2006 Europe

ENGLAND

Our first trip to Europe as a family was to be for 4 weeks covering parts of England, France, Italy & Dubai.

Fist stop was London where we stayed with Moira & Steve Leech, Brian’s aunty.

We had a great time with them. After sightseeing during the day we would arrive back at their home in Twickenham to be greeted by drinks & snacks which went on into the night.After 3 nights & numerous bottles of Riocha Steve’s liver was glad to see us leave.

Whilst there we saw all the usual sights like Tower Bridge, The Tower, Buckingham Palace, St. Pauls Cathedral, Lords, Harrods & Madame Tussauds.

After London we spent a couple of nights in Bath. On the way there we stopped in to Stonehenge which is literally in a field next to the motorway.

Bath itself was a beautiful little town with many remnants of its Roman past such as the reason for the town’s name, the Roman Baths.

Of  particular interest for Australians was Bath Abbey where Captain Arthur Phillip is buried.

The countryside is picturesque as was the guest house we stayed in.

On our return trip to London we also visited Oxford which is a town of immense historical interest & character. We only scratched the surface here as it would be a good place to investigate further.

FRANCE

Paris

Parisians have a reputation for being rude and arrogant. We are pleased to say that we never experienced any of that in our time in Paris.

Strangely for a place with such a culinary reputation our first meal in France was McDonalds as Molly was starving by the time we got there.

After lunch we took a bit of a wander to explore, not really expecting to go far. That was our first mistake.

As it turned out we were staying around the corner from the magnificent looking Paris Opera House. From here we could see down to the Place de la Concorde where Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI were executed, so we took a walk down to there.

From here we could see up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe which didn’t look that far so we thought we would continue our wander. Our second mistake. After walking for 20 minutes and seemingly not getting any closer we realised that not wearing sneakers we were not properly dressed for a long walk. By the time we made our way back from the Arc de Triomphe Brian had developed blisters on the balls of his feet!

The following few days were filled with a day at Euro Disney, exploring the Louvre and Parisian surrounds as well as a boat trip up the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. The return trip by coach was optional as many people prefer to make their own way back. We decided to return by coach but with Brian busy taking photos of the tower we were running late for the bus. Running being the operative word as Brian had to run and stop the bus at a red light with Belinda & Molly bringing up the rear!

We ate at a couple of really good restaurants  while we were there so we did manage to work our way up from McDonalds.

French Riviera

We picked up a hire car from Nice airport and we took the relatively short drive to our hotel in Eze overlooking the Mediterranean.

Eze is only 10-15 minutes from Nice and about 15-20 minutes to Monaco perched high above the Mediterranean with a historic old town with shops and nooks and crannies to explore.

We spent a day in Nice and another day exploring Monaco and the amazingly rich looking Monte Carlo with some of the largest private yachts in the world along with the mandatory Ferrari’s & Lamborghini’s to get you to your boat & back.

ITALY

Milan

Our first stop in Italy was Milan which is renowned for a couple of things, in particular fashion & Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper.

Unfortunately we were unable to get tickets to see the Last Supper which was a bit of a disappointment.

Milan is basically an industrial city with a number of historic areas & buildings.

The Duomo is an incredible piece of gothic architecture which has over 1300 spires, most if not all have a figure sculpted at the top.

The Castello Sforzesco is a 15th century castle which has been turned in to a museum and art gallery.

The most notable piece of artwork is Michelangelo’s unfinished Pieta, the Rondanini.

Bounding one of the other sides of the Piazza del Duomo is the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II.

This is one of the most exclusive shopping malls in the world. We can attest to them also having the most expensive coffee & tea in the world!

Other than the beautiful architecture & exclusive shops the most notable thing in the mall is the floor mosaic of a bull with a hole where the genitals would otherwise be. The “tradition” is to place your heel in the hole and spin around once to bring good luck. Oh well, when in Rome …….

Florence

Our first visit to Florence got off on the wrong foot.

We were staying in the old part of Florence where cars are allowed to drop off but not stay. That’s fine but getting in there was another story. After being swept away with the passing traffic on three occasions Brian, now sweating profusely, had had enough and was going to park in a car park we had seen & catch a cab. Belinda suggested calling the hotel, which we did and they guided us in on the most convoluted route to travel 1 km that you could imagine.

A walking tour the next morning set us up with some great information and tips on what to do and see and where to go.

There were so many things which were highlights including the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti, the three main piazza’s Republica, del Duomo, della Signora and a long list of palazzo’s and artworks.

Interestingly we found that Michelangelo created three Pieta’s – one in Milan (Rondanini) which we saw on this trip, one in Florence (The Deposition) which we have now seen and the most famous sculpture of all in St. Peters, which we certainly intend seeing this trip.

We bought Molly a gold ring for her First Communion, which she would be making on our return, in one of the many gold shops on the Ponte Vecchio.

The markets and shops were amazing in that the quality and variety of in particular leather goods has to be seen.

We found some great little places to eat in the back streets thanks in part to our walking tour guide who directed us to a little restaurant which would be no more than 10 feet wide but which served the best Italian crusty bread imaginable. We still remember them cutting the bread a guillotine.

Florence is a real gem and somewhere worth visiting more than once.

Rome

The “Eternal City” is one of the great cities of the world. It also seems to be a very polarising city in that people either love it or hate it.

Fortunately we are in the “love it” camp.

The history here just envelops you and you can’t help but be drawn into the fascination of the Roman Empire along with the christian/catholic past that is such an integral part of Rome’s life story.

You don’t have to be catholic, which Belinda is not, to be fascinated by the Vatican & St. Peters.

The third and by far the most magnificent of Michelangelo’s Pieta’s is to be found at St. Peters, which makes the trifecta for this trip. It is now protected behind bulletproof glass after some idiot attacked it with a hammer some years ago.

The Vatican Museums are almost too much to take in in one visit. The incredible artworks particularly from the Renaissance period is incredible. The Hall of Maps with such detailed tapestries is incredible.

However the jewel in the crown is undoubtedly The Sistine Chapel. How all that came from one mans brain is mind blowing. Whilst photography is not allowed it is one place that deserves to be photographed.

The Colosseum is striking as  you would expect of the most photographed building in the world. The intricacies of the areas below the arena floor are an incredible triumph of engineering & ingenuity.

Next to the Colosseum is the Roman Forum which was the “centre of the universe” in the times of the Roman Empire. The senate as well as various historical buildings including temples to various gods are located in this area.

The Capitoline & Palatine museums house magnificent relics from the period and are well worth the visit.

One of the great things about Rome is the ability to walk everywhere without the need to get on public transport which also gives you a bit better look into the back streets and some little places to eat. Talking to people asking them where they or locals would go to eat & staying away from places near tourist attractions would certainly be our advice. We found a coupe of great places, one particularly which had Nonna out in the kitchen doing the cooking.

The Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and Villa Borghese gave us plenty to see.

One of the more “unusual” places we went to was the Capuchin Crypt. The crypt houses six rooms which contain the bones of deceased friars of the Capuchin order and are arranged in what can only be described as “decorative” homage to the deceased. It was, if nothing else, interesting.

We threw coins over our shoulder into the Trevi Fountain, which means …. we’ll be back.

DUBAI

Dubai was to be our “holiday from the holiday”.

Molly wanted two things – a balcony and a pool . She got both as the resort we stayed at was right on the beach with a huge pool & swim up bar.

Whilst we knew it would be hot in Dubai, we were surprised by the humidity. Thinking about the desert and not the gulf we expected a hot dry climate.

Not to be deterred we arrived and quickly got changed to go down to the beach.

We missed the sign that said the day’s temperature was 39 degrees and the water temperature at the beach was 31 degrees. We only got up to our shins and made a hasty retreat to the pool.

The following day we did a morning tour to the spice & gold souks (markets) and once again found ourselves late for the bus as it had already left from the pre-designated spot. Not a great problem with taxis around but we managed to track down the bus a couple of hundred metres away.

That afternoon we had arranged an afternoon/night tour which was four wheel driving in the desert followed by a Bedouin feast.

The four wheel driving was tons of fun. How those guys maintain control when sliding diagonally down dunes & bursting over tops of others was fantastic. There were plenty of roller coaster screams coming from our vehicle.

We stopped at a camel breeding farm which predominantly breeds camels for racing, which is a big sport in most Arab states, not just Dubai.

We also stopped to watch the sunset over the desert which was a unique opportunity.

Our time in Dubai coincided with Ramadan. For us there was virtually no impact other than no alcohol being served at the “Bedouin feast”. There was no shortage of food at the feast and Molly and Belinda took the opportunity to get henna tattoos. Molly’s tattoo still hadn’t faded completely a week or so after our return when she made her First Communion. It was an interesting cultural blend.

What a fantastic trip which just whets the appetite for not just more travelling but more travelling to Europe.