Associated blog sites

We have created three other blog sites giving tips about what we leaned on our trip to Europe in 2005:

France: tipsforfrance.blogspot.com
Italy: tipsforitaly.blogspot.com
Hong Kong: tipsforhongkong.blogspot.com

Monday - Home sweet home

The plane landed on time at Sydney airport at 8am.

Steph had sent us an SMS message saying she would pick us up at the airport. We were pleased and surprised to find Philip and Nicky waiting there too. It was good to see them all.

Steph drove us home, dropping Philip and Nicky off in the city on the way so they could go to work.

We got home before 9:30am. Cleo was very pleased to see us.

Sunday - Hong Kong & flight home

We slept in again - this time until 10am. We didn't sleep very well. Suzy said it was because of jetlag whereas I thought it was because the air conditioning was not working properly. It was quite hot most of the night and there were no windows you could open.

We checked out at noon, left our luggage with the porters and set off down Nathan Road towards the Star Ferry wharf.

Along the way, we returned to a jewellery store that Suzy went to yesterday and we purchased the jewellery she wanted.

At about 4:15pm, we caught the free shuttle service to the railway station. There was a Qantas checkin counter there and we decided to use it rather than take our bags on the train to the airport. We reached the airport by 5:30pm and went to the Qantas lounge. I read a copy of the Herald for the first time in about 6 weeks.

Hong Kong is a great place if you like colour and movement. There are people and neon signs everywhere. There is never a dull moment.

The traffic in Hong Kong is heavy but it flows OK. The drivers are polite, courteous and restrained. They were a big change from what we saw in Italy.

The service in Hong Kong is excellent. They go out of their way to be polite, courteous and helpful in any way they can. They are well organised and efficient. Things seem to work like a well-oiled machine.

Saturday - Hong Kong

I had no trouble getting to sleep after the long "day" which included the trip from Bellagio. We woke at 9:15am but I probably could have slept all day.

Breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then off to the shops again and the internet cafe.

In the afternoon, we went on a bus tour of the highlights of Hong Kong Island. The bus picked us up from our hotel at 1pm and returned us to the hotel at 7:30pm.

On the tour, we saw a temple built in 1847, Victoria Peak (we caught the tram up to the peak), Aberdeen fishing village (we took a sampan ride through the harbour), a jewellery factory, drove past Repulse Bay and finally to the Stanley Market (for shopping).

It proved to be a very worthwhile tour, partly because all the stops were interesting and partly because we had a live guide (rather than just an audioguide) who was informative and entertaining.

In the evening, we had the buffet meal at the hotel restaurant.

Friday - Hong Kong

We landed in Hong Kong at about 2pm.

Hong Kong airport is a big improvement on the old one that I saw when I was here 17 years ago. The new one is very big, clean and efficient. It is located a long way from town but you catch a train from within the terminal that takes you to Kowloon or Hong Kong. Everything is very efficient - just like clockwork. A shuttle service takes you from the train to your hotel. Most impressive.

Our hotel is modern, comfortable, well organised and has great service.

After a shower, we went for a walk down Nathan Road to look at the shops. Then back to the hotel for happy hour drinks. Then back to the shops for the night market. Then back to the hotel for dinner.

I was most impressed by how helpful the local people are. If you look lost or if you pull out a map, someone will come up to you and help. At first I thought they were trying to sell something but they were genuinely trying to be helpful.

Thursday - Italy to Hong Kong

When we woke up this morning, visibility was zero because of the cloud/mist/rain.

We decided to leave early. So we checked out at 9:30am. We reached Avis at Milano's Malpensa airport at 12 noon. We even got a cash refund from Avis for having more petrol than we started with.

The flight left on time and we arrived at London Heathrow and claimed the tax refund for the goods we purchased in Italy.

Suzy had been anxious all morning because of the things we had to get done and buy etc but this turned into something approaching total panic when she realised she no longer had her handbag. At first she thought she had left it in the ladies or it had been stolen.

As we retraced our steps, the lady we had spoken to at the BA desk told us it was waiting at security. Apparently, Suzy had forgotten to pick it up after going through the security scanning in the transit lounge.

We retired to the BA lounge for a stiff drink.

There was a delay before we took off. The "tug" that pulls the plane out from the terminal broke down. They couldn't repair it and they had to find another one. So we sat in the plane for more than half an hour about 20m from the terminal. Then we took off for the 12 hour flight to Hong Kong.

Wednesday - Bellagio

After a relaxing morning, we caught the hotel's shuttle service at 11am down to the Bellagio wharf and bought a day ticket on the ferries.

It was quite cool and cloudy but we had almost no rain at all. Now I know why I have been lugging my heavy woollen jacket around Europe for the last five weeks.

First we went to Varenna (a beautiful ancient fishing village on the lake) and then caught another ferry to Menaggio (a village on the other side of the lake) where we had lunch at a quaint little cafe overlooking the lake with the mountains, clouds and town in the background. We had pizza and a glass or two of wine. Very civilised.

Next we caught a ferry to Villa Carlotta - a mansion with lots of statues and a large garden. We walked to the next town, Cadenabbla and caught the ferry back to Bellagio.

We checked out the shops again, had a mixed drink at the same cafe as yesterday, met the same Australian couple that are now based in Hong Kong, sat by the lake watching the ferries come and go, etc. Very relaxing.

We found a nice restaurant for dinner in a lane with cobblestone steps up the hill. Another nice meal. We caught the hotel's shuttle service back to the hotel.

Tuesday - Viareggio to Bellagio

We checked out of the hotel at about 9am, packed the car and then went for a walk along the beach. Surprisingly we were the only people on the beach. The beach stretches for kilometres into the distance and the only other being we saw was a black dog.

We wasted a lot of time trying to find a laundromat before giving up and heading off to Bellagio. The trip was easy going (until the end) because we were travelling on good freeways.

Close to Bellagio the road was very narrow and windy as we travelled along next to the lake. The locals still travel at high speed even though there doesn't seem to be enough space for two cars to pass. There were a couple of times when I was sure that a speeding car was going to hit us but we arrived safely in the end.

The hotel is high up on the hill overlooking Bellagio and with a view of lakes on both sides. A brilliant view. We can sit up in bed and admire the view through large windows out onto our balcony. Yet another great location.

After we arrived, we drove down to the town of Bellagio to have a walk around. In the plaza near the lake, we sat down for a mixed drink and met another Australian couple. They now live in Hong Kong and gave us lots of tips on what to do when we reach Hong Kong.

In the evening, we used the hotel's shuttle service to go to a restaurant that the hotel recommended. The driver obviously knew the roads well. The street that the restaurant was in is narrow and windy and has high stone walls on either side. We were hoping it was a one-way street because there seemed to only be enough room for one car. But then we came across parked cars. Without blinking, the driver sailed past them with only millimetres to spare on either side.

The restaurant was very good and the service was great. They had a cat and a dog who came and begged at each table - part of the entertainment.

We met an Australian couple at the restaurant who were staying at our hotel and they gave us a lift back to the hotel.

Viareggio - Italian Riviera

Viareggio is a fascinating place. Quite different from anything else we have seen in Italy. Well worth a visit.

The hotel we stayed at is one of many on the main promenade that runs along the beach front. Some of the hotels are quite grand.

The promenade is wide by Italian standards and has a wide walkway on the beachside of the road. Unfortunately, you cannot see the beach from the promenade because most hotels have a beachfront bar/cafe/change-rooms next to the beach (opposite the hotel).

When you find a public walkway through to the beach, the sand is white and fine - similar to an Australian beach. The beach is very flat and more then 100m wide.

As you would expect there are plenty of cafes along the promenade although some have closed already for the winter season.

In the harbour, there are lots of expensive boats.

We found out later that this is where Italians like to come for their holidays. Apparently, the French and Germans like it too but it hasn't been discovered yet by the general tourist market. People describe it as the Italian Riviera.

Monday - Rome to Viareggio

We checked out of the hotel at 9am.

This time we asked the hotel to arrange for a taxi to the railway station. A good move because it only costed 10 euros this time.

Taxi fares seem to be random numbers in Rome. On the way from the railway station, someone quoted 70 euros but we ended up paying 30 euros. The hotel told us that it should have been only 20 euros. This time, we paid only 10 euros despite the fact that the meter said 12.50 euros. I can't figure it out.

It wasn't easy to find the Avis booth at the railway station. It was next to platform 24 but there were no signs to find it.

We asked them if we could change from a manual to an automatic. Instead of the little Opel we had booked, they gave us a Mercedes A class automatic. Another great move because it turned out to be a great car to drive.

Avis keeps the hire cars on the top level of a multi-storey car park about 200 meters from the station. We drove out of the carpark at 10:30.

Avis gave us a map and showed us how to get out of Rome and how to get onto the A1 freeway that heads north to Florence.

I had been dreading driving through the traffic in Rome but it turned out to be quite OK (compared to some of the driving we have already done on this trip). Avis's instructions were good and Suzy's navigation was even better.

The trip was pretty easy because it was on freeways most of the way. We arrived at Pisa just before 4pm.

People had told us that the leaning tower was no big deal and we just needed to drive past to say we had seen it. We actually found it quite impressive. The tower leans more than I had expected and it is in a large plaza with several other interesting buildings. Well worth the visit and well worth the long detour.

We had trouble finding the hotel at Viareggio even though we stopped to ask directions a few times. Eventually, we stumbled on it just when we were about to give up and try a different hotel.

A funny thing happened on the way into Viareggio from Pisa. We saw several "women" in fishnet stockings. They were walking along the road in bushland areas. The first one was more than 6ft tall and had no skirt. (The following day we were speaking to some Australians who often come to Italy. They said the people we saw would have been transvestites and prostitutes).

Anyway, Viareggio itself is a great place. Quite a find. So much so, I have created a separate blog entry for it.

In the evening, we had a fabuluous meal in one of the cafes along the promenade. Great food. Great service. A mixed drink followed by lots of wine. We only had to stumble across the road to get back to our hotel.

Sunday - Shopping & Pantheon

After a late breakfast, Suzy & I decided to visit the Pantheon today. Pam & Ralf had different plans.

We set off at about 11am. Suzy managed to find a few (million) shops on the way there and on the way back. The Pantheon itself was very impressive.

Rome is a great place. Every where you look and every time you turn a corner, there is something great to see (in amongst the leather shops).

Today we also made a couple of visits to the internet cafe. We needed to make a booking for accommodation for tomorrow night on our way to Bellagio. We had wanted to go via Pisa to see the leaning tower. Suzy saw a reference in the Michelin Green Guide to Viareggio (just north of Pisa) and we decided to go there.

Finding accommodation wasn't easy - partly because of language difficulties and partly because some hotels were already closed for the winter season. We had success in the end and printed Mappy instructions for our trip.

Originally, we had planned to go to a large park (Villa Borghese) today in Rome but we ran out of time.

In the evening, we had dinner again with Pam & Ralf. This would be our last dinner together on this trip because they were staying in Rome and then going to Venice and Paris while we headed off to Lake Como tomorrow.

Saturday - Shopping and Catacombs

Pam & Ralf have never been to Rome before and so they had different plans for the day.

Suzy and I went shopping. Along the way we returned to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps to take some photos.

In the afternoon, we had booked a bus tour called Christian Rome. We visited two churches (St Maria Major and St John), the holy stairs and finally the catacombs. The catacombs is where the Romans used to bury their death in tunnels under the city.

In the evening we met up again with Pam & Ralf and went out to dinner with two couples that Ralf knows through his business.

Friday - Positano to Rome

Another beautiful morning in paradise. Breafast in the sunshine on the terrace overlooking the sea. After breakfast, we payed the bill and packed our bags to leave this fabulous place.

I can highly recommend the Hotel Buca di Bacco. It has a great location right on the beach at Positano (this is paradise). The hotel itself is very comfortable and the service is excellent. Francesco at the front desk was particularly good.

While Suzy & I were at Pompeii yesterday, Pam & Ralf had organised with the hotel desk for a porter to pick up our bags at 11am this morning and for a taxi to take us to Naples railway station for a train to Rome.

Fortunately we had the same taxi driver as we had on the way into Positano a few days ago - probably because he has a station wagon and so could fit in all four of us with our luggage. He drove slowly again along the narrow windy roads along the cliff face.

We had been warned to be careful of pick-pockets etc at Naples. The railway station was chaotic. Apart from the beggars, we were hassled by porters and some doubtful characters. The train was meant to leave from one platform and then a different one. When it eventually left about 50 minutes late, the air conditioning wasn't working properly.

We reached Rome railway station at about 4:15pm. There was the normal chaos outside getting a taxi. One man tried to con us into paying 70 euros to get to our hotel. We squeezed into another taxi for a much lower fee.

The hotel is close to tourist locations. The rooms are small but I have seen smaller ones.

We went for a walk to the Spanish Steps and then to the Trevi Fountain. After a relaxing mixed drink near the fountain, we went to one of the restaurants that the hotel recommended. It was full but they said we would only have to wait 10 minutes. We got in 50 minutes later but it was worth the wait. We all had suckling pig, the house special.

While we were waiting to get a table, one of Ralf's friends came out of the restaurant - quite a coincidence.

Thursday - Pompeii

Pam & Ralf had decided to have a quiet day at Positano today whereas Suzy & I had decided to go to Pompeii. We enquired at the front desk about using buses and the train to get there but eventually decided to get a taxi to the railway. The taxi driver took us to Piano station and we caught the train to Pompeii.

Pompeii was different from what I expected. There were lots of walls, stonework, columns, etc but not many human shapes. Someone told us that many of the best exhibits are now in the museum at Naples.

We decided to use the audioguide rather than following a human guide. We selected the 2-hour highlights tour. It was worthwhile because we got a good sense of what Pompeii looked like when the volcano erupted back in 79AD.

We caught the train back to Meta and the hotel organised a taxi to pick us up to bring us back to the hotel. This taxi driver drove much faster than the others and we were relieved when he dropped us off.

We had a cup of coffee and a swim after which Pam & Ralf invited us in for yet another lemonchella.

We had dinner at a restaurant on the beachfront close to our hotel.

Positano - Genarro & Salvatore

If you ever come to Positano (and you should), I can recommend the company we used for our boat trips. It is based at Positano and run by the two skippers, Gennaro and Salvatore.

We thoroughly enjoyed both days. On the first day, Gennaro took us to Capri (including the Blue Grotto). On the next day, Salvatore took us along the Amalfi coast during which we had a fabulous lunch. Both days were truly memorable, wonderful experiences. Fabulous scenery. Spectacular settings.

Both skippers are very entertaining. Lots of fun. The other staff are great too.

Wednesday - Amalfi coast

We slept in today because we had planned to take another boat trip today but this one did not leave until 11am.

It turned out to be a last minute panic because there were mobile phone calls coming in from home just when we were getting ready to go.

The trip we had booked was to take us along the Amalfi coast - in the opposite direction to yesterday's trip to the Isle of Capri. We used the same company as for yesterday's trip. Today our skipper was Salvatore and we had a guide called Gloria.

They took us slowly along the coast explaining the sites along the way. We stopped for a swim at a grotto. Gloria led the way and most people joined in the swim. The grotto was 5m or 10m deep but Ralf still found a rock to stand on. Although I could not see very well without my glasses, there were stalactites hanging from the roof of the cave.

We stopped briefly at a restaurant while Salvatore gave them fish he had caught. We then proceeded to other locations such as the kissing arch. This was a photo opportunity - Gloria got us all to pucker up one after another - in pairs that is.

We then returned to the restaurant for a fabulous seafood lunch using the fish that Salvatore had caught. We drank a lot of wine followed by lemonchella.

Back on the boat, we travelled to the town of Amalfi and then back to Positano.

A fabulous outing. Worth every minute. Another day in paradise.

We had a snack at the bar downstairs from the hotel in the evening because we still did not feel hungry after our large lunch.

Blue grotto

I had heard that the blue grotto was great but I had not expected it to be this good.

The tour organisers had told us that people had not been allowed to enter the day before because the seas were too rough. They also said that the grotto is only blue if the conditions were right. So we didn't have high hopes.

As we got close, we realised that it was open. You need to transfer to a small boat operated by a man with a single paddle. You then pay the operators a fee and head towards the opening.

I hadn't realised that the opening was going to be so small. To get through the opening, everone needs to lie down at the bottom the boat to avoid hitting the top of the opening. The boat man then pulls the boat through with a yank on the chain that leads through the opening.

Inside, the cave is pitch black. But then you look back to see the blue water between the boat and the tiny opening. Did I mention that is blue? This is really blue. An amazing blue. Truly spectacular.

We sailed around the grotto looking at it from every angle. I took a million photos. During our time in the cave, the boatman sang to us. The girls liked being seranaded by a young Italian man.

At the end, we needed to navigate the tiny opening again. We lay down and he managed to get us out.

This was an amazing magnificent spectacular incredible experience.

Tuesday - Isle of Capri

Yesterday afternoon, we booked to take a ferry trip to the Isle of Capri which is about 30 minutes away from Positano.

We set the alarm for an early breakfast. Breakfast is served on the same level as the hotel foyer and there is a large terrace above the restaurant overlooking the sea. A very peaceful setting.

We boarded the boat at 9:30am. Our skipper, Gennaro, dropped us off at the main harbour on Capri and we caught the funicular (a cable car) to the top of the hill to the town of Capri. We wandered around the streets, getting lost only once. The girls checked out all the shops as usual and Suzy bought some perfume.

We walked out to a headland that had a beautiful view along the coast and had lunch looking over the Mediteranean. There was a 5-star hotel next to the lookout with a plaque outside referring to Eisenhower and Churchill.

After lunch, we boarded the boat for a trip around the island. The first stop was the blue grotto. This was so spectacular that I have created a separate blog entry for it.

We stopped at several other grottos. Some people went for a swim at one of the stops.

We returned to Positano at about 6pm after yet another fabulous day.

In the evening, we caught a bus up (and up and up) to a restaurant that had been recommended to us. It was dark by the time we got there and so we only had a view of the lights of Positano below us.

Monday - Assisi to Positano

We set the alarm and had the earliest possible breakfast (7:30) so we could get away by 8:30am. We even had hot water for our showers.

We had decided to drive to Naples and return the car to Avis today instead of driving it all the way to Positano and then to Rome.

Most of the trip was on freeways (like the A1) and so the trip was smooth sailing most of the way. The Italians drive very fast on the freeways. We saw a few accidents along the way. Considering the way they drive, it is surprising that we did not see more accidents.

With one accident, we must have gone past soon after it happened. The side of one of the cars had been torn off and a man was still sitting in the car with blood flowing down his face.

Another incident was a brief worry. The couple in the car next to us started punching each other and their car drifted towards us. After we passed them, I could see in the rear view mirror that they were still fighting as they drove along.

We reached the Avis depot at Naples airport at 1:15pm. The Avis people took delivery of the car in no time flat.

Ralf had organised with our hotel at Positano for someone to pick us up from the Avis depot to drive us to Positano. The driver was waiting for us in his nice big Mercedes taxi. He had no problems with the windy narrow roads leading to Positano and stopped a couple of times so we could take photos.

We had heard that the road to Positano was a nightmare but it was better than we had anticipated. We had seen roads that were much worse elsewhere in France and Italy.

We reached Positano at about 2:45pm. Positano is on the side of a very steep hill. The roads and lanes are narrow and windy. We decided it was worth paying porters 20 euros to transport our bags down the lane and down the steps to our hotel.

We hadn't had any lunch as yet and so we went down to the bar underneath our hotel. Like several other cafes, it has tables that spill out onto the pavement next to the beach. Lunch hit the spot, washed down with a bottle of wine.

We wandered around the beach front and checked out the tours that were available. In the evening, we had dinner at the hotel's restaurant.

Positano is a fabulous place. The setting is beautiful. It sits in a narrow valley with houses all the way down the hill. The hill decends straight down to the sea except for a beach at the bottom of the valley. Our hotel is located right next to the beach. The view is amazing from any angle. The sea is a beautiful blue colour and you can see a few small islands off the coast.

I tried to think of what it reminds me of but I concluded that Positano is like nowhere else on earth.

Sunday - Assisi

When we woke up, we discovered there was no hot water. So I got dressed and went downstairs to sort out the problem. My Italian is virtually non-existant but most of the staff could not speak English. Eventually they referred me to Carlos (who was our waiter last night). Initially, he thought I was asking for a jug of hot water. When I said no, he thought I wanted to cancel our breakfast booking. So I stood in the middle of a room full of diners and pretended to have a shower - like charades. He then came upstairs to see what the problem was. He promised to sort it out.

When we went down for breakfast, we had several blackouts. It reminded me of Fawlty Towers.

We walked up the hill to Assisi, walked through the town, visited several churches including a Roman temple that was built more than 2000 years ago.

In the afternoon, Suzy and I found a laundromat in the new town of Assisi to catch up on our washing.

In the evening, we drove part of the way up the hill and then walked the rest of the way up the hill to have dinner.

Saturday - Tuscany to Assisi

Prior to leaving Australia, we had not booked anywhere for the two nights between Tuscany and Positano. Instead we decided to workout where to stay when we got here. A few days ago we decided to book at a hotel in Assisi.

We packed up at our Tuscany castle, bade farewell to our trusty servants and set sail (in our hire car) for Assisi.

We had decided to visit some towns along the way. The first one was Montalcino. It looked like a nice spot because it was high up on the hill but the weather was not great. Because of the cloud, we couldn't see the view and it was too wet to wander around. So we just had a cup of coffee in a coffee shop and moved on.

At lunchtime, we passed through Pienza and decided to stop there. An excellent decision! We went to a restaurant that had been recommended by a friend of Graham & Joan. His recommendation was perfect and the waitress who served us was full of fun.

The rain had eased when we left the restaurant. We discovered the old part of town about 100m away. What a great discovery. It had great buildings and fabulous views.

Next we stopped at Montepulciano, another old town. This was the best stop of the day. It would have been worth the visit just to see an old couple drive out of a tiny "garage" in the old stonework. It looked more like a cupboard. I took lots of photos as a little man put a timber ramp outside the opening and drove his tiny car out of the tiny opening and drove off.

Further on, we heard music and a brass band came marching down the street towards us. A very fitting welcome for people who had become accustomed to living in a castle for the last week.

Then, we stumbled across the entrance to an old hall and realised the reason for the band. Inside the entrance was a flight of stairs lined with men in medieval costumes. A friendly local explained that they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the local Catholic church's newspaper. He invited us to have a look inside the hall. It was magnificent. Just like you see in the movies. Three or four levels of balcony seating overlooking the auditorium and stage. We took some quick photos and left before the ceremony started because we needed to get to our hotel at Assisi.

We reached the hotel at about 6:15pm. It was at the foot of the hill leading up to the old town of Assisi. Fairly comfortable.

We had dinner in their restaurant downstairs. It was a set menu but gave us a good range of food. Ralf thought the waiter looked like someone out of Mission Impossible. We thought he was probably the owner but we weren't sure.

Friday - Florence

We got up early again and caught the 7:55am bus at Bacciano for Florence. We arrived at about 8:40am and Pam & Ralf dashed ahead because they had 9:15am tickets to visit the museum that houses the statue of David.

Suzy and I went to look at the Duomo (cathedral). After a cup of coffee, she went off to look at leather shops. I went in the other direction to take photos and then tried to find the internet cafe again.

But I got thoroughly lost. Instead I found another internet cafe under the railway station. This one was useless because of the speed of the connection but I then found another one close by (also under the station) that had good connection speed. Success at last!

I got lost again trying to meet Suzy and by the time I found her it was almost 2pm, the time when we had booked to go to the Uffuzi Gallery. We met Pam & Ralf there just in time. We spent about 90 minutes there looking at statues and paintings.

Ralf and I agreed that the statues in the plaza outside were more interesting than the paintings inside. We all had coffee in the plaza and checked out the statues.

Suzy and I went shopping. When we bought the leather coat for Philip. Suzy managed to find the internet cafe I had gone to on Monday. She left me there and went off to do more shopping. She managed to find lots of little gifts for people.

We caught the bus back to our castle at 5:15pm.

For dinner,we went back to the restaurant at Montagnana and had another fabulous meal. Our waiter, Stefano, did a great job of looking after us. We met the owner briefly. If you are ever in Tuscany, it would be worth a trip to this restaurant.

Thursday - Cinque Terra

We had postponed our trip to the Cinque Terra for several days because of the weather but we had decided we had to go today no matter what. We had decided to go by train rather than driving.

We got up early and set off in the car at about 7:15am to drive to the railway station at Empoli. We caught the intercity train to La Spezia and changed there for a local train that took us to Monterosso which is the most northern of the five towns in the Cinque Terra.

After taking some photos, we headed off to walk to the next town. It was easy going at first but then we started to climb stairs. The path got narrower, muddier, steeper and harder. Just when we thought we must be getting close to the top, we went up and up and up again. And then up a lot more. It was heavy going. Ralf was having trouble with his sore knee too.

But when we got up the side of the mountain, the views were great. The trip to the next town took about two hours and we were well and truly ready for lunch. We decided that we wouldn't try walking to any other towns - it had been much harder than we had expected.

At Venazza, the second town, we had lunch at a nice cafe next to the Mediterranean. The waiter was quite a character.

We caught the train to the next town, Corniglia but when we got there, the town was up a steep hill and so we decided to catch the train to the next town instead of climbing a mountainside again.

The plan was to get to Manarola and catch the ferry back to Monterosso to catch the train home and to see the towns from the water. We decided not to go to the last town, Riomaggiore.

Best laid plans of mice and men. The train was late and the ferry we planned to catch had gone by the time we reached Manarola. So we found a coffee shop next to the sea.

Suzy had received an SMS message from a lady called Judy - a fellow student from the Italian class in Sydney. They exchanged messages trying to organise a meeting. It seemed to be getting impossible to organise but then we ran into Judy and her husband David on the station platform at Manarola. They later joined us for coffee.

We caught the ferry at about 5:30pm to Monterosso. It was a great ride. Despite the fact it was getting dark, we had a fabulous view of the towns as we went up the coast.

We had to reorganise our return trip by train at the ticket office because we had missed the original train we had booked for. This worked out OK. We caught the local train to La Spezia and then the intercity train back to Empoli. It was about 10pm by the time we got home. A very long day.

Wednesday - Factory outlets & Vinci

Suzy wanted to go to factory outlets to look for clothes - especially presents for people. She figured that this is the heart of fashion and we might be able to save money at a factory outlet.

Ralf did not want to go (he isn't a keen shopper) and so he stayed behind. He slept in and did some reading. Pam agreed to come and so I drove them there.

I thought I was doing pretty well at first because they walked past all the shops without going in. It turned out that initially they only wanted to check out which shops were there. Then they proceded to visit each shop in turn. I retired to the coffeee shop to read my book.

Suzy managed to buy a nightie for Nicky.

We got back to our castle at about 1:30 and had a quick lunch.

In the afternoon, we planned to visit the Leonardo da Vinci museum at Vinci which is north of Empoli. We also planned to go to see the leaning tower of Pisa if we had time.

The museum at Vinci wasn't as big as we had expected and most of the documentation was in Italian. They had lots of models on display and there some some videos demontrating the way certain machines worked.

We decided it was too late to get to Pisa. Pam & Ralf were not worried whether they saw it or not. Suzy and I decided we would go through Pisa in a week or two on our way from Rome to Lake Como.

On the way back to our castle, we found a new route home. There seem to be so many roads you can take. Unfortunately, the signposting is not great.

We stopped at a supermarket on the way home to buy food. We cooked our meal in our suite at the castle tonight and drank lots of wine followed by lemonchella.

Tuesday - Sienna & Monteriggioni

We decided to visit Sienna today. It was about an hour by car south of our castle.

It wasn't as crowded as San Gigmano had been on Sunday but this was probably partly because today is a weekday. The duomo (cathedral) was very ornate. We spent quite a while looking through it and then had lunch at a coffee shop in the large plaza. The coffee shop was one that Graham & Joan had suggested we visit.

On the way back we decided to stop at another walled city, Monteriggioni. It turned out to be quite small but it had lots of character and it did not have many tourists.

In the evening, we had dinner at the restaurant at the castle. Most of the people in the restaurant were attending a conference. We sat at a table with a family from the US who were just tourists like us. They were a retired couple with one of their grand-daughters. They were great company for dinner.

Towards the end of the meal, another thunderstorm struck and we realised that we were unlikely to get to the Cinque Terra tomorrow yet again because we figured it would be raining tomorrow again.

Monday - Florence

At one stage we had planned to go to the Cinque Terra today but the weather forecast last night convinced us we should go to Florence instead.

We had decided to catch the bus to Florence rather than driving. This turned out to be a good decision - much easier than driving. The bus leaves from Baccaiano, a small town about 1km from Montegufoni, and only costs 2.40 euro each. You have to buy the tickets from the tobacconist across the road from the bus stop before catching the bus.

We caught a bus at 10:15am that went direct to Florence via the freeway and so it only took about half an hour. It dropped us at the bus station next to the main railway station.

After a visit to the nearby tourist information office, we caught a sightseeing bus that took us through the streets of Florence and up the hill and back again. Although it was hard to see some things from the bus, at least we were out of the rain.

After lunch at a nice little cafe, I went to a nearby Internet cafe, Suzy went shopping and Pam & Ralf went back to do another sight-seeing tour by bus.

Suzy fetched me to go shopping with her mainly because she wanted to buy a leather coat for Philip and she needed me to try them on for size.

We caught the bus back to our castle.

In the evening, we had difficulty finding a restaurant that was open. We drove from town to town until we found a pizza restaurant at Montespertoli. Not a brilliant restaurant but at least it was open.

Sunday - San Gimignano

We decided to drive to San Gimignano, a small town south of our castle and we thought we might also go to Sienna if we were feeling up to it.

San Gimignano is a beautiful ancient town (with heaps of tourists - so much so, it was very hard to find parking). Lots of cobblestone streets, stone buildings, shops and cafes.

We received regular SMS messages from James and Tamarra about the score in the NRL grand final.

Towards the end of our walk through the town, it started to sprinkle and so we decided not to continue on to Sienna.

Yet again, the trip back was an adventure. The shower turned into heavy rain and then into a thunderstorm. The freeway was slow because of roadworks. Finally, our navigation device (Gabriella) led us up the proverbial garden path. We followed her instructions until we decided we were lost. When we stopped, she thought we were still travelling and kept giving us instructions to turn left, right, etc.

We concluded that the thunderstorm must have affected the satellite communication. We turned her off and used sign posts, intuition and a little luck to find our way back to our castle.

For dinner we went back to the same restaurant at Montagnana for yet another fabulous meal. We told the owner that we will be back later in the week.

Saturday - Santa Marguerita to Montegufoni

Breakfast at the hotel was just like you would expect in a hotel but it did the job.

We headed off for Tuscany at about 10:15am. This time we stuck to the freeways all the way to the turnoff to Montespertoli. Our route took us past Pisa but we decided not to stop there today.

For the first part of the trip there were still lots of tunnels and, as Kristina had warned us, it wasn't easy motoring. The second half of the trip consisted mainly of open, straight(er) freeways. But the freeways were still narrow and full of drivers wanted to travel at ridiculous speeds.

We arrived at Montegufoni at about 2pm. Wow! It was a genuine castle built about 900 years ago. A magnificent building. You enter through a huge doorway into a huge courtyard before finding the reception. The views over the valley are beautiful.

They told us that it was siesta time and the office would be open again at 2:30pm but suggested we come back after 3pm. He suggested a nice restaurant for lunch about 1km up the road at Montagnana.

He was right about the restaurant - it was great. Great Italian food and great Italian service. At the end of the meal he brought us an extra dish that he told us later was tripe. We booked again to come back tonight.

We booked in at the castle and were taken to our suite that is in a building about 100m from the castle. The suite consists of a common area and two double bedrooms. Quite spacious. Nice Tuscan architecture with quarry tile floors, timberwork and timber furniture. But no modern luxuries such as TV, radio or toaster.

After unpacking the car, I decided to go to bed because I was feeling quite sick. We concluded the culprit was the tripe we had at the end of lunch. Pam and Suzy did the washing and then Suzy decided to go to bed because she was feeling sick too. Pam & Ralf went back to the restaurant by themselves while Suzy and I recovered in bed.

I decided to go back to my normal practice of refusing to eat food until I know what it is. Better to be safe than sorry.

Friday - Vence to Santa Marguerita

We said goodbye to Kristina and Frederik at about 10:15am. We followed Kristina's advice and followed the freeway until we got to Imperia where we turned off the freeway to take the road along the coastline. This proved to be hard work because of the narrow, windy roads.

We had a quick lunch near the sea and got back on the freeway. We reached Santa Margueritta mid-afternoon. We were staying at the Hotel Jolanda. This was a step-up in many ways from the B&Bs.

Next, we took a bus trip to nearby Portofino. You see this town on many brochures about Italy because it is simply gorgeous. It is by the sea with painted 4-storey houses, yatchs etc. A great place to have a drink overlooking the Mediterranean. On our way out, Suzy said she saw Bob Geldorf.

The road to Portofino was very narrow. You would think it was a one-way street but there were cars travelling in both directions. When the bus driver got to a sharp corner, he would sound his horn to warn any drivers coming around the corner hidden by the cliff face.

The dinner at a cafe in Santa Marguettia wasn't brilliant. Poor service and noisy.

Thursday - St Paul, Nice, Monaco & Menton

After breakfast, I walked down to the internet cafe at Vence while the others had a quiet morning. They picked me up from the internet cafe at about 11:45am.

We decided to go first to St Paul which is a town just on the other side of the valley from Vence. After parking in the multi-storey carpark, we wandered the streets (which was interesting) until we stumbled on the entrance to the ancient town. A great discovery.

Like other ancient towns we have seen, there were narrow cobbelstone streets but this one had more character because of the hilltop location. It also had lots of shops and lots of tourists from various countries.

We could have spent hours there but decided to continue on. So we headed off towards Nice.

A combination of signs and the navigation system (Gabrielle) got us to Nice. After travelling for a while along Promenade des Anglais, the boulevard along the beach front, we turned in to drive through the city centre. We did not find the city very attractive - it was just a big, noisy city. So we didn't stop but continued on to Monaco.

After parking in a multi-storey carpark in the centre of Monaco, we strolled around the streets and down to the waterfront where we visited the tourist information office. They suggested we take the "train" tour. So we climbed up the hill to the palace area. The train trip took us down the hill via the grand prix circuit, past the casino and past the palace.

We drove on to Menton which is a town close to the Italian border. We had dinner at a restaurant on the promenade next to the Mediteranean. Great location for dinner.

The trip back to Vence was quite an adventure. We had thought it would just be a case of getting back on the freeway and driving back to the Vence turnoff. However, the freeway is at the top of the mountains overlooking the sea. The roads were narrow and windy yet again. When we got to the freeway, Gabrielle let us down because she told us to turn off at the first Nice turnoff which just took us to Nice airport. We were lost. Perhaps she was giving us a message that she was tired of directing us around France.

We eventually found our way back but it taught us yet another lesson about driving in France: don't try driving long distances at night. We vowed only to go to restaurants close by from now on.

Wednesday - Cannes

Breakfast at the B&B was at 9am. Our original plan was for me to spend a couple of hours at an internet cafe in Vence in the morning while the others had a quiet morning. However, Kristina suggested that we go to Cannes instead via Antibes. She said there were several internet cafes in Cannes. She suggested that we go to Nice and Monaco tomorrow.

We followed her instructions and only got lost a few times. The scenery is beautiful which is probably why there are so many expensive houses and yachts along the way.

At Cannes, we parked under the Palais de Festivales. I went to an internet cafe and the others went to the beach. When we met up again, Ralf told me I had missed out on seeing a lot of topless women on the beach. Apparently, most were pretty ordinary but there were a few that more than made up for the others.

We went to a photo shop to transfer pictures onto CD. While waiting for the CDs, the girls went shopping and Ralf and I admired the "scenery".

We returned to Vence via the A8 for dinner. The restaurant we selected, Le Scanpi, was a big success. The food was good, it had great atmosphere and the waitresses were very entertaining. The staff seemed to be kissing each other on the cheek all the time and so Ralf convinced them that they should be kissing us as well.

Ralf drove back up the hill to the B&B. We arrived in one piece. Ralf did not drink much because he knew he had to tackle the hill but the rest of us had lots of wine to sedate us for the journey.

Tuesday - Vence

By the time we got close to Nice, we struck peak-hour traffic.

The trip up the hill from Nice to Vence was quite an adventure. The streets were narrow to start with but got even narrower as we got further up the hill. Our navigation device did not have the street address of the B&B and so we were relying on signs and the instructions we got from Jean-Pierre's computer at La Brugierre.

Just when we thought the road couldn't get any harder, it did. We went up steep narrow paths and hair-pin bends before finally reaching our destination at about 6:45pm. Our host, Kristina, said foreign guests find the journey challenging.

She suggested that we walk down the hill to Vence for dinner and catch a taxi back up. We set off at about 7:30pm down the path she suggested. The path was very rough and slippery. Even though we had a couple of torches, it wasn't easy going and we decided not to use the path again even in daylight.

The restaurant she suggested, Le Clemenceau, was in the ancient town centre. It had lots of atmosphere but the service was slow. A large grey dog went from table to table begging for food.

The taxi driver had no difficulty navigating his way back up the hill to the B&B.

Tuesday - La Bruguiere to Vence

Since we had a big day for travel, we set the alarm, had an early breakfast at 8am and managed to get away at about 9:15am.

Ralf decided to move the car before breakfast from the car park to the front gate so it would be easier to pack the car. This seemed to alarm Marie-Claude because she came running out after him.

We had decided to travel through some of the towns that Carol & Trevor had suggested we visit on the way to Nice.

The first town we stopped at was Gordes - a spectular town on the side of a steep hill. We spent a few hours there because there was a market there today. The girls loved the shopping and found even more shops that sell tablecloths.

On our way out, we bought food for a picnic lunch and I walked back down the road to take lots of photos of the town from across the valley.

Leaving Gordes was a challenge for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we forgot to close the boot. We wondered why so many friendly people were waving at us until it dawned on us what they were saying. Secondly, Gabrielle insisted on taking us back through the centre of town - through the market, stalls, people, narrow streets, etc and then back to the parking area where we started.

It wasn't easy to find a spot to stop for lunch. In the end, we improvised and stopped in a field on the side of the road. We spread Suzy's raincoat out as a picnic rug and enjoyed our bread, cheese, sausage and fruit.

We passed through Roussillon and stopped at Bonnieux for a quick look around and a cup of coffee.

Originally we had planned to go to Aix-en-Provence as well but decided against this because we had run out of time. The road did take us through Aix-en-Provence before we got onto A8 freeway.

Freeways are very good in France. They are two or three lanes in each direction. The speed limit is normally 130km/h in good weather and 110km/h in rainy weather. On many stretches, there is a toll. Sometimes you pay a fixed toll and on other stretches you take a ticket at the toll plaza at the beginning and pay at another toll plaza at the end.

Other French roads are not so good. Even the major roads are narrow and windy. The roads in the towns are even worse. At least the French drivers are fairly sensible (most of the time). However, they cut in sharply in front of you when overtaking or when coming out of side streets.

Monday - Avignon & Arles

Today we decided to go to Avignon and Arles - two of the main tourist towns in Provence.

We took the northern route to Avignon rather than going through Uzes again.

Today Suzy sat in the front passenger seat and managed to master John Hepburn's Navman navigation system. It did a great job of telling us where to go most of the time.

We eventually learned when to take her advice and when to ignore it - like when she tells us to turn down a dirt track or the wrong way down a one-way street. There are some roundabouts that she does not seem to know about. She is still polite even when we go the wrong way. She recalculates the journey to get us back on the staight and narrow.

By the end of the day, Pam had decided to name her Gabrielle and Ralf was falling in love with her sexy voice. I just wish she would learn how to pronounce kilometre correctly.

The main attraction at Avignon is the Palais de Pape where the popes used to live centuries ago. They have a guided tour with headsets for commentary. The entire tour took about 90 minutes. Well worth it.

Believe it or not, about half way through the tour, we ran into Dave and family (our American friends from the Midi Canal).

We had lunch in the plaza near the entrance to the palace. Ralf and I thoroughly enjoyed our beers after the long tour through the palace. It is very pleasant having lunch at open-air cafes.

Ralf started up a conversation with the people at the next table who were from Denmark where he was born.

After lunch, we continued on to the second part of the tour - the Avignon Bridge. This proved to be more interesting than we expected. It was built before the Palais de Papes but only half of it is still standing because floods have washed the rest away over the centuries.

Dave and family strongly suggested that we continue on to Arles. So off we went. We found the ancient town including:

• The amphitheatre.
• The forum plaza.
• A church in the plaza.
• The hotel that Philip had told us about with ancient ruins below glass in the floor in the foyer.

We returned to the B&B via Uzes.

Marie-Claude had prepared another wonderful meal for us.

Sunday - Pont du Gard, Nimes & Uzes

Breakfast was very good - croissants, bread, home-made jams, fruit and lots of coffee. Interestingly, he served the coffee in very large cups, not the tiny short-black cups we are becoming used to.

Today, we decided to visit Pont du Gard and then go on to Nimes.

The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aquafer near Nimes. It was bigger than I had expected. The French have done a good job of maintaining it and have catered well for the large number of tourists that come to see it.

After lunch at a cafe at the Pont du Gard, we drove to Nimes and then on to Uzes - the last town we pass through on the way to our B&B.

Uzes was fascinating. We went into the old city. It has lots of narrow streets, wide plazas and lots of shops. The architecture is fascinating - stonework, arches, vaulted ceilings, etc.

It is amazing how narrow some of the streets are. We saw some streets where there is only an inch clearance on each side for the cars. They must lose a lot of external mirrors. Talk about living close to transport!

Jean-Pierre had suggested a few restaurants for dinner. We decided to go to one at Lussan because Lussan is only about 7km north of the B&B but when Jean-Pierre rang to book for us, he was told they are not open on Sunday night. Instead he booked at La Taverne in Uzes, close to the tourist office we had seen earlier in the day.

The food was great. Each of us had Chateaubriand. We stumbled along with our French as usual until we found a waiter who was Dutch who spoke excellent English. A great birthday meal. Ralf offered to drive home so I could have as many glasses of wine as I liked.

B&B at La Bruguiere

The B&B was quaint. Jean-Pierre and Marie-Clause had lived in northern France and come here some years ago to set up the B&B. They refurbished the existing buildings.

Our hosts lived in a building that had been the shepherd's cottage and the guests were in a building that had been a stables. The buildings were built of stone and the property was surrounded by a stone wall about 2m high.

Suzy and I had a room on the first level. The stairs were a bit of a challenge with all our bags but it was more of a challenge for Pam & Ralf because they were on the second level.

We met several other guests who were staying there.

Jean-Pierre had misunderstood our conversation earlier in the day and was expecting us for dinner tonight rather than tomorrow night. He offerred us a pre-dinner drink that tasted a bit like licorice.

The dinner was "formidable". Marie-Claude is a fabulous cook. It tasted good and was well presented - so much so, I took several photos of the food.

Saturday - Narbonne to La Bruguiere

We had booked our rental car from Montpellier which is about 100km from Narbonne. Originally we had planned to get the train from Narbonne to Montpellier.

However, after the experience of our train trip from Montpellier to Narbonne, we decided that it was going to be too hard for all of us to go by train to Montpellier to pick up the car with all our luggage. So, after we completed all the paperwork at the Connoisseur office at about 9:30, Ralf and I set off for the station at Narbonne, leaving the girls at Narboone.

Ralf and I had to wait about an hour and a half for a train. The journey on the TER was comfortable and only took about an hour.

I rang Avis again while we were on the train and they said they would have the car at their office at the station rather than having to go into their city office by taxi. We found the booth OK - I'm getting better at reading French and the cryptic signs they use.

Despite the number of times we stipulated that we wanted a Renault Grand Scenic with deisel fuel, this isn't what they had for us. It was an Opel Zafira - about the same size as the Grand Scenic. And it was petrol rather than deisel. That's all they had, so it was take it or leave it.

Ralf drove from Montpellier to Narbonne. The trip went well. They was one occasion where we went the wrong way up a one-way street while we were trying to find the A9 motorway. This seemed to surprise a few onlookers but a quick U-turn solved the problem.

It was about 3:45pm when we got back to Narbonne. There is no prize for guessing what the girls were doing while we were away - they went shopping. They ran into the American family (Dave and family) yet again that we first met when we were booking in at Trebes.

On the trip to our B&B, Pam tried to get the Navman navigation device working. We did something wrong because it kept telling us to do a U-turn as soon as possible. At least we could use the map on the screen to see where we were.

At one of the stops, I rang the B&B to ask for directions (in my broken French). After I struggled for a while, he asked if I would prefer to speak English - to which I gratefully agreed.

We followed his directions and arrived just before 6pm (with only a few wrong turns).

Midi Canal - Colombiers to Narbonne

Ralf drove the boat when we set off this morning and noticed that the steering was difficult. It wasn't long before we had to go through the tunnel. The boat kept veering to the left and hitting the side of the narrow canal within the tunnel. I was trying to take photos and was almost knocked into the drink.

After the tunnel, I had a drive to see if I thought the steering was playing up too. After having trouble navigating our way under the next bridge, we decided to moor the boat and call Connoisseur.

They sent a man in a car from Narbonne. He arrived an hour later. Once again he had a bottle of oil. He poured it into the workings of the steering on the top deck and checked a few other things. He told us that the steering often needs some extra oil. He was right - the problem was solved and we set off again.

While we were waiting for him, we walked up to a nearby bridge and noticed a series of rusty cannons pointed out across the canal. We found out that the cannons had been there for hundreds of years protecting the area from attack.

When we turned into the branch of the canal heading to Narbonne (Canal de la Robine), we encountered a series of seven locks each about 750m apart. We adopted a routine that Ralf would drive, the girls handled the ropes and I did the on-land activities. I rode the bike from one lock to the next rather than getting back on the boat. This helped build up the count on my pedometer.

The last lock just before Narbonne proved to be a problem. The lower of two locks was stuck partway open. We tried pressing buttons etc without success. In the end, I pressed the emergency button and tried to call the emergency number. For the first few attempts it was engaged. That was surprising enough for an emergency number but when I did get through after about 15 minutes, the operator did not speak English. I explained the problem in my broken French and they sent a man to fix the lock.

Eventually, we managed to reach Narbonne. We had been concerned that we wouldn't make it before dark when they closed the locks for the night.

We found a pizza cafe in Narbonne for dinner and slept on the boat again.

Midi Canal - Le Somail to Colombiers

We decided to follow Dave's advice and go along the canal towards Bezier. This was a fairly long distance but there were no locks to slow us down.

Soon after leaving Le Somail, we stopped to get water from a supplier on the bank. We must have been too early because, after waiting for almost an hour, nobody turned up and so we gave up and continued our journey.

Nearby, the canal passed over a river - one of several cases where we saw a canal bridge crossing a river.

We managed to get water at a town around midday. To save time, we had lunch on board the boat - bread, cheese, sausage meat and red wine.

Just before Colombier, the canal went through a tunnel that was about 300m long.

We continued past Colombiers and stopped just short of Bezier. There is a long drop down towards the town of Bezier and there are several locks in a row. The locks would have been hard work and we had had been advised not to go into this town.

We then headed back along the canal and moored the boat at Colombiers. The wharf area is fairly modern - a harbour area with modern shops along the wharf. We tied up on an island that is connected to shore by a modern footbridge.

In the evening, we walked up to the chateau that Dave recommended. A very nice building with high ceilings, thick walls, nice views. The restaurant had good food, good service but (as you might expect) was a little more expensive than we had been paying until now along the canal.

Midi Canal - Paraza to Le Somail

It was an easy trip to Le Somail because there were no locks along the way. About halfway, we stopped at a town called Ventenac.

For lunch, we went to a pizza cafe near the river at Le Somail.

There was a barge moored on the other side of the canal where people could buy basic supplies such a bread and fruit.

Another feature of the town was an ancient bookshop - they sold old French books.

We went for a walk beyond the town to a fruit shop in a large factory-like building.

More boats arrived during the afternoon and by evening, there were boats moored all the way along both sides of the canal near the town. One the boats was the American family (Dave and family) we had met in the office at Trebes on the first day.

Dave told us they had travelled up the canal towards Bezier rather than down the canal towards Narbonne. He said it was very worthwhile. He suggested we do the same and that, if so, we go to a chateau at Colombiers for dinner.

This evening, we went to a restaurant near the bridge for dinner.

Midi Canal - Ralf's adventure with Pam's camera

When we stopped beyond the bridge at Paraza, Pam & Ralf could not find Pam's camera. They thought it had been on deck and we were concerned that it might have fallen off the boat when went aground just before the bridge.

They looked thoroughly both inside the boat and outside but without sucess. Ralf suggested that the rest of us go explore the town while he had another look.

When we returned, we saw him waving at us very excitedly and he seemed to be holding the camera. He told us that he had searched the boat again for the camera without success. He had sat down on deck for a smoke when he caught a glimpse of the camera out of the corner of his eye, hanging from a branch over the canal about 5m behind the boat.

He said he tried to reach it with the poles from the boat but it was too far away from the bank. It was hanging precariously by the stap and the camera case wasn't zippzed up properly - so the camera was in danger of falling out of the case.

Since it was fairly breezy, he decided he could not risk waiting until we got back. She he untied the boat by himself, steered it back under the camera, grabbed the camera, drove the boat back to shore and tied the boat up again.

He was afraid that nobody would believe him.

Midi Canal - Homps to Paraza

In the morning we decided to go to a market at a nearby town. Ralf and I rode the bicycles while the girls walked. Pam and Suzy both bought warm fleecy tops at the market.

We returned to the boat at about midday and set off again on the canal.

To save time, we didn't go to a cafe for lunch. Instead, we stopped and had a picnic lunch at a picnic table we found next to the canal.

We decided to stop at Paraza but managed to run aground temporarily when coming in to moor the boat. We got free with some hard revving and continued a few hundred metres further up the canal past the bridge and successfully moored the boat.

Suzy, Pam and I walked through the town and booked at a cafe that faced onto the canal. See my separate blog entry for Ralf's adventure with Pam's camera.

The restaurant turned out to be one of the highlights of the holiday so far. It was run by a fascinating (large) man from New York. We all ate the dish of the day which was roast pork - a beautiful meal.

Midi Canal - Quiet day at Homps

In the morning, we went for a walk through the town. We had coffee in the garden of a cafe close to the pizza restaurant we went to last night.

I found an internet cafe in a restaurant and in the evening we went to that restaurant for dinner. It was run by an English couple and so we didn't have any language problems tonight.

Midi Canal - Locks

There are more locks than we expected. They are certainly more work than we expected.

When you approach the lock, you need to signal to the lock attendant that you want to come through. Our instructor warned us not to sound our horn at him - otherwise, he will quite happily let you wait for three or four days for his service.

Often you need to tie up at the side of the canal waiting for the lock to open. This isn't too hard normally. You just steer the boat close to the bank. Then one person jumps off the back of the boat at the front with a rope, ties it around a bollard a starts pulling the boat into shore. A second person then jumps off the boat and tries to do the same. Hopefully, the back of the boat hasn't started to drift out into the canal by that time.

The entry into the lock is only just wide enough to accommodate the boat. Inside the lock, there is usually enough room for four boats - two on each side. Getting through the entrance is OK but once inside, you need to manoeuvre next to other boats. This isn't easy especially when the other drivers are just as inexperienced as we are.

The system we developed is for one person to steer the boat, one person to handle the rope at the front, another person to handle the rope at the rear and the fourth person jumps ashore to grab the ropes, pass them around the bollards and hand them back to the people on board. Ralf and I have shared the driving and on-shore roles while the girls have handled the ropes.

You don't tie the ropes to the bollards because, when the water level in the lock starts to drop, you need to gently let it slip through your hands as the boat descends with the water level. You need to pull the rope tight enough to keep the boat in position but you don't want to pull the cleats out of the side of the boat.

Once the water level reaches the lower level, the lock keeper opens the lower gates. You then bring the ropes back on board and each boat takes it in turns to head off.

As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, you can often have several locks in a row. In other words, there is no rest for the wicked. You have just finished the process for one lock and you are at it again. And I don't mean a kilometer or two away. Or even 100m away. I mean zero meters. Three in a row is quite common.

It has been a baptism of fire to the worderful world of canal boats.

Midi Canal - Fellow travellers

One of the great things about the trip so far has been the people we have met. They come from all over the world.

When were setting off from Trebes on Saturday, we met a boatload of South Africans. They were a lot of fun but ribbed us about the fact they had beaten the Wallabies in the Rugby.

We also met a very friendly family from the US who were setting out at the same time.

On Sunday, we encountered a group of Germans who did not seem to have a clue how to handle the boat. Theirs was the crew that lost a man overboard - as I mentioned in a previous blog entry.

Then there was a boat of Brits. They ribbed us about our loss in the cricket. I think that next time we go canal boating, we will leave it for a time when Australia has won a few more sporting competitions.

Most of us have a flag attached to the boat. Pam brought an Australian flag. We had some difficulty attaching it to the boat at first because our boat did not have a suitable mast like some of the others. Ralf was determined to fly our flag proudly. Eventually he found a suitable piece of timber on the shore and improvised to produce an excellent mast.

Shortly before we arrived at Homps, we passed a hotel on the bank. A couple ran towards us cheering and calling out. It turns out they were Australian.

Midi Canal - Trip to the chateau

This morning (Sunday), we decided to stop to look at a chateau that was marked on the map. So we tied up the boat, got the two bikes off the back of the boat and set off. Ralf and I rode the bikes because the girls decided they would prefer to walk.

The signs indicated that the castle was about 1km away. We are getting better at interpreting French signs. I rode ahead to check out the castle but found it was quite different from what we expected. There were no turrets and no stonework. It was just a nice two-storey house - not too much different from the houses you would see in Telegraph Road in Pymble.

I rode back to tell the others, who had come about two-thirds of the way by this time, and we headed back to the boat.

Midi Canal - Marselleitte to Homps

Undeterred and ready for more adventures, we set off on Sunday morning from Marseillette for our first full day of boating.

I didn't mention the wind in my last blog entry. The weather had changed on Saturday - the day we picked up the boat - and it was cool and windy. The wind in this part of France is called the Mistral but we might call it by less flattering names because the wind makes it a lot harder to control the boat.

We had a few interesting episodes where our steering went astray especially when trying to get into locks. But by the end of the day we were certainly getting better.

There were lots of locks between Marseillette and Homps. So by the time we got to Homps we needed a rest. We decided to stay at Homps for the following day to have a good look around and rest our weary bones.

In fact, it wasn't just our bones and muscles we had to rest. Ralf went for a spill when he was jumping ashore at one of the locks. His ankle gave way. So he ended up doing a spectacular tumble-roll (on purpose) to protect his ankle from further injury. Quite a sight!

At the previous lock, one of the men on another boat had also taken a tumble when trying to get ashore and ended up dangling from a rope with his rear end in the water. It was good to see that other crews were even more amateurish than us.

In the evening, we went to a pizza restaurant. Most of the town was on the other side of the canal - accessible by a modern footbridge.

Connoisseur has an office close to where we moored the boat. The wharf area is a modern structure. On the wharf, you can get fresh water from a hose to refill the boat's tanks. It even has power outlets for the boats.

You cannot just plug normal electrical equipment into the power outlets - you need a special adaptor (and not just a Euopean-to-Australian power plug). I borrowed a power adapter from Connoisseur and managed to have a shave for the first time in a couple of days.

Midi Canal - Trebes to Marseillette

Suzy & I caught a taxi from Carcassonne to the Connoisseur office at Trebes. We checked out the boat, put our luggage on board and went off to a supermarket about 1km away to get supplies for our canal trip. Apart from the standard grocery items, we got several bottles of wine. So we were well prepared.

We caught a taxi back because we had so much to carry.

Unfortunately, we had a major mixup in our meeting place with Pam & Ralf but we eventually met up with each other at the Connoisseur office at Trebes at about 4pm.

We filled out the paperwork and then received a comprehensive briefing from one of the Connoisseur staff about how to operate the boat. He took us for a short trip down the canal so we could get some practice.

After that it was all up to us and so we set off. Our plan was to get as far as Marseillette, the first town along the canal.

The instructor had told us it would take a while to get the hang of it. He was right. Steering the boat was not too hard. The problem was dealing with the locks - "les ecluses" as they call them here.

The locks take a lot of effort. Often there are two or three of them in a row. I'd thought this was going to be a leisurely cruise - justing sitting on the deck watching the scenery and sipping French wine. In fact, it is hard work a lot of the time. By the time we got to Marseillete, we were well and truly ready for a drink.

I'll tell you more about the locks in a separate blog entry.

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is quite amazing. It is definitely worth a visit. Very narrow streets, lots of cafes, bars and souvenir shops.

We stayed at Le Donjon in La Cite and it proved to be very comfortable. We found an excellent restaurant for dinner. It was packed, service was slow but it was quite entertaining watching the waiters literally run from table to kitchen.

Saturday brought a complete change of weather. It is now quite cool.

Train trip to Carcassone

We caught the TGV from Gare de Lyon to Montpellier at about 9:30am.

It was a great journey - lovely scenery. However, the train line seems to avoid most of the towns along the way.

At Montpellier, things were a lot less organised. We struggled with instructions being only in French. Fortunately, a young man helped us and we determined that we needed to wait 1.5 hours for our direct connection to Carcassone.

During lunch, we met up with a group of 10 aussies who were also off to collect boats for the Midi Canal - maybe we will see them again on the canal.

The remainder of the trip was chaotic to say the least. The train was packed - lots of people without seats and the temperature must have been at least 30C. When we got to Carcassone, there was no elevator at the station and so Steve carried all the heavy bags up and down several flights of stairs.

We had to wait quite a while for a taxi to our hotel. To our surprise, the taxi dropped us at the entrance to La Cite (the walled city of Carcassone). We were met by a tiny minibus from the hotel. We transferred ourselves and our luggage to the minibus and set off on an amazing trip through extremely narrow streets, almost running over pedestrians on several occassions.

Louvre museum & Printemps

Although Suzy had been to the Louvre when she had come to Paris with Lindy some years ago, I'd never been there.

We decided to catch the metro. This was easy because there was a metro station at Gare de Lyon and another one at the Louvre.

It would have taken forever to see the entire collection, so we decided to go to the wing (Denon) that houses the Mona Lisa. We entered under the glass pyramid, bought our tickets and started at the top floor.

So many people had told us that the Mona Lisa was small that I had expected in the end that it would be about the size of a postage stamp. It was small but nowhere that small. It was protected by glass and there were several guards keeping an eye on it and all the visitors.

We made sure we saw as many as possible of the other famous statues and paintings.

Next, Suzy wanted to go to the shops. So we caught the metro again and visited Printemps and Gallerie Lafayette.

We had a cup of coffee in a cafe on the footpath and watched the world go by. The cafe owner suggested we catch the mainline train back to the Gare de Lyon rather than using the metro.

The train arrived just as we reached the platform. Suzy jumped on board but the doors slammed shut before I could get on. I waved goodbye wondering when or where I would see her again. I protested to the attendant standing next to me but she claimed there was nothing she could do because the guard controlled the doors.

I was afraid that it might be ages before the next train arrived but it came only a few minutes later. Suzy was waiting for me on the platform at Gare de Lyon. All's well that ends well.

P.S. I obtained directions, bought the tickets and had my conversation with the attendant on the platform in French. My French lessons paid off.

Arrival in Paris

We eventually arrived at our hotel in Paris but not without a few incidents/ challenges on the way.

At the airport, there were two customs windows open for EU residents but only one window for the rest of the world. Although the queue for EU people was long, the other queue was even worse. In fact, it wasn't even a queue - more like a crowd of people massed near the gateway.

We were gradually getting closer to the customs official, when all the customs people decided to close down all the windows and shoot through. We don't know what happened but they eventually came back and started processing us again. In the meantime, some people were starting to feel faint waiting in the throng in the heat.

It turned out to be easy to contact the driver the hotel had organised to take us to our hotel. However, it soon became obvious that he hadn't been to our hotel before. Once we got close, he went around the block at least three or four times before he found the hotel. In fact, if Suzy had not spotted it, we would probably still be going around the block.

The hotel (Hotel Terminus Lyon) was OK but had a very small lift - only big enough for one person and one suitcase. Unless we were having to move our luggage, I avoided the lift and used the stairs.

We had picked this hotel because it was close to Gare de Lyon - so it would be easy to catch our train tomorrow to the south of France. It was close alright - we could see the station from our room.

In the afternoon, we went to the Louvre - see separate blog entry. In the evening, we had dinner at the cafe near the entrance to the hotel.