Sunshine and stairs in Riomaggiore

We arrived in Riomaggiore, one of the Cinque Terre towns on Thursday. It is stunning here - a must see for anyone travelling to Italia! It's also the first place we've visited where we feel like we're seeing the real deal, Rome was a big crazy city and Florence was so touristy. We found our check in office only to be marched back towards the station and up a hill towards our block of flats. We were then taken up 5 flights of stairs (67 stairs in total) with our backpacks, even our guide was puffing by the time we reached the top!



Our room is lovely and has a little kitchenette, which has saved us lots of euro! For everyone at work, the pocket knife has come in handy many times over, so thanks to Fiona et al - it has been a very useful gift! The view from our flat is amazing, it looks right over the ocean and we're about 300 metres away from this amazing pub called 'bar et vini' hanging off the side of a mountain, which is the best spot for a cold beer on a hot afternoon. Needless to say, we've spent much of our time there!



Yesterday we headed out along the track that runs through each of the 5 towns. The first section between Riomaggiore and Manarola is stunning and easy on the legs, it's called via del'amore (Lover's Lane - roughly translate) and there is one section with this cute statue, where travellers have put padlocks on a fence - all very cheesy but nice. Manarola is a pretty little town like Riomaggiore, sleepy and slow, the way the coast ought to be!



The next section between Manarola and Corniglia is a little steeper, but still a good walk. The killer bit is the stairs that go up to the village. We made it up the top only to find there was an air conditioned bus that could have taken us up there - never mind - it adds to the experience I s'pose.

Jay kept on walking to Vernazza, but I opted for the train as my nice white skin was turning lobster red and my legs we're still complaining after the stairs up to Corniglia! Vernazza was a bit bigger, but a nice place to stop and have lunch, with a pretty beach. Tried to work out how to eat a Scampi, which is like our prawn, but with a hard shell and claws.

Went swimming in the afternoon - beaches are rocky with beautiful aqua water and soo warm. Found ourselves a comfy rock to lie on and after a little hesitation, dived in!

This morning we took the train to Monterosso, which is the largest town. It lacks character though and is like an over priced resort, so we quickly headed back to Riomaggiore. Will probably spend the rest of the arvo at the pub!

Promise to post photos soon. Can't connect camera here to computer, so will try in Venice.

Love to family and friends - keep the emails coming - it's nice to hear from home.



Lucy.

Tuscany - the land of window shutters

Hello

Well we've almost finished our stay in Florence, which is a beautiful city, much easier and friendlier than Rome. Although it was sad to say goodbye to our lovely apartment and to Kerry and Pat, who were off to enjoy the rest of their honeymoon.

Our new accommodation, Pensione Canada, is very clean and nice and is incredibly close to the Duomo (you can hear the bells in the morning and evening) but lacks the charm of our flat in Rome. It's hard to get to know the other guests and there's no communal kitchen, which makes staying in Florence expensive!

When we arrived in Florence we dumped our bags in the hotel and went exploring, had lunch, etc... It's quite hot here, like Canberra hot and dry, so we've been siesta-ing most afternoons to avoid the sun.

On our second day in Florence we visited the Duomo, Campinalle and the Baptistery. The Duomo is huge and smack bang in the centre of town. It's very ornate with green, white and red tiles, which don't replicate well in photos - really has to be seen to be believed. Inside is very cool and quite and I was surprised at how simple and modest it was, apart from the ceiling of the dome, which has bright frescoes. The best item is the clock, which is 24 hours and goes anti-clockwise, according to our audio guide this is common in the catholic church!



After the Duomo we ascended the 414 steps to the top of Giotto's Campanile (bell tower - although Giotto died before it was finished) for a view of Florence. The stairs were very narrow and steep, towards the top it gets worse and becomes a spiral staircase - my stomach turned backflips - I'm not so good with steep staircases. The Campanile was obviously built with tired legs and chubby priests in mind, as there are about 4 levels where you can stop and sit before tackling the next set of stairs. The view from the top was brilliant and worth the climb, you could see over Florence and the hill top villas. Postcard perfect! Back down the stairs to a well deserved pasta lunch!



In the afternoon we visited the Baptistery, which sits out the front of the Duomo. It's much older than the Duomo and probably based on the Pantheon in Rome, as it's the same shape (octagonal with a dome and oculus). Like the Pantheon it was once a pagan temple. It's incredibly ornate inside with mosaics (or frescos hard to tell) in gold on the ceiling. You could see the influence of the various empires that came through this area.



Yesterday we caught a bus out to Siena, which challenges our claim to the "sunburnt country" - it was hotter than Florence, even the buildings looked sunburnt! It was beautiful though, all glued onto a mountain, with pretty cobbled streets, arches, tunnels and one magnificent Duomo. More stunning than the Duomo in Florence. The ceiling is dark blue with little gold stars and there are so many sculptures, including Donatello's St John the baptist and Pisano's pulpit. We also visited St Catherine's Chapel in the San Domenico Church, which is the last resting place of St Catherine's head (and finger), both of which are on display!!!



Today we headed out early to join the queue at the Uffizi Gallery. Not nearly as long as the Sistine Chapel queue and we were inside within 45 minutes or so. The most stunning rooms are the Giotto (and medieval rooms) and the Botticelli rooms. Saw both the "Birth of Venus" (which actually depicts Venus arriving at Cyprus) and the "Primavera", though I thought the nicest painting was his Annunciation, painted towards the end of his life.

Tomorrow we head for Riomaggiore at the Cinque Terre, so it's by for now, will post some photos later!

Lucy.

All roads lead to Rome

"If you think about it, every experience is worth having." - Henry Ford

Wow - what a week! I can't believe it's our last day here.

Roma is quite literally a city of experiences: good, bad, amazing!

Our flat has been wonderful, great location and fantastic flat mates. I definitely recommend the Beehive hostel and apartments to those traveling to Rome. While we've been here, we've had 3 sets of flat mates. Kerry and Pat (a couple on honeymoon from the US) have been here the entire time and are also leaving for Florence today, Diane and Jana (mother and daughter) from Canada stayed for two nights and then two fellow Aussies, Paul and Michelle from Adelaide. We've hung out a lot with Kerry and Pat and went on a long walk with them on Friday night and had a blast!

Rome is so easy to walk in - so our feet are pretty happy that we're spending the morning on the train to Florence

16 May 2007
Woke up in Rome - had to pinch myself!
We were very tired and jet lagged from our trip over and I was feeling pretty lousy, so we had a very quiet day. Found a little Trattoria and ate overly priced pizza, then found a supermarket and picked up some basics as we have a kitchen here at the Millefiori apartment. Got back to the flat, met Kerry and Pat (who looked as flat as we did), and Diane and Jana. Cooked our own dinner and went to bed very early.

17 May 2007
First official day of sightseeing,
Today we visited the Mt Palatine and Colosseum ruins, which to our great delight we found was an easy 15 minutes walk from our flat. Also to our great delight we discovered it's culture week here in Italy and entrance to most of the main attractions is FREE! So we saved 20 Euros on the tickets and had a delicious pasta lunch.

Mt Palatine is amazing, although poorly sign posted, so unless you have a tour guide, book, etc... it's a little confusing. I definitely recommend a guide book as you can move at your own pace and it's cheaper! The gardens are beautiful and nice to sit under the trees and view the ruins. I couldn't believe the amount of marble columns just lying around and the amount of structures still standing. We wandered into the museum and had a look at some of the relics found on the site including statues, pottery, etc... Was interesting to see how the portraiture styles (sculptures) changed with the different emperors. The view over Rome is also spectacular and you can look over other monuments and ruins.

The Colosseum is very impressive. When we arrived there were two queuing points, one had a massive line, curling around the exterior of the Colosseum, the other was empty! Couldn't believe our luck (or that everyone was queuing in only 1 line) and so ran in. half expecting to be pounced on by some security guard, but waltzed through unhindered.

Everyone knows the history of the place so I wont prattle on much about the building. Upstairs we found an exhibition on the Greek god Eros, which I thought was more interesting than the building (not all that taken by the Colosseum). Showing his various incarnations and the stories about him and how he was represented. I guess we know him best as a cupid - but in Greek Mythology he was more complex and influenced not only romance and attraction, but also education, etc...

Dodged the peddlers selling cheap sunnies, etc... and wondered back to the flat. Had dinner at the vegie restaurant at the Beehive hostel building. The chef is Australian and cooks fantastic, healthy food. Bought a bottle of wine and sat there and chatted with a group of Americans for a while, before heading back to the flat and to bed.

18 May 2007

Got up early and went to the M.Esquilino markets just down the road from the flat to pick up some fresh fruit and veg for our stay. This was a true Italian experience! Not much English spoken, so we had to get by with hand gestures and our dodgy Italian. The fresh produce is fantastic and cheap! There are also butchers, delis and fish mongers there, so you can practically do your entire shopping. We go everything, including some lamb chops (well we hope it was lamb) for about 10 Euros! The strawberries are the best at the moment - got half a kilo for 1.50 Euros! I could have stayed all morning but Jay was dragging his feet and we had bigger monuments to fry!

After the markets we headed out on the no.64 bus to the Pantheon. Very easy to find and by far the best thing I have seen in Rome. I really recommend the audio tour as once again there aren't many sign posts and if you don't understand the history and design you wont get much out of the trip, the price is by donation and you need to leave ID with them (but it's very secure and you get it back). The building is a feat of brilliant engineering and the history is fascinating, originally on the site of a pagan temple (hence the name Pantheon - meaning the pantheon of pagan gods) it became one of the original Christian temples in Rome and is still used as a church. The dome is HUGE and lets in a brilliant shaft of light through the hole. The floor is slightly concave and there are draining points around the exterior of the floor (which is a huge circle). Possibly the most amazing thing is it's mapping to the summer and winter solstices and that each year on the same day, the light coming through the dome will hit the same point in the church. So you can tell the day, time, month, etc...



Took time out to stand in front of Raphael's tomb. He was only 37 when he died! If you take a look at St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican museums, you realise he had a busy and prolific 37 years!

Found a little deli and bought panini for lunch, priced by weight! They were huge and yummy - perfect with an Italian soda.

Walking back to the bus stop - we found a little elephant statue, which Kerry believes was made by Bernini. He was very cute, so we took a photo...



After lunch we jumped back on the no.64 bus and headed towards St Peters, missing the stop and had to walk back down the hill. The queue wasn't too bad and moved very quickly, so we soon found ourselves inside the Basilica. and like everything else in Rome - you look up! The ceiling is amazing and the domes are beautiful. A lot is closed off to tourists, but the majority is open and you can just wander around. We found Michaelangelo's pieta - which is breathtaking. I am not big fan of his paintings (everyone looks like body builders), but the sculpture is beautiful and the detail and emotion in the faces and fabric is astounding, you forget you're looking at marble.



We found a tomb for a pope Leo - apparently there have been about half a dozen - so we took a photo for you Leo - will post it soon.

As we were walking we could hear opera and naturally thought it must be a CD on for the tourists, only to find an orchestra and opera singer mid rehearsal - so it added to the experience - and we stopped and watched/listened for a little while.

Muscled through the crowd to peer at St Peter's tomb and gazed through the grates in the floor and down the little stair cases to see if we could see secret pope business, but saw nothing... Couldn't find a Santa Lucia either! Most disappointed, but she has fairly obscure iconography, so I'll have to keep looking.

That evening after a huge lamb and vegie dinner, we went with Pat and Kerry on a walk through Roma. They have these guidebooks by a guy called Rick Steve (every American we meet has one) who designs little walking tours through cities, etc... so we followed one of these to Campo De Fiora, Piazza Novana, the Pantheon and finally gelati at the Trevi fountain.

Back to the flat and straight to bed!!!!

19 May 2007

Feet were still sore from the previous evenings trek around Rome, but we got up early and went back to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel and the various galleries. We arrived at 9am (15 minutes after is opened) and found a queue stretching around the corner wall to the entrance, it took us 2 hours!!! Apparently it gets worse during the day, so if you ever go, arrive at 7am! Went straight to the cafe for a drink and a rest - to recharge before the Chapel.





The queue was worth it as the galleries were amazing and I found half of the items we studied during my Renaissance art course. This time we thought ahead and as we passed a book stand we bought a little Vatican guide book for 12 Euro - one of our best buys yet - so we could read about what we were looking at. Found the Lacoon - which I was thinking would be massive - still impressive and so old!!! The maps gallery is one of the best along the way to the Sistine Chapel as is Raphael's studio, where the fresco of the School of Athens is located. The flow of people through to the Sistine Chapel is so thick, it's like salmon swimming upstream - heaven forbid you move out of the flow to look at something!

The Chapel itself is overwhelming and you get yelled at by security guards the moment you enter the door and gaze up: "no photos, keep moving, don't talk!" The place was packed - everyone ignoring the no photo rule and chatting away to their hearts content. As I mentioned I'm not taken by Michaelangelo's ceiling, but the frescoes on the walls by Botticelli and Purogino (sorry about spelling I can never get his name right) are breathtaking and I spent a while reading the guide book and gazing at the walls.

Back to the cafe for another drink - as it had taken us a further 2 hours to get through the galleries and the chapel - then onto the Picture Gallery. Here we saw beautiful medieval pietas and frescoes glittering with gold leaf, including the famous pieta by Giotto, which is better in flesh than any reproduction. Paintings by Titian, Raphael, Fra Angelica, Lippi and even a Leonardo Da Vinci! Felt exhausted but satisfied by the end of the day and we caught the bus back to Termini.

Organised our train tix for Florence, cooked dinner and settled down with a 2 Euro bottle of vino before bed.

Ciao!
Lucy and Jay

Hong Kong 12 - 15 May

Spot the wax dummy!
Originally uploaded by Lucy Carson.

Hong Kong is fantastic - I wish we had stayed longer - but will visit again. It's very safe and easy to navigate. The public transport [ranging from trams, buses, rail, taxis and ferries] are incredibly efficient and cheap. The whole place runs on this Octopus card [even the 7-elevens], which you rent at the airport and recharge with cash at supermarkets, so you don't need a lot of change, you just swipe the card whenever you use public transport - which made it even easier! Generally, Hong Kong citizens are very friendly and helpful [except when you're in a queue, then it's every person for themselves] and we had no language problems. On the whole it's very cheap unless you shop\eat at expensive places

Saturday 12 May 2007 - We woke up VERY early, dressed and bundled our stuff into the car, gave a teary farewell to Leo and Margie and then drove up to Sydney with Mum and Dad. We made it to Sydney with plenty of time to spare and had breaky before another teary farewell to Mum and Dad and checking into our flight.

The flight was very comfortable and we settled down to inflight movies and food, those new screens on the backs of chairs really make a difference - our flight was approx 9 hours but you don't really notice it after 2-3 movies and the meal breaks.

Arrived in Hong Kong at about 6pm, by which stage I had caught Jay's head cold [grr], but we breezed through customs picked up our luggage and met with my [sort of] aunt Phoebe who took us to my Uncle Ian's flat in Happy Valley.The drive from the airport on Lantau Island through to Hong Kong island is a great way to get an overview of the place. It's a bit strange in that central Hong Kong is actually on an island with the outlying suburbs located on mainland China.We were pretty stuffed by the time we reached the flat, so no partying for us - instead straight to bed!

13 May 2007 - Woke pretty early and went for a walk with Ian to the supermarket in HV and had a look at the main street near his flat - so much goes on and there's lots of little odd shops and grocers, butchers etc... We went past a butchers where they were cutting up the meat for the day, on the floor [where else!] and the guy had a ciggy hanging out of his mouth! Anyway... picked up breaky went back to the flat and got ready for the day...



Jay and I took a tram ride in the morning out towards Causeway bay - took some photos, etc... and then went back to Ian's flat where we met with Phoebe and then headed out to Yum Cha for lunch. Yum Cha was soooo good! My favourite were these little pastries filled with grated white carrot and the seafood was good too. We even tried chickens feet, which to my surprise was quite eadible - very similar to eating a chicken wing and the sauce was very tasty, sort of a sweet chilli with lots of ginger and garlic.

After lunch Jay and I took the Peak tram up to Mount Victoria to get a view of the harbour. The tram is actually a train and when one goes up it acts as a counter weight to move the train going down. It's a very steep climb - almost vertical it seemed - safe though. It's pretty touristy up there and you have to navigate through this massive, overpriced plaza, but when you get outside it's lovely and green and the air is very cool and clean, so it's a good way to get out of the city and chill out. We stayed up there for a while and then headed back down and through the gardens and back to the flat for rest.



That night we went out on the harbour to watch the light show - once again very touristy but worth a look. All the big high rises on the harbour have put lights all up their facades that flash different colours and there are lazers pointed off their roofs. It starts at 8pm-ish and goes for about 15 minutes. We took a ferry over to Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui, where most of the backpackers are, found an outside food market and had dinner - also very tasty and cheap - it was a similar sort of place to the stalls you find in Chiang Mai in Thailand - pretty grotty but with fantastic food - and safe to eat at. Afterwards we perused the night market - lots of colourful stalls - mostly junk stuff - some good vendors though and lots of fortune tellers and outdoor opera. Got to bed fairly late.



14 May 2007 - Headcold turned into sinus infection - but never fear as drugs can be purchased over the counter at chemists - so started to feel better bfore the end of the day.

Went out to Lantau island with Ian [who works out there] to see the Tian Tan big buddha and the Po Lin monastry. Caught the sky rail cable cars to Ngong Ping village, great vew of the mountatins. We bought a vegetarian meal ticket at the base of the big buddha, which gave us entry into the upper tiers of the buddha and also a cheap lunch at the monastry. Climbed up the stairs [not quite as steep as wat doi sutep in Thailand] but steep all the same up to the big buddha and had a walk around and went inside the museum, etc... It's not worth buying the ticket to go up to the extra tiers as it's all tourist shops and displays written in Chinese, the main section is free admission and that's where all the English signage is located and the Jataka buddhist stories, but it is worth buying the ticket for the vegetarian lunch!



After seeing the buddha we headed back down the hill to the Monastry, where the restaurant is, it worked out to be approx $10 AUD and we got about 5 plates of food and rice, tea, etc... including some more of the white carrot pastries! Don't get turned off by the vegetarian bit - it's very good. It was a bit sad to see we were only 1 of 3 tables of westerners dining in the Monastry restaurant, but I guess it's not surprising.

After lunch we wandered around the monastry. They have these lovely ponds with lotus flowers and terepins swimming around! Took lots of photos of the terepins, which were very cute. The temple is really lovely too, but also pretty touristy.



Instead of taking the cable car back down the hill we took a number 2 bus to Mui Wo, which is a seaside village on the other side of the island. The bus ride was a good way to see the island and the little villages, etc... From Mui Wo we caught possibly the slowest ferry back to HK island and then found our Happy Vally tram and headed home.

That evening Phoebe and Ian took us to a restaurant specialising in Northern Chinese food, where Jay could sample is favourite dish [you know it Nat!] Shantung Chiken! Was surprised to see how accurate the Sammy's version was to the dish we had at the restaurant. We asked Phoebe and Ian to order food that we wouldn't normally have in Oz and it was all very yummy. We even ate pigeon meat! The San Choy Bau is typically made with pigeon, but as it's so costly, they mix it with lots of nuts and vegies, etc... so you don't eat to much and it tastes very similar to pork - so I didn't really notice it. Afer dinner we went to bed early cos of the flight the next day.

15 May 2007 - Woke up early and caugh taxi to airport. Once again HK airport was a breeze to get through. Returned our Octopus cards and they refunded money and then went to board plane.13 hour plane ride - pretty tedious, but movie screens made it bareable, didn't sleep though. Arrived in Heathrow at about 2pm. The Brits need to take a lesson from the HK airport. Heathrow was disorganised and we spent ages in the que to customs, etc... Plus they didn't announce our gate time til 20 minutes before our flight to Rome!

Anyway... flight to Rome was OK, arrived at 10pm-ish - having not slept for 24 hours!!!! Rome airport also easy to get through, breezed through customs and baggage collection. Thankfully we bumped into 3 American girls who told us that the last xpress train to termini left in about 1 minute so we all sprinted over to the airport station and clambered onto the train. Chatted with the US girls on the train - they were about the same age and were squeezing about 6 countries into 12 days!!!! Crazy - but they were having fun.

Arrived at Termini at about 11pm, realised Jay hadn't printed out the hotel reservation from his email and had no idea where the hostel was [I almost killed him!] Plus I felt pretty sick and we were both tired. Thanks to an all night internet cafe we found details and realised we were very close to hostel [ie. 1 block away] and managed to get to apartment OK.

Apartment is amazing!!! But will tell you about it in the next posting as this is turning into a novel, so...

Talk to you all soon and will post photos etc....

Realise I have spent most of this entry talking about the food we ate in Hong Kong - but Mum and Dad were right - it's an important part of their culture and it's incredibly good!! Now we're in Europe we wont have money for food, so it will be more stories about the places we visit.

Lots of love to family and friends - we miss you already!!!!!!!

Lucy and Jay