The Ratings System
Australia
Canada
Germany
United Arab Emirates
UK
The Ratings System
Audi
Fiat
Holden
Mercedes
Toyota
Volkswagen
The Ratings System
Australia
Canada
Germany
Italy
Japan
Richmond -> Honolulu -> Sydney
Highlight
- This day is actually more exciting since we could spend some time packing.
- We started off the day with our "last meal", so went to a breakfast yum cha to send us off on your journey. I don't think I can look at yum cha quite the same way again in Sydney.
- Yes, there was more stuff to try, so about an hour after yum cha, we had to eat again, this time at a "Canton" style noodle house.
- The good thing about going through America is that you can take more than the 40kg restrictions for all other continents, so we were able to lug our stuff back to Sydney, the bad thing, the added security of going to America. There's a special system for going to America, and once you pass the checkout, that's it. We were going to get our receipts stamped to claim our GST back, but unbeknown to us, there was NO CUSTOMS when going to America - and nobody even bothered to tell us, I had to ask repeated people who finally told us it was too late anyway. What a load of croc.
- Slokky lost some important receipts (yeah, my fault for trusting him with it, but I didn't want to make a fool out of him in front of his relatives). I guess it doesn't matter now that we can't claim any of it back anyway.
- The plane was the most uncomfortable yet. The air hostess, old, ugly, slow but very friendly... I don't know which I prefer. To find out more, read the review.
Food
- Yum cha.
- Lunch at Noodle house:
- wonton soup
- pigs trotter noodles
- beef tendons noodles
- another beef parts noodles
- HK style coffee and tea
- Sweet boiled eggs.
- Puffed pastry with vanilla ice-cream.
- Air Canada snacks 1:
- sun snacks
- clamato extra spicy
- iced tea
- Air Canada dinner:
- roll
- ice cream
- salad with balsalmic vinegar
- chicken with risoni
- red wine
- Air Canada snacks 2:
- roll
- pineapple cake
- pasta and vegetable salad with ham and cheese
- Air Canada snacks 3:
- oatmeal biscuit
- apple and orange juice
Richmond -> Vancouver -> Richmond
Highlight
- The sun came out so we decided to go to UBC. There was a graduation on so we went along and took photos, and got free muffins along with the grads.
- A really really boring day, we didn't do anything. I'm actually playing web sudoku again... Only one more day to go.
- Our last dinner, and suitably a feast. We met up with Slokky's aunty's friends, and had a king crab set menu. There are grand plans to try all the stuff we didn't have time to tomorrow...
Food
- Taro bread.
- Salmon and corn pie.
- Chocolate cookie.
- Poppyseed muffin.
- Blueberry muffin.
- Thai pizza.
- Chocolate ice-cream bar.
- Shanghai dinner:
- 3 kinds of cold cuts
- steamed king crab with garlic
- oyster mushrooms with bok choi
- pork shank with vegetables
- fried fish in sweet and sour sauce
- hand-pulled noodles in crab sauce
- red bean puff pastry balls
Richmond -> Vancouver -> Richmond
Highlight
- Slokky got his nostalgia trip today. We had to go to a Hong Kong tea house for bfast so he can relive his childhood. For those uninitiated, a HK tea house serves things like doll noodles, macaroni, spam, butter rolls, white bread sandwiches with no crust, "Western" style food like spaghetti for breakfast. I've never liked tea house food. Why pay so much money for food you can make yourself really easily? This breakfast was pretty similar, the food was pretty ordinary, so the nostalgic value was very high.
- We spent most of the day either driving or being stuck in traffic. Time really has slowed in Vancouver. I think I probably could've packed what we've been doing in 3 days into 1 day.
- We took Fay for his exam today. It turns out he had some fibre stuck in his ear that's why he's been shaking his head a lot and causing bleeding. The bleeding has now stopped, but now he seems to have diarrhea. He also has to change his diet completely (no more oranges!) because he's developing kidney stones. It's not easy being a pet owner.
- We toured Stanley Park, and spent 3 hours looking for a mermaid that Slokky's grandma mentioned was beautiful. We didn't find it in the end.
- We also toured Downtown, Canada Place, Science World, Gastown, and Queen Elizabeth Town. Nothing much worth mentioning, since it was raining plus it costs a lot of money to park, so we didn't walk around much. We did manage to have lunch at an IGA. The food was actually good!
- Our 2nd last dinner, went to a Vegetarian place. Half the fun of eating Chinese vegetarian is the way they make "meat" out of everything vegetarian, especially tofu!
Food
- Hong Kong tea house breakfast:
- pineapple bun with a huge slab of butter
- curry beef doll noodles
- fried eggs and sausage
- HK style tea
- Juicy lollies.
- Spinach strudel.
- Butter layered roll.
- Apple turnover.
- Raspberry croissant.
- Danish biscuits.
- Chinese vegetarian restaurant dinner:
- mixed entree
- "chicken" and "goose" cold cuts
- spinach and egg soup
- fried "fish"
- vegetables with oyster mushrooms
- fried rice with "beef"
- red bean mochi
Richmond
Highlight
- Because of rain, our Whistler trip is cancelled. Instead, it's chores day, which included fixing a computer, getting haircuts, and the highlight of Slokky's grandma's Canada, a visit to Costco.
- Costco is a wholesale warehouse with anything and everything you want to buy, groceries, clothes, pharmacy, computers, furniture, outdoor equipment... I didn't find the stuff that cheap as you have to buy in bulk. What I did find interesting though was the amount of people there, on a school day at that, and all of them buying a huge trolleys worth of clothing...
- Poor Fay has been sick so we took him to the vet. He has to go back tomorrow for more tests.
- After a home-cooked dinner, we went to see The Da Vinci Code. It's much cheaper to see a movie in Canada than in Oz, except they don't have half priced Tuesdays. The verdict on the movie? The actors were good, but it definitely is not as exciting if you know the story. Probably not worth seeing at the cinemas.
Food
- Congee with lots of goodies and pita chips.
- Taste test at Costco.
- French fries.
- Godiva Chocolate ice-cream bar.
- Puff pastry with vanilla ice-cream.
- Chinese BBQ pork, duck and crispy pork.
- Tomato fish stew and pita chips.
- Mixed vegetables and mushrooms.
Richmond -> Vancouver -> Richmond
Highlight
- Today is our outing day with the "Ah Po", Slokky's grandma and her school mate Betty. The two of them have been friends for years, and they are so cute together. They always go out, using their senior pass, and take public transport everywhere. Today we experienced a typical day in the life of senior citizens in British Columbia.
- Catching a bus then the sky train out to the Metropolis Metrotown shopping centre to find a toilet.
- From Metrotown, catch another bus to North Burnaby for yum cha. As it was a public holiday, it was really really crowded. I don't know what they were thinking, but they made us stand next to a table to wait, while the old people still haven't left. We ended up standing there for 10 minutes waiting for the people to leave (who were really taking their time), trying to dodge other people and yum cha carts. It wasn't pleasant, and we had to share a table as well. And because of the amount of people, they ran out of teapots, and the food were either cold or unavailable, a very disappointing experience.
- After yum cha, and another toilet stop, it was time to hop on yet another bus, for Chinatown. The activities here involved the grandmas introducing Slokky to all the shopkeepers in Chinatown and Slokky's grandma stocking up on 42 preserved eggs.
- After the walk of about 5 shops in Chinatown, it was time to hop on yet another bus for a very long and bumpy ride to Simon Fraser University. Unfortunately, it was raining really hard and it was really foggy, so we couldn't see any views, so we took a quick tour of the campus (it was uglier than UNSW can you believe?) and caught the bus back down, this time to Downtown.
- Downtown. Toilet time. The grandmas sure knows where to find toilets. We went straight to the Hyatt hotel, and I have to admit, their toilets are pretty nice.
- Our outing over, it was time for the 2 bus rides (taking over an hour, including waiting time)home. All in all I can say we fulfilled the grandmas' wishes of getting the most value out of our $8 all-day pass.
- All our activities seem to involve watching TV and eating, so the next exciting episode today, if you don't count all the Chinese dramas on TV, was for dinner at Aberdeen centre again. Tonight was a very quiet night. The Chinese tea house was charming, they had great tea and pretty decent food. Even though we've eaten a lot of Chinese, we haven't eaten the same thing twice yet, I'm quite impressed.
Food
- Chicken pie.
- Fish soup with biscuits.
- Chocolate chip cookie.
- Yum cha:
- fried prawns
- prawn dumplings
- prawn pie
- prawn and corn dumplings
- lotus seed parcel
- fried taro ball
- chives and prawn dumplings
- chives and prawn parcels
- Almond biscotti.
- Chinese tea house dinner:
- spring rolls
- beef rolls
- vegetables with beef
- chicken in tea flavoured sauce
- deep fried prawns salad
Richmond -> Steveston -> Richmond
Highlight
- Attended a Cantonese mass service, brings back memories of primary school. Slokky's grandma eagerly showing off Slokky and his girlfriend to her friends.
- Steveston - the fisherman's wharf of Vancouver, also done up very nicely, with seaside cafes, bars, quirky shops... like any other seaside town really. We bought some fish on fishing boats parked on the harbour, and went to Pago, the famous fish & chips place to eat, yup, fish & chips.
- Spent time at Slokky's relative's house, walked Faye, looked at Slokky's old photos (btw, he was actually cute when he was young, wonder what happened...).
- Found out Kinder got engaged...and moving to Strathfield, along with Yuen (no Kinder didn't propose to Yuen, he actually proposed to his gf). We really must be getting old, even Kinder has got in the act.
Food
- Chicken pie.
- Cheesecake.
- Fish & Chips. (11.98)
- Clam chowder.(3.98)
- Cooked cola & lemon.
- Black sesame soup.
- Steamed crabs.
- Chicken soup.
- Steamed fish with ginger and shallots.
- Fried asparagus.
- Strawberries.
Richmond -> Capilano -> Grouse Mountain -> Richmond
Highlight
- Trying the first of what is supposed to be many yum cha experiences. Yet again, the Asian food here beats Oz hands down. I'm going to find it hard to eat Asian in Sydney now... at least I can still drink coffee and eat fruit...
- Capilano is famous for its suspension bridge, which was in existence since the late 1800s. It's been a tourist attraction for a long time. The actual bridge is very long, and very rocky. There were heaps and heaps of scared people trying to walk across it, which is really funny, but apart from that, the whole park and rainforest area is pretty boring. Slokky's aunty told us a story of how a woman actually threw her child over the bridge a couple of years back though, so now they have guards watching the bridge at all times.
- Grouse Mountain is a mountain on the edge of Vancouver. You take a cable car up to the top. The top was really beautiful, but cold, really cold. In winter you can actually ski there, and not all the ice has melted yet. There is supposed to be a fine view of Vancouver from the top, but unfortunately for us, it was too foggy to see. We did see one grizzly bear in the "Bear Habitat", as well as watching the "World famous lumberjack show", which was very very funny.
- I got sick from the cold after that, so the rest of the day passed by in agony. I did manage to go out to dinner though, see, food comes first. This time we went to another Asian place. I am sad to report that the food wasn't as good as previous Asian, but it was still pretty darn good.
- I'm starting to catch up on my Asian TV, in the past few days I've watched about 6 or 7 different "dramas". All I can say is that people get amnesia a lot...
Food
- Morning yum cha:
- prawn dumplings
- crab dumplings
- pork dumplings
- rice noodles wrapped fried bread
- pork and sausage rice
- fried yam and scallops
- cake with sticky rice
- fried yam cakes
- mango and coconut cakes
- Chinese dinner:
- winter melon soup
- Hainanese chicken + rice
- garlic fried veges
- tofu with mushrooms and chicken pieces
- curry beef briskets
- dessert soup
- strawberries and orange
Richmond -> White Rock -> Granville Island -> Richmond
Highlight
- The pampering starts again now that we're back at Slokky's relatives' place. Breakfast this morning was 3 different things, including fresh baked egg tarts(!), with another 3 things available for lunch. Since Slokky is "way too skinny" now he has to eat twice as much too.
- The sun was missing this morning when we visited White Rock, which is famous for... yup, a white rock. This area reminds me of Brigton Le Sands, except the houses around seem richer and there are no high rises. According to Aunty Teresa, the whole area has been done up since they last visited. There's now a pretty nice seaside walk, but they don't allow dogs anymore, and of course all parking is metered. We didn't find it particularly interesting, and the white rock? Well... the rock is certainly white, if you don't look too closely, you can't see the graffiti people have added. I was really disappointed, it was just a rock that got transported to the seaside and man painted white. I can't believe I travelled all that way to see that...
- Granville Island is much more interesting, it's a little island in the middle of the city. The whole island is famous for its arts and crafts, and it has a very reputable arts school there too. We browsed through several shops as well as the public markets, selling the usual food and arts items.
- An amazing sight, we went the Asian shopping mall area in Richmond, and no wonder they call it Hongcouver there. Asian shopping malls are everywhere!! We passed by at least 5, and apparently there are many more. I have no idea how they can support that many malls, but there are a lot of Asians...We went to the Aberdeen Mall, which is about the size of a mid-sized Westfields, and it has all these shops you can find in HK. We found all the cool stuff we got from Japan (darn!) and for a cheaper price too (darn!). The most exciting shop was the franchise of the Daiso chain, just like the 100 Yen shops. As well as Jap, there are the quirky Asian food stores, Taiwanese dried goods, Honkie clothes, bubble tea... anything an Asian will ever need really, plus more! Now is it cheaper to fly to Japan or Canada??
- Slokky made me mad today because he did his look at the computer and ignore everything else thing, and he also forgot to bring the camera not, this being maybe the 10th time he's forgotten on this holiday.
Food
- Chicken soup.
- Sticky rice.
- Egg tarts.
- Vegetable dumplings.
- Dumplings in soup.
- Pigs parts and eggs in vinegar.
- Taste testing at Granville Island.
- Singaporian/Indo/Thai restaurant dinner:
- Mixed satays
- Indo spring rolls
- Curry clam soup
- Indo style vegetables
- Coconut baked rice
- deep fried pork
- Malaysian roti with curry sauce
Duncan -> Chemainus -> Nanaimo -> Vancouver -> Richmond
Highlight
- Chemainus is home to the "World Famous Murals", meaning there are murals all around the towns, on walls and buildings. We were there at the same time as some Chinese tourist group, who all insisted on posing in front of the murals one by one and taking a photo of themselves. We were waiting for them to finish before we took some photos, but gave up waiting after 15 minutes. There is also a great walk past unique houses to the sea.
- Nanaimo is "Harbour City", we went for a walk along the harbour foreshore, where there are the fish & chips and fresh seafood shops right on the water, apparently much like Fishermans Wharf in Vancouver.
- Another lunch stop at the chain store, I'm beginning to think I might be able to try them all... this time at Dairy Queen for burgers and fries. I only had a little bit of the food, but the verdict is... way too salty and no taste... I guess I still don't like fast food.
- Vacation over, back to Vancouver on the BC Ferry, while listening to more stories about Slokky's childhood. A favourite: Slokky got picked on by a girl in kindergarden in HK, who used to pinch his thighs and steal his hankies. However, as soon as he moved to Oz, all the girls at school loved him. They used to pick up stuff he dropped all the time.
- Went to our 1st all-you-can-eat Japanese tonight. As you can imagine, it's very popular with the Asian set. It's pretty good, you actually order from the menu what you want and they make it fresh. Canadians sure like their sashimi cut really really thick. And the verdict? It's good, especially for a all-you-can-eat kinda place, but nowhere near as good as Japan.
Food
- Dark chocolate bun (1).
- Almond Croissant (2).
- Maple and cranberry biscuit.
- Chocolate chip and nuts biscuits.
- Pretzel roll.
- Multi-grain roll.
- Chilli dog.
- Mixed bag of cheese snacks.
- All you can eat Japanese: sushi, sashimi, salad, BBQ, tempura, grills, noodles (which of course nobody actually eats) and dessert.
Victoria -> Oak Bay -> Shawnigan Lake -> Cowichan Bay -> Duncan
Highlight
- Oak Bay is a really expensive area with really huge and beautiful houses.
- Our 2nd visit to Tim Hortons, this time for bagels and more donuts, for breakfast!
- We stopped off at a glass blowing place near Shawnigan Lake, so now we've managed to visit one in every country we've visited. The owner was very friendly (and talkative) and introduced us to all her products, with their specialty being oil lamps. They also have a really cute blind dog.
- Cowichan Bay, a really laid back area, with some quirky shops and a great organic bread shop.
- Along the drive from Shawnigan Lake to Duncan, is the so-called wine route. There are about 7 wineries in the area. We visited the Cherry Tree winery, but the wine was not that great.
- We also paid a visit to Merridale Ciderhouse, and tasted lots and lots of ciders :). Their bistro was fantastic, overlooking their apple trees (albeit with no apples).
- The "totem" city Duncan, is really a very very small town with a few totem poles. Remarkably for such a small place, it's crammed with giant shopping malls, chain stores and eateries. We visited our first Safeway, Wal-Mart, Superstore... which, btw, are kinda all like kmart, except they all seem to have a Maccas or Subway or Starbucks inside the store.
- Another Travelodge. Well I can give them marks for consistency. This one looks almost exactly the same as the one yesterday, except that there is no pool
- Dinner at chain store No 2, White Spot. It was better than I expected, but not great, and definitely better than yesterday...
- Pay TV in Canada is kinda interesting. We watched the American Iron Chef, which is nowhere near as good as the Jap version. Apparently the Jap chairman is the uncle of the American chairman. We were also unfortunate (or fortunate if you're a guy) enough to watch Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. I don't get it... as a comedy it's not funny, unless you laugh because the plot? (what plot?) is so dumb... as an action film there's not much sequences... as a porn film there's not enough naked people...
Food
- Blueberry bagel.
- Maple Dip donut + dutchie.
- Maple + peaches and cream ice-cream. (4.8)
- Lunch at La Pammeraie Bistro located at Merridale Ciderhouse:
- Pork and apple crepe (8)
- Apple and onion tart (8)
- Chicken somerset (13)
- Chicken and apple pizza
- White Spot dinner:
- Canada AAA Sirloin Steak - Served with roast potatoes & seasonal vegetables. Half pound. (15.99)
- Monty Mushroom - Our 1/4 lb. burger with Jack cheese & sauted mushrooms. (8.99)
- Mountain Madness - A mountain of cream puffs piled high with fresh whipped cream, swirls of butterscotch & triple thick hot fudge sauce. It's beyond belief! (5.49)
- White Spot Cheesecake - Our very own recipe, rich & creamy. A wonderful White Spot tradition. (4.29) With strawberry topping. (.99)
Richmond -> Tsawwassen -> Swartz Bay -> Victoria
Highlight
- Catching the BC Ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay. It's kinda like a cruise ship, except there's no sleeping rooms, casinos, and there are cars!
- The non Asian food here is pretty terrible, it's no wonder Americans and Canadians, especially the non Asians, are so fat. Some of the stuff they have available in the shops and in the supermarket should not be consumed by human beings.
- Our 1st stop was Butchart Gardens, one of the most beautiful gardens in Canada, and one of the best I've seen. It's especially popular with the oldies. Tulips were in full bloom, making it especially beautiful.
- We toured Victoria harbour (not as nice as ours) and their parliament house (heaps nicer than ours).
- Our 1st Travelodge, with huge beds, cable TV, an indoor pool and gym.
- Having to eat junk food for lunch because Faye the dog can't go to any food establishments. Having to eat the worst fish & chips I've ever tasted for dinner. Thanks Slokky for your choice.
Food
- Soft bread with taro.
- Boiled potatoes.
- Cheese popcorn.
- Snack mix with pretzels, sun chip, cheetoes and corn chips.
- Fish and Chips.
- Clam chowder with biscuits.
- Onion rings.
- Chicken strips with BBQ sauce.
- Coleslaw.
- Tim Hortons donuts:
- maple glazed
- blueberry
- Boston cream
- carrot cake
- double choc
- honey glazed
Wurzburg -> Frankfurt -> Vancouver
Highlight
- Getting served a really good buffet breakfast, which the owners prepared early especially for us. They also had freshly brewed coffee we felt obliged to drink.
- Getting stuck in peak hour traffic is the same everywhere. Trucks overtaking trucks can cause traffic jams for kms.
- Getting almost strip-searched at airport security, and the cold wordless way of German airport staff.
- Meeting cool and interesting people on the plane. She was a flight attendant with Air Canada in the 60s and 70s, and was going home with her son. She speaks fluent German, and was trying to score a free upgrade to 1st class. However, I have doubts about people who laugh at Rumours has it.
- The really cute not to mention extremely charming flight stewart Alex.
- Trying to waste 10 hours is very hard, especially when they show movies I've already seen and I can't see the screen.
- Vancouver is a lot like Sydney, but with much less people and a lot more Asians!
- Staying at Slokky's relatives and getting pampered with loads of food (yup, because of the time difference, we ate 5 meals today) , hearing embarrassing stories about his childhood. One gem to share for today: Slokky didn't stop drinking from a bottle until he was 7 years old!!!
Food
- Hotel buffet breakfast:
- cold cuts
- cheeses including quark
- liver sausage
- jams, 5 liver spreads, Nutella, honey
- breads including brioche, pumpkinickel...etc
- museli with fried fruit and yoghurt
- coffee
- banana
- Lufthansa airline meal 1:
- apple juice
- vegetable pasta
- beef with rice and peas
- salad
- chocolate cream cake
- camerbert and bread roll
- Lufthansa snack:
- Lufthansa airline meal 2:
- Baked feta with vegetables
- pork with potatoes and beans
- chocolate pudding
- bread roll
- beer
- Black forest cake.
- Chicken soup.
- Taiwanese dinner:
- black sesame bubble tea
- bean sprouts with garlic
- pork stomach in garlic
- pork hot pot
- deep fried pork
- beans with pork
- seafood noodles
Augsburg -> Donauworth -> Nordlingen ->Dinkelsbuhl ->Feuchwangen -> Rothenburg o.d.t. -> Wurzburg
Highlight
- Driving through this section of the Romantic Road is a lot like driving through Tuscany, but with better roads and less tourists.
- Each town has medieval walls and towers, a central gothic style church, cafes and horse-drawn carriage.
- Lucky for us, the rain died down.
- My favourite town is Rothenburg o.d.t (even though it was very touristy) because of the quirky shops, including the Christmas shops and the fantastic views of the countryside. You can walk along the old city fortifications as well.
- The look on Slokky's face when we climbed up the 'Daniel' tower at Nordlingen. The view from the top was good too.
- Trying heaps and heaps of different cakes at heaps and heaps of different cafes.
- Residence at Wurzburg is an UNESO heritage listed building. The landscaped garden was absolutely stunning.
- Taking a really long walk up the hill to the fortress at Wurzburg. more wonderful views of the several churches, buildings with huge roofs.
- My G&M (Gin and Mango!) tastes really good, unfortunately I learnt too late to replace water with gin, as it was our very last night in Europe.
- Our hotel was great, we stayed in a German style attic, but it meant climbing a lot of stairs with our luggage.
Food
- Bread with sauce.
- Apple juice.
- Grean and Black dark 70% cacao (1.25).
- Apple tart (1).
- Strawberry jelly cake (1).
- rhubarb cake (1.25).
- Cream filled cake (1.75).
- Cheesecake (1.1).
- Chocolate cream layered sponge with marzipan (2.2).
- Spinach strudel (2.2).
- Rice crackers.
- Mango and gin 5.9% alcoholic drink (.63).
- Black sesame rice balls.
Munich -> Fussen -> Augsburg
Highlight
- Driving down the "Romantic Road" in our hired Mercedes. Actually we didn't feel so special driving a Merc at all since everyone else was either in a merc, a BMW or an Audi :(. Along the way, there are great views of the Alps and lakes, it was really beautiful, especially when the sun made an appearance.
- We toured two castles associated with the famous King Ludwig II. Schloss Neuschwanstein is the one everyone is familiar with, the one the Disneyland castle is based upon. It was huge and very very extravagant. What is surprising is that it is only 1/3 completed! The other is Schloss Hohenschwangau, the castle of Ludwig's parents. It's much less extravagant, but also much less crowded with tourists, making for a pleasant tour, unlike that of Neuschwanstein (hehe try pronouncing that one quickly).
- Slokky really wanted to try a currywrust so we got one at a restaurant with an outside stall. We should know better than to eat at touristy and expensive places, they have never been good experiences. Well, now we know a currywrust is just a wrust where you put your own curry powder on it. The bun was dry and they made you pay for sauce (a cardinal sin in Germany when you are buying wrust!).
- Dinner at another Bib Gourmande. The water was still expensive, but at least the portions were more generous, and I think actually tastes better than yesterday as it was much less pretentious. Our waiter was very friendly not to mention German efficient.
- It was Saturday, so time to go supermarket hunting for water. Like Italy, all the shops close on Sundays. We found Norma, but unfortunately, it is just like Aldi, but with even less stuff, and no natural mineral water, so we had to make do with juice.
Food
- Bread with sauce and oil.
- Ritter Sports Fig (.69).
- Sarotti Marzipan (.49).
- Sarotti chocolate mousse (.49).
- Currywurst with bread roll (2.7).
- White asparagus soup (3.5).
- Deer with cranberry stuffed pear and potato dumplings (14.5).
- Roast pork in beer sauce and cabbage salad (8.95).
- Beer 0.33L (2.3).
Munich
Highlight
- Schloss Nymphenburg - a very grand palace situated very close to Munich. Unfortunately, the huge crowd of very noisy tourists ruined the experience.
- It was a beautiful day to walk through the numerous gardens: the landscaped garden that is part of Schloss Nymphenburg, and Englischer Garten - with a huge beer hall right in the centre.
- Going to the "world cup final" Alliance stadium, which looks like a giant car tyre. Two teams, FC Bayen Munich (red) and 1826 (blue) play here. The outside of the stadium changes colour according to the team that is playing.
- Dinner at another Bib Gourmande. Eating in Germany is very expensive, you won't find mains for under 10 Euros, and you're looking at 20 Euros for a better restaurant. Oh, and they charge a LOT, for water. We were charged 5.5 Euros for 1.5L of water, it's actually cheaper drinking beer. I'm sad to report that even though the price is higher, the quality is not as good as Italy, and the meat doesn't have the meaty taste like Oz meat. It's asparagus season, which means you see asparagus everywhere, street stores, farms, restaurants... The Germans certainly have good English, but when I think that I spent more money eating in this restaurant than I do eating at Est or Claudes, I just can't enjoy myself.
Food
- Bread with peach jam, sauce, olive oil, liver sausage, pate spread, pork sausage.
- Ritter Sport Figs (.69).
- Birthday cake with cream and kirche (2.55).
- Apple juice.
- Ritter Sport Peanut crunch (.69)
- Bread with olive oil.
- Asparagus with hollandaise sauce (12.9).
- Venison in wine reduction (22.5).
- Black pork cutlet (23.5).
London -> Munich
Highlight
- We weren't that lucky this time, so no upgrades on Lufthansa. The seat is the same as business, but the food is much much worst, consisting of only a roll... at least it tasted ok.
- Munich is much less dirty than Frankfurt, and the public transport system is actually good!
- The hotel is nice but is situated in the red light district. We didn't have time to make use of any of the "facilities" though.
- There are loads of good chocolates in Germany, even a cheap supermarket brand tastes really good! Afterall, Kinder surprise and Ferrero Rocher, as well as Milka is from there, and that's just the common ones we've heard of. European chocolates are so much less sweet and much more chocolaty than Australian chocolates.
- Maybe we were visiting the tourist area, but there really are beer halls everywhere, and they all seem to be filled with people...
- The town centre is very pretty, with stylish houses and beautiful flowers, but somehow knowing that everything was new and rebuilt after WWII, so somehow the surreal feeling is lost.
- Visiting the very touristy beer hall Hofbrauhaus am Platzl. For those who don't know, this place is filled with long tables, and lots of them, and encourages people to eat and drink to excess. There are "traditional" German dances, songs and performances, and lots and lots of audience participation. The food is served buffet style, "traditional" German fare. It was ok for a buffet. The beer was huge, but the atmosphere wins hands down, especially because we had a huge group of Brazilians and Spanish. I got picked to do a special bell-ringing performance, which involved shaking a little bell vigorously when my number is called.
- Trying to drink 1L of beer is really really difficult, especially when you're trying to cram a lot of food in at a buffet filled with meet and potatoes. I could only manage to finish half, but so many people had at least 3 or 4.
Food
- Grissini, biscuits, pretzel snacks.
- Japanese pasty cakes.
- Lufthansa roll with cheese and lettuce.
- Taste test bread and meat at Viktualienmarkt.
- Green & Black hazelnut and raisin chocolate bar (1.25).
- Mens Porky.
- Saroti butter nougat bar (.49).
- Beer hall buffet:
- pretzels, rye and white rolls
- roast pork
- pork terrain
- 3 types of sausages
- grilled fish
- roast chicken
- veal schinzel
- mash potatoes
- penne in tomato sauce
- potato dumplings
- sauerkraut
- beetroot
- cold cuts
- salads:
- potato
- carrot
- cabbage
- mixed leaves
- tomatoes
- apple strudel with vanilla cream and raspberry sauce
- apple
London
Highlight
- By some stroke of luck, Slokky and I got to tour Goldman Saches. It has an excellent gym, better than any FF I've been to, and the canteen was great too. But the highlight has to be a chance meeting, for about a second or so, of Chris. He def looks better than his picture.
- At least we got some good weather today, even though it's the last day of England.
- Visited another TopShop, this one was huge, by that I mean at least 3 floors, but I couldn't find anything to buy.
- Took a long walk along the Thames, visited St James Park and place, Buckingham Palace (and no, we didn't see the Queen, or Prince William, we didn't even see the changing of the guard...shows how much we care about that place), and Hyde Park.
- We found a very cool supermarket and got some Ben & Jerrys as well as my Green & Black chocolate.
- Toured some poshy food stores, Harrods and Fortum & Mason. You can get just about anything that's available in Europe, for a very expensive price.
- Our last night, I'm going to miss Aileen's musings and complaints, as well as eating home-cooked food.
Food
- Bread with sundried tomatoes.
- Tandoori chicken with couscous and cougettes (3.95).Roll with salted beef and mustard.
- Aileen's dinner:
- leftovers
- chilli steak
- cauliflowers with mushrooms and fishcakes
- Japanese pasty cakes.
London -> Oxford -> London
Highlight
- Slokky always get paranoid and make me anxious. He stuffed up and made us get off at the wrong stop for the bus ANYWAY like he usually does.
- The buses are so slow because of the bad traffic that it's quicker to walk sometimes.
- Oxford - it's pretty much as I imagined it, the town is full of different unis, all sandstone front and very grand, with quirky cafes, second-hand bookstores, and the ubiquitous chain stores filling the town. It does have the uni town feel, just by the international students wandering around.
- Christ Church college is the most famous of them all, with the Great Hall used for the Harry Potter films and a very grand cathedral which was conveniently closed when we visited. (costs 4.5 pp)The gift shop lady also told us off for visiting 'cos the shop was "closed", even though there was still a sign pointing to the gift shop and there were heaps of people still in there.
- Can't believe it but I actually bought some boots in the most expensive country we are visiting. After walking through almost the whole of Italy searching for the perfect pair of cowboy boots, I finally found some at the Oxford Boot Shop in Oxford!! Yes, they were very, very expensive, but they were what I was looking for. It was on special from 175p to 70p. Now the problem will be trying to get them home...
- I tried to buy some stuff from Topshop (for those of you unaware, Topshop is famous for copying designer catwalk collections at a very fast pace and releasing it to the mass market) but after browsing for like 20 minutes, and just when I was about to try on my finds, I was told the change rooms are closed. I really don't understand English thinking on commerce and retail... how can you open the shop and just close the change rooms early?? I guess they don't want any business.
- Another Cornish pasties day, this time we tried the Oxford Pasty Cafe (the worst pastry we had but the filling was good) and the West Cornwall Pasty Co (the best so far, with flaky pastry and really yum filling with ample sauce.
- Dinner party at home with Aileen, Joelle and Wendy. Aileen and Slokky were passing on their finance knowledge on 'cos both Joelle and Wendy have interviews with GS. All I can say is I am not going to let Slokky teach any kids we have anything! He just confuses the hell out of you. I can see myself having a lot of fun in London though.
Food
- Whetgerm levain with sundried tomatoes and oil.
- Cappaccino.
- Cranberry juice.
- Taro porky.
- Pernicotti 3 flavoured chocolates Giandujotto, latte, cereal.
- Steak and Guinness Cornish pasty. (2.50)
- Oxford blue and steak Cornish pasty. (2.95)
- Dinner party:
- stir-fried cucumbers
- stir-fried chicken and beans
- stir-fried pork
- five spice chicken wings
- leftover chinese dishes
London -> Salisbury -> London
Highlight
- We woke up at 4am to go to the Stonehenge. We were "meant" to watch the sunrise there. Needless to say, there WAS no sun, there was only very very heavy rain. The good thing about going so early? There's not that many people there. The bad thing? It's cold, I'm tired, there's no information available, no audioguide, it's raining, and there's still some people there! The atmosphere there is kinda surreal even though the place is not as secluded as I thought. There is a road very close to the place. Apparently that is going to get fixed up though.
- We didn't really enjoy Salisbury as much as we could because:
- it was absolutely bucketing down and we were soaking wet
- it was so early nothing was opened
- after 9 am we had to pay for parking
So the only thing we did do was go to a pub for an English breakfast that was actually pretty good and not too expensive. - Salisbury is noted for having the tallest spire of any cathedral in England... not that we paid any attention to it when we were there.
- Getting splashed by cars and got my clothes soaked, only to jump on a long and expensive train ride back to London.
- Sightseeing in grey London. Did I mention that except for the first day, it has rained every other day since?
- Sights are majestic but not bright. Everything seems so gloomy and dark, and it's not just 'cos of the weather. Italy was definitely prettier. Everything costs way too much to visit.
- Selfridge food hall is a LOT like DJs food hall, except more expensive.
- Slokky's favourite spot was Lilywhite Sports store. It's kinda like Paul's warehouse, but much bigger and they have a whole floor devoted to football. Slokky stocked up on his soccer jerseys, and I on Lonsdale, the only thing cheaper to buy in London than in Oz.
- Supermarkets have crappy opening hours and LOADS of prepared food. Jamie Oliver was right about how much processed food was available, especially those aimed at kids. Surprisingly people weren't that fat in England, probably 'cos they keep having to walk up the stairs of the buses?
- Aileen treated us to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was expensive for our standard but it was supposed to be very authentic. Well, all I could taste was chilli and oil, so I guess that's authentic?
- If I earn pounds it would be very cool to go around London, there's so much to see and do.
- Found another Mitsukoshi (yup, besides Japan, we saw it in Rome, Milan and Munich), catering only to Japanese tourists!
Food
- Bircher museli with yoghurt and fruit compote (1.99).
- Farmhouse brekkie (3.49):
- hash brown
- egg
- toast
- baked beans
- tomatoes
- bacon
- sausages
- sauce
- Cappuccino with biscotti (.99)
- Choc-cream filled biscuit.
- Milk Porky.
- Apple and pear.
- Chinese dinner:
- chilli eggplant
- chilli tripe
- chilli frogs legs
- chilli pork with shallots
- oranges
London -> Stratford-Upon-Avon -> Birmingham -> London
Highlight
- Pilgrimage Day. i.e. the day that Slokky gets to go see Aston Villa with 4 girls. We started off really really early, for a drive to Stratford-Upon-Avon, or more famously known as Shakespeare's birthplace. We got up early in vain though, as the shops and attractions don't open until at least 10 am on a Sunday.
- I think it was good we were early, as we had almost the whole town to ourselves. This is another very English town, but the houses and architecture is in the Elizabethan period, with black and white stripped and cracked walls the dominant feature.
- We also witnessed the annual marathon which takes place there every year on Shakespeare's birthday. No it wasn't Shakespeare's bday that day but the marathon was delayed this year for some reason or another, the reason of which I can't remember. After seeing the people run past, Aileen vowed that she will now try to run in a marathon... I'll let you ask her how that goal is coming along.
- The whole town is cashing in on the whole Shakespeare thing of course, with everything themed with Shakespeare and trying to claim any sort of relationship with Shakespeare. The tourist hot spot is of course the actual birthplace. The information was interesting, and the house pretty. We then went to two other houses related to Shakespeare... but they were all starting to look the same. The other things I can recall are pretty flowers and small rooms.
- We travelled slower than if it was just Slokky and I, but I must say it's so much more fun travelling with other people, especially when we all ganged up on Slokky.
- Yup, had cornish pasty again. It's just that this is about the only takeaway place that you can't find in Oz and we can't afford to eat anywhere else! Well, our new mission is to try all the different Cornish Pasties chain around though. Today was a Pasty Presto. The pastry is not as good as the Cornish Bakehouse but the filling was slightly better.
- Going to the game is a sight to behold. A sea of people, old, young, big and small all decked out in light blue and maroon.
- Watching Slokky's face light up the whole time.
- Walking into a Huge store that sells AV merchandise. You can buy everything, and I mean everything themed with AV logo. AV bedspread anyone? The store was so crowded because it was on sale, Slokky came away with a jersey, and Aileen turned herself into a temp supporter by buying an AV beanie.
- You can tell a lot about a culture by seeing how they watch their footy. They like to criticise a lot, swear at any mistake, and smoke at any opportunity. Still, they are fiercely loyal to their team. The crowd wasn't as rowdy as I thought, prob because this game doesn't make any difference to the final table.
- The score? 2-1 to AV.
- After visiting Shakespeare's birthplace, we were all hankering for a bit of Shakespeare, but no one wanted to watch Shakespeare in Love, so we settled on Romeo + Juliet instead. It's been so long since the movie came out, Claire Danes was so pretty then, and Leo... well he's still that ugly.
- Our girly night was completed with pizzas (I can't believe I paid 20 pounds for them) and cake.
Food
- Instant noodles.
- Cornish Pasty from Presto.
- Spicy chickpea Cornish Pasty from Presto.
- Manjaui chocolates.
- Pizzas with 5 choices of topping (20).
- Banana bread.
London -> Bath -> London
Highlight
- Hearing Aileen's love life story, especially on Chris. Slokky and I spent all night, but finally convinced her to ask him out. She got up the courage to ring him, but too bad he already had a girlfriend. I'm so proud of her for getting up the courage, for those who know Aileen that was a very big step for her!
- More on public transport. The trains are SO EXPENSIVE. It costs 25 pounds to go to Bath, that's more money than flying from Milan to London on easyJet!!!
- Baths is very very English indeed. Our first stop was the famous Roman Baths, which is very similar to those in Italy, except the explanations are CLEAR and they recreated what the bath would look like. Aileen was in a foul mood because this pigeon dropped this Huge poop on her and it got everywhere! So needless to say, she wanted to get out of there so we didn't spend that much time there.
- We walked around town looking for lunch. The town suddenly became really crowded, tourists appearing out of nowhere! Sandstone houses, beautiful gardens, quaint tea rooms and pubs added to the charm.
- Aileen wanted to eat at Burger King, but I wasn't going to pay 3 times as much as Oz to eat Burger King in the UK, so we went to get some Cornish pasties from The Cornish Bakehouse and ate it in BK instead.
- We went to THE Malaysian place in Chinatown to have a mini SENG reunion. There was Thompson, his friend Ken, Wendy and Joelle, amazing really. This place was supposed to be the cheapest and best in London, (guess it must be so 'cos it was really really crowded when we got there) and the gang frequent it all the time. The food was ok, but nothing compared to Oz Malaysian. I still can't believe I paid $6 for a prawn mee!!!
- Funny how everyone is now working in Investment Banks, who would've thought?
- Well, we got a pretty snazzy car to drive around, a VW Bora, see my review for details. If you get enough people, it's definitely cheaper to drive around England than to catch the train.
Food
- Home made (by Aileen) pork and vegetable dumplings.
- Traditional Steak Pasty.
- Lamb and Mint Pasty.
- Black sesame Porky.
- Prawn mee (6).
- Nasi goreng (6.5)
Milan -> London
Highlight
- Taking a LONG time to get to Milan Milpensa on the Italy transport system.
- easyJet was late and rude, see my review for details.
- After hearing all sorts of bad things about London, I was so surprised when we got there that everything actually worked! By that I mean the trains were on time and very comfy, allbeit extremely expensive.
- I have to admit, it was nice to hear a language I can understand again, and to be able to have a proper conversation with someone else other than Slokky.
- The other thing, the weather was HOT and sunny?!? What on earth is going on??
- After not too much hassle, we arrived at Aileen's place. We didn't expect such a huge house, but there were 6 girls sharing it. Aileen's room was huge, she could fit us and our huge luggage in, and still have room to spare.
- Aileen took us around town, so I have to comment on the transport again. The system is good in that you can catch public transport everywhere, but it is very very confusing. Not only are there hundreds of way to get to the same destination, there are hundreds of ticket pricing options! We got ourselves some oyster cards quick smart, just to avoid some of the hassles. We probably could've saved some money if we could figure out the cheapest ticket, but I'm sure we've saved more than enough time this way.
- The traffic is terrible though, you're constantly stuck in traffic jams. No wonder they need that city tax.
- Had a great early dinner at Galvin. This place was another Bib Gourmande, and one of the very best we tried. All the waiters were French, or at least all spoke with a French accent, yet the food wasn't traditional French, but rather, used French techniques. In London, if you eat out at restaurant early or at lunchtimes, it is quite affordable. Just don't try eating after 7pm... btw, I don't think anyone actually gets off work before 7pm there either.
- We walked around for a bit after our dinner. London is a cool city, it's a great place to live if you earn pounds. Pity about their weather.
Food
- La Residenza breakfast:
- cold cuts
- bread with prune jam
- cereal, fruit and yoghurt
- boiled egg and omelette
- croissant
- almond custard slice
- cherry tart
- cappuccino and hot chocolate
- Galvin set dinner (17.50 pound):
- Excellent sourdough with butter
- Terrine of duck confit leg, lentils vinaigrette
- Jerusalem artichoke soup
- Slow cooked Angus beef, red wine & parsnip puree
- Grilled red mullet, pommes ecrasees with black olives
- orange and chocolate mousse
- Brie de Meaux & walnut bread
Milan
Highlight
- Visiting San Siro and the look on Slokky's face and the mad football playing kids who went on the tour with us.
- Taking 2 hours from San Siro to our new hotel, which, btw, is in the middle of nowhere. Luckily we didn't miss out on the tix to see...
- Watching Manon at the Theatro Alla Scala, even though we were sitting in the very top gallery and not able to see a thing. We did the lining up for 2 hours and getting tickets for 12 Euros thing.
- Out of all the duomos I've been, the one in Milan is the most beautiful, even though it was under renovations, like just about everything else we saw. The white marble and the gothic peaks make it very surreal. For once, there was actually explanation plagues available.
- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele is the world's most exclusive shopping mall. It was nice to window-shop and watch all the people who can actually afford to shop there come and go.
- We planned to go see The Last Supper, but we could never ring through to book our tix, so we thought we'll try our luck by going to Santa Maria della Grazie. However, when we got there, we finally found out that all the tix are booked out until June. Oh well, looks like we'll have to come back to Milan.
- The bitchy lady at Santa Maria della Grazie won't let me look at any of the books in the bookshop. What did she think I was going to do? Memorise the information then publish it?
- The Castello Sforzesco in Milan is very big, open to tourist and informative, with a beautiful park.
- Learning all about Leonardo da Vinci while window shopping on Via Del Corso.
Food
- Admiral hotel buffet:
- cold cuts
- croissants and danishes
- hot chocolate
- museli, fruit and yoghurt
- chocolate ring cake
- chocolate tart
- rice flour chocolate chip biscuits
- apple and orange
- Pecorino and toasties.
- Lemon tea (1).
- Chocolates.
La Spezia -> Susta Levante -> Genova -> Milan
Highlight
- Another thing which puzzles me about Italy and Italian. We were supposed to catch a train from La Spezia to Genova in the morning. We checked the timetable the day before, and there's a train every 15 minutes or so. When we got there though, we were told that there's "Trackwork" and there will be no trains running anywhere for 2 hours. Now why would you do trackwork in the middle of peak hour? Besides us, there were people trying to get to school and get to work, all stranded on the train. The funny thing was, they all seemed quite used to this ordeal. However, about 45 minutes into the 2 hr stop work, a train started running, stopping all stations. We decided to hop on it anyway, that's why we ended up at Susta Levante.
- All my plans getting ruined 'cos Italians can't run their own country.
- The supposed 1 hour trip to Genova ended up taking 4 hours. We finally got to Genova at 12.10 pm.
- Genova is the prettiest city we've visited yet, with grand palaces everywhere, and I mean everywhere!! They were mostly restored. The standout street, Via Garibaldi is filled with them. As well, the town is filled with cafes and parks, and not to forget the churches, everything a town needs really!
- So my theory is wrong. Genova is also a university town, but there's no graffiti!!
- We found some very cheap area (I think it's their red-light district...the XXX shops kinda gave it away) We had specialty coffee for only 1 Euro.
- Also visited the port area, which reminds me of Darling Harbour. There's an old ship parked there, an aquarium, museum and a shopping centre that's designed uncunningly like Harbourside Shopping Centre.
- Finding the "best" foccacia place, according to all the reviews they have stuck on the wall. The cheese one we tried was the best out of the 3 cheese ones we've tried, but I found the normal foccacia too salty.
- Our fun with the trains is not over yet, we still have to make our way to Milano Centrale. We managed to catch a late running train, which got stuck in a tunnel and look ages to get there. We nearly missed our connecting train, the only reason we didn't was that other train is also late.
- Our hotel was really nice, and for the price, the best deal we got. The hotel has James Bond theme, and it's the site of the biggest James Bond club in Italy and Europe.
- We were really exciting about going to the Bib Gormande in Milan, but it was disappointing. Maybe we should've chosen the pasta and steak, which was their specialty, and what everyone else was eating, but we discovered that after we'd already ordered.
- Milan has a great public transport system, and we caught nearly all different modes.
Food
- Bread with pecorino and parma ham.
- Chocolate tart.
- Lots and lots of Lindt chocolate egg.
- Zucchini and tomato pizza.
- Zucchini topped with cheese and egg mixture.
- Plain foccacia.
- Foccacia with cheese.
- Caffe with cream and hazelnut sauce (1).
- Bread.
- Milanese style veal (11).
- Egg with asparagus and chilli salsa (8).
- Semifreddo (4).
- Chocolate pistachio cake with honey cream (4).
La Spezia -> Riomaggiore -> Manorola -> Corniglia -> Vernazza -> Monterosso -> La Spezia
Highlight
- Walking the Cinque Terre. The weather was perfect and the walk was beautiful. This is definitely one of the best experiences I've had.
- Each town is distinctive, but expensive. However, they all contain colourful houses, beach, church, castle. My favourite was Corniglia because of the castle perched on the edge of the cliff, and because you reach it after such a climb and to be rewarded was really worth it.
- The other very remarkable thing is how stupid the Italians are to dry to cultivate grapes on hills, at a place where the climate is totally not suited...apparently the wines are well known but I didn't get to try any from this region.
- Well, in case you haven't realised, Liguria is famous for their foccacias, so we bought all different kinds (yup and we asked for about a finger's length at each place) from all these bread shop that's situated around the central market at La Spezia. The central market was one of the coolest we've been to, and that says a LOT!
Food
- Chocolate tarts from Rome.
- Foccacia:
- plain
- 4 cheeses
- pizza
- salami
- soy
- spinach and cheese
- rice
- tomato and mozarella
- Parma ham and pecorino.
- Lindt assort chocolate.
- Pannecotti chocolate.
- Pineapple juice (1.3).
- Kiwi fruit yoghurt (.62).
La Spezia -> Moneglia -> Nervi -> Recco -> Santa Margherita Ligure -> Portofino -> Rapallo -> Chiavari -> La Spezia
Highlight
- Not getting stuck in traffic but nearly getting run off the road by other cars.
- Our first stop today, Moneglia, is a quiet fishing/resort town. The highlight was getting to the town itself, you go through a series of one-lane tunnels perched right on the edge of the cliff.
- Nervi was another town on the tourist trail. It is very close to Genova, with a famous seaside walk (Passeggiata A Garibaldi), which reminds me of the Bondi to Bronte walk. And like the BtoB walk, was filled with all sorts of people, fit, young, old, fat, families.
- Yes, it was another public holiday (do people actually work around here?) so another day of closed shops and masses of people.
- Not find ANY sort parking in Camogli, so had to take refuge at Recco and eat lunch by the roadside.
- Santa Margherita Ligure (what a handful!) is even more resort like, who could've thought that! It was beautiful beaches and squares. In its heydays it used to be a resort for the rich and famous. Now only the faded glories of its past fame remains. People visit here because you can catch a ferry to the famed Portofino (we're not even going to attempt to drive there).
- The ferry ride was lovely, if expensive, however, Portofino has turned into a American tourist hubs. It's a port stop for cruise ships, and the day we were there, there were 2 ships stopped there, so the whole town was packed. It's quite funny because it's a very little town, with only one main street, yet the whole street is filled with designer stores. Needless to say everything was tres expensivo! The Americans were lapping it all up though.
- Rapallo and Chivari. By the time we got there, we were a bit towned-out. They were very similar to the other towns, but more peaceful. I guess it's because there's nothing special that makes them stand out.
Food
- Easter bread.
- Rice crackers.
- Panforte.
- Bread with ham and cheese.
- Bread with mortadella, rocket and pecorino.
- Lindt egg.
- Trenette pesto pasta (6.5).
- Ravioli with walnut sauce (6.5).
- Rabbit Genovese style (8.5).
- Bread and grissini.
Bologna -> Parma ->La Spezia -> Portovenere -> Lerici -> Sarzana -> La Spezia
Highlight
- Parma was absolutely beautiful, with very grand buildings/palaces, and really really beautiful churches, clean sts, nice and friendly people (one guy stopped us to ask if we needed any help because we were looking at our map), great food stores that open on Sunday!
- Trying and buying Parma ham from this little store. The storekeeper was so nice, not only did we get to try before you buy, like all delis, but he asked us if we needed it vacuum-sealed because we were travelling.
- Getting great bread and seeing different produce.
- Slokky got to see his first stadium, the Parma homeground, where Marco Bresciano, the Socceroos midfielder, plays.
- When we arrived in La Spezia around midday on a Sunday, all was quiet, but as soon as the sun came out, all these people started appearing on the streets! Our hotel was very basic, but it was functional.
- Our first stop after checking in was Portovenere, and it set the tone for visits to the rest of the Liguria towns. Portovenere was very popular with Italian tourists, and is extremely hard to find a parking spot. It's a hill town with colourful, crocked houses, a very cool castle and church perched at the edge of the cliff, and quaint little shops.
- Getting a parking tix 'cos we didn't understand the Italian sign. We thought we could park for free for 1/2 hour, but obviously the sign said something else! The ticket was only 21 Euros though, so comparatively, really cheap since buying a normal ticket was already like 3 Euros and considering how expensive everything else is. If I was Italian I'll prob risk the fine every time.
- Lerici was even more popular than Portovenere, there was no parking, pay or free, anywhere. We ended up parking at a place that was at least 1/2 hr walk away. I didn't think it was nicer than Portovenere. It had shops, beaches (that you have to pay for the privilege of using), castle, restaurants...etc. It's a nice place to relax in, but is way too stressful to get there!
- We went to Sarzana in search of another Bib Gourmande. This time was not along the coast, so there was absolutely no tourists.
- The restaurant, La Giara, was cosy with a menu that shows a bit of flair from the typical, but still regional. The taste itself? It was excellent. Now we're on a mission to try the rest of the bib gourmande.
Food
- Easter bread.
- Pie with curry filling (3).
- Lindt Easter egg and Perugina chocolate.
- Mortadella.
- Parma ham.
- Cappuccino (1.2).
- White and wholemeal bread.
- Lasagne with truffles, and spinach (7).
- Flat pancake with Genovese pesto(7).
- Octopus stew in tomatoes, olives, potatoes and chilli (10).
Greve -> Bologna -> Moderna -> Bologna
Highlight
- So sad to leave the castle, but there are other things to explore. We made it to Bologna this morning without getting stuck in traffic!
- Bologna has very grand buildings, palaces and churches, but the whole city left a bad taste in my mouth, and the beauty of the city was ruined, because it was raining, there was rubbish and graffiti everywhere.
- Bologna is food city, there are food shops, food streets and food markets everywhere, selling everything Italian you can think of. All the shops were selling similar things, yet they were all packed with people...You can tell a lot about a city by its shops. I didn't buy anything though, the food was expensive, and not too different to other regions.
- Our "hotel" is small but very functional, a good cheap find.
- We had an appointment to tour the Acatia of a Balsalmic Vinegar house. It turns out Acatia means attic and we were visiting someone's apartment. We visited an old lady, Marisa, who has vasts after vasts of balsalmic vinegar developing in her attic. Unfortunately she didn't speak much English, but she had almost perfect French, Dutch and German! So I spoke to her in French. I found out that she had brewing in her attic 8 years, 25 years and 50+ year old vinegar. Boy do they taste different to anything we've ever had. I don't think I can go back to normal balsalmic vinegar again.
- This little excursion led to our best ever Italian experience, somehow I understood that we were to follow her in our car to a show somewhere where she has free tickets. Driving through Moderna traffic and following an Italian driver was an adventure in itself, but it turns out that we were going to the annual Moderna Fair! Every town in Italy has their own fair, and everyone from the town gets right into the spirit of things.
- We met Marisa's daughter, Franka, who is an English teacher, at the fair, so she was able to explain what was going on! It turns out the Balsalmic Vinegar society was having their annual conference, so she agreed to meet up with us after the conference and show us around. So we had 2 hours to wonder around the fair.
- We learnt a lot in one day. The fair consisted of:
- Home - furnishing, flooring...etc
- Sport - they had a makeshift volleyball net where kids were playing. I'm relieved to report that we're actually than them.
- Food - you can taste everything from the Moderna region, so I finally tried all the stuff I wanted to try in one hit! Needless to say we spent the most time here and came out with a few items.
- Cars - Dominated by the European equivalent of Holden.
- Outdoors - plants, furniture, pools. We didn't pay much attention to this one.
The thing that left the most impression on us though, was the friendliness of the people. They were all amused that we were at their fair, and all tried to communicate to us in English. Yup, they found it extremely amusing that we were from Australia, and we didn't have blond hair! - We met up with Franka again, who told us a lot about Moderna and Balsalmic Vinegar. Moderna has the perfect climate for cultivating and developing Balsalmic, and it's been a tradition in Moderna for centuries, with the vasts of vinegars passed on from generation to generation. She has started a vast of vinegar for each of her children since they were babies. To recognise the "real" vinegar, i.e. the old that's properly aged, there must be the word "Traditional" in front of "Balsalmic Vinegar". She then took us around the fair, introduced us to her friends, who proceeded to cut, or more correctly dig, a huge chunk of Parmaggiano Reggiano from the huge slab that you see at the shops. He then drizzled it very generously with 50 yr old Balsalmic for us to taste. As well, we each got a souvenir spoon from the society. They were all very proud of their home town and very keen to share their culture. The last bit of culture we experienced is the local flat bread, tagello, which is pressed in a machine. You can eat it with a range of traditional spreads and fillings. I have to say it wasn't particularly impressive, but they seem very proud of their bread, so we murmured that it tasted really good.
- We were so full after our outing, we gave up our plan of going to a 1 star Michelan restaurant.
- Armed with the recommendation from Franka, we ventured into Moderna itself. It's so close to Bologna and yet so different. The shops are definitely higher class, there's no graffiti, the people seem richer and are definitely trendier. After all the fun at the fair, we only got to look around the town at around 6pm, so all the shops and churches were already closed. The bars were starting to come alive with people however, and everyone was out to have a good time.
Food
- Home brewed coffee.
- Perugina and other chocolates.
- Panini with cold cuts, pecorino and rocket.
- Wild boar mortadella.
- Taste test of cheese, salami, bread...etc at Moderna Fair.
- Parmesan with 50 year old traditional balsalmic vinegar.
- Traditional Moderna flat bread (tagello) with pancetta (2.4)
Greve -> Panzano -> Greve -> Barberino di Mugello -> Borgo San Lorenzo -> San Piero a Sieve -> Sant' Agata -> Galliano -> Greve
Highlight
- Getting stuck in yet another traffic jam on the autostrada, this time for >10 minutes only.
- Really heavy rain:(
- After living in the castle for almost a week, we finally got a chance to really look around Greve and Panzano, the two towns closest to our castle. The conclusion? They are very pretty, with a lively town square and of course the church,but filled with tourists, which meant things were more expensive too!
- Finally found some open Paneceria in Greve, and got myself loaded on even more bread.
- Also went to taste test more meat, but we only got some offcuts as they had run out.
- Today we didn't stick with the original plan, simply because we were sick of driving and getting stuck in traffic, so we decided to venture closer to home, and near the Bib Gourmande we wanted to visit. so off we went to the Mugello area. The first thing I have to say is that their tourist information is the best of all of Italy. Besides that, Mugello is a area quite different to the rest of Tuscany, in that there are rolling flat hills, animals and it's not as green.
- My favourite outing in the area? Barberino of course, because of the Barberino Factory Outlet. This is by the famous European outlet chain, McArthurGlen, and the layout is like a little town, complete with river, flowers and bridges. The actual shopping? Great designer labels but not too much normal stuff, but this is a great place to go for FREE TOILET!
- My favourite shopping finds included:
- Buying a 560g easter egg, on special for 5 Euro at the Lindt shop, which sold all things Lindt of course, with way more selection than the one in Sydney. They also make hot chocolate there but I didn't try it, maybe next time.
- Mikka shop with cool milky body lotion in honey, almond, walnut and other delectable smells!
- Getting some bargain "Italian" lingerie at Calzedonia. Did I mention that there are lingerie specialty stores everywhere?
- The amount of great menswear stores. It's no wonder the guys are better dressed there! I've been disappointed with the women though, only a few of them seem to dress up, the rest just goes around in jeans and coat.
- Our 2nd Bib Gourmande was even better than the 1st. It's a tavern situated in a hotel almost in the middle of nowhere, off the really small town of Galliano, we nearly couldn't find it. There's no menu, the host, Carlo is very entertaining, even though he doesn't speak much English. The food was EXCELLENT and plentiful, typical Tuscan cuisine from the Mugello region.
- The towns we visited today are the most non touristy, cheapest and "Italian" so far. Each has an interesting but not so exciting church, a main st and loads of bars and cafes.
- Finding a chocolate shop with buy 3 for the price of 2 chocolate at Borgo San Lorenzo. Hehe, I understand a discount in any language.
- Finding a cool bread shop, in San Piero a Sieve. It was a family run business, with the kids out the back completing their homework, and parents coming out to serve customers as needed. I think they were amused when we kept oohing and aahing at everything.
Food
- Chilli pici with wild boar ragu.
- Torta di Pasqua (cheesy Easter bread).
- Sahiacciata (olive oil bread) (1).
- Perugino chocolates and Lindt chocolates.
- Panini with porcetta, pecorino, rocket and porcini.
- Potato pizza.
- Dinner at Osteria Poggio di Sotto (30):
- crostini with pate and salad
- farinata soup (beans)
- tortelli di patate (pasta filled with potatoes)
- tagliatelli sui cinghiale (pasta with wild boar, what else!)
- chicken with tomato stew and mash
- thick grilled steak
- raddiaco salad
- panna with chocolate
- flat bread tart
- espresso
- limoncello
- vin santo + cantucchi
Greve -> Assisi -> Spoleto ->Perugia -> Passignano -> Greve
Highlight
- Our first stop was Assisi, this is a famous town for Christian pilgrimages. The town is filled with churches, nuns, monks...etc. The most significant of the places include the burial tombs of St Claire and St Frances. The landscape was also beautiful, of rolling hills, green fields and old castle and fortresses.
- Spoleto was the most beautiful of the Tuscan towns we've visited today. The Ponte delle Torri should not be missed, surrounded by forests. It's actually a relatively quiet area, with only a few tourists, adding to its appeal.
- Visit to Perugia, where Perugina chocolate comes from, walking around the whole town checking out their chocolate offerings (there were loads of shops devoted to it, including a few themed chocolate cafes), and finally buying some to try at the local Coop.
- Besides the chocolate, the town of Perugia itself is filled with young students, unis and a couple of old buildings.
- Another Free public toilet hunting day. This time we struck at the public library.
- On our way back, we decided to stop off at the little town of Passignano, which has beautiful views over Lake Trasimeno, but ala,s this lake is not as nice as Lake Garda.
- Slokky misbehaviour for today: forgetting to replace toilet paper in our castle attic after he finished the old roll.
Food
- Bread and toast with cherry jam and Pecorino pascoli de Chianti.
- Wild boar salami and Pecorino, rice cake and bread.
- Chocolate Poire.
- Cappuccino (1.05)
- Perugina assorted chocolates (2.69):
- bacetto
- milk and dark assortment
- Chilli pici (2.9) with wild boar ragout (3).
- Rocket salad (.99) with porcini mushroom (2.5) & Pecorino.
- Degustation of lots of Pecorinos!
- Orange (.69) and dark chocolate.
Greve -> Pienza -> Montepulciano -> Pienza -> Montalcino -> Siena -> Radda in Chanti -> Greve
Highlight
- Visiting a Pecorino direct sale factory and trying ewe's and sheep's milk pecorino.
- Slokky is really scared of driving in Tuscany. He always move really far into the ditch or take ages and give way for turns. Maybe it's because he keeps stalling the car. All that caution comes to nothing though, he still managed to scratch the side mirror because he was moving so far to the right to avoid the other cars.
- Be careful when travelling with GPS in Italy. It keeps taking us on "roads" which are filled with rocks, dirt, and supposed to fit one car. I'll hate to see what happens if a car comes the other way. We didn't see any cars coming from other directions though, I think only we are stupid enough to travel on them.
- Pienza is a really small town but very tourist oriented with LOADS of wine and produce bars, possibly more bars than locals... which weren't opened before 9am though :(. They are renowned for their sheeps milk Pecorino.
- Our next stop was Montepulciano. This is a typical Tuscan town, very hilly with rustic (i.e. run-down) buildings. There are some nice churches and cool bread shops.
- Montalcino is not as charming as Montepulciano, but there are lots more tourists there, possibly because this place is closer to Siena, where a lot of tourist groups base themselves.
- Tonight is the castle dinner, which is held once a week and is a big event, not only for guests of the castle, but from people who come from all over Tuscany, as we met throughout the dinner. It starts with a tour of the wine making area and the cellar, where we received detailed explanation of the grape variety and the different alcohol produced there. We got to peek at all the equipment and breath in the divine smell of maturing reds. This was followed by pre-dinner drinks and dinner in the castle's grand dining room, with each course of typical Tuscan cuisine matched with the castle's wines. The food was "typical" Tuscan, it was good without being excellent, the standout being the pasta. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, there were lots of tourists from Australia, although none from Sydney. The American couple who sat with us lived in Mosman for 2 years though when Merryl Lynch sent them to work in Sydney. They were very charming, and it's nice to hear what Americans think of the rest of the world (i.e. they don't!). Their Italian friends joined them later and we were told pretty amazing stories of their lives. It makes me realise there is still so much to see and so much to explore. I should really work in a company where they will pay me to travel. The only downside was getting soaked on the way back to the castle from the tour as it started to pour in the middle.
- Finally, and very importantly, we were able to wash clothes in Siena. It's quite funny really, as we can't park inside the city. We had to lug our laundry for about 1 km to the laundromat, then lug it all back.
Food
- Bread with strawberry jam and pecorino pascoli del Chianti.
- Taste test olive oil, bread, cheese.
- Panini with wild boar salami and pecorino pascoli.
- Raisin studded flat bread (.45).
- Olive studded bread (.35).
- Cappuccino (1.5)
- Dinner at Castello Vig:
- assorted appetisers:
- tomato
- mushrooms and cream
- tuna
- orange unidentifiable substance
- cold cuts of salami and prosciutto, pate and bread
- spinach risotto
- tagielli with wild boar ragu
- Tuscan style beef coated in pine nuts
- beans and roasted potatoes
- ricotta cheesecake with caramel sauce
- biscotti and vin santo
- espresso
Greve -> Florence -> San Gimignano -> Greve
Highlight
- FINALLY saw David at Galleria d'Accademia after waiting 1.5 hrs. At least he was worth the wait.
- Having lunch at a little osteria recommended by the article from Sunday Life. All the recommendations have been gems so far. The osteria is situated at a side street, called Zio Gigi.
- Gelato at Del Nero again.
- The reward of the great view over Florence from Piazza del Michaelangelo, after climbing at least 200 steps. The third "David" is also situated there.
- We crossed the famous bridge, Pont Vecchio today. The two sides of the bridge are filled with jewellery shops and yet another padlock gallery. It was all very touristy.
- Stuck in yet another traffic jam, lucky this one only lasted 15 mins.
- Slokky really can't follow instructions. We were meant to do our washing today, but Slokky left the detergent at the castle even though I specifically told him to leave it in the car so we could do laundry. We found the perfect place too, but once again, he stuffed everything up.
- San Gimignano, another perfect Tuscan town, full of tourists but for good reasons. Great views, beautiful buildings, great stores, plus...
- Today is gelato day, I got so filled on gelato I didn't eat dinner, but that's because I found the best gelato in Italy, and it's not just me, it's won the awards to prove it!!It's called Gelateria di Piazza situated at the Piazza (duh!) at San Gimignano. This place is so famous they have pictures of famous people (Tony Blair being the most famous one I know) eating from there. The best flavour, creama di Santa Fina.
- We also got some specialty panforte at a local deli.
Food
- Bread (1) with cremella.
- Black sesame porky.
- Pine porky.
- Mandarin and forno al latte (milk) gelato (1.8).
- Liver Florence style (wrapped in bay leaves and pan fried) (5).
- Cenci (flat pasta sheets) with ricotta and tomatoes (6).
- Gelato with crema di Santa Fina (saffron cream), and champelmo (champagne and grapefruit) and coffee with rum (2).
- Gelato with dolcemaro (bitter-sweet), banana and almond (2.)
Greve in Chianti -> Arezzo -> Siena -> Greve in Chianti
Highlight
- We started off very early in the morning for the long drive to Arezzo. It's at the "edge" of the Tuscany region, and is very Tuscan like and interesting. The churches there are really grand. Their biggest claim to fame though, the film, Life is Beautiful (which is one of the best films of all time) was filmed there. There are movie trails you can follow to where scenes from the film were filmed.
- One cool shop though was the chocolate shop we stopped off at, with the cheapest prices so far for Lindt "pick-your-own" pieces. I chose all the flavours we can't get easily in Oz, including some divine tea-flavoured ones. The early grey was excellent!
- Siena is a huge town, literally in the heart of Tuscany. There were loads of tourists, but being such a huge town, there are lots of side streets you can escape to.
- Siena is very very hilly, but with great view of the Tuscan countryside.
- We found a cool shop that sold relatively cheap Pici. It was really popular too, our first choice of flavour was already sold out.
- We spent ages looking for free toilet again, and finally found one at the local uni.
- Another perfect weather day.
- Unfortunately, Slokky showed no interest in anything in Siena and just wanted to rush to the car. He was so paranoid that the Coop will close before we got there and that we won't be able to stock up on supplies, he made me rush through all the sites in Siena.
- Well, we made it to Coop, and we also made it to this Meat and Cheese specialist shop in the Greve town centre. There were all sorts of salami, hams, cheese you can imagine, and best of all, you can taste test!
Food
- Bread (1) with cremella.
- Black sesame Porky.
- Dried squid.
- Hazelnut yoghurt (.92).
- Taste test cold cuts and cheese.
- Pecorino Pascoli del Chianti (4.83).
- Wild boar salami.
- Percorino Crotonese semistragionato.
- Mozzarella (.82).
- Pici pasta with tomatoes and ham.
- Zucchini and flower.
