We finally have our photos sorted ... to some degree ;) ... no comments put up yet but at least the photos are there.
And only 500 of them ... reduced down from 5000!! :D
Here they are ...
Monday, April 4, 2011
We have photos!!
We finally have our photos sorted ... to some degree ;) ... no comments put up yet but at least the photos are there.
And only 500 of them ... reduced down from 5000!! :D
Here they are ...
Monday, March 21, 2011
Day 23
London - Venice, Italy
We had prebooked our accomodation 500mtrs from Venice airport, which relieved some of the pressure.
Before we left on our honeymoon both Craig and I had decided, given that we both loved art that we would purchase an original artpiece from Italy as our wedding present to eachother. We had found a piece in Venice on the very first day of our honeymoon that we both fell in love with. But given this was our first day we didn't want to risk buying it yet, incase we found something better on our travels.
Over the following 3 and a half weeks we hadn't found anything close to the original one in Venice and made the decision that on our last night in Venice we would make the 1.5hr ferry trip out to the art gallery of the original painting to purchase it.
This was going to be big call. We arrived into Venice airport from London at 4pm, made our way to the travel counter to order our shuttle to the hotel room and were told they would be 10 to 15mins away. Nervously we waited, as we heard that the shops closed in Venice at 7pm.
4.45pm we arrived at the hotel to checkin, which took forever given the guy on reception seemed to be doing 4 peoples jobs at once. Everytime we continued our checkin the phone would ring, he would apologise and answer it, meanwhile we watched our clocks.
All checked in, luggage left in our room, we caught the shuttle back to the ferry dock. The driver was awesome hearing our story and went top speed to get us there. The next ferry leaving in just 5mins at 5.35pm. We pulled up to the ferry dock, Craig ran to the ticket office while I hurredly made the way to the ferry that was starting to pull out. Next minute with a hand signal from the ticket office to the ferry they held the ferry for us.
We made it onto the ferry just in time ... now for the endless 1.5hr ride coming incredibly close to time. Having a brainwave of finding the business card the gallery had given us we made a very expensive but worth it phone call on our mobile to the gallery. Yes they closed at 7pm but hearing our story of wanting to buy this painting they agreed to stay open for us but apologised that they thought our painting had been sold. We were already on our way so went anyway.
At 7.03pm the ferry arrived at the Venice canals and we ran the 5min walk to the shop. As we turned the corner there the shop was and yes they were still open ... as we got closer a huge relief came over us and big smiles on our faces as we recognised one of the paintings in the window ... there it was!!! It wasn't sold!!
The guy was fantastic and gave us a brochure of the artists other paintings and list of where his paintings were sold ... all over the world!! New York, Italy, London to name a few!! We still loved it just the same as when we first saw it ... and $2,500 later our first piece of original art invested in. Carefully packaged up we held it very close to ourselves and decided to celebrate with one last dinner in the city we fell in love with when we first arrived.
We had until 12.30am to get back to the ferry for the last ferry back to the mainland. Dinner was divine and by 8pm we contemplated heading back but the lighting was perfect for some nighttime last photography shots of the water canals.
10pm and we needed to find a toilet stop ... unfortunately (or later we worked out fortunately) we couldn't find a single toilet that was open. Heading back to the dock earlier than expected and knowing we needed to cross our legs for another 1.5hr trip. Just as well because we'd read the timetable wrong and infact the last ferry left for the mainland at 10.15pm not 12.30am!! Would not be a good final last night of our time in Italy to be sleeping on the street!
Finally arriving back at our hotel room we breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at how crazy our evening had been... complete success!!
You can view some of Raffaele Fiore's other art pieces here
We had prebooked our accomodation 500mtrs from Venice airport, which relieved some of the pressure.
Before we left on our honeymoon both Craig and I had decided, given that we both loved art that we would purchase an original artpiece from Italy as our wedding present to eachother. We had found a piece in Venice on the very first day of our honeymoon that we both fell in love with. But given this was our first day we didn't want to risk buying it yet, incase we found something better on our travels.
Over the following 3 and a half weeks we hadn't found anything close to the original one in Venice and made the decision that on our last night in Venice we would make the 1.5hr ferry trip out to the art gallery of the original painting to purchase it.
This was going to be big call. We arrived into Venice airport from London at 4pm, made our way to the travel counter to order our shuttle to the hotel room and were told they would be 10 to 15mins away. Nervously we waited, as we heard that the shops closed in Venice at 7pm.
4.45pm we arrived at the hotel to checkin, which took forever given the guy on reception seemed to be doing 4 peoples jobs at once. Everytime we continued our checkin the phone would ring, he would apologise and answer it, meanwhile we watched our clocks.
All checked in, luggage left in our room, we caught the shuttle back to the ferry dock. The driver was awesome hearing our story and went top speed to get us there. The next ferry leaving in just 5mins at 5.35pm. We pulled up to the ferry dock, Craig ran to the ticket office while I hurredly made the way to the ferry that was starting to pull out. Next minute with a hand signal from the ticket office to the ferry they held the ferry for us.
We made it onto the ferry just in time ... now for the endless 1.5hr ride coming incredibly close to time. Having a brainwave of finding the business card the gallery had given us we made a very expensive but worth it phone call on our mobile to the gallery. Yes they closed at 7pm but hearing our story of wanting to buy this painting they agreed to stay open for us but apologised that they thought our painting had been sold. We were already on our way so went anyway.
At 7.03pm the ferry arrived at the Venice canals and we ran the 5min walk to the shop. As we turned the corner there the shop was and yes they were still open ... as we got closer a huge relief came over us and big smiles on our faces as we recognised one of the paintings in the window ... there it was!!! It wasn't sold!!
The guy was fantastic and gave us a brochure of the artists other paintings and list of where his paintings were sold ... all over the world!! New York, Italy, London to name a few!! We still loved it just the same as when we first saw it ... and $2,500 later our first piece of original art invested in. Carefully packaged up we held it very close to ourselves and decided to celebrate with one last dinner in the city we fell in love with when we first arrived.
We had until 12.30am to get back to the ferry for the last ferry back to the mainland. Dinner was divine and by 8pm we contemplated heading back but the lighting was perfect for some nighttime last photography shots of the water canals.
10pm and we needed to find a toilet stop ... unfortunately (or later we worked out fortunately) we couldn't find a single toilet that was open. Heading back to the dock earlier than expected and knowing we needed to cross our legs for another 1.5hr trip. Just as well because we'd read the timetable wrong and infact the last ferry left for the mainland at 10.15pm not 12.30am!! Would not be a good final last night of our time in Italy to be sleeping on the street!
Finally arriving back at our hotel room we breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at how crazy our evening had been... complete success!!
You can view some of Raffaele Fiore's other art pieces here
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Day 22
London
After a good sleep-in, Michelle and Darren treated us with a good old fashioned English cooked breakfast: fried sausages, bacon, eggs & tomato... no mushy peas, but apparently they're not cool anymore.
A visit to the Croydon shops to get one of our photos printed on canvas stretched out to include a look at Darrens favorite menswear store, which has Craig buying a pile of business shirts (they actually fit shirts for you - awesome!). A long browse through a favourite store of Michelle's... and finally a visit to a milkshake store - yes, all they do is milkshakes! A wall full of shake ingredients like chocolate bars (every one you can think of), biscuits, lollies, and stranger things like muffins, custard and dried fruit... And you simply say what you want in your shake - sweet!
The afternoon had us off to visit Judy and Nelson (cousin of Lyn) in Southfield... A long-ish trip on a tram that acted like a train at times - hooning along the track at what must have been it's top speed (going by the howling of the wheels on the track)
Fantastic afternoon catching up with Judy whom Lyn hadn't seen in many years!! and got to meet her beautiful two children!
Arriving back at Michelle's we were spoilt to a dinner out at an London Indian restaurant... the four of us on a 'double date' ... very cute and a first for us (double dating)... then it was back home to pack up for our flight back to Italy the next day.
After a good sleep-in, Michelle and Darren treated us with a good old fashioned English cooked breakfast: fried sausages, bacon, eggs & tomato... no mushy peas, but apparently they're not cool anymore.
A visit to the Croydon shops to get one of our photos printed on canvas stretched out to include a look at Darrens favorite menswear store, which has Craig buying a pile of business shirts (they actually fit shirts for you - awesome!). A long browse through a favourite store of Michelle's... and finally a visit to a milkshake store - yes, all they do is milkshakes! A wall full of shake ingredients like chocolate bars (every one you can think of), biscuits, lollies, and stranger things like muffins, custard and dried fruit... And you simply say what you want in your shake - sweet!
The afternoon had us off to visit Judy and Nelson (cousin of Lyn) in Southfield... A long-ish trip on a tram that acted like a train at times - hooning along the track at what must have been it's top speed (going by the howling of the wheels on the track)
Fantastic afternoon catching up with Judy whom Lyn hadn't seen in many years!! and got to meet her beautiful two children!
Arriving back at Michelle's we were spoilt to a dinner out at an London Indian restaurant... the four of us on a 'double date' ... very cute and a first for us (double dating)... then it was back home to pack up for our flight back to Italy the next day.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Day 21
London
With both Michelle and Darren off work today, we head out with our guides to see the London sights. Using the hop-on-hop-off sight-seeing busses, we hope to cover a lot of ground today.
Starting with Buckingham Palace (bristling with William & Kate wedding souvenirs, but no guards with fluffy hats), then on to the Royal Mews (closed over the weekend), then off to Regent Street where we got off the bus to enter the paradise of kids (and kids at heart)... Hartleys, a massive 6 level toy store! Full of staff showing off the latest toys and kids begging parents for more. After an hour or so, we had a huge bag of goodies for the kids (& a little something for Craig) then we were off again to wander the streets.
We managed to fit in St Pauls (where Lady Di married Charles); wandered through a park to look for squirrels (which we found); took a ferry up the Thames back to the parliament buildings; took in the view of the London Eye (but the queue was way too long); then off for dinner at Waggamamas before we took in a show:
Wicked! An awesome musical, with the leading lady having the most incredible voice - absolutely fabulous!
With both Michelle and Darren off work today, we head out with our guides to see the London sights. Using the hop-on-hop-off sight-seeing busses, we hope to cover a lot of ground today.
Starting with Buckingham Palace (bristling with William & Kate wedding souvenirs, but no guards with fluffy hats), then on to the Royal Mews (closed over the weekend), then off to Regent Street where we got off the bus to enter the paradise of kids (and kids at heart)... Hartleys, a massive 6 level toy store! Full of staff showing off the latest toys and kids begging parents for more. After an hour or so, we had a huge bag of goodies for the kids (& a little something for Craig) then we were off again to wander the streets.
We managed to fit in St Pauls (where Lady Di married Charles); wandered through a park to look for squirrels (which we found); took a ferry up the Thames back to the parliament buildings; took in the view of the London Eye (but the queue was way too long); then off for dinner at Waggamamas before we took in a show:
Wicked! An awesome musical, with the leading lady having the most incredible voice - absolutely fabulous!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Day 20
London
Today is a bit of a rest day... we are so tired after 20days of traveling, so a sleep-in is well over due. Highlights of the day are:
- Sleep-in
- Michelle's tiki-tour of Croydon (man, can she walk fast! Remember how your Mum used to walk too fast for you as a kid?)
- Craig finding an awesome modeling store... Radio controlled everything; starwars stuff; model cars, bikes, army stuff (imagine Tim the Tool-mans grunting here)... Lyn did well to get me out of there ;)
- Us working out the London public transport system, finding Westminster Cathedral, finding a massive department store (6 levels of extravagance)... But they did terrible coffee!
- Met up with Michelle at her work (a posh hotel next to Buckingham Palace)... And got free-run at the bar - feeling a little under-dressed, we went for the cheaper stuff... Not the NZ$400 bottle of champagne.
- Then off to New Zealand House (the NZ embassy) for a Christchurch earthquake fund-raiser put on by the NZ defense force... In the penthouse 17 floors up. Giving us a fantastic London-by-night view (rumoured to be the best view in town)... A great night out!
Today is a bit of a rest day... we are so tired after 20days of traveling, so a sleep-in is well over due. Highlights of the day are:
- Sleep-in
- Michelle's tiki-tour of Croydon (man, can she walk fast! Remember how your Mum used to walk too fast for you as a kid?)
- Craig finding an awesome modeling store... Radio controlled everything; starwars stuff; model cars, bikes, army stuff (imagine Tim the Tool-mans grunting here)... Lyn did well to get me out of there ;)
- Us working out the London public transport system, finding Westminster Cathedral, finding a massive department store (6 levels of extravagance)... But they did terrible coffee!
- Met up with Michelle at her work (a posh hotel next to Buckingham Palace)... And got free-run at the bar - feeling a little under-dressed, we went for the cheaper stuff... Not the NZ$400 bottle of champagne.
- Then off to New Zealand House (the NZ embassy) for a Christchurch earthquake fund-raiser put on by the NZ defense force... In the penthouse 17 floors up. Giving us a fantastic London-by-night view (rumoured to be the best view in town)... A great night out!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Day 19
Bolignia - Venice - London
Up early in the morning we tell Tomtom to take us 'home'... After some thinking, He tells us it will take 4.5hrs to get to Venice! Umm... That's not right... 150km in 4hrs... We love Tom dearly, but sometime he's just silly - a little coaxing and we are off to Venice airport.
As usual, our rental car agreement says to return the car with a full tank of gas - fair enough! But there's no petrol stations anywhere near the airport that accept foreign Visa cards... So it's pay by cash (notes only, and no change given!), and of course we only have 20euro notes... And we need 30euro to fill the tank. A typical Italy thing we have found is that there is always a trick to anything that is paid for - spotting the con isn't always difficult.
Lyn found a great service where we can leave our 2 larger bags (chocker-filled with presents for the kids and momentos for us)... Then we begin the "Easy Jet" experience...
"Easy Jet"... A seemingly gentle name for an airline that one would assume has jets... and provides an easy experience - naive we were... If you havent had the joy of EasyJet, here is a quick virtual tour: Firstly, imagine 300 people wanting to go somewhere, now heard them towards a departure gate, asking them to form a single file line (in a space that can't fit 300 people), now here's the clincher - the seats aren't allocated... No-one but the few who paid extra know what seat they will get (or even if they will sit with their traveling companions)... Now guess what happens to the line... and the polite queing. Basically, it's a crazy mad dash - and not a nice experience at all. We were very fortunate to get seats together - we are convinced DaddyGod had a hand in that.
A 1:45hr flight, and we are landed in Gatwick South (London)... Met by Lyns cuzzie who she hasn't seen for several years. Michelle kindly had the train and tram tickets sussed, so within an hour we are in Croydon, Sussex. Her hubby has a kiwi burger and chips meal prepared (including beetroot) - good old Kiwi tucker... nothing like it :D
Up early in the morning we tell Tomtom to take us 'home'... After some thinking, He tells us it will take 4.5hrs to get to Venice! Umm... That's not right... 150km in 4hrs... We love Tom dearly, but sometime he's just silly - a little coaxing and we are off to Venice airport.
As usual, our rental car agreement says to return the car with a full tank of gas - fair enough! But there's no petrol stations anywhere near the airport that accept foreign Visa cards... So it's pay by cash (notes only, and no change given!), and of course we only have 20euro notes... And we need 30euro to fill the tank. A typical Italy thing we have found is that there is always a trick to anything that is paid for - spotting the con isn't always difficult.
Lyn found a great service where we can leave our 2 larger bags (chocker-filled with presents for the kids and momentos for us)... Then we begin the "Easy Jet" experience...
"Easy Jet"... A seemingly gentle name for an airline that one would assume has jets... and provides an easy experience - naive we were... If you havent had the joy of EasyJet, here is a quick virtual tour: Firstly, imagine 300 people wanting to go somewhere, now heard them towards a departure gate, asking them to form a single file line (in a space that can't fit 300 people), now here's the clincher - the seats aren't allocated... No-one but the few who paid extra know what seat they will get (or even if they will sit with their traveling companions)... Now guess what happens to the line... and the polite queing. Basically, it's a crazy mad dash - and not a nice experience at all. We were very fortunate to get seats together - we are convinced DaddyGod had a hand in that.
A 1:45hr flight, and we are landed in Gatwick South (London)... Met by Lyns cuzzie who she hasn't seen for several years. Michelle kindly had the train and tram tickets sussed, so within an hour we are in Croydon, Sussex. Her hubby has a kiwi burger and chips meal prepared (including beetroot) - good old Kiwi tucker... nothing like it :D
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Day 18
Pienzia - Montalcino - Siena - Florence - Bologna
Our third rainy day of the trip - thats still fab odds! After a liesurely breakfast we take a quick stroll to make some purchases
Firstly are some espresso cups made by a local ceramics artist. We have loved the Italian coffee and this is a must to bring home with us. Interestingly, the artist is based in a cave-like basement... Complete with an original well that looks to be bottomless from within the cave. It's a great forum to display her work... Subdued lighting in little nooks and crannies, interesting pieces of ceramics work amongst anchient tools left by previous users of the cave
The second purchase is a watercolor by a local artist... What a pleasure to have the artist (who knows no English) try to describe where the little church is which she depicts in the painting we buy... an awesome attempt at communication (not overly successful communication, but we all got the gist - I think).
Off to Montalcino - 20min down the road... a one-road-in-and-out, walled village. The rain keeps us from exploring this wee town, so we head up to Siena...
Siena is described as the most "gothic" city in Italy and I have visions of great gargoyles and dark lanes (those in the know will realise I'm a bit naive about historic architecture here)... What we find are long, sporadic, rabbit-warren-like rows of dirty 4-story brick buildings... The highlight is when Tomtom loses GPS coverage, so we drive blind - following a police car through tight winding lanes owned by throngs of tourists and students. We finally give up in some square, having lost the police car... Full of tourists... Photographing a church... the top attraction in town... Bonus - we would never have found it if we were looking ;)
Driving in one direction, Tomtom finally gets GPS coverage and we are on to Florance... Which we find is so full of tourists we can hardly breathe. We take some pics of the fancy church there (3rd top attraction of Italy apparently), but to be honest we are a bit over photographing churches - wouldn't it be great if churches spent their funds on helping people out instead of building fabulous buildings (I have a funny feeling Jesus had something to say about this?)
We finally pull into Bologna (the home of spaghetti bolognaise) at 8pm... And we are again staggered at getting a good room at a great price... A 350 euro per night room for 110euro! Too much driving today... Need sleep before we fly to London tomorrow!
Our third rainy day of the trip - thats still fab odds! After a liesurely breakfast we take a quick stroll to make some purchases
Firstly are some espresso cups made by a local ceramics artist. We have loved the Italian coffee and this is a must to bring home with us. Interestingly, the artist is based in a cave-like basement... Complete with an original well that looks to be bottomless from within the cave. It's a great forum to display her work... Subdued lighting in little nooks and crannies, interesting pieces of ceramics work amongst anchient tools left by previous users of the cave
The second purchase is a watercolor by a local artist... What a pleasure to have the artist (who knows no English) try to describe where the little church is which she depicts in the painting we buy... an awesome attempt at communication (not overly successful communication, but we all got the gist - I think).
Off to Montalcino - 20min down the road... a one-road-in-and-out, walled village. The rain keeps us from exploring this wee town, so we head up to Siena...
Siena is described as the most "gothic" city in Italy and I have visions of great gargoyles and dark lanes (those in the know will realise I'm a bit naive about historic architecture here)... What we find are long, sporadic, rabbit-warren-like rows of dirty 4-story brick buildings... The highlight is when Tomtom loses GPS coverage, so we drive blind - following a police car through tight winding lanes owned by throngs of tourists and students. We finally give up in some square, having lost the police car... Full of tourists... Photographing a church... the top attraction in town... Bonus - we would never have found it if we were looking ;)
Driving in one direction, Tomtom finally gets GPS coverage and we are on to Florance... Which we find is so full of tourists we can hardly breathe. We take some pics of the fancy church there (3rd top attraction of Italy apparently), but to be honest we are a bit over photographing churches - wouldn't it be great if churches spent their funds on helping people out instead of building fabulous buildings (I have a funny feeling Jesus had something to say about this?)
We finally pull into Bologna (the home of spaghetti bolognaise) at 8pm... And we are again staggered at getting a good room at a great price... A 350 euro per night room for 110euro! Too much driving today... Need sleep before we fly to London tomorrow!
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