http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/the-notty-travellers/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from the notty travellers en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:56:19 +0000 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:56:19 +0000 Paris October 9Geoff Hi everyone this is our final blog entry for the adventure that we have just experienced. I am writing this on the laptop whilst sitting at the kitchen bench at home Oh its so nice to be home. But now I need to update you on our last day in Paris and the trip home.We had to check out of our hotel so organised ourselves packed the bags yet again moving stuff around http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-333386.html Paris Amiens October 8Geoff Sue and I decided before coming on this trip that when we were in Paris we would see some of the country where Australians fought in the great war. So today it was off by train to Amiens to meet up with our tour guide and then spend the day around the Somme. When I worked with DVA I had heard the names on a regular basis and now we were really here seeing wher http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-332363.html Paris 7 OctoberSue What can I say about today.... eventually life catches up with us all. We had planned to jump out of bed catch the metro and then a regional train to Versaille to see the palace and grounds. Instead we woke feeling extremely tired and decided to have a lay day. After all we have seen the odd palace or 2 in the last 7 weeks. We found a shopping centre and cruised the shops. Ge http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-331929.html Paris October 6Geoff Sue has big plans for us today lots of things to do starting with a visit to the Louvre. We head into town expecting lots of crowds and queues but are surprised to find that the queues are quite small. Might be a result of having the museums open free of charge on the first Sunday of the month. We go through the security and show our Paris Museum passes and we are in. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-331767.html Paris October 5Geoff We had breakfast in the hotel and then got organised to get our Paris passes. This meant getting ourselves organised on the metro to get to the Hard Rock cafe in the 9th Arrondissement. If I do say so myself we managed this quite well and got there well before the 100 o'clock cutoff. Then off to the Gare St Lazare to organise TGV tickets for Amiens on Wednesday. We s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-331329.html Paris October 4Geoff Wow what a day and what a girl We left Amboise this morning at 1120 and caught the train for Tours. This was only a short trip so that we could connect with the TGV to Paris Montparnasse Paris has lots of Railway stations in different parts of the city we are finding out There was a short changeover time and and bit of pidgin French till we finally confirmed we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-330856.html Amboise October 3Geoff Today was C day. C is for Chateaux. When we arrived in Amboise Sue contacted a little tour company by the name of AccoDispo who specialise in touring the area by minibus to arrange a tour of the outstanding Chateaux in the region. We enjoyed a leisurely start to the day and sauntered down to the Tourist Information office to meet our guide one Pascal Accolay at 10 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Centre/Amboise/blog-330667.html Amboise October 2Geoff We explored the town this morning. Amboise is not a huge place and its city centre is about the size of Manuka. Still it was nice to start the day quietly and spend some time shopping and window shopping more of the latter than the former. We finished our wander and then strolled along the banks of the Loire river very peaceful though the day was a little cool.I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Centre/Amboise/blog-330159.html Amboise Loire Valley 1 OctoberThe trip to Paris on the night train was uneventful but a disturbed night of sleep. The night trains are fast which means they rock from side to side and are noisy. Not the best conditions for sleep. We woke around 7.30am expecting to arrive at Paris by 9am. Somewhere in the night we had lost 2hrs and were informed we would arrive at 11am. Our next train from Paris http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Centre/Amboise/blog-330156.html Florence September 30Geoff We were unable to go to either the Uffizi Museum or the Galleria Academia yesterday as they were shut for Monday. So we thought we would try to get into at least one today the plan was to head towards the Ponte Vecchio and if the Uffizi queues were too long we would continue across the river and check out the Palazzo Pitti one of the many Medici palaces in Italy http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-329775.html Florence September 29Geoff Today being Monday most museums were closed so we hit the shops. We had noticed that just a little way away from our hotel was a central market where you could select your wares and haggle over the price Hey John just like Phuket So we girded our loins for a major outing and proceeded to the markets. Most of the stores were very similar to what we had alrea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-329059.html Siena to Florence September 28Geoff Today we say farewell to Siena. We have enjoyed the town and its a pity that we are just coming to grips with the bus system and its time to say goodbye. We pack our bags and get a taxi to the station. Its now 1030 and the train is due to leave at 1115 so we thought when we checked the tickets and realise that it will leave at 1215 as there are red http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-328970.html Siena Friday 26 SeptemberAs of today Geoff is officially retired. Yep you guessed it today is his 55th birthday. We didn't plan any special events today just make our way to the old town look around shop and come back this afternoon and eat at a local pizzeria. The day started out well with a nice breakfast looking over the Siena countryside from our hotel dining room. The orange juice was a t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-328555.html Siena September 25 Geoff The first half of the day was spent getting from Rome to Siena. We had booked a car to pick us up at the apartment and were very pleased to have him arrive early. However that didn't make the task of getting the luggage down the stairs any easier Still the traffic at 730 am was quiet so we got to the station without any major problems. Once we were at the statio http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-327855.html Rome September 24Geoff Me again Sue's due for a day off after her marathon effort yesterday. Today was another quiet day not. We did however have no plans so it was a quiet breakfast for us and off into the town for a quiet stroll and explore. I had wanted to see the Museo di Roma Museum of Rome since we first stumbled across the building on Saturday so convinced Sue that we should u http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-327853.html Rome 23 SeptemnberSue I know it has been a while since I have written. This is my pennance for today... and no I didn't beat up the credit card although it wasn't from lack of trying. It is because we didn't go on our Pompeii trip and therefore lost 200. Let me explain. Last night after our third very full day we were making preparations to get up at 5.45am to get a bus at the bus terminal at http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-327012.html Rome September 22Geoff We had a very slow start to the day today we are finally starting to wilt from the pace I'm not helping as I want to see everything while we are here. I nagged Sue until she succumbed and after a quick trip to the local food shop not big enough to call a supermarket and a bit of breakfast at 1030 we went to the Piazza Del Colloseo to use our Roma passes for http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-326724.html Rome September 21Geoff Today we went exploring again. We knew there was a whole lot to see in our area that we hadn't found yet so we checked a couple of books that are in the apartment got our bearings and headed out on the town. Mind you this was after a very leisurely start at 1030 am. We have a tour of the Villa Borghese galleria and gardens this afternoon so we were particularly inte http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-326723.html Rome September 20Geoff What do you say about Rome It beggars description from the apparently chaotic traffic the hustle and bustle of millions of people in the city to the absolutely imposing buildings of current society and and ruins of civilisations long past. We decided to do a Venice here and see if we could find our way with minimal assistance from maps. We knew if we fell into th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-325871.html Venice to Rome September 19Geoff Today we leave Venice. We are not due to get on the train until 255 so we have a little time to kill. We ask the girl Ambre just like our daughter in law Amber on the front desk about luggage lockers at the railway station and she kindly offers to mind our luggage for us what a marvel and thankfully we don't have to drag our suitcases with us through th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-325545.html