Normally the sun shining in through the windows wakes you up. It makes you realise just how wonderful it is to be in Venice however today the sunshine seemed to be not very important. We knew that tomorrow would be the start of our long and unknown journey home and what would that bring. Tickets left on the table we breakfasted and mapped out our plans for the last day. Of course we knew this was not going to be set in stone and would change as the day progressed. Our first stop was planned to be a visit to the cemetery on the island of San Michele the first of the Northern Islands. Why do we love cemeteries - well they are peaceful places, places to remind yourself on your fragile hold of life and ... read more

There is a hardly any feeling worse than coming home from a trip abroad knowing that your holiday is over and the next thing to think about is work again. We usually try on our way home to break our journey and take in something on the way that we have not seen before. Anyone who has followed this blog will realise that before visiting Belgium I had wanted to go to Kent so it seemed logical to call in on Deal and Dover on the way home. Our first visit of the day was to the pretty castle at Deal. We tossed a coin before visiting as we had the choice of both Deal and Walmer. Deal won but with hindsight I think that perhaps Walmer had extra visitor features including gardens. Deal was one ... read more

The last city we visited in Belgium was Antwerp. A small can compact heart with a large square overlooked by a impressive Stadhuis. From every available space flew an EU country flag. In the middle of the square was a baroque styled fountain. Impressive but not to my taste. Antwerp was on the River Scheldt a large wide and muddy river. There were the usual merchants houses with steep rooves and immaculate brickwork. One of the most interesting features of the city was the museum which was the home of printing. Some years ago we watched a programme on BBC2 narrated by Stephen Fry who visited the Plantin Moretis museum and this was put on the list of things to do. It holds the oldest surviving printing press in the world complete with sets of dies ... read more

The three cities of Bruges, Antwerp and Gent were always on the radar for visiting. European medieval history cannot be complete without a visit to compare the differences between the Protestant North of Europe with that of Catholic southern Europe. Flemish artworks to be compared with the work of Italian masters, the guild houses, flemish bond brickwork and gabled houses all reminders of North European culture. Gent felt small and fairly compact with easy car parking facilities close to the centre. Tram lines ran along the streets intersecting market squares full of shops selling chocolate and the cafes which spilled onto the streets. Gent proved to be a bicycle heaven with most locals using them as their preferred mode of transport. The cafes proved to be pleasant places to enjoy a coffee The ambience thought felt ... read more

Our last visit of the holiday was to the the Vatican Museum and St Pauls basilica. We had bought tickets earlier on the internet something which was worthwhile doing when we saw the length of the queue snaking its way around the building at 8 am in the morning. The extra few euros paid were forgotten when we skipped the line and walked straight up to the pay desk where we exchanged our vouchers for tickets. After a coffee we wandered into the museum which originated somewhere between 1503 and 1513 opened to the public by Pope Julius the second in the hope that the collection would promote knowledge of art history and culture to the masses. The buildings were rambling and we raced initially to the Sistine Chapel to get there before the masses arrived. ... read more