Last photos for a while

These may be the last photos for a while as we are leaving for Rome soon.

First photo is from Arles, where Van Gogh painted some of his most famous paintings before being driven crazy by the wind and cutting off his ear! They have easels around the town to show where he painted each scene, and in the case of the garden it has been kept in exactly the same state it was when it was painted.


Now we are off to the Pont du Gard! It has stood for nearly 2000 years and was part of Roman aqueduct that brought water to Nimes. It is the second tallest roman ruin around (the Colosseum is 6 feet taller) and it is a pretty amazing piece of engineering. We spent a long and lazy day there getting sunburnt and climbing all up and around it.


Next we have Nice and it's beautiful water. Photos can't do it justice, the water is so brilliant and clear. Shame about all the rocks!


Manarola is next, one of the Cinque Terre (five fishing villages I mention earlier). Once again the water is so clear, but a little less clean than in Nice. It was a little too cold for swimming but it was so tempting at times!


Finally, a snap from our balcony in Manarola.... 'nuff said!

Around Europe in 5 Photos

Okay, the next lot is a bit random, but Michelle helped me pick them, so I'm gonna blame her!

The first photo comes from France, specifically Normandy. We had just picked up the hire car that day and were getting used to the crazy French drivers and their zany road rules when we came across some road works. It all looked very serious and they even had a guy out waving a flag to slow everyone down. Well, at least that's what it looked like. Apparently they are a bit lazy in France and rather than have someone stand there to wave down traffic (and miss out on valuable poodle kissing time) they have instead employed a robot to do the work - complete with his own water bottle! It might miss something in the translation but it had us laughing for a long time. Only in France!


From the ridiculous to the sublime; Mont-St-Michel at night. We arrived just before sunset and wandered over for dinner. Afterwards we ambled around the ramparts until the sun had well and truly set before setting off back to our hotel. It was bitterly cold, but the views were stunning. It was times like these that I was glad for my Gorillapod (even if I did set it up a little wonky).


Next we are off to Barcelona and to the La Boqueria markets where we had two fantastic meals. The cafes in the market make a fresh menu each day from produce that they source from around the market. We had some excellent squid, baby clams, sea bass and fresh vegetables, all cooked right in front of you and served with a great house wine. Some of the best value food we had came from here!


Next stop is the Sagrada Familia, which is still under construction after all these years. The columns in the photo were designed by Gaudi, but it took modern equipment to be able to build them quickly and safely. Once completed the church will dominate the Barcelona skyline, and with all the cranes and spires already completed you could argue that it already does.


Finally, we are back in France with a view of Carcassonne at night. We stayed in a wonderful B&B and spent a few nights resting and recuperating after several full-on weeks. The castle is amazing fun to run around, and at night it just gets better as all the tour groups leave. We had the castle to ourselves on most nights and took full advantage, storming the walls, shooting arrows at invaders and then sneaking out the back entrance!


Thats it for tonight, I have hogged the computer for over an hour now! We spent a busy day in Florence today, visiting the Accademia (to see Michelangelo's David) , a precious stone museum, The Uffizi Gallery (with Botticelli's Birth of Venus and so much more), the Santa Croce Basilica (with the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli...) and then up-and-down the Duomo Dome (the view was worth each of the 428 steps). It was a hectic day and we are pretty tired. There is still so much of Florence to see, but we are off to Rome tomorrow. Then the real madness begins!

Chateau!

I finally figured out how to get my USB thingy to work on the hotel computer so I get to upload a few photos! These are going to be a little out of order, but who cares!

For starters we'll have some of the wonderful chateaus that we visited in the Loire Valley. First up is Ussé which was a bit over priced so we didn't go in. You can get a wonderful view from across the road though!

Next we have Villandry, with its magical gardens. It was pouring with rain that day, which meant we had to buy an 8 euro umbrella, but also meant we had the whole place pretty much to ourselves. The maze was fun and Michelle has a wee little video that she might upload later.


Next is the Disney-esque Chaumont, which was a real disappointment inside. You get the best views from the (free) gardens.


Next up is my favourite, Chambord. It is set in the middle of a huge wild game park (it was a hunting lodge) and it is simple amazing from any angle. It features a double-helix spiral staircase inspired by Leonardo da Vinci and has apartments/chambers set up in different styles to reflect the different centuries. It has over 400 rooms and 220 chimneys!


Finally is Cheverny, which has one of the best preserved interiors. The same family who built it still live there! They were nice enough to the locals that when the revolution came (as they always do in France) they were spared the guillotine and pitchforks that other lords got. Cheverny is also a hunting lodge and has a huge pack of hunting hounds that you can visit.


We also visited Chenonceaux (which was fantastic) and stopped to photograph several other chateaus on the roadsides, but unfortunately I can only do 5 photos at a time! So that's it for the chateaus... there are so many other photos to choose from! Where to next?

Castle Hopping

Here is a guest post from Michelle (okay, its an email she wrote, but I am hijacking it):

"Hi guys,

Hope all is well with all of you! Managed to find an internet cafe
(finally) complete with english keyboard! Its the only one in a few
towns nearby to where we're staying! (yay i can type at normal speed!)
to give you guys an update.

These past few days we have been driving around in a rented car (mum
dont worry, I've been a very safe driver and we have been upgraded
from a toyota yaris to a mercedes benz! -much safer!) We left paris
last friday.. oh by the way, I got a bit ill from somethng i ate, so
the following day when we went to versailles, I managed to throw up
there! - RIght outside the Kings gallery of lots of paintings of
himself and his rellies.(I know, classy story.. but it was a pretty
amazing place to be sick in!- Lots of security guards on walky talkies
contacted each other quickly and a medic team immediately rocked up
outta no where, checking my blood pressure.. asking me questons .. I
felt like a VIP in a strange way!) There were hoards of people there
and the medic got them to get outta the way just so we can get to the
cafe to get an overpriced coke to settle my stomach.) It would have
taken 15 mins just to get thru the crowds to the cafe otherwise!

- Im stll not sure if it was the capaccio of beef (raw beef) or pork
pate i ate. But phil reckons its was the pork pate cos he didnt get
sick. Im not going to be so adventurous anymore i think.. too many
snails... :P (tho theyre yummy!- phil loves them.)

Anyway we've been driving around the past few days from sight to
sight, town to town. The french are interesting drivers... and really,
anything goes.. I have been beeped a few times though! Their roads are
really narrow, really, driving in australia is an absoloute blessing-
what with the wide straight roads! BUt.. im getting used to it...

We've seen an ancient abbey/monastery and town around it thats built
on an island..called Mont St Michel, lots of DDay sights around teh
Normandy beaches ( I know all about it now.. and what I dont know,
Phil let me know.. he is a bit of a war buff) :) Visited the American
and German cemeteries- a massive contrast to each other. American one
is a sight to behold with white crosses as far as the eye can see. But
the German one is much more sombre with just black stones on the
ground with the names of the soldies on it and also occasional black
crosses and an extremely morbid monument in the middle of the
cemetery. Unforunately we cant put the pics up right now at the
internet cafe.



Other than that we have seen some amazing castles.. some are just
drive bys, some we went into..unforgettable. Its pretty free being
able to drive around.. stop whenever you like.

Tomorrow, we are doing one more day of chateau hopping and then back
to paris to catch a night train to barcelona. So used to hearing and
using french now.. that it will be weird having to change to spanish
for four days and then switch back to french after that. (we are going
back to south of france afterwards.)

by the way, im a bit over cheese.. its in EVERYTHING! but phil is
enjoying all the diff types of cheese and interesting ways they can
add it to dishes!


I reckon thats about it for now.. we are safe and well and enjoying
frenchie life.. eating well and the wine.. even the house wine (thats
all we order usually) is FANTASTIC quality! (love the wine!)

okay will write soon!
love michelle (and phil!)oxox"

There isn't much more to add! We have been hanging out to post some more photos, but they are going to have to wait. We have had such spotty internet connectivity that its been a trial getting any time in front of a computer. That said, we've chewed up our 30 mins here already and should go. We'll post again from (hopefully) sunny Barcelona!

Paris

As expected, our internet access has completely dried up. Not only that, but we are running out of room on our memory cards and are still yet to find somewhere to burn a dvd!

Nevertheless, we are in Paris and all is well. We have hit most of the major sites so far; Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower and much, much more. It has been a little colder than expected. It even snowed while we were up the Eiffel Tower!

The best thing so far has been our Segway tour on the first night. We spent several hours zipping around Paris and viewing the major attractions. It didn't rain but it was bitingly cold. You don't move much on a Segway so we ended up frozen like popsicles! It was still an awesome experience and recommended to anyone who has the opportunity.

Tomorrow we are off to Versailles. Once we get a good stab at a PC we'll try and upload some more photos. Paris and London are both beautiful cities (if not a bit smelly).

Au revoir!