Wow - now in Rome! The city made by Romulus because the Gods told him to (the story goes).
Since I last posted we've driven from Munich through Austria - went to Innsbruck for an hour or so and I bought some Schwarovski crystal jewellry - and down to Venice. Stayed in Venice for 2 nights again.

Monday we saw a glass-making display (& lace but that wasn't anything to write home about, so I won't). Lei and I spent the whole day walking around with 3 others - Jason, Johnny and Romey. We ate big slices of the most delicious pizza (€1.80), had gelati, ate canollis and got lost! We think we found true-Venice, or at least what could be described as 'Italian Venice' not 'tourist Venice'. I managed to track much of our journey through the alleys though so that was fun too.

Venice and the boats (left) us outside the canolli shop, with canollis in hand (right)














Gelati!!!! (Romy, me, Johnny, Jason. Lei taking photo.)














It was a bit rainy though which was fun because I got to see what flooding-Venice is like. Some pics of some of the Contiki people kitted up and the flooding in Piazza San Marco (complete with walkways in the background).

We then met up with the group again and went in a Gondola ride. I tried to suss out if our Gondolier if he was in the 2007 calendar; but I don't think he was. It was a good Gondola trip - particularly entertaining were Amy's attempts at Italian and her booming 'Sono molto felice' ('I'm very happy') to anyone and everyone going past.

I love Venice, I think it and Berlin have been my favourite cities so far.

Ended up having a bit of a big night back at the hotel - Lei and I shared a 1.5L bottle of Merlot that we'd bought in the Supermarket for €2.80. I reckon it was pretty strong :)

So then, the drive to Rome. Arrived last night and did a group walk to the Colosseum, Piazza Venezia (with the massive statue of king Vitorio Emanuele II), Trevi fountain (yes I through my 3 coins in: 1 for a quick return to Rome, 1 for luck, and 1 for true love) and the Pantheon. A group of 8 of us then had a great dinner - my pizza was hanging off my dinner plate, it was so huge.

Trevi fountain - loved it (left) and the 4 girls in front of the Colosseum (Kim, me, Lei, Amy) (right)

Today we did the Vatican including the Sistine Chapel. Now that was impressive!!! Such intricate artwork and very pleasing on the eye (would be more so without the infamous fig leaves that were painted on later??). We then did a quick dash out of there to see the Pope giving his address. That was pretty cool.


Pope out for an airing - he´s the one in white.

So now Lei and I are taking a break in an internet cafe before we go and explore the Roman Forum or the Baths of Diocletian... Haven't decided. Need some food first :) And I have accepted that I just can't see everything I want to in this short tour day. So I'll have to come back at some stage...

Will hopefully find a computer eventually where I can upload some more pics.
xxoo Claire

NX TALLY: III
AIXAM TALLY: I

Hi all - talk about blog updating. On this Contiki trip we spend 2 nights and a day in each place and then we're off again. So now we're in Munich. Went straight to Oktoberfest yesterday arvo about 3:30pm. It was crazy!! Like the Brissie show with amusement rides etc. plus huge beer halls, packed full of people. We walked around for 2 hours and looked in a few halls for a table... very hard business that. And by 6pm some of the halls were so busy they were locking people out.

About 10 of us eventually got a table in some beergarden - not the Lion one unfortunately Jono. It was very crazy. We had a great waiter though, he looked after us. Had some great strudel too. And checked out some funny-looking leather-clad male butts. The group got into the spirit of things with silly hats and of course lots of steins. Waltzing Matilda was sung a few times in between all the young Germans singing their German songs.

Group of us with some snacks, walking around the Oktoberfest area (left), View from inside one of the beer halls, up one end (right).















So then back home on the party bus with the 45 or so other people that are on Contiki. Checked into our hotel at 11:30pmish. That was a pretty funny bus ride.

Today we went to the Dachau concentration camp, bout 15km out of Munich. That was pretty amazing to see, although a lot of the buildings have been reconstructed. Amazing stories though. Some are quite touching and really something almost beyond comprehension in 2006.

After that - into Munich town for a bit of hanging out and shopping before going on a bike tour around the town. I reallz thought it wasn't going to work as the town was so crazily busy - the most our tour manager has seen. But we got through the crowds and hopefully didn't annoy too many. Some interesting sites in Munich include:
- The decorated lions outside many businesses (part of charity fund-raising).
- The surfing wave - think it's a drain really where water rushes out and forms a surfing wave for the keen surfers.
- The very large city park where some nudists hang out among everyone else eg. the families having picnics and the kids playing frisbee.
Me with one of the lions.

There is more to talk about and I will no doubt update at some stage! Id love to put pics up but cant find a decent computer yet!! Anyway, tomorrow we are off to Venice but along the way we are popping into Innsbruck for a look and some of the people on the tour are going white water rafting. Im not doing it though.

So thats it for now - drink up = PROSTE!!!

NX TALLY:
III
AIXAM TALLY:
I (Munich, Grey I think it was)

Prague - beautiful Prague
Left Berlin in the morning and went via Dresden, an interesting city that was unfortunately bombed pretty badly in the 1940s.

Arrived last night and went for a walk through the town - very picturesque, as everyone always says. All I've spoken to really love Prague. I can see why :)

The gothic-style church in the main square (left). The clock tower in the main square of Prague (left) and Lei, Chris and I picking up crystals outside of Schwarovski :) [below]













So after a quick walk around (and lots of warning about pickpockets) most of us had a quiet night back at the hotel. Today we did a walk around the castle area then a group of us then had some coffees, Lei and I changed some money (Koruna, not Euro - exchange about 28 K for 1Euro) then we went on a lunch cruise with the Contiki group. I love swans. And people feed 'em just like ducks.

Lunch cruise

















After that we went for a wander to the Jewish sector. I visited the area run by the Jewish Museum - went in to a memorial for the Jews killed in the Holocaust - basically a synagogue with all the names written on the walls; not really super interesting for me. The old Jewish graveyard was quite amazing - it's been built up over the years since the 15th Century with piles of new coffins - so even though it doesn't cover much space, there are like 6 layers of coffins and they estimate about 12,000 tombstones so ~ 50,000-ish bodies? Went to a couple of synagogues after that and I have come to the conclusion (once again) that I really need to learn more - I know so little of the Jewish religion.


Me in front of some of the graves.

Have bought a couple of little nicnacks and there is so much cute stuff, but so much of it is fake, it's hard to tell whether the real stuff is in the shops or the market stalls. Going on a ghost tour tonight. While Kim, Lei and Amy are checking out a black-light theatre show, which is apparently not very common anywhere else. Would have liked that too, but really want to learn about the myth of the golem and some of the other myths of Prague.

NX TALLY: II
I (Grey, filling up in a servo in Prague)

Hi all from Berlin (the capital of Germany).

We arrived in Berlin yesterday ~ 4pm after about 700 kms of driving. I am so tired right now because I think I have learned the most I've ever learned in two days (hmmm except for 3M of course). I never really understood the whole story about WW1, the old states of Prussia, Bavaria etc. in this area and the unification into one Germany, Hitler and how he came to power, WW2 and the Berlin Wall. I definitely do not understand the whole story but I have learned some great stuff, information I really value. Berlin is an amaying city!!

Last night after dinner a group of about 10 of us went for a walk up to the Brandenburger gate (the gate that divided the old city states I believe & became a focal point for the edge of the wall). We passed the Holocaust Memorial which was built in 2005, under a cloud of controversy, to commemorate the 6 million jews who died in Germany. It was surreal to see it at night - it's basically 2000 rectangular, grey stones that look like grave-stones basically. All different sizes and the ground goes up and down in waves. From the outside it looks like in the middle of the area is a hill but really the blocks are just much higher (like 4m). Anzway, there was a lot of controversy because when they started building they found a Nazi bunker underneath it (which they left intact and covered over) and the design looks more like art requiring interpretation than a memorial with a fixed meaning. Anyway, it is impressive.

This morning, after breakfast the group who wanted to went on a walking tour with Edo - a Dutch bloke who loves Berlin history. He was so fantastic. We walked around the city for a good three hours while he pointed out and discussed the history of the city, which buildings are what, which buildings were destroyed by the 2nd WW or by the Germans or Russians, which were rebuilt, the museums, the building of the Berlin Wall, some of the atrocities carried out by Hitler's people, and the eventual destruction of the wall and unification of East and West Germany.

I never knew Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin as the Russians were invading and winning the city. I never knew that his bunker was covered over with a carpark and left unsigned (until last year) to avoid encouraging neo-Nazis. Or that there were 41 assassination attempts on Hitler's life.

I also never knew of the struggle for ownership that ensued over Germany and Berlin, between the English, French & Americans and the Russians. And that this struggle eventually ended up resulting in West and East Germanz and the West and East Berlin. And that the Russians who owned the East bit of Berlin built a wall to keep the East-Berliners in (1000s had been leaving for the non-Communist West-side). I never realised that the Berlin Wall was standing for more than 20 zears and onlz came down in 1989.

Anyway, so as you can tell I have been learning so much. And I love it. This city and the history is so interesting. I've bought a book on the Berlin Wall and the famous US Checkpoint, Checkpoint Charlie. I want to learn more now and would like to read Hitler's autobiography, except finding one here could be an issue as copies are not readily available. It seems, and Edo also said, that the Germans want to see the history of the war shown from the victims' perspectives and not the perpetrators.

So the plan for tonight, after I leave this trendy internet cafe (where a cappucino is onlz €1.30 and 1/2 hr internet 50c) is a traditional dinner (pork, sourkraat [sp?] & potato = appetising??) then a nightlife tour with the Contiki group. Apparently the drinks are really cheap here - the Contiki people who went to the pub down the road from the hotel said (eg. €1.50 for a big vodka & lemonade).

And tomorrow, we drive to Prague.

Claire

PS, still haven't seen any German NXs yet!! Saw 2 in Greece and that is it so far!! Still on the lookout.

NX Tally: II

Hello from Amsterdam (Netherlands)! What a great city. Lots of hustle and bustle, trams, cars, scooters, bikes and pedestrians all going everywhere - but everyone seems quite tolerant of bumbling tourists :) Apparently the population here is about 800 thousand and there are about 1.6million bikes - so every person has about two. So cool.

So Kim, Amy, Lei and I are on Contiki. Left only yesterday from London. Saw white cliffs of Dover then lots of white cloud and nothing else as we crossed to France on a huge P&O ferry. Crazy drive from France - Belgium - Netherlands (where ~ 60% of the land of the country has been reclaimed from the sea - a project that begun in the 1700s apparently).

Went on a canal cruise last night with our Contiki group (about 50 pp and there's at least 7 couples) which was great fun. Saw lots of people enjoying a few quiet drinks on their boats as they cruised the canals. Then we went to the famous (or is that infamous?) red light district. Girls in windows in bikinis/underwear, many of them looking a bit bored & lots of groups of men. Ahhhh at least it's predictable :) Visited a coffee shop, tried to order a non-marijuana muffin and the waitress laughed and with mock shock said 'we don't do that kind of thing here'. He he - coffee shops are the places where marijuana is purchased over a counter and can legally be smoked inside the cafe. A cafe is the normal, non druggy place to go for a latte darling.

Was a good night but we were all super wrecked (SLEEP-WISE) due to the dinner on Friday night in London with Johnno, Tenille and Sharni and getting home really late. Lei only got 1 hours sleep. So we're all catching up on zzzzs and it's not even related to partying on tour (yet!!)

This morning went on a brief bike ride around the area of Edam (where they make the famous cheese) and that was super fun. My favourite moment was riding next to a canal right out front of the group and a very large egret bird came out of the canal and would have been standing less than a metre from me, deciding whether he/she should fly away or not. Mr Egret was lovely. The crazy bike riding lady called it a 'blue herring' (was that a twisted joke?)... oooh I would love a bird book here. Then we went to a cheese- and clog-making place. Then to a major diamond centre. Saw over 100,000 euro worth of diamonds, WOW! Wasn't tempted to buy anything though, maybe next time (after I've won the lottery I guess).

So now we're just walking around town and are on the way to Anne Frank's house. Oh and Kim's using the phone to ring the bank as she managed to kill an ATM yesterday and she's not sure if her 200 euro or so she ordered but did not receive, was taken off her account.

It's an interesting experience of self-discovery going from relatively independent travel to an organised bus tour with 49 other people. Positives and negatives for both experiences, for sure, but I think (at this stage) that I still enjoy the discovery of a new city from a status of unawareness. Ie. where there hasn't been a helpful tour manager introducing the city, providing a map, notifying the group of the bus and tram numbers to get places, and the key attractions to see. However, it is an efficient and care-free way of travelling - one gets to see the key sites without having to spend lots of time doing research and getting from train/bus stations or airports to town, or finding accommodation. Of course, I will reserve my conclusions until the conclusion of this tour experience but at the moment having relaxed fun.

Claire

Hello from sunny (& intermittently cloudy & cold) IRELAND! Up here for a couple of days with Kim and Amy, before we go on Contiki.

First an update on the last couple of days with my parents, in Nebian. Dad was keen to see the Pont du Gard – the great aquaduct. I had no idea what it was but it sounded interesting. So all five of us squeezed into the Peugeot (pronounced ‘peu-jet’ if you’re Hyrum) and made our way there. Grabbed some great quiches from a local shop – the lady was so lovely; very tolerant of Juliette trying her French (actually she’s quite good & is understood) and she gave us some bonus cakes – and ate with a view of the Pont du Gard. 2000 years ago over 1000 people worked for 5 years on the construction of the Pont du Gard. The objective was to bring water to the city of Nîmes via a 50km long aqueduct. It stands almost 50 m high and is on three levels – the longest measuring 275 m – a technical as well as an artistic masterpiece.

The Pont (from: http://www.livius.org/a/france/pontdugard/pont_du_gard.jpg don't have my pics on me)

After the Pont we went past lots of other ponts (ie. Bridges) before going out to Port Camargue – apparently the biggest marina in the world. I didn't like the place much. Then went to this funny town built in the 1960s where the hotels have cutouts… anyway, it didn't inspire me much either but Anthony liked it (he’s an architect). THEN – we went to this little town and saw all these signs warning about bulls. We spotted a busy stadium, pulled over and discovered a bull-fighter type event going on. But there are about 20 blokes running in the ring with one angry bull and the aim is for them to make the bull chase them while they get ribbons off its horns. It was great to watch and they were really athletic, jumping over railings to get away.

I will upload pics for this at a later time…

So after that adventurous day, we decided to go to dinner in Clermont. That was a bit of a challenge as it was all quite expensive and the service was a bit lacking. But my pork chop and chips was quite good (even if it did cost my parents around 12€). So that was my last night with my parents, staying in their cute little 3-storey villa. To the airport the next day to fly back to London. Caught up with Kim and Amy who were staying with Tenille and Pete. Was great to see everyone. Got Chinese takeaway and a bottle of €2 red for dinner and we ate at Tenille’s.

Flew in yesterday morning after an 8am flight (and a sympathy airport-run at 5:30am from Tenille – thanks darling!!) and decided to go straight to somewhere other than Dublin. The somewhere was unable to be decided upon for a few decent minutes. We eventually found a GUINNESS glass and spun it a few times, kissed each other on the cheek 8 times (which apparently is the recorded maximum for French kisses) then chose to go to Kilkenny. All that is complete leprauchan talk – except for the going to Kilkenny bit. We caught a bus (€10.50 ret, student) from the Dublin bus station after a quick bite to eat and Amy’s realisation that her backpack is really uncomfortable.

Kilkenny is a lovely little town. The Kil bit of the name means church and the Kenny bit is after a guy called Cannes – the guy who built the cathedral in the town – so they gave him a Guernsey for the name. Most buildings are made of black marble (but don’t look it) so therefore are in really good condition and hardly changed. (Note to self when building town, use something really hard like marble.)
Main street of Kilkenny [left]
[below] The historical walking tour - out the front of an inn & that's marble!















We did a historical walking tour which was great fun. Found a great pub for dinner, called the Carpe Diem, so we seized the day and ordered a local brew – Smithwicks (pronounced without the ‘w’ Kim!) – along with some beef and stout pie. Fantastic tasting and only €11-ish.

The old courthouse and jail below and me behind the old jail door















[left] The lucky head of Cannes, apparently you rub it and you won't go bald (Kim left, Amy right).
[Right] Dinner in Kilkenny

Had a quick walk around the streets of Kilkenny this morning before making the bus ride back to Dublin. Dublin is a big city! According to the hop-on-hop-off bus driver, it was built by the Vikings… The hop-on-hop-off bus was great fun and provided a great view and some good intro info about the city of Dublin. Most importantly it delivered us to the Guinness brewery. Now I’ve never been a fan of Guinness, but the old storehouse is a great tourist attraction. And it was entertaining exploring the beer-making process, seeing the cask-making process, realising that the Guinness bloke was obviously making an obscene amount of money because he was buying/building Guinness ships to move his stock around the world. And we finished off with a Guinness, although Amy has to force it down, along with funny faces!

[left] out the fround of the Guinness Brewery. [bottom] View from the top of the tourist bus in Dublin city.
















So we’re going out for dinner after this and we’ll prob check out the Temple Bar area which has quite a reputation as a party spot.

[left] Naughty crows!! (Grass of Kilkenny Castle). [right] People could put a message on the board in the Guinness brewery. I'm pointing to mine. Saying I'll have my Guinness in honour of Steve Irwin :)

Well I'm now in a town west of Montpellier, France, called Nebian. What a big journey from Ortisei in the Dolomites. Caught a bus down to Bolzano (this time €13.00 for 3 of us - are these bus drivers on some kind of money-scrambling drugs). Then a train from Bolzano to Verona - easy just get on the next one that arrives (no reservation required for this one) - next one is an ES (Eurostar). OK: to the ticket office 'oh yes, you will need to pay a supplement of €4.20 each' (memories of Jono's stories about train travel came to mind). Went off to tell parents who had done a runner to the platform thinking you can buy the supplement there (which ticket office guy said you couldn't). Train guy says 'Yes, you need to buy a supplement... €6.70 each' - what the hell is going on here. Too much hassle, not enough time so we decided to wait for the next one when we didn't have to pay supplement. All Good. Get to Verona train station, where evidently there is the most expensive public toilets we've found at 0.70€ a pop). Actually Mum and I are getting quite good at scamming these - she pays & goes in and holds the exit button so the screen doors open & I dash through.

We had to wait on the platform for a couple of hours till our 1am train from Verona. Thinking 'cool, we'll suss out a cafe, maybe see a real-time Romeo & Juliet-type romance going on': Train station in the middle of nowhere. Nothing. And even Maccas shut at 11pm. OK - train platform it is again!!

On the train, found our carriage and bedded down. Weird sleep as being jostled around and I only had one of the seatbelts for the upper platform on, down near my feet. So I had visions of tumbling to a certain world of pain when the train driver put his foot down - and those trains can motor!!! Survived though to a morning where the train line goes along the coast and into the 'French Riviera' - right near the ocean (don't know where the River is???? :-)) Was a lovely view too - oh except for the little alcoves stuffed with nude (& often overweight) sunbathers.... AHHHH Summer in France he he.

The train carriage (took 4 sleeping)BUT - none of this till we passed the Italian-French border... and what would you imagine happens, yes a train delay! 'Bloody Trenitalia' I thought. And then we thought maybe it was the French saying 'you can only come in when we say so' - perhaps doing the ol' banging on the helmet routine a la Monty Python.....

So YES ALL - we missed our connecting train out of Nice for Montpellier!!! Add another 3.5 hours onto our already long-ish journey. But we got to see a little of Nice - had a croissant and coffee (of course) and Mum and I did another toilet scam (both getting away with only one lot of 0.20€ at the cafe - had to put money in a locking mechanism in the door to open the door). After refuelling, walked to the beach and promenade, more people beaching. And some particularly yobbish Aussies on the beach with their Australia flag towels (oh and a southern cross tat adorned one of the young men's chest). 5 mins later, 2 girls rock up with 2 cartons of champers & tallies proclaiming 'only cost us 50€ and we got lots of cups but'.

If this is you or someone you know - 'Hi, was great to see you there... on the beach... ahem'

Eventually got into Montpellier at around 6pm, all in all about 24hours of travelling :) was all good though, particularly the old Irish bloke who fell asleep and did a big snort - I immediately thought of your story, Marie & Feleki! Poor bloke had no one to defend him though :)

So now in small town of Nebian - 1 cafe, 1 tabac and a lovely church next door (surely destined to wake us with donging bells). Juliet cooked a lovely pasta and I'm now ready for bed :)
Au reviour (spelling??)

Just had to post again to say the walk i did with dad yesterday (friday) was the best ever. cant wait to put pics up.

caught chairlift then walked along scree-slopes above the tree-line, up to a refugio at about 2100m. we then walked up higher between some of the peaks that feature in many dolomite (& indeed my) photos (sassolungo) where the pass between them is 2600m - about the height of kosciosko, i believe.

saw a marmot (kind of like a beaver), saw part of a glacier/ice flow in the mountain (which according to the guide thaddeus, is decreasing in size every year due to warming). we had a funny sheepdog with us (the hotel's dog) that liked to hear it own voice i reckon - it sarted barking when we were at the top of our walk, where the massive rocks form a natural amphitheatre. so great bellowing echoes of barking went around.


Marmot (c/o: www.obs-nice.fr)

will post pics when i can [edit, some pics added 11/09/06].



last day here today in luxury. this place has the best tirimisu i have ever tasted. tonight around 6pm we begin our journey to montpellier. bus to bolzano; train to verona; change trains for verona to nice; train nice to montpellier. get in around 2pm sunday (10th). i stay with mum&dad and the jobs till tuesday 12th - fly to london and meet up with tenille, kim and amy. kim, amy & i go to dublin then for 2 day before contiki starts on the 16th. busy, busy. send me any tips on accom, places to see in montpellier, dublin etc. if you have some.

PS: Hope the voting goes well!! Will be following the results from the election with interest - I really, really wanted to vote (as some of you will know)!!!








claire

Update: now 8:30am on the 8th sep (friday) & 2nd last day here in 5star luxury

on wed 6th dad, mum & i went for a ride up in a chairlift up to a place called Seceda (said Sech-eda apparently). the series of two lifts take you from about 1200m to 2500m. the last one is a big box where everyone stands (like a cattle truck really, the way they pack everone in). flying towards a cliff face then at what seems like the last minute you get lifted clear and up, up and away is really cool - but mum squeezed herself in the back corner with the driver so i guess she doesnt agree.
[left] Chairlift/chairbox coming down (slope up in the background). These are licensed to carry about 60 people and are prob about 7m by 4m in size??). [right] packed in the box.















When we got to the top, mum and i sat on the sun lounges at the restaurant (yes there are little restaurants all over the place, particularly where the chairlifts are positioned) while dad went for a bit of a walk up to a great looking-out position (under a cross with a sculptured, wooden jesus on it). now before you think im lazy, i have been up to that spot a couple of days before, and anyway, i like hanging out with my mum :-)

after that we all went for a swim and then luckily mum & i got a tour from one of the pool attendants of the majority of sauns & special rooms. mind-boggling! salt grotto - sauna where steam comes through salt from the dead sea; oriental sauna; turkish-style sauna; ladies-only sauna - with rose petal essential oils; a sauna at 57 degrees (nude only); spa pool (cool), spa pool (hot); ice pool (outside the 57 deg sauna); sauna at 90 degrees - scary! with a crushed ice machine outside so you can rub t over yourself; couple treatment rooms - with massage tables, spas & a bed (!).... anyway, its all like nothing ive ever seen before.

thurs 7th: this was going to be a nice relaxing day (i thought). after breakfast we said bye to juliette & anthony who were embarking on the drive to Nebian (near Montpellier) where all 4 of them have another house booked for few weeks. dad went on a big walk - 8 to 5pm, very steep, segments holdidng onto wires bolted into the rocks - generally full-on... i went to the gym then met up with mum at the pool. anyway, we discovered that the train tickets reception were trying to check availability for with trenitalia to get to montpellier - trenitaia promotes its tickets as easily-purchased eg. online/over phone - could not be booked online, or over the phone, and there were no accredited travel agents anywhere near here (i wonder if there are any in italy?) - bloody trenitalia.

so mum and i had to catch a bus for an hour (4.5€ pp) back down the valley to bolzano to buy the tickets. get to tick office - 'that will be 670€ for 3 tickets'. we nearly had heart-attacks - particularly as over the phone theyd said 140€- asked at information office and received a blaze, palms-upward 'eh, it was a mistake'... after fiddling around for a bit, we found a journey that was 350€ for 3 of us. and there wasnt much help to find anything cheaper so we were resigned that that would have to do - not as much sleep-time on that one but tough luck.

ok, so bus back up the valley - this time 8.55€ for two. how can the same journey (sure, on diff days & diff directions) cost 8.80€ for mum/juliette, 9.00€ for us down, and 8.55€ back up??? must be an in-built random number generator...

finallly train tickets organised - it was the only journey leg i wasnt booked for and i would def recommend to book early to get good prices and avoid the stress we had. i had/have all the flights booked like: lond-ath, ath-kythera, ath-venice, montpellier-lond, plus the ones kim, amy & i are doing eg. lond-dublin, lond-spain (after contiki), spain-edinburgh. ill def be over airports after this trip i reckon!

anyway, after that little trip, we were off to the hot spa!! GREAT!!! then i had an ABHYANGA massage booked for 7pm (we have 150€ worth of tretments for free as it was a promotion for this week). whole body massage (yes incl head, feet, hands) with warm oil. absolute bliss i tell you. felt like i was walking on a cloud afterwards. ahhhh arent holidays grand!!!

ciao

Some pics of the pool/spa area:

Mum & Dad looking relaxed in their bathrobes [left] and Mum enjoying the hot spa with Sella Gruppe in the background [right].

Ok, so I've kind of recovered from the shock of Steve Irwins death... it really is sad though, as I admired his enthusiam and passion. He was doing so many great things and really educating all age groups about various creatures that were not so popular & therefore not getting a look-in as far as conservation goes. Some examples of these great things include: promoting habitat protection by buying up land in the brigalow belt; contributing to valuble overseas charities; supporting QPWS with the croc-wise public education campaign and the'crocs in space' research program; and he'd also just completed a five-weekresearch trip on Cape York Peninsula working on tracking crocodile dive patterns). I applaud his work & hope that his legacy lives on - even stronger than before.

Anyway - back to the travel journal right :-) for the last three days i have been partaking in the Adler walking program (http://info.hotel-adler.com/content.asp?L=3&IdMen=284). It has been spectacular!! I'm bummed I can't download photos to this internet terminal because pictures would really help with the story. But here's a link with some good pics, just to give you an idea (of course competely diff in winter): http://www.dolomitesworld.com/photo_gallery/val_gardena_summer.asp

So Mum & Juliet (Anthony's wife) arrived yesterday after their couple of days in Venice. They were there for some regatta, which was apparently entertaining (& the two blokes that won apparently had super big cannons). They unfortunately stayed in an over-rated dive for 100€ a night (hotel santa lucia). My 20€ motel room kicked-ass over theirs it seems.

they arrived in the afternoon after catching a train (20€-ish pp), then a bus from bolzano (hr 4.40€ pp). Dad took Mum for a ride on one of the chairlifts - she loved it. Then a five course dinner as usual (small courses, thankgod) and a walk in the main street. quite funny actually, mum kept saying 'we're in Disneyland' and 'We're on a movie set' - exactly the same sentiments I was voicing the first time I saw ortisei. and last night there were all these people walking around in traditional costumes too, so that added to the surrealism.

It's a beautiful area of the world - great backdrop. But it is a bit strange being in a mainly dual-lingual place, I never know whether to speak Italian or German or what language people are speaking to me in (this place was originally part of Austria but in the war, Italy received it into its territory).

Anyway hopefully i can report on the spa, saunas, pools and beauty treatments at later date.

EDIT: some pics added (10/09/06):

The Adler Hotel (Dad and Anthony out the front)


Walk on the first day - check out those vapour trails. This is on the edge of the Rasciesa plateau.







Lovely background (Sassolungo)



Spot me there.. go on. This was my favourite place in the Dolomites. Walk 8/09/06 to between some of the Sassolungo group of mountains. The water-flow is ice and this area gets some snow in Summer. In the Winter, the snow can be more than 20m deep in this valley between the towering rocks.


On the walk up - Refugio Vicenza was at about 2300m high. Gets food, supplies delivered twice a year by helicopter. (The dog is the Adler's dog - he likes going on walks and the chairlifts.)









This is a game called spot the marmot - pic of its back end only...

Steve Irwin is dead!! i cant believe it - what a terrible way to go too: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20349888-2,00.html

and i thought the charleville burr i only just got out of my toe (yes susan, finally got it out) was a tribulation. i will miss steve irwins chracter & passion for conservation.

http://www.wildlifewarriors.org.au/













image care of www.news.com.au

hi guys im now in northern italy, in the dolomites in a wellness resort called the adler. if youve ever been to oreillys in the gold cost hinterland - its like that, but on steroids!!
its expensive but all activities are included. dad & anthony (one half of the couple travelling with my parents) are here too and tomorrow were going for a walk up in the hills followed by a cable car ride back down. theres a gym here too & heaps of pools, saunas & spas. breakfast & dinner are included, free mountain bikes, nordic walking sessions, and free internet but not qwerty - so a bit difficult.

anyway, since my last post: my last night in kythera was great. dinner by the beach with vince (& a grest view of the castle nearby, all lit up) followed by a scenic drive & some shoppinng. then on thurs, went to my fav beach - kaladi. it is gorgeous: pebble beach, in a cove, surrounded by rocky headland, crystal-clear water. and the best thing was that when we went (9am) it was empty!! fantastic. then had to leave kyth for italy. was quite sad to leave vince & his family. it is a beautiful island, vinces family really looked after me & i had a great time.

so back in athens for one night. met up with marie (from nz) & her fiance feleki. i met marie in thailand in 05, she was on her way to england at the time. so shes been there for a year & a half & i finally saw her again in athens!! so cool. they had a hotel room booked & graciously let me stay with them - we had some beers, played some cards, it was lovely catching up.

then friday (yesterday - its now 9:55pm sat night)... came my crappiest flight experience so far - bloody Air One! had to fly to rome then wait for 3 hours for flight to venice. thought id have some time to find internet, read a book etc. but no. got in 1/2 hour late, then had to wait 1 1/4hr for baggage - what the hell were those italian baggage handlers doing? so by this time, didnt have much of it, and had to check in again (too hard to get a straight through ticket obviously). then plane to venice was 45 min late - wouldnt care normally but had to find accom and it was 9pmish. anyway, wallked around venice & found a great hostel, that gives discounts for isic card (found a use for it - oh i got 1/2 price into the acropolis, so very good!). ut they were full. they rang ahead to another place & i scored an awesome room with big bathroom & tv for €20. they were very helpful.
what more coulld i ask for - venice!! very cool. and by night = great! had spag bol for dinner (6€) and coke (€4 - ouch; did they make a mistake?). enjoyed a walk with a norwegian chick i met on the bus, so that was nice. then this morning caught train over to the mainland venice (mestre, only 1€) to meet my parents. weird to see them pull up opposite me at the train station. so great to meet them in italy.

then began the 4hr drive north to the town of Ortisei. and here we are. the only aussies in the place - everyone else seems to be italian (the noisy ones, with screaming, singing, yelling kids - THAT SHOULD BE IN BED RIGHT NOW RATHER THAN DISTURBING ME ON MY FREE INTERNET) or german.

anyway, thats where im at now.
thanks for reading. hope you are well. fill me in on whats been happening!!!
xxoo claire
(sorry for spelling mistakes & lack of capitals, this keyboard is a real sh:-)t. (but its free ~ heaps better than bloody 4€ for so for 15mins at rome airport. )