All the kids have been asking for it, who are we to deny them.......

So here is a Video of our aparment in Pescara Enjoy!

Au revior France.....Ciao Italia

After 2 weeks in France and 18 hours in Spain we have now crossed the spectacular border into Italy!!

After the crazy detour to Spain, which I ended up loving after a little convincing, we drove back over the Pyrenees to Carcassonne. We had never heard of this place, but our opera singing host in Pons recommended we go - and it was worth it!

It's another medieval fortified city inside which people actually still live but some of the ambience is a little ruined by tacky souvenir shops. I couldn't stop thinking about the scene in Monty Python's The Holy Grail when the knights approached the French walled city and also of battles that may have occurred there involving hot oil poured over the walls. Charming, I know. We only went there at night for dinner (the scene of another ordering debacle by Carlo) and sorry Mum but it was just too hot to eat cassoulet.

Our GPS (Paul) didn't cope well with getting to where we were staying and Carlo had to do a million U-turns and drive up roads the wrong way so we got out of there as soon as possible.

The next day we drove to Nimes which still has many Roman era monuments and buildings. Within the town was a very cool Roman amphitheatre which was used as a bull-fighting ring. We foolishly were in France around Bastille day so there were lots of barricades and setup for a fireworks show that night - sort of ruined it a little, but it was still spectacular!

But the best thing about Nimes is this:

Pont du Gard, the remains of a Roman aqueduct and bridge that was built around 40 AD. It was super hot and so lots of people use the river as almost a beach. We were jealous as we were completely unprepared to swim, but we bought some salad stuff and ate our dinner in the shadow of one of the arches.

This was really one of the highlights of our French trip. The scale, engineering and design are awe inspiring.

That night we stayed in a very old house in the nearby town of Poulx which also had an ancient Roman church that didn't stop ringing it's bells. In the picture there was a swimming pool, but in actual fact it was a converted from the original sheep dip/drinking well and was tiny. It still did the job though!

After a very nice breakfast on the terrace, that we both wish we could replicate in Melbourne, we left for Nice. Actually the breakfasts we have been having have been a highlight of the trip. Most places we stay have breakfast included and we get croissants, baguette, brioche with homemade jams and preserves as well as yoghurt and fresh fruit.

Nice, you would think the place was nice (terrible pun) but apparently there is loads of crime there and they target the tourists. We found it the hardest place to find accommodation as the people in the tourist information centre were very unhelpful. We ended up finding something in nearby Grasse, and what a something it was!

There were some other people staying there too and they invited us for some dinner which was really nice. We also had a late night swim with them, and the owners and Carlo says it is really hard to play volleyball in the pool with a topless woman and her husband! Ahhh the French!

We were very keen to head into Italy so Carlo could eat something so we decided to go a few days early. The drive through the mountains from Nice to Genova was insane. Instead of having winding roads they build bridges over the valleys and tunnels through the peaks. So for about 150km the road is over 100m high bridges to 1km long tunnels. The toll was a little expensive but worth every dollar because of how much infrastructure they have built. I was very scared on some of the bridges as there is nothing but a guard rail between us and a 100m drop to the rocks/sea below but Carlo drove very well.

We got to a small town called Valbrona later that day which is near the eastern arm of the bottom of Lago di Como (Lake Como) and we stayed in a little family run Albergo. Italy is a lot noisier than France with children playing in the back yard and their parents yelling at them, a group of old people playing cards on the terrace and cars and scooters going as fast as they can through the tiny streets late into the night. It was just like being at Carlo's Mum's place for dinner - great to be in Italy!

It was still warm and this old lady staying at the hotel kept saying "Troppo caldo sono morire" meaning "It's too hot, I'm dying". Hahaha you have to love the Italian way of over-exaggerating everything!

Lago di Como is breathtakingly beautiful.

We drove around the narrow scary roads for a day and after the drive from Nice I think I am going to have a heart attack from stress. We also ate dinner looking at this view, it was very romantic.

After 2 days in Valbrona we left for Pescara, but broke up the drive in Bologna. It was hot, smelly, dirty and deserted as no one is stupid enough to stay there on the weekends during summer but we especially wanted to go there to catch an english meeting. It was great to see the brothers and their hall was awesome.

We stayed that night in a hotel that in peak cost €350/night but due to it being completely empty it cost €69 including breakfast. We kept asking the reception if that was right! We will go back to Bologna later when it's more tolerable as it seems like a great city.

So now we are in Pescara. Carlo's cousins apartment is gigantic and we lose each other in it. It has a great view of the ocean from the wrap around balcony. The family have welcomed us with copious amounts of delicious food (3 course minimum at all meals) and have set us up with everything we could need in the apartment.

We have checked out the beach a few times and are a little perplexed at the kilometres of soft sand covered in umbrella's and lounge chairs for hire. There isn't a spare square meter that isn't covered. Carlo is in heaven though as all the way along the beach there are football, basketball, volley ball and tennis courts. It makes for a great carnival atmosphere.

We are here for a week until we leave for London to visit our friends (Pat & Renee and a few others) and then we are back in Pescara to work on our tans.

That is all for this really long blog!

Ciao, Ciao!

Best 18 Hours In Spain Ever

Espanga! Espanga! but more of that later

Each day we have been driving a couple of hundred KM's and seeing "Stuff" along the way, Orleans was fun and the lady at the bed & breakfast was a non stop talking machine. If it wasn't for her fantastic house and delightful pool I may have snapped. Oh and there were giant bees in the garden.

We grabbed some dinner in the old town of Orleans that had some 12th century buildings - they looked nice.

Not as nice as the smoked duck but pretty good.

After Orleans we went to visit Chateau Chambord, a "hunting lodge" of King Francois I and his successors. The grounds were so green (apparently the size of central Paris) and full of deer and wild boar. We really wanted to see a wild boar but the super loud chamber music from the Equestrian show scared them away or perhaps they were intimidated that my back is hairier than theirs.

The chateau was full of tourists but you can see why they go there,

I really wanted to ride these sweet two people bikes (like a tandem but side by side i.e. a golf cart with pedals) but Alycia refused to let me, so I cracked it and organised to get one anyway with the guy but alas I had forgotten my wallet in the car. I hate it when Alycia wins by default!!

We wanted to make it as far south as we could that day, so we could not stop at Futuroscope. Instead we pulled of the motor way just before dark at a very small town called Vivonne. It had 1 hotel, and there were no cockroaches! The whole drive we were flanked by field after field of sunflowers, we loved how they all faced the same way (except it was away from the sun stupid sunflowers)

In the morning there was a market in the main/only street and there was food stalls of all sorts, including oysters that didn't seem to have much refrigeration and a place that could satisfy all your seafood and jewellery needs (take note Skulk-ertons).

Next stop, Cognac Huzzah! After going to the tourist information centre and being sent to Remy Martin or Hennessey, we went to a cognac store called La Cognatech. We asked the guy for a recommendation as we wanted something a little more personal than a big place, he recommended that we go to Segonzac the heart of Grand Champagne the Premier cru in Cognac. For the rest of us that means "drinkie taste good from there".


After lunch we went to his recommendation Guillon-Painturaud and the lady who is the one woman show, gave us a 2 hour tour of all things cognac. Her family has been in the house that she lives in since 1610 and making cognac for 300 years. Lets just say she knows her stuff, and she was super generous with the tastings. I was driving (as per usual) so I had to pour Alycia into the car before we left.

Alycia by this stage has tried all five cognacs. The still they use to distill the congnac was built in 1914

We drove onto Pons to stay, nothing to see there don't go unless you want to hear spontaneous opera in the middle of the night. Now to important things, on a whim - a brilliant, brilliant whim - I decided that we should go to Spain to see the World Cup final. Alycia being wary of all things spontaneous, made us go to St Emillion first.

St Emillion is a medieval town on top of a hill with super steep cobble stone streets, my boat shoes did not provide enough grip so a good time was had by all watching me trying to walk.

With some help from DP we decided that San Sebastian would be the best/closest place in Spain to watch the final. We found a hotel that was on the beach and in a nice part of town. Thought we lost the little camera for about 2 hours, but apparently Alycia is as bad at looking for things as I am. It turned up after we'd had too much Sangria and moved the washing off the bed.

We wanted to hug and dance with the Spanish when they won, but apparently so did every other Aussie in a 100km radius and that is allot since the running of the bulls in Pamplona was on at the same time. The other mistake we made was going to the suedo capital of Basque. If you don't know Basque is like Tibet and Spain Like China, they don't really see eye to eye. The place had a funny vibe to it after Spain won, one of joy but the kind of joy you have when you think someone might beat you up for being happy.

So we have now returned to France but more on that in a shorter more cohesive blog....

P.S. I don't know why everyone goes on about French food, I can order nothing good. I thought go for something simple like a pizza and they burnt it and brought out the wrong type one with piles of mushroom. So I go for healthy - Salmon - but it appears that French salmon swim in cream sauce instead of water over here. Oh and Tapas in San Sebastian kills anything I have ever had before...

Espanga! Espanga!

A Cold, Raoul Moat and the Adventure Begins....

Who get's a cold in Paris in the summer?

I do :(

So the last few days we had in Paris were a little slow. On the Monday we put on our tourist hats and got onto a Batobus which is a boat that goes along the Seine (but without commentary). We got on at Notre Dame and went along to Champs de Elysee.

Art vs Science has ruined this street for us.

We walked up the street to the main shopping area and stopped into Lancel. And there was a nice handbag that was 40% off. So needless to say the handbag search is over, and it has been nicknamed the GFB (Giant Friendly Bag...a Roald Dahl reference) because well it's a touch oversized.

Next was the Arc de Triomphe and thanks to Coral we bought a ticket to go up to the top. The sheer scale of the monument and the intricate detail amazed us both.

After climbing up the 290 stairs we got a fantastic view of Paris, especially of Haussmann's boulevards and we could really appreciate his vision for Paris.

After getting a bit rained on, and me having to hide in a doorway to protect the GFB we decided to walk over to Tour Eiffel.

The crowds were overwhelming and we were sick of being harassed by gypsies so we took a few key photo's and left. We will leave going up to the top when we return in October, and hopefully we will get to go up at night because as yet we haven't seen the City of Light after dark.

The next day my cold had set in, so after a late sleep in and lots of whinging we went for a walk over to the Latin Quarter & St Germain. We checked out the Pantheon (yet another huge and super detailed monument) and went over the Jardin du Luxembourg.

The gardens were beautiful, but the lawns were for show only! They were so green and inviting, but alas we were not allowed on them.

Carlo says that the panorama's he took of the gardens are better, so go to the Gallery to check them out!

We sat in the park for a while and tried our hands at sketching. We have discovered we both draw like 5 year olds.

That evening the football was on, so we did our usual and got falafel for dinner and ate in our apartment watching TV. Sad I know, but you don't know how good those falafel are!

Our final day in Paris was still marred by my cold, so we stuck around Marais to do some more shopping. Carlo got some great boat shoes and Reebok Pumps and I got some more Frenchy bits and pieces. I tried to do the vintage shop thing but I just have no patience to sift through the racks - sorry Dina!

Even though the football was on that night we wanted to have a proper dinner out - not falafel again in our apartment! So we put on our new Frenchy clothes and went out. The dinner was excellent, well what I could taste of it as not breathing = not tasting.

We caught some of the game at the restaurant and the rest at our apartment - Allez Espange!! The French commentary is just hilarious, lots of "Attention! Attention!" or "ohhh la lalala" and "Exceptionel! Exceptionel".

The only English TV stations we had were news and we became transfixed to the 24 hour coverage of the man-hunt in England for Raoul Moat, a psycho gun man that is on the loose and is leaving letters all over the countryside threatening police. His Mum got onto the media and said it would be best if he was dead. Great Mum. I wonder what he is doing right now?

So now we have picked up our little Clio and embarked on our road trip adventure. We headed to Versailles but the crowds and line was crazy, so that is another thing to do in October (also on that list is Montmartre, Musee D'Orsay and a few others).

We left straight away and headed to Orleans, amazingly there appears to be a mini Notre Dame. We got some lunch at a tabac/cafe where they spoke no English. France out of Paris is going to be very interesting!! Joan of Arc is said to have fought in these parts and there are loads of monuments and museums in her honour. Lets just say Gypsy and the Cat have ruined Orleans for us "Joooona, Jona Varck"

We have found a really nice B&B for the night, but we are not sure how much it is going to be....sort of forgot to ask. Oh well, there is a pool and the garden I am writing this in is beautiful. We just won't look the other way into the high tension power lines and transformer on the other side of the road. Ha!

Pool time!

PS.

Found out this place is only €62/night including breakfast- what a steal. And they have a wood and a stream in the back full of frogs and snakes. This is the France I was hoping for. We also ate out tonight in Orleans and had the most amazing house smoked duck. Next stop Chateau Chambord and a hopefully a swim in the Atlantic ocean.

CP: "What's that?" AP: "ah.....just some church...?"

We have been in Paris for 3 days now. The flight over was long and tiring but the shower, rest and strange cheese sandwiches we had in the middle at Doha was worth the USD$40!

When we arrived it was HOT and we hadn't got around to taking off our travel skins so the trudge up 4 flights of narrow stairs with the luggage almost killed us (well Carlo more, he carried everything...ha!).

We were super tired when we arrived and almost fell asleep in our plates of food at dinner....but the jet lag is almost gone now but it doesn't help that it doesn't get dark till after 10pm.

The apartment we rented is nice, tiny as expected but very clean and modern with everything we could need. We are in Marais which is a pretty cool spot - lots of galleries, bars, restaurants and boutique stores. Marais is right in the middle of the Jewish district so on the street are Jewish bakeries and delis selling pastrami, bagels, pickles as well as excellent felafel restaurants. There are around 5E a pop, so there is always a line! There are also rabbi's spruiking prayers to any Jewish man they come across. Those that agree are wrapped up on the street in the tefillin and recite something in hebrew, "oi!".

Friday was 34C and just too hot, so we went early to the Lourve to try and escape the heat. There was no line yet and we spent several hours perusing the halls. We came out both a bit perplexed as to why the Mona Lisa is sooo popular and thought the highlight was Napolean's apartment.

Afterward we continued walking up to the Opera district, checked out Galleries La Fayette which was crazy busy with people as the July sales just started (think Myer Boxing Day sales) so we promptly left to go and watch the World Cup game.

The first place we stopped was Cafe Oz, sooooo cliche and there was no where to sit and I was cranky. We moved on at half time and found this empty bar that had the TV on. We drank beer and were entertained by the bar man who had to get up onto the bar to get reception back when it started to rain. They also made us the strongest Mojito's ever and I struggled walking back to the apartment.

The next day we spent shopping as the sales are really good. We braved Galleries La Fayette again in search of a handbag for me, I got told off by one sales girl for holding the bag the wrong way (must remember, brand on the outside.....) and Carlo got snipped at a few times too. It was hot, crazy and full of stupid tourists such as ourselves so I can understand their frustration. The handbag search continues....

In the evening we went for a walk to the Seine as I was feeling despondent about Paris and if I really liked it. We heard a rock band playing in a park on Ile de la Cite and as we walked around saw the back of a church:

Neither of us knew what it was (our conversation is in the subject).

But it ended up being this:

We are such philistines!

The walk around Notre Dame, parts of the Latin Quarter and St Germain pepped me up about Paris - as did today as the weather was just perfect.

We checked out a flea market and Carlo thought some guy was trying to pick pocket him. We were not big fans of the market, suppose it's never been our thing anyway - and the area smelt so much of urine it was gross.

We spend the rest of the glorious afternoon shopping in Marais, stopped for a rest at Place des Vosges and Carlo encouraged me to buy a jump suit.

Our French is improving, we realised that we focused so much on Italian that we forgot we were spending close to a month in France! Carlo keeps speaking Italian to people when he thinks he's speaking French. I am getting good at saying "Sorry, I don't know him" hahah nah, I mean "Sorry I don't speak French....do you speak English" which has been getting good results everywhere.

We still have some touristy things to do in the next few days - Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Montmartre and I still need to find that elusive handbag.

Check out the Galleries for photo's so far.