Home again, home again jiggity jig.

We are home. My feet are on Australian soil once again.

We woke up at 6:40AM in the Freedom Traveller Hostel in Italy. We checked out, lugged our bags downstairs, and made our way to Roma Termini train station. We caught a train to Leonardo Da Vinci/Fiumincino Airport, and spent the last of our euros on a couple of muffins and powerades(because hydration is important).

The trip from Rome to Singapore was 12 hours long, but didn't seem too bad. I watched three movies. The Wrestler (which was pretty awesome, but sad in the end), Valkyrie (which was pretty awesome, but predictably sad in the end), and Bride Wars (which Cara and I watched simultaneously, and was lame at the end). That killed about 5 hours, and I read some magazines, listened to my iPod and ate, which killed the other 7. I also had a Singapore Sling onboard Singapore Airlines (it seemed appropriate).

Last time in Singapore we got Burger King, and Cara raved about the Rendang Burger. So this time through I got it too. It was really great, and stopped me feeling sick. Then it was time to go through security (for the last time this trip) and prepare for our 5 hour trip home to Perth.

The flight was uneventful, except that I slept for about one and a half hours on the plane. And I didn't feel terrible afterwards!

Mum, Dad and Nicola met us at the airport, and we had a coffee and debriefed. It didn't take too long to get through customs, and the new "thermal scanner technology" which is supposed to protect Australia from the swine flu seemed to be an ordinary video camera set to infra red mode.

I will probably post a few more pictures of our journey (along with accompanying stories) in the coming days.

Cheers,

Cameron

P.S. I forgot to thank Julie, Peter, Katie, Lin and Duncan for being great on the holiday too!

Italia

Cara and I just got in from our last day in Rome (and the last day of our holiday before we start the long process of flying home). Man, our feet are tired.

This morning we got up at 8 and headed to the train station to organise our train to the airport tomorrow. We had discussed at length what time we would need to leave, and were thusly slightly disappointed when he told us our ticket would allow us to go on whenever we wanted. We then walked back to the hostel to dump off the ticket.

Then it was time to head across to the Vatican City - a tiny country inside of Rome filled with Nuns and art. We had already seen Saint Peters Basilica, the tombs (including those of the Stewarts from Scotland), and the view from the dome. Now it was time for the Vatican Cathedral, and the world-famous Sistine Chapel. They had it set-up so that we had to walk through a bit of modern religious art to get there, and a lot of that was very interesting (although not super modern in my view; a lot of it was from the 50's).

Then we entered a series of rooms which were painted and designed by Raphael. They were quite incredible, and very inspiring in their own right. One room, loosely translated as the Signature Room I think, contained my favourite piece. It covered an entire wall, depicting the School of Athens. Every major philosopher, mathematician and astronomer of Ancient Greece was pictured. Geniuses all. And cheeky Raphael slipped a little self portrait of himself in there too.

Then we saw the Sistine Chapel. It was really impressive, although it gave me a bit of a crick in my neck. There were curtains painted at ground level, with big frames of bible stories further up. That was followed by painted architecture and Rams Heads which separated images of God, The Heavenly Host and Adam & Eve. On one wall was a giant painting of Jesus and all the saints. Really cool place.

Then we explored some more and found other exhibits including the Carriage Pavillion which included a history of the evolution of the Pope-Mobile.

We left the Vatican after that and considered our options. Our feet and knees were sore, and we had packing to do, so heading back to the hostel seemed like a good idea. However we had not yet seen the River Tiber, Tempio Adriano, the Pantheon, the cool castle, or Piazza Navona. We decided we can rest on the plane and headed off. The river was green and gross, but we had a seat by its bank and watched birds and rowers float by in the afternoon sun. The sun has been a welcome surprise. While the weather earlier on our trip was occasionally inclement, Europe has been fantastically warm and Sunny. It will be strange to return to wintery Australia. The Pantheon was closing, but we managed to get into it to look at the tombs of Vittorio Emmanuel II (the first king of Italy), Umberto (The second king of Italy), and Margherita (the 2nd kings wife, who loved Pizza so much that a pizza is still named after her to this day.) Then we were thrown out, and we explored. We had more gelati near the fountains in Piazza Navona, and then headed home.

Later we headed out for dinner, and now we rest in the common room of our hostel, dreading packing everything upstairs. I think I may have lost my LA Clippers hat.

And now some random highlights:

As part of our bus tour we went to Pisa. It was really interesting, and our tour guide (Riccardo) was fantastic. The Cathedral is immense, and the Baptistry is incredible. It resonates and amplifies sound. I didn't like the leaning tower so much, so I decided to push it over:


But Cara liked it, so she put it back up:


We also went to Venice. It was one of the highlights of the trip. We went on a Gondola ride with Musicians and Lambrusco, and a lovely couple from South Australia called Karen and Alan. It was so great. Here we are on a Gondola:

And here we are on a bridge just before we left:

Also, the world famous Giro D'Italia (just the second most prestigious race in cycling behind the Tour De France) was starting in Venice one day after we left. However they did have the team introductions when we were there. It was supposed to start at 3PM, but didn't start until around 4, and with them introducing 9 riders per team for something like 15 teams it took a big chunk out of our free time. I was starting to feel bad about keeping Cara rom exploring the city when I asked a pom standing next to me if he knew if Lance Armstrong was riding this race. He said that he was a journalist who had just met Lance backstage, and that he was. Then the Astana team came out and Lance said a few words. He was basically excited about getting back on the bike, and tried to raise some more awareness about cancer. He's the leftmost lycra clad one.


We also went to Florence, and it was a pretty cool city. The highlight however was seeing Michaelangelo's David, or as Cara and I were calling him "Naked Dave". We saw a lot of art on this trip; in museums, churches, and galleries. Naked Dave was the most incredible piece of art I have ever seen. It was impressively large, impressively perfect, impressively detailed and carved out of one of the highest quality marble stones ever quarried from the face of Planet Earth. The picture doesn't do him justice, but here he is:


Part of the reason this trip was so good was the company. Cara has been great. Many thanks to Hourann, Kristian and Adriana for putting up with us and putting us up. It was great spending time with new people like our San Franciscan friends who we met in Barcelona - Omar and Zac - and the South Australians we met in Italy - Karen and Alan. And thankyou to everyone (except for the french) for being so understanding when we mangled your language.

So, tonight we pack. Tomorrow we fly. And when we get back I may post a few more pictures and stories, but suffice to say I am tired - and happy - and this has been two of the best months of my life.

Ciao, Arrivederci, Au Revoir, Adios, Hasta Luego, Seeya and Cheers.

Cameron Out.

Bologna

We are in Bologna right now, in the middle of our Bus tour. The internet has been sporadic, so we have struggled to keep in contact.

New stuff:
- The northern part of Italy is beautiful.
- Buffets are great.
- Italian coffee is good.
- We saw the pope.
- So many cathedrals.
- I miss my friends, family, guitar, job, basketbal and Aussie food.
- And apprently there is some drama involving my tenants leaving my house in a bit of a mess.

Talk to you all soon, we are back next week.

Ciao.

Roma

Hi guys,

we are in Rome, and are still having a good time. We have seen the Colliseum, Circus Maximus, the Palatine hill, St Peters Basilica, the tombs of the Popes (and the Scottish Kings), and we have had Gelato. We have been run off of our feet. We are very much looking forward to our bus trip.

Ciao.

P.S. Hey Dad, we were just wondering whether you were planning on picking us up from the airport when we return? It would allow me to pick up my car and have it for the next day. Otherwise we will take a taxi and I will pick up my car at a later date. Just wanted to check. Cheers.

Mediterranean Coast

We are in Nice. Do I dare to say it is nice? I do.

The scenery on the train from Barcelona was incredible. Mountains, fields, cute villages, sea-side, power stations, cliffs, castles, Cannes, Antibes and little churches on the top of coast-side peaks. This would be a good coast on which to own a holiday home.

We had a great time in Barcelona. Yesterday morning we took the metro to the Olympic Park on the top of Montjuic. It is basically on top of a mountain. We were tired after reaching the top, but we got to see the Olympic Stadium. It was built in the 30's for an Olympics that they didn't get to have until 1992. The main stadium was shockingly small. A lot smaller than either of us expected. Our lunch there was a huge rip-off, but we got to feel Olympic.

We then headed over to the Museu d'Olimpic, and it was closed on Mondays. Louvre flashback. This was really annoying, partly because we had looked up the opening hours that morning (and it should have been open), and partly because we had just climbed a mountain.

We then headed to the Beach. Thanks to my awesome navigation skills we got off at the wrong station and walked through the Marina district to get to the Beach. It was very pretty, but we were tired. We eventually collapsed on a grassy knoll to watch the beach bums.

Then it was off to El Corte De Ingles to experience shopping in Spain (and practise a bit of our Spanish). Unfortunately because everyone around Barcelona speaks Catalan, a lot of things are not labeled in English or Spanish. So a lot of our learning was not able to be put into practice.

We then had a salad buffet for dinner and had an early night, because today we were travelling on the train for about 12 hours or so.

Tomorrow in Nice we plan to go to the Beach. And swim in the Med.

Here is some stuff I forgot to include on earlier blog posts:
- We went to the Louvre. It is HUGE! We went straight for the Mona Lisa. Here it is:

They had set up a D barrier, and given that it is only about A4 in size, it was even less impressive than I expected. We liked the paintings by a guy called Guido Reni. They were all religious, and there was one with an Angel and Mother Mary that had great lighting. Then we left the feeding frenzy that was the Italian Masters of painting to go and check out Ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian artifacts and sculpture (including the Venus de Milo - which was assembled from two halves). We then looked at the ancient foundations of the Louvre (when it used to be a castle), and finished up in Mesopotamia, Ancient Sumeria and Persia (which was abandoned compared to the rest of it).
- Here is our view from our Paris hotel:

I am not sure I mentioned it, but Paris is the land of the midgets. Everything was tiny and I was constantly stubbing my toe, or hitting my head or shin. I think it was all built for Napoleon.
- In New York we were on TV. There was a sports show doing a bit on baseball, and we could stand behind the hosts and be visible through the glass. Everyone else was just waving, but then I started jumping up and down as high as I could, and we started a little moshpit which was clearly visible on the screen.
- Also in New York we randomly wandered into the Magnolia Bakery and got some of the best cupcakes ever. They are world famous, and the icing was in-cred-ible.

More pictures to come!

Cameron Out!

Barcelona!

Barcelona has been fun! However there is no wireless here, so I have to type this up on a common room computer.

We are starting to get to that point of the holiday where we need a little break from it all. Maybe 6 weeks is long enough. Instead of 8 weeks away, next time I will do 6 weeks away, and then 2 weeks in front of the TV watching Oprah and Dr Phil back at home.

Today we went and saw a bunch of Gaudi stuff. The Casa Batllo, and the Sagrada Familia. Really cool buildings designed by a really cool man. I liked the mushroom room the best. But the audio guide was a little pompous.

I had a Spanish Omelette for lunch today which was incredible, and last night we went out with a couple of American dudes and had some drinks at a little bar. Quisiera Un Jarre San Miguel y Un Vodka Y Fanta Naranja, Por Favor. I think I still speak broken Spanglish, but at least I can order drinks, with enough pointing.

Buenas Noches.

Quick One: For the fans

We have spent the last two days in Bordeaux. We head to Barcelona today. We will be on the train for 7.5 hours. Luckily we have comics, books, magazines, iPods, DS's, and a laptop (which can play our Always Sunny In Philadelphia and X-Men DVD's) to distract us.

This morning we met Ziggy Marley. I think.

Au Revoir.