Day 51 13/5/06 - Germany

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).

Day 50 12/5/06 - Germany

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).

Day 49 11/5/06 - England, Germany

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

Day 48 10/5/06 - England

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.

Day 47 9/5/06 - England

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

Day 46 8/5/06 - England

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

Day 45 7/5/06 - England

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.

Day 44 6/5/06 - England

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)

Day 43 5/5/06 - Italy, England

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

Day 42 4/5/06 - Italy

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.

Day 41 3/5/06 - Italy

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).

Day 40 2/5/06 - Italy

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).

Day 39 1/5/06 - Italy

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.

Day 38 30/4/06 - Italy

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).

Day 37 29/4/06 - Italy

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)

Day 36 28/4/06 - Italy

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

Day 35 27/4/06 - Italy

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.

Day 34 26/4/06 - Italy

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

Day 33 25/4/06 - Italy

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.)

Day 32 24/4/06 - Italy

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.

Day 31 23/4/06 - Italy

23/4/06

Greve in Chianti -> Pisa -> Lucca -> Greve in Chianti

Highlight

• Our record continues, we got stuck in another accident on the autostrada for >0.5 hr. I think it's not us, it's just that there are so many accidents that you have a very high percentage of being stuck in one if you travel like we do.
• The alarm didn't work (again) and we ended up being late (again) by 2 hrs.
• We finally made it to Pisa. It's actually a really really beautiful city. Yes, there were lots of tourists, but they have a good system as well as the lines are only about 10 minutes wait. So when Italians decide to get organised, everything works! Plus, they took credit cards!!!
• While we waited for our climb up the tower, we walked around the town. I am actually surprised that people don't wonder out of the main square. There is a river with grand old palaces on either side which is a pleasant stroll.
• We took our turn climbing up the steps. The view from the top was sensational, the experience was really worth it. Because of their tight schedule though, you don't really get that long to linger and appreciate it all.
• We spent ages looking for a supermarket or even food shop or deli for lunch between Pisa and Lucca but we couldn't find anything at all, EVERYTHING was shut down for the holidays or on their extended lunch break, even the restaurants!!
• Lucca was also charming. It's a little town with a rampart all around. The nicest part was walking around the rampart, seeing the mountains in the background. This is definitely a family hangout though, with everyone riding their bikes, carnival rides, lots of eating...
• Spent ages looking for a FREE toilet anyway, and finally found one at the Palazzo Ducale
• We still can't get any money out of the ATM.
• We stayed in and had our first cooked meal at the castle.

Food

• Mixed ham and salami.
• Bread.
• Fried donut, a Lucca specialty and a Slokky favourite. It tastes pretty much the same all over the world (1).
• Gelato with pineapple, pear and banana (1.8).
• Pici pasta with tomatoes and percorino Crotonese semistragionato (11.7).
• Coffee.
• Lotte Ghana chocolate.
• Wine and fig chocolate.
• Biocake from Ramada Hotel.

Day 30 22/4/06 - Italy

Florence -> Castalina in Chianti -> Greve in Chianti

Highlight

• Finally made it to Florence, in the dead of the morning. Again, we had the whole place to ourselves. We walked to all the famous site, and watched the town slowly come to life around us.
• My feelings about Florence? I was disappointed. Everyone always rave on about how great Florence was, but apart from the food places that were recommended by Sunday Life, it didn't have anything going for it. The buildings were ugly,m things were expensive, and there were tourists everywhere. The only thing that I found pretty was the Duomo, which actually looked a lot better than the pictures.
• We only saw the 1st part of Tuscany but we were already stuck in a traffic jam, meaning it took us > 2 hrs to reach the castle. All the other couples were even later than us though, being stuck in the same jam but without the benefits of the GPS. But my general impression? Really really pretty, just like they said, but very touristy. Hopefully other parts further away from Siena would be better.
• Our castle though, was absolutely wonderful. Set in its own hectares of vine, with sweeping views of other growing area. The day we arrived a wedding was taking place in the gardens and the "balcony". Our room was on the 2nd floor, which we made our way up through very narrow staircase, but what a surprise when we found an absolutely spacious space, decorated in a tasteful country style, with a separate kitchen and bathroom. We felt very exclusive as there were only 10 rooms in the whole castle.
• I was so disappointed. Our first meal in one of the gastronomic capitals of Italy, and our dinner at Restaurant La Locanda was really really crap. We had to wait for longer than 1 hour for our meal. We had to ask repeatedly for bread, and when they finally arrived, not only were the food of bad quality, we had also lost our appetite and our hunger. To make matters worst it was expensive and the service was non-existent. As I write this now I can say that at least this was to be the worst restaurant we were to experience for the WHOLE TRIP, and our Tuscan experience do get redeemed later.

Food

• Mixed cold cuts of prosciutto and salami (7).
• Cappuccino (.85).
• Espresso (.75).
• Biocake from Ramada.
• Panini with bologni and eggplant (2.1).
• Gelato with mango and crema giotto (almonds, coconut, hazelnut) (1.8).
• Porchini mushroom soup (7).
• Tagielle with wild boar sauce (7).
• Pizza bread.

Day 29 21/4/06 - Italy

Sant' Agnello -> Sorrento -> Almalfi -> Ravello -> Almalfi -> Positano -> Sant' Agnello -> Mystery Town -> Sant' Agnello -> Surlerno -> Florence

Highlight

• The Almalfi Coast is the latest on the hit-list of the (old) American tourist. We lined up early in the morning for the one SITA bus (there's only one bus per hour, even though there was enough demand for 10) that winds its way down the Almalfi from Sorrento. Of course, there was absolutely no concept of lines, so when the bus finally came, 15 minutes late, everyone was pushing and shoving each other to get on. We managed to squeeze onto the 2nd bus, although we had to stand as the bus winded its way through narrow cliff-side roads that should no way be two way. The way that the bus driver let others know he was coming around the corner? By honking before, during, and after every turn. The coast line was amazing, but I think everyone was more holding on for dear life to enjoy it that much.
• We were very relieved to reach Almalfi, our first town to explore. In general, each Almalfi town was very touristy, with one main street filled with all manners of Almalfi products, in particular huge lemons, limoncello and ceramics. Amazingly, as soon as you step into a side street, it's like you're in a whole other world.
• Ravello was great, with excellent view of Almalfi and other towns.
• Villa Cimbrone (5) was absolutely beautiful. Lush gardens surrounding an old-style villa, and the famous Belvedere dell 'Infinita - a balcony to die for, or you could die on. Basically it's built on the edge of the cliff, so if you look down, you see air. Slokky was really scared and won't walk to the edge of the balcony.
• We walked from Ravello to Almalfi instead of trying to fight it with the hoards to catch the bus. It was an hour of walking down stairs, quite scary as we didn't know where we would come out. Surprisingly, this "stairway" is the only way some people can reach their houses, imagine doing that trek every day. Maybe that's why people can eat so much and not get fat. The walk had absolutely stunning view, and we got glimpses into the backyard of the homes, and saw how people lived in that area. One part of the stairway had actually crumbled away, but we weren't going to turn back, so we climbed over all the rubble and hoped that nothing was going to fall.
• Our last town was Positano, maybe because we were rushed for time and it was raining, we didn't find it that much different to the other towns. This town had a so-called beach, but it was nothing to write home about.
• Slokky got off the SITA bus early because he thought he heard we were at Sant' Agnello. We ended up being stranded in some unknown town with no other buses for about 3 hrs and a train connection to Florence waiting for us, that we'd already fully paid for.
• Good old Slokky then decided just in case the trains were wait, we had to wait at Surlerno for our connecting train to Florence. We had to Stand, as all the seats were already taken and the waiting room was taken up by all the homeless people and drunks, in the freezing cold, in the middle of the night.
• Missing out on visiting Naples completely because of the above bungle.
• Catching a sleeper. It's pretty much like the Countrylink. We didn't really get to know the environment though as we were only on the sleeper for 5 hours. The only piece of Italianess? They tell you the seat on the ticket, but they don't tell you whereabouts on the platform that car is likely to appear. So you have to wait for the train to get to the station and then do a mad dash to your carriage before the train took off. Of course this train was late too, so we needn't have worried so much.

Food

• Casa Suzy breakfast:
  • cappuccino
  • bread
  • jam
• Lollies.
• Chilli olives (1.62).
• Bread.
• Apricot tart.
• Margarita pizza (3).
• Gelato with banana and tiramisu (1.5)

Day 28 20/4/06 - Italy

Sant' Agnello -> Pompeii -> Sorrento -> Sant' Agnello

Highlight

• Pompeii is an amazing place. We spent 6 hours there wondering around the ruins and still didn't finish seeing everything. Just beware that lots of places that they said were supposed to be opened were actually closed. It wasn't as touristy or crowded as I'd imagined, when you wondered away from the main road, you can almost have the place to yourself.
• Meeting the guy from the train yesterday again at the station this morning. We had a good conversation. He is very friendly and is very opinionated. It turns out that he is working as a receptionist at a hotel to improve his English so he can be a teacher. He gave us tips on all these places to go in Naples.
• I did't stick to my plans again, and we didn't make it to Naples afterall, instead, we wondered around the coastal town of Sorrento for a few hours, wondering along the harbour and the tourist shops, selling everything to do with lemons. Slokky actually tried some limoncello even after I warned him it was alcoholic. We bought some limoncello in cute little bottles for 5 euro and found out later that we got ripped off. The town itself is beautiful, like all the times around the Amalfi Coast, but I found it a bit too touristy. Also, they seem to have an Emporio Armani in almost every town, even Sant' Agnello, a very small town, has a designer shop, but I haven't seen that many well dressed Italians yet.
• Slokky didn't make me mad today... he didn't get lost (much) and we didn't have to go to the Vatican.
• Having dinner at the cheapest place yet, a little tavern called Taverna Rosso, not far from our B&B. We decided to finally try pizza in Italy since we didn't manage to make it to Naples, the place famous for pizza. Plus, it would be good to compare pizzas from different regions of Italy to see if they are the same. The place was excellent, with authentic pizzas... I don't know if I can have another pizza elsewhere in Italy though unless they were as cheap and as good!

Food

• Breakfast from Casa Suzy, our B&B, consisting of very fresh bread, the typical Italian spreads:
  • strawberry jam
  • peach jam
  • apricot jam
  • cherry jam
  • orange jam
  • hazelnut spread
  • milky butter
  , packaged cheese, chocolate donut, hazelnut biscuits and cappaccino.
• Rice cracker chocolate cookie.
• Black sesame rice cracker.
• Chocolate cake we stole from Welcome Residences buffet.
• Roasted eggplant and zucchini (4 euro)
• Margaherita pizza (3).
• Real foccacia with rocket and tomatoes (4.5).
• Loads of bread (actually free for once).

Day 27 19/4/06 - Italy

Rome -> Naples -> Sant' Agnello

Highlight

• Didn't have to go to The Vatican!
• We spent our last day finishing off all the things we didn't get to finish. First stop was Gallery Borghese - a very pretty gallery with an exclusive booking system. Only 360 people are allowed in at one time, for a two hour slot. We didn't know what any of the art was about, but it made me realise that with fewer people, you can really appreciate the art works. It also made me realise that Italians CAN be organised if they so chooses. It made me actually feel good that I'd made a booking and it was WORTH IT!
• We walked around the Villa Borghese after the gallery. It's a pretty park, and on this sunny day, made for a very relaxing stroll.
• Riding on a mini bus with the traffic down the Via de Corso. We were actually going slower than people walking most of the time. Just part of Italian life right?
• We spent two hours at the Crypta Balbi, it was an interesting museum with very cool ruins, but we still couldn't figure out what a crypta is!
• Browsing the Lindt store at Termini station. There were so many different types not available in Oz. I really wonder what's the point of the Martin Place store when you can't get even some of the common varieties available at the supermarkets in Europe! However, they were very expensive at 2.2 Euros a block so I refrained. Pity the Easter eggs were still not on special.
• We caught the local train to Naples. It was really crowded, sped along, and left "almost" on time.
• From Naples, we went down a long corridor with our heavy luggage to catch the connection to Sant 'Agnello. Despite the lateness, the train was still crowded. A guy stopped to talk to us because he was curious as we were Asians but speaking in English. More on him later.
• Finally found our B&B, it's in a residential building, run by a brother and sister team. We shared the downstairs apartment with 2 girls. We had our own bathroom but the shared kitchen was not functional yet.

Food

• Welcome Residences Breakfast.

Day 26 18/4/06 - Italy

Rome

Highlight

• We didn't go to the Vatican!
• Some stupid ethnic kid tried to steal stuff from my bag near Termini station. Luckily I noticed before he could do anything. I hit him with a magazin and he spat at me. I should've seriously hurt him. I'm fuming just thinking of how easily he got away with it. I hope he rots in hell.
• Slokky getting lost constantly.
• Another day of rain.
• We visited the Campo de' Fiori "morning" markets, except when we got there in the '"morning", half the stalls haven't even been set up.
• My favourite day in Rome so far as I got to visit the less touristy areas.
• We went out to Via Appia Antica, the "Queen of Road", the ancient road out of the city. It was amazing, one long narrow road, with trees and green fields on both sides, if it wasn't for the constant whirl of cars going past, you can almost imagine you were back in Ancient Rome.
• Nearly getting killed by cars while walking along the road - there are no footpaths, like most of the rest of Rome, so you are forced to walk at the edge of the road, with roads speeding around the corners.
• Catacomb di San Callisto is the largest of the Catacombs opened to the public. You follow small tour groups, down tunnels, where you see row upon row of graves (thankfully already exhumed). It was eerie as there were lots and lots of very small grave, made for the children. The remains of St Cecilia are buried here, completing the journey from St Cecilia church (where the tomb is) to here, where the remains are. We also managed to bump into an Italian teacher from Beverly Hills Girls High on our tour. Talk about coincidence.
• Catacomb di San Sebastiano was great. Our guide was very informative. This tomb was smaller, but its claim to fame is that St Peter was originally buried here, before he was later taken to The Vatican. We found out a lot of history about Rome that tied together all the sites we saw in the last few days. The Christians built the Catacombs when the Pagans ruled, and they had to bury the dead underground, outside of Rome city. Later, when Christians reined, they came back to the Catacombs to pay their respects to the dead, turning the Catacombs into a place of pilgrimage. The church later purposely built on top of the Catacombs.
• Sepolcro di Cecilia Metella was the grave of some pagan noble woman with my name. It was just some strange architectural ruins.
• Last stop on the Appia way was the HUGE Terme di Caraccalla complex, ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse. There were absolutely no explanation of any of the ruins however, so we had no idea what we were seeing. It was amazing just to see the vastness of it. There are still lots of execuvation works being carried out.
• I finally decided I wanted to get the statue of St Cecilia as my souvenir, so we went back to my church to get it.
• Catching every mode of public transport available in Rome. We finally figured out (on the last day so way too late) that you don't need to buy a tix for anything as they never check.
• We had dinner in quirky Trastevere, but Slokky got ripped off when we paid the bill. They advertised the meal for 13 Euros pp then they charged 15 Euro, but he just paid up. Note to self - never let Slokky pay the bill by himself to save time.

Food

• Welcome Residences buffet breakfast.
• Set Menu dinner:
  • Water (0.5 L)
  • wine (0.25L)
  • bread
  • spaghetti all'amatriciana
  • gnoccehetti with roasted veal sauce
  • roast lamb
  • slow roasted pig
  • pannacotta with honey syrup
  • creme caramel with honey syrup

Day 25 17/4/06 - Italy

Rome -> Vatican -> Rome

Highlight

• Slokky tried to get his mobile back, but couldn't contact the guy in time.
• We wasted a long time logging a police report. The Italians are so slow and inefficient!
• It rained for the first time since we landed in Rome.
• Another day of having no money. Slokky got ripped off at the exchange place.
• ALL shops were closed today except for some food places. Even the shops at the very very touristy area around the Spanish Steps. Italians sure enjoy their holidays more than they like to make money.
• Visiting the Vatican for the 4th time. As expected, the dome and the treasury both cost money and accepted only cash so we couldn't go. We went to the tombs area, where heaps of people were fussing over the tombs of John Paul II and Peter.
• Spanish Steps - were really not that pretty, I dunno what the fuzz is all about.
• We visited Trastevere - it's a great neighborhood with a slight alternate vibe. There were heaps of cool side Sts filled with restaurants.
• Park area:
  • Fonte Acqua Paola
  • Porta San Pancrozio
  • Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaudi - great view over Rome
• Highlight of the day? Visiting St Cecilia church and the Piazza di St Cecilia. Very pretty with a nice garden outside.
• Piazza del Popolo - very symmetrical. You can get a great view of Rome from the top.
• Santa Giovanni e Paolo - another old church.
• Palazzo Massimo - like the Santa Maria degli Angeli. They also close earlier than their stated time though, and we were almost pushed out the door.
• Walking all the way in the rain to get only ok gelatos.

Food

• Welcome Residences buffet breakfast.
• Gelato from It Gelato di San Crispino - valrhona chocolate and honey (2.5).
• Gelato from Fiocco di Neve - rice and chocolate & zabaliogne (2.3).
• Orange juice.
• Dried squid.
• Rice crackers.

Day 24 16/4/06 - Italy

Rome -> Vatican -> Rome

Highlight

• Running around all of Rome trying to find a FX place that doesn't rip you off, as well as a police station to file our missing mobile report. Italians NEVER stick to their opening and closing times. Several places said they were opened today but weren't. I really should've known better than to believe them.
• Getting crush at Easter Sunday mass at the Vatican, including some lady who used my butt cheek as a lever. As usual, the ticket we got meant nothing, the Vatican square was opened for all, and it was fight to the death to even get a spot. There was also no use getting there early, as people who came later climb on top of you and then sit on top of you to fit in anyway.
• Getting in line to see St Peter's dome, but they have no control or information system. We lined up for 1.5 hrs only to find out that the dome was closed for Easter Sunday.
• Have I mentioned that The Vatican is ruining my holidays with their inefficiencies and lack of communications. They think they are the best and can stuff everyone else around.
• We asked the guard before we lined up at Castel Sant’Angelo whether we can pay by credit card. He told us yes of course, so we lined up. When we got to the ticket booth we found that it was cash only (yet again).
• Santa Maria sopra Minerva - great church and museum, which was luckily not on the tourist trap.
• Walking through Rome on a Sunday morning is pretty cool. All the Italians have gone to church, and the tourists are still sleeping after having a big Saturday night, you have the city almost all to yourself. We visited the (this time deserted) Pantheon again.
• Slokky not checking the bill before paying AGAIN, so we got charged more for the spaghetti carbonara.
• Slokky ordering my dinner FOR me, how rude!

Food

• Welcome Residences buffet breakfast.
• Pineapple juice.
• Lollies.
• Dinner at...:
  • egg soup (4)
  • spaghetti carbonara (6.5)
  • roast lamb (18)
  • saltimbocca (18)
  • bread

Day 22 14/4/06 - Italy

Rome -> Vatican -> Rome

Highlight

• We woke up early to try to beat the crowd to the Vatican museum, but because we had to wait for brekkie at the hotel, we didn't get there as early as we hoped. When we got there the line was massive. There were people toting that they could get us in without waiting in line, so we thought it might be worth it to save some time. It cost us 42 Euros EACH and we could only pay in cash. Little did we know that once we paid the money, we were also waiting, just not in the Vatican line, we were waiting in the people who ripped us off's office for about 30 minutes, then we did skip the line. We then waited another 15 minutes for our personal guide, 5 minutes to check our audio guides were working, so we didn't save any time at all!
• Slokky being sick again, this time with a stomach ache. He kept having to visit the toilets every couple of minutes, not a very pleasant experience.
• The amount of people at the Vatican and the inefficiencies and lack of crowd control. The Sistine Chapel was amazing, but the experience was ruined by the noisy crowd, and the loudspeaker announcements constantly telling people to be quiet.
• After almost a whole day of wondering, we still haven't seen the whole museum. We visited the famous sites briefly, the highlights for me were the Maps Gallery and the Tapestries.
• We made our way to St Peter's for Good Friday Mass. After we made that special trip yesterday to get the tix, we thought we would be allocated a seat. Little did we know, the tix meant nothing at all. You have to line up like the rest of the world to get into the mass. We found out later that we could've skipped the line if we waved our tix, but when we asked the Vatican guards, they weren't any help at all. We ended up seating at the very back, I wasn't able to see a thing, especially when everyone started standing up. There were people everywhere, and about 10 minutes into the mass, Slokky had another stomach ache so we had to leave the mass anyway.
• After such a disappointing day, we did manage to discover a bit of magic. We wandered back to the hotel instead of catching public transport, visiting many lively piazzas and several famous fountains at night.
• We visited the foodie shops, were beautiful displays of all sort of antipasto products available. We didn't end up buying anything though 'cos there were so many people there.
• After complaining that our bathroom leaked and being assured that it would be fixed, we went back to discover, of course, that this was not the case. So we had to put down a whole bunch of towels on the floor so that the water didn't leak all over the floor.
• Finally got to the Internet after a looong stay away. We discovered that Mac Bank stuffed up my scheduled transfer and one of the bills didn't get paid.

Food

• Welcome Residences breakfast:
  • croissants
  • danish
  • chocolate croissants
  • brioche
  • apricot pie
  • chocolate tart
  • sliced white bread
  • jams, butter
  • donuts
  • coffee, tea, hot chocolate
  • cereals
  • yoghurts
• Almond Porky.
• Lollies.
• Chocolate, pistachio and coffee gelato with cream (1.8)
• Stuffed/crumbed vegetables (3.5)
• Biscuit with cheese.

Day 23 15/4/06 - Italy

Rome

Highlight

• We tried to beat the crowd by making our way very early to the Campidoglio - huge white structure, great view of Rome.
• First stop was the Colosseo - it was more grand and majestic than I imagined. We walked around with the audio guide to all sections - except there was more to the guide which we weren't told about, so we missed out on a huge chunk of the guide.
• Next stop was the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. It was really crowded, but the great weather and the sheer size of it made it special and you can really appreciate how advanced Roman society was.
• Went to the Pantheon for the 2nd time. The outside definitely look better than the inside.
• Walking along the Tiber river, observing the various bridges and palaces like the Farnesina and Spada.
• Slokky didn't set the alarm properly, causing us to be late for our start. He claimed that he set the alarm but the alarm went off.
• Slokky got lost (again).
• Slokky lost his mobile phone through his own stupidity - he put it in his OPEN pants pocket and it slipped out. The person who picked it up tried to return it to us, but had no way of contacting us.
• Spending all our cash on the Vatican Museum, then not being able to get more because of all the public holidays, meant we had to forego all attractions that accepted cash only (which was nearly everything) and only eat at establishments that took credit.
• We paid a visit to Uno e Bino, a Bib Gourmande, and it was absolutely fantastic. More expensive than what we've experienced so far, but the quality and the innovation far exceeded anything else (except for that really expensive meal at Le Calandre of course).

Food

• Welcome Residences buffet breakfast.
• Dinner at Uno e Bino:
  • Parmesan soup (12)
  • Ravioli with ricotta and percorino (13)
  • basket of bread(2)
  • ricotta and pecorino boccolini dumpling
  • bullito (boiled meat) (15)
  • oxtail crepette (14)

Day 21 13/4/06 - Italy

Verona -> L'azise -> Verona -> Rome

Highlight

• We woke to very early to make a trip to Lake Garda. We stopped off at our 1st "little" castle town, L'azise, overlooking Lake Garda. We watched the sun rise over the lake, some fishermen going out for their work, the town slowly waking up and the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the morning air. Magical. This place is very tourism oriented too, a summer resort town. I'm glad we went at the off season, to have the lake all to ourselves.
• After our morning excursion, we enjoyed another huge breakfast at our hotel, then started on our long drive towards Rome. The scenery started changing as we drove along, the mountains turned into the rolling hills of Tuscany. We had a looong time to enjoy the view, as we were stuck in a traffic jam for more than 1.5 hrs. So much for getting to Rome on time. Good thing I budgeted lots of time for the process. It did mean that I missed out on going to a McArthur Glen outlet though!!
• We thought the driving was ok so far, until we got closer to Rome, the drivers got crazier and crazier, from going on a split road with no markings, to a 2 lane road somehow turning into 4 lanes. Traffic rules obviously mean nothing to the Romans. Cars were parked anywhere and everywhere, at places you didn't even think was possible. As long as there's enough space to fit a car (or sometimes not even that), there's a car there.
• Slokky can't drive and kept getting lost. He tries to be "considerate" and is scared all the time
• The weather has been the warmest we've experienced so far, it made everything more pleasant and somehow more beautiful... maybe except for the rubbish and graffiti that I am now coming to accept as a part of life.
• We had to head to the Vatican to pick up tix for the masses on the next few days. Slokky got to walk up the steps to the bronzed door, and all the tourists thought he was some star or something and started snapping pics of him. All the Vatican guards saluted him as well!!
• Well, St Peter's Basilica was amazing, but I am so surprised at their lack of security... (more on this later)

Food

• Verona hotel breakfast (see yesterday's entry for details.
• Blood orange juice.
• Marinated vegetables (9.24).
• Our first "tourist menu" dinner at Antico Trattoria Pizzeria (10):
  • penne all'arrabiata
  • lasagne
  • veal Roman style
  • tripe Roman style
  • various vegetables
  • baked potatoes

Day 20 12/4/06 - Italy

Verona -> Padova -> Vicenza -> Verona

Highlight

• Slokky can't drive and keep braking at the wrong time.
• Slokky is completely useless.
• Slokky takes wrong turn again and doesn't understand what "After 800m" means.
• We were 1 hr late to the Padova museum and Scrovengni Chapel.
• Slokky took one hour to park the car.
• I had no time to wonder around Padova and browse the famous Palazzo della Ragiore.
• We didn't get our money's worth on the Padova card (15).
• Seeing our 2nd markets and the horse with the giant balls.
• Vicenza is a lot like Padova. The highlight was the Teatro Olimpico. However, we didn't have time to go in.
• Verona was the prettiest and the most touristy of the 3, a great town to walk around in. It was weird to finally walk on roads with cars - watch out for them!
• Everything in Verona was high class, designer label and tres expensivo!.
• Among the best of the sights are:
  • Duomo - very grand, a bit like Basilica de St Marco, only less touristy and less gold.
  • Bridges straddling the river and the sun setting over the waters in late evening.
  • Arena di Verona - a mini Colosseo.
• Overrated:
  • Juliet's house - really small with graffiti everywhere. We almost missed the entrance, and to continue the theme of the day, we didn't have time to go inside, so I can't comment on what it was like.

Food

• Ramada Fiera Hotel buffet breakfast:
  • cold meats
  • bread selection
  • jam selection
  • pastries and cakes
  • muesli selection
  • stewed fruit
  • yoghurt
  • juice selection
  • scrambled eggs
  • bacon
  • potatoes
  • boiled egg
  • toast and bread
• Antipasto (capsicum, eggplants) (9.24).
• Cold cuts.

Day 19 11/4/06 - Italy

Venice -> Verona -> Sarmeola di Rubano -> Verona

Highlight

• Our hotel was even slacker on the 2nd day, there was no lemon tea as well as no cappuccino. They will be getting bad rap from me on Bookings.
• First stop, St Marks Basilica. We lined up with the rest of the tourists horde for 1/2 hour, but the wait was definitely worth it for the grandeur. The word that comes to mind? Gold. We went up to the top to have a look (3 euro), which is definitely worth it.
• Palazzo ducale is my favourite tourist spot so far. It's very impressive, with very grand ceilings and is absolutely HUGE!
• Our first morning markets in Venice. It was everything I expected an Italian market to be, but where were the shoppers?
• We visited a little known attraction, and all the better for it. Carlo Goldoni was a playwright I think, and his house has been filled with his memorabilia. We had the whole museum to ourselves for awhile, to admire the miniature models and the grand chandeliers on display.
• Ca'Pesaro - a grand palace with modern art, which makes a nice change to all the other stuff we've been looking at. A good stop for something different.
• Received another bit of Italian hospitality today. We had a booking to pick up our hired car from Avis Venice at 4pm. When we got there at 3.55pm, there was no one there, and a sign stuck on the door said "I'll be back soon". What could we do but wait? We thought maybe they needed to go to the toilet, but when they didn't show up until 4.20pm, I knew they probably just went for a coffee and a smoko! Imagine my anger though, when I found out that not only 1, but 2 of them were manning the office, and BOTH of them went off on their break at the same time.
• If that wasn't enough, when we FINALLY got our car, it was really, really, really dirty. I'm talking hair, food remnants, dirt, and who knows what else. I took a photo to prove it too if you don't believe me. Of course I complained, so what do they do? The Avis guy comes out with a hand-held vacuum cleaner, and starts vacuuming the front seat. When he asked if that was ok... well no, the windows were dirty, the front panel had marks all over, and the back was still gross, but by this time it was already nearing 5pm and I really wanted to get going, we were already very behind schedule, so I excepted the condition of this car, and we headed off on our first driving drip, to Verona.
• Here's a fact, even with GPS, Slokky kept getting lost constantly. All he does is keep looking at the GPS. He would be going, where's so and so... if only he'll look up from his PDA screen he'll realise that you can see the damn building in front of him. Conclusion - there's no use having GPS if it's used by an idiot.
• Slokky stalling the car all the time.
• Slokky running more than 2 red lights.
• The drive to Verona was magical, our first drive through the country. The Italians are funny. There are houses built on hills, but all the flat land is left empty. We could see the mighty Dolmites in the background along the whole drive.
• Everybody speeding on the autostrada, as well as some crazy cutting in, lanes changes. It certainly makes traveling on the dead straight autostrada (they just tunnel through mountains, build bridges on top of rivers, and cut through cities to make the roads straight) a lot more interesting.
• Slokky making really stupid plans for dinner, making us drive 1 hr to Verona to drop off our luggage, then 1 hr back to Sarmeola di Rubano to have dinner, and another hour back to Verona, costing 2.6 Euro and 2.9 Euro each way, not to mention the petrol and time wasted when we could be sightseeing. We ended up getting back to our hotel at 1.30am.
• Was our 3 Michelin star restaurant, Le Calandre worth it? I was quite impressed, it's situated in a small hotel, with only about 6 tables, so you have very personalised service. The waiters all had good English, I guess they're used to International guests showing up. I was disappointed because they were a bit snobbish because we weren't dressed impeccably for the occasion, but they mucked up the food orders a few times, a def no-no for this kind of restaurant. The food is adventurous, but not really that tasty. I mean it was good, but it wasn't the blow you away kinda good, kinda in the style of Tetsuyas. I think for the money I would probably eat at Tets instead.

Food

• Chocolate donut.
• Cappuccino .
• Rice crackers.
• Coconut Porky.
• Sugared beans.
• Dried squid.
• Strawberry gelato (0.8).
• Hazelnut gelato (0.8).
• Le Calandre Grandi Classici dinner (150):
  • assortment of bread
  • cheese with bacon
  • pastry circles with tomatoes and cheese
  • menu items...
  • espresso + chocolate (4.5)

Day 18 10/4/06 - Italy

Venice -> Murano -> Burano -> Torcello -> Burano -> Venice

Highlight

• We started off at the Campanile. It does have a great view of Venice, but unfortunately it was a foggy day.
• Today was our island hopping trip. First stop Murano, which is famous for its glass. All shops are filled with all things glass. We watched a glass blowing demo at a glass factory (looks exactly the same as the one in Japan!) and looked at lots of glass objects, the highlights are the several chandelier at the glass museum.
• Off to colourful Burano, which is famous for lace. So the first stop was the lace museum. It was very fascinating especially 'cos there were 2 grannies there actually doing the lace work.
• Something else Burano is also famous for, which is not as well known, is patisseries! For such a small island there were a lot of patisseries. They are famous for making bussola, a lemon biscuit.
• Our last island stop, but the best, was Torcello, because it is much harder to get there, you need to catch a ferry from Burano, so there were heaps less tourists (only less though, there are still plenty of people there!). Torcello is basically a very small island with a thousand year old church and some ruins...and not much else!
• Our best find so far at Trattoria Antica Mola. The food was great, the atmosphere better, and the meal was only 29.37 euro, including the "free" dessert we got.
• Slokky was too timid to ask for the waiter and the person next to us did it for us instead, how embarrassing!!
• Slokky forgetting to bring his phrasebook to the restaurant, when he carried it around all the other time, resulting to us being adventurous and ordering anything we couldn't figure out on the menu just for the sake of finding out what it was!
• Experiencing the floods they kept talking about first hand. Half the streets were submerged and you couldn't walk around San Marco at all!
• The hotel is very slack. First they skim on the lemon drink, now they don't give us cappuccino and don't change the sheets. Conclusion? Don't stay there! See my hotel review for details.

Food

• Chocolate donut.
• Dried squid.
• Coconut Porky.
• Jelly cake.
• Vegetable focaccia (alle verd) (1.34).
• Salumeria (ham/chicken roll) (1.30)
• Francesino panem (bread roll) (0.25).
• Burano lemon biscuit.
• Cappuccino.
• Pasta e figioli (pasta and bean soup) (5.16).
• Braciola ai Ferri (grilled pork chop) (7.75).
• Mazzancolle ai Ferri (grilled scampi) (12.33).
• Tiramisu (free!)
• Grissini.

Day 17 9/4/06 - Italy

Venice

Highlight

• Slokky getting lost in the winding, twisting "roads", even though we have GPS.
• Trying to find our way around, getting lost, discovering all these hidden corners and abadoned buildings, not to mention Gelato shops.
• Thorns and thorns of tourists and pigeons at St Marks Square, all of the time.
• Seeing loads of art at the Musee Corner and Galleria della Academia.
• Getting to the Rialto Bridge before the crowds and the lovely view.
• Eating gelato, many times, along the Grand Canal.
• Seeing lots of majestic churches.
• Our dinner at Osteria Ruga Rialto was great. We were a bit too early to get any atmosphere in the restaurant, but people were drinking up a storm in the bar.

Food

• Hotel "breakfast":
  • soft doughnut with chocolate cream filling
  • apricot jam tart
  • self-made cappaccino
• Dried squid.
• Red bean triangle (530y).
• Banana and panna cotta gelato (1.9).
• Cookies & bisuits and milk gelato (1.5).
• Melty kiss.
• Dinner:
  • bread basket
  • tasting plae of fish, prawns, mussels (9)
  • sea bream grilled with lemon juice, olives and polenta and potatoes (12)
  • balccala with white sauce (10)

Day 16 8/4/06 - Germany, Italy

Frankfurt -> Venice

Highlight

• The buffet breakfast from Diplomat was excellent. I was so full I didn't even try everything!!
• We went out, along the Main river to the flea market, and saw lots of people jogging and running.
• I was absolutely amazed at the stuff they sell at the flea market. Lots of old stuff, what I would call junk - 80s Nintendos, typewriters...etc, that people here actually throw out at garbage collection day. What's even more strange, people were actually interested in buying these stuff! Needless to say, I didn't pick up anything I want, but it was certainly interesting to observe the people.
• We really got to absorb Frankfurt. The squares with their bars, cheese and deli goods shops
• The Germans must have some obsession with Oz. We found an Oz pub, the Australian Homemade shop, Oz soccer jerseys (selling at a discount of course!)
• Frankfurt is not that big. We visited all the major sites already, so spent the rest of the time before our trip to Italy looking for soccer memorabilia and Ritter Sports bars!
• On our way to the airport, we were stuck on a train with the noisiest sports attending crowd, who were shouting, blowing whistles, it was very very annoying.
• Getting upgraded to business class, although this was the shortest sector we were to fly, for only 1 hr. Still, better than nothing. As far as I can tell though, the only difference is that there is a gap between the 2 seats and the food is better. If only we were upgraded for our last 10 hr flight.
• Flying over snow-covered mountains.
• Venice - it was beautiful, except for the graffiti and the amount of tourist.
• Slokky forgetting to bring our camera to the restaurant.
• Slokky getting lost.
• Our hotel was very disappointing, see review.

Food

• Hotel Diplomat buffet breakfast:
  • lots of different cold cuts
  • bread including wheat bread and German bread
  • Brie and cheddar
  • muesli (with hazelnut and chocolate!)
  • cornflakes
  • natural and strawberry yoghurt
  • fruit salad
  • apple
  • coffee, tea, milk, orange juice
• Bretzel (.45).
• Chocolate palmier (.65).
• Ham and cheese danish (.79).
• Boiled lollies.
• Lufthansa business class meal:
  • seafood salad
  • brie
  • cream cheese and walnut on bread
  • grissini
  • fruit tart
  • apple juice
• Dinner:
  • bread basket
  • spaghetti with anchovies (7)
  • cuttlefish with squid ink and polenta (10)
  • liver and onion and polenta (9)

Day 15 7/4/06 - Japan, Germany

Ueno -> Narita -> Frankfurt

Highlight

• Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Japan. As soon as we were checking in at the airport, apart from everyone trying to speak to us in Japanese, it was a totally different atmosphere. The plane ride really reflected the German culture. Efficient, but unremarkable. Surprisingly though, the meals were quite good.
• What do you call people from Frankfurt? Frankfurters?? Anyway, they don't smile, are extremely tall, and have excellent English. They also speak very fast.
• Unfortunately, everything was more expensive than Japan.
• We caught a train into the city centre. What a shock! The trains are all very dirty and have graffiti all over, but at least they run on time.
• Frankfurt - the buildings are grey and dirty, but occasionally you get glimpses of beauty.
• I dunno if it's because we were in the touristy area, but all the cliches seem to hold true. You really can find pretzels and sausages everywhere, and the Germans themselves lap it all up.
• All the shops open until 8pm, which was a good sign, as it didn't get dark until around then.
• The department stores also have basements with food, but no taste testing or cheap discounts at the end of the day though :(
• With a few exceptions of European labels, the shops are almost the same as Oz.
• The women are especially tall. I saw so many tall women going out with shorter guys. And unlike Japan, there are actually fat people as well as thin.
• There are also lots and lots of punks around too!
• Our hotel is very basic but quite cute. See review.

Food

• Bento box- fried vegetable, chicken and fish on rice from Tokyo station kiosk (380).
• Red bean danish from kiosk (105).
• White bean bun.
• 'Anpan' - another red bean bun.
• Lufthansa snack 1:
  • beer
  • pretzel
  • biscuits
• Lufthansa snack 2:
  • salmon rice triangle
  • egg and tomato sauce sandwich
• Lufthansa lunch 1:
  • beef with mashed potatoes
  • honey chicken
  • prawn salad
  • bread roll
  • cucumber sushi
  • fruit salad
• Lufthansa breakfast 1:
  • salmon on noodles
  • cashew chicken and noodles
  • bread roll
  • chocolate cake
• Instant noodles.
• Pastry triangles.