quickly checked in and headed straight to the gate where after a short delay I was back on a plane and returning to Queensland and the end of my tour.
]]> Busting Out in Budapest — Budapest, Hungary http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1191336300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1191336300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1191336300/tpod.html Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:43:26 -0400 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Budapest, Hungary

We headed south from Poland and after a quick stop in Bratislava we got to Budapest around dinner time. After dinner at the hotel we headed for a walk into the centre of the city to the river. Budapest is made up of 2 cities - Buda and Pest and are separated by the river Danube. We were staying on the Pest side so we could see across the river to the castle district that was really well lit up at night as well as the various bridges across the river. After the walk into town we headed back to the hotel for a quiet evening with a few drinks in the bar in the lobby. I had swapped room mates for this stop of the journey with Kristian (one of the ring leaders of our big night in Krakow) sharing a room with me. The next day I joined up with a small group from the tour and we headed out to discover Budapest. Our first stop was the cathedral of Saint Stephen who was the one of the main saints of Hungary. The cathedral actually has his hand in a box at the back of the building but wasn't open when we were there. The cathedral itself was quite amazing and very similar to various churches and cathedrals through western Europe. From here we crosses the river on the chain bridge, which is one of the more famous bridges in Budapest and would have been one of the old if the Nazis hadn't blown it up. On the other side of the river we took the funicular up the hill to the castle district. The castle itself is a mix of a 17th century palace and medieval castle set to defend itself. The grounds are quite amazing and has probably the second best view in Budapest. We quietly strolled around the castle grounds before heading just up the road of it to the labyrinth. This labyrinth was rather different with some strange parts as well some downright weird sections as well. The room where the wine fountain is was the only room I couldn't enter as the smell of the wine made me sick, what did I expect seeing the wine had been recycling through the fountain for some unknown number of years. After this we headed down to the river front and pass the bridge we walked to the night before. Here I left the group and headed over the other side of the river towards the history museum. This museum had been recommended by our tour leader and I was quite keen to learn more about Hungary's history. I was quite annoyed after half an hour of walking to find the museum closed (it is common practice for museums outside of the summer holiday period to close on Mondays throughout Europe). I decided to walk back to the other side of the river and try and find the group I had left. I climbed the hill where the liberty monument sat and found the best view of the city. The monument itself was quite impressive and had originally been a monument dedicated to the liberation of Hungary by the Soviets over the Nazis (we all know how that turned out). After leaving the monument I made my way back down into the city and back to the hotel so I could do some washing and write out a few postcards. I also had a few beers to finish off from the carton I had brought in Prague. After completing these jobs I got ready and headed back out to meet up with our tour manager Justin as he had recommended a place for dinner. I hadn't had lunch through the day and I was lucky as the meals at the place were enormous. I had a bowl of chicken soup to start with and instead of coming in a bowl it came in a hollowed out bread roll which amazingly was still quite solid. For my main meal I had leg of pork which was this bone with a huge amount of tender, juicy meat hanging off it. Once this was all finished there really wasn't any room for dessert so we headed back towards the hotel and stopped off at a small pub for a few drinks. We had several members of the tour group finishing in Budapest so it was time to have farewell drinks with them. One couple, Brook and Sarah were leaving for Russia the next morning so they were getting picked up at 4.30am so after the pub shut we headed back to the hotel were the lobby bar was open 24 hours so several people decided to stay and drink through the night with them. I ended going to bed around 2.30am with Kristian seeing them off and then crashing at 5am. He also was leaving the group the next day so he could afford a sleep in. The next morning we said goodbye to the rest of the group and got back on the road heading for our final destination, Vienna.
]]> Second Week in the South of France — Montagnac, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1190468880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1190468880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1190468880/tpod.html Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:19:35 -0400 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Montagnac, France

Our Second Week in Montagnac

After a hard drive to and from Andorra over the weekend we had a fairly quiet day. A few of us hit the local internet cafe then as a group we headed across to Pezanas to have another look at the shops. On the way home we went via Meze to pick up some of the local seafood. We got a few kilos of muscles, oysters and cooked prawns and took it home and made a some sauces and cooked up the muscles and some of the oysters. For about 30 euros we cooked up a massive feast for 6 of us (Simon doesn't eat seafood and cooked up his own sausages).

Tuesday's touring had an ancient Roman feel to it with our 3 spots all having cool Roman structures as the centrepieces. The first stop was the city of Nimes which is north east of Montpellier. Here we did a tour of the Arenas de Nimes which is a smaller version of the Colosseum in Rome. They boast that it is the most complete ancient Roman arena still standing and they definitely right. It was built about 30 years after its big brother in Rome but in much better shape. It is still used today mainly for various bull fighting festivals. We left from there and continued east to the city of Arles stopping along the way for lunch in a park on the side of the highway. It was here I did my best impression of Don Burke (I'm sorry the Don will always be the man and much better in the yard then Jamie Durie the impostor) and found they had actually planted a few good old Aussie gum trees. Once in Arles we spent a few hours wandering around the streets taking special notice of the arena in the centre of town. Not as impressive or in as good condition as the arena in Nimes it seemed it was still being used for small concerts. Also there was many other ruins as well as a Roman amphitheater built into the hill beside the arena which I believe is also still used today. Arles other claim to fame is it was the place Vincent Van Gogh painted many of his more famous works including Starry Starry Night. He also hacked off part of his left ear whilst living here (it would be over 100 years before another artist who too was misinterpreted would go one better - Mark "Chopper" Read). As the afternoon got late we headed off to the final attraction of the day which was back towards Nimes. At Pont du Gard there is one of the best examples of ancient Rome's aqueduct system. Here you are able to walk out onto the bridge underneath the massive aqueduct and really appreciate the size of the structure. On top of the aqueduct there is slot in the stone that would be over a metre wide and nearly 2 metres deep that would have carried the water. After this we traveled back to our base in Montagnac and on the way home we were able to pull off one Chinese fire drill just before getting home - no one got hurt and more importantly no animals were harmed in the process. For dinner we tried out the local pizzeria and had a quiet night at home as everyone was tired from all the driving. .

The next day (Wednesday) we headed south west to the town of Carcassonne. The original town was built on top of the hill fully fortified with the castle making up part of defensive network. Most of the walls are still intact showing how well this town could be defended in it's day. I walked between the series of walls for an hour before going inside the inner wall and wandered the shops. After here we stopped at a nearby dam that had a sandy beach which Simon and Daryl had a swim at. We got back to Montagnac late in the after and had an early dinner so we could get up to the local sports bar and watch a couple of games of the rugby world cup. The first game saw Fiji beat Japan 35-31 and the second had Italy defeating Romania 24-18, neither were full of high quality rugby but the close scores kept each game exciting.

Thursday marked our last full day in Montagnac so went decided to have a quiet morning where we tidied up the apartment and sorted out who owed who money from accommodation, car rentals and rugby tickets. We also knocked a lot of washing off which was good to complete before getting back on the road. In the afternoon we made one last trip to Penzanas for a full crepe meal (both savory and dessert style).

Friday morning we were up before the sun and were heading back to Montpellier airport to fly to the UK. I was quite sad to say goodbye to my sofa bed with its star wars sheets from the Ellary 80s. This place was quite good even though from the out side it was only a door in a wall. We had a good time there and it was great to be able to cook your own meals every now and then.
]]> La Spezia — La Spezi, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192359240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192359240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192359240/tpod.html Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:55:54 -0400 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
La Spezi, Italy

After pisa we went to La Spezia
]]> Quick Stop in Pisa — Pisa, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193208600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193208600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1193208600/tpod.html Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:51:15 -0400 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Pisa, Italy

Quick stop in Pisa
]]> The Return to Florence — Florence, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192254540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192254540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192254540/tpod.html Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:47:31 -0400 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Florence, Italy

Florance is one of the most beautiful cities in the world that I have visited but also a place that holds some more infamous memories for me. On my last trip to Florence I had a string of bad luck hit me which included my camera's battery dying at the start of the day, getting dropped off at the wrong hotel after hitting a local night club and wandering the streets till about 2 in the morning and the most memorable having an ATM eat my card and hence access to all my money. This time I was determined not to have this happen again with several precautions including several bank accountant all accessible on the net, knowing how I could walk back to the hotel from the night clubs and charging my camera the day before we got there. With these precautions I was able to right the wrongs of my last visit. But apart from this trip down memory lane let me tell you about this visit to the Tuscany region. We arrived late in the afternoon from Sorento as we stopped to do some wine tasting along the way at the cool little castle that had been turned into a winery about 100 years ago. I think alot of this wine tasting is lost on me as I really don't appreciate wine and couldn't tell the difference between a $4 bottle and a $40 bottle (it all tastes terrible to me). After we arrived at the hotel I found that for the first time on the tour I would have to share a room. I shared with Jamie an engineer from Melbourne who was apart from many things abit of a ladies man so I thought always makes things interesting. After we had settled in we jumped back on the bus and headed into the centre of Florence for dinner at a local restaurant. Once again we had two courses with the first being pasta which was good and the second being meat which was pretty average but still eatable. After dinner we went for a short walk around the town centre to the main square before heading a nearby bar. I had read about this bar called the Red Garter in a Contiki brochure and now I see why as everyone in the place was on Contiki tours. After a few rather large ales we headed back to the hotel and Jamie and myself had a few more at the hotel bar where I got into a rather energetic conversation with our tour manager and Italian native Franco about Italy's history (both modern and ancient) abit after midnight I decided to head back to the room and get some rest for the following day which was going to be big.
We started the full day in Florence with a guided tour around the central Florence area where we had been the night before. We spent most of the morning on this tour looking at various famous buildings in Florence before finishing at the Duomo (the cathedral) in the centre of the city. This magnificent building is made from red, white and green marble and is by far the largest church in Florence. After the tour I headed straight to the Duomo to climb to the top of the dome and catch a glimpse of one of the best views of the city. Now I believe to an extent that Italians reached there technological peak when Rome ruled the world some 2000 years ago and this theory was reinforced by the passage way you had to take to the top of the dome. In some areas I found it quite a tight fit and to complicate matters worse these areas were also for two way traffic hence making the climb to the top a lot longer then it should be. When I finally reached to the top of dome after nearly 400 steps the view was worth it as you had a completely uninterrupted view of the whole city. After the challenging descent back down I joined with a few of the other travelers on my Contiki tour and headed to the second largest church in Florence, Santa Croce where the graves of several of the famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or the blokes that gave them their names) are found. We then found a small street side cafe back towards the main square and had some lunch. I thought I would add abit of variety to my diet by once again having pasta for my meal. After lunch I just roamed around the city and then meeting back with the group to head back to the hotel to get ready for our Tuscan dinner and then onto a local night club. The Tuscan dinner was fantastic with all 5 courses being really good and the rest of my table was quite grateful when I donated my share of the wine to their cause. After dinner we headed off to a local night club which is specifically for tourists with there being no locals there but plenty of people on Contiki tours. The bottom floor had karaoke (which suited the American girls on our trip) with a dance floor upstairs (which suited the Australian and Canadian girls). I unfortunately again disgraced myself by busting a move on the dance floor until everyone decided to head downstairs and try out there singing voices. Now there is definite line in the sand between dancing like an idiot and singing like one and I won't cross it so I sat back and listened to most of the group getting and beating out a few tunes. It is safe to say you won't be seeing them on Australian or American Idol anytime soon. Once we finally rounded up the rest of our group we grab a few taxis and headed back to the hotel.
The next morning there were a few sore heads on the bus and most of us slept to our next destination.
]]> Sorrento and the Isle of Capri — Sorrento, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192112640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192112640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1192112640/tpod.html Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:48:34 -0400 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Sorrento, Italy

After meeting the Contiki tour group we headed off the next morning for Sorrento near Naples. We arrived around lunchtime at the ruins to Pompeii and walked around the excavation. It was amazing to see very well preserved remains of a Roman city and how technologically advanced the Romans were for their time. After lunch (which included pizza) we reached Sorrento and our hotel. The hotel itself was a little old but my room was big enough for 3 people so I had plenty of room. The one big plus for this hotel was that it was situated right on the beach so as soon as I had put my bag in my room I grab a towel and went for a swim. Unlike the south of France a few weeks ago the water was quite warm but still very salty. After the swim we headed out for the first of our optional dinners. These dinners cost extra on top of the tour but are organized by Contiki some people believe them not to be worth the cost but they are great to meet your fellow travellers more. The meal we had was on a cliff top over looking the seas and was a really nice spot. The food was OK with the pasta being very nice but the meat nothing special. After dinner we head back to the hotel where a few of us grabbed a beer and headed down to the beach.
The next morning was an early start as we were heading to the Isle of Capri for the day. We had a small amount of rain the night before and the weather didn't look good on the horizon and sure enough as the ferry headed to the island the rain came down. Once on the island I headed to the small town of Anacapri and had a quick look around as well as a early lunch (which was Spaghetti Bol). Here there was a small chair lift that took you to the top of the highest point on the island but due to the rain was not running. I then hopped back on the small bus and headed back to the main town of Capri where we started. I was joined by several of the Americans on our trip at this time as well. I should also mention the bus trips to and from Anacapri as the road sits right on the edge of the cliff and there were a few spots where I thought the bus was heading over the edge (luckily I have my will completed back home and my travel insurance paid up). When we got back to Capri the sun finally showed its face and wee had great weather for the rest of the day. We walked over to the opposite of the island from Capri to get a glimpse of 2 giant rocks that stick out of the sea. On our way we found an abandoned monastery nestled in a small valley with a few large (and old) paintings of there walls. When we passed through the monastery's gardens we found several viewing spots on the cliff faces that looked right along that side of the island. Our next hike when we returned to Capri was to see the ruins of the Villa Jovis which sat at the east end of the island closest to the mainland. The Villa was constructed to be the house of one of the Caesars who would rule the Roman empire from Capri and not Rome. The walk there was all up hill but when finally there the view was worth it where you could see right back to the mainland and all along the northern side of the island. The ruins themselves were OK but you could make out that at its prime this building would have been amazing. On returning to Capri we headed back to the marina to sample some more gelati and wait for out ferry back to Sorrento. We had an hour to kill before heading back to the hotel so myself and a fellow traveller Jamie (engineer from Melbourne) had a few quite beers at one the local cafes. We had dinner back at the hotel which featured both halves of your typical Italian diet - pizza and pasta. After dinner Jamie and I had a few more quiet drinks before heading back to our rooms and packing for the trip the next day to Florence.
]]> The final stop of my trip - Italy — Rome, Italy http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1191860340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1191860340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mja007/wd-2007/1191860340/tpod.html Mon, 08 Oct 2007 06:49:26 -0400 Another Holiday With Mick - From Vegas to Vienna and Fernie to Florence. 12 Weeks for 16 countries, 80hrs of airports and aeroplanes and 1 weekend of World Cup rugby.
Rome, Italy

I left Vienna behind and flew to Rome to start the final part of my 3 month adventure. I arrived in Rome just after dinner time on my Austrian airlines (one of the best airlines I have flown with in this trip) flight. As planned my driver was waiting with a sign with my name on it and off he took me in the silver merc. I never thought I would find such a person in Italy but he wasn't a football fan and preferred rugby to football. The traveling today had gone according to plan so this meant old Murphy's law had to interrupt my trip again when I got to the hotel and found that I had no reservation. They checked their computer and found nothing and then they checked the travel agents website and found I did have a reservation. The only problem was they were booked out for the night. Maybe because I was tired, maybe because I had got use to this happening but I didn't get overly upset about this I just stood there. To the credit of the night manager he quickly booked me into a hotel down the road and called a taxi to take me there. His next comment I found quite amusing as he came out from behind the desk he looked at me and in his best English said "I suppose you want to kill me about now", well all I could do was laugh. He then walked over to the bar poured me a free glass of champagne whilst I waited for the taxi. The taxi then arrived and the manager paid him and gave me the card of the hotel and told me to ring the next morning and they would come and pick me up. I got to the new hotel and whilst it wasn't as flash as where I had just been it still was better then a few of places I had stayed on this trip.
The next morning I headed back to the original hotel and around lunch was able to check in. I was sorting out my luggage when a knock came on the door and a few fellow travelers knocked on my door and asked if I want to go for a walk. We decided to take the train into the city but none of us had a map so we had no idea where we were heading. We eventually got off and wandered for an hour aimlessly before finding a map at a bus stop (I did the smart thing and took a photo of it so I could use it for the rest of the day) which we used to navigate our way to the Colosseum and the old roman forum ruins. We then took a combination of trains back out to where we were staying and I headed up to my room to complete some more washing. I then came down and had a quiet dinner (for one) in the hotel's restaurant. The reason I mention this is I was able to finally have some to eat on this trip that I rarely find - baby octopus. It was in a penne pasta and tasted fantastic. After dinner I had a few quite beers and headed off to bed.
The next day I spent a quiet day wandering around Rome before heading back to the hotel to meet up with my contiki group and the start of my "Simply Italy" tour.
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