Barcelona

Well, here we are in Barcelona!! What can I say? A truely beautiful city full of wide boulevards, trees, great food, friendly people and an architectural wonderland!! Bruce is in seventh heaven!! Met Tom at our apartment, which thanks to Michael, Jaz and James, is fantastic, a definite step up from what we have previously. First day was spent sleeping then off walking. Decided to go to Montjuc, a fort overlooking the city. There is a Metro stop to get up the hill but , of course, we couldn't find it (forgot to look underground) so trudged up the slope to get to the Cable car to the top. Once there the views were stunning , the fort like a medievel castle and the wind bitterly cold!! Back down to earth off we went for Tapas , fantastic food and wine and sleep!! After a few days of not walking quite so much it certainly takes its toll! Here in Spain, people don't really get moving until 8.30-9.00 in the morning then at night go out for Tapas 'bout 8.00ish, dinner after that. Takes a little getting used to!!
Next day was a day of Gaudi for us, prior to Tom heading off back to Toulouse....The Sagrada Familia is one Church everyone must see. I thought the Basilica in Rome was gobsmackingly beautiful but is nothing on this building! It is still being worked on with people saying it has another 30 years to go so there are cranes and workmen scurrying all over it. Bruce saw it 27 years ago and it then did not have a roof. It certainly has one now! All I can say is that you go inside into a massive area just full of the most amazing natural light, colour, tree like pillars and a lovely sense of joy. A truely beautiful masterpiece.
Off to the Casa Batllo (told you it was a Gaudi day!) one of the amazing spaces you could walk through, with each room again full of light and air, beautiful windows and stunning curved ceilings. Everything in this bulding is tactile, you can't help yourself stroking the curved oak bannisters or the coloured mosaicc lining some areas. Again an absolutely beautiful space, way ahead of its time. You can't speak, you just wonder at the shapes, colours and again that feeling of joy!
After lunch, a Metro trip and walk to the last of Gaudi for the day, a park set up in the hills called Park Guell, again structure that defy belief and colourful mosaics that wander around a beautiful parkland setting......Here I am waxing lyrical about architecture but it all really does set you back with wonder that one man had so much vision, so much passion and sense of natural beauty!!! After all that sensory overload we were just happy to come home and sit!!!! Tomorrow will be a lazy day methinks!!

Monday 13th December: Venice

Our last day in Venice was taken up with Boat trips..Firstly out to Murano Island, home of some of the most amazing glass factories ever seen!! Some of it was truely beautiful, some a little bit too Franco C for me. Took the ferry back and ended up  way away from where we were supposed to be. The Industrial port of Venice is something the normal tourist does not get to see very often! However...it was different! The rest of the day was lazy, a day on the Bay does make you tired and cold. Off to Barcelona we go this morning where we meet up with Tom and start testing out our Spanish. That in itself should be interesting!

Sunday 12th December - Venice

 Second full day in downtown Venice, blue skies and cold air. Decided to head off to attend some culture, you know, musuems and stuff. This day we headed off to the Musuem Ca Pesaro, via the famous Rialto Bridge. Didn't realise how close the bridge was to the hotel, turned a corner and suddenly there it was!! Beautiful and as is all of Venice, the perfect photo op! The whole area is full of shops full of jewellery, souvenirs and everything else...The Rialto Fish market is taken over on a Sunday by a secondhand market..Want a secondhand Louis Vuitton bag, you can get it.! Still determined to get to some culture we searched for the Musuem. There's a thing about Venice..you can hold a map in your hand as you walk around, totally confused, safe in the knowledge everyone else is doing the same thing! Found the Musuem and surprisingly, it was really good. Amazing feeling to see a Picasso close to a Dali and be able to compare the two!! By this stage the kids and I had a feeling Bruce was on a mission. Yep, he had planned out a huge walk through a myriad of streets, alleyways, over bridges in order to get to the Peggy Guggenheim Musuem and yep, we got lost again. But we were determined, retracing our steps at least three times, finding a great lunch place along the way to add fuel!! Finally in the late afternoon we stumbled onto one of the highlights of Culture thus far... a Musuem full of Contemporary art, right on the Grand Canal, chock full of fabulous works, not too big, surrounded by gardens.

What a day!!! On our travels we had found a great restaurant just near the Hotel and by that stage it was great to just sit and eat.(Photo in yesterdays blog) That's another thing bout Venice, you walk, you see wonderful things, you sit, you eat....you walk!! Oh and there's the drinking of wine in there too!! Still no French Champagne!!! Till tomorrow.......

Saturday 11th December: Venice

Not much to say about Venice really. Bit like Florence but the streets are full of water.

After a late start this morning we went off to find the Piazza San Marco but really just spent the day wandering along laneways and over bridges getting lost and then found again. In doing this we discovered one after another classic photo opportunities. Tomorrow we plan to be a bit more focused with our walks, but the temptation today to stray off down one alleyway after another was too great. Doubt if we’ll be sleeping in again tomorrow, being Sunday, as there is one big church next door with big bells!

Friday 10th December: Florence to Venice

I take it all back, Trenitalia have redeemed themselves.

Our trip from Florence to Venice was a dream, in a smooth, clean and comfortable Eurostar train. We actually arrived on time in Venice with not a cloud in the sky or a breath of wind, it could not have been better, except for the fact that the waterbus service operators were running an irregular strike. But this was not really a bad thing as it gave us an excuse to take a private water taxi to our hotel. The trip was worth every cent of the rather excessive fee and won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

 

Thursday 9th December: Bologna

My original plan was to stop off at Maranello (Ferrari) on the trip from Florence to Venice, but after the Pisa debacle I realised that that was not a very practical plan. Also since the rest of the family did not appear to share my enthusiasm for a trip to the Ferrari museum, I decided to go it alone and leave them in Florence. But while working out how to get there from Florence I found that the Bologna Motor Show was on and after flipping a coin I decided to go to the Motor Show instead. This was a good decision, because given the ‘efficiency’ of Trenitalia I probably would not have made to Maranello and back in the same day. The Motor Show was huge, as you would expect, with all the big carmakers competing for the attention of the predominantly male crowd using that age old method, SEX. There was a host of very attractive women standing beside the cars, sitting in the cars and sitting on the cars at every display. In addition to the static displays, there were also about half a dozen test tracks set up where you could go and try your chosen make and model (car that is). A small racing circuit was also set up where events were running all day, but the most surprising thing was the size of the electric car display at this bastion of petrol guzzling machines.

Tuesday / Wednesday 7th & 8th December: Florence

What a city, Michelangelo’s David, the Pitti Palace, Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio,  Riboletta, Bistecca Fiorentina, Chianti, designer shops, street after street of jaw dropping architecture. Loved it.

Monday 6th December: Rome-Pisa-Florence

Today we officially launched our Eurail Pass.

Having originally thought that we would make a half day trip from Florence across to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower etc. we changed our plan and decided to make a stop over in Pisa on the way to Florence. Good idea but making plans around the Italian train system is not always that easy. Arriving at the station in plenty of time, we stood in the middle of the Rome ‘Termini’ station with dozens of other would be train travelers, gazing up at the information screens waiting to see which platform our train was departing from. As platform numbers lit up, for all the trains departing before ours and then for trains due to depart after ours, we started to get a bit anxious. Then finally the delay notifications for our train started coming up. To cut a long story short our late morning / early afternoon stopover in Pisa eventually started at about 3.30 – 4.00 o’clock just as it started getting dark So Pisa for us was a brisk walk in the rain from the station to the leaning tower, a few quick Oohs and Aahs, and photos to prove we’d been there and then back to the station to catch a train to Florence.

In complete contrast to Pisa our arrival in Florence was magical. The Christmas lights were all on and the streets were full of people out walking before dinner. Our hotel turned out to be just as good or even better than I’d imagined it when booking it on the internet 2-3 months ago. So with Pisa a distant memory, we checked in and went out for the first of many memorable Florentine meals.

Sunday 5th December: Rome

Last Full Day in Rome

Over the last week we have travelled long way from Melbourne to Rome, walked miles, up and down its interminable steps and seen a hell of a lot of stuff, so today we thought we would just take it easy, before our trip north. Good idea……….

So we got up late had the usual prosciutto and eggs for breakfast………..

Walked to the station to get our train tickets to Pisa……….

Walked to see the Spanish Steps (because no one knew what they were)………………

Walked up and down the main shopping strip looking for an elusive pair of shoes……….

Walked off to look at the Pantheon because someone had told Darcy it was worth a visit……………

Walked toward home, but got lost (first time I might add)………

And finally arrived at our local restaurant for lunch at about 4.00pm…..

Yep! A pretty restful day.