Edwina Kastner
Australian born and married to German born Lou with 3 sons, Guy (24) , Elliott (22) and Lance (21).Foxy Miller
We live on the outskirts of Melbourne, Victoria in a location reknown for its rolling farmlands and beautiful beaches both family and surf. It is called Mornington Peninsula.
Our house is an old Federation style farmhouse and we have 2.5 acres or 1 hectare of land.
Other family members are 3 cats ( Madeline, twins Lily and Allen ) 5 chickens and 2 sheep Delilah and Shaun.
Having dined and fully digested our 'Salad days' Lou and I are about to embark of what in Australia is considered almost an obligation - a tour of Europe.
This blog for my personal memories and to share the experience with our family and friends from all over the world.
Here's to hoping we all have fun
Travel Blog Posts
Training it from Amsterdam to Iepers
Published: October 1st 2011Europe » Netherlands » North Holland » Amsterdam
September 30th 2011
Amsterdam to Iepers, Belgium The hotel wake up call had been booked by us for 7am so when it rang I quickly got up and dressed so I could have breakfast with our 'bus buddies' as this was our last time together on the tour. They were leaving at 7:30am. Lou decided to take the chance for a sleep in as our book out time wasn't until 12pm. Panic set in because i couldn't find any of our group in the lobby, restaurant so I dashed off outside and saw the bus was still parked. After another search of the common areas I gave up and went to the breakfast room to sulk. Then I realised my wake up call had come at 6am (booked by Trafalgar) and not 7am. Annoying but great cos I had ... read more
September 22nd 2011
Our hotel, the Park Hotel Villa Fiorita was located at Monastier di Treviso a weathly area on the mainland of Italy. To explain in the commjunity of Venice there are about 272,000 but only about 60,000 live in Venice itself the rest are on the 'mainland' There are 117 or so islands in the Venitian lagoon depending on the tides when one does the count *wink. Established in the 10th Century the Venitians dominated the sea and therefore trade in the 13th to 17th Centuries. As we neared the main city centre on our privately booked boat it was like stepping back into the earlier Centuries. I felt wrongly dressed and yearned for a long heavily embroidered gown and pointed hat with a hanging veil.. *sigh. Yes I know 'snap out of it' but Venice makes ... read more
September 19th 2011
Through the Chanti vineyards passing hilltop towns of Umbria into the Tiber valleys we pressed onwards towards Rome, The Eternal City. By now we have historical brain freeze. So many famous landmarks and views are swarming in my head. It is unbelievable. Once again a Local Guide, Marisa, met us in the centre part of Rome. She marched us off boldly crossing the dangerous, (not joking) streets of Rome telling us not to look at the drivers and confidently crossing. Not an easy task ! LOL Suddenly in a small square we are standing in front of temple ruins, then the Pantheon loomed up. This amazing recycled pagan temple is awesome. In 126 AD The Emperor Hadrian commissioned its rebuilding. The craftmanship and intelligence needed to build a doomed roof in the time before Christ is ... read more
September 18th 2011
Monaco is divine. The views are breathtaking and no photo does it justice as the perspective is lost. So write it down on your 'bucket list' As expected all the top makes of cars are parked everywhere, real estate costs several fortunes to buy and you must live there for a certain time of the year. Athough it is believed maids come and open and close curtains, turn on lights to pretend ccupants are there. I want this job !! The heavens opened up on us as we arrived at the Palace of Monaco which is perched on a rock and quite a fortress. But being an intrepid tourist by now up went the brolly and on I went. :( We still got drenched and took shelter in the Cathedral. This is where Grace Kelly married ... read more
Nice, Saint Paul, Eze, France
Published: September 22nd 2011Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Nice
September 17th 2011
A morning of leisure meant a break from touring but not from the domestics of the Laundromat and a haircut for Lou. I thank Mr Marchant for perserving with me in High School as a few French words seem to have been hiding in my brain for decades and proved very useful here :) Our coach climbed up the steep winding road into the mountain behind Nice making our way towards Saint Paul. This is an old walled township of small narrow widing alleyways and specatular views. The small shops offered a large range of beautiful artwork, jewellry and clothing. It was very hot again and hard work tottering over the pathways which were made of concrete but had stones inlaid in all types of patterns which no doubt helped on wet slippery days. There was ... read more
September 16th 2011
Setting off early in the morning we retraced our route through the Carmague area and headed west to the Cote d'Azur's principal town of Nice. ( pronounced as Niece). I must say I had high expectation of this destination and all the glamor and glitz of Cannes and its annual Film Festival. It has long been the playground of the rich and famous and I expected some excitement. My first impression was one of disappointment. The high rise apartments reminded me of the older sections of our Gold Coast erected in the 1960's with their faded tattered awnings flapping about. Indeed I think they were of the same era. The paving was all cracked and broken and strong smell of urine * hopefully poodle or chihuahua I told myself ! The largest disappointment, although not a ... read more
Montserrat Monastry, Museum and Flamingo Dancers ! Ola !!
Published: September 19th 2011Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona » Monistrol de Montserrat
September 15th 2011
For our second day in Barcelona we had chosen an optional extra which was a trip up to Montserrat. This is a rocky outcrop of mountain about 1.5 hours drive outside of the city. It looks rather like a grey Ayres Rock but perhaps not quite so large. On the way we collected our guide from the previous day (Cesear) and set off early in the morning. This was good cos the weather was expected to be very hot again and I expected a lot of vertical walking which is difficult in the heat of the day. History: In the year 880 some shepherd boys had a vision of a descending light and angels singing their parents returned to the site and witnessed the same happenings, then a local priest had the same experience in a ... read more
September 14th 2011
The Rhone River flows through Avignon then branches into a 'Y' shape. The area between these rivers is the Camargue and is famous for its white horses. Those who play Farmville will know of these horses. The day was very hot and this causes reflections on the coach windows so I was unable to get a photo of them for you to see. They are bred by 'good' Gypsies - which I assume means the ones who dont thieve off strangers. Also flamingos live here but again I didn't spot any of these pink birds as the road wasn't close enough to the Mediterranean ocean. We did however get our first glimpes of the sea which was exciting. We arrived in Barcelona early afternoon and headed straight into the city centre to collect our local tour ... read more
September 13th 2011
Another early start and 12 hours on the coach to reach Avignon. Provencial France is more rolling than Germany. Rather pretty. It was an overcast day so a good day for travelling. At Avignon there is the Palace of the Popes as seven Roman Catholic Popes resided there during the 14th Century. The Palace is still standing with its stone carved gargoyles & monkeys to protect it from evil and a gilded statue of our Lady poised with welcoming arms perched on the highest tower and visible throughout the township. The Pont de St Benezet is more commonly know as the Pont de Avignon as in the song sung many times during my high school French days " Sur le pont d'Avignon L'on y danse, l'on y danse. Sur le Pont d'Avignon L'on y danse tous ... read more
September 12th 2011
We were joined by a petite tour guide named Nicole, a quintessential Parisienne woman who made my 5ft 2inch seem tall!. She took us on a tour of the Eiffel Tower. It was still cool and quite windy up on the 2nd floor but the sky was clear and we took in all the panorama of Paris from all angles. Breathtaking stuff. Beneath the tower were many young men I assumed were Sudanese They sell souvenirs probably illegally cos they scatter like doves when the Police appeared and laughed at them. LOL Also there are people who ask you to sign petition things DO NOT DO THIS THEY ARE AFTER YOUR MONEY! Next stop the Louvre. We were told it would take you 6- 8 months to view all the treasures of this place so we ... read more
Tot: 0.095s; Tpl: 0.004s; cc: 18; qc: 64; dbt: 0.0527s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.5mb
