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This is the account of our first holiday (rather extended) after leaving Australia in July 1998. We flew to Beijing first and then made our way via Mongolia, Siberia and Moscow to Poland. The time spent in Poland was relaxing and full of sightseeing and visiting relatives. After four weeks around Poland we headed off for Western Europe and visited Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. The next stop was London and that meant finding work and a place to live. But that's another story... 14 July 1998 We are now in China in Beijing. The city is extremely busy as we found out on our first day here. We went for a walk from our hotel in peak hour traffic on the Friday afternoon - it was heaps busy and very smoggy! It is taking us a while to get used to crossing the road around here - we have to dodge cars and thousands of bikes, which don't seem to use any road rules! It is pretty good how Jon can speak Chinese. I would be totally lost around here and what's more get totally ripped off at every corner. We went to see the Forbidden City, Picture in the Forbidden City which was really interesting and very big. However the hustle and bustle of Beijing was still quite evident there propably even more since it was the weekend. The day after that we went for a trip to the great wall Picture at the Great Wall and I think I finally saw the real grandeur of China. It was absolutely fantastic. I don't know whether it was the fact that I was seeing the Great Wall (one of the seven wonders) or the Chinese landscape and the scenery that was more awesome. All in all a great day out. Today is shopping day - after all one cannot go to China and not visit the shops and the markets. Our accomodation is four star and you can tell. The breakfast (luckily already paid for) is really excellent. It is a huge banquet with everything included, so we don't really need to eat for the rest of the day - well not until dinner anyway. 27 July 1998 We are now in Poland, in Warsaw. We tried updating the Web page in China but had problems logging on. The services offered at the Beijing Post Office were all in Chinese, as was Win 95! so we weren't game to start experimenting to make things work. Hence we have added the China part at the same time as this. After our stay in Beijing we boarded the TransMongolian train on the 15th of July. We were headed for the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator - the journey would only take one and a half days. The train was pretty basic with one toilet per carriage and no showers. To make matters worse it was about 35 degrees C outside and extremely humid. We shared our four berth cabin with a really nice couple from Perth, Rossini and Deepa, who we ended up sightseeing with in Mongolia. We spent the time on the train reading and talking. Rossini bought some Chinese vodka in Beijing and we tried some in the evening - it was pretty awful, even when mixed with powdered orange juice. The Chinese landscape was hilly and full of farms. Now and again there were small "villages"; bunches of brick houses, very run down and poor, surrounded by nicely kept small farms. It took forever to get through customs at the Chinese - Mongolian border, which was unfortunate as it was in the middle of the night. The Chinese customs and Mongolian customs are in different towns so we had to go through the same procedures twice. When we woke up the next day we were in the Gobi Desert Picture in the Desert which is a bit like the Nullabor Plain in that there were no trees, however it is very grassy during summer. We passed many herds of cattle which each had a bored looking shepherd with them. We also saw a few gers, which are the tent like homes of the country dwelling Mongolians. I don't know how they survive when the grass is covered in snow during winter. We arrived in the capital of Mongolia, Ulan Bator, later that day. Apparently Mongolia is now governed by a democratically elected socialist party. However they have not gotten around to changing the name of the capital from 'Red Hero' back to its original name 'Ugra'. From the railway tracks the place looked like a dump. All the houses in sight were extremely poor looking. Picture of Village in Mongolia They were built from wood and were in even more disrepair than the houses in China. However this must have been the poor suburb. When we were taken to our hotel the city looked similar to Adelaide in that there were nice modern buildings, parks and wide roads. There were also many Mercedes and other luxury cars driving around. The traffic was a lot better than China but only because there was less of it. You still had to watch your step when crossing the road. We saw a couple of cars left in the middle of the road with flat tyres - apparently they must not carry spares! Our accomodation was very basic but OK. It was a normal apartment block type building and so we were not inspired to spend too much time there. Instead we spent most of the daylight hours (about 18 at this time of year) walking around and eating. Unfortunately we could not talk to any of the locals, so this made things a little difficult. In the 'restaurants' we just pointed at other customers who were eating something nice looking. The main food seemed to be goulash. One thing we definitely could not complain about was the price - about $3 each for dinner and drinks. Interesting tourist attractions were the winter palace, the Buddhist temple, and the number of pubs in town. The winter palace was a smaller version of the Forbidden City from China. At the turn of the century it was occupied by Mongolia's equivalent of the Dalai Lama. Curiously he had a huge museum of stuffed animals ranging from a polar bear to huge pythons and even a giraffe. It was quite impressive but it seemed strange in a 'holy' place. We were suprised to see some American tourists so far off the beaten track, but we refreained from talking to them when we heard their loud comments from afar such as 'They haven't heard of lawn mowers around here have they?'. In town there were heaps of pubs. Mongolians must have got some habits from the Russians. After a couple of days in Ulan Bator it was time to get back on the train to Moscow - 4 night journey. We felt refreshed since the weather was nice and not at all humid, and were glad we had stopped for a couple of days even just for the shower! This time we had a four berth cabin to ourselves which was extremely lucky. The train was a buzz of activity as Mongolians kept on bringing more and more goods into the carriage. The conductor of our carriage then asked us if we could fit any of the goods into our cabin. Since we did not want to argue with the conductor we accepted it. Soon we had about 50 small clocks in our overhead locker. We hoped that was all for customs reasons! We soon realized that the train was full of Mongolian traders taking goods into Russia. There is no weight limit for the baggage they can bring onto the train and they all make the most of it. Life on train was interesting to say the least. We always knew when we were coming up to a station because all the traders got really busy as they were getting ready with their goods. Everyone wanted pole position at the door, but you had to be able to stand your ground or if you were too weak you were catapulted out of the door as the train stopped. The goods consisted of everything and anything, including Nike tracksuits, umbrellas (also used by the traders for self defence) and even chandeliers (really big and sparkly ones). As we pulled up to the stations in Siberia there would usually be hundreds of Russians waiting to buy goods. What made the whole scene even more comical is that often the train would only stop at a staion for a short time (eg 3 min) and if the traders weren't back on the train in time they would be left behind. They were hence often chasing the train with their goods as the train started moving away. Picture of traders selling goods But then I cant talk - I had to do the same once when I was looking for a bank to change money! Since we crossed the border in the middle of the night and the bank there was closed we could not change our money into Russian rubels. Unfortunately the dining car only accepted rubels. Our food supplies consisted mostly of chocolate wafers and cheese crackers, so by the third day we were not only sick of them but also extremely hungry. Picture of eating on the train We made a friend on the train from Canberra and he was also very sick of his Mongolian biscuits. Hence we decided to brave it and change some money with the Mogolian traders, who were more than happy to do it. We finally had our first proper meal in three days in the dining car! Afterwards we would buy food at the stations from 'babushkas' using our rubels. At the start of the journey we kept ourselves busy reading, writing and playing scrabble. But by the last day we were getting a bit delirious I think and we perfected what Jon calls the "null job". The conversation also begun to center around food and showers. The scenary through Siberia was very much of the "taiga" forest - a third of all forest in the world and the biggest coniferous forest stretching through to Scandinavia. Picture of Lake Baykal from train in Siberia Needless to say we were overjoyed when we got to Moscow. We decided to share a taxi with Andrew (from Canberra) to our hotel. The first offer we got from some guy hanging around the station was for $USD50! Instead we went for a metered cab for less than a fifth of that. Our hotel was right in the centre of town, about 200m from the Kremlin and St. Basils Cathedral Picture of St Basil's. It was really a spellbinding view! We decided to forget all about money that night and treat ourselves to an extravagant dinner, but only once we had the well deserved shower. The next day was our only full day in Moscow so we spent it sightseeing. We met Andrew in the morning and spent the day with him. We actually got a good deal out of it, because he studied Russian history and language in Australia and had quite a passion for it. So he was our tour guide for the day. We walked the Red Square Picture at Red Square, visited St Basil's Cathedral, saw a lot of central Moscow and then decided to go metro hopping. We decided to go to Gorky Park. It was a fun day. The next morning we visited the Kremlin Picture in Kremlin before catching the metro to the train station for our trip to Poland. We were very impressed with how beautiful Moscow was (or at least the places we had seen). Picture at cannon next to Red Square It was a pleasant relief to get onto the Polish train to Warsaw. Finally I could understand the language and whats more it felt like luxury compared to the Chinese and Russian trains. At last it was quiet and people actually knocked on doors rather than just opened then up for a look. It was an overnight trip and we slep well while we could as yet again we crossed the border at night (4am) and so had to get up for the customs and border control. Although the landscape remained consistent as we entered Poland, the housing and farms had changed. The farms were larger in number and had a wide variaty of crops. The houses were no longer made of wood or logs but brick. 31 July 1998 We have been in Warsaw, Poland, for the last week staying with Gosia's relatives. For those who remember Marcin (he was in Adelaide for 3 months about 6 years ago and even attended an engie lecture with us) we are staying with his family. Our hosts in Warsaw He is currently in Berlin, but his brother Michal is still at uni in Warsaw and is on holidays at the moment and so we spend most of our time with him. It has been much different to the rest of the trip. After starving ourselves on the train through Siberia we have more than made up for it with lots of good food and ice cream. Last Sunday we went to the holiday house (many people have one with a small garden, since most Poles live in apartment blocks) owned by Michal's family. Picture at Holiday House It once used to belong to Gosia's family so it felt like home. Some more of Gosia's relatives also came and it was a bit of a family get together. We ate traditional food that originated in Michal's dad's family (potatoes with sausage, bacon, beetroot, parsley and seasoning baked in a large pan over an open fire). Apart from visiting relatives we have also been taken to many interesting places. We went to a town called Kazimierz Dolny, about 100km from Warsaw, and visited a ruined castle from the 15th century. In Warsaw we visited the King's castle and the old town. Picture in the old town The old town is really beautiful and a fantastic place to spend an afternoon and eat ice-cream. We have also been sampling other polish sweets along the way and are very full each evening. Wilanow is the past king's summer residence in Warsaw and we also visited it and some nice parks. It is also much like being back in Adelaide since we are staying in a home, we have played tennis, and also gone to see the movie "Armageddon" and will be seeing "Devil's Advocate" tonight. Gosia's cousin Michal has driven us everywhere which has made things very easy for us. He also speaks excellent English which makes it even better. 7 August 1998 We are now one whole month into our trip. The last two weeks in Poland has been very relaxing, and the next week promises to be even more so. Last week we stayed in Krakow in the south of Poland. Picture in Krakow The weather was a lot hotter there – around 30 degrees and humid. We stayed with another nice family about 30km from Krakow in a place called Sanka. They were Gosia's aunt and uncle (Gosia's godfather). Unfortunately only the son spoke English so there were many conversations I was left out of. However I did not mind too much. They soon got the idea that I hardly ever said no to icecream or beer. However when they opened some vodka I quickly learnt how to say "nie dziekuje". We spent many of the evenings meeting relatives. A lot of aunts and uncles of Gosia lived there because that was where Gosia's grandparents lived. It was really interesting seeing how they lived because we were out in the country. Picture of street from front gate The house was great – three storeys with plenty of space. This is a lot different from living in an apartment block in town. They also had a big garden for the black labrador dog (cross breed) who I liked to take for a run. It was very much a village lifestyle. An area of the garden was fenced off for the chickens. The grandparents lived dowstairs of the house and they looked after the animals. They also owned a farm. It was harvest time and you could see some people who owned small bits of land still harvesting the wheat with a sickle. However most other people had a big header (tractor) for harvesting. This made it very intersting when they drove the tractors along the very thin and windy roads. Tractors were not the worst vehicles on the road however. There was a quarry nearby and so lots of trucks came past. This made it loud and also very dangerous. Everyone drove very fast even though when cars travelled in opposite directions they could only both stay on the road if the cars were very small. Apparently cars are a relatively new thing in the country so they do not have the roads to support them. However all this was offest by the many positive aspects of living in a village. The air was clean and there were fantastic views over the fields and forests in the area. Every morning Gosia's aunt would get fresh milk from the next-door neighbour who had a cow. Whenever possible everyone used home grown vegetables and fruit and even the shops sold fruit which was not sprayed or processed chemically in any way. Quite often horses would plod past the house pulling carts full of hay which I found quite a novelty. We spent a lot of the time sightseeing in the area. There were a lot of historical things to see since Krakow used to be the capital of Poland. It was Polands first capital, and existed since the X1 century when the first building and castles were being built at its center. The main castle called Wawel exists to this day, although it has been rebuilt many times since by various kings. Picture at Wawel This was definitely the most grand place in Krakow. It was really good – especially the armoury. Krakow also has countless beautiful churches, and we saw some of them. They also date back to the early stages of the town. We also saw a salt mine museum, in Wieliczka, where there were many figures carved out of salt, and there was even a whole huge chapel, all 100m under the ground! It is still being used as a mine, but the part we went to originated from the 13th century and is now a musuem. Lastly we saw Auschwitz which was rather sobering. Picture at Auschwitz We had a number of walks around Krakow and even wandered around the jewish district of Kazimierz, where the film Schindler's List was filmed. 15 August 1998 We have just come back from Mazury (the lake district in Poland) where we spent one week. We went there with my two cousins - Marcin and Michal and his girlfriend Dorota. Picture after dinner Gosia's Aunt organised the accommodation next door to herself and so we were very well looked after. We had varied weather but still managed to enjoy ourselves immensely. We spent one of the days siteseeing around Mazury. Mazury is called the land of a thousand lakes which was very apparent as we drove around. The first attraction was Hitler's bunker during WW2. There were about twenty bunkers set in a thick forest. Some (those for the more important people, eg Hitler) were strongly reinforced - the roofs were more than 4 meters thick! The bunkers were party destroyed by the Russians at the end of the war, but many of them still stood firm due to the incredibelly strong construction. Our second stop was a church in a town called Swieta Lipka - it is a Jesuit church which is famous for its incredibelly ornate walls and altar, and in particular for the organ which is also very ornate and decorated with many wooden figures. Picture of the organ We waited for the organ to played and to our suprise the figures also moved to the rythm of the music. These moving statues seemed a bit cheap - a bit like attaching neon lights to a castle, but since they are hundreds of years old we marvelled at what must have been a very unusual sight back then. We also went to a wildlife park where we saw many different sorts of deer, wolves, yak and buffalo to name a few. The most exciting parts of the trip however were those involving water sports. We spent a couple of warm days kayaking, and the guys even went windsurfing on another day. The girls had too much sense to go also as it was very cold that day! On the sunniest day we went to a sandy beach at the shore of one of the lakes. The beach was packed with people as it was quite small. However we had enough room in the water to play some interesting volleyball. Lots of people were sunbathing, and Jon felt quite out of place appling sunscreen every couple of hours. Later that day we hired some kayaks and paddled all the way across the glassy lake. It was great to have such a huge expanse of water totally calm. A lot of our free time back at our accommodation was spent playing badmington, and by the end of the week we managed to break the strings of three racquets. We spent the evenings eating, drinking and playing bridge. Picture of Bison in Mazury Picture of us and deer in Mazury Picture of two deer in Mazury 22 August 1998 We have just spent our last week in Poland. Last weekend was for catching up on doing nothing as we spent it on our own in Warsaw. Then on Monday we drove to Zakopane with cousins Michal and Marcin. The town is set in the beautiful Tatry mountains very close to the Slavic border. On the way there we stopped in Czestochowa, which is a Polish sanctuary to Our Lady. There is a monastry there in Our Lady's name and it is a target of many pilgrimages during the year. The church there was very beatiful and it was surrounded by a huge fortress. During the war times this was one place that was too difficult to claim by the invading forces and as such remained in the hands of the Poles throughout. We were only in Zakopane for two full days and we spent all of them bushwalking / mountain trekking. The first day we decided on a 7 hour walk to Morskie Oko (Eye of the Sea) . It is a lake high up in the mountains and because it is set at the foot of Poland's tallest mountain and sorrounded by other mountains it gives the appearance of an eye, and hence the name. First we drove to a very full carpark at the base of the mountains. It was then a rather dull two hour walk to the lake. We could not believe how many tourists there were. We were continually dodging them on the trails, and when we finally reached the lake we could not find anywhere to sit. However, later we found an out-of-bounds spot right on the shore. The water was crystal clear and very cold. After lunch we set off on the hard part of the journey. This was a steep climb of a mountain next to Rysy, the tallest maountain in Poland. When we reached the top, the hard walk seemed worthwhile. We had views of Morskie Oko as well as the Valley of the Five Lakes (Dolina Pieciu Stawow) on the other side. The views were very spectacular as the lakes were all at different hights and they were connected by streams. As engineers we were very impressed by nature's own series of dams. The rest of the walk was a lot easier as it was downhill, through the valley and past the lakes. However, a couple of downpours drenched us (we were all in Tshirts) and by the time we came back to our cars we felt every minute of the walk in our legs. On our second day in Zakopane our enthusiasm for climbing mounatins was somewhat dampened by the pains in our legs from the previous day. However, we had already decided that we were going to go to Giewont (Zakopane is set at the foot of this tall mountain) and so there was no turning back - I think this had something to do with the fact that there were three guys on the trip and who had ever heard a guy say that something is too hard (well, except for cooking)! So we climbed Giewont, although some of the uphill parts were testing our strength. Everyone's mood definately picked up on the way down. We had a nice dinner in the town that night - we felt we deserved it. 4 September 1998 Since leaving Poland we have been to Germany and France. In Germany we stayed in a small town called Bamberg. It was very historical and so we had a few great sites to visit. We also had good German food there as well as some beer of course. The beer was dark and very smokey - Jon said that it tasted as if a German sausage had been soaked in it. Next we went to Berlin, where we stayed with my cousin Marcin as he works there. We spent one day siteseeing the city of which the highlights were the Brandenburg Gate and a bombed out shell of a monastery. We also spent a day in Potsdam, which is a huge park containing many palaces and it was the summer residence of the German kings and queens. Lastly we visited the museums of course. The Pergamon museum was fantastic - it displayed monuments from Babylon and we also got a handheld phonetype walkman to guide us around the museum, which was really cool. We quickly got used to the fact that we had to pack a raincoat even if it was sunny in the morning. In France we first went to Paris for a quick visit. We saw some of the important sites - Notre Dame, The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Now we are in Bordeaux, the region most famous for its wines. Yesterday we went on a winery tour to two Chateaux where we tasted some good wines. We could not decide whether they were up to Australian standards though:) Picture of a vineyard in Bordeaux The French seem to love their dogs. Last night we went to a restaurant and we were a bit surprised to see a couple bring in two of their dogs with them. We were even more surprised, when one of the dogs sat up at the table and was encouraged to slurp some water out of a bowl! We must admit though that it was not the best restaurant in France. 1 November 1998 Accomodation Youth Hostels ended up being a bit of a flop. We only stayed in one in Germany in Bamberg. We also stayed in a hostel in Rome, but it was not a youth hostel. We were in a room of 10, which was full every night. However, we were the only two people to stay there more than one night. Either they didn’t like us, or they did not like the hostel. I seem to think the latter is more correct since there were only 4 hallway showers for over 100 people, and the water came out at a trickle, so it was impossible to rinse oneself (unbiassed view of course). We solved the problem by getting up at 6 or 7 am each morning and having a half an hour shower. We then had very long walking days in Rome. Accomodation was in one star pensions for the rest of the Europe. That was because it was more economic than youth hostels - about $25 to $60 a night depending on the city, with the added advantage that we got a room to ourselves, rather than a dormitory. The way to keep the price down was to not have private facilities. The pensions were always centrally located, and the youth hostels were often further away. What helped us a lot was our Lonely Planet Guide. Except for Florence and Rome we were able to ring up the recommended places and get a room. However, everything was busier in Italy so we had to ask the full hotels to recommend us others. Finally, (20 phone calls later) we always found somewhere. The way around this would be to book ahead. But that is way too hard as none of the pensions took visas. You had to mail a money order or something. Also we preferred our method since it was great only having a concrete plan for a day at a time. Paris We only spent a few days in Paris as we can always travel there again from Lodnon. The first impression we got of Paris was not all flash, but it was mainly due to the fact that we had to walk through a rather seedy area from the train station to our hotel We soon discovered the beauty of Paris and especially enjoyed it in the evening. We joined the thousands to visit the Louvre, walked to concordia and, of course, climbed the Eiffel Tower. We also did a pleasant nighttime walk to Arc de Triumph along the famous chans a lise (or however you spell it) where the rich dine at night (and yes we saw the rich walk into ridiculously expensive restaurants as the doorman parked their sports Merc). But we just settled for the walk. Bordeaux From Paris we went to Bordeaux. This was a lot quieter and nicer than Paris. There was not a lot to see in town, but it was surrounded by nice Chateaux. So one day we went for a rather expensive coach trip to two of the Chateaux and saw how they made wine there. We even got to taste a little. The next day was a trip to St Emillion. This was a nice and small town in the heart of the red wine growing region. The town itself was small and ancient so we spent our time there and on some lookouts. As far as the eye could see there were vinyards everywhere. It was good to see some agricultural areas of Europe after all the hustle of the cities. Madrid Madrid was a full day on the train away. Not because of distance, but because the Spanish trains were the slowest we came across (except maybe for the Trans Mongolian). But it was worth going there. We went to the famous Prado musuem, which was similar in scale to the Louvre. One thing we quickly cottoned onto was the meal of the day - Menu del dia. This was always at lunch and consisted of three courses plus wine or water (believe it or not, bottled water and wine cost the same) at a reasonable price. We most liked the seafood (especially in Paella). We then went to see the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). This was very elaborate and ornate, but just another royal palace museum. One distinctive attribute of the palace were the clocks. Each room had a clock, and each was different. One clock was in the wheel of a model carriage being pulled by horses, others were incorporated into the furniture so it was hard to find them all. At the end of the tour we were meant to go to the best part - the armoury, but of course it was closed for renovations. I wanted a refund! A fun thing to do in the evening was go to a pub and have some beers. They were usually accompanied by small nibbles of various things (tapas) and at some places, which we quickly sussed out, they didn’t cost extra. The first time we went into a particular pub we left a generous tip as an investment for our next visit there. After coming back we were rewarded with many big serves of various dishes with our beers. It was all good fun. Toledo We left Madrid early in the morning and caught the train to Toledo. After disembarking we looked around expecting to be in the middle of town. However the town was about 1 or 2 km away and set on top of a huge hill. So with full backpacks we climbed the hill. I was navigator and so when we did not go directly to our accomodation, but rather had to go around the block and up and down hills looking for it, Gosia was not impressed. No detours are allowed with backpacks on! Toledo is one of the nicest, most picturesque, and most historical towns in Spain. Formelly the capital, it contains a fortrees called Alcazar, and is surrounded by huge town walls. It is also encircled by a river. We were most impressed by Alcazar - now a museum, as well as the huge cathedral. We were sure it was the biggest cathedral in the world when we were there. It looked massive inside. However, after being to the Basillica in Rome we know otherwise. There was not a lot to see there - a few lookouts, and the narrow windy streets. We spent one night there so we could soak in the ambience of this old town. Barcelona From Toledo we went on another long trip to Barcelona. This was my (Jon’s) favorite place out of Europe, probably because I liked all of Gaudi’s works. La Sagrada Familia, the unfinished cathedral, was great. The best though was Gaudi’s park. It looked like something out of the Flinstones. Picture of dragon in Gaudi's Park All the structures made out of rock were curved and so the man made blended very well with the natural. At the front entrance there was a bright white tiled Hansel and Gretel type house. Next to it was the famous dragon made out of broken glass and tiles. Also in Barcellona we went to a special Picasso museum. He must have been a disturbed man! But his paintings were incredible. The museum showed the various stages of his art, which were all unrecognisable from each other as far as we were concerned. It was quite good and I was tempted to buy a Picasso t-shirt. We then saw a huge aquarium, which I think was built for the Olympics as a tourist attraction. This was also very interesting. We liked seeing the sting rays and sharks from below, through the glass. Since Spain was so cheap we had a great time eating out. Our favourite was tapas and beer. We stood at the bar eating little bits of tapas such as tortilla, rollmops, anchovies, tomato on toast, etc. It was great fun, and in a bar environment. Not so good for digestion though! After going to so many big cities we decided to take some time out and go to the Meditteranean cost. So we went to Tossa de Mar Picture of the beach, near the France/Spain border but in Spain. This was extremely relaxing. I did not even get burnt at all, mainly because it was often cloudy. However, the water was very nice and warm and even Gosia went in. I talked Gosia into going to this place instead of Nice. It was quite easy though when I mentioned pebbled beaches and an entry fee to those beaches in Nice. Here there was nice sand and free beaches. The only thing is that they were rather crowded. In the evening we went to see some nice ruins high up on a headland. Provence After a couple of days we caught the train to the Provece region in France. We based ourselves in Avignon. Unfortunately, the pension was almost underneath rail tracks so it was rather loud. Also disconcerting was that the whole pension shook as the trains passed by. In Avignon we saw the old Pope’s Palace. Apparently the Frech set up rival Popes here during the troubled times in Rome. However, the French say that the Popes moved here. There were differing stories in Rome and Avignon anyway. We also saw the Pont du Avignon bridge which does not quite make it across the river Picture of the bridge. Since the walled city of Avignon was so small we went for a walk to its sister city Villenueve des Avignon. There we saw great scenery - a less touristy Provence. There was an interesting fort called St Andrew’s Fort there. Unfortunately it was quite a walk because they insisted on building forts on tops of hills. But we got another great view from there. On other day trips from Avignon we went to Arles - home of the Roman arenas (like the colloseum, but still functional) and also Roman theatre, and we also went to Pont du Gard, which is an old Roman acquaduct. Florence Our last country was Italy. In Italy we went to Florence first. We arrived there at 8pm on a Saturday and found that Florence hotels were all full! Finally, by about 10:30 we found a place for the night. This was a relief as we had visions of us leaning against our backpacks and sleeping at the station. Apart from being ridiculously expensive, we liked Florence for its Pont Vecchio bridge Picture of Pont Vecchio, its Uffizi museum which was full of sculptures and more paintings, and the Duomo cathedral. However, we liked our day trips to Siena and, in particular, San Gimignano even better. The cathedral in Siena was our favorite of the whole trip. It was full of art. The walls were covered with paintings and even the floor was used for art being covered in inlaid marble murials. Also interesting in Siena was the central square, which was not really square but rather shell-shaped. San Gimignano was interesting for its towers. These were privately owned by families in the 13th and 14th centuries. The height showed off the power and wealth of the family. So it looked like a model of a modern skyscraper city. Rome Lastly, we visited Rome. Firstly we did a self-walk around the town to familiarise ourselves. The Lonely Planet Guide directed us here to the Spanish Steps, the incredible Pantheon, the very well restored Fontana di Trevi, and also an older bohemian part of town called Transvere area, which was really great for eating out. The next day was spent at the Vatican. It took us all day to see it. The museum was great, but the best part was the Sistine chapel. I now have a Michelangelo t-shirt of part of his paintings there. The Basillica was also good. Also in Rome we spent a day at the forum and on Palantine Hill. It was good to read about some of the things that happened there, such as the assasination of Julius Caesar. Rome had so many things to see in it. So many more than anywhere else we had been to. Little places we went to were the Church of St Peter, where we saw chains we were allegedly used to bind St Peter, as well as the Roman baths. These had been redesigned by Michelangelo and converted into an unusually shaped church. Switzerland That was meant to be the end of our holiday. However now we had to make our way back to London, which we were going to do by train. The train ride was too long for one day so we decided we would split it up into two by stopping off in Switzerland. This turned out to be a great plan since Switzerland was extremely nice and ordered, very clean and with great mountain views. We stayed in Montreaux, near Geneva. It was actually situated on Lake Geneva. We got there late at night (this time having pre-booked ahead) and so it was a pleasant surprise when we saw the view in the morning as we came down to breakfast - overlooking the lake with the magestic snow-topped Swiss Alps in the background. We did not do a lot there because it rained quite a lot - but it was still quite warm. The one highlight was going to Chateaux des Chillon, an old castle, barracks, and everything in between at different stages of history. It was actually on a tiny island 20m offshore. It looked really great in its current state which apperantly had not changed since the 15th century. About the only other thing we did was buy some nice swiss chocolates for our current hosts. After two days we caught a fast TGV train to Paris and then another fast train under the channel to London. The Paris-London leg only took 2.5 hours which was amazing. Thus ended a great holiday!! Does that mean we have to work again now? :( The only further update to our webpage will be the addition of more photographs. |
