Rome, Florence, Lucca, Pisa

I'm having a ball here in Italy! There has been plenty of food and wine, so as you can imagine I'm in heaven!

Elise and I met up with the rest of our tour group last Monday night. We have a pretty mixed bunch, but we all have similar interests and have been getting along well. Our group is made up of me and Elise, Kate and Matt, an American couple who got married last Saturday and are joining us on their honeymoon, Tracey and Carole, a couple of nurses from Perth, WA, Elsie and David, aged 72 and 70, David is a semi-retired GP-surgeon, and Brian, a 40 year old from Melbourne who works in IT. Our group leader is an Aussie girl called Mandy, who speaks fluent Italian and has been doing tours for Intrepid for the past 2 years.

After our orientation talk on Monday night, we all went out for dinner at another little restaurant around the corner from our hotel, and found that we'd probably get along fine after we downed 9 bottles of wine between the 11 of us (the 11th person being Phillip, a friend of Tracey's who was also in Rome)!

The next morning Mandy took us on an orientation walk around Rome, where she showed us sights such as the Colosseum, Constatine Arch, Palatine Hill, The Victor Emanuel monument, and the Area Sacra, which is where Caesar was executed, and is now home to a cat sanctuary. We had a quick coffee break before heading to the Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. There is a belief that if you throw one coin into the Trevi Fountain, you will return to Rome, if you throw 2 coins in, you will meet and fall in love with an Italian Man, and if you throw in 3 coins, you will marry your Italian man. I threw in one coin. Incidentally, a couple of days ago I noticed on the front page of a newspaper that someone had put something in the Fountain and the water is now red!

Constatine ArchVictor Emanuel Monument Area SacraPiazza Navona The PantheonSpanish Steps Throwing my (one) coin into the Trevi Fountain

After our walk, we then had free time to do whatever we wanted. Elise and I went and grabbed a delicious foccaccia each for lunch and ate it on the edge of a fountain. For dessert we had some gelato, and I think I ate the most icecream I have ever had in one sitting! We then headed back to the cat sanctuary and had a small tour through it. The cat sanctuary basically houses abandoned and injured Roman cats. Some of the cats also go up for adoption if they are suitable, after they have recovered from any trauma or illness that they may have.

We walked back towards the colosseum afterwards and had a look inside it and Palatine hill. I'm sure everyone knows what the colosseum was used for, but for those of you who don't know your Roman History, Romulus, one of two she-wolf raised brothers, started Rome on Palatine Hill after killing his brother Reamus. It was also a place where a lot of Rome's well-to-do citizens had their houses, and there are still the remains of some of the ruins of these houses here.

That night, Mandy took us to a fantastic family-run restaurant near the Vatican called "The Golden Spider". Here our waiter, Fabio, didn't show us any menus, just simply told us what he would like to feed us, and asked if that would be alright, before bringing it out to us. He brought us some fantastic antipasto platters to begin with, before giving us some pasta Amatriciana (a Roman speciality), followed by either veal or salmon. We had a choice in whether we had veal or salmon, and I chose the veal, however, he brought me one veal short and I missed out and was given the salmon instead. Mandy offered to swap me her veal, and we debated over who was going to eat the salmon before Fabio came out and gave me a plate of veal. So, in the end I had the salmon AND the veal! We had a short break before Fabio then brought out a selection of desserts and biscuits and slices. The group beat our record of the previous night, managing to down 12 litres of wine between the 11 of us. So far, I think this has been my favourite place to eat. The food was fabulous, and the staff were lovely. All the ladies in the group decided that we would like to take Fabio home with us. Maybe I should have thrown 3 coins in the Trevi Fountain...

(Incidentally, Elise and I found it hysterical that when we told Mandy about the bloke at reception asking us out to the disco, she told us his name really IS Fabio!).

As you can imagine, we were all feeling a little seedy when we met outside the hotel at 7:30 the next morning, in order to line up outside the Vatican. It didn't actually open until 10am, however, if we had waited until then to line up, we would not have got in until well after twelve o'clock I suspect. Luckily, there was a cafe just across the street from where we lined up, so we could buy some much needed coffee.

Inside the Vatican museum are many artifacts and paintings (lots of Madonna and Childs), some frescos on the walls, but the highlight is definitely the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo sure liked to paint his women "butch", there were more rippling muscles on them than most men I know! It was very difficult to move in the Sistine Chapel, as it was packed with people. You are supposed to be silent in there, and definitely no photographs, however, it was very noisy whilst we were in there and there were lots of flashes going off lots of cameras.

Somewhere in the Vatican Museum- NOT the Sistine Chapel!

We met Mandy again outside our hotel at 2 o'clock that day, and caught the train to Florence (Firenze). After putting our bags in our rooms, Elise and I decided that it was time for another gelato. There was a shop just near the hotel selling gelato, so we got one in a cone with two scoops each, and paid 9 euro (about 12 Australian dollars) for them! Each! Needless to say, we didn't know how much they were going to be before we bought them, and we didn't have another gelato for the rest of our stay in Florence!

We had another great meal that night at a place where you pick what you want from a selection of dishes in the glass case running along the whole side of the restaurant, and they take your name and weigh your food and you pay according to the weight. After dinner, we went to the self-service wine bar across the street. Here, you pour your own wine and can eat any of the antipasto on offer. At the end of the night, you tell them how much you ate and drank and pay accordingly. As it was owned by the same people who own the restaurant that we had dinner at, when we went to pay for our drinks at the end, the owner told us that we could have them for free!
The next day, Elise and I went to the Uffizi gallery, where we saw (amongst other works of art), Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera. We also went to the Academia Gallery where the original Michelangelo's David is housed. This is a very beautiful statue, and very detailed- you can even see the veins in his hands and neck. His right hand is out of proportion to the rest of his body, and is supposed to symbolise the strength that he possessed to defeat Goliath. His pupils are in the shape of love-hearts, which has raised the question of whether Michelangelo modelled him on a lover.

After viewing David, Elise and I thought that it was time for some retail therapy, so headed to the markets. There was great shopping to be done here, especially if you wanted any kind of leather product.

In the evening, we went for a walk with the rest of the group to Piazzale Michelangelo, a lookout where you get a great view over the rooftops of Florence.

The following day, Elise and I climbed the bell tower of the Cathedral, and had a great view of the Duomo (the dome of the cathedral, and one of the most recognisable buildings in Florence). We also visited Di Santa Croce, the church where the tombs of Gallileo, Michelangelo and Dante lie.
In the afternoon, we caught a train to Lucca, another Tuscan town, it's centre of which is completely enclosed with 16th Century walls. Here, our group stayed inside the walls, in three apartments owned by Intrepid. Elise, Brian, Mandy and I shared one apartment, Tracey, Carol, David and Elsie shared the second, and Kate and Matt (the honeymooners), had one to themselves.

Me outside our apartment

The following morning, we went for a bikeride on the walls of the town. Before you start thinking that we all must have marvelous co-ordination and balance, I must mention that the walls of the city are actually about 15 metres thick, and there is plenty of room to ride around up there. After riding around the walls of the city, which took us all of about 10 minutes, we then rode outside the walls, out of town a little, and alongside a river, lined by trees, with the rolling tuscan hills in the background. It was really beautiful. It was a long time since I last rode a bike though- about 5 months- so my bottom was very sore the next day! I was glad to get a bit more use out of my helmet which I have been carting around in my pack since I left Australia, however, I decided to leave it at the Intrepid apartment when I left, as Mandy said that there are always guides and people staying there and she knew it would get used. I can't imagine I'll be needing it in the UK over winter!

Dear Santa...

In the afternoon, we all went on a daytrip to Pisa, where we saw the leaning tower. It was an amazing sight to walk through the archways and come face to face with one of the most famous buildings in the world! It was difficult to believe that I was actually there- Lisa was in Pisa!

Elise and I decided against climbing the tower. Tracey, Carole and Brian climbed it and said that it felt very strange- that you could definitely tell that it was leaning (and that it was freezing and windy at the top). The tower is actually the bell tower of the Cathedral in Pisa (something that I didn't know until that day), and Elise and I did visit the Cathedral and also the Baptistry and Cemetery. It may sound strange that we would visit a cemetery, but actually it is a beautiful cemetery, with some deteriorating frescos on the wall, and a beautifully manicured lawn and garden in the centre. Aparently, sometimes the man who checks the tickets in the Baptistry will start singing, Elise and I were disappointed that he didn't do it whilst we were there!

That night, we went to a church in Lucca, where there was a Puccini concert. Puccini was born in Lucca. There were two opera singers- a soprano and a tenor- and a pianoforte player. They performed not only pieces by Puccini, but also pieces by Verdi, Mascagni and Cilea. I recognised a couple of pieces, including La Boheme, by Puccini, and Rigoletto (The song from the Leggos pasta sauce adds) by Verdi.

On our last day in Lucca, I got up and went for a run along the walls of the town (I had been feeling like a slob after so much good eating and drinking). Elise and I then climbed yet another tower (this one looking over Lucca) and visited Palazzo Pfanner, a grand house and garden in Lucca, the garden of which features in the Nicole Kidman film "Portrait of a Lady" (apparently, I haven't seen the film myself). It was a very beautiful garden, with statues lining a path leading to and from a fountain. Elise and I were suprised and excited to see some bottle brush here!

That night, we had a gourmet feast at Tracey, Carole, David and Elsie's apartment. We all contributed to the meal, with The Honeymooners providing cheese, olives, and a variety of meats, Carole and Tracey provided Tortellini with Bolognaise Sauce and Fetuccini with pesto. David and Elsie provided some beautiful vine-rippened cherry tomatoes and David cooked up some green beans in garlic and butter. Brian (or Bruno, as we now call him), made bruchetta with tomatoes and anchovies on top. Mandy had been to Florence that day with her friend's husband, Anthony, and they brought us back some eggplant bake and spinach from the restaurant that we went to when we stayed there. Elise and I had visited a deli that morning and bought 2 types of tarts, a torta verde, which was a vegetable tart, and a chocolate and pear tart. Of course, there was plenty of wine too!
I also provided the entertainment, dancing to the music on Elise's ipod.

At the end of the night, Matt decided that he would like to try some Lemoncello (a strong liquour made with fermented lemons), which he had heard so much about, so he and Anthony went to the pizza place across the road to buy some. They came back with a 2 litre bottle. We all had a little taste, some had more than others. There was 1 litre left in the morning!

The next day (Monday, October 22nd), unsuprisingly, we were all feeling a little seedy (again) as we caught a train to Levanto, on the Italian Riviera.

More to come... I'm currently in Asti, and tomorrow we travel to Lake Como. We are all hoping to see George Clooney wandering around as apparently he has a holiday house there... Stay tuned!

Love,

Lis x.

Rome

Ok, so after spending the last 3 weeks working in England (1 week in South East London, 2 weeks in Essex at a clinic where I had to gown up for surgery- something I haven't done since graduating from Uni!), it's time for another well-deserved holiday. So, last night I met Elise (my friend from vet school and my Belgium travel buddy) in Rome. We met at the train station, before walking together to our hotel. After checking into our hotel, we asked the guy on the front desk where a good place close to the hotel was where we could eat, and he directed us to a restaurant just around the corner. Elise commented to me as we got onto the lift "I didn't know Fabio worked in a hotel!" As the guy was tanned with long-hair and beared a strong resemblence to "the most beautiful man in the world!"

We had a quick meal before having an early night and sleep-in this morning- I was tired, Elise was shattered after staying in a hostel the night before (and having an even worse experience than mine in Rotterdam- a couple chose to have an "intimate moment" in the bunk below hers and consequently she was being rocked out of sleep) and travelling to Rome from Slovenia (a 9 hour train ride!) that day. We did have a very tempting offer from "Fabio" though on our return to the hotel, as when we went to pick up our key for our room he invited us to go to the Disco with him! We politely declined.

We spent a few hours earlier today walking around the streets of Rome, close to our hotel, but not really wanting to see the main sights, as we will be covering most of those tomorrow with our tour group who we will meet up with this evening. Instead, we took a stroll down one of the exclusive shopping streets which is lined by boutiques such as Prada and Gucci and other famous brands which I can neither spell nor afford!

We then got a quick bite to eat, before heading back to the hotel, as Elise has already spent the last 2 weeks travelling in Croatia and Slovenia, and was in dire need of doing some laundry, which brings me to spending a few minutes in this internet cafe...

I'll head back to my hotel soon and get ready to meet our tour leader and rest of our tour group at 6pm. We will then spend three weeks doing an "Essence of Italy" tour, before Elise and I head off on our own, down to the Amalfi coast for 2 weeks! It's a tough life, but someone has to do it...

Cologne, Freiburg im Breisgau

WARNING: The following blog contains some food references. Those sensitive to the subject should proceed with caution!

I'm not sure what it is about travelling alone, but somehow things that wouldn't ordinarily be a big deal, produce a reaction in me that they wouldn't anyother time. I arrived at Cologne airport at about 6pm on Saturday the 15th September, and found the ticket machine for the train and proceeded to try and buy a ticket. Unfortunately, I didn't have the correct fare in change (about 2.60 Euros if I remember correctly) and the machine wouldn't take a 20 euro note for that small amount. So, I made my way back up to the main section of the airport and found the nearest shop which was the tourist office and tried to buy a 1 euro postcard with my 20 euro note. Unfortunately, the man at the desk told me that he didn't have enough change and did I have anything smaller, at which point I started to cry and say "I just need change for the train". The man told me to try the train office which was just a short walk away, to which I replied "Six o'clock it closes" (I'm not sure what it is about travelling in a country which speaks a different language which makes me want to speak in broken English- or really bad French!). Anyway, the problem was solved when I went next door to the little supermarket-type shop and bought a packet of chewing gum. So, the moral of the story is: when travelling in a foreign country, it is a good idea to have some small change on arrival to buy a train ticket (something which I really should have learnt after Amsterdam!).

After that though, there were no dramas in getting into Cologne and then getting to my hotel- which was surprisingly easy to find.

On the Sunday, I did a bit of sightseeing in the city. First stop was the Dom (cathedral), which is the main tourist attraction in Cologne. It is a HUGE, gothic structure, with twin towers, and was the tallest building in Cologne until the television tower was constructed.

I also did a bus tour of the city, which was actually a little disappointing after my bus tours of London and Belfast. After first having to supress tears as the driver wouldn't let me on the bus because I had the wrong ticket (the guy in the tourist office across the street sold me the wrong one), and I didn't understand what he was trying to say to me (he was trying to tell me to go back to the tourist office and get them to swap it over), I finally got on the bus and we set off on the tour. The commentary turned out to be a tape-recording, which is fair enough, as they had 4 languages to translate, however, it was also a little boring as it was mainly; "On our way we will pass the Opera house, Dom etc", and "get off at the next stop for the Hard Rock Cafe, Cologne museum etc." There was hardly any comments about the history of the town which is what I usually find most interesting in a new City.

That night, I had dinner in the Argentinian Steak House which was below the hotel I was staying at. Here, I had the best steak I have ever had (well, recently anyway)! It was cooked to perfection, tender, and tasty!! It may have had something to do with the fact that they cooked my 250 gram steak in about 500 grams of salt!! The fries and barbecued corn on the cob were also yummy (and salty)!

On the Monday, I caught the train to Bonn. I was going to catch the ferry and cruise down the Rhine to Bonn, however, I didn't research this very well, and when I got to the pier, I found that the only boat of the day left at 9:30am which was 2 hours before I got there (and it also took 3 hours to sail there!).

Shops and restaurants lining the Pier in Cologne

Bonn is a lot prettier than Cologne. The town hall is a Pink and White building with a black outside staircase with gold trimmings. The post office was a yellow and green baroque palace with a monument to Beethoven out the front. The house that Beethoven was born in and spent the first few years of his life is still standing and is now a museum which houses some artefacts from his life, including his last piano. I had a look through the Beethoven house while I was there.

The Postoffice in Bonn

The Bonn Town Hall

Beethoven's house

That night, I went to see Xavier Rudd, who was playing at a nightclub which was just around the corner from my hotel. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Xavier Rudd is an Aussie musician who plays several different instruments (digeridoo, drums, guitar etc,) and also sings- all at the same time. The show was a sellout, and I was suprised to see that they were mostly Germans in the audience (I was expecting there would be lots of Aussies there), and that they knew all the words to his songs (which I must admit, I didn't!). They were also very polite, and practically made a path for me to the front, because I was short and couldn't see!

The next day was my Birthday, and after a bit of a sleep-in, and a big buffet breakfast, I caught the train to Dusseldorf for a little look. Here, I walked down the main shopping strip called the "Ko" (Kollingsallee- which means "Kings Avenue", so named after an incident which occurred here when King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in 1848 was riding through the then "Chestnut Avenue" on his horse and someone threw horse poo at him. The name was changed in 1851 as a goodwill gesture). I had some cake at a cafe (well, you have to have at least one piece of cake on your Birthday), then took a stroll through a park to the town hall.

I was unsure what this sign in the park meant...

Until I saw the ducks.

Outside the town hall is a monument to Jan Wellem the Elector who granted the right of freedom of Religion to his subjects. It shows him on his horse, and apparently it is the most important equestrian statue north of the Alps!!

I then strolled along the Rheinuferpromenade, a footpath which runs along the Rhine. I walked as far as the media park which features some interesting looking buildings, before heading back to the train station and Cologne. I visited the Argentinian Steak House again for another delicious steak for my Birthday Dinner!

On Wednesday the 19th September, I caught the train to Freiburg im Breisgau, which is a town situated in the Black Forest. On the train, I met a German third year medicine student called Marina. She was returning to Freiburg to study after her summer break. She had spent 18 months travelling in Asia and thought that I looked like a familiar sight, lugging my backpack around! She was very helpful, and pointed out where I could find the tourist office.

I had a late lunch/early dinner that afternoon at a local pub. I had a veal and mushroom dish which was cooked in cream, and served with small potato rosties, which I think was a local dish.
For dessert that night I had Black Forest Cake!

The next day, I went hiking in the Black Forest. First, I caught the "Schauinslandbahn", a cable car, up to the summit of the "Bergwelt", which is the highest peak in the Black Forest. It takes 20 minutes to get to the top. Then I walked around some of the short hiking paths at the top, before walking back down the mountain, which took about an hour. I didn't have any breadcumbs with me in case I got lost, but I didn't see any gingerbread houses either. I was surprised to find that the Black Forest is made up, not only of trees, but also plenty of farmland.

After my trip to the Black Forest, I decided that it was time for some more Black Forest Cake, so found a nice little cafe which served it. This one had Kirsh Liquour in it, whereas the one the day before hadn't. I have decided that it is no good without the Liquour.

I was very stiff in the legs the next day after my hiking!

On the Friday, I wandered around Freiburg, and found that it is also a very pretty town. I saw the large, red Cathedral, which is also a big tourist attraction in Freiburg (there doesn't seem to be a town in Europe which doesn't have a church as a tourist drawcard!). There was a market on in the Market square surrounding the Cathedral and it was here where I had my first German Bratwurst, which I must admit was pretty good for a sausage. I even nearly tried it with the currysauce, before remembering that curried sausages is actually the one food that I don't really like. I always assumed that it was the English which gave us the curried sausage, but I'm beginning to think that maybe it was actually the Germans...
There were lots of buskers around the streets, and I saw one of the best street artists I have ever seen. He was a young guy who used spray paint and a few simple tools to come up with some really clever paintings. This was a very clever idea, as not only did he get some money for creating the paintings (in the form of donations by the people who watched him), but also he made quite a bit by selling each painting for 20 euros. He sold at least 3 while I was watching!

Walking through some of the narrow back streets, I found some really attractive buildings with frescos painted on the outside. As I said before, it was a really pretty town.
On Saturday, I caught the train back to Cologne. The train followed the Rhine, and as I had a window seat, I saw some more really attractive looking towns, and quite a few castles, perched on the edge of cliffs.

I flew back to London that afternoon.

Proof that Nanny WAS right: Hoss IS a german!