G & Caz - Travel Tales April to June 2013

ANZAC Day 2013

2014-04-25T20:49:00.000+09:30

Finally G has got her act together (better late than never… 12 months to the day later…) so here is the final blog for G & Caz’s 2013 European adventure – ANZAC Day 2013

G's post for ANZAC Day 2013 (posted on ANZAC Day 2014)

Firstly, I don't expect everyone will have an interest in this post, so please only continue reading if you wish to....

A little bit of background......

ANZAC Day to me has always been an important day, one which I often shared with my late Grandfather Alva Parham, attending the Dawn service and ANZAC Day march in Adelaide, watching him march with his mates & then see him head off with the other servicemen to enjoy a day of catching up.

My Poppa didn't discuss very often his time of service in the Air Force in Darwin during WWII but his four grandchildren were always very proud of the fact that he served his country. The conversations which I did have with Poppa have led me to have an interest in Australian War history, particularly WWI and WWII and Australia's involvement as part of the Allies. My Auntie Judy (Poppa's daughter & my mum's sister) also has an interest in this along with our family history - so it's something I enjoy sharing with her. Remembering the fallen is very important to me, so wherever I am in the world on April 25th I make sure that I can attend a memorial/dawn service.

In 2009 Carolyn and I were travelling through France and attended the Dawn service at Villers Bretonneux which commemorates the Battle of the Somme. When we started to plan this trip we decided to attend the ANZAC Day ceremony in Ypres, Belgium as this was another significant battle area for the Allies during WWI. I discovered (through my Aunt) that I have a distant relative (my Grandfather’s 2^nd cousin – Edgar William Parham) who lost his life there during the Battle of the Fromelles in 1916.

Anzac Day 2013

April 24^th 2013

We arrived in Ypres and I spent the afternoon at the In Flanders Fields Museum. The museum displays the history of the Ypres/Flanders region during WWI and pays homage to the men & women from all countries that came to fight the Great War. It is located in the renovated Cloth Halls of Ypres. There is a permanent exhibition which allows you to be educated on the invasion of Belgium and the story of the First World War in the Western Front region. The Battle of Fromelles was a British Military operation which was designed to exploit any weakening in the German forces…..but the power of the German defence was significantly underestimated – as the Allies were outnumbered 2:1 and the troops involved in the attack lacked experience in trench warfare.

I was surprised at how well the museum captures the events of the Western Front as you are able to immerse yourself into a number of different mediums to obtain a real understanding of the battles of the Western Front. There are thousands of artefacts on display including the officer’s kit from each of the 5 continents, photos depicting significant areas of the time in a then and now comparison, an interactive experience which allows you to become a person in the War and go through a timeline as to where they fought, how they were feeling, what happened to their battalion and a bit of their family history. There are a number of other multimedia installations that also allow you to gain a better understanding of what conditions were like and the importance of the town of Ypres and the enormity of lost lives on the Western Front. Over 600,000 men from all countries lost their lives here and for Australia, Fromelles was one of the largest loss of life (just over 7,000 men fighting for the Allied forces – including over 5,500 Australian men were killed), with two battalions being completely destroyed – meaning they had to be rebuilt.

You can also go up the Belfry (which I did) to get a magnificent view of the city of Ypres and the surrounding battlefields. I could have spent more than the 3 hours that I did in the museum, it was a truly wonderful experience and certainly for me a highlight of our trip to Europe.

Later in the evening we attended the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, what an overwhelming experience. I get emotional on ANZAC Day but being ANZAC Day Eve there were many Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians about and once the Bugler starts you can’t help but feel the emotion of being at such a significant place in Australia’s War History. If you can only spend a day at Ypres I would definitely recommend coming the night before, making sure you arrive in time to witness the Last Post Ceremony. The ceremony has been held (& continues to be) every night at 8pm since 11^th November 1929 in Ypres by the local Last Post Association to express the gratitude of the Belgian nation towards those who had died for its freedom and independence.

April 25^th 2013

I had arranged for Carolyn, Caron & I to be taken out to the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Buttes New British Cemetery at Polygon Wood. The service was very moving and there were probably about 400 people in attendance. The service was quite beautiful and another moving experience for me as we remembered those who had fought and especially those never to return home. As the dawn broke there was a light haze in the air….it was a very stirring moment as we remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

The public were invited to place a small timber poppy cross on the grave of a fallen ANZAC. The crosses had been prepared by volunteers and had messages from Australian school children – the students had written these messages during their visits to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

After the service we were taken into Zonnebeke (the closest town) to a local hall to join the Mayor for a community breakfast. Pastries, coffee, juice and a whisky (to warm up) were on the menu. We chatted with a number of Aussies & Kiwis who had made the journey over and also met with a number of locals. One of the local gentlemen came up to me and thanked me for coming to remember the fallen - they are still amazed at the growing numbers of Australian and NZ travelers who attend to the services each year.

Breakfast was over and we headed onto Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Cemetery at Passchendaele for another official ANZAC Day service. Tyne Cot is the largest Commonwealth War Cemetery in the world. In the surrounding countryside one of the most horrific battles of WWI was fought - this was known as the Third Battle of Ypres.

The objective of the 1917 Flanders offensive was to overrun the German position and move forward to occupy the Belgium coast. Men fought in quagmires of mud and rain, making little or no advance on the German lines. In one month alone (October, 1917) the AIF lost over 6,600 men.

After the service we had some time to wander through the cemetery. 11,953 tombstones stand in front of you and to read the inscriptions on the headstones for example: “only a son”, “a mother’s only son”, “in memory of my only child”, “died aged 17 years”, “died aged 47 years” etc the loss of life buried here is just truly astonishing. I found Tyne Cot to be quite an overwhelming experience and put simply, it’s hard not to get emotional. It’s important to also note that there are 34,863 British Soldiers honoured on the walls behind the headstone for those with no known grave; and a NZ memorial which remembers the 663 NZ men who died supporting the Australian divisions as they battled through the mud in October, 1917.

Carolyn & Caron returned to Ypres for the afternoon at the end of the Tyne Cot Cemetery visit and I went on with a smaller group for the rest of the day.

Our day continued firstly with a visit to Hill 60. “Hill 60” was the name given to the WWI battle area by the British on their military maps because of the contoured height of the ground – 60m above sea level. As the Germans had made the area appear to be pretty impossible for the Allies to gain any advantage from above – the British created tunnels beneath the hill and stocked explosives to set off as mines.

This sight is significant for Australians as the 1^st Australian Tunneling Division were responsible for the mines set under “Hill 60”. Next to the entrance gate to the Hill 60 Memorial Site there is a memorial (picture below) to the 1st Australian Tunneling Company. Hill 60 is a rare example of a preserved battlefield which has been left as a memorial to the many soldiers who still lie beneath the Hill.

From Hill 60 we went onto Toronto Avenue Cemetery which is located in Ploegsteert Wood. The cemetery remembers the Australian 3^rd Division soldiers who fought in the Battle of Messines, coming under gas shell attack in Ploegsteert Wood.

Next we visited the Chums Cross, site of one of the unofficial 1914 Christmas Truces. The Christmas truce was a series of widespread, unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day many soldiers ventured into “no man’s land” exchanging food & souvenirs and played in games of football.

After a short break for lunch in one of the local villages we made our way over the border and to the Australian VC Corner Cemetery & Memorial in Fromelles, France. VC Corner is the only uniquely Australian cemetery on the Western Front. The cemetery is on land which was referred to as “no man’s land” in the Battle of Fromelles. This was the part of the tour I was looking forward to the most as I would see the name of a distant relative Pt. Edgar William Parham** who to date has no known grave but is remembered here.

**To read more about Pt. Edgar William Parham – please follow this link to a summary composed by my brother-in-law – Rod who has also visited Fromelles etc. Thanks Rod – I couldn’t have written it better myself.

There are no headstones at VC Corner; two large concrete crosses mark where 410 soldiers are buried who lost their lives during the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916. The memorial walls in the cemetery list the names of the 1,299 Australian Soldiers who were killed and who have no known grave.

When I first located Edgar’s name I was quite overwhelmed with emotion – I’d finally made the journey to his resting place and felt a sense of closeness to a relative who’d fought for his country in one of the most horrid battles in War History. Once my emotions were under control I was proud to be able to pay my respects to Edgar. I wandered through VC Corner and reflected on what has been reported as the worst 24 hours in Australia’s history – the Battle of Fromelles.

When the troops of the 5th Australian and 61st British Divisions attacked at 6 pm on 19 July 1916, they suffered heavily at the hands of German machine-gunners.

By 8am on 20 July 1916, the battle was over. Over 5,500 men from the 5^th Australian Division and over 1,500 men from the 61^st British Division were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. No tactical advantages resulted from the action; the progress of the Somme offensive was a complete failure. The battle continued through to November, costing thousands of lives to both sides for little gain of mileage along the Front line. The 19^th July 1916 remains the worst day in Australian military history.

To put this into perspective, (with no disrespect to those Australians who lost their lives in other Wars) the figure of lives lost is equivalent to Australia's combined casualties in the Boer, Korean and Vietnam wars. This year (2014) on the 19th July will mark the 98th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles; I plan to return to France in 2016 for the 100^th Anniversary events.

Close by to VC Corner (about 200m down the road) is the Australian Memorial Park. The Cobber’s statue (located on top of a German Bunker) is a tribute to an event which occurred during the Battle of Fromelles where soldiers left the safety of their trenches to recover their wounded ‘brothers’ lying out in the mud of “no man’s land”. It’s reported that during one trip a solider called out “Don’t forget me Cobber”. To me the statue symbolises the true mateship and loyalty shared by the Australian soldiers.

Our last stop on the day tour was to the newly built (c.2010) Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery. In recent years a mass burial site at Pheasant Wood has been discovered. The Germans had buried fallen Allied soldiers following the battle of Fromelles on 19 and 20 July 1916. The cemetery currently contains 250 Australian (whose names appear on the memorial at VC Corner) and British soldiers who have been identified through DNA sampling are now re-interred individually at the cemetery.

At the end of our tour we returned to Ypres in the late afternoon. That evening Carolyn & I attended the ANZAC Day Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. We started and ended the day with an emotional service – a truly wonderful day in many ways and one which I will never forget.

Below are a couple of short videos I took of the Last Post Ceremony on ANZAC Day

If you have an interest in Australia’s War History and would like to experience an ANZAC Day overseas – I would suggest that Ypres, Belgium and the surrounding areas of Belgium and France (Fromelles & the Somme) be on the top of your list.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a great website to assist you if you are planning to visit the area - http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/. The company I used for the Dawn Service and also the smaller tour was Salient Tours who are based in Ypres, Belgium. We had Steve as our guide - he's great, very knowledgeable about the area and happy to prepare a tour specific to your needs if requested etc.

For those of you who have been waiting for this final blog post from our European 2013 blog – thank you for your patience….and to Carolyn and Rod thank you both for your continued encouragement to get this post finished.

To the Men & Women who were wounded and/or lost their lives during service to our wonderful country…………

Lest We Forget

In Flanders fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae (1872–1918)

Singapore 31 May - 6 June

2013-06-09T19:24:00.001+09:30

Sultry Singapore - bring it on (and the very last of our blogs) (G will still be uploading her Anzac Day blog for those who are interested!)

When you step out of those sliding doors at Changi Airport it hits you like an invisible wall - the Singapore heat and humidity. But after over 6 weeks of the so-called European Spring we were loving it. Off came the layers and on with the sandals - finally it all made sense that we booked a hotel that had a pool.

We were served breakfast towards the end of our flight from Dubai to Singapore but arrived at 3pm which put Caz a little out of whack (what happened to lunch??). Another welcome advantage of flying business class with Emirates is that a chauffeur awaits you at Arrivals to take to your hotel (of course our driver was holding up Georgina Wilson's name but Caz tagged along as well). No more lugging bags on and off trains or up/down flights of stairs and through undergrounds. Bliss.

We splashed out a little on our Singapore hotel and booked an Executive Room which includes access to a club lounge - hot and cold drinks and snacks all day and open bar with canapés etc from 6 - 8pm. We headed up for drinks and some much needed food. Really if you couldn't be bothered heading our for dinner you could easily satisfy your hunger here. But Clarke Quay is literally across the bridge from our hotel so we strolled over for Thai on the waterfront. Georgina soon learned that a "mild" curry in Singapore speak would be considered "hot" in Adelaide. It was such a great to be able to to sit outside on a balmy evening and enjoy a relaxing albeit super-spicy meal together.

Saturday started a little slowly then we sorted out our MRT passes for Singapore's metro. First stop was Marina Bay Sands to see what all of the fuss is about. Marina Bay Sands is a very, very famous Resort complex opened in 2011 which has become a Singapore icon. A little ho hum for us we're afraid but ticked off the list. We headed 'across the bridge' to Gardens by the Bay, a stunning park of reclaimed land in central Singapore which has 3 waterfront gardens. These gardens are also a recent addition to to the city of Singapore opened in 2012 with two of the gardens still under some level of construction. The real reason we wanted to visit was to see the 2 conservatories the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. The Flower Dome Conservatory is the world's largest columnless glasshouse (yes, the trivia continues right to the end!) and features 7 different "gardens" within it. The Cloud Forest replicates the conditions found in tropical mountain regions at 3,000 metres. Both of the structures and jaw-droppingly amazing in design, architecture and construction, let alone the gardens themselves.Rather than trying to explain these amazing conservatories perhaps G's photos can help:

Gardens by the Bay

The Flower Dome

The Cloud Forest

After enjoying pre-dinner drinks and snacks at the hotel headed off to an open-air hawker market for dinner at Makansutra Glutton's Bay which was a great place to experience the hawker style of eating which is very much a part of Singapore but heading more indoors these days.

Singapore Hawkers Food Markets

Singapore by night

Sunday morning almost disappeared as Caz was still struggling with jet lag and managed to convince the alarm clock that she was just too tired to start the day. Then for some reason we headed out to Orchard Road to hit a few shops (maybe we can blame that on the jet lag too) and after about 30 minutes we proved to ourselves that we definitely are not shoppers. As we weren't burdened with any bags of goodies we simply hopped on the metro back out to Gardens by the Bay to see and climb the Supertrees which we couldn't quite manage yesterday. These structures dominate the gardens landscape and are not only amazing vertical gardens but they are also fitted with also sorts of green technology that perform many environmentally friendly functions for the whole park.

Gardens by the Bay - Super trees

Monday finally bought some normalcy and routine so an a early start saw us heading to Jurong Bird Park. Time for Caz to put her zoo nerd hat on again. It was a pleasure to just walk through casually, amongst some good aviaries but also gorgeous rainforest.

Jurong Bird Park

The late afternoon was wisely spent back at the hotel enjoying the pool again away from the Singapore heat and humidity which is at it's worst at this time of the day.

Tuesday followed a similar path but this time to the Singapore Zoo and River Safari. We chose to use public transport to get ourselves out there which was a pretty big mistake. Even though we set out early it took us well over an hour to get there; early morning wasted. But the Zoo certainly didn't disappoint, nor did the River Safari which has Giant Pandas on exhibit. The River Safari is a river-themed zoo (who would've guessed?) nestled between Singapore Zoo and the Night Safari. Even though a large section was closed for development we were pretty impressed and would recommend a visit if you are heading to the zoo as well.

River Safari & Singapore Zoo

We continued the routine of our days here by heading back for a swim later in the afternoon, this time making use of the tourist bus back to the hotel. The best $5 spent so far. We have read so many positives about the Singapore metro trains but having to use them for 4 days we actually found the lines very frustrating. The circle line is far from it and if you actually wanted to do a full circle around the CBD you need to change twice. Granted they are clean and cheap but we really did spend a lot of time switching lines to get anywhere. Tip for future visitors may be to spend the extra dollars and occasionally use the taxis (they're actually very good value).

Wednesday dawned all to soon for our liking as it signalled our last day as travellers. Indeed tonight we start the final leg of our journey home having seen as much of Singapore as we could and wanted to. But we did manage to squeeze in one last Singapore attraction. In fact this one was on Sentosa Island, Singapore's very own island resort with beaches, golf courses, Universal Studios, and apparently the world's largest aquarium S.E.A. Aquarium which is where we made a bee-line to, thankfully only one train ride and a lovely walk and we were there. Actually Sentosa Island has a really interesting history but maybe that's for another blog (hang on this is our last - never mind, just google it!).

There are a few of you reading this blog who would know just how much we both love aquariums. Honestly we were the biggest kids in town as soon as we walked in. There simply wasn't anything here that did not impress us, from the staff, the interpretive signage to the spectacular Ocean Zone, one of 10 marine zones displayed. We both could've sat here for many more hours than we had to spare. Simply brilliant. What a fabulous way to end our entire trip. Here it is everyone - "if you're ever in Singapore....."

S.E.A. Aquarium

So now we're wondering how to do our final sign-off but perhaps it's best to keep it simple:

We hope you've enjoyed reading our travel tales and seeing some of the images of our trip. We've loved being able to share as much as we could without getting too carried away (hey, don't laugh - we really did try to keep it sort-of brief!).

Thank you for coming along for ride.

Can't wait to see family, friends and inbetweens back in Adelaide.

Caz and Ms G

PS: life can be all too short. If you really want to go somewhere; see that one thing you dream about, visit that special place, then please - you so just have to do it xx

Our final two pictures below are from our two favourite places on our journey...what a contrast in weather we've experienced over the past 8 weeks.....

Favourite City - Barcelona

Favourite Country (no doubt at all) - Switzerland

Until next time, we wish you safe travels on your next adventure (as we sit down to plan ours!)

Zurich & Frankfurt to Singapore (27-31May)

2013-06-04T01:06:00.001+09:30

The Last (European) Hurrah

We arrived in Zurich perhaps with heavy hearts as it marks the beginning of the end of our time in Switzerland and indeed Europe. So we treated Zurich as a bit of a stopover before heading on to Frankfurt to then fly on to Singapore. We did manage a walk along the Limmat River in almost-complete sunshine (the old town is situated on both sides of this river) along with many locals who came out of to woodwork to meet for drinks along the river

Brief sights of Zurich

Looks like quite an uncomfortable bike ride for this commuter

Zurich train station (local mkt in the background)

The next day we caught the train to Frankfurt and finally farewelled Switzerland. Our time in Frankfurt was brief and we really didn't get up to much. Walks a couple of times on the main streets and not much more. Our main purpose to being in Frankfurt was to start the journey home, so we didn't really plan anything on the tourist trail for this city. We did manage to find a local food market one morning (in the rain of course) so it was nice to wander through a German food market as see all the seasonal fruit and vegetables about. It also made us realise we're coming home to our own markets very shortly & we can't wait for a home cooked meal!

We are the rain travel experts

Frankfurt Markets

We sampled a small piece of a Beinenstich for a mid morning snack

So with boarding passes printed and in our hot little hands we headed off to the airport for our first business class flight with Emirates. We simply could not fault them from the moment we checked in and both flights were excellent with the only catch being the pretty average airport lounge at Dubai where we had to wait for our 3.25am flight out of Dubai. G not only finally got to fly on an A380, but in true business class seats with french champagne flowing freely and excellent service (her Qantas Gold status also attracted special attention from the staff).

"Welcome on your inaugural Emirates flight Ms Wilson", "More champagne Ms Wilson", "Please let us know if we can assist you in any way Ms Wilson" the best comment was when G returned onto her second Emirates flight (some 3 hours after stepping off her first one) "Welcome back Ms Wilson, it's our pleasure to be flying you to Singapore this morning, may I offer you a glass of champagne before we fly?" I'd only just got off the other plane but was treated as though I was a regular flyer.....they are certainly out to impress the Qantas customers & they've won us over in just two flights.

Emirates A380 flight

Great Vegetarian food

Vintage bubbles = Happy G

Great seats which go completely flat

The A380 Inflight Business Bar :)

So we are now in Singapore and facing the inevitable jet lag after being on the go for over 30 hours and crossing a couple of time zones. Of course it's raining here BUT it's lovely warm rain and a whole new experience for both of us. We chose to spend several days here rather than just whizzing through without getting to know the place.

Perhaps there will even be a Singapore blog to come...........

Stay tuned!

Zermatt 26-27 May (24 hrs is not enough!)

2013-06-02T13:15:00.001+09:30

Swiss Sunshine & Snow

We made the effort to start the day early so that we could get ourselves to Zermatt by late morning. Montreux greeted us with dark skies and rain but the fingers-crossed forecast for Zermatt was for sunshine.

The last leg of the train trip was another spectacular journey as we headed towards Switzerland's most iconic Alpine village.

Train from Montreux to Zermatt

Blue glacier ice in the middle of this pic

A closer look

A "Wallis" sheep

Zermatt is the gateway to some of Switzerland's most spectacular ski runs with the Matterhorn as it's backdrop. The village is spotlessly clean and is car-free. The only vehicles allowed are little electric buggies and even the number of these allowed is rigorously monitored. The village itself is quite picturesque, full of chalets and hotels geared up for ski bunnies and outdoor junkies alike.

We dropped our bags off and layered up with thermals and headed off to catch another train (= happy Caz), this time a far more modern cog-wheeled train up to Gornergrat. Gornergrat is a mere 3131m above sea level and has a summit that provides you with views across the Alps to no less than 29 four-thousand metre high peaks, including the Matterhorn. The train ride was another gob-smacker with views in all directions. I think you'd agree this wasn't a bad view to begin the journey....

Cog Railway from Zermatt up to Gornergrat

And so to the top - yes that is sunshine you can see in the photos, and yes, that is Georgina in a tank top and 3/4 pants. Well it was a balmy -5 degrees so what else would you expect from G? Our time up here was simply one of those indescribable experiences leaving all 3 of us utterly speechless. It wasn't a bad spot for lunch either!!

Arriving at the top looking over to the Matterhorn

A local Swiss Marmot

Here's what a Marmot looks like from the front

Even the railway signs look Swiss!

Unfortunately what goes up....... so we hopped back on the train for the trip back to Zermatt and to The Butterfly Hotel and up to our room. The hotel was the typical Alpine village-style from the outside and the rooms all had balconies with gorgeous views. By far the best 3-star hotel we have stayed in during our time in Switzerland.

The afternoon was spent strolling through Zermatt and just taking our time to enjoy the sunshine and relaxed village pace. The hotel had such a lovely little bar area Caz and Caron met up for drinks and dinner while Georgina got some well-earned rest. Being at such a high altitude the temperature was brisk enough to chill our drinks out on the balcony so Caz could even have a cold beer after dinner in the room! Our drinks for the next day were extremely well chilled overnight. Thanks for the tip G!

Zermatt Day 2

As we only had the one night in Zermatt and had to catch the train to Zurich at 1.40pm we were determined to make the most of every minute so after an early breakfast we headed up to the cable car rides of our lives - to the Klein Matterhorn at 3883m. This final stop is officially the highest cable car in Europe at the Klein Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. We rode 3 different cable cars (Zermatt to Furi, Furi to Trockener Steg and Trockener Steg to Klein Matterhorn), sharing the first two with skiers and snowboarders (there are ski runs open throughout the year as snow falls 300 days a year!) and the last with just 2 other people. Georgina can sometimes struggle with heights but with this as her backdrop she managed these cable cars with ease:

Yes you do go down then up like a swing!

We both felt the change in altitude a little, even Georgina who is very fit, so took a few moments to slow things down and adjust. I guess that's to be expected when you arrive at the highest altitude mountain railway in Europe! A little difficult when it's -10 degrees and all you want to do is speed things up to keep warm! After a visit into the Glacier Palace (the highest in the world) we had quick stop at the summit cafe to warm up (Georgina even rested her hands on their hot food counter to try to get the feeling back into her finger tips) and off we went to the highest viewing platform.

Matterhorn Glacier Palace

The weather simply couldn't have been better for us. In fact when we were at the viewing summit there was a local guide pointing out the different peaks to her group of mainly-Aussie tourists and when asked what a particular mountain range was she said "no-one ever sees these mountains - they are somewhere in Italy", meaning that today was truly one of the rare days to see far and wide. We were thoroughly spoilt and perhaps amongst the very few who get the chance to see so much of Europe in the one place. We struck up a conversation and met some local Adelaidians who knew two of Georgina's friends. Even here with less than 20 other people around us there was a connection! Georgina also gave them tips on using their cameras to take panoramic shots.

Here we are at 3883m....

Highest peak you can see is the Matterhorn

For us this was one of those moments in life when you feel truly humbled, privileged and perhaps a little insignificant. We're quite lost for words really. If you are ever anywhere remotely near Switzerland.......

Sadly this was the last of our real holiday time under the Swiss flag with the next night in Zurich really only a place to rest our heads before starting the journey home via Frankfurt and on to Singapore.

One of the reasons we both fell in love with Switzerland was the local attitude towards life and making the most of what surrounds you. At every chance the Swiss will be out hiking, skiing, exercising, or just strolling along with the dogs to get out in the fresh air. It's all about being outdoors. The Swiss are also incredibly proud (and rightly so) of being a neutral and autonomous nation; it is so very important to everyone here. At one stage Georgina had to get an another adaptor for our European adaptor (go figure!) and asked the gentleman at the hotel reception desk why Switzerland had a different set up to the surrounding countries, and he replied with a lovely smile "we are Switzerland, we are just different". We have been greeted with smiles and warm greetings throughout our time here. Perhaps one of the things that separates the traveller from the tourist is our genuine interest in learning something about the person who is on the other side of the desk. A warm smile does go both ways and can make such a difference to your travel experience.

Our very own private cable car

We have made a promise to return to Switzerland and really make time to enjoy some of the outdoor life here and we are already very much looking forward to it. This is definitely a promise to each other that we intend to keep.

We'll be back! (G has decided we're spending her 40th walking in Switzerland..planning has already begun!)

Interlaken 23-25 May & Montreux 25-26 May

2013-05-31T21:24:00.001+09:30

What would we do without Swiss Rail?

Did we mention that Caz likes train travel? Perhaps not quite an official "train buff" but she comes fairly close. So, today we really start our 'Golden Pass Panoramic' train travel through some of the most beautiful and diverse parts of Switzerland and Caz couldn't be happier. Luckily Switzerland is also home to some of the world's best chocolate, one of Georgina's passions. Both tastes catered for.

The Golden Pass is designed to take travellers through some of the most spectacular scenery that Switzerland has to offer whilst also getting you from A to B. Our first leg starts in Lucerne and takes us to Interlaken, the tourist gateway to the some of the best that the Swiss Alps has to offer. Simply spectacular. We arrived at Interlaken at midday and found our hotel with ease, dropped off our bags and headed into the town for a stretch of the legs and what has become our favourite Swiss dish for lunch - a bowl of hot, well-priced veggie soup.

Sights along the way to Interlaken

Each town church is quite picturesque

This will be us on our next trip

Hello what's this? Rain? Here we go again....

I had to get one shot in with the cow bell

Coming in to Interlaken

Interlaken

This area is where the paragliders & sky divers land.

Interlaken streets

Jungfrau view from my camera

Jungfrau view on a perfect day (according to the tourist poster I took this from)

The weather started to brighten up so we quickly got ourselves on the funicular to the Harder Kulm summit which at 1,322m overlooks Interlaken and it's two glacial lakes as well as providing phenomenal views of the "top 3": the Eiger, Mönch and the Jungfrau. Another train-like thing for Caz! We were finally spoilt with the weather and Georgina managed to get some stunning shots. We couldn't believe our luck, so much so we thought we would walk back down to Interlaken through the alpine forest, but alas the weather rolled in yet again. Maybe on the next trip to Switzerland.....

Harder Külm Summit

Left to right (Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau)

But the main attraction for all three of us was the Jungfrau, the most famous summit of the Swiss Alps in this area and a bit of a Swiss icon. We were determined to make it as close to the summit as possible so day 2 at Interlaken was dedicated to doing just this. By the way, we started the morning by waking up to this view from our room:

Morning views of Interlaken...

Now we really hate to be repetitive, but the weather.... well, you can probably guess the rest. We were not going to be deterred, but Georgina thought the best option was to buy tickets for the first two of the three trains required to get to the highest viewing point which takes you to Kleine-Scheidegg, a mountain pass below the major peaks. If the weather improved by the time we got to Kleine-Scheidegg we could always buy tickets for the final leg to Jungfraujoch. The train journey itself was absolutely stunning.

Train journey from Interlaken to Kleine-Scheidegg

A very wise decision by G as we were greeted by very limited visibility at Kleine-Scheidegg due to the SNOW. Pure, soft, feathery crystals of white drifting silently down on us and crunching under our feet. As we have mention previously, Caz has never seen snow before this trip so to be able to see snow falling on the slopes of the Swiss Alps - well, it doesn't get any better really. Again, G's photos really tell the story:

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow......

Caz makes her first snowman

Look closely - there's snow falling....

G's favourite picture of our whole trip

Completely and utterly satisfied with what we had seen, we stuck to G's plan and headed slowly back down to Interlaken by train, taking a slightly different route back via Grindelwald. If you're ever in Interlaken.....

Kleine-Scheidegg to Grindelwald

Grindelwald

Interlaken itself is a tourist Mecca and requires some patience from the individual travellers like us (notice the word "traveller" rather than "tourist"!). The buses bring tourists in all day every day and the streets are swarming with Switzerland-capped people desperate to buy the best Swiss watch, get the best happy snap of anything passing by, and grab anything red with a white cross on it. Having said that we have already decided that this is the place we would have to come back to and spend some real time here - the alpine walks alone look fantastic.

The next day Georgina woke to another great view for her birthday. Quite lucky really because Caz didn't quite manage to get her an actual present! (G comment - I did get a card though so all is not lost)

It's also our final Golden Pass train travel day as we head to Montreux on Lake Geneva. We actually travel along 2 lines today and cover and amazing diversity of landscapes and waterways.

Interlaken to Montreux

We arrived at Montreux to be greeted by rain, rain and then some rain - welcome to the Swiss Riviera. Even the hotel staff apologised for the weather! All we really wanted to do here was relax and enjoy G's birthday so Caron had sneakily contacted the hotel and arranged for our room to be upgraded to Lake-side with a balcony. Fantastic. When we finally got to the room later in the afternoon Georgina had her second surprise of the day - a bottle of French champagne on ice with a note from Mike and Rod, Caz's brother and his partner, wishing her a very happy birthday. Just brilliant. So the only thing left to do on a rainy day in Montreux is to run a bubble bath, put the comfies on and settle in to a gourmet platter of cheese and fruit provided by Caz, a bottle of lovely bubbles and music from home playing in the background. Happy Birthday to Georgina......

View from our lakeside room

G's b'day bubbles :)

On the move again the next day and this time to Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn.

Wait till you read that blog!!!.....

Lucerne 20-23 May

2013-05-29T06:27:00.001+09:30

From the Italian Lakes to the Swiss Alps in one day

We had read a few warnings about the bus trip from Menaggio (a very hairy ride apparently) but decided that those people were whimps, and it was worth doing to save ourselves many hours and quite a few euros on ferries and trains to get to Lugano, Switzerland. It was a local bus service costing us all of 5 euro each and about 1 hour of our time and we were in Switzerland, straight to the train station to head to our next destination - Lucerne.

We had organised all of our Swiss rail and accommodation as part of a self-guided tour package through a travel agent as this was actually much cheaper than doing it ourselves. All of the hotels are close to the station and each place we are visiting has something different to offer. Switzerland is notoriously expensive on all fronts so it was great to have everything arranged and pre-paid so we could just enjoy our time. Neither of us had travelled to Switzerland before and were both very excited to be heading towards another new experience.

By the way - Caz is a bit of a fan of the trains and to be honest you could put her on any (first class) carriage and she'd be a very happy girl. However, even the Swiss scenery and fantastic rail service on our first leg from Lugano to Lucerne blew all of us away. Wow - what a spectacular introduction to a place Caz had dreamt about visiting. We knew we were going to thoroughly enjoy the next leg of our 2013 journey when we could see this out of the train window:

Just for something different, it was raining when we arrived so luckily the hotel was very close to the station so a quick dash with bags to check in and the usual bag drop etc. Lucerne is the main town on Lake Lucerne (OK might sound a little obvious, but just wanted to make sure everyone knows where we are!).

Oh how we love the rain!

Ready to explore...

We re-grouped armed with brollies, jackets and determination and headed out for our usual "getting to know the town" wander. The weather lightened up enough for us to even manage to sit outside at a wine bar on the Reuss River and share a cheers to the start of our Swiss journey together. Georgina even managed to find a glass of Aussie red, OK so it was only Lindeman's but it was a Mclaren Vale Shiraz so still very drinkable. Lucerne has grabbed us in an instant and we were excited about discovering more of anything and everything Swiss in the short time that we were here.

Our first sights of Lucerne

A quick glimpse of blue sky

We scouted around for dinner and decided on Thai. Yes, yes, we know - what on Earth are we doing trying Thai restaurants in Switzerland but there is an Asian influence to the food here that rates quite highly as authentic food. We sat down to another one of those meals that stands out from the rest and it was great to have fresh vegetarian food that wasn't just a compromise. The cost was the big surprise - about $55 Australian (per person) for a veggie curry with rice and one drink each. Hmmmm - a great meal but we decided that perhaps we need to do a little more research before sitting down to these prices every night. But no regrets, we loved every mouthful.

We stared the next day grabbing a few cold-weather clothing (re)supplies that we (read "Caz") thought we no longer needed and had previously sent home. The photos from Mt Rigi later in the blog will explain!

We then headed out for our own guided tour of old Lucerne, including the walls and ramparts of the city from the 14th century. We also visited the Lion monument which commemorates the Swiss Guards who lost their lives fighting in the French Revolution. Regardless of your personal feelings about revolution or war, this monument is a striking reminder of the pain of lives lost.

Walking the streets of Lucerne

Mmmmm Milka (G loves her Milka) or Toblerone

Heading up to the walls & ramparts

View of Lake Lucerne from the top of one rampart

The Lion Monument

A closer view...

Lucerne proved itself to be a very picturesque town and perhaps some of you have seen this iconic image of Switzerland previously:

Chapel Bridge

If you believe what you read in the Swiss tourist brochures the Chapel Bridge is one of the most photographed structures in the whole of Europe. True or not, it is genuinely the oldest surviving bridge of it's kind, and with the backdrop of gorgeous Lucerne does make a great photo don't you think?

Looking down the Ruess river from the Chapel bridge

We decided to brave all of the elements the next day and make the trip up to Mt Rigi, the highest peak in the area and easily accessible by public transport. We were able to use our Swiss Rail Pass to get half price tickets and after packing extra layers for the trip we hopped on stage 1 of the journey - a paddle steamer across Lake Lucerne.

(A pic from a Swiss site to show the boat)

Stage 2 is on Europe's oldest cogwheel mountain railway (The Vitznau-Rigi Railway) which takes you all the way to the summit, Rigi Kulm. As we were getting closer to the summit the weather started to turn and visibility was getting poor - but this time is was due to snow. We think that we might have been in the small minority who were excited about snow as most people come up here for the view. The truth is that Caz has never seen snow or been in snow when it was snowing - ever. So here we were in almost white-out conditions and Caz trying not to get too excited in front of everyone. As you can see, she didn't really succeed and looked more like Alice stumbling into Wonderland for the first time:

And it's Snow time!

Vitznau-Rigi Cog rail

Happy girls in the snow

Caz literally in the snow for the first time

Thank god for the Swiss beanies - our new best friends (keeping our heads warm)

Yes G is in 3/4 pants....it's not that cold!

As snow really only falls when it's freezing cold (-5 degrees) we headed into the summit restaurant for a hot bowl of soup before making our way down to the lake by cable car from the next village down (stage 3). We had hoped to walk down to this spot but the weather really was against us. The views from the cable car were simply spectacular.

One of our favourite Swiss pics :)

Anyone for a swim? A cosy 28 degrees poolside

Whilst not so clear - you can still see Lake Lucerne through the wet dots

Lake Lucerne

Back on another boat and home to Lucerne. An absolutely unforgettable day for both of us. If you're ever in Lucerne....

All of the footprints you can see are from Caz doing a few happy dances in the snow! (Not really but she was doing a happy dance)

Our last day in Lucerne only really meant getting to the train station for our 9.40am train to Interlaken, a town in the heart of the lakes and mountains of the Alps including the famous Jungfrau. More of this in the next blog.

Time for us to eat some chocolate......

Lake Como (Menaggio), Italy 16-20 May

2013-05-27T07:15:00.001+09:30

Planes, trains and....... ferries!

Well, we did also manage an automobile (taxi) on our travel day from Barcelona to Menaggio on Lake Como. Another straight-forward flight to Milan with Vueling Airlines. We could also access the lounge at the airport thanks to Georgina and Caron's Qantas Club membership so we had a relaxing wait for our flight. We hopped on to the train straight from the Airport, and after a quick change of train we made it to Lake Como. There are a great number of towns to stay on Lake Como but we chose Menaggio as it seemed to be a good place to base ourselves, and the easiest to move on to our next destination, Switzerland.

Menaggio

So - on to our lake-view room at the Grand Hotel Menaggio. Bring on the ferry ride. If only it wasn't bucketing down to the point where we could barely see where we were walking to get to the dock! One recurring theme for this trip seems to have been the weather and Lake Como unfortunately kept the "rain with the occasional downpour" theme going for a few more days. However what we could see from the ferry was breathtaking.

View from Menaggio

Looking back to Menaggio from Varenna

Our hotel was (thankfully) less than 100 metres from the ferry dock at Menaggio so in we went with some trepidation due to recent very bad reviews for the hotel. Yes, it was very dated and perhaps earned it's "grand" name from a bygone era, but we were nonetheless most impressed. The view from our room might have had something to do with that??

Room with a view :)

Again, the usual drill of bag drop and a quick stroll around in between showers, a trip to the local supermarket for a few essentials (spotted Limoncello at 5 euro a bottle? G just had to grab some!), then out for a quick drink and a meal together. As the weather was looking pretty grim for the next day Georgina found us a brilliant alternative way to spend the day on the Lake and booked into a full-day cooking class at Varenna with Moreno at Ristorante Il Caminetto.

Varenna & our Italian cooking class

From the moment we were greeted at the ferry terminal we knew we were going to have a great day of learning, meeting other foodies and sharing some wonderful home-cooked food. We started with coffee and home-made cake and Moreno then showed us the art of making pasta, followed by the perfect "pomodoro" sauce, then on to gnocchi and finally risotto. Of course the philosophy is all about slow food made with passion, we even managed to hand-roll our own gnocchi. During the session the church bells rang at 12 noon which apparently meant "time for a snack". So out came a generous platter of local cheese and cured meats for each person (extra cheese for us). Moreno also asked each of us - red or white? - and out came a small carafe of wine for each person as well.

We had a great time sipping the local wine, nibbling on the local cheeses, learning about some of the local dishes and especially tasting the simple yet classic Italian dishes prepared during the day. We finished with grappa and limoncello with Moreno always making sure we had enough of everything. What a day - no dinner required! We managed a walk around the lake back at Menaggio late in the afternoon and caught up with Caron for a drink to end a great day. If you're ever staying on Lake Como.....

Looking back to Varenna

Finally 5 mins of sunshine!

The next day was dedicated to Villa hopping, without putting any pressure being anywhere at any particular time. This time we started the day on the very cheap and efficient bus to Tremezzo to visit Villa Carlotta. Being on holiday, and in Italy, meant we could just stroll around until we found a lakeside cafe for a coffee,or two, and perhaps a biscotti.....

But of course we were there for the villa so a slow walk back and in we went, sensing the possibility of sunshine. Villa Carlotta was built at the end of the 17th century and was bought by a Prussian princess in 1843 who gave it to her daughter, Carlotta, as a wedding present. Carlotta's husband was a keen botanist and created the gorgeous garden that is there now, and what really bought us here. Apparently the rain has destroyed many of the spring flowers but we loved it just the same (the views of Lake Como were pretty good from here too).

Villa Carlotta

The next quick bus trip took us to Lenno to visit Villa del Balbianello. Built around the same time as Villa Carlotta for a Catholic Cardinal it is perhaps known more for it's location as much as anything else:

Lenno & Villa del Balbianello

We headed back to Menaggio by ferry to head out for a cheap and classic Italian pizza at the local family-run restaurant.

For our last day on the lake we thought we had better visit Bellagio, a very famous, very touristy village on Lake Como. We took ourselves on our own guided tour and Bellagio is actually quite beautiful and has one of the best spots on the lake for views in all directions:

Bellagio

Back on the ferry after a quick veggie soup lunch and we met up with Caron for one last walk around the historical area of Menaggio.

The rain was a close companion throughout our time here which meant we didn't quite manage to do some of the things we wanted (bike ride around the lake, kayaking around the area, etc) but we still made the most of each day. Italy was one of our favourite places from our last trip - the people, the food, the sense of community and family, and the genuine welcome you receive from everyone makes Italy just that little bit special.

Tomorrow we head to Lugano by bus then on to Lucerne to start our time in Switzerland. The alps are still snow-capped and rumour has it we might see snow - fingers crossed!

As we get close to the end of this trip, we thought we should let you know that Caz has tapped away and written most of the blogs, and Georgina has been taking all of the amazing photos during the whole trip and matching them to Caz's words. So now that is out of the bag I'm sure you'll agree that G's camera work is very impressive indeed.

Also, just a little tip when you receive the email - it's worth clicking on the grey title and the blog will open in an online format. You can leave us a comment too if you like - we would love to hear from you!

Barcelona 11-16th May......

2013-05-25T07:36:00.001+09:30

Barcelona? You'll love it!!

When we were asked about our itinerary for this trip, everyone who had visited Barcelona said the same thing - "you'll love it" (obviously not exactly the same way of course, but the sentiment was unanimous).

We had a great flight with Vueling, although poor Caz was hit with another migraine sitting in the departure lounge. G tracked down the closest thing to Caz's usual cure - salty Pringles and a sweet soft drink! Sorted. In fact Caz felt she was cured enough to enjoy a Spanish beer with her lunch on the flight. Apparently the worst beer of the trip so far, however we can certainly recommend Veuling to anyone considering a low cost airline in Europe. G was able to have a Bombay Sapphire limited edition Gin & Tonic "lunch pack" for a mere €9.50 which included a Swizzle stick, a juniper blended schwepps tonic water, a sample bag of juniper berries, an extra large glass plastic cup with ice; and a special cardboard box. The only thing which was missing was a slice of lime!

From the moment we knew we were descending into Barcelona we all felt that rush of excitement about visiting somewhere completely new and unknown. We touched down and hopped in a taxi to get Caz straight to the hotel for some migraine recovery time. A huge thanks to Caz's brother regarding a good area to stay, away from the tourist hub, absolutely spot on Michael! So since he scored so well on our accommodation location, we took his advice on a Tapas bar in the area. What a brilliant way to begin our time in Barcelona at Cervecería Catalana. We headed there early on good advice and after a short wait sat down to the best and tastiest veggie food we've had since leaving London. Yes, we did also indulge in the touristy Sangria with our meal but it had to be done. Again, thank you so much Mr Mike! Smiles all round and we couldn't wait for the next day so we could start our time discovering Barcelona.

Our first jug of Sangria

The line up for Tapas...

We started our first day with a "Discover Walks" Gaudi walking tour (yep, the tour focussed on Gaudi, the famous Catalan architect). We had used this company in Paris on advice from Caron. Basically you just turn up at an appointed time and place, and meet your guide for a "free" walking tour; you decide how much you want to tip them at the end. Of course your fellow participants are a little hit and miss and although we had a brilliant guide, Lali, there was very little she could do about a particular American woman on the tour. From the moment the woman stormed up to Lali shoving the brochure in her face, and without a smile or "Hola" screamed "is this you??" Her very next question was "what time do you finish because I have to get to the airport" (not to catch a plane mind you, just to meet her friends). Question 3 was of course "how do I get to the airport from the tour??" so the tour for her was focussed on not being there. Luckily we out-numbered her and learned so much about Gaudi on our first day in Barcelona that we couldn't wait to visit some of his famous works throughout this amazing city.

Gaudi's Casa Battlo

After a quick lunch we just headed (OK - we strolled without a care in the world) to La Pedrera, or Casa Mila for the afternoon. Designed and built by Gaudi in the early 1900s, it is an apartment building like no other and was both controversial and incredibly innovative for the time. It is truly something to see, but we were mostly struck by his brilliant use of light and his almost indescribable attention to detail. When Gaudi graduated from uni, his lecturer apparently said "I don't know if we have graduated a genius or a lunatic". We think perhaps both! If you are ever in Barcelona...........

La Pedrera

Chimney's.....(G thinks they look like Star Wars Storm Troopers)

A Water tower with chimney's in foreground

Day 2 (are you bored yet?) started with a visit to Boqueria Market (thanks for the tip again Mike). The food theme continues! This market is located right in the heart of the tourist district on La Rambla and although it does appeal to the tourist it still seems to manages to provide the local community with great local produce.

Barcelona Food Markets

€1 breakfast :)

The Jamon at the far RHS is €159.00/kg!

SA product in Barcelona

We grabbed a quick bite and headed to Parc de la Ciutadella for lunch and people watching in the sunshine then joined another Discover Walks tour through the Gothic Quarter. Even though we started on La Rambla before we knew it we were walking and learning about the oldest Roman streets of Barcelona. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona is a city full of Catalonian heritage and everywhere we went there were flags for independence proudly draping balconies and buildings. Our guides have made it fairly clear that the people of Barcelona consider themselves Catalonian rather than Spanish and they still seek that independence and recognition. Once again talking with Alex our tour guide, brought the old streets and their history to life for us.

Parc de la Ciutadella

Wandering the Catalonian streets....

The infamous La Rambla...

So to Tapas again - this time to La Pepita, a place that G had found for us and booked a table for 8pm - incredibly early for Spain. Our first night of Tapas was quickly pipped at the post for the best vegetarian food since we left Adelaide, and in fact for some time before that! Caz has had to admit that eggplant can be a very yummy veggie indeed. We almost skipped out the door at the end of our meal, squeezing past the crowd taking up every inch of standing room at the tapas bar.

Day 3 (surely your getting bored? Maybe pop the kettle on, open a bottle wine, save the rest of this blog for tomorrow....) after Caz squeezed in a haircut we headed to Parc Güell for the morning, another Gaudi creation. The photos might help to give you an idea:

Not one of my pics...but this gives you an idea of the vibrant colours (without all the tourists!)

The wet weather which has followed us for the trip started to come in again so we headed to the Picasso Museum for a few hours before braving our last Discover Walks tour of the streets of Picasso and the port of Barcelona. Again, there was so much to learn about the area, especially with our guide being male for the first time. It was so interesting hearing a young man's perspective of Barcelona, with sport and passion for independence with very high on his list. A huge day ended with a simple meal close to the hotel.

Day 4 (it's OK - this is our last day - we promise!!) started with Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's final project and certainly his most 'famous'. Gaudi was a very religious man and dedicated his final years to this basilica, even living onsite so that he could work tirelessly on the project. To be honest neither of us knew what to expect, and are perhaps still a little in awe at it's uniqueness. Gaudi's church is impossible to explain so so hopefully G's photos will do it some justice:

View of the ceiling standing in centre of previous photo

The top of each pillar

It has been under construction for far too long and we really couldn't see it being completed in our lifetime. It must be incredibly difficult to stay true to Gaudi's vision, especially since the few design drawings that did exist were destroyed during the Spanish Revolution. In the end however it will be a church built by the people for the people, without assistance from any government funding. Having learned a little about the people of Catalan that made complete sense to us.

We then hopped back on the Barcelona Metro, another cheap and efficient public transport system, and headed up by funicular to Montjuic, one of Barcelona's hills that overlooks the harbour. There is a castle at the top of the hill that many people visit but the main reason we headed here was to visit the Joan Miro Foundation, a modern art museum honouring Joan Miro who is considered the most important modern Catalonian, in fact Spanish, artist EVER and is loved by all Catalonians. A fabulous collection.

A couple of Miro's sculptures...

Then for our last afternoon in Barcelona we had to finish with Gaudi. Casa Battlo is one of Gaudi's greatest masterpieces showing just how creative he was. It also shows how playful he was, and his connection with the natural world. Again, hopefully G's photos will be able to do it justice:

Casa Battlo

View looking up through middle of building

View looking down through middle of building

Roofline

We met up with Caron to have our last night of Tapas, good cheap Spanish wine and sharing of stories at La Pepita.

To be honest this has been one of the hardest blogs to write so far, only because we were worried that we would bore everyone with all of our oohing and aahing. Our time here has truly been spent discovering, immersing and absorbing as much as we possibly could.

It's hard to overstate how much of a surprise Barcelona has been for us, from learning about the Catalonian heritage and culture, to the genuine friendliness of the people who just want you to enjoy your time in their city.

So we're sitting at Barcelona airport waiting to head to Lake Como and thinking to ourselves, hmmmm - do we really have to hop on the plane today? Couldn't we just skip the next stage of our trip and extend our time here?? But onwards we must go to La dolce vita.......

Barcelona? We did love it, very much thank you!

Lyon 8-11th May

2013-05-20T04:05:00.001+09:30

Lyon - the gastronomic capital of France (and a chance to chill out)

Hmmm - perhaps another food-focussed city that isn't particularly vego-friendly! Not to worry, we have arrived in Lyon to visit the markets and walk through old Lyon and perhaps relax a little.

Looking to the city of Lyon

We had a nice trip again by train from Beaune and splurged on a taxi to our hotel. You know the drill - check in, bag drop, quick change and hit the streets. Turns out the streets were packed due to a public holiday and hundreds of people flocking to the shopping strip (a world-wide phenomenon it seems). What a shock after our easy strolls around Beaune! So we chose to just pop into the Lyon tourist office and grab maps and ideas for our own walks through Vieux Lyon, the old city of Lyon. We headed back to the hotel via a supermarket for brekkie supplies and some local cheeses and snacks. Georgina had bought a Pinot Noir when we visited the winery in Beaune so we thought we had better open it. So the day ended with the 3 of us sharing some good local wine and cheese with some music from home playing in the background. Bliss!

Another view of Lyon

We headed off to Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse market the next morning, funnily enough named after the rather famous chef from Lyon, Paul Bocuse. He seems to be genuinely regarded amongst Lyon's most famous residents, throughout history! We have a great love of food and even though we are vegetarian (yes we know, Caz does slip occasionally), we can appreciate and admire the food and produce that is local to the region. France is perhaps one of the great examples of not only regional food trends but also the pride in which it is presented.

Cheese selections at the market

More Roquefort for G :)

We started with one of the best coffees Georgina has had since we left - so good that Caz had to also indulge. FYI Caz hasn't had an actual 'coffee' coffee for many, many years! On our leisurely stroll we came across a fromagerie that reminded us so much of Smelly Cheese in the Adelaide Central Markets; pretty amazing considering the number of fromageries at Les Halles. So after over an hour of taking it all in we ended up back at Fromagerie Mons Lyon.

Mons Fromagerie at Les Halles

They offered a tasting plate of 4 cheeses and a glass of wine for 10 Euro and as it was very nearly lunchtime we had the perfect excuse to indulge. Well all we can say is that the world does in fact keep getting smaller. Turns out (from what we understand...) Fromagerie Mons supplies Valerie at Smelly Cheese with most of their regional French cheeses. Victor who served us lived in Melbourne, married an Aussie, and has met Valerie from Smelly Cheese. After a wonderful chat and a couple of photos to send home Victor prepared us a generous plate each of 5 cheeses (one extra non-pasteurised cheese especially for us) with a glass of local white wine. The cheese? Superb - enough said. If you are ever in Lyon.......

Our tasting plates for lunch

Victor excited to have a picture with the Adelaide girls

We dragged ourselves away from the market and headed towards old Lyon. We followed a walking route suggested by a helpful woman at the tourist info centre. Founded by the Romans in 43BC, parts of Lyon are UNESCO heritage listed with many preserved areas. We took the funicular up to Fourvière Hill where the Romans settled, and strolled down through the old streets of Lyon.

A view from the top over the city

Roman ruins

A little friend trying to get some warmth from the rock :)

Sights walking through Old Lyon

The next day followed a similar path starting with coffee at the market and a walk through the historical quarter. Perhaps we're a little travel weary, but we have been a little ho-hum about our time in Lyon however we are by no way complaining. The time we spent with Victor sharing stories about cheese and the Adelaide connection with Lyon was our highlight. As they say in some wanky advertising campaign - priceless!

Tomorrow we farewell France and the French trains. We're flying to Barcelona on Vueling Airlines, the Spanish equivalent to Tiger - cheap and hopefully cheerful. So a quick practice of a few essential Spanish phrases and off we go. Hola!!!!

Beaune 6-8 May

2013-05-15T06:07:00.001+09:30

Onwards we go to Beaune

Did we mention that Dijon is in the Burgundy wine region? Well, Beaune is considered the Burgundy wine capital, especially if you speak to a local! We are here for 2 nights and arrived at 1pm after a short and very comfortable 20 minute train ride. We had booked a half day bike tour of the vines starting at 2pm so we made a dash to our Ibis hotel right on the edge of Beaune's ramparts and just a 15 minute walk from the station.

Burgundy Vines

A very efficient check-in, the usual bag drop and a quick change and we headed off to meet our guide Florian. What a fabulous surprise to find that we were the only people on the tour due to cancellations. A private bike tour for 2 - absolutely brilliant. We found Florian on Trip Advisor and he lived up to all of the reviews.

Off on our bike tour

We got up and running and before we knew it we were riding amongst the famous vines of Burgundy. This was Caz's first time back on a bike since her "fall from grace" so we were just loving the fact that we were finally riding together again, the location was just a bit of a bonus really (yeah OK it was a huge bonus!!).

Views from amongst the vines

Water logged vines after heavy rais

Bike touring

A little motor cross for us through some muddy roads....scenery is not too bad!

Workman's hut - used to store tools, keep out of the weather etc

Two happy cyclists :)

Caves of local wine producer

The sun was shining and the afternoon was all about the vine and the wine. Florian made some strategic stops on our tour to teach us all about the terroir, the appellations and the different classifications of the wine. He even pulled out a wine for us to taste along the way. We rode through 2 beautiful villages, Volnay and Pommard (amongst the world's most famous wine villages) and finished the afternoon with a tasting at a very small family-run winery where the grower, wine maker and cellar door sales are all handled by the one man. He presented 6 of his wines to us - all pretty yummy of course. A fantastic afternoon; another highlight of our trip. If you're ever in Beaune........

Burgundy vines

The next day started off slowly with the luxury of breakfast at the hotel (brekkie has been a self-catering affair recently) then off to enjoy wandering the streets of Beaune on a gorgeous sunny day. Beaune is a small, walled town dating back to (at least) medieval times oozing with history and architectural heritage. Even though the French Revolution had a huge effect on the area (every single part of France has at least 2 significant historical eras - pre and post revolution!), much of the "old town" still stands, as do half of the ramparts and moats. This makes for a beautiful 'village', a joy just to walk the streets.

Highlights of Beaune

We felt that perhaps the people of Beaune begrudgingly tolerate tourists as they bring in so much money, daily and long-term, but you can tell they would prefer to just have a quiet lie without the inconvenience of all of the rubber-necked invaders! Didn't worry us one little bit though and we tried our very best to be apologetic non-French speaking, non-American visitors just appreciating our time there.

More vines

And more vines......

We all headed for a walk amongst the vines for a few hours in the afternoon, which meant Caz felt she had earned a little local wine tasting afterwards. It seems she can adapt to the regional specialities quite easily! Many of the wine shops offer tasting of local wines for a small fee so Caz and Caron popped in to one for a generous tasting of 3 whites and 4 reds, the finest one being a 1991 vintage. All of the whites were Chardonnay and the reds Pinot Noir. You never see the grape variety mentioned on the label - you are just supposed to know based on where the wine comes from. Definitely worth learning more about the wine if you want to purchase so you know what you're getting!

Burgundy is also famous for it's love of food but vegetarians are a forgotten people. The shock of the day was Caz ordering lamb for dinner ("when in Rome.....") - and eating every last mouthful with great delight. Yummy apparently..

View from one of our dinner spots

We made use of our last morning by taking another gentle stroll around Baeune's beautiful streets. We visited the Hospices de Beaune then a quick stroll around the Wednesday market.

Hospices de Beaune

Take note - when offered a 'tasting' by a market stall holder they may just want you to choose which product you're going to buy. We made a bit of a boo boo accepting samples from a fromagerie and when we didn't buy cheese her looks could've struck us down there and then!

The local market

We head a little further south to Lyon this afternoon, back to a big city for a few days to acclimatise ourselves for Barcelona.

Dijon 3-6 May

2013-05-11T01:03:00.001+09:30

Memories of Maille

Mustard of all things brings us to Dijon, the next episode of our very own French Food Safari. Dijon just happens to be in the Burgundy region as well - Pinot Noir country (yum, yum and yum). In short, the region is food and wine focussed - never mind, we'll try to make the most of it. Our travel day turned out to be quite long with the 1pm train from Reims to Dijon being cancelled. We hopped on the 3pm train, finally arriving at our hotel just before 7pm. The day was pretty miserable - rainy and cold so all we managed was a quick trip to the local supermarket for supplies then an early night in, crossing fingers and toes for some sunshine (Adelaide's weather has been warmer than the French Spring so far).

We had timed our first day in Dijon to coincide with market day at the famous Dijon Les Halles. Again, yum yum and yum. Maybe we can show you how beautiful the produce is rather than ramble on.....

Saturday morning market - Dijon style

G's breakfast :)

Poultry

A selection of meats & poultry

Beef, beef & beef!

Snails stuffed with garlic butter

Fresh herbs

Fresh Garlic

Les Halles...

Getting our Saturday morning mkt fix

We nibbled our way around the market then headed to the tourist office to get ourselves a guided walking tour of the city called The Owl Trail - "La Chouette". This was a brilliant way to not only walk the gorgeous streets of Dijon, but to also soak up a bit of local history as well. Some of the houses date back to the 12th century (half-timbered houses) whilst others feature beautiful glazed terracotta roofs. Our talented tour guide Georgina did a fantastic job with the hours passing quickly.

Sights of Dijon on our "walking tour"

Portè Guillaume

Darcy Garden (white polar bear - another good luck symbol)

Glorious weather

Tiled roof Dijon style

The Owl Trail - "La Chouette"

On our walking tour we also came across a wedding party. Below is the Groom carrying on/in his bike his bride... The rest of the wedding party followed on bikes and were all ringing their bells through the streets. This went on for at least an hour....G had to take a mother of the bride pic as she cycled past Max Mara - she cycled very well with style!

The newlyweds cycle through the streets of Dijon

Mother of the Bride

Place des Ducs de Bourgogne

Streets of Dijon

Tiled roofing in Dijon

We also squeezed in a visit to the Maille mustard shop. G has fond memories of a pot of Maille on the dinner table when she was a kid and still eats this stuff by the teaspoon (literally) so it was very high on her "to do" list. We weren't disappointed and tasted some limited editions - 2 of which will soon be on their way back to Australia!

Maille mustard shop

The history of the owl and Dijon relates to a sculpture of an owl on the cathedral which is a local symbol of good luck. Tradition has it if you make a wish and rub the owl with your left hand it will come true. Caz can now let everyone know that her wish was for a little sunshine. She's not sure whether it was La Chouette at work or not, but the sun finally popped out for the whole afternoon.

La Chouette

Caz making her wish

Caron and Caz strolled down to Place des Ducs de Bourgogne, Dijon's main square to sit with a glass of wine and people watch for a couple of hours before we all headed here for an alfresco dinner and people watching. The sun certainly lifted our sprits after some dull, wet days. Georgina finished the day with a glass of the famous Kir Royale (champagne and blackcurrant liqueur). Perhaps a new favourite drink for G?

People watching

Kir Royale for G

Fountains in the square

We started our second full day sharing coffee and more people watching as the people of Dijon got on with their usual Sunday morning. Another gloriously sunny day meant more time to enjoy wandering the streets. Caz and G visited the

Museum of Fine Arts only to find the floors we wanted to see closed so more walking and an early lunch in a local park - which just happened to have their own local artists there displaying and selling their work. Dijon art - tick!

Artists market

We were so spoilt with the weather for our afternoon's activity - a Segway tour! Brilliant fun and a great way to get around (Georgina wants to buy one now). Although we were the only people in the group who couldn't speak French we felt included and simply enjoyed our time on the Segways.

We ended the day with an early dinner and back to our hotel for some rest before another travel day. Our train trip will only be 20 minutes tomorrow as we head to Beaune. We are staying just out of the historic centre but the trams here are brilliant and the city is so easy to get around on them.

Neither of us had any expectations of Dijon and have thoroughly enjoyed our time here (yet again!). Dijon has a wonderful mix of the very old and new and they have a great, and well deserved, sense of pride in their history and how they have well they have preserved and respected it.

Caz relaxing on the streets of Dijon

Reims & Epernay (Champagne Country) 30 April - 3 May

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"Come quickly - I'm tasting the stars!"

One of Taittinger's many cellars....

It may only be a myth that monk Pierre Perignon spoke these words when tasting the champagne he was developing, but for us this quote is a pretty accurate description! We have arrived in Reims in the heart of the Champagne region in France. We are both a wee bit partial to the good bubbles of France and can't wait to taste a couple of houses in the area.

The Caves of Taittinger

Unfortunately Caz has suffered a few migraines lately, including one on our travel day so after settling in to the hotel she needed to get some decent rest. G took herself out and about the town and arranged an afternoon tour (for the next day) for us at Pommery - contacting them by phone and making the booking in French. G has been a star when it has come to train tickets, changes to travel plans, speaking to the local people about tours, train times, etc. To be honest we wouldn't have managed to get this far this easily without her (by now you may have realised that Caz is writing this blog!).

More Taittinger bottles...

Caz & G at the Taittinger tasting

The champagne house we dreamed of visiting, Ruinart, was closed for renovations - very disappointing.

(Well, really all that just means is we will need to come back for a visit!). Our first full day in Reims started with a tour of Taittinger at 10am with a small tasting at the end. Neither of us expected too much of this tour but we were pleasantly surprised by the story of the champagne house and the process of production - the champagne was pretty good too! We wandered back toward the heart of Reims to take ourselves on a self-guided historic walking tour. We managed to do this via another small champagne house for a tasting! We walked the streets of Reims, stopping at the highlights of the town before heading back to the hotel for a quick break then off for our afternoon tour of Pommery.

Reims Cathedral Notre Dame

War Memorial Reims

Memorial to the Martyrs of the French Resistance

More stunning flower displays...

Pommery......Wow what a huge Seppeltsfield feel to this place! The tour had it's rewards however, one glass of the best for Georgina (Mike and Rod will know this one!) and 2 glasses to choose from for Caz and Caron. Very nice indeed. The plan was to then head out for dinner and off to the Cathedral to see the night light show but the weather closed in(seriously - it was bucketing down!!) so plan B was dinner at the hotel, early-ish night and try again the next day.

Heading down to the Pommery Caves

We wouldn't mind this as our cellar

Pommery Caves

A fe Pommery bottles

Glasswork on display in Pommery Caves

Glassworks at Pommery

A few of the best Pommery bottles under lock & key

Welcome to Pommery!

"Pommery world"

For our last full day in the area we (G and Caz) headed off to Epernay by train in search of more bubbles. Most people seem to head to Moët and Chandon and Mercier, but we wanted to find smaller family-owned wineries - within walking distance of the train station of course!

Travelling by train through the vines to Epernay

So, a short 1km walk along Avenue de Champagne and voila! We're not sure why we were the only ones at Champagne Comtesse Lafond (perhaps we were the only ones willing to walk that far?) but we couldn't believe our luck when we walked in. We were personally greeted by Nicholas with a huge smile welcoming us to the house. The place oozed romance and perhaps a time long-past. We were in champagne heaven. Then to the tasting - gorgeous! It was 10 euro for 3 champagnes; there were 6 on offer and 2 of us - you can work out the rest. We enjoyed every single glass, especially the vintage. The only downside of this place is that you can't get their champagne in Australia - you can't even buy it in the shops in France, only cellar door or fancy pants Michelin star restaurants!

Champagne Comtesse Lafond

Two happy ladies after our tasting(s)

We skipped on back down the Avenue feeling pretty good about life and came across another small champagne house which we tentatively popped our heads in. Again, we were lucky enough to stumble across a very small champagne 'boutique' winery and were greeted and welcomed with great warmth by the owner. He had a very romantic story to tell about his 'crazy dream' to start a new champagne label Champagne Paul-Etienne Saint Germain. It's a bit of a long story but the short version is that every drop was superb, and if we could ship it home we would - by the bucket load. We had the place to ourselves again so felt thoroughly spoilt.

Paul-Etienne Saint Germain

The rest of the day was spent wandering before heading back to Reims for a great Moroccan dinner with Caron, then G and Caz headed to the cathedral for the light show. There's a few pics below to show you what happens.... (Very similar for those of you in Adelaide to the lights show which is done as part of the Adelaide Festival on North Tce)

Next day Georgina and Caron headed to the Museum of the Surrender in the morning. The museum preserves the intact map room of General Eisenhower's headquarters in which the German Army signed their full surrender on 7th May 1945. Victory Day is celebrated by the Allies on the 8th May, as this is the day when General De Gaulle & Churchill announced over the radio that the Germans had surrendered.

The rest of the day was spent travelling onwards to Dijon via train, and on to the next part of our French discovery tour.

Paris 26-30 April

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Firstly our apologies for the delay in posting our Paris post....we have had some technical issues with uploading..which after five days have finally been sorted out!

As the great Cole Porter wrote "I love Paris every moment...."

We love Paris......

St Germain de Prés on a Saturday morning

Unfortunately getting ourselves from Ypres to Paris didn't quite go as smoothly as planned! We had to train it to Brussels to catch a specific Thalys Train to Paris and all was going well until there was a 'tragedy' on the track of our first leg from Ypres to Brussels. The train just stopped between stations (not entirely unusual) - then the engine was cut. A couple of announcements later and we were none the wiser due to our lack of understanding of both Flemish and French! A kind traveller explained what was going on and we simply had to wait, and wait, then be sent back a few stations, hop on another train to Ghent, get ourselves to Brussels and then plead our case to get on another Thalys to Paris (obviously not the one we had booked that had departed several hours prior!). In the end we 'sat' (Well really we 'stood'!) in the luggage compartment all the way to Paris but at least we arrived in one piece, albeit many hours later than expected.

Ready to discover the sights of Paris

When we were planning this trip Caz wasn't sure about including Paris as we had already been there....... but who can deny the beauty and charm of this grand city? We booked an "Apart-hotel" located in the 6th arrondissement on the Seine (In the area of Saint Germain des Pres), meaning we could share the accommodation which included a great little kitchenette. First stop on a rainy late afternoon was the local shop for bread, cheese and other nibbly bits and of course some wine. Our first night in Paris was spent indoors in our comfies, Paris Jazz radio on in the background, glass of wine in hand and a platter of goodies to share. Ahhhhh - welcome to Paris ladies...

Our apartment is just down on the left side of the Siene

We stayed in a brilliant location with so many things within walking distance (walking is definitely the best way to really see Paris, even if it means sore tootsies at the end of the day). We spent our first full day wandering through food markets (pictured below), along the Seine, across the Seine, through the beautiful Tuileries Gardens, past the ridiculous line-ups for the Musee D'Orsay, along the Seine, past the equally ridiculous line-ups for The Louvre, along the Seine, across the Siene and back to our fab apartment. Georgina cooked a fantastic asparagus and french bean risotto for everyone - another great night together sharing food and wine.

Sights of a Parisian Food Market........

Fresh radishes

Mmmm strawberries

Sea Urchins

View of a Fromageire through window

A little friend I met along the way

Caz's favourite (Raspberries) 3 punnets for €3 ($3.80 AUD)

Fresh flowers

A variety of Mushrooms

Fresh bread and pastries

Wandering through Paris on a Saturday Afternoon.....

Place de la Concorde

Tuileries Gardens

Caz doing her best Parisian look, relaxing in the gardens...

The Lourve

Caz and Georgina headed off to the Musee Monmottan Monet the next morning. The museum building is a beautifully restored private residence, and has the largest collection of Monet in the world (many of which are currently displayed in an exhibition in Melbourne, Australia!!) thanks to the generosity of Monet's second son, and many other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. We both love the Impressionists, and can only say that if you are ever in Paris this museum is well worth a visit....... In the afternoon we headed over to the Palais Garnier, or Paris' opera house for a self-guided tour inside the stunning building.

Gardens in the 16th Arr near Musee Monmottan Monet

Staircase leading to Grand Staircase

The Grand Staircase, Paris Opera House

Opera Hallway - deliberately meant to reflect Hall of Mirrors from Versailles

Later in the day it was time for G to get herself to the gym which meant time for wine for Caz and Caron - off to a gorgeous and just slightly posh wine bar nearby for a wonderful afternoon wind-down. We then did the most touristy thing of our trip so far - a night out at The Lido. This really was for Caz who wanted to see a cabaret show in Paris. Lots of "tits and feathers", dated music, bad miming, very little dancing, fabulous costumes and cheap French champagne - just had to be done!

The "tits & feathers show"

Lido Bubbles

Our last day in Paris was spent walking the streets again but this time we joined a free walking tour of Montmartre and Sacre Coeur in the morning and an afternoon walking tour of Le Marais by a group called Discover Walks. You just turn up at a specific point and are taken on a tour of the areas by a young local to see the streets as a local would; it's your choice as to how much you tip them at the end of the tour. Both tours were great, but the Montmartre tour was our favourite. Our guide even sang a couple of songs for us!

Monmarte, Sacre Coeur & Le Marais

Walking up to Monmarte (Paris in the background)

Cafe in Monmarte

Window box

Playground area for families

Pétanque playing area

Walking the streets of Monmarte up to Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur (with a few tourists I couldn't get to move out of the picture!)

A Garden in Le Marais

Public Garden in Le Marais

Enjoying our walking tours

We met Caron back at the apartment and Caz and Caron re-visited the wine bar before we all headed out for our last meal in Paris. Caz and Georgina then headed to the Arc de Triomphe to see Paris at night - the photos really tell the story of our last night in this most beautiful of cities:

Heading out to the Arc (Notre Dame in the background)

Eiffel Tower

Paris at night

Eiffel Tower from top of the ADT

Tomb of Unknown Solider underneath the Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

Tomorrow we head off to Reims, the home of champagne. Reims is also where the treaty to end WWII was signed. The weather is a little dull but at least it hasn't rained too much. Fingers crossed for some more sunshine soon.

A bientot!

Ypres 24-26th April

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Another cool day greeted us for our next train trip, this time heading west to Ypres for an Anzac Day dawn service. Georgina will send through a separate blog with more detail on this service and Anzac Day spent on the Western Front.

The main square in Ypres

We settled in for a straight forward train trip with only one change (we didn't even need to change platforms!). Georgina found a taxi for us and after the standard bag "drop off" at the hotel and a quick refresh, we started out to discover Ypres. What a beautiful town full of cobbled streets and a gorgeous town square, surrounded by 'typical' Belgium architecture. Ypres suffered greatly during the First World War and was truly decimated, something that really can't be understated here. The town was fortunately re-built - a true replication of the original, beautiful buildings, some of which dated back to the 13th Century. The Cloth Hall and Grote Markt are truly beautiful at night.

Grote Market during the Day

Grote Market at night

One of the main reasons we all wanted to visit Ypres was Australia's connection to this part of the world during WW1. Georgina will post a separate blog about this, but to put it bluntly, there was no greater loss of Aussie lives on any other battlefields anywhere during any war. Georgina's family lost a relative here, as did Caron's husband's family. Ypres is now known as The City of Peace for very good reason.

View of Ypres out towards Australian Memorial (Tyencot & Passchendale) from the Bellfry Tower

After a great walk around the town, lunch and grabbing a few supplies we spilt up for a few hours so that G could visit the In Flanders Fields Museum. Caz and Caron wandered down to the Menin Gate Memorial and yes, you guessed it, back to a cafe in the sun-drenched square for a beer! We re-grouped and headed down to the Menin Gate Memorial for the Last Post ceremony. If you would like more information on the Menin Gate click here (or wait for G's ANZAC Day post). In short, the Menin Gate is a memorial to the Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives and whose graves are unknown. The ceremony is quite solemn and very moving . No chance of front row - just too many people. Not to worry as there's always tomorrow night!

A quick dinner, back to the hotel then up early for a 4.45am pick up for the Anzac Day dawn service. We were eventually delivered to Polygon Wood and had to make a dash from the bus to get to the service just as it was starting. Pretty disappointed really as we had specifically booked a private tour for the day so that we didn't have to worry about timing etc.

Polygon Wood ANZAC Dawn Service

After an incredibly moving service we were loaded into buses to head back towards Zonnebeke (the local village) for a breakfast hosted by the Mayor. They put on a decent spread of hot and cold drinks, mountains of pastries and a shot of rum to warm everyone up. Georgina will cover the rest of the Anzac Day tour separately.

Caz & G - ANZAC Day 2013

Caron and Caz farewelled the tour about mid-morning and headed back to Ypres for an afternoon of meandering and eventually a glass of .... wine!! Well, Caron did; Caz stuck to beer. Georgina landed back in town at about 5pm and Caz joined her to head back to the Menin Gate for 8pm. We made sure we arrived 1 hour ahead of time to get a good position - with G politely moving us into the front row.

Menin Gate ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day Menin Gate Service

Caz thinks it was all worth it just to get this photo:

Caz and "The Girls"

It seems that students from far and wide (well, maybe only France!) carted around Belgium by the bus-load. They have been absolutely everywhere at every single moment, clipboards in hand doing bugger all really. We wondered whether they had an idea of how special it is to be able to travel to another country and have the chance to learn so much cultural history in one day. In Australia our students can make the big trip to the local state museum! Having said that, we have still loved every moment we have spent here - we're the very, very lucky ones!

We leave for Paris on the 26th April for four days......

Lest We Forget.

Antwerp 21-24 April

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We farewelled beautiful Lille and strolled down to the station to catch the TGV train to Brussels. A comfortable ride in 2nd class and we arrived safely to be greeted by Caron at the platform. Caron had flown in from Helsinki to join us and bring our travelling group to a party of 3. We worked out our next train to Antwerp and off we went. It turns out that not only was today the London marathon, it was also Antwerp's day for their annual marathon. This meant a lot of travellers and atmosphere, and closed roads! So a 30min walk to the hotel over many cobblestones was our first adventure rather than a short trip in a taxi. The Hilton is in a brilliant location, right in the historic centre of Antwerp.

Caz's first Beer in Belgium

View of our hotel from Groenplaats

Groenplaats at night

When we were planning our trip quite a few people asked us "why Antwerp?" Well, we wanted to visit Belgium again, and had already been to beautiful Brugge. We basically read a little about Antwerp when we were planning the trip and thought - why not?

Antwerp's history is again vast and varied. The name 'Antwerp' was first used in the 4th Century (although the settled area dates back much further) and the city has always been a very important port, and it still has one one the largest seaports in Europe. It is a busy city and the capital of the Flanders area of Belgium. Through the centuries Antwerp has been ruled by many, and survived some fairly aggressive visitors, including being bombed in World War 2. Belgium's most famous artist, Ruben, was born here and many of his pieces can be found in the main Cathedral.

Antwerp's Cathedral

We spent our time in the old part of Antwerp. Our first afternoon was bathed in sunshine so after a very casual stroll we found ourselves a table at one of cafes around the Groenplaats square. T-shirt weather and yes, another lovely Belgium beer for Caz. This time she had Caron joining her for one too. Georgina has had to put up with Caz trying lots of different Belgium beers - "I'm only here once; there's so many to choose from; blah blah blah". At least the Hilton had a great gym so Georgina could get a good workout when Caz and Caron were indulging. Dinner was a short walk to a cheap and cheerful Italian place across the square.

Little Italy in Antwerp

Day 2 was dedicated to Antwerp Zoo. A cooler day, but enough sunshine to keep us smiling. The zoo is in the heart of Antwerp next door to the train station. Opened in 1843 it's bound to show it's age but there are signs of improvement and redevelopment. Caz found herself rattling off quite a bit of knowledge about the animals in the collection - perhaps 26 years in the industry has had some effect! G went a bit crazy with the camera at the zoo...so there's a collection of pics below:

Unfortunately the weather was against us the next day which was a pity - Caz had rather excitedly offered to take everyone on a guided tour of the old part of Antwerp. Even though we set out with self-guided walking tour book in hand and good intentions, the bitter cold got to us in the end - but we did manage to sample some fine Belgium chocolate :) We thought our best option was to find some warming soup for lunch. Caz took herself to the Cathedral in the afternoon (funnily enough no-one else was interested!) then Caron and Caz had their obligatory beers later in Groenplaats square with some pretty good people watching in the square too. This is a great way to get a feel for a place - just sitting watching the locals get on with their day.

Grote Market

Grote Markt

G & Caz on Caz's walking tour

A few more pics of Antwerp Old town below.....

Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom and the fine arts.

That kinda sums up our time Antwerp really! We made the most of our time but perhaps won't be returning. Our advice for first-time travellers to Belgium would definitely be to visit Brugge if you only have time for one place.

A final thought from Belgium...

We leave Antwerp heading west across to Ypres (Ieper) for the last post at the Menin Gate Memorial and Anzac Day dawn service the following day. G will also have the opportunity to visit Fromelles in France as part of a tour in the afternoon, following on from the Dawn Service - more about this in the next post!

Lille 19-21 April

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We arrived in Lille after a pretty straight-forward trip on the Eurostar from London. The weather was supposed to be similar to London (12 degrees) but we weren't prepared for the wind-chill factor. We couldn't find a city map at the train station to help us get to the hotel. Plan B? Georgina found a city map on a large billboard so - grab the iPhone and take photos of the map. Walk to the hotel totally under control. Too easy.

Off to discover Lille

A quick trip up to our room, a change in to something slightly warmer (for both of us this time) and off for an afternoon stroll around the most beautiful streets, boulevards and squares of Lille. Even on a dull day Lille was showing her true beauty, especially the Grand Place, Lille's main square.

The Grand Place, Lille

The history of Lille is quite overwhelming. It is a city that has been in constant "transformation" since 1066 (although the name may have been in existence since 640 AD). It seems that since this time the town was the victim of quarrels between the French and the counts of Flanders. Other 'influences' include the Austrians and the Spanish, and finally Lille became "French" in 1663. It's nowhere near as simple as that and from what we can gather involved many great conflicts and lots of re-starts for a city constantly under attack and destruction. In the end all of these cultural influences have created a truly beautiful city which has been declared a European Capital of Culture.

Chamber of Commerce & Post Office

Opera House

We spent the afternoon wandering her streets oozing with stunning architecture. Somehow we stumbled across the city Zoo quite late in the afternoon. As entry was free we thought, why not? As you can imagine for a smallish city-run Zoo it wasn't the best. The bird collection was small, but included a pair of Port Lincoln Parrots and a couple of Kookaburras.

Pt Lincoln Parrot

Kookaburra

We managed to include some timeout at a cafe in the main square with coffee, tea and people watching before heading back to the hotel. A huge day ended with a simple meal at the hotel and a fairly early night.

Next day started with a great breakfast at the hotel, followed by a 2-hour walking tour of Lille (hence our knowledge of her history!). Another cold day but bathed in sunshine so who could complain? A lot of the city has been restored quite recently (2004) including the old town with cobbled streets and a real blend of architecture which seems to work somehow.

Former Stock Exchange Building

Old town, Lille

After a quick lunch near the main square we headed to the Fine Arts Museum. Again, housed in a stunning building and containing a collection of art from 15th - 20th Century. This was not only beautiful, but a great escape from the chilly winds!

Museum of Fine Arts, Lille

Streets of Lille

We're doing our best to stick to our vego philosophy and have had pretty good options up until now.

Today we head off to Antwerp, Belgium by train and will meet up with Caron for the next chapter of our European adventure.

National Gallery & the end of London (for this trip...) 19/4/2013

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We spent our final full day in London on Thursday with a trip to the National Gallery (thanks for the tip Mike) which ended up being our last London "must do". We're finally getting into a routine today with G at the gym while I sit here sipping tea (sounds just about spot on for us). The National Gallery is situated on Trafalgar Square and today is home to more than 2,000 works. The gallery was founded in 1824 to display a collection of 36 paintings.

Trafalgar Square from the Gallery Steps

The gallery was quite overwhelming with masterpieces from all over Europe plus the obligatory religious art which takes up a lot of space. We arrived when there were only a few people going through but as we walked around we seemed to attract all the schools groups wandering about. It was amusing to watch the secondary school students (mainly UK and French) with their compulsory 20 questions they had to find the answers for - delegating one not so popular member of their class to go around and get the answers whilst the others sat on the couches.

We saw works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Botecelli, Rembrandt, Claude, Turner, Gainsborough, Constable, Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Sisley and Picasso - not a bad collection of works for a couple of hours wandering the gallery.

The highlights would definitely be seeing the collection of French impressionists such as Monet's "Water Lillies" and "Bathers at La Grenouillère", Cézanne's "Bathers" and Degas "Ballet Dancers".

As photos were not permitted the following link shows you some of the Highlights of National Gallery London.

After the gallery visit we met up with a school friend of G's (who now lives in London) at the National Portrait Gallery restaurant for afternoon tea. There was a great view of London from the restaurant (pictured below).

View from NPG Restaurant

In the evening we headed out to Carluccio's in Paddington for a great Italian meal - Antonio has a number of small Italian restaurants throughout the UK (reminded us of Melbourne's Italian restaurant scene) - fresh pasta, good wine and of course a tiramisu and limoncello to finish off the meal.

Our hotel at night :)

Today we head across the channel to Lille and start to ramp the trip up a bit. London has been brilliant once again, and I think we can move on feeling pretty happy about what we have done this time around. Maggie's funeral wasn't the huge interruption which we were dreading and everyone seemed to behave with only small protests around the city.

A footnote from Caz: after many days walking past pubs, we finally popped in to one so that Caz could have that English beer she had been craving. So in we go, order a beer - the verdict? Hmmmm - not the best!!

Not to worry - Belgium beckons...

Kew Gardens 17/4/2013

2013-04-21T16:18:00.000+09:30

Firstly, for those of you who have been trying to comment - G has fixed the layout so you can now comment

Wednesday was the "big day" for Thatcher so we thought it best to head out of London for the day and just get away for the madness. In the end we spent a brilliant day at Kew Gardens, just enjoying a day to ourselves in a beautiful setting. The sun joined us on occasions as well! If you ever have the chance to get to London it's worth a visit.

Kew Gardens is London's Botanical Gardens and covers over 700 acres with a number of plant collections, glasshouses, heritage buildings and tree top walkways. The gardens are home to the world's largest collection of living plants with over 30,000 different kinds of plants.

We began at the Palm House (pictured below) where there is a cycad which is said to be the oldest "pot plant" in the world (it was planted in the pot in 1775). The Palm house has a variety of plants divided into continents of origin including coffee plants, ylang ylang, an ebony tree, hibiscus & numerous other palms, cycads, bromeliads & ferns - none of which we remember the names of (but you get the idea)

Palm House

Oldest Cycad (in a pot)

Palm House

From the Palm House we headed over the the Prince of Wales Conservatory which looks like a building devoted to cactus from the outside (G's not a huge cactus fan) but we were pleasantly surprised. The conservatory houses ten computer-controlled micro-climatic zones, with the majority of the greenhouse filled with Dry Tropics and Wet Tropics plants. There are numerous orchids, water lilies, cacti, lithops, carnivorous plants and bromeliads housed in the various zones.

Prince of Wales Conservatory

Jade Hanging Plant

Water Lily Plant

Another interesting fact about Kew - it is home to one of the largest compost heaps in Europe, made from green waste from the gardens and the waste from the stables of the Household Cavalry. We were wondering why there were signs everywhere inviting us to visit the "Compost Heap"....but looking at the plants we'd be happy to have some of this mulch/compost for our roses!

The rest of the day we wandered throughout the gardens, climbed the 100 or so stairs to the treetop walkway which gives you a great sense of just how big the gardens really are, and came across a peacock strutting his stuff for anyone who was willing to watch.

Treetop Walkway

Peacock

Cherry Blossom Japanese Garden

We arrived back into London late in the afternoon and enjoyed a Lebanese meal near Soho (after lining up for 30mins to get in) but it was worth the wait. Tomorrow's our last day in London and we're planning to visit the National Gallery. Caz has one final thing on her London list.... to get herself to a local pub for a pint of English bitter!

London - Tate Modern, Churchill War Rooms & Westminster Abbey

2013-04-17T07:30:00.000+09:30

Today's blog is brought to you by the letter C. I just had one thing to add to G's blog regarding our flights. It turns out that even though we could barely touch the ground on the Singapore flight because the seats were so huge with a mountain of leg room, the kid sitting behind me could still manage the whole kick the seat in front game. Very clever really as we was half my height.

OK so now that is out of my system - to Monday and London! G booked us a fabulous hotel called St Ermin's right near St James Park. Brilliant location and pretty swanky hotel to boot. We were able to get in to our room on arrival Monday so dropped our bags, changed in to London attire (warmer clothes - well, I did) and headed out to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. The Gallery is housed in an old power station right on the southern banks of the Themes and it's worth a visit just to see this. The Gallery itself was on our must do list for this visit and it certainly didn't disappoint.

The first thing you can't help but notice through the main entrance is this incredible giant cement slab (sorry "giant cement entrance") that you walk down to get into the main part of the gallery. When we arrived there were two kids arriving with their Dad. The kids had come on their scooters and they were most disappointed when their father said "No you have to walk down the ramp." The Turbine Hall (pictured below) which once housed the electricity generators of the old power station, is five storeys tall with 3,400 square metres of floorspace. It is used to display large specially-commissioned works by contemporary artists.

Entrance to the Tate Modern - the Turbine Hall

The Tate Modern has four out of its seven levels open to exhibitons which you can wander through at your leisure. The exhibition space is currently divided into five groups: Poetry & Dream, Structure & Clarity, Transformed Visions, Energy & Process and Setting the Scene. The collection of modern art is from 1900 to present. We wandered through the numerous rooms and really enjoyed the variety of works on display. I've added a few below to show you the types of art currently on display:

Picasso - Bust of a Woman 1944

Pino Pascali - Trap (all made from Steel Wool)

Matisse sculpture

Wadsworth - The Beached Margin

After a bite to eat we wandered the streets of London then headed out to Covent Gardens where we stumbled across cheap tickets to the West End shows and grabbed 2 tickets to Billy Elliot. Back to the hotel for the inevitable crash after 1 1/2 day's travel.

After a leisurely start Tuesday we headed off to Churchill's War Rooms, which includes the Churchill Museum, one of G's must dos. Churchill War Rooms are the original Cabinet War Rooms - the wartime bunker that sheltered Churchill and his government during the Blitz and the duration of WWII. It was pretty amazing to see how Churchill and his team fought the War from these rooms and just how many people worked at this level. The majority of the rooms have been left as they were once the War ended in August 1945. All the clocks are stopped at just before 5pm. Its quite interesting to see how the British operations took place from underground. Below is a picture of Churchill's cabinet room

Churchill's cabinet room

This picture below shows the amount on concrete placed above a number of the rooms which the British has determined to be soft spots (meaning in a bomb raid these areas would be damaged) solution.... fill them up with cement and reinforce with steel beams below.

Cement reinforcements

After lunch we started to make our way to Westminster Abbey for a self-guided visit. Little did we know that a certain Margaret was also heading that way. (London has been just a little busier than usual due to the impending State funeral). We were about to cross the road to enter the Abbey when traffic was stopped and there she was passing by on her way to the very same place.

Maggie Thatcher's coffin coming to Westminster Abbey

Maggie Thatcher's coffin

After that interruption on we went for our own visit to the Abbey. Westminster's history goes back over 1,000 years with the current abbey built in the gothic style. For me, it seemed the be a church for the royals and other "significants" in England, but not exactly a church for the people. The number of tombs and memorials was a little overwhelming. The more important you were the larger the memorial really! Glad we did it though.

Westminster Abbey

We headed back to the hotel (300 metres away!) for a bit of a rest before headed out for a quick meal then Billy Elliot. Getting to a West End show was a must for me and Billy was top of my list. Loved every minute of it - a great production with some timely opinion about Margaret Thatcher and the attitude towards her from the coal mining community.

Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre

Tomorrow's plan is to get out of the city and visit Kew Gardens as the streets of London look like they'll be packed for a funeral.

Adelaide-Singapore-London

2013-04-15T17:30:00.001+09:30

Carolyn and I have been slowly getting excited over the past couple of days and now departure day has arrived!

Finally some excitement!

We had a great flight from Adelaide to Singapore with plenty of space in the business class seats and a few glasses of Charles Heidsieck Champagne to get us through our flight. Our meals were great and the service excellent, our first time flying with Singapore Airlines was a great experience.

Our 5 hour stopover in Singapore gave us just enough time to check out the pool. For $13 Singapore dollars you could have a swim and relax with the sounds of the A380's taking off behind you.

G ready to relax poolside

We then made the most of the new Qantas/BA lounge and had the chef create a vegetarian stir fry dinner full of fresh ginger and chilli. Our flight to London left at 11pm - this time we were upstairs with only 16 other people. The lie flat seats made the 13 hour flight much more enjoyable and despite quite a few turbulent bumps we arrived at Heathrow at 5:30 am Monday morning.

Business class seats on BA flight

The final perk we had with the business class seats was the BA arrivals lounge at Heathrow. We went through customs in record time (under 30 minutes!) then collected our bags and found the arrivals lounge. It's very much like the Qantas club in Adelaide so we could have a shower and get some more breakfast etc before heading in to London and dropping off the bags at our hotel.

BA Arrivals Lounge

So we've made it to London, our flights were great and we're about to head off to our hotel at St James. Our first day in London is meant to be fine with some cloud and 11 degrees.... Perfect!

The countdown begins....

2013-04-07T19:19:00.003+09:30

Welcome to our travel blog for our upcoming trip to the UK & Europe.

With only 7 days until our departure we thought it's probably time to get at least one page up and running....

A little bit of background....

Carolyn (Caz) & I (Georgina or G) went on our first overseas adventure together in 2009. We spent 3 months travelling to the UK, Ireland and Europe through a combination of independent travel and a couple of organised tours. We visited numerous places and upon return thought - there's still more we'd like to explore - so another trip was talked about and planned for 2013.

This time we are far more relaxed (very relaxed in fact.. so much so that we're only just realising that there's 9 days until we go!) so we haven't planned our adventure down to the last detail - we've just compiled a list of places we'd like to revisit or visit for the first time. We have a friend joining us for part of the journey (Caron) who wanted to go to Europe for her "x0th" b'day - her list of places to visit was quite similar to ours so for most of the time we'll be a party of 3 exploring the sights.

I've added a page called "Our Itinerary" where you can find all the places we're looking to get to over the next 7 weeks or so. If anyone has any must see, must do tips then please post them up - (as we're happy to take suggestions!)

Our trip planning has been quite an adventure in itself - most of you have probably heard about our dramas with the great flying kangaroo airline....for those who haven't - short version is "they" changed our flights about half a dozen times (due to their merging with Emirates) but on most occasions didn't tell us our flights had changed....I had to keep chasing them up.

Speaking of flights - we've treated ourselves to Business Class travel this time through using up our frequent flyer points. We travel from Adelaide to Singapore (& return) with Singapore Airlines and Singapore - Europe (& return) with a few airlines (British Airways & Emirates) thanks to the flying Kangaroo....we don't get on a Qantas plane once! We do get to travel on the return leg from Dubai to Singapore on a Emirates A380 in Business Class - something which G is really looking forward to.

The main highlights we're looking forward to are

Returning to London (without visiting any Royal tourist sites),
Ypres (Ieper) in Belgium for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service and Last Post Ceremony (G has a relative buried at Pheasant Wood (Battle of Fromelles))
Eastern France (Champagne, Dijon, Beaune & Lyon)
Barcelona
Lake Como and
Switzerland

We hope that you enjoy following our travels through this blog. It's my first attempt at writing one so bear with me as I update our adventures over the coming weeks. I will try to includes links for some of the places which might be of interest and of course there will be some pics put up too.

If you know of anyone who might like to read our blog please feel free to share it with them.

So stayed tuned..... I don't plan on any more updates until the 14th April (our departure date).

Until then....I think its time for us to start a list of things to do with 7 days to go!