My brother Paul and I had an early start to the day (early by holiday standards at least). We headed off across London Bridge at 9am with what seemed like a procession of thousands heading into the City. We were meeting Paul's P.A Denise, her husband Dave and her Aussie friend "Mouse". I will be first to admit I had no idea who John Soane was prior to my arrival in London this week. When my brother recommended a visit to the Museum I asked "Who is John Soane?" Having visited the Museum I now think that Soane (one of England's [View Full Entry]

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After our visit to Sir John Soane Museum, we had lunch at Cote Restaurant in the middle of Soho. The restaurants clean lines and its highly professional and friendly staff was a great introduction to the restaurant'. Its food which could be best described as French bistro was fresh, tasty and provided good value for money by London standards. Their menu includes classic dishes such as steak frites, salad niçoise, free-range chicken from the Les Landes area of France alongside lighter dishes such as roast sea bass with olive oil mash with a garlic and tomato dressing or salmon hollandaise. [View Full Entry]

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Another cold clear day in London as my brother and I undertook our latest adventure in London. The destination was Hampstead and its adjoining Heath. We caught the tube from Borough Station directly to Hampstead. Hampstead is located about 6km north-west of Charing Cross. It is part of the London Borough of Camden. It is also home to some of the most expensive housing in the London area with large houses regularly listed for sale at over twenty million pounds sterling (about AUS$50 million ). Apparently the village of Hampstead has more millionaires within its boundaries than any othe [View Full Entry]

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As the sunshine streamed through my living room window this morning, the news here continues to be dominated by the world financial crisis. Sterling took a nose dive last night against the US dollar and it has many here in a spin. I have no idea what the implications of this drop in the value of the pound means for my exchange rate and frankly I am not going to worry too much about it. Yesterday (Monday) my brother Paul and I wandered along through Southwark and the Southbank. We stopped off for coffee and hot chocolate at Le Pain Quotidien [View Full Entry]

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I arrived back in England yesterday (Saturday 25th October) to a sunny and cold London. The flight across from Milan was easy enough though an early start (4am) was a bit of a challenge. Saturday was a relaxing day, arriving back at Maidstone with friends Sally and Mick we went for a coffee and some cake before returning to their home. Mick had to work in the afternoon and later on Sally and I took their dogs Basil and Daisy for a walk through the town and into Mote Park. The Borough of Maidstone is in Kent (did I mention this [View Full Entry]

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I jumped on the early train to lake Como this morning. With my camera packed and my iPod charged I was very much looking forward to the trip to the town that many of you would know as George Clooney’s home away from home. The mayor of Como recently said of George Clooney “To mister Clooney we gave the honorary citizenship. We all are proud of his choice to live here on Lake Como." Clooney’s arrival might be popular with some however I get the impression that many don’t like what he brings - the paparazzi and the additional tourists. (See [View Full Entry]

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Milan might not have the number of historical sights of Rome, Venice or Florence however we all know it is famous as Italy's centre of fashion. If you wander away from Piazza Duomo into the narrower streets and laneways you will also find a number of great bread, pastry and smallgoods shops. There is also the famous Peck of Milan a shop full of great hams, cheese and other foodie items. Opened in 1883 it is a must for any food lovers. Sadly the staff were not keen on me taking photos and thus there none in this blog entry however [View Full Entry]

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On Wednesday night we travelled across to Parma - a city famous for its cheese and ham and composer Giuseppe Verdi. Parma celebrates its most famous citizen, Verdi, with a month-long festival of operas and concerts held at the Teatro Regio every year and so when Viviana suggested coming to Parma (which is about 90 minutes on the train) I thought why not? At this point I must apologise for the quality of photographs, I left the hotel without my camera and had to use my Nokia phone for the photography. Not great quality at the best of times but in [View Full Entry]

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I am currently in an internet cafe in Milan and I am struggling with the keyboard which is a little different to the EnglishAmericanAustralian version. I had forgotten how frustrating it is to use internet cafes. There is very little wireless access here in Milan ( at least not in the area I am in ). I left Paris on Monday and was on a flight to Milan. The trip, which usually takes 90 minutes was completed in just on one hour thanks to the prevailing tail winds (or is that head wind? I never know!) Milan is serviced by two [View Full Entry]

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Ok today I headed off to the Louvre and my thoughts went straight to Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code. I understand that you can do Da Vinci code tours of Paris however as much as I enjoyed the novel my intentions were not to re-live the story but to visit the Museum, however had I discovered the word P.S. find Chris Jack on the floor of the Louvre I would not have been disappointed. Sadly on arrival all I saw was a queue of tourists, many Americans and a number of Australians all like me lining up early either [View Full Entry]

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