Siena to Florence - September 28 (Geoff) 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 good-bye. We pack our bags and get a taxi to the station. Its now 10:30 and the train is due to leave at 11:15 (so we thought) when we checked the tickets and realise that it will leave at 12:15 as there are reduced services on Sundays. Oh well that's the thing about travelling - keep on smiling and wait around until it [View Full Entry]

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Florence - September 29 (Geoff) 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 already seen but we had been advised that one of the leather stores was very good and wold shift their prices if pushed. We spent a good [View Full Entry]

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Siena Friday 26 September As 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 tad interesting, not quite as sweet as Fanta but somewhere along that spectrum. We had cereal and tinned fruit for the first time which made us feel very [View Full Entry]

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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 7:30 am was quiet so we got to the station without any major problems. Once we were at the station, it was then a matter of trying to find our train - difficult really as we weren't sure what destination it would be [View Full Entry]

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Rome - September 24 (Geoff) 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 use our Rome passes to have a look. Unfortunately the second of 2 floors was closed for renovations so we could only see one. That [View Full Entry]

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Rome 23 Septemnber (Sue) 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 7.30am to go to Pompeii. Pompeii is 3.5hrs away and once there we would have walked for at least 3 hrs [View Full Entry]

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Rome - September 22 (Geoff) 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 10:30, we went to the Piazza Del Colloseo to use our Roma passes for the first time (20 Euros each so we need to get some value back!). We arrived on the [View Full Entry]

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Rome - September 21 (Geoff) 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 10:30 am. We have a tour of the Villa Borghese galleria and gardens this afternoon so we were particularly interested in finding out our bus options - where, when, etc. We think the 116 will see us to our destination this afternoon so [View Full Entry]

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Rome - September 20 (Geoff) 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 the Tiber we had gone too far as our explorations today were all in the old city area. So firstly, we went to find a supermarket so that we [View Full Entry]

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Venice to Rome - September 19 (Geoff) Today we leave Venice. We are not due to get on the train until 2:55 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 the peak hour human traffic. We head out into the maze of alleys and lanes that is Venice, though this time we [View Full Entry]

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