6 Sept 2008 The day started with a slightly cooler breeze today, which disappeared mid-morning as we were traversing the Palatine Hill. After the usual sweet breakfast and wonderful coffee, we headed to Termini and hunted around for the bus to Colloseo. €4.00 each adult for a day pass. Although we'd planned an early start, we didn't get to the Colloseum until around 10am, where a huge line was already formed. We were approached by a man offering a guided tour for €12.00 per person plus entry, but we declined. Instead, as per the guide books we headed off to the [View Full Entry]

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The train and bus system is great, but be prepared to search around for the right lines. Unlike in Perth where you can get combined route map and timetables for each service, readily available, Rome appeared to lack this. Tripping around Rome on public transport is doubly difficult as you will be unfamiliar with the place names. The Roma Pass is great if you are also doing museum visits, as it includes two free entries (but not to the Vatican museum). If not visiting museums, use the multi or day tourist passes. Gelati and pizzas are available everywhere. Expect to pay [View Full Entry]

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5 Sept 08 Today we opted to go straight to the Borghese Gardens, the northeast side. It was in much better condition. We hired bikes for €4.00 each and rode around. Note: very hilly so Liam struggled. Liam found a musical stepping toy at the small playground, and further down by a small lake we watched the filming of a movie called something-Grand Amore. Of course we had a gelati at the gardens! €3.00 ea outside the Zoo. Next a bus to Barberini Piazza, and then a short walk [View Full Entry]

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Our host gave us vouchers for breakfast at a local caffeteria. So our first job was to find it!. Cafeteria Cottini wasn't it, but when I went in and asked “Dove la Cafeteria Colonnado?” He took the vouchers and walked off to the back of the restaurant! Note to self: don't let people take things away! Thankfully he returned shortly and indicated that they would accept the vouchers: One croissant or doghnut each and a cappucino each. That would have been great if the kids wanted cappucinos! So we paid separately for sprites. As the cafe was basically a sweet pastries [View Full Entry]

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Yet another humid, warm day. Seeing as I enjoyed the cappucino from the Caffeteria Cottini so much, this time I had two! A note on the cost of coke, sprite, juice-mixes etc in ~580ml bottles €2.00-€2.50. Cost of Gelati €1.80 to €3.00. Cheaper in the gelateria than at the convenience drink stands outside the main attractions. We caught the train in rush hour to 2 blocks from the Piazza Di San Pietro. Rush hour was squashed but not quite sardines. Then Piazza Di San Peitro - my favourite for the Rome visit. Absolutely stunning Piazza surrounded by enormous colu [View Full Entry]

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5:00am wakeup call. Where is the bloody phone? Awake, packed and in the cab. Hk$55 from hotel to airport Breakfast at Burger King in the airport On the 12:40 flight to London: There was unusual commentary from a documentary on Michelangelo's art on the entertainment system. He has a strange way of describing art, for example when referring to the sistine chapel and Michelangelo's painting of Adam, the penis is apaprently only a single brushstroke “and so sweet!”. Looking out the window at the deserts of northern China More movies, games. Me getting double serves of most o [View Full Entry]

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Well done Qantas for the personal entertainment screens! Movies on demand, TV shows, music videos. On the plane: Liam doing airplane motions while watching the Qantas Australia fly-through scene before we take off Joseph shooting aliens in a space invader game and making noises for it “piew, piew, piew piew piew” Kylie laughing her head off at the movie Get Smart (she was wearing headphones so we couldn't see or hear what she was). Later me following suit when I watched it. Watching Kung Fu Panda, and then Genesis Live in Rome, and getting four lots of rice pudding becaus [View Full Entry]

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Keen to take that first step in becoming fluent in another language, I at first tracked down the Rosetta Stone. This software program is absolutely brilliant for leaning a new language. However, I spend over an hour and a half driving to and from work each day, so wanted to find podcasts or audio lessons. I came across two podcasts: LearnItalianPod and Inside Italian. Inside Italian seems to have stopped renewing its content, but is still worthwhile having a listen to. LearnItalianPod [/u [View Full Entry]

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Visited Countries Map [View Full Entry]

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Synopsis: 245,000 points and $800 in taxes Return tickets Perth to Hong Kong Then return tickets Hong Kong - London - Rome Net savings ~$3,000 or 80 points to the dollar Having only 245,000 points (collected for many years), we didn't have enough to get from home to Rome for all four of us. I had looked at one-way for all four, or return for two of us and hope the other two could get matching flights and seats etc. That might have been nice, actually: the missus and I could have taken one flight and the kids the other ... [View Full Entry]

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