Upon setting foot in Rome again, I realised I had forgotten how much I didn't enjoy being in this filthy city, as all I recalled from my previous visit was the wonder and awe that had washed over me as I wandered the grounds of the Roman Forum, the incredible structure that is the Colosseum and Michelangelo's deft touch with his paintings and his marble creations, 'Moses' and 'Pieta'. I was unsure whether I would enjoy the sights as much a second time around; however, I discovered how foolish a notion this was when I stepped into the Vatican Museum. This [View Full Entry]

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We landed in Pisa on a balmy night and made our way to the camping ground we had found on the Internet earlier that day. This was made easier by the kindness of strangers who helped point us in the right direction. Once we had checked in and set up our tent in the dark (which was no small feat, considering it was our first time setting up this particular tent), we made a bee-line for the restaurant to dine on some pizza. I had been saving myself for some Italian pizza, always forcing myself to avoid looking at that part [View Full Entry]

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Either side of our stay in Burgundy, we enjoyed a total of five days in the wonderful city of Paris. After catching the Eurostar from London and disembarking in the centre of Paris, I can vow that I will never fly between these two cities again. The train is so smooth and you don't have to waste time by getting to an airport two hours before departure and then arriving miles out of town and requiring transfers. After a night spent in a sweltering dorm, we ventured out to see the city, beginning with 'le petit déjeuner' on a Parisien footpath. [View Full Entry]

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The best way to forget about obnoxious Year 8 students who readily tell a teacher to go forth and multiply (albeit using more colourful and blunt language) is to spend a few days in the province of Burgundy in France. We stayed in a little village called Culles-les-Roches, not far from the town of Dijon (made famous by the mustard they produce - I had it on just about everything). We were staying with a group of friends in a place that has been converted from an old railway station, overlooking rolling hills and pastures. It was simply stunning and all [View Full Entry]

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During our first week back in bleak Essex (the first three days of summer consisted of nothing but rain and grey skies), I was delighted to discover that around the corner from our house, the annual Thurrock Beer Festival was being held. My delirious delight stemmed from the fact that I was struggling to come to terms with the fact that I had to work in such a soulless part of the world again. 'Just think of the £'s' I keep trying to remind myself. Anyway, we had so much fun there on the Thursday night (with about 100 beers to [View Full Entry]

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Working for 6 weeks in Essex meant that Marty and I were certainly looking forward to having a week's holiday in Barcelona. After a rather unsettling flight due to some storms over southern France and Spain, we eventually landed; albeit with a landing that consisted of a bounce which made one think we had landed upon a trampoline. The pilot must have then realised that we were hurtling at a dangerous speed along the runway, so he applied the breaks in a rather abrupt manner, thrusting all of the passengers towards the seat in front of them. When the plane did [View Full Entry]

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Since I last wrote, the sun has made an appearance in the English skies. This has brought out an array of pale English folk in singlets and skirts, complaining about the 22 degree heat! Marty and I tended to see things in a more positive light, so we made our way into the stunningly laid out Regent's Park and spent the day relaxing in the sun and wandering around Baker Street (of Sherlock Holmes fame). That evening we made our way to the Globe Theatre on the Thames to watch an excellent performance of Shakespeare's 'King Lear', which was the highlight [View Full Entry]

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As we flew over the Thames I felt rather depressed about having to go back to working again after having such an amazing time traveling. Little did I know how much Heathrow Airport would do its very best to make matters even more unpleasant. When we landed, there were not any gates available for the plane to park at, so we sat on the runway for the best part of an hour. In the end they allocated us a section of the tarmac to disembark; however, the airport staff could not find anyone to drive the stairs over to the plane, [View Full Entry]

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After walking through a few of the magnificent Moscow metro stations for the last time (beautiful design is not something I had previously associated with a subway station, but the mosaics, gold leafing, sculptures and leadlight designs of the Moscow metro make it a great experience in itself), we made our way to our train platform to depart for St Petersburg. The Nikolaevsk Ekspress is by far and away the most luxurious train I have been on over the last few months. The beds were comfy, service impeccable and the supplied breakfast was both tasty and plentiful. Arriving in St Petersburg, [View Full Entry]

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My first glimpse of Siberia through the train window was just as I had imagined it - snow, thin trees and sparsely populated. The most memorable part of the five day journey to Moscow was unboubtedly meeting a drunken Russian man in the dining car who had absolutely no English at all, to go with my lack of any knowledge of the Russian language. He challenged me to an arm wrestle, which he won easily and then poured me some of his cognac, which tasted like fire water after the Russian beer I had been drinking. We had met up with [View Full Entry]

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