Venice for 3 days

Wednesday 29th August 2007 – Venice Italy
This morning we awoke early, disembarked with our 6 bags, and caught a water taxi to our new home for the next 3 days which was the Great Western Cavelleto. The water taxi was supposed to take us right to the water way at the steps of our hotel but unfortunately it was low tide. This meant that it could only drop us a couple of blocks (canals) away and we then had to walk along narrow cobblestoned streets, over two bridges to get to the Great Western. This we did and arrived in our little room which rocked, moved, sloped to the right and overlooked the main meeting place of the gondolas. Very romantic. Settled in and met up with Irish friends in St Marks Square, and we all went back to our hotel for a cappuccino. We all then set off to explore Venice as their flight did not leave until 9pm that night for Dublin. The boys found a local tavern, had a few beers while the ladies went shopping. We all met up for lunch of pizza and lasagne and set of for the Rialto Bridge. This was the first bridge built over the Grand Canal with the original wooden bridge (15th century) being destroyed by fire. It was a very hot day so another beer was consumed. We all decided to have a Gondolo ride which was $100 euro for 6 people for 30 minutes. We went past the place were Marco Polo was born and other interesting sites. Paul had been told by Tim that he had to take me on a romantic gondola trip, complete with a red rose but this did not entirely eventuate, although the gondola ride was great fun!! Said goodbye to our Irish friends, went back to our hotel, wrote up some more postcards and went out for dinner (not very nice and cost $60 euros) = $A100:00. Shops open till 9:30pm so Pam had some more fun!!
Thursday 30th August 2007 – Venice Italy
Today we awoke late and had breakfast at 9.30am. Our life at the moment seems to fit this Mediterranean lifestyle of waking late and eating late and bed late. In fact it is 11.00pm and we have just got back from a beautiful meal at the “Ristorante La Terrazza” which was a short walk from our hotel. We had seafood and it was delicious. There was a man playing the piano and we were sitting right next to one of the canals and it was very romantic. After breakfast this morning, Pam decided to do a bit of shopping and Paul stayed in the room doing some work on the computer. It started to rain quite heavily (11.30) and about half an hour later Pam arrived back and she said there was water everywhere and St Marks Square was flooded and in places the water was up to her knees. The Venetians took this as normal and some shops closed and put up water barriers, others served you as you stood ankle deep in water. We had a tour planned at 2.00pm and to get to it we needed to go through St. Marks which was still ankle deep in water. Paul had his shorts and sandals on but Pam had shoes and long pants. Off came the shoes and bare feet and pants rolled up and off we headed. (Pam was told that the locals never go bare foot because of the pigeon poo in St. Marks in particular.) The first part of the tour was a walking tour of Venice including St. Mark’s Basilica (11TH Century) where the remains of the apostle St. Mark are reported to be buried. As this internment happened some 700 years after his death, there could be some doubt but who lets the facts stand in the way of a good story. The tour guide pointed out some very interesting facts about the formation of Venice including how the place was created (reclamation), governed by the Doges (pronounced Doweger) and the Aristocrats and some facts about the Doges palace, the clock tower (1496) and the bell tower (Built in the 9th Century but rebuilt with the same bricks as exact replica after its collapsed in 1902) and the Bridge of Sighs (so-called because the condemned people were led over this bridge and were reported to take there last look at the world and their relatives as they were led over it and gave out a big “sigh”). She also explained Napoleons’ influence as a conquer in the 17th century. All very interesting and such history. After the walking tour finished at the Rialto Bridge we walked back to St Marks Square to catch the Grand Canal tour. Our guide pointed out the different types of architecture and a number of famous people and buildings, including Elton John’s house. Can understand why he loved it here with all the costumes, masks and fancy dress! Many of the buildings dated back to the 12th century which is very hard for us to get our heads around, bearing in mind how young Australia is. Back to the hotel where we went out for a meal which was O.K. but still cost $70euros. Coffee is around A$6:00 a cup! Back to the hotel and watched some tennis and to pack our bags for an early start tomorrow.

Friday 31st August 2007 – Venice Italy

We awake in the morning to the pleasant chatter of the boys cleaning their gondola’s outside our window. There are currently 22 of them at this “stand” but there are many other similar “stands” around the city. Again a “Mediterranean” start to the day i.e. up late and long breakfast. Pam headed off to the shops and Paul to the local Post Office to investigate sending back a parcel to Australia as we are still overweight. Found out this was possible so a frantic SMS to recall Pam and back to the Hotel to sort out what we need to send. Italian Post offices open at 8.30 and close at 2.00 pm and when we arrived at 1.45pm they reminded us that we had to have all the documentation and parcel ready in 12 minutes as they close exactly at 2pm, which they did. Paid 50 Euro to send 10kg back to Australia and then Pammy did her usual trip to the shops, had dinner and back to our hotel to repack our bags ready for tomorrow.

Dubrovnic and finish of Cruise in Venice

Sunday 26th August 2007 – At sea off the coast of Greece

Had a lazy day at sea today. Caught up on diary and postcards, had a swim, ate too much! Watched the show at night called Classique which was performed by the Celebrity Singers and Dancers who have some real talent.

Monday 27th August 2007 – Dubrovnik Croatia

During the night Paul was sick and vomited a couple of times. There has been a bug going around the ship with 170 reported cases some apparently quite ill with drips up. If you do report in sick they quarantine you and you can’t get off the ship so morning time saw Pammy down at the doctors surgery trying to get something to treat me without actually reporting it. Managed to get some Gastrolite, which I took with good effect. Have gone the whole day on a banana and an apple and am starting to improve now. (10.30pm). Pam loved Dubrovnic as the average height of the women is 5’8” and for the men 6’3”. Made her feel tiny and petite!!! Says she should have come here 30 years ago looking for a husband!!! Dubrovnic had a lot of shade and is surrounded by azure blue water. Probably the prettiest place we have seen. Croatia has seen such a lot of war and it’s sad to think that a lot of it happened in the 1990’s – our lifetime. It was very heavily bombed by Serbia and 3/4of the houses were affected in the old city with a very graphic map depicting the city and every house and facility that was bombed or burnt. It really gave a great illustration (albeit sad) of the devastation this place sustained. Tourism is its mainstay, with liquor, cheese, silk and leatherwork as well as lace following behind.
Dubrovnic it beautiful and had Paul not been crook we would have been off exploring with our Irish friends at 9.00am but as it was he did not get out of bed till 10.30 and we headed into town about 12.30 on the shuttle bus. The old city has a wall that extends around the entire “old City” and you can walk around the top of the entire wall, but I felt too crook. Built between the 11th and 17th century and the city plan dates from 1292. It is the best kept medieval walled city in the world. It is beautifully situated on the Dalmatian coast with waterways similar in many ways to the Marlborough Sounds. The houses are all a light stone colour with orange tiles being the norm. Each house is made from this beautiful limestone coloured stone.
Set sail at 7pm for Venice and as we exited Dubrovnic we commented that it reminded us of the Marlborough Sounds.

Tuesday 28th August 2007 – Venice Italy

Sailed into Venice at 10:30am through the middle of the Grand Canal which was amazing with so many beautiful buildings and over 200 castles lining our route. The people on board commented that Venice had the best port entry in the world, followed by Sydney and Rio de Janiro. As we arrived they played classical music, befitting of our grand entrance. After docked we had arranged with Jennifer to go to the island of Murana for a private tour which included a glass blowing demonstration from the oldest glass factory in Murana. We watched the glass master do his stuff using ovens which were the original ones from centuries previously. The only modern difference was that they now use natural gas rather than the coal and coke of earlier times. We were then taken upstairs to view and purchase the “exclusive range” of Murana glassware, including amazing chandeliers, vases, plates and statues as well as glasses etc. These ranged in price from $A2,000:00 - $A100,000:00!! Having realised that we still need to win Lotto, we went downstairs to the more “cost effective” souvenir section. Back on our little water taxi to the mainland and St Marks Square where Paul and I did our own individual exploring. Pam found many beautiful shops and Paul checked out where our hotel would be when we arrived back there tomorrow for 3 days, and had a look at some other hotels near St Marks Square. Having discovered that the hotel we were booked into was on the other side of the island (some 40 minutes away) we made a beeline back to the ship to get onto the internet to cancel our first booking and re-book closer to the action. The only issue with this was that the children had sent Fathers Day cards to where we were expected to stay (the Sofitel). Paul was most confused when I insisted that even though he had cancelled the Sofitel we still had to go there to collect a “package”! After dinner we walked in the drizzling rain to the Sofitel, had a cup of coffee, collected the envelope and walked back to the ship, talking with Tim on the mobile at the same time only to discover that he had walked this some route when he was here. We then had to pack up all our belongings and leave our cases outside our rooms prior to 12 midnight as we were scheduled to disembark at 8am next morning.

Greece

Thursday 23rd August 2007 – At sea of the coast of Greece

Paul woke at 10.30 and after his ablutions, Pam opened one eye and asked for breakfast so Paul went up to the Ocean Cafe, which is just up one flight of stairs, grab a tray of fruit, smoked salmon and juice so I had breakfast in bed/balcony with a temperature of at least 30 degrees. Fortunately our cabin is air conditioned to a comfortable 23/24 degrees. Its lovely being able to turn on the warmth as required. Was a lazy day today as we are still recovering from yesterday and the heat, although we were kept busy with a talk at 1:30 re the next 2 days destinations with attention to shopping and sights of interest. At 3pm we had a matinee performance in the Celebrity Theatre from Mr. Tian Jiang who has played piano all over the world. ?orginates from China. This last piece he played was called The Yellow River which was composed in Shanghai by 4 composers. This was a most magnificent piece of piano playing we have ever seen and heard. He played without any sheet music and was amazing. Such talent. At 4:30 I had my make up done for tonight’s formal night – very interesting – used lots of bronzer which took away my little white face! She said it would make the photos look good. We’ll see! Paul went to a Texas Holdum competition – did not do too well as was back in ¾ hour, but he did have fun. (We also lost $20 each last night on Black Jack). At 6pm we went down to have our formal photos taken – me in my black chiffon shirt/pants and black/gold halter neck top and Paul in a cream dinner suit this time. Had a lovely meal with the champagne that the captain provided a few days before and found out that our waiters are paid $50 per month and live on the gratuities that the cruise line requests us to pay. Paul not happy with the suggested gratuity amount as it would cost us an additional $400:00 to pay the people they recommend we should pay. As a table we have decided just to put in some money for our 2 waiters and we will give a tip to our 2 man servants (treck and his mate). In a minute we are off downstairs for a 9pm performance of Fantasia which is being presented by the ships celebrity singers and dancers. This is usually very good value. Pam was very excited today as she got to sit in the sun for 9.5minutes!!

Friday 24th August - Santorini Greece

Up at the crack of dawn as we sail into the tiny island of Santorini which is the southern most island in the Cycladic Greek islands. This island is the rim of an ancient volcano which exploded some 1500 BC and was the largest volcanic eruption the earth has ever seen. Prior to that it was the site of a very advanced civilisation called the Minoan and the origin of the legend of the lost city of Atlantis.
The ship anchors offshore and you catch a tender into the small port and then travel by donkey or walk 580 steps over donkey poo or catch a cable car to the city of Fira at the top of the cliff. We elected to catch the cable car with our new friends from island who share our dinner table. (Kay and Jimmy and Tony (Kay’s brother) & Mary) who live just outside Dublin. When we arrived in Fira we had a cup of Greek coffee and a lemon juice. The coffee was a small black coffee with 1/3 of a cup of coffee grinds in the bottom. The lemon juice was supposed to be sweetened but tasted like it was straight lemon. Magnificent view more than made up for challenges with the local beverages!. Fira is a maze of narrow cobbled streets which are predominantly pedestrian with a maze of shops including some very high quality jewellery shops. They have the largest selection of branded watches in the Greek Islands. We wandered around the shops and took a taxi to Oui (pro ia) which is a small village at the end of the Island. Pam, Mary & Jimmy had a very hairy taxi drive around the cliffs to this village. This part of our journey was very very hot especially in the square. We eventually found a lovely little cafe on the top of the hill overlooking the most beautiful picture postcard scene and had caesar salad and water. Caught the taxi back to the cable car, Pam bought a white tank top which said Santorini and a gold necklace which represents evolution/eternity. Caught cable car back to bottom of hill where we photographed some donkeys, then onto the tender and back to the ship. Tonight was a Greek night which ran from 7pm – 10pm and we all had a Greek smorgasbord on Deck 10. Watched the sunset over Santorini and thought that the sight of this island with its little lights on at night was breathtaking. Set sail at 10:40pm for Athens in Greece.

Saturday 25th August 2007 - Athens Greece

Had been advised that his port can be particularly hot and we were a little concerned about whether or not we should even go ashore. Eventually decided to meet up at 9:30 with Jennifer who is the shopping co-ordinator to go to the one place we had been advised to see which is called Plaka which is a series of tiny cobble streets and shops. Paul was keen to see the Acropolis so after we meet at 9:30 a group of us walked about 20minutes along the shoreline to the train station and travelled about 8 stops of Plaka where we decided to go straight to the Acropolis before it got too hot. It was around 35 degrees already. Pam walked about half way up to the Acropolis before deciding she was going to die from heat stroke and Paul continued up to the top which some amazing pictures were taken. We then walked down the big hill to a lovely little restaurant called Geros Toy Moria which is the oldest tavern in Plaka. Had a great Greek Salad with taziki? and fresh bread. This little tavern was covered with grape wine and in a lovely narrow steep street. After lunch we talked to the waiter who were watching television about some very serious bush fires in Athens and the rest of Greece which had already claimed 40 lives and had been deliberately lit. Smoke haze and ash were already falling as we were having lunch and we had not realised what the white specks were which were falling on Pams black pants. Continued into the Plaka and looked at the shops, had a coffee and spoke with the waiter who told us that the “rich people in Greece set fire to forests as the law is that houses cannot be built on forest areas so they simply burn them down and then build their mansions”. Pam asked why the Govt. does not declare that these a State forest and would be replanted and regenerated, but was told that they make too much money out of the developments so they do nothing! Caught a taxi back to the ship – had a great taxi driver who pointed out some other points of interest mainly the Greek Orthodox Churches. Pam bought a silver necklace and matching earrings from the ship terminal at Piraeas. Had a swim but the salt water was covered in ash from the fires so had a shower and went to dinner at 6:15pm. After dinner watched a very interesting professional pickpocket who works with Govt Departments. He made his talk very educational and amusing. Back to our room to write up our diary and then in half an hour we had a 50’s/60’s night and bed at 1.30am. On CNN news tonight we have learnt that Greece has been declared a state of emergency because of the fires and have called for reinforcements from other countries to get them under control.

Cruising - Florence Rome and Naples

Monday 20th August 2007 – Livorno (Florence)


Docked at Livorno at 7.00am. Livorno is the Port City for Florence in the central part of Italy 300km North of Rome in the Tuscany region. We joined our first tour (Florence on your own). We did this as getting to and from Florence is expensive and difficult so the tour at least got us there in an air-conditioned bus with a tour guide giving info about points of interest along the route. We left at 7.45am with a stop along the way at a leather factory outlet shop called Piero Tucci. Quick toilet break and review of beautiful but expensive leather including Bally, Valentino, and Hugo boss, then continue to Florence (Total travel time 1.5 hours) We arrived at Piazza Santa Croce which is the main Square with a large Basilica which is the principal Franciscan church of Florence and a minor Basilica of the Roman Catholic church. Michael Angelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are buried. We had our first Italian Cappuccino while we planned our next few hours in Florence. We walked towards the markets, found an internet cafe where we downloaded some wireless drivers and then continued to the markets. While at the internet cafe I rang my Australian help desk (Tim) to check which drivers I needed and discovered that he had been to the exact same locations (Square and Markets) when he came to Europe a couple of years ago.
Pam found some Murano glass which she brought and we walked back to the Santa Croce and had lunch at the Santa Croce Square Restaurant which was a disaster from start to finish. Bad and slow service, wrong orders, and the only good point was it provided shelter from a brief heavy rain downpour. We met our guide, back to the coach and a quick tour over the River Arno to drive past the posh part of town including the Pitti Palace (Home of Medici family). One of the direct descendants of this family ensured that the family’s very large collection of art work stayed in the Florence area where it still is today.
At night we tried to get the wireless drivers working but as yet we are still not back on line.


Tuesday 21st August 2007 – Civitavecchia (Rome and the Vatican)


Berthed at 7am and as Rome is an hour and a half from the port city of Civitavecchia we had decided to join the group which took the bus to the city where we could explore on our own. Excellent commentary driving into Rome and the bus parked right at the entrance to the Vatican. We had decided to see the Cistine Chapel and St Peter Basilica so we headed for the Vatican Museum (where you enter the Cistine Chapel) and the queues were around two and a half to three hours long when we got there at 9:45am!! We were approached by a person promoting tours of the museum, saying he could get us in within twenty minutes if we paid $29:00 euro per person with a guide. We decided to accept this rather then wait the 3 hours as we were only in Rome for the day. He then escorted us and a couple of other people through the back streets causing us some concern that we were in the process of being ripped off. However, he was true to this word and armed with a radio transmitter headphone to hear the guide we joined the queue and were inside within 20 minutes. Our guide was an American who lived in Rome and had extensive knowledge of Roman art and history. He was with us for around 2 – 3 hours and was the best guide and conveyor of knowledge we had ever met. He showed us a number of wings of the Vatican Museum, the Cistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica all of which were absolutely mind blowing with history, art and beauty! We were “Vaticaned Out” so we caught a taxi to the Trevi Fountain where we had lunch and then we started walking back towards the Vatican where we had to meet the cruise bus. Around a couple of corners and there was the Pantheon built in 27 BC. To people from a country who’s history began with Captain Cook this blows your mind.
Taxi back to the Vatican, Paul has a coffee and Pam buys a couple of nick knacks and its time to catch the bus back to Cittavecchia and the ship.
Dinner was as the usual excellent quality and we went to the show “I love the nightlife” by the Celebrity Singers and dancers.


Wednesday 22nd August 2007 – Naples (Napoli) – Isle of Capri


We are loving our trip – so much to see. Really wish we had listened to the history lessons. Arrived in Naples today an on advice we skipped Naples and caught a hydrofoil to the Isle of Capri which was also very beautiful but hot.
Driving up the coast on tiny, tiny winding roads to the top of Capri was hair raising. Cabbie was about 90 – streets are about 6 feet wide and carry 2 cars and they all try and overtake each other! Drop away to a sheer cliff face – I just closed my eyes! Had lunch at the top town of Ana Capri and walked along the narrow streets commenting on the number of tourists on this relatively small island. When we arrived there were just boatloads coming in from Naples, Sorrento and other Mediterranean ports. We did not make it to Sorrento or Positano which were hoping to as the day was very hot and hazy with not particularly good views of anything. We were back on board at around 4:30 and pleased to be back in our air conditioned cabin! Had dinner at our usual table and went to the 9pm show which was a New York tenor called Alberto Sanchez and a comedian Mike Goddard from the UK – both were excellent.
Our trip is about a quarter over – it has flown so far.
At the end of the day we decided to try to communicate with Sydney so we called Tim on the mobile and he said he would call us back. We then lost all mobile reception as we headed out towards Greece so we went to the Ocean Cafe which has wireless connection and sent emails and also sorted out Pams work emails that continue to come in regularly despite an automated message that says she is away.
We finally got to bed at 2.00pm and because we change time zones tomorrow that made it 3.00am

Cruising from Barcelona to Canne

Friday 17th August 2007 – Barcelona Boarding cruise ship for 1st night at sea.

Isaac born at 11:15am Sydney time weighing 8lb 1oz. (3:15am Barcelona time). After much phoning and texting to relatives and friends (and excitement as we are delighted that this new baby is a “blue” one), we eventually fell back to sleep and woke at 9ish, had a lovely breakfast, packed up, checked out and we are sipping champagne in the foyer of the hotel – just waiting for an hour or so before we get on board the “Millennium” for our Mediterranean cruise. Were shown to our beautiful room complete with balcony and state of the art decor. Very nice! Explored for a short while and then had a compulsory emergency drill with our lifejackets. I was happy to keep mine on for the whole trip but Dad/Paul objected! Set sail at 7pm after enjoying a lovely dinner with 4 Irish people (one who was celebrating her birthday – a Leo) and 4 Americans. Two from San Francisco and 2 from Dallas. Lovely people – the Irish are sometimes a little hard to understand but great fun. At 8pm went to the auditorium to see a sample of the live shows available, wandered through the shopping complex on board and was told by one of the assistants that she loved working on this cruise because she “enjoyed the old people”. I certainly won’t be buying anything from her!!!! It is now 5:30am in Sydney. Wonder how Alexa and Isaac are doing. Do hope Alexa has stopped being sick. Went onto the deck and watched the beautiful lights of Barcelona fade into the distance. Tomorrow we are still at sea all day and arrive the following morning at Cannes. I might just become a movie star! Tomorrow night is formal so Dad/Paul has to wear his dicky suit and I have to wear my new posh dress! Tonight was casual which meant dress or pants suit for ladies and long pants and shirt for the men. No shorts, thongs, crop tops etc allowed! We will be the in the same outfit for the whole 12 days at this rate.
We are travelling Concierge class which is the cruise equivalent of Business Class, and we have our own attendant (Milford) who attends to our needs.
Paul/Dad ordered his dinner suit over the net and Milford delivered it to our room a little while ago. We have decided to call Milford “Trek” as in Milford Track.

Saturday 18th August 2007 – At sea off the French coast of the Mediterranean

Today was our first full day at sea and our 2nd night. We awoke late to find a place to have breakfast. We have a choice of 3. Eventually settled on one and, as has become our custom, smoked salmon and an omelette for Pam and bircher for Paul with fruit and juice. Further explored the ship, had a lovely lunch at Aqua Spa Cafe which is the healthy one. Worked on the computer again – Had dinner at our table and watched a great show re Broadway. Our table is now reduced to 6 as the 2 from L.A. must have wanted a younger crowd. The mum was with her 16 year old daughter. Each afternoon at around 5pm we have 6 little nibbles bought to our room my Milford. Usually salmon and caviar, or prawns and caviar on little tiny toast squares. This happens every day and is such a special treat. Tonight the captain left a bottle if French bubbles in our room for us. The dinner process is as follows: 1st sitting (us because I get hungry) is at 6:15 consists of 5 courses. Appetiser, soup, salad, main meal (which is called entree!!) and dessert. When we go for dinner Milford comes in, turns down our bed, leaves little chocolates and fresh ice for us, closes our blinds, removes our big pillows, replaces any towels and leaves info re the next day. Dinner is usually completed by around 8pm and there is always a show starting at 9pm for us to see. Tonight we watched “Spectacle of Broadway” where they had singers and dancers performing a number of excerpts from Broadway shows and we heard one of the best renditions of Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera. Had a game of Blackjack – took a while to lose US$20:00. Each night they have specials in jewellery, watches, makeup and clothes on board so I usually have a look at this before retiring to our room where we watch a video of what is coming during the next few days so that we can book ay tours we may wish to go on. Off to bed.

Sunday 19th August 2007 – Cannes

In Cannes today at 7am and we anchored out from the shore and as launch called a tender took us from the boat onto the mainland. We had decided not to do any tours today and just make our own way to town when we felt like it. The view of Cannes from the ship was beautiful and we took a number of photos. We eventually made it into town around 11am, bought a Sunday paper (UK version) and tried to find an internet cafe to get the appropriate wireless drivers that we needed to get the computer up and running. Unfortunately as it was Sunday the internet cafe and a number of other shops and stores were closed leaving mainly tourist and food places open. Cannes is very beautiful, full of plenty of yachts and money – beaches very crowded and swimming area very small. Topless bathing! Great stuff to buy but far too expensive! Had a lovely coffee in the Sofitel Hotel after having lunch at a little cafe near the waterfront. This consisted of a nicoise salad and a der mer (seafood) salad with beer and sparkling mineral water. We took the opportunity of texting a number of friends re where we were, and most were enthusiastic with the exception of our dear friend Chris Kenny who’s solitary response “Wankers - ” made us laugh. Back to the boat around 4pm – rested till 5:30 then prepared for the evening routine. Tonight we did not go to a show but did some shopping downstairs and returned to our room where the captain had left another bottle of champagne and a beautiful box of chocolates. With no exercise, 5 course dinners, champagne and chocolates they might be rolling us down the gangway at the end of this cruise! Spoke with the children this morning which was lovely.

Birmingham to Barcelona

Tuesday 14th August 2007 – Birmingham to Barcelona

Worked on the computer initially, packed up left the apartment at around 12md. Wanted to go to the Black Country Museum but it was raining so decided to go to the Bilston Art and Craft Museum which is where most of the Brighton’s apparently originated from. Very interesting history but did not have long enough here as the traffic was bad and we had to get to the airport . Discovered that Bilston was the centre of Wedgewood and ceramics etc. Drove to Birmingham Airport, dropped off car (still raining), checked in at BMI Baby (a cost effective airline) – discovered we were 12kg overweight and paid an additional 70 Pound!! Flight took around an hour a half and arrived at our magnificent hotel called Eurostar Grand Marina Hotel in Barcelona. Was 10pm when we got to our room – had a little explore of the hotel and off to bed after a lovely bubble bath.

Wednesday 15th August 2007 - Barcelona

Wandered down for breakfast which was buffet. We have mainly eaten fresh smoked salmon, bircher muesli, fresh fruit juice, omelettes etc while we have been away. Caught the blue tourist bus to Los Rambles and found a Pharmacia as I was sick. Purchased some drugs – had lunch which included sangria (huge) local beer and tapas (which means small meals). Delicious! Continued on with the blue bus (a double decker bus with no top tourist bus). Completed what is known as the blue route. Barcelona is beautiful with many tiny balconies around all of the old buildings. A lot of Gaudi’s influence is seen (architect) and Barcelona will be one of our highlights.

Thursday 16th August 2007 - Barcelona

Today we woke up to beautiful downtown Barcelona with Pam’s cold showing no sign of improvement. The hotel is part of the “World Trade Centre” and breakfast was outside in the central square and at 10.00am it was 25 degrees. My sort of temperature.
Back in room by 11.00am with Pam in back in bed asleep and me trying to catch up with emails and getting my computer back on line. Pam up at 1pm feeling a little better after dosing herself up on more drugs. Caught a taxi to see Gaudi’s La Famila which is a magnificent temple/church which is yet to be completed, having started in late 1800’s. Gaudi was the architect and the church is devoted to the 3 stages of Christ’s life. Unreal church. We have found the architecture in Barcelona to be just fascinating. Beautiful little balconies and very unusual designs which are not modern but very old world and beautiful. After this we decided to do a tour on the “blue” bus (bus touristic) and stopped off at the top of Los Rambla which is the main street and runs for 5 kms. Called in and had a beer and a huge sangria (this should go well with the drugs and the antibiotics methinks!) watched the street performers and the other tourists and then on to Los Caracoles (?the snail). Wonderful old restaurant ?1835. You actually walk through the kitchen to get to the restaurant (OH&S???).Had a meal of snails, sole, gazpachio and monkfish. Watched a couple of CIA guys minding their charge who was eating at the same restaurant! Walked quietly back to our hotel (still 28 degrees at 11pm – just a beautiful night for walking – blue, blue sky even at night). Settled down for a long night – Alexa and Nathan’s baby due in the next few hours or so.

Shanghai to London/Birmingham

Friday 10th August 2007 – Shanghai to Hong Kong

Today was another 35c day so we debated as to how to get to the airport. We wanted to take the Maglev train which travels at speeds of up to 400 kph but that would have involved a taxi from hotel to Maglev. Walk for 10 minutes with our 5 bags and then a walk at the other end so we opted for a taxi (air conditioned) from hotel door to airport departures, via the local computer store and picked up some more software. (Needless to say this was a Chinese original). We arrived at airport early and the check in lady advised us to take an earlier flight as Hong Kong had had delays due to the weather (typhoons in the area). We took her advice and although this flight was scheduled an hour earlier than our original it actually left an hour late getting us into HK as per original schedule. Because we were leaving for London early next morning decided to stay at the Airport Hotel called the “Regal”. This was a great idea as it is a walk from the terminal to the hotel reception, all undercover. Great hotel, well organised and we had a lovely meal. As we had an “on request” upgrade we rang Air NZ and found the upgrade had been confirmed so this meant another 14 hours in Business Premier with the 180 degree lie flat beds which made our flight from Auckland to HK so relaxing. Although this was a day flight we still had the opportunity for a snooze if we wanted it. In bed at 10.30 with a 5.30 wake up call.

Saturday 11th August 2007 – Hong Kong to London

Up early, breakfast, checkout and a walk to the airport. (The only way to travel, and certainly no traffic worries.) Flew to London and although a long flight we did manage to get a couple of hours sleep. Arrived in London at 2:30 local time which was 9:30pm to our bodies. Felt good – collected new Renault from Eurocar and drove to Birmingham on the Motorways until we got into the city centre and then had great difficulty and had to ring the manager of the Stay Birmingham Apartments who talked us in via mobile. The apartments were in the centre of town but fairly small and compact and comfortable. Had dinner at the local Chinese, bed by 10pm and ate fruit we picked up at the Chinese restaurant for breakfast.
Sunday 12th August 2007 - Birmingham
Programmed Garman to take us to the various points of interest that Pam had highlighted when she did her research into her family tree. These visits were fairly uneventful as everything had changed and been bulldozed. A few of the old local pubs in the streets still remained and it was lovely to see these. We visited a church which we thought was where Pam’s GGG G’mother was married. We noted that they had a 6:30 service that night so decided to attend. Prior to this we went to the Birmingham centre known as the Bullring to try and find some components for the phone (Simcard) and computer and had a look around the shops. Visited a cemetery in Bilston (part of family research). After lunch we visited Wolverhampton where Paul and I lived for a short time – 44 Lawnswood Avenue and had an early tea at The Claregate Pub – had liver and onions and Paul had a steak and ale pie with mushy peas. Returned to Birmingham and attended the church service and stayed for coffee. Collected a lot of info re this church and during coffee Pam realised that it was the wrong one! On way back to unit called into Tesco’s and bought some provisions. Tried to get computer working for a few hours at night.
Monday 13th August 2007 - Birmingham
Spent hours trying to get computer to work to no avail. Eventually gave up after realising via Tim that we had to reinstall the hard drive and reformat it. Drove out of Birmingham to purchase the 60gb hard-drive so Paul could back up his files before reformatting. Had lunch at a French restaurant near the Bullring. Had lovely French waiter who announced that he thought the French were arrogant! Found the right church today St Peter and St Pauls where my GGGG’mother was married in ?1851. Then drove to Bilston to the cemetery and had a wander. Found another church at Sedgley where the vicar’s wife saw us looking around and proceeded to inform us that people who havn’t done enough research make her cross. Guess we really made her cross! Returned to Birmingham and had dinner at a lovely little pub on the corner near our unit. Then back to the unit to work again on the computer.......to some avail! At least got the hard disc reformatted.

Back on line after a long time

Our computer crashed in China and with the assistance of the Australian Help desk (Son Timothy) and a completly reformated hard drive we are back in action and will now update from the diary we have been keeping while we have not been blogging.

Tuesday 7th August 2007 – Hong Kong to Shanghai

Up early this morning (7.30am) as we have a lunchtime flight to Shanghai (2.5 hours). Flew Dragonair which is a subsidiary of Cathy Pacific and it was very comfortable and well organized with an average meal. Flying into Pudong airport was very interesting just looking at the size of Shanghai, with its very muddy waters of both the delta and the river which runs thru Shanghai. Pudong Airport is huge and we walked (with the aid of many moving footways) for about 20 minutes to get from the gate to the terminal. Have had no problems with immigration or customs at Hong Kong or Shanghai and no queues. There is simply a gate which says “items to declare” and you can choose to go through here or not. Nothing is searched and nothing is x-rayed. Very different to Sydney.
We are staying at the Le Meridian and when we went to their office at the airport to ask the best way into town he looked at our baggage and said a Limousine (Large Van) was the only way to go as we had too much luggage for 1 taxi. Cost us 600 yuan (A$90) versus 200 yuan for a taxi and I think they were mates with the van rental place, but it was an hour into town and the van was air-conditioned and very comfortable and the driver was good, if not a bit quick.
The Hotel is beautiful and we are on the 48th floor with a stunning view over “Peoples Square” and the “Shanghai Museum”. After dark we went for a walk down Nanjing Road towards the “Coca Cola” bottle sign and Pam did some browsing and brought some reading glasses as she lost hers in Hong Kong. Got offered everything from a “massage with nice lady (400y A$ 60)” to watches, camera’s and some begging but not that prevalent. A chinese couple walking with their children said "You are so tall, can we have a photograph with you (See below)



Legs gave out so back to the hotel for a coffee and bed.
It’s now the morning of the 8th and we tried to get onto our blog site this morning but it we were unable. Perhaps blog sites are blocked in China!






Wednesday 8th August – Shanghai

Slept in - up till 1am watching movies! Lazy morning then off on the subway with all the locals to find a glasses/sunglasses shop which was recommended to us by Li in Sydney.

Great sunnies and a real adventure. Walked down to the Bund in the afternoon where we met some lovely Chinese people. One was a teacher and the other was an interpreter. They also recommended we see the Shanghai Acrobats as did our friends Paul and Sue Kenny. We'll try and see this tomorrow night. Have visited the shops mainly in the evening as it is cooler. People keep stopping me (Pam) and asking where I am from. One man suggested tonight that I was Russian! They must breed tall ladies in Russia! One young woman asked me why I was so tall so I told her that everyone in Australia was at least as tall as I am. I think I may have scared her off ever trying to visit!

Thursday 9th August - Shanghai

Today was another hot day so we stuck around the hotel in the morning and Pam worked on her family history so we know what and who we are looking for when we get to Birmingham.
With respect to our computer problem, the fantastic and always available, Sonnet help desk (son Tim) had suggested we needed some software to help repair our operating system so the Concierge directed us to a shop about 15 minutes away and we headed off. Never seen so much electronic equipment in the one place. Very few taxi drivers speak English so the Concierge writes the name and address in Chinese on a card (also has return address of Hotel pre-printed on the same card) which we give to the Taxi driver and off we go.
Tonight we booked to go and see one of the "Shanghai Acrobat" shows which stated at 7.30 and was a great piece of entertainment. A combination of juggling, magic, contortion etc with the grand finale being 5 Chinese men on fast motor bikes going round and round in a sphere. Very nerve wracking - but wonderful entertainment. Had drinks and nibbles (as we did last night and the night before) at the Club Lounge for guests who are staying in the Club Rooms. Very posh – only way to go! They provide a great breakfast and great nibbles between 5:30 and 8pm which we have used as our dinner. So far during our 3 day stay we have only had to buy one meal. Very cost effective! Came back home and spoke with Tim as he was doing night shift, to help us get our computer up and running. He is a fabulous help and it's like having our own private help desk! Nevertheless another late night (1am) so off to bed. We leave for Hong Kong tomorrow night and have a late checkout here at around 4pm. Then over to Birmingham to chase up the family tree. Have been watching the two cyclones/tropical lows on either side of us with interest. So far we have managed to avoid them - one has been near Hong Kong and the other near Taiwan. Temperatures still up around 35 and we noticed tonight that London is 22. I think we will feel the cold! Time difference in Hong Kong and Shanghai has only been 2 hours behind Sydney so the next time zone could be more difficult. No sign of another beautiful grandchild yet from Alexa - baby is due to arrive tomorrow week.

Rest day in Hong Kong

Today we thought we could sleep in, but as we only had a visa for one day in China (and we used this up yesterday) we had to make arrangements to obtain another visa so we can get into Shanghai tomorrow. So..... after photos and exchanging $ we had a lovely leisurely breakfast and headed into town to Nathan Road - the main road in Hong Kong. Just as I remembered it 25 years ago. Wandered around a big department store, wanted to buy everything in site, Paul less than happy about this idea but he did manage to buy a pair of sandals which were twice the price in Sydney. Have decided that Hong Kong is not the place to be with husband's if you like to shop!! We girls need to go alone!!! Had traditional yum cha (which is not what they call it here) and it was delicious. Had steamed rice rolls with shrimps, ditto with barbecued pork, ditto with king prawns, steamed scallops with vegetable dumplings, and......wait for it.... steamed ox tripe! Yum. Whole meal cost us $A20. Then onto the train and back to the hotel for a swim and a shower and we are off tonight to the night markets in Temple Street (much to Paul's horror!) Caught a taxi here in the pouring rain (only wet evening since we've been here) and the taxi driver dropped us off at a really grotty looking restaurant where the Chinese food was wonderful (had local fish). An hour at the markets then back to our hotel on the train with the locals. Packed ready for an early start to Shanghai in the morning.

Day trip to China

Today we caught a train to Lo Wu which is the station on the Hong Kong side of the border with mainland China. This took about 45 minutes from our hotel in Kowloon, travelling through the New Territories Provence of Hong Kong. This cost (1st class which means bigger seats and air conditioning) around HK$66 = A$10. From this station you walk through immigration, out of Hong Kong, over the river, and then through the Chinese immigration and customs into Shenzhen. The moment you step out of the station the touting starts and does not let up for the entire duration of your visit. We only saw the one major shopping complex which is adjacent to the Shenzhen railway station. If you like crowds, and constant "missy look at this" "missy look at this", heat, very little English being spoken, amazing colours, "bling", everything you could ever think of then - this is the place for you. After an hour and a half Paul was over it (as was I....nearly....after 2 hours) so we adjourned to the lovely Shangri-La Hotel for a bite to eat and a drink and NO HASSLING!!!! It was also heaven to use a Western toilet, as I had to use an Eastern one at the railway station, did not have any loo paper, found it hard to squat over a hole in the ground, not only nearly falling in, but missing the loo completely and having to then "tidy up" my surrounds! Great experience and all part of the fun. Did some purchasing when we went back to the shopping centre, had a quiet disagreement with Paul as to where we were going to pack stuff (we are already overweight) and then caught the train back home with the locals. Great day but very tired legs and we have decided that tomorrow is a "veg out" day. Temp around 32 - 35.

First Day in Hong Kong (4th August 2007)

Today was our first day 90 to go. We arrive at Hong Kong airport resonably fresh after sleeping for 5 to 6 hours of the 12 hour flight from Auckland. Lie flat beds are brilliant.

Airort was not busy and we breezed thru customs picked up a cab to the Intercontinental and they had no record of our bookings. There are two intercontinentals in Kowloon and we were at the wrong one. Having arrived at 9.00am we only had to wait for half an hour to get access to our room which overlooks the Harbour. When I work out how I will post some photos.

This afternoon we took a 5 hour tour of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Island including a trip up Mount Victoria with some fantastic views of Hong Kong and then to Aberdeen the "fishing village" which included a trip on a sampan, the to Stanley markets and home.

Dinner was at an authentc chinese restaurant where we were the only Westerners.

Hey Hey we are on our way

Lunch with Tim, Jock and Nat then Jock drove us to the airport which was empty. Pam is confirmed Business Class and Paul is Standby because he used a "complimentary upgade. Guess what, we cross the Tasman in different parts of the aircraft. Pam has prawn entree and venison but made a conscious effort not to have champagne as she knew hubby in Economy was having beer and a steak pie and potato salad.

Sitting in the Koru in Auckland where Pam had a reflexology foot massage and I had a back massage. Next to Hong Kong in about an hour where we are both in Business Premier in lie flat beds. We might just have a snooze.

Heading of to Europe

Here I am in Sydney learning how to Blog. Son Tim is frustrated at his fathers lack of technical skills.

Tomorrow we set off to Hong Kong