A word form Ella

(From Ella)
We had a great time in Rome going to the Colosseum but i was a bit disappointed that we could not go in side because there was a big line. Some of my favourite things on our trip were going to the Eiffel tower, seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa looking at the Colosseum, going to the villa, seeing lots of villages, going swimming in the sea looking in shops and buying stuff and staying in Attigliano in a hotel. We are going on an over night ferry to Croatia on monday night with our rental car that that has a glass roof.

Rome and the crowds

Today we hit Rome - and what a madhouse!! This week has been one of national celebration and Rome was just heaving!! Caught the train to the centre of Rome then onto the Metro - what an experience! Imagine a 5 thousand man scrum trying to get into the underground at once. We were pushed and shoved into a carriage - breathing room only - then off the the Vatican City. The crowds!!!! Unfortunately because of the crowds the Pope was not able to meet us personally..... (sorry Annette!)
Still we managed to enjoy Rome - particularly the walk through the Foro Romano but missed out on getting into some things because of the massive waiting lines. Spectacular ruins, buildings and statues. Hmm - will just have to go back!



Tomorrow we travel to Ancona then onto the overnight ferry to Croatia.

New suit

I am getting a new suit made... can't wait to wear it to work...

Bagnoregio

On our trip south to we stopped in to visit a village called Civita di Bagnoregio. Civita is the oldest part of Bagnoregio that was cut off from the rest of the town as the ridgeway eroded. A bridge is now in place which allows foot access only. Great to visit a piece of timeless old Italy!

We are enjoying the spring flowers as we travel through the country side!

Heading for Rome

Tomorrow we leave the villa heading south for Rome. We will meet up with Craig, Annette, Charlote and Cameron in London.
After Rome we cross to Croatia. Hopefully we can find internet access there!

A great walk!

Yesterday we spent time in the Cinque Terre national park. Caught a train a few kms along the coast to the village of Monterosso al Mare then after a scrummy pizza lunch (all jammed into a tiny cafe) we set of to walk back to the next village - Vernazza. Spectacular walk up through vinyards and gardens following the old village route along the coast. Narrow stone pathways, zillions of steps and rocks and a couple of beautiful old arch bridges - along with breathtaking views - especially when approaching the next village. And a swim in the mid... quite ok if you walk out past the scum at the edge...... Ella, Charlotte and Cameron coped well with the heat and walking. A long but very satisfying day - finished of with a slice of pizza (of course) while sitting overlooking the view.

Italia..

We love the villa air-conditioning - and are thinking of installing something similar at home.........:-)



We don't understanda mucha Italian but if you add a vowel on the end of words and maybe a 'iano' and a few gesticulations you can get along. How mucha fora da loava breadiano? I woulda lika cuppichio of coffee-iano :-)

And the drivers..... either flat out or sooooo sloooow. I am learning to pass on blind corners and gesticulate!! mama mia what you do-a! Fantastic!



Christina picking up her sports car in Maronello.....

Siena - Monteriggiani

Breakfast in the sun again this morning up on the deck! Fabulous!

Siena cathedral was a sight to see - in pink white and green marble - the most ornate church we have seen. Took a while to complete and we can see why. In side was another surprise - either fantastic or overdone? but there is no doubt about the quality of the workmanship. Every space of the church was decorated in some way.

One the way back from Siena we stopped off at Monteriggiani - a hill top castle/village the in Roman times used to control the main route north. Monteriggiani looked spectacular on the hill top and inside we explored the small stone village. No 'new' town surrounding it which was great.

Enjoying life

Ah! We share the villa area with lizards, cuckoos, mice and of course a scorpion - found in Annette's bed, Eeek!

Mind you - much smaller than we all imagined!








Lunch in the Tuscan sun... lovely!! And the wine is cheap here too!

We still have not managed to sort out www access yet so are taking our chances - this is from the side of the road in the car - just a chance stop and wireless access!!

Leaning over

Some things need no explanation! Just as fabulous as before except for the incredible number of plastic replicas on offer!

And of course we (along with everyone else...) perpetuated the tradition of silly photographs......

In the countryside of Italy

I am writing this whilst sitting outside our Italian villa, with a huge blue sky above, temperature around high twenties, watching the lizards running across the stone walls of the villa. Hopefully these memories will keep us going over the Otago winter, once we get back.

Our trip from France to Italy went well - 550 km in a remarkably short time. I found it quite stressful driving at 'warp' speed (130 kph) into tunnels, surrounded by trucks, buses and cars all doing a similar speed. We had a lunch stop overlooking Monaco and Monte Carlo. David and I spent five days in the area when were were back-packing around Europe and it was just as beautiful as I remember.
The Villa!
The villa is on the side of a valley, below the village of Mantione, not far from Pisa and Florence. It is very rustic. Plenty of room, the only hitch being that the only cooking is a wood oven or gas hobs. Amazing what you can come up with though. The kids are having a ball and coping really well. Ella has been amazing though she is still not keen on trying anything new when it comes to food,
Yesterday we drove to Maranello to visit the Ferrari museum. This satisfied our petrol head side and we were able to actually touch race cars along with road cars. We got a buzz from seeing Chris Amon's name along side the list of races won, over the years. Made us feel proud to be Kiwi's. On the way home David made sure that Ella had been over a 100 mph in the car - so she can tell her friends.

We then met our friends in Florence for a few hours. David managed to negotiate the car right into the middle of the city, find a park and then negotiate our way back again. A beautiful city, but too many people. Fabulous statues and paintings. Wandering across the Ponte Vecchio (- the bridge with buildings on either side ) was great - very bustling with stalls alongside. Coming around a corner to be faced with the Duaomo - cathedral - was breathtaking - made of white, pink and green marble - it really stands out from the other buildings. We all climbed 412 stairs to the top of the bell tower (the Campanile) and were rewarded with views across the roofs of Florence. We plan on visiting Florence again!


The supermarkets are all closed on a Sunday, so feeding everyone last night was
interesting. This morning, in the sunshine, we climbed out of our valley by foot through the olive grove and visited the local village. This afternoon we are off to visit some of the local villages and stock up on food! (And wine, no doubt!) One could get very used to this life!








Ella at the villa window

To Italy..

Christina walking in Montcluse

Had a fab road trip to Italy from France - tolls and all

Our introduction to the Italian people was interesting.... we asked for directions to the villa and ended up with a group of Italian women gestulating and gabbering to us in the street - as well as them yelling across the street to ask for others opinons - what a racket and how fabulous! They gave a great long list of instructions in Italian (at great speed) and the only word we all understood was 'left'. We eventually got to the villa to find what we thought was the gardener (cigar, old cloths and all) was actually the property owner. Thank goodness he spoke a 'leetle ingliss'. After getting his life histroy and achievements we finally settled in. (this was very much how Christina and I remembered the people of Italy - very friendly!)

We are now settled into the next villa - a real contrast to Monclus - from a tiny French hill village to a rural Tuscan farmhouse - huge and great!


Haven't sorted web access in Italy yet - pics and more to come as soon as we do (doing this from the side of the road - mystery www access..????)

(We love reading your comments by the way - great to be in touch)

by the way - a picture of the camera in the river....

Exploring locally

                                                   
Sometimes you have to sit and ponder....


Well more fantastic weather!! 30 deg today again! (Friday) Yesterday we visited Avignon and went for a tour through the old town. We felt the city was set u for tourists and very busy. Looked great from outside the walls and inside was set up for shopping or eating. Lots of shady characters around so hang on to your hand bag and daughters! We headed home for a swim! Ella and Charlotte spent most of the time cat spotting!!!
Friday - visited and walked two local villages - very picturesque - and spent time just relaxing around the villa and swimming in the river. Of course I guess t must be 30 deg at home as well............
The first village was perched on a hill and had been restored with narrow cobbled streets and acrhways under buildings - the second was on a gorge cliff with medieval buildings and an ruined castle. Then home for a bar-be-q and to get ready for the journey to Italy on Saturday.
Staying at Montclus has been great - we have loved the peace and quiet and walking the narrow ally-ways home at night.
Not to mention the cheap wine and great home prepared meals.....
Had a long swim in the river and lay on the stones watching the sun rays in the clouds!



Tomorrow night we will be in Italy - not sure when we will find the Internet again - we are staying in the country this time.

Another glorious day in paradise!

Another glorious day in paradise! 30 degrees plus and blue skies. We planned trips close to 'home' today, but didn't quite turn out that way as we were distracted by the interesting places to see and visit.
First stop was to the Theatre Antique d'Orange, an amazingly well preserved/semi-restored Roman theatre and a UNESCO world heritage sight. We drove through a very pretty valley, stopping off at a 'working' monastry that was set amongst fields of lavender. I would love to have seen them in flower, only problem would have been that the area would have been extremely busy, rather than just a little busy. We are incredibly glad that it is not the holiday season here, as the roads are narrow and windy and meeting a few cars is stressful enough!
We saw the Village des Bories, bee-hive shaped buildings made out of rock. Life must have been pretty grim I think. Nearby was Gordes, a village built into the cliff face and full of narrow, steep and windy cobbled streets. All of the cars we saw had scraps down the sides - not surprising considering the places they managed to drive to. Typical French, we saw three people sitting at a table on the road edge, drinking a bottle of wine, with the fourth seat taken by a dog that had it's water-bowl in front of it, on the table.
Last stop was to Roussillon which is a village where the buildings are plastered in a pretty pink colour made from the red clay on which it is built. the interesting thing is that the red clay is localised, though we did manage to bring some back with us, on our clothes!
Supermarkets close at 7.00 here and we were too late, so had to resort to MacDonalds for the kids for tea. In this land where food is such an 'occasion', it seem strange to see the 'Golden Arches' in every town.
Some of the many coloured doors in Rousillon!

Millau Bridge

Monday we travelled via the Gorge du Tarn to Millau bridge.
The trip through tthe gorge was spectacular and we stopped in many places to view small villages on the side of the gorge.
Stopped for a picnic beside the river - fab!


After seeing the Pont du Gard ( on Sunday) the Millau bridge was amazing - the modern equivilent. The trip home was long though - but racing down the motorways at 130 kph is great! woohoo!


Today we are having a rest day in 30 deg heat. Bit of sunbating and off to the river for a swim!!

Out and about - Pont de Gard

Sunday - we all piled into one car (after Craig and Dave took the rear seats out of one and put into the other!) and went in search of a super market and then onto Pont de Gard where we spent time exploring. Fantastic and to think it as built about 2000 years ago.
And Oh joy Dave managed to drop a digital camera into the river!!!.......... argh!!

Sorry it is so short (pushed for time) - more to come soon as we can find the www again!

(will respond to comments as soon as we can! - and hey it is raining...first time and was over 30 deg earlier today!!)

Meeting the Browns..

Hi Folks - have been away from the internet for a few days - just a quick up date!

Spent the morning (last saturday exploring Bourges Cathedral and then went on a chateau tour! Fantastic. Bourges Cathedral was huge with amazing stone carving aroufd the doors and a huge arched internal with massive chandeliers So peaceful and relaxing. Ella was very excited to see fairytale castles - which we all enjoyed!

Early afternoon we left for Montclus and meet our friends, Craig, Annette, Cameron and Charlotte from Auckland on the way. How great to meet up with familiar faces on the other side of the world. After lots of hugs laughs and comparing of notes, we travelled together to Montclus where we are sharing a house for a week.
We arrived after dark and had to carry our bags down ancient narrow alleys to the 'house'. Monclus is a tiny village on the side of a river.



Meet the feet of us and our friends!!

Lost getting out of Paris......

Hello from Bourges. We collectd our Eurolease car this morning and made our first mistake in the first five minutes. We are now quite familiar with some of the outskirts of Paris having spent one hour getting totally lost and eventually having to find our way back to Orlay airport, where we collected the car, before starting all over again. Had a brief visit to Versalles - an amazing Chateau and very pretty town centre. We then got lost again finding our way out of the place. As you can imagine, stress levels were very high and Ella was very quiet in the back seat! The car is great, a Pugeot 307 wagon with a glass roof, meaning that you have a fantastic view, even from the back seat.
We experienced the toll roads twice to get here, speed limit is 130 km/hour and 110 km/hour when it is raining. Don't think our NZ roads would handle it. It is an amazingly quick way to cover lots of distance in a short time.
We also had our first supermarket 'experience'. I love looking at all of the different things available and trying to make myself understood. David and Ella were very surprised that I understood the directions given to us by the man at the hotel tonight - and we didn't get lost this time.
David can't believe how cheap the wine is - bought a bottle of Merlot for less than $3.00! (made in France - not China!)

Ah Paris!

Paris was great. Ella was able to live one of her dreams and climbed to the second level of the Eiffle Tower. We were even able to see it lit up at night, pretty spectacular.
While we were waiting in the line to buy our tickets for the tower, an Australian family gave us their passes to use the open-topped bus that takes a tour around the places of significant interest. After being on our feet all day, it was a great way to see the city and didn't end until after dark, so we saw the lights as well.
The Eurostar trip was great, unbelieveably quick and efficient. We managed to negotiate the Paris underground and found our hotel without any hassles. Seeing some of the homeless people who live on the streets was an eye-opener for Ella and very humbling for all of us.
It is a week since we left home and we have seen and done so much.
Thanks to those of you who have written on our blogg, it is great to be able to keep in touch. (Chaz)

Kent then off to France

We are waiting at Ashford station to catch the Eurostar to Paris - amazing. Talking in the car on the way here about how much we have seen and done in just a week. England is beginning to burst into it's Springtime glory, we saw  bluebells yesterday near Dover Castle and there are daffodils everwhere. Weather has been mild, though the air is hazy so you can't see too far into the distance. Yesterday I did the washing at Martin and Joan's and had to have a lesson on how to use a front loader washing machine. I think my highlight was actually being able to hang the clothes on a line outside, not something we experienced when we lived here, and it got dry. We collect our Eurolease car tomorrow. Wonder if we will still be talking to each other by tomorrow night, having had to negotiat our way out of Paris, on the wrong side of the road. Great to get your messages, keep it up!

Seeing wild life that we do not have in NZ has fascinated us! Ella has fallen in love with squirrels! We spent ages watching a water vole go about its business on the bank of a stream.



Walking on the cobbled streets of Rye



Coming out of the bedroom at Bodium Castle!

Bodium Castle

Still on dial up so this is short!

Bodium Castle was a high light today. We all enjoyed exploring the spiral stair cases and peering through the battlements. Could feel a real sense of history - would be a tough life living in those days.

Finished the day with a pub meal with great company - good conversation and lots of laughs.

Stonehenge then Kent

Currently we are in kent with Martin and Joan after spending a great couple of days with our friends, Kim and John and their family. Visited Stonehenge and several small picturesque villages. Lovely! Today Ella and Kim and John's boys had great fun tearing around and old castle - well bits of an old castle!

Stonehenge was great to visit again although you now can not get very close to the stones.


Will spend tomorrow exploring s little of Kent before catching the Eurostar to Paris on Thursday morning. Hope to post a bit more and some pics when we find a fast Internet connection!!!

a flat..?

We are thinking about buying a flat...... er.... one advantage is you don't have to go far to the washing line! (hang out the window)

Waiting at the Airport

Easter Sunday and here we are, once again, waiting at the airport. Thick fog outside - Not sure whether or not that affects flights, but they seem to be coming and going. Hong Kong was great. Our bags are a little heavier and our credit cards a little lighter. We couldn't believe how clean, efficient and safe it felt. We 'did' the markets again last night and consequently had less sleep than we needed. Still, we have 13 hours to rest (ha ha) on the plane. We leave HK with an MP3 player each. Great for me, I do't even know how to turn one on! The locals keep staring at Ella, I think her hair colour and curls captivated them. Our friends from Auckland, Craig, Annette, Cameron and Carlotte will be doing their final pack - we are so gald we had this stop over rather than flying direct as they are. When we were at one of the markets yesterday we saw a cat that looked like a clone of Hoagie. Made Ella and I feel quite at home. London here we come. (Chaz)

Lucky it was a holiday weekend - we were told it was not crowded......