Venice

A view of Venice

One of the churches we wandered past after wandering through the narrow steets

Amy and I on our gondola ride!

Amy and her friend Katie from Alfred Deakin who was also in Venice on the school trip

We arrived in Venice after driving through the Dolomites, which was stunning scenery! We managed to negotiate our way to the car park, and then walked into Venice which was about 15 minutes (however I did have to return to the car as I thought I had left the lights on, and as we were staying 2 nights I had to check! I had left them on but they turned of automatically when I turned of the car). We found our hotel and also the Alfred Deakin students from Amy’s school who were also staying at the same hotel, so Amy enjoyed catching up with her friends.

We got our Vaperetto Passes and raced down to San Marco square for our gondolier ride that we had prebooked over the internet- we didn’t want to pay 80 euro which was the going rate! We were late but still managed to get our gondolier ride which gave us a lovely tour of Venice.

On the second day in Venice we caught the ferry out to the island of Murano and went to the glass museum, it was amazing to look at pieces of glass that were 2000 years old. Did a bit of shopping in the glass shops then headed back to the main island of Venice.

Wandered around the streets of Venice in different locations, over the Rialto bridge, looked in a church and just enjoyed the streets and bridges and canals of Venice.

Schonbrunn Palace

Today we went to Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. it really was a spectacular sight, magnificent room and paintings, and gold and all sorts of stuff! If I had to be born during this era I would only want to be a royal and a favourite child!

View of the Palace from the Galeria

Galeria and Fountain

Sue at the Palace

Front of the Palace

We managed to negotiate yet another underground train system and found our way to the palace. Vienna seems a lot less hectic after Paris and London - that is until we got to the palace -
though it wasn't too bad. The palace was magnificent and the gardens just beautiful. We did an audio tour through the palace, went and tasted apple strudel and saw a demonstration of how to make it. We wandered through a maze and walked the length of the gardens and found our way to the Galeria where we got a spectacular view of the gardens and the palace and had a yummy lunch of German potato cakes with smoked salmon and vegetable strudel.

Day Trip to Bratislava

Street in Bratislava
Statue in the street in Bratislava
Fountain and Square in Bratislava
Amy and her hot chocolate in Bratislava

Today we drove to Bratislava in Slovakia. It was about 70km from Vieanna and took us about 50 minutes- hard to believe that you can be in another country in less than an hour. In the past it was a communist country and it certainly had a different feel to the place, as we first drove in it seemed rather bleak and drab and the buildings very plain and uninspiring.

We went into the old part of town, which has been done up over the last few years and the old part of town was very pretty. We just wandered around, had some strudel and a hot chocolate. Their hot chocolates here are very thick and rich - of course Amy had to have hers with cream on top!

We then drove to a different part of town where they had a very modern shopping centre and we went shopping. We managed to find a dress for Amy's Year 10 Formal and it was actually a pretty painless process! On the way home we called in at a designer factory outlet and visited the Lindt factory outlet shop- Amy was in heaven- shopping , a formal dress and a chocolate shop all in one day!

Sunshine Galore in London

The classic shot of an English Beefeater - can't imagine a more boring job - but it is certainly is good photo opportunity! We found him hanging around at the Tower of London- just waiting to have his photo taken by us I am sure. We had a great morning there, we went on an hour tour with a very entertaining and informative guide who filled us in on a lot of interesting information.
Amy and Mia at the Tower of London
Shot of the Tower Bridge on the Thames
Amy and Bindi at Portobello Road - we had great fun shopping in the markets.

Who says London is grey and overcast- we have been here 5 days and have seen no evidence of such perposturous claims. Every day it has been aroun 20degrees, mild and pleasant! Had a great last day in London- up early and off to the Tower of London, then a ride on a boat down the Thames, a play in the Peter Pan Playground in Kensignton Gardens ( which is a must when you have a 4 year old and a 6 year old with you - or that sounds like a good excuse). Then it was off to Portobello Road for a spot of shopping and a sampling of the local food - crepes, raspberries and figs! We even brought a toast rack - lot cheaper that the jewel studed one at the Tower of London in the shape of a throne!

Now it is time to pack up the suitcases and head of for the next phase of our journey - Vieanna, Austria

Tourist Attack Continues In London

Getting ready for the Changing of the Guard

We are still playing the tourist in London - well you have to don't you. We were heading to Buckingham Palace walking down Birdcage Road, when we spotted the guards getting ready to march over to Buckingham Palace, we stayed there and got a really good view and saw marching and yelling and music, and then saw them march out the gate to Buckingham Palace where there were crowds of people and we would not have been to see all that much so we were very happy!

Westminster Abbey

We just looked at it from the outside. They were charging about $30 AUD to go in, after having been through Notre Dame for free we decided we really didn' t need to go inside another church so just enjoyed the outside!

Me with my sister in law- Bindi, Charlie and Mia with Big Ben in the background!

Who says the weather in London is lousy! We have seen no rain (apart from a 2 minute light shower on one day) when it was a little bit cloudy, but the last few days have been 21degrees, clear blue skies - just beautiful weather!

Last night we went and saw the Lion King in the West End- it was just magic- the costumes, puppets and scenery. We had a lovely night. Today was spent shopping on Oxford Street, after arriving on a red double decker bus!

I'm in London Town

We were sad to leave Paris as we had a wonderful time there and it really was a beautiful city, but it was exciting to move on to the next stage of our adventure- London. We negotiated the metor with our luggage and found our seats on the Euro Star - we travelled Leisure Class and loved it! We enjoyed watching the french countryside flash by, ate our meal and before we knew it we were in London. London is black cabs, red double decker buses and we have been for a ride in both of them - what fun. We caught up with my brother, his wife and kids and the first thing we did was visit a 5 storey toy shop - that is what you do when you are with kids.

Bindi and I outside a telephone box - but we couldn't find Doctor Who!

Amy and Mia in the telephone box - they couldn't find him either!

Amy on the Euro Star - she just lapped up the experience.

Our first full day in London saw us off to the British Science Museum - just like a giant Questacon! We also saw a 3D Imax Movie called "Fly Me to the Moon". We called into Harrods but didn't buy anything - we can say we have been there though! Just had a great day!

We started off the day with our English Breakfast at our B&B - Toast, Hot Chocolate, Juice then Eggs, Sausage, Bacon and Baked Beans - kept us going most of the day!

Paris Part 2

The Pantheon was a 5 minute walk up the hill from our hotel room, another wonderful building, we wandered through then strolled down the street, did a spot of shopping - Amy loves to shop. We then went to the Musee de Cluny and saw some wonderful tapestries, then had a delightful lunch in a brasserie finishing of with a creme brulee which was very yummy. Then did more walking and more shopping and then went into another museum where we saw Monet's waterlilies - most spectacular. We were going to catch the metro back but I mistook the front of the Louvre for the front of the Notre Dame ( i really should wear my glasses more often) and told Amy is wasn't really worth catching the train) 40 minutes later we finally staggered into our hotel - she was not very pleased with me) but we did have a wonderful day and the promise of on icecream after recovering helped ease her anger with me! On Monday night we strolled down the Champyse Elyise ( please excuse my spelling) and found this sculpture outside one of the stores

On Monday we caught the metro out to Sacre Coure which was very stunning as you can see. Below is another view of the Eiffel Tower.