Done!

Bookstore fly
Originally uploaded by Meaney

After two months, I've finally uploaded over 300 of what I think are the best photos (see the links in the post below.)

Photos now go here

I've changed technologies. Earlier, I posted links here to my snapshots on Google Photos, but I'm now posting everything, including those same photos, on Flickr, which is just better. You can look at my Europe Collection here, or another way to look is by clicking on my photo tags, here. Tags are just labels; each photo has several labels, such as "Roman," "aqueduct," and "ruins." If you click "ruins," you can view all photos tagged as ruins, be they Roman or otherwise. Except that they're all Roman. Ahem. In any case, the more photos are labeled with a tag, the bigger that particular tag appears.

My other photos are still on Google Photos here, if you still want to access them.

Switzerland: Lucerne, Interlaken; Italy: Tuscany, Rome; Paris

Okay, just a quick catch-up on Switzerland: we spent three days in Lucerne, which they say is everything Switzerland has to offer rolled up into one little easily navigated city. The old cobbled streets are pedestrian only. The price of, well, everything is expensive, except for accommodation, which was one of our cheapest hotels yet. Perhaps it was because it was not yet tourist season, though the weather was beautiful, albeit extraordinary for that time of year. It was as if it was summer.

Next stop was Interlaken, where we spent two days and which we used as a jumping off point for Jungfraujoch, an alpine peak to which a 19th century train line climbs. The view was impressive.

From there we went to Florence, as noted below, at which we didn't realise we were arriving on Liberation Day in Italy, 25th of April, a Thursday before the Tuesday May Day holiday, meaning that all of Italy took the Friday and Monday off work and went to Florence. And Rome, but more on that later. The crowds drove us to spend the following day out of town in San Gimignano, a hilltop town about an hour away. It once featured 75 towers, like medieval skyscrapers, but battles with Florence, the plague and time have whittled them down to about 15. Nevertheless, the city is unique among the Tuscan hilltowns for the towers.

Then, Orvieto, and the most spectacular cathedral I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot on this trip. The detail and craftsmanship to the tiniest detail is exquisite, and the variety of materials includes gold leaf and inlaid stone. We had no idea there was even a cathedral here, and when I first came across it, I just gawped and said, "Wow."

We then went to a little Etruscan-medieval hilltop town called Civita di Bagnoregio, known as the dying city because the clay hill on which it is built is slowly crumbling into the valley below, taking the buildings with it. Population: 14. Fourteen. Oh, and one dog, named Barillo.

And then there was Rome. Arriving the night before May Day and still having been too dense to figure out we should book a hotel before we get there, we were greeted with wide eyes by the tourist bureau when we asked if they could find us a room for the night. They said that people had been booking hotels in Naples—two hours away—to stay in Rome. The bloke did a bit of searching and ringing and amazingly as our luck would have it he found a hotel room just ten minutes away from the centre of Rome by train. Or fifteen euros to return by taxi after the train line shuts down at 9pm. He said we were very lucky, and I take his word for it. Still, it was a rigamarole to get there (it was still a 650 metre hike with the backpacks from the station) and we had already lost a day because of our adjusted itinerary, but we managed to squeeze in the Roman Forum and the Palatine. On any other day, the ticket for the Palatine, for which the queue is about one hundred times shorter, includes entrance to the Colosseum, but because it was May Day they decided not to make this the case, so we would have had to spend one of the three hours we had spare just standing in the Colosseum queue. Alas, I had to (angrily) skip it.

All in all, Rome was dusty and bustling and too busy and big, and always being under time pressure we really didn't have the luxury to enjoy it, and so we left with a kind of relief when we pulled out on the night train to Paris. We slept in our own private cabin on the 15-hour journey and as I write this from Paris we have spent four days here. We now will be spending five and a mere afternoon in Amsterdam because we didn't reserve a seat on the train and all of them are booked up tomorrow. All of them! Lesson: book ahead of time and be wary of weekends and public holidays.

Paris has been relaxing and it's perhaps my favourite city in Europe. It's a very liveable city. The other day we zipped around on Segways on a tour of the city (run by Americans) and had so much fun on the Segways we barely looked at the city at all. Three hours was gone in half the time, and we now want to own one. Or rather, two. But at US$5000 apiece, and no service outlet in Sydney (that I'm aware of, anyway) that's perhaps a silly idea. But when you ride one, you want one.

Well, that's going to have to be it for now, and perhaps for the trip. After Amsterdam we will spend three days in London with Mai Li's sister and her husband before heading home, and I likely won't get any time to update the blog until after we reach Sydney on the 12th of May. Check in later and I'll get some more photos up.

France: Avignon, Rhone Valley; Switzerland & Italy

Well, here we are in Florence. Yes, that's right. We decided to skip Siena instead. I like to say that we came to our senses that it would be folly to come this far and pass right by the birthplace of the Renaissance, but the truth is that it was more a logistical decision; it just would have been a pain in the arse to get to Siena after already having been on the trains from Switzerland for seven hours. It's a pity, since Siena is meant to be "charming," according to the Lonely Planet, but another consideration is that accommodation is harder to get there.

Back in Carcassonne, the lady at the little shop where we bought our absinthe gave us a sample of these little white lollies which were really tasty, called pastilles au lait d'anesse. My French is only average, and it wasn't until I was eating one on the train from Switzerland that I realised this translates to lollies made of donkey's milk.

Florence is, as expected, overwhelming. Everywhere you turn there are incredible sights. It's a shame that the morass of tourists one needs to wade through almost ruins it. This isn't even high season, and they are thronging. We plan to catch a bus to San Gimignano tomorrow (27 April) and spend the day there.

Okay, catching up....



On our way to Avignon, we saw the Pont du Gard, a massive Roman aqueduct which is nearly twice the height of the one in Segovia. We didn't do any sightseeing in Avignon; the only thing we did was laundry before heading to the Roman theatre in Orange. Then we drove up the Rhone valley and stayed in two little ancient mountain villages: Alba-la-Romaine, dating from Roman times where we stayed in a 200-year old stone B&B; and Pont-en-Royans, built at the end of a gorge at the foot of the mountains with old houses built hundreds of years ago perched on the side of the gorge, propped up on stilts angled into the canyon wall.

We had by this time already extended the rental of the car by a day, and we were still running behind my itinerary, so we decided that the breakneck pace we were setting was too much and agreed to scale back. We would skip Vienne, blitz Lyon, leapfrog Geneva and Bern and head straight to Lucerne. Lyon was a very charming city; I would like to see it sometime! We also decided to skip Venice and Verona. Alas.

Next chapter: Switzerland; but for now, I won't get a chance to update again until after Rome when we are in Paris, from 01 May.

Weather update

A really quick update from Switzerland....

I'm a bit behind on the blog, so we've actually covered more places
than what I've included here. We've been in Switzerland for the past
five days and will be leaving for Italy tomorrow, which I think is the
25th (I love not knowing the day.) And here's the best bit: the
weather in Switzerland is HOT! I have a SUNBURN! This is April, halfway through Spring. Normally there is a bit of rain and even
snow, but we've been wearing T-shirts. And "sunny" Spain a couple of
weeks ago was nothing but rain, with a few lucky fine days in between.
Even Paris has apparently been having 27-28 degree weather.

So, as I said, the last few days were in Lucerne and Interlaken, and
tomorrow we head to Tuscany. We'll have three days there, and given
that Florence is going to be so overwhelming, we actually plan to skip
it and spend the time in Siena. Stop your groaning. We may try to
get a day trip tour to Florence from Siena.

France: Toulouse, Carcassonne, Montpellier, Sommières...

We've just arrived in Lucerne, Switzerland, and we plan to stay here for three days before heading down to Interlaken and the Jungfrau region for another two days. This is a change from our original plan because we've been moving so fast that we haven't had any time to stop and enjoy these places. So, we've decided to bail on Venice. Shame, but oh well.

After returning the rental car in Cordoba, we caught the fast train back to Madrid and flew to Toulouse, France. Somewhere in between a baggage handler who either likes or dislikes Australia cut Mai Li's securely stitched Australian flag from her pack, leaving a bare spot bordered with frayed threads. We arrived at night and were booked into a nice little hotel, but wandering the streets was a bit dodgy. We were followed at least once, and I reckon twice.

We picked up a car the next day and drove to Carcassonne, about an hour out. This was one of the most memorable stops so far -- a 13th century fortified city. We stayed within the city walls, and had great food for dinner -- cassoulet, a regional specialty. We also picked up a bottle of absinthe, complete with slotted spoon and sugar cubes, but haven't got stuck into it, yet.

What was next... it's all a blur... we tried to get to Montpellier, but driving in these European cities can be a nightmare. We tried to follow signs to hotels and they just led us out of the city, so we said "screw you, Montpellier!" in slightly more colourful language and spent the night in some crappy suburban motel. When we get to the little medieval town of Sommières the next morning, not thirty minutes away, we discovered they'd had the annual bull run through the streets the evening before, which would have been brilliant. Still, tough to beat a crappy suburban motel.

Next chapter: Avignon, the l'Ardeche, Lyon....

Spain: Seville, Granada, Jaén, Cordoba...

Getting access to the internet is a little less easy than I had hoped, not so much for the availability but just the time; we are really moving across the continent quickly. I'll try to keep this updated at least once a week.

We caught the fast train from Madrid to Seville on 07 April, involving a brief scramble at the train station ten minutes before departure as Mai Li ran from counter to counter to get our railpasses validated before we could board.

Seville was beautiful, and is one of our favourite places thus far. The old city is a maze of narrow cobblestone streets and lanes between four-storey buildings. It being Semana Santa, Holy Week, the town was crammed with tourists, all of whom (including ourselves) wandered around with maps looking lost. We had one overcast day and one warm and sunny Spring day there (in fact, much of our time in Spain the weather was overcast and rainy.) There was a bullfight on Easter Sunday, the first of the season and a big one, for which a scalper offered us tickets for €150 each—A$250! We said it was too expensive and he didn't bother to haggle, so obviously he can get that price.

All along we have been helped by the fact that people speak a little English, particularly in the hotels, but nevertheless I have been able to muster enough Spanish for us to get by. Indispensible are my French studies and my Lonely Planet phrase book.

Having recovered from my food poisoning, Mai Li was then struck with a strange, terrible cough, fever, chills and an aching back. I suspect strep throat. On our last night in Seville we went out to see some authentic local flamenco but could only stay for half an hour because Mai Li was too sick to stay.


We drove on to Granada the following day and visited the Alhambra, which on wise advice I pre-booked before we left Sydney, enabling us to saunter past the hours-long queues. The Moorish architecture and interiors are intricate and beautiful, and there are fountains and gardens throughout. The weather held out for our tour and was at times sunny and hot. Granada is a nice city with a bohemian community, but apart from the Alhambra, a fantastic seafood paella at the Méson Gallega, and a €30 extortion for laundry it wasn't the most memorable.


On our way to Cordoba we drove through Jaén and stayed a night in a 12th-century fortress converted into a 4-star hotel. Pleasant, but expensive.

Cordoba has a lot of character, and is considerably older than Granada. Apart from the obligatory visit to the Mezquita, we caught a great flamenco show with this one dancer in particular who tapped his feet so fast it sounded like a typewriter.


We are now in France, but we need to get moving, so that update will have to wait till next time....

Spain: Madrid, Segovia, Avila...

The flight was largely uneventful, though for some reason Mai Li kept setting off the security scanners, despite dumping all her things into the tray provided. I think she was frisked three times. We've not been too jetlagged after having arrived. We researched the seating plans on the plane and booked good seats on both legs, so I actually managed eight hours sleep. Mai Li only napped fitfully, though, so after 24 hours travel time and checking into our 4-star hotel indulgence, and luxuriating in the shower, Mai Li had a little siesta. We then ate at the Museo del Jamon, the "Museum of Ham," a smoky bar festooned with legs of ham serving beer and tapas. Madrid was a bit overcast and rainy, and at one point we were traipsing through the rain between hotels with our backpacks and ponchos.

The following day we caught a bus tour from Madrid to Segovia and Avila. Segovia has three main tourism draws: the alcazar, a 19th-century reconstruction of the original 13th-century castle which burned down; the Gothic cathedral; and, the reason I wanted to go, the Roman aqueduct, still in use, spanning nearly a kilometre, rising nearly 30 metres and all built without a drop of mortar. Spectacular.



Avila is surrounded by 12th-century walls, the best preserved in Spain. The guide book says as a top priority one should walk atop the parts of the walls open to the public, but unfortunately it is the nature of tours that you have to follow the leader, and we stayed at ground level.

Lunch was included in Segovia -- bean soup and roast suckling pig -- but it was nothing to write about except that it gave me food poisoning, the details of which I will spare you. Apart from being easier on my stomach, we've been eating fruit, bread and yoghourt from the markets because it's cheaper and eating restaurant food and tapas is too rich to eat all the time.

I am writing this from Seville, a truly beautiful city, but am I supposed to waste all my time on this computer? I'll update you from the next stop....

Europe...

On Wednesday, 04 April, in a couple of days, Mai Li and I will fly to Madrid via Heathrow and our trip through through Europe will unfold, undoubtedly in every direction other than those carefully planned in the last two months. We will spend the first day doing our zombie impressions through the streets of Madrid after 28 or so hours of travel time in economy class before collapsing into our hotel bed as late as we can hold out. The following day we may take a day trip by bus to Segovia or Toledo, and the day after we will head to Andalusia for a week, starting with the Semana Santa celebrations in Seville.

Click on the image of Europe and you can see circled in red all the major points along our planned route. You can see our itinerary by clicking here.