Thursday, 21 July 2011

Last day in France

Bonsoir bloggers,

We said a sad farewell to our mate Joanne (she's staying on tour in Europe for a bit longer) in Florence before boarding a train to Roma, taking a taxi to Ciampino (Roma's other international aeroporto) flying to Paris' other international airport at Orly and a train and then taxi to the hotel.  The day started at 5.30am.  We arrived at the hotel at 6.30pm.

Hope you're well Joanne and not missing us too much.  Thanks for the fun we had together.  See you back in Aotearoa sometime.  And remember that haka ends with a big HI!!!

You bloggers got lost in the wilderness of the internet yesterday.  France has proved the most difficult to access the internet.  Finally got there tonight. 

We're heading back to Aotearoa tomorrow, that will take 30 hours.  We leave here on Friday morning and get home on Sunday.  Sad to be leaving, but also positive about getting home to Palmy, family, friends and the comforts of home.  It'll be good to be speaking English again and being understood.

Hope you guys enjoyed your 2 nights and 1 day in Paris. 
Gay Paris, here we come.  The river Seine running through the heart of Paris.
The eternal flame below the Arc d'Triomphe in memory of the fallen soldiers of France

This tunnel runs under the Champes Elisee the worlds most famous avenue.  The tunnel runs to the Arc d'Triomphe in the centre of the roundabout on the avenue.  There is NO WAY you could cross the road to get to the centre, so they built a tunnel under the road.  Think Roma has crazy traffic, Paris beats them hands down!!!
The girls sheltering from a chilly Paris.  The Arc D'Triomphe in the background.  The hotel is only a few hundred metres down the road.  Very nice too.
This is the entrance to a toilet in the underground just down from Le Louvre museum.  You have the choice of scented and coloured paper. The best smelling toilets in Europe, it's like a perfumery.  One odd thing is that the handwashing area is shared by both males and females and the men's urinal is right beside.  Females can view men doing their business side on.   
Māori art on display at the museum just down from the Eiffel Tower.  Māori ... they are everywhere e hoa ma.
No beaches in Paris.  So this is the next best thing.  Beach umbrellas and sand alongside the dirty River Seine.
A view from the steps leading up the Eiffel Tower.  The queue took 50 minutes to get through.  But very cheap at only 3.60 euros = $7NZ.  Well worth the wait!!!

Taken from part way up the tower well before the first level.  It's HIGH !!! Got to level 2 and that's us!! Back down to terra firma for us.  This queue is one of 3 going to three pillars of the tower that have stairs and lifts.  The fourth pillar is for descending by stairs only.

It's after 12am and you and I have had another long day.  Gotta got.
Bonsoir au revoir- Good evening, good night.




Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Siena day 2

Buona notte bloggers,

Another short blog tonight.  We all have to pack for our departure from Italy and our arrival in France.  YEP, it's arriverderci to Italy and E stato un soggiorno molto piacevole, mille grazie, (Our stay has been wonderful many heartfelt thanks).

Siena was worh another visit, so that was all of us again today.

This is your villa in Tuscany.  Absolutely excellent accommodation and the pool is great too.  It's part of the famous Il Borgo di Vescine winery.  Great vista's of the Toscana valley.  The swimming pool is great too and comes with a self service bar, snack food and ice-creams.  Just write down what you use and charge to your room.  I had heaps but the guy at reception said forget about it Mr Fizzgera, so I wasn't about to correct his pronunciation.  I'll be Mr Fizzgera for a couple of days.
Siena is famous for the horse race that pits neighbouring districts against one another in a crazy horse race around the piazza. 2 Races are held each year, 1 in July and 1 in August.  The July race was just held and the winner is shown in the photo.  (not supposed to photograph the event or copy the photo) The race winner is not important, the focus is on beating the district that your district has had a rivalry since medieval times when the race first began.  14 districts compete in the race and jockeys try to knock one another off the their horse or try any means, fair or foul to beat their rival.  The cobblestone piazza is covered in packed down silt to create a track just for the one race.  It's a huge event with thousands of people attending to support their district's horse and jockey and fly the flags of their district. The race lasts only 90seconds. Tourists are rarely able to get into the event because it is so crowded and focussed on the local residents.
The venue of the race as it usually is, a market place and piazza with restaurants opening onto the piazza.

There are green and white flags flying from the windows of the winning district.  The shutters on the windows of each district are usually in the colours of the district.  This is the green and white district.
 Frances, Rosy and Joanna in downtown Siena.

The basillica of San Domenica with the chapel of St Caterina.  We went inside the pay our respects to St Katherine whose relics, including her mumified head, are on display.  We remembered Katerina Mataria and had our own karakia for her here in the church of her namesake.  St Caterina was a visionary who also maintained a strong political position on many issues affecting the people she worked with (a lot like Katerina Mataira).  She was the first nun to be canonised (sometime in the 1300)  Her head is preserved in a glass cabinet above an altar dedicated to her life.  It has been there for over 700 years.  She still has the nun's veil and habit over her head.  Her features are still intact.  She was a beautiful woman.  
That's our car in the middle getting benzine from the only petrol station with 50kms in any direction.  It is closed from 7pm every night and during the siesta time btween 1-4pm.  If you're lucky enough to have a credit card that works, you can get gas through a swipe card operating pump.

Computer is about to run out of power. 
Enjoy the train trip to Roma and flight to Paris tomorrow.
Next blog from Paris.
Ciao arriverderci. 
 

Monday, 18 July 2011

Sienna in Tuscany

Salve bloggers,

A short post tonight as it was another rest day - pretty much.

The girls went to view a winery while you and I stayed at the hotel, did some work back in NZ (had to!!!) and went for a swim and sunbathe at the hotel pool and complex.

When the girls returned at 2.30pm they had a rest and later on all of us went to Sienna, yet another beautiful Italy city 33kms south from the hotel.  Here are a few pics from the day.
An outdoor movie theatre in Sienna.  Movies start at 9.45pm just after dinner time in Italy.  The screen is set up in the middle of an ancient bastione (fortfied sanctuary) that sits on a hill near the centre of Sienna.  Amazing vista's of the city from the terrace that runs around the walls of the bastione.
The giant door to the Basillica of St Caterina.  It had just closed and you missed out on viewing the mumified head of St Caterina (Katherine) that is on view in the basillica. And you were impressed by the door!!!
Storming the walls of the Bastione.  The battles must have been hard fought and won.  Fortfied walls like this run around many villages and in the cities where 'bastione' exist as sanctuaries during invasions.  During the medieval period cities and villages were attacked and sometimes sacked by invaders who became the new rulers.  These 3 girls formed the latest attack on Sienna. However, they failed to trouble the defence force, the police or, for that matter any passersby. The only danger was to themselves.  
Rosy found her shop in Sienna.  It sells electric furniture ....... don't be silly.  It sells electric products for Rosi's house back in Napier.
Rosy is planking (Plonking) on a traffic island in Sienna. 
This pathway runs around the Bastione walls.  There is a 30metre drop off the side to the streets. The heart of the city is in the distance and within 1500m of the bastione.
A small part of the city of Sienna.
Better pics tomorrow. 
Get some sleep, you need it. And stay warm. Ciao.

Sunday, 17 July 2011

Radda in Chianti

Buona notte blog-followers,

It's 11pm in Tuscany and yiu've had another big day sightseeing, shopping, walking, eating and drinking the fine wines of this region. Radda is a very small village 5kms away from the hotel and sits in the Chianti district of Tuscany in Northern Italy.  The temperature here is a little more bearable than what's been had so far, around 25-30degs.

You and I woke up at 7am with hangovers after night in the hotel bar with 4 young guys from the Netherlands, a girl from Hungary, a gut from Germany and the Italian bartender.  The bar tender was the first to give up and left us in charge of the bar.  Just record what you drink and put your room beside it.  The Dutch guys charged everything to their room and wouldn't let the 'real Māori' pay for anything.  We did the haka, told jokes and stories and had a bloody good night.  Struggled to find our villa at 2am and paid for it today during a big day of sightseeing and shopping in Firenze (Florence) 53kms away on a winding road.  You and I went to church in Florence while the girls did some shopping and that gave us time to confess our sins and recover in order to tackle the day ahead.  It's 11pm and you and I are still up but they are not, so we made it through another exhausting day. Well done, you're a good travel buddy.

Firenze is beautiful and the buildings are magnificient.  I wish we had more time to explore the city and all it has to offer.  Michaelangelo's statue of David will have to wait until the next trip.  But there's so many other remarkable sculptures, cathedrals and buildings to see that I can appreciate the city as one of the art capital's of the world.  Leonardo, Botticelli, Magigliani, Micheallangelo, ... all walked these cobblestoned streets and sold their art in the same way the street-sellers do today.  They had to start somewhere and Flornce was the place.  You can still feel their presence in the city.

Here's what you got up to today>
The Cattedral Duomo in Firenze
The front view of the Cattedral Duomo in Firenze. 
Lorenzo!!!
Lorenzo!!!
My Lorenzo ... Mama mia, oo la la!!!

The breakfast area at our hotel.  Complimentary breakfast all you can eat, an awesome selection of food fruits, cooked breakfast, fruit and hot drinks and we were the only ones eating.  Great start to each day.
Paolo the painter.  Frances bought some of his work but asked if he could enlarge one piece by painting more into it.  He was happy to oblige and make the painting an original.  A Leonardo in the making maybe? Come around home someday and see the artwork we've collected along the way. Firenze has amazing markets and the girls made some major purchases today.  Leather is everywhere, belts, bags, jackets, jackets and jackets. Highly recommended as THE place to shop in Italy.

The village of Castelnella just 7 kms from the hotel.  Tuscany is littered with castles on almost every major hill.  Each is heavily fortfied and relates to the histories of battles and invaders who took turn to reign over the region and it's inhabitants.  Our NZ history is soooo brief in comparison.  Tuscany has had many different rulers over the centuries.
Thewalkway under the castle.  There's a restaurant just a little further along.

The smoothest and largest nose I've ever hongi'd ..... and I've hongi'd some big ones at home.
This Sphinx is the guardian over the little courtyard in Castellnella.
These 2 cars are chained together and to a small tree for security.  That's how you protect your cars in Italy, you chain them to small trees.

Mobile camper people may recognise this.  It's an area where mobile camper vans come to dump their toilet waste.  You simply drive up take out your toilet waste container and pour it into the slot.  There is tap water in the concrete pile to the side of road and you're able to wash the container and try to flush away the solid waste.  GRRRRROSS!!!

Ciao, it's 12.30am and I'm being asked to leave the internet area. Love you guys.



Saturday, 16 July 2011

Tuscany night 1

Buona sera,

It's 10pm and you've been in Chianti for a few hours now, well settled in at the beautiful hotel of Il Borgo de Vescine.  The hotel is a winery with a resort type accommodation complex set amongst the vineyards of the Tuscany region and complete with a good sized swimming pool, bar, restaurant and accommodation complex of private brick lined villa's with excellent facilities.  There are only a few guests, maybe four or five couples, families and a ggroup of four young guys from the Netherlands who we shared a wine tasting session with a few hours ago.  Another couple from Norway joined us for that and we shared a few good laughs together trying to flumox the wine tutor and guess her country of origin - it ended up being Hungary. Good fun and I think you'll enjoy it here even though it's several kms from any town or shops.

The rental car drive from Pisa was guided by a GPS system.  Without it we would have turned an hour long trip into a day.  The road signs are super confusing, the roadworks and detours along the way would have had us going backwards, but the GPS was continually "re-calibrating' our destination and giving us audio instructions on how to get back on track.  It's a must for any wannabe drivers in Italy.

After midnight the last night in Riomaggiore.  A few wines to end the night, this was after a dance party at one of the villages up the coast, you all walked back along the coastal trail some 20 minutes away.  The fan was desperately needed each night and still wasn't enough to keep the temperature at a sleep-able level. 
Girls dragging bags up the train station stairs.
A little congested in the rental car.  They don't come much bigger than this and you wouldn't want any bigger than this the roads are very narrow and finding parking is next to impossible. 

Watch out for deer!!!  10 minutes later we almost hit a large deer that jumped across the road!!! OMG!!! It's true!!!  There are no fences in the countryside.  Deer run freely everywhere.  Now tell that to NZ Deerstalkers Assn and Howie Morrison on Hunting Aotearoa.
This sign means that it's a slippery road and you're heading towards the point of a triangle with 2 transformers chasing you.  What do these two stars mean????

The entrance to the township of Colle d'estella that is a fortified town just 10 kms from where we are staying.  Another example of amazing architecture and a rich ancient history, that the locals treat as everyday normal stuff.

Colle D'estella a small town in the middle of the Tuscany region.  This was the fortfied part of the town, surrounded by a moat and was fiercely defended against invaders.  In 1400's it was sacked and the close relationship it had with neighboruing Firenze was severed.
Wine tasting at Il Borgo de Vescine complimentary and very fulfilling.  
A meal at the restaurant to end the day.  Wine, ravioli, spaghetti, salad, mixed grill, dessert, amarillo and then downstairs to write this blog while the girls go to bed and prepare for tomorrow next adventure.
We are writing this while having a few beers at the bar below the restaurant. You and I are the only English speakers in the bar.  We're sharing a few laughs with the 4 guys from the Netherlands, one girl from Hungary and the Italian bartender.
Tomorrow is Sunday and hopefully we'll get to church in Firenze/Florence and check out some of the art galleries.  Michaelangelo and many of the other great artists learnt their trade in Firenze.

Ciao and arohanui mi famiglia, mi amico. (family & friends)



Friday, 15 July 2011

You're off to Sienna

Buon giornata fellow bloggers,

Your last day in Cinque Terre was full of walking the trail.  The REAL TRAIL. I have yet to see a goat in Italy but I have definitely found the GOAT TRACK that is made out to be the Cinque Terre Trail.  It's a steep climb from sea level up the mountain to the top of the trail between destinations and then dwon again to next village.  In places it's a sheer drop to the rocks and the sea with no barriers to protect you. When you encounter another walker on the trail take your time and negotiate who is going to be on the seaside when you pass.  The trail is only a few feet wide in many places.

You were lucky last night to be able to attend the Manarola festival and you had a good night dancing under stars with a few wines and beers at the end of a big day.

On the home front, there are many issues living in close quarters with 3 women travellers.  Underwear is washed in the shower and spread around the bathroom to dry, farting has become a competition of who can be loudest and competition is particularly fierce at nights when everyone is in bed.  It's eye-watering stuff and I'm affraid the girls are far more superior at this SPORT than the guys.

Pics for today.
One of the walkway tunnels.  This is to Riomaggiore and is 110metres long.  The walls have amazing murals.

35 deg heat, 2 kms uphill for this side of the trail.  The trail has many lizards and they sometimes dart out when you walk by.  You had one almost run through your shoe.

The beach at Vernassa.  about 100metres in total. The whole village makes use of this small section of the coastline for sun bathing and swimming.  The viilage iteslf is well worth a visit and has a number of Vernassa unique clothes and products on offer.  The gelato is great.
I'm writing this at the train station while waiting for the train to Pisa aeroporto where you agreed to give a rental car a go to get us all to Chianti in the middle of Tuscany where the plan is to spend 5 days and 4 nights sampling the wine and enjoying their hospitality.  Chianti wine is regarded amongst the finest in the world. As Hanibal Hector remarked at the end of the movie 'Silence of the Lambs' "I'm having a friend for dinner along with a fine Chianti ....." This is the area that produces the very same wine.
Train arriving gotta go. Ciao. 

Seaside Cinque Terre

Prego, (welcome)

You had a relaxing day yesterday.  A late start to the day 8.00am, a bit of a tidy up around the villa and with your travel bags, a rest and then a walk through Riomaggiore to see the sites.  Rosy and Joanne were keen for a ferry ride around the bay and to each village but the sea had a heavy surge and no ferries were running.  They ended up going for a walk along one part of the trail 1.5hours between Monterosso and Vernassa about 1.5kms but mostly uphill.  They had a swim, did some shopping and we all met up again back at the villa around 8pm.  Sorry no pics of their day.

But you guys came with Frances and I around Riomaggiore, then a train to Corneglia, the third village along the trail.  A much smaller village perched 365 steep steps above the train station.  There are only a small number of shops to visit and 4 small restaurants to eat at, although the village does have 4 or 5 snack bars to buy food from. 

The unique feature of Corneglia is the narrow lanes and close concentration of the village homes, closer than in Roma and anywhere else you've visited.  In total I think the entire village would fit within 6 NZ 1/4 acre sections.  It's close quarter living and clothes lines extending from the windows of each dwelling almost touch one-another. If you need to wear something different other than from your own wardrobe then just reach across and borrow from your neighbour - underwear included. There's no privacy but that's how it is in most of the villages we've seen throughout Italy.  The people are once again, very friendly and the tourist season is important for their economy, so the welcome is very warm. 

One thing I do appreciate while shopping in Italy is that the shop-owners leave you alone to try out their offerings and pay little attention to what you're up to.  Of course they're happy to help if you need them.  Shopping in Italy is a very pleasant experience.

Here are some pics of your day in Corneglia and back on the trail between Riomaggiore and Manarola.
The main shopping lane in Corneglia.  YEP there are shops with their products displayed in the lane, it makes for a tight squeeze when you bump into others also shopping.
The station below is Corneglia and the village in the distance is Manarola.  The trail between runs through a tunnel to the left of the train tunnel. Frances's umbrella has been a blessing.  365 steps straight up to the Corneglia in 30degs, a formidable challenge for anyone.
This is an entrance to a home in Corneglia, they are all like this one.  I had just helped two young girls close and lock their door as it was falling from it's hinges and needed to be lifted to be closed.  Watch your head as you enter!!!
This restaurant is at the top of the trail between  Manarola and Riomaggiore, a welcome respite after a gentle walk up the hill. Pimms and a snack while overlooking the sea and across to France in the distance. It's a real tough trail to walk ...... NOT!!!


The restaurant is built against the cliff-face.  Each day all of the fresh food must be carried up the trail by hand, including the many bottles of water, coke, wine and beer that are consumed by the walkers who drop in.  What a mission!!!

 At home after a tough day of sightseeing.  You have the top level to yourselves and the roof balcony complete with table, chairs and a view of the sea and village shopping area below. It makes for interesting viewing throughout the day and at night.  The only thing lacking is air conditioning (that's a BIG gap - believe me) I know you're experiencing the cold at home, this is the other EXTREME but with no way of controlling the temperature.   
 Stay warm and well bloggers.  You've decided to try one of the tougher trails today, watch this space to see how you go. Ciao, buona sera.