Homeward bound

It's been a while since my last update. It is amazingly difficult to find Internet access whilst traveling. But we have now left Egypt and are on the homeward journey via Hong Kong. We had a lay over in London for about six hours, so decided we would pay Lizzy a quick visit at home at Windsor Castle. Lovely Lady but very small !
What can I say about Egypt, apart from being very happy to be leaving. It is an incredibly amazing country in terms of antiquities and history, but the best is definitely behind them. The poverty is extreme in much of the rural areas, particularly the West Bank where no one wants to live. We spent the morning yesterday in Cairo Museum and saw King Tuts amazing treasures. It really does rival the crown jewels in London in terms of beauty and opulence. The museum was literally filled with sarcophagus's and artifacts.
We were lucky to find a nice little Lebanese cafe around the corner from the hotel. We ordered three small dishes and didn't get through what we ordered, but the table next to us, with an Arab man and woman, ordered so many dishes they didn't have the room to fit them all on the table. Amazingly, 80% of what was ordered was untouched. The waste was astounding and we couldn't work out why someone would order so much food with the intention of leaving most of it. But of course it was all for show- this person could afford to buy things and then not use it. It is a country of extremes. So much poverty but so much waste.
The cultural differences proved to be a real challenge. By the last night, Tom had requested I actually cover myself in a veil, in an attempt to stop the constant leering. It was incredibly invasive of personal space and freedom. I have a renewed respect for why the women wear such concealing clothing. I would too if I had to put up with that sort of treatment on a daily basis.

The constant requirement to tip is something that we simply couldn't get used to. The final straw was having to give the traffic police £5 so they would stop the traffic so we could cross the road to our hotel. The passing of cash was constant- to drivers, porters, waiters, door men, bag handlers, toilet attendants, police, guards, everyone. It was a relief to see other Australians were just as frustrated as we were.

Anyway, we've had a lovely day in transit in London (we love London!!) and are now heading off to Hong Kong. No idea where we are going and how we are getting there, but I'm sure we will work something out.

See you all soon.

Off to Egypt

Well its our last night in Europe and tomorrow we are off to Egypt. We have really packed it in. Yesterday was an all day tour of ancient Rome with the Colloseum and Roman Forum. This was by far a highlight of our trip so far.
Today was spent waiting in the line to see the Sistine Chapel which I didn't get to see the last time I was here and was determined to see this time. We must say, it was a bit of a let down. We were expecting to see a faded, ancient panarama, but the restoration has made it look like a trashy ethnic mural.
Given our Catholic backgrounds it was of real interest to us to see the centre of Catholicism and we can both say it was a real disappointment. There was very little difference between the wealth amased by the monarchies of England and France and the catholic church in Rome. Not exactly spiritually inspiring.

We are stepping further back in time as we head out to Egypt and are really looking forward to getting some sun. The forcast for the next few day is high 30 degrees. Will keep you posted!!

Hello from Pergine Valdarno

We are off to Rome but leave our little Tuscan hamlet with fond memories. We stumbled upon the quintessential tuscan village yestrday. A total of 20 people inhabit it on top of a hill overlooking vineyards and olive groves. We sampled local bruschetta and mamma's home made cake- completely yum.
A couple of wierd and unexpected things have occured on our travels but none more strange than the things in Pergine Valdarno. The village was built in 700 AD (the rooms we stayed in were in the basement of a building over 1200 years old) and there are no cars allowed in the village square which is only the size of a large block of land. But last night, we were entertained by the local singers, musicians and actors, in a charity concert to raise money for Haiti. So at 9.30pm on a Sunday night in the middle of Chianti, heavy metal rock was played for 100 of the locals who braved the cool night. Very strange.
But even stranger was the appearance of two black ladies, dressed in "city" attire, sitting on the side of the road on the way to Sienna. At first site, we thought this stange but decided they must be waiting for the bus. When we observed the next person waiting for the bus on the same road was also a dark woman, we thought it strange again. When another two dark ladies were observed 500 meters up the road we were sure something was up. We discovered there was a bikie convention a little further along the road to Sienna. Ah!! now it makes sense (kind of). It was after all, the middle of the day in the middle of Tuscany on a saturday afternoon. Very strange things in this part of the world.
We are off to Rome and then hoping the volcano will calm down long enough for us to fly to Cairo. There is a strong sense of dodging disaster on this trip. We have spent the last three days navigating our way through unmarked streets and driving on the wrong side of the road. We have had to keep our wits about us at all times. But some how, remarkabley, we make it from one spot to the next, still in tact. Turns out Toms' a great driver and I'm a great navigator :)
Sounds a lot like our marriage
Speak soon.
Love to Tom, Lauren and Ash, Rachael, Michael, Ramsey, Anna and Isla

Florence

We arrived in Florence this afternoon. It's much as I remember it but this time I actually got to see the Statue of David. We have to say it is one of the highlights of the trip and something neither of us will ever forget. It's hard to describe the feeling - it is simply one of the most beautiful objects in the world. It seems to have an energy coming from it. We sat mesmerised over it. Neither of us are particualry 'into' art, but it was one of the most amazing sites we have ever seen. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos but I'm sure you all know what it looks like.

We are both going crazy over the leather goods. Bags, jackets, gloves and did I mention shoes. I will need another bag to bring them all home in. I have SO much trouble buying shoes at home, but every pair I try on here, feels like a glove. I'm in heaven.

We made a bit of a mistake not booking the hire car earlier. All the 'real' car hire places have run out, so we have had to hire one from Dodgy Brothers Inc. Tom's radar went up straight away. But there isn't anything we can do but hope we don't stack the thing.

Anyway, we're heading off to Tuscany tomorrow, so it will be unlikley that we'll find an internet cafe to update the blog. But we are having an amazing time. We are learning so much about each other ie that neither of us knows when to take a breath and slow the pace down so we are constantly running at full throttle until we drop. But we have so far created some fantastic and enduring memories.

Like last night- when the clock up the canal struck 2am, reminding me that half an hour had passed since the last time it had struck. Time is not a stable currency- it has to be seasonally adjusted to understand its true value. Half an hour of laying awake listening to a clock chime in a foreign country, in a hard bed with a hard flat pillow is not the same as half an hour in a day spa. So there are some fun memories mixed in with it all.

We are both really looking forward to some sunshine- its been a touch on the chilly side mixed in with some rain and we need a bit of thawing out.

Ciao for now. we're off to drink some Chianti

PS- pls ignore all spelling erros. this stupid key board is not set up the way it is at home and I cant find half the keys. also, i dont know how to use the spell check on Blogger!!

Venice is sinking

We left Paris after 6 happy days, although I cant say the last one was that happy- 12 degrees and windy. It was absolutely freezing. Lucky we left a visti to the Louvre for the last thing. What an amazing place. We made our way to the Mona Lisa. It still is, in Ashleighs immortal words "crap". We also gazed upon the Venice Dimilo and more uncircumstcised penises than either of us cared for.

We were sad to leave our little island in the middle of the Seine. But Venice beckoned.

We arrived in Venice on a rainy morning. Although its wet all over, its not as cold as Paris the day before. But there are limited things to do in Venice when its wet. The unmbrella covers the sites above eye level and every second step is a huge puddle. We may as well be swimming in the canal. We are back in the room I stayed in on my last trip here. A very different feel this time though- this time around Im with my beautiful husband.

Lets see how tomorrow goes with the weather. But for now, we are spending the time in internet cafes drinking coffee (the coffee is much better in Italy than france).

Tom and I are both sure the ground is literally moving and swaying under us (we can tell the difference between the metaphore and the literal, and this is literal.) Weird sensation.

We love Paris

We are at the end of our stay in Paris and we must say, it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. As this blogging thing is taking up valuable site seeing time, I'll just run through some highlights:

• riding bikes through the gardens of the Palace of Versaille- amazing
• Attending a mass on Sunday morning at Sacre Coure:
• listening to a three piece bongo and guitar band on the banks of the Seine at 11.30 on a Wednesday night with a full moon rising over the river:
• seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up in yellow:
• getting lost in the Latin Quarter:
• champagne in our apartment in I'sle Saint Louis, listening to the street buskers play trumpet up and down the street:
• the amazing array of buskers on the bridges to the left bank- piano players, bubble blowers, opera singers- just amazing.
• waiting for the shop attendant to finshi reading his personal mail or talking to someone on the phone before serving us (one for Admit One Guys!):

We are off to Venice tomorrow night- should be an intersting trip, couchette shared with two other people. Not counting on getting much sleep.

Anyway if Venice is anything like Paris- it will be a while before I find another internet cafe to upload photos on to. I'll try to send some via gmail. Seems to be faster than uploading onto a blog.

bye for now- tom and lou

Paris doesn't have internet cafe's!

I can't believe how difficult it has been trying to find an internet cafe but we finally stumbled across one in Monte Marte.
We have been ridiculously busy over the last week. It has taken about four days to rover from the jet lag.
London was entirely uninspiring. Dirty is a good word. You can see the scares of WWII bombing all over the place. The English interpretation of modern is humorous- when was mauve EVER a prudent choice for building materials? But we did the touristy thing and did the London Eye and the Tower. The Crown Jewels (the real ones, not the ones in men's pants!) still amaze me the second time around.

getting ready to go

Well the adventure started even before we left Australia. It's taken a while, but we are about to head off on our honeymoon. Despite booking over 12 months ago, a volcano decided it just couldn't wait, and erupted, sending our travel plans up into the sky with millions of tonnes of ash and smoke.

This left us with 4 days to rebook the first half of our trip which is being cut short as a result. So the French and Italian Riviera's will have to wait for an anniversary.

But we are very excited about the rescheduled trip. For those interested, the itinerary is as follows:

Sunday 25 April- leave Melbourne
Monday 26 April - Tues 27th April- London
Wed 28th April- Sunday 2 May -Paris
Monday 3 May- Wed 5 May- Venice
Thu 6 May- Florence
Fri 7 - Sun 9 May- Tuscany
Mon 10 - Thu 13 May- Rome
Fri 14 May- Fri 21 May Egypt
Sat 22 May- Tues 23 May- Hong Kong
Wed 24 May- arrive Melbourne

We will be posting photos as we go to give you a look see at what we come across. It will be just like you are there with us :)

Lou