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 ...

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

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.

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!

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!

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

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!

Day 17 - Termoli - Ortona - L'Aquila - Rieti - Terni - Perugia - Pienzia (Tuscany)

Italy, you have redeemed yourself! After 2 weeks of travel, we finally have a much sort after fresh pasta meal!.. I should start from the start of the day...

We wake up in Termoli (a thriving tourist beach town) to a heavy sea fog & proceed up the coast missing what we hear is an amazing coastline of white beaches and expansive views of the sea... Something to see next time ;)

Our route is planned to keep us off autostrades, so hopefully we will see more countryside as well as experience some rural towns... This works well once the fog cleared at midday, and the lower speeds of rural travel (90 - 50kph on rural roads) gives Lyn better photo opportunities as we travel.

Our plans for more lake vistas are dashed in Perugia as a fog also hangs over it's lake... But we are starting to see that both the countryside and the houses are getting much more Tuscan - most noticibly, that homes are cared for - well painted, nice gardens, and sprawling olive tree orchards amidst vineyards.

Arriving at the little town of Pienzia, which Lyn found in the Lonely Planet guide as a "good day-trip location", by 4:30pm.. We quickly learn that THIS is the Italy we have been looking for... After finding a hotel in town, we take a walk and fall in love with this beautiful place...

Tiny, cramped streets amidst 3-4 level homes... All well kept, with ornate doors and windows, beautiful street lamps and minute stores with pictureframe windows giving glimpses of their wares... Wine, cheese, jewelry, nick-nacks, art... All lit with the soft glow of a setting sun and randomly placed streetlamps. We take so many photos here (total for the trip is over 3000 now) - picturesque isn't a good enough word for this wee paradise.

And then to top it off... An amazing fresh pasta with duck meat sauce, followed by wild boar slow-cooked in a rich, spicy tomato sauce... Washed down with a local white wine and a wee taste of a syrupy desert wine to finish... Heaven for my tastebuds! Italy has been redeemed!

Day 16 - Rome - Pompeii - Amalfi Coast - Termoli

(written by Lyn)

Big day of driving planned ahead so we got up nice and early but not quite thinking of the timing as we found ourselves right smack in the middle of Roman rush hour traffic!! Very interesting experience!!

On arriving at Pompeii Tomtom got a little confused and pit us on a deadend dirt track telling us to turn left into someones padlocked driveway. We ignored poor Tom and decided to follow roadsigns instead, the few that we could find.

Relieved at actually finding the ruins, as we drove in a man was ushering us to our carpark. Something in me said this didn't feel right so Craig asked "how much?" "10 euro all day and free if you eat at our restaurant " I made Craig back the car back inspite of cars being behind us! It just felt like a scam... Again!! Southern Italy has felt so much like that. we didn't notice it quite the same up north Italy.

Sure enough up the hill we found the official carpark right next to the entrance and half the price!

We both really enjoyed Pompeii, walking back in time and the sun being out always helps too ;)

'Lonely Planet' book has been our tour guide through this trip and a sentence in there caught my eye about there being an interesting coastline a couple of hours further south, so off we went not realizing what we were about to experience.

The coastline was gorgeous with houses being built right into cliff faces and out over the road. Rugged coastlines made for great photos. The roads got skinnier and windier and traffic got more and more, in both directions. And in the typical Italian arrogance pedestrians and cyclists also decided to share the road that also had cars parked in every available spot.

It was at this point we suddenly appreciated choosing to go for the cheaper smaller car... Our faithful Fiat Panda.

At some points I literally heard Craig gasp and say "ohhhhh nooooo here we go. We're not Gona fit this time!!" and the stupid Italians (as much as we love them) would come round blind corners on OUR side with no where for us to go but down a 300ft drop!

As we finally got back onto the previously hated Autostrade we breathed a sigh of relief at there being two lanes on each side and a monsterous great barrier seperating us down the middle. Craig said it was like skydiving... Crapping yourself while your doing it but once it's over you wanna go right back and do it again!

At this crazy point (5pm) we decided to cross Italy and find the other coastline, making it to Termoli at our latest arrival time yet of 8pm!!

Day 15 - Rome

(written by Lyn)

For the first time in over two weeks of our time in Europe, we woke up to rain. Considering this is the end of winter we've had a very good run!!

So we done on our wet weather gear and head out to catch the graffitti riddled subway, complete with well hidden money belts. We'd heard so many stories of picpocketers and scammers in the centre of Rome.

And yes they were everywhere! Trying to con us into buying their umbrellas, unused train tickets and guided tours. But us skeptical kiwis put our hand in their face and kept walking. The funny side to this was that we had raincoats and umbrella already yet they still asked if we wanted bigger, better umbrella!!

The rain definitely put a damper on what we both felt was a morbid, depressive city. We did the basics of Rome and chose to head back to our room at about 4pm, tired, wet and cold.

There was definitely an air of sadness as we heard the stories of Jews in slavery building the Roman's many buildings and then being put out to the lions and ripped to shreds for the entertainment of the Romans. Almost like digging their own graves.

Walking through the ruins of this ancient barbaric civilization we were struck by the fact that such a strong empire could be brought down to nothing and God had the final word. Especially as we learnt of the huge earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of Pompeii, A major commercial area of the time. All happening around the same time of this going on.

An interesting learning day, with more to learn tomorrow as we head down to see the ruins of Pompeii.

Day 14 - La Spezia - Rome

(written by Craig)

Our anticipation of the wonderful  Tuscan coast was very disappointing. We ignored Tomtom and followed the coastline as much as we could, but was only met by abandoned houses and empty beaches. We concluded that the Tuscany most revel about is infact the wine district up the centre of Italy through Florance which we are traveling through on our way back up.

We had planned to spend a night along this baron coast on the way to Rome, but now made the decision to carry onto Rome, putting us a day ahead.

We had been warned of the terrible drivers in Rome and would have to agree!! They are shocking!! No indicating, driving down the middle of both lanes, excessive speeds of up to 180kph, Crazy!!!!

With all this in mind we're glad we chose to stay in an outer suberb and catch a 40min train ride into Rome tomorrow.

Day 13 - Chinque Terre, Italy

Chinque Terre is a group of ancient villages along the coast linked by trains only. The locals speaking their own dialect & turning their back on modernisation (at least that's what the tourist guide says).

We head out to catch an early train, but get side tracked with a street fair that stretches over 6 blocks (plus side-streets)... Overladen with stuff (including a nifty parmesan grater) we head back toy he car to unload, then off to the train station.

There is so much to say about Chinque Terre that I don't know where to start or stop... We took over 500 photos in 7hrs... This has been our best day yet (just)...
- Tiny villages hanging off cliff-faces;
- tight streets overlooked by brightly painted 4 story hovels (Italians don't seem to care about the disrepair of their homes);
- some villages with harbors that can only fit 5 small fishing boats;
- minute cafes selling potent espressos
- tiny bars selling the local wines and lemon liquors

An astonishing day - totally exhausted after climbing an incredible number of stairs, we head back to La Spezia for dinner and in anticipation of the Tuscan coast tomorrow :-)

Day 12 - San Remo - Monaco - France - La Spezia (Italy)

We woke up and headed out to see the amazing Mediterranean beach.. That was locked behind bars - u gotta pay to go on the beach?!?

Headed to Monaco... And after a lot of hunting, found a parking building... Parked next to a Ferrari (as you do ;) Other than that, looking at opulent cars and hotels got boring fast... Run-down Italy is far more interesting (to us).

Just to say we'd done it, we head off to Nice, France to have McDonalds...

Back into Italy - La Spezia.. The largest naval port in Italy.. Not a pretty place, but the gateway to Chique terre... For tomorrow.

Found a hotel where no-one spoke any English! Wasfun trying to book for two nights & as a team we worked it out with Lyn remembering that "piano" = level/floor and Craig remembering "camera" = room!

Day 11 - Interlaken to San Remo (Italy)

A big driving day planned - starting with a map and directions from Romy 2 get us thru some nice passes between Switzerland and Italy. Tom Tom loaded with directions & a full tank of gas...

10min later, and we are facing a road closure... Best laid plans are out the door, and we head in opposite direction... At least we see more of both countries but it makes the day longer

Stop at a Movenpick store for ice-cream.. Found jumbo-sized sugar-free Red Bulls by chance (our fav drink, in a size not seen in NZ). Interestingly, we are in Switzerland, the ppl speak French, and we paid in Euro (a wired mix of 3 countries in one place)

Arrive in Turin, Italy just in time for rush-hour traffic at 130kmph - yikes, those Italians are insane!!

Pull in to San Remo at 7:00pm, hoping God has a place sorted 4 us... And He does, once again... On the water front, safe parking, & under budget - all good!

Day 10 - Interlaken

(written by Lyn)

After doing a few bits and pieces in town in the morning we headed up the steep drive to the town where the Gondola would take us up to our hotel on the Alps.

Earlier in our trip I'd said to Craig "wouldn't it be cool if God could organize for u's, a log cabin on a mountain with snow all around" thinking about that being in Cortina.

As we got to the to of the gondola I remembered my conversation with Craig about the cabin on a hill.

The view was sensational!!!! Like nothing I'd ever seen before!! This was obviously a popular place with a few hundred people mulling and chatting in the sun on the deck infront of the snowladened view.

Our room was flash and had the best view of the whole place, thankyou Romy!! but that was nothing compared to what was about to happen!!!

As 5pm came more and more people left for the day. On coming back from a short walk up to a viewing platform Craig whispered to me "I think we are the only people left here!!" No Way!! Surely not!! Then a lady came out to introduce herself "hi! I'm Manwella, I'll be your chef for the night, is there anything special you'd like me to make for you?" She answered our question, We were infact the only ones here and had our own personal chef??? This is crazy, can our honeymoon get any better????

We asked Manwella for a traditional Swiss fondue which we hadn't tried yet and while we waited she organized two deckchairs, sheepskins, blankets, candle, and a glass of wine each for u's to sit on the deck and finish watching the sun go down behind the majestic Swiss alps from a height of 6000ft and -5 degree temp. Simply stunning!!!
We snapped continueous photos, even catching two satellites on film.

As we went inside our night was to get even better!!! Manwella had done out the whole restaurant for u's with romantic candles burning not just on our table but everywhere!!! It was the coolest night ever on top of the world!!!

Day 9 - Interlaken

Romy and Kai are busy today with work and Kindergarden ("Kinder" = child in German), so we head off to town to check out the shops. By lunchtime, we are overloaded with presents for the kids & the credit card is ready for a rest ;)

An interesting and frustrating thing we have noticed in Europe is that most stores close down for lunch.. I'm not sure that's well though through - parents have to go home to look after kids (because schools close for lunch too), so the whole place locks up from 12:00 to 1:30... What are u's tourists supposed to do? ... Yes, even some food outlets close - amazing!

As a thank you to Romy and Kai, we take them out for dinner... Something with traditional Swiss food. Lyn and I have Rosti's which are huge hashbrowns (covering the plate) with mushroom, cheese & bacon toppings.

We had a fantastic night catching up on old times!! Romy and Kai lived with Lyn for 3mths over a summer in Waihi beach and is the only member of the Bartley side who has kept in contact.

During the day Romy had suggested if we wanted to stay at the Neiderhorn Hotel 2000mtrs up on the Swiss Alps, she could get us a discount (she works there) and recommended it as a great view, as good (or better) as the view from the 240 Euro ($480) train ride for both of us to go up the Yurghfrou. Great!! We ended the night excited about out next night ahead.

Day 8 - Interlarken, Switzerland

(written by Lyn)

By this time we're starting to feel a bit drained, so we made the choice to have a rest day and catch up with Romy for the day and also take up her offer of using her Internet for the day.

Just as well that we did because on checking our bank accounts we realise my EFTPOS card that I left in New Zealand must have been stolen somehow because my online statement says it was used twice at Kfc in the last 2 days. So at $7 a minute we call kiwibank to get a stop put on it. Fortunately it was only $60 odd dollars we lost, and we have the email address to get it refunded.

Day 7 - Cortina - Interlarken (Switzerland)

(written by Craig)

Lyn's excitement at moving on to yet another adventure, sees her waking up at 5am. So she leaves Craig to sleep and takes the camera out to catch some early morning shots. We have quickly learnt that the best photos are taken at dawn or dusk, so our strange sleep patterns have a benefit afterall.

By 9am we were packed up and on our way to see Lyn's sister-in-law, in Switzerland. Travelling via Austria which we'd heard is so picturesque. In northern Italy not far from the border we came across our first frozen lake, spying from a distance. We took a road off to explore this new sight. It ended up being a picture perfect postcard view and the camera got a lot of use!! The photo above was one of these shots ... almost unreal!!

Leaving the lake we head towards the Italy/Austrian border, nervously awaiting border patrol and customs with our passports at the ready. Tomtom tells us the border is within the next 10kms, as we speed down the Autostrade. Eventually a 'Wild Bean Cafe' sign catches our eye and we decide we'll have our last Italian Espresso Cafe before hitting Austria. As I get to the counter to order I suddenly realise the lady is not speaking Italian, but something very German sounding... without knowing we have actually entered Austria, so much for border patrol!!

If we were to describe Austria in 3 words we would say ... Fog! ... Traffic Jams!! ... and Tunnels!! These 3 words lead us to wanting to reach Switzerland all the faster. One excitement in the trip was seeing an Austrian ambulance and later in the trip a Swiss Ambulance ... of course both being frantically photographed by Lyn!

We arrived in Interlarken, Switzerland to a stunning sunset, using up an entire camera chip in one day (over 500 photos). Arriving at Romy's place at around 6pm, big hugs shared and a fantastic catchup with her. (being over a year since Lyn last saw her and with never having visited her country before) She had a perfect little flat that just happened to be empty of tenants for the few days we are visiting her.

Romy also treated us to a traditional Swiss dinner tradition ... "Raclette": Using a table top mini oven to make melted swiss cheeses which we poured over baked potatoes and added condiments, like pineapple, gherkin, pickled onions, garlic etc. I announced to Lyn "we HAVE to get one of these... the kids are gonna love this!!"

Day 6 - Cortina

(written by Lyn)
It ended up snowing all day yesterday. The snowflakes so big you could see the starshapes as they landed. Neither of us have experienced anything like this before. So surreal!! And beautiful!!

We woke up today to gorgeous blue skies and surrounded by mountains we didn't know were there before, hiding under the clouds. Our second day of skiing we decided to make a half daz and use our lift passes to take advantage of these views, snapping some photos and having a late lunch up the verz top of the highest point of the gondola ride.

We also walked around the markets with Lyn making a score purchase... thick full length coat for just 50 Euro ($100).

Nothing else much done for the rest of the day other than walking the length of the town snapping photos galore.

Day 5 - Cortina

(written by Craig)
Our prayer is granted.. we wake up to snow gently falling and swirling. Lyn excitedly drags Craig from his bed so we can experience the snow - first hand, in the -4 degrees.


Our wee rental car has a light dusting of snow, and it's only 7am. After a quick breakfast we ask the hotel reception where the best place is to rent ski gear - unfortunately, language gets in the way and we get broken english explanations about ski buses, ski fields and ski runs... all very useful but not what we asked for. So we head off to a ski rental place we saw yesterday, hoping they are decent and can "Parla Inglese" (speak English).

The rental place was fab - everything we needed and great service... by 10am we are waiting for the snow squirral (free ski bus). After a 5min bus trip we are at the base of the Gondola - quickly purchasing a 2 day ski pass, we are ready for our first run. We were so nervous that we would take the wrong turn and get one of the elite runs made for the winter olympians. We gingerly move off for our first run...

Wow!! It was amazing skiing amidst snow covered pine trees, and the run took a full hour! Awesome!!!

We ended up doing only 4 runs in our 6hr day as they were all so long and utterly amazing!! Sorry NZ ski fields - we came to Italy hoping it would be good, but it was way better than we ever dreamed - Cadrona eat your heart out!

On one of the trip back up the Gondola we were accompanied by a group of German speaking skiers. Amidst all their unrecognisable language we heard (spoken in English with a strong German accent) "MayDay, MayDay... we are zinking!! ... What are you zinking about??" Too funny hearing Germans joking about their own accents.

Utterly exhausted we take the squirrel back home. Can't wait to get the ski boots off, give eachother a foot rub (we are allowed to we're married), have a rest, and find a decent pizza joint.

Day 4 - Verona - Cortina D'Ampezzo

(written by Lyn)
Small stop at an Internet cafe to do our blog and then we were off to further explore this cool country. Beautiful clear blue skies, no wind but with still a crispness in the air. So far we'd not seen any snow yet it certainly felt cold enough for it.

Temperature gauge on our car showed us starting off at +7 degrees and slowly dropping as we headed north.

Tomtom, our GPS became our companion and good source to vent our frustration on. Especially when we got to Trento and stupid Tomtom told us to take the second exit which unfortunately put us BACK on the Autostrade that we'd just come off, in the opposite direction. Naughty Tomtom!!! The next offramp?? 20kms away!!

Finally getting in the right direction we spent most of the day driving hoping to make it to at least Belluno, which we did at 5pm.

We found a cute B&B there but the host was not very happy to see us, as he hadn't warmed our room and wanted to charge us double the price for one night. Thanks, but no thanks, and we continued to Cortina, but this did mean we would be getting there quite late to be finding a room.

6.30pm and the first two hotels in Cortina ... No vacancy. Next ... had room but at $680 (NZ) per night??

Temperature gauge now? -1 degrees, not the time to be spending the night in the car. Next place was perfect, affordable, warm and available with one room left. 3 nights here, yay!! Now we just need some snow with it only being on the mountains as we arrived. After all it is now -3 degrees!!!

Day 3 - Venice - Verona

(written by Craig)
On waking around 1.30am, we decided to take an early walk and photograph the sunrise. The morning was frigid, with a windchill taking the temp to below zero. Lyn is so cute when she's cold! <3

After checking out of the hotel we took the water bus back to the airport to begin the next part of our adventure... the rental car ... left hand driving and high-speed autostrade (up to 150kph) bring new challenges. We were going well avoiding the huge number of trucks on the road and their crazy passing maneuvers... until we came across a queue of cars enterin a toll booth area - all intructions in Italian and nowhere to put in coins... cars queuing up behind we luckily noticed a button which popped a ticket out - grabbing the ticket opened the barrier and we were off, not knowing what to do with the ticket. The only recognisable word on the ticket was 'polizia' - which fed a little unease.

We saw our first castle on the way to Verona - one of many, we are sure, if it's anything like the frequency of bell towers so far.

On entering Verona we came across another toll booth area, and Lyn was the first to click that we were to insert the ticket and put in a credit card, while the speaker was spewing out italian info we could not understand. Yay for my girl Lyn!!

We came to rely on the Tomtom GPS quickly - it cut throught he confusion of Italian only road signs, leading us directly to the B&B we had chosed from the Lonely Planet guide, through bizarre roads and crazy drivers. This afternoon we walked around the arena/amphitheater where gladiators once fought, and sadly, Christians died. A pair of likely lads dressed as Romans tried to charge us for allowing us to take a photo of them, but we ran faster.

After a bit of hunting around, we found Juliet's (Guilette) balcony - which Shakespeare based his famous love story on. (pic above) Not sure about the wierd tradition of touching the breast of Juliet's statue for better luck in love... considering she died. Queues of asian boys and girls doing this made us wonder.

Lyn purchased an Italian Leather handbag (of course no expensive labels though) from a stall in Piazza Dei Signori. Italy redeemed itself with some fantastic pasta from a tiny restaurant where the staff knew no English and we knew little if no Italian, but the waitress's face lit up when we said the word "bueno" Then off to sleep, hmmm at 8pm again ... the nana's that we are ;)

Day 2 - Venice

(written by Craig)
Spent the day walking the maze that is Venice. Made up of 117 islands joined by over 400 bridges... Dressed in all our themals as it was bitterly cold - especially in the wind. This month is carnival, so elaborately costumed characters added colour to the streets, posing for photos and drawing crowds of cameras.

Highlights include:

• Our first cafe (Italian esperesso coffee)


• The multitude of art stores


• The accademia gallery - where we enjoyed the liberty of taking photos of the architecture, not the art itself


• The Leondardo di Vinci museum where we were given a crash course in the emotions of Italian women when the teller decided to have a screaming and wailing argument with a sorry boy we assume was/is her boyfrind. Her shreaks filled the museum - despite it all being in Italian, we were in no doubt of what was being said.


• The tour of San Marco Cathedral, where the free entry was but a lure to many opportunities to part with our money... where every room attracted a fee to view it - being kiwis, we just went for the balcony area so we could get good photos of the crowds outside. We felt a level of disgust at the terming of "come view our treasure" where the offerings of many struggling people feed the opulence of a greedy church.


• Multitudes of tiny cafes which could on sit 5-10 people


• Finding our first Internet cafe and uploaed some wedding photos to Facebook - not enough time to check messages or comments, as the cafe closed at 2pm!!


• Speaking Italian to a local and having him understand us and replying and us knowing what he said ... another triumph of the day!
  


• Nearly getting lost trying to get back to the hotel - the maze was so disorientating - a long was got us back to our room finally


• Lyn found her new favourite icecream flavour: Pistacio!!

After a long was, we treated ourselves to a long awaited bowl of fine Italian Pasta ... the first since arriving. For those who know Lyn well ... she is a pasta freak and one of the reasons for choosing Italy to visit. We couldn't read the menu, so took a stab in the dark, guessing that it would be authentic and edible... we were well offtrack on both counts - with Lyn's "razorshell fish pasta" looking like one eyed alien worms amongst the spagetti, that even the boys in Jack Ass wouldn't touch. They tasted like they were hauled up from the bottom of a moddy pont and the shells provided a sandy grit which finished off the revoltingness of the dish perfectly. On escaping our torture chamber, that was the restaurant, we fled to our room to consume a weightwatcher muesli bar and glass of bourben.

Jetlag still has it's hold on us both, with us nodding off before 8pm and waking well before light (1.30am to be precise!!)

Day 1 - Dubai - Venice

(written by Lyn)
Finally on our flight from Dubai to Venice and we are both getting really excited!! Listening to all the Italian accents onboard but itàs also bringing in reality of needing to communicate in a non-English country. We both have started to pick out kiwi and aussies in the crowds. So far we have been on flights and waiting in airports for nearly 30hrs with little sleep and our eyes are starting to feel it. Especially when we said it felt like dinner time yet worked out it was only 5am in Italy!!!

We are still bubbling over with excitment despite no sleep. Craig said itàs giving him some appreciation of what a nightshift can feel like now. The flight from Auckland to Dubai was mostly in darkness but this last stretch, daylight has given us some amazing views, especially of the desserts in the middle east. We also managed to snap some pics of the manmade palm islands of Dubai but very hazy with sand and smog on the horizon. Makes us appreciate the green grass and treees, and blue skies of home.

Then suddenly before we knew it there was beautiful snow everywhere!!! This is what we'd come to see! Yay! It's all happening!! Announcement just made by the pilot ... 7 degrees in Venice!! Eek! Lucky we packed our woollens.

Just landed in Venice and ... Guess what? There's no customs! Don't know what's up with that! lol

So far now Venice has not disappointed us. Craig prebooked a hotel in the canal part of Venice. So after taking a watertaxi there, we found 'Pensione Seguso'. It is out of this world!! Our room with it's own delightful shutters that look out to the canal 3 stories below, as we watch the boats go by.

There are washinglines of clothes hanging out of the windows and each of the old historic buildings still look like they would have done a couple of hundred years ago. And we love the eccentric colours they are painted, just like in the postcards. Our hotel felt like walking into 'Fawlty Towers' complete with the bossy nagging lady of the house and her husband that hides in the kitchen smoking cigerettes while his wife has gone out.

The furniture and cracks in the paintwork tell the story of when it was first opened up to provide a roof over the heads of allied forces who needed it during the war.

Our first night in Italy was topped off by an annual carnival being on tomorrow including mascarade masks. For dinner we went down and got official Italian pizza from a place that was run by what looked like the mafia... the 'don' serving us in his suit and tie. Pizza and wine. Perfect!!